Reformed or Deformed?

Recently someone asked me what it means to be a "Reformed" Christian.  I tried to clearly summarize it and emailed the person this answer.  See what you think.

We are Reformed Christians.  That means we received our theology from the Reformation years of the 1500s by men like Martin Luther, John Calvin, etc.  They were "re"forming the Church according to the Bible.  Here are a few key distinctives of Reformed theology.

1. The Bible is our only authority.  We get all of our answers in the truth of scripture.  Not tradition, not the Church, not our feelings.
2. The sovereignty of God.  That means that God is in control of all things.  He rules and governs all that happens.  God is not alarmed at anything, and never says, "Oops."
3. The grace of God is perfectly seen in God's Son, Jesus Christ.  What Jesus did for us on the cross, His death and resurrection were the victory over sin, death and Satan.  Our salvation is 100% by faith in and through Christ.
4. The world view.  A Reformed world view means we live actively in culture to transform it, whatever that may be: studies, sports, nature, politics, etc.  We desire to influence and affect our world for God.
5. The Covenant of God.  God has a story and we are part of that story.  God's story and our place in it is for His glory, generation upon generation.

The key thing is that Reformed means "re"forming ourselves and the world according to the Bible.  That also means things, whether in our culture, in church or in us can "de"form us.  We need to be called back to repentance in Christ and change.

Comments

[Joelcalderone]

Thanks for summarizing this. As I started to study the major events in Church history, the Reformed view is the only thing that has ever made sense to me. I was not raised with Reformed Theology but I had several neighbors that were. Each summer growing up, a Holy war erupted on our block. The Reformed neighbors could back up everything they said with scripture. All of the other neighbors just said we don’t believe that way. My family was always in the “We don’t believe that way” group. As a kid, it never felt right to blindly choose a side. As an adult, I freely and quickly embrace Reformed theology.

I am going to copy your summary to a Word File so I can send it along to people that ask.