Our Reformed Theology

We believe in one God who eternally exists in three equally divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is “eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, infinite, almighty; completely wise, just, and good” (Belgic Confession, Article 1). 

God the Father is the creator of all things, visible and invisible, sustaining and providentially ruling over creation in an active relationship of love. Through God the Son, whom we know as Jesus Christ, God redeems a people for himself and restores his creation. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, God is present to us, making us more into the image of Jesus Christ. All of this is done “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:6).

Reformed Christians have a high view of God’s sovereignty, a belief that “nothing happens in this world without God’s orderly arrangement” (Belgic Confession, Article 13). But we don’t believe God uses that power carelessly. Instead, we emphasize God’s loving providence, which explains that God makes all things work together for our good (Romans 8:28). God’s sovereignty is exercised as God sustains “heaven and earth and all creatures” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 27) and in the particular way that God “gathers, protects, and cares for the church through Word and Spirit. This, God has done since the beginning of the world and will do to the end” (Belhar Confession, Point 1).

Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, came to earth to reconcile us with God. Jesus became human and lived a life without sin. Then he sacrificed his life in our name. 

By suffering death on the cross, Jesus took the punishment our sins deserved. 

His death “is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world” (Canons of Dort, Main Point 2, Article 3).

Three days after Jesus died, he rose from the dead. Through his resurrection, Jesus conquered death so that anyone who believes in him can join him in everlasting life.

Even in our best moments, our actions are stained with sin. Yet out of sheer grace, God gives us the righteousness of Christ. Christ wipes our record clean. It’s as if we have never sinned. All we have to do is accept his gift of salvation “with a believing heart” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 60). 

In other words, we are justified by faith, not by anything we’ve done. Our righteousness is in Jesus. We couldn’t live a perfect life ourselves, so he lived a perfect life for us. Faith is the “instrument by which we embrace Christ.” It “keeps us in communion with him and with all his benefits” (Belgic Confession, Article 22).

We’re so trapped in sin that we cannot find our way back to God on our own. As Christ says, “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me” (John 6:44). 

God gives us the faith to accept salvation as an act of undeserved grace (Canons of Dort, Main Point 1, Article 7). We receive this gift without any consideration of the things we’ve done. Our merits and strength have nothing to do with it.

You cannot lose the gift of salvation
Faith in Christ isn’t a gift God will take away from you. God preserves the seed of our faith in times of doubt. And no matter how badly we sin, salvation in Jesus covers us. 

“God’s plan cannot be changed; God’s promise cannot fail; the calling according to God’s purpose cannot be revoked” (Canons of Dort, Main Point 5, Article 8). If God has chosen to give you the gift of salvation through Christ, you cannot lose your salvation. Even though you might stumble in your faith and make mistakes, the Holy Spirit’s seal on your heart can’t be invalidated or wiped out.

Christ’s blood doesn’t just redeem us for what we’ve done in the past. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, true faith in Jesus reshapes our hearts to better match the heart of Jesus. This continual process of being made more holy is called sanctification. 

It is impossible for holy faith to be unfruitful. After all, we aren’t talking about an empty faith. We’re talking about what Scripture calls “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). This faith moves people to do by themselves the works that God has commanded in the Word.

Becoming more like Jesus doesn’t mean we can be our own salvation. We still sin. And even a tiny speck of human selfishness, corruption, jealousy, or pride would disqualify a work from being worthy of salvation in God’s eyes (Belgic Confession, Article 24).

The Christian church “is a gathering of persons chosen in Christ through the Holy Spirit to profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in order to embody God’s intentions for the world” (Book of Church Order, Preamble). Scripture calls the church “the body of Christ’ and calls Christ our head. The church is faithful in its call when “it participates in mission, in calling all persons to life in Christ, and in proclaiming God’s promise and commands to all the world” (Preamble).

The marks of the “true church”
The church is under the authority of Jesus Christ, who unites believers to himself and to each other. The church goes wrong when it “assigns more authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God.”

Historically, the church has been characterized by three “marks”:

• It proclaims the gospel (Belgic Confession, Article 29)
• It administers the sacraments as Christ instituted them (Belgic Confession, Article 29)
• It practices discipline when members are not living out their faith (Belgic Confession, Article 29)

A fourth characteristic of the church, unity, is worth including here. It’s not identified among the classical Reformation marks of the church, but it is captured in the Nicene Creed and elaborated upon in the Belhar Confession. That characteristic is that the church is united by Christ with God and each other (Belhar Confession, Point 2)

The gospel promises that “everyone who believes in [Jesus] may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). The church is called to proclaim this gospel promise to all nations and people without discrimination (Canons of Dort, Main Point 2, Article 5). It’s through the “preaching of the holy gospel” that the “Holy Spirit produces [faith] in our hearts” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 65). 

The Belhar Confession says, “The church is witness both by word and by deed to the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells.” 

In a world full of injustice and hate, one way we bear witness to the gospel is to join God in standing for peace and justice. While redemption has an eternal quality, God also cares about the immediate needs of people: “God brings justice to the oppressed and gives bread to the hungry. … God supports the downtrodden, protects the stranger, helps orphans and widows and blocks the path of the ungodly” (Belhar Confession, Point 4). Because of that, Reformed Christians believe that “the church must witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Belhar Confession, Point 4).

“Sacraments are visible, holy signs and seals” instituted by Jesus to help us understand the promise of the gospel and to seal its promise in us (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 66). They allow us to experience with our external senses what we hear in God’s Word and feel the Spirit do in our hearts. 

In this way, the sacraments help us focus on the truth at the heart of our faith: “the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 67). 

The true church “governs itself according to the pure Word of God,” rejecting everything contrary to Scripture (Belgic Confession, Article 29). Reformed churches follow a governance structure that involves ministers, elders, and deacons. These “offices,” as they’re called, are put in place for the oversight and care of the church. One of the responsibilities of church leadership is to care spiritually for church members who are not living in accordance with God’s Word. Church discipline is intended to restore people to right relationship with God.

In Jesus Christ, the church has a twofold unity: with God and with each other. All Christians, regardless of theological stripe, belong to the same body. “We believe in one holy, universal, Christian church, the communion of saints called from the entire human family” (Belhar Confession, Point 2). “We share one faith, have one calling, are of one soul and one mind; have one God and Father, are filled with one Spirit, are baptized with one baptism, eat of one bread and drink of one cup, confess one name, are obedient to one Lord, work for one cause, and share one hope.”

Our unity in Christ is “both a gift and an obligation for the church.” It “must become visible” so that the world can see that “separation, enmity and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered” (Belhar Confession, Point 2).