What Is the Reformed Faith? High Points of Calvinism Published by and available from: The Committee on Christian Education of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church 607 N. Easton Road, Bldg. E Box P Willow Grove, PA 19090-0920 Phone: 215/830-0900 1996 Individuals who are not members of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church may request a free copy of this booklet. Others may order booklets at $1.00 per copy (no shipping charge). Send your order with a check (payable to the Committee on Christian Education) to the address given above. Permission is granted to photocopy or quote this booklet, in whole or in part. Contents Introduction..................................................................................................1 1. Relation to What Is the OPC?............................................................1 2. The Reformed Faith as the Most Consistent Form of Christianity.......................................................................................1 Part I: Reformed Principles..........................................................................3 1. Bible-Based........................................................................................3 a. Sufficiency b. Necessity c. Inerrancy d. Clarity 2. God-Centered.....................................................................................5 a. His Glory b. His Triune Salvation (1) Total Depravity (2) Unconditional Election (3) Limited Atonement (4) Irresistible Grace (5) Perseverance of the Saints 3. Covenantally Ordered ......................................................................11 a. The Covenants b. Covenant and the Church c. Infant Baptism d. All of Life Redeemed Part II: Reformed Practice .........................................................................14 1. The Law of God...............................................................................14 2. Principles of Conduct.......................................................................14 a. Labor and the Sabbath Ordinance—the Fourth Commandment b. The Sanctity of Life—the Sixth Commandment c. Marriage—the Seventh Commandment 3. Evangelism.......................................................................................16 Part III: Reformed Church Government ....................................................17 1. The Corporate Nature of the Church ...............................................17 2. The Government of the Church .......................................................17 3. The Discipline of the Church...........................................................18 4. The Ecumenical Calling of the Church............................................19 Part IV: Reformed Worship.......................................................................20 1. Private and Family Worship ............................................................20 2. Corporate Worship...........................................................................20 a. Regulation b. Singing of Praise c. Preaching of the Word d. The Lord’s Supper e. Simplicity Conclusion .................................................................................................24 1. A Faithful Reformed Church ...........................................................24 2. The Doxologies of Revelation 4 and 5 ............................................24 Introduction 1. Relation to What Is the OPC? The companion booklet What Is the OPC? provides basic information about the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, including its history, doctrine, and ministries. The descriptive adjective “Reformed” occurs throughout that booklet, but is not fully defined. Basically, when we speak of the Reformed faith, we refer to the true Christian religion as it was recovered during the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In this booklet, we have selected those doctrines and that methodology which position the OPC as a Reformed church. Consequently, the reader will not find here a treatment of those cardinal articles of the Christian religion that Reformed churches hold in common with other churches, such as the Trinity, the atonement, justification by faith, the virgin birth and bodily resurrection of Jesus, his miracles, and the inspiration of Holy Scripture. The Reformed faith holds to all the apostolic doctrines set forth in the Bible and given credal formulation by the great ecumenical councils of the ancient church. It is important to recognize that these doctrines have been variously misinterpreted by the several branches of the visible church. Which interpretations belong to the Reformed faith, and which do not? The answer to that question can only be gained through a careful study of the Reformed creeds, confessions, and catechisms—many quotations from which will be encountered throughout this study. Any adequate definition of the Reformed faith must focus on doctrine. Nonetheless, merely “buying into” some abstract body of truth does not qualify an individual or a church as “Reformed.” Rather, the Reformed faith is a relationship to God, through Jesus Christ, based upon the gospel revealed by him and in Holy Scripture. The contents of this booklet are selective, and are not comprehensive of the Christian faith. An exhaustive summary of the Reformed faith is neither intended nor supplied. Finally, this booklet is not to be taken as an official statement of the doctrine and practice of the OPC. For such, the reader is directed to our Confession of Faith, Catechisms, and The Book of Church Order. 2. The Reformed Faith as the Most Consistent Form of Christianity The Reformed faith is the Christian religion in its most consistent expression. This is not to claim that others, who do not hold to the Reformed confessions, are not Christians. It is simply to insist that there is only one true religion and that the most consistent expression of it is the Reformed faith. Jesus himself said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matt. 7:13–14). No doubt some see this way more clearly than others. And Jesus does not say that none but the consistent will be able to enter in. But how clear it is that there is only one way! Furthermore, Jesus plainly insisted that this one way of salvation be taught consistently: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’ ” (Matt. 28:18–20). Consistent and faithful maintenance of the entire content of the true religion is a matter of no little importance. We are not to judge just how much a particular sinner must know in order to be saved. But there is no doubt as to the church’s task in this world: to uphold the whole of Christ’s word in faithful and consistent teaching. Part I: Reformed Principles 1. Bible-Based The Reformed faith takes the Bible with the utmost seriousness. It is but another way of saying that “from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen” (Rom. 11:36). The Reformed faith seeks to maintain the entire teaching of the Bible, rightly understood. Space considerations prevent us from developing the distinctive emphases of the Reformed faith at any great length. But we hope that through even this brief survey the reader will: (1) see that there is a profound difference between the Reformed faith and all other less consistent formulations of the Christian faith, and (2) be challenged to investigate with open mind our claim that this Reformed faith is nothing more or less than the teaching of the Bible consistently expressed. a. Sufficiency The Reformed faith finds its entire authority in the teaching of the Word of God. The Bible is the only infallible rule of what we are to believe and how we are to live. Continuing charismatic revelations, prophecies, or unknown tongues are no longer needed because God has spoken his final and all-sufficient word with the completion of the canon of Holy Scripture. The Bible and the Bible alone—that is our confession! b. Necessity The Bible is the revelation of God’s person and will. “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8:3). But people naturally try to live without that Word; they attempt to live by their own lights (cf. Ps. 36:1–4). The truth, however, is that no man can live without the light of God’s special revelation. This was true for the first created man, Adam, even before he fell into sin by denying God’s light and disobeying him. Adam, though created perfect and with the work of God’s law inscribed upon his heart, still needed outside light to shine upon him to enable him to walk according to God’s commands. Adam still needed God to talk to him. He knew much, by virtue of his constitution in the divine image, yet he still needed the divine voice. And so do all of Adam’s descendants, whether or not they like to hear it. In Romans 1:21, the apostle Paul makes the startling announcement that by nature everyone knows about God’s existence and power because of his work in the created universe, and yet rejects and despises that light which they have. Since the fall of mankind, the human will has been grossly perverted. Each of us, apart