Reformed
Term
The branch of Protestantism that grew from the Swiss and Genevan Reformation and is summarised in confessions such as Westminster and the 1689 London Baptist Confession.
Also called: Reformed theology, Reformed tradition, Reformed faith
What it means
Reformed describes the stream of Protestant Christianity that came from the Reformation in Switzerland, Geneva, the Netherlands, Scotland, and England, associated with John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, and others. Its historic confessions include the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Canons of Dort, and the Westminster Standards. Reformed Baptists hold the same theology in the 1689 London Baptist Confession, differing mainly on baptism and church order.
Reformed theology stresses the sovereignty and glory of God, the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, the doctrines often summarised as Calvinism, covenant theology, a high view of the church and the means of grace, and worship ordered by Scripture.
The word is used loosely today. Some use it of anyone who holds to Calvinist views of salvation; others reserve it for churches that adopt a Reformed confession. On this site, a church's confession and practice are described in detail, rather than relying on the label alone.
In Scripture
From him, through him, and to him are all things; to him be glory forever.
God chose his people in Christ before the foundation of the world, to the praise of his grace.
By grace you have been saved through faith, not by works.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and equips the man of God for every good work.
A person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Related terms
CalvinismA view held among orthodox Christians
The teaching that salvation is wholly God's work, from His choosing of sinners before creation to His keeping them to the end.
Covenant theologyA view held among orthodox Christians
A way of reading the whole Bible as the story of God's covenants, centred on one covenant of grace administered across both testaments.
1689 FederalismA view held among orthodox Christians
The covenant theology of the 1689 London Baptist Confession, which sees the covenant of grace promised in the Old Testament and established in the new covenant.
A fuller written statement of a church's beliefs, longer than a creed, which its officers and often its members affirm.
PresbyterianismA view held among orthodox Christians
A form of church government in which each congregation is ruled by a session of elders, and congregations are joined under higher courts of elders (presbyteries and assemblies) for mutual accountability.
Regulative principleA view held among orthodox Christians
The principle that the public worship of God should include only what He has commanded or appointed in Scripture, whether by explicit command, example, or good and necessary inference.