What Is The Reformed Faith?
By Michael Horton
©
1993 Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
Click here for printable PDF
How do I go to God?", someone asked the Scottish Presbyterian,
Horatius Bonar. The parson answered,
"It is with our
sins that we go to God, for we have nothing else that we
can truly call our own."
Much like Lutheranism, the Reformed
tradition was forged out of the mighty storm known as the
Protestant Reformation.
John Calvin (1507-64) was a Frenchman who, through his
own study of the Scriptures and reading the tracts of Luther
and other older Reformers, became a convert to the "evangelical" faith.
Like Luther, Calvin was anxious about the state of his soul.
How does a sinner become acceptable to a pure and holy God
who cannot tolerate sin and who has told us that He has prepared
a place of eternal torment? "Just love the Lord," they
told Calvin. "Love Him?" he asked. "How can
you love a God who is always pointing His finger at you,
just waiting for your foot to slip?" But then a marvelous
discovery came to the French scholar, much the same way it
came to Luther, and in no small measure through that great
Reformer's writings. The Bible declares that Christians are
justified by faith in Christ and not by anything they do.
That revolutionized this timid, shy Frenchman and made him,
reluctantly, a major influence on the Western world.
But what did Calvin teach that was
so revolutionary in his day? Or Edwards or Whitefield in
theirs? What made
Charles
Spurgeon such an amazing evangelist and launched the
modern missionary movement, with William Carey, Hudson
Taylor,
David Livingstone, and John Patton? What caused the Great
Awakening
and the Evangelical Revival in Britain and Europe? And
why do we think these ideas--which are no more than the
ideas
of the Bible itself, could cause another revolution or
reformation in thought and life today? First, the basic
beliefs.
This Is My Father's World
Calvin wrote much on the beauty of
the world as a "theater" in
which God's attributes were displayed and highlighted. "As
ever in my taskmaster's eye," wrote the famous Calvinistic
poet, John Milton, expressing the sense of belonging to this
world the Christian ought to feel. Of course, we are ultimately
bound for eternity, but this life really does count.
That's why the Reformed tradition
has always had a high doctrine of creation. If a cheap
piece of
pottery
falls
from the cupboard,
it's no worry--just sweep it up and that's that.
But what if the vase is a priceless antique in
a museum,
a master's
signature edition and it is destroyed? Surely this
would be a great tragedy. The difference doesn't
lie in the
quality of the material (both may have been clay
pots), but in
the greatness of the artist and the uniqueness
of the work. So
too, humans are not merely spirits caged in the
prison-house of a body, but great works of art intended
to have
a certain enthusiasm and sense of dignity about
being human.
Reformed theology has always emphasized
the fact that everything has a reason--and that we have
a reason.
Nothing happens
by chance, but is organized by the Great Director.
And we are all "actors" on God's stage, as Shakespeare
put it.
Far from making our own decisions
and actions meaningless, it renders them truly significant.
Who would ever
say that the significance or freedom of Sir
Laurence
Olivier
or
Kathryn Hepburn is diminished by the existence
of a script? Without
a script, how could their acting have any meaning
at all?
This means, too, that God did not
create a separation between "secular" and "sacred," as
many Christians today often do. Christians were meant to
participate alongside non-Christians in every aspect of life.
Reformed theology has no place for "Christian cruises" and "Christian
media," "Christian books" and "Christian
music." There is no "full-time Christian ministry" and "secular
work," but vocations or callings for everyone. In creation,
too, there is the gift of "common grace." "The
rain falls on the just and the unjust alike," Jesus
told the disciples.
The Fall Is Worse Than You Think
Sometimes we tend to view sin mainly
in terms of actions: doing this or not doing that.
But sin,
according to
Scripture, is mainly a condition which
produces actions . "We sin
because we're sinners," as the saying goes. Reformed
theology takes sin seriously and argues with St. Paul that
believers "were dead in trespasses and sins" and
that "the unbeliever doesn't understand the things of
the Spirit of God; neither can he know them...."
Think of it: Spiritually dead ! Have
you ever had a good conversation with
a corpse?
Just
try it
sometime. It's
a bore! Similarly, we can expect no
life from fallen men and
women until God decides to dispense
His grace. "No one
understands, there is no one who does good, no one looks
for God, no not even one," lamented the Apostle Paul.
This, of course, does not mean that we simply sit around
and wait for unbelievers to be regenerated before we tell
them the Gospel. Rather, we expect the Gospel, together with
the Spirit, to regenerate them through our message.
The Reformed, like other Protestants,
take the Fall in the garden of Eden
seriously. We actually
inherit
the
moral corruption
and the guilt of Adam. We enter the
human race as God's enemies, guilty
enough
to
be condemned
even
before
our first actual
act of disobedience. "In sin," the Psalmist confessed, "my
mother conceived me." This means that it is impossible
for us to lift a finger to cooperate with God in our own
salvation. Free will, the idea that everybody has the ability
to accept Christ, is unbiblical and the root of serious misunderstandings
from the Reformed point of view.
Election
"
Just as He chose us in Christ before the creation of the
world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In
love He predestined us to be adopted as His children....In
Him we also have an inheritance, having been predestined
according to the will of Him who works out everything in
conformity with His own plan and purpose" (Eph.1:4-11).
Here, as in so many places, the
Bible tells us that God had
His eye on
us long before
we had
ours on
Him. "Herein
is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us." I
grew up with the illustration, "God has cast His vote
for your soul; Satan cast his, but you must cast the deciding
ballot." This, however, doesn't square with the Apostle
Paul's remark that, "It does not depend on man's decision
or effort, but upon God's mercy" (Rom.9:16). Election
is not only a prominent doctrine in the Bible, but is of
immeasurable comfort to those who are always anxious about
whether they are doing enough to secure their salvation.
Election teaches us, in Christ's own words, "You did
not choose Me; I chose you and appointed you to bear fruit
that would last" (Jn.15:16).
The Incarnation
Reformed theology has also
emphasized the fact that "God
became flesh and lived among us" (Jn.1). I can remember
in Sunday school singing, as a child, "Jacob's Ladder." We
would make climbing motions while we sang it. But this is
not sound theology, is it? For the ladder Jacob saw in His
dream was not a ladder we were to climb up to God, but a
ladder God climbed down to us. Do you notice a common theme
here? God's doing all the work. He's the initiator, the One
moving toward us while we are helpless.
The incarnation also teaches
us that God took on our
own nature, sanctifying
it.
While it
was humbling
for
the Son
of God to be subjected
to
the miseries
of a fallen world, He
was pleased to become a human
being
just like us.
Christ's Life
Wait a second...Christ's
life ? We hear about
His death,
but what
did
His life
accomplish
for us?
In Reformed theology
(as in Lutheranism),
we speak
of Christ's
active and
passive obedience.
His active obedience
is His
thirty years of
perfect obedience to the
Law of His Father.
It wouldn't
be enough, you
see, for
Christ
to have died
for our sins. The
glass can't just
be empty
of guilt; it
must be full of
perfect righteousness, and
we don't have it.
Christ perfectly
fulfilled the Law
in our place.
The "impossible
dream" was finally realized by a human being--one of
us, and He won the prize for us as though we were there with
Him in every act of obedience.
His "victorious Christian life," therefore, replaces
our own failings and we are saved because He lived for God,
even though we do not.
The Cross
Then there's
the other
part I mentioned--the
passive obedience
of
Christ. We
are saved
not only
by His life,
but by His
death; not
only because He
lived
for the Lord,
but because
He surrendered
all
to the Lord
even when
that meant
His own judgment
in our place.
We all know
what a
substitute is. He stands
in for
someone
else. Christ stood
in
for us
and took the
rap that
was justly
meant
for us.
Hanging on
that cruel
Roman scaffold,
Jesus
Christ
was considered
the greatest
sinner
who ever lived,
carrying
the
sins of
the world
and enduring
the outpouring
of Divine
wrath and
hatred
for those
sins.
The Resurrection
I used
to
live at Lake
Tahoe,
high
in
California's Sierra
Mountains.
First,
there
would
be an ominous
cover
of dark clouds
which
could turn noon-time
into
evening in minutes.
There
was a
storm
and
it would
last for
hours.
The
next
day, I would
step
outside, blinded
by
the sun as
it
reflected off of
the
fresh
snow and the
skies
would
be
painted in the
deepest
shade
of blue on
the
spectrum.
In
a
similar way,
the
cross
was
the
judgment
of
God
on
Christ
as
the
believer's
substitute.
But
the
storm
passed
and
the
resurrection
of
Christ
confirmed
Him
as
the
King
of
creation,
the
Lord
of
redemption. "He was crucified for our sins
and was raised for our justification," according to
the Scriptures.
It's
important to
remember, too,
that all
of this
is historical.
Jesus did
not simply
rise from
the dead
allegorically or
as a
myth which
teaches us
about new
life. It
was real
space and
time history,
which hostile
witnesses could
not successfully
refute.
Justification
and Union
With Christ
The
central doctrine
of the
Reformation was
justification by
grace alone
through faith
alone. We
believe that
by trusting
in Christ
alone for
our salvation,
we are
declared righteous.
All of
Christ's perfect
obedience is
charged to
our account
and our
sins are
regarded as
having been
paid for
at the
cross.
Through
faith, we
are united
to Christ
and through
that union
we share
everything in
common with
Christ Himself.
Is He
righteous? Then
we're righteous!
Is He
holy? Then
so are
we! Of
course, this
does not
mean that
we share
His divine
attributes, but
everything He
accomplished in
His life,
death, and
resurrection is
ours.
Many
other religious
groups believe
that somehow,
somewhere, we
have something
to do
with our
own salvation.
We make
some contribution.
For some,
that may
be as
little as "making
a decision" or "walking an aisle" or "saying
a prayer";
for others, it may demand a
great deal more. But in this
view, God's grace is seen as
a substance, something
that is infused or implanted
within the believer, to enable
him or her to live a godly
life. In this perspective,
the Holy Spirit and his guidance
is the gospel, rather than
the
life, death, resurrection,
and ascension of Christ as
our righteousness before God.
That's
why the
Reformers said
that it
was not
sufficient to
say that
it was
all God's
grace from
beginning to
end. That's
a good
start, of
course, but
the Bible
requires a
further safeguard
to the
gospel: Not
only are
we justified
(declared righteous
or just)
before God
by grace
alone, but
it is
by grace
through faith
alone. In
other words,
we do
not become
righteous before
God, in
a process
of Christian
growth, as
we cooperate
with the
Holy Spirit;
rather, we
are declared
righteous before
God in
an instant,
as the
merit of
the perfect
life and
atoning sacrifice
of our
Lord is
imputed or
credited to
our account.
This kind
of righteousness
was not
something that
we produced;
nor was
it even
produced by
God within
us. For
that is
sanctification, and
in this
life, even
the holiest
among us
make only
a short
beginning in
that kind
of righteousness.
What we
need is
this "alien" or "foreign" righteousness;
that is, a righteousness
that belongs properly to someone
else, but is given to us
as though it really were our
own. Besides the banking image
of credit, the Bible uses
the image
of a white robe that covers
our sinfulness and shame.
It
was this
robe that
God used
to cover
Adam and
Eve, when
they realized
that their
fig leaves
would not
hide them
from God's
judgment. And
it was
this covering
that was
prefigured in
the sacrifices,
until John
the Baptist
declared, "Behold!
The Lamb of God, who takes
away the sin of the world."
If
this were
really believed
in our
churches today,
there would
be awakening
and reformation.
Every great
movement in
church history
has found
its impulse
in a
recovery of
these truths.
In a
movement that
claims to
adhere to
the Protestant
Reformation heritage,
evangelicalism
bears
hardly any
resemblance to
that great
work of
God. The
emphasis, once
again, is
on what's
going on
inside, in
one's heart,
in one's
spirit. Gone
again in
our day
is that
objective proclamation
of Christ
crucified for
our sins
and raised
for our
justification
outside
of us,
two thousand
years ago
in a
city in
the Middle
East. "Steps To Victorious Living" have
replaced the preaching of
Christ's victorious life and
death for sinners who cannot
keep up a charade and give
God the
righteousness his holiness
demands.
But
for those
who, by
faith alone,
have received
this gift
of righteousness,
there is
a process
of growth
in holiness.
Although it
is never
the foundation
for acceptance
before God
(for it
is always
an imperfect
holiness),
sanctification
is the
process through
which the
Holy Spirit
gradually conforms
us to
Christ's image.
Chipping away
at our
sinful habits
and deeply-rooted
beliefs, the
Spirit is
the Divine
Sculptor who
seeks to
bring glory
to the
Savior by
making "busts" of
him in every place of business,
in every institution and home,
in work and in leisure. While
the believer continues
to struggle with sin, to
the extent that the person
even questions whether he
or she has really been born
again, the
Scriptures promise that the
resurrection of Christ, when
applied by the Holy Spirit
through the Gospel, raises
that person from spiritual
death and attaches him or
her to the
Living Vine, Christ Jesus.
Knowing that godliness is
not something that one must
achieve in order to be accepted
by
God and received or kept
in his family, we can live
for the first time as grateful
and obedient sons and daughters,
rather
than slaves.
The
Christian Life
Because
all of
that is
true, those
who emphasize
these truths,
as the
Reformers did,
understand the
Christian life
to be
something very
different from
what many
Christians are
used to.
First, it
is liberty
within the
bounds of
God's law
that forms
the motivation.
Fear of
punishment and
hope of
rewards is
not a
motivation one
will likely
see intentionally
articulated or
followed by
those who
take these
truths seriously.
If, when
I am
engaged in "spiritual" activities,
God smells my fear, will
he not be offended rather
than pleased?
And if he smells my selfish
lust for crowns and mansions,
will he not sooner accuse
me of sin than of good works?
For
the
Reformed
believer, "grace is the essence of
theology and gratitude is the essence of ethics," as
the Dutch theologian G. C. Berkouwer put it. Instead of analyzing
every motive, often paralyzing the exercise of good works
for fear doing them "in the flesh," the
believer is to serve God and
neighbor simply because that
is what
a gracious and loving Father
has commanded. It is not simply
because he is all-powerful
and may, therefore, command
whatever he wants, but because
he is all-compassionate and
has transferred
us from the kingdom of darkness
to the kingdom of his own Son.
Therefore, we belong to him--at
the cost of his own
blood, not to ourselves.
All
of this
means, too,
that the
Reformed believer
can turn
his attention
from his
own salvation
to the
salvation and
welfare of
others. There
are so
many out
there who
are lost
and who
need to
hear this
liberating message,
the good
news of
freedom from
sin's bondage
and guilt.
Furthermore, there
are so
many out
there who
are hurting,
homeless, in
pain or
suffering, grieving,
experiencing the
ravages of
sin--both as
victims and
perpetrators. That
is where
the Christian
must be--out
in the
world, not
stuck in
a monastic
community of
super-spiritual zealots
who want
to polish
each other's
halo. To
be sure,
we need
the fellowship
of the
saints and,
more important
even than
that, the
regular reception
of Word
and Sacrament,
but all
of this
is for
a life
of service
in the
world, before
the face
of God.
Dr.
Michael Horton
is Professor
of systematic
theology and
apologetics at
Westminster Seminary
California, editor
of Modern
Reformation magazine
and co-host
of the
nationally syndicated “White Horse Inn” radio
program. Dr. Horton is a
graduate of Biola University
(B.A.), Westminster
Seminary California (M.A.R.)
and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford
(Ph.D.). Some of the books
he has written or edited
include Putting
Amazing
Back
Into
Grace,
Beyond
Culture
Wars,
Power
Religion,
In
the
Face
of
God,
We
Believe,
A
Better
Way
and
Covenant
and
Eschatology.
