Reformed Faith
We have learned a lot of the history of Reformed churches over the previous couple of days. Now we will take a look at one last group of the Reformed church traditions in the US…which is the Presbyterians. The Presbyterians continue the history of the Reformed tradition tracing their history to Switzerland and the ministry of Ulrich Zwingli. You may recall that we talked about Ulrich on Friday. Preeminence is still assigned to John Calvin and the church live that he established in 1530’s Geneva. Presbyterians represent the influence of Reformed traditions as expressed in the British Isles.
Continue reading about Distinctly Presbyterian, with a British accent
What do you think of when you think of a Congregational Church? For me, I think of a colonial style building – which is fitting since the first Congregationalists were Puritans who migrated to the British American Colonies. They trace their history to early independents in Elizabethan England who were for a congregational form of church governance. (A congregational form of government or “polity” in churchy terms is a system of church governance where every local congregation is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign (i.e. autonomous)) Real support for the Congregationalists didn’t gain real support until the first decades of the seventeenth century, only having a chance to test this approach in the 1630’s New England.
Continue reading about Congregationalism in the United States
There are several active churches in America which bear the name Reformed. The first Reformed church in what today is the US (The Marble Collegiate Reformed Church) was organized in 1628 in New Amsterdam (you may know this as New York). As you can imagine from the name of the city, the church was part of the Dutch Reformed movement and was the beginning of what is now the Reformed Church in America (RCA).
Ok, is this weird in a sad sort of way or what? What Liberal churches do and why is always beyond my comprehension, but this is just plain sad.
Like the Lutheran church after the death of Luther, there was a period of conflict and controversy in the 
Reformed Church after Calvin’s death. The most definitive events which followed took place in the Netherlands, principally because it was there that the Reformed Church became a distinctive part of the struggle for independence against Spain. The controversy is one that was based on an idea affirmed by Luther and developed under Calvin – the idea of Predestination. Around the start of the 17th century, a Dutch theologian, Jacob Arminius, began to offer a different view of predestination – one that left a small yet significant role for human response to God’s grace. Now, recall that Calvinists believed that God’s will logically preceded, Arminius reversed that. For Arminius, humans were not totally depraved by sin – only partially depraved. That means that they retained enough of God’s original created imaged of man to be able to respond to the gospel. Thankfully, the majority of the leaders of the Reformed church rejected this view and called a special council, the Synod of Dordrecht (or Synod of Dort for short), to respond to this heresy. This council, held in 1618-1619, just ten years after Arminius died, provided the Church will an affirmation of what the Reformed believe. These five canons, known to Reformed believers today, are:
TULIP (As A Comparison)
As Augustinians, Luther and Calvin generally were in agreement on the substance of the Five Points (remember the Five Points were formally adopted in 1618-19). Luther believed in Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Irresistible Grace, and the Perseverance of the Saints. However, Luther waffled between a unlimited atonement and Christ only dying for the elect. Luther also allowed for the possibility that some who had genuinely received grace might apostatize. It was Phillip Melanchthon that moved Lutheranism toward an Arminian-like doctrine of salvation. Melanchthon is considered the chief author of the Lutheran’s doctrinal confession, the Book of Concord. Recall, Arminian thought was that man is not totally deprived, election is conditioned on God’s foreknowledge of our acceptance of Christ, that Christ died for the purpose of saving all, saving grace is resistible, and that it is possible to be lost even after one is genuinely saved by grace. Both bodies rejected Arminianism, however Lutherans did so in a different way than the Reformed did (i.e. still accepting unconditional salvation, resistance of grace, and the ability to fall away from saving faith).
Law & Gospel
Lutherans believe the law is a curb, mirror, and rule. Lutherans do not believe the law is necessary in securing justification. Lutherans believe the Gospel is the centrality of doctrine. - Reformed believe that the Law is a means for securing justification, strengthening one’s personal assurance of being saved, being of the elect, and for coming into the possession of the benefits and blessings of the covenantal relationship with God. They believe that the Gospel reaffirms the law and shows its value. Reformed believe that the centrality of doctrine is the glory and sovereignty of God.
Continue reading about Luther vs. Reformed: Law & Order; Role of Women
Christ and Holy Communion
The fundamental difference comes down to the ubiquity of the body of Christ. Does Christ come down from heaven to us or are we raised up to Christ in heaven?
- Lutherans believe in Christ’s real physical prsence at the sacrament (called sacramental union) in which Christ is present in, with, and under the elements. They believe that the elements are actual means of God’s grace through which the Holy Spirit works. Furthermore, Lutherans believe that the body and blood of Christ are present at the Lord’s Table and are partaken by the believer and non-believer alike. For this reason, Lutherans practice "close(d) communion:, where only members of the church denomination are allowed to participate. Often, this belief is incorrectly referred to as "consubstatiation"
Now, I am part of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, but the PCA shares our view on homosexuality and ordination. Their (the PCA) stated clerk (head of the denomination) printed a response on the PCA website at: http://byfaithonline.com/page/pca-news/taylor-issues-statement-regarding-pcas-position-on-sexuality-and-ordination
Interesting read (including the attachments, of course) if you’d like to know more about why non-PCUSA Presbyterians believe this.
Continue reading about Sexuality and Ordination–Difference between PCUSA and PCA