History of the Reformation and Reformed Churches — Unit 1: What Does "Reformed" Mean? Names, Roots, and the Shape of the Tradition

Key Verse

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain what "Reformed" means and why the tradition says its churches must always be tested by the Word of God.

2. Distinguish the names Reformed, Calvinist and Presbyterian, and say how they overlap.

3. Name the great Reformed confessions and give the century of each.

4. Describe the heart of the Reformed faith through the five phrases called the solas.

5. State the historians' debate about whether John Calvin founded the tradition, and give the Reformed answer.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Reformed tradition, for students who belong to it. It is conservative. When it says "we" or "our tradition," it means the confessional Reformed and Presbyterian churches that hold the Bible to be the inspired, inerrant Word of God and that confess the faith set out in historic documents such as the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Standards. Such churches are found today in many lands, including the Presbyterian Church in America, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Presbyterian churches, and faithful Reformed and Presbyterian churches in Mexico, Brazil, Africa and Asia.

Some historians, and some other Christians, see these matters differently. Where that is so, we state their view fairly and then give our answer. Where a Reformed body has drifted from its confession, as some large church bodies have, we describe it honestly and do not follow it. The Bible tells us how to listen: the people of Berea "received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). That is how we want you to read this history.

A Word with a History

The word "reformed" simply means "re-formed" or "made new in shape." In the sixteenth century, Christians in Europe asked whether the church of their day matched the church of the New Testament. They believed it did not. Teaching, worship and church life had been added to over many centuries, and in places the gospel itself was hidden. They did not wish to start a new religion. They wished to bring the existing church back under the Word of God. They were reforming the church, and so the churches that followed them were called "reformed churches."

The Reformation is usually dated from 1517, when Martin Luther made public his Ninety-five Theses in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther's call for reform spread quickly. In the German lands it produced the Lutheran churches. In Switzerland, at about the same time, other pastors reached similar convictions and began to reform their own cities. These Swiss and related movements became the Reformed family. Over the following decades the movement spread to France, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Scotland, England and beyond, as later units will show.

Notice what the word does not mean. It does not mean that we are better than other Christians. It does not mean that the work is finished. Later generations summed up the idea in the Latin saying that the church reformed is always to be reformed. The exact slogan came after the sixteenth century, but the idea is older. The church is never reformed by its own wisdom; it is reformed by the Word. Because "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God," as Paul writes to Timothy, it is the standard by which every church, every confession and every pastor must be judged. This is the first mark of the Reformed tradition.

Three Names: Reformed, Calvinist, Presbyterian

Students often hear three names and wonder whether they mean three different churches. They overlap, but they are not the same.

Reformed. This is the oldest and broadest name. It describes the family of churches that came from the Swiss Reformation and from the teachers who followed Zurich and Geneva. In Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Hungary, the churches were usually called "Reformed." In the Netherlands and its colonies they are the Dutch Reformed churches. The name points to a shared faith, not to one man.

Calvinist. This name comes from John Calvin of Geneva (1509-1564), the great teacher of the second generation. It was used from the sixteenth century onward, often by opponents and often as a word of blame. Calvin himself did not wish the church to be named after a man. Many Reformed Christians use it today with thanks, especially for the teaching on the sovereignty of God and salvation by grace. "Calvinism" is also used for the doctrines of grace, which Course 2 will study. Still, the wider term "Reformed" is the better one, because our tradition is larger than Calvin.

Presbyterian. This name comes from the Greek word for "elder," presbyteros. It describes Reformed churches that are governed by elders gathered in courts: the local session, the presbytery and the wider assemblies. This pattern grew strongly in Scotland, and from Scotland it spread to England, Ireland, North America and many mission fields. A Presbyterian church is a Reformed church with a particular form of government. Course 4 will study that government in detail.

So we may say it in one sentence. Presbyterians are Reformed in doctrine, Calvinist in their teaching about grace, and governed by elders. Dutch, Swiss and Hungarian Reformed churches share the same doctrine, though some govern themselves with slightly different names and structures.

Roots in the Sixteenth Century

Our tradition has several roots, and it is good to know them in order.

Zurich. Huldrych Zwingli began preaching the gospel in Zurich in 1519, and his successor Heinrich Bullinger led the church there for decades. Unit 2 tells this story. Zurich shows that the Reformed movement was already under way before Calvin was a Reformer.

Geneva. John Calvin taught and wrote in Geneva, a small city on the border of French and Swiss lands. His book Institutes of the Christian Religion, first published in 1536 and enlarged until its final Latin form in 1559, became the best-known statement of Reformed teaching. Geneva also trained pastors who went out to France, Scotland, the Netherlands and other lands. Unit 3 tells this story.

Other teachers. Many other teachers shaped the family: Martin Bucer in Strasbourg, Guillaume Farel, Theodore Beza, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Zacharias Ursinus and John Knox. The Reformed tradition was never the work of one man or one city.

The recognition of Reformed churches. Early on, Reformed Christians had no legal protection in much of Europe. The religious settlement of 1555 in the German lands recognized Lutheran and Catholic rulers but not Reformed ones. Only the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 gave the Reformed churches equal legal standing with the Lutheran and Catholic churches in the Holy Roman Empire. Our fathers often worshiped under danger, and some died for the faith.

The Heart of the Tradition

If someone asks, "What do the Reformed believe?" the shortest answer is a set of Latin phrases, each beginning with the word "alone." Later generations gathered them as the five solas. The Reformers themselves did not use this exact list as a set, but each phrase sums up what they taught.

Scripture alone (sola Scriptura). The Bible is the final authority for faith and life. Tradition and councils may help, but they are never equal to the Word.

Christ alone (solus Christus). Salvation is found in Jesus Christ, our prophet, priest and king, and in no one else.

Grace alone (sola gratia). God saves sinners by His free favor, not by any merit in us. Paul writes, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Faith alone (sola fide). We receive that salvation through faith, which rests on Christ and not on our works.

To God's glory alone (soli Deo gloria). All things exist for the glory of God. This phrase is perhaps the most Reformed of the five. Paul ends his great argument in Romans with the words that the Reformed have loved: all things are "of Him and through Him and to Him" (Romans 11:36).

These phrases are shared with Lutherans and many evangelicals. What marks the Reformed family in particular is how it draws them together. Reformed teaching puts the sovereign God at the center, from His eternal plan to the last day. It teaches that God deals with His people in covenant. It teaches that the church is shaped by Scripture in its worship and government. It also teaches the doctrines of grace. We will study all these in the courses ahead.

How the Tradition Speaks: The Confessions

A confession is a written statement of what a church believes the Bible teaches. The Reformed churches wrote many, in different places and centuries. The main ones for this specialization are these.

• The Scots Confession (1560), written for the Reformation in Scotland.

• The Belgic Confession (1561), written chiefly for the churches in the Low Countries.

• The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), written for the Palatinate in Germany.

• The Second Helvetic Confession (1566), written by Bullinger and accepted in many Reformed churches.

• The Canons of Dort (1619), the answer of the Synod of Dort to the Arminian objections.

• The Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms (1646-47), the standards of English-speaking Presbyterians.

The Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of Dort are together called the Three Forms of Unity. Course 3 studies these documents closely.

Why have confessions? An objection comes from some other Christians, especially some Baptist and free-church believers: "We have only the Bible. A confession adds human words to God's Word." We answer that the Reformed tradition does not place any confession above Scripture. A confession is a subordinate standard: it is tested by the Bible and may be corrected by the Bible. At the same time, every church has a creed, written or unwritten. The only question is whether it is stated openly and tested openly. A confession protects the flock from false teachers, teaches children and new believers, and joins churches in many lands. It is how a church says, "Here is what we understand the Word to teach."

Debates and Objections

A pastor should be ready for honest questions. We state each as its holders would and then answer.

Question 1: Did Calvin found the Reformed tradition?

Many people, including many outside the church, think so. They say that "Reformed" and "Calvinist" are the same, and that Calvin's Geneva was the source of everything. Some historians go further and argue that later Reformed teachers changed Calvin's ideas, so that the "Calvinists" were unfaithful to Calvin. Other historians reply that the later teachers developed his work in continuity with it. The historian Richard Muller is among those who argue for real continuity with development, in different forms for a new age.

Our answer. We honor Calvin, but we do not make him the founder. Zwingli began in Zurich in 1519, when Calvin was about ten years old. Bullinger, Bucer, Vermigli, Beza, Ursinus and Knox all contributed. Calvin's special gift was to teach the whole faith in order and to train others. The Reformed faith was shared widely before and beyond Geneva. Later teachers did use new tools and sharper definitions to answer new errors, but we hold that they were building on the same Scriptures and the same gospel. Historians are right that the tradition has diversity. They are wrong if they conclude that it has no common center.

Question 2: Is Reformed theology just a system built from predestination?

Some writers say that Calvinists begin with God's decrees and then deduce everything else, so that the system is cold and logical.

Our answer. The center of our faith is the glory of God and the Word of God, not a single doctrine. Predestination is taught in Scripture, for instance in Ephesians 1, and our fathers taught it for the comfort of believers, not as a puzzle. The Heidelberg Catechism begins not with decrees but with our "only comfort in life and in death." Course 2 will return to this.

Question 3: Is the Reformed tradition too divided to be one tradition?

It is true that Reformed churches use different names, have different governments and are found in many countries. Some have been divided by quarrels, and some have left the faith.

Our answer. A family can be broad without being formless. The confessions give the family a common voice. Where a church has abandoned its confession, as happened in some mainline bodies in the twentieth century, we say so plainly and look for the faithful remnant, as Unit 10 will do. Unity in the truth matters more to us than unity in name.

Pastoral Application

A pastor in a small Presbyterian church in Jalisco is visited by a young couple who attend a neighboring non-denominational church. The husband says, "My friend told me Calvinists follow a man named Calvin, not Christ. And you have a creed. Why isn't the Bible enough?"

The pastor welcomes the question and does not answer sharply. First, he opens a Bible with the husband and reads 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and Acts 17:11. He agrees that Scripture is the final authority. Second, he explains that "Reformed" is the older and wider name, that Calvin was one teacher among many, and that Calvin himself did not want a church named for him. Third, he shows the couple the Heidelberg Catechism's first question and answer, and explains that a confession is a servant of the Word, like a summary written by a teacher, and not a second Bible. Fourth, he invites the couple to read the Scripture passages cited in the catechism and judge for themselves. He ends by thanking them, praying with them, and offering to meet again.

Summary

"Reformed" means a church re-formed by the Word of God. The tradition grew from the Swiss Reformation in Zurich and Geneva after 1517 and spread through many lands. Reformed is the widest name; Calvinist names the Genevan teacher and the doctrines of grace; Presbyterian names the Reformed churches governed by elders. The heart of the faith is expressed in the five solas: Scripture alone, Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone, and to God's glory alone. The confessions, from the Scots Confession (1560) to the Westminster Standards (1646-47), serve Scripture and are tested by it. Historians debate whether Calvin was the founder; we answer that he was a great teacher in a larger family, and that the family was in motion before him. We hold our convictions with thanks, with humility and with a readiness to be corrected by the Word.

Further Reading

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Beveridge translation, 1845), a primary source.

• The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), especially Question 1.

• The Belgic Confession (1561).

• The Second Helvetic Confession (1566).

• The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (1646-47).

• The Scots Confession (1560).

• Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (1872-73), a Reformed classic.

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