Continuing on from my first thread about october being the month us reformed christians celebrate a return to the true gospel, i thought i’d continue with more commentary about some of our reformers. This article first appeared in the April 15, 2015 issue of the Standard Bearer (vol.91, #14).
In reformed theology, we have 5 solae, which in latin means “alone.” They are;
1. Sola scriptura: “Scripture alone”
2. Sola fide: “faith alone”
3. Sola gratia: “grace alone”
4. Solo Christo: “Christ alone”
5. Soli Deo gloria: “to the glory of God alone”
The Five Points of Calvinism themselves have this “alone” or “sola” characteristic, as the adjectives in four of the points show: Election is unconditional; the atonement is limited; depravity is total; grace is irresistible. Each adjective makes a point similar to what the solas make. The Canons of Dordt are emphatic about this. But it is worth explaining these solas in a separate editorial to emphasize this fundamental dimension of being Reformed. Reformed churches were and are faithful to the Bible’s exclusive claims. To be Reformed is to be distinctive, antithetical, exclusive.
To say that the five solas are “Reformed” rather than that they are “Calvinist” (they are the five solas of the Reformation, not the five solas of Calvin) gives opportunity to remind ourselves that, although the Reformed faith owes a great debt to Calvin, our debt is not, to invent a phrase, “sola to Calvin.” The human instruments whom God used to hand down to us the Christian tradition we call “Reformed” were many more than Calvin.
Reformed Christians rightly lionize Calvin. We thank God for this man and his defense and propagation of the true Christian religion. Our debt to his tireless and faithful efforts is no little one. But ‘lionizing’ Calvin must not allow us to forget other important figures in the ‘pride.’ Reformed believers ought to grant lion-status to Calvin’s contemporaries—Zwingli and Lasco, Vermigli and Bucer, Bullinger and Knox. In the same ‘pride’ ought to be placed Calvin’s followers, who clarified and developed the Reformed faith—Beza, Ursinus and Oliveanus, Voetius and Gomarus, and many more. Calvin himself would have given recognition to a different cloud of witnesses, on whose shoulders he stood, and on account of whose blood the faith of the fathers was living still in his day—Augustine, Gottschalk, Wycliff, Huss, Luther and more.
But attaching a man’s name to a movement is not the way of wisdom. Truly, we ought not embrace the label Calvinist any more than the PRCs want to be known as “Hoeksemists,” the Canadian Reformed “Schilderists,” or the OPCs “Machenists.” Calvin himself did not want his name so used. It was not, in his day, except by his Lutheran opponents. Calvin recoiled at the designation “Calvinism,” and not because of modesty, but because the Christian faith is not of a man, and the truth they embraced was not new.
Yet, the label has stuck. So we use it without shame, even if with some slight regret. But far better for us is the label “Reformed” (by which, remember, we simply mean the Christian faith).
The Reformed creeds teach biblical truth: “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5). “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
We justly say with Paul, that we are justified by faith alone, or by faith without works” (Belgic Confession, Art. 22). Then the creed sharpens the point: “To speak more clearly, we do not mean that faith itself justifies us, for it is only an instrument with which we embrace Christ our righteousness.” According to Martin Luther, this is the article by which the church stands or falls. Calvin said it is “the main hinge on which religion turns.” The fathers of Westminster followed suit by confessing that “Faith…is the alone instrument of justification.”
To tie the first two solas together, the Reformed faith teaches that Christ alone saves, through faith alone.
In reformed theology, we have 5 solae, which in latin means “alone.” They are;
1. Sola scriptura: “Scripture alone”
2. Sola fide: “faith alone”
3. Sola gratia: “grace alone”
4. Solo Christo: “Christ alone”
5. Soli Deo gloria: “to the glory of God alone”
The Five Points of Calvinism themselves have this “alone” or “sola” characteristic, as the adjectives in four of the points show: Election is unconditional; the atonement is limited; depravity is total; grace is irresistible. Each adjective makes a point similar to what the solas make. The Canons of Dordt are emphatic about this. But it is worth explaining these solas in a separate editorial to emphasize this fundamental dimension of being Reformed. Reformed churches were and are faithful to the Bible’s exclusive claims. To be Reformed is to be distinctive, antithetical, exclusive.
To say that the five solas are “Reformed” rather than that they are “Calvinist” (they are the five solas of the Reformation, not the five solas of Calvin) gives opportunity to remind ourselves that, although the Reformed faith owes a great debt to Calvin, our debt is not, to invent a phrase, “sola to Calvin.” The human instruments whom God used to hand down to us the Christian tradition we call “Reformed” were many more than Calvin.
Reformed Christians rightly lionize Calvin. We thank God for this man and his defense and propagation of the true Christian religion. Our debt to his tireless and faithful efforts is no little one. But ‘lionizing’ Calvin must not allow us to forget other important figures in the ‘pride.’ Reformed believers ought to grant lion-status to Calvin’s contemporaries—Zwingli and Lasco, Vermigli and Bucer, Bullinger and Knox. In the same ‘pride’ ought to be placed Calvin’s followers, who clarified and developed the Reformed faith—Beza, Ursinus and Oliveanus, Voetius and Gomarus, and many more. Calvin himself would have given recognition to a different cloud of witnesses, on whose shoulders he stood, and on account of whose blood the faith of the fathers was living still in his day—Augustine, Gottschalk, Wycliff, Huss, Luther and more.
But attaching a man’s name to a movement is not the way of wisdom. Truly, we ought not embrace the label Calvinist any more than the PRCs want to be known as “Hoeksemists,” the Canadian Reformed “Schilderists,” or the OPCs “Machenists.” Calvin himself did not want his name so used. It was not, in his day, except by his Lutheran opponents. Calvin recoiled at the designation “Calvinism,” and not because of modesty, but because the Christian faith is not of a man, and the truth they embraced was not new.
Yet, the label has stuck. So we use it without shame, even if with some slight regret. But far better for us is the label “Reformed” (by which, remember, we simply mean the Christian faith).
The Reformed creeds teach biblical truth: “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5). “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
We justly say with Paul, that we are justified by faith alone, or by faith without works” (Belgic Confession, Art. 22). Then the creed sharpens the point: “To speak more clearly, we do not mean that faith itself justifies us, for it is only an instrument with which we embrace Christ our righteousness.” According to Martin Luther, this is the article by which the church stands or falls. Calvin said it is “the main hinge on which religion turns.” The fathers of Westminster followed suit by confessing that “Faith…is the alone instrument of justification.”
To tie the first two solas together, the Reformed faith teaches that Christ alone saves, through faith alone.
