What is Reformed Doctrine?

To be Reformed is:

1) To confess the consensus of the five first centuries of the church:

• Classic theism: One omnipotent, benevolent God, distinct from creation.
• Nicene and Chalcedonian Trinitarianism: one God in three eternally existent persons, equal in power and glory.
• Christ, the God-Man, the one mediator between God & the human race, incarnate, crucified, resurrected, ascended, & coming again.
• Humanity created in the image of God, yet tragically fallen & profoundly in need of restoration to God through Christ.
• The Visible Church: the community of the redeemed, indwelt by the Holy Spirit; the mystical body of Christ on earth.
• The one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
• The Sacraments: visible signs and seals of the grace of God, ministering Christ’s love to us in our deep need.
• The Christian life: characterized by the prime theological virtues of faith, hope, and love.

2) To confess the five solas:

• The authority of Scripture: sola scriptura (Scripture alone)
• the basis of salvation: Sola Gratia (Grace alone)
• the means of salvation: Sola Fide (Faith alone)
• the merit of salvation: Solus Christus (Christ alone)
• the glory of salvation: Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God alone)

3) To confess the distinctives of the Reformed faith:

• In salvation: monergism not synergism. God alone saves. Such monergism implies T.U.L.I.P., the Five Points of Calvinism from the Synod of Dordt:
  T = Total Depravity
  U = Unconditional Election
  L = Limited Atonement, or, better, Particular Redemption
  I = Irresistible Grace
  P = Perseverence and Preservation of the Saints

So what does this all mean? To be Reformed is to adhere to the purist teachings of the Bible – to affirm the doctrine taught by Jesus, Paul and the apostles. Scripture is considered the ultimate authority in matters of life and faith and all Reformed doctrine is founded on the Bible. We are convinced that Reformed doctrine is nothing more than the teachings of Jesus, the Apostles and the totality of the Scriptures. Were it not for human sin we would have to make no distinction between biblical Christianity and the Reformed faith.