The Church – Protestant and Reformed
The Presbyterian Church is often described by the terms Protestant and Reformed. But what are we to understand by that, and in what sense is it true of us today?
Over the coming weeks in SYPCtoday as we approach Reformation Sunday (last Sunday in October), we will consider different aspects of what it means to be Protestant and Reformed. In the following from‘Welcome to a Reformed Church’ by Daniel Hyde gives us a brief look at our roots back in the 16th century.
‘…our reformers have done no small service to the Church in storing up the world as from the deep darkness of ignorance, to read the Scriptures, in labouring diligently to make them better understood, and in happily throwing light on certain points of doctrine of the highest practical importance.’ (John Calvin, ‘The Necessity of Reforming the Church’)
German Princes who supported Luther’s ideas fist used the term protestant at the Second Diet of Speyer (1529), a meeting between the Holy Roman Emperor and his rulers. Some of these rulers issued a protestation against the Emperor, Charles V (1500–1588), because of their convictions against certain Roman Catholic teachings.
The main teachings to which these reformed-minded groups objected were Rome’s insistence that the bible was only one authority among many, including tradition and the pope, and the teaching that sinners were saved form their sin and God’s wrath by cooperating with God’s grace in doing good works. The protestations of the Reformers were that Scripture alone (sola Scriptura) was the ultimate authority in the church and that sinners were saved by God’s grace alone (sola gratia), which is received through faith alone (sola fide), which is placed in Christ alone (solus Christus). These teaching along with others were expressed by both the Lutherans and Reformed in various confessions of faith, such as the Augsburg Confession (1530) and the French Confession (1559), by which they bore witness to the world; and in various catechisms, such as Luther’s Small catechism (1529) and Calvin’s Genevan Catechism (1545), by which they sought to instruct their churches.
These protestations against the Roman Catholic Church are important for us because many of the churches in our neighbourhoods have become like the church the original Protestants reacted against. Those first Protestants were known as evangelicals because they believed and preached the gospel of free grace. Today, many Protestant churches describe themselves as evangelical, but they have drifted far from the positions of the original Protestants.