Reformed theologians embrace the tensions and difficulties in Scripture, digging deeper to understand it. The rigor of Reformed theologians to argue from Scripture alone has always struck me as their greatest strength and is far and away the most compelling piece for believing the doctrines of Reformed theology.

On this Reformation Day, I’m reflecting on how I went from not even knowing the terms “Reformed” or “Calvinist” to being a distinctly Reformed theologian myself. Let me share a bit of my own background, what I’ve come to appreciate about Reformed theology, and encourage others to follow in the path I took, or at least to understand it.

I grew up, by God’s grace, in a Christian home and attended a Christian school from 6th–12th grade. I was raised in a conservative Lutheran church (Association of Free Lutheran Churches). In college I joined an Evangelical Covenant Church where I later worked as a youth director. I was fortunate to have always been in circles that were conservative, that is, they trusted the Bible, knew Jesus as LORD and Savior, and taught salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone.

One point of inconsistency in my Arminian (though I didn’t know the term then) traditions was the issue of salvation apart from works. I questioned teachers at my Christian school: if we are not saved by works, but we must choose to worship God and ask Jesus to save us, why is that choice not considered a “work”? No good answer was given, and the question faded into the background. While I was in college, I worked in campus ministry, and one of my friends who was a Reformed Baptist challenged me on the question (several times) of election and predestination. Eventually, I resolved that I didn’t know enough Scripture myself to answer it for sure. I decided to read the Bible cover-to-cover quickly, and I read it with one question in mind: does God predestine people to salvation?

Obviously, I became convinced of predestination, and the rest of the doctrinal dominos fell in line after that. What I find amazing even as I write this article is that I wasn’t convinced by my friend’s arguments for Reformed theology, or the books and sermons he suggested, or any other secondary source. I was convinced by the Bible itself, what God himself describes to us in his word concerning all that we need to know and understand for salvation.

3 Elements of Reformed Theology

That brings me to the heart of this article, which is what I’ve come to appreciate about Reformed theology. Let me offer three elements.

The first element is how I came to be Reformed myself: by constantly striving to be consistent with the Bible. While Reformed theology is by no means perfect, the desire and effort to change and adapt our theological views to more closely match Scripture is one of the great hallmarks of the Reformed faith. This isn’t to say all other theological strands disregard Scripture, of course, but there is a noticeable shift in thinking and argument from my past experiences in the Lutheran tradition. The most striking is Reformed theology’s refusal to explain away difficult passages. At my Christian high school, I heard people trying to find a way to make a passage fit their theology by using phrases such as, “what this really means is . . .” or “it sounds like____, but . . .” However, Reformed theologians embrace the tensions and difficulties in Scripture, digging deeper to understand it.

Read More