Quote:
Originally Posted by MamaArcher  define being Reformed?
If someone were to ask you, what do you mean you are reformed? How would you answer them without a big huge theological debate that takes hours?
Also how do you in a nutshell define covenantal?
I am still a bit new and am trying to learn not only for myself but how to articulate these things to others in an understandable way. |
I looked up “being reformed” and “covenantal” in a standard dictionary, and found that the first word, reformed is made possible because of the second, covenant. Reformed describes a person who is improved by the removal of faults or abuses, and improved in conduct or character. A covenant is a signed written agreement between two or more parties (nations) to perform some action – it is most often “entered” into. Because of God’s covenant of Grace – one that He upholds with the helpless souls upon whom He has mercy – we are changed from the inside out, so even the most thorny character may glorify God – and while we are not yet all He means us to be, we are different, on a daily basis.
“Being reformed” is not a phrase in Scripture; the principle undergirding the phrase is. (Philippians 3:12-19) The word covenantal describes the process by which God established a relationship with some men – Noah, Abraham, and Moses down through history to you and me.
Some think being reformed and covenantal are the best lens through which to see God’s purposes in human history – others deem them a troubling distortion. Still, these phrases describe what many Christians think about their faith, how to read church history, the Scriptures, and their church.
The best way to gauge the depth of a person’s “being reformed” is to watch how they put all their well-phrased doctrinal tools to work in the garden God assigns them – the blessed covenantal relationship He initiated and sustains.
Other definitions of being reformed and covenantal include the following five points – quite a mouthful to someone new in Christ – and wholly dependent on a store of knowledge most new in the faith lack. Others have addressed them, and they are important to investigate – for they describe a theological system that emerged after centuries of the church’s poor witness and abuse of her mission and calling – but it’s more important to see what the Scriptures teach that the points sum up – then ask how do these points help our faith and conduct? IMHO, “They” don’t; the God whom reformed theologians seek to quantify, does.