What We Believe
A Brief Summary of our Core Beliefs
Reformed Christians sometimes say we’re “Reformed and always reforming.” This means we never stop asking whether we’re being faithful to God’s vision and reforming the church to follow God’s will. We do this because we believe humans are broken. And we know how easy it is for our sinful nature to corrupt God’s church, for errors to slip in, and for the wrong message to creep out.
Scripture is the highest authority on our faith and its practice. While people often associate the Reformed tradition with Calvinism, there’s much more to our Reformed beliefs than the five points of Calvinism you may have heard about. Statements of belief called creeds and confessions help shape our faith and root us in Reformed theology. Our 4 Confessions are as followed: The Heidelberg Catechism, The Belgic Confession, The Canons of Dort, and the Belhar Confession.
We invite you to read those confessions in their entirety at your leisure. Virtual copies of the confessions can be found at https://www.rca.org. But to be clear, the Bible is the only rule of faith and practice in the RCA; the creeds and confessions simply explain the beliefs set forth in Scripture.
The following is a brief summary of our beliefs contained within those confessions.
The Triune God
God is creator, redeemer, and sustainer. We believe in one God who eternally exists in three equally divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, infinite, almighty; completely wise, just, and good.
The Sovereignty of God
God is sovereign over the universe Reformed Christians have a high view of God’s sovereignty, a belief that “nothing happens in this world without God’s orderly arrangement. But we don’t believe God uses that power carelessly. Instead, we emphasize God’s loving providence, which explains that God makes all things work together for our good (Romans 8:28). God’s sovereignty is exercised as God sustains “heaven and earth and all creatures and in the particular way that God “gathers, protects, and cares for the church through Word and Spirit. This, God has done since the beginning of the world and will do to the end”
The Bible is the Word of God
We believe the Bible—the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments—was not composed “by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21). Because God is their true author, the words of Scripture are holy and divine. We trust the words of the Bible “above all because the Holy Spirit testifies in our hearts that they are from God” (Belgic Confession, Article 5). One of the defining characteristics of the Reformation was its insistence on sola Scriptura, or the belief that everything we need for salvation and a life of faith is available in Scripture. Reformed Christians sometimes say the Bible is “the only rule of faith and life.”
Creation
We believe that God created heaven and earth and all other creatures from nothing and gave all creatures their being, form, and appearance. The book of Genesis affirms the original goodness of God’s creation; after each piece of creation, the narrative notes that “God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1).
Sin
Human beings are broken and sinful. We started out with the ability to follow God’s will perfectly. God sculpted us in his own image, as mirrors of God’s goodness, justice, and holiness. But we chose to turn away from God. Our disobedience so poisoned our nature that all of us are wired from birth to be sinners. And the sin of humans caused all of creation to be “subjected to futility” and put “in bondage to decay” (Romans 8:20, 21). All of the perfection of God’s original creation has been undone as a result of humanity’s rebellion against God. Our imperfect sinful nature therefore has separated us from a holy, perfect God.
We’re broken, and it’s impossible for us to fix ourselves. No matter how hard we try to do the right thing, sin constantly boils forth as though from a contaminated spring. Without God’s grace, we are neither willing nor able to return to God. God’s justice demands that our sin be punished. But only someone who is both a true and righteous human, and also true God could ever pay the price for the sins of humanity.
Atonement through Christ alone
Jesus died to atone for our sins. Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, came to earth to reconcile us with God. Jesus became human and lived a life without sin. Then he sacrificed his life in our name. By suffering death on the cross, Jesus took the punishment our sins deserved. His death is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world. Three days after Jesus died, he rose from the dead. Through his resurrection, Jesus conquered death so that anyone who believes in him can join him in everlasting life.
Justification through faith alone
Faith in Jesus is all we need to be saved. Even in our best moments, our actions are stained with sin. Yet out of sheer grace, God gives us the righteousness of Christ. Christ wipes our record clean. It’s as if we have never sinned. All we have to do is accept his gift of salvation with a believing heart. In other words, we are justified by faith, not by anything we’ve done. Our righteousness is in Jesus. We couldn’t live a perfect life ourselves, so he lived a perfect life for us. Faith is the instrument by which we embrace Christ. It keeps us in communion with him and with all his benefits.
Salvation through grace alone
God gives us the faith to receive salvation. We’re so trapped in sin that we cannot find our way back to God on our own. As Christ says, “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me” (John 6:44). God gives us the faith to accept salvation as an act of undeserved grace. We receive this gift without any consideration for the things we’ve done. Our merits and strength have nothing to do with it.
You Cannot Lose the Gift of Salvation
Faith in Christ isn’t a gift God will take away from you. God preserves the seed of our faith in times of doubt. And no matter how badly we sin, salvation in Jesus covers us. God’s plan cannot be changed; God’s promise cannot fail; the calling according to God’s purpose cannot be revoked. If God has chosen to give you the gift of salvation through Christ, you cannot lose your salvation. Even though you might stumble in your faith and make mistakes, the Holy Spirit’s seal on your heart can’t be invalidated or wiped out.
Sanctification through the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit makes us more like Jesus over time. Christ’s blood doesn’t just redeem us for what we’ve done in the past. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, true faith in Jesus reshapes our hearts to better match the heart of Jesus. This continual process of being made more holy is called sanctification. It is impossible for holy faith to be unfruitful. After all, we aren’t talking about an empty faith. We’re talking about what Scripture calls “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). This faith moves people to do by themselves the works that God has commanded in the Word. Becoming more like Jesus doesn’t mean we can be our own salvation. We still sin. And even a tiny speck of human selfishness, corruption, jealousy, or pride would disqualify a work from being worthy of salvation in God’s eyes.
The Church = The Body of Christ
The church is Christ’s body on earth. The Christian church is a gathering of persons chosen in Christ through the Holy Spirit to profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in order to embody God’s intentions for the world. Scripture calls the church “the body of Christ” and calls Christ our head. The church is faithful in its call when it participates in mission, in calling all persons to life in Christ, and in proclaiming God’s promise and commands to all the world.
Proclamation of the Gospel
The church is called to embody the gospel of Jesus in Word and deed. The gospel promises that “everyone who believes in [Jesus] may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). The church is called to proclaim this gospel promise to all nations and people without discrimination. It’s through the preaching of the holy gospel that the Holy Spirit produces faith in our hearts.
Sacraments
The sacraments are signs and seals of God’s heavenly promises. Sacraments are visible, holy signs and seals instituted by Jesus to help us understand the promise of the gospel and to seal its promise in us. They allow us to experience with our external senses what we hear in God’s Word and feel the Spirit do in our hearts. In this way, the sacraments help us focus on the truth at the heart of our faith: the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation. There are two sacraments in the Reformed church: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Baptism
Christ has commanded that all those who belong to him be baptized with pure water ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism signifies that the blood of Christ washes our souls, just as water washes away the dirt of the body. We baptize both infants and adults because both are part of God’s covenant and are his people.
The Lord’s Supper
At the Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus broke bread and said, “Take and eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26). After supper, he took the cup and said, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27-28). As we eat the bread and drink from the cup of communion, we remember Christ’s true body and blood, which we receive into our souls by faith.
Church Discipline
The church wants to restore people who stray. The true church governs itself according to the pure Word of God, rejecting everything contrary to Scripture. Reformed churches follow a governance structure that involves ministers, elders, and deacons. These “offices,” as they’re called, are put in place for the oversight and care of the church. One of the responsibilities of church leadership is to care spiritually for church members who are not living in accordance with God’s Word. Church discipline is intended to restore people to right relationship with God.
Unity in Christ
The church is one body drawn together from the entire human family. In Jesus Christ, the church has a twofold unity: with God and with each other. All Christians, regardless of theological stripe, belong to the same body. We believe in one holy, universal, Christian church, the communion of saints called from the entire human family. We share one faith, have one calling, are of one soul and one mind; have one God and Father, are filled with one Spirit, are baptized with one baptism, eat of one bread and drink of one cup, confess one name, are obedient to one Lord, work for one cause, and share one hope. Our unity in Christ is both a gift and an obligation for the church. It must become visible so that the world can see that separation, enmity and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered.
Restoration
We await new heaven and new earth While God has indeed secured redemption completely in Jesus Christ, we do not get to experience its fullness yet. We look forward to the day that God will bring about the ultimate restoration of all things. Finally, God will judge evil for what it is, bringing an end to the power of sin and death. Wickedness will be destroyed and God will make “all things new” (Revelation 21:5). In that day, God’s kingdom will be “so complete and perfect that in it [God will be] all in all” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 123). As believers, we are united to Christ, both in his death and in his resurrection, which “is a guarantee of our glorious resurrection” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 45). We will be raised to new life in body as well as spirit. In that new life, we “will have perfect blessedness such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart has ever imagined” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 58).
In the words of God: “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them” (Revelation 21:3). Amen and amen!
