Why Grace Reformed?

Why do we call our church Grace Reformed Church? The short answer is because we believe that sinners are saved by grace alone; and this is what the Protestant Reformation stood for.

 

GRACE

 

The Bible teaches that sinners are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Bible says that eternal life is a gift: “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Eternal life is a gift of God’s grace for all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason why eternal life is a free gift is because Jesus did what was necessary for us to receive this free gift. It was not free for Him. It cost Him His life blood. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Therefore, there is no penalty left for us to pay. All those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord have eternal life and will never be condemned. Jesus said, “He who believes in Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24).

 

It is also God’s grace which causes all believers to obey the Lord Jesus Christ out of love and thankfulness for their salvation. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). We are not saved because of our good works. We are saved to do good works out of thankfulness.

 

No other religion except Christianity teaches this good news. All other religions teach that our final acceptance by God depends upon the quality of our character or actions. All other religions view Christ as no more than an example of how one is to live in order to be acceptable to God.

 

REFORMED

 

The word reformed, which means a return from wrong to right, comes from the Protestant Reformation, which began in Europe in the early 1500s. The Reformation was an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church so that it would be faithful to the Bible, especially the Bible’s main message that eternal life is a gift of God’s grace. The reformers rejected errors and abuses that had crept into the Church, and returned to simpler and purer forms of doctrine and worship. The Reformers protested against any belief or practice that was contrary to the Bible. Therefore, they became known as protestants.

 

The Protestant Reformation began as a protest against indulgences. An indulgence was an official church document granting release from the penalties of sin imposed by the Roman Catholic Church. These documents were sold in order to raise money for the church. On Oct. 31, 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther took a document he wrote, called 95 Theses against Indulgences, and nailed it to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Most historians agree that this event marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Eventually, Martin Luther was brought to trial for his protestant beliefs. His courageous stand for the absolute authority of God’s Word gave birth to religious freedom. Here are his words: “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason, I do not accept the authority of popes or councils, for they contradict each other. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. Here I stand. I can do no other.”

 

After Martin Luther came John Calvin (1509-1564), the Reformation’s greatest leader and organizer. Calvin continued the task which Luther had begun. Protestant Churches which subscribed to the theology of John Calvin (nicknamed “Calvinists”) sprang up early in various European countries, including France, Germany, Scotland, and Holland. To distinguish them from other protestant denominations (such as Lutheran), these churches are officially known as Reformed. 

 

The reformers rejected the idea that they were starting a new church. They saw themselves as being faithful to the church established by Christ’s apostles; and they viewed the Roman Catholic Church, with its rejection of the gospel of God’s grace, as having cut itself off from the apostolic church. The Bible says there is only one gospel: “if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what we have preached, let him be accursed [eternally damned]” (Galatians 1:9). 

 

The reformers did not reject everything about the Roman Catholic Church. They believed the Catholic Church had learned many true things from the Bible, such as the doctrine of the Trinity, as well as the doctrine of the incarnation of the Son of God.

 

The Reformed faith is committed to the basic doctrines of the Christian faith held in common by many other faithful Christian churches: the divine inspiration of the Bible, the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible, the Trinity, the virgin birth of Christ, His true deity and true humanity in one person, His miracles, the necessity of Christ’s atonement for sin, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, His ascension into heaven, the visible return of Jesus Christ, justification by faith alone, and the need for the new birth. This is why we use the Apostles Creed, the Christian church’s oldest creed. We do not believe in re-inventing the wheel of Christianity. We believe in fixing (or reforming) the wheel according to the Bible.