Author: provref

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My 2025 Bible Reading Plan

One thing that I find helpful for my own discipline is to plan out my Bible reading for the upcoming year. Like many, I have worked through a variety of different kinds of plans.

For 2025-2026, I am planning to work through a plan that will take me through the New Testament twice (once per year) and the Old Testament once (half each year). This will allow me to complete the plan by reading 2 chapters of Scripture daily, or to take weekends off by reading 3 chapters most weekdays.

If you are interested in the plan, here it is in a downloadable format. This file shows each week’s reading for the next year.

To read daily, during weekdays, read a single chapter from the New Testament and one from the first Old Testament section. Then, on the weekend, read 2 chapters per day from the second Old Testament selection.

To have weekends off, Read a chapter from each section Monday through Thursday and a chapter from the New Testament and first Old Testament section on Friday.

If this is at all confusing, let me show you what my first two weeks would look like using each strategy.

Daily Plan:

1/6/25: Mark 1; Gen 1

1/7/25: Mark 2; Gen 2

1/8/25: Mark 3; Gen 3

1/9/25: Mark 4; Gen 4

1/10/25: Mark 5; Gen 5

1/11/25: Isa 1; Isa 2

1/12/25: Isa 3; Isa 4

1/13/25: Mark 6; Gen 6

1/14/25: Mark 7; Gen 7

1/15/25: Mark 8; Gen 8

1/16/25: Mark 9; Gen 9

1/17/25: Mark 10; Gen 10

1/18/25: Isa 5; Isa 6

1/19/25: Isa 7; Isa 8

Or, keeping weekends free, the readings look like this:

1/6/25: Mark 1; Gen 1; Isa 1

1/7/25: Mark 2; Gen 2; Isa 2

1/8/25: Mark 3; Gen 3; Isa 3

1/9/25: Mark 4; Gen 4; Isa 4

1/10/25: Mark 5; Gen 5

1/11/25:

1/12/25:

1/13/25: Mark 6; Gen 6; Isa 5

1/14/25: Mark 7; Gen 7; Isa 6

1/15/25: Mark 8; Gen 8; Isa 7

1/16/25: Mark 9; Gen 9; Isa 8

1/17/25: Mark 10; Gen 10

1/18/25:

1/19/25:

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Christ Has Overcome the World

John 16:33 – I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

This morning, we are 1 day from election day in the United States. Some folks are hopeful. Some are stressed. Things may go the way you want. Things may go the way others want. But keep this in mind: Christ has overcome the world.

The world refused to recognize Jesus. Jesus still told us that he is God in the flesh, God the Son, our only Savior.

The world ridiculed Jesus. Jesus loved the lost world and showed them that he is the way, the truth, and the life.

The world called Jesus a threat and put him to death. Jesus told us that he willingly laid down his life to pay for our sins. Then Jesus rose from the grave, conquered death, and showed that all who let go of the mastery of their lives and put their trust in him will live forever with him under God’s grace.

The world thought Jesus was defeated, that he disappeared, that his disciples hid his body. But the risen Jesus is enthroned in heaven, reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords, and will return to rule forever.

Jesus warned his church that in this world, we will have tribulation. That is true. The more we love Jesus, the Jesus they hated, the more we will find the world opposed to us too. But the more we love Jesus and trust in him, the more courage we will take as we remember that he has in fact overcome the world. The battle is won. Our Savior reigns. Let us never lose heart. Let us always rest in and hope in our Savior.

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Adoniram Judson and the Glorious Story of the Gospel

In the year 1812, Adoniram Judson left the united States for the nation of Burma, the first American international missionary. Judson worked, sacrificed, suffered, and honored the Lord in that difficult land until his death in 1850, nearly thirty-eight years later. The work in Burma was incredibly difficult, and Judson only baptized his first convert after seven hard years of toil. Judson would suffer sickness and imprisonment and would grieve the deaths of two wives and seven of his thirteen children. Eventually, Judson would successfully translate the Bible into Burmese, develop the first English-Burmese dictionary, see many people come to Christ, and help many missionaries take up the cause.

In 1845, after 33 years overseas, Judson returned to the United States for the first time, grieving the death of his second wife who died on the journey. Arriving in Massachusetts, Adoniram expected that no one would think anything of him or his work. But the missionary was surprised. Among churches in New England, especially Baptist churches, the name of Adoniram Judson had become legendary. And during his time in the states, Judson was overwhelmed with what he believed to be too much attention.

During his visit, Adoniram regularly refused to tell missionary stories that would fascinate people about him or his work, sometimes refusing to speak to groups at all and sometimes speaking only simple, gospel messages. After one such presentation, a lady named Emily, who would soon become Judson’s third wife and join him on the mission field, asked Adoniram about why he did not give the people more of a story. Here is how a biographer of Judson explained the exchange:

As he sat down [Emily recollected]… it was evident, even to the most unobservant eye, that most of the listeners were disappointed. After the exercises were over, several persons inquired of me, frankly, why Dr. Judson had not talked of something else; why he had not told a story … On the way home, I mentioned the subject to him.

“Why, what did they want?” he inquired; “I presented the most interesting subject in the world, to the best of my ability.”

“But they wanted something different—a story.”

“Well, I am sure I gave them a story—the most thrilling one that can be conceived of.”

“But they had heard it before. They wanted something new of a man who had just come from the antipodes.”

“Then I am glad they have it to say, that a man coming from the antipodes had nothing better to tell than the wondrous story of Jesus’ dying love.”1

There is something beautiful in Judson’s response to Emily. People admired the legendary missionary. But for his part, Judson wanted people to glory in Jesus.

1 Courtney Anderson, To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1987), Kindle Edition, 431.

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My 2024 Bible Reading Plan

I believe a major part of Christian discipleship is regular time spent in God’s word. I have also learned about myself that I do best when I have a plan to follow and a schedule to keep. So, each year, I select a plan to follow. I also find that I do best when I read along with others in a group. So, I try to share my reading plan with others who may join me in a discipleship group so that we can write about and talk about the same passages each week.

This coming year, I intend to continue what I started last year, combining two Bible reading plans for my daily reading schedule. Why two? I want to have an open door for some who are not convinced they can handle a full Bible-in-a-year plan to join me.

For New Testament reading, I’ll use the Navigators 5x5x5 reading plan. This is a plan that reads through the New Testament 5 days per week, one chapter per day. It’s short and simple—a great place to start for anybody who has never tried a reading plan before, or for someone who has struggled to stay on a schedule in the past. This plan is available in the YouVersion Bible app if you would like to use it for reading and for tracking your progress. Or we have a way for you to download it below.

For Old Testament reading, I will continue an Old Testament in 2 years plan that I put together on my own. This plan allows for reading on weekdays only covering one or two chapters each day. Alternatively, one can read a single chapter each weekday and two chapters daily on weekends if that better fits your needs. Over this past year, I discovered that I enjoyed reading a single Old Testament passage on the weekdays and reading two chapters on weekend days, keeping my daily reading at 2 chapters every day. I’m enjoying the use of a two-year plan which has allowed me to give a little more studied focus to the Old Testament instead of requiring as many daily chapters as other plans.

January 1, 2024 is when the New Testament plan resets, starting in Mark 1. The Old Testament plan picks up what is marked as year 2, week 1. 

For those who attend PRC, we have been putting the chapters for the week’s reading in the worship guide and the weekly email. You can also download your own copies of the plan. Here are a couple of links to versions of the plan:

PRC Old Testament in Two years

Here is a link to our OT and NT reading plan in portrait layout:
Old Testament Reading Plan
NT Bible Reading Plan
2024 Old and New Testament Reading Plan (all in one)

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Of The Danger of Christian Celebrity

When were you last star-struck? Perhaps you were in a place where a celebrity showed up. Perhaps you stood on a plot of ground where an important historical figure once stood. Perhaps you met one of your heroes.

I’ve had a few star-struck moments. Once, I had the privilege of meeting the greatest St. Louis Cardinal of all time, Stan Musial. Once, I held in my hands a piece of history, a Tyndale New Testament that was printed around 1526; so, yes, I was star-struck by a book. As a child I was star-struck when I met “Leaping:” Lanny Poffo, brother to the “Macho Man” Randy Savage—If that one does not impress you, I truly do not know what will.

People, places, and even objects can leave us wide-eyed and giddy. And, in general, I do not think that’s all bad. But I wonder if we realize that there is a danger when it happens to us in the church. Have you ever thought of the danger of Christian celebrity?

Just as I was star-struck when Stan “the Man” signed a ball for me, or when Brett “the Hit Man” Heart gave me a high 5—OK, now I’m just name-dropping—I have also found myself feeling the wonder of celebrity in Christian conferences or events. I know what it is like to feel a rush when hearing someone speak who I know wrote one of my favorite books or whose sermons I have only heard on podcasts. And I wonder just how good or bad such a thing is.

On the one hand, God is clear in his holy word that we are to rightly, in the church, honor faithful servants of God.

Philippians 2:29–30

So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

When Paul wrote to the Philippians about Epaphroditus, the apostle commended the man’s faithfulness and self-sacrifice. Paul wanted the Philippian Christians to honor Epaphroditus and others like him who were willing to give their lives to the service of the Lord. So, there is most certainly a rightness to us honoring faithful ministers, authors, speakers, and missionaries through whose ministries the Lord has blessed our souls and the church at large. There is a rightness to a local church loving a faithful pastor, a long-serving deacon, or a godly woman who has served the church with a true heart and self-sacrificial zeal.

There is, however, a danger we should not ignore in the cult of Christian celebrity. And this danger is not at all new.

2 Corinthians 11:3–5

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.

Part of Paul’s struggle in his letters to the Corinthians is the dangerous influence of powerful preachers who apparently swept into Corinth and shook the faith of some in the congregation. These men presented themselves as big deals, super-apostles. They made fun of Paul’s public speaking and rhetorical skill. They mocked Paul for being bold in writing and meek in person. And they introduced false teaching to a people who were willing to eat it up because of the teachers’ charisma.

This passage shows us that celebrity teachers were influencing local churches in the first century, not merely today. While that influence might have been to the good had these men not been greedy and dangerous, the influence of the super-apostles was deadly, because their influence included a false gospel. And platforming these men in Corinth was clearly leading to some people being drawn away from the true faith.

Christian friends, see the balance we need. Honor faithful Bible teachers. Beware of being influenced by celebrity. You can do both. You should do both.

How do you guard against being overly influenced by celebrity? First, I would suggest that you guard yourself best by being most committed to your local church. Love your local congregation. Learn from your pastor, your elders, your Sunday School teachers, even the ones who cannot speak like the conference platform giants. Be careful when the only spiritual conversations you have with others involves the latest podcast you listened to or the most recent blog or YouTube you took in. Be sure that you and your fellow believers can talk about what each other is reading in the Scriptures and where you are encouraged or convicted by the message in the local pulpit.

Second, watch out when you find yourself quoting anybody a lot. I know, this is subjective, but I assume that you can figure it out. If not, ask a friend to help you. Do you sound like a disciple of a mega-church pastor or bigtime author? Are you constantly sending folks links? Be careful of being proud of having a puritan quote for every situation (after all, celebrity in the church need not be current).

Dear friends, hear this: The outside celebrity, the bigtime speaker, the passion-stirring author is not your pastor. These teachers can be a gift from God, and I do not want to have you ignore them. But you must realize that these folks do not know you and cannot care for your soul. You are not their responsibility before God. So, learn from faithful teachers, but do not let yourself be drawn to them like a kid to a pro athlete or rock star. Remember that the public persona you see may have nothing at all to do with the person’s real personality or character. Realize that the giddiness you may feel when you hear the bigtime speaker can also be a pathway to danger as your fandom can leave you vulnerable to accepting false teaching.

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Of Draws from the Faith

From the garden to today, followers of God have faced opposition to the faith. Sometimes that opposition comes in the form of hatred and persecution. Sometimes it comes in the form of sly temptation. And sometimes it comes in the form of well-intentioned but dangerous godlessness.

Think about the strategies that the devil has used against the people of God which have made the most headway. Often times, persecuting the church with out-and-out aggression has served to strengthen the faith of believers—the blood of the martyrs being the seed of the church. But sometimes the devil’s plots are much more intimate, much more subtle, and honestly much more dangerous than violence. When the enemy of our souls tempts us through people we genuinely care for, the temptation is significant.

God is not surprised that humanity is often swayed by the influence of our loved ones. IN fact, in Deuteronomy, the Lord spoke a dire warning to the people of Israel regarding this very topic.

Deuteronomy 13:6-11

6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9 But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

As a quick explanation for any who are apt to misunderstand this passage, the legal standards for national Israel in the Old Testament were quite strict. This nation was uniquely the people of God in this time period, given the law of God, in the presence of God, under the direct instruction of God, and carrying the promise of God to send Messiah, the only plan God ever had for the salvation of people from all nations. Thus, for these people, offenses against the following of God were often death-penalty offenses. The Lord knew that, should Israel become as corrupt as any other sinful nation on the planet, the Lord would, under the obligations of the covenant, have to destroy them, which would destroy the promise, which would destroy humanity. In order, therefore, to protect the nation and preserve the promise, offenses such as blasphemy against the Lord or leading people to worship other gods met severe penalties.

With that said, what is an appropriate truth for a modern Christian to draw from Deuteronomy 13:6-11? What is, as the Second London Baptist Confession calls it, the “general equity” principle we should find? I believe it is an important one, a very helpful one.

Look back at the text. God knows that, in the lives of faithful believers, we will face the temptation to walk away from the faith. Sure, there will be times when that temptation will come to us from outside of our inner circle. Sometimes the world will try to tempt us to turn away through persecution or greed. But one of the more effective and more dangerous temptations we face is when someone we deeply care about tries to call us away from faithfulness to the Lord. When a friend, when a family member, when a romantic interest is the voice saying to us that we should be more open-minded toward other faiths, this is when temptation can be most risky.

What was King Solomon’s failure? He married many “foreign” wives. This was not a failure based on ethnicity. The wives of Solomon led him to worship their gods. The Lord warned against it, but Solomon was unable to overcome his desire—this in spite of the fact that he was the smartest king in the Old Testament.

The same ploy is in play today. As we watch young men or young women suddenly walk away from the church, what is regularly at the root? So very often, the turning away of a young person is about their romantic interest in someone or their deep friendship with someone. Christianity is an exclusive faith. Jesus is the only way for a person to come to the Father (John 14:6). It is hard, when a young person develops romantic feelings for another, for the Christian to accept the lostness of someone they find so loveable.

What then might we want to carry with us from Deuteronomy 13? No, I do not recommend we put the death penalty in place for those who would challenge our faith. But the warning is strong, and it is not something we can ignore. If someone you care about is calling your heart away from the Lord, you may have to figuratively enact the death penalty on the relationship. At minimum, you have to guard your heart with all your might so as not to allow a lost person to influence your soul. You should most certainly pray that the Lord will protect you and that he will draw your lost friend to himself. No Christian should willingly enter into a romantic relationship with a nonbeliever—Scripture is clear on this time and time again.

Ultimately, we need to grow in wisdom from the law of God. Deuteronomy 13 warns us that we will face temptations from friends and family to turn from the faith. We must be aware, we must be wise, and we must be committed to faithfulness to the Lord above all. Particularly, we should watch out for those relationships with the lost that can dig deeply into our hearts, as this is a temptation that the Lord has warned against. Yes, love your family. Yes, care deeply. Yes, be prepared even to be wounded as they push against the faith or try to draw you away. But learn from the law of God not to allow yourself to be pulled from the faith by one close to you.

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Of Two Logical Fallacies Becoming Pet Peeves for Me

As society shifts away from rationality, our ability to agree on morality slides into obscurity. Without a little thought about how to think, how to reason, how to avoid fallacies, we are doomed to wallow in the mire of conflicting emotional opinions.

For fun, let me share with you two logical fallacies that I find myself hearing on a regular basis. These are in the church from time-to-time. They are certainly on the television and the Internet. And, if we learn to spot them, perhaps we can help people to get past dangerous, faulty reasoning.

Inflation of Conflict Fallacy

Inflation of conflict is the term for a logical fallacy in which a person claims that disagreement between opposing viewpoints means that no valid viewpoint can exist. If expert A and expert B disagree about subject Y, then we assume that nobody can know anything about Y. We may as well give up any study of Y. Certainly we cannot suggest that a wise, modern, forward-thinking person can hold a position on Y.

Without advocating for either side, consider the discussion about masks from our most recent health crisis. One set of healthcare experts declares that masks prevent the spread of diseases. Another set of experts declares that masks in fact do nothing to help temper the spread of disease. The inflation of conflict fallacy would lead one to conclude that, therefore, nothing at all can be known about masks and the spread of disease.

But ask yourself, is there no actual answer? Does the disagreement between the two expert groups tell us that nothing can be known by mankind regarding masking? Or is there a possible alternative solution that better befits logic? One might consider that one group is simply wrong in their conclusions or dishonest about their supposed opinion. The presence of disagreement, however, is no proof that there is no such thing as a correct answer.

Try another example, this time from doctrine. Baptists declare that only believers should be baptized. Presbyterians declare that infants born to believers should be baptized. If a person concludes, therefore, there is no correct position on baptism, that person would be committing the inflation of conflict fallacy. The presence of a conflict between a Baptist and Presbyterian theologian does not indicate that there is not a correct position to be found or that nothing can be known about baptism.

You might say to yourself that you would not fall prey to this fallacy, but you may find that it is more common than you think. When you are faced with a difficult issue, and when you believe—genuinely believe—that smart people have made good arguments on both sides, you may find yourself tempted to pretend that no answer exists. Be careful. It is good to acknowledge when smart people have made cases on both sides of an issue. This prevents you from disrespecting people who disagree with you as if they are dumb dumbs. But the presence of smart people in one camp does not make that camp’s position correct. In point of fact, both camps can be wrong. But nothing here indicates that there is no possible way to know the truth.

In medicine, masks are either helpful or not helpful, and there is a way to know. In doctrine, babies either should be baptized or they shouldn’t, and there is a way to know. The same holds true for arguments regarding issues of atheism, gender, sexuality, Calvinism, women in the pulpit, and the age of the earth. Just because experts disagree does not exclude the possibility of a true answer to a question existing. And to pretend that disagreement between experts allows you to do your own thing without repercussion is fallacious.

The Golden Mean Fallacy

Argument to moderation, also known as argumentum ad temperantiam or the golden mean fallacy, is a fallacy where a person claims that, when views differ, a compromise between the two views will be the correct solution. If expert C suggests that 10 units is proper, while expert D argues for 6 units, the right answer must be 8 units. While compromise can be a helpful solution to some problems in society, it is logically fallacious to suggest that all disagreements must be settled with compromise.

From what should be absurd, imagine that an evil political dictator wants to put to death 50% of the population of a nation. The evil man’s political opponent, a good man, wants none of the population to be murdered. The golden mean fallacy would suggest that the murder of 25% of the population would be an acceptable solution.

Without illustrating further, I believe that you can see that a press to compromise is not always a proper solution. This is true in the church and in the civil arena. Compromise can be a sweet way to solve problems, especially regarding issues of preference, but when we are dealing with claims of truth, doctrine, and morality, seeking a middle ground may simply be walking both sides into error instead of leading to a right conclusion.

Conclusion

Have you found yourself using either of the above fallacies in your reasoning with others? Have you refused to make an argument about an important life issue because experts disagree? Have you pressed for compromise in situations where taking a stand, an absolute stand, is actually what is right? I would urge you to guard your thinking. Do not compromise truth for the sake of comfort by the means of logical error.

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Of the Danger of Embracing Culture

Are we really so different? Are we really supposed to be? Why cannot the church and the world hold hands and get along?

Throughout the age of the church, Christians have faced the temptation to compromise. Once Constantine made Christianity officially the thing in Rome, the church had to wrestle with the temptation to become more like the world in order to be more well-liked by the world. During the rise of theological liberalism, teachers began to tone down claims of the miraculous to look more like a naturalistic and scientific culture. And in a world that embraces new concepts relating to sexuality, gender, the family, and so much more, churches are tempted to reshape the message of the Scripture to be more widely accepted.

Sometimes Christians are tempted to compromise as they hope for popularity. The feeling is that, if we can just get folks to think we are a helpful part of our community and we do not cause trouble, we will become the place people in town want to be. Sometimes Christians shift their values out of fear, not wanting to face the hardships of persecution. Sometimes folks have compromised out of a desire to be evangelistic. The misguided hope of these folks is that, if we stop talking about sex or about the latest pet peeve of the media, people will give our gospel a hearing; and isn’t that what is most important?

But I wonder if, as we are tempted to compromise and value the things that the world values, we are forgetting just how big is the gap between the ways of the Lord and the ways of the world. Have we forgotten that there really are different sides, and those sides are far apart when it comes to being right with God?

In Luke 16, Jesus confronted the Pharisees who had become lovers of money. These men compromised for the sake of personal, financial gain. They loved the applause of men.

Luke 16:14-15

14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Consider that last line from Jesus once again: “What is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” How true is this in our culture? Our society is exalting things today that God calls abominations.

What should we do with this thought? Let me suggest two things. First, we should pray that God would give us a heart to exalt what he loves and see as abominable what he calls abomination. Let us not think that we are so cultured that we have gone beyond the standards of God. God’s standards are not out-of-touch with reality. On the contrary, modern reality is out-of-touch with truth.

Think about your own heart here. What does it chase? What do you value? Do you love the things God loves? Do you hate the things God hates? Do you want things for yourself that God has called dangerous or destructive? Do you accept as the new normal things that God says are unacceptable? Ask the Lord to shape, cleanse, mold, and renew your heart and mind.

Second, let us be careful, as we seek to shift our hearts, that we not become cruel or nasty people in the process. There must be a way to see things in our society as abominable before God, speak the truth, and do so in a way that is not itself mean-spirited. We must pray that we will stand firm, avoid compromise, and speak the truth in love.

The word abomination is a harsh one. But since it is God’s word and not ours, we ought not avoid it. But you can call a thing an abomination with sorrow or with arrogance. One way of speaking includes compassion, kindness, and humility. The other way looks like the Pharisee and is sharp, bitter, and cruel.

May we learn to have the compassion that Christ showed when sinful people were around him. May we learn never to embrace or even accept sin. May we never be so foolish as to think that ignoring evil will make our churches grow to the glory of God. But may we also, even with tears, hold out a true gospel to a lost and dying world.

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How do I Explain “Reformed Baptist” to Someone Who Asks?

In last week’s post, I shared a couple of threads of thought regarding what it means to be a Reformed Baptist Church. Hopefully those were helpful for individuals to think the issue through. But what about when we are talking to people who are not part of our tribe? What about when someone who is not a believer asks what a Reformed Baptist church is? What about when a person who does not enjoy theological thought poses the question?

Three Types of Answers

A one-size-fits-all approach to answering a question about a church’s identity, theology, and practice is not a good idea. Different people ask from different perspectives and with different levels of interest. Thus, I believe answering the question, “What is a Reformed Baptist,” might require three different kinds of answers:

  • Single Sentence
  • Short Presentation
  • Coffee Table Discussion

Single Sentence –It may be that a single sentence answer is all that a situation allows for or is necessary. The person asking may not be in a place to unpack any of the doctrinal differences demarking denominations. You may be speaking with a nonbeliever who could not begin to follow the discussion. You may be speaking with your sweet aunt who just wonders if you’ve joined a cult.

Short Presentation – A second kind of answer may be one you need to have at the ready for when you have a minute or two with a curious person. Salespeople call this an elevator pitch. This allows you to unpack who you are in a simple summary. It is designed to open the door for a follow-up conversation, but it does not force the issue.

Coffee Table Discussion – The third kind of answer goes deep and seeks to lay out distinctives over a longer period of time. The points that I outlined and briefly explained in my previous post could serve as a helpful guide for such a discussion about Reformed Baptists. This might take a few hours or a few meetings.

Single Sentence Response

Say you are inviting a non- Christian friend to your church that has “Reformed” as part of the name. They ask you what a reformed church is. They are not likely wanting you to tell them about the Canons of Dort or the difference in English and European mainland Reformation confessions. For the curious person needing a single sentence, perhaps you might say the following:

A Reformed Baptist church is a church that loves God, loves the Bible, loves the gospel, and loves God’s church.

That statement covers several of the points I shared in last week’s post. But it does not unpack any of them. It should leave the door open for questions if the person wants to think them through. At the same time, it will not bog you down in conversations about topics the person has never heard of.

If you are talking with someone who is a Christian and who is trying to figure out if a Reformed church is some sort of weird denomination, or if you are not sure where their question is coming from, you might say something like this:

A Reformed Baptist church is a Baptist church that is committed to the Bible, in line with historic Christianity, and informed by important doctrines that the church recovered during the Protestant Reformation.

Again, this is short and simple. It will allow you to begin a conversation about doctrine if the person wants to ask. It ties your church to historic doctrine, faithful beliefs people have held from the New Testament age and recovered—not created—during the Reformation. But it does not take you down a road of debating election when a person just wants to know if you are involved in some sort of crazy new movement.

Short Presentation

What if the person you are talking to is up for a bit more of an explanation. What can a Reformed Baptist say that will summarize things somewhat quickly without chasing rabbits? When you do not have time to go deep, but when your interlocutor is up for something more than a single sentence answer, the short presentation might work. Perhaps the following would be a good example:

A Reformed Baptist church, like other Baptist or Presbyterian churches, is a Protestant church. We believe that the Bible is our highest authority. Like other churches, we believe in 1 God who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Bible. And we believe in the good news that anybody can be forgiven by God because of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Reformed Baptists try to follow Scripture and do in our worship services what God has commanded. We believe that God is the Almighty and is sovereign over everything, including our salvation. We believe that all of the Bible, even the Old Testament, is God’s word and is helpful to us to know God and love him well. We believe that Jesus really is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises in the Scripture.

If this all sounds unfamiliar or new, you can read about what we believe in something old. The Second London Baptist Confession of 1689 is a great place to look to read a summary of the doctrine our church believes. This is a confession that is similar to the Westminster Confession that Presbyterians hold to or the Savoy Declaration that congregationalist churches use, just with a Baptist explanation of the church and biblical covenants.  

Conclusion

When someone asks you what a Reformed Baptist is, you do not have to be paralyzed. Neither should you always answer the question the same way in every situation. But if you will put a little work into knowing what the label means, and if you will put a little forethought into how you might explain it to different people in different settings, you should be able to help others understand the concept.

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What is a Reformed Baptist Church?

No matter what kind of church one claims to belong to, that label will carry with it definitions and distinctions which make one church different from another. As taxonomic classifications identify organisms from kingdom down to species, certain distinctions help us to know what a church is when we see what they claim to be.

When one sees the word “reformed” in a church’s name or identity, a few possible meanings may be present. For example, a church may suggest that being reformed is particularly tied to a Presbyterian denomination or confession, denying that any can be reformed who are not part of that group. More loosely, another may use the word reformed simply to mean Calvinistic as concerns the church’s beliefs relating to salvation. Still others fall somewhere in the middle, believing that a reformed church is one which has some particular distinctives, but which is not necessarily Presbyterian—Reformed Baptists for example.

Because Reformed Baptist is the context of Providence Reformed Church where I serve, and because many wrestle with exactly how to explain what a Reformed Baptist is, I thought it might be useful to pull together a couple of threads of thought and share them here. This post will include a summary of several key ideas which would take you a while to explain to someone else. Next week, I hope to lay out some strategies for explaining Reformed Baptist to others in a short and simple way. I am not here claiming to be the authority over how the phrase is used, but am only hoping to help explain what we mean in our church when we say “Reformed Baptist.” 

Reformed Baptist churches are:1

  • Christian
  • Protestant
  • Reformed
  • Baptist

Christian – Christian churches embrace the true message of the Bible and the gospel of Jesus Christ. The basic beliefs of Christians are often summarized in classic creeds such as the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Chalcedonian Definition. These statements focus particularly on the identity of the one true God existing as trinity and the person of Jesus as truly God and truly man. This distinction separates Christianity from other world religions and cults which deny the trinity, the deity and humanity of Christ, or the basic gospel. 

Protestant – A Protestant church, unlike the Roman Catholic Church, embraces the five Solas of the Reformation. These churches believe that the Scripture alone is the final and highest authority for the church on earth. They teach that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and to the glory of God alone. Protestants recovered these biblical doctrines during the era known as the Protestant Reformation.

Reformed – A Reformed church is a church that particularly identifies itself with important doctrines that were recovered during the Protestant Reformation. Such doctrines are summarized in widely held confessions like the Belgic Confession, Westminster Confession, or Second London Baptist Confession. Much of what is recovered in these confessions has to do with the authority of Scripture, the structure of the church, and the doctrine of salvation. Reformed churches are distinct from other Protestant churches which do not embrace these confessions and doctrines.

Baptist – A Baptist church is a Protestant church that expressly declares that only those who are saved by Jesus are part of the true church. Baptists believe that those who are saved obey Christ through the ordinance of believer’s baptism as a public declaration of their faith. Baptists value the autonomy of local congregations and the congregational voice in church government. These beliefs distinguish Baptist churches from our Presbyterian brothers.2

Other theological and practical particulars are often seen as identifying Reformed Baptists as different from non-Reformed Baptists. One author suggests the following five distinctives:3

  • The Regulative Principle of Worship
  • Covenant Theology
  • Calvinism
  • The Law of God
  • Confessional

The Regulative Principle of Worship – This teaching limits the acts of a church in worship to those which God commanded in Scripture. This distinguishes Reformed Baptist churches from others which practice the normative principle of worship, the belief that all things are permissible in worship so long as they are not forbidden in Scripture.

Covenant Theology – This doctrine accepts the covenant of redemption, covenant of works, and covenant of grace. The covenant of redemption is the plan among the persons of the trinity to rescue a people for the glory of God. The covenant of works is the covenant Adam failed to keep when he disobeyed God in the garden and brought condemnation on humanity resulting in the truth that no human being can now earn his or her way to God through good works. The covenant of Grace is the free gift of salvation by grace through faith in Christ who lived perfection and died as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of God’s people. Believers in covenant theology understand that Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promises from the Old Testament and that the Bible is a unified account of God’s accomplishment of his plan of salvation.  Covenant theologians, because of these beliefs, are distinct from dispensationalists. 

Calvinism – Calvinists believe in the sovereignty of God in the salvation of all who are saved. Calvinism embraces sovereign election and denies that people come to Christ without God first moving them to do so. 

The Law of God – A reformed understanding of God’s law includes the belief that the moral law of God is summarized in the Ten Commandments and that no one will fully understand the gospel apart from the law of God. Reformed Baptists will often see the law of God as useful to show a person their need for salvation, to help societies to restrain evil and destructive behavior, and to help the saved to understand the character of God and what pleases him. 

Confessional – Reformed Baptists often subscribe to the Second London Baptist Confession (written in 1677, published in 1689). This is not to say that there may not be small points that require further explanation or with which the church may quibble. Yet the Reformed Baptist Church will declare the confession to be a true summary of the church’s beliefs.

While different individuals or churches may disagree with one or more of the points above, they are a fair summary of what is broadly assumed to be a Reformed Baptist Church.

Next week, we will look at how to explain what a Reformed Baptist is in a short and simple way.

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1 The 1st 3 items of this list are found in Daniel Hyde, Welcome to a Reformed Church (Sanford, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2010), Introduction.

2 Baptist began to distinguish themselves during the period of the English Reformation along with Congregationalists. Such Baptists are not linked with the anabaptist movement.

3 This list comes from Tom Hicks, “What is a Reformed Baptist?” (Cape Coral, FL: Founders Ministries) [article on-line]; accessed 15 July 2023; available

from https://founders.org/articles/what-is-a-reformed-baptist/; Internet.