Richard Lucas is a Resident with The NETS Institute for Church Planting and a Ph.D. candidate in New Testament at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has writen two excellent articles describing the theological map of Reformed thought:

Source: Part 1: http://www.credomag.com/2012/07/26/are-you-reformed-part-1/
Part 2: http://www.credomag.com/2012/07/27/are-you-reformed-part-2/

Perhaps the question has been posed to you at one time or another. The appropriate answer it seems depends almost as much on the questioner as the one replying. For those in the emerging “Young, Restless, and Reformed” category, they might not realize that not everyone else understands the self-describing moniker of “Reformed” in quite the same way.

I have two goals for these blog posts: 1) to sketch out something of the landscape of those who consider themselves “Reformed”; and 2) to provide some historical perspective to the development of the T.U.L.I.P. acronym in an effort to perhaps curb some misplaced enthusiasm.

Map of the Reformed Landscape
Here I’m merely surveying from my limited experience those who I’ve run into in the modern American Evangelical landscape. I also will focus on those groups most likely to interest readers of this blog, which is “self-consciously Evangelical, Reformational, and Baptistic.” My sympathies will become apparent as I don’t withhold my own biases along the way.

The survey really falls into more of a spectrum than separate categories, because there is quite a bit of overlap between various groups. Nevertheless I think some differentiation will still prove to be helpful, because these groups are often using the word “Reformed” in different senses (i.e. historically, soteriologically, biblical-theologically, etc.).

1) Theonomists –
They believe they are the only ones who are consistently reformed. To them being reformed is applying their bi-covenantal theology in every area of life, including ethics, in a thoroughly consistent manner. So, not just the OT moral law, but also the civil law is binding today (this is simplistic, but sufficient). Their claim is that they are the only ones who are truly reformed because they alone hold to the historic Protestant view of the Old Testament law as taught by many of the magisterial reformers. They are a small minority in Evangelicalism, nevertheless they continue to be a thorn in the side of the next group.

2) Confessionally Reformed –
This group is perhaps the most vocal critics of others co-opting the term “Reformed.” They claim an objective, ecclesiastical, and confessional definition to being Truly Reformed (TR). Agreement with the Three Forms of Unity (Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort), or better yet…add three more and get Six Forms of Unity (throw in the Westminster Confession of Faith, as well as the Larger and Shorter Catechism) all from the 16th and 17th Century.

That can get cumbersome, so at times this group simply refers to subscription to the Westminster Standards as its litmus test…but then again, do they mean “loose” or “strict” subscription? This very question can seem to an outsider like they are more concerned with faithfulness to a document produced in 1644 than they are to the Bible. One loudly hears protests that the WCF is merely a subordinate standard to the Bible, but I fear this distinction is often lost in practice.

While I often use the term ‘Evangelical’ to refer broadly to those who find unity around the evangel and confess orthodox Christian doctrine in a Protestant heritage, they would not want to bear that label. This group considers themselves “Reformed Christians,” from which they distinguish themselves from being Evangelicals.

3) Reformed Baptists –
This group finds its common identity also around a confessional document from the 17th Century, namely the 1689 Second London [Baptist] Confession of Faith (a baptized version of the WCF). In this way, there is much shared ethos between Reformed Baptists and the Confessionally Reformed Presbyterians referenced above. The aforementioned group would not consider those holding a credobaptist position to be Truly Reformed, yet they seem to tolerate them sufficiently as evidenced by the fact that The Institute for Reformed Baptist Studies is integrated with Westminster Seminary California.
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