What does it mean to be "Reformed"? What beliefs are an essential part of being Reformed? Infant baptism? Lord's Day observance? Limited Atonement? The Imputation of Christ's Active Obedience?
This is a significant question for me, since next month I will be making vows, and promising to maintain and defend the Church's "subordinate standard," which is the "Westminster Confession of Faith, as amended by the General Assembly, and read in the light of the Declaratory Statement contained in the Basis of Union." As I have mentioned before, this Declaratory Statement allows for liberty of opinion "matters in the subordinate standard not essential to the doctrine therein taught."
Do we interpret the "essential matters" as "Reformed theology" Is it the same as the "system of doctrine", as in the ordination vows of the Presbyterian Church in America? (According to that church's Book of Church Order, candidates do not need to affirm "every statement and/or proposition of doctrine" in the WCF but affirm that they "sincerely receive and adopt" the WCF "as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures.") Or does the reference to "matters" rather than "doctrines" mean that ministers need to hold to every doctrine in the WCF?
Well, it is important that we allow a broad spectrum in our church. God has designed the church to consist of a people of diversity backgrounds and personalities, and holding to different priorities and emphases. We need people of all types in the church, and a certain amount of doctrinal diversity is healthy. The problem is, of course, determining that amount.
The reason why I mention the Presbyterian Church in America is that Tim Keller has written a great article on that church's original "contract" – diversity was allowed on eschatology, days of creation and the Sabbath, but not on Reformed soteriology, "soft" cessationism or women's ordination. But of course this makes the Presbyterian Church in America far too conservative for some, and far too liberal for others. Of course, if we imagine the Reformed faith as a spectrum, we always tend to place ourselves in the middle, and draw comfort from the fact that there are people on either side of us.
One way in which the spectrum might operate is at the level of cultural engagement. As Christians we are called to be "in" the world, but not "of" the world. The Neocalvinists tend to emphasise being in the world, while what I call the the "Neopuritans" (best represented by the Banner of Truth) tend to emphasise not being of the world. But understand this – the Reformed umbrella is able to contain many sub-groups. Both Neocalvinism and Neopuritanism form a vital part of the Reformed faith. And despite what a bunch of guys say, so does the Federal Vision.
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