Last weekend was an interesting weekend for me. A dear friend called me to task for my Post-Reformed stuff. And I think a lot of what he’s said is correct and I’ve taken it to heart.

1) The term “Post-Reformed” intimates more that it is intended to. By it I don’t mean that we should abandon Reformed churches in favor of…whatever. Just because a church is Reformed does not mean it is wrong or bad. The name “Post-Reformed” may seem to make it sound like that it what I have in mind. The same is true of Reformed Theology. Just because it is Reformed does not mean it is unhealthy. I am convinced of the exact opposite! Reformed Theology is the most healthy Christian theology I am aware of. Again, “Post-Reformed” may make it seem like we should abandon it. We should not.

2) The name “Post-Reformed” is insensitive to those pastors and other believers who are faithful to their confessions and charitable to those who do not hold to them. And there are many such as these. In retrospect, I know many more Reformed believers in this category then I do who fit the description I am reacting against. Many more. In other words, I coined a phrase that says more than I intended about more people than I was aiming at.

3) Though I am still committed to the larger evangelical church and hope for her continued growth and increased purity, I no longer believe that the term “Post-Reformed” communicates what I hoped it would. Sadly, the term is more alienating than it is inclusive. It doesn’t express my desire for the Church as much as it does my frustration with portions of a portion of the Church. If I am going to coin a phrase to express this, I need to come up with something better than “Post-Reformed”.

4) I am Reformed. I am committed to the the Five Solas, I am Calvinistic in soiterology, I am Covenantal in my approach to redemptive history, I am somewhere between historic premill and amill in my eschatology. The term “Post-Reformed” would seem in indicate that I’ve given up some or all of that and I have not.

5) The Preacher said it best: There is nothing new under the sun. The Reformed have a term for what I mean by Post-Reformed: Semper Reformanda. Always reformed and reforming. If you wonder what I meant by Post-Reformed or if you assumed something then please understand that my intention was encapsulated in Semper Reformanda.

So I am abandoning the term. It only angered many people it was not aimed at and could provide fuel to those I am reacting to.