Theological Term of the Week: Semper Reformanda

semper reformanda
A Latin phrase meaning “always being reformed,” which is a slogan used in the Reformed tradition of the Christian church. It is part of the larger phrase ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbi Dei, which means “the church is reformed, and always being reformed according to the Word of God.” The phrase has been attributed to Jodocus van Lodenstein in 1674.

• From What Does Semper Reformanda Mean? by W. Robert Godfrey:

  [W]hat did van Lodenstein mean by his famous phrase reformed and always reforming? Probably something like this: since we now have a church reformed in the externals of doctrine, worship, and government, let us always be working to ensure that our hearts and lives are being reformed by the Word and Spirit of God. 

Learn more:

1. Kevin DeYoung: Semper Reformanda
2. A Craig Troxel: Always Reforming?
3. Burk Parsons: The True Reformers
4. Carl Trueman: What Semper Reformanda Is and Isn’t

Related terms: 

• norma normans non normata
• testimonium spiritus sancti internum

Filed under Reformed Theology

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What Is the Trinity For?

[T]he first and clearest answer has to be that the Trinity isn’t ultimately for anything, any more than God is for the purpose of anything. Just as you wouldn’t ask what purpose God serves or what function he fulfills, it makes no sense to ask what the point of the Trinity is or what purpose the Trinity serves. The Trinity isn’t for anything beyond itself, because the Trinity is God. God is God in this way: God’s way of being God is to be Father, Son, and Holy Spirit simultaneously from all eternity, perfectly complete in a triune fellowhip of love. If we don’t take this as our starting point, everything we say about the practical relevance of the Trinity could lead us to one colossal misunderstanding: thinking of God the Trinity as as a means to some other end, as if God were the Trinity in order to make himself useful. But God the Trinity is the end, the goal, the telos, the omega. In himself and without any reference to a created world or the plan of salvation, God is that being who exists as the triune love of the Father for the Son in the unity of the Spirit. The boundless life that God lives in himself, at home, within the happy land of the Trinity above all worlds, is perfect. It is complete, inexhaustibly full, and infinitely blessed. 

—Fred Sanders in The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything.

When it comes to the study the Trinity, or the study of God in general, we’re too quick, I think, to run straight to the practical implications and ask ourselves, “What does this doctrine mean for me? How does it affect my life? And what should I do in light of this truth about God?”

Of course, learning about God does have practical implications. But first, because God as he is in himself is “the end, the goal, the telos, the omega,” we should desire to know God for his sake. To get at what God is in himself, we can ask, “What is he like ‘without any reference to a created world or the plan of salvation’?” Priority #1 is simply gazing for a while on the answer to this question and marveling at what we see.

She's Making a List: Reading Ephesians 1 As a Trinitatian

Ephesians 1:3-14 (ESV):

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Last week I made a list of what the last half of  Romans 8 tells us about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Here’s a list drawn from this passage in Ephesians:

The Father

• blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing (v 3).
• chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (v 4).
• predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ (v 5); predestined us according to his purpose (v 11).
• blessed us with his grace in the Beloved (Christ) (v 6); lavished his grace upon us (v 8).
• made known the mystery of his will to us (v 9).
• planned to unite all things in Christ (v 10).
• work all things according to the counsel of his will. (v 11).

The Son

• we receive every spiritual blessing in him (v 3).
• we are chosen in him (v 4).
• we are adopted as sons through him (v 5).
• we are blessed with God’s grace in him (v 6).
• we have redemption, forgiveness of trespasses through his blood (v 7).
• all things are united in him (v 10).
• we obtained an inheritance in him (v 11).
• we hope and believe in him (v 13).

The Holy Spirit

• seals us (v 13).
• guarantees our inheritance (v 14).

This is yet another passage in which the Trinity is implicit. Each person of the Trinity has a role in our salvation: Out of his grace, the Father plans to save and bring his plan to pass; the Son is the “in” and “through” of salvation, providing the grounds for it; the Holy Spirit applies salvation to us.