Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda

A well known phrase in 17th century Europe meaning “the church reformed, always being reformed.” is as important a concept today as it was during the reformation.

We get clamoring from the neo-evangelicals all the time that we must become relevant to todays culture, as if somehow we ever became irrelevant. Somehow in the eyes of liberal religionists the word of God is somehow not transcendent to the day in which we find ourselves, and we need to "reform" towards todays culture.

Perhaps, it is their redefining of real words by their ever changing connotations that truly needs to be reformed.

What does the church reformed, always being reformed actually mean?

To use an analogy, we were once a part of a dirty lump of iron who was reformed by the fires of the word of God, and now that we've been purified and beaten into the shape of a sword, we must continually be reformed on the sharpening stone of vigilant study of the word and the challenging discourse that it brings us to.

Would any blacksmith try to sharpen a tool in the dark? Then why would we dream of being reformed by those who wander around in darkness, not able to discern when life begins, how many genders there are, or even if the resurrection of Christ matters? If these apostates want to join hands with the world and skip merrily down the path to hell, we will not join them, but will fervently preach the good news of Jesus Christ to them until the last possible moment.

Our message to a lost and dying world is to repent, because the kingdom of God is at hand, whereas our message to an enlivened Church of Christ followers would be to always be being reformed by the work of the Holy Spirit through the once and for all established word of God.