5. Reformed theology holds to ancient catholic orthodoxy.
Reformed theology does not depart from our ancient Christian heritage but affirms the catholic, orthodox doctrines of God and Christ that form the backbone of the great confessional tradition of worldwide Christianity. Though the Reformers were excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church, they did not cast off the Trinitarian faith of the councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. They affirmed the doctrines that God is three persons in one divine nature (Matt. 3:16–17; 28:19), and that God the Son took a truly human nature without ceasing to be fully God—two natures in one incarnate person (John 1:1, 14). Reformed theologians have proven ardent defenders of the orthodox doctrines of God and Christ against heresies old and new because those doctrines are revealed in God’s Word.
—Dr. Joel Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology
Reformed theology is orthodox theology. We hold to the broad doctrines that cross denominational lines and are held by Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians. These basic, orthodox doctrines are articulated in the historic creeds such as the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. That is what we profess in our name: Bethel is an Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We believe and teach what the early Christians believed and taught. The core of biblical Christianity such as the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, His death on the cross and bodily resurrection. These doctrines are so fundamental to biblical faith that the Athanasian Creed states that “one cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully.”
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