In its roots, the Reformation was a spiritual phenomenon as the Reformers applied the truth of God’s Word to the life and mission of the church. But over time, the Reformed faith served as a dynamic motivation and catalyst for change and progress wherever its influence reached. The many lasting effects include the following:

1. Recognizing the Bible as God’s written Word and the supreme rule of faith and life for the church and for the individual Christian.
2. Recovering the authentic gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith in Christ alone to the glory of God alone, and proclaiming it to the ends of the earth through zealous evangelism.
3. Preserving, expositing, and defending the Christian faith as the system of doctrine taught in God’s Word, thereby affirming Trinitarian theology, which manifests itself soteriologically in what would later be called the five points of Calvinism: total depravity, unconditional election, definite atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints.
4. Reasserting the crown rights of Christ as King over the nations and the only Head of the church, which is His body. This resulted in reforming the church in her worship and preaching, so that all is done in subjection to God’s Word and in relation to the triune God rather than in subjection to man’s desires.
5. Enlivening the church worldwide with a deep conviction of the fatherly sovereignty of God through Christ, which results in a deep, warm, sanctifying, experiential piety that moves believers to commit their entire lives to His praise.
6. Establishing the freedom of Christians from tyranny in the church and the rights of citizens under the rule of law, curbing the powers of kings and nobles, and enabling the rise of representative democracy in the form of constitu­tional monarchies and republics.
7. Recasting the state as a commonwealth, promoting the dignity of labor, encouraging trade and commerce, and increasing wealth among all classes, while curbing the excesses of unregulated capitalism and providing for the care of the sick and the poor.
8. Establishing the Christian home on the principles of Scripture, in which marriage is understood as a reflection of the Christ-church relationship; where husband and wife covenant with each other to walk in God’s ways; and parents rear their children, who are loaned to them by God, as He would have them reared: covenantally, ethically, and experientially.
9. Rekindling the spirit of inquiry, or “faith seeking under­standing”; founding schools, academies, and universities; disseminating knowledge; encouraging research and explo­ration; enabling many discoveries; and producing many valuable inventions.
10. Inspiring creative endeavors in the form of literature, music, art, and architecture and great public works, consecrating the powers of man to the service and glory of God.