The word reformation means forming a new, returning to the old, proper form. A reformation of the church is a successful attempt to bring the church back to its original forms and practices, as it was in the beginning. The forms and practices of the beginning are described in the New Testament.

Actually, the above given definition of a reformation of the church is not entirely correct for two reasons. In the first place, it does not reckon with the process of history. The situation in the sixteenth century was not the same as that at the time of the apostles, just like the situation today is different again. A church of our days cannot be identical to the Church in Jerusalem or the Church in Corinth in the first century.

The mentioning of these two names, Jerusalem and Corinth, reminds us that all early churches were not completely the same. There was in the apostolic time a variety of churches, each having its own characteristics, its own situation. But they had the same faith, the same doctrine, the same basic structure. And they were all called to be subject to the same Lord and to the same Word.

This leads us to the second flaw in the definition. Reformation of the church is not a going back to old forms and practices as such. It is a return to the Lord of the Church. It is a renewed humble obedient submission to His Word. It is a return to the faithful and obedient service of the Lord in accordance with the Scriptures. Of course, such a return to the Lord and His Word will have as consequence that in many respects there is a return to the forms and practices of the early church. The Word of God, revealing His will for the early church and its life, was also the norm for the church of the reformation, and has to rule the church of all times.

How is such a reformation, such a return to the Lord of the church possible? Do, all of a sudden, in a time of general apostasy, some people come to their senses? We know better. The Lord Himself visits His people. He has mercy upon them. He prepares His instruments. He opens their eyes and makes them see the truth. He plants His Word in their hearts through His Holy Spirit. He makes them love Him and serve Him and His Church with a total dedication.

Then, as instruments of God, these men call the people back to the LORD and His Word, teaching them the ways of the LORD, in the manner in which Christ instructed His apostles, namely, to make the nations His disciples, to baptize them, and to teach them to observe all that He had commanded them. That is why Luther and Calvin, and so many with them placed so much emphasis on teaching in the church, at home and in the Christian school. That is also why they paid so much attention to the training of ministers of the Word.

In line with Luther and Calvin and in obedience to the Scriptures, the churches of the Secession, after 1834, decided to establish a theological school. One of the teachers, appointed by the synod, was Rev. Helenius de Cock, son of Hendrick de Cock. In his letter of acceptance he wrote,

To the service of God and of His Church I am devoted. That which the Lord and His Church ask of me, I have to do… With an eye on Him who gives power to the weak and who has promised to give wisdom to everyone who desires it from Him, I say before the Lord and His congregation: I shall devote to you the powers of my body and the strengths of my soul; what I am, I shall be for you.

It is this dedication to the Lord and His Church in many aspects, also regarding the theological training, that has built the churches of the Lord during and after reformations of the church. Thankful for this work of God in the reformations of the church, we express the wish that this spirit may continue to prevail in our midst and all over on this earth, also where now apostasy makes itself strong.

October 31 is Reformation Day. We remember the gracious and glorious works of our faithful God and His Son Jesus Christ, the Head of the church, in the reformations that took place, and through which He led His people back to Himself. We give thanks to Him also for His gracious work of consolidating and maintaining the result of the reformations through constructive teaching of the fear of His Name and the observing of the things that Christ commanded His Church.