Reformed Piety: Covenantal and Experiential

by Joel R. Beeke, Stephen G Myers

This small but important book shows how genuine biblical, Reformed piety, is both covenantally based and experientially lived. Piety, covenant, and experience are all interrelated in genuine and vital Christianity, and all point to Jesus Christ as the head of the covenant and the focal point of true Christian experience.
This book is intended as Geoff Thomas says in his Foreword to encourage us "towards Reformed experiential living reflecting something of the Christian s affection for God, loving Him with all his being, a servant truly on flame for his Lord, who cries, For me to live is Christ who is presenting his body as a living sacrifice to God, who like John the Baptist has an awakening ministry, as a burning and a shining light... most needful of all is a close walk with God, a consecration of all we are to all that Jesus Christ is. That must be the one thing we do as Christians, not talking about it, or longing for it, but making progress in appropriating it each day of our lives, in the pulpit, in the home.... The words of this little book will help you to be a better disciple in our short and uncertain earthly pilgrimage.

Genres: Theology

48 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2019

About the author

Joel R. Beeke (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) is the chancellor and professor of homiletics and systematic theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He has served as a pastor since 1978 and currently ministers at the Heritage Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the editor of the Puritan Reformed Journal and The Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth magazine, the board chairman of Reformation Heritage Books, the president of Inheritance Publishers, and the vice president of the Dutch Reformed Translation Society.

Beeke has written and coauthored 120 books, edited 120 books, and contributed 2,500 articles to Reformed books, journals, periodicals, and encyclopedias. He frequently lectures at seminaries and speaks at Reformed conferences around the world. The Lord has blessed him and his wife Mary with three children and eleven grandchildren.

Reviews

[Bobby James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. Helpful intro on how the reformers (primarily Calvin) and the reformed tradition has viewed the pursuit of godliness. And how that pursuit is seated in God’s covenantal economy of redemption.

One thing that was helpful was the 5th characteristic of experiential preaching: “Piety is idealistic when it knows how matters ought to go in their lives (Romans 6:1–23; 8:1–17)…piety is realistic in so far as it understands how matters actually go in the lives of gods people (Romans 7:14–25; 8:18–27)…and piety is optimistic because it holds to an assured hope of how matters ultimately will go for God’s people, for they are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:28–39).” (26)

Although, in terms of their evaluation of the “misuses” of the moral law, the Decalogue, it’s surprising to me that guys like Beeke and Myers’s would misunderstand the new covenant side so poorly and pass it off as a “tradition devoid of Covenantal sensibilities.” (11) But the book is short and I get there’s not adequate space to treat it with specifics.

“[Reformed piety] is a piety of enduring faith and unshakeable hope, and contains within itself the very spark of heaven.” (33)

Fantastic primer on historic reformed piety!

[John Tester · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book but not an easy read. The English is for the highly educated not the everyday man.

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Piety, or Godliness, is a great thing to seek after. Dr. Beeke looks at different aspects of piety in the reformed tradition that we can attain and how to exemplify piety in our own lives. John Calvin, for instance had a good grasp of what piety is - theologically speaking. It begins with understanding communion with Christ, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and receiving the "double cure" of justification and sanctification.

Calvin's Piety - A theological, ecclesiological, and personal Piety.

Calvin saw piety as directly nourished from the church through the preaching of the Word, the sacraments, singing of Psalms, and direct care of the elders. Calvin saw the preached word, the "external minister," as a vital component to the Spirit's work in us as our "internal minister." Calvin viewed the Psalms as a direct gift from God to bring about piety, stating that "There is no other book in which we are more perfectly taught the right manner of praising God, or in which we are more powerfully stirred up to the performance of this exercise of piety." While piety may be toiled in the church, it must first be grown in the individual through an endeavor for personal piety.


Covenantal Piety

Dr. Beeke expounds on what we mean when we say "covenantal piety,"  that is, to draw godliness out of the way he has covenanted with humanity. God's redemption through covenant shows us both the ethical and communal properties of piety. Regarding the communal aspect of covenantal piety, we must look at what the Westminster confession called the "voluntary condescension" of the covenant of Grace. Christ is our blessedness and reward, Beeke writes, and as such Christ has adopted us and made us the people of the covenant. Make no mistake, piety does not exist where there is no covenantal bond between an individual and the Savior. The mutuality of this bond is seen thought the work of Christ in our own lives to bring about a reformed piety. Beeke is clear that we must see piety as more than simply conforming to a norm - it must be seen as a relationship with God Himself.

A Piety of relationship, ethical content, and community.

Beyond this, there is a relational aspect as well for the law of God. True piety is not simply following the law of God but it is actually loving the law of God. We do not adhere to a standard, we assimilate the standard. It does not take a new heart to outwardly observe God's law but it does take a new heart to inwardly adore it. Further, being a communal covenant, there are stipulations for piety towards others. As Beeke reminds us, the covenant is not just God redeeming a large number of individuals, but rather him redeeming a people. We are not just in covenant to God as an individual but we are moreso in covenant to God with one another. Covenantal piety sees that that God has chosen families as the primary means of reproducing and continuing the covenant itself, hence why infant baptism is such a clear expression of the covenant that God has made with his people. To be sure, there are abuses that can occur within reformed covenantal piety; for instance the desire to either hate the law (antinomianism) or to elevate it to an improper level (legalism), which is to ironically be condemned by the law through over application of the law. Further still is the danger of hypercalvinism, in which the distinction between law and grace is separated to the point where it becomes meritorious to follow the law, such as ascribing salvation to baptized infants due to the belief in guaranteed intergenerational effective works, as commonly seen in the Federal Visionists. Reformed piety is covenant piety from beginning to end, intensely communal and practically experienced as a people.

Experimental Piety

One of the more intriguing aspects of Reformed Piety is experiential or experimental piety. True piety is not solely theoretical. It has feet to it and they must walk and grow through daily usage. Calvin thought of piety as a sort of "knowledge gained through experience" and this makes sense if you have ever spoken to faithful older Christians who have walked with Christ for many years. So how is piety shown to be experiential? Beeke gives seven ways and I will shortly summarize them.

1. A Piety based on the written Word.

Beeke writes that "God's word must be preached not only biblically, doctrinally, and practically, but also experientially, for it is 'the power of God unto Salvation' (Romans 1:16) that transforms men and nations." Reverence for God entails reverence of His Word, so Beeke writes, and this Reformed Piety is experiential piety. It is experiential, not mystical, and that experimental piety is grounded in and subservient to the word of God.

2. A Piety centered on Christ.

Cotton Mather writes that we should "Exhibit as much as you can of a glorious Christ. Yea, let the motto upon your whole ministry be: "Christ is all." A reverence for the Word of God and for the Glory of God will be centered on Christ as the pinnacle of experiential piety. Beeke writes that "Experiential piety seeks the intimate, personal, transforming knowledge of God in Christ."

3. Piety applied to practical life.

Reformed Piety is applying Biblical truth to every area of a believers life. The directory of public worship touches on this when it states that a preacher must "bring it [doctrine] home to special use, by application to his hearers; which albeit it prove a work of great difficulty to himself, requiring much prudence, zeal, and meditation, and to the natural and corrupt man will be very unpleasant; Yeah he is to endeavor to perform it in such a manner, that his auditors may feel the Word of God to be quick and powerful, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; and that, if any unbeliever or ignorant person be present, he may have the secrets of his heart made manifest, and give glory to God." The Westminster divines delineated six types of personal application: Instruction in doctrine, confutation of error, exhortation to obedience, dehortation against sin, comfort for the afflicted, and giving "notes of trial" for self-examination. Beeke adds a seventh, being a doxology or showing forth the praises of God.

4. Piety probed by spiritual discernment.

True piety most be distinguished from false piety and this is where see the similarities between preaching and Christian discipline in which in both cases Christ pursues his covenantal people through conviction of sin and restoration to the body. Piety is experiential become we must experience the saving work of Christ in order to become more like Christ.

5. Piety energized with idealism, realism, and optimism.

The Christian life should combine all three of these things and they should be evident in the pastor's sermons. We should be idealistic in that we know how things ought to be - we must have a standard. We should be realists in that we know things don't always go to plan - sin besets every Christian despite our idealism. We should be optimistic in that we understand that the battle has already been won for us - we do not wallow in self-deprecation because of our realistic outcomes.

6. Piety rooted in heart knowledge.

There is little to no piety in the knowledge of the head, that knowledge that resides in a purely theoretical state. The Reformers have long held that there is a difference between a head knowledge and a heart knowledge, and part of becoming a pious Christian is enjoying an experiential piety that resides with and takes deep in the heart.

7. Piety fruitful in holy love.

The telos of piety is not purely personal or individualistic. The pursuit and attainment of piety should spur us onto assisting others with their piety and building one another up in this endeavor. Christianity does not have a category for the individual or lone wolf who strikes his own path. It is always communal because that is who we were created to be from Eden forward.

All in all, a really helpful and mercifully short book.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short book starts off a bit dry but builds upon itself to make a biblical and historically rooted case for balancing covenantal and experiential piety in every area of one’s life. It may be because I was raised in Pentecostal and Baptistic circles before coming to the Reformed tradition, but I really loved the portion of the book dealing with experiential piety and heart knowledge. The book helpfully takes people who err in neglecting the covenantal aspects of piety or the experiential aspect of piety and teaches the reader how to rightly emphasize and balance both.

[Aaron Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short booklet containing Beeke's plenary talks from two conferences in the year of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Beeke draws out great insight regarding John Calvin's understanding of piety. The chapter on covenantal piety was a bit discouraging because the Law was a bit muddled with the Gospel. The third chapter on experiential piety is the strongest section of the booklet.

[Derek Kreider · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only reason I started reading this was because it’s a short read. But having finished it, I’m glad I read it. A lot of reformed work is intellectually arrogant and dry. However, this book undermines a lot of what we miss out on in our history. The book uncovers the importance of community, other, Spirit, heart, and works - things the modern reformed church often seems devoid of. This is a great look back to what ought to be.

[Jonah Twiddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tri-fecta of preached piety is something I will be thinking about a lot: it is idealistic (how things should be), realistic (how things actually are), and optimistic (how things will be one day). In light of these things, calls to Reformed godliness sound forth a note that is, all at once, urgent, sympathetic, and boldly victorious.

[Joel Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short and thought provoking read. It could easily be read in one sitting but probably deserves several days of thoughtful consideration. I was both challenged and encouraged as I read. I’ll likely read it again and again to internalize the wisdom of the reformer.

[David deBruyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short collection of sermons on practical godliness from a Reformed perspective. Good insights, especially on the experiential side. Credobaptists won't agree with his application of covenantalism to infant baptism.

[Ryan Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short readable book about reformed piety. This would be a great resource to give someone new or curious about the reformed faith and its practical implications for how you live your life.

[David Jamison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really practical helps for preachers in this little book.

[Kendra Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Small, concise, quick read that delivers an efficient understanding of biblical reformed piety.

[Wilson Porte Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deveria ser traduzido.