Abandoned Traditions in Reformed Theology Not Based on Scripture
Reformed theology emerged in the sixteenth century with a foundational commitment: Scripture alone (sola Scriptura) serves as the ultimate authority for faith and practice. This principle necessarily required abandoning traditions that lacked biblical warrant, particularly those that had accumulated in medieval Catholicism and were perpetuated through claims of ecclesiastical authority.
The Principle of Abandonment
Charles Hodge articulates the Reformed position plainly: traditions "include all the laws enacted by men, without authority from the word of God, for the purpose either of prescribing the mode of divine worship, or laying a religious obligation on the conscience" [2]. Calvin himself defined the character of human traditions that "ought to be repudiated by the Church, and condemned by all the godly" as those imposed without scriptural foundation [2]. The Reformers did not reject tradition wholesale, but they subordinated it entirely to Scripture's authority.
Specific Abandonments
The Augsburg Confession, though Lutheran, reflects the broader Reformation consensus when it protests that bishops "command celibacy" and "admit none unless they swear that they will not teach the pure doctrine of the Gospel," insisting these traditions "cannot be kept with a good conscience" [5]. Reformed theology similarly abandoned mandatory clerical celibacy, the veneration of saints, purgatory, indulgences, and the Mass understood as a propitiatory sacrifice—all practices the Reformers judged unsupported by Scripture.
The sacramental system underwent radical revision. Reformed confessions affirmed sacraments as "real means of grace" but denied "that their efficacy is due to their inherent virtue, or to him who administers them" [3]. The administrator possesses "no supernatural power in the man, in virtue of his office, to render the sacraments effectual" [6]. This repudiated the medieval sacramental economy that located saving power in priestly office rather than in God's sovereign work through appointed means.
The Authority Question
Protestants rejected Rome's claim that tradition functions as an independent source of revelation. Hodge notes that Romanists argue "that Protestants concede the authority of tradition, because it is on that authority they receive the New Testament as the word of God," but counters: "We do not believe the New Testament to be divine on the ground of the testimony of the Church" [1]. The Reformers distinguished between tradition as a historical witness to Scripture's content and tradition as a parallel source of doctrine. They accepted the former while rejecting the latter, insisting that "the written word is the only source of knowledge of what God has revealed" [4].
Sources
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 37: authority of Scripture, Protestants believe to be anti-scriptural; and therefore they need no other evidence to prove that tradition is not to be trusted either in matters of faith or practice. The Scriptures not received on the Authority of Tradition. 8. Romanists argue that Protestants concede the authority of tradition, because it is on that authority they receive the New Testament as the word of God. This is not correct. We do not believe the New Testament to be divine on the ground of the testimony of the Church. We receive the books”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 92: But if, without any regard to circumstances, you would simply know the character belonging at all times to those human traditions which ought to be repudiated by the Church, and condemned by all the godly, 584 584 Calvin on the Necessity of Reforming the Church. the definition which we formerly gave is clear and certain—viz. That they include all the laws enacted by men, without authority from the word of God, for the purpose either of prescribing the mode of divine worship, or laying a religious obligation on the conscience, as en”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 57: sunt, ant vacua: nec ad nos decipiendos aut frustrandos instituta. ” These symbols of the Reformed Churches on the continent of Europe agree with those of our own Church, not only in representing the sacraments as real means of grace, but also in denying that their efficacy is due to their inherent virtue, or to him who administers them, and in affirming that it is due to the attending operation of the Spirit, and is conditioned on the presence of faith in the recipient. This is plain from the quotations already made, which might be multi”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 37: attained and preserved under that teaching of the Spirit, which secures to believers a competent knowledge of the plan of salvation therein revealed. On the other hand, tradition is with the Romanists entirely independent of the Scriptures. They plead for a common consent in doctrines not contained in the Word of God, or which cannot be proved therefrom. Fourthly. Protestants do not regard “common consent” either as an informant or as a ground of faith. With them the written word is the only source of knowledge of what God has revealed fo”
- Augsburg Confession (Lutheran) “Augsburg Confession (Lutheran, 1530), 69 But the bishops might easily retain the lawful obedience of: 69 But the bishops might easily retain the lawful obedience of the people if they would not insist upon the observance of such traditions as cannot be kept with a good conscience. 70 Now they command celibacy; they admit none unless they swear that they will not teach 71 the pure doctrine of the Gospel. The churches do not ask that the bishops should restore concord at the expense of their honor; which, nevertheless, 72 it would be proper for good pastors to do. They ask only that they would r”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 57: administered. It does not reside in his office. There is no supernatural power in the man, in virtue of his office, to render the sacraments effectual. Nor does their efficiency depend on the character of the administrator in the sight of God; nor upon his intention; that is, his purpose to render them effectual. The man who administers 500 the sacraments is not a worker of miracles. The Apostles and others at that time in the Church, were endued with supernatural power; and they had to will to exercise it in order to its producing its le”