The Puritans: Who They Were and Why They Matter
Last updated: 2026-04-13
The Puritans were a group of 16th and 17th-century English Protestants who sought to purify the Church of England of remaining Roman Catholic practices. They held a Calvinistic theology and emphasized the authority of Scripture, personal piety, and the regulative principle of worship.
📖 A Movement for Reformation
The Puritans emerged during the Elizabethan era with a deep desire for the complete reformation of the Church of England according to the Word of God. They were known for their commitment to the doctrines of grace and their insistence that worship be governed strictly by Scripture, rejecting ceremonies they viewed as unbiblical additions. In many cases, these believers sought to live out a life of radical obedience, understanding that they were accepted in Christ alone and therefore called to holiness. As the 1689 LBCF Ch.29 §2 reminds us, the emphasis on a credible profession of faith was central to their understanding of church membership and the ordinances.
Sources: 1689 LBCF Ch.29 §2
📜 A Legacy of Sovereign Grace
The theology of the Puritans was deeply rooted in the Five Solas and the Doctrines of Grace. They held a profound conviction that salvation is entirely the work of God, a principle clearly articulated in Eph. 1:4-6: "even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." Their focus was always on the glory of God, and they lived with the constant awareness that they were more sinful than they dared believe, yet more loved in Christ than they dared hope.
Sources: Eph. 1:4-6
The Puritans envisioned a society where every aspect of life—Church, State, and family—was ordered by the Word of God for His glory, rooted in the conviction that Christ is Sovereign over all spheres. This matters today because it challenges the modern divorce of faith from public life, reminding us that we are accepted in Christ and thus called to bring His Lordship into every department of our existence.
📖 A Life- and World-View Under God
The Puritan vision, deeply influenced by the Reformed tradition, did not view the church as an isolated religious enclave but as the spiritual root from which all of life should bloom. As Lectures on Calvinism notes, this vision created a life-system that sought to put a "thorough Christian stamp upon home-life and family-ties" and promote purity in social circles. They understood the visible church, as defined in Westminster Larger Catechism — Question 62, as a society of those who profess the true religion, yet they believed this confession necessitated a public, cultural expression. Their aim was not to build a new world based on human autonomy, but to submit the totality of human experience to the sovereignty of the Triune God.
Sources: Lectures on Calvinism · Westminster Larger Catechism — Question 62
🏛️ Sovereignty, State, and Society
The Puritans held that authority in the State and society was not derived from the "will of the people" (popular sovereignty) but from the Sovereignty of God. In Lectures on Calvinism (Lecture III), it is argued that for the Puritans, the State was a necessary remedy for the disorder of sin, designed to protect the good and restrain the evil. They believed that just as the Church has an independent mandate from Christ, so too do the spheres of science, art, and family possess their own God-given autonomy, or "sphere sovereignty." This prevents the State from becoming an octopus that stifles life, ensuring that while the magistrate is honored, Christ remains the ultimate Head of all things.
Sources: Lectures on Calvinism (Lecture III)
✝️ The Gospel Foundation
The Puritan zeal for a reformed society was not moralism—the attempt to earn favor through societal improvement—but the overflow of the gospel. They knew that their only standing before God was found in the "praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:4-6). Their vision remains vital today because it guards us against the temptation to either flee from the world (escapism) or conform to the world (license). We obey in the public square not to be accepted, but because in Christ, we are already more accepted than we ever dared hope, and we long for His glory to be visible in every corner of His creation.
Sources: Ephesians 1:4-6
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