The alternative of hypothetical universalism, according to which Christ's work is sufficient for all but efficient only for the elect, was alive and well in early Reformed thought. Moreover - and importantly for our purposes - this view was not regarded as an aberration but as a legitimate position that could be taken within the confessional bounds of Reformed thought. But that means that the Five Points aren't the non-negotiable conceptual core of Calvinism after all.

Reformed theology belongs to this confessional tradition, and Reformed theologians and churches continue to write confessions even today.

I recommend Doug Sweeney's recent book [Jonathan] Edwards the Exegete (Oxford University Press, 2015), which is a terrific treatment of the way in which Edwards was steeped in the Bible, so that it shaped the whole of his thinking.

There is no such thing as a stationary tradition. Traditions are always developing, living things.

The confessions don't speak with one voice. They are more like a cluster of closely-related but distinct voices - a kind of choir, if you like.

One of the things we in the Reformed tradition are very good at is writing doctrinal theology!

[I'm often called a Deviant Calvinist] but that only goes to underline the point I'm trying to make about the need to broaden our account of the tradition!