All Articles For Cammenga, Ronald

THE MEANING OF VICARIOUS One very important word in connection with the death of Jesus Christ is the word imputation. In the previous article in this rubric, we examined the biblical teaching concerning imputation (see July 2025, pp. 372). Another equally important word is vicarious. Jesus’ death was a vicarious death. That means that Christ’s death was in the place of and as the substitute for others. Christ did not die for His own sins, but He died on account of the sins of others. He did not pay the penalty for any of His own wrongdoing, but He suffered...

CORRECTION Prof. R. Cammenga’s article in the October 1, 2025 issue: “Of the Law of God” ended too abruptly (see page 24). We finish the article here, with apologies to Prof. Cammenga for the oversight: “Not the law our righteousness, but Christ our righteousness! Not our obedience, but His perfect obedience!”

Previous article in this series: November 1, 2024, p. 42.   The Law Is Complete and Perfect We believe that the whole will of God and all necessary precepts for every sphere of life are taught in this law. For otherwise the Lord would not have forbidden us to add or take away anything from this law; neither would He have commanded us to walk in a straight path before this law, and not to turn aside from it by turning to the right or to the left (Deut. 4:2; 12:32). In this third paragraph of chapter 12 of the...

professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Southwest PRC in Wyoming, Michigan   In this and following articles in the rubric “Taking Heed to the Doctrine,” I plan to spend an article or two explaining a number of different theological terms. These are terms that are used to explain important doctrines of Holy Scripture. Often these words are used in our Reformed confessions, in systematic theologies, and even in upper level catechism books like the “Essentials of Reformed Doctrine,” by Herman Hoeksema, which is used by high school students in the...

professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Southwest PRC in Wyoming, Michigan   CELEBRATING SYNOD The year was 1940. The date was Wednesday, May 22. Very few took notice of the momentous event that took place in Grand Rapids, Michigan that day. It was not the lead story on the evening news. It did not capture the headlines of the local newspapers. The few who did take notice were members of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. After fifteen years of existence as a separate denomination, they had grown sufficiently to...

professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Southwest PRC in Wyoming, Michigan   THE WIDESPREAD PROBLEM You have likely heard a public confession of sin in your congregation for drunkenness. Maybe the repentant sinner was guilty of public intoxication, or had been arrested for driving under the influence (DUI), or brought to jail for causing an accident while impaired. When was the last time that you heard a public confession for the sin of gluttony? I doubt that there has ever been such a confession in the history of our churches....

The preaching of the gospel is grace, a means of grace, as Scrip­ture teaches and the Reformed confessions affirm. The preaching is God’s means of grace. It is God’s means of grace to all who hear the preaching, that is, to all who hear the preaching who are elect children of God. To them and only to them is the preaching grace. They alone are blessed under the preaching of the gospel. Through the preaching of the Word, the grace of God works sorrow over sin, faith in Jesus Christ, and a life of gratitude in obedience to God’s commandments....

professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Southwest PRC in Wyoming, Michigan FROM A TO Z From A to Z—or, for many of our foreign subscribers, from A to Zed. From A to Z and everything in between, the Standard Bearer has throughout its history applied the truths of the Reformed faith to the lives of its readers. From abortion to Zionism, God’s people were pointed to their calling in the light of the Word of God and the Reformed confessions. From abortion to adiaphora, from alcoholism to amusements, from anger...

professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary and member of Southwest PRC in Wyoming, Michigan The Will of God Is Explained for Us in the Law of God. We teach that the will of God is explained for us in the law of God, what He wills or does not will us to do, what is good and just, or what is evil and unjust. Therefore, we confess that the law is good and holy. The twelfth chapter of the Second Helvetic Confession (SHC) deals with the Reformed view of the place of the...

Emeritus professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary and member of Southwest PRC in Wyoming, Michigan   THE CREEDS OF FOUR COUNCILS RECEIVED. And, to say many things with a few words, with a sincere heart we believe, and freely confess with open mouth, whatever things are defined from the Holy Scriptures concerning the mystery of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and are summed up in the Creeds and decrees of the first four most excellent synods convened at Nicea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon— together with the Creed of blessed Athanasius, and all...