All Articles For Dykstra, Russell J

Please note that, although Prof. Dykstra resigned as editor, he agreed to help in a limited way to the end of the volume year. This is the last of his editorials. Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. I Samuel 7:12 The church of Jesus Christ is a miracle. Her very existence is a wonder of grace. The church is part of the believer’s confession of faith: “I believe an holy, catholic church.” The Heidelberg Catechism explains that article of faith...

Unprecedented, as far as I am aware. Prof. Russell Dykstra was but one year from finishing the five-year transition period into his retirement as faculty in the PRC seminary when on May 30 he accepted a call to become pastor of Byron Center, MI PRC. First, the pastorate (Doon and Hope GR); then twenty-five-years as professor at seminary; now back to the pastorate. At age 67. Sixty-seven these days is not what 67 was 50 years ago, but it still does not carry the strength of youth. It was very understandable then that only two days later, at the Standard...

On Thursday, June 17, after nine days of committee meetings and open sessions, the 2021 Synod completed its works on the largest agenda in the eighty-two-year history of Protestant Reformed synods. It was a good synod, from many points of view. The blessed harmony of brothers in Christ was manifest through all the meetings and meals. This was not a feigned harmony, but genuine, based on the unity in the truth of Scripture and cemented by brotherly love. That it was a unity based squarely on truth was immediately manifest in the solemn ceremony—no empty ritual—of the reading of the...

What comes to mind when you hear (or read) of “the French Reformation”? Most, I suspect, have little knowledge of this aspect of the sixteenth-century Reformation that began in Wittenberg (Luther), and spread through many countries in Europe. The great majority of our readers come from a European context (ethnically and theologically) other than France. Many are tied to the Reformation in the Netherlands by blood lines. Theologically, we connect with Martin Luther in Germany and John Calvin in Geneva. A very small group has ties to French Huguenots (the term used to identify Reformed believers in France). Consequently, France...

The Reformation is the work of God, not man. God reforms His church. God raises up men of understanding, courage, and strength for the purpose of using these men for church reformation, just as God raised up judges in the Old Testament. But even then, reformation begins in the heart of such men. The Spirit works a personal conviction of sin and unworthiness, a strong faith in Christ, and the assurance of salvation. The Spirit works in these men godliness and integrity. And God uses them in His time and way. No reformer sets out thinking that he is God’s...

With heartfelt gratitude to God, we begin the ninety-seventh year of the Standard Bearer. It should be obvious that in order for the SB to find its way into your mailbox twenty-one times in the next year, many people put in significant effort. That starts with some forty men and women who have committed to write anywhere from three to twenty articles in the next year.1 Behind the scenes, managing editor Charles Terpstra sets the schedule for the writers (and reminds them when theirs are due), edits every contribution submitted, and along with the editors, proofreads every issue. Then there...

The first “news” about the synod is that there was a PRCA synod in the year 2020. The Board of Trustees and the calling church (Trinity PRC) together examined the executive orders of the state of Michigan and concluded that it would be possible to hold the sessions of synod in Trinity PRC, provided that certain regulations were followed. The consistory of Trinity and delegates of synod and their wives scattered throughout the sanctuary for the pre-synodical service on Monday evening, June 8. Shortly after officially convening on Tuesday, synod adopted the regulations proposed by the Board of Trustees. Attendance...

At the title indicates, this series of editorials examines the harmonious relationship between the doctrine of God’s covenant of grace and the Canons of Dordt. The premise continues to be that the doctrine of the covenant of grace must agree with the doctrines of sovereign grace taught in the Canons. For the truth of God is one, unified body, and no part in it conflicts with another. In addition, God’s covenant of grace is intertwined with God’s saving work. God saves His people and brings them into the living relationship of friendship, which is His covenant life. The doctrine of...

The doctrine of God’s covenant of grace with His people must be fully in harmony with the Canons of Dordt. Of course, it is true that in a Reformed church the doctrine of the covenant must be in harmony with all the Reformed confessions. But the covenant must explicitly conform to the Canons because the Canons set forth the Reformed doctrine of salvation. And the covenant is salvation, for God saves His people in order to bring them into the covenant relationship of love and friendship. The soteriology or salvation theology of the Canons is, in a word, unconditional salvation....

Assurance was a significant doctrine faced at the Synod of Dordt in 1618–19. The Arminians insisted no man could have assurance that salvation was his unless he was told: “God loves you and wants to save you.” And, said the Arminians, that might not be said to him unless it is true that God loves everyone, Christ died for everyone, and God’s desire is to save all. Assurance is also a significant issue in the doctrine of the covenant. The conditional covenant touts itself as the covenant theology that gives the most assurance. The assurance it gives (so it is...