All Articles For Key, Steven R.

For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come—Hebrews 13:14   On January 1 we enter another year, 2026. We wonder how many more we will see. We are, after all, pilgrims in the earth, on our journey to our heavenly home. Here we have no continuing city. In a city one abides, digs foundations and builds structures. A city is where people establish themselves, gather their treasures, seek their pleasures. And while we know the life of the city by our passing through, the fact remains, we are just passing through. Even if our lifetime...

This article has its origins in a church history project conducted by seminarians Russell Dykstra, Steven Key, and Charles Terpstra, at the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary in 1985. These three were the first to go through the four-year seminary program. One of the reasons to expand the curriculum to four years was to add an internship, but this was not yet implemented. So we were given additional coursework, including this church history project. Each interviewed several individuals in the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRCA) who had lived the history of the churches up until 1985. The ten interviews I...

Martin Luther’s The Bondage of the Will is a book that is doctrinally foundational to the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, to be outdone only by the much more extensive doctrinal treatment of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. Martin Luther wrote extensively during his lifetime. The published volumes of his works now number 79. Luther considered The Bondage of the Will the most important of his writings. But there is a background to his writing and publication of this book that must be considered in order to understand the great value of the book for the church...

emeritus minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches, and member of Loveland PRC in Loveland, Colorado   For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands—Nehemiah 6:9   The troubles would not cease for God’s servant Nehemiah. Whenever one problem would be resolved, another would arise. After having confronted a terrible sin within the congregation and having seen the power of God’s grace work repentance, Nehemiah continued leading the people of God in the building of the walls of Jerusalem, only to find...

minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches and member of Loveland PRC in Loveland, Colorado The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms—Deuteronomy 33:27a At the time that I write this meditation, I have been sitting at the bedside of my godly mother as God prepares to take her to her heavenly home. After 89 years of traversing this earth, from childhood running around her dad’s greenhouses and helping to care for her younger siblings, through 70 years of marriage, giving birth to three sons and providing the faithful nurture of a godly mother and grandmother,...

Rev. Steven Key, emeritus minister of the Protestant Reformed Churches and member of Loveland PRC in Loveland, Colorado I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one…. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.  I John 2:13b, 14b. First John 2:12-14 is divided into two sets of three addresses each. The two sets are divided by a different tense of the verse, where John first says, “I write unto you,” and then, “I have written.” The inspired...

When we speak about the theological concept of adoption, we do well to remember that adoption is about the reconciliation of rebellious and estranged children. To understand this is important to our confidence in our Father’s commitment to our safety. We were named God’s children from eternity by His eternal and unchangeable decree of election in Christ (Eph. 1:4-5). But in Adam we who had the perfect place in Father’s fellowship forsook Him. Adoption is about God taking into the fellowship of His covenant life those who had rebelled against Him and who had left Him to make their home...

Rev. Steven Key, emeritus minister of the Protestant Reformed Churches and member of Loveland PRC in Loveland, Colorado And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Revelation 22:6, 7 Immediately following our consideration of Christ’s coming in His incarnation, we are brought face to face with the passing of another year and the entrance of a new year....

O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. Jeremiah 18:1-6 Jeremiah lived and prophesied around 600 years before Christ’s incarnation. Jeremiah’s ministry spanned almost 50 years, during that time when the abomination of Israel’s apostasy had reached the depths from which there would be no revival as a nation. At the time that Jeremiah was called to the ministry, however, the situation appeared quite promising. He was called during the reign of Josiah, who...

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20 This month we commemorate Ascension Day. The significance of Christ’s ascension is unfolded from many perspectives in Holy Scripture, including in Philippians 3:20. Because our Lord has been received into heaven, “our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Christ, according to Scripture, is our Head, the Head of the church, and we are in Him; therefore, our life is in heaven. The meaning The word conversation in Scripture refers not...