All Articles For Lubbers, George C

In this essay we will try to say something construc­tive about the seemingly knotty exegetical question of what is meant by Jesus, when He says “became He causes His sun to rise on evil and good and rains upon just and unjust”. It should be kept very sharply before our minds that the subject that Jesus is here bringing to the foreground is these verses is not God’s providential acts in creation and nature, but that He is most em­phatically speaking of the righteousness of the King­dom of heaven, as this must come to full fruition in our lives as...

The church of God in the midst of this world, fighting the battle of faith, is always cheered in her conflict with the memory of Christ’s death. This may sound like a trite saying, something common­place, but it is in reality the profoundest and most actual comforting truth. For this memory of Christ’s death is brought to us by means of the Word of the Cross.

In this essay we intend to call attention to the beautiful and well-known words: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.” Have you ever heard it said, dear reader, that we human mortals do not know who the elect of God are? I have. And generally this is a contention that comes from the lips of either the unlearned and weak in faith, or, what is worse, from the lips of him who knows neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.

There is really nothing so painful under the sun as to see brethren and sisters in the Lord live in disunity of mind and soul; it is the pain of the breaking of the harmony of the music of the love of Christ in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Conversely it is also true, that nothing gives such joy as to see that brethren dwell together in the unity of brotherhood. It is like the precious ointment wherewith Aaron and his sons were anointed; it is like the dew of Mount Hermon upon the top...

There are two proverbial flies in the apothecary’s ointment of God’s Church, that are a very pestilent evil. They are indeed the devil’s tools to disrupt the unity in God’s church. For, let us not forget, that Satan is our arch foe, who uses sin and our evil lusts as tools for our destruction! Which two evils do we have in minds?

We, write “a glad occasion in Hope”. And that it truly was on the evening of May 26 when Mr. Herman Mensch might reach the milestone in his life to which he had looked forward for the past six years. It was a glad occasion for brother Mensch, and we surely congratulate him in thankfulness to God. But it was also a glad occasion for the Faculty members of our Seminary, both regular professors and instructors, as well as for the Theological School Committee, which too was present.

It is with some hesitation that we undertake to write our thoughts on the subject which captions this article. And the reason for this is that every man who undertakes to write must beware lest he stumble in words: he that does not stumble in words is a per­fect man.

It was on Tuesday afternoon that the undersigned rode with three other delegates from Classis East to attend the Synod of 1952 to be held at South Holland, Illinois.

It is not our intention in this article to give an ex­position of any particular portion of these verses; rather we will give a general survey of this section, a bird’s eye view of the whole. We trust that this will on the one hand stimulate us to the proper interest in the comforting message here revealed, and on the other hand it will enable us to see the details of this passage in the light of the overall pattern. We will thus not fail to see the woods because of the trees.

My second observation is, that I am glad that Sy­nod has spoken on this question of the Promise, its scope, its objects and its appropriation. Synod of 1951 was not stranded on the question of “conditions” in the abstract, but rather approached the question from the viewpoint of the Promise. Synod spoke not only of unconditional election, but also speaks of un­conditional salvation which is ours by means of faith. That gave clarity to the question and cleared the at­mosphere from misunderstandings.