All Articles For Lubbers, George C

“In whom also ye, having heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also (in which gospel also) having; believed ye were sealed.  . . .by the Holy Spirit of Promise unto the redemption of the (final) possession, unto the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13, 14 There are two important elements in, this very rich portion of the Word of God to which we called attention in the former two articles. The first of these elements was that of the Scriptural idea of the “sealing” of the saints in Christ Jesus. This work of God...

The Lord willing, the undersigned will be the contributor to this rubric for the next six months. May the little that is here contributed be of blessing to both writer and readers. The rich treasure of God’s Gospel is contained in an earthen vessel and not the least in this column. Of this truth the writer is painfully aware. Still, it is exactly in this acknowledgement that there is also a great measure of comfort. Now the exceeding greatness of the power may be and is not of us but of God. And no labor spent is vain in the...

(The first O. T. quotation to which we would call attention is that recorded in Romans 10:5-8. This beautiful and instructive passage is a quotation from two different passages and two different books in the O. T., namely, Lev. 18:5 and Deut. 30:12-14. The passage in Romans 10, calling for our attention reads as follows: “For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law on this wise: That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.” (Lev. 18:5). “But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise: say not in thine heart: Who shall ascend...

The question that engaged our attention in our former article at its conclusion ought to be kept rather clearly in mind. We were interested in the contrast drawn by the apostle Paul in Romans 10:5-8. What was this sharp and important contrast? It is the contrast of what “Moses writes” and what is “righteousness which is by faith confesses.” What “Moses writes” is the principle of the law. It is the standard of works; works that a man must do in order to be saved, to have life. According to this dealing of God with man, only the man who...

Strange though it may sound to us, it is nevertheless the clear teaching of Holy Writ, that Israel must pass through the curses of the law to obtain the promised blessing. Israel, the church of God, must pass through death and hell to get to heaven. Such is the very evident implication of such a passage of Holy Writ, as Romans 11:31, where we read: “For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that He might be merciful to all”. And, again, also this sense is very clear in Galatians 3:22, which reads: “For the Scripture hath shut up all...

When we were students in our Theological Seminary, our professors would continually stress the importance of keeping in mind that the Bible is no Dogmatics. The Holy Scriptures indeed, thus it was stressed, were the only source of dogmatics, to be sure. But this did not constitute them a dogmatics pure and simple. It is well to bear this fundamental truth concerning the Word of God in mind also in this study of “Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament.” When the apostle Paul speaks of the great article of faith, the ascension of Christ to the right hand of...

The first question, therefore, to engage our attention is: what is there in Psalm 68:18 that warrants Paul in changing “received gifts” into “gave gifts”? If our assumption is correct that Paul has infallibly grasped the sense of this passage in writing “gave” instead of “received” this ought to become clear to us from a study of Psalm 68 itself. It seems to us that a brief study of this Psalm is in order. In general it can be said that in this Psalm the poet is recounting the mighty victories and triumphs of Israel over all her enemies. These...

In this article we intend to introduce you, dear reader, to a very beautiful quotation in Romans 10:18 taken from Psalm 19:4. This Psalm, indeed, is very well known. Most children of Christian parentage have memorized this psalm already in early childhood years. We, therefore, scarcely need to introduce the reader to this psalm as such. It is very familiar to us. However, the manner in which it is at least in part quoted by the apostle Paul is not so well known. Fact is, that in Rom. 10:18 this particular passage from Psalm 19:4 is woven into the thought...

In our former articles in this present series of Scripture studies we have called attention to some New Testament passages from the pen of the apostle Paul, in which he quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures and places them in a New Testament context. In these studies there were three elements that always and again became evident as necessary to the correct understanding of the Word of God. Firstly, it became very clear that the Old Testament and the New Testament are really one. The former is the promise of things to come, the latter is the reality of God’s...

“Turning unto the Lord” in II Cor. 3:16 must, therefore, mean: a deep and abiding change of the heart, a turning away from self-chosen ways of seeking to establish their own righteousness on the part of Israel, and turning to the righteousness of God in Christ. But does “turning unto the Lord” also have this meaning in Exodus 34:34? The text reads literally: “But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him. . . .” This hardly can be interpreted as referring to repentance on the part of Moses. Neither, do we think that such is the...