All Articles For Lubbers, George C

Let it be clearly borne in mind, dear reader, that the apostle is championing the gospel truth in these verses, that where sin abounded grace did much more abound. The truth of the glad-tidings of salvation is that they, who have received much grace of forgiveness of sins, are also thankful for much. We have but to call to mind the woman, who was a sinner, and who comes to anoint Jesus’ feet in the house of Simon, the leper. This woman did not cease to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears of gratitude, to dry His feet with her...

During the past year the truth of God relative to His promise, the promise of the gospel, has been brought forcibly to our attention once more. As the readers all know, no doubt, this was occasioned by our contact with the Liberated Churches and the subsequent composition of a “Declaration of Principles” by our Synod of 1950. As is to be understood, the attention was in large degree focused on the question as to the proper conception of the promise of the gospel, both from a Scriptural and from a Reformed Confessional viewpoint. Especially the editor of the Standard Bearer,...

It should be most clearly kept in view, that the apostle Paul in this passage is proving most conclusively the impossibility of remaining in sin that grace may abound. It is true, the Apostle had stated that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. In fact it was with this very thing in mind, namely, the greater abundance of the grace of God, that the law was added by God through Moses. And it is the infidel and the sophist, who draw the erroneous and spiritually impossible conclusion, that if such were the case, then we had better practice...

The passage from Holy Writ to which we would call attention in this article reads, in full, as follows: “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may he sincere and without offense till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” This passage is a statement by Paul to the congregation of Philippi concerning his prayer to God for her. It is more...

The beautiful and well-known passage of Matt. 5:3 reads as follows: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” In our exposition of this passage it may be well to remember, what the fathers of Dordtrecht write, when speaking of the various degrees and different measures in which the elect of God arrive at the certainty of their election. Our Fathers emphasize that we do not arrive at this certainty by curiously prying into the secret things of God, but rather that we arrive at such certainty by observing in ourselves with spiritual joy and...

This passage of Holy Writ is the very heart of the great sermon spoken by Paul in a synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia, where he and Barnabas preached the Word of God in Christ on their first missionary journey. This very rich and instructive passage of the Word of God reads as follows: “And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers, that God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He raised up Jesus; as also it is written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten...

In our former contribution, under this heading, we called attention particularly to the meaning of the conception “the promise made unto the fathers’’ as taught in this passage of Holy Writ. What we have stated in said article the reader can still find written in the last issue of the Standard Bearer. We shall therefore not repeat it here. We only wish to remind the reader that what we write in this article and the next is most closely related to and interwoven with the former article from our pen. We shall, therefore, proceed in our exposition of this passage of...

In our exposition of this passage from the sermon of Paul, spoken in Antioch of Pisidia, we raise and answer three questions or propositions. These are as follows: What we are to understand by the “promise made unto the Fathers.” To this proposition we gave our answer in the Standard Bearer of September 1. What we are to understand by the “fulfillment of this promise” and how God has done this “in raising Jesus.” We began giving our answer to this question in our former article, September 15 issue of the Stand­ard Bearer. The reader can still look forward to...

Lest we forget the exact text of Acts 13:32, 33 it is proper, that we once more write it out in full. It reads as follows: And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again.” The elements in the text to which we have called attention thus far are: 1.  The meaning of the “promise made unto the fathers.” It was no less than the great oath-bound promise of God to all the heirs of...

In this last essay of our exposition of Acts 13:32, 33 we wish to call further attention to the element in the text, that speaks of the preaching, the proclaiming of the glad tidings of the gospel, that God hath fulfilled the promise in raising Jesus, our Lord, from the dead. This glad tidings is preached definitely to the people, to the congregation as a word of comfort and exhortation. Thus we attempted to point out in our former writing on this subject. But the question still remains in this connection (it persists) does this preaching, this evangelizing merely come...