All Articles For Galatians

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Galatians 6:7, 8 Another growing season is winding down in North America. In the Spring, seed was committed to the soil of countless gardens and fields. Many have been enjoying the fresh produce harvested from these gardens. And when each crop is mature, the combines and harvesters roll through the fields bringing in the wheat, soybeans,...

* Taken from Commentary on Galatians, © Copyright 1979, by Martin Luther, 84-87. Published by Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.  “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.” Galatians 2:19 It is necessary that we be well instructed to understand the difference between the righteousness of the law and grace. The righteousness of grace doth in nowise pertain to the flesh. For the flesh may not be at liberty, but must remain in the grave, the prison, the couch: it must be in...

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek­ness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22, 23 Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, the liberty whereunto ye have been called by and through the Spirit of Pentecost, the indwelling Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Denied Admission to the Ministry Several accounts have been presented in church papers about the recent action of the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church in denying admittance of a candidate for the ministry in the C.R.C. The action was certainly unprecedented in recent years in that denomination. This candidate questioned the literal character of the first chapters of Genesis. The account of what happened is interestingly presented inCalvinist Contact of July 3, 1981.

Call the Sabbath a Delight, by Walter Chantry. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1991. 112 pp., $5.95 (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. R. Decker.] This little paperback is must reading for Reformed believers in our day. It maybe true that our Reformed fathers were a bit legalistic in their views of the proper observance of the Lord’s day. Father would shave on Saturday evening and mother would peel the potatoes and bake the roast for Sunday’s dinner on Saturday evening. On the Lord’s day itself the children were not allowed to play either in the house or outside. The two...

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Mission Activities You will have to allow me some freedom in this issue of the “News.” Having just returned yesterday from sixteen days in the United Kingdom, I find it almost impossible to think about anything else. What a privilege and opportunity Rev. A. Spriensma and I had to visit first in South Wales and then in Northern Ireland with the congregation of the Covenant PRC in NI. In each place I was humbled by their devotion, commitment, and knowledge of the Reformed faith. God is indeed...

Rev. Kleyn is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Edgerton, Minnesota. Matthew 18 has sometimes been referred to as “The Forgotten Chapter” of Scripture. This is because we so often forget the admonition in verses 15 and 16 of that chapter. There we read: “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou has gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word...

Before the fiftieth anniversary year of the great schism in the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC) passes, reflection on the doctrinal issue that occasioned the split is in order. Earlier editorials called for a denomination-wide remembrance of the schism, informed readers of a fine, new resource for study of the schism, and demonstrated that the dividing of the PRC was indeed schism on the part of the faction that left the PRC (Standard Bearer, April 15, May 1, and May 15, 2003). The controversy that rocked the PRC in the late 1940s and early 1950s culminating in the schism of 1953...

(Holding the traditions of the Reformed faith in no way rules out the possibility of further development of the truth. In this concluding installment of the four-part series, I guard against a stagnant view of our calling to hold the traditions and contend for the liberty in the churches that a healthy holding of the traditions requires.—Ed.) We are called to hold the traditions. This is the apostle’s command in II Thessalonians 2:15. For those who are Reformed at the close of the 20th century, this command takes on urgency from the wholesale abandonment of the historic, creedal Reformed faith by...

Rev. Woudenberg is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. … if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. Romans 11:6 The controversy of 1953 centered in many ways in the word “conditions” and the propriety of its use regarding the covenant of grace. This is to be regretted, for that question touched only obliquely on the heart of what this whole matter was actually about, as some tried repeatedly to point out....