Vol 21 Issue 05

The doctrine of the Person of Christ implies especially four factors. Christology, of course, includes other doctrines besides the Person of Christ, such as the truths concerning His names, His offices, and His states. The doctrine of the Person of Christ, however, implies especially four factors. First of all, it implies the true and proper conception of the divinity of the Lord. We must confess Christ to be very God. Secondly, this doctrine refers to the true and proper humanity of Christ. We must not only confess that He is very God but also that He is very man. In...

When I read the first of your last two articles on the C. L. A. in the Standard Bearer, I said: It does my heart good to see Rev. Hoeksema come out of his corner. A few days later I received a letter from a friend of mine who expressed the same sentiment. Now, we do not mean that Rev. Hoeksema hid away in a corner somewhere, but we, and others with ns, have never been able to justify the action of the Fuller Ave. Consistory which appeared in the Standard Bearer some time ago. This Consistory stated, concerning the...

The word kenosis is a Greek word used in the above mentioned portion of Scripture. There we read: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. In the Holland language the first clause reads as follows: maar heft zichzelven vernietigd, in the Greek: but He emptied Himself. The word kenosis thus refers to the word “emptied” in the first clause. Now one may wonder why this particular word is so outstanding and why an article is written on it in the Standard Bearer. The reason...

Freedom of the press is considered to be one of the inherent attributes of a democracy. While a dictatorship necessarily suppresses the press under its authority, allowing nothing to be published for public consumption than what can serve its interests, a democracy is supposed to give every individual free rein to express in print any views and opinions or divulge any information within the sphere of decency and good order. Thus freedom of the press, as a part of free speech, is one of the “four freedoms” we are said to be fighting for in this present war. It is...

In our former article we quoted rather at length from Kuyper’s Stone-lectures. We may therefore assume in this article that there remains no doubt in the mind of the reader as to what his conception really was; what he deemed to be a Calvinistic interpretation of the history of mankind—mankind as such apart from the work of the Wonder of Grace in Christ Jesus. The conception developed in these lectures and the conclusions arrived at as it touches Calvinism is both negative and positive. Negative, in that it is asserted, that Calvinism is not to be understood in an exclusively...

As was said, Jephthah’s right to wage war with the Ammonites was implicit in his calling. He had to wait with drawing the sword until the Lord by His Spirit should raise him up. And Jephthah did wait. But in the meantime he could request the Ammonite king to justify, if he were able, his invasion of God’s country. He did so. The question he put to the king was pertinent. “What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land?” It was a most embarrassing question. For it was a question...

Chapter 8: Christ Our Intercessor (continued) The question is: how must we conceive of this intercessory prayer of our Lord as our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary? How does He intercede for us at the throne of grace? In answer to this question, we must, on the one hand, eliminate from our conception of this heavenly mystery all that is earthy, temporal, and imperfect. Even though Scripture necessarily employs figurative language, and speaks in earthly language, to aid our understanding of the heavenly realities, yet we must never forget that all these terms and symbols have a deeper, spiritual,...

To us, who cannot conceive of any organic union of churches except on the basis of a common confession of faith, and who take this fundamental requisite seriously, it is somewhat amazing that the General Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States could, in 1982, unanimously adopt the Plan of Union, which we published in the last issue of our paper, and thus virtually, subject to the approval of their classes, accomplish the merger of the Church they represented with the Evangelical Synod of North America. Yet, thus it was decided. We read (An Examination and Criticism, p....

In connection with a contemplated drive for funds to enlarge the Grand Rapids Christian High School, I was asked to write an editorial of recommendation. I realize that it is somewhat extraordinary to comply with this request. For, first of all, it concerns a purely local matter, and that, too, one that has no interest for our churches in general. And The Standard Bearer is not a local paper, but meant for all our people. Besides, it is difficult to avoid the impression that this article is written for propaganda purposes. And our publication is not interested in any form...

The caption of this article expresses in brief the contents of an editorial in The Banner of Nov. 10, 1944. Basing his remarks on a sentence or two of very incomplete and hardly trustworthy information concerning the “discharge’’ of Dr. Schilder that appeared in a Dutch publication printed in London, England, the Rev. H. J. Kuiper reminds his readers of the warning he sounded against inviting the well-known brother from the Netherlands to speak in the Christian Reformed Churches at the time when he was visiting here, because of his alleged unsound views regarding common grace. The editor calls attention...