Vol 22 Issue 21

The committee appointed by the Christian Reformed Synod of 1945 to formulate the grounds for the position taken by the Synod of 1943 in re the compatibility of Church membership and membership in a so-called neutral labor union, gave the following report in The Banner of May 3: To the Synod of 1946, Esteemed Brethren: The mandate of your committee is found on page 87 of the Acts of the Synod of 1945, and reads as follows: “Synod appoint a committee to formulate the grounds for the position taken by the Synod of 1943 regarding the compatibility of church membership and...

The first point upon which the Holy Spirit will convict the world is with respect to sin. In our attempt to make real to our minds what is meant by this convicting work we might be inclined to transfer this operation to the day of Christ’s return and judgment of which the Bible so often speaks as the day when the secrets of men shall be revealed, as the day when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess to God, and when every man shall give account of himself to God. (Rom. 2:16; 4:11, 12). Yet this idea...

Thus far the Baptism Form spoke of “God’s part” in the covenant in distinction from “our part”. In the next paragraph it considers “our part”, stating, “Whereas in all covenants there are contained two parts: therefore are we by God through baptism admonished of and obliged to a new obedience. . . .”, etc. Emphatically the Form brings home to us that God establishes His own covenant with us and realizes it in us. The establishment and the realization are both of God. If baptism means anything at all, it means exactly that to us. Particularly infant baptism, administered in...

Having called Samuel and revealed to him the doom of Eli’s house, “the Lord appeared again in Shiloh,” so we read, “for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.” As was explained, the word of Samuel that came to all Israel was not a command to the effect that Israel march to battle against the Philistines. But it was indicative of the fact that the Lord again was about to do great and terrible things, that, in other words, the salvation of the faithful...

We now pass on to the second principle, the divine origin of the authority of the ruling and teaching ministry. Authority, here, is the right to rule and to administer the word and the sacraments. This authority does not originate and inhere in the congregation to be delegated by the latter to the officebearers in the church; but it originates, does this authority, in God, its creative source, was given to Christ, who bestows it upon the servants of His choosing. Thus, as was said, the church is not a democracy. Its government is not of the people. The church...

Besides teaching us that the Holy Ghost “is true and co-eternal God with the Father and the Son,” the Catechism also places the following confession on the lips of the believing Christian: “that he is also given me, to make me by a true faith partaker of Christ and all His benefits, that He may comfort me and abide with me for ever.” In these words, our instructor speaks of the Holy Ghost as He is become the Spirit of Christ. A distinction must be made between the Holy Ghost as such, as the third Person of the Holy Trinity,...