Vol 27 Issue 16

Church Union Some time ago we reported that negotiations were at present underway toward the eventual union of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (The Southern Presbyterian Church) and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. In the latest number of the “Southern Presbyterian Journal” the proposed plan of union is set forth, which will be considered by their respective Synods this year. It must be remembered of course that the things which separated these two groups lie far back in history. Their original separation lies in the background of the old continent. These were carried over into the new world...

Worshipping the Institute In regard to the question under discussion, “Where must I join myself as church member?” there are others who assume an attitude of implicit trust in the particular church of which they are members. They take the position that the particular church to which they belong cannot make a mistake, and they simply take their stand without question on whatever happens to be the position of that church. They trust in a certain institution. They were born in that church; their parents and grandparents before them were members of the same church. They could not possibly think...

The main thrust of our former article on Romans 6:1-14 was, that the redeemed and justified believer indeed experiences, that where sin abounds grace does much more abound; however, this in no way establishes the erroneous principle of antinomism in the Christian, so that his life and practice is to sin in order that grace may abound, or to state it from the viewpoint of the believer: let us remain in sin in order that grace may become more abundant in our lives. Over against all this we have seen that the very opposite is the truth of the gospel...

According to the Confessions and the Scriptures the promise of God as to the form of its words is not an if-clause sentence. Hence, such a sentence as, “If you believe, you will be saved,” is not the promise. But the promise is simply, “I the Lord will save you, my people.” According to the Confessions. Canons chap. 11, Art. 5, “Moreover, the promise of the gospel is, that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified shall not perish but have everlasting life,” meaning, all, everyone that believeth will be saved without a single exception. In a word, God will save the...

Below follows a copy of a letter that the writer wrote to one of his dear friends in our midst on Jan. 15th, 1950. And since the text of this letter is more fitting even today after only one year of history, he ventures to proclaim it to all our Churches as a testimony that the Synod of 1951 is in duty bound to go forward and adopt the proposed declaration of principles. Your welcome letter of Dec. 24th last was received and we were very glad indeed to receive it. Old friendships as they are based upon the tie...

We read in this passage: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Some opinions regarding this passage. First, the question arises: Must Genesis 1:1 be regarded as a superscription or title of the entire narrative of creation, or must this text be regarded as occurring at the very beginning, the first moment of time. If the former be true, then Genesis 1:1 gives us a brief synopsis of...

We concluded our preceding article with the statement that we obtain a strange conception of the creation and development of the world if we subscribe to the theory which views the days of Genesis 1 as lengthy periods of time. Surely, we, the Church of the living God, are living even now at the end of time. This we do not merely mean in the sense that we, as of the Old Dispensation, are living in the last hour. This is also true. Scripture speaks of the New Testament as the last hour. The history of the world and the...

LANGE’S COMMENTARY ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich. Joshua-Ruth and I Samuel, two volumes. Price per volume $3.95. Again we heartily recommend to ministers, teachers, and all who are interested in the study of the Holy Scriptures, this priceless set of commentaries. They do contain, of course, a good deal of scholarly material, but not to such an extent as to make the work inaccessible to the general public. The commentary on the book of Joshua was originally prepared by the Rev. F. R. Fay, pastor in Crefield, Prussia; that on Judges and Ruth by professor...

The Rev. De Roer writes in Concordia that he is afraid that at our next Synod the decision concerning the Declaration of Principles will hinge upon the question whether a president is chosen from the delegates of Classis West or from those of Classis East. He argues that seeing that the president cannot have a vote, and seeing that the delegates from each classis have their minds made up concerning the Declaration, and seeing that the president that is to be elected cannot vote on the Declaration, therefore it is possible that the Declaration will pass by a vote of...

In the same number of the Reformed Journal from which we quoted in our last issue, the Rev. Daane has a second article under the heading “Common Grace versus Individualism”. In that article he expresses the very much mistaken idea that our conception of grace is individualistic. To do him justice I will quote rather extensively from his article. “The history of religious thought shows that the doctrine of common grace has arisen only in the area of Reformed Theology. It did not, and could not, arise in Liberal or Fundamentalistic Christianity, for the simple reason that neither Liberalism nor...