Vol 29 Issue 03

IV. The Professor continues. Preaching of the ele­ments III 1, 2, 3, (as stated in the previous is­sue) form the key that open the Kingdom to believers and shuts the Kingdom to unbe­lievers.

In this passage we are told more about the grand and exalted “status quo” of the Church of Jesus Christ as she lives under the Spirit of sanctification. In our last essay on this chapter we noticed the church stands and praises God in the face of Jesus Christ, since He has begotten her unto a lively hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It is a fact, an accomplished fact, that the church, believers in Christ are a new creation in Christ.

Absalom’s Murder of Amnon Absalom thought it wise to wait two full years be­fore avenging Tamar. That would make it appear that he had no intention of laying violent hands on Amnon. According to ver. 23, he had an establish­ment for the grazing and rearing of sheep in Baal-hazor adjoining Ephraim approximately eight miles from Jerusalem. It probably shows that all the sons of the king had landed possessions.

The final question which confronts us in connec­tion with this subject is one of a rather practical na­ture, namely: How can the goal of our own Protestant Reformed teacher training facilities be attained? How can we arrive at the stage where we make an actual beginning in training our own teachers?

THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD—PRESERVATION We must understand God’s Immanence and Trans­cendency.

THE MINOR PROPHETS, in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures. Published by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Price $3.95. This volume on the Minor Prophets in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures was originally composed by several authors. It is prefaced by a gen­eral introduction to the prophets (which is very good) by Charles Elliott, professor of exegesis in Chicago, Illinois.

It is not the person, which is a formal and psycho­logical concept, but the heart of man, which represents a spiritual, ethical concept, that is regenerated. Scripture very frequently speaks of the heart, and although in Scripture the terms spirit, soul and mind (nous) are sometimes interchanged, yet in general we may say that by heart Scripture usually denotes that spiritual, ethical center of man that in regeneration is radically turned about.

But if, as the Baptism Form so plainly teaches, salvation and the promise of God unto salvation are absolutely sovereign and unconditional, can we still preach the gospel, and maintain the responsibility of man? So some of us seem to think.

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear chil­dren; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. Ephesians 5:1, 2