Vol 31 Issue 02

Our readers are aware of the fact that the Rev. B. Kok, in the Reformed Guardian and again in recent numbers of Concordia, has made much of the fact that our leaders now endorse, church-politically, the stand of Prof. Ridderbos and the Synodical Churches in re Art. 31 of our Church Order whereas they, in former years, vehemently repudiated their views, And that which has particularly borne the brunt of Kok’s attack is a series of three articles written by the Rev. Ophoff in which the latter condemns Ridderbos’ interpretation of Art. 31.

Held in the Edifice of the Fourth Church on October 6-7, 1954 Classis East met October 6 and 7 in the church basement of the Fourth Protestant Reformed Church. This Classis was, no doubt, not as historic as the Classis held in the same location just a year earlier; nor was this Classis as long in duration, although Classis met two days. Yet, it was an important Classis where significant decisions were taken affecting the well-being of our churches.

An Anniversary Unobserved.

Article 13. The sense and certainty of this election afford to the children of God additional matter for daily humiliation before him, for adoring the depth of his mercies, for cleansing themselves, and rendering grateful returns of ardent love to him, who first manifested so great love towards them.

The idea of sacrifice (continued). Of interest, in connection with this idea of sacrifice in connection with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper as prevalent in the early period of the Christian Church, is what we read in the History of the Christian Church by Philip Schaff whom, writing on the Eucharist as a Sacrifice, we quote as follows (Vol. II, 245 ff.) The Eucharist as a Sacrifice

Rev. B. Kok: I am amazed that in spite of the constant charge that you quote articles out of context, you persist in doing that. The only conclusion to which I can come is that you deliberately trying to deceive people most of whom, to their shame, are not ambitious enough to check the entire article or series of articles. The last Concordia is one more example of this (Vol. 11, No. 14).

“A drowning man will grasp at a straw.” So the saying goes. And many of the things put forth as arguments to try to justify the awful schismatic action of those who left us is certainly nothing more than the grasping of straws by men who know that they are sinking under the deluge of facts and truth. We were reminded of this as we had the privilege to conduct church visitation in the churches of Classis East with Rev. G. Vos. Let us explain.

Since Paul tells the church in Philippi of His great confidence that the beginner of the good work in them will surely perfect it even unto the day of Jesus Christ, and since this is the reason for his thanking God upon every remembrance of this church, and also the reason for admonishing them unto the perfection set before them in the life to come, it is incumbent upon us to show the great implication of the certainty of God’s work as stated here by Paul in verse 6.

The prophet gives no definite answer to the question just when Hezekiah’s sickness took place, before or after Sennacherib’s overthrow. In the prophet’s piece Sennacherib’s overthrow precedes Hezekiah’s sickness. One may say that this proves that such was also the order of these events in point of time.

LORD’S DAY 42, Chapter 2: The Grace of Contentment (cont.) The Christian, the believer in Jesus Christ, considering himself as a steward of God, certainly is no waster. Nor can he be a miser. There is principally really no difference between a waster, or a spendthrift, and a miser. Although they may appear rather radically different, from a spiritual, ethical point of view they are principally the same, the waster and the miser.