Vol 60 Issue 13

Rev. George G. Hutton, the minister of The Bible Presbyterian Church, Larne, visited the South Holland, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids areas in the middle part of February. He spoke to numerous groups of people, including some of our school children, about his being led by God through some of our Protestant Reformed literature. The struggles that he faces in Ireland as a believer in the Reformed truth can be appreciated by those of us who have lived through similar circumstances in the early history of our churches. There was an international meeting of sorts too when Rev. Hutton, Mr. and Mrs.

TYPOS: THE TYPOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW, by Leonhard Goppelt, translated by Donald H. Madvig; Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1982; 264 pages, $15.95 (cloth). (Reviewed by Prof. R.D. Decker) This book deals with the subject or discipline of Typology which is a branch of Hermeneutics. The book was originally Dr. Goppelt’s doctoral dissertation presented to the faculty at Erlangen in 1939. It was reprinted with some additions in 1969. This 1969 edition was translated from the German by D.H. Madvig. 

We have now come, in our consideration of the development of the doctrine of Scripture, to a point at which the various trends and movements of the early church’s understanding of the Word of God and its principles of interpretation come together in the writings and labors of the church father, Origen. Origen was born in A.D. 185 in Alexandria of Egypt.

The Apostle Peter tells us in I Peter 2:9 that the great purpose of our salvation is found in God and not in us, “that (we) should shew forth the praises of Him Who hath called (us) out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Through the irresistible operations of the Holy Spirit we begin to fulfill this purpose and to learn in so doing that it is a wonderful privilege.

“Old doubts and fears about games of chance are falling by the wayside as states, churches and other organizations cater to people’s growing desire to bet.” So ran the subtitle to an article on gambling in an issue of U.S. News last spring. In the last couple of years many Americans have felt the effects of a harsh economy. One business at least has experienced no slowdown, the gambling business. Business is brisk, in fact it has never been better. The piles of money being gambled away in every part of the U.S.

We saw in our last article that the early Christian church was very careful to confess the fact of the resurrection of Christ. In Article 5 of the Nicene creed she confessed that Jesus Christ rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. This she confessed over against the unbelieving world of both Jew and Gentile that emphatically denied the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. As we saw, the world even in the early history of the church had invented various theories to explain away the resurrection of Christ.

Chapter XI

In our last article, we talked about various orders of worship which have been used throughout the history of the Reformed Churches, and some common features which characterize them all.  In this article, we want to begin our discussion of the various elements which go to make up our order of worship. It is perhaps best that we discuss the various elements which go to make up the order of worship in our churches, and discuss the place in which they should be included in connection with this discussion. 

Errol Hulse and his magazine, Reformation Today, represent a type of Baptist who claim to be Calvinistic and who sometimes call themselves Reformed Baptist. We have always claimed that the namesReformed and Baptist are a contradiction in terms. And Mr. Hulse and his colleagues are an illustration of this contradiction. 

PRE-PUBLICATION SALE  For complete information as to the pre-publication sale of the RFPA’s forthcoming Bible story book, Come, Ye Children, turn to the back cover of this issue. Be sure to read both sides, and follow the directions carefully. We have planned this page so that you can cut off the back page and use the order blanks without damaging the rest of your Standard Bearer. Permit me to call special attention to the following: 1) Even though the book will come out by the end of April, the pre-publication sale will extend to June 1.