Vol 60 Issue 06

Our Grand Rapids area church bulletins have carried many announcements of the transference of membership papers to the new congregation of Byron Center. The Byron Center congregation organized with twenty-four families and two individuals. May our faithful covenant God establish the truth of His Word with this new Protestant Reformed church. 

REDEMPTIVE HISTORY AND BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION, The Shorter Writings of Gerhardus Vos; edited by Richard B. Gaffin, Jr.; Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1980; 559 pp., $17.50. (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko) This book is an important publishing venture on the part of Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, for it makes available a large number of writings of a notable theologian which had previously been difficult to obtain.

Writing the “non-sexist” Bible” Several readers kindly sent additional materials on the subject of addressing God as “Mother”—of which we commented in an earlier article. The articles dealt not so much with our address to God, as with translations of the Bible which used this same kind of terminology. The National Council of Churches in this country has been working on a translation of the Bible which will remove all of its “sexist” language. Part of its work has been published—and reviewed by different churches and writers.

In our previous study we saw that God’s commandments are not arbitrary regulations but God’s own revelation of Himself, according to which He requires that we be holy as He Himself is holy. That self-revelation of God is the truth and substance of the law, and thus it is that the law has abiding significance, so that its use cannot be abolished among Christians. 

We concluded our second article on this subject with the observation that the apostle’s exhortation to make our election sure surely repudiates the objection that this making sure of our election is really vain and impossible. The Lord would not exhort us to make our election sure if this were vain and impossible. The Lord does not exhort His people unto that which is not attainable for them. 

In writing to the Hebrew Christians, the author holds forth the new covenant as “better” than that of the old. He uses the word better some thirteen times. To illustrate the comparative superiority of the new covenant in Christ, he speaks of a better revelation (Heb. 1:1-4); a better hope (Heb.

In our last article, we took note of the changed attitude toward the dance by the churches today. Whereas in the past the church has always squarely opposed the practice of dancing, now the churches are beginning to tolerate and even promote dancing. The members, and especially the young people, are encouraged to redeem the dance. 

A reader from New Zealand, after expressing his appreciation for the Standard Bearer, writes: 

The Standard Bearer article, “God’s Holiness” (Nov. 1, 1983, Vol. LX, No. 3), meets with a fine, positive response from a young Protestant Reformed college student who principally agrees with the content and thrust of the article but takes exception to the word “untalented” (see front cover and p. 61) as not applicable to today’s popular “singers,” adding that it should be recognized as modern “music theorists tell us . . . these ‘singers’ are very talented,” only they have debased their God-given gifts to the service of sin.

Congratulations to a New Sister We have a new sister in the family of our Protestant Reformed Churches. Our baby sister’s name is Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church. She was born on October 20, 1983; and as far as size is concerned, appears to be a healthy baby: 24 families, with 72 children, and 1 individual were the charter members of the congregation. Congratulations, sister! We wish you a long and prosperous life and healthy growth, and we pray that you may be a faithful and undaunted witness of our Protestant Reformed heritage in your community.