Vol 70 Issue 02

It is well known that Martin Luther’s great work, The Bondage of the Will, sets forth the Reformation’s central doctrine of salvation by the sovereign grace of God alone. The introduction to J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston’s translation of The Bondage (London: James Clarke & Co., Ltd., 1957; the quotations that follow are taken from this fine translation) calls the book “the greatest piece of theological writing that ever came from Luther’s pen.” It quotes the Reformation scholar E. Gordon Rupp as approving the description of The Bondage as “the finest and most powerful Soli Deo Gloria to...

The Revival of the Ecclesiastical Text and the Claims of the Anabaptists, by Theodore P. Letis. Fort Wayne, Indiana: The Institute for Reformation Biblical Studies, 1992. 54 pages. $4.00 (paper). [Reviewed by the Editor.] Theodore P. Letis is a young scholar who will be heard from and ought to be listened to on the subject of the Greek text of the New Testament and the English version of Holy Scripture.

Rev. Koole is pastor of Faith Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan. For the sake of space we cannot quote here the Articles of Reformed creeds that most fully articulate the doctrine of the Scripture. Those two creeds are the Belgic and the Westminster Confessions. The reader will have to peruse them on his own. The Belgic Confession devotes five full articles to the doctrine (Arts. III – VII). The Westminster’s opening chapter sets forth the doctrine, and it does so in no fewer than ten articles. In both confessions the early placement and the length of treatment of this...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Just as children of the Reformation understand that the greatest event between Pentecost and the return of Christ was above all a return to the Scriptures, so Calvinists ought to know what the theologian of the Reformation held those Scriptures to be. “It was Calvin’s Institutes which, with its calm, clear, positive exposition of the evangelical faith in the irrefragable authority of Holy Scripture, gave stability to wavering minds, and confidence to sinking hearts, and placed upon the lips of all a brilliant apology in the face...

Rev. Dykstra is pastor of the Protestant Reofmred Church of Doon, Iowa. The great Reformation of Luther and Calvin was preeminently a preaching Reformation. Both Calvin and Luther were powerful preachers, as were many of the other leaders in the Reformation. They were great theologians who ably defended the doctrines of the Reformation in print. Yet the power that carried the Reformation into the hearts and lives of the people was their preaching of Christ crucified, salvation by grace, justification by faith, and the necessary God glorifying life. In short, they preached the truths of the Bible; and, by this,...

Mr. Theodore Letis is a post-graduate student in ecclesiastical history. He is author of The Revival of the Ecclesiastical Text and the Claims of the Anabaptists. He has edited the book, The Majority Text: Essays and Reviews in the Continuing Debate, a defuse of the Textus Receptus and the King James version of Scripture. Mr. Letis is a member of the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod. Many will be surprised to learn that it was not Luther, nor Calvin, nor Tyndale in the sixteenth century who first advocated that the Bible should be made available to all in their own language....

Rev. Julien is pastor of the Independent Reformed Church in Troy, Ontario, Canada. Today the church of Jesus Christ is being torn apart. This should not surprise us, since Scripture reminds us that this will happen. The fact remains, however, that this is happening, and it is very painful. If we carefully analyze this terrible situation, we realize immediately that this is happening because Scripture’s authority is being undermined. In one way or another all of the problems in the church can be traced to this undermining. The oldest temptation in the world continues to plague us. When Satan came...

Prof. Decker is professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The sixteenth century Reformation proclaimed three fundamental principles: justification by faith alone, Scripture alone, and the priesthood of all believers. In opposition to Rome’s hierarchy the Reformers insisted that the only authority for the faith and life of God’s people is Holy Scripture. They further insisted that every believer as prophet, priest, and king in Christ could read and understand the Word of God. Rome had effectively taken the Bible out of the hands of the people. Rome’s hierarchy, the clergy and especially the pope, stood between the...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction One part of the great heritage of the Protestant Reformation, to which we owe so much, is its doctrine of Scripture. Not only did the Reformation return the Scriptures to the church, but the Reformers laid down fundamental principles of biblical interpretation which the church has followed to the present. Many, even in Reformed and Presbyterian circles, have abandoned these principles in the interests of accommodation to modem secular trends and scientific discoveries, but the church which is faithful to the Word has cherished...

Rev. Kortering is a Protestant Reformed minister-on-loan to Singapore. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.  II Timothy 3:16, 17 A perfect man of God, a perfect woman of God! Furnished unto all good works. Breathtaking! Does not your soul cry out for that spiritual condition? Victory over all the appetites of the flesh. Satan and his hordes, vanquished forever. We become so complete in our salvation that we fulfill exactly the...