The movement in conservative Reformed churches denying not only justification by faith alone but also all the doctrines of grace is, as it claims, a development of the doctrine of a conditional covenant. One way the doctrine of a conditional covenant implies justification by works is its teaching that faith is a condition upon which the covenant, the covenant blessings, and the covenant God Himself depend. Faith itself is a human work contributing to covenant salvation. It is a short, logical, and inevitable step to teach that also the works of faith are conditions and, therefore, part of the sinner’s...

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Mission Activities   First we have to correct a mistake from mission activities reported in the January 15th issue of the “News.” In that report we wrote that there was encouraging news coming from Northern Ireland and the Fellowship there, for not only had a family moved to the area of Ballymena to join the group, but one family that had left when the church disbanded had also rejoined the group. This was not correct. No family that left the CPRC of NI when it disbanded has...

Rev. Dick is pastor of Grace Protestant Reformed Church in Standale, Michigan. In the March 15 issue of the Standard Bearer, “Grace Life” elaborated upon these seven theses of covenant marrying: 1.The father of the Christian home must earnestly endeavor to know who his children are to marry. 2.Father’s knowledge of God is crucial for the father’s superintending the marriage of his children. 3.The godly father will seek to know God’s will for a mate for his children through his knowledge of families. 4.Mates will be pursued in the church. 5.The church will be actively involved in the marrying of...

Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa. Would you have given the second coin? By nature both we and the poor widow of Mark 12:41-44would have kept the second coin. By nature we do not love God so much that we would have given the second coin. “Me” always comes first. We will try to get away with robbing the Lord’s treasury as much as we can, before we will ever be forced to give to it. We will not give sufficiently unless we really have to or unless it comes to the point, for example,...

Rev. Kuiper is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. In the Greek New Testament there are several words that express the idea of love, fondness, affection, or friend; the most common of these words is philos. Philos is found in many compound forms, giving us lovers of God, lovers of contention, lovers of pleasure, lovers of wisdom, lovers of children, lovers of honor, and lovers of preeminence. We will deal primarily with philos, which can have a broad range of meanings, such as friend, associate, or companion, indicating various degrees of closeness. The Hebrew Old Testament has basically...

Rev. VanderWal is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Redlands, California. Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have the glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may...

Rev. Kortering is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Having set forth different views of the congregation and the problems associated with them, we now turn to the correct view, which is called the “organic” view of the church. This term was coined by Herman Hoeksema, especially in his book Believers and Their Seed. Let’s allow him to speak for himself as we quote a short segment from this work. We begin on page 114. God’s people in this world are pictured to us in nature as a plant, of which some of the branches bear fruit and...

Rev. Koole is pastor of Grandville Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan.   Relentless Pressure to Make True Freedom of Choice Unlawful   As we mentioned in a previous installment, there is progression in evil. The Evil One, as he plots his strategy, moves his pieces square by square with his sights set squarely on eventually getting at the church. In harmony with this strategy, the political liberals are in the process of pursuing legal concessions that in the end will give them the right to curtail sharply religious freedoms for this nation’s citizenry and, ultimately, to place restraints on...

Rev. Stewart is a Protestant Reformed minister, presently working in Northern Ireland. Leading twentieth century Patrician scholars reckon that he was born between c. 389 and c. 415 and that his death was between c. 460 and c. 493. They estimate Patrick lived between seventy and seventy-eight years. Many reckon that he was buried in or near Downpatrick, Co. Down. His mission in Ireland occurred between 430 at the earliest and 490 at the latest, and lasted at least thirty years. Augustine of Hippo’s dates are 354-430, and the Roman Empire fell in 476. If we think of Patrick laboring...

The Unconditional Covenant and God’s Love for Reprobates   I like to know what position you take on the question of God’s love for reprobates. In reading about the unconditional covenant in the February 15, 2003 issue of the Standard Bearer, I am not clear about your position. What do the Reformed standards have to say on this question? Jerry Allie Statesville, NC   Response:   The doctrine of the unconditional covenant teaches that God, in pure grace and on the basis of the (limited) atonement of the cross of Christ, establishes His covenant with the elect in Christ, and...