Vol 86 Issue 03

* Excerpted and adapted, with permission, from Sermons on Election & Reprobation by John Calvin, Old Paths Publications, 1 Bittersweet Path, Willow Street, PA. Rebekah knew that of her, howsoever it should be, should come that blessed seed who had been promised. See in brief the whole that is here rehearsed. But all would be dark, if it were not declared particularly. Let us note here then, that they that are called into the church do not always remain there, as we have seen a notable example in Ishmael, who was the eldest son of Abraham. Notwithstanding, he was banished...

Rev. Connors is a pastor in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Australia. Introduction Adore with astonishment the secret counsel of God, through which, those which seemed good to Him are elected, and the other rejected!¹ That was our believer/theologian’s approach to predestination. He prostrated his mind and heart before the God of the Word; and because he heard God speaking so clearly of His eternal predestination, Calvin believed it, taught it, and preached it! Calvin practiced Sola Scriptura! That reforming principle demanded predestination; and it delivered us from bondage to Rome’s semi-Pelagianism! Predestination, you see, is both the fountain of...

Prof. Engelsma is professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction The doctrine of the covenant of grace is thrust to the foreground in Reformed and Presbyterian churches today by the heresy of the federal vision. The name itself of the false teaching indicates this, for “federal” means ‘covenant.’ In the providence of God, who uses heresy to clarify and establish the truth of the gospel, the federal [covenant] vision brings to a head the controversy over the covenant in Reformed churches from the sixteenth-century Reformation of the church to the present day. Two distinct...

Prof. Cammenga is professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Calvin’s Initial Struggles Over Church Discipline in Geneva From one point of view, Calvin’s entire ministry in Geneva can be viewed as his struggle for the recovery of biblical church discipline. It was really with a view to the organization of the church and the establishment of discipline, recognizing his own inabilities in this area, that William Farel first persuaded Calvin to take up his ministry in Geneva. It was August of 1536. Calvin was just twenty-seven years old. The city of Geneva at that time...

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa. As we commemorate the 500th year of John Calvin’s birth, it is worth considering John Calvin as a minister of the Word. While God used him mightily as a reformer, Calvin stood before God a faithful preacher of the gospel. Calvin’s Preaching Although the tremendous responsibilities that he bore and such a rigorous preaching schedule would seem to leave little time for sermon preparation, the strength of Calvin’s preaching began in his study. Gifted with a brilliant mind, he applied it to the study of God’s Word, working...

Rev. Stewart is pastor of the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Northern Ireland. In our day of widespread spiritual blindness and theological deceit, it bears repeating that John Calvin’s teaching on justification is radically opposed to that of Romanism, false ecumenism, the New Perspective on Paul, and the Federal Vision. The Genevan Reformer would shake his head in utter bewilderment at the claim of some that his doctrine of justification is not that of Martin Luther. Let it be clearly affirmed and understood that Calvin taught the orthodox, biblical truth of justification by faith alone in Christ alone through grace...

Prof. Dykstra is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. John Calvin was a church reformer par excellence. He was a church reformer only because God made him a church reformer, for the church is God’s and reformation is God’s work. When the church of God apostatizes from His truth and the biblical pattern for the church, then reform is required. The church must be re-formed, that is, formed back to the Bible. Church reformation is a spiritual work, and thus reformation begins with the Spirit changing the hearts of the members. God Himself determines...

Prof. Gritters is professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. If Reformed ministers today in their 50-year pastorates did half of what Calvin did in his 27, preached a quarter as often per week as Calvin preached, worked with a tenth as much energy as did this man of God, reached even to Calvin’s knees in theological stature, were devoted to the people’s care with a fraction of his devotion, willing to suffer for only one year what Calvin suffered most of his ministry, and had hearts of love for God a quarter of the size of this...

Rev. DeVries is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Wingham, Ontario, Canada. The first week of September brought gorgeous late-summer weather for West Michigan. Many had traveled—some long distances—to attend the conference (September 3—5, 2009) sponsored by the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary commemorating the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth. The conference was entitled, “After 500 Years: John Calvin for Reformed Churches Today.” My wife and I had been planning for some months to attend at least part of the conference. When I received a classical appointment to preach in Byron Center the Sunday following the conference, we were...