Vol 98 Issue 2

And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. II Peter 1:5-9 The gift that God has given us in...

[With this editorial, we bid farewell to Rev. Koole. As he says toward the end of this article: “As I take my leave as an editor of the Standard Bearer, I can state forthrightly it is this truth, ‘The fear of the Lord,’ that has governed this magazine (and those who have written in it) as a motto since its inception.”] We are all familiar with the phrase “the fear of the Lord.” And well we should be. It is a phrase, along with its parallel, “the fear of God,” that runs like a thread through the Scriptures, especially the...

We saw that the error of Nestorianism made necessary the calling of the Council of Ephesus (cf. July 2021, SB, p. 420). Nestorius, the patriarch of Constantinople, taught that Christ had two natures because He had two persons, which two persons were joined in His incarnation. Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria, opposed Nestorius, and Emperor Theodosius II deposed him. But division regarding the matter made the emperor realize the need for an ecumenical council to settle it. A messy meeting The Council began in May 431 with about two hundred bishops attending. Even the Bishop of Rome (later known as...

So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast...

Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Isaiah 62:3 In the face of conflict and strife, when many feel as if they are “forsaken” or “desolate,” we are comforted by God’s precious word that we are not “forsaken” but we are “Hephzibah”—the Lord delighteth in thee (Is. 62:4). In the lowest of lows, God mercifully teaches us that we are very precious in His sight—we are “a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of...

Previous articles in this series: March 1, 2021, p. 255; May 15, 2021, p. 378. In an age of fake news and talk-show spin and selfserving slant, truth is a commodity in short supply. White lies, half-truths, and bold-as-brass deceits predominate. Even in the church, one hears slander and misrepresentations. In the midst of the darkness of such dishonesty, the God of truth calls godly young men and women to shine as beacons of truth. Truth-telling is not the only principle that governs our communication, but it is the first and fundamental one. In the past two articles on Christian...

Installation of a new professor September 15, 2021 was an historic evening in the history of the Protestant Reformed Churches and in the history of the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary. On that evening, at a public worship service, the Reverend Cory J. Griess was installed as the newest professor in our denomination’s seminary. He had accepted the appointment by Synod 2021 to this position. Prof. Barrett Gritters led the service, which was held at the Southwest Protestant Reformed Church, located just north of the seminary building on Ivanrest Avenue in Grandville, MI. The church was very full, both the lower...

Purpose of this series Since it has been some time since I have written an  article for this series, it is worthwhile to remember the  main point of these articles. (If you want to catch up  or remember more thoroughly, the series may be found  in these issues of the SB: November 15, 2020, p. 93;  December 15, 2020, p. 132; February 15, 2021, p.  236; April 1, 2021, p. 302; June 2021, p. 400.) The  main point of these articles has been to show God’s  graciousness to us in His good use of our synods in  recent years. God...

Trivia question: How many Protestant Reformed Christian Schools (not counting the pre-schools) are there? Minister call updates  Rev. R. Barnhill received the call from Covenant of Grace PRC on September 12.  From a trio of Revs. N. Decker, E. Guichelaar, and C. Spronk, Rev. Guichelaar received the call from Doon PRC on September 19. From Hudsonville PRC’s new trio of Revs. E. Guichelaar, C. Haak, and D. Lee, Rev. Guichelaar received the call on September 19. PR Christian school news  Hope PR Christian School: We happily share this good news concerning Hope PRCS: “With thankfulness to God, Hope PRC School...