Volu 101 Issue 03

100 years is a long time. 100 years is a very long time to publish in print a semi-monthly or monthly magazine of distinctively Reformed content. There are very few print publications today that have maintained the significance they held when they began. Very few can last more than a few decades. So many print periodicals have failed for lack of financial support and meaningful content, ending their ongoing influence. After you read through this anniversary issue, you will be moved to consider the mercy and faithfulness of our God who has been pleased to keep the witness of this...

pastor of Crete PRC in Crete, Illinois INTRODUCTION On October 1, 2024, the Standard Bearer (SB) celebrated a century of existence. For one hundred years the SB has been written, typeset, edited, mailed, read, and discussed. That is one hundred thick, black- bound volumes. Thousands of individual issues. Tens of thousands of articles. Millions of words. This is a milestone worth commemorating. Certainly it is not a cause for proud boasting; to the naked eye the SB has always appeared as a small, despised magazine. But this is an anniversary worth celebrating because of the faithfulness of God that is...

minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches, and member of Covenant of Grace PR Fellowship in Spokane, Washington HISTORY In Om Recht en Waarheid (For the Sake of Justice and Truth), an early publication of the Reformed Free Publishing Association (Dalm Printing Co., Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1924: 55 pp.), Herman Hoeksema and Henry Danhof not only laid out the history of the common grace controversy in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), but expressed their intention to begin publication of a magazine in which the truths of God’s Word would be defended and expounded. This intention became a reality in October 1924, when the...

pastor of Southeast PRC in Wyoming, Michigan Perusing the volumes of the Standard Bearer from its inception, one perceives a commitment to Scripture in the veins of the magazine. Such a commitment becomes a magazine that takes the name Reformed, for the Reformed faith has sola Scriptura written into its DNA. As our (Belgic) confession says, “The truth of God is above all.” The main purpose of this article is to consider the mighty principle of sola Scriptura and its bearing on the SB. But first, we go on a brief, far-from-complete journey through the volumes of the magazine and...

professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, Michigan In God’s providence and grace, the Standard Bearer has completed its 100th volume year. Over 17,000 articles have appeared in 2,125 issues.1 How has the SB engaged with church history in the last 100 years? Answering this question is the burden of this article. SURVEY The index to the SB indicates that writers have paid attention to a wide variety of church historical topics. The following grouping includes articles that were part of a larger series. In addition, many...

former editor of the Standard Bearer, professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, Michigan The Standard Bearer (SB) is not a church-magazine. It is not published by, and under the auspices of, a church, or a denomination of churches, identified though it commonly, and rightly, is as the magazine of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRCA). Rather, the magazine is published by an association of Reformed men that is free from church control: the Reformed Free Publishing Association (RFPA). At the same time, the magazine is...

pastor of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, Michigan Part of our centenary celebration of the Standard Bearer must include its commitment to polemics. Polemics comes from the Greek word to fight, battle, or war. It is found in Scripture, most often in Revelation. In Revelation 2:16, Jesus warns the church at Pergamos that if they will not repent of their toleration of the doctrines of Balaam and the Nicolaitans, He will “fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” Revelation 16:14 refers to “the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” And one of the last references to polemics...

professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Grandville PRC in Grandville, Michigan AN INTRODUCTION A periscope, as you probably know, is a long tube containing lenses and mirrors and is used to look over or around something. A submarine officer uses a periscope to see above the surface of the water and look all around him. On October 1, 1945, after exactly twenty-one years of existence, the Standard Bearer (SB) introduced its readers to a new rubric called “Periscope.” Then, eight years later in the February 15, 1953 issue of the SB,...

professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Southwest PRC in Wyoming, Michigan FROM A TO Z From A to Z—or, for many of our foreign subscribers, from A to Zed. From A to Z and everything in between, the Standard Bearer has throughout its history applied the truths of the Reformed faith to the lives of its readers. From abortion to Zionism, God’s people were pointed to their calling in the light of the Word of God and the Reformed confessions. From abortion to adiaphora, from alcoholism to amusements, from anger...

former editor of the Standard Bearer, professor emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and pastor of Byron Center PRC in Byron Center, Michigan From its inception, and for a century thereafter, the Standard Bearer has manifested keen interest in, and support for, Christian schools. That hearty support is grounded on the key distinguishing doctrine of the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC). That distinguishing doctrine is the doctrine of God’s everlasting covenant of grace in complete harmony with sovereign particular grace. Herman Hoeksema expressed this conviction in 1950: If you ask me what is the most peculiar treasure of the Protestant...