Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches met in South Holland, Illinois on March 2 and 3, 1983. Classis welcomed Rev. T. Miersma (Edmonton), Rev. J. Smith (Edgerton), and Elder O. Gaastra (Redlands) as first-time delegates to Classis. Rev. R. Moore led Classis in opening devotions. He spoke to the…
THE NEW TESTAMENT STUDENT AND HIS FIELD, John H. Skilton, Gen’l Editor; Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, Phillipsburg, N.J. 310 pp., $9.95 (paper); reviewed by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema This is Volume 5 of a series of books under the same title. The general editor is Dr. John H. Skilton,…
“God is love.” When properly understood, these words of the apostle John are of great comfort to the people of God. For that God is love means that God is the God of our salvation. John tells us, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that…
Concerning these articles that I have been writing in this rubric there seems to be a bit of clarification necessary. People have asked me, for example, “Are your parents really dead?’ or “Who is this friend of yours that had that terminal illness?” I am thankful to inform the reader…
Our Only Comfort? Several months ago there was a very sad “accident” in Grand Rapids. Three young men, present or past students of Calvin College, were killed in an auto accident. The lives of three young men were suddenly snuffed out. Of course, such an “accident” strongly affects families, friends,…
We concluded our last article by calling attention to the seemingly irreconcilable conflict between the providence of God and sin, between the holiness and the righteousness of God. That the Lord is absolutely sovereign and that therefore the reality of sin must be understood as having been willed by the…
Are we as a denomination faithful to the great commission of our Lord Jesus Christ to preach the gospel to all nations? What a glorious and wonderful commission that is! It is through the preaching of the gospel that the Lord is pleased to gather and defend and preserve His…
Dear Timothy, In past letters we have talked at some length about what precisely constitutes a “Christ-centered” sermon. I want to give some particular illustrations of this in this letter, so that you may see how these ideas we have discussed can be put into practice. Dear Timothy, In past…
For the past three years the Standard Bearer has come to our address. Invariably, unlike the many other periodicals received, it is read from cover to cover. Why is that? Perhaps the first reason is that its writers take the Bible as truly being the Word of God, avoiding all the theological…
Some months ago, after having written about last year’s Synod, I promised also to write a few things of a critical nature in connection with that broadest gathering of our churches. As so often happens in the life of an editor, there arose in the meantime other items which demanded…
“Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?” James 2:25 “Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?” James 2:25…