All Articles For A Protest and Its Answer

In conclusion we must still call the attention of our readers to the final paragraph of the answer of synod to the protest of Mr. J. J. Hoekstra in re the Three Points, which reads as follows : “The Protest wrongly charges Synod of drawing ‘in Point One no line between the unregenerate and the elected’. Cf. p. 3, D. This is in direct conflict with the words of Point I, ‘dater, behalve de zaligmakende genade Gods bewezen alleen aan de uitverkorenen ten eeuwigen leven, ook een zekere gunst of genade Gods is, die Hij betoont aan Zijne schepselen in...

The answer of Synod to the protest of Mr. J. J. Hoekstra in re the Three Points continues as follows: “The protest wrongly accuses Synod of having re­surrected the Pelagian error of Free Will. We quote the opening words of C. on p. 2: ‘The, by the Synod resurrected, Free Will, is, in our understanding, ex­traordinarily humanistic in tendencies’. “Synod, however, plainly maintained the impotence of unregenerate man as appears, by way of example on p. 146 of the Acts of 1924, in the following passage: ‘C. Aangaande het derde punt rakende het doen van zoogenaamde burgerlijke gerechtigheid door de...

With a little good will (I mean by good will the will to enter into the material and essential meaning of the protest of the protestant) the synod would not have adopted the following paragraph of its answer: graph of its answer: “The protest denies what is taught in the Canons of Dordt, II, 5, in the following passage quoted from 2, B: “‘We deny that grace of salvation is an offer to anyone, but we accept as scriptural that grace of sal­vation is the glad tiding of promise gives and deliv­ered to God’s own elect and them only.’ “Your...

The protestant, whose protest and its answer by the Synod of the Christian Reformed Churches we are discussing, maintained that the First Point tends to nullify the doctrine of election. Synod answered that this is not true, that it is, in fact, a misrepresentation of the First Point. And it appealed to the fact, that the First Point expressly mentions the grace of God which is for the elect only. We claim that the protestant was right. Synod was in error. And we showed that the appeal of synod to the face that the First Point mentions the elect and...

When the last synod of the Christian Reformed Churches simply (or was it boldly?) answers a protestant against the Three Points, that synod “merely re-affirmed that all who hear the gospel receive an un­feigned invitation to accept it”, we begin to wonder. Are the Christian Reformed brethren trying to change the First Point without retracting it, without making it known to the entire church, that they erred in 1924? Do they really see that it is an untenable position to hold that even the reprobate receive grace from God in the preaching of the gospel? Repeatedly we asked the question:...

Several items of interest appeared on the program of the Synod of the Christian Reformed Churches, that was held this year in the Theological School of those churches in Grand Rapids, Mich. I mean, items of interest also to us. One of these is a protest against the Three Points, filed with synod by Jacob J. Hoekstra, known also as Hans Hansen, member of the Third Christian Re­formed Church of Roseland, Chicago, IL. It is not often that we have an opportunity to hear from the Christian Reformed Churches how they understand and interpret the well-known declarations of doctrine they...