All Articles For Editorial

TRUTH: BELONGING TO GOD’S COVENANT As my colleague, Professor Doug Kuiper, pointed out to me recently after he had read many different articles in various church magazines and books on the topic of special needs children, no one talks about the covenant! We have been given a precious heritage in the truth of God’s covenant and we need to consider it in connection with special needs members. The covenant of God is not a contract, treaty, or pact as has been widely taught (and what would that mean for special needs individuals?), but the warm relationship of friendship that God...

In His providence, in January of 2020 Jehovah God unleashed a pandemic upon the world. This consequence of the fall into sin and harbinger of the judgment to come left nearly everyone in the world waiting and wondering what the SARS-CoV-2 virus was going to do if it infected their bodies. As is usually the case for humans when something too big for us to control confronts us, we “cried every man unto his god” (Jonah 1:5). Whether that god was an idol, science, man himself, or the true God, men cried out. According to God’s decree, once sick, some...

INTRODUCTION Last time we focused on John Calvin’s important sermon on Deuteronomy 22:5 (the Bible’s condemnation of cross-dressing). In that sermon Calvin had important things to say that apply to transgender behavior and transgender activism in the church. Among many other important points Calvin made, one was that the ninth commandment demands honesty in clothing. Therefore, a person must not use his clothing to lie to others about the sex and gender he has been created by God to be. Does that same ninth commandment have anything to say to the rest of us about how we dress? What does...

The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God— Deuteronomy 22:5 INTRODUCTION The church of Christ, especially in Western nations, exists in societies undergoing a moral revolution. The center of that revolution right now concerns whether or not biological sex and gender are one. Historically it has been so, but transgender activism separates the two, teaching that the source of one’s gender ought not necessarily be one’s biological sex. Inward feelings of dysphoria concerning one’s sex may...

INTRODUCTION In my previous article (see December 2025, p. 101), I pointed out that the foundation for unity in the Reformed Christian school is biblical, creedal truth. On that foundation all involved in the life of the school can effectively handle the twofold concern that can at times create division in the school community; namely, the concern to maintain the whole/institution and the concern to care for the individual student. I stated that we maintain unity in the school on that foundation by working to keep and preserve the whole without idolizing it or worshiping it, while simultaneously working for...

INTRODUCTION How thankful we must be for the schools God has given us! They are the implication of marvelous truths of Scripture, the fruit of conviction worked into the hearts of many who have gone before us, the outcome of great sacrifice through both years of lean and of plenty. God forbid we take them for granted! How thankful we must be for our teachers! They sacrifice themselves for the sake of the covenant seed. They strive to develop what has been placed in that seed along the lines of antithetical living to God’s glory in all aspects of life....

It is my conviction that one of the dangers (certainly not the only one) that the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRCA) must be on guard against is legalism. I do not mean this in the sense that the opponents of our churches falsely accuse us, that there is a theology of works-righteousness being taught and defended in the PRCA. Instead, I am referring to a practical form of legalism that manifests itself in a person subtly relying for salvation upon his own status or achievements, even while he confesses salvation by grace alone. I realize that, while many readers...

The year of our Lord 2025 is a year of significant anniversaries. As readers of the Standard Bearer are well aware, this year the Protestant Reformed Churches observed with thanksgiving to God our 100th anniversary as a separate denomination. But this year is also the celebration of 1700 years since the Council of Nicea met in 325 and drafted the Nicene Creed. This editorial is intended to familiarize readers with the history of the Council and Creed and then lay out why this still matters for the church of Christ 1700 years later. THE HISTORY OF THE COUNCIL OF NICEA...

pastor of Crete PRC in Crete, Illinois   Synod 2025 of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRCA) met over the course of two weeks, beginning on Tuesday, June 10, and concluding on Wednesday, June 18. One of the highlights of synod was the examination and graduation of our senior seminarian, Aaron Van Dyke. By the time this issue appears in print, Cand. Van Dyke will hopefully have received a call to a local congregation, the Lord willing. Another highlight was the presence of a number of international delegates from our sister churches and others with whom we have contact....

professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Grandville PRC in Grandville, Michigan   Would you not agree that the hypocrisy of any Protestant Reformed man, woman, or young person who loves and lives like the wicked world is a double hypocrisy? All professing Christians who love and live like the wicked world must be sharply admonished, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (Jam. 4:4). All must be...