All Articles For Editor's Notes

With heartfelt gratitude to God, we begin the ninety-seventh year of the Standard Bearer. It should be obvious that in order for the SB to find its way into your mailbox twenty-one times in the next year, many people put in significant effort. That starts with some forty men and women who have committed to write anywhere from three to twenty articles in the next year.1 Behind the scenes, managing editor Charles Terpstra sets the schedule for the writers (and reminds them when theirs are due), edits every contribution submitted, and along with the editors, proofreads every issue. Then there...

Once again our Standard Bearer appears in a special garb. This time it is upon the request of the P.R.Y.P.F. that just recently held its second annual convention in Grand Rapids. We assure our young people that we are both proud and happy to serve them through the Standard Bearer in this way. The convention we just mentioned was a wonderful success. Our hearts were warmed and gladdened when we saw the zeal and activity of our young men and young women, their interest in the things of the kingdom of God. They certainly manifested a Christian spirit throughout, not...

Below you will find some unusual items related to God’s ‘frowning providence’ of sending the coronavirus worldwide. In order to fit these special items, we delay printing of other articles that were planned for this issue. We trust the reader understands the appropriateness of addressing the current issues in the church and world. We did not ask anyone to produce special articles. Rather, we noticed what pastors and consistories were doing to care for their flocks in these unusual times, and then asked for permission to print what they had produced: A special sermon, “Coronavirus and the King,” edited for...

Death. The last enemy. When it comes, death tears apart body and soul, leaving behind sorrow, loss, and pain. In God’s sovereign providence, death is very much on the minds of people all around the world as new counts of deaths caused by the coronavirus are reported daily in the news. When this issue was planned, we knew nothing of the scourge that was coming. Death itself is painful. It is not natural, for it is God’s punishment for man’s sin. The child of God does not have a terror of death, for our Lord went through death that He...

As the front cover indicates, our annual Reformation issue is devoted to the Reformation in Zurich. The decision to highlight Zurich is based largely on the fact that this year marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in this city located in the northeast side of Switzerland. In 1519, Ulrich Zwingli began preaching in the main church in Zurich. His preaching was astoundingly different from what the people had ever heard—he preached directly from the Bible. In this way God began the process of Reformation. The Reformation in Zurich is largely overshadowed by two other major sixteenth-century reforms. On the...

In a special worship service in the Grandville Protestant Reformed Church held September 4, Rev. Brian Huizinga was installed as the Professor of Theology and Old Testament Studies in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary. In this issue, we print an edited version of Prof. R. Cammenga’s fine sermon on Acts 27:23b (“whose I am, and whom I serve”) delivered in the installation service. It replaces the editorial for this issue. The next issue of the Standard Bearer (Nov. 1) will be the annual Reformation issue. The theme will be the Reformation in Zurich, Switzerland, and it will high­light such notable...

With thanksgiving to God, we begin the new publishing year for the Standard Bearer. Since the first issue of the magazine appeared in October of 1924, this begins the 96th-volume year. Let us not overlook God’s faithfulness in providing the financial means and the writers all these years. For the coming year, 39 men and women have agreed to contribute from one to as many as ten articles for the SB. What changes will come for Volume 96? The writ­ers added to the list this year (though some have writ­ten in the past) include Revs. V. Ibe and S. Key...

In this issue is a “Contribution” submitted at the request of the editors, after the family who wrote it had corresponded with the editors about the role of elders in counseling especially difficult cases. The article is printed without the authors’ names, at their request. After reading the article, it will become plain why the authors’ names are withheld. This issue also includes a letter from Rev. Nathan Langerak responding to Rev. Koole’s response to Rev. N. Langerak’s first letter back in the November 15, 2018 SB. The editors print the letter at the request of the RFPA Board. Rev....

Welcome to our second commemorative issue on the Synod of Dordt (1618-19). This Synod is best known for its defense and de­velopment of the truth of sovereign, particular grace in the Canons. Aspects of this truth were set forth in the November 1, 2018 issue of the SB. The current issue focuses on the work of the Synod in five other significant areas. With these two issues, as well as Prof. Kuiper’s writings (in his brief SB articles on the Synod through the year and in the blog posts at dordt400.org), we hope that you are getting a broad view...

Four hundred years ago, theologians—pastors and professors—from Reformed churches all over Europe were wending their way to the town of Dordrecht, in the province of Utrecht, in the Lowlands. They were coming by invitation of the Reformed churches and the States General, the governing political body of the provinces. These men came knowing that they were facing a difficult task, namely, confronting a dangerous heresy with many heads and much deception. Did they know that they were leaving behind their families and their labors for six months? Probably not. But they were willing to pay the cost, to sacrifice and...