All Articles For Our Doctrine

6. The Forgiveness of Sins (continued) In God, this act of mercy, whereby He ordained His Son to be the head of the Church, so that He represented them in the hour of judgment, and might bear their sins and iniquities, is eternal. For in God’s eternal counsel, Christ is the firstborn of every creature, and that, too, as the head of His Church, and as the firstborn from the dead. And, therefore, there is, there eternally is, forgiveness with God, and there is no condemnation, there never was, with God, condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus, Rom....

When, nevertheless, especially in the Psalms, the saints of the old dispensation strike a note that bespeaks a rather gloomy outlook upon the state of the dead, and a clinging to this present life on the earth, we must remember two facts. First of all, the land of Canaan was the fulfillment of the promise. It was a shadow of the heavenly rest. There God dwelled with His chosen people. For the saints of the old dispensation, the service of and fellowship with God, His blessing and favor, were inseparably connected with the land the Lord their God had given...

The next to the last article of the Apostolicum reads: “(I believe) the resurrection of the body,” or, literally, according to the original, “the resurrection of the flesh.” From the place of this article in the whole of the Confession, it is quite evident that the resurrection unto life is meant. For it is the same Church, the same believer, that professed his faith in God Almighty, the Creator, and in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord, Who assumed our flesh from the Virgin; Who died and was raised again from the dead, and Who is exalted at...

2. The Resurrection Of The Body, (cont.) The same passage from the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians to which we already referred above in proof of the identity of the resurrection body and our present body, may also inform us with respect to the difference between the two. It teaches us, first of all, that through the resurrection our bodies will be delivered from all the effects of sin and death: “it is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in...

As a vision, therefore, the passage must be interpreted. This means that a certain apocalyptic truth is here presented by means of different symbols. In the introductory verses of Revelation 20, the symbolism of the vision includes the angel that comes down from heaven, the key and the great chain he has in his hand, the bottomless pit, and the shutting up of Satan and the sealing of the pit over his head. Nor can there be any doubt that all this is to be understood symbolically, and, therefore, dare not be interpreted as signifying that the devil shall be...

4. To our objections against the idea of a millennium during which Christ is supposed to reign with His people on this earth, with His throne in Jerusalem, we may finally add the incongruity of the conception. This incongruity is twofold. The first concerns the irreconcilable conflict that must needs express itself, in such a state as the millennium is supposed to be, between the ethically perfect condition of Christ and His risen saints and this sinful world. Whatever may be the conception one may try to form of the wonderful reign of peace in the millennium, sin still prevails...

Also from this aspect, life in the creature is but the reflection of life in God, who is its Creator and Source. For He is the Triune. He is one in being and nature, in mind and will, in holiness and righteousness, in knowledge and wisdom, and in all His infinite perfections. Nor is He a mere power: He is a personal God. And the Scriptures reveal Him to us as three in persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. These divine persons subsist in the one divine being, and they stand in relation of perfect harmony to one another. The...

Q. 59. But what doth it profit thee now that thou believest all this? A. That I am righteous before God, and an heir of eternal life. Q. 60. How art thou righteous before God? A. Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; so that, though my conscience accuse me, that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them, and am still inclined to all evil; notwithstanding, God, without any merit of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me, the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ; even so,...

1. The Idea Of Justification, (cont.) It should be plain, then, that, in this life, when the grace of justification is applied to the sinner, so that he hears the justifying verdict of God, and appropriates it unto himself, he finds within himself a double testimony, the one condemning, the other acquitting, the one accusing him that he has transgressed and still transgresses all the commandments of God, the other justifying him, and declaring him so perfectly righteous in the sight of God, as if he never had or committed any sin. And yet, these two testimonies, both of which...

The undersigned has been requested to fill the rubric, Our Doctrine, in our Standard Bearer during the present illness of the Editor, the Rev. H. Hoeksema. We accept this appointment because we cannot refuse it, and with the personal desire that our services may not long be necessary. The reader will understand that we venture forth on our new assignment with considerable fear and trepidation. This writer is strongly conscious of the fact that the articles which will appear under the heading, Our Doctrine, cannot begin to approach the material which until now has been presented to our readers. Besides,...