From a brief explanation of the Church Order by Johannes Jansen* Previous article in this series: July 2025, p. 375. Article 77: “After the suspension from the Lord’s table, and subsequent admonitions, and before proceeding to excommunication, the obstinacy of the sinner shall be publicly made known to the congregation; the offense explained, together with the care bestowed upon him, in reproof, suspension from the Lord’s Supper, and repeated admonition; and the congregation shall be exhorted to speak to him and to pray for him. There shall be three such admonitions. In the first the name of the sinner...
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From a brief explanation of the Church Order by Johannes Jansen* pastor of Crete PRC in Crete, Illinois Article 76: “Such as obstinately reject the admonition of the consistory, and likewise those who have committed a public or otherwise gross sin, shall be suspended from the Lord’s Supper. And if he, having been suspended, after repeated admonitions, shows no signs of repentance, the consistory shall at last proceed to the extreme remedy, namely, excommunication, agreeably to the form adopted for that purpose according to the Word of God. But no one shall be excommunicated except with advice of the...
Rev. Joshua Engelsma, translator, pastor of Crete PRC in Crete, Illinois From A Brief Explanation of the Church Order by Johannes Jansen* Article 75: The reconciliation of all such sins as are of their nature of a public character, or have become public because the admonition of the church was despised, shall take place (upon sufficient evidence of repentance) in such a manner as the consistory shall deem conducive to the edification of each church. Whether in particular cases this shall take place in public shall be considered, when there is a difference of opinion about it in the...
Rev. Joshua Engelsma, translator, pastor of Crete PRC in Crete, Illinois From A Brief Explanation of the Church Order by Johannes Jansen Article 74: “If anyone, having been admonished in love concerning a secret sin by two or three persons, does not give heed, or otherwise has committed a public sin, the matter shall be reported to the consistory.” This article was already incorporated in the church order by the Synod of Emden (1571)1 and has been maintained until now. It deals with reporting a sin to the consistory. We point out: In what cases should sin be reported to...
Rev. Joshua Engelsma. translator, pastor of Crete PRC in Crete, Illinois From A Brief Explanation of the Church Order by Johannes Jansen Article 73: “Secret sins of which the sinner repents, after being admonished by one person in private or in the presence of two or three witnesses, shall not be laid before the consistory.” This article already dates from the Synod of Emden (1571) in Article 27.1 But it was then somewhat broader, and distinguished between two kinds of secret sins: namely, secret sins of which the sinner, after being admonished personally in private or in the presence of...
Rev. Joshua Engelsma. translator, pastor of Crete PRC in Crete, Illinois From “A Brief Explanation of the Church Order” by Johannes Jansen Article 72: “In case anyone errs in doctrine or offends in conduct, as long as the sin is of a private character, not giving public offense, the rule clearly prescribed by Christ in Matthew 18 shall be followed.” In this article two things are discussed, namely, the causes (reasons or motives) for discipline, and the rule which according to Matthew 18 must be followed with private deviations. The causes for discipline. These lie in sins “against the...
Gerrit Vos (1894-1968) was a minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches, serving the congregations of Sioux Center (IA), Hudsonville (MI), Hope (Redlands, CA), and Edgerton (MN). *This meditation was originally written in Dutch and entitled Het Pad Des Lichts. It can be found in the September 15, 1949 issue of the Standard Bearer. Translator, Prof. B. Huizinga. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. Proverbs 4:18, 19 Time and time again we...
Who was Johannes Jansen? Johannes Jansen was born on January 19, 1873, in Varsseveld, Gelderland.1 His father, a farmer, was also named Johannes Jansen, and his mother was Berendina Johanna Rademaker. He grew up as a member of the Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk (Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands), the churches of the Afscheiding. In 1892, the same year that the churches of the Afscheiding united with the churches of Abraham Kuyper’s Doleantie to form the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederlands (Reformed Churches in the Netherlands), Jansen began his studies for the ministry of the gospel atthe Theological School in Kampen. These...
Herman Hoeksema was the first editor of the Standard Bearer. There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, namely, a messenger of Satan…. II Corinthians 12:7b What a wonderful gift! A sharp thorn in the flesh! Stranger still: a messenger of Satan who strikes with fists!1 And yet, that is what the apostle means. This is how it is before the consciousness of his faith at the moment; this thorn in the flesh, this messenger of Satan is God’s gift to him. For that reason, and only for that reason, is he reconciled unto it. He can be...
*Translated and edited by Prof. Douglas Kuiper and Dr. H. David Schuringa. Balthasar Lydius was a Reformed minister in Dordrecht from 1602-1629, and was delegated by the Synod of South Holland to attend the great synod.[1] As the local pastor, two honors fell to him on November 13, 1618: that of preaching a Dutch sermon in the morning before the Synod opened, and that of opening the first session of the Synod with prayer. He prayed in Latin. A partial English translation of the prayer has been available for centuries,[2] but it is based on the memory of some in...
