Does God Tell Untruths? Does God at times tell us things which are not true? Has some of the Biblical material been adapted perhaps for teaching purposes—to suit the limited understanding of man? In his recent book, Reason Within the Bounds of Religion, Nicholas Wolterstorff, professor of philosophy at Calvin College, suggests that this may […]
We read these words nearly every Lord’s Day in our churches as part of the commandments by which we express gratitude to our covenant God: “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is . . . (Exodus 20:11). All Scripture is inspired by God, but […]
Among questions raised by the Pentecostal movement the most controversial of all Pentecostal claims is that proof of Holy Spirit baptism is the possession of certain charismata (spiritual gifts), especially the gift of tongues. Protestantism had traditionally taken the view that miraculous gifts ceased with the apostolic age. Edward Irving (1792–1834) asserted, however, that the […]
Christian unity, as those who live by the gospels and the Reformed confessions know, is also church unity. Christians are duty bound to “join themselves to the true church” as the Belgic Confession states. John Calvin, though fighting the church of Rome with its claim to being the “mother church,” nevertheless kept speaking of the […]
“On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the door locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them, and said , ‘Peace be with you!’ After he had said this he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they […]
Our Lord prayed that His followers “may be one” (John 17:21–23), and accordingly His church through the centuries has confessed, “I believe a holy catholic church.” What is overlooked by many who in our time advocate a variety of efforts to draw the churches together (the “ecumenical movement”) is that His prayer was that they would […]
“The LORD is a man of war” (Exodus 15:3). During the holiday season when the strains of Handel’s Messiah are commonly heard as part of the traditional Christmas music we also listened to the records of the same composer’s much less familiar oratorio, Israel in Egypt. In a style similar to that of the […]
Propitiation signifies the appeasement of wrath by the offering of a sacrifice. There can be no true love without wrath. As God’s love approves that which is good so his wrath abides upon that which is evil. Wrath is the reflex of love. Unless satisfaction is made for sinners there can be no reconciliation. Propitiation […]
At the time when the Christian Reformed Church was discussing the idea of adopting the Revised Standard Version as one of its official versions for use on the pulpit, there was some discussion about the RSV’s substitute of the word “expiation” for “propitiation” in passages such as Rom. 3:25; I John 2:2 and 4:10. Since […]
As Reformed people we have correctly insisted upon sprinkling as a valid mode of baptism. “The dipping in or sprinkling with” says the old Form (whether by immersion or sprinkling according to the new translation). It seems, however, that we have been so anxious to make the point that we have gone beyond sprinkling to […]