Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18) Is Mary the “Queen of Heaven” or an instrument to reveal the Gospel? How should we understand Mary? Recently Rowland Ward has outlined […]

Do you have, in the sixty-six books of your Bible, all that you need to know for your salvation? Do we as churches have all that we need to worship God publicly as a congregation? This is the issue before us this issue as we look at the Belgic Confession, Articles 6–7. The Sufficiency of […]

Johannes Piscator is not a household name familiar to 21st century Reformed Christians. Yet four hundred years ago, his name was renowned in both Lutheran and Reformed circles. That renown was due to his formulation of the doctrine of justification. This doctrine, precious to every Protestant believer, was the heart of the Reformation and one […]

“In Him was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1:4). If you take the time to read the Gospel of John in one sitting, you cannot help but notice the word “life” is an important word to John. John writes about life often in connection with Jesus Christ and the life […]

The last question we consider regarding Paul’s view of the law is whether he articulated his doctrine of justification over against a legalistic teaching of salvation upon the basis of works performed in obedience to the law. Though the new perspective argues that this was not a significant problem in Paul’s day, there is evidence […]

I first met Larry when he was 19 years old. My family and I had moved to a West Michigan Community where I had accepted the call to serve a well established congregation. It was the spring of the year. I was invited to teach the Bible lesson for the Men’s Society which was still […]

We have before us the wonderful climax of chapter 1: the vision of the glorious and exalted Christ. In the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, John hears the voice of the Savior, like a mighty trumpet blast (vv. 10–11), he then turns to see the voice in verse 12: “And having turned I saw seven […]

It was a rainy day when Classis Michigan met at the beautiful new facility of Trinity United Reformed Church in Caledonia, Michigan. Chairman Rev. Brian Vos led the delegates in singing and opened the meeting with prayer. Two overtures for implementation at classis were approved. The first dealt with the method in which the churches […]

Book Review Hoeksema, Herman. Righteous by Faith Alone: A Devotional Commentary on Romans. Edited by David Engelsma. Grandville, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2002. xxvi. 702 pp., including Scripture Index and short bibliography. $41.95 US, hardcover. Reviewed by Rev. Jerome Julien. For the lion’s share of his ministry, Rev. Herman Hoeksema brought God’s Word to […]

January 1979 “Much of today’s evangelical lawlessness seems to be the fruit of an evangelical aimlessness.” Christianity Has a Moral Backbone Klaus Bockmuhl “In many cases it’s not hard to determine what the Bible actually says, but it’s another matter whether we really want to communicate what the Bible says to our modern world.” Rejecting […]