RFPA Blog News

Book Review - I Believe: Sermons on the Apostles' Creed

Especially ministers will profit from this prophet. They will profit from the setting forth, in I Believe, of Reformed basics, distinctives, and definitions—the teachings and their implications. They will profit from this master sermon-craftsman whose preaching was of biblical texts in light of themselves and their contexts and in light also of the one faith of the complete corpus of God’s revelation; here, as elsewhere in his writings and sermons, is exegetical-doctrine preaching and teaching at its best...

Book Review - Life in the Covenant: In Family, Church, and World

Book Review - Say Among the Heathen the Lord Reigns

The following review was written by seminarian Matt Koerner on Say Among the Heathen the Lord Reigns: Evidences in Southeast Asia by Jean Kortering (Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing, 2022).   With passion, humor, and insight, Jean Kortering’s book tells the stories of her own experiences as a pastor’s wife during a time in which he served in foreign lands, as well as stories of some of those to whom they ministered during those years. Originally written for Kortering’s grandchildren as a gift...

His Truth is Marching On

Unfolding Covenant History: An Exposition of the Old Testament, Volume 6: From Samuel to Solomon by David J. Engelsma (Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2020). Hardcover, 224 pages. Reviewed by H. David Schuringa, a Reformed theologian living in West Michigan. Unfolding Covenant History is a multi-volume commentary on the Old Testament initiated by Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema (volumes 1–6), and taken up by Prof. David J. Engelsma. Following his completion of volume 5 on the period of the Judges, is now...

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Biblical, practical, God-focused, and Reformed

A "captivating account of the history of Christ’s birth"

The greatest miracle ever to take place was not the standing still of the sun over Joshua’s battle or water coming from the rock by the striking of Moses’ rod. The greatest miracle ever to take place was the incarnation of Almighty God, which took place when Jesus Christ was born many years ago of the virgin Mary. The magnitude of this miracle follows from its stunning implications: that the God who created the world around us, who formed each of us in the darkness of our mothers’ womb, who cannot be contained in temples made with human hands, assumed the form of a servant, took upon himself our human nature, was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid to sleep in a manger! The preciousness of this miracle to every believer is found in God’s purpose in performing it. Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate, was not born to gratify our sentimentality during the holiday season. He was not born as the poster child for world peace to be displayed in nativity scenes across the nations. He was born for our salvation, which he would accomplish when he grew into the man who hung on the cross and was raised again three days later for our justification.

"Heartily recommended to the reading public!"

With delight this new book by author Martyn McGeown, missionary-pastor of the Limerick Reformed Fellowship, is heartily recommended to the reading public!

In this new publication the author addresses what by his own confession is “the greatest miracle in history”: the incarnation, birth, and childhood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (1).

The Belgic: "A Confession of the Gospel in all its riches"

The Belgic Confession: A Commentary, Volumes I–II by David J. Engelsma. Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2018–19. 348 and 382 pages. Reviewed by Dr. H. David Schuringa, a reformed theologian living in West Michigan (as reviewed in the July 24, 2019 issue of Christian Renewal).

The publishing of Dr. David Engelsma’s two-volume commentary on the Belgic Confession is a welcome event due not only to its meaty content but also to meager current resources. The historic confession comprises a complete dogmatics in its own right as it follows the usual outline of the loci with the doctrines of the Word, God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, Ecclesiology and Eschatology.

Engelsma maintains, however, that though the con­fession is doctrinal and systematic, it is not a sys­tematic theology as such but rather, “the confession of the gospel in all its riches as this gospel is known by every illumined mind and embraced by every regenerated heart” (II:366f.). That is certainly true in large measure, which in turn makes these two volumes Engelsma’s own dogmatics of sorts. What Berkhof did for Bavinck, he does for Hoeksema.

"Thoroughly covenantal, consistently biblical, and beautifully Christo-centric"

Thoroughly covenantal, consistently biblical, and beautifully Christo-centric, Jehovah’s Mighty Acts chronologically highlights stories from Old Testament history for the elementary-aged child, explaining how each story displays a wonder of God’s grace toward his people. As a mother of several children falling in this age group, I especially appreciated Rev. Langerak’s accessible language and simple sentence structure, while at the same time maintaining the depth of spiritual truth contained in each biblical story. In fact, Jehovah’s Mighty Acts both encourages and instructs both the child listening and the adult reading aloud as well!

It is refreshing to use a Bible story book that doesn’t require the Reformed believer to weed out false interpretations or inaccurate accounts of biblical events. And though God has blessed the Reformed church with several lovely classic children’s Bible story books, a fresh recounting of these stories and a creative new format powerfully cements biblical history in our children’s minds anew.

RFPA Update - Winter 2019

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Reaching the broadest possible audience
• Theological Book Network
• "A teaching aid on the Canons"
• Gold star membership
• RFPA classics reprinted
• God's Everlasting Covenant of Grace published in Spanish
• Coming Soon! Jehovah's Mighty Acts
• Coming Soon! Letters from Katie Luther: A Novel
• Seeking donors
• His Mercy Endureth Forever reviews
• RAM conference
• Iron Sharpens Iron pastors' luncheon

Book Review: Walking in the Way of Love, volume 2

Walking in the Way of Love: A Practical Commentary on 1 Corinthians for the Believer, volume 2, by Nathan J. Langerak. Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2019. 544 pages, hardcover. [Reviewed by Rev. Clayton Spronk]

Rare are the biblical commentaries that provide sound theological instruction. Rarer still are the commentaries that provide sound theological instruction and helpful application to the faith and life of the church today. Even a little of both of these oft-missing ingredients would be enough to recommend a commentary to serious students of scripture. That this volume offers a feast of accurate explanations of the truth of scripture and appropriate applications means that I must highly recommend it to the reader.

Book Review: Grace and Assurance

Grace and Assurance: The Message of the Canons of Dordt, by Martyn McGeown. Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2018. Hardcover. 384 pages. [Reviewed by Derrick Span, a member of Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church]

Rev. Martyn McGeown's book, entitled Grace and Assurance: The Message of the Canons of Dordt, emphasizes the necessity, as Reformed Christians, to thoroughly understand our creeds and confessions. These creeds and confessions exhibit what heresies our fathers fought against and what they clung to with ardent zeal. We might ask what value there is in reading a book about the Canons, or we might object that the Canons, Belgic Confession, and Heidelberg Catechism are only creeds. Should we be spending our time studying these old creeds and confessions when we have big enough problems understanding our Bible? Are we not supposed to hold to sola scriptura? While these areas of concern are essential, they express a misunderstanding that we cannot learn from those who came before us. We must be careful in speaking in that way. Instead, we ought to read and listen to those who fought for the truth, seeking the truth from them. By hearing them, we will be better equipped to read God’s word through an informed outlook. So I encourage the use of this book not just for informing us of what our fathers taught, but as a means to examine what we hold to and whether we maintain the understanding of God’s word. To encourage this mindset, a brief explanation of the book is necessary.

The author’s explanation of the Canons begins with the intent, namely to expose Arminianism as erroneous from the ground up. To accomplish this purpose, our fathers had to explain many different doctrines as clearly as possible to leave no room for Arminianism to stand. Where would they begin? Would they start with the main point that Arminian fought against, i.e., reprobation? As a reading of the Canons would illustrate, they did not begin with reprobation; in fact, they did not for some time. The Canons began with who God is and who man is in relation to God. McGeown and our forefathers teach us a crucial bit of wisdom by starting with God in their explanation.

Continue reading...

RFPA Update - Spring 2018

 Click icon to read the full pdf version. The articles in this issue are: "Richly blessed by those books" Keeping RFPA titles in print: Amazing Cross, Behold, He Cometh, Portraits of Faithful Saints Two special Reformation Issues of the Standard Bearer New Releases: Walking in the Way of Love, T is for Tree, Studies in Hebrews Children's books division news What are the next books being printed?: Here We Stand: Commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, The Belgic Confession commentary (volume 1), Grace...