The duty that the Canons have in mind is the duty of preaching and the duty of listening and taking heed to the gospel with its admonitions (and never forget that the preaching comes also to the preacher; he not only preaches to the congregation, but he also preaches to himself). The word duty (officium) could be translated as office, but its meaning is wider than that.Read More
Last time I asked, “Is that the only thing—the call to believe, and possibly, repent—that God uses to preserve, continue, and perfect his work of grace in us (Canons 5.14)?” My answer is absolutely not! God uses the admonition of Matthew 5:24 to confer upon us the grace to reconcile with our brother, even though...
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In the last blog post, I made a distinction, following Ursinus, between the bare law without the gospel (which is the killing letter of 2 Corinthians 3:6) and the law with the gospel, which is effectual by the work of the Spirit in the heart of the child of God, so that he, by the grace of God conferred to him, begins to obey the law.Read More
If you were paying careful attention to the Canons and looked them up, and I hope that you make a practice of doing that, you might have thought that I changed the Canons last time. In the English version of Canons 5:14 we read of “the hearing and reading of His (God’s) Word, by meditation thereon, and by exhortations, threatenings, and promises thereof.” I wrote, “The exhortations, threatenings, and promises of the gospel.” Which is it, “the exhortations of the Word” or “the exhortations of the gospel”? And is there an important difference or distinction?Read More
If God’s grace works in rational, moral creatures “endowed with understanding and will” (Canons 3-4.16), how does God’s grace operate? He works by means of admonitions. Of course, he does because you cannot admonish a stock or a block, but you can admonish—and God does admonish—a rational, moral creature; a living, thinking, willing human being, whether man, woman, young person, or child. “Grace,” we read, in Canons 3-4.17, is conferred.Read More
The truth that “grace is conferred by means of admonitions” (Canons 3-4.17) is often misunderstood. How can grace, we wonder, be conferred? And how can it be conferred by means of admonitions? Is grace not the unmerited favor of God by which we are saved? And do we not all agree that “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9)?Read More
Canons 3-4.17 was written in response to an Arminian objection to the sovereignty of God’s grace in regeneration and conversion. If, as the Reformed faith teaches, God saves man by working regeneration in him without his will, why is preaching necessary? To that the Reformed answer is and has always been quite simple: the sovereign God who ordains the end (salvation) also ordains the means (in this case, the means of grace, especially the preaching of the gospel).Read More
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”— Ephesians 2:8 Mighty grace. For grace is also the power of God by which we are delivered from the dominion of sin and death. Reconciliation alone is no salvation, nor could it possibly lead to salvation if the operation of grace ceased at the cross. It must be applied, so that from darkness we are translated into life, from sin into righteousness, and...
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”— Ephesians 2:8 Blessed grace. For by grace are we reconciled unto God. The same grace that motivated the Most High to ordain us unto salvation, according to which it was his purpose to make us lovely even as he is lovely, explains why he reconciled us unto himself through the death of his Son. Saved we are by grace. This means that we...
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” — Ephesians 2:8 FOR! Let us not overlook this little but significant word. For by grace are ye saved. The conjunction presents the truth expressed as a reason for something else, an explanation of something that has been mentioned in the context. It informs us that this statement does not stand alone, that it is not an isolated...
Next month marks the 60th anniversary of the schism of 1953 within the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC), the culmination of the hard fought battle for sovereign grace in the covenant. Delve into this history with David J. Engelsma's new book, slated for release next month! The Battle for Sovereign Grace in the Covenant recounts much of the gripping history of the schism, including new, important details that have not been previously published. The book also provides the history of the controversial...
You may have noticed that we added a new set of sermons and lectures to the Heritage Recordings audio collection. The sermons and lectures listed in this category are a commemorative set regarding the Schism of 1953 within the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRCA). The issue was the gospel of salvation by sovereign, particular grace in regard to the covenant of God with the children of believers as signified and sealed in the baptism of infants. The two main warriors...
