Vol. 79; No. 20; September 1, 2003
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Table of Contents:
Meditation - Rev. Ronald VanOverloop
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma
Letters
· Responses
to Editorials on “Conditional Covenant in Contemporary Debate”
All Around Us - Rev. Gise VanBaren
Marking the Bulwarks of Zion - Prof. Herman C. Hanko
· Jacobus
Arminius and Arminianism (2)
Taking Heed to the Doctrine – Rev. Steven R. Key
Book Reviews
News From Our Church – Mr. Benjamin Wigger Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of Georgetown Protestant
Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan. “Now unto him that is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power
that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen.”
After explaining the content of his prayers for his fellow saints at Ephesus (14-19), the
inspired apostle Paul breaks forth into praise of God.
His prayer for the Ephesian converts had been that they “be strengthened with
might by His Spirit in the inner man” so “that Christ may dwell in your hearts
by faith,” and so that they “may be able to comprehend...the love of
Christ.” What moves Paul now, suddenly,
to give praise and glory to God? First, it is the two absolutely
amazing and gracious wonders of Christ dwelling in human hearts by faith and the unending
love of God in Christ. Second, it is the
humble realization of one who truly prays, that, though he is himself totally unworthy, he
will be heard and answered because God is not only gracious, but also able to do above
what he asks (or even thinks). This doxology has been the
source of much comfort for God’s people in every age of the history of this world. Many a pastor has read this passage to distressed
and frightened sheep of God. Any meditation
on the breadth, length, depth, and height of the love of Christ or on the exceedingly
abundant power of God and of His grace comforts God’s people, no matter the cause of
their distress. The consideration of these
truths has compelled many saints to praise their God! We learn from this doxology that
we are given salvation and the faith to comprehend God’s love and power unto the
chief end of our praising and glorifying Him. May
our hearts be filled unto bursting with the desire to glorify Him. May our mouths open wide to praise Him,
individually and especially with fellow-saints in the church in our age. The theme of this doxology is the
greatness of God’s power. It is striking
to note that in his first prayer for the Ephesian believers (1:19) Paul asked that they be
given to know the exceeding greatness of God’s power working in them. This power that works in believers is the same
power that raised Jesus from the dead and set Him above all things (1:20-22). This power is manifested in the work of graciously
saving the totally depraved sinner! The
greatness of human depravity requires nothing less than such exceedingly great power! And Paul writes how this power is manifested in
uniting the converted Ephesian Gentiles with Jewish Christians into one body. The power of the grace that destroyed their
alienating prejudices and made them to be united in the body of Christ had to be
exceedingly great. The power of God is infinitely
great. This doxology to the power of God
strives to put into human language (which is always imperfect) a description of something
that is perfect and infinite. Paul is
inspired to take a superlative (the best or the highest and greatest) and add it to
another superlative: exceeding abundantly. Literally
he wrote, “to him who is able (has power, dynamite) above all things to do
exceedingly abundantly above or beyond.” We
must realize that the greatest superlatives in any language do not adequately describe the
power of God. We cannot get beyond the
superlatives, because we do not know what is beyond the greatest, the best, or the highest
of what we can conceive! So we are to stand
before this wonder with open-mouthed amazement; and from our open mouths should come
expressions of praise! From a practical perspective
Paul speaks this way because he has prayed for such tremendous blessings (cf. 16-19). These blessings are tremendous works of Him who
can do exceedingly beyond our greatest petitions. It
is this power that Paul is striving to describe and that Paul desires the Ephesian
converts to experience. God’s power is “above
all that we ask or think.” Often we need
to consider God’s power when we pray, especially when we ask for something in prayer. There are times that we do not pray because it
seems to us that our desire is impossible of being fulfilled. But if we remember the ability of the one to whom
we are praying, then we would know we can never ask too much. If we would exercise our faith, focusing on the
fact that God is able to do more than we can ask, then we would understand that our
seemingly impossible requests do not exceed the limit of God’s ability to grant them. With God nothing is impossible. God’s power is not only
beyond what we ask, but it is also beyond what we think.
Often what we think about goes beyond what we would ask. We can think beyond what is possible. Our thoughts can consider things that are
impossible in this world. But Scripture
teaches us that God’s ability and power are even beyond all that we can think or
imagine. God can do more than we can consider
in our most inspired thoughts or imaginations. Let us realize that we often
commit the sin of limiting God. We know it is
wrong to think that God cannot do something, but there are many times when the
circumstances of our lives are such that we find ourselves thinking that God cannot help. While wandering in the terrible wilderness, the
children of Israel several times committed this sin.
“They turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel” (Ps. 78:41). It is very easy for Christians to look at the
circumstances of their lives and to become disheartened and discouraged. In that condition we can quickly limit God. Sarai limited God when she laughed at the idea
that someone as old as Abram and herself could have a child. The angel Gabriel had to remind the virgin Mary
that with God nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37). Our Reformed theology is solidly based on
Scripture when it declares that not one could be saved if it depended on man, but
“the things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27).
If we understand the limitless power of God,
then we will not doubt any of God’s promises, no matter how staggering they may seem
under some circumstances. God is able! He is able to do exceeding abundantly! He is infinite in His might. His ability is beyond
our comprehension — beyond anything we would ask, and even beyond anything we can
think. God’s tremendous power is
evidenced in a most impressive way in our own experience.
God exhibits His great power in all of creation and in His work of obtaining
salvation for His chosen ones, but there is an amazing display of His power that takes
place within His people. In fact, the apostle
is inspired to declare that the exceedingly abundant power of God is an on-going work of
God in us — “according to the power that worketh in us.” While God’s power is beyond our comprehension,
it is something with which we have the most intimate contact, for it is in us. The apostle himself experienced
this marvelous power. God’s power
changed him from being one who was “less than the least of all saints” to being
an apostle who would “preach the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8). In fact, Paul states that he was “made a
minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual
working of his power” (3:7). He
had at one time been filled with hatred for the name of Christ and for the church of
Christ. He had despised all those who
confessed Christ. For such a one as Paul to
become not only a Christian but even a preacher of Christianity can be attributed only to
divine power. Paul was not the only one who
knew this power. The Ephesian converts also
knew it experientially. They had been dead in
sin, but they were quickened by this same power (2:2-5).
As heathens they were barred from all the blessings tasted by the Jews. They were without hope, without Christ, and
without God. Then the power of the
irresistible Spirit of Christ made the dead to be alive, enabling them to believe the
gospel. The Spirit took those who formerly
“walked according to the prince of the power of the air” and overcame that power
by the power of God’s great love and amazing grace. Instead of being the work of the
prince of the power of the air, they became God’s workmanship. Everyone who is saved by grace
through faith in Christ has experienced this magnificent power of God. It is God’s power that saves us, and it is
this same power that keeps us from losing our salvation.
According to the effectual working of His power, Christ dwells in our hearts by
faith, and according to the effectual working of His power every saint is able to
comprehend the limitless love of God in Christ. There
is no end to God’s power; it is endless and limitless (as is His love and all other
of His attributes). It is knowing this power that is
working in us which keeps us from staggering in unbelief at any of God’s promises. All of His promises center in that most beautiful
truth of the covenant: “I am with
you.” God is able to enable us to do all
things — even in the greatest trial and distress to know that God is with us. Not only each individual
believer, but also the church, is an evidence of the exceedingly abundant power of God. Who would have thought that the huge wall of
prejudice between the Jewish and Gentile converts could ever be broken down? The converted Gentiles and Jews are reconciled. Such was and is a human impossibility. It is nothing less than the almighty power of God
which, by the Spirit, made the unity of the body of Christ, even though the members of
that body come from every corner and out of every age of the world. The power of God is displayed in the unity of the
church. What power! Hence the doxology: “Now unto him be glory in the church by
Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen.” He who has such infinite
power is worthy to be praised. The origin and the continued
existence of the church is the result of the power of God.
Also it is the church that is the chief instrument by which God is glorified. The praise of this doxology is that glory be given
to God “in the church.” The church,
the gathering of those whom God has graciously chosen and saved in Christ, displays the
glory of God in a wonderful and unique way. In
fact, it can be said that nothing gives glory to God as does the church. Creation does indeed give God glory, but it cannot
express itself with words. It needs man to
verbalize the glory it expresses. Only the
body of Christ knows how to glorify God correctly. Besides,
creation came into existence by the power of God out of nothing. As amazing as that truly is, the power of God to
save unto Himself a church is even more amazing, for the church had to be saved out of the
horrible power of sin. The salvation of the
church required nothing less than the death of Christ Jesus, the Son of God. Therefore, the church glorifies God “by
Christ Jesus.” This is because the
church is made up of those who are saved by Him and thus become members of His body, of
His flesh and of His bones. This is because
all blessings are in Christ, and they come to us through Him. The church glorifies God by Christ Jesus also
because the praise expressed by humans is acceptable to God only through Christ Jesus. The doxology is a declaration
that praise and glory be given to God. Glory is to be given to God on account of His
perfections. God enables His people to know
His perfections so those perfections can be enjoyed and celebrated. The glory of God is in the creation of this world. God’s glory is also in the preservation of
this world. But God’s glory is
especially in Christ Jesus and His church. The
glory of complete salvation is to be ascribed to God because of the power of God’s
free grace. We ask that glory be given to
God “throughout all ages.” Literally
this is “age of the ages,” that is, age upon age, or an infinite number of ages. We would say, “for ever and ever.” When Paul asks that glory be given to God in the
church throughout all ages, he implies that the church of Christ exists (and will exist)
in every age until our Lord returns and beyond into the eternity to come. He implies that the church of Christ is where the
glory of God manifests itself most clearly and magnificently. It is in us, the members of the church, that the
blessings of salvation are known. Such is the
power of God that we will be manifesting the glory of God for ever and ever. Every believer is called to
glorify God by exercising faith in Him, the promising and covenant-keeping God. We glorify God by trusting Him and His promises. We glorify God by cheerfully and patiently
suffering for His cause and interest, while leaning on His power. Let us join in singing. Let us consider what the power of God has done in
us; and let us consider what He promises to do for us.
Let us declare His glory in every age. And
to the whole world. Let us ascribe all glory
to Him. Introduction
By government decree, the first Monday of September annually is a legal holiday in the
United States. The holiday is Labor Day. It dates from 1894.
In that year, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill making Labor Day a national
holiday. 1894 was also the year of the
notorious, violent Pullman strike in Chicago. The intention of Labor Day is to
honor the workingman. Labor unions have
hijacked the holiday, so that many suppose that the idea of the holiday is honoring labor
unions. The Protestant Reformed Churches
“honor” the laborer. Most of the
members of these Churches are laborers. The
majority of the members of the church throughout the ages have been men who got their
daily bread from God by the sweat of their brow with the help of their wife laboring in
the home. The Protestant Reformed Churches
do not honor the labor unions. In the light
of Scripture, the unions are not honorable. During my fourteen-year
pastorate of a congregation in the Chicagoland area, I came to know firsthand the
violence, threats, intimidation, beatings, maimings, murders, mayhem, ruthlessness,
contempt for law, and corruption of the labor unions.
I remember distinctly the murder of a trucker on I-80/94 east of South Holland,
Illinois during a Teamsters Union strike. Sons
of Belial, enforcing the strike, dropped large chunks of concrete from an overpass on the
unsuspecting driver. The stand against labor union
membership by the Christian defended in this and following editorials is principled. It is a stand based on Scripture’s
condemnation of unionism’s constitutional nature.
It is also a stand that is well aware of the actual spiritual condition and
conduct—the ungodliness—of the unions, which every member willingly joins and
for whose constitution, condition, and conduct every member makes himself responsible
before God the Judge. The
“Infallible Rule” Neither the well-nigh universal
acceptance of labor union membership by Western society nor the nearly unanimous approval
of labor union membership by the churches settles the issue of membership in a union for
the Christian workingman. The practice of the
world is certainly not the standard of the life of the Christian. But neither is the example of the majority of
churches the standard, especially not when it is evident that their approval of labor
union membership is not obedience to the Word of God, but mere conformity to the world. Scripture is the standard of the
life of the Christian workingman. Scripture
alone is the standard. We Reformed people
confess that “Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God.” The “whole manner of worship, which God
requires of us, is written in them at large.” This
“worship” includes the service of all aspects of our daily life. “Therefore, we reject with all our hearts
whatsoever doth not agree with this infallible rule” (Belgic Confession, Art. 7). This is the basis of the
examination of labor union membership that follows, as the title of the editorial
indicates: “ Labor Union Membership in the Light of Scripture.” The issue is not labor union
membership in the light of strong pressures to join unions in Chicago or some other big
city; labor union membership in the light of the well-nigh universal tolerance of labor
union membership by the churches, particularly the Reformed churches; or even, labor union
membership in light of the fact that refusing to join a labor union may mean the loss of a
good job, indeed any job at all, and therefore starvation and death. What does Scripture teach? Scripture, we Reformed
Christians confess, is our only rule for faith and life.
Life includes work. The decisive
question for the Christian workingman in Chicago or Edmonton at the beginning of the
twenty-first century AD, as it was the decisive question in Ephesus, or Colosse, or the
regions in the Middle East where the scattered saints lived to whom James wrote in the
first century AD, is, “What does God say?” The question is, “What
pleases God in the realm of labor?” Pleasing
God is far more precious to the Christian workingman than job, job-security, good wages,
comfortable working conditions, and big pensions. Pleasing
God is far more precious to the faithful church than the approval of men. If Scripture is our basis in the
matter of union membership, the issue is clear and conclusive. Scripture condemns labor union membership as
revolution against the authority of the sovereign God.
Scripture forbids the disciple of Christ to join a union and requires him to
renounce membership, if he is presently a member. These editorials will
demonstrate, first, that Scripture addresses the issue of membership in the union and,
second, that Scripture forbids membership, especially because labor union membership is
revolution against God-ordained authority. The
Stand of the The condemnation of membership
in labor unions is not a personal stand of the editor on the basis of his private
interpretation of Scripture. Rather, it is
the official stand of a Reformed denomination of churches, the Protestant Reformed
Churches in America. The Protestant Reformed
Churches have condemned labor union membership throughout their history, from the very
beginning of their existence in the 1920s to the present day. Already in 1927, a mere year or
two after the formation of the denomination, the classis (there was no synod as yet) took
a decision condemning labor union membership. Classis
declared that “a member of the Protestant Reformed Churches cannot be a member of the
labor union.” The decision of the
classis was in response to an overture from the consistory of the South Holland, Illinois
church. South Holland gave the following
grounds for its overture that classis condemn membership in labor unions: 1.
Being a member of a worldly union is definitely inconsistent with membership in the
body of Christ. a. There is no communion
between Christ and Belial. We cannot serve
God and mammon. Children of God may not sit
in the seat of mockers. b. It is abundantly
proven that the use of force is the chief and most desired means used to attain their
goal. c. The unions undermine the God-given
authority of the employer. 2.
The consistory regards this as a proper time to take a definite stand against
unionism before this evil takes root in our churches. 3.
The affiliation with a worldly union can only be condoned on the basis of the error
of common grace. With all might and main we
must show with our deeds that we are willing to fight for our King against Satan and the
evil world (citation of the minutes of Classis, June 1927 by Cornelius Hanko, “The
Antithesis and Unionism,” the Standard Bearer, vol. 62, no. 5, Dec. 1, 1985,
pp. 115-117). South Holland has the credit for
the stand against labor union membership by the Protestant Reformed Churches. This is significant. The significance is that opposition to the unions
by the Protestant Reformed Churches was born in that church which was located where
unionism was the strongest and where the members could expect to suffer the most from the
right stand on unionism. This was the very opposite of
developments in other Reformed denominations. In
other denominations, it was the Chicago churches that pressured the denominations to cave
in to unionism. In late 1940 or early 1941, the
consistory of First Protestant Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan, mother church of
the Protestant Reformed denomination, issued a “Testimony” concerning union
membership to its large, five hundred-family congregation.
The “Testimony” observed that “it is still the position of the
Protestant Reformed Churches that membership of … a union is incompatible with
membership in the Church of Jesus Christ.” The
consistory of First Church informed the congregation that this position was the conviction
of the consistory. The consistory gave four reasons
for its conviction that labor union membership is incompatible with membership in the
church. First, membership in a union (as in a
corporation or association) necessarily involves responsibility for the principles and
acts of the union. Second, the pledge or oath
taken upon joining binds the member to abide by all the acts of the union. Third, the union stands for the principle of force
and coercion, as is evident “especially from its constant attempt everywhere to
introduce the closed shop.” Fourth, the
union is pledged to violence if it cannot gain its objectives in a peaceful way. Illustrating this violence, the
“Testimony” devoted several pages to a vivid description of the violence of
strikes in Detroit in 1936 and 1937. The
violence of one of these strikes ruined a Fisher Body auto plant and injured many people
(the “Testimony” was distributed in the form of a brochure; it was published in
full as an editorial under the title, “Our Churches and the Unions,” the Standard
Bearer, vol. 17, no. 9, Feb. 1, 1941, pp. 196-198). Petitions
and Discipline Such has been the intensity of
the opposition on the part of the Protestant Reformed Churches to labor union membership
that at least twice the synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches has officially sent a
letter to the President of the United States concerning this matter. Protestant Reformed synods are very chary of
addressing the civil government. The first address was in May
1941 to President Roosevelt, known as an ardent supporter of the unions. The synodical letter petitioned President
Roosevelt “to cease condoning and supporting the closed shop” and thus “to
protect us and so rule,” as he was “duty bound” to do, so that our men have
“an opportunity to earn a livelihood.” The
letter stated that “unionism [is a] great evil in the sight of God.” The grounds for this condemnation of unions were
the following: We
refuse to become members of the Union because we condemn the principles of utter
materialism of the Union; because the Union demands in the required oath or pledge loyalty
to itself even though this loyalty to the Union would bring us into conflict with the
interests of the Church of Jesus Christ our Lord; and because the Union seeks to gain its
ends by force, strikes and boycotts, all of which militates against the Word of God which
we hold dear and which is the first and last criterion for our conduct on earth
(“Acts of the Synod 1941 of the Protestant Reformed Churches,” pp. 75-77; synod
adopted the letter and decided to send it to the president in Art. 83; in the following
article, synod decided to send a copy “to every member of Congress and to every
member of the President’s Cabinet”). A second official address of the
president by synod was in June 1946. On this
occasion, synod sent a letter to President Truman, another strong supporter of the unions. Synod appealed to the “Head of the
government” to protect Protestant Reformed workingmen “in the exercise of our
liberties” under the Constitution. The
synodical letter expressed the reasons for the Protestant Reformed conscientious objection
to the labor unions. We,
the Protestant Reformed Churches, are opposed to membership in the existing unions: because we believe that the principles of the
class-struggle, dividing society into the two opposing camps of capital and labor, are
contrary to Holy Writ and to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; because we cannot agree
with the materialistic motives and purposes that so manifestly actuate the unions, but
believe that we should first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness; because we
believe that unionism in often defying authority and taking the law in its own hands, is
in conflict with the Word of God which enjoins us to honor those that are in authority
over us; because the union seeks its own end through the employment of force and coercion,
which militates against the principles and spirit of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,
in short, because we refuse to affiliate ourselves with any organization whose principles
and practices are so plainly in conflict with the teaching of Holy Writ (“Acts of
Synod 1946 of the Protestant Reformed Churches,” pp. 28, 29; in the decision of
Article 20, synod had the letter sent “not only to the President but also to all
members of both houses of Congress, the President’s Cabinet and to the members of the
Supreme Court”). In keeping with this official
stand by the denomination, Protestant Reformed consistories have repeatedly disciplined
men for joining a labor union. One example
was South Holland’s decision in 1969 to erase a baptized member on the ground of his
impenitent membership in a labor union. “Erasure”
is the form that Christian discipline takes in the case of a member by baptism who has not
confessed his faith. South Holland asked for
the advice of Classis West regarding this discipline.
South Holland described the man and his sin this way: “[a member] who persistently refuses to heed
the admonitions of the Word of God to terminate his membership in a godless Union.” Classis West approved the discipline “on the
ground of his continued refusal to repent of the sin of having membership in an
anti-christian labor union” (minutes of Classis West of the Protestant Reformed
Churches, March 1970). From the very beginning of their
existence, the Protestant Reformed Churches have condemned labor union membership. They have done so on biblical
grounds. They have bowed to the Word of
God. (to
be continued) — DJE Letters
Responding to the Series of Editorials,
I was reading your series [on the unconditional covenant] in the Standard
Bearer. It has been truly surprising to me how quickly the
rejection of the gospel of grace has spread in my Presbyterian circles. I now understand that this has been a debate in
Dutch circles for the past century. The work
that you and your Protestant Reformed colleagues have conducted in that time, I hope will
be useful to counter the various assaults presently underway against the gospel of grace. Patrick
Poole Scottsdale,
AZ
I am
writing to say “Amen” to (and to thank you for) your continuing work on the
conditional covenant heresy. You have helped
me much, especially in seeing how Romans
9:6ff. teaches that the promise to Abraham’s seed was not to, or intended for,
all the seed (something classic Reformed theology always taught). I especially appreciate how you relate Romans
9:6ff. to the children of believers. All
the children of believers are not necessarily elect.
The issue is God’s election of grace, His sovereign decree. To me, Reformed teaching on baptism too often did
not make clear what you make clear: the elect
and the elect alone are saved, as with Isaac and Jacob, in contrast to Ishmael and Esau. You talk about how so much of
the church is going apostate on justification by faith alone, and you connect this to the
fact that they believe in a conditional covenant, rather than an unconditional covenant of
promise. Amen.
But if grace alone and faith alone are to be consistently understood and taught, we
must continually hearken back to the apostolic gospel.
Because of your openness to and love of Luther, you may be open to reading the
following section of a book by my favorite Lutheran scholar, Gerhard Forde. The section is on the Christian life. It bases the Christian life on justification. The section is pages 395-469 of volume 2 of Christian
Dogmatics (ed. Braaten and Jenson). Rick
Roessing Holland,
MI We too have appreciated the work
of Gerhard O. Forde. See the very favorable
and lengthy comment on his book, On Being a Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on Luther’s Heidelberg
Disputation, 1518 (Eerdmans, 1997) in the editorial, “Where are the Theologians
of the Cross?” in the Standard Bearer 74, no. 13 (April 1, 1998): 292-295. —
Ed.
I have
been reading your articles on the conditional covenant. Thank you for that outstanding piece of work. Charlie
Dykes Clinton,
MS
I express
my gratitude for the series of articles on the vital issue of the unconditional covenant. These perversions within professing
“Reformed” circles are alarming indeed. When
men teach that “the righteousness of the guilty sinner, the righteousness of his
justification, the righteousness of his standing
before God in judgment, is and must be in part his own good works” (SB,
Feb. 1, 2003, p. 197), one immediately sees how this teaching is supported by the false
reading in modern Bible versions at Revelation
19:8, “the marriage of the lamb,” where the completed number of the elect
appear before God in heaven as Christ’s bride. Modern
versions all add a word for “works” or “deeds” or “acts”
thus: “for the fine linen is the
righteous deeds of the saints” (ESV) and “for the fine linen is the
righteous acts of the saints” (NKJV). All
modern versions agree in stating here that when the saints appear before God they are
dressed in the linen of their own works righteousness (which Scripture dismisses as
filthy rags! [ Isaiah 64:6
]). It is easy to see how this perverse
addition to Scripture lends support as a “proof text” to the idea which is being
peddled today. Of course, the concept of
works, or acts, or deeds, in Revelation
19:8 has no Greek manuscript support (not even B or Aleph) whatsoever. It is a deliberate doctrinal addition. In Revelation
19:8, the “righteousnesses of the saints” are, for each and every saint,
nothing but the imputed righteousness of Christ, the only righteousness that we can
have before God. The essential doctrine of
the imputed righteousness of Christ is thus written out at a stroke from the modern
versions. The door is opened for the
“faith as a work and meritorious works of faith” teaching. The saints are told that they can appear before
the all holy God in the rages they earned for themselves on earth. How wicked! I am glad I know I shall appear in Christ’s robe placed over
me by grace unmerited alone. I should be
terrified to think of appearing in the nakedness of anything I have done. One sees again how all aspects of our faith are
interwoven, and defense of accurate texts and translation is defense of our doctrinal
truths. All stand or fall together. Thanks again to the Protestant Reformed Churches
for their insights and faithfulness to our covenant God. Stephen
Westcott Bristol,
England
My wife
and I have benefited greatly from, and been greatly
edified by, your series on the unconditional covenant.
The heresy of which you speak is alive and well in Reformed circles today. I have lost a good friend over this issue. Some months ago, I was asked to read a tract that
a friend was writing regarding salvation. In
reading it, I noted that parts of it read as an Arminian tract, emphasizing that one had
to “do” something to be saved. My
pointing this out was not appreciated. It was
not until I read your articles that I realized what the problem was: he was teaching a conditional salvation. But I am getting questions that
approach the issue of the relation of faith and the covenant from the standpoint of faith. The argument goes as follows: One is commanded to believe. Therefore, faith must
be something one himself does. If faith is
something that one does himself, faith is a work. I have examined the confessions,
both the Belgic and the Westminster, and it seems that they teach that faith is something
one does. Article 22 of the Belgic Confession
says that faith “embraces” and “appropriates” Christ. These words are being used to prove that man has
to “do” something to be saved. Do
these words show that man does something in salvation?
Or does the present understanding of these terms reflect the product of the
creeping in of Arminian influences upon present-day Reformed thought? Is there some other way of understanding the words
“embrace” and “appropriate”? Lee
Carl Finley East
Sparta, OH You have found the heart of the
issue in the present controversy over the false doctrine of justification by faith and by
the works of faith—the gravest threat to the gospel of grace in Reformed churches
since Dordt. Because faith is an activity of
the regenerated sinner and because as such it is called for by the gospel, the enemies of
grace make their last ditch stand in defense of self-salvation by turning faith into a
human work and a condition and by suspending salvation upon the sinner’s work of
believing. Fundamentally, this was the
issue at Dordt in 1618/1619. Therefore, the
Canons of Dordt expressly and repeatedly deny that faith is a condition either unto
election or unto salvation (I/9, 10; I, Rejection of Errors/3, 5). The present-day error of making
faith a condition unto the covenant and its blessings is only a variation of the Arminian
heresy condemned at Dordt as another gospel. The
teaching of a conditional covenant, which is not new, imports the Arminian heresy into the
covenant. What is taking place today, and is
new, is the development of the doctrine of a conditional covenant by Reformed and
Presbyterian theologians into the heresy of justification by works—the work of faith
as a condition and the good works that faith performs.
The development is natural and inevitable. If
faith is a condition man must perform in order to become member of the covenant, or remain
member of the covenant, or receive the blessings of the covenant, man is justified by his
own work, namely, faith. And then there can
be no objection to adding other works as man’s righteousness with God, especially the
good works that faith performs. The refutation of the argument
that appeals to faith’s being an activity of the elect, regenerated sinner is briefly
this: Faith is certainly an activity of the
child of God, but it is not a work of the sinner upon which God, the covenant, and
salvation depend. First, faith is the gift of
God (Eph. 2:8).
It is gift as the bequest and benefit of
election (Acts
13:48). It is gift as earned for the
elect by the death of Christ (Canons, II/8). It
is gift as bestowed upon and worked into the elect, redeemed sinner by the Spirit of
Christ both as regards the power to believe and as regards the actual believing (Canons,
III, IV/14). Second, rather than being a
condition unto the covenant and salvation, faith is the means by which God incorporates
the elect sinner into His covenant and gives him Christ and salvation and, in dependence
upon this gracious work of God, the means by which the regenerated sinner consciously and
willingly embraces and appropriates Christ and salvation.
Third, as the activity of the
elect sinner, faith is not on his part the doing of a work alongside or along with the
work of God in Christ, but the utter renunciation of all human work, including believing
as a human work, and a relying on the work of God in Christ alone. It is of the essence of faith to renounce every
work, and all working of the sinner himself, including repenting and believing, as
earning, contributing to, conditioning, or making effectual the saving work of God in
Christ, whether the saving work of God in Christ is viewed as justification, membership in
the covenant, or the blessings of the covenant. Fourth, as regards faith’s
being a work—a mighty deed—it is not the work of the sinner at all, but
exclusively the work of God in the sinner: “This
is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:29). The way to combat the devilishly
clever lie that goes about to strip God of His glory in salvation by making faith a work
of man conditioning the covenant and salvation is not by denying, or even playing down,
that faith is an activity of the sinner—embracing, appropriating, etc.—or by
denying that the gospel commands us to believe. But
the way to combat the error is by maintaining that God gives the elect faith as part of
his promised salvation and as a blessing of the covenant of grace. Also, when God works faith in His own—active
faith—they believe, not as a matter of fulfilling a condition or doing a work upon
which God’s work depends—crassest arrogance and grossest unbelief!— but as
a matter of renouncing all their works and trusting the work of God in Christ alone. Biblical faith does not
challenge and compromise grace, but rather reveals, confirms, and seals grace. Although written against the
Roman Catholic error, before the time of the Arminian controversy and Dordt, Question and
Answer 61 of the Heidelberg Catechism exposes both the Arminian heresy and the present-day
heresy of justification by faith and works on the basis of a conditional covenant. Why
do you say that you are righteous by faith only? Not
that I am acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith, but because only the
satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ is my righteousness before God, and
that I cannot receive and apply the same to myself any other way than by faith only.
A Doxology to Him Who Is Able
Rev. Ronald VanOverloop
Labor Union Membership in the Light of Scripture (1)
Letters:
“The
Unconditional Covenant in Contemporary Debate”
(Standard
Bearer, Jan. 1 - April 1, 2003)
Response:
Response: