November 2016 3 Protestant Reformed Theological Journal the Love of Money, the Love of Honor, the Love of Pleasure, the Love of the Praise of Men
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Editor’s Notes This issue of the Protestant Reformed Theological Journal is the first issue of volume fifty. That, certainly, is a milestone! For fifty years, without interruption, the Lord has made it possible for the Protestant Reformed Seminary to publish two issues per year of its theological journal. Founded in 1966, at a time when the semi- nary was housed in the basement of the First Protestant Reformed Church, located on the corner of Fuller Avenue and Franklin Street, the first issues were a “testing of the waters” to determine whether there was sufficient interest to warrant continued publication. From the enthusiastic reception of those first issues to the present day, the PRTJ continues to occupy a place on the shelves and in the hearts of those who love the heritage of the Reformed faith. After fifty years, PRTJ continues to publish scholarly theological articles that set forth and defend the Reformed faith, as that faith has been delivered to the Protestant Reformed Churches and preserved and developed in her seminary. And after fifty years, we continue to be one of the only theological journals that does not charge its subscribers an annual subscription fee. The costs of publication and mailing are covered by the generous donations of the PRCA and our readership. To you who regularly contribute, we express our thanks. You will find this issue to be similar in content to previous issues. We include a slate of articles, two by members of the faculty of the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, one by a fourth-year sem- inary student, and one by a recent guest speaker. That guest speaker was the Reverend Thomas Reid, librarian and occasional lecturer at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA. This past spring, Mr. Reid gave two outstanding lectures to the faculty and student body of the Protestant Reformed Seminary on the history and struggles of the French Reformed church. We judged the lectures to be worthy of wider distribution and he has kindly consented to prepare them for publication. For a number of reasons, brother Reid has a special interest in the French Reformed church, including the fact that his wife Geneviève traces her roots to the French Reformed. The first of those two lectures, “The Battles of the French Reformed Tradition,” Protestant Reformed Theological Journal is included in this issue of PRTJ. His second lecture focused on one of the important recent theologians of the French Reformed church, Auguste Lecerf. Look for that lecture to be included in the April 2017 issue of PRTJ. Included in this issue is also the translation of the sermon preached by the Reverend Simon Van Velzen on the Lord’s Day following the death of Reverend Hendrik De Cock, the father of the Dutch Reformed reformation movement known as the Afscheiding. The sermon text was Revelation 14:13, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.” The sermon is a sound, moving, exegetical work, full of practical application—exemplary in so many respects. The sermon was translated by the late Marvin Kamps. He was so captivated by the sermon that he translated it and submitted it for publication in our journal, convinced of its value for as wide an au- dience as possible. We agree. To our knowledge, it has never before been translated from the Dutch in which it was originally preached and transcribed. And, of course, included in this issue of PRTJ are a number of book reviews. These are books that will be of value to seminary students, ministers, and professors of theology, not only, but to the informed Reformed believer who desires to stay abreast of the latest publications promoting—at least, hopefully—the Reformed faith and worldview. This is always a worthwhile section of our journal, and I am sure you will find it so in this issue as well. Read and enjoy! Soli Deo Gloria! —RLC 2 Vol. 50, No. 1 Reformation, Common Grace, and Growing Apostasy The Reformation, Common Grace, and the Growing Apostasy of the Church (1) Ronald L. Cammenga This year marks the 499th anniversary of the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, or, rather, God’s great work in the Reforma- tion of the sixteenth century. Next year the church will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Already plans are being made to commemorate this milestone with conferences and special events. The Protestant Reformed Seminary is laying plans for a two-day conference in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, a conference that will call attention to a number of different, enduring contributions of the Reformation. We intend to include in our celebration speakers from abroad, particularly speakers from our sister churches. And then, the following year, there will be another significant anniversary celebra- tion: the 400th anniversary of the Synod of Dordt. The seminary is also laying plans for the commemoration of the convening of the “Great Synod.” Stay tuned for the announcement of further details relating to that conference. But our present concern is the commemoration of the Reforma- tion. What was the Reformation? How best can we characterize the Reformation? In simplest terms, the Reformation was the revival and renewal of Christ’s church that took place in the early part of the sixteenth century. The one great church of that day was the Ro- man Catholic Church. That church, in process of time, had become thoroughly corrupt and apostate. Errors of doctrine and of life char- acterized both clergy and laity. From top to bottom the church was shot through with immorality and unbelief. The people were worldly and superstitious, carnal and ignorant. Among the clergy there was November 2016 3 Protestant Reformed Theological Journal the love of money, the love of honor, the love of pleasure, the love of the praise of men. There was widespread drunkenness and adultery, simony and greed. They were pleasure-mad and power-hungry. Al- though the clergy took vows of celibacy, many lived openly in sexual relations outside of marriage, often fathering a number of children. Although they assumed vows of poverty, many lived luxurious and extravagant lives. And false doctrine abounded! The church taught and the people believed the errors of works righteousness, free will, the papacy, purgatory, the invocation of the saints—especially the virgin Mary, purgatory, indulgences, the authority of tradition above the Word of God, and many other false doctrines. Martin Luther, in his last letter to Pope Leo X, in the preface of his treatise on “The Freedom of a Christian,” wrote: “[T]he Roman church, once the holiest of all, has become the most licentious den of thieves [Matt. 21:13], the most shameless of all brothels, the kingdom of sin, death, and hell. It is so bad that even Antichrist himself, if he should come, could think of nothing to add to its wickedness.”1 In a work entitled “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church,” Luther lamented: [H]ow wretchedly and desperately all the activities of the church have been confused, hindered, ensnared and subjected to danger through the pestilent, ignorant, and wicked ordinances of men, so that there is no hope of betterment unless we abolish at one stroke all the laws of men, and having restored the gospel of liberty we follow it in judging and regulating all things.2 Indeed, this is what happened in the Reformation. Through the Refor- mation, “the pestilent, ignorant, and wicked ordinances of men” were abolished. And through the Reformation, God “restored the gospel of liberty” to the church. 1 Martin Luther, “The Freedom of a Christian,” in Luther’s Works, The Career of the Reformer: I, vol. 31, ed. Harold J. Grimm, gen. ed. Helmut T. Lehmann (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1957), 336. 2 Martin Luther, “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church,” in Luther’s Works, Word and Sacrament: II, vol. 36, ed. Abdel Ross Wentz, gen ed. Helmut T. Lehmann (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1959), 102-3. 4 Vol. 50, No. 1 Reformation, Common Grace, and Growing Apostasy Commemoration of the Reformation, however, must not only take the form of praise and thanksgiving to God for what He has given His church in the Reformation. It must also take the form of warning and admonition against those who would once again ensnare the church in error. There are real and menacing dangers that threaten to undo so much of what the Reformation accomplished. Very really the push is on to return the church to the darkness and ignorance of Rome. In this article, I address myself to one of these errors—an error that is so far-reaching that it affects nearly every aspect of the gospel that the Reformation recovered. The Reformation restored to the church the great truths of Scripture; this danger threatens compromise and denial of those great truths. The Reformation restored to the church the Bible; this danger threatens to take the Bible once again out of the hands of the people of God. The Reformation restored to the church holiness of life; this danger threatens the church with unholiness. The Reformation restored to the church the gospel of grace, the sovereign, particular, efficacious grace of God; this danger threatens the church with the denial of the gospel of grace, making the grace of God uni- versal, resistible, and ineffectual. The Reformation restored to the church the pure worship of God; this danger threatens to corrupt the pure worship of God with the leaven of freewill and will-worship.