On this website, some articles have already been published on the place and function of confessions in the church. The following two installments discuss the binding and interpretation of the confessions. These articles are taken over with permission from the magazine “Shield and Sword”.(I) In Reformed churches, the confessions (the Creeds and […]
Categorie: Articles in English
Our Binding to the Confession
The members of reformed churches are bound to the confession of the church. A well-known theologian (systematic theologian or dogmatician) who fully bound himself to the reformed confession was prof. K. Schilder (1890-1952). A characterization of his dogmatic work has been provided shortly after his death, by Rev. J. Kamphuis, titled “Critische Sympathie (over den […]
The Westminster Standards on the Assurance of Faith (5, final)
In this fifth and final installment we will discuss the Scriptural, Reformed teaching on the assurance of faith as taught in the Canons of Dort (hereafter: CoD). In our previous installment we saw that the HC teaches that true faith is “(…) a firm confidence that not only to others, but also to me, God […]
The Westminster Standards on the Assurance of Faith (4)
In this fourth installment we will discuss the Scriptural, Reformed teaching on the assurance of faith as taught in the Heidelberg Catechism (hereafter: HC). This teaching comes especially to the foreground in Lord’s Day 7 (“What is true faith?”), Lord’s Day 1 (“What is your only comfort in life and death?”) and Lord’s Day 32 […]
The Westminster Standards on the Assurance of Faith (3)
In our previous installment we saw that Presbyterian theologian A.A. Hodge openly admitted that the Westminster Standards depart from the teaching of Calvin and the Heidelberg Catechism. Some modern theologians, however, try to lessen (or deny) a gap between the early Reformers and later ‘Reformed orthodoxy’ (e.g. the Puritans).[1] In this third installment, we will […]
