This rich exposition of I Corinthians 10-16 covers the significance of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (chs. 10-11), the controversial topic of spiritual gifts in the body (chs. 12, 14), the beautiful paean to love (ch. 13), the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ and His church (ch. 15) and the collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem (ch. 16).

Here are some chapter titles to whet your spiritual appetite: “Baptism in the Red Sea” (10:1-5), “Divisions in the Church” (11:17-19), “A Diversity of Gifts” (12:4-11), “Love’s Practice” (13:4-7), “Speaking With the Understanding” (14:13-19), “Women Keep Silence in the Churches” (14:34-35), “The Adams, First and Last” (15:45-50) and “Anathema” (16:22).

“I have read the first two chapters of Walking in the Way of Love, vol. 2. Such wonderful and important teaching on Old Testament history as being types!” – Yorkshire, England

“I must say how much I am enjoying Langerak’s commentary. I’ve never read a commentary on Corinthians quite like it. It must be unique among such commentaries, very insightful, very inspiring! Beautiful but unusual prose, almost poetic—if that’s not a contradiction in terms!” – England

Book Review

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, pastor of Faith Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan]

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.

Living up to its title as a practical commentary the book provides much doctrinal instruction. This is necessary because sound doctrine is the basis for the practice of believing and doing. Rev. Langerak’s teaching is sound because he derives his teaching from the scriptures. The doctrine that he teaches is truly apostolic, a holding fast to and a passing down of the apostles’ doctrine as recorded in the New Testament and confessed by the true church of Jesus Christ in every age. To read this book then is to sit at the feet of the apostles. What do the apostles say about the relationship between the Old and New Testament? What do the apostles say about spiritual gifts? What do the apostles say about the unity of the church? What do the apostles have to say about the instituted church? What about love, the resurrection of the body, and various elements of public worship (such as who should speak in the worship service, and whether offerings should be taken)? These are just some of the biblical truths that Rev. Langerak carefully sets forth from the text of scripture.

What false doctrines did the apostle Paul refute in this epistle, and how does his handling of them apply to the church’s life today? Rev. Langerak does not force his polemics, and therefore does not bring up errors merely because he has an ax to grind. He brings up the errors where they are appropriate because the particular passage he is explaining condemns the error, even if the error may be relatively new. Rev. Langerak shows that it is not he, but the Holy Spirit and the apostle Paul, who condemn dispensationalism, postmillennialism, conditionalism in the covenant, common grace, evolutionism, and a variety of other false doctrines.

But to be a successful practical commentary on walking in the way of love, Rev. Langerak must provide helpful applications to the church’s faith and life. The book is a resounding success. There are many rich applications in this book to family life, school life, work life, and to church life. You may be surprised to find that Rev. Langerak teaches that true love (which is not the false love touted by Rob Bell) really does win. He applies this beautifully to marriage, not only calling husbands and wives to stay married (as if that exhausts the Christian’s calling in marriage), but to live in love for each other (see especially chapter 18).  Stirring is Rev. Langerak’s call to the believer to recognize the beauty of love, personifying love as the most beautiful of women, so that the believer will live in that love. Chapter 31 is basically a profound explanation of the so-called Reformed world-and-life.

Probably the most moving applications in the book are the words of comfort that Rev. Langerak speaks to the believer’s heart. Rev. Langerak believes in salvation by God’s sovereign grace alone. This truth is precious to him, and it is evident that he is committed to preaching this truth to the congregation of Crete PR Church (these chapters are based on a series of sermons that Rev. Langerak preached to the congregation). He clearly understands that without this truth he would have no truth and no comfort to bring to God’s people in his preaching or writing. But because of his conviction of the certainty of salvation by sovereign grace (any other kind of salvation is necessarily uncertain) Rev. Langerak is able drive to home the assurance of salvation in variety of powerful ways. I quote one brief section (my favorite) as an example of Rev. Langerak’s skill in this regard. Before I give the quotation I note that it is from a chapter entitled “Nike.” I note this as an example of how fresh and attention-grabbing (in a good sense) Rev. Langerak is in his exposition of scripture. Imagine how eager the young people of the congregation must have been to hear an explanation of why the sermon title is the brand name of a well-known shoe company! But now the comforting quotation:

The chapter title is the Greek word for victory: nike. It is pronounced nee-kay. Nike means victory, and victory is winning.

Love wins. That is what love does. That is what the Bible says about love in the Song of Songs, the greatest song ever written, the song on love. “Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it” (Song 8:6). This is the Old Testament parallel to the apostle’s teaching in his ode to love in 1 Corinthians 13, where he says in verse 13 that love abides. Love abides through the fall, through all of history, through the cross, through all sins, through death and the grave, through the end of the world, and through all the endless years of eternity (emphasis added). God will never tire of his people in eternity. Love abides.

Abiding, love wins. Nike.

Non-Protestant Reformed readers may find some subjects Rev. Langerak references to be unfamiliar. They will almost certainly find sections that challenge their beliefs. Perhaps they will find Rev. Langerak’s tone off-putting in some instances. But the challenge for them will be to examine whether Rev. Langerak has accurately explained what the Spirit says to the churches. And if he has, regardless of tone, they must subject themselves and their beliefs to the word of God.

Protestant Reformed readers may also find that they do not agree with or even appreciate everything Rev. Langerak has to say. He does not shy from making sharp (some might say controversial) applications. He speaks with the conviction that he is expounding the truth of scripture and not bringing merely his own opinion. In some instances the reader may disagree. For example, I anticipate that some will challenge some of the things that he has to say about NAPARC. But let such a reader yet be thankful for this commentary for its stimulating instruction in doctrine and life and that overall the teachings of this book are in harmony with the “faith once delivered to the saints.” And let the focus not be on a few areas of disagreement but on the overall message to believe with all of one’s heart in Jesus Christ and so “walk in the way of love.” 

Simon van Velzen was a Reformer of the church of Christ in the Netherlands in the Secession of 1834, a seminary professor who influenced hundreds of future Reformed ministers, a powerful preacher of the gospel, and a faithful husband and devoted father.

In his own day, he was held in high regard by such notable figures as Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck, and was respected as a spiritual father and John Calvin-like figure by Reformed believers both in the Netherlands and America.

Sadly, many Reformed Christians in the twenty-first century have little, if any, idea as to who he is. Where he is remembered, he is often branded as being “unyielding, obstinate, and domineering,” and he is dismissed as having little significance in the history of the church.

Here is the biography that corrects the ignorance and misconceptions by setting forth the fascinating life of an influential figure in the history of Christ’s church.

____________

Joshua Engelsma is a minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches of America. He has served as pastor of Doon Protestant Reformed Church from 2014-2021 and is now pastor in Crete Protestant Reformed Church. He is also the author of Dating Differently: A Guide to Reformed Dating.

Review by Rev. Jerome Julien, The Outlook July/August 2021

“Thoroughly rewarding read! Having lived for many years in the Netherlands, and having been converted to Christ there, and later a member of the Restored Reformed Church (Hersteld Hervormde Kerk), I knew something of the Afscheiding and the Doleantie, and also the later Vrijmaking under Rev. Schilder, but had never heard of Rev. S. van Velzen. How I enjoyed reading of a man, that by God’s grace, had studied to show himself approved, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. His zeal for God’s truth, in the face of many types of compromise, is exemplary. The brutal truth is laid bare for all to see, that the Redeemed of the Lord, are redeemed sinners, and therefore still sin, even against their fellow-Christian and fellow-ministers (Psalm 55:12–13)—a truth that is both encouraging and discouraging at the same time. What a great start the churches of the Afscheiding had, and yet, looking at what, in general, they later became after the union of the Dolerende congregations and the Afgescheidenen, as they became progressively more liberal, to the extent that they would have disfellowshipped even Kuiper and van Velzen, if they had been around today. And yet, here is the great encouragement, Christ is still building His Church through His Church, in spite of His Church! May the Lord grant us His grace to know which battles to fight, and then to fight well. Thank you to Rev. Joshua Engelsma for a fascinating and well-written book.” – Paul B.

“Easy-to-read, many interesting details from the life of Simon van Velzen. I found the book to be full of fascinating details regarding the life of Simon van Velzen and the period of the Afscheiding in the Netherlands. As a Reformed Christian in the USA with spiritual roots in the Netherlands, I appreciated gaining a much better understanding of the events and history during this time period. At just over 200 pages, this book should be quite accessible to the average reader.” – Jason E.

Although baptism is the main thought of all the author writes, this is also a book about the elect people of God, the Christian church in all ages. It is also about their children—hence, We and Our Children. In Reformed, Presbyterian and Paedobaptist circles, the two are—or should be—inseparably connected. In Baptistic circles, no such connection exists. The author shows that the connection is provided by the doctrine of God’s gracious covenant, a truth which counters any idea of a division between the Old and the New Testaments, and which runs like a golden thread through all the pages of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

To state it slightly differently, “we” (the elect people of God) and “our children” are and should be inseparably bonded because they both belong to the covenant of grace. Many Baptists deny this beautiful truth when they refuse to baptize their children. Using Scripture as his infallible guide, Prof. Hanko develops the truth of God’s covenant as it relates to the baptism of the infants of believers.

“Read this book carefully, read it thoughtfully, read it prayerfully, and you will find it a mine of information, a river of pleasure, and a source of immense spiritual comfort.” — Mr. Tony Horne, deputation speaker for the Trinitarian Bible Society in Scotland

“I read We and Our Children this week—an antidote to the lack of a consistent doctrine of infant baptism that, I think, abounds in Presbyterian circles in Ireland.” – Co. Antrim

This book was reviewed by Prof. Dykstra in the Protestant Reformed Journal.  Click here to read this review.

To read chapters of this book in Portuguese, “The Reformed Baptist Argument Concerning the Lord’s Supper,”  “Two Dispensations” and “Male Circumcision” click here.

To read chapters of this book in Italian, click here.

To watch the video of the author interview concerning this book, click here.

Third Edition

This Lenten anthology is a collection of six books, originally radio messages delivered during Lent, which explore the various aspects of Christ’s suffering and death. Each of the six sections—The Amazing Cross, The Royal Sufferer, The Power of the Cross, Rejected of Men, Jesus in the Midst, and Man of Sorrows—is devoted to a specific aspect of the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through these inspirational messages, readers will be brought to a deeper knowledge of their own worthlessness and of the absolute necessity of Christ’s cross for their salvation. May every reader, as did the author, welcome the opportunity which the season of Lent affords to “survey the wondrous cross” and to seek refuge in the shadow of that cross.

“[This book is] among the very best that I have read on the general subject of our Lord’s suffering. [It has] the following commendable characteristics: 1. [It is] deeply devotional and practical. 2. [It] stress[es] the divine, not the human aspect; that is, we are made to see Jesus as our Lord who voluntarily laid down His life, and not as a mere martyr, however virtuous or courageous. 3. [It is] expository; that is, [it] seeks to delve into the meaning of the text. This is lacking in almost all Lenten volumes. 4. The style is very clear and very simple. The thought is generally rich and original. All in all, a fine piece of work! All of this does not mean that we endorse every statement in [this book]. The book, nevertheless, [is one] of the finest Lenten volumes we have seen. We have read [it] with delight.” – Wm. Hendriksen (The Banner)

Joel R. Beeke: “The best one-volume twentieth-century work [on Christ’s sufferings] is Herman Hoeksema, When I Survey …  A single, basic theme underlies each of six sections that were originally published as books of radio messages (1943-56)” (in Joel R. Beeke and Sinclair B. Ferguson [eds.], Reformed Confessions Harmonized [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1999], p. 259).

“I have got Herman Hoeksema’s book When I Survey the wondrous cross, that is pure wonder to me.” – Lancashire, England

“Thank you for the book When I Survey. I cannot but be totally amazed at what I am reading, and above all seeing, in this book … Since starting to read this book, my spiritual warfare has become far more intense, which I take to be a good effect. Praise the Lord.” – England

Click here to read chapters of this book in Portuguese.

How many Christians can confidently say that they have “mastered” the art of prayer?

Probably no one.

What is blessedly refreshing about Professor Hanko’s work, When You Pray, is his admission that none of us is good at prayer—including himself—yet over the years of one’s life, the author assures us, a person can make progress in praying.

Professor Hanko shares with his readers homely yet highly meaningful lessons he learned from growing up in a covenant family and covenantal church community. He also tells the specific benefits of praying to the sovereign God of the universe, who knows our sins and weaknesses but love us still. Valuable is the professor’s clear explanation of how God can be likened to the father of an earthly family, loving and caring for his own dear children.

An eye-opening and very helpful part of his book is the author’s pinpointing of misconceptions people have about God and prayer that bar them from praying in a God-honouring way.

Prayer that does not clash with Scripture is of prime importance for the author, whose sensitivity to scriptural truths has been honed in more than thirty years of study and teaching as professor of New Testament and church history in the Theological School of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. Professor Hanko is a down-to-earth writer, one who very much feels with his readers the struggle that it sometimes is to take the time to engage in heartfelt, sincere prayer. His apt illustrations from everyday life make the underlying theology of prayer vividly understandable.

If you have found your devotional life to be frequently barren, reading what the author has learned the hard way—over fifty years in the ministry—will not discourage you further, but will give you a renewed desire to fellowship with your Father in prayer.

“This book helped me more than anything else I have heard or read on prayer.” – S. Wales

“I have a copy. Recommended reading.” – Philippines

“I’ve been benefitting from reading Prof. Hanko’s book on prayer at the minute [i.e., during the days of restrictions due to COVID-19].” – Co. Antrim

“Thank you so much for continuing to send me your C. R. News and the other supporting leaflets … I have just received my copy of When You Pray by Prof. Hanko—being a member of the Book Club—and have only just peered inside for a foretaste! The standard of the book’s format and binding is excellent (I do much prefer ‘hard cover’ productions!) and I am sure that its contents will be even greater. Please arrange to forward me a set of the tapes ‘Covenant with Adam’…” – South Wales

Click here to read a review of this book published in the Beacon Lights.

To watch the video of the author interview concerning this book, click here.

When a book stays in print for more than fifty years and is still in demand, it begins to fall into the category of a “classic.” This book can also be read on-line.

How does the Calvinist preach a particular Christ for the “whomsoever will”?  In a series of messages originally broadcast on the Reformed Witness Hour, Herman Hoeksema examines that question.

Does God turn away sincere seekers after Him? Never! says Hoeksema: “Never will a man appear in the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will be able to say that he longed and desired and willed and sought earnestly to come, but was refused” (p. 6).

“Whosoever will may come”, yet only those who are hungry for the Bread of Life will eat, since man’s condition is such that “he is not merely incapable of longing for the Bread of Life; it is nauseating to him, and he turns from it in disgust” (p. 42).  Only those who are burdened by sin long for the Rest that Christ gives; only those who are thirsty for the Living Waters will come to Christ to drink; only those who are raised from spiritual death will believe; only those who are enlightened by the Holy Ghost will come to the Light of the World, for “every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light” (John 3:20). One sinner does not make himself to differ from another sinner. The truth of the Gospel is that God is gracious to one, while passing by another. Salvation is particular! Salvation does not depend on man!

Hoeksema is not interested in getting superficial “decisions for Christ.”  Christ must be proclaimed, explained, expounded and preached. The people must know Who Christ is, what He has done, and what it means to come to Him, otherwise “instead of the new birth, the emotions are aroused; a sentimental tear of self-pity is mistaken for true repentance; and a temporary elation of the soul is erroneously called joy in Christ” (p. 74).  For this reason Hoeksema writes several chapters explaining just who Christ is, why He came, what He did and what He demands of His followers.  No easy-believism here!

Salvation does not depend on man.  It cannot. “If it depends on the will of that man whether or not he will come to the fountains of living water and drink, he will never come. Nor will a veritable army of begging and hawking preachers persuade him to come” (p. 34), exclaims Hoeksema.

What of the man who will not come?: “If you do not thirst for the living Christ, it is only because you are blind and dead and naked and miserable; an enemy of God, hating righteousness though boasting of your goodness, loving the darkness rather than the light, and glorying in your shame” (p. 34).

But what of him who comes? “Boast not against the Christ of God as if you had the power to decide to come to Him whenever you please. Christ is the Lord. No one can come to Him unless the Father draw him!” (p. 34).

This is the antidote to the superficial and spiritually-deadly decisionism which plagues the churches in our day.

“This is an excellent book, and so much needed in this day of dishwater doctrine. It displays God on the throne, not man” (Christian Literature World).

“Whosoever Will is unbelievably brilliant! Wish I had read it much much earlier.” – London

“Thank you for sending Herman Hoeksema’s book Whosoever Will. Any writing that supports the glorious, priceless doctrine of election is always a delight to me!” – England

Click here to read a review of this book by one of our readers!

Click here to read this book in Spanish.
Click here to read chapter 8 of this book in Portuguese.
Click here to read chapter 8 of this book in German.
Click here to read chapter 10 of this book in German.

Is it important that we witness? How are we to do it? What are we to say? What is our motivation and goal? Does the Bible have much to say about this subject? This new book, consisting of the speeches at the 2012 British Reformed Fellowship (BRF) Conference, gives scriptural answers on our vital calling as God’s witnesses.

—————————

“We desire that the one to whom we witness comes to share our hope. Our desire is not to win the argument, but to win the person. Our desire, if God will grant it, is not even simply to establish the truth, victoriously, beyond contradiction, shutting the opponent’s mouth, but to establish the truth in the soul of the one to whom we witness, so that also his mouth is opened to confess the truth with us …

In our witness, whether to an unbeliever or to an erring or weak brother, our purpose must be to gain and save him, if God wills. This will control the manner of our witness. This love for him will manifest itself in how we speak to him.

Such witness—truth in content, meekness and love in manner—God may use to gather and save His own to His glory.

What a motivation to witness!

What a motivation to witness properly!”

(David J. Engelsma, Ye Are My Witnesses, pp. 89, 90)

“I have enjoyed reading Ye Are My Witnesses, which I purchased recently. It is a great antidote to the Arminian idea of witnessing and I found the last chapter on mission work very helpful” – Middlesex, England

“Thank you for Ye Are My Witnesses which I received on Saturday. I am digging into it with ever growing appreciation …” –South Africa

CONTENTS

Foreword

Part 1
Chapter 1: The Divine Calling to Witness
Chapter 2: The Content of Our Witness
Chapter 3: The Official Witness of the Church
Chapter 4: Personal Witnessing by the Word
Chapter 5: The Personal Witness of a Godly Life
Chapter 6: The Manner of Christian Witnessing

Part 2
Chapter 7: By the Spirit of the Lord
Chapter 8: The Martyr-Church’s Witness to the Ascended Lord

Part 3
Chapter 9: Mission Work: Message and Methods

Appendix
About the British Reformed Fellowship 128

FOREWORD

The Bible is a book of witness. It is God’s written testimony to the world and it records the witness of His people to His glory, from the corporate witness of the worshipping church (Gen. 4:26) and the (largely rejected) preaching of Enoch (Jude 14-15) and Noah (II Pet. 2:5) before the flood, all the way to the book of Revelation penned by the Apostle John, who was exiled to Patmos “for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:9).

This witness is rich and varied, coming from God’s people of various backgrounds and ages, with both life and lip, to both believers and unbelievers, and highlighting different aspects of the character and salvation of the God of the covenant.

What a witness of faithfulness and contentment was Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers, slandered by his master’s adulterous wife and imprisoned for a crime he did not commit (Gen. 37; 39-41)! Moses and Aaron testified courageously to hard-hearted Pharaoh and his court (Ex. 5-12). The faith and works of the harlot Rahab in Jericho are a great witness (Josh. 2; Heb. 11:31; James 2:25-26).

Who can forget Ruth the Moabitess’ moving plea to her mother-in-law, Naomi?

Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God (Ruth 1:16).

Listen to the Israelites at the temple with their baskets of firstfruits, confessing with joy and gratitude that Jehovah redeemed them and gave them the promised land (Deut. 26:1-11). Remember the little Jewish girl’s word to Naaman the Syrian’s wife of God’s power to heal through His prophet Elisha (II Kings 5:3-4). The four young men from Judah were a fine witness to Nebuchad­nezzar and his pagan court by their faithfulness to God’s law and diligence in studying (Dan. 1).

If anything, the theme of witnessing is even stronger in the New Testament. Think even of the earliest history contained in its pages: the Virgin Mary’s joyful witness to Elisabeth (Luke 1:46-56), the praise uttered by the formerly dumb Zacharias (vv. 67-79), the shepherds who spread abroad the things they had seen and heard on that marvellous night in Bethlehem (2:8-20) and the words of the “wise men from the east” to King Herod (Matt. 2:1-2).

John 1 repeatedly describes John the Baptist as a “witness” who “bare record” of Jesus Christ (vv. 7-8, 15, 19-20, 32-34; cf. vv. 26-27, 29-31, 36-37, 40). During His public ministry, the Lord’s followers witnessed of Him, such as, the man born blind, with quick-witted responses to His interrogators (9:24-34); Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, by generous giving and restitution (Luke 19:8); the children in the temple, with praise to the Son of David (Matt. 21:15-16); and the penitent thief, with sharp rebukes of his fellow criminal and a beautiful request for inclusion in Christ’s kingdom (Luke 23:40-42).

The Lord Jesus, “the light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5), came to earth to “bear witness unto the truth” (18:37), through his preaching, parables and miracles, as well as His conversations with individuals, such as Nicodemus at night (ch. 3) and the Samaritan woman at the well (ch. 4). It all climaxed with His atonement on the cross and the “good confession” that He “witnessed” “before Pontius Pilate” (I Tim. 6:13; cf. John 18:33-38). The women at Christ’s tomb testified of His amazing resurrection on the third day (Matt. 28:1-10).

Especially after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2), the apostles were witnesses of the risen Lord (1:22; 2:32; 3:15; 4:33; 5:32), as Christ had earlier promised (John 15:26-27; Acts 1:8). Acts is a book of the witness of the early church by apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, elders, deacons and believers; faithful Jews and Gentiles; young and old—often reviled and persecuted but always victorious in Jesus Christ.

Sometimes, the testimony to the Lord Jesus was made in legal settings, especially by Paul in his various trails before religious and civil rulers (chs. 22-26). This even took him to Rome itself, for he appealed to Caesar (25:11, 21, 25; 26:32; 28:19).

Not only do the holy angels witness to saints on many important occasions in the Bible, but also the sufferings of the apostles (and even of the church) are “a spectacle” to angels (I Cor. 4:9).

Thus we are surrounded by a great “cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1), consisting not just of Old Testament believers (e.g., ch. 11) but also of children of God in the New Testament Scriptures and even of Christians in the two millennia of the post-apostolic church.

Like many other parts of the world, the British Isles has a noble history of witnessing, including Saint Patrick in fifth-century Ireland; John Wycliffe, the fourteenth-century English pre-Reformer; Bishop Robert Ferrar, martyred in Carmarthen, Wales, in 1555; and the great sixteenth-century Scottish Reformer, John Knox.

Add to this the godly pastors, profound theologians, faithful missionaries and vibrant Christians whom God has raised up in these islands to testify of His rich saving truth at home and abroad, and summarized in the gospel promise:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. 10:9-10).

All of this stands in sharp contrast to the development of “the mystery of iniquity,” which has been working for two thousand years (II Thess. 2:7) and which will culminate in the Man of Sin and his big lie, for he “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (v. 4; cf. Rev. 13:6). Yet, most will follow him and perish in God’s just judgment of them for their not receiving “the love of the truth” (II Thess. 2:9-12; cf. Rev. 13:3-8).

The British Reformed Fellowship (BRF) seeks to increase and strengthen godly witnesses and true witnessing in the British Isles and further afield by the grace of the Holy Spirit. To this end, the BRF organized its twelfth biennial Family Conference in Lorne House, by the north coast of County Down in N. Ireland with the theme of “Ye Are My Witnesses” (28 July – 4 August, 2012). Now the BRF has published this excellent material in the book you are reading. The cover photo is of Blackhead Lighthouse on the east coast of County Antrim, to which a number of Lorne House conferees walked during one of the day trips.

Part 1 consists of the six main lectures by Profs. Herman Hanko and David Engelsma, dealing with the calling, content and manner of our witness, both of the official witness of the church and the personal witness of the believer by word and life. Since the two Sunday sermons by our two main speakers developed aspects of our great theme, they are included in Part 2.

Part 3, “Mission Work: Message and Methods” by Rev. Martyn McGeown, gives a concrete and practical application of the biblical teaching on witnessing from one man in one missionary work, the Limerick Reformed Fellowship. This originally constituted the special lecture at the 2012 BRF Family Conference and is included especially for the instruction and encouragement of others involved in mission work or small churches.

Ye Are My Witnesses is the fifth BRF book co-authored by Profs. Engelsma and Hanko, the others being Keeping God’s Covenant (2006), The Five Points of Calvinism (2008), The Work of the Holy Spirit (2010) and The Reformed Worldview (2012).

I hope you read this latest BRF book prayerfully, and that it stirs your soul to witness more faithfully. May the truth of God’s Word, set forth here, resonate in all our hearts: “Ye are my witnesses” (Isa. 43:10)!

Rev. Angus Stewart
BRF Chairman

This book can also be read on-line.
This book can be read on-line in Hungarian.

Book Review

Ye Are My Witnesses
David J. Engelsma & Herman Hanko
British Reformed Fellowship, 2014

How can churches grow in these days? This question was raised by members of the British Reformed Fellowship, and answered from Scripture by the speakers at the 2012 British Reformed Fellowship Ulster Conference. the addresses given have now been collected and edited into this important little book, and made available to a wider audience.

Professors Engelsma and Hanko show that in all ages the church has grown by three means: a) from within as covenant children are born and raised by believing parents within the church, b) by the witnessing of believers, and c) by evangelism. this is the balanced pattern of the Bible, and thus church members play a vital role as witnesses: a point enforced from Scripture in the nine chapters of this book.

These chapters cover “The Divine Mandate to Witness,” “The Content of our Witness,” “The Official Witness of the Church,” “The Personal Witness of a Godly Life,” “The Manner of Christian Witnessing,” “By the Spirit of the Lord,” “The Martyr-Church’s Witness to her Ascended Lord,” and “Mission Work; Message and Methods.”

We are shown that witnessing is a divine mandate for all believers, but when and where is not our choice: God brings about the opportunities. What we witness is also not our choice for Scripture has many warnings about false witnessing. God’s Word provides the message. Believers must never be tempted to “leave evangelism to the professionals.” All are required to study the Word, and be ready to explain and defend their faith at any time. The core message is always to be the proclamation “Jesus is Lord” and there must be an emphasis on the Law (10 Commandments) as God’s rule for life on earth. The visible church must have a stated, confessional, doctrinal stance, should ensure that this is as Scriptural and God-honouring as possible, and must faithfully hold to it. This is the on-going witness of the organised church. Words can soon be forgotten: a consistently Christian life, distinct from that of the world, is a powerful witness. Witnessing must be in love, meek when called for, but bold and uncompromising when the truth must be defended. Witnessing will inevitably also raise opposition. Faithful witnesses are never alone: they are supported by the Holy Spirit. “Witness” and “martyr” are interchangeable terms. It is very possible that in the near future there will be an ever heavier price to pay for witnessing for Christ in word and life. These issues are also in the sovereign hands of God, but we must be prepared to stand faithfully until Christ returns.

The final chapter, “Mission Work: Method and Message” by Martyn McGeown, is a challenging and encouraging narrative of missionary church planting in Limerick, Ireland.

… [It] presents material from a Scriptural basis that all concerned Christians would do well to ponder and pray over. A wide circulation of this book would do much good.

(British Church Newspaper, 12 June 2015)

To order in N. America, please contact Crete Protestant Reformed Church, Crete, Illinois