The Distinction Between the Offer of Grace and the Covenant Promises (1)

In Retrospect

The questions for this discussion are not new, as proven by the past three events. More than a hundred years ago, in 1863, the Synod of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands gathered in Amsterdam. This denomination is not to be confused with the Christian Reformed Church of today, since this denomination did not yet exist at this time. In Amsterdam, the “Cross congregations” met the so-called “Reformed

Congregations Under the Cross.” That name had been chosen due to their being persecuted by the government for viewing themselves as the continuation of the age-old Church of the Reformation in the Netherlands and their refusal to part with the name “Reformed.”

During the Synod meeting of Thursday, October 22, 1863, two important decisions were made. First, the Synod decided to no longer mention the addition “under the cross” in its denominational name. In the future, they wished to be known only as the Reformed Church of the Netherlands. Secondly, the meeting decided to expose, in print, the history of our congregational existence and continuation, for the interested public, so that they would more clearly understand our present situation, intention, purpose, and means. Of course, the Synod desired to have a booklet printed which would explain the ecclesiastical viewpoint of the “Cross” congregations.

Six years later, in 1869, this booklet did appear under the title, The Reformed Church in the Netherlands: Her Rights Defended and Her View Explained, written by the well-known “Cross” minister, Rev. N.J. Engelberts of Zutfen.

Among other things, Rev. Engelberts discusses in this booklet, the “Cross” congregations’ vision of the State Church which he calls “the regimented society.” Of special interest to us, however, is the portion of his booklet where he interprets the “Cross” congregations’ opinion of the “Christian Seceders.” We wish to assume that our readers know that shortly after the Secession in 1834, a division arose among the Seceders, resulting in two new groups: the “Christian Seceders” and the “Reformed Churches Under the Cross.”

OTHER PERIODICALS

Rev. Engelberts now mentions four objections that existed among the “Cross” congregations concerning the Seceders. First, they objected to their applying to the government for freedom. Secondly, they objected to the fact that the Seceders had initially renounced their name of Reformed. Thirdly, they accused the Seceders of having introduced a new church order, thereby rejecting the Church Order of Dordt, even though they had returned from that later. And fourthly—which is our topic for this series of articles — Rev. Engelberts expresses his objections to the doctrine of the Seceders. One of his objections is that within the circle of the Christian Seceded Reformed Church, the “sincere offer of grace to all people” is taught.

With this we understand the “sincere offer of Cod’s grace in Christ to all who live under the Gospel to the end that they only upon the ground of this offer to them as sinners, should accept and possess this salvation by a living faith.” Rev. Engelberts opposes this doctrine vehemently and does not deem it to be in agreement with God’s Word and, therefore not “Reformed.” We hope to return to this issue later, but thought just to mention it here.

Nearly twenty years before Rev.

Engelberts wrote his booklet, a conflict arose in the “Cross” congregation of Rotterdam, in connection with this topic. The local mininster, Rev. C. Van den Oever, had been accused in 1851, by some members of his congregation, for not offering Christ sincerely to all people (see Kruisdominees, Dr. F.L. Bos, p. 104). Rev. Van den Oever charged his accusers with Remonstrantism. One of the objectors published a booklet entitled The Gospel Not in Conflict with the Doctrine of Election; or Something Concerning the Sincere Offer of Grace. This matter resulted in the objectors being excommunicated from the congregation in 1852. It is remarkable, however, that the General Meeting of the “Cross” congregations in 1852, held in Zwartsluis, stated that the objectors had not been excommunicated for their opinions, but because they had accused the mininster of preaching in an antireformed manner, not acknowledging him as an ambassador of Christ, but had spread this abroad in order to draw away the simple and destroy the congregation through quarrels and division (Minutes, art. 21).

The following will serve as a third proof of our statement that these problems are not new. About a century later, the General Synod of our Netherlands Reformed Congregations of 1950, issued a statement that it rejected a minister’s view expressed in a brochure that the promises are equal to the offer of the Gospel (Minutes, art. 27).

With these examples, we have now mentioned only three events and statements from the history of the Netherlands Reformed Congregations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

These incidents indicate that “among us,” during the course of many years, much has been spoken, argued, and debated concerning the questions dealing with the promise of the covenant of grace and the offer of salvation.

Not only among us is this true! In 1946, Dr. E. Smilde wrote, A Century of Conflict Concerning the Covenant and Baptism, which explains the conflicts in the Christian Reformed churches which originated from the Dissension of 1886 and combined with the union of Seceders and “Cross” congregations in 1892. The confusion is still great! just to pose a few questions here: Must God’s promises be preached to all? Are the promises the same as the offer of grace? What happens when a child is baptized? What does the word “sincere” mean? What does it mean to “plead upon a promise,” and who may do this? What does the “unconditional” or the “conditional” offer of grace mean?

We would certainly like to emphasize that it is not our intention to cause old fires of contention to flare up or to open old wounds. Our intention is only to offer some clarification. One thing is certain: there is no need for obscurity to exist concerning these matters, provided we only adhere to God’s Word, the three forms of unity, and the statements issued by our synodical assemblies.

Rev. A.Moerkerken is pastor of the Gereformeerde Cerneente (Netherlands Reformed Congregation) of Nieuw-Beijerland, the Netherlands. Translated from De Saambinder.

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