Anko Scholtens: Lay Leader of Reformational Movement (14)
This marks the final installment of my translation of Scholtens' 1936 booklet, Verbond en Kenmerken Prediking (Covenant and Discriminatory Preaching). In the next few weeks, I'll go over my translation and refine it, afterwhich I'll endeavor to publish it somewhere, perhaps in installments in a periodical, perhaps as an independent booklet. The booklet's value is probably mainly historical. One of the key issues of debate among Reformed churches in early 20th century Holland was the issue of self-examination, about which the Synod of Utrecht in 1905 and the Synod of Sneek-Utrecht in 1942 published statements. Scholtens' booklet must have been an ingredient in these debates.
. . . . Do people actually think that our work of self-examination has more value for attaining assurance, and gives more security, than the promises of God? Only when one can proves that covenantal preaching, as explained here, in conflict with Scripture, will he have the right to speak. Before the Scriptures I will always bow.
But then that proof must be cogent and clear. Because I see a great danger in discriminatory preaching and in the constant insistence on self-examination of one’s state—the danger of further backsliding among our Reformed people, the danger of neglecting the calling to be witnesses for Christ.
We must not always be questioning, "Am I truly a Christian?" Rather, we must ask, "Am a good Christian?" Indeed, all of life must be a sacred query to our Father about what we as His children must do so that the world around us, which does not know Christ, shall through our walk and through our Word be drawn to the Christ of God.
. . . . Do people actually think that our work of self-examination has more value for attaining assurance, and gives more security, than the promises of God? Only when one can proves that covenantal preaching, as explained here, in conflict with Scripture, will he have the right to speak. Before the Scriptures I will always bow.
But then that proof must be cogent and clear. Because I see a great danger in discriminatory preaching and in the constant insistence on self-examination of one’s state—the danger of further backsliding among our Reformed people, the danger of neglecting the calling to be witnesses for Christ.
We must not always be questioning, "Am I truly a Christian?" Rather, we must ask, "Am a good Christian?" Indeed, all of life must be a sacred query to our Father about what we as His children must do so that the world around us, which does not know Christ, shall through our walk and through our Word be drawn to the Christ of God.
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