Well-known Professor and Reformed writer Michael S. Horton wrote an important article about “The Promise-Driven Life”, obviously contrasting it to the “Purpose-Driven Church” and other “Purpose-Driven” writings by well-known Pastor and best seller writer Rick Warren. Here is a link to that article –
Click here: Modern Reformation – Articles
There is also the religious movement and organization known as “Promise Keepers”. They emphasize men and their duty to keep promises.
But, in his Pamphlet, “The Gospel”, written perhaps seventy-five years or so earlier, Rev. Herman Hoeksema of the Protestant Reformed Churches hit the nail on the head and defines the Gospel as the Good News of the Promise. After a paragraph of my brief introduction, I will present a lengthy quote from that pamphlet which may change or focus more clearly our view of the Gospel.
I had been struggling understanding the Book of Galatians. Now consider the importance of Galatians. It starts with the sharp warning of Galatians 1:9: “As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!” Wow! We better have a good understanding of the Gospel!!! But, the sharp warnings of Galatians continue! “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM.” Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.” Galatians 3:10-12. Wow! We better have a good understanding of the Law!!! The sharp warnings don’t end. “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” Galatians 5:4. Specifically, does “the Law” here in the Book of Galatians include the Ten Commandments or does it just refer to the Jewish ceremonial laws and rituals? In summary, it is out of this desperate need to get a good understanding of the Gospel and the Law that Rev. Hoeksema’s article comes to me as a breath of fresh air.
It is out of Galatians that Rev. Hoeksema uses so much Scripture to define the Gospel as the Good News of Promise. He writes:
“Scripture frequently employs two terms that are as closely related in their significance as they are, in the original Greek, similar in sound. They are the words
espangelia, and
euangelion, the first meaning
promise, the second being the word we translate by our
gospel. That they are closely related in our thought is evident from the rather common expression that is frequently used and is employed, too, by our confessions,
viz., the
promise of the gospel. It emphasizes that the gospel contains a promise. But this close relation between promise and gospel will become still more evident and will be seen in a somewhat different light if we turn to Scripture and discover that according to it the gospel is essentially the gospel of the
promise. Directly this is expressed in
Gal. 3:8 and
Acts 13:32. In the former text we read: “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen by faith, preached the gospel before unto Abraham, saying: In thee shall all nations be blessed.” Notice, that in the last expression you have the promise. Now, according to the text, when this promise was given to Abraham, the gospel was preached unto him. The gospel and the promise are, therefore, identified in such a way, that the giving of the promise by God through Scripture to Abraham is the preaching of the gospel. And in
Acts 13:32 we read: “And we declare unto you glad tidings, or preach the gospel unto you (
euangelidzometha), how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled unto us, their children, in that He raised up Jesus again. It will be evident, that the promise made unto the fathers and realized unto us their children is the same as that mentioned in
Gal. 3. And it is also evident, that here as in the former passage the apostle speaks of declaring that promise as being the preaching of the gospel or proclaiming glad tidings. The gospel then, is essentially, according to its idea, the gospel of the promise, and to this promise we shall have to call your attention in order to explain the gospel according to the very presentation of Scripture.
Very frequently the Bible speaks of the promise. Sometimes it refers to it in the plural to express the riches of its implications; more often in the singular to denote its unity and identity, but always it is the same promise. It is the promise that is given to Abel, Enoch, and Noah to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For, having mentioned these saints of the old dispensation and having spoken of their life and death or translation by faith, the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews tells us: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” vs. 13. And having reviewed the life and battle by faith of many more of the great cloud of witnesses, and including them all in his view, the author of the Hebrews finally states: “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise,” vs. 39. It is evident from these passages that all through the old dispensation there was a promise, given unto the saints, which they embraced and believed, by which they lived and died, for the which they were willing to be strangers and pilgrims in the earth, suffer hunger and exile and imprisonment, endured cruelty and mockeries and scourgings, were slain with the sword and sawn asunder, wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, afflicted, destitute, and tormented. And in the greatness of their faith and endurance and the severity of their sufferings we may see reflected the beauty and riches of the promise they possessed and saw afar off. Gal. 3 is a classic chapter on this subject of the promise. It emphasizes that the promises were made to Abraham and his seed, and that this seed of Abraham is centrally and essentially Christ, vs. 16. It is plain, that Christ, the Seed, Who is the fulfillment of the promise, is at the same time, also the chief recipient of the promise. It states that the law which came four hundred and thirty years later than the promise to Abraham, could not possibly make the latter of none effect, vs. 17; and that God gave the inheritance to Abraham by promise, vs. 18. It reaches the conclusion, that if we are Christ’s then are we Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise, vs. 29. As to the contents of this promise Scripture speaks of it as the promise of the Holy Spirit, which is given to Christ, Acts 2:23; and to them that are of Him by faith, Gal. 3:14; the promise of life, I Tim. 4:8; II Tim. 1:1; the promise of eternal life, I John 2:25; the promise of Christ’s coming, II Pet. 3:4; the promise of entering into His rest, Heb. 4:1; the promise of becoming heir of the world, Rom. 4:13; the promise of raising up a Savior from the seed of David; Acts 13:23. Hence, it also speaks of the Spirit as the Spirit of promise, Eph. 1:13; of children of the promise, that is, of children that are born in the line of the promise, by the power of the promise and according to the promise and upon whom the promise rests, Rom. 9:8; it points out the heirs of the promise, and the co-heirs of the promise, for not all men have received the promise, Heb. 6:17; 11:9, etc. And at the beginning of the new dispensation it announces: “For, unto you is the promise and to all your children and to all that are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call,” Acts 2:39.
Now, it is important, that we clearly understand the nature of a promise. It is by no means the same as an offer. Also in the latter the person that makes the offer declares his willingness to do something for or bestow something upon the person to whom the offer is made, but for its realization the offer is contingent upon the willingness of the second party, upon his consent to the offer. But a promise is different. It is a declaration, written or verbal, which binds the person that makes it to do or forbear to do the very thing promised. It is an engagement regardless of any corresponding duty or obligation on the part of the person to whom the thing is promised. A promise, therefore, implies the declaration of a certain good together with the positive assurance that this good shall be bestowed upon or performed in behalf of the person to whom the promise is made. This certainty of the promise is, as regards the promise in Scripture, emphasized by the fact, that it is God Who makes the promise. God conceived of the promise; He it is that realizes the thing promised; He declares the promise. This implies, in the first place, that the promise cannot be contingent, for God is God, and His work certainly cannot be contingent upon the will of the creature. And, secondly, this signifies that the promise is as faithful and true as God is unchangeable. He will surely realize the promise. When He binds Himself to do or to bestow anything, He is bound by Himself and all His divine attributes to realize the promise unto them to whom it is made, for He cannot deny Himself. And this idea of the promise necessarily implies that it is made to a definite party. An offer, that is contingent upon the acceptance and consent of the second party may be general; a promise that binds the promising party and that is certain of realization requires a definite second party. And thus it is in Scripture. For, the promise is centrally made to Christ, and through Him to the seed of Abraham, to the children of the promise, to those that are called heirs and co-heirs of the promise. And that this is certainly the idea of the promise is clearly expressed in Scripture. For, we read in Heb. 6:13, 14, 17: “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying: Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee….” Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath! To the heirs of the promise the promise is certain, because it is rooted in the immutable counsel of the Most High!
Now, the idea of the gospel is that it is glad news about this promise of God. Glad news of glad tidings is the meaning of the word euangelion. Glad news it is for two reasons. In the first place, because of the present misery of the heirs of the promise. They are in the world and in that world they are subject to sin and corruption, to suffering and death. Their present experience is one of sorrow and grief, of affliction and torment, of misery and groaning. And the promise holds before them the deliverance from their present state of misery and destitution. And secondly the gospel is glad news because of the unspeakably great riches of the inheritance that is promised. For, the promise holds before the heirs not such a deliverance from sin and death as will restore them to a former state and condition but fills their hearts with a hope of glory such as never was conceived in the heart of man. It stands to reason that this glad news concerning the promise could only be imparted by Him that conceived of the promise, that is God. God proclaimed the promise. He preaches the gospel. The gospel that speaks of things which eye hath not seen and ear hath not heard and which have never been conceived in the heart of man, can only come through revelation. But this revelation of God, this divine proclamation of the gospel, always took place through the agency of men. Hence, he preaches the gospel, who can with authority declare, in the name of God glad news about the promise, about its certainty of fulfillment, about its riches of blessings, about its progress in the realization of it in history. All through the history of the world there are in the world the heirs of the promise. And they know the promise. They are anxious about it, long for its realization. They inquire about its contents and the nearness of its fulfillment. And he that could answer this anxious inquiry and bring some glad news about the promise, was preaching the gospel.”
Here is the link to Rev. Hoeksema’s “The Gospel” pamphlet in full – Click here: The Gospel
