August–September 2018 Ordained Servant

From the Editor. Nothing is more necessary in the church and its witness to the world than godly male leadership, including church officers, husbands, fathers, and any man in a position of influence. Nehemiah gives us a sterling example from God’s Word of what faithful leadership looks like. I explore the principles and examples we as men may glean from Nehemiah.

Danny Olinger reviews the landmark publication of Geerhardus Vos’s Dogmatic Theology in “Vos the Systematician.” It may be news to some that Vos was a systematic theologian before he was a biblical theologian. He always saw these two disciplines as necessarily complimentary and not mutually exclusive. One cannot do without the other. This five-volume set is a theological treat no one should miss.

In the department of historical theology Ryan McGraw reviews Doctrine in Development: Johannes Piscator and Debates Over Christ’s Active Obedience, by Heber Carlos de Campos Jr. This book explores the early discussions on the critical doctrine of Christ’s active obedience. The review is a lesson in careful scholarship and also reminds us of Machen’s dying praise, “Thank God for the active obedience of Christ.”

There is no better way to learn to pray than to use the prayers of God’s Word. Candyce Magee reviews Gordon Keddie, Prayers of the Bible, a very useful daily devotional that stands out among the multitude of devotional options.

Finally, James Ryan Lee offers a thoughtful poem, “Bonfire.”

Blessings in the Lamb,
Gregory Edward Reynolds

Cover picture: Statue of General John Stark, Stark Park, Manchester, New Hampshire. Gen. Stark won the Battle of Bennington (August 16, 1777) against all odds, which proved to be a turning point in the War for Independence.

FROM THE ARCHIVES “LEADERSHIP”

Subject Index

• “A Charge to New Church Officers.” (Stephen Doe) 9:2 (Apr. 2000): 43–44.
• “Democracy and the Denigration of Office” (Gregory E. Reynolds) 23 (2014): 12–23.


Ordained Servant exists to help encourage, inform, and equip church officers for faithful, effective, and God-glorifying ministry in the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Its primary audience is ministers, elders, and deacons of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, as well as interested officers from other Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Through high-quality editorials, articles, and book reviews, we will endeavor to stimulate clear thinking and the consistent practice of historic, confessional Presbyterianism.