Rev. Danny Olinger, editor of Geerhardus Vos Anthology: Biblical and Theological Insights Alphabetically Arranged, gives an intriguing and useful introduction to Geerhardus Vos’ life and teaching ministry (HT: DD). Among the many interesting aspects of Vos’ life, Olinger shows how Vos’ teaching at Princeton influenced many of the founders of Westminster Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, such as Cornelius Van Til, Ned Stonehouse, and Machen.
As a complement to Olinger’s interview, listeners interested in Vos will also enjoy George Harinck’s lecture comparing the lives of Geerhardus Vos and Herman Bavinck (from the 2008 Herman Bavinck conference). Bavinck’s dogmatics had a profound influence upon Vos’ biblical theology, and vice versa.
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Thanks for this post, LO. Very nice.
I’ve read Vos’ BT, Self-Disclosure, Pauline Eschat.,…
but you don’t mention two of my favorites:
viz, his small book on Hebrews, and his small book titled The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church, where Vos says (long quotation, if you don’t mind) in chapters 6 & 9 [p.49-50, 86-89]:
“The main reason for the use of the name [Kingdom of God] by Jesus lies undoubtedly in this, that in the new order of things God is in some such sense the supreme and controlling factor as the ruler in a human kingdom. The conception is a God-centered conception to the very core. In order to appreciate its significance, we must endeavor to do what Jesus did, look at the whole of the world and life from the point of view [worldview] of their subservience to the glory of God…
To [Jesus] the kingdom exists there, where not merely God is supreme, for that is true at all times and under all circumstances, but where God supernaturally carries through his supremacy against all opposing powers and brings man to the wiling recognition of the same. It is a state of things in which everything converges and tends towards God as the highest good.
So far as extent of membership is concerned, Jesus plainly leads us to identify the invisible church and the kingdom [ie, both are constituted solely by the regenerate]… [and] our Lord looked upon the visible church as a veritable embodiment of his kingdom. Precisely because the invisible church realizes the kingship of God, the visible church must likewise partake of this character…
From this, however, it does not necessarily follow, that the visible church is the only outward expression of the invisible kingdom. Undoubtedly the kingship of God, as his recognized and applied supremacy, is intended to pervade and control the whole of human life in all its forms of existence. This the parable of the leaven plainly teaches. These various forms of human life have each their own sphere in which they work and embody themselves. There is a sphere of science, a sphere of art, a sphere of the family and of the state, a sphere of commerce and industry. Whenever one of these spheres comes under the controlling influence of the principle of the divine supremacy and glory, and this outwardly reveals itself, there we can truly say that the kingdom of God has become manifest. Now our Lord in his teaching seldom makes explicit reference to these things. He contented himself with laying down the great religious and moral principles which ought to govern the life of man in every sphere. Their detailed application it was not his work to show. But we may safely affirm two things. On the one hand, his doctrine of the kingdom was founded on such a profound and broad conviction of the absolute supremacy of God in all things, that he could not but look upon every normal and legitimate province of human life as intended to form part of God’s kingdom. On the other hand, it was not his intention that this result should be reached by making human life in all its spheres subject to the visible church… [that the church is not to dominate the state] may also be applied to the relation between the visible church and the various other branches into which the organic life of humanity divides itself. It is entirely in accordance with the spirit of Jesus’ teaching to subsume these under the kingdom of God and to co-ordinate them with the visible church as true manifestations of this kingdom, in so far as the divine sovereignty and glory have become in them the controlling principle. But it must always be remembered, that the latter can only happen, when all these, no less than the visible church, stand in living contact with the forces of regeneration supernaturally introduced into the world by the Spirit of God. While it is proper to separate between the visible church and such things as the Christian state, Christian art, Christian science, etc., these things, if they truly belong to the kingdom of God, grow up out of the regenerated life of the invisible church [regenerate persons].”