This issue of Sword and Shield treats the 1953 Formula of Subscription examination of Rev. Hubert De Wolf. In the early 1950s he was one of the three pastors of First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, along with Rev. Herman Hoeksema and Rev. Cornelius Hanko. In those years a controversy was raging in the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC) over the doctrine of the covenant. Herman Hoeksema, Cornelius Hanko, George Ophoff, and others stood for the truth of God’s unconditional covenant of grace. Hubert De Wolf, Andrew Petter, Edward Knott, and other ministers in the PRC stood for a conditional covenant, as taught by Dr. Klaas Schilder and the Liberated churches in the Netherlands.

In the midst of the controversy, Hubert De Wolf preached a sermon during the evening worship service of April 15, 1951, on Luke 16:19–31, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In the course of his sermon, De Wolf proclaimed, “God promises every one of you that, if you believe, you shall be saved.” Members of First Protestant Reformed Church protested the sermon, but the consistory was evenly divided and could come to no decisions on the protests.

Over a year later De Wolf preached a preparatory sermon on Matthew 18:3 during the evening worship service of September 14, 1952. In the course of his sermon, he preached, “Our act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter into the kingdom.”¹ Again protests came from the congregation to the consistory.

This time the consistory of First Protestant Reformed Church required De Wolf to submit to an examination of his doctrine. Such an examination is called for in the Formula of Subscription and is therefore often known as a Formula of Subscription exam. The relevant passage is the last paragraph of the Formula of Subscription:

And further, if at any time the consistory, classis, or synod, upon sufficient grounds of suspicion and to preserve the uniformity and purity of doctrine, may deem it proper to require of us a further explanation of our sentiments respecting any particular article of the Confession of Faith, the Catechism, or the explanation of the national synod, we do hereby promise to be always willing and ready to comply with such requisition, under the penalty above mentioned, reserving for ourselves, however, the right of an appeal, whenever we shall believe ourselves aggrieved by the sentence of the consistory, the classis, or the synod, and until a decision is made upon such an appeal, we will acquiesce in the determination and judgment already passed. (Confessions and Church Order, 326) 

The consistory of First Protestant Reformed Church conducted Reverend De Wolf’s examination in February of 1953, with Rev. C. Hanko chairing. The consistory had drawn up a list of questions for Reverend De Wolf to answer. The questions all referred to the two statements in his sermons and asked De Wolf to explain these statements in light of the Reformed confessions. During the examination Chairman Hanko read the questions, and De Wolf was given opportunities to answer them. At the time a majority of the consistory of First Protestant Reformed Church supported De Wolf. The result of the examination was that the consistory approved De Wolf’s examination, and he was cleared of all charges.

Appeals against this decision were brought to the May meeting of Classis East. At that meeting two reports were prepared to answer the appeals. The first report—the majority report—upheld De Wolf’s statements and explained them as being orthodox. The second report—the minority report—condemned De Wolf’s statements as being literally heretical. Although the majority report had the support of many at classis, the Lord led the classis to adopt the minority report and to condemn the two statements of De Wolf. This led to further wrangling in First Protestant Reformed Church, with the final result that De Wolf and his supporters left the PRC.

The majority report, the minority report, and the history of the events of 1953 have been published and are widely available. See, for example, For Thy Truth’s Sake, which includes the two reports as appendices.² But to my knowledge, Hubert De Wolf’s examination in February of 1953 has not previously been published and is not widely available. The record of the examination still exists. Tape recordings of the examination were made, and a transcript of the examination was prepared. Although the transcript has surfaced from time to time, it was largely forgotten and its significance overlooked.

That all changed in 2021 when the Lord took home to glory Mr. Rich Van Baren, a member of First Reformed Protestant Church. As family members went through Mr. Van Baren’s boxes of documents, they discovered a copy of the transcript of De Wolf’s 1953 examination. As they read through it, they recognized its importance for the contemporary controversy between the PRC and the Reformed Protestant Churches (RPC), and they began to share it with members of the RPC. De Wolf’s 1953 examination has now been passed around and studied by many. The Berean Reformed Protestant Fellowship in Singapore masterfully analyzed this examination and showed its significance for today.³

The editors of Sword and Shield believe that it would be profitable to have the transcript of De Wolf’s 1953 examination available to the reading public, especially to readers of Sword and Shield. In this way it can also be preserved for posterity and consulted for years to come. The examination is published in its entirety in this issue. The transcript was retyped by our indefatigable copy editors. Some changes were made to bring the punctuation of the transcript into the correct style, and spelling mistakes were corrected. However, the words themselves were retyped exactly as Rev. C. Hanko and Rev. H. De Wolf spoke them and then checked and rechecked for accuracy.

In this issue each editor has added his own analysis and comment on De Wolf’s 1953 examination, which we pray will be profitable for the readership.

May the Lord speed the truths written herein to your hearts and the next issue into your hands.