Introduction

Sword and Shield is a believer’s magazine. It is your magazine. It does not belong to the editor or to the various writers but to you, dear reader. You hold an office in the church of Jesus Christ—the office of all believer. Our Heidelberg Catechism speaks of this in Lord’s Day 12. Although the Catechism does not use the term office, the Catechism speaks of “anointing.”

Q. 32. But why art thou called a Christian?

A. Because I am a member of Christ by faith, and thus am partaker of His anointing; that so I may confess His name, and present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him; and also that with a free and good conscience I may fight against sin and Satan in this life; and afterwards reign with Him eternally over all creatures. (Confessions and Church Order, 96)

The child of God is an officebearer. He partakes of the anointing of Jesus Christ by faith and is equipped by the Holy Spirit to that office. “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20). You have the right to confess the name of Christ in your office as prophet. You have the right to present yourself a living sacrifice to God in body and soul, in all things at all times, in your office as priest. You have the right to fight against sin and Satan in your office as king.

It is always necessary to boldly, ceaselessly, and loudly trumpet the truth of the office of all believer. It is necessary because it is a doctrine that is violently and relentlessly attacked. It is not only those who hold the special offices that have an office in the church, but each elect child of God in the body of Christ holds an office. The men who are not appointed to the special offices or the women who cannot hold the special offices all hold the office of all believer. The mother with young children who labors in the glorious calling of the home holds the office of all believer. The child in school holds that office. So also does the single man or woman in the church. The entire New Testament church holds this office.

And what a glorious privilege it is to hold the office of all believer. It is your privilege to speak the truth of Jesus Christ and to condemn the lie. It is your privilege to serve God in consecration to him. It is your privilege as one who has the victory in Jesus Christ to fight “not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). This anointing is a privilege because by nature we have no right to hold this office as God’s friend-servants. God’s decree of election is the source of this office. And the elect, being joined to Christ by faith, have the privilege and the right to partake of his anointing.

The office of all believer is a militant office. You stand as soldiers on the front line of the battlefield. You stand as warriors in the kingdom of God, wielding the whole armor of God, with your loins girt about with the truth, wearing the breastplate of righteousness, having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel, and taking the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. 6:13–17). This is the reality of your office given to you by your partaking of Christ’s anointing and your being equipped by the Holy Spirit. Indeed, what a glorious office you hold!

And this magazine stands in the service of your office. I contend that this is the only magazine where that is true. The Banner is full of drivel and cultural hogwash. The Standard Bearer abrogated and abandoned that truth. Sword and Shield stands in the service of your office as prophets, priests, and kings to write! The Running Footmen and the Insights rubrics are dedicated to this office, the latter of which is a tremendous opportunity for those who desire to exercise their office by writing. Submissions may consist of quotes or statements that struck you in your reading and study. They may involve your summary of the truth of a quotation or your rejection of a statement as being contrary to the truth of scripture and the Reformed confessions.

This magazine stands in the service of your office to speak the truth until the Lord Jesus Christ returns on the clouds of glory to manifest his perfect victory as our chief prophet, chief priest, and chief king. Jesus Christ, the servant of Jehovah, is the perfect officebearer, the officebearer par excellence. Of his anointing all his elect people are partakers.

This article serves as an introduction to future articles that will set out to answer the following questions: What is the office of all believer? We often hear the phrase, but what does it mean to hold the office of all believer? Who holds this office? Why does one hold this office? What does one do in this office? Where did this office come from? What are the attacks on this office? All these questions and more will be answered in the months to come, the Lord willing.

Rome’s Doctrine Shattered

This doctrine of the office of all believer is relentlessly attacked. The false church hates this right and privilege of the believer to speak the truth, to serve God in his office in obedience to the scriptures, and to contend against the lie. The post-modern world attacks this office by asserting that there is no truth and questions the fact if truth can even be known. False churches, void of the truth, console each other that every church has a little truth. There are different levels of the truth. One church is more pure, or one is less pure. That church over there might dishonor God with the well-meant offer or that one with divorce and remarriage or that one with theistic evolution, but no one really knows the truth anyway, so we can all hold hands together, and no one had better speak out against others to condemn them. That is the antichristian power that ultimately will unite the antichristian religious power as the beast that will arise out of the earth in service of the antichrist (Rev. 13:11–18). But the true church, made up of believers and their seed, knows the truth, confesses the truth, and damns everything that stands opposed to the truth as a proper work of the devil, as smelling like the sulfur of hell.

It was the Reformation that recovered the doctrine of the office of all believer from the Roman Catholic Church. It is not too much to say that without the recovery of the office of all believer, the truth of sola scriptura would never have been recovered either. The two went hand in hand and were intimately connected. When the truth of scripture was tossed out, so also was the office of all believer.

Rome, in the centuries prior to the Reformation, carefully had been erecting an elaborate sacerdotal system founded on a direct apostolic succession of the clergy. Every pope could trace his office directly back to the apostle Peter. And then with sweeping assertions, Rome declared that only where the pope is, there is the church. And this apostolic succession of ordination filtered down also to all the lower levels of the clergy, including the cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and priests. This priesthood was set up as the lifeblood of the church, instead of the word of God.

Rome propped up her clerical system on dreadful eisegesis of Matthew 16:18, where we read that Jesus said to Peter, “I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

The context of this text is Christ’s question to his disciples, “Whom say ye that I am?”

Peter answered and confessed, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

The confession that Jesus is the Christ is the rock upon which the church is built. Rome took Matthew 16:18 and to this day uses it as proof that it was the person of Peter upon whom Christ would build his church, not upon Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed of God.

Rome insisted that only members of her clergy, who were part of the line of apostolic succession, could hold the offices of prophet, priest, and king. A believer could not know the will of God and could not confess the truth of sacred scripture. He was not a prophet. A believer could not enter the throne of God unless it was mediated to him by a priest. A believer was not a priest. A believer had no right to rule and fight against the lie and Satan. Rome ruled the believer and was the absolute authority. The believer was not a king. This doctrine of Rome is treacherous, violent, and wicked.

This elaborate, wicked system that was erected by Rome essentially set the priesthood between God and the sinner. Laymen were not even allowed to read the Bible without the permission of the priest. The relationship between God and the child of God was mediated through the clergy. But nowhere was this more evident than in Rome’s doctrine of penance, repentance, and forgiveness. The sinner had to confess his sins to have forgiveness. In confession he had to go to the church. Only there, through the mediation of the church, was the opportunity to repent and recover the grace and friendship of God. The one confessing sin went to the confession booth in order for the priest to absolve the sinner of the experience of the guilt of that sin. Rome understood that the forgiveness of sins was in one’s experience. Rome made a distinction at that crucial point between the objective accomplishment of Christ’s work and how that work came into the possession of the child of God. The priest stood in between God and the sinner as the way to experience the forgiveness of sins. And really, grace and every blessing of salvation were mediated through the clergy to the sinner as they came into the possession of the sinner. There was no other way. If someone wanted to go to God, he had to go to the church, and the church in turn would go to God for the sinner. The church stood in the place of the sinner before God’s face.

It was Martin Luther who picked away at the “three walls” of Rome and in doing so caused the elaborate edifice of Rome to come crashing down into a heap of rubble.

Three walls of Rome must tumble down like the walls of Jericho. The first was that the spiritual power is above the temporal. This claim Luther countered with the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers…The second wall was that the pope alone might interpret scripture. This assertion was met…by the claims of lay Christianity to understand the mind of Christ. The third wall was that the pope alone could call a council.¹

With this summary in mind, let us read Luther’s position on the office of all believer in opposition to the hierarchy of Rome:

The Romanists have very cleverly built three walls around themselves. Hitherto they have protected themselves by these walls in such a way that no one has been able to reform them. As a result, the whole of Christendom has fallen abominably.

May God help us, and give us just one of those trumpets with which the walls of Jericho were overthrown to blast down these walls of straw and paper in the same way and set free the Christian rods for the punishment of sin, [and] bring to light the craft and deceit of the devil.

Let us begin by attacking the first wall. It is pure invention that pope, bishop, priests, and monks are called the spiritual estate while princes, lords, artisans, and farmers are called the temporal estate. This is indeed a piece of deceit and hypocrisy. Yet no one need be intimidated by it, and for this reason: all Christians are truly of the spiritual estate, and there is no difference among them except that of office. Paul says in I Corinthians 12[:12–13] that we are all one body, yet every member has its own work by which it serves the others. This is because we all have one baptism, one gospel, one faith, and are all Christians alike; for baptism, gospel, and faith alone make us spiritual and a Christian people.

We are all consecrated priests through baptism, as St. Peter says in I Peter 2[:9], “You are a royal priesthood and a priestly realm.” The Apocalypse says, “Thou hast made us to be priests and kings by thy blood” [Rev. 5:9–10].

Therefore, when a bishop consecrates it is nothing else than that in the place and stead of the whole community, all of whom have like power, he takes a person and charges him to exercise this power on behalf of the others. It is like ten brothers, all king’s sons and equal heirs, choosing one of themselves to rule the inheritance in the interests of all. In one sense they are all kings and of equal power, and yet one of them is charged with the responsibility of ruling.

Therefore, just as those who are now called “spiritual,” that is, priests, bishops, or popes, are neither different from other Christians nor superior to them, except that they are charged with the administration of the word of God and the sacraments, which is their work and office…A cobbler, a smith, a peasant—each has the work and office of his trade, and yet they are all alike consecrated priests and bishops.

The second wall is still more loosely built and less substantial. The Romanists want to be the only masters of Holy Scripture, although they never learn a thing from the Bible all their life long. They assume the sole authority for themselves, and, quite unashamed, they play about with words before our very eyes, trying to persuade us that the pope cannot err in matters of faith, regardless of whether he is righteous or wicked. Yet they cannot point to a single letter…Since these Romanists think the Holy Spirit never leaves them, no matter how ignorant and wicked they are, they become bold and decree only what they want. And if what they claim were true, why have Holy Scripture at all? Of what use is Scripture? Let us burn the Scripture and be satisfied with the unlearned gentlemen at Rome who possess the Holy Spirit! And yet the Holy Spirit can be possessed only by pious hearts. If I had not read the words with my own eyes, I would not have believed it possible for the devil to have made such stupid claims at Rome, and to have won supporters for them.

Besides, if we are all priests, as was said above, and all have one faith, one gospel, one sacrament, why should we not also have the power to test and judge what is right or wrong in matters of faith? What becomes of Paul’s words in I Corinthians 2[:15], “A spiritual man judges all things, yet he is judged by no one”? And II Corinthians 4[:13], “We all have one spirit of faith”?

We ought to become bold and free on the authority of all these texts, and many others. We ought not to allow the Spirit of freedom (as Paul calls him [II Cor. 3:17]) to be frightened off by the fabrications of the popes, but we ought to march boldly forward and test all that they do, or leave undone, by our believing understanding of the Scriptures…Balaam’s ass was wiser than the prophet himself [Num. 22:21–35]. If God spoke then through an ass against a prophet, why should he not be able even now to speak through a righteous man against the pope? Similarly, St. Paul rebukes St. Peter as a man in error in Galatians 2[:11–12]. Therefore, it is the duty of every Christian to espouse the cause of the faith, to understand and defend it, and to denounce every error.

The third wall falls of itself when the first two are down. When the pope acts contrary to the Scriptures, it is our duty to stand by the Scriptures, to reprove him and to constrain him, according to the word of Christ.

Would it not be unnatural if a fire broke out in a city and everybody were to stand by and let it burn on and on and consume everything that could burn because nobody had the authority of the mayor, or because, perhaps, the fire broke out in the mayor’s house? In such a situation is it not the duty of every citizen to arouse and summon the rest? How much more should this be done in the spiritual city of Christ if a fire of offense breaks out, whether in the papal government, or anywhere else!²

The reformers, beginning with Martin Luther, moved the Roman Catholic clergy right out of the picture and restored the office of all believer to its rightful place. The false church would no longer be allowed to stand between God and the elect sinner. The truth was restored that the only mediator who brings his people before the throne of God is Jesus Christ. He alone is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

The Reformation removed the obstructions which the papal church had interposed between Christ and the believer. It opened the door to direct union with him, as the only Mediator between God and man, and made his gospel accessible to every reader without the permission of a priest.

There are three fundamental principles of the Reformation: the supremacy of the Scriptures over tradition, the supremacy of faith over works, and the supremacy of Christian people over an exclusive priesthood.³

The truth of the office of all believer is a precious Reformation heritage. The Reformation and the Reformed churches restored the glorious place that the child of God holds in relation to God in Jesus Christ. And the Reformation gave to the believer the most glorious gift of all, the sacred scriptures themselves as the sole rule of faith and life in the church. Sola scriptura was the cry and the trumpet blast of the Reformation. Every believer had the right and privilege to know the scriptures, to confess them, and to defend them, many times to the loss of his or her own life. It is in the scriptures that the believer knows God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit by faith, and which knowledge is life eternal (John 17:3).

The View of the Protestant Reformed Churches

It should come as no surprise then that the Protestant Reformed denomination, whose doctrine of repentance preceding forgiveness of sins is a close relative of Rome’s doctrine of penance, has also returned to Rome in its rejection of the office of all believer. Rome’s doctrine of a priesthood has reappeared in the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC). In the PRC there is a priesthood of “scholars” and learned men that stands between the believer and God. This priesthood has reappeared in the officebearers, especially the ministers and professors, who impose themselves between God and his people, between their office of all believer and the truth of sacred scripture.

The so-called scholars stand between God and the people in their doctrine alone. It takes a scholar in the PRC to duck and weave through the theological web that has been created. The scriptures are perspicuous. They are clear and easy to understand. The believer, given the Spirit of Christ by faith, can know the will of God that is contained in the scriptures. But the clergy stand in between God and the sinner. Protestant Reformed ministers make endless distinctions: the forgiveness of sins is not justification; the objective accomplishment of Christ’s work on the cross is over there, but the subjective reality depends on the believer’s believing or repenting; justification is different than the experience of justification; unconditional covenant union is one thing, but conditional covenant communion is another.

The result is that the common folk sitting in the pew are handicapped when it comes to confessing the truth of scripture and the confessions. They do not know on their own which is the correct view of justification or forgiveness or remission of sins. When a question comes to members of the PRC, they run to their ministers or to the seminary professors for the answer. The doctrine of Jesus Christ must be mediated to them through the so-called scholars. Members of the PRC might as well not even open their Bibles to know what the will of God says. But if they were to exercise their office and by faith search the scriptures and the confessions, they would find that the word of God stands opposed to what the supposed learned men are teaching. The confessions say that justification is forgiveness of sins (Belgic Confession 23). You have unconditional covenant union and unconditional covenant communion in your experience apart from works by God’s sovereign, particular, saving work alone. Your forgiveness of sins is a saving benefit of covenant fellowship by your being one in Jesus Christ, who is the head of the covenant (Jer. 31:31–34).

The office of all believer is denied and rejected in the PRC. When controversy arose in the denomination, we were told that these matters were too deep to understand. “These are some deep theological waters,” wrote Professor Dykstra.⁴ The scholars were the ones who had all the answers. The scholars were the only ones who should be involved. And the common peasants were not to concern themselves with such lofty matters. We were made dependent on the supposed scholars. The one who held the office of all believer, anointed and equipped by the Spirit, who had no learning like the scholars, could not possibly understand the truth of the sacred scriptures. The mother anointed with the Holy Spirit to her holy office was despised. She was labeled as an unruly woman.⁵ The man who exercised his office by writing protests or by merely having conversations about sermons was vilified for his speaking the truth.

Nowhere was this attitude expressed so boldly as on the floor of Synod 2018 when Professor Gritters, in discussing the matter of Psalter revision in relation to the overwhelmingly negative response that had come from the survey to the members of the churches, denigrated the office of all believer as “the squawkings of the people.”

This rejection of the office of all believer carried over to the pages of the Standard Bearer, which is supposed to be a non-denominational magazine devoted to the office of all believer to speak the truth. Articles were censored from being published. Believers’ mouths were shut from confessing the truth and condemning the lie. The pages of that magazine were closed against the office of all believer.

Then a new magazine, Sword and Shield, was started for believers to speak the truth. Consistories railed against it as divisive and warned members to beware of it. Consistories did not trust the discernment of the Spirit and the office of all believer and exercised authority over their congregations that did not belong to them.

We were not told it would be mailed to the members of our congregation…We also intend to request that the publisher immediately remove the members of GPRC from their mailing list.⁶

We did not provide the publishers of this magazine with the addresses of our members nor did they seek the consistory’s approval to mail the magazine to the members of our congregation.⁷

Lately, this rejection of the office of all believer can be found in the recent actions of the PRC regarding Classis East. The May 2023 agenda of Classis East consists of a few hundred pages of material that only the officebearers were allowed to read. Only one page was left available for the common peasants to read. This is not something new either; the censorship and limiting of information has been going on for years already under the guise of the issue being a matter of discipline and love for the brother, when in fact the issue is false doctrine being preached and written publicly.

The Protestant Reformed hierarchy knows how to keep things under lock and key. Only the “scholars” may know what is going on. The office of believer may not read certain magazines or ecclesiastical agendas, may not judge, and may not confess the truth of the word of God over against the lie. I stand amazed that the constituents in the denomination tolerate being beat to a bloody pulp by the ministers, professors, and the assemblies.

That the lie festers in the PRC is judgment upon the denomination from the hand of the Lord for her corruption of the word of God. The PRC long ago denied the right of the believer to speak the truth. The only path remaining for any concerned member is endless protesting and appealing with the hope that maybe the scholars will declare that the protestant has gone through enough hoops. In Rome only the pope could call a council, and in the PRC only the supposed scholars can decide if a protestant may appear at a council and observe or speak to matters that concern him in the church. The ministers and clergy hide behind closed doors and hidden agendas in the hope that the people will lose interest and go away, while the false doctrine and the ones who teach it can never be touched.

The fact is, the people love it this way. “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” (Jer. 5:31). The people are happy to remain in a burning house and to give up their office of all believer. They will not lose one thing for the cause of God, Christ, and his truth. They have turned aside every one to his own way. And every man does that which is right in his own eyes.

In forming the Reformed Protestant Churches, God had his people march around Jericho. And the walls of the Protestant Reformed edifice have come crumbling down in a heap of eternal ruin. God preserves his truth and gives to his people the precious and glorious privilege of confessing the truth and damning the lie, serving the Lord God as a royal priesthood, and fighting the battle of faith, knowing that we have the victory in Christ.

Next time, the Lord willing, I will examine the officebearer par excellence, Jesus Christ, of whose anointing we partake by faith.