The church of Jesus Christ has been engaged in controversy for all of time. In the mother promise of Genesis 3:15, God established and promised this controversy—controversy and war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, between the sufficiency of Christ and the pride of man. This all according to God’s perfect decree.

And so there is always war between the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and the false gospel of salvation by faith and by man’s obedience. Abel, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, David, Paul, Luther, and other saints of all time battled in this controversy. And we are called to battle in this war today. Always God uses this war to gather, bless, and keep his church. Always God teaches in this war that the church’s strength is not in herself, in any institution, or in any man but that the church’s hope is in the Lord Jehovah alone through Jesus Christ.

The PRC’s Controversy

The Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC) were engulfed in this same war from 2015 through 2021.

At stake was the heart of the gospel, justification by faith alone. Is justification, including the experience of justification, by faith alone? Or is justification, including the experience of justification, by faith and the obedience of faith?

At stake was the doctrine of assurance. Is assurance to be found in Christ crucified alone received by faith alone? Or is assurance to be found in Christ crucified and in the workings and doings of man?

At stake was the doctrine of covenant fellowship. Do we have fellowship with God by means of faith alone? Or is fellowship with God by means of a sanctifying, obedient faith—by a faith that exercises itself in obedience?

At stake was the doctrine of faith. Is faith the gift of God whereby the child of God receives Christ and all his benefits by knowing, believing, trusting, and resting in Jesus Christ and his finished work? Or is faith an act of man that man must do in order to be saved?

At stake was the doctrine of the unconditional covenant. Is salvation in its entirety given unconditionally and without prerequisite doings of man? Or are there prerequisites that man must perform—by the grace of God, of course—before man can receive certain blessings of God?

At stake was nothing less than the glory of God, the sufficiency of Christ, and the peace and assurance of God’s people.

At stake is nothing less than the glory of God, the sufficiency of Christ, and the peace and assurance of God’s people.

It has often been said that the doctrinal troubles of the Protestant Reformed Churches are concentrated in Classis East. After all, the controversy came to a head in Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids and spread from there throughout Classis East. It has also been said that, while we have ministers with whom we don’t agree (for example, Reverend Koole and Professor Cammenga), there is a stable of faithful, reliable ministers, particularly in Classis West.

If you would have asked me in 2018–19, “Which ministers will you follow in this controversy?” Rev. Steven Key, Prof. David Engelsma, and Rev. Ronald Hanko would have been at the forefront of my mind. Across the church today you find trust in man. Why does a man stand here or there? Why do I stand here or there? So frequently the answer is, “Because this minister stands here, and I stand with him.”

While much has been written about Professor Engelsma, where do Reverend Key and Reverend Hanko stand today? Can they be followed for leadership in this controversy? Are they fighting against the doctrinal departures of the PRC? Are they merely complacent in it? Or could it be that they are advancing the doctrinal errors of the PRC?

Let’s examine the present teachings of Reverend Key and Reverend Hanko. The purpose is not to simply tear down men. Rather, the purpose is threefold. First, the purpose is to expose false teachings within the church, so that God’s people may discern the truth from the lie and so that God’s people may rest in Christ and his perfect work alone and not in their own workings and doings. Second, the purpose is so that God’s people may not be complacent in retaining membership in churches that openly deny the truth of sola fide and willfully teach assurance and blessing by man’s works and doings. And third, the purpose is to remind us that we ought never to trust in men. We ought not follow a man for a man’s sake. Men who once appeared to defend the truths of sola fide and assurance by faith alone now openly militate against those truths. And men who appear to defend the truth today will openly militate against it in the future.

Rev. Steven Key

On March 6, 2022, Reverend Key preached a sermon on 1 John 2:28.¹ In this sermon Reverend Key defined the call to “abide in Christ” as a call to three things: to hold steadfastly to the gospel, to live in complete dependence upon Christ in faith and hope, and to walk in faithful and loving obedience to God. This was his foundational definition of “abiding in Christ,” and it would continue to plague him in his preaching. In the same sermon Reverend Key went on to say that we have confidence in the last day by our abiding in Christ—which means that we have confidence at the day of judgment by our obedience. 

Rev. Nathan Langerak, in his lecture given in Loveland, Colorado, on April 8, 2022, noted that Reverend Key was teaching that the call to “abide in Christ,” as given in 1 John 2 and John 15, was a call to obedient living. Reverend Langerak pointed out that Reverend Key taught that, while union with Christ makes possible a life of communion with God, communion with God is realized by man’s obedience.²

Reverend Key, in his sermon of April 24, 2022, vehemently objected to what Reverend Langerak had said:

I have pointed out before, in connection with 1 John 2:28, that the idea of abiding in presupposes an existing relationship. I shouldn’t have to expand upon that tonight, but it’s necessary. It’s necessary because my teaching in that sermon on 1 John 2:28 was slanderously misrepresented and falsified a couple weeks ago by Nathan Langerak, and many of you heard that. As I said in that sermon, our union with Christ is the possibility and certainty of our abiding in him. To portray me as teaching that your activity realizes the potentiality, the possibility, that the union with Christ has given you, is such a despicable lie concerning what I taught that God will judge it. As you well know, I’ve never taught that.³

Reverend Key continued,

But in 1 John 2:28, there is a clear distinction between our abiding with Christ, which is by faith alone, and our abiding in him. In order to abide in Christ, to abide in Christ, one must first be in him. To abide in has to do with a union, therefore, between us and Christ that has already been established by the power of God’s grace and which cannot be dissolved. God has done that. God has established that union between us and Christ, unbreakable union. That unbreakable union is established by faith alone.

What is it now to live in that union? Abiding in Christ has to do with our conscious participation in that fellowship that is ours with him and therefore with God our Father. And that’s evident from the fact that in chapter 2:28 the call to “abide in him”—that’s an admonition or an exhortation—the call to “abide in him” is a verb form of a present active imperative. Yes, that call to “abide in him” is a call to activity—something which appears to be anathema to those who have left us. God by his Holy Spirit efficaciously calls us to the activity of faith and the fruits of faith—which not only keep us from wounding our own consciences and losing the sense of God’s favor, but more positively, by which our faith is strengthened and confirmed by those fruits as—which show it’s a genuine faith, so that we know the fullness of the joy that is ours living in God’s fellowship.

Let’s set aside the incoherence of this “clear distinction” between our “abiding with Christ” and our “abiding in Christ.” Let’s set aside Reverend Key’s open slander of us that we believe all calls to activity are “anathema.”

Note well what Reverend Key taught in the sermon:

• The fruits of faith, which are good works, keep us from wounding our own consciences.
• The fruits of faith, which are good works, keep us from losing the sense of God’s favor.
• The fruits of faith, which are good works, strengthen our faith.
• The fruits of faith, which are good works, confirm our faith so that we can know the fullness of joy.

Let’s be clear on the truth of these matters:

• Good works do not keep us from wounding our own consciences. That is the role of faith—faith alone! (Belgic Confession 22; Heidelberg Catechism, LD 23)
• While our impenitent sins can remove us from the sense of God’s favor, it is not our works that keep us from losing the sense of God’s favor. That is the role of faith—faith alone! (Rom. 5:1)
• Good works do not strengthen our faith. That is the role of the Holy Spirit, who works and strengthens our faith by the preaching of the gospel. (Heidelberg Catechism, LD 25, Q&A 65)
• Good works do not confirm our faith so that we can know the fullness of joy. We have the fullness of joy by faith alone! By faith without works! (Rom. 5:11; 15:13)

Reverend Key continued:

As such, therefore, abiding in Christ—that is, conscious participation in his fellowship by faith—is to hold steadfastly to his gospel, to live in complete dependence upon him in faith and hope, and to walk in faithful and loving obedience to him. That’s our life as Christians—as partakers of Christ and his benefits. And that’s in harmony with the last part of James chapter 2. It is this abiding in Christ that establishes with certainty our being partakers of his grace, his strength, his life—the life of him in whom is no sin.

Reverend Key continued to insist that abiding in Christ is obedience, and in the above quotation he expounded that teaching:

• He taught that abiding in Christ (which is to walk in obedience) establishes with certainty our being partakers of his grace.
• He taught that abiding in Christ (which is to walk in obedience) establishes with certainty our being partakers of his strength.
• He taught that abiding in Christ (which is to walk in obedience) establishes with certainty our being partakers of Christ’s life.

Reverend Key had said just six minutes earlier that God would judge Reverend Langerak for what he said in his lecture: that Reverend Key espoused a teaching that man’s activities of faith and obedience realized the possibility that the union with Christ established. Yet Reverend Key, mere minutes later, precisely taught the theology for which Reverend Langerak called him out, and Reverend Key did so in explicit terms! What he taught in the sermon was the complete opposite of the truth, which is that Christ’s grace, Christ’s strength, and Christ’s life establish with certainty our obedience.

Shockingly, it gets even worse. Reverend Key continued,

And so he calls us to “abide in Christ.” And he shows us that abiding in Christ is the way in which we enjoy peace, the way of overcoming sin in this constant battle that is ours, so there is found in our lives the expression of thankfulness. Our expressed thankfulness is found in how we live. For we who are righteous do righteousness. One is righteous, of course, when he is found in Christ. That righteousness is imputed to us by God. That righteousness is our state of justification. But the text also speaks of doing righteousness. And moreover, it places that first in the wording of the text. We mustn’t be afraid of that. That’s because when God justifies us in Christ, he also makes us righteous as to our spiritual, ethical condition, as to the way we live. For only when we do righteousness can we know that our faith, the faith by which alone we are justified, is real. It’s only in the way of holiness that we see God, that we enjoy his fellowship, that we know that we are righteous—and that not because of works but because of the evidence of the life of Christ coming to expression in our own walk of repentance and faith.

How does one know that he is righteous? The word of God and the Reformed faith shout, “By faith alone in Jesus Christ alone—apart from our works!” But Reverend Key answered differently: “Because of the evidence of the life of Christ coming to expression in our own walk of repentance and faith.”

For justification, for righteousness, where should we look? The word of God and the Reformed faith shout, “To Jesus Christ alone, apart from any of our works!” But Reverend Key answered differently: for justification, to know that we are righteous before God, we should look down at ourselves and at our walk.

Further, for Reverend Key we can only know that we are righteous, we can only be justified, “when we do righteousness.” The Belgic Confession utterly condemns this theology of Reverend Key in article 24 when it states, “For it is by faith in Christ that we are justified, even before we do good works” (Confessions and Church Order, 53).

Rev. Ronald Hanko

Reverend Hanko published a paper on April 18, 2022, in which he attempted to defend the PRC and the PRC’s use of the phrase in the way of. He defined his purpose:

My purpose in this paper is to discuss the whole idea of conditions, the phrase “in the way of,” and to write out what has helped me to a better understanding of the issues. I hope to show that the phrase, “in the way of” is not necessarily conditional and a denial of gracious salvation, but instead a proper and useful expression of the relation between works and grace. I want to show that the Protestant Reformed Churches have not become guilty of conditionalism in recent years. Especially I want to focus on the Reformed doctrine of means, which, I believe, provides clarity to the discussion, especially to the relationship between good works and grace.⁴

So here we have yet another article on the phrase in the way of, an article on in the way of that disagrees with so many of the other Protestant Reformed teachings on in the way of. In a recent Sword and Shield, Rev. Nathan Langerak described the use of the term in the way of by a Protestant Reformed professor this way: “In the way of rarely means in the way of. The phrase means precedes, prior to, way unto, or simultaneous with, depending on the context.”⁵ Yet Reverend Langerak missed a major meaning of the phrase, one that Reverend Hanko clearly defined. For Reverend Hanko what is a proper definition of in the way of ? He stated,

My point, then, is (1) that the phrase “in the way of” has been, can be and ought to be used in terms of “means” and their importance in God’s dealings with us and in our relationship to Him; (2) that the use of the phrase “in the way of” and the use of language which says that God’s work in some respects follows upon and is a consequence of our actions is not in itself conditional; and, (3) that much of which has come under criticism and charges of heresy is to be explained by the Reformed and Biblical doctrine of means.

Reverend Hanko began his paper by stating,

There is a great deal of discussion concerning conditions and persistent accusations made of “conditional theology.” Much of this focuses on the phrase, “in the way of,” and on the relationship between obedience and blessing, especially the blessing of assurance.

So what is the subject at hand? In the way of and the relationship between obedience and blessing and especially the relationship between obedience and the blessing of assurance. How did Reverend Hanko explain these things?

Good works, holiness, piety, godliness, obedience are the means God uses to give assurance…God uses them [good works] to give assurance.

Here the Protestant Reformed Churches are seven years into a controversy largely about assurance of salvation and in the way of. And here comes the conclusion of the matter by a senior, leading minister of the PRC: assurance of salvation is by means of works. Thus the meaning of in the way of. Assurance by means of piety. Assurance by means of obedience. One might expect to read such things from Herman Witsius, Joel Beeke, and Mark Jones; but it is shocking to read this in the boldest form from Reverend Hanko.

He openly contradicts decisions of Synod 2018. For Synod 2018 stated,

If we are truly justified by faith in Christ alone, then true faith cannot look to its works to help find or maintain the assurance that is found in Christ alone. (Acts of Synod 2018, 69)

The experience and assurance of justification in one’s consciousness is justification, and justification is by faith alone in Christ alone (L.D. 23; B.C., Art. 23). Good works have a proper place and function in the Christian life but they do not function as helps for finding and maintaining assurance of our justification. (Acts of Synod 2018, 69)

In these statements [of Rev. David Overway, which were condemned by Synod 2018] good works are no longer fruits and are no longer the way of grateful conduct in the experience of fellowship with God, but good works are performed to obtain something, or good works function as an instrument/means for the reception of something, or good works become part of the way unto the experience of covenant fellowship. (Acts of Synod 2018, 75)

Synod 2018 stated that the function of good works is not to give assurance of salvation. Synod 2018 taught that good works may not function as a means for the reception of any of God’s blessings. Reverend Hanko teaches the dead opposite.

Neither is this teaching the only troubling doctrinal issue in Reverend Hanko’s paper. Here is another statement:

Nevertheless, it is not conditionalism or a denial of God’s sovereignty in salvation to use the phrase, “in the way of,” nor to teach that God’s work of grace in some respects follows upon men’s actions and is a consequence of those actions.

Note here his definition of in the way of is that God’s work of grace “follows upon” and is “a consequence of” man’s actions.

Here is another statement: “Assurance follows upon holiness and is ‘in the way of holiness.’”

He even advocated that it can be acceptable to say, “The imputation of the righteousness of Christ, follows upon and is a consequence of believing.”

Instead of those statements of false doctrine, here is the truth regarding these subjects:

• Assurance does not follow upon holy living. Rather, assurance is the source of holy living. (Eph. 2:8–10; Canons 5.12)
• God’s work of grace is never a consequence of man’s actions. God’s work of grace never follows upon man’s actions. Rather, our actions are always the fruit of the work of God’s grace in and through us. (John 15:1–5)
• The imputation of righteousness is not a consequence of believing. Rather, the imputation of righteousness (justification) is received by means of faith, that is, by the instrument of faith (believing). (Belgic Confession 22–23; Heidelberg Catechism, LD 23)

Trust Not in Men

Reverend Key and Reverend Hanko are openly militating against the word of God, the confessions, and Synod 2018. They teach that man receives some of the blessings of salvation experientially and subjectively by works. They teach that good works and obedience are the means God uses to give the fullness of joy, assurance, and peace with God. They teach that there is no full assurance, no fullness of joy, no perfect peace, and no full experience of salvation until man first obeys and works.

The truth is that we receive the entirety of salvation by faith in Christ alone and not by works. When it comes to our receiving from God, receiving Christ and every single benefit of salvation, it is by means of faith alone, by faith apart from works. Salvation is freely merited and accomplished by the finished work of Jesus Christ, and salvation is freely given and applied to us subjectively and experientially by faith alone, apart from our works.

The Protestant Reformed Churches can no longer even attempt to claim with a straight face that they teach assurance by faith alone. Their senior, leading ministers deny and contradict that doctrine in the boldest forms. Reverend Hanko and Reverend Key make this plain. You cannot have assurance by faith alone and assurance by works. That is a blatant contradiction. And the ramification of their teachings is deadly serious. When men teach that assurance is by the obedience, good works, and doings of man, they are openly assaulting the doctrine of justification by faith alone. When congregations believe what the ministers preach—that assurance is by means of one’s obedience, walk, and good works—then the congregation’s peace and comfort and hope is not in Jesus Christ and his perfect work but in themselves and their own miserable and sinful works.

Reverend Key and Reverend Hanko are not to be followed in this controversy. They are teaching boldly the very worst of the doctrine of Reverend Overway and the authors of the heretical doctrinal statement of the special committee of Classis East,⁶ and they are doing this clearly and repeatedly. In fact, for ministers to preach and teach this way at this juncture in the controversy clearly demonstrates that the PRC are now running in the false doctrine and doctrinal errors that were condemned by Synod 2018.

Further, senior ministers now explain publicly and clearly that they believe that in the way of obedience refers to the teaching that obedience and good works are the means by which God blesses us with assurance and the fullness of joy. This is openly opposed to the teaching of the confessions and Synod 2018, and it is an open attack on justification by faith alone. This is yet another example of false doctrine and open assaults on justification by faith alone being cloaked under the guise of in the way of.

Let us not trust in any men for our guidance and direction in this controversy or in any other controversy. Our hope is not in men. Our hope is not in John Calvin, Martin Luther, or Herman Hoeksema. Our hope is certainly not in Reverends Langerak, Lanning, and VanderWal. Oh, how we love those who preach the gospel of peace! Oh, how we are thankful for men God gave to us to declare and defend his truth! Oh, how we pray for more men to preach to us the gospel of peace! But may our hope never be in men themselves, and may we never follow their mere persons.

Our hope is in the living God—the Lord Jehovah of hosts. Our hope is in the ascended Christ—the servant of the Lord, who fully accomplished our salvation.

Let us look to our God and his written word alone for our direction and strength in our controversies. For men fail. All men fade and die. Men succumb to false doctrine and sin. But the word of the Lord abides forever. The Lord keeps truth forever. Through the perfect work of his only begotten Son, the Lord established perfect righteousness for all those who hope in the Lord. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help.

Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God: which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever: which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners: the Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous: the Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.—Psalm 146:5–9