R. B. Kuiper on Synodical Pronouncements
“Of late it has become customary in Christian Reformed circles to speak of Synodical interpretations of the Confessions, and these interpretations are regarded binding on the members of the church in the same degree as the Confessions themselves. I am afraid that we are on a dangerous road. If we continue to travel it, we shall get line upon line, precept upon precept. Let us not say, for example, that Synod of Kalamazoo in the matter of common grace added an interpretation to the Confessions, but rather that it merely pointed out that certain brethren had contradicted the Confessions. On page 44 of his Reformed Pharisaism? the Reverend K. Schilder boasts that, while some Presbyterian churches of Scotland and America have added interpretations to their Confessions, the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands have consistently refused to do this. Let us play safe by following the example of our Dutch mother!” As To Being Reformed (1926), 68-69
