For the Cause of the Son of God

3 February 2011 by Wes Bredenhof

Though often decried as an inward looking church document, Dr. Bredenhof proves clearly, both from internal evidence and contemporary sources, that this confession by Guido de Brès was written as a ‘martyr’ document in the double sense of the word. In the first place, it is a clear missionary witness (martyria) to those who needed the pure light of the gospel of grace; besides that, conceived in a time of much persecution, the author himself became a martyr and died by hanging because he preached the simple Word of God.  Very soon after its publication, this pamphlet in 37 articles was embraced by many believers in the Low Countries and adopted as the confession of all Reformed churches in that region. Their leaders had a clear vision of their mission task for the sixteenth-century world around them: to spread the gospel.  As a retired missionary of those churches, I do hope and pray that this profound study of their oldest Reformed confession may serve to refocus the mission vision of our churches for a biblical witness of the pure gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ to our twenty first-century needy world.

–Dr. Frans L. Schalkwijk, author of The Reformed Church in Dutch Brazil (1630-1654)

For the Cause of the Son of God is scheduled to be published by Reformation Media & Press early in 2011.