   The
STANDARD
c BEARER
    A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE
                        .~.__ ~-- - --    _

             __----




    God has not only saved us from our sins
 in Christ so that we have the right to enter
 heaven, but He saved us in Christ that
 eternally we might express our gratitude to
 Him for that salvation. Make no mistake
 about it  - where no gratitude is, there is
 also no experience of the saving grace of
 God. Being rooted and built up in Christ,
 must produce this fruit in our lives.
    In thanksgiving abounding!
    And that" means that we are so full of
 gratitude that it runs over, it cannot be
 suppressed.
             See "Walking In Christ" - page 458



                                          Volume LIII, No. 20, September 1, 1977-
                                                    ISSN 0362-4692


458                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                  Semf-monthlv.   exceot monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                   `Published  b;the  Rkformed  Free Publishing Association, Inc.
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                                                                              Editor-in-chief:.  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
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                                                                              Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
M e d i t a t i o n   -                                                       Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. M. Hoeksema,. Rev.
                                                                              George C. Lubbers, Rev. Meindert Joostens, Rev. Marinus  Schlpper,
   Walking In Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .458         Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Kenneth G. Vink.
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MEDITA TIO N




                                              Walking In Christ
                                                                  Rev. M. Schipper


             "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built
             up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with
             thanksgiving.  " Colossians  2~6, 7.


   Here is an exhortation directed to the Church of                            Epaphras and Archippus, fellow-servants of the
Colosse,  which  along with the Church in Laodicea                             apostle.
were churches in Asia Minor. Neither  nf them  harl                                Through these fellowservants Paul had learned of
been established through the mission activity of the                           the peculiar circumstances prevailing in these
Apostle Paul, but most likely through the labors of                            churches, which became the occasion for him to write


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   459



the letter to Colosse, which must also be read in                  He is Christ, the anointed of God. Anointed was
Laodicea.                                                        He in a two-fold sense: officially He was appointed to
      First of all, the apostle had learned of their faith in    be their Saviour, but this official appointment also
the Lord Jesus and love which they had to all the                includes the fact that He was qualified in every sense
saints. But, secondly, he had also learned how these             of the word to be their Saviour. As the Christ, the
churches had been threatened by the Jews who                     anointed of God, He was able to represent them with
always were seeking to destroy the church by leading             the Father, first of all, as their Prophet, to instruct
the church back into Judaism. Also he had learned of             them in the things of God, and to make known to
the doctrine of angels, introduced into the church               them the whole counsel of God concerning their sal-
along with their worship of them: their claim being              vation. As the Christ, the anointed of God, He was
that angels were present at and assisted in the work of          able to represent them with the Father as their Priest,
creation, and therefore should be worshipped by the              to bring for them the perfect sacrifice of atonement
church.                                                          that could satisfy the just demands of God's justice,
      Paul's great concern for the churches is expressed         and intercede for them with the Father as their
                                                                 Paraclete, and to give them the promise of the Holy
in the first part of our chapter. He would have them
established more perfectly in the knowledge of the               Spirit. As Christ, the anointed of God, He was able to
mystery of God, which is the whole plan of salvation             represent them before the Father as their King. He is
                                                                 appointed and qualified to rule over them, and to
as it is realized in and through Christ. He would have
them come to the full assurance of understanding. He             defend and deliver them from all their enemies.
is aware of the destructive attitudes of unbelief and              He is Jesus, which means He is Jehovah-salvation.
doubt. If the full assurance of understanding is                 He is that precisely as Christ. He is ordained to be
missing, the church will also miss her real comfort,             their Saviour from sin and death, and to give them all
joy in the God of her salvation, power to fulfill their          the blessings of salvation, eternal life, righteousness,
calling in the world, and there will be no hope and no           holiness, love, grace, mercy, and peace.
thanksgiving. The church must come to the full                     He is Lord. As their Lord they had been taught to
assurance of understanding to taste personally the               know Him through the gospel. As such also they had
love of God in Christ. Moreover, the apostle is also             received Him, knowing consciously that He had made
concerned that the bond of mutual love be strength-              them His possession, and therefore they are His ser-
ened and exercised. In the measure the church comes              vants with body and soul, in life and in death. So it is
to the knowledge of the mystery and full assurance of            their delight to hear and to keep His Word, and to do
understanding, also the bond of mutual love will be              His will.
strengthened. When the church, as was the case here,
is threatened with false doctrine, there is the                    As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the
tendency to pull the church apart. She must be there-            Lord,
fore molded together and strengthened in the bond of              SowalkyeinHim!
mutual love.                                                       The walk here, as so often in Scripture, embraces
      In the light of this situation are we to understand        their entire active life in the world. It includes the life
the exhortation in our text.                                     of the body as it is realized externally when they
      As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the             come into contact with the world; but it includes that
Lord, so walk ye in Him.                                         life also as it is motivated and activated internally
                                                                 through the life of the soul, and that too in their.
      They had received Christ Jesus the Lord. They              thinking, willing, and desiring.
received Him precisely as He had been presented to                 Accordingly, too, that walk is their life as they live
them through the preaching of the gospel. They came              it in all the relationships of life, in the home, the
into contact with Him through the preaching. As they             church, the state. It includes their religious life, their
were taught (vs.  7), so they embraced the  Christ of            social life, their life as they live it in relation to
the Scriptures. As Christ was preached and they were             economics, industry, business, education, etc. In one
taught, so they had received Him. The emphasis falls             word, their walk includes all the departments of life,
not so much on their activity of faith, but on the               nothing excluded.
wonder and power of revelation and teaching. Christ
was so presented that they actually saw Him and                    In all these relationships of life the church is ex-
knew Him. So carefully were they taught that they                horted to walk in the sphere of Christ. That is, their
understood Him, and accepted Him for Who and                     inmost life must be motivated by Christ as they had
What He is.                                                      received Him by His Spirit; while their outward life
                                                                 must be governed by His Word of truth as it had been
      Noteworthy here is the fumess of names whereby             set forth in the preaching. Christ they had received;
the Saviour is described.
 _                                                               and as they had been taught, so they are to live in the


      460                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


     midst of the world. Christ must be seen in them as                 These three, rooted, built up, and established by
     they enter into the world in all its departments, That
.                                                                    faith in Christ, are indispensable requisites for
     is the meaning of the exhortation itself.                       walking in the sphere of Christ. Again, we emphasize,
        Shall the church be able to walk in Christ's sphere,         the apostle does not exhort the church to be rooted,
     it is absolutely indispensable that the believing church        built up in Christ, and to be established by faith; but
     be rooted and built up in Him.                                  he informs the church that this is what has happened
                                                                     to her. So also she had received the knowledge of the
        Here the apostle speaks `in figurative terms. Being          truth as.it is in Christ. On this grounds must she also
     rooted in Christ reminds us of a tree that is firmly            understand her calling to walk in Christ's sphere.
     planted in the soil out of which it draws to itself all
     the life-giving energy which the soil possesses. So be-            The last part of the text describes the manifesta-
     lievers are rooted in and can never be separated from           tion of their walk.
     Christ. The grammar used here suggests this idea.                  Abounding in thanksgiving!
     They are not exhorted to be rooted in Christ, but the              From the principle of gratitude in their hearts they
     text speaks the fact that they  are  rooted in Him.            must conduct their wholelife in the world.
     However, before their deepest consciousness they
     must also sense this if they are to walk as believers in           This is not only the fruit of their salvation in
     the world. The having been rooted in Christ also                Christ, but also  .the end purpose. God has not only
     denotes that the source of all their life is Christ. As         saved us from our sins in Christ so that we have the
     `the tree draws its life-sap from the soil, so believers by    right to enter heaven, but He saved us in Christ that
a living faith draw all their spiritual life and blessings          eternally we might express our gratitude to Him for
     out of Christ. Without Him they are nothing, and can           that salvation. Make no mistake about it - where no
     do nothing.                                                    gratitude is, there is also no experience of the saving
                                                                    grace of God. Being rooted and built up in Christ
     To this the apostle adds, being built up in Him.               must produce this fruit in our lives.
     Believers in Scripture are often set forth as a building,
     established on the ,foundation which is Christ, or the             In thanksgiving abounding!
     doctrine concerning Christ. Also here the apostle uses            And that means that we are so full of gratitude
     figurative language. The figure changes from that of a         that it runs over, it cannot be suppressed.
     tree into that of a building. Not only must the church            The Heidelberg Catechism sensed the importance
     be rooted in Christ, but also built up in Him. The             of this when it asks the question: What is necessary
     foundation as laid by the preaching is Christ alone,           for us to know that we may enjoy the only comfort
     the truths set forth in the preaching of Epaphras and          in life and in death? The answer is: Three things: that
     Archippus. The apostle Peter speaks of the believers           I may know how great my sins and miseries are, that I
     as living stones which make up the edifice of the              may know how I am delivered from all my sins and
     house of God. Here the apostle Paul does not view              miseries, that I may know how I shall show my grati-
     them so much as the material of which the house of             tude for such deliverance.
     God is built, but he stresses the point that the be-
     lievers as they are rooted in Christ must also develop            So also here the apostle stresses the point. If you
     and be built up in the knowledge of the truth as set           have received Christ Jesus the Lord as you have been
     forth in the preaching. They grow and are built up as          taught through the preaching of the gospel, that is,
     they increase in the knowledge of the truth as it is in        you have received Him as your Lord and Saviour Who
     Christ.                                                        was appointed and qualified to redeem you; if you
                                                                    are rooted and built up in Him and stablished by your
       And to this the apostle adds, "and established by            faith; then it must follow that you walk in His sphere,
     the faith. "                                                   and your whole life in the world will be one great
       Not  in  the faith, as the translation has it, but  by       expression of thanksgiving to God.
     the faith. As the translation would have it, the faith is         And how shall this thanksgiving be expressed?
     the sphere in which the believers are established. But            Merely with a volume of words? 0, to be sure, the
     the apostle already indicated that Christ is that              mouth cannot refrain from speaking of that which
     sphere, not faith. Faith, rather, is the instrument by         .fills the heart.
which they are established. They must be stablished,
lest they be driven to and fro by all kinds of winds of                But there is more. Thanksgiving is not merely a
     doctrine and false philosophy. They had been taught            matter of the movementof our lips; it is evidenced in
     that they are rooted and built up and stablished by            the entire walk which is rendered in service to and
the faith of Christ. Shall they be established, it is               praise of the God of our salvation.
most important therefore to give heed to what they                     As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so
     are taught.                                                    walk ye in Him, always abounding in thanksgiving!


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                            461


EDITORIALS



                              \;trho Were the Marrowmen?
                                              Prof H.C Hoeksema

  In the previous installment on this subject we         that the terms of that book do not teach a univer-
began to quote the account of the Marrow con-            sality of redemption as to purchase. Of the many
troversy furnished in the booklet  Universalism  And     references in Free Church literature which support
The  Reformed Churches,  published by the Evan-          the Marrow, the most extensive is. given in John
gelical Presbyterian Church of Australia. We learned:    McLeod's `Scottish Theology' in which he over-
1) That the Marrow controversy began concerning a        simplifies the controversy by treating it as one in-
book called "The Marrow of Modern Divinity,"             volving a misunderstanding about the meaning of
written in 164549 by an obscure English writer,          terms.
Edward Fisher. 2) This work very crassly maintained        "The whole difference between the positions of
(and statements were quoted to prove this) the error     the Church of Scotland and the Westminster
of universal atonement. 3) During the second decade      Assembly in this matter, relative to the formularies of
of the  17OOs, this book found its way into the          the latter, as we have already shown, was that the
Church of Scotland (which had the Westminster            Westminster Assembly on the one hand, did not
creeds as its standards); and it was supported and       specifically exclude a conditional intention in the
promoted especially by a group of twelve ministers,      redemption purchased by Christ, whereas, the Church
among whom some of the better known names were           of Scotland on the other hand, in its application of
Thomas Boston and Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine.            the formularies, excluded it. Unless this difference is
These men became known in church history as the          understood, the proper significance of the Acts of the
"Marrowmen." 4) In 1720 the General Assembly of          Church of Scotland Assembly in  .1720 and 1722
the Church of Scotland officially condemned' the         cannot be realized.
book on various grounds, among them its teaching of
universal atonement and pardon. And in 1722 the            "It is significant that the Assembly of the Church
General Assembly solemnly rebuked the twelve men         of Scotland relied on these Acts when it. deposed
who supported the book and who had sought to have        John Macleod Campbell in 1831 for preaching doc-
the decision of 1720 repealed. In 1722 no dis-           trines similar  I to the Amyraldian system. Macleod
ciplinary action beyond admonition and rebuke was        Campbell's defence was largely comprised of an
taken, however. The result was that the Marrowmen        attempt to prove the 1720.and 1722 Acts invalid by
continued to hold their views and to propagate them,     virtue of the fact that they had not been subjected to
and eventually this was one of the factors which led     the Barrier Act of 1697 which requires `that before
to the deposition of Ebenezer Erskine and the orig-      any General Assembly of this Church shall pass any
ination of the secession of 1734. We mention this        acts which are binding rules and constitutions to the
now because in the subsequent account mention is         Church, the same acts be first proposed as overtures
made of the "Associate Presbytery of the Seceders        to the Assembly, and being by them passed as such,
from the Church of Scotland."                            be remitted to the considerations of the several
                                                         Presbyteries of this Church, and their opinions and
  Now we continue quoting the account of this his-       consent to be reported by their Commissioners to the
tory   from  Universalism And The Reformed Churches.     next General Assembly following, who may then pass
We interrupted it last month at the point at which it    the same in Acts, if the more general opinion of the
mentioned the decisions of 1720 and 1722.                Church thus had agreed thereunto.' Since the
  "From the day of their enactment to the present,       Assembly in its Acts of 1720 and 1722 had not
these Acts (of 1720 and 1722, HCH) have been             altered the doctrine of the Church, but had simply
assailed by every shade of theological opinion, from     declared it, as it was then held, there was no case to
liberal to evangelical fundamentalism, either on the     pass down to Presbyteries, in terms of the Barrier
ground that the Westminster. Confession and Cate-        Act. The submission of Macleod Campbell thus failed.
chisms do not specifically condemn the doctrine of       Had he been successful in this defence, Amyraldian-
the book of the Marrow, or on the specious ground,,      ism could not have been excluded under the  Con-


 462                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


fessional Standards of the Church of Scotland by                "The doctrinal manifesto of the Associate Pres-
such means.                                                  bytery of the Seceders from the Church of Scotland
   "The Westminster Confession, chapter and sec-             in 1742 stated the following impossible con-
tions, 3:6 and 8:8, and the larger Catechism No. 5'9,        tradictions:  -
which are relative to this controversy, are positive            1. `No such doctrine as universal redemption as to
statements of the Scripture doctrine concerning the          purchase is taught in the Marrow.' (Note: Turn back
application of the redemption purchased by Christ. In        to the statements quoted from the Marrow in the
no sense do they have a negative reference.                  August 1 issue. HCH)
   "Chapter 3 section 6, `Of God's Eternal Decree' in           2. `That God the Father  - His making a deed of
part reads as follows: -                                     gift and grant unto all mankind . . . does not infer a
   " `Wherefore they who are elected being fallen in         universal redemption as to purchase.`. The Marrow
Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called         theology is thus committed to the following
unto faith in Christ by His Spirit working in due sea-       ambiguities : -
son; are adopted, sanctified, and kept by His power             1. `Christ has taken upon Him the sins of all men'
through faith unto salvation. Neither are any other          and being a `deed of gift and grant unto all mankind'
redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified,           is not a universal purchase of the death of Christ,
adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only.'         therefore it logically follows that -
   "These statements  ,from the Westminster  formu-            2. The said deed of gift and grant of Christ to all
laries are exclusive, if taken `a priori' in the absolute    mankind is effective only to the elect, i.e., an in-
sense that redemption has no other reference than to         fallible redemption gifted to all secures only a portion
the elect. William Cunningham in his `Historical             of its objects.
Theology' (Vol. 2 pages 326/7 Banner of Truth) takes           3. `A deed of gift and grant to all is only an offer'.
this position, and we agree. However, unless the             In other words Christ is gifted to all, without that He
courts of the Church declare that position, there is no      died for them.
authority which is particularistic apart from private
opinion. (Note: It seems to me that this is true only.         4. Since the gift of Christ to all is not a benefit
in the sense that the Westminster Confession does            purchased by the atonement, the substance of the
not have a Rejection of Errors, as do our Canons of          free'offer to the gospel, does not consist of Christ as
Dordrecht. Certainly, the last sentence in the quota-        redeemer, but only as a friend.
tion from Chapter 3, section 6 is just as exclusive as is      "Thus it was the Marrowmen in the first half of the
Canons II, 8: redemption is of the elect, and of them        eighteenth century who first injected into the stream
only. HCH)                                                   of Scottish theology the ambiguous and contra-
   "In view of the debate in the Assembly, the               dictory system which has been the subtle vehicle or
manner in which the formularies were applied in              Trojan horse which for two hundred and fifty years
England, the argument of the Schools of Davenant             has worked to the downfall of the Calvinism of
and Amyraut, and the ambiguous system of modified            Presbyterian and Reformed Churches throughout the
Calvinists since the beginning of the eighteenth             world.
century, the question of the application of the West-          "Modem modified Calvinism (What is meant is the
minster formularies in respect to the doctrine of            kind of Calvinism which holds to a general,  well-
universal redemption as to purchase, and the terms of        meant offer of salvation. HCH) is but a refinement of
the Marrow, can only be decided by a Declaratory             the same system. Like the  Marrowmen, as demon-
Act of the Church. Herein lies the proper application        strated hereafter, it presents the gospel in univer-
.of the Acts of the Assembly of the Church of Scot-          sal&tic terms by the introduction of a system of in-
land in 1720 and 1722.                                       terpretation of Scripture which brings in a doctrine of
  "The Marrowmen, like their modern counterparts,            divine precepts and decrees, which not only per-
attempted to hold to the particularism of Calvinism          petuates the errors of the Marrow, but extends the
and at the same time preach the gospel in the uni-           ambiguities and contradictions of that system."
versal&tic terms of the Marrow. They therefore                 We agree.
reinterpreted the terms of the book from that of its           And in conclusion, we wish to point out:
original context within the School of Davenant, and
declared against the obvious, that it did not have             1. That to appeal to the Marrowmen for support is
reference to universal redemption. Boston took upon          to appeal to heretics.
himself such an exercise, when under an assumed                2. That the Marrowmen were faced by the
name, to hide his identity, he issued an edited version      dilemma of embracing the doctrine of the Marrow,
in 1726.                                                     i.e., universal redemption as to purchase (universal


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                463


atonement, in other words) or of being left without                 that atonement `is particular, not general. Hence,.
an objective basis for the  .general,  well-meant offer             there cannot  -possibly  be a warrant or right for  all
which they wanted to teach. In other words, they                    sinners to come to Christ.
confronted the problem which every offer-adherent                     4. That a universal call of the gospel is not the
faces: how can God offer to all sinners what He does                same as a universal offer. The former includes the
not have, namely, salvation for all?                                command to repent and believe. This command cer:
  3. That the Marrowmen's doctrine that the only                    tainly implies a must; but it does not imply a may, or
warrant or ground which sinners have to come to                     a right or warrant. This command, along with the
Christ is the universal, well-meant offer of the gospel             particular promise that whosoever believeth in Christ
is not Reformed. It must be remembered that to                      crucified shall be saved, is what Canons II, 5 speaks
come to Christ and to repent and believe - all this is              about.
itself a gift of salvation. But all the gifts of salvation            5. That to deny a universal offer is not  hyper-
were merited for us by Christ in  His atoning death.                Calvinism. To deny the promiscuous proclamation of
The only warrant, or right, for a sinner to come to                 a particular promise is indeed hyper-Calvinistic.
Christ, therefore, lies in the atonement of Christ. But

                             "Our Song of Hope" - A Critique
                                                              (3

  We have already noted that this provisional con-                  who study `Our Song of Hope' to locate in those
fession of the Reformed Church in America is                        older documents ( the ancient Creeds and the Three
admittedly vague and ambiguous, and therefore sub-                  Forms of Unity, HCH) the articles which bear
ject to various interpretations. We have noted, too,                especial relationship to the stanzas of `Our Song.' "
that this provisional creed is deliberately broad and               This index, of course, will make it simple to compare
ecumenical: it is not designed to distinguish the RCA               the proposed new creed' with the Three Forms of
as Reformed, but purposely designed to be "catholic"                Unity. But in this section it is also made plain that
and "evangelical" (p. 3), and to be such that it "will              "Our Song of Hope" deliberately diverges from the
not separate the Reformed Church in America from                    Three Forms of Unity. On page 87 we find the
other denominations, but on the contrary will serve                 following:
to help people learn from each other's traditions and
promote unity in Christ," (pp. 1,2). It is plain to see                       On the other hand,  "Our Song of Hope"  will be
that in this document the RCA deliberately purposes                     seen to develop three aspects of  the Reformed tradi-
                                                                        tion quite differently from the Standards. One set, of
to be all things to all men and all churches. Reading                   issues relates to Article 36 of the Belgic Confession.
the document can only convince one that the RCA                         The changes which have occurred in church-state
has indeed succeeded in this purpose, but thereby has                   relationships during the last four hundred years have
lost every vestige of being distinctively Reformed,                     been such as to require us to say today whether and
and thus has become terribly offensive to the truly                    how we now see the activity of the Spirit of God in
Reformed believer. Moreover, refuge cannot be                           our world.
sought in the fact that this new creed is only an addi-                       "Our Song of Hope" has also given much attention
tional  creed and that the old Three Forms of Unity                     to the use of the words "election" and  "righteous-
remain in effect. For it is the avowed purpose of                      .ness" in the Old Testament. As a result, one can feel
"Our Song of Hope" to displace the old creeds: it                       considerable tension between "Our Song" and the
"will be used in public worship, in religious education,                Canons of Dort in the understanding of "election"
and in re-affirming the traditional faith in  the                       and between "Our Song" and the Heidelberg
contemporary situation." In other words, this new                       Catechism in the use of the word "righteousness." In
creed will be the creed that is in use in the RCA,                     regard to these words, one soon is involved in com-
which will be the medium for the education of new                      plex issues and is forced to do careful exegetical
members on the mission field as well as the education                  study of the Scriptures. We mention these tensions
of the church's coming generations, while the Three                    here in hope that many persons  will take the time to
                                                                       study the Scriptures carefully in order that before
Forms of Unity will become museum pieces.                              "Our Song of Hope" is submitted for  final vote, we
  However, -this is not the worst! That is reserved for                may be more certain of the full teaching of Scripture
Appendix B, pp. 86-90. This is a section entitled                      and of our relationships to our fathers in the faith.
"References to Creeds and Confessions." In this                       Now it is not our intention at this point to enter
section one finds an "index which will help those                   into these differences in detail. We call attention to


464                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


these paragraphs in order to point out that it simply      revision in the church's creeds? No gravamen! No
is not true that "Our Song" is only a re-affirmation in    open overture for revision! Adopt a new creed which
contemporary language of the traditional faith.            is alleged to be only in addition to the existing creeds
Admittedly "Our Song" develops "three aspects of           and which is alleged to be a contemporary re-
the Reformed tradition  quite differently from the         affirmation of the traditional faith. But cut the heart
Statidards.  " (italics added) Now we will leave out of    out of the Heidelberg Catechism by re-defining a key
consideration the rather complicated matter of             concept like "righteousness," and cut the heart out of
Article 36 of the Belgic Confession  - although the        the Canons of Dordrecht by re-defining the one
reason given for this divergence is a specious one for     doctrine which controls all five heads of doctrine!
changing a confession (Notice: church-state relation-
ships have changed in the last 400 years. A fine              It would be far more honest for the RCA to say
reason for change indeed! Does the truth change?)          bluntly and openly: "We no longer believe what the
But take special note of the other two items:              Three Forms of Unity teach and confess, and `we no
"righteousness" in the Heidelberg Catechism, a key         ,longer want them as the standards of our denomina-
item, and "election" in the Canons of Dordrecht.           tion." Then, at least, there would be no deception
What does that "considerable tension" mentioned in         involved.
quotation above mean? That is a euphemism to cover            Next time, D.V., we will' examine this matter a
up the fact that "Our Song" pulls in one direction         little more closely, and will see what becomes of
while the Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of           those doctrines which are characteristically Reformed
Dordrecht pull in the opposite direction.                  and commonly referred to as the Five Points of
  Now isn't that a fine way to bring about radical         Calvinism when "Our Song of Hope" mutilates them.

CONTRIBUTION

                   About Reformed Methodology
                                             Prof H.C. Hoeksema, Edit&

Dear Brother,                                              more study. If the Bible seems to him to teach some-
  Regarding "Reformed Methodology" in deter-               thing other than the church of the past expressed in
mining truth referred to Feb. 15, 1977 consider the        her confessions or decisions, he has to study further.
following:                                                 Both the confessions and his personal conclusions
                                                           must be subject to the Scripture. He will not be so
  An exegete must search the Scripture. A minister         arrogant as to imagine that his personal conclusions
in preparing a sermon (and there is no principle dif-      are just as valuable as the conclusions of the
ference with a synodical study committee) must not         Reformed confessions and leading minds of the past,
first consult commentaries, confessions, etc., but he      the weight will favor their conclusions. His study will
must sit down with his Greek and Hebrew Bible and          be to convince himself that the confessions state the
&egete. He must study the words, the sentences, the        mind of the Spirit. His mind must be subject to the
context, the whole Bible that bears on that particular     Scripture and Reformed confessions. If he cannot in
text. This is the fundamental task of an exegete. He       good conscience come to that conclusion, it is his
must prayerfully give himself body and soul to the         duty to show the Reformed churches that the mind
guidance of the Holy Spirit and come to a conclusion       of the past is in conflict with the Scripture.
which he understands to be the Word of God.                   We appreciate your concern to be Reformed, but
  2. Then he consults commentaries, Reformed               we must not over-react and lose the Reformed truth
confessions, Reformed writers, etc. This is important.     of Article 7 of our Belgic Confession.
A Reformed exegete does not work independently,               Reformed methodology is still, Scripture then con-
he  vaiues the mind of the Spirit as He guided the         fessions.
church in the past, especially in the official con-                                      Fraternally
fessions of the church; Such an exegete does not live
independently in the present, neither does he live in                                    Rev. J. Kortering
the past, but he lives out of the past in the present
day.                                                       Note: I will reply to colleague Kortering's contribu-
  3. If there is conflict, he will realize the need for    tion in the next issue. - HCH


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               465


hk  SHEEP.HEAR   M Y   V O I C E


                                                                                               September m977


Dear Timothy,                                              speaks directly to a man independent of the Word. It
   I had not anticipated that this discussion would        is hard to exaggerate the influence  this kind of
take quite so long. But the issues are worthwhile          mysticism has had on the thinking of people. How
enough to discuss them thoroughly.                         often is it not true that an individual will defend a
                                                           certain course of action by saying, "The Spirit led me
   You will recall that my last letter interrupted our     to do this." Or, "I was convicted by the Spirit to do
 discussion of I Timothy 4 to concentrate on               this or that." Or, "The Spirit guided me in this way."
DeKoster's criticism of Lindsell's book, "The Battle       This is a mysticism that has always been anathema to
For The Bible." And we were particularly interested        Reformed believers.
in what DeKoster's position really was (and is).              This is what DeKoster does. He separates the
   We talked last time about the question of whether       testimony of the Spirit from the objective testimony
it is possible for a child of God to say that he holds     of the Word of God. He claims that the believer is
the Word of God in his hand when he holds a transla-       persuaded that the Bible is the Word of God by the
tion of that Word, And we emphasized that it is very       subjective testimony of the Spirit alone. But if this is
important that we understand that this is true.            true, then it is also true that when Dr. Boer does not
   We also began to discuss DeKoster's emphasis on         believe that God's Word teaches reprobation, and
the importance of the subjective testimony of the          when Daane denies the truth of sovereign and double
Spirit in the believer's heart. You will recall that we    predestination and appeals to Scripture in defense of
referred to DeKoster's many references to Article V        his position, then the Spirit says something to Daane
of the Confession of Faith which reads that we be-         and Boer which He did not say to Calvin. And when
lieve all the books of the Bible to be God's Word          the Spirit tells me that the Scriptures are without any
"because the Holy Ghost witnesseth in our hearts,          error, and at the same time tells Daane and Boer, and
that they are from God." And we noticed that               presumably DeKoster, that there are errors in the
DeKoster conveniently never' refers to the very next       Bible, then the Spirit speaks out of both sides of His
clause which reads: "Whereof they carry the evidence       mouth indeed.
in themselves."                                               The whole point  is- that the Holy Spirit says
   Now there are two`points which have to be made          nothing apart from the objective testimony of the  '
in this connection. The first point is that the proof      Bible itself. There is absolutely no testimony of the
that scripture is the Word of God is to be found in        Spirit about anything at all apart from the objective
the Scriptures themselves. The Scriptures give their       testimony of the Scriptures. Do not misunderstand
own testimony that they are from God. Lindsell             this. The Spirit is the Author of it all. The Spirit is
made this point very strongly in his book and in his       the Author of the Scriptures after all. And the Spirit
speech. DeKoster never mentions it. May we conclude        speaks through those Scriptures by a subjective
that he denies it?                                         testimony in the hearts of those in whom He dwells.
   The second point is that if we have only the sub-          The conclusion of the matter is then that the tes-
jective testimony of the Spirit in our hearts we fall      timony of the Spirit is never apart from and is always
into the error of subjectivism. This is what DeKoster      in agreement with the objective testimony of the
in fact does. And this is what Lindsell meant when he      Spirit in Scripture.
criticized DeKoster for teaching that then the Spirit         Be sure that you make this clear to God's people,
talks out of both sides of His mouth, for He tells         Timothy. The quagmires of subjectivism are deep and
Daane one thing and Calvin another.                        it is difficult to escape when once one gets sucked
   This is an extremely important point, and we            into them. But these quagmires pull away from the
ought not to overlook it. In this day when  Pente-         firm and unshakeable rock of the Scriptures them-
costalism is flourishing we have altogether too much       selves.
of this sort of subjectivism. It has always been              The third point which DeKoster made was a point
characteristic of mystics (and it is characteristic of     in connection with a distinction between infallibility
Pentecostalism) that they taught that the Spirit           and inerrancy. I must confess that when I read the


 4      6    6                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


discussion on this point in The Banner I was at a loss       synonyms. DeKoster acts like a liberal when he takes
as to what DeKoster meant. Listening to DeKoster's           traditional terms, pours out their old meaning, and
speeches during the debate, I think that I have dis-         gives to them meanings other than the usus Zoquendi.
covered what he has in mind. It is possible that I still     This is not only confusing; it is dishonest. Both terms
may be wrong, but if an articulate man such as               mean: without error, when the terms are applied to
DeKoster cannot write or speak in a way which                the Scriptures.
makes his position clear, then he must not blame me
or you for misinterpreting his words, but must look             In the second place, of course, the testimony of
at himself.                                                  the Spirit  is, infallible. But it is infallible only in
                                                             connection with the objective testimony of the Word.
      However that may be, it seems to me that               The Spirit cannot he. But as we said above, the Spirit
DeKoster makes an important distinction between              never speaks apart from the Word.
infallibility and inerrancy. He makes this distinction
when he says that the word "infallibility" refers to            In the third place, it is extremely important to
the testimony of the Spirit in the hearts of believers;      maintain that the Autographa were infallible  `- or
while the term  ?.nerrancy" refers to the Scriptures.        merrant - whatever one wishes to call them. It is true
Now why does he make that distinction? He makes              that we do not have the Autographa any more. But
that distinction because he insists that the testimony       this does not alter the case one whit. An  inerrant
of the Spirit concerning the Bible is "infallible." But      Autographa is important because we cannot have the
the word "infallible" cannot be applied to the Bible         Word of God today if the Autographa were not
itself. Only the word "inerrant" can be applied to the       inerrant. Let's be clear on that point. The Autographa
Bible. But it is not, says DeKoster, true that the Bible     are the Word of God only if they are inerrant. They
is inerrant. He will, I think, go even a step further and    are then the Word of God in their entirety and in
say that the Bible is "infallible." But when he              every part. And then, and only then, can we have the
says that the Bible is infallible he does not mean that      Word of God today. To use a figure which I used in
the Bible is, without any error. He only means, I            my last letter to you: if First Church never was First
think, that the Bible contains the Word of God so            Church when it was originally built, it cannot be First
that when I hold the Bible in my hands, I hold the           Church now either. Only if it was First Church then,
Word of God in my hands.                                     can it also be First Church now even though it may
                                                             have a few burned out light bulbs and some plaster
      Now this is another piece of semantic legerdemain      coming loose somewhere.
which is used to cover up the truth that the Bible has
no errors in it. Let's see if we can carry his argument        But there is more. The whole question is, after all,
a bit further. Supposing I would insist to him that the      not merely a question concerning inerrancy. This is
Bible is absolutely without error. His response to that      important; but it is not the heart of the  issue..The
would most likely be that this is not true. Everyone         real question is one of authority. There are those who
recognizes the fact that the King James Version of           do not want the authority of Scripture. They do not
the Bible is not completely accurate in its translation      want the authority of Scripture on the truth of
- as no translation can be, and everyone knows that          creation and the fall. They do not want the authority
the Bible was copied in such a way that errors crept         of Scripture on the truth of sovereign and double
in. Now my response, quite naturally, would be that I        predestination. They do not want the authority of
am talking about the Autographa. I believe that the          Scripture on the question of women holding office in
Autographa were given by God without error. His              the church. And in order to undermine Scripture's
response to that, I think, would be: But we do not           authority, they tamper with the doctrine of Scrip-
have the Autographa any longer, and therefore have           ture's infallibility - or inerrancy.
nothing to do with it. If I would press him for an
answer and say: Tell me whether or not you believe             Let there be no doubt about it at all. Scripture is
that the Autographa were given without error, he             authoritative in all matters of faith and life only
                                                             be cause it is infallible  - or  inerrant  - in its
would answer. . . . Well, I'm not sure what he would
answer; but I suspect .that if-you could get an answer,      Autographa. The question of the Autographa is an
                                                             important one - whether we have them or not. And
it would be: No, the Autographa also had errors in           it is important because these very Autographa testify
them.                                                        in themselves that they are of God. They testify in
      There are a couple of points which have to be made     themselves and of themselves that there are no errors
in this connection. In the first place, the distinction      in them. And this testimony is the rock upon which
DeKoster makes between infallibility and inerrancy is        the authority of Scripture rests. Take infallibility  -
a false distinction. Both terms have historically meant      or inerrancy  - away, and Scripture's authority is
the same thing. And any good dictionary will tell you        gone. The authority of the Autographa is gone. The
that the meaning is so close that the two words are          authority of the Bible I hold in my hand is gone.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      467



  But when by faith I receive the testimony of the            how pious what he says may sound, he is wrong. His
Scriptures themselves that the Scriptures in their            view takes God's Word away from God's people.
Autographa are infallibly inspired, then I know that             Hold fast to the truth, Timothy. It is. clear and
the Bible I hold in my hands is the very Word of God!         easily understood. No tampering with words is neces-
  I know this because the Spirit Who gave the Scrip-          sary to make it clear. No vague statements are needed
tures as an infallible book is the same Spirit who            to make it clear. The truth is so clear that God's
testifies in my heart in connection with and through          people can understand it even when they are the
the Scriptures that these Scriptures are the Word of          lambs of the flock.
God.                                           /                                             Fraternally,
  DeKoster is wrong - dreadfully wrong. No matter                                            H. Hanko

THE DAY OF SHADOWS



                   A Burying Place for a Princess
                                                    Rev. John A. Heys


  It was through Isaiah that God declared, "For my            was not because Isaac was not able to do so himself.
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your               He did not seek one. He showed absolutely no in-
ways my ways, saith the Lord." Isaiah 55:8. And it is          terest in having a wife. But it cannot be said that
so often in life that we find this to be so very true.         Abraham had to live because Isaac was not yet able to
Incidents recorded in Scripture show this to be the            live without him. In fact today we would make a
case, but also in our lives and in the day in which we         stronger case of the elderly father and mother need-
live, we find that God's thoughts and ours are not the         ing this young man, their son, for their protection
same. We find that the way He intends to rule the              and constant care in the ~twilight  days of their lives.
world and order our lives differs from what we                   But such was God's way; and all this was according
planned and man expects.                                      to His thoughts which are so much higher than ours.
  Statistics - which men like to keep, because they           And we ought to remember that there is a covenant
like to try to know God's thoughts for their own               consideration here. Yes, Sarah was a covenant mother
earthly and worldly good  - show that as a rule                and had a great interest in God's covenant. At times
women live longer than men. And there are more                 she showed more interest in it than Abraham did.
widows living today than widowers. Were we to live             And thinking of all this we must not foolishly think
by statistics, we would have Abraham dead long                 that our thoughts are higher than God's and that she
before Sarah. He was already ten years old when she            deserved to live as long as Abraham and enjoy the
was born. Who then would expect that she would not             wonders of God's covenant with him - such as the
outlive Abraham? Who would expect that she would               marriage of their son to a believing child of God from
die at the age of one hundred thirty-seven, while              among Abraham's relatives in Mesopotamia. And
Abraham would go on and outlive her by  twenty-                God's promise which we find in Psalm 128:6, "Yea,
eight years? Who would have expected that Abraham              thou  - everyone that feareth the Lord  - shalt see
would be able to count thirty-eight more'years of life,        thy children's children, `and peace upon Israel," was
when he was on his death bed, over the number of               not forgotten. God does not promise covenant par-
years that God gave Sarah? What is more, Abraham               ents that in this life they necessarily shall see their
enjoyed the fellowship and companionship of their              children's children. Some do not even see their own
son, Isaac, for seventy-five-years, while Sarah lived to       children. Men have gone to war, had children born to
enjoy it only forty-seven years.                               them, and died in battle before they could return
  Now  neither parent was essential any more for               home and see their children. Parents have died before
Isaac. As a young man he was quite able to take care           they saw their children's children in ways of God that
of himself. We find shortly after the death of Sarah           are higher than our ways, and in thoughts that are not
that Abraham sends to get a wife for Isaac. But this           our thoughts. Sarah sees them today; and Sarah will


 468                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                  .-.. ___ __.. i _.__. - ..,_ --
 see them to thousands of generations with body and          God. Consider that she wrth Abraham left Ur of the
 soul in the new Jerusalem. God's promises are not           Chaldees to go to the land. that Abraham had been
 forgotten. God never breaks a promise. In thoughts          promised. She believed that she also had a part in that
 that are higher than ours, He prepares and promises         promise. Obediently, in faith, with hope of enjoying
 blessings so much higher and greater than our earthly,      the covenant promises she went along with Abraham
 human thoughts can imagine.                                 and never put up one word of complaint. And
   But, after all is said and done, Abraham `and not         Abraham has not one thought of burying her back in
Sarah is the covenant head of that day. With him and         Haran, or in Ur of the Chaldees. He has no such
his seed God established His covenant, and in His            thought, not simply because it was impossible to
way, and according to His thoughts, Abraham lives to         transport a dead body that far in those days, but be-
enjoy the unfolding of God's covenant in his son for         cause  he,. too, believed that Sarah had a place in
seventy-five years before the breath of life is taken        God's covenant, that she was a covenant child, and
from him. And though Abraham deserved no longer              that the future blessings of the covenant were hers as
life on this earth than Sarah did, it was in God's           well as they were his.
higher thoughts that it was so to be.                           Sarah, then, must be buried in the covenant. She
   Now that Sarah is dead, Abraham is confronted             must be buried in the covenant land, the land of
with a problem. The very nature of death makes it            promise of which this covenant spake. Remember
necessary for him to bury the body - at least to hide        how insistent Jacob was, and later on Joseph as well,
it from view, to remove it from their midst. And             that their bones be buried in the land of the promise?
Scripture teaches us that unless it is impossible, we        Jacob even insisted that they be buried in this very
are to bury the dead body. We are to commit it to the        place which Abraham bought for Sarah, his wife.
ground from whence it came. Cremation, burning the           .Here is faith. Here is hope. Here is trust in God, a
body, when burial is possible is an act of unbelief.         trust that death and years of lying in a grave cannot:
Even if it were true - which it certainly is not - that      shake.
God would then be unable to restore that body and               But Abraham has no place. where to bury his de-
in the judgment day cast it into the torment of hell,        parted wife's body in that promised land. Will it be
the soul of the unbeliever who dies will have been in        unbelief on his part to buy a place? Patiently and in
that torment for many years. That soul is in-                unwavering faith he had made no attempt to get one
destructible and at death goes into everlasting woe.         square inch by his own money or strength. Now he
Such is the teaching of Jesus in the parable                 needs a piece of land, has none, was given none yet
of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The rich man was in             by God; and what shall he do? Will he be denying the
torment while the history of this world went on, and         promise of God? Will he be accused by God of run-
his brothers continued to live on this earth.                ning ahead and of not waiting upon God?
Cremation, does not take hold by faith of the com-
forting truth of God's Word that God will raise up all         We know that this was the besetting sin of his
the bodies of His saints and glorify them with the           grandson, Jacob. He always tried to help God, as
glory that Christ now has. It does not believe that          though God's ways were not the best and His
God is the Almighty. It does not believe in His              thoughts too slow. Did Jacob inherit this trait, was
blessed promises to His people in Christ.                    this part of his nature a weakness handed down from
                                                             grandfather, through father, to grandson? Do we see
  Scripture teaches us to bury the dead. We are told,        that trait here already, years before, in the life of
as in I Corinthians 15:42 ff, to sow it as a seed in the     Abraham? Are we to say, "Now we can see where
ground, to plant it in the soil in the assurance that it     Jacob got it"?
will come out again in a new form, spiritual, glorious,
and powerful. Scripture teaches us to have respect for         It is certainly true that we hand down to our
that dead body of the believer. Precious in the sight        children sinful inclinations and natures. We all are
of the Lord is the death of His saints. But precious         what we sinfully are because of Adam's and Eve's sin
also in His sight is that body. It belongs to Christ, His    and corrupted natures which they obtained through
beloved Son. It is part of that glorious Bride whom          the lie. Infants are infected, the Netherlands Con-
Christ loves and for whom He returns at the end of           fession tells us in Article XV, with an hereditary
time. We do and must respect it. We do and must              disease before they are born, which produces in them
believe in the resurrection of the body. And Abraham         all sorts of sin, being in them as a root that brings
did, even though there is no mention of that fact here       forth deeds that' make them vile and abominable in
at the occasion of the death of Sarah. His action of         God's sight.
burying her body does nevertheless speak of it in-             Yet we must not see that here in Abraham. Yes, he
directly.                                                    too was tainted by the fallen nature of Adam and Eve.
  Consider once that Sarah is a covenant child of            But when he bought a piece of land wherein to bury


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   469


Sarah, that was not the reason for his deed. Just the       money God gave him. He will not take the land by
opposite, Abraham here is walking by faith. He              force, for that would be an act of unbelief. He will go
bought that piece of land in trust and confidence in        to the Canaanites with a strong faith, tell them that
God. He had his promised son. He was seeing God's           he is a stranger and sojourner with them and has no
covenant realized; and in a firm faith and strong hope      intention of becoming one with them, and that he is
for the realization of the  fumess of the covenant          sure that God ,will in time give him the whole land.
promises that God will give him this land through his       He will buy from them, not because he is impatient
seed, he buys a piece large enough to bury his dead.        and doubts God's intentions or goodness, but because
And he is moved also by the consideration that he is        he is sure that in His own time and in His own way
burying a princess. God has changed Sarai's name to         God will keep all His Word.
Sarah when He announced the birth of Isaac. And
although she never attained in her earthly life to such        So he approaches the sons of Heth. In the custom
honour among men that earthly princesses enjoy, the          of the day they offer it to him expecting him to turn
name means that she definitely had a place in that           down the offer; and then get down to real bargaining
promise of God, was a covenant child, and that the           and demand of Abraham a pretty stiff price.
blessings of the covenant were hers. Tenderly, there-          But Sarah is a princess and the promises of God are
fore, in strong faith and steadfast hope, he entrusts       so much more wonderful and precious,, above all gold
the earthly remains of this princess in God's kingdom       and silver, that Abraham without  a. word measures
to the earth of the land of promise, expecting her to       out the money and has his burying place. And the
inherit the new Jerusalem and the heavenly Canaan.          earthly remains of this princess wait in the silence of
  For that he will not steal a piece of land. He will       the grave for the moment when God will bring all His
not in secret try to bury the body in a place unknown       princes and princesses into the heavenly Canaan as
and unnoticed by the Canaanites. He will buy with           the free gift of His grace in Christ.

STUDIES IN ISAIAH



                     Isaiah's Vision and, its Effects
                                              Rev. Robt. C. Harbach


  The Trihagia (cont'd). Qadosh! Qadosh! Qadosh!            idolatry and image-worship! It fills with a consecrated
Holy! Holy! Holy! What is it which qualifies and             courage to will and to do anything to advance the
motivates a man for the work of preaching the gospel         cause of Christ's gospel. It assures us, with the utmost
and his going forth to that task as one divinely called      confidence, of the ultimate success of that cause.
and sent unto it? Nothing less than a sight of the             "Above it (or, rather, from above with respect to
holiness and glory of Jehovah! This is about the             Him) stood the seraphim." They stood, stationary,
strongest impulse to impel a man to the highest              above the great King, in mid-air, circularly, like a
calling. It is to see and know by faith that the Lord,      rainbow round about the throne, or like a body-guard
the God of the universe, is not dethroned and dis-           surrounding the throne of majesty. There they
placed by would-be autonomous man, but He sits on            waited, on the wing, adoring while they waited, for
the throne of His everlasting kingdom, power, and            any directive from the King, instantly ready to  ex-
glory! Some do not know this; others deny it and            ecute His will. Hear them as they stand to chorus
blaspheme Him, but God is still God over all blessed         before the King their perpetual life song: Holy! Holy!
forever. That the true preacher of the gospel feels to      Holy! We cannot conceive of God without His
the depths of his soul. Isaiah, as all the prophets, did     holiness. It would be worse to deny His purity of
too.                                                         nature than to deny His very being. For the latter
  Do you see the holy Jehovah God in all that glory?         would make Him no god, but the former a deformed
If you do, it not only humbles you to the dust, but it       and detestable God. A devotee of a filthy idol is cer-
also fires you with a holy indignation against sthose        tainly worse than a complete atheist. This attribute is
who try to- destroy the religion of Jehovah with             exalted above all others. What other attribute is


  470                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


  trebled in its praise as this one? We do not read of the     revelation of the Shekinah we have in Rev. 7: 15,
  cry, Good! good! good is the Lord of hosts! nor love!        where He that sits on the throne of God shall taber-
  love! love! No, God fills the mouths of angels forever       nacle among .men - the tabernacle of God shall be
  with holy! holy! holy! When God swears an oath, He           with men. (21:3).
 swears by His holiness.                                          The cloud of smoke is from the fire on the altar
     This is the most beautiful attribute of God, the          (mercy-seat) of God (Lev. 16: 12-13). In this con-
  beauty of holiness, the very image of God (Eph.              nection, we should be very careful that we do not use
  4:24), which makes Him lovely in Himself and to all          such an expression as "holy smoke!`.' For that is both
  who love Him. According to seraphic theology God's           profane swearing and taking God's thrice holy name
  holiness is His glory (Isa. 6:3), the glory and sum of       in vain. The smoke on the mount Sinai (Ex.. 19: 18)
  all His attributes, the glory of His Godhead. All God's      was a holy smoke, and represented the presence of
  attributes are shot through with the pure sunlight of        God. Such is also the case in Isaiah  4:5, "the Lord
  His holiness. His wisdom, therefore, is a holy wisdom,       will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion
  His power a holy power, His justice a holy justice, His      . . . a cloud and smoke by day. . ." In the kingdom of
  name, which also sums up all His attributes, a holy          glory, the whole of Zion will be the Holy of holies.
  name. His inscrutable nature has no darkness at all,         There God shall tabernacle with men in His triune
  but is pure inapproachable light.                            presence. Therefore, the use of the expletive just
    There are signs of anger in God's holiness, for anger      referred to, or the like, is an insolent affront on the
is the reaction of His holiness against sin. For this          presence and person of God. So also is the common
  reason, Isaiah is sent on a mission which `includes          `,holy cow!", which is a perverse, profane reference
  both salvation (election) and judgment (reprobation).        to the golden calf of Aaron's which was intended as a
  According to the latter, his mission will have the           representation of God. So with "holy Toledo!" - a
  effect of making their "heart fat, their ears heavy and      Romish expression in reference to a capital city in a
  their eyes shut" (6:9-12). The seraphim, fiery spirits,      Spanish province which was a walled cathedral city
  applaud Him for His holiness and execute His wrath.          and so, superstitiously, regarded as "holy." Let not
  When He consumes men in His fury, He does not dim            OUY language imply that we believe grace is in places
  His purity, but manifests it in blazing splendor. "Our       and things. These expletives are sins against the first
  God is a consuming fire." God is holy by nature, and         and second commandments, sins which mock the
  is therefore holy not merely because He will not be          evils of idolatry and image worship.
  unholy, but because He  cannot  be unholy; it is               But notice that the smoke does not conceal the
  against His nature to be so. As the third heaven is the      Lord as did the smoke on the mount and the cloud
  heaven of heavens, so God, the Most High God is the          on the mercy-seat. For Isaiah clearly saw the Lord
  Holy of holies.                                              (w. 1, 5). Also the foundations shook as the result of
    The Vision of the Shekinah.  "Then the founda-             the cry of the seraphim, and smoke filling the house
  tions of the thresholds trembled from the voice of the       issued forth, impressing the prophet with the fact
  one crying, and the house was filled with smoke" (v.         that he is in the presence of God, and that when He
  4). The word shekinah is not of Old Testament, but           speaks as He does, even through His angelic servants,
  of Talmudic origin, which may seem to be double              we may well tremble.
 reason, and so reason enough, for rejecting it. But we          The Effect of the Vision  (5-13). His Conviction
  do legitimately use terms not found in the scripture         and Confession : "and I said, `Alas for me! (why?)
  (e.g., Trinity), yet it isnot only natural but necessary     because I am dumbstruck (and so every mouth must
 to ask, What good thing can come out of the Talmud?           be stopped! Why?), because a man unclean of lips I
 It's like asking, Can any good thing come out of the          (am), and in the midst of a people of unclean lips I
 cess-pool? But the word comes from the biblical root          dwell, (and finally and most terribly of all) because
 shachen, so that shekinah.means dwelling or presence          the King, Jehovah Tsebhaoth my eyes have seen" (v.
 of Jehovah. Hence, it is in itself, after all, a very good    5). The LXX translation of this verse is interesting.
 word.                                                         "And I said, 0 wretch that I am! for I am pierced
    The first Shekinah, then, was at the tree of life in       through (the Heb. root means  perished, lost,  Dn.
 the garden of Eden, and in the cherubim (of Gen.              10: 15, 17); because, being a man, and having unclean
 3:24) who are guardians of the divine presence. God's         lips, I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
 presence was between the cherubim. Cain (4: 16)               and I have seen with mine eyes the Lord of hosts!"
 went out from the Shekinah. Later the Shekinah                  At first overwhelmed by the sight of the most holy
 appeared in the cloud, which, in turn, resided be-            God, and the holy, heavenly beings at the command
 tween the cherubim on the mercy-seat of the ark of            of His throne, he, but "a man" is now overwhelmed
 the covenant. In the New Testament, the Shekinah              by the consciousness of his own unworthiness, un-
 appears in human flesh (Jn. 1: 14). The ultimate              holiness, and the unholiness of his people and nation.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  471


He still senses and teaches the same awful reality           tainly thinks of himself as belonging to "the holy
toward the end of his ministry. "But we are all as an        seed," 6: 13). But a holy, righteous man knows he has
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses- are as filthy    a deceitful heart (Jer. 17:9); knows his own corrup-
rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities,      tions, and the sinful flesh which always clings to him.
like the wind, have taken us away" (64:6). Any mere          To say, "I am lost," is to say what a saved man can-
creature, coming into contact with the infinite divine       not be. What Isaiah is saying is that he is lost in
Being, will shrink before Him with a sense of the            Adam. All men are perished in Adam. But that he is
intolerable weight of absolute majesty. Isaiah felt this     saved by Christ is clear from 26:3, 9.
in the highest degree, for since Moses' day, he saw the
Lord clearer than man ever did.. Also he saw he                "The King . . . I have seen!" He saw the in-
owed God the perfect worship and praise the                  disputable, incontestable sovereignty of God! He saw
seraphim give him, but being totally, morally, and           the Lord, Adonai (v.  l), Christ the King, King of
spiritually impotent and depraved, he could not do           kings, Lord of lords, King of saints, King of nations,
this. Unclean lips imply an unclean heart which'must         Ruler of the princes of the earth, Jehovah Tsebhaoth,
be renewed that the defiled lips may be purified. For        King of the armies in heaven and of the inhabitants of
"the lips of all men are impure and polluted till the        the earth. By faith, a blessed sight to see! a delightful,
Lord has cleansed them" (Calvin). He will then know          saving and glorious sight; an awesome, terrible,
that in himself he is lost and undone, not fit to            temporarily dreadful sight, wherein the beholder is
preach His gospel or utter His praise. For mere human        terribly conscious of his own sinfulness and vileness.
talk is uncircumcised and unclean. Only the pure             See what he calls sin here: uncleanness. For sin is any
preaching of the gospel comes from God.                      transgression of or lack of conformity to the nature
  Woe!  He  had denounced woe on others; now he              of God. Lack of conformity to God's infinite purity
subjects himself to the same condemnation. There is          is filthiness. Isaiah taught the total, moral and
no woe to the righteous; all woe is to the wicked            spiritual corruption and pollution of the whole race
(3: 10-l 1). Why then does Isaiah not only imply but         of men, a race infected with a hereditary and univer-
clearly state that he and his people are wicked? Why         sally epidemical disease. In personal grief he laments
does he not say, as David, "I am holy" (Ps.  86:2)?          that he is of that race and shares its incurable malady!
(David does not say this in naive pride, but as Isaiah       Earth's only hope is in the great Physician and King
himself would, on the basis of 1: 18. Also Isaiah cer-       himself! See Rev. 3 : 18-2 1.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES



                  More Form and Still No  Power
                                                Rev. Mark Hoeksema

  Writing in the April 15, 1977, Standard Bearer we          and that this is a sign of the end times to those who
reflected on the subject of life after death under the       have spiritual eyes to see.
title "Form Without Power." A review was given of              Now Dr. Moody has published another work,
some features of the studies of a Dr. Raymond
Moody, who published accounts of strange phenomena           Reflections on Life After Life, excerpted in the July,
                                                             1977, issue of 
connected with the experiences of those who appar-                              Reader's Digest, in which he attempts
                                                             to supply answers to some of the questions and
ently died but were brought back to this life by             criticisms that resulted from his first work. As in the
medical science. It was pointed out that many aspects        case of his first work, many of the things that he says
of  his  first work, called  Life After Life,  contained     are fascinating, and some serve to shed light on the
elements of truth that could well be compatible with         character of life after death if properly interpreted by
Scriptural truth if interpreted properly by the Chris-       the child of God. But again, there are serious weak-
tian. It was also pointed out that many aspects,             nesses evident. There is therefore more form but still
especially the apparent absence of any negative ex-          no godliness.
periences of punishment, were not Scriptural. The
conclusion was drawn that all of this illustrates a             Added light is shed on the qualities of the life aftef
form of godliness without power (II Timothy  3:5),           life which some of  -the people whom Dr. Moody


472                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


studied experienced. The aspect of a "vision of              without the power thereof. But can we not learn
knowledge" is explained in some detail. The general          from this?
reports concerned not only seeing one's entire life            Another interesting factor is the way in which the
pass by, but also the knowing of "all the secrets of all     descriptions of those who experienced life after life
the ages, all the meaning of the universe, the stars, the    fit with the Scriptural picture of the final inheritance.
moon  - of everything." Those who had this ex-               These people described the place to which they went
perience described it in terms of a school, though not       as "beautiful," a place of music, "a countryside with
in the earthly or conventional sense, since there were       streams, grass, trees, mountains," a place of "bright
no people that could be seen. Rather, it was possible        colors, not like here on earth, but just indescribable,"
to sense the presence of other beings, and the in-           a place in which there were "gleaming, bright build-
formation came through all forms of communication,
including sights, sounds, and thoughts, and covered          iw," "sparkling water and fountains," a "city of
                                                             light." The Scriptures speak of the redemption not
all areas and fields of knowledge. As one person             merely of God's people, but of the change and per-
described it, "this is a place where the place is knowl-     fection of the entire creation as the place in which
edge. It's as if you focus mentally on one place in          God's people shall dwell everlastingly. Paul speaks of
that school and -. zoom! - knowledge flows by you            the longing and deliverance of the creation in Romans
from that place, automatically."                             8: 19-23, and other places in Scripture include the
   It seems that much of this fits well with what the        creation as part of the life to come. And when the
Scriptures have to say. While the Bible does not detail      descriptions of those who went to this place are
the characteristics of the life to come, it may be           matched with the language of Scripture in a place
observed without danger of contradiction that Scrip-         such as Revelation 21 and 22, the similarity is strik-
ture in many places stresses the knowledge of the            ing. There John describes symbolically the new
child of God. To know God, the way of the truth,             heavens and new earth which comes down from God
Jesus Christ, the proper walk of sanctification, etc.,       out of heaven, a creation characterized by perfection
are just a few examples. In fact, Peter in his entire        and indescribable beauty. In describing the New
second epistle emphasizes the spiritual knowledge of         Jerusalem John speaks of a vision of a city of glass
experience which the Christian by grace possesses and        and gold and precious stones with a river of pure
which he must strive to increase and use to the glory        water flowing through it, a place of light and glory.
of God. The life of the. Christian, moreover, is never       Again, though the language of those who give such
presented as static, but always a life of growth,            descriptions is perhaps not intentionally Scriptural,
particularly growth in knowledge, which will                 the similarity cannot be denied. Even conceding that
evidently continue also in glory. We shall continually       the language both of the Scriptures and of those who
be learning and increasing our knowledge of God and          underwent these experiences is figurative and earthly
the glories of His wonderful works. This is un-              (for how else would we be able to understand, since
doubtedly why the Apostle John even defines eternal          we are of the earth earthy), does it not reflect in a
life in terms of knowledge in John 17:3: "And this is        small way the glory which God has prepared for them
life eternal, that they might know thee the only true        that love Him? Though the power of godliness is
God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." And              sadly lacking in these descriptions, the similarity of
Paul in I Corinthians 13 : 12 says that when we are          form cannot be denied.
perfected then we shall know even as also we are
known. Surely, whatever else this may mean, it does            Dr. Moody also acknowledges that his first work
mean that-as God has intimate spiritual knowledge of         was criticized by many for omitting the  "reward-
His people, so they will experience that communion           punishment model" to which many traditionalists
of knowledge with Him in glory in an altogether              hold. That is, as was pointed out in the previous
wonderful fashion. Is it not possible that the descrip-      Standard. Bearer  article on this subject, the emphasis
tions given (though they are given in very imperfect         was all positive and no mention was made in any
earthly terms), approach the truth of glory of which         precise way of punishment or negative experiences.
the Bible speaks? Even assuming that the experience          This omission Dr. Moody corrects in his latest work.
 of those who went to this wonderful place are tainted       There are indeed those who experience some form of
by sin and the imperfections of human and earthly            punishment, which had three major characteristics:
character, and assuming that the reality of heaven and       first, they seemed to be unable to surrender their
heavenly knowledge is much more glorious than these          attachments to the physical world; second, they
fragmented accounts, does this not say something to          appeared dulled, so that their consciousness seemed
God's people about the character of the inheritance          more limited in contrast with others; third, these
God in Christ has prepared for His elect? Understand,        "dulled spirits" appeared to be in this state of ex-
however, that Dr. Moody does not say these things,           istence only until they solved whatever problems
for his writings reflect merely the form of godliness        were holding them in this inferior state. Further,


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           473


  these spirits seemed abnormally and inextricably            But however accurate such accounts may or may not
  attached to the physical world, which attachment was        be, they serve to give a glimpse into the terribleness
  in some way punishment for them. Still more, their          of punishment compared to the wonders of glory.
 judgment seemed to consist of their being aware of                Perhaps one more matter ought to be mentioned.
  the wrong that they had done during their lives, all of     Perhaps the question has arisen in your mind, as it has
  their selfish acts of which they were repentant and         in mine; Assuming that even a small part of what Dr.
  ashamed. There was, however, no "archetypal                 Moody reports is true, why does God in His sovereign
  Hades," and the people who suffered thus were not           control choose to reveal these things? Surely there is
the sort that should be consigned to a fiery pit.             a message and significance in this for God's people,
  Finally, the author faces the problem of those who,         but what is it? I would suggest that generally this is
  like  ,the Nazis of Hitler's Germany, committed             another sign of the times in the sense that knowledge
  atrocious crimes, and concludes that the punishment         is being increased, as well as in the sense that it
  of seeing the tragedies they inflicted come alive in        reveals the perilous character of the last times, times
  their consciousness would be the worst punishment           in which many will have the form of godliness with-
  possible. "If they would see all these things come          out the power thereof (II Timothy 3: 1, `5). More
  alive, vividly portrayed before them," says the             specifically, is it not possible that God reveals such
  author, then "in my wildest fantasies, I cannot             things to the wicked in increasing measure, not only
  imagine a hell more horrible, more ultimately un-           so that they may be left without excuse in the day of
  bearable, than that."                                       judgment, but also so that their punishment may be
    It must again be observed that this is another            made the greater? As Peter says (II Peter  2:21), it
  example of form without power. Scripture clearly            would be better for the wicked not to have known
  teaches hell as the place of eternal punishment, and        the way of righteousness, than to have known it and
  describes it graphically in terms of fiery torment, Dr.     then to turn from the holy commandment delivered
  Moody's studies notwithstanding. We must reject any         unto them. And is it not the will of God to encourage
  denial of the so-called "reward-punishment model,"          His saints by this revelation, be it by means even of
  since this is clearly the teaching of the Bible. But it     wicked man, by giving them a partial and imperfect
  certainly is conceivable- that the sort of spiritual and    glimpse into the. future glory of the faithful? God's
  conscious punishment described above is part of the         people do not need proof of what the Scriptures say;
  condemnation of hell. After all, Scripture teaches          but God does, from time to time, confirm the words
  that both reward and punishment shall be in harmony         of His revelation in other ways, that the faith of His
  with and  `in proportion with the deeds done in the         people may be strengthened as the end approaches.
  flesh. Since God as the just God always makes the           Recognize, therefore, the signs of the times, for they
  punishment fit the crime, it is not beyond the realm        indicate that the Lord is coming back; and hope for
  of possibility that such spiritual and mental remorse       the eternal reward of glory, being faithful, that no
  (not repentance!) is part of everlasting punishment.        one take your crown.

  ALL A'ROUND.  US




                           The C.R.C. Synod in Review
                                                   Rev. G. Van Baren



    Various magazines and papers from within Chris-                The Outlook  of Aug. 1977, through its reporter,
  tian Reformed circles are reporting on the action of        Rev. John Piersma, summarizes the Synod as follows:
  their last Synod. These reports indicate a great            -       Surely we must say, "Old &sues never die, in fact,
  amount of activity - one is amazed at the amount of               they don't even fade away!"
  material that is treated within the span of less than               If I had to characterize the `77 synod I'd say that
  two weeks.                                                        it was not marked by decisive and courageous action.


474                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER'



       Many issues were dealt with procedurally rather than                   character of the Scriptures is excluded or called'
       substantively. Those who were prepared to debate the                   into question.
       issues surrounding the ordination of Dr. Allen Verhey           - his understanding of the serpent in Genesis 3.
       or the gravamen registered against the doctrine of
       reprobation as stated in the Canons of Dort never               - his understanding of the earthquake in Matthew
       really hada chance to speak their minds. These things                  28.
       were pushed off rather than faced - in my opinion to                   3. That synod ask the consistory of Neland
       the possible hurt of the churches.                              Avenue CRC to report the result of its investigation
  Many things were treated at this Synod. Several                      to the 1978 synod.
items remind how far there has been from the prin-                     Ground: Since the appeals, overtures and communica-
ciples held by Reformed churches in past ages - and                    tions have been addressed to synod, synod should
also by the Christian Reformed Church in the past.                     receive a report of this investigation.
One obvious departure is that increasingly this synod                         4. That synod declare these actions to be its
and church (together with many others of our day)                      answer to the appeals, overtures and communications.
take action in non-ecclesiastical matters. There were,
for instance, "guidelines" adopted on how to make                     And that's how Synod treated 34 protests, appeals,
"Christian ethical decisions when your government                  etc. It is in no way an answer to the original Dutton
goes to war." Or, there was appointed a "Task Force                appeal against the action against G.R.  Classis East.
on World Hunger" which must report to Synod of                     And it would seem highly irregular if not utterly
1978. This committee is also instructed to deal with               improper for Synod to ask a committee from a local
                                                                   consistory to report its conclusions to Synod. Such is .
the question of "international poverty." Such non-                 hardly an answer to legitimate protests and overtures.
ecclesiastical matters ought to keep any body very
active for a long time to come! But what of the                       Another item debated on the floor of Synod was
affairs of the church?                                             the question of dancing at Calvin College. According
                                                                   to the 
  Several ecclesiastical matters brought to this Synod                        Outlook, the board of trustees reported:
have caught the attention of many within and with-                            . . . the Board instructs the Administration to
out the C.R.C. One of these was the "Verhey Case."                     implement immediately the development of social
No fewer than 34 appeals were made against the                         dancing in a Christian manner. . . .
decision of Synod of 1976 approving the ordination                            . . . the Board accepts the recommendation in-
of Dr. Allen Verhey - an approval made in spite of                   eluded in the report of the  ad hoc Committee on
the fact that Dr. Verhey denied the literal account'of                 Dancing that Calvin College "allow for social dancing
some portions of Scripture. Dutton's consistory                        as an acceptable and wholesome, on-campus, recrea-
specifically appealed to the Synod to reconsider its                   tional activity for Calvin students and staff. . . .
protest of last year. Dutton had protested the action                A motion that "synod disapprove of the Board of
of  Classis G.R. East in approving the ordination of               trustees policy on social dancing" was defeated.
Verhey  - yet Synod insisted that Dutton's only                    Congregations and classes are invited to send re-
course was to object to Verhey's ideas by way of                   actions to this policy. These will be presented to the
confronting him and his consistory with Verhey's                   1978 Synod  - and then the policy will be im-
possible violation of the formula of subscription.                 plemented, probably in September of 1978. (In the
  This year, the Synod again neatly sidestepped the                meantime, almost everyone acquainted with Calvin is
issue and ignored the legitimate objection of Dutton               well aware that "parties with music" have been
by deciding:                                                       regularly held  - a euphemism for "social dancing."
                                                                   The only change in the future might be the numbers
          1. That synod consider the adjudication of  the          of such "parties" and the freedom to call "a spade"
       Dutton protest concerning Dr. Verhey's views                by its real name.)
       presently engaged in by the Neland Avenue  con-
       sistory an adequate way of dealing with the matter.           Another question of burning interest was the
       Ground: The requested examination of Dr. Verhey's           "confessional-revision gravamen" of Dr. H. Boer. This
       views is provided in this way. Neland Avenue plans to       objected to the teaching of the Canons of Dort con-
       determine the validity of his views, to persuade him        cerning reprobation. Some of the 1.5page document
       to conform to an acceptable view, if his views should       is quoted in the News Bulletin of the Association of
       be outside of our confessions, and to attempt to            Christian Reformed Laymen. These are some of the
       reconcile the parties in this protest in a pastoral way.    things Boer states:
          2. That synod communicate the concerns about                   By the doctrine of reprobation, therefore, I under-
       Dr. Verhey's views raised in the appeals and overtures         stand that credal confession of the Christian Re-
       to Neland Avenue's committee for discussion with               formed Church which teaches an unchangeable decree
       Dr. Verhey, namely:                                            made in eternity by God which has the same irrev-
       - the nature of his henneneutics, whether the event-            ocable binding power as God's decree of election


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          475


   and which effects the declaration set forth in  I/l5                `that God "by a mere act of his will, without the least
   above (Canons of Dort). . . .                                       respect or view to any sin, has predestinated the
       . . . It is my position that so sinister and doomful a          greatest part of the world to eternal damnation, and
   teaching as reprobation, whereby a massive segment                  created them for this purpose." Yet this is what Dr.
    of mankind, generally considered in Reformed                       Boer states they teach. In the Canons themselves we
   theology to be the great majority of the human race,                find evidence which does not warrant Dr. Boer's
   past, present and future, is consigned to everlasting               conclusions. They were against "inquisitively prying
   damnation before they ever came into being, must, if                into the secret things of God," (1st Head, Art. 18)
   it is to be confessionally held, be directly, explicitly            and tell us to have a "holy adorations of these
    and unambiguously taught in Scripture itself. No                   mysteries." (1st Head, Art. 12). The gravamen views
   consensus of theologians, no authority of the church,               the Canons as supralapsarian while it is generally held
   no weight of history or tradition is entitled to regard             that our creeds are infralapsarian.
   or obedience so long as such consensus, authoritative                  The conclusion of the Canons wars against those
    declaration or weighty tradition are not based square-             who bear "false witness against the confessions of so
   ly and fully on the Word of God written (Belgic Con-                many churches; for distressing the consciences of the
   fession, Article VII, notably the words, "Therefore                 weak; and for laboring to render suspected  the
   we reject with all our hearts whatsoever does not                   society of the truly faithful." If this synod submits
    agree with this infallible rule.") This is the essence,            this gravamen with all of its weaknesses to the church
   the heart, the soul, the  sine qua non  of my                       without comment, it would distress the consciences of
   gravamen. . . .                                                     many. The minority committee believes that it would
       . . . I am a minister of the Word of God. I am not a            be the height of irresponsibility to do so.
   minister of theological deductions, or of ecclesiastical           Synod decided: 1. That Synod accept the con-
    conclusions, or of religious traditions that have only       fessional-revision gravamen of Dr. Boer and declare it
    age and uncritical acceptance to commend them. I do          legally before Synod. 2. That Synod publish Dr.
   not believe, and I refuse to entertain, that my elec-
   tion  "ipsb  facto" requires a corresponding reproba-         Boer's gravamen in the Acts of Synod 1977 and
   tion of others. I do not read in Scripture that the           declare that it is before the churches for their con-
    sovereign grace that elected me to be a child of God         sideration. (The Synod adopted last year the policy:
                                                                 "
   without regard to any merit on my part has as its              . . . when the constituted synod declares the matter
   logical and necessary opposite a sovereign wrath that         to be legally before it for action, all the signers of the
    damns men to an existence of everlasting death               Form of Subscription shah be free to discuss it to-
   without regard to any demerit on their part. As I             gether with the whole church until adjudicated by
   believe in sola  gratia for salvation, so do I believe in     synod.") 3. Synod appoints a committee to receive
   sola   Scriptura  for my understanding and proclama-          reactions of the churches - and advise the Synod of
   tion of that salvation, and even more for the Church's        1980 how to deal with this gravamen.
   understanding and proclamation of salvation.                       There is something radically wrong when this sort
       It is my belief that in taking  this position I stand
    on  firm Reformed ground. For that reason I submit           of gravamen will allow one to ignore the formula of
   herewith for synodical  examination  and  adjudication        subscription which he has signed with respect to one
   this gravamen, this confessional revision gravamen,           important doctrine of the confessions - and for three
    against what I judge to be a grievously unbiblical,          years  dispute or denounce the doctrine in the
   therefore  unRefomred,  indeed, unchristian doctrine.         churches both privately and publicly. Even if the
  The same News  Bulletin  reports part  of the  minolr-         1980 Synod were to reject the gravamen, how much
ity report  of the  committee of Synod:                          doubt and question will be instilled in the minds of
                                                                 the unlearned, and how much confusion will be
       The minority would like to make some obser-               generated about this doctrine of the Reformed
   vations about the gravamen itself. We believe that it is
    a caricature of the Canons. It affirms what the              churches! Would these churches treat another's
   Canons themselves most emphatically state would be            "confessional-revision gravamen" this same way if it
    a wrong understanding of them. In their conclusions          concerned the doctrine of the Trinity? The C.R.C.
   we read that the Reformed Churches "detest with               has opened the door which leads to utter chaos with
   their whole soul" and "do not acknowledge" as true            respect to its confessions!


     The STANDARD BEARER
     makes a thoughtful gift
     for a shut-in.


476                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


STRENGTHOFYOUTH`





                               Our Appeal to Scripture
                                                           (3)
                                                     Rev. J. Kortering


  The Bible is the final authority on all matters of              prove what you believe from the Bible. I know some
what we believe and how we are to live.                           of you share this concern with me.
  Our Reformed fathers expressed it this way, "We                   It all boils down to this: do we really know what
believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the              the Bible says and where? Can we quote the Bible
will of God, and that whatsoever men ought to                     properly, that is correctly and in a way that applies to
believe unto salvation, is sufficiently taught therein.           the need at hand? If not, we really don't know our
For since the whole manner of worship, which God                  Bibles.
requires of us, is written in them at large, it is un-              If we don't know our Bibles, we are missing some-
lawful for any one, though an apostle, to teach other-
wise than we are now taught in the Holy Scriptures,               thing.
nay, though it were an angel from heaven, as the holy               God Himself impresses upon us how important it is
apostle Paul saith," Belgic Confession Article 7.                 to know what is said in the Bible. This is true in
   Still more.                                                    different ways.
  The entire Bible does this. We may not take certain               First, for our spiritual growth. Listen to Job:
parts of it or change other parts; we must bow before             "Neither have I gone back from the commandment of
the entire Word of God. Of this we read in Rev.                   his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more
22: 18, 19: "For I testify unto every man that heareth            than my necessary food," Job  23:12. "As newborn
the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man                babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye
shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him               may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the
the plagues that are written in this book; and if any             Lord is gracious," I Peter 2: 23.
.man shall take away from the words of the book of                  Second, for dealing with life's problems. How
`this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the           often are we disappointed, fearful, questioning,
book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the              maybe even rebellious. We need to open the Bible and
things which are written in this book."                           hear what God has to say in such circumstances. Of
                                                                  this Jeremiah speaks: "Thy words were found and I
  In order to use the Bible, we must know our                     did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and
Bibles.                                                           rejoicing of mine heart; for I am called by thy name
                                                                  0 Lord God of hosts," Jeremiah 15: 16.
NEEDTOKNOWTHEBIBLE,                                                 Third, for sanctification. Just consider, "Where-
  Are you sometimes ashamed of how little you                     withal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking
really know your Bible? Maybe you experienced this                heed thereto according to thy word," Psalm  119:9.
when you had contact with someone who could                       Similarly, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in
really quote passages and was able to prove what he               obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned
believed. Sadly, many who are trained to misuse the               love of the brethren, see that ye love one another," I
Bible and quote it wrongfully are better able to do               Peter 1: 22.
that than we are able to use it correctly.                          Fourth, for avoiding error. "My people are
   I'm afraid that sometimes you young people are                 destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast
better able to explain what you believe and argue                 rejected knowledge I will also reject thee seeing thou
dogmatically, that is, defend what you believe fol-               hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget
lowing cogent logical arguments, than you are able to             thy children," Hosea  4:6. Jesus delivered a similar


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                477


reproof, "Ye do err, not knowing the scripture, nor        this way: atonement; creation,  gracZ+p~XciZK%id
the power of God," Matt. 22:29. Ignorance of Scrip-        common), trinity, virgin birth. Practical proofs can be
ture leads one into error.                                 arranged: dancing, drinking, drugs, movies, sports,
  Finally, the knowledge of the Scripture is neces-        war. Within each entry, you include a few important
sary for a person to be established in the truth. "All     proof texts, written out, along with the reference to
Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is            where it is found in the Bible. Under these texts,
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,      summarize in three to five points the pertinent
for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God      arguments that follow from the Scriptural texts. As
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good         you go along, this notebook will increase in size and
works," II Tim. 3 : 16.                                    importance.
  One conclusion is obvious: there is great spiritual        The advantages of compiling a small notebook is
benefit from knowing the Bible. The reason for this is     that you can refer to it in a hurry (usually when you
that God works through His Word, not apart from it.        need some "proofs" you are in a hurry), and you can
                                                           use it for reflection in your personal devotions. In
OBTAINtiGTHATKNtlWLEDGE                                    this way you increase in your understanding, and the
                                                           texts become more and more part of your memory
  There are two ways that this important knowledge         for recall at any time.
is obtained. The one is through the teaching of
others, that is, you are given this knowledge by some-       From my experience, it is hard to motivate young
one teaching you. The other is that you do your own        people to begin such a project. I suppose it is just too
studying and reflecting and in this way obtain knowl-      much bother. We are all extremely lazy. Maybe this
edge of the Bible for yourself.                            suggestion will help. Why not do this together within
  It is wonderful when it can be said of you as Paul       the framework of your young people's society. This
said of Timothy, "But continue thou in the things          leads me to my purpose of writing this article now.
which thou hast learned and hast been assured of,          We stand at the beginning of our new society year.
knowing of whom thou has learned them, and that            The usual question arises, how can we make our
from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures,          society more interesting? Here is one suggestion.
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation              This could be done on a regular basis as Bible
through faith which is in Christ Jesus," II Tim. 3: 14,    study. I'm convinced that it takes more time than
15. Most of you young people have had this kind of         trying to squeeze this in as an after-recess or program
training since you were very young. Your parents           period. You could do this each week, or if the society
read the Bible and discussed it at home. You were          would rather study a Bible portion weekly, do this
taken to church and Sunday School when very                once a month for variety.
young. You eventually attended catechism and a
Christian school. You now add young people's                 The idea is to have a certain subject set ahead of
society to this list. You have been taught the truths      time. The society is told that the next meeting will be
of God's Word all along.                                   occupied with discussing Scriptural proof and a
                                                           Scriptural defense of, for example, the trinity. Each
  How do you respond to this? Do you say, I know           member is expected to look up ahead of time certain
that Bible, I have had to read it ever since who knows     texts which he feels best defines the doctrine of the
when? And can you really quote the Bible, look up          trinity. He can use Rev. Hoeksema's dogmatics for
passages when you desire it, find them, use them in        texts, he can use our Reformed confessions, all
the different ways mentioned above? Do you                 contain many references to Scripture. A large part of
remember the passages memorized in grade school            the time will be taken by looking up the suggested
and high school? Can you recall the texts learned in       texts. After some consideration, decide together
catechism? Are they part of your life? I think this is     which ones prove it best. Agree on about three or
the area of lack. It is not that we have not learned       four of these and write them down in your note-
them at one time; rather, they fail to remain part of      book, or on a scratch copy. This then would be
our working vocabulary so to speak.                        followed by the question, how can we best explain to
  In this connection, I would like to give a sug-          someone who either rejects this truth or doesn't
gestion.                                                   know anything about it, what is involved? This too
                                                           will come by discussion. After such discussion state
  It is tremendously useful to compile a small note-       the four or five points that express best the line of
book containing Scripture texts that prove different       reasoning, drawn from the Bible texts and the teach-
points. One can arrange this according to the general
division of doctrinal proofs and practical proofs.         ings of our Reformed confessions. These too can be
Within the two divisions, you can file alphabetically.     entered into the notebook.
For example, in doctrinal proofs you, can arrange it         This will increase our interest in society as well as


478                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



help us come to a better understanding of the truth            Personally, I like the idea that people take their
and enable us to defend it.                                 own Bibles to church, society, catechism, and Sunday
   You will find that such a notebook, if developed         school. It really becomes part of you and no book is a
carefully and used regularly, will be a real treasure.      greater "friend" than your own Bible.
   The key is systematic development of different              Consider this idea prayerfully.
doctrinal and practical subjects. This must then be            We must appeal to Scripture.
followed by daily reflection and further pondering.            It is the only standard of truth.
INCLUDE YOUR BIBLE                                             It is truth from beginning to end.
   It might be worth mentioning that in order to do           We believe in God, the Author.
this, you should also have your own Bible. All of you         We believe it is His Word.
have a Bible, whether it has a fancy binding or not.           Make sure you know what it says and are able to
You should select one Bible which you consider to be        use it in your daily life. There is much more meaning
your working Bible. It is just that, a working Bible.       if you are not only able to summarize what the Bible
You should feel free to write in it, underline passages,    teaches, but also prove it from the very Word of God.
make notes in the margin. Read the same Bible and
use the same one for society and church. It will help         May this God bless us in our study of His Word
you to fix the passages in your mind. By using the          during this society season.
same Bible, you become more familiar with it.               Continue to appeal to Scripture.

                                           Book Review
i?RlI?EDOM  AN&  &ACE: ESSAYS  by J.R. Lucas;               accountability and freedom. Lucas comes down
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976; 138               strongly on the side of the freedom of man - to the
pp., $7.95.                                                 extent of denying explicitly God's sovereignty,
  The author of the essays in this book is a fellow of      omniscience, omnipotence, unchangeableness, etc.
Merton College, Oxford. The book was first published        The last part of the book is an attempt to outline a
in Great Britain, but Eerdmans has received publish-        Christian morality on a philosophical basis. In this
ing rights in this country. The author is an excellent      attempt the doctrines of the historicity of Genesis 2
writer, somewhat on the order of C.S. Lewis; and the        & 3, original sin, the substitutionary atonement of
book makes for interesting reading.                         Christ, etc., fall by the wayside, and what is left is a
                                                            Pelagian moral&m.
  However, while Lucas claims to be a Christian, and
is in fact a member of the Anglican Church of                 Two thoughts especially came to mind as I read the
England, he denies in this book the fundamental             book: 1) what a shame that such talent in writing is
truths of Scripture. He is concerned to explain             made subservient to the propagation of doctrines
philosophically various theological problems. His           inimical to the Christian faith; 2) those within  Re-
philosophical approach is due to his denial of the          formed circles who have recently attacked the
infallibility of the Scriptures.                            doctrines of predestination and the absolute author-
                                                            ity of Scripture would do well to read this book to
  The first essays in the book treat particularly the       tind out where they will themselves be a few years
relation between God's sovereignty and man's                from today.


          The
       STANDARD  BEA RER
       makes a thoughtfulgift
           for any occasion.


                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                    479


                                NOTICE                                                                      NOTICE OF
    Classis  East will meet in regular session on Wednesday, October 6,                    i6NDlSCRlMlNATORY POLICY
 1977, at the Faith Protestant Reformed Church, Jenison, Michigan.'
 Material to be treated at this session must be in the hands of the Stated                             .AS TO STUDENTS
 Clerk at least ten days prior to the convening of the session.                         The Hope Christian School of Redlands, California admits
                                        Jon J. Huisken                           students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the
                                        Stated Clerk                             rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or
                                                                                 made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate
                                                                                 on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in  admin-
          ANNIVERSARY ANNOUNCEMENTS                                             .istration of educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship
    The consistory of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church                 and loan programs and athletic and other school-administered
 hereby expresses in the name of the Hudsonville congregation our sin-           programs.
 cere and hearty congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. John Boelema on their
 55th wedding anniversary, which they celebrated together on the 16th
 of August, 1977.                                                                           NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING!!!
    For many years they have been faithful and zealous members of our            The annual meeting of the R.F.P.A. will be held on Thursday
 church. We commit them with all their needs to our merciful and              evening, at 8 PM, September 15, 1977, at the Southwest Protestant
 gracious Father in heaven, Who has always been and will always be their      Reformed Church. Nominees for the board, (three to be chosen) are J.
 Guide and their Protector.                                                   Cleveland, D. Harbach, J. Kuiper, Sr., J. Van  Overloop and H.  Velt-
                                    The consistory of the Hudsonville         house.
                                    Protestant Reformed Church,                   Our speaker for the evening will be  Rev;`B.  Woudenberg, who will
                                    Mr. Harry Zwak, clerk.                    speak on the topic: "TO BEAR OUR STANDARD HIGHER"  - A
                                                                              consideration of how our STANDARD BEARER can be used more
                                                                              effectively in Church Extension work.
    We, the children and grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Bylsma
 wish to announce that on August 15 they celebrated their 30th wed-                                   PLAN NOW TO ATTEND!!!
 ding anniversary. We thank our covenant God for them. They have led                                                THE BOARD OF THE R.F.P.A.
 us in the way of the Lord by His grace. May He richly bless them in the                                            Wm.  DeKraker,  Secy.
 years which lie ahead and keep them in His everlasting love.

                                        Gary and Karen Bylsma
                                         Christy, Steve, Danny                                RESOLUTIONS OF SYMPATHY
                                        Rich and Marcia Flikkema                 The Board members of the Hull Protestant Reformed Christian
                                         Tammy                                School wish to express their deepest sympathy to their fellow member,
                                        John and Carole ten Haaf              Mr. Floyd Jansma, in the recent loss of his brother, MR. TUNIS
                                         Mike, Jon                            JANSMA, of Hudson, South Dakota.
                                        Phyllis
                                        Sharon                                   "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
                                                                              dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
                                                                              eternal in the heavens." (I I Cor. 5: I).
    On September 9, 1977 our beloved parents, Rev. and Mrs. Herman                                                  The Hull Protestant Reformed
 Veldman will celebrate their forty-fifth wedding anniversary. This                                                 Christian School Board.
 occasion will also mark the forty-fifth year of ministry in our churches                                           Alvin J. Kooiker, Sec'y.
 for our father. We thank God for His preservation of these loved ones
 and for the wise counsel and training provided us through them. May
 He keep them in their future years together.                                    On July 17, 1977, the Lord took'unto Himself, MRS. HENRY I.
                                                                              (MAGGIE) VISSER, of Manhattan, Montana. She is survived by 8 sons,
`Wyoming, Michigan                                                            4 daughters, 42 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
                                    Mr. and Mrs. Cornie Den Ouden
                                    Mr. and Mrs. Jack Van  Dyke
                                    Mr. and Mrs. Jon Huisken
                                    eleven grandchildren                         The Ladies Aid Society. of The First Protestant Reformed Church of
                                                                              Grand Rapids, Michigan, express their sincere sympathy to one of our
                                                                              members, Mrs. J. Newhouse, in the loss of her husband, MR. JAMES
                        TEACHERNEEDED                                         NEWHOUSE.

    Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School of Grand Rapids is in              May she be comforted in the Word of God as written in Psalm
 need of a full-time Kindergarten teacher for all or part of the 1977-78      116:15,  "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
 school year. Michigan certification is required. Send your inquiry to
 1545 Wilson Ave., S.W., Grand Rapids, Ml  49504 or call the school at                                                     Mrs. P. Decker, Pres.
 (616)  453-9717.                                                                                                          Mrs. C. Pastoor, Sec'y


                                        N&iii'  Barn Our  Chufches
    Rev. Wayne Bekkering, pastor of our church in                             was planned for Rev. Bekkering and his family on
 Randolph, Wisconsin, has accepted the call to be the                         August 1 in Randolph Park. Rev. Bekkerjng planned
 first pastor of our new church in Houston, Texas,                            to preach his farewell sermon on Sunday, August 7.
 Trinity Protestant Reformed Church. From a trio of                           Upon the request of the East Friesland Christian
 Candidate Ken Koole, Rev. James Slopsema, and Rev.                           Reformed Church and with the permission of the
 -Ronald Van Overloop, Randolph has extended a call                           Randolph consistory, Rev. Bekkering conducted the
to Rev., Van Overloop. A Farewell Potluck Supper                              evening service at East Friesland on July 17.


 THE STANDARD  BEARiR
        P.O. Box 6064                              *
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49606 '





480                                           THE STANDARD BEARER
                                   NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES (CON'T.)

  At age of 70 years, Rev. C. Hanko has been                                                      Report of Classis East
emeritated at his request. It does not sound as if Rev.                                               J&6,19 77
Hanko is planning to `retire' though. He has already                                        Southwest Prot. ReJ: Church
been asked to teach in our Seminary. According to
the Redlands bulletin, Rev. Hanko is also interested               Classis East met in regular session on July 6, 1977
in laboring in New Zealand, a country he visited with          at Southwest Church. Covenant Church, Wyckoff,
Prof. H. Hoeksema in 1975. Rev. Hanko's charge,               . . New Jersey, was the only delegation absent and that
Hudsonville, has called Rev. James Slopsema from a             due to the recent birth of a child to the Rev. den
trio which included Rev. David Engelsma and Rev.               Hartogs. Rev. Van  Overloop  chaired, this session of
Gise Van Baren.                                               `. classis.
  At the request of several families, Rev. Robert                  As is typical of a July meeting of classis, the meet-
Harbach, our home missionary, expects soon to begin            ing time was short and much of the business was
three months labor in Victoria, British Columbia,              routine. One agenda item of this meeting, however,
Canada. This period of labor may extend for a year.            did have particular significance for the churches: the
Victoria is on Vancouver Island and is located a little        request of Hudsonville for the approval of the
north and west of Lynden, Washington, where a                  emeritation of their minister, Rev. C. Hanko. The
Protestant Reformed Church is established. The Mis-          request was approved. The chairman spoke for the
sion Committee also expects to begin labors in                 classis when he thanked God for all the work which He
Birmingham, Alabama, at the request of four families           has done through this servant of His and when he:
there. Probably, different ministers will be requested         thanked Rev. Hanko personally for his work in  the;
to labor there in turn for periods of two' ,or three           churches. Rev. Hanko's future plans are yet indefinite
weeks. A young man from this area plans to enter our           although it appears that he is not taking to the easy
seminary this fall.                                          . chair. The seminary has requested him to teach Dutchl
                                                             ' and he has been asked to spend some time in New
  In our last column, we reported that the ladies
circle in Hull scheduled a money raising project called      Zealand.
`bean walking.' Some degree of puzzlement was ex-                  In other business, the church visitors presented
pressed as to whatbean walking consisted of. Readers           their report. The contents of that report can best be
in Minnesota and Iowa kindly wrote to explain.                 summarized by quoting directly: "We found in our
Simply put, bean .walking consists of weeding a soy-           visits that all the churches are experiencing the bless-
bean field. One of the definitions received goes as            ing of God in the form of peace, spiritual growth,
follows (edited for lack. of space): "Bean Walking             steadfastness in the truth, and faithfulness on the part
may be defined as that activity consisting of ambulat-         of the officebearers."
ing through a field planted with soybeans while                    The normal business of the  classis was also con-
armed with a hoe or other sharp instrument of                  ducted. The Classical Committee and Stated Clerk
destruction. It is. generally a group activity, the pm---                                                            _  - -   ~-  .- -----
                                                               reported;-the-~~a~~~~i~~e~-was constitutehand
pose being the destruction of various noxious weeds            reported expenses of $4.00.                                  ."
inimical to the soybeans and incongruous in the field,            Kalamazoo requested that classis meet three times
which purpose is usually accomplished by a straggling          a year. Classis instructed Kalamaz.oo to come via over-
line of persons of all ages engaged in sighting and            ture if they wish this matter to be considered.
uprooting such noxious weeds. This activity is
designed to produce, among other things: blisters,                 Rev. Van Overloop  closed the session with prayer
perspiration, aches and pains, and questions as to how         and classis stood adjourned until October 5, 1977 at
much more remains to be done." For the complete                Faith Church.
definition, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope..                                                   Respectfully submitted,
                                               K.G.V.                                                   Jon J. Huisken, Stated Clerk

                                                                                      -     .-
                                                                              ,.`-
                                                                             ,.   ,.


