           The
STANDARD
           BEARER _
 -A  REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





             .  .  . every work, however splendid and excellent in.
           appearance,+ counted as sin, except it be founded on
           a right conscience; for God regards not the outward
           display, but the inward. obedience of the heart; by
           this alone is an estimate made of our works, Besides,
           how can that be obedience, when any one undertakes
           what he is not persuaded is approved by God? Where
           then such a doubt exists, the individual is justly
           charged with prevarication; for he proceeds in oppo.si-
           tion to the testimony of his own conscience. (John
           Calvin)
                                            See "Do ALL Things
                                  to God's Glory?"  - page 786





                                           Volume LII, No. 12, March 15, 1976


--  .-_


I
     770                                                        -rHE  STANDAREI  BEARER



                                                                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER
                                CONTENTS:                                            Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                     Publish.ed  by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
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      Meditation 1                                                               Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                 Department  Editdrs:   Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
        Caiaphas' Rending of his                                                 Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
                                                                                 Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. Dale H.  Kuiper,.  Rev.
        High Priestly Garment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .770           George C. Lubbers, Rev. Meindert Joostens, Rev. Marinus  Schrpper,
                                                                                 Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Kenneth G. Vink.
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        Our Australasian Tour ( 10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .772                                Grandville. Michigan 49418
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     MEDITATION

                                                 Caiaphas' Rending
                            of his  High Priestly Garment
                                                                    Rev. H. Veldman
                                            `Then the high priest rent his clothes. "
                                                                                                       Matt. 26:  65a

        It was the peculiar lot of Caiaphas, in connection                          man should die for the people and that the whole
      with the Christ, to act prophetically, not once but                           nation perish not." Of course, what Caiaphas meant is
      twice. His first prophetic act occurred when Jesus had                        plain: Jesus must be destroyed. Yet, we read that he
      performed His greatest miracle, the resurrection of                           speaks this not of himself; he is compelled to proph-
      Lazarus out of the grave. Many of the Jews had there-                         esy of the fact that Jesus must die in order that His
      upon believed in Him and the godless and unbelieving                          people may live. And his second prophetic act occurs
      leaders of the Jews had become desperate. Caiaphas,                           in the text to which we now call attention. Indeed, he
      however, had remained calm. It was then that the                              rends his garments in mock holy horror because of
      level-headed, cold-blooded high priest uttered the                            the Lord's confirmation of the truth that He  is. the
      now'famous words: "It is expedient for us, that one                           Christ, the Son of the living God. However, it is sure-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     771



ly a symbolic act, symbolizing the fact that he is at       effects of a life spent in the satisfying of his carnal
this very moment busily engaged in bringing to an           flesh. Thus he. is presented in the Word of God. He
end the high priestly office of the Old Dispensation.       did not hesitate to resort to cunning and trickery to
  It is Jesus who forces Caiaphas unto this act. How        capture Jesus of Nazareth and to devise a plan with
the high priest had attempted to avoid this dilemma!        traitors. And to this we may add that he loved filthy
He employs godless subtlety to condemn Jesus upon           lucre with all the passion of his evil heart. We should
any other ground. All his efforts, however, are to no       understand this godless high priest. He was the high
avail. And, through it all, Jesus continues to hold His     priest of the shadows, but' to this we will return
peace. Pilate therefore must ask the Saviour this ques-     presently. He loved the world, believed not in God,
tion. After all, the cross is God's cross. And God is       surely .not in Christ, and did not long for the fulfill-
executing the Christ exactly because He is the Christ,      ment of the promise.
the Son of the living God. And then the high priest            Before him stands Jesus, the Servant of Jehovah.
rends his garment.     d *  *  *  *                         He came to speak and to do the will of God. He not
                                                            only testified that He is the Christ, the Son of the
  What a shameless hypocrisy!                               living God, but He also fulfilled all that was written
  Indeed, how strange and contradictory it is that           concerning Him. . . .
the high priest should express his indignation upon            Consequently, what a hypocritical act we have here!
this testimony of the Saviour! Did not the Old Testa-       He purposes to show holy horror and righteous indig-
ment Scripture speak exactly of such a Messiah as this      nation..because Jesus must have blasphemed the Holy
Jesus claimed Himself to be! It is certainly true that      One of Israel. But this is Caiaphas. How he hated
He, Who was the object of Israel's expectation and          Jesus! He is darkness, loves sin and corruption, hates
hope, would be the Christ, the Messiah. Besides,            the truth and the covenant of Jehovah. And Christ is
would this Christ not also claim to be the Son of           the light. He is the holy Child, Jesus, the perfect Ser-
God? When Caiaphas asks the Saviour whether He be           vant of Jehovah. From Him only light radiates, no dark-
the Son of God, he does not mean this in the modern         ness at all. From Caiaphas only darkness radiates, no
sense of the word, but in the sense that Jesus is the       light at all. So, how hypocritical he! is! Really, blas-
Son of God, essentially, God Himself. Would not a           phemy never offended this high priest. He himself
virgin conceive and bear a Son whose name would be          lives in blasphemy. He uses God's office to seek and
called Immanuel? Would not His name be Joshua, and          enrich himself. And now, without, examining the
does Joshua not mean "Jehovah is Salvation"? Did            Lord's credentials, he promptly rends his garments
not Malachi speak of Jehovah Himself as coming to           because of his intense hatred of this Jesus of Naza-
purify His temple? How strange and amazing, there-          r e t h .
fore, that it is exactly upon the basis of this confes-
sion of the Christ that Caiaphas should have been so          We have here also a terrible prophecy. It is thus
profoundly provoked! Indeed, instead .of condemning         throughout the ages. Darkness, in its ,attitude toward
Him immediately upon this confession, the high              the light, does not proceed from the ,principle of rea-
priest should have investigated the credentials of this     son, cannot be explained merely intellectually. The
Jesus of Nazareth.                                          darkness always recognizes the light and it sponta-
  Hypocritical was this act of the high priest espe-        neously rejects it. This will culminate at the end of
cially in the light of a comparison between him and`        the ages. At the time of Jesus' condemnation Israel
the High Priest Who stood before him. Caiaphas was          was controlled entirely by a godless Caiaphas and his
the high priest. He was the son-in-law of Annas. There      godless Sanhedrin. And at the `end  ,of the ages the
was no figure better known in contemporary Jewish           church shall have become wholly corrupt. And then a
history than  Annas. None was deemed more fortu-            final and supreme effort will be made to destroy the
nate or successful. But it is also true that none was       cause of God from the face of the earth.
more cursed and detested than he. Much can be said                                    *****
of him. He was not in office. Yet, he was the power           How wantonly wicked was the act of Caiaphas,
behind that office.                                         that he rent his clothes! He.had no right to do this.
  And Caiaphas? He is the high priest and, therefore,         It was a wicked act even if as high priest he were
the president of the Sanhedrin. He alone could enter        allowed to rend his clothes in the' presence of blasphe-
the Holy of Ho'iies to sacrifice for the sins of himself    my. Some contend that,a high priest was permitted to
and of all the people. He is a Sadducee, a Jewish           rend his clothes when confronted  : by blasphemy.
*modernist. He did not believe in the resurrection of       We cannot discuss this now in detail. We are
the dead or in the spirit world. Moreover, he is a man      aware of what we read in Lev. 21: 10. It is claimed
of a very low, degraded character, a man' of carnal         that this passage was only generally true and that a
lusts and passions. His very countenance showed the         later law prescribed that it should be' done. It is true


772                                            THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                             Christ:                          1
that Scripture speaks of several instances where the         abdicate willingly and voluntarily. He must say to the
people of God rend their garments. But we do not                         "My work is finished; my task is done."
know a single passage in Scripture where we read of a           Hence, what a wantonly wicked assumption of
high priest who rends his clothes.                           power we have here on the part of Caiaphas! How
   However, even if a high priest were permitted to          eager he should have been to "hand over" his high
rend his clothes because of blasphemy, this would            priestly raiment? How he should have longed for the
emphasize rather than minimize the godlessness of            fulfillment of Israel's hope! How his heart should
Caiaphas. As the high priest, he was Israel's highest        have burned with intense longing to see his Christ and
judge, the president of Israel's highest tribunal. What      his High Priest! How eager he should have inquired
right did he have to declare that Jesus had uttered          into the credentials of this Jesus of Nazareth! But,
blasphemy? Had he not asked the Christ whether He            how wicked he is! Abdicate for the sake of the Christ
be the Christ, the Son. of the living God? Did he            of God? He will kill this Jesus of Nazareth, have Israel
examine the Lord's testimony? Was he not fully               go to hell and perish forevermore, and deprive the
aware of the Saviour's innocence and his own wicked-         people of the Lord`of their Messiah!
ness? This Word of God, however, presents us with a                                   * * *  *  *
more profoundly wicked act than this.                          Also now, in spite of himself, the shadow must
  Fact is, in this instance Caiaphas was surely not          serve the reality. Once before he had done this - see
allowed to rend his garments. We must bear in mind           John 11: 48-52. And now he prophesies again. For
that he was high priest under the shadows. This              now he rends his high priestly mantle. And he means
means that he was high priest in the typical sense of        to emphasize that this blasphemer .has merited death
the word. And being the high priest under the shad-          and that, therefore, there is no reason for him, Caia-
ows it was his calling to serve as a type of the Christ.     phas, to abdicate in his favor. Really, however, with-
All the shadows of the Old Dispensation pointed to           out understanding it, he prophesies again. He may
the Christ. And it was surely the high priest's calling      now tear his garment. It will never be worn again. The
to serve as that type of the Christ, to direct the peo-      shadow must make way for the reality.
ple of God to the Christ and to be Christ's substitute         What a beautiful symbol! Not only of the fact that
for God's people. Consequently, in this instance he          his high priestly office is about to vanish. But even as
was. strictly forbidden to tear his high priestly  rai-      he is now tearing his mantle, so Caiaphas at this very
ment. If he loved God and also the Christ he would           moment is actually bringing his office to an end. He is
not care to be high priest anymore when Christ came          condemning Jesus to death. He, the shadow, leads the
because then his priestly office would be without sig-       Reality, Priest and Sacrifice, unto the altar.
nificance. Caiaphas was compelled to recognize this
fact. What Caiaphas was, therefore, called to do, and          The Anointed must shed His life's blood before the
this lies in the very nature of the case, was not to tear    face of His Father,,and thereby enter into His glory.
his high priestly robe, but to remove it and deliver it        And the office of typical high priest is ended for-
unto Him who stood before him. He must at this time          evermore.


E D I T O R I A L S

                                Our Australasian Tour (10)

                                                Pvof H. C Hoe ksema

   In the previous installment of our report (February       Mrs. Stafford is in charge of all the music instruction
 15 issue) we told of our departure from Melbourne           in the school system of Sydney. We all had lunch
for Sydney on Saturday morning, July 12.                     Saturday noon at the Stafford  home,.and spent the
   We arrived at the Sydney airport late Saturday            afternoon in conversation there, becoming better
morning, where we were met by the  ,Rev. John                acquainted with one another and discussing plans for
Stafford, pastor of the little independent Reformed          our stay in the Sydney area. Although we had been
Presbyterian Church of Ryde, a suburb of Sydney.             forewarned by the Rev. Stafford about the horrible
The congregation there is small, but not lacking in          weather which we should expect in Sydney at that
devotion and enthusiasm. Rev. Stafford is not a full         time of the year, the fact of the matter is that during
time minister, but teaches school during the week.           our stay there we had beautifully sunny days and the


                                                 THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                       773



 warmest temperatures we had encountered thus far                  had a very hearty reception from the people of the
 on our trip. In fact, one afternoon I was  almost                 congregation, and we lingered a good while for con-
 tempted to take a swim. The air temperature was in                versation after the service.
                                                              -                                    _ __  ._. .:.  -----.
 the upper  .60's; and if it had not been for the chill              Monday, July 14, was a more leisurely day. In the
 breeze, I would have taken a dip in the waters of the             afternoon Rev. Hanko and I visited an FM broadcast-
 Tasman Sea, which the thermometer showed to be                    ing station which is not yet in operatipn,  but which is
 around 60 degrees. At any rate, during the day we no              engaged in considerable recording and distributing of
 longer needed our topcoats. While we were at                      various religious programs which are aired on other'
 Sydney, Rev.  Hank? made his home with the  Staf-                 radio stations. We had originally been scheduled for
 fords; Mrs. Hoeksema and I stayed at the home of                  an interview; but due to the sickness of the inter-
 Miss Marjorie Martin, a retired college lecturer in               viewer, our interview had to be cancelled. We did,
 Botany. Miss Martin's home is on a hill overlooking               however, make some inquiries concerning radio
 the ocean, and only a busy highway separated us                   broadcasting in Australia. We were rather surprised to
 from the beautiful, sandy beach. Rev. Stafford and                learn that FM broadcasting is only about to begin in
 his congregation did everything possible to make our              that country, and that the station which we visited
 stay enjoyable, and overwhelmed us with their kind-               was waiting to obtain one of the first licenses to be
 ness, generosity, and hospitality. We shall not soon              granted. In that light, we concluded that at present it
 forget our stay at Sydney.
~. --.-. ._ __-- __. -                                             would certainly not be very fruitful even to attempt
      Due to the cancellation of some meetings with                an FM broadcast.
  representatives of the Presbyterian Reformed                        On Monday evening, July 14, there was an adver-
  Churches, our schedule in the Sydney area originally             tised open house, or cottage meeting, at the home of
  had some openings in it. But while it was not quite as           Rev. and Mrs. Stafford. At this meeting there were
  busy as our previous schedule had been, nevertheless             some 15 people present, mostly from Mr. Stafford's
  it was sufficiently full. We did, however, have one day          congregation. I must make mention ;of the fact that
  open for a sightseeing tour. On Saturday evening I               one who was present at all of our  :meetings in the
  lectured at the meeting place of Rev. Stafford's con-            Sydney area and who was a very interested partici-
  gregation, the Willoughby Congregational Church.                 pant was Mr. Alec Neil, a member of the Free
 "There. was a small,~but  attentive audience of 19 pres-.         Church, but vitally interested in the Reformed faith.
  ent to hear my lecture on "The Reformed Faith in                 We enjoyed our fellowship with him, also on our later
  Crisis." On Sunday, July 13, we had to wait until the            train-trip to Wauchope.
  afternoon for our first church service, due to the fact                                                              _--
  that the meeting place is not available in the morning.             You will notice that in the Sydney -area, a large
  At that afternoon service Rev. Hanko preached, tak-              metropolitan area, our meetings were:very small, even
  ing as his text Psalm 91: 1,2. There were 25 present,            as in many other places which we visited. This was
  including some visitors from the Free Presbyterian               not due, however, to a lack of extensive publicity and
  Church and from one of the local Reformed                        advertising. Our readers must remember - in order to
  churches.                                 _  _  ..-              keep a balanced picture of our tour - that while we
                                                                   made many wonderful contacts with like-minded
      After' supper ("tea") at the Staffords, I had an-       people of God who love the Reformed faith, the
  other of the many new experiences which character-          ecclesiastical situation in countries like New Zealand
  ized our tour. For the first time in my career I                 and Australia is very much similar to the situation in
  preached in a Baptist Church. This was the Mac-.                 our own country. The level of spiritual life is low.
  quairie Reformed Baptist Church. If you are wonder-              The apostate churches are large. There are, of course,
  ing how it was possible that we could preach in all              as also in this country, various evangelical, or funda-
  these different kinds of churches with which we had              mentalist, groups which are thoroughly Arminian and
  no official ecclesiastical relation, let me explain that         dispensationalist. But the remnant which desires to
  before we accepted any of these invitations to preach,           adhere to the pure truth of our Reformed faith is
  we made it plain that we were not to be restricted in            very small. I mention this, as I say, so that you may
our preaching, but were to be accepted as we were                  have an accurate picture of what we encountered on
  and allowed to speak freely. The service at this                 our tour. We certainly encountered great things, but
  church was very different. In Rev. Staff&d's congre-             we did not find big things. If we had been expecting
  gation they observe purity of worship, which involves            big things, we certainly would  :have been dis-
  singing of Psalms. without instrumental accompani-               appointed.
  ment. As you might expect, there was very spirited
  singing of hymns at this Reformed Baptist Church. I
                                               .___  .-.-            Tuesday, July 15, was a day of relaxation. It had
  preached to a very attentive and receptive congrega-             been set aside by our hosts in Sydney! for the purpose
  tion of between 50 and 60 on Isaiah  45:22-25. We                of sight-seeing. Mr. John Steele and Miss Martin took


  774                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  us on a tour of downtown Sydney, where the world-            As soon as we arose the next morning, our conversa-
  famous Opera House, among other places, was visited          tions began again, and they continued until we
  by us. Then'we went to the observation deck of one           boarded our plane at nearby Port McQuarie. We only
`of Sydney's skyscrapers, in order to get a bird's-eye         regretted that our visit had to be a brief one. Mean-
  view of the city and of Sydney's large, busy harbor          while, our travel companions from Sydney had re-
  area. Sydney, by the way,. has one of the most beauti-       turned on the night train, while we were scheduled to
  ,ful natural harbors in the world. We had our noon           travel northward to Brisbane.
  lunch aboard a sight-seeing launch which took us for           That was another new experience. It was necessary
  a long tour of the Sydney harbor area. After this            to reach Brisbane on Thursday, July 17 for our
  enjoyable day, we spent the evening with the Stafford        scheduled meeting there. Hence, our hosts had
 family, but retired early, in order to be ready for the       arranged an unusual plane flight for us. We made use
  next day's early morning train-trip to the little village    of the services of the North Coast Airline, a small
  of Wauchope, some 250 miles north of Sydney.                 commuter line. We flew in a twin-engine, propellor-
    We made a party of our trip to Wauchope on                 driven, eight-seater plane - quite different from the
  Wednesday, July 16. Accompanying us on the trip              large airliners in which we had been flying. There
  north were Rev. Stafford, Mr. John Steele, Mr. Alec          were a few intermediate stops before Brisbane, and
  Neil, and Mr. Neil's elderly mother. Our purpose was         some of these were at little airports with unpaved
  to visit Rev. and Mrs. Alan Tripovich and to lecture at      runways. However, this method of travel enabled us
  the Free Presbyterian Church in that village. This was       to get a beautiful bird's-eye view of the countryside,
  our only contact with the Free Church. Originally,           and especially of the coastal area all the way north to
  Wauchope had not been on our schedule; but when              Brisbane.
  we found that we had an extra day in the schedule,             Brisbane, a large metropolitan area, is one of the
  due to the cancellation of our meetings with the             centers of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. At
  Presbyterian Reformed Church, the Rev. Stafford              present this congregation has no pastor, but the Rev.
  (who coordinated this part of our tour) made efforts         Philip Burley had made the long trip from  Rock-
  to arrange for other meetings. If I remember cor-            hampton, to the north, to be present at our meeting
  rectly, Rev. Tripovich and Rev. Stafford became re-          in Brisbane. Here, too, we made the acquaintance of
  acquainted with one another through a mutual                 one of the students for the ministry of the Evan-
  acquaintance who was a former member of Rev.                 gelical Presbyterian Church, Mr. Chris Colebom. Rev.
  Stafford's church. At any rate, through correspon-           Hanko had as his hosts the Peter Torlach family; and
  dence the Rev. Stafford learned that Pastor Tripovich        during our stay in Brisbane, Rev. Hanko had exten-
  was in agreement with our position concerning God's          sive opportunity to, visit with Mr. Colebum, who was
  attitude toward the reprobate and concerning the free        very eager to learn all that he could about our
  offer, and that Mr. Tripovich was interested in having       churches during the half day of our stay at Brisbane.
  us visit Wauchope.                                           Mrs. Hoeksema and I had as our hostess Mrs. Ann
    Hence, after almost missing the train early in the         Walker, a young widow lady with four children. Dur-
  m 0 rning, we found ourselves enjoying both the              ing the late afternoon Rev. Burley took us on a brief
  fellowship of our Australian traveling companions            sight-seeing tour of Brisbane which (if there are any
  and the opportunity to view the Australian country-          GI's who were stationed at Brisbane during WW II
  side as we traveled north. When one travels by air, of       and who might remember this) included the site of
  course, he gets little opport,unity to see a country; it     the former American military installations there. In
  was a welcome change, therefore, when we could take          fact, Rev. Burley might have been among the young-
  this rather leisurely trip by rail which brought us to       sters who begged chewing gum from you at that time!
  Wauchope and to another new experience about mid-            This sight-seeing tour also gave us the opportunity to
  afternoon of that day.                                       become better acquainted with Pastor Burley, as well
    Our brief stay with Rev. and Mrs. Tripovich was            as to become briefed on plans for the evening
  very enjoyable. Our hosts showed themselves to be            meeting. That meeting was in downtown Brisbane at
  intensely interested in the Reformed truth, and our          the Temperance Hall. By request, I spoke on the same
  time was busily occupied with conversation con-              subject as in Launceston to a very attentive audience
  cerning the truth and the things of the church  - so         of about 60. After the lecture there was a question
  busily, in fact, that the time almost got away from us,      .hour, and thereafter we had more than an hour of
  and we had to go right from our evening meal to the          informal discussion over refreshments. This was the
  church's Fellowship Hall, where I lectured on "God's         last meeting of our Australian tour, and also our last
  Sovereign Love of the World" to an attentive audi-           contact with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. We
  ence of about 50. After the lecture there was much           &ad been invited to visit Rockhampton also; however,
  informal discussion while refreshments were served.          the invitation came too late for us to fit  Rock-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                775



hampton into our schedule, to our deep regret. We          for our departure from Australia and in packing and
shall not soon forget the warm reception which we          shipping home some of our winter clothing, which we
received from the Evangelical Presbyterian Church,         would not need for the remainder of our trip. We had
and especially from the people of the Brisbane con-        `our evening meal with Rev. and Mrs. Stafford, and
gregation and from Pastor Burley.                          visited until late at night at their home; and after an
                                                           early breakfast, we departed from Sydney for
  On Friday morning, July 18, we left Brisbane for         Jakarta, Indonesia by Air Garuda at  9:45 A.M. on
Sydney, arriving in late morning. We spent the rest of     Saturday, July 19.
that day attending to various details in preparation         Thus ended our all too brief stay in Australia.




                  Announcing Our New Australia Office j
                                              Profi H. C. Hoeksema

  During last year's tour we also put forth efforts to     Centre will also have a small stock of the various.
improve the distribution of our Standard Bearer and        books published by the Reformed  iFree Publishing
our other literature in New Zealand and Australia.         Association, and residents of Australia will be able to
While we were in Australia, we came to the con-            get much faster service in obtaining `our books from
clusion that it would be much better to have, if pos-      this new distributor. We greatly appreciate the co-
sible, an Australian outlet for our  Standard Bearer       operation of Pastor Burley and others connected with
and RFPA publications, as well as an office in New         the Reformed Literature Centre; and we hope that
Zealand. We are now happy to announce that arrange-        this will result in improved and enlarged distribution
ments have been completed for such an office in            of our literature, and in more efficient service for our
Australia. In Rockhampton, the Evangelical Presby-         readers, down under.
terian Church operates a Reformed Literature Centre.         At the same time we will continue to maintain an
And that Reformed Literature Centre has kindly             office in New Zealand for the convenience of readers
agreed to act as the Australian distributor of our         and subscribers there. I take this opportunity to call
Standard Bearer and our other publications. Begin-         attention to a change of address for our New Zealand
ning with this issue of our Standard Bearer, all copies    office also. The address of our office there is:
will be sent by air to the Reformed Literature Centre                   The Standard Bearer,
in Rockhampton, and from Rockhampton they will                          c/o OPC Bookshop,
be mailed in Australia to our various readers there.                    P.O. Box 2289,
Hence, all correspondence in Australia concerning                       Christchurch, New Zealand
Standard Bearer subscriptions and concerning all `our
RFPA publications should be directed to:                     In case you lose these addresses, from now on they
             Reformed Literature Centre,                   will also appear in our masthead on the inside of the
             P.O. Box 849,                                 front cover page.
             Rockhampton 4700,                               All overseas subscriptions, other `than from Aus-
             Queensland                                    tralia and New Zealand, will be taken care of by our
  In the very near future this Reformed Literature         main office in Grand Rapids.



                                     An Unfair Indictment
                                              Pro5 H. C. Hoeksema

  Elsewhere in this issue there appears a contribution     strong disagreement.
from brother "N. D." under the title "Compromis-
ing." Not only do I wish to call attention to the fact        The thrust of that contribution is that we who send
that placement of a contribution does not imply            our children to Christian Schools are guilty of com-
editorial agreement, but I also wish to express my         promise and of avoiding persecution when we pay


776                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



taxes with which the State maintains the public                     On the contrary, I believe that this is not com-
school system.                                                      promise, but living the antithesis.
  Let me make the issue very clear. The issue is not                   But let me also point out the fallacy of the reason-
whether public education is wrong; indeed, the public               ing in the contribution referred to. That fallacy is that
school system is nothing less than antichristian.                   you and I are personally responsible for the use which
  Nor is the issue whether it is wrong for the State to             the government makes of our tax monies after we
engage in education and to use government funds for                 have paid our taxes. This is simply not true. I am not
this purpose. I believe that that, too, is wrong - even             responsible for the use which Caesar makes of the
apart from the fact that the education offered in the               taxes which he collects from me. I am only responsible
public school system is wrong. I do not believe that it             to pay what is required. The Biblical principal is:
is the business of the State to educate children.                   "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's."
                                                                    The fact is, therefore, that it would be wrong for a
  Nor is the issue whether or not it is unfair that                 Christian not to pay his due taxes. And if he would
Christian parents must pay taxes which go for the                   refuse to pay those taxes, he would be punished, not
support of the public school system and also pay                    for well-doing, but as an evildoer.
tuition to support their parental schools. I certainly,                           -.--
believe that this is unfair, even though I do not be-                  Finally, if we follow the line of reasoning of this
lieve that the solution lies in the direction of State              contribution, then the solution that is suggested is
funds for private schools.                                          also wrong. The contribution suggests that we will
                                                                    have to lose our property and rent housing for our
  But the issue is whether it is compromise on the                  families. It should not be overlooked, however, that
part of Christians to pay property taxes which the                  anyone who pays rent for housing is also indirectly
State uses for public education.                                    contributing toward the property taxes of the land-
  I find it difficult to understand the reasoning                   lord. To be consistent, N.D. should propose that we
process which arrives at such a conclusion. And I be-               get out of the World - something that is impossible.
lieve it is a grossly unfair indictment of our people.                 There is one element in this contribution with
                                                                    which I agree. That is that the time will come when it
  There have been many of our people in the past                    will be impossible for us to have our own schools. It
and there are today many of our people who sacrifice                may even be that such a time is not far distant. When
greatly, to the extent of thousands of dollars, in order            such a time comes, then God's people may not com-
to provide their children with a covenantal education,              promise! But as long as it is still possible to have truly
while they pay property taxes toward public educa-                  Christian schools;. let us maintain them and keep
tion for which, they receive no value in return. To me,             them strong and pure - even though it involves sac-
it is very strange reasoning to call this compromise.               rifice.



THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS


                                               Original Sin
                                                   ProJ: Robert D. Decker


           "We believe that, through the disobedience of Adam, original sin is extended to all mankind; which is a
          corruption of the whole nature, and an hereditary disease; wherewith infants themselves are infected even
          in their mother's womb, and which produceth in man all sorts of sin, being in him as a root thereof; and
          therefore is so vile, and abominable in the sight of God, that it is sufficient to condemn all mankind. Nor is
          it by any means abolished or done away by baptism; since sin always issues forth from this woeful source,
          as water from a fountain; notwithstanding it is not imputed to the children of God unto condemnation, but
          by his grace and mercy is forgiven them. Not that they should rest securely in sin, but that a sense of this
          corruption should make believers often to sigh, desiring to be delivered from this body of death. Wherefore
          we reject the error of the Pelagians, who assert that sin proceeds only from imitation."
                                                                                     Article XV, The Be& Confession


                                               THEsTANDARD  BEARER                                                         777



  Anvone who wishes an answer to the "why" of sin            and evil, therefore, was a representative sin. And, the
can do no better than consult this statement of our          guilt of this original sin God imputed to all of man-
.Confession. Why the abounding lawlessness, the im-          kind. All men very really became guilty for this one
morality, the filth, the murder;war, crime, the lying        transgression which Adam, the. legal head of the race,
and cheating, the blasphemy and cursing, the drunk-          committed.
enness and drug abuse, the hatred of God and neigh-            Because Adam stood as the legal representative of
bor? The answer is: ". . .through the disobedience of        the race he was also the organic head of mankind and
Adam, original sin is extended to all mankind; which         the father of the human race. The whole human race,
is a corruption of the whole nature, and an hereditary       in other words, was not only juridically in him, but
disease . . . which produceth in man all sorts of            also organically. Every human nature was principally
sin. . ." This article of the Creed succinctly states the    found in Adam. Adam was the root `out of which the
sobering, humiliating truth of Scripture concerning          tree of the human race sprang. He was the seed
the reason for the universal phenomenon of sin. Sin          whence proceeded all men. This means that there is a
must be traced to Adam and his fall. In Adam the             living and organic connection between Adam and all
whole race of mankind was plunged into sin and               men. All are born in his generations and are the "sons
death. This is also the relationship between this            of Adam." (Cf. Deuteronomy. 32: 8) The Scriptures
article and the preceding. Article fourteen speaks of        make this very clear:
the creation and fall of man and his incapacity to               "Wherefore as by one man sin entered `&to the world,
perform what is truly good. Adam through his fall                and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
into sin lost all his excellent gifts and became a slave         for that all have sinned . . . Therefork as by the of-
to sin. These same dire consequences have passed to              fence of one judgment came upon ah men to condemna-
all men. "through the disobedience. of Adam." All are          tiori; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift
totally depraved, which is to say, incapable of any              came upon all men unto justification of life. For as
good.                                                            by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,
                                                                 so by the obedience of one shall many be made
  The crucial significance of this truth of original sin         righteous."
can hardly be overly stressed. A denial of it leads,                                      0      (Romans 5: 12-19, Cf.
inevitably to a denial of salvation through the satis-                                                I car. 15:21,22)
faction of Jesus' death and resurrection by the sover-
eign grace of God. No doubt it is for this reason that       This passage teaches that sin entered into the world
Augustine stoutly defended the doctrine of original          and as a consequence death passed upon all men "by
sin in his polemic with  Pelagius; Luther and Calvin         one man." That one man was Adam, the organic head
followed in Augustine's steps in their battles with          and father of the human race. The Apostle concludes
Erasmus and Pighius. The fathers of Dordt recognized         that by the  offence of one (Adam) the judgment
this significance and did not hesitate to call Armin-        came upon all men to condemnation. This is because
ianism "the Pelagian error out of hell." (Cf. Canons         Adam `was the legal head, the representative of the
of Dordrecht, Second Head, Rejection of Errors, III)         corporation of the human race.
At this critical juncture there must be no com-                This is the explanation for the universal phenom-
promise. Either we deny this truth and then we must          enon of sin. When Adam fell, as we saw in connection
look within man himself for salvation; or we take our        with the previous article, his entire nature became
stand with our Confession and heed the voice of our          corrupt and depraved. Sin ruled his entire nature,
fathers and then we rejoice in salvation by grace            subjecting it to sin's service. Adam died spiritually
alone.                                                       and became a spiritual and moral corpse. This meant
  It should be noted that the article stresses the doc-      that he was incapable of doing any good at all.
trine of original sin only from the viewpoint of the         According to his fallen, depraved "mind of the flesh"
organic and spiritual, ethical character of sin. It does     he was not and could not be subject to the will of
not speak of original sin from the legal point of view.      God. (cf. Romans  8:6-8) Besides,, even physically
This truth is important and for that reason we shall         Adam died. The moment he fell into sin death began
make a few comments concerning it. The entire                to move in his members. He began the descent to the
human race was created as a legal corporation in             grave. Because he stood as the legal and organic head
Adam. Adam, therefore, was the legal representative          and father of the race all this is passed to all men. In
of the race, the representative head of mankind. In a        Adam the whole race died.
judicial or legal sense Adam represented all of man-,          This original corruption the article describes as: "a
king before the face of God. Adam stood in this              corruption of the whole nature,' and an hereditary
capacity in the state of righteousness so that his first     disease, wherewith infants themselves are infected
act of sin could be imputed to all of mankind.               even in their mother's womb, and whichproduceth in
Adam's sin of eating of the tree of knowledge-of good        man all sorts of Sin, being in him asa root thereof."


 778                                                 THE STANDARD'BEARER



 This simply means that because Adam's corruption               by the sacrament of baptism. The result is that a man
 involved his entire nature, that nature brings forth           is held accountable only for those sins which'he com-
 other natures equally involved in corruption. Even             mits during his life. The article refutes this position
 infants and that too in their mothers' wombs are con-          with the words: "sifice sin always issues forth from
 ceived and born in this  corrupti&.  David, when               this woeful source, as water from a fountain." The
 inspired by the Holy Spirit to write Psalm 5 1, under-         real explanation for sin, therefore, is that all our
 stood this very well. When confronted with his sins of         actual sins proceed from the woeful  sourc$  of the
 murder and ,adultery with Bathsheba by Nathan the              fountain of a corrupt nature inherited from Adam. It
 prophet, David laments: "Behold, I was shapen in               is true enough that original guilt is not imputed unto
 iniquity; and in sin did my mather  conceive me." (Ps.         the  childreri of God  unto condemnation, but by
 5  1:6) And David realizes. that what he needs is              God's grace and mercy is forgiven them on the basis
 nothing less than that God create in him a clean heart         of the shed blood of the Savior. This is the symbolism
 and renew a right spirit within him. (Verse 1Oj This           of' the water of baptism. But original pollution re-
 corruption is compared to a "hereditary disease.`?             mains. According .to his sinful nature the child of God
 which affects all who are born and to a root which in          cannot do the good. Daily he must confess with the
 each individual produces the full tree of his sin. In          holy  ,Apostle:   "For the good that I would I do not:
 another sense too Adam's original sin \ivas a root sin.        but  the evil which I would not, that I do . . . 0
 It is the sin out of which grows every sin evidenced in        wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from
 the entire history of the human race. Each sin of each         the body of this death?" (Romans 7: 19,24)
 person is only a further development and another
 manifestation of Adam's sin. Thus it is that sin                  .Thus too with our Confession we "reject the error
 develops in the line of generatiohs and in harmony              of the Pelagians, who assert that sin proceeds only
 with each. man's place in creation  and history. Grad-         from imitation." Pelagianism teaches that there is no
 ually-the hereditary disease of sin,grows  and develops,       such thing as original sin. Eiery child comes into the
 spreads and permeates until it culminates in the Man           world as a blank slate upon which. can be found no
of Sin, the Antichrist himself. Then the cup of man's           traces of sin. Sin is to be explained from the fact that
 iniquity is full and he is ripe for final judgment. This       people fall into evil deeds by imitating the example of
 is the doctrine of the organic deveiopment of sin. The         others. Everyone is born into a sinful -environment
 Confession  alludes to it in another figure when it            and falls into the habit of sin. This doctrine is as
 states: "Sin always issues forth from this woeful              pernicious as it is false. Denying the reality and the.
 source,  as.  water from a fountain." This truth is clear-     magnitude of original guilt and corruption it must
 ly taught in the Scriptures. Romans 3: lo-l.8 describes        needs deny salvation by the grace of God. This is also,
 this hereditary disease as it affects all mankind in            as noted `above, the root error of Arminianism.
 these terms:                                                   Arminianism is only a modified form of Pelagianism
                                                                 and is characterized by a very superficial view of sin.
        "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not     This radically affects Arminianism's conception of
        one: There is none that seeketh after God. They are      the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ.
        all gone out of `the way, they are together become
        unprofitable: there is none that doeth good, no, not       Finally the article condemns the view that the
        one. Their throat is an open  sepulihre;  with their
        tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is     truth that original sin is not imputed to the elect unto
        under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and     condemnation produces in them a carnal security, a
        bitterness:, Their feet are swift to shed blood: De-     "let us  sin that grace may abound" attitude. This is
        struction and misery are in their ways: And the `way     utterly impossible. One who truly knows sin in all its
        of peace. have they not known: There is no fear of       horrible power, and one who truly knows his .own
        God before their eyes."    . .                           sinful nature and. who at the same time knows the
                                                                 mighty power of God's saving grace will hate and flee
                                                                 his sin, crying daily for forgiveness. (Cf. also the
 That and nothing less is the magnitude and the  horror          Heidelberg Catechism, L.D. XXIV, Q. 64) The be-
 of the foul fountain of sin into which everyone is              liever always has a profound  sense  of his corruption
 conceived and born.                                             and this causes him "often to sigh, desiring to be
                                                                 delivered from this body of death." He realizes that
   We notice too that the article condemns several               he has but a small beginning of the new obedience.
 errors. With .the words "nor is it (original sin) by any        Daily he fights to put off the old man and put on the
 means abolished or done away by baptism" the Con-               new (Eph. 4: 17ff.): His response to all carnal securi
 fession  condemns an error of Roman' Catholicism                ity, the "let us sin that grace may abound" attitude is
 which teaches that original corruption is taken away            always a vigorous, "GOD FORBID!" (Romans 6: lff.)


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    779



 ALL  A.,UOUND US-                           '

                                   Insoluble Marriage Problems
                                                         ,Rev. H. Veldman

   Of this we were reminded by an article in the                       As we walked out I was thinking to' myself, "How
Banner, an official organ of the Christian Reformed                    could a minister, trained  in theology, agree to such a
Church. This article appeared in the Banner of                       liturgy? Or had that pastor not even read the form
December 26, 1975, page 4, and it was written by                       before he spoke it to us?" Such could have been, for
Melvin D. Hugen, professor of Pastoral Theology at                     he read it as if he knew it not. But that gave me less
                                                                       comfort. Do we no longer care what wedding liturgies
Calvin Seminary. We need not quote all of it. We                       we use or what theologies they embody?
 offer our readers the following:
       It fmally happened. I heard a wedding liturgy with             We need not quote more. In the rest of this article,
    all the verbs in the present tense. Well . . . not quite       Dr.  Hugen  sets forth what kind of  Ia liturgy should
    all. There were a few references to the past and these         have been used at this wedding. I, too, was thinking
    were rightly and Christianly done.                             to myself as I read this article in the Banner. This is
       The one had been married before. Her mate had               what I was thinking.                      :
    left her and was now married to another. The pastor
    spoke of the pain of the past, of a marriage that had             Dr.  Hugen, it finally happened. You begin your
    been broken, and of sins that had been forgiven and.        article with these words. Yes, it finally happened.
    purged. He prayed for both of them in the light of             How expressibly sad!
    the past.. It was well that he did, for the past could           First, the wedding should never have occurred. Dr.
    not be ignored at that wedding. The past was there in          Hugen, please ,do not look for a proper liturgy to be
    the shape of two children who stood by their mother            used at such a wedding. The wedding itself is wrong.
    during the ceremony, not as flower girls but as partic-
    ipants in a rite by which a new family was being               The words of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matt. 5:  32,~
    formed.                                                        Matt. 19: 9, Luke 16: 18, and many other passages
                                                                   tell us this very clearly.
        I was happy that there were verbs in the past tense          Secondly, Dr.  Hugen,, you were happy that there
     and that they were pointed verbs like "broken,"               were verbs in the past tense, verbs such as "broken,"
     "sinned," "forgiven," and "purged." Christians can            "sinned," "forgiven" and  "purged.".But, how could
     use verbs in the past tense because God can and does          this be? The bride had been married before. And,her
     make the present into the past. When God forgives
     and cleanses, the past becomes truly the past. Her            mate, who had left her, was now married tp another.
     divorce, even her role in it, no longer shaped and            And now she, too, married `again. And the pastor
   formed and determined the present. This bride and               speaks of the pain of the past, of a marriage that had
     tbis groom were making a new beginning and we                been broken, and of sins that had been forgiven and
     could celebrate that fact because of what Christ had         purged? But, Dr. Hugen, how can this be? We read in
     done with the past.                                          Prov. 28: 13: "He that covereth his sins shall not
                                                                 prosper: but  whoso  confesseth  and, forsaketh them
     But the rest of the ceremony was in the present              shall have mercy." This bride confessed her sin of a
     tense. The groom spoke movingly about his love for           broken marriage, now enters  `into another, and her
     this young woman and her two daughters. She said             sin, being confessed, is now forgiven and purged?
     how she felt about him and what he meant to her.             That cannot be! Our sins are forgiven when we not
     And that was it. No more. N_o_future  tenses at all. No      only confess them but also forsake them!
     one said what they planned to do tomorrow or a year
     from now, much less until death do them part.                   Thirdly, it was wedding without vows. Nothing was
                                                                  said about the future. How terrible! But, is this so
        They said they loved each other, and we believed
     them because it sounded so sincere and it had come           surprising? Dr. Hugen, this is exactly what one may
     through such trial.  But they made no promises about         and can and must expect when a person who has been
    loving each other in the future. No one promised love         divorced, whether  biblicaily or unbiblically, is per-
     or honor in sickness or in health, in poverty or in          mitted to continue in a second marriage. They cannot
     riches, for better or for worse. No one promised any-        promise anything of the future. How do they know
     thing at all. They did not even promise to live to-          whether this second marriage will not also suffer ship-
     gether as husband and wife. . . .                            wreck? Yes, Dr. Hugen, it finally happened. How in-
      ' In any case, it was a wedding in the present tense.       expressibly sad!


780                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER





                          Dr.  John Kromminga and the WCC

   In the editorial in the Banner, also of  Dec.`26,                 matter of the ordination of women to the ministry is
 1975, Prof. John Kromminga tells an audience how                    surely not a dead issue in his own church. That this is a
 the Reformed Church  in. America appears to him.                    live issue is apparent from what one reads in the
That we do not quote extensively from this article                   Banner. Besides, the professor must be familiar with
 must not be construed as if we do not consider it                   the causes and conditions which led to the secession
 worthy of comments. We direct our readers to the                    of the Christian Reformed Church .out of the Re-
 following, the second and third paragraphs in the left.             formed Church in 1857. There were issues at that
 column, page 7:                                                     time such as the singing of hymns in the churches,
                                                                     and lodge membership. In addition to this, was not
          I may add, although here I am speaking as an in-           the membership of the Christian Reformed Church at
       dividual perhaps not representative of my own                 that time sorely troubled because of the Arminianism
       denomination, that some of the ecumenical member-             which was rampant in the Reformed Church of that
       ships of the RCA  - such as the World Council of              time? Dr. Kromminga says nothing about this. And
       Churches and the World Alliance of Reformed                   this is understandable. The singing of hymns is very
       Churches  - are fundamentally sound and provide an            common in his own church today. As far as lodge
   - opportunity for the church to be a positive influence           membership is concerned, are there not voices raised
       in the wider family of churches. . . .                       `these days that these lodge members should be re-
          From my own peculiar point of vantage I could              ceived into the membership of the church and that
       wish that the CRC felt more comfortable with the              labor should be- bestowed upon them after they have
       World Council and the World Alliance. But I could             been received into the fellowship of the church? This
       wish that  the- RCA felt somewhat less comfortable            would be the same as receiving or allowing wolves
       there. Perhaps I betray a certain theological bias. But
       I feel that through its membership in these organiza-         into the sheepfold of the church and then working
       tions the RCA has an opportunity to make both of              with them. What a dangerous procedure this would
       them more authentically Biblical and theological in           be! And what could Prof. Kromminga say about the
       their outlook and activities, and to make the World           Arminianism that is rampant today? His own church
       Alliance in particular more authentically Reformed,           is permeated with it. Do not the Three Points of 1924
       as in its name it claims to be. But if this is happening,     speak of a universal love of God which the Lord
       I have not seen the evidence of it . . . So we have           reveals in the preaching of the gospel which is a uni-
       different conceptions of what it means, ecumenically,         versal offer of salvation? And did they not give a life
       to be Reformed. . . .                                         tenure to Prof. H. Dekker, who is openly in conflict
                                                                     with the Canons of Dordt and who believes in
       Indeed, there are other matters  in. this speech of           universal atonement?       .- .
 Dr. Kromminga to which we could call the attention                    .In this quotation, however, the speaker also de-
 of our readers. Incidentally, this speech was delivered             clares that some of the ecumenical memberships of
 by Prof. Kromminga at a joint RCA and CRC meet-                     the RCA - such as the World Council of Churches
 ing. There have been efforts afoot for some time                    and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches - are
 already to bring about  .a reunion of the Reformed                  fundamentally sound. And the professor also states it
 Church. and the Christian Reformed Church. The                      to be his personal wish that the CRC felt more com-
 speaker `declared that it appears sometimes that there              fortable with the World Council of Churches. What
 are two well-defined opposing minds on matters such                 shall we say? What must one say of a merger of
 as abortion, church union, and the ordination of                    churches when the`fundamental truths of the Word of
 women to the ministry, and he said that these opposing              God are either denied or  .ignored? Well, Dr.  Krom-
^ minds are operating within the RCA. He also declared               minga, you also said that you spoke as an individual,
 in this speech that there is little sensitivity to the             not as representing the CRC. However, I fear that in
 need of Christian day school education in the RCA,                  the  future  your  personal wishes will be shared by
 and that this is a screaming demand of the secularity               more and more in the CRC. This, of course, will not
 of our times.                                                       be for the good of the  .CRC. And I also fear that a
       Of course, Prof. Kromminga could have said more.              merger of the Reformed Church and the Christian
 He spoke of conditions in the Reformed Church                       Reformed Church, as envisioned by Prof.  Kroni-
 when he referred to such matters as abortion and the                minga, will not really serve the well-being of either
 ordination of women to the ministry. However, this                  church.


                                               `THE STANDARD BEARER,                                              781



CONTRIBUTION


                                         Cotipromising

  Sometimes we are told that we are led as sheep to            Every tax dollar we pay for the maintenance of order
the slaughter. This was true during the years of the           in society, anyone who has real estate property con-
early church and during the time of the Reformation,           tributes about  an. additional four dollars to support
but not at present. I know that we experience a little         the abominable public school system. This is not a
opposition sometimes; but we all have nice houses to           hidden tax for which we cannot give,an account, but
live in, and every family has one or more cars, etc.,          is in plain figures. If we refuse to support this
etc. Is the roaring lion taking a vacation? Of course          monster, we will have to lose or sell our properties;
not! Neither is it because as churches we pray for all         and then our suffering starts. We will have to rent a
that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and            place in which to live. And the result will be; of
peaceful life: for that is never done. (I Timothy 2: 2)        course, that the rent might be raised sky-high. Those
 How then is it to be explained that we as churches            of us who have families will have to `live in the slum
are so little molested by the State, in cooperation            district or in some tumble-down farm house, because
with the false church, which is always, with few ex-           no one will rent a house to families with children in a
ceptions, persecuting God's people? The answer is:             good neighborhood. In order, therefore, to continue
Compromise! The State took the diaconate away                  dwelling in beautiful houses, going on trips, having
from us, and the only ones that refused to give in are         nice cars, boats, and cottages, we must compromise.
the Amish people  ..who, therefore, had their horses             But God will soon make this impossible, in order
taken off the plow. But the State has also raised up a         that we may be delivered from the snares wherein the
great, abominable idol which is called Public Educu-           prince of this world holds us captive. The time is not
tion, to which all property owners contribute.                 far distant when it will be impossible to have our own
  Oh how nice and pussy-footed this -monster was               ,schools, and also help maintain this modern Molech.
introduced. At first, school sessions were begun with          It will be Christ or Belial, not both! Then, if we are
prayer and Bible reading; .but gradually this was              faithful, we will indeed be led as sheep  tq the  '
abandoned, and now public education is the most                slaughter.
God-defying and immoral monster under the sun.                                                                   N.D.



MY SHEEP HEAR  MY VOICE                                                                             -2

                                     Letter to  .Timothy

                                         March 15, 1976           You'made reference first of all to a remark I had
                                                               made in a postscript in one of my earlier letters. In
 Dear Timothy,                                                 that postscript I mentioned the fact. that it was very
   I had thought that we finished this discussion              important, though perhaps difficult, to get people to
 about the relation between the New Hermeneutics               see the issues involved in the apprqach to Scripture
 and preaching in my last letter to you. But you wrote         which is advocated by those who are admirers of the
 me about some practical questions which rose in your          New Hermeneutics. I think I even went so far as to
 mind as you pondered the things I had written; and            say  that, you could not avoid these things in your
 to these questions I will turn in this letter. I hope this    preaching. But I let the matter hang there, and did
 ties up some of the loose ends which you called to            not go more deeply into the matter. Now you ask me
 my attention; but if not, be sure to write again.             to be more specific about this and to point out con-


  7       8    2                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



 cretely what must be done in  .order to accomplish            New Hermeneutics admit this. I recall discussing this
 this. I shall try to make some practical remarks about        very matter with a man some years ago. He was
 this whole matter.                                            defending the New Hermeneutics; but he was doing
       In the first place, quite obviously I think, it will    this by pointing out various discrepancies  which,he
 not do to bring the involved arguments of Hermeneu-           found in the gospel narratives. Matthew said one
 tics to the attention of your people  - surely not in         thing about a certain event; Mark said something else.
 the preaching. I say this for several reasons. In the         In the course of our discussion he mentioned one
 first place, the issues which are raised by the               particular discrepancy (what it was is not important)
 proponents of the New Hermeneutics are certainly              and asked me how I explained this. I was not sure in
 important ones, but the manner in.which these issues          what direction he was going with this discussion, and
 are raised is so extremely technical that even a person       so I asked him how he explained it. He answered with
 who is trained in theology can scarcely make head or          an extremely long and involved theory which was
 tail out of them. I have read a lot of this material and      based on an over-emphasis of the "human element"
 you have read-a lot of it. You know that what I say is        in the Gospel narratives. When he finished, I asked
 true. The solutions proposed to so-called problems            him whether he would bring all this on the pulpit if
 which the defenders of the New Hermeneutics raise             he were preaching' on that passage. I pressed the
 are so complicated and so involved and so filled with         matter a bit because he "had said that this theory was
 all kinds of .technical language that I wonder some;          absolutely essential to an understanding of the text.
 times whether the authors themselves understand               His response was to the effect that of course he
 what they are saying. I freely admit that I am often at       would never do any such thing. He could not bring all
 a loss to know what in the world these men mean to            this on the pulpit, for the people would never under-
 say. Let me just give you a random sample which I             stand what he was talking about. Yet this very matter
 ran across the other day. "The idea that there are            was critical to an understanding of the text. So, the re-
 some parts of the New Testament picture concerning            sult is that you have two levels of meaning in Scripture:
 which historiography is unable to say whether they            one level which is appropriate for the common people
 are true or false has led to the suggestion that they         of God; another level which is for theologians. This is,
 belong to history, but to history of a different kind         of course, inevitable if one adopts the New
 from that wherein historiographical criteria are rele-        Hermeneutics: But we must abhor that idea and, fight
 vant: namely, to something called `super-history' or          against it with every ounce of our energy. That is
 `meta-history', or even  .`non-historical  history'           tantamount to denying the perspicuity of Scripture.
 (unhistorische  Geschichte)  which, Barth says, every         And if we deny the perspicuity of Scripture, we are
history is `in its immediacy to God . . ., i.e., it cannot     back again in the Middle Ages. The people of God
 be deduced and compared and therefore compre-                 cannot understand the Word of God, but they have to
 hended. But this does not mean that it ceases to be           go to the theologians in order to find out what Scrip-
 genuine history.' " (Finding, The Historical Jesus,           ture really means. In answer to all this, I remind you
 James Peter; Harper & Row, p. 73.)                            of what Jesus said: "I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of
                                                               heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things
       The technical aspects of the issues involved are not    from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them
 proper material for the pulpit. Of that there is no           unto babes." Mt. 11: 25
 question. Nor need the people of God be bothered
 with all this stuff. .                                          But to return to. the subject. While it is impossible
                                                               to get the  theories  across to people, and while it is
       But there are a couple of things which are worth        not necessary to do' this either, you must get the
 noticing nonetheless. In the first place, the very            issues  across. The issues are, of course, funda-
 complexity of these issues makes them suspicious              mentally, whether the Bible is, in all its parts, the
 with respect to their orthodoxy. We must always               very Word of God, authoritative for us in all matters
 remember that the Word of God is clear, and the               of faith and life. But this is the general issue. You
 truth of the Word of  God'(including the truth con-           must be, of course, more specific. For a denial of this
 cerning the Scriptures) is clear. Everyone of God's           truth comes in many different forms and heretics
 people can understand these things - even little chil-        dress their heresies in many different coats. If, for
 dren. If you have a theory concerning Scripture  -            example, the whole issue of women officebearers
 whether it be concerning Scripture's inspiration,             comes up, and' you discover that those who defend
 infallibility, authority, or interpretation - which is so     the practice of having women in office do so even
 complex that most people cannot understand it, you            though they admit. that Paul expressly forbids. this,
 may be very sure that it is not the truth. Its ortho-         then you know that they have a different view of
 doxy is suspect because of its very complexity. That's        Scripture than you have. You must find out what that
 one thing.                                                    view is. Then you will discover, as you already know, j
       Another matter is that even the proponents of the       that, although they admit that Paul expressly forbids


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                  o                             783


                                                                                                     .
 this, they also insist that Paul was, in that case, only     taries to explain the Word in order to have the Word,
 writing forthe church of his time, but that his injunc-      nor theologians to spin out fine theories in order to
 tion is not in force for us. This, of course, involves a     possess the real Word of God. They possess that Word.
 question of Scripture's authority. And so you must           in actual fact when they hold in their hands their
 face this question head on and you must not only             Bibles. They can Bnd that Word in their Bibles. They
 show what is wrong with this view of Scripture, but          can learn it, study it, grow in the knowledge of it, and
 you must also show what is the correct view,                 receive all the blessings that flow from it when they
 especially as it pertains to this particular question.       read it. Be. sure that they understand this and that
 And you must do this, not with vague and indefinite          they believe this.
 generalities, but with specific teachings concerning           Your attitude towards that Word: of God is going
 the Scriptures, and specific exegesis of the texts           to make all the difference in the world. I know, and
 involved. (I might mention in  ,passing that my col-         you know, that should you deny all that we have said
 league, Prof. Decker, is going to be writing on some         and' should you yourself handle the Word of God
 of these matters -in the Journal.) Whether you do this       carelessly, there will be people in your congregation
 in a Catechism class, in a Society, in a lecture, or in a    who will rise up in holy wrath and defend the Scrip-
 sermon, be specific and concrete, and demonstrate            tures - even against you. They will never permit you
 carefully the truth of Scripture on the matter.              to tamper with their `most precious and cherished
    But you must also show the serious consequences           possession. They will show that they are wiser than
 of taking the position which the New Hermeneutics            you and understand the Scriptures better than you
 takes. And this brings up another point which ought          do. But God forbid that that should ever become
to be made. I refer to the fact that it is never really       necessary.
 enough merely to,suy that the people of God actually            You have a responsibility to cultivate in the minds
 possess the Word of God when they hold the Bible in          and hearts of God's people a proper lattitude towards
 their hands. They must be  convinced  of this. They          the Scriptures. You have this responsibility in Cate-
 must be very certain of this. They must firmly believe       chism, in society, on the pulpit, when you visit God's
 this. Never must you do anything which would in any          people in their sufferings and sorrows  - in short,
 respect create the least bit of doubt about this.            when you preach the Word in season and out of
    I consider this a rather serious issue. I refer, of       season.
 course, to the King James Version of the Bible (or,            And the most important way to do~this is'to be an
 any other accurate and faithful translation). God's          expositor of the Holy Scriptures. At the very center
 people must understand that when they read the KJV           of all your-work lies the work of careful, faithful,
 of the Bible at the table with their families, when          diligent, painstaking exegesis. There simply is no sub-
 they meditate on the Scriptures in their own private         stitute for this.
 devotions, when they study the Scripture in prepara-
 tion for, Society or for Catechism or for Sunday wor-          And' now I want to say something about this
 ship in the Lord's house, - they must be very sure, I        matter of exegesis. But it looks as if this will have to
 say, that they have indeed the Word of God. They do          wait, for the page is filled. I guess it is not without
 `not have to have the Hebrew and the Greek Bible to          some justification that people sometimes speak of my
 have the Word of God. They do not have to have one           long-windedness.
 of these modern paraphrases of Scripture to have the                                         Fraternally in Christ,
 Word of God. They do not have to have  commen-                                               H. Hanko


                                                *
  GUEST ARTICLE


                Is  the Bible the Word of God (2)
                                                      Rev. M. Kamps

    In the previous article,. we briefly introduced our       book. Very briefly we outlined Martin Luther's
 subject and presented the reader a two-fold thesis.          escape from Roman Catholic priestcraft and took
 Further we discussed the idea of priestcraft, which          cognizance of Luther's doctrine of Scripture in asfar
 feeds upon the teaching that the Bible is an obscure         as it touches upon the matter under discussion. We


     784                                   13       THE STANDARD BEARER



     saw that Luther boldly denied the Romish doctrine             tribal leaders of a nomadic people, others were
     that the Bible is obscure in its meaning and we noted         ignorant fishermen, and many were uneducated
     that Luther rejected priestcraft.                             prophets or enthusiasts. All were limited to the pecu- d
       But  now the apostasy of Rome is raising its ugly           liar thought structures characteristic of their own
     head in Protestant churches! Make no mistake about            cultural period.
     it. What troubles the church today is nothing more               By "time-bound" authors is meant that the authors
     than the old heresies of Rome. Of course, this is             of Scripture were limited in their knowledge about
     denied, and the attempt is made to hide this fact.            science, history, geography, political matters, etc.
     Even in "Reformed" churches many theologians are              Besides, they entertained many wrong notions of
     again teaching a fallible, man-made Bible, dark and           various things, which notions were common to their
     obscure in its meaning. Again, this is not done openly        own time period. This "time-boundness" of the
     and directly, but it is done anyway.                          authors of Scripture occasions many errors about'
                                                                   scientific, historical, geographical and political mat-
       There is a view of Scripture among ministers and            ters. This is to be expected, considering the writer's
     professors in the Reformed community which effec-             limited intellectual horizons. As examples of these
     tively  precludes  maintaining the readability and            kinds of innocent errors we might mention the
     intelligibility of the Bible as the. perspicuous, inspired    "speaking snake" of the narrative of the fall, the
     Word of God. This view of Scripture has been around           universal flood and the ark of Noah laden with a
     for some time, but only recently has. it openly               "zillion" animals and insects, Jonah and the. whale,
     showed itself in the debates in the Reformed com-             and the triple-decked universe concept of ancient
     munity about homosexualism and women  office-                 times - all these historical n&-ratives reflect the super-
     bearers. What we must clearly understand is that this         stitions of that culturally primitive people and the
     view of Scripture effectively imposes priestcraft upon        obvious "time-boundness" of the authors of Scrip-
     the layman. The Bible is no longer intelligible to the        ture. Those that hold to this view of the authors of
     ordinary believer. This view of Scripture fetters the         Scripture might ask .of us; "Do I have to believe the
     layman to what the minister or seminary professor             story of the `speaking snake' in order to know that
     might believe Scripture teaches.                              sin entered the world? " "Do' I have to believe the
       What is this view of Scripture? Above all, its pro-         universal flood story of Noah in order to know that
     ponents assure us that they, too, believe in the infal-       God is displeased with sin?" "The message of God
     libility and, of course, in the inspiration of Scripture.     concerning sin is clear to me," one might say, "but I
     But they tell us that the truth of inspiration and            cannot accept the story about the flood and the big
     infallibility is to be extended only as far as the            boat." This kind of reasoning, of course, can be
     "message" of Scripture is concerned. About spiritual          applied to the narrative of the' New Testament as
     things. the Bible `speaks infallibly, i.e., about sin, the    well: "Do we have to believe in the publican's narra-
     wrath of God, salvation, and redemption through               tive about the virgin birth to know that God loves me
     Christ's cross. The message is the important thing and        and sent His Son to die for me? Really now!"
     it has been infallibly recorded. But that is all that            The second element of this view is that the ,writers
     may be considered to be infallible. About much of             of the books of the Bible were "time-conditioned."
     which the Scriptures speak we ought not claim in-             By "time-conditioned" is meant that the authors of
     fallibility, for this would be foolish in the light of the    Scripture were socially conditioned about religous or
     facts of science and the evidence that historical             ethical matters. In each time-period men hold various
     `research has provided us. We must not be obstinate!          opinions concerning ethics and they have a particular
     Rather we must remember that the infallible message           attitude about what is and what is not religiously
     of God's love for poor sinners comes to us in the
L                                                                  acceptable. Consequently, the authors of Scripture
     vehicle of human words and through fallible human             reveal by their work this limitation or imperfection
     thought structures. These fallible human thought              peculiar to their time. Each cultural period and each
     structures can be easily discerned and explained. We          nation of that particular time period nurtures its own
     are simply to lift the infallible message of God's love       particular foibles about religious and ethical matters.
     out of the vehicle.                                           Twentieth century man, man come of age, cannot
     What accounts for this faulty vehicle of fallible             accept at face value what might have been good for
     human thought structures? To account for this faulty          ancient peoples of a primitive culture. For instance,
     vehicle we must remember that the "authors" of                consider what was written by Moses many centuries
     Scripture  were  time-bound  and  time-conditioned            ago. Moses tells us that homosexuals and adulterers
     men. Very obvious truth, we are told, for we must             were to be stoned. Now, pray tell, what does that
     not forget the primitive cultural setting in which the        mean to us? Would you want to begin stoning homo-
     authors of Scripture wrote. Some of the .authors  were        sexuals and adulterers? Again, Paul's writings reflect


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  785



 the disparaging view his society took towards women           pret Scripture.
 as a class; thus we need not accept what he writes in
 these instances as normative for us. However, we are             The ordinary layman, under the  :influence of this
 told, we must always distinguish between the redemp-          view of Scripture as written by time!bound and time-
 tive message of God and the vehicle of this message.          conditioned men, becomes at first hesitant,. then
 The vehicle is the fallible construction of time-bound        doubtful, and finally despairing. He cannot under-
 and time-conditioned men. We are to retain the mes-           stand Scripture! He sooner or later takes the attitude,
 sage of GIod's love in Christ and ignore or reject the        "What's the use?" Having been conditioned to view
 vehicle of fallible human thought structures in which         the Bible as a book obscure in its meaning, the ,
 the message comes to us. Simple enough!                       layman is again fettered to priestcraft. He finally says,
   What this erroneous view of Scripture does, is that         "Let the experts tell us what Scripture means to say."
 it divorces the historical facts of the Biblical narrative    Or he might despairingly ask: "If the seminary pro-
 from' the message of the gospel. A disjunction is set         fessors' do not know what to believe about the Bible,
 up between the human words and human thought                  how do you expect me to know?" :
 structures, on the one hand, and the message of God's            One who expresses himself in such a manner  is
 love, on the other. It is wrong to make this  separa-         fettered to priestcraft. He is principally just as much
tion. It is in fact impossible. The message of God's           fettered by priestcraft as was Luther before he broke
 love is the factual, historical narrative and the factual,    with Rome. The layman in many sectors of the
 historical narrative is the message of salvation. To set      Reformed community has been intimidated, over-
 up a disjunction or separation between the narrative of       come, and spiritually robbed of his blessed heritage.
 Scripture and the gospel of Christ is to manufacture a        He no longer believes that it is his right and his
 false disjunction. Message and biblical narrative are         reponsibility to interpret the perspicuous,  authorita-
 one and the same. If what in Scripture is presented as        tive`word of God. He no longer considers himself able
 historical fact is not true, (are not God's very words)       to interpret Scripture. The layman has been robbed!
 then there is no message of redemption. A  non-               He is at the mercy of proud, self-seeking intellectuals
 historical narrative, i.e., false statements purported to     in  the. church. Again today the ominous visage of
 be true, cannot be the Word of God's love.                    Romish priestcraft casts a long shadow of death upon
                                                               the Reformed community. We do well to take heed
   But we must return to our main point. With this             and attempt to escape and protect ourselves and our
 kind of view of Scripture that considers the authors          children from this encroaching evil.
 as time-bound and time-conditioned men, who will be                                    *****
able to interpret the Bible? Who? If there is a message           The onLy answer to the question, "Is the Bible the
somewhere in the vehicle of man's fallible thought             Word of God or the Word of men?" is to reply that
 structures, who will be able to discover it? Not the          the Bible is in its entirety the Word of God. The Bible
layman! The ordinary layman will be fettered to the            is the very speech of God. This answer alone will free
new priestcraft. For who among the laity can discern           us from priestcraft. This answer alone can be the basis
in any given passage when Moses or Joshua was                  for our faith in a perspicuous, intelligible Bible, which
actually writing God's Word? If Moses was wrong                is the infallible record of God's self-revelation.
about the snake, maybe he was wrong about Abel,
Abraham, Isaac, the Exodus, and the giving of the                 Remember, the Bible must be allowed to tell us
law. If the flood narrative is not true maybe the virgin       what kind of book it is. The Bible says that it is a
birth narrative is not true. If the whale did not swal-        God-breathed book. (II Timothy 3: 16) The circum-
low Jonah, maybe Christ was not laid in the tomb of            stances under which Paul wrote these words to
Joseph of Arimathea. Maybe all those miracles                  Timothy only serve to underscore Paul's conviction
recorded in the N.T. are nothing more than idle t,ales,        that the  Old Testament Scriptures were literally out
which were told to tell how fantastic Jesus seemed to          of the mouth of God. What were those circum-
be. If Paul speaks at one time on behalf of rabbi              stances? Paul was in prison in Rome about to die for
Gamaliel and at another time for Christ and God,               his faith at the hand of Nero. He had one last message
who, besides the priest of priestcraft, will be able to        for "his son," Timothy - Preach the Word! The Word
discern this certain fact? With this kind of approach          had to be preached. For it alone, in distinction from
to Scripture, the Bible becomes a dark, obscure book.          all the opinions, ideas, and books of men, is the
Who will interpret it? How can one be sure that he             breathed-out or inspired Word of Almighty God. The
understands it correctly? The layman will be told to           urgency of Paul's command is rooted in his convic-
turn to the modern day priests of priestcraft, the             tion that the Scriptures alone are the infallibly
seminary professors, the pastor, the college professor.        inspired Word of God.
The layman will be ignored and "shut up" as one who              We could note also II Peter 1: 19-21, a passage
is considered ignorant' and unable properly `to inter-         which Luther cites to prove the perspicuity of Scrip-


 786                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 ture in his debate with Dr. John Eck. But Christ            stitute church  - and the place of homosexuals out-
 Himself acknowledged the authority of Scripture and         side of the Church. Faith bows for Scripture. Faith
 even'  identified  what Moses wrote with the very.          obediently hears and appropriates the testimony of
 speech of  God: Consider Matthew  22:23-33, where           Scripture concerning its own authority, infallibility,
 we read of the attempt of the Sadducees to catch            and divine inspiration.
 Jesus in His words by raising a problem which defies          Unbelief proudly will not allow Scripture to speak
 rationalistic proof. The Sadducees denied the reality       of its own nature and authority. Unbelief will not
 of angels and spirits and the truth of the resurrection.    hear and appropriate God's Word. The human mind
 How does one prove the reality of the resurrection?         has been enthroned by unbelief (rationalism) and,
 Jesus told the Sadducees that "ye do err not knowing        consequently, the human mind is placed in judgment
 the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Moreover,            over what is true and not true. The priests of priest-
 Jesus identified the words of Moses with the very           craft, addicted to rationalism, assume the right to
 speech of God when Jesus said; "But as touching the         elucidate the obscure Bible by means of scientific
 resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which       inquiry and historical research for the advantage of
 was spoken unto you by God saying, I am the God of          the poor layman.
 Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
 Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the             Remember, to reject one part of Scripture in dis-
 living." (Matthew 22: 31-32)                                belief is to stand principally over against the whole of
                                                             Scripture in unbelief.
   What was written in the Scriptures was for Christ
 the authoritative Word of God. How often had Jesus            There is an inseparable relationship between faith
 not said, "it is written," with which words He routed       in Scripture as God's authoritative Word of  self-
 the Devil. (Matthew 4: l-l 1) Many other passages of        revelation and divine inspiration. To say that the
 Scripture reveal that Christ, the apostles, and the         Bible is God's Word is to presuppose that human
 prophets received the Scriptures both of the Old and        writers were infallibly inspired by God to record His
 New  .Testaments  as the very speech of God. (Cf. I.        revelation. Thus we must maintain the historic posi-
 Timothy 4: 1, II Peter 3: 16, Jeremiah 1:5, Galatians       tion of the Church of Christ concerning graphic,
 1: 15-l 6, Acts 7: lff) The apostolic Church conceived      plenary, verbal and organic inspiration. Many will
 of no disj,unctions  between human thought structures       mock us for our faith; many will taunt us with
 and the speech of God. Scripture is God's Word in its       charges of worshipping a book, Bibliolatry; but they
 entirety and is His Word no matter on what or when          do so to their own spiritual destruction.
Scripture speaks.                                              We must continue in the faith for our own spiritual
   Faith confesses that the only author of Scripture is      wellbeing and that of our children. Without an infal-
 the Holy Spirit of God. (I Peter 1: 10-l  1, II Peter       libly inspired Bible, i.e., without God's Word written,
 1: 19-2 1) This truth faith knows to be the testimony       we cannot have fellowship with God and communion
 of Scripture itself and that is the testimony of the        with Christ. Loss of confidence or trust in a text or
 Holy Spirit in our hearts. (Art. 3-5, Belgic Confession)    portion of Scripture, is to lose confidence eventually
 Faith humbly allows, no,  wills,  that Scripture speak      in `all of Scripture. Loss of conviction about the in-
 about creation, fall, flood, deliverance out of Egypt,      fallibility and perspicuity of Scripture is to lose the
 the virgin birth, and the place of women in the  in-        gospel of Christ to rationalism and priestcraft.



 SIGNS OF  TtiE TIMES

                Do ALL Things  tq God's Glory?
                                                 Rev. G. Van Baren

   In our last article in this rubric, we discussed one      reflection, it would appear to be a logical conclusion
 error related to the view of common grace which sug-        from a false premise. The question with which I was
 gests that surely God does not  send  sickness. This        confronted in a discussion on common grace, was: Is
 article will treat another error which seems to arise       everything to be done to the glory of God? Are there
 logically out of the common grace theory. I was sur-        not many things done by the child of God which are
 prised to hear this particular error raised; yet, upon      "neutral" in character - that is, neither to nor against


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   787



the glory of God? Specifically, the example of the               clusion seems to be the result of trying to classify the
basketball game was used. Can not a Christian and a              works of the wicked: works of sin, works of good-
non-Christian both play that game  - without any                 ness, and then, presumably, neutral works. And, if
consideration of the glory of God? Both are inter-               the wicked can do "neutral" works, then surely the
ested simply in the game as sport. By extension, of              child of God does also.
course, there would then be many `neutral" areas                   This is not a question of the "adiaphora." There
where Christian or non-Christian could be active with-           are certain things, such as the eating and drinking
out ever encountering the question of the glory of               which the apostle Paul mentions in I Corinthians 10,
God.                                                             which certain Christians believe they can do to the
  The entire question came up in connection with                 glory of God; whereas other Christians believe that
the third point of common grace. That third point                they can not glorify God in those things - hence, do
suggests that by a "common" grace upon all men                  not do them. But this is not the question before us.
generally, even the reprobate wicked can do some                 Rather, the question is: is it true that there are cer-
civil and natural good. These can, by that grace, have          tain things which both a Christian or a non-Christian
a good family life. These can perform many acts of              can do without becoming involved in the matter of
charity presumably by this same grace. These can save           glorifying God?
others in extreme danger - even at the risk of their               The question is not simply academic. Nor is it only
own lives. Rather than labelling all these acts as "sin,`.'     one which can arise because of an adherence to the
the Christian Reformed Church officially labelled  this         view of common grace. But often, among ourselves
as civil good performed through the effect of God's             too, there is a walk which seems to reflect the atti-
common grace operating in men generally.                        tude that there are many things we can do which are
  The, Christian Reformed Church faced the problem              in a realm neither of being God-glorifying nor God-
of harmonizing this viewpoint with its own con-                 dishonoring. This attitude is often in the area of
fession on "total depravity." A church of Calvinistic           entertainment. The watching of television, the attend-
tradition, of course, is expected to  ,maintain that            ance of movies, the playing of various sorts of games
point of the five "points of Calvinism." That dif-              - all these, we can easily convince ourselves, we do
ficulty has been evaded by some in the C.R.C. by                simply for our own pleasure; it is not, we tell our-
distinguishing between "total" and "absolute" deprav-           selves, a question of God's glory.
ity. It is suggested that "total" depravity involves the           That same erroneous attitude can be seen, too, in
truth that each part (mind, will, etc.) of a being is           relation of one's work or in the friendships he estab-
affected by sin (as a bushel of apples, each of which           lishes on this earth. It appears that one can quickly
has a rotten spot), whereas "absolute" depravity                and easily convince himself that these involve that
means that the whole of every part is affected by sin.          which need not be done to God's glory; it is a
Common grace, according to this theory, has pre-                "neutral" area.
vented "absolute" depravity - though allowing yet a
confession of "total" depravity.                                   One must acknowledge, of course, that many times
                                                                a person may readily confess that he `must do  all
  The distinction is rather clever - but still clearly          things to God's glory  - yet that too often he does
subterfuge. Depravity, after all, itself suggests com-          not do this. He knows that he must glorify God in all
plete corruption. By definition, depravity means that           things, but he confesses that he is remiss in this. He is
man's nature is "innately bad and perverse because of           ashamed of this fact and prays earnestly that God
original sin ." To add the word, "total," is not to             forgive these sins of neglect.
abridge the fact of a nature being "innately bad," but
rather to emphasize exactly the badness and per-                   But the fact that one must glorify God in  all
verseness of that nature. To distinguish between a             ; things, is clearly spoken of in Scripture and also in
"total" and an "absolute" depravity is, plainly speak-          the confessions of the church. There is the  well-
ing, nonsense.                                                  known passage of I Corinthians  10:3 1, "Whether
                                                                therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all
  Within the framework of this discussion, it was               to the glory of God." Obviously, the passage does not
suggested that there was a realm of "neutral" activity          teach that glorifying God involves only church
both by Christian and by non-Christian. Such a con-             attendance, contributions to the poor, reading of
clusion is not too strange to understand. After all, if         Scripture and prayer. One is to glorify God even in
there is saving good and non-saving good, if there is           such apparently insignificant actions as eating and
the good that sinners do and the good which the                 drinking. It is true that Paul speaks in I Corinthians
righteous perform, if at times the wicked do good and            10 of the eating of a certain kind of food (things
at times they sin; it is not then too strange to con-           offered to idols); yet surely his conclusion is that all
clude that there are areas of "neutrality." Such a con-         eating and aZZ drinking must be done to the glory of


         788                                             THEsTANDARD  BEARER



        God. And what is true of eating and drinking is cer-          in the preceding question we are instructed, "What is
        tainly true also of every action and thought.                 the quickening of the new man? It is a sincere joy of
               John Calvin in his commentary  .on I Corinthians       heart in God, through Christ, and with love and
       states on these passages, "Lest they,should think, that        delight to live according to the will of God in all good
        in so small a matter they should not be so careful to         works."
        avoid blame, he teaches that there is no part of our            The  Canons of Dort express too the thought that
        life, and no action so minute, that it ought not to be        there is no "neutrality" in any action of man. These
        directed to the glory of God, and that we must take           state in head III-IV, article 3, "Therefore all men are
        care that, even in eating and drinking, we may aim at         conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath,
        the advancement of it. This statement is connected            incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin,
        with what goes before; for if we are eagerly desirous         and in bondage thereto, and without the regenerating
        of the glory of God, as it becomes us to be, we will          grace of the Holy Spirit, they are neither able nor
        never allow, so far as we can prevent it, his benefits to     willing to return to God, to reform the depravity of
        lie under reproach."                                          their nature, nor to dispose themselves to reforma-
               Romans  14:23 is very clear on this point too:         tion." There is here suggested neither any sort of
        "And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because            "neutral" work nor any "good" work on the part of
        he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith        children of wrath.
        is sin." That is strong language. Not only does that            All of this ought to point out the seriousness of
        passage make clear that the wicked sin in whatever            our calling in this earth. First of all, we are not to call
        they do (for they act not in faith), but even when the        "good" that which God's Word condemns. The stand-
        child of God does anything not out of faith, he sins.         ards for that which is "good" are set forth clearly in
        There is nothing neutral.                                     Scripture: according to God's law, to God's glory,
               Again, John Calvin clearly expounds this passage in    and out of a true faith. Whatever is not of this, says
        his commentary on Romans. "The reason for this                Scripture, is sin.
        condemnation is, that every work, however splendid              But the child of God himself must faithfully seek
        and excellent in appearance, is counted as sin, except        to do all things to the glory of God. There is no area
        it be founded on a right conscience; for God regards          of "neutrality." Our thoughts, words, deeds are either
        not the outward display, but the inward obedience of          to. the glory of God  - or they are not. One who
        the heart; by this alone is an estimate of our works.         imagines he can do  any,thing "neutrally," had better
        Besides, how can that be obedience, when any one              carefully reconsider. What is not done to the glory of
        undertakes what he is not persuaded is approved by            God is sin. We too had best examine well all that we
        God? Where then such doubt exists, the individual is          do in light of this standard set forth in Scripture.
       justly charged with prevarication; for he proceeds in          When we sin in this regard, we are to repent and seek
        opposition to the testimony of his own conscience."           again to walk in the way of holiness. Let us then,
                                                                      knowing that the night is far spent, endeavor by
               Our confessions speak the same language. The           God's grace to do those things which are and can be
       Heidelberg Catechism states in question and answer             done to the glory of God. It is -.our desire that some
        9 1, "What are good works? Only those which proceed           day we may glorify the Name of our God perfectly in
       from a true faith, are performed according to the law          the new heavens and new earth. Ought that not-then
-..     of God, and to His glory; and not such as are founded         be the desire also of regenerated children of God al-
       on our imaginations, or the institutions of men." And
        . _                                                           ready on this earth?



        IN HIS FEAR


                                              Doctrine and Life
                                                           Rev. M. Joostens

               It is Saturday evening, the children are snuggly       dinner with some casual acquaintances. The dinners
        tucked under the covers and in the safekeeping of the         are sumptuous; after all, it is a night out on the town,
        usual babysitter, while the Joneses are out to late           the drinks flow freely. Before the night is over, all are


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                789



in a laughing and carefree mood. As the evening                  the Scriptures. Thus, they are not the teaching of a
comes to an end, the babysitter is hustled home be-              certain man. But they are the principles which the
fore the Sunday morning deadline, and the Joneses                church of. Jesus Christ sets forth in a logical way,
place their heads upon their pillows, and promptly               through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They are, for
fall asleep. After all, it is not right to pray in this state    example, the truths as we know them in the five
of mind. They had a "good" time.                                 points of Calvinism: total depravity, unconditional
   It is Friday ..evening, this is the big date that Paul        election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and
has long awaited. His car has been polished on the               perseverance of the saints. Or, to take an example
outside, and thoroughly cleaned on the inside for this           peculiar to our history as Protestant Reformed
occasion. Paul has the night all planned; they will              people, the eternal covenant of grace which God has
bowl and perhaps stop for a sundae afterwards. But,              unilaterally established with His people in Christ, be-
the bowling alley is jammed. Paul places his name on             longs to those principles. These Scriptural truths, that
an hour waiting list. The first half hour passes so              are systematically taught us in catechism class and
slowly and the Devil, as he always does, takes ad-               detailedly expounded to us from the pulpit, are doc-
vantage of boredom. Carefully negotiating, Paul and              trine. .
his girl justify going to see a movie. They have placed            Then, besides the connective, there is the other
themselves in the clutches of the Devil, and he pur-             term in our caption: life. You say, yes, how basic and
sues the opportunity by using the strong visual and              elementary. But we must carefully elucidate exactly
auditory senses to excite the lust of the carnal flesh.          what we mean by this term. We speak of life in the
Paul and his date live along with the sins portrayed             sense that the Bible uses the words walk and con-
                                                                                                            ..__
before them. They, too, find it hard to pray, for the            versation. The figure of walking upon a way calls to
sin is yet too fresh in their minds.                             mind the picture of a pilgrim's path, with each  .ex-
  On Tuesday evening the Smith's attend society while            perience and activity of life being but a footstep upon
their children in the low teens take care of themselves.         that path. Likewise, conversation refers to one's con-
The standard rule applies now as always; no garbage              duct and manner of living. We mean by life, the sum
is to .be watched. on T.V. The older ones indoctrinate           total of the experiences of a person that constitutes
the younger that silence to mother and father is                 the history of his being from birth unto death. It is an
to their profit. The teenagers turn on the television,           all inclusive term, that excludes none of our activities
after quickly checking the movie guide. "Don't forget            here below. Our every word, thought, and deed is
on which channel Dad last watched the news!" "OK,                comprehended in this term life.
help me remember channel three."' The time quickly,                So much for the terms life and doctrine, as far as
passes for eager eyes of the children and soon it is             definition is concerned. For, we are not so much
9:30. There is yet a half hour of the "garbage" left,            interested in these terms as they stand segregated
but the eldest turns off the television because it has           from one another, rather as they are integrated. Our
to have time to cool before Dad places his testing               concern is well expressed by the old cliche; "doctrine
hand upon the cabinet. "Remember, it was on channel              is life." Or to put it in practical terms, one ought to
three! "                                                         practice that which he believes.
  I am sure that parents, children, young people, as               The child of God makes a fundamental error when
well as the aged, if they were candid and honest,                he divorces doctrine from his life. It is a very grievous
could add numerous accounts to these various por-                mistake to live in a way that is not in harmony with
trayals. But, though much could be said about the                the doctrines which we hold to be true and valid. To
novels read, soap-operas watched, and entertainment              do this is to be a "Sunday Christian." That is to say,
engaged in, the purpose has been served and we must              we hear the truths of the Bible expounded to us and
move on to a nearer treatment of the above title.                we' even express whole-hearted agreement with the
  What do we mean by doctrine? We use the word                   admonitions that are applied to us, but somehow on
often. We speak of doctrinal differences, of being               Monday morning the recollections of Sunday's ser-
doctrinally correct or incorrect,. of doctrinal preach-          mon are suppressed. And we often rationalize to our-
ing, etc. Yet, what do we actually mean when we say              selves, that things are different on Monday and
doctrine? The English word is etymologically derived             Tuesday. All these doctrines which are laid  .out so
from the Latin word doctrirza, which means a theory              clearly for us make more sense on Sunday than dur-
on a certain instruction as it is related to a particular        ing the week. The minister (God's Word) doesn't
doctor  or teacher. Therefore a certain doctrine is a            seem to fit in with the deaiings and concerns of the
body of principles which are set forth regarding a               work-a-day world. It is much easier and causes a lot
particular branch of knowledge. For our purpose,                 less friction if we put our doctrines aside at certain
doctrine has reference to a certain body of religious            times and engage in a little compromising of prin-
principles which are logically set forth on the basis of         ciples. After all, if you are in the world you have to


790                                             THE  S T A N D A R D   BEARER



play the game by the rules of the world, else you               Our young people, or any of us, may not conduct his
lose!                                                           life, thinking that it will all be straightened out in the
  To take this sort of an attitude in life is spiritually       end. This comes pretty close to that which Paul
demoralizing. To live in such a way, whereby we                 condemns so vehemently in Rom. 6: lff. . . "Shall we
segregate doctrine from life to one degree or another,          continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid."
is to be infected by a sort of dead orthodoxy. Such a              If we may yet come a little closer to home, we
dead orthodoxy is nothing more than a mere intel-               might warn in the following manner. Our confidence
lectual assent to the truth, without any practical             -and assurance may never be founded upon a particu-
application thereof. It is to confess the doctrines of          lar name or' a mere abstract body of truths. As
the Scriptures and to understand them mentally,                 churches, we have a- beautiful heritage. The cardinal
without `striving to make them a vital part of our             ' truths of the Bible are clearly set forth in our midst,
daily lives. James speaks of this problem. "Faith with-         and our children, as' well as we ourselves, are con-
out works is dead." (2:26) "If any man among you                tinually exposed to them. We, must be careful, lest
seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue (or           these glorious truths make us careless and profane in
does not live according to his religious principles, or         our daily lives. The truths and doctrines which we hold
doctrines). . .this man's religion is vain.`? (1:26) What       so precious, may never be relegated to the shelf or
James means to say is, that if our religiosity consists         contained in un-opened books; rather, they must be
of holding doctrines and principles without practicing          a living and vital reality in our every day living.
them, or then our religion is empty. And such an
empty religion is despicable in the eyes of the Most               That brings us to the positive aspect of the subject
High and can never expect His blessing. That is why it          at hand. Doctrine and life must be unified. This is a
is such a grievous error to separate doctrine from life!        necessary unity, for the doctrines which we hold are
Furthermore, the error of which we are speaking                 derived from the Scriptures which guide our feet dur-
has a tendency to lead us toward antinomianism. But,            ing our pilgrim's journey toward the heavenly
interrupts someone, do. we not stand in the freedom             Canaan. 0, if the doctrines we held were merely
wherein Christ has made us free? We ought not there-            founded upon the rationale of men, then not to live
                                                                them would not .be a. grievous wrong. But the doc-
fore to fall into this opposite error of legalism. But,
rest assured, this is not what we have in mind. The             trines which are our precious heritage are the truths
child of God ought to be careful that he not use his            of the Bible as they are systematically set forth
liberty for license! Never may we excuse our  non-              throughout history by the guiding of the Holy Spirit.
Christian conduct by the fact that after all we are            He has led us in all the way of the truth. In that truth
children of God. It is a terrible thing when we say to          we ought to walk. The Word of God is a light upon
ourselves, "I know better than to do this, but God's            our pathway and a lamp.unto our feet.
not going to send me to hell on this account." It                 When we willingly segregate doctrine from our life,
terrifies me when I hear comments of this nature. We            then we are as a traveler in a strange land who will-
have all heard them, if not regarding someone else,            ingly refuses to follow the map provided him. That is
then we have spoken them in our own mind. We hear               foolishness. That is sin. Rather we must integrate
this expressed about our young people sometimes:               scripturally-based doctrine into our daily lives. Then
"0 well, they have to have a few years in which they           we walk in wisdom, as a traveler who diligently
sow their wild oats," or, when young people begin to           searches his map that he may not stray from the path
partake liberally of the things of this world, "they'll        leading to Mt. Zion. That constitutes sanctification, a
straighten out; we all went through it, you know."             walking in His fear!




                                                     NOTICE! ! !

                           Due to our decision to add a fourth teacher to  our  `Staff,  ihe
                       S O U T H   H O L L A N D   P R O T E S T A N T   .REFORMED  C H R I S T I A N
                       SCHOOL is accepting applications for the position. Anyone interested
                       should write or phone Mr.  Menno Poortenga, 18425  Oakwood  Ave.,
                        Lansing, Illinois 60438, Phone: (312) 4740675.


                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               791,



                                                 CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY

    All young men desiring to begin studies this fall in                     recommendatibn  of the Theological School
 either  -the ire-seminary or seminary department of                         Committee; to such an aspirant only who comes
' the Theological School of the Protestant Reformed                          supplied with a testimonial of his consistory that he
 Churches are requested to appear before the                                 is a member in full communion, sound in faith and
`Theological School Committee at its meeting to be                           upright in walk, and also a certificate from  2
held on Thursday, March 18, 1976, at 7:30 P.M. in                            reputable physician showing him to be in good
 the Theological School Building, 4949 Ivanrest Ave.,                        health.
 S.W., Grandville, Michigan 49418.                                              A, complete high school education and the
F're-seminary  Department:                                                   equivalent of a four year (-125 hour) college
                                                                             education are required for entrance into the seminary
    Permission to pursue the  pre-skminary  course of                        department. Moreover, each entrant into this
study shall be granted by the Theological School                             department must produce evidence that he has credit
Committee. A transcript of grades from High School                           for the required college courses. Requirements are
and College (if any), a letter  of- testimony from a                         listed in the school catalog, available from the School.
student's pastor or consistory, and a certificate of
health from a reputable physician shall be stibmitted.                          In the event you. cannot be present at this meeting,
                                                                             please notify the undersigned secretary of your
 Seminary Department:                                                        intentions, prior to the meeting. Mail all
    Permission to pursue the Theological course in the                       correspondence to the Theological School.
 seminary shall be granted by the Synod, upon                                                               .Richard H. Teitsma, Secretary





                               NOTICE !!!                                               RESQLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    On April 1, at 8:00 P.M.,. Rev. David Engelsma will lecture in Kala-        The Martha Ladies Society of the Hull Protestant Reformed Church
 mazoo on the topic  - "A REFORMED LOOK AT  PENTECOSTAL-                     extends heartfelt sympathy to their  beloired pastor, Rev. J. Kortering,
 ISM." Place  - Kalamazoo Christian High School, Stadium Drive at            and his family, in the passing of Rev. Kortering's sister, ERMA JEAN
 Howard Street. (Take US 131 to Stadium Drive East, then right at the        KORTERING. Our prayer for them is that they may be comforted by
 second traffic light). YOU are invited!                                     the Gospel which assures us that:  " . . . the grave has no victory and
                                                                             that death has no sting."  (I Cor.  1555).
                                                                                                             Mrs. Bernard  Driesen, Sec'y.





                               NOTICE !!!                                                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will convene in           The members of the Mr. and Mrs. Society of the Hull Protestant
 regular session on April 7, 1976, at 9 AM, in the meeting room of the       Reformed' Church of Hull, Iowa, extend their sincere Christian  .sym-
 parsonage of Faith Protestant Reformed Church, 7194  - 20th Ave.,           pathy  to our pastor, Rev. Kortering, and his family in the  pass`ing of his
 Jenison,  Mich. All material to be dealt with at this meeting must be in    sister, MISS ERMA KORTERING. We commend them to the care of
 the hands of the Assistant Stated Clerk no later than  IO days prior tb     our loving Heavenly Father for the comfort and sustaining grace that
 meeting date.                                                               only He can provide.
                                      Rev. M. Joostens                                                           Roger Buys, Vice Pres.
                                      Assistant Stated Clerk.                                                    Arlip Hoekstra, Sec'y.





                                                                                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                            IN MEMORIAM                                         The Consistory of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa,
     The Men's Society of the Hull Protestant Reformed Church hereby         extends its sincere sympathy to their pastor, Rev. J. Kortering, and his
 expresses its sincere sympathy to Rev. Kortering and family in the loss     family in the passing of his sister, MISS ERMA KORTERING.
 of his sister, MISS ERMA KORTERING, whom the Lord took home.                   "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Psalm
     "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil.  I:211           116:15)
                                      Tim Kooima, Vice-All                                                       Tim Kooima, Vice Pres.
                                      Peter Roy Westra, Sec'y.                                                   Henry Hoekstra, Clerk. .


 T H E S T A N D A R D   BiiARER  .   _.-  -                                              I                           1
                                                                                                 SECOND CLASS
        P-0.  Box 6064                                                                           POSTAGE PAID AT
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                   GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.


                                   --__- -----_:





                                News From Our Churches                                                  *
   Time certainly flies by. It seems only a few months       meetings of the various societies in all of our
ago that Faith Church was established in Jenison,            churches. In addition to a systematic study of the
Michigan. On February 22, however, Faith Church              Bible, other topics of'interest are often considered.
celebrated anniversary number three  - but let Rev.          Some of the topics considered during the past couple
Joostens tell it: "This Sunday is special, in that it was    of months include a talk on "Birth Control" by Prof.
exactly three years ago that we became organized as          H. Hanko for the Southwest Mr. and Mrs. Society.
Faith Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison. This is         Southwest's Jr. Young People's Society heard a paper
a good occasion to reflect and give thanks for the fact      on "God's Covenant Promise." South' Holland Mr.
that the Lord has richly prospered us. He has blessed        and Mrs. Society discussed "The Place of Children in
us materially, in that our building program is ahead of      the Family" and "Discipline in the Family." Love-
schedule; numerically, in that we have grown to be 42        land Young People's Society had as their topic "Our
families in size; but especially spiritually, in that we     Duty of Self-Preservation" for an after recess pro-
have grown from week to week in' His grace and fel-          gram. Loveland Men's Society heard a paper on "Sit-
lowship ."                                                   ting or Standing for the Congregational Singing."
                                                             Edgerton Ladies' Society also considered two inter-
  The Reformed Witness Committee (a committee
composed of members from our churches in Hull and            esting topics, "May We Rejoice in Our Own Works?,
                                                             Eccl.  3:22," and, 
Doon, Iowa, and Edgerton, Minnesota, who concern                                    in  response to a  Standard Bearer
                                                             article last November, "Question:. Should we open
themselves with the work of church extension) con-           our eyes during the salutation and the benediction?"
tinued their lecture series in- Rock Valley, Iowa on
February 18. Rev. J. Slopsema was to speak on the               The Young People's Societres  have been active in
subject, "Are You Sure of Your Salvation?" Prior to          other ways this winter as well. `Most have been spon-
the lecture a pamphlet by Rev. Slopsema was mailed           soring both social and fund raising activities. Any
in the Rock Valley area. The pamphlet is titled, "The        `profits' from these events are usually set aside for the
Assurance of our Salvation."                                 Young People's Convention.  Redlands Young Peo-
                                                             ple's Society sponsored a roller skating -outing `on
  In the performance of their classical duties, the          February 23; South Holland and Loveland had similar
ministers in-  Classis West seem to do quite a bit of        outings. Edgerton Young People's Society planned a
traveling. The meeting of Classis West on March 3 in         sliding party to which the entire congregation was
Edgerton, Minnesota, will be the occasion for our            invited. Apparently the older folk in the congregation
ministers from South Holland, Illinois, to Lynden,           had enough sliding this winter, as not very many
Washington, to once again gather to transact business        responded to this invitation.
relating to the churches in common. Rev. Miersma
planned to take a little detour on the way to Edger-           Rev. Kamps declined his call from Edmonton.
ton by way of Pella, Iowa. Rev. Miersma was asked              Every attempt is made to report the facts in this
by the Pella consistory to preach for them the Sun-          column. But, sometimes one gets by me. This column
days  ,of February 22 and 29. Rev. Lubbers, Pella's          reported that G. Feenstra was the new clerk and bul-
pastor, is in Jamaica for the months of February and         letin clerk of Southwest Church. Mr. Feenstra is the.
March at the request of the Mission Committee of our         clerk, but the immediate past clerk has retained his
churches.                                                    job as church bulletin editor. So, if you will kindly
                                                             redirect .the flood of bulletin announcements for
  In addition to the official preaching of the Word in       Southwest from Cardinal Dr. to P. J. Lotterman, 871
regular church services, most of our people take             Rushmore St., Jenison, Michigan 49428, all will be
advantage of the opportunities for spiritual growth          well again - I hope.
and the communion of the saints available in the                                                       K. G. V.


