   The
STANDARD
  BEARER
    A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE




  Men suppose that the U.S. is a Christian
country and government; that the Church
must ask God to bless America; and that it is
the Church's duty to call America back to
God.

  .  .  . We hear that the American Revolution
was a good Christian activity; that the found-
ing fathers were Christians, even Calvinists;
and that the country was originally a Chris-
tian country, established on solid, Christian
principles.

  .  .  . we cannot possibly join in the  prais.e of
the Declaration of Independence as a Chris-
tian document, or of the American Revolu-
tion as a Christian act.
    See "The Christian and Civil Government"
                                               - page 138


                               Volume  LIII, Number 6, December 15, 1976.
                                              ISSN 0362-4692


122                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                             tblE StANDARC  BEARER
                                                                       Semi-monthly. except monthly during June.  July.  and  Auarst.


                           CONTENTS                                Editor-in-Chief: Prof.  Homer   C. Hoeksema  -
                                                                   tkpiutment   Editon:   Prof. Robert D. Decker. Rev. David J.  Engslsms.
                                                                   Rev. Cornelius Hanko. Prof. Herman  Hanko.  Rev. Robert C.  l-larbach.
                                                                   Rev.  Job" A.  Hays,   Rev. Jay Kortering. Rev. M. Hoeksema
                                                                   George C. Lubbers, Rev.  Meindert   Joostens.  Rev.  wrmur   S&iEp%
Meditation  -                                                      Rev.   Glse J. Va"  Baren.  Rev. Herman  Veldman.  Mr. Kenneth G.  Vinkr
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MEDITA TION



                        God's Son Called  out  of  Egypt
                                                        Rev. H. Veldman

                                           "Out of Egypt have I called My Son. "
                                                                          Matt.  2:15c

"Out of Egypt have I called My Son. " Matt. 2: 15~                   however, which is quoted here by Matthew, refers to
  Which prophecy is fulfilled? This text is a quota-                 Israel as in the land of Egypt. Hence, who is this Son?
tion of  Hosea 11: 1. We read in  Hosea 11: 1: "When                 And what is the connection between Israel and the
Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called  My  son            Babe that was taken into Egypt?
out of Egypt." But, is this a prophecy? Does not the                     What does it mean that the scripture, the word of
prophet here merely state a fact, a past incident?                  the Lord as spoken by the prophet  Hosea, was now
Where is the prophecy here?                                         fulfilled? Does this merely mean that this prophecy
  Who is this Son of our text? One replies that this                was fulfilled prophetically, that that which was
Son is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is true.  Hosea 11: 1,           prophesied by  Hosea, has now come to pass? Or, does


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   123


this also have a more profound significance? Does it            deed, the Lord  called  His son out of Egypt. The Lord
also mean that what happened in Egypt in the Old                did not simply ask Israel to come out of Egypt. He
Dispensation was only a type, and that that Old                 called His son out of Egypt by His almighty, irre-
Testament event is now actually fulfilled, fulfilled?           sistible power. He delivered His people with a high
And why is it fulfilled now, according to the incident          and mighty arm. . . . Secondly, however, the Lord
as recorded in Matthew  2?                                      called Israel out of Egypt in the way of righteousness.
                           *  8  * *                            Israel was not only delivered out of Egypt; it was also
   Israel is God's son. This is surely the significance of      redeemed. Fact is, Israel was also saved through the
this word in this text.                                         blood upon the doorposts. Indeed, God loved His son
   It is true that this scripture in Matthew 2 refers to        and therefore called him out of Egypt. This blood
our Lord Jesus Christ. However, this text is a quota-           upon the doorposts did not represent Israel's right-
tion of  Hosea 11:  1. And we cannot doubt that "My             eousness which it contributed to the Lord, rendering
Son" in  Hosea 11: 1 refers to Israel as it was delivered       themselves righteous before God, but it was symbolic
by the Lord out of the land of Egypt.                           of the Lamb of God that would presently take away
                                                                the sin of the world upon the cross of Calvary. Israel
  It is true that Israel is God's son in the sense that         was righteous only because of the blood of Christ.
God is his Father, and this also refers to the love of
God for His own. Fact is, we read of this love of God             This is now  fulfilled.as according to Matt. 2: 12-15.
                                                                This is not merely a prophetical fulfillment. Israel's
in  Hosea 11: 1. Of course, Israel is the beloved of the        deliverance was only a type. Now God's son is really
Lord according to election. Not all that is called Israel       called out of Egypt. Now the reality really takes
is Israel  - see Rom.  9:6. Also the Israelites who per-        place; the shadow is now replaced by its reality; the
ished in the wilderness were called out of Egypt. It is         type makes way for its antitype; the actual reality
plain from Rom. 9: 13, 15, and 1 Cor. 10: l-5 that              now comes to light and is revealed.
Israel is the beloved son of the Lord only as according                                 ****
to election. Upon that Israel the Lord had set His
love.                                                             How did this fulfillment occur? Egypt is a type of
                                                                the bondage of, sin. It is true that Egypt also serves
  Fundamentally, however, the expression, "My
Son," means that Israel is of the Lord: "Thou art My            the  prese,rvation of God's son, to keep the people of
son; this day have I begotten thee." Israel is indeed           God alive. And it is also true that the Child, Jesus,
the begotten of the Lord, born through the power of             was in Egypt until the death of.  Herod, and that,
the promise. Was not Isaac the child of the promise?            therefore, the young child was kept alive in Egypt.
Was he not born to Abraham and Sarah when both                  Primarily, however, Egypt is a type of the bondage of
had died as far as the bringing forth of children is            sin. There Israel is in slavery. This slavery is typical of
concerned? Did not, therefore, there spring of one              the slavery of sin. Besides, we do well to remember
and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the            that Israel's redemption out of Egypt could be
sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the               effected only through the blood upon the doorposts.
seashore innumerable? -Heb. 11: 12. Indeed, is not the          Egypt might have no right upon Israel to reduce them
Israel of God, throughout the ages and therefore also           to slaves. Israel, however, was no more entitled to
in the Old Dispensation, the son of God, begotten of            deliverance than was Egypt, and would have suffered
the Lord, born through the power of the everlasting             the same destruction except for the blood upon the
Spirit? Surely, they are not the people of God who              doorposts, the blood of the Lamb.
are born of the flesh and by the will of the flesh, but           How terrible is the bondage of sin! Sin rules over
by the Spirit and by the will of God. This is the               us. It is true, we understand, that we are willing slaves
church of God, also in the Old Dispensation, not                of sin. Sin does not reduce us to a stock and block,
which is from below, but that which is called into              does not cancel out our nature, cause us to act con-
being from above. To be sure, not all that is called            trary to our mind and will. We are willing slaves of
Israel is really Israel. There is also a carnal Israel in       sin. This, however, merely serves to emphasize all the
whom the Lord has no delight; this carnal Israel bears          more its awful power. We can never break these
the name of elect Israel,, even as a tomato plant is            fetters of darkness and corruption. But, neither can
called after its essence, its fruit bearing vines; it exists    we will or wish to be delivered. The power of sin
for the sake of spiritual Israel, even as the chaff must        completely dominates our heart and mind and will
serve the corn. Israel, the people of the Lord, is God's        and all our strength. We also love these spiritual
son, born of God, through the power of divine grace             chains of darkness which we can never break. And,
and of the Holy Spirit.                                         the wages of sin is death. Death in all its phases!
                                                                Physically, death, even now, reigns over our mortal
  This son, Israel, was called out of Egypt. This               bodies. Spiritual death, too, rules over us completely,
occurred, first of all, by God's almighty power.  In-           and according to the righteousness of God. Also to


124                                                              THE STAND, ID BEARER



this death we are condemned by the Judge of all the                                immortality had been merited, then God called Him,
earth. And these wages of sin also include eternal                                 out of the depth of hell, out of death and the grave,
death. This is the death of hell. . . .                                            into glory, even at His own right hand. God glorified
    How terrible is the bondage of sin, also because of                            Him, called Him out of bondage into liberty, for Him-
the righteousness of God. The sinner's misery is really                            self, and also gave Him the Spirit beyond measure, to
and profoundly the living God. And God is God. He                                  lead all His elect captives into everlasting life and
is unchangeably God, unchangeably good and right-                                  glory.
eous, so unchangeable in His goodness and righteous-                                                      *  * * *
ness that He spared not His own Son, but delivered                                   Why was this word of God thus fulfilled? Indeed,
Him up for us all because the Lord can never deny                                  all is divinely sovereign. How obvious this is! This
Himself.                                                                           text, really pointing to the cross, is the fulfillment of
    God's Son, now, was called out of Egypt. Indeed,                               Hosea 11: 1. And  Hosea points to Israel's deliverance
`He was called out of Egypt when a child. To this                                  out of Egypt which was divinely sovereign. Sovereign-
history Matthew calls our attention in Matt. 2. This                               ly, divinely, deliberately God willed and performed
occurred in Jesus' infancy and early childhood. He is                              this deliverance out of Egypt. Was it not already fore-
also called, however, out of Egypt throughout  His                                 told to Abraham in Gen.  15? Was Israel's sojourn in
life. Even as the Saviour took upon Himself all our                                Egypt not because of a famine, divinely visited upon
infirmities throughout His life whenever He per-                                   Canaan and the whole world? Indeed, God's calling of
formed a miracle, because in these miracles He                                     His Son out of Egypt was no accident. This was God's
assumed responsibility for our spiritual cure upon the                             sovereign will and counsel. He willed our night of sin
cross of Calvary, so our Lord Jesus Christ was called                              and guilt. It was our God's good pleasure that His
out of Egypt throughout His life because He imme-                                  Son, Jesus, and in Him His church, would be called
diately set His face toward the cross of Calvary, upon                             out of the bondage of sin. Why? 0, we understand
which`the word of God of  Hosea 11: 1 would reach its                              this. It must all be unto the praise and the glory of
wonderful fulfillment. And finally this took place                                 His grace. Egypt must serve Israel, sin must serve
upon the cross of Calvary. Then He was called out of                               God's grace, the darkness must serve the light, the
Egypt, the bondage- of sin. Then was fulfilled, in all                             reprobate must serve the elect, that it may be re-
its reality, what had occurred typically when the                                  vealed that God alone is mighty to save, also sover-
Lord delivered His people out of Egypt's house of                                  eignly, that to Him may be ascribed all the praise and
bondage.                                                                           glory, now and even forever.

   God called "My Son" out of Egypt. To be sure,
this "Son" is our Lord Jesus Christ. As a child He was
taken out of Egypt. And in our human nature He
s u f f e r e d   a n d   d i e d .   N e v e r t h e l e s s ,   w e   r e a d
emphatically: My Son. This surely refers to the eter-
nal Son of God. It is the eternal Son of God Who
took upon Himself our flesh and blood. Who else
could be called out of Egypt, out of this fearful bond-                                      and follow it.
age of sin? Who else than the eternal Son of God, the
living God Himself, could assume the burden of our
sin and guilt, which is eternal and infinite, and bear it
in love and as an act of perfect obedience? Indeed,
My Son have I called out of Egypt.

   Finally, God  called   His Son out of Egypt. This
refers indeed to the mighty calling, the efficacious
speaking of the living God. God called His Son, as He
alone can call. God called Him out of Egypt, the Lord
sustained Him, even in the midst of our bondage of
sin upon the cross of Calvary. The Lord sustained
Him by the power of His everlasting Spirit, enabled
Him to endure, in perfect obedience, in perfect con-                                                     Read the
sciousness, the incomprehensible burden of God's
infinite and eternal wrath. And then, when all our                                            STANDARD BEARER!
sins had been paid, when all His terrible righteousness
had been satisfied, when eternal life and heavenly


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 125


EDITORIALS




                  Clasping a Viper to the Bosom (5)
                                              Pro. f: H. C Hoeksema




(Correction: I erroneously identified Dr.  K&rig, the       terous suggestion tha.t election can change to rejec-
theologian whose work I am currently criticizing. My        tion, pp. 18, 19. This suggestion is made with an
South African correspondent wrote me: "There is             appeal to Saul's being rejected as king after he had
only one matter in your article that needs correction,      first been chosen, I Sam.  15:23 and I Sam.  10:24.
and I would like to point this out. Dr.  Kbnig is a         Appeal is also made to the account in II Kings 17  :20
minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in South              in connection with the rejection of the ten tribes, and
Africa (Die Nederduitse Gereformeerde  Kerk in  Suid-       to II Kings  23:27,in connection with the removal of
Afrika  - N.G.K.) and this has no links with                Judah and the casting off of Jerusalem. Bear in mind
Potchefstroom University which is connected with            that Dr.  Konig wants to get rid of the idea that there
the Reformed Church in South Africa (Die  Gere-             are two kinds of `people in the world, elect and repro-
formeerde Kerk in Suid-Afrika) a completely differ-         bate, and that these are fixed by an immutable decree
ent denomination. The latter is a secession from the        of God  (Konig speaks deprecatingly of "two static
former. The Theological Seminaries of the Dutch             groups."). The obvious difficulty is that Kijnig simply
Reformed Church in South Africa are connected to            ignores the fact that Israel is God's chosen people
the University of Pretoria, and also the University of      organically,  and that God's election and reprobation
Stellenbosch. Dr.  Kijnig is a graduate of the Univer-      cut directly across the generations of Israel. It is
sity of Pretoria, and has no links with Potchefstroom.      basically this same error which leads him to appeal to
It seems that this theological decline has its source in    Romans 11 (of all passages!) to make the simplistic
the Theological Faculty of the University of Pretoria,      statement that when the chosen people rejected the
(N.G.K.) where  Konig  also wrote his doctorate."           Messiah, they too were rejected. This statement all by
Thanks for the correction! My apologies to any              itself is in flagrant contradiction of the literal teach-
persons or institutions who may have been offended          ing of Romans 11: "I say then, Hath God cast away
by this unintentional error.  NihiZ humanum  alienurn       his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of
mihi est.)                                                  the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God
  It would be interesting, and also worthwhile, if          hath not cast away his people which he foreknew."
time permitted, to enter detailedly into the numer-         (vss. 1, 2)
ous, very obvious errors in Dr.  K&rig's presentation         When we turn to Dr. Konig's study of the New
of the doctrine of election. Personally, I do not hesi-     Testament teaching concerning election, we find the
tate to say that the Reformed and Confessional doc-         same strong aversion for the doctrine of sovereign
trine of predestination cannot be recognized in             reprobation, and along with this, a very flagrant
Konig's view; in fact, he seems to go out of his way to     twisting of the Scriptures in their plain meaning. And
deprecate the Reformed view, usually doing so by            again, as surely as it is impossible to speak of the
way of first creating a caricature of that view. How-       subject of reprobation without saying something
ever, our interest in this present series is in the doc-    about election,  KGnig wrests the doctrine of election.
trine of reprobation and its denial; and we shall con-      Let me call attention to a few items.
centrate on this matter.                                      What happens to the well-known words of
  First of all, there is one more facet of Dr.  K&rig's     Matthew 22: 14, "For many are called, but few are
notes on election in the Old Testament to which we          chosen"? Dr.  Kijnig here faces, of course, the obvious
must give our attention. In a sub-section about             fact, in view of the truth that only few are chosen
rejection in the Old Testament we find the prepos-          while many are called, that there must be many who


I     126                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


     are not chosen, that is, reprobate. Here is his explana-      first of certain inappropriate motives in Judas, and He
     tion in a nutshell: "The issue of the parable is:  they       knew that if someone from His own circle were to
     could come; they were not only invited, but were              deny Him, it would be Judas. But this does not ex-
     repeatedly and urgently called  (22:3 ff),  but  they         clude the fact that Jesus through His fellowship with
     would  not come.  This is the reason why they are not         Judas as well as by His preaching in general, offered
     chosen." Or again: "It is completely contrary to the          Judas the opportunity to overcome these wrong
     meaning of these parables to allege that those who            motives, and to follow Jesus in sincerity." In other
     have been invited (called), could not come for the            words, Jesus was discerning enough to figure out that
     simple reason that they have not previously been              IF someone from His own circle were to deny Him, it
     elected by God. The impact of the  parables.is:  `they        would be `Judas! Again: this is exegesis? A child can
     aYe called, they  can  come, but they  would  not." And       detect that  Konig's statements and Scripture's state-
     this is exegesis of Holy Scripture?                           ments are by no stretch of the imagination the same!
       Another illustration of such devious misinterpreta-
     tion of the Scriptures we  tind in connection with               In this connection we should also note a serious
     Judas Iscariot. Kijnig writes: "The view that Judas           omission in  K&rig's discussion of passages in John. He
     was the odd man out from the beginning but was                omits mention of two important passages which
     tolerated by Jesus among the disciples, or that Judas         enemies of the truth of sovereign reprobation must
     was `elected' by Jesus for the purpose of betraying           needs find difficult. The first is John  10:26:  "But ye
     Him, is completely foreign to the message of the              believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said
     Gospels." He denies that Judas has been predestined           unto you." According to all that Kijnig has stated in
     to be the betrayer and to be lost. And every passage          the preceding, this text would have to read: "But ye
     of Scripture which teaches this is simply waved aside.        are not of my sheep, because ye believe not." This,
     Fortunately, the author calls attention to the fact           however, is NOT what the text says; it says the very
     that Calvin and Augustine view Judas as one who was           opposite. The second passage is John  12:37-41,  where
     predestined to perdition; at least, therefore, the            there is reference made to that frequently quoted
     reader can discern that Kijnig does not stand in the          section of Isaiah 6: "But though he had done so
     tradition of Calvin and Augustine, whose company I            many miracles before them, yet they believed not on
     prefer. But what happens to the Scriptures? In John           him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be
     6:70 we find Jesus saying, "Have not I chosen you             fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed
     twelve, and one of you is a devil?" Dr.  Konig agrees         our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord
     with those translations who change the "and" to the           been revealed? Therefore they could not believe,
     adversative "yet." Among these is such a notoriously          because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their
     Arminian version as  Good  News. In other words,              eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not
     Judas's being a devil stands over against Jesus' choos-       see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart,
     ing of him. Of the expression "that the Scriptures            and be converted, and I should heal them. These
     might be fulfilled," which plainly carries the implica-       things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake
     tion of a predetermined measure, Dr.  K&rig offers no         of him." Notice that the inability to believe (they
     explanation in connection with the sin of Judas. And          COULD NOT believe) is here ascribed to divine blind-
     what about the words of John  6:64?  There it is              ing of the eyes and hardening of the heart.
     reported: "For Jesus knew from the beginning who                 Our discussion must be interrupted until the next
     they were that believed not, and who should betray            issue.
     him." Dr.  Konig  has a rather novel way of getting rid
     of this passage: "This `from the first' probably refers         However, let me conclude by repeating my  wam-
     to the time when Jesus first became acquainted with           irig. To embrace this denial of reprobation is like
     the disciples individually, or when He elected them           clasping a deadly viper to the bosom. To harbor such
     (Luke 5 : 13) as disciples (apostles). This, however, does    heresy can only mean the doom of the churches
     not imply a presdestination that  Judas  had to deny          which tolerate it, whether that be the Dutch Re-
     Him, but it does imply that Jesus was aware from the          formed Church in South Africa or any other church.


                          THE STANDARD BEARER.
                         is a thoughtful gift for a shut-in


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                       127



CONTRIBUTION AND REPLY




                 In What Direction Are We Going?


   I would like to respond to your editorial of Sept.        in which Charles Hodge and L. Berkhof teach it. You
1, 1976  - commenting on my contribution entitled            state further that even though the Westminster
"In What Direction Are We Going?" First your re-             creeds contain the covenant of works idea, yet they
marks about my method and approach. Let me say               leave no room for the Arminian idea of conditions in
three things.                                                the covenant of grace. Besides that, you say the saints
                                                             in Christchurch show an aversion to any such ten-
   First, you claim that I should have raised these          dency .
questions long ago for they have been known since               But there are several points, I believe, that we
`Dec. 1975. My problem is not that we send a minister        ought to remember. In the first place, we as Protes-
to help, but my question centers around the specific         tant Reformed Churches have historically condemned
arrangement; that our minister-on-loan will become a         the covenant of works, not only as presented by
minister of Christchurch under the jurisdiction of           Hodge and Berkhof, but also in 1953. Rev. H.  Hoek-
their  consistory and that he will be required, there-       sema  in his Reformed Dogmatics  (pp. 214-220) dis-
fore, to endorse the Westminster Confession that             cusses the covenant of works theory. He raises  five
contains positions and statements in which we as             serious objections to the covenant of works idea. And
churches disagree. But these specific arrangements, to       in that context,  in which also the covenant of works
the best of my knowledge, did not come to light until        of the Westminster Confession  is set forth,  Rev.
just recently. (1)                                           Hoeksema concludes on p. 220 with this: "Hence, we
   Second, you imply that I am "saying things which          can not accept the theory of the covenant of works,
tend to undermine decisions of synod". (2) This is           but must condemn it as unscriptural."  With this I
not my intention or desire. There is a difference            wholeheartedly agree.
-between militating against and discussing past deci-           In the second place, is it not true that the covenant
sions of synod. I believe it is proper and even profit-      of works idea, even as it is set forth by the West-
able to discuss questions and even express disagree-         minster Confession, views that covenant as an agree-
ment with such decisions, and this I have done in the        ment?  - with certain promises, threats, and con-
spirit of love for the truth and concern for the             ditions? And that the  conditions  of the "covenant of
churches. It is in this spirit that I wrote as I did. (3)    works" are conditions in the Arminian, or, even
   In the third place, you state that my contribution        worse, in the Pelagian sense? I could write more
gives the overall impression "as though synod took a         about this but I am limited to 300 words.
very hasty and reckless decision." It was never my              In the third place, under the present arrangement
intention to judge synod's decision as hasty or reck-        with Christchurch, don't we in effect give our tacit
less. Those are your words  - not mine. (4)                  approval to this covenant of works theory? It is on
   Turning now to the objective issues, we as Protes-        the basis of these considerations that I asked in my
tant Reformed Churches take exception to two posi-           previous article, "is this matter of a conditional or un-
tions of the Westminster Confessions (the official           c o n d i t i o n a l   v i e w   o f   t h e   c o v e n a n t   n o w   n o n -
creed of Christchurch). These two positions are  ,the        essential?". (5)
"covenant works" and the remarriage of an innocent              This brings me to the second area of difficulty, viz,
party who is divorced on the ground of adultery.             the question of divorce and remarriage. Here again, it
   Concerning the matter of the "covenant of works"          seems to me, that synod gives its tacit approval to a
you state, that the Westminster Confession does not          teaching which we view as unbiblical, viz, that the
teach the covenant of works in the traditional sense,        innocent party who obtains a divorce on the grounds


128                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


of adultery may remarry. In all the arrangements            was a breach of ethics and an injustice. I do not agree
made there is again no declaration which informs            whatsoever, and placement of this article is by no
Christchurch of our disagreement with this matter. In       means to be construed either as such agreement or as
your editorial you state that you have no reason to         a change of policy. Just because I exercise my editor's
think that this matter will be a burning issue. You         prerogative to comment on matters which I deem
further state, "we know of no problem in this area."        important, even if that be occasioned by correspon-
But there are no official agreements with Christ-           dence, does not mean that a correspondent is entitled
church on this matter, and there is a possibility that      to equal space. That would be folly: in that way we
this becomes very troublesome. The question re-             could have a good many correspondents who happen
mains, "If it happens, what are we going to do?"            to disagree with me suddenly being elevated to the
   Furthermore, your example of Rev. H. Hoeksema            status of editor-for-an-issue. Before that happens, I
and his approach does not apply here. You explain           will abdicate, let me assure you. Hence, let all  would-
that our churches and Rev. Hoeksema at one time             be correspondents consider themselves notified that
took the traditional view on this matter and agreed         the rule will be strictly enforced hereafter. My sole
with the Westminster Confessions. And when Rev.             reason for placement of this contribution is the fact
Hoeksema had a change of thinking he proceeded              that I do not care to see the issue beclouded by a
slowly, not making it a matter of protest and appeal,       hue-and-cry about an alleged "moral issue."
but let the word of God have its own way over the
course of time.                                                Here follow my comments:
   But here we have an entirely different set of cir-          1) Not true. That these churches have the West-
cumstances. Rev. Hoeksema did not, as we are doing,         minster Creeds, that they asked for a pastor of their
knowingly put himself into a situation where he             own (who would naturally be required to subscribe to
might be required to administer the sacraments' to          their creeds) and that the Committee approved their
those whom he considered to be living in adultery. He       request  - this was all published.
was, rather, in the situation where unscriptural               2) Not true: I specifically spoke of  delegates  to
marriages existed and then saw the error of the posi-       Synod. Nevertheless, I now add that if anyone con-
tion which he and our churches were taking on this          tinues to have serious disagreement with a  synodical
matter. There is a lot of difference between the cir-       decision of this kind, he is morally obligated to fol-
cumstances which Rev. Hoeksema faced and the cir-           low the ecclesiastical way.
cumstances we have now created for ourselves. May              3) Perhaps so, but I do not consider your rash and
we knowingly put ourselves into a situation where the       totally unjustified suggestion that the matter of a
possibility exists and is very real that we will have to    conditional or unconditional view of the covenant
do what we know to be at odds with the Scriptures?  I       was now non-essential, or that the Declaration of
think not. (6)                                              Principles was being forgotten by anyone, myself
  In your conclusion you write, "In what direction          included, to be in harmony with "the spirit of love for
are we going? In the right direction! Is what we are        the truth and concern for the churches." Such loose
about to do in New Zealand proper? Yes, by all              talk and unfounded inferences can only tear down,
means! God wills it. To refuse would be flagrant dis-       not edify.
obedience."                                                   4) Indeed, they  are  my words. I am glad to hear it
  And yet no Protestant Reformed minister can               was not your  intention.  I nevertheless had that im-
place himself under the Westminster Confessions, be-        pression from your first article.
cause of the two points of disagreement. (7)                   5) Concerning the matter of the covenant of
  Let us not compromise with the truth!                     works: a) Let us keep the record straight. I know of
                                                            no decision in 1953 which so much as referred to the
                                Thys Feenstra               covenant of works. The subject then was the cove-
Editor's Comments:                                          nant of grace. b) It is simply not true that in his
                                                            Reformed Dogmatics  Rev. H. Hoeksema criticizes the
  The numbers inserted in the above contribution            Westminster Confession on the covenant of works
refer to my comments below.                                 with so much as a word. In fact, it is not even true
  Before I comment, however, I must say something           that "the covenant of works of the Westminster Con-
about the placement of this oversize correspondence.        fession is set forth." Especially when he criticized,
It is obviously more than three times as long as the        Hoeksema always took pains to set forth a criticized
rule on contributions provides. That rule is plainly        position  in  fuZZ.  Yet in this connection he quotes only
stated in the masthead, and the brother was aware of        one paragraph out of at least three which have to do
the rule, as his article states. Hence, I originally re-    with this subject in the Westminster Confession. And
fused it. However, I had to hear second-hand that this      why? Simply to show that  the  Westminster (along


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    129



with the Irish Articles of Religion) mentioned a                    and to administer the Lord's Supper to them. In
covenant and a covenant of works in connection with                 other words, he very deliberately put himself into the
Adam's original position. Once again, I emphasize:                  position, (without protest or appeal, mind  youi) of
you cannot equate Hodge and Berkhof with the                        administering the sacrament to those whom he  con-
Westminster. All of this does not mean that I or any                sidered  to be living in adultery (as you put it). And he
of us is defending the covenant of works. c) It is as               continued to do so for many years thereafter! These
incongruous as feathers on a pig to charge the  West-               are simply undeniable facts.
minster Confession with Arminianism and Pelagian-                      7) As I wrote earlier, none of us ever expected any
ism. You can no more be an Arminian or Pelagian in                  of our ministers to subscribe to things he does not
your view of the covenant of grace under the  West-                believe. It has not been demonstrated, however,  -
minster Confession of Faith than you can under our                 and it  cannot  be demonstrated  - that a Protestant
own confessions.                                                    Reformed minister could not subscribe to the  West-
  6) Rev. H. Hoeksema did just exactly that. Over                  minster Creeds with those two  reservations.  (We have,
the period from 1933 to 1943 (as is plain from his                 in fact, informed the OPC of Christchurch of such
own articles in the S.B. in those years) he changed his            reservations.) In doing so, he would not violate our
stand from the traditional one to the stand that  re-              Protestant Reformed position, but just exactly  main-
marriage of even the innocent party in a divorce is                tain it. And in doing so, he would not sin against his
not permitted. As he mentions in an article dated                  own conscience, but just exactly maintain a clear  con-
May 15, 1943 (in response to a question from  Red-                 science. Nor would this in any way affect the  doc-
lands) his consistory at First Church by majority vote             trine and practice of our own Protestant Reformed
did not immediately share that change of view. This                Churches. Still more, it would  - under the blessing of
was in a concrete case. But Rev. Hoeksema neither                  God  - surely affect the OPC of New Zealand for
protested nor appealed, nor refused to acknowledge                 good. Of that I remain convinced.
the persons concerned as members in good standing                     This  ,will conclude the discussion of these issues.

THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS




  God's Justice and Mercy Manifest in Christ
                                                  Prof Robert D. Decker


          "We believe that God, who is perfectly merciful and just, sent his Son to assume that nature, in which the
          disobedience was committed, to make satisfaction in the same, and to bear the punishment of sin by his
          most bitter passion and death. Go`d therefore manifested his justice against his Son, when he laid our
          iniquities upon him; and poured forth his mercy and goodness on us, who were guilty and worthy of
          damnation, out of mere and perfect love, giving his Son unto death for us, and raising him for our
          justification, that through him we might obtain immortality and life eternal."
                                                                                   The Be@ Confession, Article XX



  In the previous two articles the  Creed  has carefully           God and His justice and mercy. The succeeding article
and clearly developed the truths concerning the  in-               speaks of this same atoning work from the viewpoint
carnation of Christ and the "union and distinction of              of Christ and the satisfaction which He made.
the two natures in the person of Christ." With this
article the  Creed  begins its treatment of what Christ               Again one cannot help but be deeply impressed by
Who is very God and very man did for us. This article,             how thoroughly Biblical our  Creed  is. This article
especially in distinction from Article XXI, speaks of              emphasizes that salvation is of the Lord. It is not the
the atonement of Christ from the point of view of                  work of `man in any sense of the word. It is God's


130                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


work in and through  His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.        bear the punishment of sin by his most bitter passion
Note that emphasis. God sent  His Son to assume our         and death." This truth that God sent His Son in our
human nature, to make satisfaction, and to bear the         nature was discussed in detail in connection with the
punishment of sin. God therefore manifested His             previous article on the union of the two natures. It is
justice. God poured forth His mercy and goodness on         mentioned here because this is the basis for the cross
us. God gave His Son unto death for us and God              of Christ as the revelation of God's justice. Only be-
raised Him for our justification. And we were guilty        cause Christ assumed our human nature could He also
and worthy of damnation, full of iniquities and dis-        suffer for us and make satisfaction of the justice of
obedience. God saved us, and we contributed not one         God for  us.  The  Heidelberg Catechism  makes quite a
bit toward that salvation. And that is Scripture            point of this in Lord's Day VI, Question and Answer
throughout. The Scriptures testify: "For God so             16: "Why must he be very man, and also perfectly
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,        righteous? Because the justice of God requires that
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,          the same human nature which hath sinned, should
but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16) Or again: "But     likewise make satisfaction for sin; and one, who is
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while           himself a sinner, cannot satisfy for others." Man had
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans           sinned; man, therefore, must pay for that sin. Hence
5 : 8) Still more: "And all things are of God, who hath     Christ had to assume our human nature in order to
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath          make that satisfaction of God's justice for us.
given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that      Thus the cross of Christ is a revelation of both the
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto him-          justice and the mercy of God. In that God laid our
self, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and          iniquities upon Christ, the cross is the revelation of
hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.          His strictest justice. Before salvation could be
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though           accomplished, sin had to be removed. Our sins stood
God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's          as an insurmountable barrier between us and God.
stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him        God could not simply ignore those sins. He could not
to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be         simply excuse or disregard those sins. They had to be
made the righteousness of God in him." (II Corin-           removed, for God is a just God. And we could never
thians 5: 18-2-l) A beautiful summary of this great         remove those sins. We would only suffer eternally in
truth may be found in the first ten verses of               hell as the just punishment for our sins. Thus God
Ephesians 2. There the Scriptures declare without           sent His Son to assume that human nature in which
equivocation that we were "dead in trespasses and           the disobedience was committed, to make satisfac-
sins." We walked in times past according to the             tion. In His justice God laid all our iniquities upon
course of this world and according to the prince of         Christ. All this is very carefully developed by our
the power of the air. We had our conversation               Heidelberg  Catechism. The Catechism asks: "Will God
(manner of life) among the children of disobedience         suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go un-
and we walked in the lusts of our flesh, "fulfilling the    punished?" The answer is: "By no means; but is
desires of the flesh and of the mind." This means that      terribly displeased with our original as well as actual
we were children of wrath even as the others. Then,         sins; and will punish them in his just judgment. . .  ."
against that dark background, comes the powerful            (Q. and A. 10) The  Catechism  then asks: "Is not God
contrast: "But God who is rich in mercy, for his great      then also merciful?" And the answer to this is: "God
love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead          is indeed merciful, but also just; therefore his justice
in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by         requires that sin which is committed against the most
grace are ye saved;) And hath raised us up together         high majesty of God, be also punished with extreme,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ       that is, with everlasting punishment of body and
Jesus . . . For by grace are ye saved through faith; and    soul.:' (Q. and A. 11) In the next Lord's Day, the
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of       Catechism  emphasizes that: "God will have his justice
works lest any man should boast. For we are his             satisfied: and therefore we must make this full satis-
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good              faction, either by ourselves, or by another." (A. 12)
works, which God hath before ordained that we               But the  Clztechism  teaches that we only daily increase
should walk in them." (verses 4-10) Indeed the over-        our debt and cannot make this satisfaction by our-
whelming testimony of Holy Writ is that salvation is        selves. Neither is that possible for any mere creature
exclusively the work of God and not man's work.             to do for us. Hence we need a mediator and deliverer
This testimony is beautifully reflected in our Con-         who:  ". . .is very man, and perfectly righteous; and
fession.                                                    yet more powerful than all creatures; that is, one who
   The article states that: God . . . sent his Son to       is also very God." (Q. and A. 15) And that mediator
assume that nature, in which the disobedience was           is Jesus Christ, the Son of God Who assumed our
committed, to make satisfaction in the same, and to         human nature and made satisfaction of the justice of


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   131



God for us when God laid our iniquities upon Him.           (verses 9-l 1) This, as the article says, was of mere and
  At the same time, however, that cross of Christ is        perfect love that God's Son died for us, was raised for
also a beautiful manifestation of the mercy of God.         our justification, that through Him we might obtain
As the  Confession  puts it: "God poured forth his          immortality and life eternal.
mercy and goodness on us, who were guilty of
damnation, out of mere and perfect love, giving his            One question remains: How can a sinless one
Son unto death for us. .  ." This, that God gave His        assume the guilt of a sinful man? Or, How can our
Son for us who were guilty and worthy of damnation,         guilt be reckoned justly to Christ? The only possible
is the mercy of God. This must not be understood in         answer is that Christ was eternally appointed to be
the sense that God manifested His mercy in spite of         our Head, our representative. In Him we were chosen
His justice. The cross is the highest revelation of both    before the foundations of the world that we should
mercy and justice. In the cross we see that the mercy       be holy and without blame before Him. (Eph.  1:3ff.)
of God is a just mercy and His justice is a merciful        Christ could therefore come in our place and suffer
justice. The poet of Psalm 85 writes of that in these       and die and be raised again on our behalf. "For as  in
words : "Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear        Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and            alive." (I Cor.  15:22) In this way, the deep way of
truth are met together; righteousness and peace have        sin and grace, the way of the cross, could God's
kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth;     mercy and justice be revealed in the highest sense of
and righteousness shall look down from heaven."             the word.

FROM HOLY WRIT




    Exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians
                                                 By Rev. G. Lubbers



PAUL'S APOSTOLIC SALUTATION TO                              THE CONTENT OF THE BLESSING SPOKEN
THE GALATIANS - continued (Gal. 1: l-5)                     TO THE GALATIANS (Gal. 1: 2)
  There is a little addition in the text which we             The  .content here is like unto that which is
should not overlook. The greetings here to the  Gala-       addressed by Paul in his other letters to the various
tians come from Paul the apostle. But there are             churches and individuals. (See Rom.  1:7; I Cor.  1:3;
brethren with Paul who also send their greetings. The       II Cor.  `1:2; Eph.  1:2; Phil.  1:2; Col.  1:2; etc.) Paul
Greek text beautifully emphasizes that these brethren       does not use any endearing terms to the Galatians.
are "with  me."  Paul is the host, so to speak. He is in    His soul is too perplexed about them. Writes he, "for
the middle and forefront of the brethren; they stand        I am perplexed about you." (Gal. 4: 20) His deep con-
firmly with him in this battle, unmoved from the            cern is that of "travail" of soul over them, "until
faith and hope of the Gospel. Perhaps these are the         Christ  be. formed in them." He wishes that he could
brethren in the Church at Ephesus, or they may also         be present with them "now," (Gal, 4: 19, 20) He
be the brethren in Corinth. (See Lightfoot, page 55.)       wished that he could write them as he did to the
At any rate, Paul is not standing alone, and the fact       Philippians: "brethren beloved, my joy and crown."
that these brethren are with him indicates that they        (Phil. 4: 1) Paul's heart is not cold; it is all ablaze for
too are partakers with Paul of this grace and peace         the glory of God and for the truth of the Gospel. His
which Paul preached. Paul was, no doubt, not a little       heart throbs with love, seeking to prevent the sheep
comforted with the presence of these brethren in this       of Christ from going farther astray.
critical hour in the church, where it seemed that the
work of Paul might have been in vain in the Galatian          The truth of the matter is that Paul writes one of
churches, and that the work of Satan might triumph.         the richest and most glorious of all the greetings to


132                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


the churches to these Galatians. This greeting is  so          perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of
expanded that it expresses in a nutshell the full truth        Christ is imputed to us. It is peace in the Cross. What
of the Gospel. Without this full truth of the Gospel           a tremendously appropriate blessing this is for the
there is no greeting possible. Now it is  Gospel-              Galatians and for all who take refuge to God by the
greeting!  It is Gospel-greeting just as we have  Gospel-      blood of Christ.
greeting of Jehovah God in Exodus  20:2: "I am the               Grace and peace from God the Father and from
LORD (Jehovah) thy God, which have brought thee                our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only way to the
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bond-            Father, for He is the truth and the life. (John  14:6)
age." Yes, yes, these are the "law" of God's ten               No one  cometh unto the Father but through Him,
words. But they are delivered to a people of God who           and no one receives grace from God which results in
were "saved" under blood.. In these ten words Israel is        peace of conscience, but by our Lord Jesus Christ,
addressed at Sinai as a redeemed people, by their              the glorified Christ. Yes, He is "Lord." And this
redeemer-God. And thus it is here in this greeting             means that He bought us to be His own property in
from Paul to the Galatians. They are addressed as the          life and in death. (Rom. 14: 8) Whether we live or die
congregation, as those who have God as their Father            we are the Lord's. He is God in the flesh, "Jesus"
in Christ Jesus, their Lord, Who gave Himself also for         Who came to save us from our sins as His people. And
their sins. And so these too are blessings from God            He is the Anointed Mediator, prophet, priest, and
Who saved us. (Titus 3:4-7) And they are brought               king. He is the "Christ." And grace and peace come
from this God by ambassador Paul, who had possibly             from God the Father through this Christ.
seen Jesus on the Mount of God in Arabia. For cer-
tain he had seen the glorified Son of man on the way            Now this Lord Jesus Christ is all that He is in glory
to Damascus. (Acts 9: 1-9;  22:3-21;  26-g-20) Paul had        because He "gave himself for us." He did this once
seen glories greater than those seen by Moses on the           and for all at the end of the ages. He became the
Mount at the law-giving and the receiving of the               sacrifice for our sins. He suffered the wrath of God
instructions to build the tabernacle after the pattern         against our sin and damnworthiness. The Greek
of the heavenly. (Heb.  8:5; Ex.  25:40) Had he not            participle used here, which is translated "gave,"
been taken up in the "third heaven"? (II Cor.  12:2)           shows that it was a pure, free offering by the Lamb of
  What an ambassador of Christ!                                God. He did this not many times, but only once. He
                                                               cried out "it is finished"! He bowed the head before
  What a great pouring forth of the riches of the              God, angels and devils, before all the saints in heaven
Gospel-blessing here!                                          and on earth; it was His official work, dying accord-
  The great blessing is all summed up in one word:             ing to the Scriptures. He did this once for all at the
Grace.  Yes, it is "grace unto you," Galatians. Grace is       end of the ages. (Heb.  9:26)
the very opposite of "works of law" and merit. It is             And what a great purpose Christ had in mind. It
the free-gift of God, nothing less. It is for the vilest of    was not simply some repair work. It makes one think
sinners and given to "godless" ones. (Rom.  5:6) It            of Christ's rescuing this people, saving them, as they
abounds more where sin abounds, and sin abounds                are in an  .evil age. The text says, "that he might de-
where the "law" is added. (Rom. 5: 12-21) This is the          liver us out of this present evil world." The term
very benefit which these Galatian churches need, and           "deliver" in the Greek is a very strong word. It really
by which grace "Christ must be formed in them."                means "to pluck out" forcefully. This is the great
(Gal. 4: 19, 20) This grace is the fountain of all bless-      work of the power of the resurrection by which the
ings. Grace is an eternal virtue in God Himself, by            dead are made alive. This is the work which calls the
which He is most beautiful and resplendent in glory.           things which are not as if they were. (Rom. 4: 17) But
By His goodness, grace, and love, God saves us. Grace          to do this Christ had to give His life in the atoning
is back of election; the Bible speaks of the election          death of the Cross, having power to lay down His life,
which has its origin and motivation in grace. (Rom.            and having power to take it again. (John 10: 18) No
11: 5) Faith is a gift of this grace. And  .by this faith,     man took Christ's life from Him. He gave Himself
which Christ purchased for us on the Cross, we are             freely on the Cross. The saints were dead in trespasses
justified. This is the grace which the Galatians and the       and sins, entirely one with this evil world, except that
church need!                                                   they were given to the Father, and it was the Father's
  Paul also adds the term "peace." Grace and  peace!           will that none of these should perish, and that Christ
This is a peace which we have with God, being jus-             would raise them up again in the last day. (John
tified by faith. It is the peace which we have with            6:40) This is placed by Paul in this greeting. It is the
God, a good conscience, so that although our con-              very  ground  of salvation. It is the only ground of
science accuses us that we have kept none of God's             righteousness and justification and peace. Here in the
commandments, that we have broken. them all, yet               very beginning we  .have the keynote of Paul who
God deals with us as if we had never sinned, since the         glories in nothing save in the Cross of Jesus Christ.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  133


For the "present" evil world is this entire "age" from       tues of God as they are displayed in the works of His
the time of Adam's fall till the time when God shall         will in -heaven and on earth and in hell. It is par-
destroy the elements of the world with fire. It is the       ticularly in the great salvation in Christ that God
world that perished in the flood in the days of Noah,        shows the glory of His wisdom and power. We see this
and which will one day be destroyed by fire and              in such passages as Ephesians 1: 7-l 0, and 3 :9, 10, 16,
brimstone from heaven as was Sodom and Gomorrah!             and in many other parts of Scripture. It is in salvation
(Luke  17:22-37)                                             that God displays the  riches  of His glory far more yet
  That Christ thus died for our sins to rescue us was        than by what He does in the works of creation.
not his own doing. He came to do the "will of God."          (Psalm 19: 1)
The text says, "according to the will of God our               In view of this glory not only for the present time
Father." This too is very meaningful. The emphasis is        and in this present world does God have His Son give
on God the Father, the triune God as He is our               Himself on the Cross. This is a great work which must
Father for Christ's sake. It is the Almighty God Who         be to the exclusive glory of God in the ages to come,
is our Father. He sent His Son in the fulness of time.       the ages of ages. There will in this Christ be a  never-
It was written of Him in the volume of the Book              ending display of all the goodness of God and of the
(Scroll) "behold, I come to do thy will, 0 God." It          effulgence of His glory in the new heavens and in the
was "according" to the will of God that Christ died          new earth.
on the Cross. He cried out in Gethsemane "never-               When we thus set in array all this glory of God's
theless not my will, but thine be done." (Luke  22:42)       work in Christ, we surely become aware that this is all
He was bruised for our iniquities. And that is the           very firm and sure. It is realized in the cross; it is the
source of this grace and peace of which the benedic-         execution of God's sovereign will; it is for the glory
tion speaks.                                                 of the thrice holy God! We hear something of "Thus
  Yes, here we have the entire gospel summed up              saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness." Had
briefly and masterfully by Paul in this blessing and         the Galatians not read any farther than through this
greeting. The entire Christ and the God of our salva-        "Greeting" they should have recoiled from falling
tion is set in very bold relief. It sets the stage, so to    away from Him Who called them, and they would
speak, for the entire book of Galatians. We see the          indeed have seen that the never-ending streams of
architectural lines here of salvation, the  pattern  of      mercy flow from the throne of God and of the Lamb,
sound words.                                                 and shouted with the Apostle, "far be it from me to
  Small wonder that Paul ends this blessing with the         glory, save in the Cross of Jesus Christ through which
"unto whom be  the  glory unto ages of ages." The            the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the
glory here is the manifestation of the wonderful vir-        world."

SIGNS OF THE TIMES



                      Wise in Their  Owti Conceits
                                                Rev. Mark Hoeksema



  We live today in an enlightened and wise age.              is still seeking to determine the origin of himself, in
Knowledge and wisdom have increased in recent                order that he may know whence he came and whither
times, as we see round about us. Every day we are            he shall go. To this effort no little time and energy is
assaulted with a barrage of man's supposed knowl-            devoted on the part of the wise and learned men of
edge and his profound wisdom. Most recently we               this age. All of these things are, according to the
have heard a great deal of political wisdom  - most of       general thought and teaching of Scripture, associated
it, I suspect, foolishness in reality. But this wisdom       with the coming of the end of the age. Knowledge
extends to every sphere of life, especially that of          shall increase, the wise of the earth shall multiply,
science, and more specifically to the area of the in-        and efforts shall be put forth to realize the Utopia for
vestigation of the origin of all things and of man. Man      which man has striven throughout the ages in  de-


134                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



fiance of the curse of God. To one small area of this       wise in devising ways of  tinding out something about
supposed wisdom of man I devote a few lines by way          his evolutionistic origins.
of some reflections in the light of Scripture upon            But what foolishness! One cannot help being
recent explorations and accomplishments in the area         reminded of the words of the apostle Paul regarding
of that branch of science and technology  relating  to      the natural man in Romans  1:22:  "Professing them-
the exploration of space.                                   selves to be wise, they became fools." He wrote those
  Man is still looking for his own origin, as stated        words many centuries ago, and in the context of
above. He is doing this by attempting to determine          pagan idolatry, but they are just as true today. Man
the origin of the creation in which he lives, thus to       no longer falls down to idols of man and birds and
understand himself in terms of it. Man today does           beasts, but worships instead the images of science and
this from an evolutionistic perspective. He assumes         technology and his own wisdom. Man is, in the lan-
the truth of the theory of evolution, and proceeds          guage of Romans 12: 16, wise in his own conceits.
with his investigations in harmony with the tenets of       That is, he is not truly wise, but he thinks in his own
the doctrine of progressive mutation and change. Man        pride and conceit that he is wise. Instead of  worship-
has done this first of all by inspecting as minutely as     ping the Creator, the only true God, he worships idols
possible the earth upon which the sovereign Creator         of his own making, and in pride sets up himself to be
has placed him, utilizing particularly the sciences of      the standard of his own wisdom.
geology, archaeology, paleontology, and others,               In what way is this foolishness of man evident? In
devoting all of his knowledge and means to determine        this, that instead of believing the revelation of God
accurately the past. But  .man has not found the            concerning Himself and His creation and His  image-
answer upon the earth, and has therefore turned to          bearer as contained in the Scriptures, man deliber-
various other bodies in the solar system, and even to       ately rejects this revelation and seeks  ,for the answers
the distant stars. He has explored the planet Venus,        to his questionings elsewhere. Just think of the monu-
and found that it is much too hot and its atmosphere        mental stupidity and ridiculousness of it all: Man goes
much too hostile to man to permit further investiga-        millions of miles away into the far reaches of the
tion or to give the answer regarding man's origin. He       solar system, spends millions of dollars on equipment,
has in the past sent various expeditions to the moon,       wastes uncounted effort and time, to find out his
even placing men on its surface to collect lunar            origins, when all he has to do is read the first three
samples for analyzation in the laboratories of science.     chapters of Genesis! All of the expense and time and
Though certainly not the only reason for the ex-            effort are totally unnecessary, not only because man
ploration of the moon, it cannot be denied that the         is looking in the wrong place, but also because he will
search for man's origin was a very important justifica-     never find the answer. We used to be told in sem-
tion for the work and expense of the moon program           inary, "If you ask the wrong questions, you will get
undertaken by the U.S. government.                          the wrong answer," and that truth is abundantly
  Most recently the search for life has concentrated        apparent here. Mind you, all that man need do is to
on the planet Mars, which we are told most resembles        pick up a copy of the Bible, easily obtained anywhere,
our own earth. There have been two successful land-         and to read the first part of the first book, written in
                                                            language so clear and simple that a small child can
ings of unmanned Viking spacecraft on the surface of
the planet, and many pictures have been returned to         understand it. But man instead pursues his foolish
the earth; many experiments have been performed,            way, thinking he is wise. Are not the words of Paul in
and much data received. But the word is that there is       II Timothy 3 : 7 applicable? They are "ever learning,
no life on Mars, at least not as we know it. In spite of    and never able to come to the knowledge of the
these disappointing results for scientists, a great deal    truth."
of effort has been expended on this project; millions         Now, to the Christian, and particularly the Re-
of dollars have been spent, and the spacecraft sent to      formed Christian, all of this may seem very obvious;
the red planet are truly wonders of technology. They        perhaps we may even chuckle just a little at the ridic-
obey commands sent from the earth, millions of miles        ulousness of it all, though at the same time we may
away; they have cameras that produce and send to            complain about the waste of our hard-earned tax
the earth very clear and beautiful pictures; they have      money. After all, we have the answer to the problem
various instruments and machines of different kinds;        that wicked man cannot solve. But we should note
there is even a laboratory which, we are told, is the       that all of this foolishness is a matter of sin. It is
equivalent to that of a normal college, all contained       holding the truth of God under in unrighteousness, as
within a box the size of one cubic foot, and capable        Romans 1 expresses it. It is the deliberate distortion
of performing very sophisticated tests and experi-          of the- truth into the lie, in the way of the conscious
ments. Indeed, a great deal of knowledge is required        and deliberate rejection of God's revelation. It is not
for such a project, and man thinks that he is most          that the natural man cannot read, for man today is


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 135



very educated and knowledgeable. It is that man              nothing new, for man has been engaged in this
reads and then rejects the Word of God regarding the         process for hundreds and thousands of years, always
origin of all things. And this is precisely the folly of     asking the wrong questions and coming up with the
sin. Sin is stupidity, not simply in the intellectual        wrong answers. Formerly this was done mainly
sense, though certainly intellectual foolishness, the        through the means of his own mind, employed in the
blindness of the mind, is a large part of it, but also in    power of sinful philosophy and reasoning. Now it is
the spiritual sense, for sin is always a matter also of      done especially through the power of science. The
the will, according to which man  will  not see the          difference is merely one of manifestation and of
truth of God's revelation. That  is.always  the character    degree. But today this sin is manifested so clearly that
of sin; and the viciousness and insidiousness of sin is      it becomes an unmistakable sign of the end of all
that it always rushes blindly on in its course of            things.
spiritual stupidity and folly. This is not to deny the         In all of this there is comfort for the Christian.
wickedness of sin, its terrible character before God,        Comfort not merely in the sense that all of this tells
but merely to point out another facet of sin as it has       him that his salvation draws nigh as he sees these signs
always manifested itself and still does today, in  ever-     of the times, but comfort in this also, that God is
increasing measure. It is in this increasingly clear         sovereign. All of these things are not independent of
manifestation of the greatness of the folly of the sin       Him, though they are opposed to Him, but are under
of natural man that we find also a sign of the times,        His control and guidance, so that He uses even the
for those who commit these sins are very wicked              foolishness of those who are wise in their own con-
men, instruments of the power of antichrist that is          ceits to bring about the realization of  His kingdom in
always present and which shall someday dominate the          Christ. And there is also comfort in the assurance that
entire world. Surely the child of God must have his          the people of God have the victory over all the fool-
eyes open and recognize signs such as this, knowing          ish power of sin. Paul, quoting the prophet Isaiah,
that the sign indicates that the end of all things is        writes in Romans 1: 19, "I will destroy the wisdom of
near.                                                        the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of
   But yet, all of what I said is not so strange or so       the prudent." And we are also assured in this, that
new. In fact, it is not new at all. Solomon, the wisest      God has chosen the foolish things of the world to
man that ever lived, viewed in his lifetime the wisdom       confound the wise, and the weak to confound the
and foolishness of man and his life upon earth; he,          mighty, Rom. 1: 27. Our responsibility is, therefore,
too, saw great foolishness and abounding wickedness.         to recognize the signs of the times as to their real and
But his conclusion was, as he wrote the Book of the          spiritual significance, so that we are not caught up in
Preacher, that there is nothing new under the sun.           the foolishness of those who are wise in their own
Man is always essentially the same, his sin is the same,     conceits, but instead possess the wisdom of God unto
and his foolishness is the same. And this is still true      salvation, in the assurance that we shall never be
today. What we see in the world regarding man's fool-        made ashamed, but have the victory through the
ishness in the exploration of his own origins is             power of our Lord Jesus Christ.

THE DAY OF SHADOWS


                  Entertaining Angels Unawares
                                                  Rev. John A. Heys



   The times have certainly changed; today a stranger        their deed of kindness to a stranger. In fact, way back
is a.danger.                                                 in the days of Solomon life was such that that wisest
  Children are warned not even to talk to strangers.         of all men could write as he does in Proverbs 11: 15,
Dangerous it surely is for them to ride with those           "He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it."
whom they do not know. And the day when we                      And yet the author of the epistle to the Hebrews
could "Do a good turn" by giving a hitchhiker a lift is      exhorts us in Hebrews 13: 1, 2, "Let brotherly love
long past. Many have lost their lives that way. Others       continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for
have suffered severe injury and loss in payment for          thereby some have entertained angels unawares."


136                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



   The author of this epistle no doubt had Abraham         come to their tent. As a faithful wife, who called her
in mind, although there certainly were others who          husband lord, she also entertained these strangers.
entertained angels unawares. There is Lot who took         And let it not be forgotten that to love one's  neigh-
them into his home in Sodom. And there is that             bour, to do good to those whom God brings across
classic example of the two travellers to  Emmaus who       our path and next to us, goes hand in hand with
unawares were host to the Risen Lord Himself. What         believing in Him and loving Him.
privileged entertainers they were when they con-             .Abraham received this visit of the angels after he
strained Him, saying, "Abide with us; for it is toward     had walked in the obedience of circumcising his
`evening, and the day is far spent, and He went into       whole family. Let us note in Genesis 17: 14 that God
their home. Yet Abraham is the first one recorded          states, "And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh
upon the pages of Holy Writ who entertained angels         of, his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be
who at first were to him total strangers. And the          cut off from his people; he hath broken my cove-
author of the epistle to the Hebrews would quite           nant." Had Abraham broken the covenant by a refusal
naturally think of him as one who let brotherly love       to circumcise his family, he might have had a visit of
continue.                                                  angels, but they would not have come with such glad
   The incident recorded in Genesis 18 took place          tidings. They would have been sent as messengers of
shortly after God had appeared to Abraham and told         wrath and judgment. But, no, believing in God, walk-
him that Sarah would bear him a child, and that their      ing before Him in covenant faithfulness, Abraham
names now would therefore be changed from Abram            also shows his love to God in entertaining these
and  Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. For Isaac was not         strangers, and was thereby entertaining angels un-
yet born, in fact he was not yet conceived, when           awares. Love is the fulfillment of the law, and there-
these angels came to Abraham's tent in the days after      fore love always manifests itself in obedience. In that
God had given that promise of Isaac's birth and in-        obedience Abraham circumcises his whole family; and
stituted the sacrament of circumcision. Sarah knew of      in obedience before. God he entertains these strangers.
this promise of God. There can be no doubt about           He lets brotherly love continue, reside, and be
the fact that Abraham told her all the words which         practiced in his home.
God spoke to him. Do we not read in the last verses          In that same obedience of faith Sarah prepares the
of chapter 17 that Abraham did circumcise his house        meal that Abraham planned and promised to these
from himself downward through Ishmael and every            "strangers" that had come to him. And walking in
servant bought with his money and born in his house?       that obedience, letting brotherly love continue in
   Surely Sarah had to be told what all this circum-       their home, Sarah receives a personal assurance and
cision was about and where Abraham ever got the            message of the wonder-child that will be given to her.
idea of it. It is simply inconceivable that Abraham          There was need for this personal touch to Sarah.
would tell her all about this sacrament and be silent      Abraham had to be told so that he, as one who was
about the promise in connection with which this            "as good as dead," would go in unto Sarah and in
sacrament was given. Was not this news too good to         faith seek that child that had been promised. Faith
keep to oneself? And really what does that whole           always produces deeds. Belief, as James points out,
sacrament mean apart from that promise of the birth        always produces works. When the heart believes, the
of Isaac? For we read in Genesis 17: 2 1, "But my          hand works. And no less is this true with Sarah. By
covenant will I establish with Isaac." His birth is an     faith, Hebrews 11: 11 tells us, Sarah received strength
essential in the fulfillment of God's covenant             to conceive seed. Her faith had to be strengthened.
promise; and circumcision is a sign and a seal of that     Her faith had to have a truth to receive into her soul
covenant. The birth of Isaac is in its significance the    before she had strength to conceive seed in her
birth of Christ, The Seed to Whom the covenant             womb. She had to believe before she would submit to
promises were given. And even the miraculous birth         this "foolishness" with her aged husband after all
of Isaac points to the greater wonder of the virgin        these years of barrenness. This must, you know, be an
birth of Christ. How could Abraham tell Sarah about        act of faith and not a seeking of carnal pleasure
this sign and seal of the covenant and be silent about     among those who no longer had pleasure and could
the promised son with whom that covenant is estab-         not have pleasure because Abraham was as good as
lished?                                                    dead, wholly impotent, including the lack of interest
  Although Sarah- already had heard about this             - in that sense too being as good as dead. This must
wonder which would take place, she is privileged to        be  ; borne in mind when we read in Genesis 18: 12,
have a personal visit with a personal report and           "Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying,.
message of God by His angels after she had enter-          After I am waxen old shall I have pleasure, my lord
tained these angels, unaware of that fact and with the     being old also?" And we say "foolishness" because,
impression that they were merely human strangers           apart from faith, it was folly for such an aged couple


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 137


in which both are sexually dead  - not simply weak  -       worship with us on a Sabbath day. And there are
to act as though they might yet receive a son, to plan      times when we will not so much as speak a word of
on and plan for a conception and a birth. It is un-         greeting to them. And so what we have not done to
belief when parents resort to an abortion of the child      them, we have not done to Christ; and what we did to
they did not plan for and plan on bringing into this        them we did to Christ. We went to His Church with
world. And it certainly was faith for such an aged          them; and they did with us. Yet we did not want to
couple who are sexually dead to entertain ideas of          greet Him, for we did not want to greet one of the
embracing a son in their home. That she may have            least of these His brethren. Surely we must consider
this faith and strength of faith Sarah receives a direct    all who come to worship with us  His brethren. And in
word from God through  His angel. It was spoken to          our church we ought to let brotherly love continue.
Abraham, the head of the house, but deliberately in         We ought at least to entertain these strangers, these
Sarah's hearing so that she too would have the word         whom we do not know by face, by greeting them in
of God through His angel.                                   the name of Christ. Such ought not to be treated as
  Now it ought to be brought to our attention that,         spiritual strangers. Did you entertain such visitors and
although we will not entertain angels unawares the          unawares entertain Christ, inasmuch as you did it to
way Abraham did, the words of James are addressed           one of  His brethren? Is your home open for these? Is
to us; and the example of Abraham is recorded for us        your heart open for Christ Himself, Whose brethren
to emulate. In fact there is a statement of Jesus that      these are? We can be quite particular what doctrine is
combines both the deed of Abraham and the exhorta-          harboured in our homes, but does it entertain, is
tion of James in a way that elevates this truth to a        there room in it for God's people? Intellectually we
heavenly degree of blessedness. In Matthew  25:40 He        insist on pure, sound doctrine. But are we ready to
states, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have         practice that doctrine and do unto His brethren what
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye      we know in our minds is  wh,at ought to be done to
have done it unto me." No, unawares we do not               Christ Himself?
entertain angels, but as the travellers to  Emmaus,  we       And again, how awful when, in the sphere of the
entertain Christ Himself. Let that be borne in mind in      church, a little stranger you have not yet seen, and
this day and age when there are definite dangers in         who depends so completely on you for the first nine
befriending strangers. What we do unto Christ's             months of its existence is aborted, its life snuffed out
brethren we do unto Him. And what we fail and               instead of prayerfully protected and expected and in
refuse to do unto His brethren, we fail and refuse to       covenant faithfulness entertained as a child of God
do unto Him.                                                after its birth, and after it is no stranger to you any-
  Let it also be borne in mind that in a new and            more but is your own flesh and blood, a bouncing,
                                                            happy boy or girl! In this cruel world wherein a
different age there is a new and different application
to be made. To take a total stranger into your home         stranger is a danger, some would dare to entertain a
may be exceedingly dangerous, or for that matter            stranger in the home and yet expel their own seed out
into your car  - and it is so bad today that you dare       of their bowels to die a stranger! Let brotherly love
not give first aid to a person injured in an automobile     continue in the church, and let her seed be enter-
accident, lest you be sued later on for infection that      tained before birth, welcomed at birth, and after
set in, or for other complications for which you            birth given the best covenant training possible so that
might be blamed. Yet there are other ways to enter-         it does not grow up a spiritual stranger. Send that
tain strangers. Very remote are the possibilities in our    child to a school where it will not be entertained by
land for one who needs lodging or food to come and          the world with its godless philosophies. And let not
knock on our doors or walk past our homes with the          the world with its evil TV programs entertain that
need evident. Some years ago in the Chicago area            child. The unbelievers stand ready to entertain them,
when there was a crippling snowstorm we did have            are eager to do so. Let godfearing teachers entertain
people opening their homes to those who were                them; and unawares as far as the fleshly eye is con-
stranded. They entertained strangers; and some of           cerned, but very much aware through the eye of
them suffered damage to their homes by the ingrates.        faith, you will be doing this to Christ Himself. This is
But these are rare occasions today, and there are so        more than entertaining angels, and your children will
many welfare agencies and tourist services to help the      not grow up to be spiritual strangers in your home
out-of-towners who are in some kind of need.                and church.

  We do, however, have ways to emulate Abraham
today and to entertain strangers. There are those
who, though they are not spiritual strangers  - and
James is speaking of brotherly love  - who are not               Give  good books. Give RFPA publications!
known to us by face and come to our church to


138                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


TAKING HEED TO  THEDOCTRINE



           The Christian and Civil Government

                                   (being a sermon preached on July 4, 1976)


                                               -Rev. David Engelsma

             Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the
          powers that be are ordained of God.
             Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that
          resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
             For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of
          the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt h&e praise of the same:
             For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid;
          for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute
          wrath upon him that doeth evil.
             Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
             For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually
          upon this very thing.
                                                                          - Romans 13: l-6


  Most, if not all, of the area churches are par-            relationship between the Church and the government
ticipating in a "Bicentennial Service," later tonight. It    of our country. Men suppose that the U.S. is a Chris-
will be a religious meeting; men speak of it as a "ser-      tian country and government; that the Church must
vice." They intend to observe the 200th anniversary           ask God to bless America; and that it is the Church's
of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence            duty to call America back to God.
by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.             An unholy alliance is struck between Church and
This is the date of the beginning of the independence        State.
of the united colonies and, thus, of our country.               It is likely that our refusal to participate will be
  Although our church was invited to be a partici-           misunderstood and misrepresented. We are made out
pant and although I was invited to sit with all the          to be anabaptists, engaging in world-flight. Or men
pastors on the platform, we are not participating and        charge that we do not honor our government,. but
I will not be sitting, with the others. These are our        despise it. Therefore, it is proper to give account of
reasons. We are opposed to uniting, as a church, in a        the Reformed view of the relation between the
religious meeting with all kinds of other churches,          Christian and the civil government, as I intend to do
with whom we differ sharply over fundamental truths          tonight.
of Scripture. The fact is that we are not one, and we
may not leave the impression, either with our own               It is profitable that we be reminded of the truth
members or with others, that we are one. If we would         about the State, because much confusion is evident
participate, we would become responsible for  un-            amidst the hoopla of the bicentennial year. We hear
Biblical ideas expressed there  - by those who speak,        that the American Revolution was a good Christian
by those who sing, and by those who pray. Also,              activity; that the founding fathers were Christians,
there is reason to believe that this and similar meet-       even Calvinists; and that the country was originally a
ings arise from an erroneous notion concerning the           Christian country, established on solid, Christian
United States and from faulty ideas concerning the           principles. We hear that the U.S. is, or can be, God's


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               139


Kingdom. This is the idea behind "God bless                 very State about which Paul was writing in Romans
America." This is expressed when people apply to our        13, Rome, was this beast typically. Still, no revolu-
nation the Old Testament scripture, "Blessed is the         tion! Even when we cannot and must not  obey, e.g.,
nation whose God is the Lord"  - a scripture that           when the State says, "Do not preach the gospel," or
applies, now, to the  Church.  But we also hear the         when the State says, "Worship me," we may not
clamor for revolution. Since the country has proved         resist, i.e., revolt.
to be so corrupt, so unjust, so oppressive to the              In light of this, we cannot possibly join in the
liberties of many, say the budding Patrick Henrys, we       praise of the Declaration of Independence as a  Clnis-
ought to work to overthrow the present government.          tian document, or of the American Revolution as a
This also, a Christian repudiates.                          Christian act. It is a mistake to view the founding
  Amidst this babel, we turn to the Word of God. It         fathers as Christians, much less as Calvinists. Two of
is clear. It sets forth the truth about government  -       the framers of the Declaration of Independence were
our government  - and about the calling of the Chris-       Jefferson and Franklin. Both were notorious Deists  -
tian towards government. We look at the classic             unbelievers  - and immoral men besides. Franklin
passage: Romans 13.                                         later went to France to encourage the French Revolu-
                                                            tion, and his fornication in his old age surprised even
OUR CALLING TOWARDS THE GOVERNMENT                          the French.
  The believer has a calling towards the State; he has         It is an error to regard the Declaration of In-
a political calling. It is not Reformed to deny this. In    dependence as a Christian document. It declares re-
Romans 13, Scripture tells us the duty of every soul        sistance to the power to be legitimate and even one's
to "the higher powers." As the following verses make        duty: "whenever any form of government becomes
plain, "the higher powers" are the civil rulers, the        destructive of these ends (namely, life, liberty, and
government of a country. They are those who have            the pursuit of happiness  - DE), it is the right of the
the responsibility of praising well-doers and punishing     people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new
evil-doers; those who wield the sword; and those to         government." Again: "When a long train of abuses
whom we are to pay taxes. For us today, they are the        and usurpations . . . evinces a design to reduce them
U.S. government as it functions through President,          under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their
Congress, judges, and police.                               duty, to throw off such government." This is what
  Every soul has a duty towards the government. But         the American Revolution was: the throwing off of
the apostle's concern is to set forth the calling of        the government of Great Britain.
every child of God. The last part of Romans teaches            We are also the avowed foes of the consequences of
the life of gratitude of the redeemed. In Romans 13,        this revolutionary beginning of our country. The
we discover that a holy life includes a calling towards     chickens are coming home to roost, in our day. Every
government.                                                 group with a real, or imaginary, grievance,  rebels,
  What this calling is, God's Word, and only God's          with an appeal to the principle embodied in the Dec-
Word, prescribes. No man will bind our consciences          laration of Independence  - blacks, Indians,  working-
here with some human commandment. The Word                  men, wives, and children. A certain black revolution-
does not tell us to worship the State; to make a            ary paused, a few years ago, in his bombing and
Christian political party to influence the State; or to     shooting to declare: "Revolution is as American as
make our government Christian.                              apple pie. "
  But the Word does tell us, here and elsewhere, to            There is ground, or basis, for our calling to be sub-
be in subjection to the State. Positively, we honor the     missive (how contrary is this word to the spirit of our
government by recognizing it as being over us  - the        age and to the strident call on every hand that every-
"higher  power." Accordingly, we honor the men who          one shall stand up for his rights  - "submissive"!),
occupy official positions in the government,, because       submissive to the government. This ground is given in
of their official capacity. We obey the government in       the last part of verse 1: "For there is no power but of
every law that does not require us to disobey God.          God: the powers that be are ordained of God." The
Negatively, we do not rebel; the Word forbids the           government has authority, the right to impose its will
believer to engage in revolution. Such is the explicit      on us, the right to rule, and it has this authority from
prohibition of verse 2: it forbids resistance to the        God Himself. This is the basic teaching of the passage.
power and warns that the revolutionary will be              Throughout the passage, the Holy Spirit uses the
damned. This prohibition is unconditional. It is pos-       word, "power," the Greek word that means `author-
sible that the State fails to carry out its God-given       ity.' Authority is the right to rule others, which right
task. Our government is failing, today. Nevertheless,       has been  .received from God, the Possessor of all
we may not revolt. It is possible that the State be-        authority.
comes the antichristian beast of Revelation 13. The            Government has been ordained of God. It is, as


140                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


such, an institution of God in the world, like mar-          confound that decency and good order, which God
riage. It is not a man-made thing; it is not the product     hath established among men."
of a social contract. God instituted government in              We honor the officials of the State at the same
creation, when  `He made Adam Head of his family             time that we are disgusted with the vile behavior of
and of the human race. He vested government `with            these persons and deplore their abuse of the power
the vital sword-power after the flood, in Genesis 9.         God has given them.
Whoever resists the government resists  "the ordinance
of God, " verse 2 states.                                       We instruct our children so, at home and in school.
                                                             At school, we fly the flag of our country and teach
   Still more, each particular government has been           them what this symbol stands for. We warn our  chil-
put in its authoritative place by God, as well as each       di-en against revolution.
official of the government. Many different means
may be used: birth, in a hereditary monarchy; elec-             The State has good citizens in us, its best citizens.
tion, in a democracy; even revolution, as in our                That government is ordained of God  - the basic
country. Whatever the means, "there is no power but          teaching of Romans 13  - was the truth that was
of God." Many different kinds of government may              challenged at the time of the founding of our country
exist. Romans 13 does not put the Divine stamp of            and that was expressly denied in the Declaration of
approval on any one particular form of government.           Independence. The Declaration states: "governments
The form of government at the time of the writing of         aie instituted among men, deriving their just powers
Romans 13 was the dictatorship of Rome. Whatever             from the consent of the governed" - "`deriving their
government exists is given authority by God to rule          just powers from the consent of the governed"! This
its citizens as regards their life in society.               was the teaching of the philosophers of the "en-
   For this reason, since government is ordained of          lightenment" in Europe. From this follows the right
God, it is necessary to be submissive to the State.          of revolution, as surely as morning follows evening.
"Wherefore ye must  needs  be subject," verse 5 says.        There are two alternatives for man's life in the
It is not only advisable to be subject "on account of        political  realm. The one is: "All governments are set
wrath," but it is also necessary, "on account of con-        up by man; wherefore, revolt." The other is: `"All
science." Wrath refers to the punishment that the            governments are ordained of God; wherefore, sub-
State inflicts on rebels. To submit for this reason is to    mit." The principle of the right of revolution in
submit out of fear of punishment; it is to go 55 be-         government is the seed of the right of revolution in
cause you do not want to pay a fine. Such a motive is        every area of human life. It is the age-old cry of man's
not enough. It does not take into account the Divine         rebel-heart: No God! No master! No authority!
ordination of government. We must be subject also              This godless, lawless philosophy, a Reformed man
"for conscience sake." Conscience takes into account         opposes with might and main. We believers are an
right and wrong before the face of God. The believer         anti-revolutionary party.
submits because he reverences God's authority in the
State and has respect for the State as God's servant.        THEGOVERNMENT'SCALLJNGTOWARDSUS
   For this reason also, the revolutionary receives             Implied in the fact that government is instituted by
damnation (vs. 2). He rebels, not merely against a           God is the equally valid fact that government has a
group of human rulers, but against the authority of          calling,  a  duty,  a  work  to do. God is not like the
God.                                                         United States Congress which creates committees at
   It is plain, then, that we Reformed people have a         great expense for no reason whatever, save to play the
high view of government, a high view of our  govem-          bigshots  and live high off the hog on the  working-
ment, a high view of the specific government that is         man's toil. There is a purpose in the ordaining of the
over us. With the Belgic Confession, we hold it "the         "higher power," and that purpose is a certain task.
bounden duty of every one, of what state, quality, or           This task, prescribed by the Word of God, is the
condition  soever he may be, to subject himself to the
magistrates; to pay tribute, to show due honor and           praise of the well-doer and the punishment of the
respect to them, and to obey them in all things which        evil-doer in society. This is the teaching of the text:
are not repugnant to the Word of God; to supplicate          "do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of
for them in their prayers, that God may rule and             the same," says verse 3, indicating that the State's
guide them in all their ways, and that we may lead a         duty is the protection and praise of the citizen who
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty."      dqes the good. On the other hand, the State is the
We Reformed believers "detest the Anabaptists and            "revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil"
other seditious people, and in general all those who         (vs. 4).
reject the higher powers and magistrates, and would            The State has a  limited calling!  It does not have
subvert justice, introduce community of goods, and           power over everything, but is given a certain sphere of


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      141



                          R.F.P.A. PUBLICATIONS


             The Triple Knowledge, the publication of which
          was completed in 1972, is already in its second
          printing. A three volume set, totaling more than                 :
          2000 pages, it is the only extensive commentary on
          the Heidelberg Catechism available in the English
          language. This work of Herman Hoeksema is a
          complete development of the doctrines of the                          w
          Christian faith.





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authority. It must govern the outward behavior  (do-                  Thus, government is the servant of God. Three
ing good, or prac tising evil) of the citizens. in the area        times, the apostle calls civil government "the minister
of society-life. A totalitarian state is a rebel against           (or servant) of God" - in verses 4 and 6. This is how
God. This is what the Communist governments are.                   the government, and every official of government,
This is what Antichrist will be. We see this developing            ought to regard itself. It ought not view itself as lord
in our own country: government encroaches on ter-                  and god over all, to be enriched and served by the
ritory where it has no business to be and lords it over            people; but it ought to view itself as  servant.  It ought
every aspect of life. It is busy in welfare  - the State           not view itself as servant of the  people  -  "of the
has no calling to support me; it is involved in rehabil-           people,  ,by the people, and for the people"; but it
itation of criminals  - the State has no calling to                ought to view itself as  God's  servant. Its task is to
reform evil-doers; it is educating the children  - the             serve God by serving the citizens, in the administra-
State has no calling to rear my children. Meanwhile, it            tion of justice and the maintenance of outward order.
is neglecting, more and more, its one, great task.                    Rare indeed  is the government official who seeks
                                                                   office for this reason and who, once in office, labors
   This task is to administer justice, to maintain order
in society, restraining the dissoluteness of men, as the           with this motive. There will be judgment for them,
                                                                   too. Whosoever is a disobedient "minister of God"
Belgic Confession puts it. For this, it has  - and ought           shall receive to himself damnation.
to use!  - the sword, i.e., the power to `punish, in-
cluding capital punishment. In view of the per-                       But even though government does not consciously
formance of this task, the State must be given the                 regard itself as a servant of God and even though the
taxes that it demands.                                             officials of government are Godless men who seek


142                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


themselves, their power and pleasure, the State is the                    and carrying the witness to all nations. This same
servant of God. Paul does not say that the State                          order enables the believer to worship, raise his chil-
should be  the servant of God, but that it is; and he is                  dren in the Lord's fear, and live a quiet and peaceable
speaking, not of an ideal Christian State  - which in                     life in all godliness. This is the purpose of God with
the New Dispensation has never been and never will                        civil government, and this is the task which God sees
be, but of Rome  - corrupt, Godless Rome. The State                       to it the State carries out, also.
is a servant of God, even though it knows nothing of                        Our government, therefore, is a servant of God. It
this and cares less. Indeed, it is servant of God in  spite               is not a Christian government, anymore than Rome
of  itself  It is servant of God in the interests of the                  was; but God has used it and does still use it to bless
Church and of the saint! "For he is. the minister of                      us, His people. For this blessing, we are thankful to
God  to thee  for good," we read in verse 4, i.e., to the                 God. In our gratitude, we submit to His authority in
child  of  God  and to the  Church.  The relative order                   the State, shun revolution, and pay our taxes.
kept by the State in society enables the Church to
preach the gospel of Jesus, thus gathering the elect





                             R.F.P.A. Publications

                                                                           Mysteries of the Kingdom                          $5.95
       Behold, He Cometh!                               $9.95                by Herman Hanko
         by Herman Hoeksema                                                      (An exposition of the parables
            (An exposition of the book of                                       of Christ)
            Revelation)
                                                                           Peaceable Fruit                                   $5.95
       Believers and their Seed                         $2.95                by Gertrude Hoeksema
         by Herman Hoeksema                                                      (Instruction concerning the nurture
            (An exposition of the truth of                                      of covenant youth)
            God's covenant of grace)
                                                                           Reformed Dogmatics                                $9.95
       God's Covenant Faithfulness                      $5.95                by Herman Hoeksema
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            (Commemorative volume, 50th
            anniversary of Protestant                                      Therefore Have I Spoken                           $5.95
            Reformed Churches)                                               by Gertrude Hoeksema
                                                                                 (A biography of Herman Hoeksema)
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         by Homer C. Hoeksema                                              Triple Knowledge                     (3 vol.)    $24.95
            (An exposition of the truth                                      by Herman Hoeksema
            of creation)                                                         (An exposition of the Heidelberg
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                 and the Church                         $ 3 . 5 0   ,'     "Whosoever Will"                         (paper) $1.95
         by David Engelsma                                                   by Herman Hoeksema


                            A   G o o d   B o o k   m a k e s
                       a   G o o d   C h r i s t m a s   G i f t


                                                                    STANDARD BEARER                                                                                          143


ISRAEL, A BIBLICAL VIEW,  by William Sanford La                              CONTINENTAL PIETISM AND EARLY AMERI-
Sor; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976;                               CAN CHRISTIANITY,  Edited by F. Ernest Stoeffler;
108 pp., $2.45 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H.                                Wm.  B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976; 276
Hanko .)                                                                     pp., $4.95, (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko).
   William  LaSor,  professor of Old Testament at                               With chapters written by a number of different
Fuller Theological Seminary, has written a book in                           men, this book deals at length with Pietistic in-
support of his premillennial views. Proceeding from                          fluences in early American history and attempts to
an incorrect view of election, he interprets a number                        show that Pietism had a far greater influence on
of prophecies in the Old Testament as referring only                         American religious, political, and social thought than
to the nation of Israel. His view of election is rather                      had previously been admitted. The following pietistic
old: the nation of Israel is God's choice of this nation                     movements are discussed in some detail: Pietism in
above all others for the service of the Gentiles. On                         Lutheranism; Reformed Pietism; Mennonite thought;
this view he hangs his premillennial conception of the                       Moravianism; Methodism; the Pietism of the Brethren
future of Israel. When Israel again assumes the re-                          Churches. While the thesis seems to us to be some-
sponsibility of her calling, she will be restored to her                     what exaggerated, the book is full of interesting his-
own land and the whole world will be converted.                              torical data on the Pietistic movement in our coun-
Only in heaven shall both Israel and the Church be-                          try's history, and it is well worth reading for those
come one.                                                                    who are interested in this question.





                             NOTICE!!!                                                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   Classis East will meet in regular session on January 5, 1977, at the         We are pleased and grateful to announce the 45th wedding anni-
Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church. Material to be treated at this       versary of MR. AND MRS. GUS HUBER on December 11, 1976.
session must be in the hands of the stated clerk at least ten days prior        "Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their
to the convening of the session.                                             children.  .And  let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and
                                                  Jon Huisken                establish Thou the work of our hands upon us." (Psalm 90:16.17a).
                                                  Stated Clerk                                                         Their children,
                                                                                                                           Mr. and Mrs. Vern Huber
                                                                                                                           Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Lanning
                                                                                                                           Mr. and Mrs. William Huber
                                                                                                                           Mr. and Mrs. Tim Heemstra
                        ANNOUNCEMENT                                                                                       and 14 grandchildren.

    The Hope Protestant Reformed Church of Redlands, California will
begin holding worship services in the Seventh Day Adventist Church,
corner of Lugonia and Clay, beginning January 8, 1977. This is due to.                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
the sale of our property on Webster St.                                         O n   D e c e m b e r   3 ,   1 9 7 6 ,   o u r   p a r e n t s ,   M R .   A N D   M R S .   A R T
    Phone number of the pastor's study is 792-2627 and parsonage is          BLEYENBERG,  JR., celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. As
792-0307.                                                                    their children, we give thanks to our heavenly Father for graciously
   We welcome into our fellowship all who vacation or spend the              sparing them these many years. We pray that God may continue to
                                                                             bless them in their remaining days together.
winter in southern California.
                                            Consistory                          Mr. and Mrs. Robert Mains                        Mr. and Mrs. Jim Bleyenberg
                                            Hope Prot. Ref. Church              Mr. and Mrs. Arvin Bleyenberg                    Mr. and Mrs. Bob Bleyenberg
                                            Redlands, California                Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Bleyenberg                   Mr. and Mrs. Art J. Bleyenberg
                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Bill Bleyenberg                     Mr. Eugene Bleyenberg
                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Bleyenberg                    Mr. Gary Bleyenberg
                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Larry Kane                          and 32 grandchildren.


               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    The Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society of Hope Protestant Reformed                         THE STANDARD BEARER
Church (Grand Rapids) wish to express their sympathy to fellow
members, Mr. and Mrs. David Hop in the passing of his father, KLAAS
 HOP, of Ermelo, Netherlands, on November 16, 1976.                                                   makes an excellent
    "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,                                       anniversary gift
eternal in the heavens." (II Cor.  5:l).

                                            Prof. H.C. Hanko, Pres.
                                            JoAnne   Bult, Secy.


          THE STANDARD BEARER
                     P.O. Box 6064
          Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





144                                         THE STANDARD BEARER

  Rev. Dale Kuiper has accepted a call to serve our          The 1976 Synod of our churches decided to send
Lynden, Washington congregation. Rev. Mark  Hoek-         two emissaries to the Island of Jamaica for a period
sema has accepted the call extended to him from our       of about 6 weeks, preferably in November of this
Hull, Iowa congregation. It appears that, when these      year. The purpose of this visit would be to encourage
latest moves have been completed, only one of our         and work with the four young ministers and the
churches will be without a pastor: our congregation       people with whom our churches have been laboring
in Forbes, North Dakota, which Rev. Mark Hoeksema         for about a decade. The Mission Committee of our
has been serving.                                         churches was unable to arrange this visit in November
  The last news received from and about our church        as Synod had requested. Present plans are to have
in Redlands, California was last August. Since that       Rev. John Heys of Holland, Michigan and elder John
time quite a number of things of note have happened       M. Faber of First Church in Grand Rapids leave for
in that city. Rev. Kortering became the new pastor of     Jamaica about January 12. They will be accompanied
the  Redlands  congregation in October. Rev.  Korter-     by their wives. You may recall that early in 1976,
ing's new address is 902 E. Brockton Ave., Redlands,      Rev. G. Lubbers, now serving our church in Pella,
California 92373. The parsonage phone number is           Iowa and elder Faber left for the island for a period
714-792-0307 and the pastor's study 714-792-2627.         of almost three months.
The congregation was presented with an offer for pur-        September 25 marked the first anniversary of our
chase of their church building last August. Apparent-     church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The following
ly that offer was accepted, as they are leaving their     note appeared in Edmonton's bulletin in recognition
present `church home' as of January 8, 1977. The          of that anniversary, "The Lord has richly blessed us,
consistory has secured a rental agreement for one         in that He has filled our every need. We could have
year or more with the Seventh Day Adventist Church        our worship services unhindered, we were supplied
on Clay and Lugonia Streets. The`entire church can        with Bible-study, catechism classes, we shared each
be used for both church services plus Sunday School       other's joys and sorrows. What a joy, too, when God
and Young People's Society. This is the same church       in His good pleasure sent Rev. Moore and his family
building which was used by our  Redlands congre-          to us. We pray for God's continued blessing as we put
gation before 1953. Since the pastor's study was in       all our trust in Him alone, who keeps His covenant."
the old church building, the consistory has rented an
8 x 20 foot trailer and placed it on the Brockton           The various societies, Bible study classes, and dis-
Avenue property to serve as the pastor's study.  Con-     cussion groups meeting in our churches are con-
sistory meetings, catechism classes, Ladies Aid, and      sidering a wide range of subjects and books of the
Men's Society will meet in the Hope Christian School.     Bible this year. However, the books on marriage by
The official mailing address of the  Redlands  Church,    Rev. David Engelsma and the study of the parables by
as of October 31, is 1309 E. Brockton Avenue,             Prof. H. Hanko seem to be much used as discussion
Redlands, California 92373. The congregation is also      guides. Some other topics include the influence of
considering an offer to sell a piece of land on San       Arminianism on the church today, considered in the
Bernardino Ave. which was purchased some years ago        Hudsonville Discussion Class. The Sunday night group
by the  Redlands Church with the idea of building a       discussions in Isabel, South Dakota considered the
new church building there. Since the purchase of the      topic of church-extension work, regarding areas of
land on San Bernardino Ave., the congregation pur-        authority and responsibility. The congregation was
chased another parcel of land adjacent to the new         advised to study the 1976 Acts of Synod where this
Hope Christian School which was opened a year ago         subject is treated at some length.
this September. This school receives its support from       A closing thought from Isabel's bulletin: "A man's
the members of our  Redlands Church. While it was         Sunday self and -weekday. self are like two halves of a
not specifically stated in the bulletins just received    round trip ticket  - not good if detached."
from Redlands, it is my understanding that their plan
is to erect a new church building at 1309 E. Brockton,
adjacent to the school.                                                                                  K.G.V.


