          The
     STANDARD
          BEARER
           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                          T





      .  .  . We will be raised inglory.  Imagine that!

     No more sin. No more weaknesses resulting
     from sin. No more hindrances from having
     full and intimate communion of life with
     God through our Lord Jesus Christ! Our res-
     urrection bodies will be like the glorious
     body of Christ, fit to devote ourselves with
     our whole being, in the company of all the
     saints, and in the midst of the new creation
     to the praise of the glory of God's grace in
     the Beloved!
       See "Our Resurrection Body" - page 427


.                                              Volume LVIII, No. 18, July 1, 1982


410                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                   CONTENTS                                                                                     ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                       Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                       Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                             Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
  Meditation-                                                                                Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       I Believe in the Holy Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .410                  Department  Editors: Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, Rev. Arie
                                                                                             denHartog,  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David  J. Engelsma, Rev. Richard
  Editorials-                                                                                Flikkema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hando,  Rev. John A. Heys, Mr.
                                                                                             Calvin Kalsbeek, Rev. Kenneth  Koole, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C.
       Seminary Graduation - 1982 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413                         Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema,
                                                                                             Rev. Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman.
       Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches                                             Editorial  Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
          -1982..................................414                                                         4975 Ivanrest Ave. S.W.
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MEDITATION

                                       I Believe in the Holy Spirit
                                                                                   Rev. C. Hanko


                     Question 53. What dost thou believe concerning the Holy Ghost?
                    Answer. First, that He is true and co-eternal God with the Father and the Son; secondly,
                that He is also given me, to make me by a true faith, partaker of Christ and all His benefits,
                that He may comfort me and abide with me forever.                                                 Heid. Catechism, Lord's Day 20.


  "I believe in the Holy Ghost."                                                                few words. Rick truths, deep mysteries of salvation
  Precious jewels often come in small packages. It                                              are unfolded for our comfort.
immediately impresses us that our Catechism is so                                                   The first question in my very first catechism
very brief on this very important subject. Our                                                  book read: How many Gods are there? To which I
second impression is, that it says so much in such                                              was taught to answer: There is only one God. The


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 411



second question read: How many persons are there            be grieved. He can be offended. To sin against Him
in God? We answered: Three, the Father, the Son,            is to commit the unpardonable sin. In one word, He
and the Holy Spirit. Ever since,  we have been              is God.
making the same confession every time the                     We know Him by His many names. He is the
Apostles' Creed is read or recited.                         Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of the
  The Trinity forms the basic truth in our Creed.           Son, the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit
We confess the triune God as the God of our salva-          of Truth, the Comforter. There are even more
tion in Jesus Christ. I like to conceive of this confes-    names. By these names we can know Him and
sion in this way: The triune God as our Father is the       speak about Him.
Creator of heaven and earth. This triune God came             He is the Spirit of the Father, for He is eternally
into our flesh in the person of the Son, Jesus Christ,      breathed forth from the Father upon the Son. (Spirit
Who suffered, died, arose, and is gone into glory,          means breath.) He is also the Spirit of the Son, for
from whence He will return as Judge in the last             He is breathed forth from the Son upon the Father.
day. The triune God bestows His Spirit upon the             Thus He proceeds from the Father to the Son
exalted Christ, Who, in turn, pours the Spirit out          within the divine Being, and from the Son to the
upon us, His Church. By the Spirit Christ gathers,          Father, so that Father and Son meet in Him. We
defends, and preserves His church; grants to us, its        have a faint reflection of that in our family life. A
members, the communion of saints and the forgive-           family generally consists of father, mother, and
ness of sins; and will ultimately raise our mortal          child. Father and mother find their own likeness,
bodies to take us unto Himself, to share His fellow-        their unity and fellowship in the child. Thus God
ship and His life in glory forever.                         lives an eternal, glorious covenant life of intimate
  Whether our fathers understood the Apostles'              friendship in the Spirit, Who searches out the deep
Creed in that way, or not, this is certainly the un-        things of God. He is the HOLY Spirit, devoted in all
derlying thought in this Lord's Day on the Holy             that He does to the glory of God.
Spirit. Above this Lord's Day I read, "Of God the
Holy Ghost." And then I immediately notice that               This Spirit is the Spirit of Life. The first verses of
this heading covers all the rest of the Creed. More-        Genesis 1 tell us that the Spirit moved (hovered
over, little is said about the person of the Holy           over, brooded) upon the face of the waters.
Spirit, for all the emphasis falls on His work as           Creation is the work of Almighty God, proceeding
Spirit of Christ in the church, in me.                      from the Father, carried out by the Son, the Word,
                                                            and through the Holy Spirit, Who moved upon the
  We can appreciate that personal approach. No              waters. In that same chapter we are told that the
fewer than five times I am referred to as a personal        triune, covenant God covenants within His own
believer. This is no abstract doctrine. Here we meet        being to make man in His own image (verse 26).
the living truth of the living God, the God of our          This is our Father's world. For He not only created
salvation, Whom we confess in all the riches of His         all things in the beginning, but continues to uphold
grace bestowed on us, that we may live with Him             and govern all things according to His eternal
and glorify Him forever.                                    purpose. God does this through Jesus Christ and by
  The Spirit of God.                                        the Spirit of Christ. For the whole course of history
   "We all believe with the heart and confess with          serves to bring us as His covenant people into His
the lips that there is one only simple and spiritual        glory in Christ Jesus. At the holy conception the
Being which we call God" (The Netherlands Con-              Spirit comes upon Mary, overshadows her and
fession, art. 1). "In the beginning GOD created the         forms within her the Babe Jesus, God born of God.
heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1: 1). "Hear, 0 Israel,         This Spirit filled Christ during His earthly ministry,
Jehovah our God is one Jehovah" (Deut.  6:4).               equipping Him to carry out the divine program
"There is none other God but one" (I Cor.  8:4).            unto our salvation. On Calvary the Father lays His
Moreover, there are within that one divine being            Son upon the altar, the Son surrenders Himself
three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the        even unto death, and the Holy Spirit sustains Him
Holy Spirit.                                                until all is accomplished. God raised up Jesus by
                                                            the Spirit, for the Spirit is always and in all things
   From this it is evident that the Spirit is not a mere    the Spirit of Life.
power proceeding from God, but He is very God.
Although He is often referred to as the third person          He is also the Spirit of Christ. When Christ
of the Trinity in distinction from the first and            ascended to heaven He again received the Spirit to
.second person, He is co-equal with both the Father         equip Him for His task as Lord of Glory in the
and the Son. He also is Almighty, Omnipresent,              heavens. The Son of God in our flesh now has a
Righteous, Holy, filled with Grace and Truth.               Name above all names, with all power entrusted to
Ananias and Sapphira sinned against Him. He can             Him in heaven, on earth, and unto the depths of


412                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



hell. The Spirit of God Who qualifies Him for that          Before Jesus ascended to heaven He promised
work is now the Spirit of Christ as He was given to       His disciples and us, "I will pray the Father, and He
the church on Pentecost.                                  shall give you another Comforter, that He may
  Amazing gift.                                           abide with you forever" (John  14:16). Another
                                                          Comforter? It would seem that Jesus intended to
  Our Catechism teaches us to confess, "He is also        replace Himself with Another. For example, a
given me." Will we ever realize fully what that gift      father might leave his family and assure them, I am
means to us on this side of eternity? God is given to     going away, never to return, but I will see to it that
me! God comes to dwell in our hearts, to make His         all your needs are supplied by someone who will
abode in us, to unite us to Him in covenant fellow-       take my place. Not so. Our Lord informs His dis-
ship, to bless us, and to fill our hearts with joy and    ciples that He must leave them in His earthly form,
praise!                                                   in order to come to them in a better, `permanent
  In a sense, that was true already in the old dis-       form. He does not leave us comfortless (like
pensation. God walked and talked with Adam and            orphans), but He has returned to us in the person of
Eve in paradise. After the fall God spoke through         the Holy Spirit to dwell with us and to abide with
angels, and through visions or dreams. God                us forever.
dwelled in the Most Holy Place, first in the taber-         Once Christ was among us; now He dwells within
nacle, later in the temple. The Spirit of God worked      us. Then we saw Him with our earthly eyes in our
mightily in the prophets, in the priests, and in the      likeness, now we see Him with the eye of faith, see
kings, that each could function in their appointed        Him crowned with glory and honor in the heavens.
offices. The Spirit of Christ made it possible for        Then He left us in order to prepare a place for us
Enoch to walk with God, for Noah to find favor in         where He is, now He is drawing us unto Himself
the sight of God, and. for Abraham to be God's            that we may share His glory to the praise of the
friend.                                                   Father.
  This Spirit of Christ now works in  .a far richer         We have an Advocate in the heavens, Jesus
measure in His elect. In answer to our Lord's inter-      Christ, the Righteous One. He is our surety in the
cession in the sanctuary, God bestows on Christ           sanctuary. And we also have an Advocate within
every blessing of salvation, which He, in turn            us, even the Spirit of Christ as the Spirit of Truth,
bestows on us by His Spirit. The Spirit comes to          Who leads us into all truth. He convicts of sin,          .
dwell in us, renewing us, applying the Scriptures to      humbles us and brings us to repentance, but also
us, bringing us to faith, to conversion, and unto the     assures us of forgiveness by the mercies of Christ.
riches of grace in Christ Jesus. As the Good              He teaches us to pray, so that our real prayers are
Shepherd Christ knows His sheep, He calls them by         born out of the Spirit. And when we cannot pray as
name, and they come to Him, to be led by Him into         we ought, He intercedes for us with groanings that
the eternal sheepfold in glory.                           reach into the heart of God. He saves, He delivers,
  The Spirit dwells in us as the Spirit of adoption.      He protects and defends us, even until the day of
"Because ye are sons (already from eternity and on        our complete salvation!
the cross), God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son       I believe. I believe in God the Father. I believe in
into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Gal.  4:6).      Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, our Lord.
Though our conscience condemns us, we are                 And I believe in the Holy Spirit. Through faith I am
assured by the Spirit that we are reconciled to God       assured in all the trials of this present time, that I
by the death of the cross and have received the           am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior
right to be sons of God and heirs of eternal life.        Jesus Christ, with body and soul, now and even
Powerfully the Spirit cries until He teaches us to        unto all eternity. Glory be to our God!
cry in child-like assurance: Abba, loving Father!
Our Catechism adds, "He is given me, to make me           *I prefer to speak of the Holy Spirit instead of the
                                                                                         -  -
by a true faith, partaker of Christ and all His bene-      Holy Ghost.-
fits." We are made members of the Body of Christ.
The life of Christ pulsates in our souls. By faith we      The Standard Bearer
know that God is our Father, Whom we love, in
Whom we put all our trust, to devote ourselves to             makes an excellent
Him with our whole being. Although sin still wars
in this body of sin and death, we are more than
conquerors, for we are sons of God, princes and                      gift for the sick
heirs, joint heirs with Christ, now to suffer a bit,
that we may be glorified with Him forever.                               or shut-in.
  The Comforter.


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER'                                                    413



EDITORIALS
Prof. H.C. Hoeksema


                     Seminary Graduation - 1982
  One of the pleasant and enjoyable experiences                  while, they have been invited to the pulpits of our
amid all the busyness of our  Synodical meetings                 Edmonton, Alberta and Edgerton, Minnesota con-
was the graduation program of our Protestant Re-                 gregations respectively during the summer months.
formed Seminary. Without a doubt it was pleasant                 May the Lord soon give them a place in the
and enjoyable for our graduates. For them it repre-              ministry of the Word in our churches! Our gift to
sents achievement of a goal and of their heart's                 the Evangelical Reformed Church of Singapore,
desire. This was, of course, especially true for our             who studied with us for two years and received a
two candidates, who during some two-and-a-half                   special diploma, is Mr. Lau. Mr. and Mrs. Lau, after
days during the previous week had undergone                      many fond farewells and not a few tears because of
thorough examination (perhaps they would call it                 parting, left for Singapore the day after graduation.
grueling examination) in the presence of Synod. But              Soon after arrival in Singapore Mr. Lau was to be
it was also true for our pre-seminary graduates,                 examined briefly by the Session of the church there
who have now partially attained their goal and are               with a view to ordination. We at the seminary all
about to enter upon their seminary training. And it              enjoyed the  soj,ourn  of brother Lau among us; if I
was certainly true for our foreign student, brother              may put it that way, he was thoroughly "inte-
Lau Chin Kwee (who by this time hardly seemed                    grated" into our life and fellowship, and we
foreign to us any longer), who had completed his                 thought of him as "one of us" and not as a for-
work with us and who was eagerly looking forward                 eigner. If you wonder why I pay special attention to
to his return to his homeland and his home church.               him, let me explain that this was a "first" for our
Especially also for the faculty graduation is a                  little seminary. Never did I dream when I came to
pleasant experience: for they see and enjoy the                  the seminary that some day one of the students
fruits of their labors in a concrete way at this occa-           would be a Chinese student of Reformed persua-
sion. And, judging from the goodly audience that                 sion from far-away Singapore!
was gathered at our Faith (Jenison) Protestant Re-
formed Church, as well as from the remarks over-                   Our program for the evening included lusty
heard at the end of the evening, this was a pleasant             audience singing, a trumpet-piano medley by
and happy occasion for our people.                               Robert and Renae Lubbers, and the highlight of the
                                                                 evening, a timely address by Prof. Hanko on "The
  Our Pre-Seminary Graduates this year were                      Confessions in the Life of the Church." All our
Messrs. Russell Dykstra, Steven Key, and Charles                 readers may share a bit in the latter: a transcript of
Terpstra. They will now be the first seminary                    Prof. Hanko's address appears elsewhere in this
students to  ,follow our new, four-year curriculum,              issue.
D.V. Our two new candidates for the ministry are
Messrs. Thomas Miersma and Jon Smith. They will                    Pictured with this report are our graduates.
be eligible to receive a call on or after July 4. Mean-





  Pre-seminary  Graduates,  left to right: Charles  Terpstra,      Seminary   Graduates,   left  to  right:  Thomas   Miersma,
Steven  Key, Russell  Dykstra                                    Jon  Smith,  Lau Chin Kwee


414                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



                            Synod of the Protestant
                      Reformed Churches - 1982

  Our annual Synod is now a matter of history,            Synod and so that Synod is not under pressure to
having begun its meetings on Wednesday, June 2,           work hastily. I also believe, however, that there are
and concluded them on Thursday evening, June 10.          some ways in which Synod could improve its ef-
We are presenting here a very  ,brief account of          ficiency and thus shorten its sessions; about this I
Synod's decisions; the full and official account will     will comment in a later issue.
appear, of course, in the  Acts,  which will be pub-        In the area of home missions there is not much of
lished in a couple months. In addition, we expect to      a positive nature to report about this year's Synod.
comment on certain aspects of this year's Synod in        A recommendation to close our East Lansing field,
a future issue.                                           where the Rev. S. Houck has labored, was adopted;
  Synod met this year in our Southwest Church,            and a resolution of thanks to Rev. Houck was
Grand Rapids. The pre-synodical service was also          adopted. Synod, however, did nothing about the
at that church and was conducted by the Rev. G.           Mission Committee's advice to instruct the Hope
Van  Baren, president of last year's Synod; he            Council to seek another field. Secondly, Synod
preached an appropriate sermon on the letter to the       turned down a proposal to declare Bradenton,
church    of Ephesus,      Revelation 2: l-7. On          Florida (where First Church has labored extensive-
Wednesday morning, June 2, the organizational             ly) a denominational field. The future of the work
work of Synod was completed. Officers this year           there is now left to First Church's decision.
were: Rev. J. Kortering,.president; Rev. D. Kuiper,         For some years now there has been a group of
vice president; Rev. M. Joostens, first clerk; Rev. D.    families in Wellington, New Zealand who have
Engelsma, second clerk. At this Wednesday morn-           been in contact with our churches and who for
ing session the material of the Agenda was divided        years have been listening to tapes sent them by our
among four advisory committees, who then had to           Hope Church. This group, now organized as a
prepare advice to guide Synod in its decisions on         Protestant Reformed Fellowship, has more than
various matters. These committees had to work             once requested help from us. And this year, in
evenings, and in some cases at every spare hour of        response to another plea, Synod decided to ask the
recess in order to prepare their advice for Synod.. In    Consistory of Holland to send the Rev. J. Heys to
general, the work of Synod was divided as follows:        work there for a period of six months. In approving
Committee I was assigned all mission matters;             this recommendation of our Mission Committee,
Committee II was assigned Contact Committee               Synod also decided that no commitment be made to
matters, Theological School matters, and Catechism        work there indefinitely and that this did not imply
Book matters; Committee III was assigned matters          that Wellington be established as a field.
of appeal and overtures; and Committee IV was
assigned matters of subsidy and budget.                     Acting on a supplemental report, Synod also
                                                          approved a decision of South Holland and the Mis-
  Synod, however, could not begin its delibera-           sion Committee that Rev. Van Overloop's work in
tions on Agenda material until Monday morning,            Birmingham, Alabama shall "continue for a while,
June 7. This was due to the fact that Wednesday           subject to ongoing review."
afternoon and all of Thursday and Friday were
devoted to the examination of our two seminary              Synod was also advised no longer to consider the
graduates. The advantage of this was the fact that it     Monroe-Mt. Vernon, Washington area a viable
gave the advisory committees time to work; and by         field, and that Lynden no longer be considered a
the time Synod was finally ready to go to work on         calling church for this area.
the Agenda material, most of the advice was also            A large amount of Synod's time was devoted to
ready for Synod's attention. The disadvantage was         matters connected with the work in Jamaica. This
that it made for a lengthy Synod, and some of the         came to Synod at the time Synod convened. And
delegates were under pressure to leave at too early       since the report concerning Jamaica contained
a time, having made air reservations to return  to.       proposals of major importance, treatment was
their churches. In the future, all delegates will have    actually contrary to the rules of Synod. Neverthe-
to take into consideration the possibility of a           less, Synod evidently felt compelled to do some-
lengthy Synod when there are examinations                 thing about the Jamaica work, though it was not at
scheduled, so that they can remain to the end of          all ready to adopt any major proposals. The upshot


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                           415



was that Synod approved only the sending of emis-         censure from a member of one of our churches.
saries for another year.    "                             This was treated in closed session because of its
  As to foreign missions, Synod received the report       nature, and so I cannot report publicly on the case
concerning organization of the Evangelical Re-            as such. I do want to report, however, that both the
formed Church in Singapore and a report concern-          Advisory Committee and the Synod gave this
ing Rev. den Hartog's diligent labors there. Apart        appeal and the decision long and careful attention.
from approval of Rev. den Hartog's continuing to          No one who appeals a matter of this kind to Synod
labor there for the indefinite future as a missionary     need feel that he will not receive a fair hearing;
pastor (upon request of the E.R.C.S.), there was no       both the committee and Synod went out of their
other major decision. We were also informed that          way to reach a just decision.
Rev. den Hartog and family will be coming home              Secondly, there were three overtures before
on furlough, the Lord willing, in November.               Synod which were ruled out as not legally before
                                                          the Synod. The ground for this ruling was the rules
  Although the preceding report would not seem to         of Synod, Article 30 of the Church Order, and pre-
indicate this, in light of its brevity, once Synod had    cedent, all of which require that overtures come to
passed the hurdle of mission matters, it moved very       Synod by way of consistory and  classis, and that
rapidly. As we said, Advisory Committee II guided         they must be treated by the latter before Synod
Synod on items pertaining to the Contact Commit-          receives them. I hope to comment on this matter
tee, the Theological School, and the Catechism            later, due to the fact that there has been a growing
Book Committee. From the Contact Committee we             tendency to ignore these requirements. This ruling
learned that contact with the Christchurch OPC is         resulted in Synod's not treating overtures from
virtually at an end, due to the fact that they ad-        South Holland, Hull, and Southwest - even though
mittedly are moving away from us doctrinally.             some of these overtures may have had some merit.
Contact will be limited to the sending of literature.       There were two overtures which Synod did treat.
The Contact Committee also reported some inter-           The first was a proposal to make the synodical
esting contact with the Reformed Presbyterian             agenda available to our membership at large. Synod
Church of Ireland; Synod instructed the committee         rejected this overture on the ground that the addi-
to continue discussions via correspondence and to         tional cost and work involved are unwarranted, on
work toward face-to-face contact with this                the ground that concern for Synod and the welfare
denomination. The committee also reported inter-          of the churches does not require that people be in-
est on the part of the Evangelical Presbyterian           formed concerning the specifics of what is to be con-
Church of Australia in a theological conference           sidered at Synod, and on the ground that the desire
between them and us at a future date; Synod               expressed in the overture can more easily be ac-
instructed the committee to make preliminary pre-         complished by publishing summaries of business to
parations with a view to such a conference and to         be treated at Synod in the  Standard Beaver.  An
report to next year's Synod.                              overture from First Church about the method of
  As to our Theological School, there was no major        assessment was approved in part by Synod. It was
proposal to be dealt with. Synod approved the ad-         decided to appoint a study committee to see
mission of Russell Dykstra, Steven Key, and               whether a more equitable way of counting families
Charles Terpstra to the seminary program. Synod           for purposes of synodical assessments is possible.
was also informed that our school is the beneficiary      On the other hand, Synod informed First Church
of bequests from two recently deceased members            that under our present rules there is no reasonable
of our churches; and the Theological School Com-          way in which it could be granted relief from last
mittee was instructed to come with a well-for-            year's assessments.
mulated proposal about the use of these monies.             Committee IV was charged with matters of sub-
Synod also had to face the problem of a serious           sidy and budget. Again I may report that Synod
decline in the number of students in our school,          acted very carefully. Subsidies are not simply
and it asked our consistories to impress this great       routinely granted, but requests are carefully
need upon our young men.                                  scrutinized. While I cannot report all the details of
  The major item from the Catechism Book Com-             the budget, I may report that this year the assess-
mittee was the matter of final approval on a revi-        ment per family was reduced to $347.00 from last
sion of the book "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine."       year's $372.00. The Synod was very  budget-
This book for our young people will now soon be           conscious.
republished.                                                This concludes our brief report. Details of all
  That brings us to Advisory Report III.                  these matters will appear in the printed  Acts,  and
                                                          from the latter you may learn more. Be sure to read
  The major item assigned to Committee III was a          the  Acts  when this booklet is made available to all
very long and complicated appeal regarding                our families in early fall.


416                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



                                            Editor's Notes

Comments on Special Issue                                  the coming volume-year and made a few staff
  We were delighted by the many favorable com-             changes.
ments about the May 15 special issue on Predestin-                           *    *    *    *    *
ation. Several letters were received in which extra        Publication News
copies were requested, and many oral comments
were made. One of the striking facts about that              In case you missed it, our latest paperback re-
issue was that all the writers wrote independently         print, the late Herman Hoeksema's  The Wonder of
of one another  - the one not knowing what the             Grace is now available from the RFPA at the price
other would write  - and yet there was unity and           of $3.95, with a 20% discount to Book Club mem-
harmony among the various articles.                        bers.
                  *    *     *    *    *                     By the way, why do you keep putting off signing
                                                           up for the Book Club? Membership is open to all
Annual Staff Decisions                                     our Stunduvd Beurer readers, and all you need to do
  At the time of Synod's meetings we also hold our         is send in a card to our Business Office signifying
annual staff meeting. The details will be announced        your wish to join. You will automatically get all our
later. But we laid plans for more special issues in        new publications at discount.

SEMINARY GRADUATIONADDRESS


                            The Confessions in the Life
                                            of the Church
                                                  Prof. H. Hunko



  The role which our Confessions have played in            The Origin of the Confessions
the history of the church of Christ can hardly be            In the most basic sense of the word, our Confes-
overemphasized. These Confessions have served as           sions have their origin in the work of the Spirit of
powerful weapons in the defense of the faith; they         Christ in the church. This is true not only of our
have functioned as the basis for church Reforma-           own three forms of unity which serve as our con-
tion over the centuries; they have preserved the           fessional basis, but of all the historic creeds of
unity of the church in her walk in the world of sin;       Christendom which mark the line of the develop-
they have been teachers to lead thousands to the           ment of the church throughout the New Dispensa-
knowledge of the truth. It is not an exaggeration to       tional period.
say that our Confessions have served as the
strength of the church without which, humanly                The promise of the Spirit of Christ as the Spirit of
speaking, it would not have survived.                      Truth runs like a golden thread through that last
                                                           discourse of our Lord on the eve of His crucifixion.
  Because of this, confessional unfaithfulness, in         This discourse is recorded for us in John 14-16.
whatever form it appears, is a form of ecclesiastical
suicide. This unfaithfulness has taken on many dif-          You will recall that the disciples of the Lord were
ferent forms, not the least of which are blatant and       saddened and disheartened by the clear and unmis-
open attacks against the Confessions and the doc-          takable words of the Lord that He was going to
trines contained in them, and gross confessional in-       leave them. Although He had told them this before,
difference. It is therefore not without purpose that I     their ears were closed to these words, for they had
speak to you tonight on the place of our Confes-           built all their hopes and dreams upon Christ's con-
sions in the life of the church of Christ.                 tinual presence with them upon earth. But now


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               417



they could no longer escape from the fact that their        the nature of Scripture itself. Scripture, as we all
Lord was going away.                                        know, is not a systematic setting forth of the truth.
  In His words of comfort to them Jesus made it             It is not a theological textbook or a Reformed Dog-
very clear that, although it was indeed true that He        matics. It is the infallible record of God's revelation
was going to the Father, nevertheless He would              through Christ  in history  - where the decisive
come to them and come in a way in which He                  words are, "in history." All the history of this
would abide with them forever. This coming was in           world is the sovereign realization of the eternal and
the Spirit of Truth. By this Spirit Christ Himself          unchangeable counsel and will of God. At the very
would be with them and remain with them forever.            center of that counsel stands Christ so that all the
In fact, the essential point which the Lord makes is        counsel revolves around Him and has meaning and
that He would, by His Spirit, be with them in a far         significance only in Him. As history unfolds ac-
more blessed and wonderful way than He had ever             cording to the counsel and under God's sovereign
been with them upon earth in His state of humilia-          direction, Christ is revealed historically. Christ
tion. His presence through the Spirit would indeed          stands straddling all history. He is at its center. He
culminate in the day when He would take all His             is its alpha and omega, its beginning and its end. He
church unto Himself in everlasting glory.                   is the line running through all history, giving to
                                                            history its meaning, its significance. He was spoken
  It is this presence of Christ with the church             of by the prophets, revealed in the fulness of time,
through the Spirit of truth which has special signifi-      taken to glory where He is given sovereign rule
cance and meaning.                                          over all, and He comes again upon the clouds to
  Christ is, in His own person, the full revelation of      make a new heaven and a new earth when history
the triune God as the God of the salvation of His           reaches its grand finale, its glorious climax, its
people.`He is this in all the work which He did and         determined telos. Scripture records this. Scripture is
does, from the moment of His incarnation, through           the record of sacred history.
His suffering and death and resurrection from the             Within those Scriptures, therefore, Christ stands
dead, on into the glory of His exaltation at God's          as the fullness of God's revelation. All the truth is
right hand. By all His great work, He fully reveals         in Christ. Nowhere else can you find it.
to us the Father in all the riches of the truth as it is
in God. His presence, therefore, with the disciples           As the same Spirit of truth Who inspired the
and with the whole church of this Dispensation is           Scriptures works in the hearts of the elect people of
the presence of the Christ Who reveals all the truth        God, that Spirit leads the church into all the truth
of God.                                                     so that the church appropriates that truth and
  Because this presence of Christ is through the            makes that truth her own.
Spirit which is given Him at His exaltation and               Secondly, there is something inevitable about the
which He pours out upon the church, the Spirit              writing of creeds because the church which ap-
Who brings Christ to us is the Spirit of Truth.             propriates that truth speaks it. She must and does
  There is an objective and a subjective aspect to          give expression to her faith. She must and does
this. Objectively, the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of    speak what she believes to be the truth of Scripture.
inspiration by Whose work the Scriptures are given          "I believed; therefore have I spoken" (Psalm
by infallible guidance. By this work of the Spirit of       116: 10). "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth,
Christ we have the objective record of the revela-          and in thy heart: that is the word of faith, which we
tion of God in Christ. But this same Spirit dwells          preach: that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
also in the hearts of the people of God as the en-          the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine. heart that
lightening Spirit Who reveals subjectively the              God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be
riches of the truth as they are in Christ Jesus. This       saved. For with the heart man believeth unto
subjective work of the Spirit is also absolutely indis-     righteousness; and with the mouth confession
pensible for the appropriation and understanding            is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:8-10).
of the truth. "Now we have received, not the spirit           But this appropriation of the truth and this con-
of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we       fession of Christ as the fulness of the truth is a
might know the things that are freely given to us of        systematic confession. The church searches the
God. Which things also we speak, not in the words           Scriptures to find what every part of Scripture
which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy             teaches concerning every individual doctrine and
Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with             concerning the unity of all doctrine in Christ. And
spiritual" (I Cor. 2:12, 13).                               this she confesses. This we believe! This is the truth
  Given this work of the Spirit of Truth, the forma-        of Scripture.
tion of creeds has a certain inevitability about it.          And so you have confessions, from the very
  On the one hand, they are inevitable because of           beginning of the history of the church. Confessions


418                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



which are a glorious heritage of the Spirit of Christ      contrary, they arise out of the organic life of the
within the church. Confessions which are truly             church as the church is impelled by the Spirit of
creeds, which give to us what the church believes.         truth to confess her faith. They are the freedom of
The Function of the Confessions                            the gospel. They express forthrightly what our Lord
                                                           says, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
  Because this is the nature of our confessions, the       make you free." They are what the church joyfully,
creeds are authoritative.                                  willingly, and freely confesses as her faith, her life,
  It is well that we underscore this tonight, for this     her very salvation.
is frequently and spiritedly denied. There are many          Because this is the nature of the creeds, the Re-
who openly and fiercely attack the creeds and their        formed approach to Scripture is a creedal approach.
doctrines within the church and do so with im-
punity. No ecclesiastical penalty is required of             There is room here too for much emphasis. A
them. This can only come about in a climate of dis-        non-creedal church, if indeed there can be such a
respect for the authority of the creeds of the             thing, is a different approach to Scripture from that
church. But the same authoritative character of the        of a creedal church. A non-creedal church or a con-
creeds is denied when a confessional indifference          fessionally indifferent church goes directly to Scrip-
enters the church so that the creeds are no longer         ture. And it is this approach which is always char-
known and the creeds cease to function as the con-         acteristic of the heretic. He appeals to isolated
fession of the church as a whole or the confession         passages of Scripture in support of his own pet doc-
of the members of the church. The creeds have be-          trine or special theological hobbyhorse. Luther al-
come irrelevant to faith and life and the life of the      ready pungently and scornfully observed that this
church goes on without the controlling power of            method of heretics, if followed, could be used by
the creeds. But they are authoritative. Conformity         him to prove easily from Scripture that beer was
to the confessions is essential to membership in the       preferable to wine. It is a method contrary to the
church. The exercise of discipline is required             Reformed faith.
against all who militate against them. They are set          The Reformers without exception spoke of the
as the bounds of the believer's faith. By them             "analogy of faith." While mistakenly they got this
doctrine in preaching and confession is judged.            expression from Romans  12:6, the idea which they
Within their limitations the officebearers are re-         meant to set forth is a sound one. And Reformed
quired to do all their work. The confessional life of      churches throughout history have followed this
the saints is regulated by their statements.               rule.
  This authority, however, is derived. The creeds            The point here is clear. Scripture is a unity, with
do not have an authority which comes from within           the principle of its unity the revelation of God our
themselves. They are not self-authenticating  - as         God in Jesus Christ our Savior. Into this truth, with
the Scriptures are. Nor do they derive their author-       all its parts, the Spirit of truth leads the church. It is
ity from the church. This is the error of Rome             not, therefore, a question of what an isolated text
rooted in intolerable pride. It is true that the church    may say, taken out of its own context and out of the
establishes creeds and declares them to be authori-        context of the whole of Scripture. Anything can be
tative; but this is not because their authority comes      proved if this method is followed. But it is a ques-
from the church. They are not authoritative                tion of what Scripture teaches from Genesis  1:l up
because the church declares them to be such. The           to and including the last verse of Revelation 22.
church declares them to be authoritative because           Scripture is its own interpreter. And this must be
their authority comes from Scripture itself. They          recognized and clearly maintained. Not the church;
must be considered as authoritative only insofar as        not the individual believer; not the decrees and
they express what Scripture teaches. Their author-         councils of men; Scripture interprets itself. And it is
ity is only because they state what is first of all        in this way that the "analogy of faith" is discovered
found in God's Word. Because they state what God           and set forth by the church and stated in her
has Himself spoken through Christ, do they possess         creeds.
an authority which is, therefore, not their own, but
Scripture's. But when they express what Scripture            It is, therefore, in the best tradition of the Refor-
teaches, they bind the faith of the child of God and       mation to go to Scripture via the creeds. They lead
of the church of which he is a member.                     us into the "analogy of faith." They show us the
                                                           "current" teaching of the Word of God. They lead
  But this binding character of the creeds is not an       us into an understanding of the unity of the truth as
unendurable yoke, a theological straight-jacket, a         found in Scripture as a whole. The creeds are not
curb on theological reflection, a barrier to the           superior to Scripture. Their authority and dignity is
development of the truth, an impossible obstacle to        not greater. They are the means, the way, the path,
making the truth relevant to our generation. On the        by which we go to the Word of God. For it is in that


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              419



Word that we find our hiding place, our rest, our           of the martyrs which still cries before the throne?
peace, the joy of our salvation. But going via the          Shall we spit out venom upon those who loved not
creeds, we recognize the work of the Spirit of truth,       their lives unto death? Shall we retreat from the
the unity of God's Word, the one faith of the               battle which they, by grace, so courageously
church of all ages.                                         fought? God forbid. They are a precious and
  It is for this reason that preaching on the Heidel-       glorious heritage of the faith of our fathers.
berg Catechism is so important. Not preaching on a            But these Confessions must be the living confes-
text with occasional references to the Catechism,           sion of the church of Christ. It will not do to have a
but Catechism preaching is essential  - Catechism           confessional basis as churches if these same Con-
preaching which gives to the people of God the              fessions lie unnoticed and inactive on the dusty
analogy of faith and leads them into the riches of          shelves of a Consistory room closet. They are Con-
the truth in Christ.                                        fessions in the fullest sense of the word when they
The Importance of the Creeds                                are in the hearts and on the lips of the people of
                                                            God.
  The creeds make us who live today one with the
church of the past and give us a place in the com-            They must be preached from our pulpits.
pany of just men made perfect. The unity of the             Consciously, explicitly, and continuously they
whole church is a unity of the truth as it is in Christ     must be brought to the attention of God's people.
Jesus. As this same truth is confessed throughout           They must be taught in the Catechism rooms. They
all time, it is this truth which binds the church of all    must be a part of our educational enterprise. There
ages together into the one body of our Lord Jesus           is a movement which wants to strike the Confes-
Christ.                                                     sions from the theological basis of Christian
                                                            schools. We must have none of this. Our teachers
  There is a great comfort in this. The truth may be        must in all their contacts with the students, con-
despised and rejected. The company of the faithful          sciously and forthrightly bring our confessional
may grow smaller. The believer may wonder some-             heritage to the attention of our covenant children.
times if he does not in fact stand alone. But our           They must be studied in our homes. Our parents
Confessions assure us that we stand in a noble com-         must lead our children to the Confessions so that
pany of mighty warriors and of faithful men and             our children know them and love them and learn to
women and of those who loved not their lives unto           be thankful for them. And they must be a living
death. The company of Augustine and Athanasius,             part of all the life of the people of God in all their
of Gottshalk and Luther, of Calvin and Knox, of             calling.
Hoeksema and Ophoff is far to be preferred to that
of the insipid theologians of our theologically de-           They still stand today as the defense of the truth
generate times.                                             against all the attacks which Satan and his cohorts
                                                            can bring to bear against us. How heretics hate the
  These same creeds serve as a basis for further            Confessions! No wonder. They are an impregnable
development. In our day, as Johannes Vos has ex-            bulwark. They must be taken down brick by brick
pressed it, we do not need less of the truth, but           if the truth is to be reached and destroyed. They
more. It is theologically stupid and spiritually ir-        preserve our unity - a unity with all the saints and
responsible to turn our backs upon the truth, and to        among ourselves. They are a glorious means of
seek out new inventions which deny the  creedal             transmitting that heritage of the truth to the genera-
heritage which our God has given us. Development            tions following. With these creeds in our hearts and
of the truth is ever the calling and privilege of the       mouths we can say to these generations yet to rise,
church. But that is the development of the great            "This God (the God of our Confessions), is our
truths of the Confessions. They are given to us as a        God, forever and ever. He will be our Guide, even
gift of grace. On their basis we stand. On the              unto death."
heights of their confessional integrity we gaze ever
deeper into the riches of the knowledge of the truth
of Scripture. Development is truly possible only
when we have both feet firmly planted in our                                Take time to
creedal heritage.
  Our creeds are reason for deep gratitude to God.                      read and study the
They are the testimony of the fulfillment of the
promise of Christ to be with us always, even unto
the end of the world. For in this truth as given by                 Standard Bearer
the Spirit, Christ Himself abides with us. They
were written in blood and in the heat of the mighty
age-old battle for the faith. Shall we spurn the blood


420                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



THE DAY OFSHADOWS


                             A Missed Opportunity
                                               Rev. John A. Heys


  Jacob, whose name Israel means Prince of God,           not settling permanently in the land. It is true that
at last came to stand before Pharaoh, a prince of         God had told Abraham that his descendants would
this world. Jacob stands there as a stranger in a         be strangers in a land that was not theirs (Genesis
strange land. Pharaoh sits on his throne as the           15:13). However, we have no way of knowing
highest power in his own native land. Jacob was           whether Abraham handed this truth down to Isaac
there with Pharaoh's approval and in his good             and whether Isaac made it known to Jacob. Even if
pleasure. Pharaoh, though he does not know it, was        this truth had been handed down from generation
king in Egypt in God's good pleasure and according        to generation, it is questionable whether they
to His sovereign counsel. And although Pharaoh            understood this to mean a sojourn in Egypt or some
thinks that he is being generous and gracious to          other country neighboring on Canaan. A land that
Jacob and his family, it is God Who is using him in       was not their own could to them have meant
His grace to Jacob and the church of God which he         Canaan. It was not yet their own in the sense that
represented in that day.                                  they did not possess it. It was theirs in that it was
  This Pharaoh reveals nothing to indicate that he        promised to them. But there was room to believe
was a believer and thus a child of God. He                that it meant that it would be four hundred years
appreciated greatly the interpretation of his dreams      before they would possess it. What is more, God
which God gave him through Joseph; but his deal-          had told Jacob before he left the land of Canaan, "I
ing with Joseph and Jacob and the whole family            will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will surely
revolved around the benefits his Kingdom enjoyed,         bring thee up again" (Genesis 46:4). Had they been
not around Him Whom Joseph represented and the            told, and had they remembered God's word to
fact that Jacob's family represented the church of        Abraham, they could have ruled Egypt out on the
that day.                                                 basis of this word of God. The brothers who told
                                                          Pharaoh that they had come to sojourn in the land
  Pharaoh never figured with the fertility that God       because of the famine firmly expected to leave the
would give Jacob's descendants in the land of             land after a few years. No one saw this sojourn in
Goshen, nor with God's counsel and covenant.              Egypt as a fulfillment of God's word to Abraham of
Little did he realize what a later Pharaoh saw,           a four hundred year stay in a land that was not their
namely, that the Israelites would grow to be a            own.
people that would be a definite threat to the Egyp-
tians: threatening to outnumber them, remaining a            But, as we stated, Jacob the Prince of God came
distinct people with no intention of intermarrying,       at last to stand before Pharaoh, a prince of this
and worshipping a God Who condemned all the               world. And here before the king of Egypt Jacob is
idolatry of Egypt. We may believe that he did not         not ashamed of the gospel and openly confesses his
expect Jacob's descendants to remain in his land          faith. Pharaoh asked Jacob how old he was. And
after the famine was over, and certainly not for          Jacob responded to the effect that he was a pilgrim
four hundred years! How could he ever imagine             here on this earth, and that his pilgrimage had been
that they would leave in a way that left Egypt            an evil one and relatively short.
ravished and ruined by ten terrible plagues and the          Pharaoh's reason for asking this question would
whole army and its chariots wiped out in the  Re&         seem to be rooted in Jacob's appearance. He was at
Sea?                                                      the time one hundred and thirty years old; and only
  Pharaoh had reason to believe that the stay             a few months before this his sons had said to Joseph
would be only for the duration of the famine. When        - not knowing that he was aware of this  - that
Joseph brought his five brothers before Pharaoh           their father was "an old man." He did live another
they stated quite clearly in Genesis  47:4, "For to       seventeen years, but undoubtedly what he stated to
sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants         Pharaoh revealed his great age. He told Pharaoh
have no pasture for the flocks; for the famine is sore    that the days of his years were few and evil. By evil
in the land." Note that they speak of sojourning,         he refers to the many troubles and struggles which


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                              421



     he experienced. He knew much trouble. His life             "Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, 0 Lord,
     was not a path of roses but a very rough and hard          according unto Thy word. Teach me good judgment
     way. It was for him an uphill climb most of the            and knowledge; for I have believed Thy command-
     way. Then, too, he came crippled before Pharaoh            ments." How much we need that good judgment
     because of that hip that God had touched years             and knowledge so that we too judge Him to have
     before at Penuel, when he wrestled with the angel.         dealt well with us. How difficult to add, as he does,
     And all that grief of those last ten to fifteen years      a few verses later, "Thou art good and doest good."
     because of Joseph's "death," which hurt him                And then in the next section he declares, "I know,
     deeply, also showed on his face. Had he not said           0 Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that
     that he would go down to his grave unto his son            Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me."
     mourning? (Genesis 37:35)                                    Can you even get those words on your lips when
       In comparison we may note that Isaac his father          you hurt all over, have overwhelming losses, stand
     lived to be 180 years, and thus 33 years more than         face to face with death itself for yourself or a loved
     Jacob. Abraham we learn from Genesis  25:8 "gave           one? How much harder to speak these words from
     up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old           the heart. We run to God in prayer, and that is
     man, and full of years." Of Terah, Jacob's great           good. It is evil, a sin, to run to anyone else in our
     grandfather, and the father of Abraham it is record-       needs and distresses. But when we would do good
     ed that he died when he was 205 years of age. The          evil is present. Deny that and you only prove the
     number of the days of a man's years was rapidly            point.  -                                                 I
     being lessened, and men who lived to be 120 years            Jacob's speech here is so different from that of
     old when they died, like Moses, were the excep-            the Apostle Paul in Romans  8:18 and 28. Paul
     tion. In fact it is Moses who wrote in Psalm 90 that       reckons, that is judges, that the sufferings of this
     our days are threescore and ten, and if by reason of       present time are not worthy to be compared with
     strength fourscore. Jacob then, even though his            the glory that shall be revealed. He does not simply
     years were not as many as those of his fathers, still      say that the evils we experience are not in any way
     lived 67 years more than the strong of whom Moses          to be compared with the glory we shall have. He
     spoke.                                                     says that it is not  worthy  to be compared. And he
       Do we get here a suggestion of complaint on              says that, "We know that all things work together
     Jacob's part? He speaks gloomy language. Is he             for good to those that love God." He does not say
     speaking of evil days and of lesser days as one who        that we hope, we think, we have been told, some
     is sour on life and bitter against God? Had he ex-         say that all things work together for good to those
     pected to equal the days and years of his fathers? It      that love God. He says emphatically that we
     is not at all impossible that such is the case, even       KNOW, we are absolutely sure, we have definite
     though in the same breath he calls his life a pilgrim-     knowledge that our woes, which men call evils,
     age, which indicates that by faith he looks to the         work together for our good. And, by the way, the
     city which hath foundations. It is not at all unusual      word evil here that Jacob uses is the same word that
     for a believer while confessing his faith to reveal his    God used when He spake to Adam of a tree of the
     old and evil nature. Paul writes in Romans 7:21, "I        knowledge of good and evil.
     find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is
     present with me."                                            How different also from Paul's words in II Corin-
                                                                thians  4:17, 18, "For our light affliction which is
       And look once at yourself. Give yourself an              but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceed-
     honest and thorough self-examination. In our               ing and eternal weight of glory; .while we look not
     prayers, which we begin with sincere praise and            at the things that are seen, but at the things which
     adoration to God, very often and so easily we              are not seen; for the things which are seen are
     express complaints about what God has done. I do           temporal; but the things which are not seen are
     not mean a plaintive cry. But how often is our             eternal."
     plaintive cry not a complaining cry? In the midst of
     great discomfort and misery, facing terminal afflic-         Ah, there is the explanation. When Jacob con-
     tions for self or a loved one, we in our plaintive         fessed to be a pilgrim he was looking at the things
     cries express great dissatisfaction with God's way         which are not seen with the natural eye, but can be
     with us. How often do we not reveal that we think          seen only with the eye of faith. But he quickly took
     that God's way is all wrong, and we sit in judgment        his eye off these things and, looking at the things
     over Him?                                                  which could be seen in his natural life with his
                                                                natural eye, he spoke of days that were evil, and
I      How hard it is in miseries, losses, and afflictions      things which were temporal. Of course! The
     to say with the psalmist what he said in the midst of      natural eye can only see that curse here on this
     his afflictions as recorded in Psalm  119:65, 66,          earth because of our sin in Adam. It can only see


422                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



temporal things, for the curse brings an end to all       evil so often during them, but God forgave in His
things in this present world. The eye of faith can        mercy, blessed me with all these covenant
see Christ and His cross and the new Jerusalem not        children, made me rich spiritually, and in it all was
only but also that love of God in Christ that works       preparing me for indescribable blessedness. His
all things together for good to those that love God.      counsel did guide me so that afterward I might be
  One would think that Jacob, having learned how          received to glory. Praises be to Him."
it all worked out so well that Joseph is not only very      And you, when the world sees you on your bed
much alive but that through him God was keeping           of pain in the hospital, visits you in your home or
His church alive, would speak otherwise than he           the funeral-parlor - what do they hear you say? Do
did. But the sad part about it all, the thing that        they receive a witness and testimony from you? Is
ought to hurt us and ought to teach and rebuke us,        God praised by you before them? Or are you just
is that Jacob missed such a golden opportunity to         another sufferer, another victim of evil in this  sin-
witness before the world.                                 cursed world who, to the world, appears to be one
  Oh, he began by faith. He did well to speak of          who only sees the temporal?
being a pilgrim, but he did not magnify God before          Jesus said it, "Let your light so shine before men,
godless Pharaoh. He did not say to Pharaoh, "The          that they may see your good works, and glorify
days of my years were fewer than those of my              your Father Which is in heaven" (Matthew  5:16).
fathers; but God was good to me, Pharaoh. I was           Do that! By all means do that!

GUESTARTICLE

                   The Principles and Practice of
                                 Bible Study (Part I)
                                               Rev. Ronald Hunko


  We are all aware that the real issue behind so          means that the Scriptures themselves must be part
many questions and problems in the church world           of our life, and that means in turn that we must
is the doctrine of Scripture. There have always           read and study the Scriptures in proportion as we
been those who, in one way or another, denied the         believe them to be God's own Word. If the Scrip-
inspiration and infallibility of the Bible. But in        tures are not the leaven of our lives, permeating
these last days the churches of the Reformation do        every area of life, then we will also eventually lose
not even give unanimous assent to this truth, in          our good confession.
spite of the fact that the Reformation of the six-          As is the case so often with us, there seems to be
teenth century claimed to be a return to the truth        a gap between principle and practice. Not only is
concerning the Bible. Even those in Reformed              there evidence of a real lack of serious, dedicated
churches who disagree with the age-old teaching of        Bible study among us, but we often find, time and
the church on such matters as seven-day creation          again, that our study of God's Word, whether
and women in office will often agree that these dif-      privately or in the company of other believers, is
ferences are to be traced to different views of Scrip-    aimless and without real or lasting satisfaction. We
ture.                                                     must not only be shaken out of our slothfulness and
  By the grace of God we, as churches, are among          excited to diligent study, but we must also learn
those who still confess that the`Bible is the Word of     how to study God's Word. And Scripture itself can
God, perfectly and completely revealing the whole         and will teach us that if we will pay attention to
counsel of God concerning the salvation of His            what it says.
elect church. And we believe too that this Word has         That we have a responsibility to the Scriptures is
been wonderfully preserved by God up to the               beyond question. God's Word and God's people
present time.                                             belong together. And this need for Bible study is
  We must not forget, however, that principle and         rooted and grounded in the truth that the Bible is
practice go together. The true doctrine of Scripture      the inspired and infallible Word of God. Because
must be part of our confession, to be sure, but that      the Scriptures are "God-breathed" they are  profit-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              423



able for teaching doctrine to the man of God, for         tionship of text and context, differences of interpre-
reproving and correcting him, and for instructing         tation and other questions that-we-forget to seek the
him in righteousness (II Timothy  3:16,  17), all of      incarnate Word Who reveals Himself in-the Word.
which is part of his eternal salvation. Even our          Jesus Himself says to the Jews, "Search the Scrip-
children must be taught that the study of God `s          tures . . . (for) they are they which testify of ME"
Word is of far greater urgency than any of the other      (John  5:39). He says that also to us. Jesus did not
studies to which they give themselves. God's Word         have to admonish the Jews for failing to study the
is a matter of life and death. If we realize that, we     Scriptures. That was not their problem. They had
will be much more like the Bereans who, when              studied the Old Testament Scriptures from youth
they heard the Word of the Apostles, received, it         on and knew them much better than we do; but
with eager faith, and in that same eagerness              their search was a failure, and it was a failure
searched the Scriptures daily to find there for them-     because they did not find Christ in all of the Old
selves the truth which the Apostles taught.               Testament. They did not even recognize Him when
  Nor must we forget that Bible study - even pri-         He came and walked among them and did His
vate reading and study  - is a deeply spiritual           mighty works in their cities. Let us beware, lest in
matter. We can be taught how to study the Scrip-          our study of the Word, we fail to find Him there as
tures, but that does not mean that Bible study is a       God's Christ, the representative of the righteous-
mechanical matter of following certain rules and          ness of the Living God in this sinful world.
coming to an understanding of what God says in              Specifically, this means that, whenever we open
His Word. Because the Bible is God's Word, it is          the Scriptures, we must set ourselves consciously
spiritually discerned (I Cor.  2:14). The unbeliever      and deliberately before the question: "What does
does not have the spiritual gifts that are necessary      this passage teach about our Lord Jesus Christ and
to understand the Word, and therefore he can              the only way of salvation in Him?" And, even more
neither see himself in the light of the Word, nor         specifically: "How does this portion of God's Word
hear God speaking peace to His own people as He           lead me to the feet of Jesus?" If we do not ask these
does in the Word. On the other hand, every child of       questions of ourselves every time we open the
God does have those gifts, whether he be the              Bible, the natural blindness of our minds will pre-
greatest or least of God's saints. No believer need       vent us from seeing any more of Jesus in the Scrip-
be afraid to study the Scriptures. Nor does he have       tures than did the unbelieving Scribes and
an excuse not to study them, as if he is not quali-       Pharisees. Then we will only find moralism and
fied. Christ's anointing belongs to every one of the      "Bible Stories" and not the Gospel. I know person-
saints, and that anointing teaches them all things (I     ally that this is not an idle warning. I myself and the
John  2:27).                                              men who graduated from our seminary with me
  These spiritual gifts include the desire to know        had to be reminded of exactly this truth at our
the truth as it is in Jesus, the humility and rever-      Synodical examinations. May God grant that we
ence which are necessary to learn from and submit         never forget it again.
to the teaching of God, and a living fellowship with        This very practical matter of seeking Christ in
God through the Spirit. It must be emphasized here        the Scriptures is an application of the principle of
that these things are gifts of God's grace to us. Do      organic inspiration. When we speak of organic in-
we see then that the study of God's Word is a             spiration then we mean among other things that the
matter of prayer above all? How can it be that we         Scriptures are a perfect unity. They are one and
poor sinners should open the Word of God, the             cannot be broken (John  10:35). They are one, first
revelation of His supreme and eternal glory, and          of all, according to the good-pleasure and purpose
expect to receive something, when we do not come          of God. They are also one because they have one
with the prayer, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may         divine Author, the Holy Spirit of God. But especial-
behold wondrous things out of Thy law" (Psalm             ly they are one because from beginning to end they
119:18).                                                  have one message and one theme, Jesus Christ, the
   Nevertheless, our study must also be organized         revelation of the power and wisdom of Almighty
and have direction and purpose. Unorganized and           God. Thus our study of the Bible must be a con-
aimless study is fruitless study. In making our           scious application of this principle of organic in-
study fruitful the basic principles of the doctrine of    spiration.
Scripture can be further applied to give us that            This same principle of organic inspiration, that
needed guidance.                                          the Scriptures are one, also means that the Word of
   In organizing our study of God's Word and              God must always be studied in its context. The
giving it direction, the all-important matter is find-    chief characteristic of false teachers is that they
ing Christ in the Scriptures. We must not become          quote Scripture passages in isolation from the rest
so involved with the meaning of words, the  rela-         of the Word. By context, however, we do not mean


424                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



only the verses which  preceed and which follow a           pensable part of our study of the Scriptures, though
particular passage, what we might call the chapter          it- may never be used to call into question the
context, but also the context of the whole book in          authority of Scripture.
which a passage is found and the context of all of            Another principle very closely connected with
the rest of Scripture. That means we ought never            the principle of the organic unity of Scripture, is the
attempt to understand a passage unless first we un-         fundamental rule that Scripture is self-interpreting.
derstand the theme of the book in which it is found,        Because Scripture is the handiwork of the Spirit,
and the place of that book in the whole unity of the        only the Spirit Himself can tell us what the Scrip-
Bible. We must ask ourselves: "How is this book             tures mean. He does that always in and through the
different from all other books of the Bible, and            Scriptures themselves. The books of the Bible must
what part of the whole counsel of God concerning            tell us what their themes are. Scripture itself must
our salvation does it expound?" When we have suf-           solve all so-called problems of interpretation. Scrip-
ficiently answered that question we may return to           ture must define its own words and concepts, not
the passage at hand and ask ourselves how this              the dictionary and not commentaries. The diction-
verse or these verses fit into the overall theme of         ary, for example, will tell me that a covenant is an
the book in which they are found.                           agreement or pact between two parties, but only
  To take just one example, a careful study of the          Scripture will teach me, through careful study, that
Epistle to the Ephesians in the light of all the rest of    God's covenant with His people is not an agree-
Scripture shows us the theme of that grand Epistle,         ment, but a sovereignly established relationship of
that is, the glory of the church in its union with          friendship with the everlasting God in and through
Christ. In this it differs from Colossians, an Epistle      the Son of His love, Christ Jesus.
very much like Ephesians, in that Colossians em-              This means, even more specifically, that when
phasizes rather the glory of Christ as the supreme          we are struggling with the interpretation of key
head of the church. That theme of Paul's Epistle to         words or phrases in a passage, we must go to all the
the Ephesians must be the golden thread which               other passages of the Word of God which shed their
runs through the interpretation of the whole book,          light on the one at hand, and by comparing Scrip-
and a study of any part of the book must not lose           ture with Scripture come to understand the mean-
sight of that theme. In the very first section, for         ing of the Word in a particular passage. In doing
example, verses 3-11, Paul shows us that the glory          this a good concordance is one of the most valuable
of the church is not only from God, but according           tools we can have for Bible Study. I would even go
to God's own eternal purpose to glorify Himself in          so far as to say that a concordance is the one indis-
the salvation of the church.                                pensable tool for us in our Bible study.
  The truth of the organic unity of Scripture does            But what we must remember is that this matter
not mean, however, that we ignore the fact that the         of Scripture interpreting itself is of critical impor-
books of the Bible were written by different men, at        tance. Just because it is the Word of God that we
different times, and under different historical cir-        are studying, we must be sure that we do not read
cumstances. We do not mean by this that the Bible           into the Scriptures the things that belong to the wis-
is historically or culturally conditioned, so that at       dom of man. Nor must we study the Scriptures to
least in certain parts it is no longer applicable to the    find in them support for our own philosophies. But
church today. That idea is utterly repugnant to             as humble and obedient servants of Jesus Christ,
anyone who really believes in inspiration. It does          we must come to hear what God the Lord says to
mean, though, that we take history and culture and          His church. And it is exactly a humble conscious-
all the rest into account when we study the Bible. It       ness of our own inability to understand spiritual
is important, for example, for us to know that the          things and of this important principle that will
prophecy of Zechariah was for the remnant that              enable us to receive God's instruction with an
had returned from the Babylonian captivity, or that         obedient ear and a willing heart.
the story of the book of Ruth is,part  of the history of                                          (To be continued)
the time of the Judges who ruled Israel after Joshua.
Or, to use another example, it is important for us to
know enough geography to be able to follow the
missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul, or enough              The Standard Bearer
history to know that during New Testament times
the Jews still had a measure of self-rule, but that in         makes a thoughful gift
the trial of capital cases they had no authority to
put a man to death, as in the case of Stephen. A                 for many occasions.
study of chronology, history, geography, and social
customs of Bible times is, therefore, an indis-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                            425



                              Report on Singapore
                                              Rev. Arie den Havtog



Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ:                         tions," "The Christian Attitude Towards Sex,"
  Greetings from Singapore in the name of our             "The Practical Implications of Calvinism."
Sovereign Almighty Lord God and our Faithful                 The most exciting of all the classes that we have
Savior Jesus Christ. By the time you read this report     is our new pre-baptism class. On March 14 five
it will be more than five months since the time of        adults were baptized. On April 18 we started
the organization of the Evangelical Reformed              another pre-baptism class. We were quite over-
Church here in Singapore. With thanksgiving unto          whelmed when twenty-four people signed up for
the Lord we report again to you that the Lord con-        this class. Five of these young people are presently
tinues to bless and prosper His church here and           baptized members of our church and attend this
also our work as your missionary. The church con-         class to be better instructed in the truths of the
tinues to grow in the knowledge of the Reformed           Christian faith. All the rest of the members of this
faith which we believe is the wonderful truth of the      class regularly attend our worship services and
Word of God. We also see evidence of the fact that        desire to prepare themselves for confession of faith
the Lord continues to add unto His church such as         and baptism and thus to join the church. It is an un-
should be saved.                                          speakable joy and privilege to teach these young
  As the young church develops there is  albays           new Christians in the first principles of the Chris-
greater need for a deeper understanding of the doc-       tian faith. For most of them this is the first formal
trines of the Word of God. There is a growing ineed       instruction in Christian truth they have ever re-
to be certain that these doctrines are indeed the         ceived.
Word of God. As in all parts of the world so also            Since the time of the organization of the church
here in Singapore, the church is confronted by            we have had three infant baptisms. In the next few
many false doctrines, many worldly philosophies           months, the Lord willing, two more infants will be
and heathen religions. There is need to defend the        born to members of our church. On March 27 we
truth of God against all of these. We continue there-     had another wedding in our midst. We now have
fore to be busy with many classes of instruction as       seven married couples. As you can imagine, all of
well as Bible study groups to search out the Word         this is changing the character of the church consid-
of God. As your missionaries we are giving instruc-       erably. The Lord blesses His church each time
tion in the Belgic Confession every Lord's Day            there is a marriage and each time a new infant is
morning. In the past we studied the creeds,               born. Sometimes in the U.S.A. we are not as pro-
especially for the purpose of preparing the leaders       foundly conscious of this fact as we are in a church
of the G.L.T.S. to be office bearers in the church.       of the  character,of the E.R.C.S. The youth of the
Our present purpose is to bring the other members         church of Jesus Christ certainly add .a particular
of the church to a deeper understanding and appre-        blessing to the church, especially when they use
ciation of the creeds.                                    their youthful vigor and strength zealously in the
  Throughout the week there are a number of               service of the Lord. Each time there is a marriage in
Bible study groups led by various members of our          the Lord in the church the Lord adds strength and
church. We also have a weekly Bible study in our          stability. Marriages are particularly a great blessing
apartment which is attended by 10 to 12 people and        for the church here because the new homes estab-
where we are studying the book of I John.                 lished become centers where the young people of
                                                          the church who come from pagan homes can go for
  Every Saturday there is a Youth Fellowship              comfort and encouragement. Each time the Lord
(Y.F.) for the younger members of the church and
an Adult Fellowship (A.F.) for the older members.         gives infants to the church there is hope for the
                                                          future of the church as the Lord fulfills His
Elder Tan Kok Leong is teaching the Y.F. from the         covenant promises.
Heidelberg Catechism. Instruction at the A.F. is
given by all the elders of the church in rotation. I         The month of June as usual will be an especially
am usually asked to give a message at the A.F.            busy month for us. During this month we will have
about once per month. I have been asked to speak          the annual church camp which is similar to our
on some very interesting subjects as suggested by         Youth Convention in the U.S.A. The theme of this
the committee in charge. The topics included; "The        year's camp is "In Sweet Communion Lord with
Christian's Attitude Towards Other Denomina-              Thee." This theme, you will recognize, is taken


426                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



from our  Psalter  and is based on Psalm 73. This        tainly true that the Lord is pleased to gather His
Psalter  number has become a great favorite in the       church chiefly through the means of the preaching
church. I have been asked again to give a series of      of the Word.
five messages on the camp theme. The Lord                  Preparations are being made for the calling and
willing, this will be the last time I will have to do    ordination of brother Lau Chin Kwee to the min-
this by myself. Next year we are hoping that there       istry. These preparations include preparing a short
will be two ministers to speak at the camp.              examination of the brother to convince the session
  The new consistory, or session as it is called         and the membership of the church of his qualifi-
here, continues to learn many new things by exper-       cations for the ministry. All of this is quite exciting
ience. Session meetings are held every two weeks         for the E.R.C.S. The church eagerly anticipates the
and most of the meetings are very long because of        ordination of their own pastor.
all the matters that must be dealt with. The session       We are continuing our labors of preparing other
is learning what it means to have proper oversight       brothers for the work of the ministry in the church.
over all of the work of the church and also over the     Two brothers are presently being instructed by
lives of the members of the church. We are               your missionary. Hopefully brother Chin Kwee will
especially happy to see the serious view they have       also be able to help in this work when he returns.
with respect to the oversight of the sacraments. The     One of these brothers, Jaikishin Mahtani, who is an
session is also learning by experience some of the       `Indian young man, we are hoping to send to our
sorrows and great hardships of the work of the           Seminary in the U.S.A. in 1983, the Lord willing.
office-bearers    of the church of Jesus Christ,           The greatest of our physical needs continues to
especially those connected with members who              be the matter of obtaining a new place to hold our
walk in impenitent disobedience to the command-          worship services. We have told you in the past of
ments of the Lord and must be admonished and dis-        the great difficulty in finding such a place. At the
ciplined,                                                beginning of the year we thought we had found a
  One large project which is presently being             suitable place and had even paid a down payment
worked on is the matter of starting another worship      on this place. However, in the providence of the
service. We have long hoped for and worked to-           Lord it was later discovered that this property
wards the beginning of another worship service. In       would be affected by a road-widening project listed
the past, for various reasons, this was never            in a government gazette and slated to take place in
realized. The session has now made the decision to       the next five years. The lawyer advised not to go
start another worship service as soon as possible.       ahead with the purchase. A number of other places
Plans are to hold this worship service in another        have been considered since that time. All proved
location in Singapore. The reasons for this are as       for some reason to be unsuitable..Presently we are
follows. For various reasons it would be very diffi-     considering another three-story building, but the
cult if not impossible to hold another worship ser-      present asking price is really more than the church
vice at our present place of worship. There would        can afford.
be a great advantage to holding second worship ser-        Our family is all well. We now have three
vices in another place in Singapore. We would be         children in school. This year all of them go to the
able to have a witness in another community and          morning session of classes. They are all becoming
be able to work ultimately towards the formation of      quite Singaporean, especially in their manner of
another congregation. We see several indications of      speech. Our home continues to be very busy with
the Lord's providence which constrain us to move         many meetings and visitors almost every day.
in this direction. We see the urgent need to spread      Every Lord's Day morning our home is being used
the Reformed Faith in Singapore as widely and as         as a nursery for all of the new infants in the church.
faithfully as the Lord gives us opportunity and the      We are looking forward to a furlough in the U.S.A.
means. We see the Lord blessing us by adding num-        sometime in November. By then we will have been
bers to our present congregation and therefore see       here for almost three years. The time of our fur-
the wisdom of eventually starting another congre-        lough was chosen to coincide with the school vaca-
gation. Thirdly we are looking forward to the            tions here.
return of brother Chin Kwee from the U.S.A. and to
his ordination to the ministry. The Lord willing, we       We covet your continued prayers for us and for
shall then have another minister and preacher of         the church of Jesus Christ here. We always greatly
the Word in our midst. Therefore we should               appreciate those who write letters to us.
expand the work of the church. Not the least of                                                                    1
these considerations is that we should have both                         Take time to read
myself and the newly ordained minister preaching                 The Standard Bearer
the Word at least once every Lord's Day. It is cer-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                427



QUESTION BOX


                            Our Resurrection Body
                                                  Rev. C. Hanko


  From one of our readers we received the ques-            form that showed the nail holes in His hands and
tion:                                                      the wound of the spear thrust in His side. This does
  "At the resurrection can our flesh and blood             not mean that Christ's glorified body still has these
body be raised a gZorified flesh and blood body that       wounds, but it does show us that Jesus arose in the
is fit for the kingdom of heaven?"                         same body in which He died. Jesus ate in the
                                                           presence of His disciples. This does not mean that a
  It is usually during the season in which we cele-        heavenly body can partake of earthly food, or can
brate the resurrection of our Lord, or at the time of      digest earthly food. But it does show that Jesus
the loss of a dear one, that questions of this nature      arose in the body in which His disciples had
arise. This is only natural, for by faith we look for-     formerly known Him and had eaten with Him.
ward to the day when we will be with Christ in
heavenly perfection, both in body and soul.                  Our Lord's body had  changed.  It was still a
                                                           material substance, a real.body. Jesus allowed the
  Yet in this respect also we still see in a glass         women to touch Him. He showed to the disciples
dimly. There are many questions that remain un-            that He had hands and feet. Yet He did not allow
answered as long as we are in this temporal and            Mary Magdalene to cling to Him, for He had not re-
mortal body. But the Scriptures do give us an in-          turned in an earthly body, but had gone through
sight into the glory that awaits us.                       the grave and was risen in a new, heavenly body.
  Our reader understands, according to the letter,         He did not need to have the stone rolled away to
that "flesh and blood do not inherit the kingdom of        come forth from the grave. He could enter the room
God"; but that only adds to the problem as to how          where the disciples were gathered even though the
this flesh and blood, this earthly, natural body can       door was closed and locked. He was suddenly seen
be changed into a glorious, heavenly body.                 as standing among them. Likewise, when He had
  First of all; our attention is drawn to Philippians      finished speaking to them He faded from sight.
3:21: "Who (the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ) shall       They saw Him no more. Jesus was not bound to
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like        time or place, nor to any earthly bonds as we are.
unto His glorious body, according to the working           He was risen from the dead as conqueror over
whereby He is able to subdue all things unto               death.
Himself. ' '                                                 Jesus looked the same as He did before, and yet
  One thing that becomes evident from this pas-            He was different. When the disciples saw Him they
sage is that the resurrection of Christ gives us di-       could say, "It is the Lord." Yet John explains this
rectives toward understanding our own resurrec-            wonder best when he says, "And none durst ask
tion.                                                      Him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord"
                                                           (John 21:12).
  Our Lord's resurrection was a  bodiZy  resurrec-
tion. The tomb was vacated. The grave clothes that            From this we can conclude that at the resurrec-
had been wrapped around Christ's body lay still in         tion we shall arise in the same body that we now
the same position, but were now an empty mass of           have, even though this body has returned to the
cloth. The earthly body was no longer present. It          dust of the earth. This body will be changed from
was raised.                                                an earthly body to a heavenly body.
  Our Lord arose in the same body in which He had            Paul explains this to us in I Corinthians 15:42-44:
died. We must bear in mind that no one could see           "So also is the resurrection from the dead. It is
the resurrection body of Jesus, for it had become          sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. It is
spiritual and heavenly. In order to help us to under-      sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in
stand the resurrection, our Lord appeared at various       weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural
times  and in  different forms.  Each appearance served    -body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural
to explain something of the wonder of the resurrec-        body and there is a spiritual body."
tion. Jesus appeared to His disciples in a bodily            Beginning with the last statement, we find that


428                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



we now have a natural body, but that this natural             purpose in the new creation among all the saints.
body will be changed into a spiritual body. Accord-           The lame will walk, the blind will see, the deaf will
ing to the original, the natural body is a psychical, a       hear. There will be no semblance of death there.
soul-body. This is of the `earth, earthy. We see
earthly things. We hear earthly sounds. We eat                  Our earthly bodies are sown in corruption and
earthly food and breathe earthly air. We are now              will be raised in incorruption. As a result of sin and
completely bound to this earth. We cannot see                 the curse we lie in the midst of death. How
angels, nor can we see heaven. Even Jesus had to              thoroughly we are reminded of this every moment
appear  to us in some form that we could see,                 of our earthly existence. A mother hovers over her
because we could not see His resurrection body.               infant child concerned whether it is too warm or
When God speaks to us in Scripture of the spiritual           too cold, is fed too little or too much, is threatened
and the heavenly He uses all kinds of earthly                 with this ailment or that infirmity. A thousand
figures, and addresses us in an earthly language.             anxieties and cares flood our weary souls. For death
God even makes the entire earthly creation a pic-             lurks round about us in the form of accidents,
ture (a parable) of the spiritual and the heavenly.           diseases, heart attacks, cancer or some other
For eye cannot see and ear cannot hear the things             danger. The earthly tent of this body is breaking
that are still in store for us beyond the grave.              down, until finally it is completely destroyed by
                                                              death. But in heaven all that is now corruptible will
  That will all be changed. We will receive a real,           be changed to incorruption. "And God shall wipe
heavenly body. We will see with heavenly eyes,                away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no
hear with heavenly ears, and we will eat the                  more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
spiritual Bread and the spiritual Drink, Christ Jesus.        shall there be any more pain: for the former things
We will be fit to live our heavenly life in everlasting       are passed away" (Rev. 21:4).
perfection.                                                     Finally, this present body is sown in dishonor
  Thus it will also be the  same  body. When God              and is raised in glory. In Philippians  3:21 Paul
brought us into being at the time of our conception,          speaks of this present body as a  viZe  body, a body
He gave us our own person, our own individuality,             that belongs to our present humiliation. We think
our own nature, gifts, and talents. He did so even            of Adam and Eve in paradise, as they came forth
with a view to eternity. Not only the same body               from the hand of their Creator, the most exalted of
arises from the grave, but with it our own indivi-            all the earthly creatures, formed in the image and
dual nature, our own gifts and talents. I have an             likeness of God. What a splendid picture of man-
idea that many talents that God has given to us               hood and kingship Adam displayed with his strong,
never come to manifestation here in this life, but            erect body, his muscular arms and skillful hands!
will be fully developed in our resurrection bodies.           What a masterpiece of feminine beauty and devo-
  We will be the same person, yet changed from                tion Eve must have been when God brought her to
the earthly to the heavenly and the spiritual. This           Adam! How perfectly fitted they were to serve God
body is like a seed that is planted in the earth and          with their whole being in love! How shameful
grows into a plant, just as a tulip bulb produces a           when, after the fall, they cover their nakedness
tulip and a grain of wheat produces wheat. This               with fig leaves! Our bodies now often control and
body is sown in weakness and is raised in power.              direct our spirit, instead of our spirit finding a
Now we still bear the weaknesses and imperfec-                ready servant in the body. Our bodies often stand
tions that result from sin. At best, this weak and            in the way, hinder us in our spiritual activities. Our
frail body can exist for 70 or 80 years. We are like          faults and weaknesses become evident in all that
the grass that withers and the flower that fades.             we do and say. We are even forced to bear with one
Our strength is limited. We grow weary and need               another's weaknesses. Only grace gives us the vic-
rest. Our plans are never fully realized, for ulti-           tory over this body of sin and death. How comfort-
mately we are cut off, as it were, by the cold hand           ing to read, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We
of death. This life is but a journey, a pilgrimage that       shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a
serves as a preparation for the real life that is still to    moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
come. But when this mortal body is raised in the              trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
last day it will be raised in  power.  Notice, we will        shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
still be human beings. We will still be dependent             changed!" We will be raised in  gZory. Imagine that!
creatures. Yet we will receive power to live with             No more sin. No more weaknesses resulting from
our whole being, body and soul, to the glory of               sin. No more hindrances from having full and inti-
God. No earthly weaknesses or imperfections will              mate communion of life with God through our Lord
hinder us from giving full expression to all the gifts        Jesus Christ! Our resurrection bodies will be like
and talents God has given us, that in our own indi-           the glorious body of Christ, fit to devote ourselves
vidual and unique way we may serve God's                      with our whole being, in the company of all the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                            429



saints, and in the midst of the new creation to the             True, there are many questions that remain  un-
praise of the glory of God's grace in the Beloved!            answered. But even these questions cannot deprive
We will drink from the Fountain of life and eat of            us of the blessed hope of the saints, for we live by
the Manna of life, Christ Jesus. Our youth will be            faith and not by sight. Our Lord Jesus Christ is able
renewed every day, like an eagle's, to lose  our-             to subdue all things unto Himself, that all glory
selves completely in covenant fellowship with our             may be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
God! That will be glory, glory no end.                        Holy Spirit, world without end! Hallelujah!

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE

       Ephesians - The Church, One in Christ
                                             (Conclusion)
                                                   Rev. J. Kortering


  As the Holy Spirit led Paul to write about the              which the Ephesian Christians have been saved.
unity of the church in Christ, he did so in two               They were dead in sin and walked in the lust of the
ways. First, he explained the unity from a doctrinal          flesh and were children of wrath. The power of
point of view by setting forth God's sovereignty              grace changed this for they were quickened togeth-
over the establishment of the church. In the second           er with Christ and made to sit with Him in heaven-
way, he dealt with the life of the church as she ex-          ly places. This proves that grace is the gift of God
presses her unity in a common bond of faith in                and salvation is by faith not by works. The dead
Christ Jesus.                                                 sinner cannot merit with God (1: l-10). In addition
                                                              to this, he reminds the reader that they were
BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE LETTER                                   Gentiles, uncircumcised, aliens from the covenant,
  1. The introduction ( 1: 1, 2). Paul identifies him-        without hope in the world  (l:ll, 12). Christ
self as an apostle of Christ and addresses the saints         changed this, for by His death on the cross He abol-
in Ephesus as the recipients of this letter.                  ished the wall of separation and reconciled all the
  2. He then explains that the church is united               elect, both Jew and Gentiles, to God by the atone-
only because God has bound the members together               ment. He now comes to preach peace to all be-
in a common faith in Christ  (1:3-3:21). In the               lievers, both Jew and Gentile  (2:13-18). Paul then
doxology of praise to God, he expresses that the              makes a comparison between the temple and the
reason for the church's existence is to give glory to         church. The church united in Christ is the temple of
God. This is true because God predestinated the               God, built on the foundation of the apostles and
church unto the adoption of children and blesses              prophets, Christ Himself the cornerstone. United
them with spiritual blessings in Christ  (1:3-6).  This       by all its parts, it forms a dwelling place for the
adoption is sealed by the redemption through the              Holy God (2:19-22).
blood of Christ and the abounding grace which                    He then introduces the subject of the "mystery."
makes us conscious of our unity in Christ  (1:7-10).          This refers to the revelation of God which was
The saints have a glorious future, for this predesti-         given to Paul to write to the church. It is the pro-
nation guarantees a glorious inheritance. We know             mise of the gospel which is for both Jew and
we will receive this inheritance, for the Holy                Gentile. To send this forth, Paul was called to be a
Spirit's presence is proof (1: 11-14). The apostle            missionary. The church need not faint at the tribu-
prays for the Ephesian saints, giving God thanks for          lation which Paul suffered for the sake of the gospel
them and seeking for them the spirit of wisdom that           (3:1-13).  Paul prays for the Ephesian church that
they may know the hope of their calling, the riches           they may be strong in the love of God, comprehend
of their inheritance, and the great power of God              the magnitude of that love, and then be filled with
which is given to them, the power which is con-               the fulness of God. He expresses a doxology of
centrated in Christ Who is exalted far above all              praise to God (3:14-21).
earthly power and has all things under Him and is                3. This unity now comes to expression in the
the head of the entire church (1: 15-23).                     lives of the membership of the church. Paul gives
  Paul continues to show that salvation is a wonder           detail how this is true in chapters 4-6. He makes the
of grace. This is seen in the spiritual condition from        point that it is the duty of every member of the


430                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



church to keep this unity of the Spirit in the bond of     DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THIS LETTER
peace  (4:1-6).  To do this the members must make             1. The Apostle Paul, under the influence of the
use of the gifts which God has given to each one for       Holy Spirit, presents a well-developed statement
the benefit of all the members. These gifts include        concerning the church. This letter sets forth Christ
the use of special offices by which God causes the         as the Head of the church. He is this not apart from
members to grow up from spiritual children to              the Father; but God, Who is the Father of the
manhood. This marks the spiritual growth of the            universe, is also the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
body in which all the members are properly joined          All spiritual life flows from Christ, as the Head of
(4:7-16).  In order to express this unity, two things      the church, to the members. This is true no matter
must take place. First, they must not walk any             where the church is manifest in the world. In
more as heathen, as uncircumcised Gentiles who             addition to this, he compares the church to the
wallow in sin, but they must put off the old man           bride and to the temple. The point is that the
and its lusts. Then they must be renewed in the            church is living and as such is to exercise the life of
spirit of their minds and put on the new man which         Christ.
after God is created in righteousness and true holi-
ness. This produces spiritual tension which in-              2. Paul deals with the subject of the church from
volves a daily turning from sin and seeking good. It       a mature perspective, which emphasizes the grand
has special significance for the unity of the church,      design God has for the church. Consider a few
for it delivers the believers from bitterness and          examples. The church has its foundation in the
anger and replaces it with kindness and forgive-           eternal plan of God  (1:4-11).  The church includes
ness. By doing this, they will not fill their time with    Jew and Gentile elect from all nations (2: 11-14). For
drunkenness, but redeem it and be spiritually              the sake of the church, God over-rules the whole
minded, even speaking to themselves with psalms,           universe  (1:20-22).  He sees the members of the
hymns, and spiritual songs, giving thanks to God           church reaching the measure of the stature of the
and submitting one to another (4: 17-5:2 1).               fulness of Christ (4: 13).
  Paul now deals with specific situations in which           3. There are no new doctrines or truths taught in
the church should express her unity in Christ. He          this epistle that are not taught in the other writings
fdefines the role of the Christian wife and husband        of Paul. The feature of this epistle is that these
in the home. The wife is exhorted to be in subjec-         truths are brought together in unity in order to
tion to her husband and the husband is instructed          develop a specific subject, that of the church.
to love his wife. The spiritual motivation for both        QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
husband and wife lies in the fact that they are both         1. Give some details about the congregation of
united together in the body of Christ. This spiritual      Ephesus. When was it organized, what was it like to
union affords them the love they need to be faithful       be in such a church within the wicked city of
in marriage  (5:22-33). Children are called upon to        Ephesus?
obey their parents and honor them, while fathers
are warned not to provoke their children to wrath            2. What evidence favors the idea that Paul wrote
(6:1-4).  Servants are instructed to be obedient to        this letter especially for the congregation of
their masters and masters are told to treat servants       Ephesus and not for all the churches of Asia Minor
in the awareness that they themselves are the ser-         in general?
vants of Christ and Christ is their Master  (6:5-g).         3. Show that this epistle must have been sent
Paul then draws a comparison between the Chris-            from Rome while Paul was imprisoned there.
tian who has to fight the battle of faith in the midst       4. How does the fact that Paul wrote this letter
of the world and the Roman soldier. He refers to           from prison add sincerity and significance to this
the nature of the battle (against principalities and       letter?
powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world
and spiritual wickedness in high places). He also            5. Explain how election is considered the heart
makes detailed mention of the Christian armor,             of the doctrine of the church. Show from this
both defensive and offensive. To prevail in this           epistle that Paul considered this to be true.
battle, much prayer must be offered to God for the           6. Prove from Ephesians that the unity of the
members of the church as well as for the apostle           church in Christ should eliminate petty bickering
himself, and, in our day, the ministers and  con-          and division, but does not forbid honest spiritual
sistories (6: 10-20).                                      battle for the sake of the truth. In other words,
  4. As a closing remark, he reveals to them that          show that Paul does not advocate peace at any cost.
Tychicus will acquaint them with the details of his          7. Why was the emphasis on the unity of Jews
personal affairs. He salutes them in Christ and            and Gentiles of special significance for the church
closes with the blessing of the Triune God (6:21-24).      at Ephesus?


                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                    431



   8. Demonstrate from this letter that spiritual                                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
growth in the church begins with personal growth                            The Ladies Aid of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church
in faith by the members, chapter 4.                                       wishes to express its sympathy to a fellow member, Mrs. Gerald
                                                                          Bouwkamp, in the death of her mother, MRS. NELLIE KNOPER.
   9. How does the letter show that doctrine and                             "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them
life cannot be separated? Apply this especially to                        also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." (I Thess.  4:14)
the doctrine and life of the church.
   10. How does the teaching on marriage and                                                      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
home, servant and masters, and the Christian war-                            On July 21, 1982, our loving parents, MR. AND MRS.  ARVIN
fare have bearing on the unity of the church?                             BLEYENBERG,\will celebrate, the Lord willing, their 21st wedding
                                                                          anniversary. We, their children, are sincerely thankful to our Heavenly
                                                                          Father for giving us Christian parents in the Lord. We cannot express
                                                                          enough thanks to them for giving and continuing to give us covenant
                                                                          instruction. We are also grateful for their abundant love and concern
                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                   which they have affectionately shown to us and to each other. It is
                                                                          our prayer that the Lord will continue to guide and uphold them, and
  The members of the Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society of Hope Pro-             also to keep them in His tender loving care.
testant Reformed Church (Walker, MI) express their heartfelt
sympathy to their President, Professor H. Hanko and Mrs. Hanko in                                 Ivan Bleyenberg              Sharon Bleyenberg
the death of her mother, MRS. NELLIE KNOPER.                                                      Lila Bleyenberg              Arlys Bleyenberg
   May the family be comforted by the words of our Lord and
Saviour: "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be
with Me where  I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast                          RESOLUTION OF-SYMPATHY
given Me: for Thou  lovest  Me before the foundation of the world."          The Martha Ladies Aid Society of the Hull, Iowa, Protestant
(John  17:24)                                                             Reformed Church expresses their sincere sympathy to one of our
                                        Mrs. Leon Garvelink, Sec'y.       members, Mrs. Ben Bleyenberg in the passing of her sister, MRS.
                                                                          JOHN R. RENS.

                                                                             "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
            CANDIDATES FOR THE MINISTRY                                   them that fear Him." (Psalm  103:17)
   Having duly examined Mr. Thomas Miersma and Mr. Jon Smith,                                                        Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Pres.
Synod has declared them candidates for the ministry of the Word and                                                  Mrs. Nellie Brummel, Sec'y.
sacraments in the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. These
brothers are eligible for a call on or after July 4, 1982.                                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                            Rev. M. Joostens                 On June 19, 1982, our parents and grandparents, MR. AND MRS.
                                            Synodical  Stated Clerk       CLARENCE PRINCE celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.

                                                                             We their children and grandchildren thank our heavenly Father for
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                     the years of love and Christian guidance they have given us. It is our
   Our parents, MR. AND MRS. GEORGE JOOSTENS, will celebrate,             prayer that our Covenant Father will continue to bless and keep them
the Lord willing, their 35th wedding anniversary on July 9, 1982. We      in His care.
are thankful to our Covenant God for having kept them for each other                                                   Chet and Sharon  Haveman
and us. May they experience God's richest blessings in future years.                                                      Janna and Mike
   "Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon                                                        Doug and Mary Jane Prince
Israel." (Psalm  128:6)                                                                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                           their grateful children and grandchildren,
                              Rev. and Mrs. Meindert Joostens                On June 11, 1982, our parents, REV. AND MRS. J.  KORTERING
                                 Faith, Timothy, Steven,                  celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
                                 Joy, and Paul                               We are grateful to our covenant God for our loving, God-fearing
                              Mr. and Mrs. William Joostens               parents who have provided us a home where we have learned the
                                                                          fear of the Lord. It is our prayer that they may continue to experience
                               NOTICE!!!                                  the blessings of our faithful Father in their remaining years together.
   Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in             "For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth
Doon,  Iowa on September 1, 1982, at  8:30 A.M., the Lord willing.        endureth to all generations." (Psalm  100:5)
Material for the Agenda must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk
thirty days before  Classis convenes. Delegates in need of lodging are         their children and grandchildren
                                                                                                                                  Joann Kortering
to inform the clerk of the  Doon Consistory.                                       Barry and Lori Gritters
                                                                                          Curt                                    Ellen Kortering
                                                  Rev. David Engelsma              Dennis and Sharon Griess                       Carol Kortering
                                                         Stated Clerk                     Cory


                                          Report of Classis East

    Classis  East met in regular session on May 12,                       delegates. Rev. C. Haak chaired this session of
1982 at our Holland Church. Each church, with the                         Classis.
exception of Kalamazoo, was represented by two


  THE STANDARD BEARER
       P.O. Box 6064                               _c_-
Grand Rapids, Michigan  49506-m    eem-emmme-m





432                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


  The business was routine with two exceptions: 1)          since 1953 one does not find that occurring. We
a consistory requested approval for the erasure of a        give God thanks for that fact.
baptized member and 2) the report of the church               Classis adjourned at an early hour. The next
visitors was received. The church visitors reported         meeting of  Classis  East will be held on September
that all was well in the churches. Note was made            8th at our Hope Church.
that 29 years ago (1953) there were strange voices
being heard in the churches just as there had been                                              Respectfully submitted,
29 years before that (1924). Twenty-nine years                                                               Jon Huisken
                                                                                                             Stated Clerk

                           News From Our Churches

  Since our last column, there is much to report            dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.
concerning the activity of our calling churches.            You- must look ahead! You must apply your
Due to the vacancy left by Rev. Koole who, as we            knowledge and achievements in that way-wherein
earlier reported, accepted the call to Redlands, Cali-      God is glorified. Receive our congratulations and
fornia, our Randolph, Wisconsin congregation ex-            God's blessing as you strive to do that!"
tended a call to Rev. Slopsema of our Edgerton,               Speaking of graduations the Seminary and  Pre-
Minnesota church. The following handwritten                 Seminary graduation exercises were held at Faith
sentence at the bottom of a Randolph bulletin               Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan
reveals the response they received, "Rev. Slopsema          on June 8. Seminary graduates, Mr. Thomas
has accepted the call!!!" As a result,  Edgerton  has       Miersma and Mr. Jon Smith, were declared. candi-
formed a trio of Reverends Bekkering, Bruinsma,             dates by our 1982 Synod. Also on that occasion Mr.
and  Houck. Meanwhile Edmonton, Alberta,                    Lau Chin Kwee (student in our seminary for the last
Canada has received a decline to their call to Rev.         two years) was recognized for his labor as a special
Kamps of  Doon,  Iowa; and have since extended              student in our seminary. Incidentally, the day fol-
another call: this one to Rev. Kuiper, pastor of our        lowing graduation Mr. Lau and his wife returned to
Lynden, Washington congregation.                            their beloved brothers and sisters of the Evangelical
           * * *    ***    ***     ***    ***               Reformed Church of Singapore. Finally, the follow-
                                                            ing pre-seminary graduates received diplomas: Mr.
  Nearly all of us, in one way or another, have             Russ Dykstra, Mr. Steve Key, and Mr. Chuck
been affected by graduations in the past month. No          Terpstra.
matter the level of achievement, Rev. Joostens' re-
marks in "Across the Aisle" (monthly newspaper of             Many Standard Bearer readers outside the Grand
our First Church in Grand Rapids) are worthy of             Rapids area will have direct contact with some of
our consideration. "They say, that one picture is           the recent graduates and students of our seminary
worth a thousand words. The Holy Scripture does             this summer: candidate Miersma will be in Edmon-
not have any pictures, but certainly it delineates for      ton, Alberta, Canada; candidate Smith will be in
us some beautiful examples. There was a Moses,              Edgerton, Minnesota, and student Ken Hanko will
who possessed all the learning of the Egyptians and         be in Bradenton, Florida. Prior to student Hanko's
no doubt could have become a Pharaoh in Egypt.              early June arrival, Rev. Lubbers spent several
He, rather than to have all the prestige of Egypt, led      weeks laboring in Bradenton.
God's people home to Canaan. He `esteemed the                            ***    * * *    ***      * * *    * * *
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures          An October, 1981 bulletin of our South Holland,
of Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of
the reward.' I think of an Apostle who sat at the           Illinois church carried this thought for contempla-
feet of Gamaliel and was schooled in all the formal-        tion from Augustine: "Deliver me, Lord, from
ism of the Pharisees. Yet, he counted all loss and          myself."                                                 CK


