   The
STANDARD
 BEARER
    A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                        l





   We maintain that Reformed heritage when we
 study the doctrines of scripture as they are formu-
 lated in our creeds. We maintain that Reformed
 heritage when we study what the leaders' of the
 Reformed faith from the past have said. For this is
 part of the heritage that God has given us. How
 much time.  .do we spend reading the Reformed
 fathers? If that Reformed doctrinal heritage is to
 be maintained we must consciously know it; and
 that is the duty not only of the theologian or
 minister but also of every member of the church.
 Are we in danger of losing our Reformed heritage
 because of the ignorance of so many of our
 people?

                             See "Fundamentalism and
                  our Reformed Heritage" - page  1.85





                                   Volume  LIII, No. 8, January 15, 1977    1
                                               ISSN 0362-4692


170                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                     Semi-monthly. except monthly during June. July. and August.
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                              CONTENTS:                                           Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer  C- Hoeksema
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                                                                                 Rev. Cornelius Hanko. Prof. Herman Hanko. Rev. Robert C.  Harbach.
Meditation  -                                                                    Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. M. Hoeksema. Rev.
                                                                                 George C. Lubbers, Rev.  Meindert  Joostens. Rev.  Marmus  Schipper.
                                                                                 Rev.   Gise J. Van  pren. Rev. Herman  Veldman.  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink.
       TheChangingofOurVileBody . . . . . . . . . . ..170                        Editorial Office:  Prof.  H. C. Hoeksema
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       Clasping a Viper to the Bosom (6) . . . . . . . . .  .173                                            1422 Linwood. S.E.
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MEDITATION



                           The Changing of Our Vile Body
                                                                    Rev. M. Schipper


                 "Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like his glorious body, according
                 to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himselJ " Philippians 3121




  "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence                                  cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose God is
also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ":                              their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind
  So the apostle had written in the verse immediately                              earthly things. The ungodly, therefore, belong here in
preceding our text. And there he is explaining how                                 this present evil world, are under the polity of the
the citizenship of the children of God differs from                              _ prince of darkness, and with the wicked world shall
that of the ungodly. The latter are the enemies of the                             be destroyed in both soul and body.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  171



  How different is it with the children of God!              our humiliation, looks simply at the effect of sin
  Their kingdom, under whose polity they are                 upon the body, not at the cause. It is true, of course,
governed, is the kingdom of heaven. Their God is the         that our bodies are vile and corrupt. Death with all its
one only true God. Their glory is the glory of Christ        attending circumstances is always working in them,
in heaven. Their end is everlasting salvation in soul and    and this vileness and corruption becomes most evi-
body.                                                        dent when death has finished its work.
  Because this is so, the real life of the children of         But the apostle says something more significant
God is in heaven. That's where their citizenship is. As      than this. He is speaking of the body of our low
the apostle in another place states it: They are risen       estate, or the body of our humiliation. And this
with Christ, and seek the things above, where Christ         implies the fall. And the fall implies a higher estate.
sitteth on the right hand of God. Their life is hid with     Hence, we have a body which once stood in a high
Christ in God. (Col. 3: l-3).                                estate. As one of the articles of faith expresses the
  Strictly speaking, therefore, the children of God do       truth concerning fallen man (Article  14), "Being in
not belong here in the present evil world. And so long       honor he understood it not, neither knew his ex-
as they are here, they are marked as aliens. If they         cellency, but willingly subjected himself to sin and
walk as strangers and pilgrims in the world, their           consequently to death and the curse," so it was. As
presence here may be denied them. Either the world           an imagebearer of God man was able to reflect the
will see to it that they have no place for the sole of       image of God in a creatural way, and this, too, in
their feet; or, God, Who is the King over the citizens       body and soul. But through sin he is fallen into a low
of heaven, may call His subjects into His everlasting        estate. He now possesses a body which has been truly
heavenly kingdom.                                            humbled, in which the curse of death reigns.
  They belong to heaven, and to heaven they must               The reality of this awful humiliation is always so
go!                                                          much in evidence. The curse of death follows each
  But the question arises: How could they ever dwell         one from the cradle to the grave. Our Reformed
in the heavenly homeland the way they are?                   Fathers sensed this awful reality when they in-
  Imagine for a moment that suddenly they should             corporated in the prayer before infant baptism these
be transported to heaven as they are. Would they not         words: "that they may, with a comfortable sense of
feel themselves also there as aliens?                        thy favor, leave this life which is nothing but a con-
  0, it is true, that in principle they possess the new      tinual death. . .  ." In our scientific age mothers are
life of Christ in their hearts, which life is heavenly       exhorted by the medical profession to take good care
and eternal as it is immortal. But do they not have          of their babies even before they are born. And what
                                                             conscientious mother will not be willing to spend
this life in a body which is both earthly and corrupt?       sleepless nights watching at the infant's crib after it is
The eyes of their earthly bodies, which are adapted          born and shows the least sign of sickness? And what
only to the earthly scene, could never sparkle with
the delight of beholding the glories of heaven. Their        begins with the infant continues throughout one's
ears, which are adapted only to the sounds that are          entire life-span. The multitude of medical journals
peculiar to the earth, never would allow them to             and books which are published annually, the myriads
sense the lyric strains of the angelic realm and the         of hospitals and health clinics which mushroom all
hallelujah chorus of the redeemed. The mind of the           about us are stark evidences of the reality of the
flesh is both earthly and carnal, and could not              humiliation of the body. All you have to do is sit in
appreciate the glory of heaven. Fact of the matter is,       the waiting room of Cook County Hospital in
the body in which the saints now dwell would only            Chicago for  a'half a day, and you will leave with the
be in their way, and deny them the privilege of seeing       thought that the whole world is sick and dying. No
and hearing the beauties and joys of the heavenly            closer does the reality come to us than when we
kingdom.                                                     behold the sickness and death of one who is very
                                                             dear to us. Perhaps it started already when he or she
  What then?                                                 was young. You took them from one doctor to an-
  The apostle furnishes the answer in the words of           other, but no one seemed to know the cause of the
our text.                                                    fevers. You listen to this neighbor and that friend
  Who shall change our vile body . . . !                     who heard of a very special doctor many miles away.
                                                             So you take your beloved to see him. He sends you
  The Lord Jesus Christ; the Saviour, Who has gone           home with nothing positive and a packet of pills. At
into heaven, from whence also we look for Him  - He          last your beloved gives up and informs you it is all for
it is that will bring about the change in respect to our     nought. You also give up, and sit there watching him
bodies.                                                      pine away and die. And then you bring him to his
  Our vile body, or, better translated, the body of          grave, where the work of humiliation is completed.


172                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


  The humiliation of our bodies is not complete until        the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall change us into the
death and the grave have done their work, until all          glory which Christ now possesses.
that was earthly has completely dissolved, when the            `Glorious change!
body returns to the dust from whence it came.
                                                               The glory of which must be seen in the sharp con-
  Such is the end of the body of our humiliation!            trast between what we have now, and what we will
  Awful reality!                                             become.
  But necessary it is for the change that must take            Paul writes of this drastic change in his extended
place with respect to all the children of God. For           dissertation on the resurrection (I Cor. 15). "So also
flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of             is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corrup-
heaven.                                                      tion; it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dis-
  The humiliation of the body, however, is not the           honor; it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is
end, but the beginning.                                      raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised
                                                             a spiritual body. For this corruptible must put on
  The beginning of a glorious change!                        incorruption, and this mortal must put on immor-
  We look for the Saviour from heaven, our Lord              tality. So when this corruptible shall have put on
Jesus Christ, Who shall change the figure of our             incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immor-
humiliated body, that is, Who will fashion anew the          tality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is
body of our humiliation that it may conform to the           written: Death is swallowed up in victory."
body of His glory.                                             Such is indeed the change we look for with respect
  Such is the plain teaching of our text.                    to the bodies of the children of God that have been
  Earlier in this epistle  (2:6-l  l), the apostle had       planted in the earth. And if you are concerned about
written concerning the Lord Jesus Christ in terms            the bodies of those who shall be yet alive when the
very similiar to those he uses in our text. "Who being       Saviour comes, the apostle also offers an explanation
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to `be            for that. "Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not
equal with God; but made himself of no reputation,           all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was             the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
made in the likeness of men:       and being found in        trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in-
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became             corruptible, and we shall be changed."
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.              . . . according to the working whereby He is able
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted l-rim, and            even to subdue all things unto Himself.
given him a name which is above every name: that at            The resurrected and glorified Saviour has received
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;     energizing power to accomplish the change.
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus                Yes, He has received such great power that He is
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Note         enabled to put in subjection all things. Nothing is
how He Who exists in the form of God took on Him             excluded from this subjection. All men, angels, and
the form of a servant, in which form He humbled              devils are made subject unto Him. All the powers in
Himself even to the death of the cross. And  when.you        the creation, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth
read that God highly exalted Him, you must under-            - all are under His dominion and power.
stand that in human nature He is again changed in              And therefore also our bodies!
form.                                                          And so we may safely entrust our bodies to the
  The apostle Peter informs us (II Pet. 1:  16ff) that he    grave, in the hope of the complete change at the
and other apostles were with Christ in the Mount of          moment of His parousia.
Transfiguration where they saw a prefigurement of              Blessed confidence!
the glory Christ would receive when He had first               Glorious Saviour!
suffered the death of the cross, a glory that was so
dazzling that they could not bear to look upon it. It          Heavenly and eternal glory!
was the glory of His resurrected and ascended body
which He now possesses at God's right hand.
  Into that glory must the body of our. humiliation
be changed.                                                       KNOW THE STANDARD AND FOLLOW IT.
                                                                        READ THE STANDARD BEARER                     I
  The apostle in the preceding context aspired to
attain to that glory  (vss.8-11). And in our text the
apostle with the church expects it. We look to the
heavens for the parousia, the coming of the Saviour,         i


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       173


EDITORIALS





                             Clasping a Viper to the Bosom
                                                            (6)
              Reformed Thought on the Sbament of Baptism
                                                   Pro5 H.C. Hoeksema



CLASPING  A VIPER TO THE BOSOM                                        2. He denies that vs. 13 refers to the persons of
  In  this installment we continue our critique of the             Jacob and Esau. He always wants to minimize any
views of Dr. A.  K&rig, of South Africa, with respect              personal predestination and to stress instead the elec-
to the doctrine of sovereign reprobation. He pays                  tion and rejection of nations. But, in the first place,
special attention to various passages in Romans  .9; and           this is plainly contrary to the passage in Romans and,
in his treatment of these passages he makes it very                in fact, to the whole purpose of Romans. The con-
plain that he wants nothing of the sovereign reproba-              cern here is exactly with the fact that many  in-
tion which is so plainly taught here.                              dividuals  among the Jews (the vast majority of them)
  `As might be expected, attention is given to                     are outside of Christ. Not only that, but the apostle
Romans 9 : 1 O-l 3 : "And not only this; but when                  Paul quotes Malachi exactly in confirmation of God's
Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our                     election of Jacob and reprobation of Esau. And even
father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born,                in Malachi, which admittedly is concerned with the
neither having done any good or evil, that the pur-                nations of Edom and Israel, the primary reference is
pose of God according to election might stand, not of              nevertheless to the persons of Jacob and Esau. It is
works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her,             evident, however, that Dr. Konig wants nothing of
The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,               the individual and sovereign reprobation of Esau.
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."                           3. Later in the discussion of Romans 9 Dr. Konig
  Here is what Dr. Konig says about this passage:                  boldly denies that the salvation of Jacob and Esau
      Immediately Paul follows with another example to             was at stake in this sovereign action of God: "In
   point out once more that God freely chooses the real            Rom. 9:6-17 the  salvation  of Pharaoh is no issue at
   (true) Israel. Even before twins were born to Rebec-            all, but this passage is concerned with their  place and
    ca, God, contrary to the custom, chose the younger             fzAnction  in the history of salvation, i.e. the place they
   above the elder (v. lo-13), and this He confirmed by            take in the history in which God reveals Himself unto
    distinguishing the peoples who proceeded from them.            the salvation of all nations  - the history which cul-
   Verse 13 no longer refers to the persons of Jacob and           minates in the birth of Jesus Christ. When God
   Esau, as is clear from Mal. 1:24 from which v. 13 is            sovereignly chooses between Isaac and Ishmael, it
    quoted. In Malachi "Edom" (v. 4) is the nation that            does not mean that Isaac will be saved or Ishmael
   proceeded from Esau, and Jacob is Israel.                       lost, but it does mean that God's covenant people will
  In the next paragraph he goes on to speak of the                 proceed from Isaac and not from Ishmael. The same
principle which motivates the Lord in His decision;                applies to Jacob and Esau. Their  salvation  i's  not at
but he speaks in this connection only of the motive                stake, only their place and function in the history of
of election, not of reprobation.                                   salvation. The same applies to Pharaoh." (pp.  30,3 1)
  Notice the following in connection with the above                How it is possible to make a statement like this in the
quotation:                                                         light of the fact that the whole concern of this
                                                                   chapter is with the fact that many of Paul's brethren
  1. Dr.  Kijnig is completely silent with respect to              according to the flesh were not saved and that all of
the hatred of Esau.                                                the apostle's argumentation is addressed to this fact is


174                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


a riddle to me. But Dr.  K&rig simply makes loose                   on whom he will have mercy, and whom he  will he
statements, without ever offering any Scriptural and                hardeneth." What does this hardening of "whom he
exegetical proof.                                                   will" become in the above quotation? It becomes
  When it comes to the example of Pharaoh in                        dependent on  Pharaoh's  sovereign will: "If Pharaoh
Romans 9: 17-18, it becomes abundantly plain that                   is not willing to listen, . . . God will harden him."
Dr.  Konig simply wants nothing of God's sovereignty                And do not forget that by every rule of hermeneutics
with respect to reprobation and hardening. This is all              Dr. Kdnig must explain the first clause of vs. 18 in
the more strange in the light of the fact that he  seems            the same way, and make God's mercy dependent on
to want to hold on to the sovereignty of God's                      those who are willing to accept that mercy. For the
mercy. Referring to vss. 15, 16, he writes (p. 29):                 very same statement is made about mercy as about
"Paul then quotes a word of the LORD to Moses: `I                   hardening: "He hath mercy on whom he will . . .  ."
will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will                      3. Notice that in the light of Dr. Konig's explana-
have compassion on whom I have compassion', and                     tion, the question of the objector in vs. 19 makes no
he then concludes that election does not depend on                  sense and would, in fact, never be raised: "Thou wilt
any merit on man's behalf, but exclusively on God's                 say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For
mercy." However, he does not and will not make the                  who hath resisted his will?" This, you understand, is
same statement with respect to  hardening,  which is                the age-old argument that if you maintain God's
spoken of in the same terms in the same context,                    sovereignty in reprobation and hardening, you must
"Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have                       give up the responsibility of man and the  fault  or
mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth," (v. 18).                     blame,  of sin. But this question makes absolutely no
What happens to this passage in Dr.  K&-rig's  treat-               sense  - and it will not be asked  - on the basis of a
ment? Note the following, pp.  29,30:                               conditional reprobation and hardening.
          God is so completely free in His election that He           As might be expected, Dr. Konig must engage in
       can even allow one, who by his own obduracy and sin          considerable exegetical gymnastics in order to escape
       deserves to be delivered to perdition (via Pharaoh), to      the plain teachings of Romans  9:2 l-23 : "Hath not
       continue in order to show His power and glory to His         the potter power over the clay, of the  same lump to
       chosen people, Israel (v. 17, 20-23). This example
       becomes more meaningful when one keeps in mind               make one vessel unto honour, and another unto  dis-
       that Rom. 9: 17 is a quotation from Exod. 9:16, and          honour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and
       refers to God's allowing Pharaoh to recover and to           to make his power known, endured with much  long-
       continue  after the first six of the plagues, although he    suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
       deserved to die. God's dealings with Pharaoh are not         And that he might make known the riches of his
       primarily aimed against his person or his royal office,      glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had  afore
       but against his continued resistance after the first         prepared unto glory."
       plagues. Rom. 9: 17 could also be translated: `For this
       very reason I let you rise again' (viz from the preced-        `Conveniently,  fast of all, the writer simply omits
       ing plagues).                                                all reference to the figure of the potter and the clay
                                                                    and of his power to make of the same lump one vessel
          Verses 18-21 state God's  freedom  to choose blunt-       unto honor and another unto dishonor. This, as we
       ly. He is God. He works teleological, i.e. to achieve
       His                                                          shall see, is a serious omission: for it leads Dr.  Kiinig
               purpose. In this, Pharaoh cannot thwart Him. If
       Pharaoh is not willing to listen, to allow the people to     to deny that the vessels of wrath are fitted unto
       depart, and thus to become serviceable to the honour         destruction by God Himself, as the sovereign Potter.
       of God, God will harden him, will allow him to offer         In the second place, he conveniently makes (quite in
       resistance, and yet He will lead forth His people in         accord with his desire to speak of nations rather than
       order to show that He is stronger than Pharaoh (v.           individuals) the vessels of wrath mean unbelieving
       17)."                                                        Israel and the vessels of mercy mean the Gentiles who
  A comparison of the above with the text in                        have come to the faith. But the context does not do
Romans 9: 17 and with the entire history recorded in                this; it speaks of "us, whom he hath called, not of the
Exodus 4-12 should be sufficient to convince anyone                 Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." But notice how
able to read that Dr.  K&rig is far off base here. But              he twists the passage at a very crucial point:
let me briefly point out three items:                                      . . . But  - and this is the striking turn he takes
                                                                        when he deals with salvation - the "vessels of wrath"
  1. The suggested substitute translation of Dr.                        are not instantly destroyed, but like Pharaoh, they
K&-rig cannot stand, either in the light of the Hebrew                  are  endured with much patience. (But the patience,
text of Exodus 9: 16 or the Greek text of Romans                        or longsuffering, in this passage does not refer to the
9:17.                                                                   vessels of wrath; it refers to the vessels of mercy. God
                                                                        endures, or forbears, the vessels of wrath in His long-
   2. Verse 18 speaks of a hardening which is as                        suffering toward the vessels of mercy. HCH) Notice
sovereign  as God's mercy: "Therefore hath he mercy                     that v. 22 does not say that God has prepared these


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   175


      "vessels of wrath" for destruction (something which              it must needs follow that being elect, as well as being
      is said of the "vessels of mercy" in v. 23, though), but         non-elect, is also of man's determination. Man is on
      mentions "the vessels of wrath made for (fitted unto,            the throne, and God is humbly bowing before Al-
      HCH) destruction." This can also be translated by
      (note. this, HCH): "who (through their disobedience              mighty Man!
      and sin) are ripe/ready for destruction". It is their               If this poison is not dealt with promptly in the
      own fault that they are objects of wrath, not God's              South African church  - if it is not already too late  -
      eternal and unalterable predestination. It could not             it will surely be fatal to the Reformed churches there.
      be otherwise, for Paul is not dealing with "people" in                                                                       I
      an abstract-theoretic way, but with Israel in a cbn-             REFORMED THOUGHT ON THE SACRAMENT
      Crete and practical way - and Israel is the chosen
      people who by their own fault, viz by their rejection            OF BAPTISM
      of the Messiah, ended `up outside of the church and
      rejected.  That against which Israel has been cautioned            In connection with our discussion of the sub-
      in the Old Testament, now happens, viz that God                  ject of Baptism on the Mission Field we wish to
      would reject the chosen people. (p. 31)                          present  also the views of various Reformed theolo-
     Notice again that at every point where Scripture                  gians. We do this not because the views of Reformed
speaks of the work of God in reprobation, Dr.  K&rig                   dogmaticians may be determinative of our stand: our
very deliberately changes the plain teaching of Scrip-                 standard must be Scripture and the Confessions. But
ture. It simply is not true  that the words in question                these views are important from this viewpoint, that as
can be translated by, or even paraphrased by: "who                     a general  rule our thinking ought to stand in the
                                                                       Reformed tradition; and when our views do not
(through their disobedience and sin) are ripe/ready                    coincide with that of Reformed theologians generally,
for destruction." This is nothing less than a deliberate
changing of the teaching of Holy, Scripture. This is                   this should at least cause us to pause and to examine
                                                                       our position very, very carefully, in order to make
especially true in the light of the reference in verse 21              certain that our position  - as over against theirs  - can
to the potter who makes vessels unto dishonor. The                     stand the test of Scripture and the Confessions.
"fitted unto destruction" can only refer to an action
of the Divine Potter.                                                    It might be objected that these theologians were
     If there is left any doubt as to whether Dr.  Kijnig              not concerned with and were not faced by the prob-
denies sovereign reprobation, the following state-                     lem of baptism on the mission field. In some cases
ments will remove that doubt:                                          this is true; in others it is not true. And even so, the
         . . .He does not elect because of any merit on the            objection is not valid. For, in the first place, in some
      part of man, but He rejects because of sin, dis-                 instances they set forth principles which can well be
      obedience and hardening on the part of man. The                  applied to the concrete issue in question. And, in the
      cause of election resides in God, the cause of re-               second place,  - as is also plain from their writings  -
      jection in man. (p. 56)                                          they were indeed aware of the very same passages of
-        . . . The inequality between election and rejection           Scripture which speak of various baptisms in the New
      is of utmost importance. The testimony of the Bible              Testament.
      is, clear. According to Matt. 25:3146 God has pre-
      pared for his sheep a kingdom to inherit porn the                  Our first quotation is from Dr. H. Bavinck. And
     foundation  of the world (v. 34). When He comes to                part of its significance lies in the fact that Dr. Bavinck
      the goats, however, He - with due respect - sits with            makes a direct reference to the subject of baptism on
      His hands in His hair not knowing what to do with                the mission field, makes a single exception in this
      them, because He has not prepared a place for them               regard, but limits it to baptism on the heathen mis-
      from the foundation of the world. Then He sends
      them (as an emergency measure!) "into the eternal                sion field. Following is a translation of  Gerefor-
      fire prepared for the  devil and his angels".  Ex-               meerde Dogmatiek, IV, pp. 585,586:
      pressions like "hands in His hair" and "an emergency
      measure" are not meant to infringe upon the glory                  "Therefore there is also no reason to depart from
      and sovereignty of God (But they do, and they are                the apostolic usage and to allow the administration of
      blasphemous. HCH), but are intended to shed light                baptism in instances of need by persons other than
      upon the radical difference between election and                 the ministers of the congregation. In connection with
      reprobation. The same situation is found in Rom.            *    this, the Reformed also took the position that
      9:22, 23, which has already been dealt with. God has             baptism should be administered consistently in the
      not determined the "objects of wrath" beforehand;                midst of the congregation. Although in the New
      they are "prepared" not only by God but by their                 Testament the administration of baptism took place
      own sins. On the contrary, He has prepared "the
      objects of mercy" to enjoy glory. (pp. 59,60)                    everywhere where there was water, Matthew  3:6,
                                                                       John  3:23, Acts  8:36, it nevertheless soon became
     But if reprobation is of man's determination, then                the usage, when the believers obtained their own


176                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


meeting places, to have baptism take place in these.         be administered with the Word openly in the con-
Nevertheless, exceptions were made in instances of           gregation. For the sacrament is always united with the
need; in wintertime, in case of sickness, for princes        Word; Christ Himself has connected the administra-
and honorable persons, and the administration of             tion of baptism with that of the Word, Matthew
baptism in private dwellings was permitted. This is          28: 19. In the case of the planting of the church
certainly in conflict with the general rule which must       among a non-Christian population baptism can, in the
obtain in the church. Although there are instances           nature of the case, not immediately take place in the
conceivable in which the administration of baptism           midst of the gathering of believers. But as soon as this
may take place in homes, they cannot be and may              is present, the administration of the Word and of the
not be anything else than the great exception, are not       sacrament must be transferred to the congregation,
up to the judgment of the minister of the Word alone,        for they are a constituent part of the public worship
but that of the entire consistory, and also then             service and a property of the congregation. Thus in
demand that the administration should not take place         apostolic times communion was celebrated in the
except in the presence of the consistory. For the            midst of the congregation, I Corinthians  11:20.  And
administration of the sacrament is not a matter of the       thus it is no less proper that this take place with
building, but indeed a matter of the gathering of the        baptism, which after all, is precisely a figure of the
congregation. The sacrament is a constituent part of         ingrafting into Christ and His church, I Corinthians
the public worship service, is a benefit which has been      12: 13, and therefore most properly is administered in
bestowed by Christ on His church, and must therefore         the public gathering of believers."

SIGNS OF THE TIMES



                                     Spiritual Coldness
                                                    Rev. H. Veldman



  In our preceding article (see Nov. 15,  1976), we          described as beginning at the time John sees this
concluded with a reference.  to Matt.  24: 12:  "A& be-      vision, `which indicates that this millennium is  not to
cause iniquity shall abound, the love of many' shall         be viewed as a period lying in the future, would one
wax cold." These words appear in a chapter in which          not expect the Saviour to mention it in these chapters
the Saviour speaks of His coming throughout the              of Matthew? He is speaking here of the end of all
ages. In this twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew the           things. He is speaking here of the things that must
Lord speaks of the end of all things. And  .He con-          occur before His final return upon the clouds of
tinues this description in the chapter that follows,         heaven. Surely, if the premillennarians are correct in
concluding that chapter with the awesome' scene of           their view of a peace reign of one thousand years the
His return upon the clouds of heaven.                        Lord would mention it here. He speaks of so many
                                                             signs of His final coming. And, yet, there is no
  In that preceding article we also called attention to      mention whatsoever of such a view in these chapters
the error of the premillennarians. We consider this to       of Matthew. Is this not striking? This is merely an-
be a very serious error. These premillennialists speak of    other indication that this view of the premillennarians
a millennium, a period of one thousand years. In this        has no support in the infallible Word of God. Indeed,
millennium, which will occur after the great tribulation     how striking it is that in this wonderful discourse,
from which the faithful will be delivered because            which began when the Lord left Jerusalem with His
Christ will take them to Himself in the air immedi-          disciples during that Passion Week, and they, coming
ately before it is visited upon the earth, Jesus will        out of the holy city, saw the rays of the setting sun
reign one thousand years in Jerusalem and there will         upon the buildings of the temple, the Saviour does
be peace upon the earth. Apart now from the fact             not in any sense refer to a future millennium of peace
that this expression, "a thousand years," appears only       upon the face of the earth!
once in the scriptures (Rev.  20), and that in this
chapter of Rev. 20 these one thousand years are                 It is in verse 12 of this wonderful twenty-fourth


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               177


chapter of Matthew that the Lord declares that the          fulfilled but the words of the false prophet did not
love of many shall wax cold. In verse 2 the Saviour         come to pass. These false prophets shall deceive
had spoken of the destruction of the temple at Jeru-        many, lead many astray. And then, because iniquity or
salem. This would occur, we know, in 70 A.D., when          lawlessness shall abound, the love of many shall wax
the holy city would be surrounded and destroyed by          cold.
the Romans. And then the disciples ask the Lord con-          How true this is today! How many there are today
cerning the end of the world and what would be the          who claim to speak in Christ's name, saying, "I am
signs of  His coming. Jesus replies that many would         Christ,?' or, "here is Christ." Of course they say this!
come in His name, saying, "I am Christ," and shall          Imagine if our modern revivalists, our so-called gospel
deceive many. And we shall hear of wars and  rumours        preachers, would deny that they speak in the name of
of war. However, we need not be troubled, inasmuch          Christ. This would be the end of their revival meet-
as all these things must come to pass before                ings. But now they claim to speak in His name and to
the final end of all things. To these signs of              be busy in His work. However, we shall know them
false Christs and of wars and  rumours of war the Lord      by their speech. It is surely true of them.what was
also adds in verse 7 the signs of famines, pestilences,     said to Simon Peter, according to Matt.  26:73: "for
and earthquakes.                                            thy speech bewrayeth thee." How many there are
   Then, beginning in verse 9, we read of the afflic-       today  ;who claim to prophesy and speak in Jesus'
tion that will be inflicted upon the church of God.         name. How spectacular these revival meetings are!
The people of the Lord shall be delivered up to be          Bands  !and orchestras and soloists and professional
afflicted, and they shall be killed. God's people will      sports heroes are all engaged in the task of the spread-
be hated of all nations for "My name's sake." This         ing of the gospel. Millions of dollars are spent in these
hatred of the people of God will be universal, and we      revival'meetings. How they are advertised! What huge
are reminded of what we read in Rev.  13:7: "And it        preparations are made to assure their success! These
was given unto. him to make war with the saints, and       preparations require months and months and months.
to overcome them: and power was given him over all         A greater nonsense is inconceivable. How unnecessary
kindreds, and tongues, and nations." In those days,        and absurd are all these activities! All these bands and
the Saviour continues, many shall be offended, and         orchestras and soloists cannot bring a single sinner to
shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.      Jesus, cannot prevail upon one single sinner to repent
How this prophecy of the Lord was fulfilled through-       and turn unto the Lord. This repentance is exclusively
out the ages, also in the days when the Netherlands        the work of God's grace and Spirit. Besides, these  so-
were  subjecte.d to the horrible persecution and tor-      called gospel preachers lack one thing: the gospel.
ture inflicted upon them by the Spanish inquisition!       And this is a very vital lack. They proclaim a gospel
Many will be  .offended, will be caused to stumble and     that can be written upon a thumb nail, and which
fall. Even as Jesus' disciples were offended because of    centers in the free will of a sinner. Finally, all this
what Jesus had told them concerning his approaching        modern sensationalism is utterly absurd because
suffering and death, inasmuch as they were carnal and      Christ is well able to gather His own. The growth and
therefore not receptive to this instruction of their       development of the kingdom of Christ and of heaven,
Lord (later, of course, they were led by the Spirit in-    the gathering of the Church of God (see the parables
to this mystery of the kingdom of God and of heav-         of the sower, the tares among the wheat, the mustard
en); so also many will be offended in the days where-      seed, and of the leaven  - Matt. 13) are to be ascribed
of the Saviour is speaking here in Matt. 24. The perse-    elusively  to the seed, the mighty, living Word of God,
cution of God's people will serve to reveal these          as  God! only can speak it, and which we hear through
others, bring them out into the open as enemies of         the preaching of the gospel. Indeed, of all these  so-
God and of His kingdom. Indeed, appearing as people        called gospel preachers, these pseudo-preachers who
of God, they will now reveal themselves, be offended,      claim to speak in Christ's name, it is surely true that
stumble and fall, reveal themselves as hating the name     their speech betrays them. They can be recognized
of Christ. This is surely the crux of the matter. The      for what they truly are through the Holy Scriptures.
people of God will be hated for "My name's sake."          Know the scriptures, and you will be able to recog-
The'servant is not greater than his master. They hated     nize these false prophets. They have always been pres-
Him; they will also hate His disciples and servants.       ent, even throughout the ages. But they are especially
                                                           present: today. Today they abound. Our modem
  Indeed, many false prophets shall rise, and shall        church  <world is full of them.
deceive many. This has been true throughout the              And the love of many shall wax cold. That the love
ages. There were false prophets throughout the Old         of many shall wax cold is, according to verse 12,
Dispensation. The distinction between a true and           because iniquity shall abound. This word, "iniquity,"
false prophet in the Old Dispensation (see Deut. 18:       is literally: lawlessness. This same word appears in
19-22) was that the words of the true prophet were         passages such as Matt.  7:23,  13:41,   23:28. In the


178                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



light of these several passages, this "lawlessness" does      dox. They pride themselves in this, too. They resent
not necessarily refer to outward forms of lawlessness,        it if you accuse them of being unorthodox. They
however prevalent this type of lawlessness may be in          claim to love the church of God. They are so busy in
our present day and age. Indeed, the workers of this          the things of God and His kingdom and covenant.
lawlessness, according to these passages, may very            They busy themselves in missions. They claim to be
well appear as the elite of society. They are lawless in      Calvinistic, and they claim that we must be the light
the sense that the law of God is not in all their hearts      of the world and the salt of the earth. They are busy
and minds; they are ungodly, haters of God and of             in so many things. Jesus also speaks of them in His
His Christ. Besides, we must bear in mind that this           Sermon on the Mount, in a passage such as Matt.
abounding in lawlessness must be understood in the            7:21-23.  Here the Saviour speaks of those who call
light of what we read in verses 10 and 11. Indeed, as         upon Him as their Lord. They also prophesy in His
the people of God shall be delivered to be afflicted          name, cast out devils in His name, do many wonder-
and be killed because they will be hated for Jesus'           ful works in  His name. They claim to love the cause
sake; and as, therefore, many shall be offended, shall        of God and of His Christ and of His kingdom. And
stumble and fall, and reveal themselves, because of           yet, their love has waxed cold. How little they are
persecution, as they truly are, and that therefore the        interested in the truth! It is impossible to engage
distinction between the true people of God and the            them in any discussion of God's Word and of  His
pseudo people of God who merely appeared as such              truth. In fact, they really do not care how the truth is
will become very evident, the love of many shall wax          denied, how the fundamental foundations of the
cold. Of course, this cannot mean that their love will        church are being shaken and undermined. Scripture's
really wax cold. It may be true that, as far as the           infallibility is being questioned and denied, divorce
people of God are concerned, their love can and will          and remarriage are becoming increasingly common,
revive. But, love cannot wax cold. Love is a gift of          the merger of churches is being discussed without em-
God that will remain forever. That the love of these          phasizing their differences. It appears that they could
will wax cold refers to the love they professed.  Their       not care less. Such indifference and coldness charac-
love will wax cold. The true love they never pos-             terize our present day and age, the church as it exists
sessed. Love is from God and it can never fade away.          nominally today. These "believers" are spiritually
This refers to the love which they professed to have.         cold and indifferent. This is what the Word of God
It waxes cold.                                                calls the Great Apostasy. How prevalent today is this
  How strikingly true this applies to our present day         terrible phenomenon! Let us beware, be sober, watch-
and age! Indeed, there are so many today whose                ful unto prayer. This sign speaks of the imminent
names are enrolled upon the church rolls. They are            return of Jesus Christ, our Lord. May we lift up our
members of the church. They pride themselves in that          heads and through all these phenomena expect our
fact. And today there are many who claim to love the          Saviour from heaven, the Son of God, Who will then
truth, that they are completely and thoroughly  ortho-        deliver us completely from the wrath to come.

IN HIS FEAR


                                           Pure Religion
                                                    Rev. M. Joostens


   James is pre-eminently the apostle who deals with          works from a different viewpoint. Paul's emphasis is
good works from a practical, everyday point of view.          this, that our righteousness is never based upon our
He always speaks of good works as a vital and neces-          works but only upon the merit of the Savior. James,
sary function in our lives  - so vital and necessary,         in perfect agreement, points out that having the
that it is basic to our salvation. This is not to say, you    righteousness of Christ through faith must needs
understand, that James makes works a condition unto           become manifest in our walk, and this in the way of
salvation. This is far from the truth. There is no dis-       good works.
crepancy between Paul and James, although some                  To speak bluntly, the message of James is that
think so. The misunderstanding is that it is not under-       theory and practice cannot be divorced. If we profess
stood that both James and Paul approach the idea of           to be Christians and to know the truth of salvation,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     179



yet we do not manifest this in works of thanksgiving,        aliens. Always we are strangers. This is exactly why
then we are liars. Faith, of its inherent character,         our lives are filled with opposites. It makes no differ-
must produce good works.                                     ence which aspect of our lives we may bring under
   Within the scope of this main emphasis of James,          observation, it is always a question of the truth
we want to explore religion. You say this is very            against the lie, the Kingdom or mammon, God or the
broad, and I agree. Yet this need not dissuade us in         Devil, the Word of God overagainst the words of men.
any way, since James by the inspiration of the Spirit        It is materially no different now than it was at the
has the knack of infiltrating this principle so as to        beginning. Even Adam was called to live antithetically
expose its inner and deepest principle. I have in mind       with regard to the two trees in the garden. And the
the passage which is always much on my mind and              opposites in our life are absolute! He who is a friend
very familiar, I am sure, to all of you. James  1:27:        of the world is God's enemy. Christ tells us that we
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the              cannot serve God and mammon. Sometimes we
father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in        imagine that there is some kind of a mutual ground to
their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from         be found. But, there is no life style that pleases both
the world." Extreme is the simplicity of these words;        Satan and God. It is impossible to be of the world
but at the same time their depth and calling are over-       and still maintain a  backdoor entrance into heaven.
whelming.                                                    Religion must be pure and undefiled!
   What is religion? There are many books on my                 James is quite emphatic about this antithetical
shelf that bear that title, and yet more that attempt        principle. We must be pure in our religion by keeping
to illucidate the concept. But James sounds an               ,ourselves unspotted from the world. This implies, and
awesome warning to us. Religion not in the eyes of           this we ought to understand, that the world has the
men nor according to their vacillating standard but          characteristic of being able to spot and taint the child
"before God and the father." I emphasize this so we          of God with its colors. The world has a tendency
may take the proper approach. to our subject.  Ofttimes      toward rubbing off on us if we associate and partici-
we have pious thoughts regarding religion, and even          pate in its customs and ways. This is, of course, not
pride ourselves in various religious activities. We must     so strange,  .because the principle of the world is sin.
put all this from us, because we stand before the face       This terrible principle is engrained in their very nature
of God and are subject to His criterion as we discover       and motivates and propels them in all their life and
religion.                                                    activity. The world stands outside of the sphere of
   Pure and undefiled religion, according to the             God's grace! We can just imagine what happens to us
standard of the Almighty, says James, is "to keep            when we engage ourselves with the world. We have
oneself unspotted from the world." True religion,            our own sinful flesh to reckon with at all times. And
therefore, is antithetical in nature. We must under-         our flesh loves the ways of the world; it loves the
stand "world" here as referring to the domain of  t-he       excitement of sin and corruption. And soon sin leaves
prince of the power of the air. God's creation as it is      its ugly sear upon us! To put it simply, if we play
enslaved to the Devil, that Old Serpent who was a liar       with fire, we're going to get burned. James puts it this
from the beginning. This is the world that is ruled by       way : "But every man is tempted when he is drawn
the principle of sin. We ought to understand that            away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust
there is indeed such a world where the Devil wields          hath conceived, it bringeth forth death." Such is the
his power and influence, persuading men to seek              horror of sin. To be caught in its tentacles without
themselves and their own glory and to manifest all           escape results in death. Let us keep ourselves un-
hatred against God. Satan has access to the hearts of        spotted from the world!
reprobate and ungodly men so as to make them seek               The question then is this: how can I continue to
and live the lie. It is in such spiritual corruption that    keep myself without blemish of the world? Certainly
man abuses the kingship that God gave him over this          this does not mean that we must withdraw ourselves
creation by no longer seeking the glory of God in it,        from the world. Cloisters and monasteries are not
but rather using God's creation to further his own           according to Scripture. Those who seek to escape
selfish purposes. We see this in abundant clarity to-        from the influences of sin in this way are sadly dis-
day; men use their bodies, inventions and technology,        appointed in that they take their own sins with them
and the whole of God's wonderful creation to further         behind the cloister walls. Most certainly, God calls 
the pride of life and steep themselves in sin. Little do                                                               US
                                                             to be the light of the world. We are His witness before
they realize that God's measure of forbearance is            all men. Yet, in all this, we can and may not become
quickly becoming full.                                       one with the world in principle or practice. Our
  It is our calling to live antithetically. To be in this    motivating principle is that of righteousness. For that
world but never to be of it. We, as God's people, are        is the characteristic of the citizen of heaven. Within
called to be pilgrims here below. Always we are              US  dwells a life that is heavenly. Now, it is this  spirit-


180                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


ual principle within us that always seeks the good and                               mind , .  ." (12:2) If we adapt to the world and its
never seeks sin or the enjoyment of it. But this is not                              mannerism, we become soiled and filthy, with the con-
the whole picture. There is another factor that greatly                              sequence that our religion is less than pure. We must
hinders our keeping ourselves unspotted from the                                     be transformed to live according to the principle of
world. That is our sinful and corrupt human nature.                                  the Spirit of Christ in the way of righteousness. The
Therefore we must say with the apostle Paul,  ". . . I                               way that stands in direct opposition to the way of sin
k e e p   u n d e r   m y   b o d y   a n d   b r i n g   i t   i n t o   s u b -    and worldliness. That is religion pure and undefiled in
jection . . . . " It is not so, that the flesh dominates the                         the eyes of our Father in heaven. And as His sons and
Spirit but the other way around. The Heidelberg                                      daughters we walk in  His fear.
Catechism calls this true conversion whereby we                                         This covers only about half of that which James
crucify the old man and his deeds and put on the new                                 has to say to  `us regarding "pure religion." In this
man in Christ. Practically speaking it means, that I                                 article we have addressed ourselves chiefly to the
say "no" to the sinful ways of the world that will                                   negative aspect of this command. Next time, D.V., we
defile me and "yes" to the ways of righteousness.                                    would like to explore the positive example that James
   To mind comes the admonition of Paul to the                                       uses to illustrate that which we have briefly discussed
Romans, "And be not conformed to this world but                                      above, that we visit the fatherless and orphans in their
b e   y e   t r a n s f o r m e d   b y   t h e   r e n e w i n g   o f   y o u r    affliction.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE




           Letter to the Members of the: Church at Philadelphia



                                                                                                                          January 15, 1977

To the congregation of Philadelphia,                                                 receive as they come to know the Scriptures better.
   We shall have to get on with our discussion of this                               They speak of the closeness among the members of
increasingly common tendency on the part of many                                     the small group of believers and the rich experiences
in today's church world to separate from the church                                  of the communion of saints when a few gather to-
institute to form independent Bible study groups.                                    gether for a common purpose. They speak of rich
Last time we discussed primarily the whole matter of                                 joys of assurance which they never knew before. This
"Bible Discussion Groups" and saw some of the                                        all sounds very tempting  - especially if you have a
dangers which participation in these groups can lead                                 certain notion that your own spiritual life lacks
to. But we have not yet touched upon the heart of                                    warmth and vibrancy. In the second place, people
the problem. At the very basis of all these tendencies                               who attend such groups often speak disparagingly of
lies a certain despising of the Church as institute. And                             the Church which they once attended or still attend.
to this we must now turn our attention.                                              They point out that the preaching is dry, unscrip-
                                                                                     tural, doctrinal, without any real spiritual power. And
   I want to write you about these things because of                                 they contrast their own rich experiences in their Bible
the serious threat which this movement constitutes for                               study groups with the spiritual drought in the con-
you. The danger is very real, and I would not have                                   gregations where they were wont to attend. You may
you be tempted by it. The danger is great for various                                sometimes feel this way yourself, and may begin to
reasons. In the first place, people who have followed                                think that these people really have something which
this trend and have turned their backs on the church                                 you lack; and you may be tempted to follow their
institute often speak in glowing terms of the tremen-                                course of action.
dous blessings which they receive from such study of                                   But you must never do this. The dangers are great.
God's Word. They speak of the edification which they                                 The dangers are indeed dangers which involve the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                181


very salvation of your soul. Whatever may be the rea-       was universal and catholic in the true sense of the
sons for doing what you do, they can never make             word.
right a forsaking of the church institute.                    I also recall in my ministry a man who regularly
  This lies at the heart of the matter. The real ques-      attended worship services, but who would not join
tion is whether the church institute is the God-given       the Church because he believed that membership in
institution for the salvation of our souls. Is there any    the universal and catholic Body of Christ was suffi-
other institution, or is there any other way in which       cient for him. He traveled widely and felt perfectly at
we can be saved than through the means of the               home in all kinds of different congregations because
church institute? The answer is emphatically,  No!          his fellowship was with the Body of Christ, a body
                                                            which transcended the narrow and confining local
  This position is sometimes said to be the position        institutions of the Church and denominational dis-
of Roman Catholicism. The Roman Catholic Church             tinctions. He was very offended when he could not
for many centuries laid claim to the fact that there        celebrate the sacrament of communion with us as he
was no salvation outside the church institute. And it       had done in so many different churches.
could, no doubt, be pointed out that the Reformers
of the Sixteenth Century inveighed against this no-           This idea is really the doctrinal justification for the
tion and condemned it  as. a corrupt interpretation of      movements which we are discussing. Such people who
Scripture. But the mistake of Rome was not in teach-        participate in these movements justify their conduct:
ing that there was no salvation outside the church          by claiming that membership in the Body of Christ is
institute. The mistake was rather that Rome identi-         the all-important thing. Membership in the church in-
fied the church institute with the Roman Catholic           stitute is only relatively important, something per-
Church only. This corrupt and depraved Church did           haps which is nice if the circumstances are right, but
not bear the marks of the true Church of Christ.            by no means crucial.
Furthermore, Rome had an altogether wrong con-                Now I do not want to go into the historical ques-
ception of what the institute really was. In Romish         tion in detail, for this would take us too far away from
thought, the church institute was limited to the cler-      our discussion, But it is necessary to mention that
gy arranged carefully in tiers: at the bottom of the        while the Reformers indeed stressed the importance
pyramid was the priesthood; above the priests stood         of the truth that the Church is the Body of Christ,
the bishops; above them the archbishops; above them         they never once so much as hinted that this truth
the cardinals; and it all reached its pinnacle in the       made the institute unimportant. Not only does the
pope. But the point is that the people did not really       whole history of the Reformation contradict this
belong to the church institute at all. The church was       assertion, but their own writings and the creeds pro-
the  magesterium   - the teaching clergy. Against this      duced -during this period show how strongly they be-
the Reformers protested.,                                   lieved in the necessity of the institute of the Church.
  Beginning already with Huss in Bohemia and                  The point that needs emphasis here is this: the
Wycliffe in England, the Reformers made a distinc-          Body of Christ which indeed includes the full number
tion between the Church as institute and the Church as      of the elect from every time and in every place comes
the Body of Christ. These reformers defined the             to manifestation in this world in the church institute.
Church as the Body of Christ as being the full number       The apostles did not merely gather the body of Christ
of the elect in every place and in every time. Only         when they performed their missionary labors; they
membership in the Body of Christ meant salvation.           established congregations. And in these congregations
                                                            they ordained officebearers. They did so in such a
  It is this idea which many have latched on to in          way that those who were saved through the preaching
support of their separation from the church institute.      of the apostles were brought into membership with
They  .claim that they are members of the body of           the local congregations which were established in
Christ, and, therefore, their membership in the             every place. Membership in the Body af Christ was
church institute is not necessary and can indeed be         expressed visibly by membership in the local congre-
detrimental. I have met people like this. Perhaps you       gations.
have, too. I recall meeting one such man in Yosemite
National Park during a summer long ago. He was wan-           The emphasis here falls upon the local congrega-
dering around the campground with a Bible under his         tions. That is, each local congregation is a complete
arm. He came to our picnic table and began to discuss       manifestation of the body of Christ. We can almost
with us his views. He called himself a cosmopolitan         say that the local congregation is a kind of microcosm
Bible student. He prided himself that he belonged to        of the whole of the body. What is true of the Body of
no Church, adopted no one's creed, was an indepen-          Christ as a whole is also true of each congregation.
dent Bible scholar, and enjoyed his membership in           Nothing can be said concerning the Body as a whole
the Church as a member of the Body of Christ which          which cannot also be said of the local congregation.


182                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


  This is true especially from the viewpoint of the           Christ has also ordained that this three-fold office
offices in the Church. We have not the time, nor is it      which is held by every believer should come to ex-
necessary, to trace this idea through in detail. But the    pression in the offices which Christ ordained in the
point is that Christ, the Head of the Church, is her        Church. The office of prophet comes to expression in
chief and only Officebearer. Christ is the Prophet of       the office of minister; the office of priest comes to
the Church, for in Christ is all the fulness of the         expression in the office of deacon; and the office of
revelation of the truth of God. Christ is the Priest of     king comes to expression in the office of elder. That
the Church because only in Christ is that perfect con-      this is true is apparent from the fact that the apostles
secration of holiness which made it possible for Christ     ordained these offices in the Churches which they
to make the perfect sacrifice for sin and to make, on       established.
the basis of His blood, perfect intercession to the
Father for us. Christ is the King of His Church be-             But `why is this? Very briefly, the answer is that
cause Christ has defeated all the enemies of God, has       Christ is pleased to exercise the office which He alone
established the everlasting kingdom of heaven, and          holds through the offices which He ordains in His
rules over His people as citizens of that kingdom by        Church. He exercises His office of Prophet through
His Spirit and grace.                                       the ministry of the Word. He exercises His office of
  But Christ, as the chief and only  Officebearer           Priest through the office of the deacons. He exercises
of the Church, gives all His people the Spirit whereby      His office of King through the office of elders. In this
they also become prophets, priests, and kings. Lord's       way Christ is the Shepherd of His Sheep, the Head of
Day XII puts it very beautifully when it says: "But         His Church, the  fuh-ress of the salvation of His people.
why art thou called a christain? Because I am a mem-        There is no other way. This is the rule of Christ.           !
ber of Christ by faith, and thus am partaker of his
anointing; that so I may confess his name, and pre-           We shall have to wait with further discussion of
sent myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to him:      this matter till our next letter. May the grace of
                                                            Christ the Head of His Church be your possession.
and also that with a free and good conscience I may
fight against sin and Satan in this life: and afterwards
reign with him eternally, over all creatures." That is a
description of the three-fold office as held by every                                  Fraternally in Christ,
believer.                                                                              H. Hanko

THE DAY OF SHADOWS



                                 A Delightful Prayer
                                                  Rev. Johc A. Heys         .



  A man may, as Cain did, bring to God his  finest          that without faith it is impossible to please God, and
gifts only to find, as Cain did, that these are an abom-    of Romans 8: 8 that they that are in the flesh cannot
ination to God. Man may perform deeds that to his           please God.
fellow men look good, seem to breathe love and the            The upright, because God has given him faith and
very spirit of Christianity only to find, as some will      he is in Christ Jesus by that spiritual bond of faith,
and Jesus declares that they will, that God says to         can and does do that which is pleasing in His sight.
them, "Depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Mat-         And the Scriptures teach us that his prayers are a
thew  7:23. What a blow that will be for those who          delight to God. Solomon declares in Proverbs  15:8,
said, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy            "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the
name? and in Thy name cast out devils? and in Thy           Lord: but the prayer of the upright is His delight." He
name done many wonderful works?" Yet so it is, and          can and does offer up delightful prayers. In these God
we do well to take hold of the truth of Hebrews  11:6       does find delight. To those who offer to Him such


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                183


prayers He also shows abounding patience and tender        only that Lot was there in Sodom  - he had at first
mercy.                                                     moved only to the "cities of the plain, and pitched
  Abraham was such an upright man as the friend of         his tent toward Sodom" - but also that he was put-
God whom God's grace had given the covenant blessing       ting up no fight and getting himself deeper and
of faith, and by it uprightness. And when he prayed for    deeper in the clutches of the evil city. He is not even
Lot, God did not cut him off and shut him up with a        strong enough in the trial, when the men of the city
curt and stinging command to be silent. He listened        crowded around his house, to put down the evil
patiently while Abraham dropped from a plea to save        thought in his own mind of giving his daughters to
the city of Sodom for fifty righteous to ten for whom      these evil men in order to spare his guests. Yes, there
the city would be spared. Before Abraham prayed for        was a  <spark of spiritual life, and he is to be com-
fifty, God knew that there were not even ten, yea not      mended for wanting to protect his guests and for
even five but only one. Yet, as the longsuffering and      abhoring the Sodomite's `sin. But his offer of his
merciful God that He is, He listened through that          daughters does not reveal a man who is fighting sin
whole prayer with its five revisions.                      and bothered deeply enough by sin to condemn it in
                                                           every form. Nor was he strong enough in the faith
  The incident recorded in Genesis 18 must have            after the warning God gave him when he was cap-
taken place some twenty years after Abraham and            tured with the ungodly, among whom he was num-
Lot separated. When they separated we read of no           bered, `by the four kings of the northern regions. He
wife that Lot had. Even when some years later Abra-        went right back there.
ham rescued Lot from the four kings of the north we
read nothing of Lot's wife, unless it be that general        In the Heidelberg Catechism we are taught that the
remark in Genesis 14: 16 that Abraham "brought             child of God who knows his misery and is brought to
again his brother Lot -and his goods, and the women        the joy of his redemption walks in thankfulness to
also, and the people." Jt would, however, seem as          God. Lot showed none of this. It must have been
though, if one of these were the wife of Lot, she          there, for Scripture says that he vexed his righteous
would be mentioned before his goods. At any rate           soul  in'that filth and wickedness. But what thankful-
Lot  noti has daughters old enough to marry and were       ness does  the.man show who, being saved out of the
betrothed to men of the city.                              water, jumps back in again? Instead now of walking in
  So easily we today as well move away from the            God's law to show true gratitude, Lot moves in more
church or from the churches where the truth is still       closely to the spheres of sin from which he had al-
maintained. For  a job, for the flesh, we separate from    ready experienced some of its wages in that capture
those with whom we know we belong, and as Ldt we           by the four kings. He vexed his righteous soul, but he
find the consequences in our children. Lot's daugh-        did not learn very fast. And, as a clear picture of us as
ters are betrothed to unbelievers who receive not          we are by nature, he had to be taken by the hand and
Lot's word when he told them of the message of the         had to be pulled out of the city before the fire of
angels that they must flee Sodom before the wrath of'      God descended upon the wicked. A weak brother he
God  decended upon the city. Lot must have gotten a        was. No shining light was he in the church. He vexed
wife of the Sodomites. His first step of moving there      his righteous soul, but he was no paragon of righ-
for the greener fields led him to the next step of         teousness. An example of what we are by nature he
taking a wife of the unbelievers in the city. He was       was, but he was no example for us to follow.
getting himself deeper and deeper into the world; and        And for that man Abraham prayed. Would you?
to do that he had to hide more and more of his             Would it not be time to write him off and call him
spiritual identity. He vexed his righteous soul. Scrip-    hopeless? But not only does Abraham pray for such a
ture tells us that, and therefore we believe it. But he    weak Christian, such a frail child of the covenant, but
also fed his sinful flesh, played with fire and got        God is so very patient when Abraham prays for such
burned. In such a surrounding and under such circum-       a member in the church. And is it not so that these
stances, with such an help, who was not meet for him       are exactly the ones for whom we must pray and pray
as a child of God, he tried to bring up his daughters.     most earnestly? We pray for them all. We exclude no
Having married a daughter of Sodom, he had put up          child of God in our prayers. And these  .who are so'
no objections that his daughters be betrothed to sons      desperately weak, these who walk on the rim, who
of Sodom. A child of God he was. Scripture declares        get so awfully close to the fire, who seem the most
it. But a weak child of God he certainly was. Twenty       unworthy to be in the kingdom, are the ones for
years among the Sodomites had, because he put up           whom we must pray most often and who call for our
no fight, made him conform more and more to
Sodom's philosophy, so that the lines of the antithesis    most tender mercies. We have to walk the farthest to
in his life were slowly being erased.                      seek those who have walked farthest away from the
                                                           fold. We have to double our efforts for those who
  This also explains Abraham's prayer. He knew not         have multiplied their sins.


184                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


   Abraham is concerned in a love that he has for Lot       Christ prays for every last sheep. And the prayer of
as a child of God. And God delights in hearing Abra-        God's beloved Son in Whom He is well pleased is
ham pray for this weak child of His. We do have here        pleasing to the Father. It is a delightful prayer and a
a delightful prayer and one that sets a good example        delight for God to hear it. For these are also His
for us. Though Lot had mistreated him in years gone         sheep and He wrote their names in  His book of life
by, though he certainly deserved some suffering after       from eternity.
not heeding the warning when he was rescued from              How He agrees with us then when we pray for the
the  punishment  that fell on these wicked, though be-      erring, when we pour out our hearts for those who
fore this he looked so much like the Sodomites that         compromise with the world, move closer and closer
this is the first time that they became angry with him      to that world, give up this point of truth and that
and objected to his judgment upon them  - which             principle of sanctification! Understand well that
apparently had been lacking till this night  - Abraham      when we pray for the righteous in this world  - and
does pray for him.                                          these are the only ones for whom we may pray  - we
  It was Lot for whom Abraham was praying all the           are praying for those for whom Christ died. No one is
time. He was not praying for the city but for the           righteous apart from the cross of Christ. Jesus Him-
righteous who lived in that city. For Lot's sake he         self told His disciples, as He prayed to the Father in
hoped against hope that there were fifty righteous so       John  17:9,  "I pray for them: I pray not for the
that the city might be spared. But he knew that there       world, but for them which Thou has given Me." For
were not and soon came down to ten righteous. Were          these Abraham prays as well. He prays that the cities
Lot and his wife, his daughters and their husbands all      may be spared for the  righteous,  those redeemed by
righteous, there still would have been only six. And        the blood of the Lamb of God. And it is Christ in
though Abraham was concerned about all the righteous        Abraham by the Spirit of God that enables him so to
- had there been more  - Lot was the one he knew;           pray. The delight of God in that prayer, the patient
and it was for Lot and whatever unknown righteous in        listening to that prayer, the tender mercy revealed in
the city that he prayed.                                    that tolerance is because God sees Christ in both
                                                            Abraham and in Lot. Yes, in that miserably weak Lot
  What is more it was Lot's spiritual well-being that       too,. God sees the cross of Christ that made Lot right-
concerned him. Of course he did not want physical           eous  - how else could he have a righteous soul to
harm to come to him. Yet what he is praying for is          vex?  - and He delights in that work of His Son. So
Lot's spiritual well-being. For to die in those cities      pleased was He with it that He raised Him from the
was to die under the wrath of God. To die with              dead, thereby testifying that He had accepted all His
wicked Sodom was to go into the lake of fire with           obedience and suffering in our stead and that in Him
them. And though God's people often suffer excruci-         we are righteous.
ating pains, although in times of war they suffer bru-        0 indeed, the prayer of the upright is God's de-
tal treatment  .along with the wicked and suffer tor-       light. For the upright will pray for the righteous.
ments and violence, though they die in earthquakes          They will honour the cross of Christ and delight in it
and perish in floods together with the world, they          themselves. And how delightful it is to God to hear
never die in the wrath of God upon them personally.         His people express interest in  His delightful Son and
What Abraham fears and does not want is that God            be, concerned about the well-being of all the citizens
deals with Lot as He deals with Sodom. He prays for         of  ,His kingdom. Are your prayers a delight to God?
salvation for Lot. He prays for God's covenant bless-       Are you praying for the wayward? You own son or
ings upon Lot and upon whatever righteous men and           daughter who is drifting? Remember that when the
women might yet be in the city.                             upright pray for the righteous, not only do the angels
  And in all this Abraham typifies the very Christ          in heaven sing, but God Himself is delighted.
Himself; and that explains why his prayer is a delight
to God. To a degree that Abraham could never reach,
Christ prays for  I-Es people. And rejoice in it that He
prays for those walking on the edge of destruction,
those playing so close to the fire. He came to seek
and to save that which is lost. He came not to bring
the righteous but sinners to repentance. He prayed and                                Professor H. Hanko
wept over Jerusalem that had departed so far from                                               $ 5 . 9 5
the living God. And today He prays for weak, feeble                   Cm he obtained  from the Burinesr Manager  of the Standard  Bearer:
                                                                                     Mr. H. "ander  Wal
children in the Sodoms of this evil age. With a view                                 P.O. BOX 5064
to the fire of hell that will soon encompass the whole                               Grand Rapids. Michigan  49X-S
human race and bring all this world to destruction


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        185


GUEST ARTICLE



 Fundamentalism and our Reformed  H,eritage
                                                Rev. Arie den Hartog

                                                             (2)

  In our last article we discussed the major difference             maintenance of that Reformed heritage, on the instruc-
between the Reformed and Fundamentalist positions.                  tion in doctrine, and on the discussion of doctrine, on
Those differences can best be summed up in that we                  the maintenance of the purity of that doctrine? To
as Reformed insist on maintaining what we call a                    understand the answer to that question we must con-
Reformed heritage of the doctrine of the scriptures.                tinually understand what doctrine is. The fundamen-
We insist that we must understand scripture in the                  talist criticizes doctrine as being mere abstract theol-
fight of that heritage. We insist that this heritage be             ogy. We must thoroughly understand that it is much
preserved in the creeds of the church, that it must be              more than this. Doctrine is the systematic setting
passed down from generation to generation. We say                   forth of the blessed and wonderful knowledge of God
that it is a very urgent matter that the purity of the              and of' our Lord Jesus Christ, Whom to know is life
doctrines of the Reformed faith be maintained and                   eternal. Doctrine is the understanding of that knowl-
that we must grow and develop in those doctrines.                   edge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ which the
Over against this the fundamentalist places very little             church  ; possesses through the interpretation of the
if any emphasis on doctrine or on any heritage that                 scriptures as a whole under the guidance of the  Holy
comes down to them from  precedirig  generations.                   Spirit. Doctrine is maintained when it is set forth in
Rather he approaches the scriptures as an individual                creeds of the church, when it is developed by each
without the need of a heritage of understanding and                 generation and when one generation passes on its
interpreting scripture. He is satisfied for the most part           understanding of the knowledge of God to the suc-
with dwelling upon the superficial fundamental truths               ceeding generation through the Holy Spirit Who leads
of scripture without seeing the need of going any                   and guides the church into all truth. The  t.ruths of
further to study the more profound truths of scrip-                 scripture are rich and wonderful and very deep and
ture. Therefore, for example, the doctrines of Calvin-              profound. The fundamentalist, if he will admit this at
ism or of predestination are not much an issue for                  all, simply gives lip service to it. When those profound
him for he dqes not see any real need to know and                   and rich, wonderful truths of scripture are set forth in
confess these doctrines.                                            a systematic order, so that the child of God can
If we are indeed Reformed people and desire to                      appropriate them and retain them in his conscious-
remain Reformed people then we must thoroughly                      ness, then we usually call that doctrine. We believe
understand the urgency of maintaining our Reformed                  that  the whole truth of the scriptures, not only the
doctrinal heritage. The challenge of fundamentalism                 simple truths but also the more profound and won-
is this: cannot the Christain be satisfied with the mere            derful truths of scripture, must be consciously known
fundamentals of scripture? Why does he have to                      and  belipved and confessed by the Christian.
know all those doctrines of scripture? Is it not true                 If doctrine is indeed the knowledge of God and of
as far as the life and witness of God's people in the               our Lord Jesus Christ, then surely it is of utmost
world are concerned, that really only the fundamen-                 importance that the Christian know, believe, and con-
tals of the faith are important? For example, is it not             fess it. Doctrine is not some sort of abstract science
enough for the Christian simply to answer the ques-                 or philosophy of interest to theologians but not nec-
tion, "Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are              essary for the knowledge of the Christian; for then
you willing to live for Him?" Is not the basic simple               surely it ought immediately to be abandoned as some-
Christian life enough? Are not the doctrines that                   thing that only causes useless wrangling and argumen-
theologians spend much time discussing so far re-                   tation and division in the church. But if it is indeed
moved from our life that they have no significance, or              the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ,
they are far too difficult for the average person to                then every Christian must know and understand it,
understand anyway?                                                  maintain it, and have a deep desire in his  heart ever to
  Why do we have such a great emphasis on the                       increase in understanding of doctrine. The Christian


186                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


surely may not be satisfied with the mere superficial       cemed. The church possesses the knowledge of the
knowledge of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ that          doctrines of God and the Lord Jesus Christ only as
so much cheap Christianity in our day is offering and       she appropriates them from the scriptures. If we may
such as is presented in the mass evangelical move-          again return to the passage in Ephesians 4 then we
ments of our day. Any Christian who is satisfied with       surely find that this has reference to the church as
that is doomed to die. To worship, adore, and love          institute. That is why there is mention of the various
God, to trust in Him with living faith, to confess His      offices in the church. Through these offices, and
name in the world, to serve Him in sincerity and in         therefore through the institute church, God causes
truth is all dependent on the knowledge of God and          His saints to be built up in the knowledge of Christ
our Lord Jesus Christ that comes from an ever in-           Jesus. As Reformed people we know the truth of
creasing appropriation of the wonderful doctrines of        scripture that the preaching of the Word is the chief
scripture.                                                  means of grace; it is the chief means through which
                                                            the saints are instructed in the doctrines of scripture.
  The scriptures themselves urge upon us the neces-         The child of God surely grows in the knowledge of
sity of ever growing and increasing in the knowledge        the truth as he lives in living connection with the
and doctrine of God. God said through the prophet           church as institute. He does not possess the truth
Hosea in chapter 4 verse 6, "My people are destroyed        individualistically but as a member of the church.
for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected
knowledge I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be         God preserves the true church in institutional
no more priest to me: seeing thou hast forsaken the         manifestation here on earth where the three marks of
law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." This      the true church are manifest. The child of God must
is surely an indictment against much of modem day           be a member of that church in order that he may
Christendom and especially also of the cheap Christi-       grow in the knowledge of the true doctrine of salva-
anity of the Fundamentalist. In Ephesians 4 the             tion, that he may as a member of that true church
apostle Paul emphasizes that the church must be edi-        give testimony of the true doctrine of God and the
fied, built up "until we all come in the unity of the       Lord Jesus Christ.
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a           *Why is it so important then to maintain the purity
perfect man, unto the measure of the fulness of             of doctrine? The fundamentalist would say that all
the stature of Christ." Ephesians 4: 12-l 3. Hebrews        that is really important is to maintain the so-called
5 : 14 speaks of the need for the strong meat of the        fundamentals of the scriptures. All the rest is not so
Word of God for the Christian. Very often in the            important and the insistence on maintaining the doc-
epistles to Timothy, in which Paul instructs the minis-     trine of scripture only brings division and strife in the
ter of the Word of God, he emphasizes the impor-            church. The church is better off merely to give testi-
tance of doctrine for the saints of God. The apostle        mony to the fundamentals and not to worry so much
Peter concludes his second epistle with the urgent          about all that doctrine. Surely it is the calling of the
exhortation, "but grow in grace and in knowledge of         church and of every individual member of that
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."                          church to know the whole of the doctrine of God and
  God has given the truth of the scriptures to the          of our Lord Jesus Christ, to believe it and to give
church  - not merely to individuals but to the church       testimony concerning all that doctrine in the midst of
as a whole. This is surely clear from the fact that the     the world. The true worship of God and the glorifica-
scriptures are addressed to the church. This is very ob-    tion of God in the world is dependent upon the pres-
                                                            ervation of the true doctrine of God in the church
viously true of the epistles of Paul. For this reason       and by the saints of God. To reject any doctrine, to
the church is called the pillar and ground of the
truth. From the beginning the church has possessed          consider it of little or no importance, is to limit and
the whole of the truth. But under the guidance of the       to deny the glory of God. As soon as the church or
Holy Spirit she grows in her understanding and appro-       the saints of God hold to a false doctrine, they are
priation of the truth. Therefore there is such a thing      essentially confessing another God thap the true God
                                                            Who reveals Himself in the scriptures.
as a heritage that is passed on through the history of
the church. We cannot agree with the fundamentalist           The church is built on the foundation of the true
who sees no great need for the church, at least not as      doctrine of God. The church has the obligation to
an institute. God gives the truth, the doctrines of the     know, believe, and confess the whole counsel of God,
faith, not only to the church as organism but also to       all of the doctrines of salvation. By confessing the
the church as institute in the world. This does not         doctrine of God, the church glorifies the God to
mean the same thing as the Roman Catholic doctrine          Whom she belongs. The church as a whole can be
of the church that teaches that the church has author-      preserved only when she maintains the true doctrine.
ity above and independent from the scriptures as far        The Christian who is a member of the church has the
as the knowledge of the doctrines of salvation is  con-     obligation corporately with all the other members to


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  187


see that the doctrine of the church to which he be-         but he must study it as the history of the realization
longs is pure and true according to the scriptures.         of God's covenant with His people and as an integral
When he does not do that, he becomes guilty of the          part of the gospel of salvation in Christ Jesus. We
false doctrines to which that church holds in reproach      maintain that Reformed heritage when we study the
of the glory of God.                                        doctrines of scripture as they are formulated in our
  The fundamentalist is wrong when he thinks that           creeds. We maintain that Reformed heritage when we
both the Christian and the church can continue in the       study what the leaders of the Reformed faith from
world by just maintaining the fundamentals and not          the past have said. For this is part of the heritage that
being concerned about doctrine. The result  ofsuch a        God has given us. How much time do we spend read-
position is as Paul says in Ephesians 4 again, that the     ing the, Reformed fathers? If that Reformed doctrinal
saints of God are cast about by every wind of doc-          heritage is to be maintained we must consciously
trine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness           know it; and that is the duty not only of the theolo-
whereby they lie in wait to deceive. The devil and          gian or minister but also of every member of the
wicked men do not usually attack directly the funda-        church.;  Are' we in danger of losing our Reformed
mentals of the faith. They come in a much more              heritage because of the ignorance of so many of our
subtle way, pretending to hold to all the fundamen-         people? We maintain that Reformed heritage when
tals of the faith as they are taught in scripture while     we zealously instruct our children in the doctrines of
in reality denying God and the Lord Jesus Christ. No        the Reformed faith.
church or individual who thinks that only what he
calls the fundamentals are important shall be able to         If we are to maintain our Reformed heritage we
stand against those who attack the church and the           must be thoroughly convinced that the doctrines of
Christian. Without the knowledge of sound doctrine          our Reformed faith are indeed the scriptures. We may
he will very easily be led astray with the error of the     not be satisfied that these doctrines were held and are
wicked and, as Peter says, he shall fall from his stead-    held by our leaders and that therefore they must be
fastness. History has abundant testimony of this.           the scriptures. Every member of the church is under
                                                            the obligation to know that our Reformed heritage is
  Without exception false doctrine will lead to cor-        truly the scriptures. He must consciously know that
ruption  .in life. The fundamentalist may deny this,        for himself and be able to give testimony concerning
but it is always true that all those who hold to false      that in his confession.
doctrine will reveal it in the corruption of their life
before God.                                                   That Reformed heritage will be maintained only
  In conclusion we ought yet to say something about         when it is a living spiritual reality to Reformed Chris-
how we are to maintain that Reformed heritage over          tians. There is always a great danger of making doc-
against the challenge of Fundamentalism in our `day.        trine merely a matter of the intellect. We must con-
It is maintained centrally by the truly Reformed            fess that this has sometimes happened among us.
preaching of the Word; preaching that is based on           Whenever that happens, then we have lost the chal-
very careful and painstaking exegesis of the scrip-         lenge of Fundamentalism that doctrine is mere ab-
tures. That Reformed heritage is maintained when the        stract theology, for then it indeed has become that.
preaching is doctrinal and when it is the exposition of     The Reformed Christian must make the doctrines of
the historic Reformed creeds. Surely most basic to          the Reformed heritage a living reality in all  his'hfe, in
maintaining that Reformed heritage is the careful           his confession and his walk. We must in our instruc-
study of the scriptures by every Reformed Christian.        tion of our children be sure that we teach by word
The Christian may not be satisfied with the very            and example that the Reformed heritage is indeed a
superficial and subjectivistic study of the scriptures      living spiritual reality in our life. In that connection,
which characterizes Fundamentalism. He must study           think for instance of the beautiful Reformed truth of
the whole of the scriptures. He must study not only         the covenant. This ought surely to be a living  spi,ritual
the New Testament, as is so often characteristic of         realit.y in our life and confession. How could it possi-
Fundamentalism, but also the Old Testament. He              bly be otherwise? Our testimony concerning the Re-
must study the Old Testament not merely as Jewish           formed: heritage ought to be such that it provokes
history with perhaps a little moralism for our day,         others to jealousy.

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 188                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



FROM HOLY WRIT



               Exposition of the Book of Galatians
                                                   By Rev. G. Lubbers



PAUL MARVELS AT THE CONDUCT OF THE                            stocks and blocks. Besides, they were doing this with
GALATIANS (Gal. 1: 6)                                         an unbelievable rapidity. No sooner were these
   Paul has a profound concern about the truth of the         deputies from Judaism come into their midst to
Gospel, and, therefore, has a sincere concern for the         preach their "different" teaching, but what the
salvation and peace of the church of Christ. Writes he,       Galatians followed their teachings of Judaism, as if it
"I marvel that ye are-so soon removed from him that           were the same Gospel which Paul had preached, only.
called you into the grace of Christ unto a different          improved upon, added to. And Paul shakes his head
gospel . . . ." (vs. 6)                                       in disbelief; he marvels at so much stupidity.
   In the term "marvel" Paul expresses a great deal of           Think of the magnitude of such folly and stupid-
feeling and of meaning. The term expresses in the             ity. One would think that they were bewitched. (Gal.
intransitive form: to wonder, to be astonished,               3: 1) They were falling away from the great God Who
amazed. The meaning of this term is clearly illus-            had "called" them. Writes Paul, "from him that called
trated in Matt. 8: 10 where Jesus is stated to have           you in the grace of Christ"! These Gentile saints had
"marvelled" at the faith of the centurion, who did            been "called" by the Gospel with a divine calling. It is
not count himself worthy to come into the house               quite sure that the caller here is God, the Father.
where Jesus is, but bade Jesus to simply speak the            Similar construction we have in Gal. 1: 15 in the
word and that his son would be healed. Jesus                  Greek, as well as in Gal.  2:8. There are those who
"marvels" at such a faith. It is a faith which shows          would make the subject of the calling here Christ.
the great wonder of grace. The multitudes marvel that         However, that construction is too forced gram-
the wind and the sea obey Jesus' word. This is simply         matically. Hence, we hold to our interpretation which
something unheard of among men. It seems so un-               tits perfectly well with the "in the grace of Christ."
believable and so impossible. Thus also the multitude         God called wholly "in grace of Christ," and not out-
marvelled when the demon is cast out of the dumb              side of this grace at all. He did not call at all in the
man so that he could speak. It was never so heard in          sphere of "law" and according to the rule "the man
Israel! (Cf. Matt. 8: 10;  8:27;  9:33) Again the Pharisee    that doeth the same shall live thereby." But in grace
marvels that Jesus did not first bathe himself before         He called, the grace which becomes ours by means of
dinner. He expected Jesus to have done so.                    the death of the Cross. The calling was entirely
Nicodemus is told that he must not "marvel" at the            according to the truth of all the Scriptures, that
news that he must be born from above to see the               Christ is the  end  of the law for righteousness unto all
kingdom of heaven. And the disciples marvelled that           who believe. (Rom.  10:4)  And now leave all of this
Jesus was speaking with the Samaritan woman. (Luke            grace of the Cross of Christ Jesus?! Such was the
11:38; John  3:7;  4:27)                                      magnitude of this folly! And Paul marvels with a
  It seems so utterly strange and perplexing that the         profound amazement.
Galatians could do such a thing as turn away from the           God had called them to the wedding feast. All
God, Who called them out of the darkness of                   things are ready. It is all of grace in Christ. The mes-
heathendom into the marvelous light of the Gospel of          sengers had come into the highways and the byways
the Cross. All the more this seems so utterly strange         to  find these Gentiles churches. (Matt.  22:3,9)  And
and uncalled for in that these Galatians "are removing        blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage
themselves" from Him Who called them in the grace             supper of the Lamb. (Rev.  19:9)  Blessed are They
of Christ. The term here in the Greek text is in the          who sit at the table of the Lamb, which was slain, to
middle voice present tense; to transfer self, to change       be arrayed in tine linen, in the righteousness of the
over. If they were victims, they were  willing  victims.      saints. This God is faithful Who called these Galatians
They were giving heed to the seducers. They were not          into the fellowship of His Son, the crucified and risen


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                189


Christ. (I Cor.  1:9) From this the Galatians were           statutes. (Deut. 4: l-8; Rev. 22:  18,19)
removing themselves.                                           Paul must have laid stress on this truth when he
                                                             was in the midst of the Galatians. He speaks in the
THEREALTRUTHOFTHEMATTER(Gal.  1:7)                           text of "as we have said before." Paul, in bringing this
  The Galatians were not bettering themselves in             "anathema" against the falsifiers of the Gospel, is not
removing themselves from God Who called them in              telling the Galatians something which he neglected to
grace in Christ. For the "gospel" which they are now         tell them earlier. This should not come as a surprise
turned to was a "different" gospel. It was wholly            to their ears. It should call them all the more to
different in content and character. It was not in            sanctified  attention.`Paul states this "anathema" twice
grace in Christ Jesus that men and women were called         in this text. He writes a conditional sentence which
at all. It was entire specious, untrue in its very nature    indicates the objective possibility that he, Paul, or
and intent. It was not "another" gospel at all. It was       one of  .the holy angels from heaven, Gabriel, could
simply some malicious, wilful attempt of "some"              preach something which Paul had earlier not
who would trouble the  consciences of saints in              preached. It supposes that Paul would rebuild what
Galatia, confuse them with their talk of "another"           he had `once broken down in the name of the Lord.
Gospel. That it was wilfull evil on the part of these        (Gal. 2: 18) Paul selects himself, as the receiver of
would-be preachers, Paul states very clearly in the          greater revelation concerning the grace of Christ than
text.                                                        any -other mortal before him (Eph. 3: l-l  3), and the
  For these men who came to Galatia from Jeru-               angel who stands before God and who gave the heav-
salem "were willing to pervert the Gospel." They             enly Gospel to the shepherds, and gave the law to
represented themselves as being very concerned about         Moses. (Luke 2: l-10; Gal. 3 : 19) Conceivably he
the salvation of these saints But they desired to shut       could not have selected two representatives, one from
Paul out, rob them of the Gospel, that these saints          the circle of servants in the church on earth, and the
might seek them. (Gal. 4: 17) Paul is not concerned          other a ministering spirit in heaven, to underscore
about his own person. He  is  concerned about his            better the seriousness of his point, and that God is
office to which he was called, "to preach the Gospel         without respect of persons, be it in the world of
among the Gentiles." Christ had called him, and  His         angels or of men!
servant he is. And as Christ's servant he will defend          This verdict of heaven is not merely in general con-
the truth' of the Gospel. And he will call a spade a         cerning the "Gospel," but it has reference to the
spade. This coming of these "some" to the Galatians          Gospel which Paul  .preached  to the Galatians, as the
was a systematic and cunning  .attempt  to corrupt the       "Gospel among the Gentiles." (Gal. 1: 16;  2:2) That is
Gospel of grace, and of the justification which we           why he says, "than what I have evangelized among
have by faith in Christ. They would "pervert" it all.        you." That was pinpointedly the issue at stake. It was
Their presentation would make the Gospel the word            underscored by Paul when he says "than what you
of man, dead legalism. The glad tidings is then no           have received." (vs. 8,s) Paul believes that the
more the good news that the promise made to the              "Amen" which he put under his sermon, by which he
fathers had been fulfilled in Christ's death and resur-      ended them, stands forever. God is not mocked!
rection from the dead. It would be changed radically           Let the Galatians give heed and let those who
into something else. It would be changed through and         preach a "different gospel" beware. For to fall under
through. There would be nothing of the Gospel left!          the "anathema" of God is most dreadful. To be under
That is the real truth of the matter! And it stirs Paul      the anathema means: to be placed under a curse, to
into holy action. He comes to maintain the  truth  of        be dedicated to the wrath and divine judgment of
the Gospel.                                                  condemnation so that one is not redeemable. The
                                                             term occurs in I Cor.  16:22  where we read the term
THE ANATHEMA OF GOD UPON THE COR-                            "anathema" in the American Version. In other  pas:
RUPTERSOFTHEwSPEL(Gal.  1:8,9)                               sages, such as Rom.  9:3; I Cor.  12:3, we read
  We do not think that, in verses 8 and 9, Paul is           "accursed." The Greek term "anathema" meant
merely giving vent to some hurt feelings, to a sinful        among the Greeks "offered to the gods," a sacred
vindictiveness. He is not out for personal revenge at        something which was consecrated to the gods, a
all, to compensate for a waning influence among the          sacred gift or offering laid up or suspended in the
Galatian churches. (John  3:22-29) Not at all! These         temple of a god. In the Old Testament the Hebrew
are not explosive personal feelings, but this is an          term (cherem) was the "devoted thing" (Lev.
official  announcement from the throne of God's              27:27-29) and it was most holy to the Lord. Thus the
dread majesty, Who maintains His own word in divine          entire city of Jericho was "devoted" to destruction
justice. God will not allow any man or angel to add or       by the Lord. The seriousness of the sin of Achan can
detract from His holy words, ordinances, and                 only be adjudged in this light. (Joshua 7) What  hap-


190                                             THE  STANDAR,D BEARER


pened to Achan will surely happen in the just judg-             prophets who present themselves as the mouthpiece
ment of the Lord to those who corrupt the Gospel of             of God in the midst of the Galatian churches. They
God willingly. Such is not only the teaching of the             have no credentials from God nor from the church.
Word of God in our text but that is the teaching of all         They will not get away with it before God. They are
of Scripture. God has reserved a place in hell for              heretics who are condemned of their own conscience.
Satan, the father of the lie, and for all his  false-           (Titus 3: 10)
teachers. (Rev. 20: 10) Those who are assigned to the             Paul had a good conscience in this respect. He is
lake of tire and brimstone are under the anathema of            called by God through Christ. He is the servant of
God. And the divine judgment falls upon such. Paul is           Christ. He is a true prophet of the Lord, preaching
here speaking the verdict of God upon these false               the truth of the Gospel.



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         by Herman Hoeksema                                       by Herman Hanko
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       Believers and their Seed                       $2.95     Peaceable Fruit                                 $5.95
         by Herman Hoeksema                                        by Gertrude Hoeksema
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            God's covenant of grace)                                  of covenant youth)

       God's Covenant Faithfulness                    $5.95     Reformed Dogmatics                              $9.95
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                                                                  by Gertrude Hoeksema
       In the Beginning God                (paper)    $1.00           (A biography of Herman Hoeksema)
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                                                      BOOK  REVIEW
MISSION TRENDS NO.  3; Gerald H. Anderson,                      understood in the old centers. The theologians of the
Thomas F. Stransky, Editors. Wm. B. Eerdmans,                   so-called "Third World" are neither well known nor
Grand Rapids, no price given. Reviewed by Prof.                 widely read in the old centers.
Robert D. Decker
  It is the contention of the editors of this volume              This book is intended to remedy the situation. It is
that: "A radical theological realignment is taking              a collection of essays and articles written by theolo-
place in the church today. The old centers of theolog-          gians of countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
ical influence in Europe and North America are be-              These are on a wide variety of subjects. If one wishes
coming the new peripheries. The new centers of vital-           to know what is being said and written theologically
ity and importance in theological construction are in           in the "Third World" he will want to read this book.
Asia, Africa and Latin America  - where the majority            If, however, one wishes to find something of value in
of Christians will be living in the year 2000." They            the development of Reformed though.t he will be dis-
also contend that this fact is not widely recognized or         appointed in this book.


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   191





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                                                                  MARRIAGE: The Mystery of Christ and the
                                                                Church,  by Rev. David Engelsma, is one of the more
                                                                recent R.F.P.A. publications. In it the author explains
                                                                the idea and principles of marriage, and he considers
                                                                the various aspects of married life: the respective
                                                                callings of husband and wife, sex, birth control,
                                                                divorce, mixed marriages, and remarriage. It contains,
                                                                therefore, abundant practical instruction for Christian
                                                                husbands and wives. And it's thoroughly Scriptural
                                                                throughout.
                                                                  The book is inexpensive  - only $3.50. And, for a
                                                                limited time only, the R.F.P.A.  .will give, free of
                                                                charge with every purchase of Rev. Engelsma's book, a
                                                                copy  of In the Beginning God  . .  ., by Prof. Homer
                                                                Hoeksema. The latter is a paperback containing an
                                                                exposition and defense of the truth of creation as set
                                                                forth by Scripture.
                                                                  Order from the R.F.P.A. Publications Committee,
                                                                P.O. Box 2006, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501.
                                                                (Include payment, please.) Offer good till March 1,
                                                                1977.



                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                   ANNIVERSARY
   In gratitude to God who has spared our parents for these many                  In January, 1977, the Rev. Marinus Schipper will have completed
years, we are pleased to announce the 50th wedding anniversary of Mr.          forty years as a minister of the Word of God in the Protestant Re-
and Mrs. Thys Feenstra on Jan. 18, 1977. We pray that God will con-            formed Churches in America. During this time the Rev. Schipper has
tinue to bless them in their remaining years together.                         served pastorates at Grand Haven,  Mich.,  Second Grand Rapids,  Mich.,
                                                                               South Holland,  III. and Southwest, Grand Rapids,  Mich. For the past
   "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on               fourteen years he has faithfully served as our pastor at Southeast,
thee" Isaiah  26:3a
                            Their children,                                    Grand Rapids,  Mich. We congratulate Rev. and Mrs. Schipper on this
                                                                               occasion, thanking God for the many labors he has accomplished in our
                              Mr. and Mrs. W.T. Feenstra                       midst, and praying that he may have joy and strength as he continues to
                              Mr. and Mrs. E. Van Voorthysen                   minister unto us.
                              Mr. and  Mrs, W. Armstrong
                              Mr. and Mrs. K.J. Feenstra                          "And I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed
                              Mr. and Mrs. G. Feenstra                         you with knowledge and understanding."  (Jer.  3:15).
                              Mr. and Mrs. D. Feenstra                                                       The Consistory and Congregation
                              Mr. M. Feenstra                                                                of Southeast Prot. Ref. Church
                              25 Grandchildren
                              5 Great Grandchildren


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              P.O. Box 6064
       Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





192                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


                               News From  Our  Churches
  Rev. Mark Hoeksema was installed as the new              Sunday worship services in their new church building
pastor of our church in Hull, Iowa on December 17.         on December 19.
Rev. Hoeksema's father, Prof. Homer Hoeksema,                The Hull bulletin carried news of another one of
preached the installation sermon, and Rev. Marvin          those mysterious "Tasting Bees." Loveland also
Kamps from  Doon, Iowa, read the installation form.        scheduled a tasting bee this fall. I have yet to learn
The following Sunday Rev. Hoeksema preached his            what was "tasted" and whether the "tastees" left
inaugural sermon. Prof. Hoeksema led in worship at         the "bee" smacking their lips with a smile on their
the afternoon service. On Monday evening, the  20th,       faces.
the congregation planned a "welcome" for their new
`pastor and his family. The program began at  7:30 in        The Christmas season is the time when we remem-
the church. A social hour and refreshments followed        ber the elderly and shut-ins in our congregations. The
at the school.                                             young people of Faith Church went caroling and dis-
                                                           tributed fruit baskets to the elderly and widows of
   Late November and early December is the time of         their congregation on December 23. The Young Peo-
year when our churches schedule their annual con-          ple's Society of  Redlands and the Sr. Mr. and Mrs.
gregation meetings. The agenda for these meetings          Society of First Church also went caroling this year.
includes the election of elders and deacons, adoption      The school choirs from Adams and Hope Schools in
of a budget for the new year, and other items of           Grand Rapids presented short programs in a number
importance. Among these "other items" we can               of Grand Rapids area nursing and retirement homes re-
include the following: Southwest Church in Wyo-            cently. A small group of elementary students from
ming, Michigan approved a proposal to change the           Adams School under the leadership of Adams teacher
time of their evening worship service from 7 to 6 PM;      Miss Ruth Dykstra continues to sing Dutch Psalms (in
Randolph, Wisconsin rejected a proposal to change          Dutch, of course) for a goodly number of shut-ins in
the time of their 2nd worship service from afternoon       the Grand Rapids area.
to evening during the summer months only.
   Randolph has recently joined the growing number
of our churches that have established a nursery for          Rev. Kortering printed this rather fitting reflection
the care of small children during worship services. A      in the December 26  Redlands bulletin: "This week
Nursery Committee was appointed by the Consistory.         brings to a close another year of our Lord, 1976.
Only those children under two years old may be             There have been changes. Some have tasted the dregs
taken to the nursery. Nursery attendants will be listed    of sorrow through death, others have been cheered
in the bulletin each week. Assignments will be made        with the gift of life. Sickness and health has been our
                                                           portion. The Lord brought changes in our congrega-
alphabetically and proceed through the church mem-         tion, in church and school. As we face this new year,
bership  - each woman and girl in the 6th grade or         may it be a beginning in the consciousness that
older being asked to help. A real co-operative project!    though time brings changes, Jehovah is the Lord of
  Rev. B. Woudenberg was the speaker at the Michi-         time and He changes never. Through the changing
gan area Young People's Society Christmas Mass             time, He realizes His eternal promises to save His
Meeting on Sunday afternoon, December 19. As Rev.          people in the way of the return of our Lord Jesus.
Woudenberg is the `new' minister in the Michigan           May the Lord bless our homes, our school, our con-
area, (having been recently installed as the pastor of     gregation, our churches and all His precious children
our church in Kalamazoo) he can probably expect            till the return of our Lord and time will be no more
several more invitations in the next several months to     and the former things will have passed away and we
speak for various of our church "gatherings" such as       will inhabit the perfect tabernacle of God to praise
lectures and Society League meetings.                      Him forever."
  Our Hudsonville congregation conducted the first                                                        K.G.V.


