                             The
                   Standard
A Reformed         Bearer
Semi-Monthly
Magazine


                                                    In This Issue:

                   Meditation -- Rev. Michael J. DeVries
                         Jehovah, Our Shepherd ................................................................... 434

                   Editorial -- Prof. David J. Engelsma
                         The Reformed Worldview
                         2.The Failure of Common Grace .................................................... 436

                   Letters........................................................................................................ 439

                   Review Article -- Prof. David J. Engelsma
                         Universalism in the Reformed Churches ..................................... 439

                   All Around Us -- Rev. Gise J. VanBaren ................................................ 441

                   When Thou Sittest in Thine House -- Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers
                         The Reformed Family:
                         The Church Picnic ............................................................................ 443

                   That They May Teach Their Children -- Prof. Russell J. Dykstra
                         The Covenant:  The Life of the Preaching .................................... 445

                   Ministering to the Saints -- Prof. Robert D. Decker
                         The Discipline of Officebearers (2) ................................................ 448

                   Contending for the Faith -- Rev. Bernard Woudenberg
                         The Promise and/or Law ................................................................. 450

                   Book Reviews ........................................................................................... 453

                   News From Our Churches -- Mr. Benjamin Wigger ............................... 454





Vol. 74, No. 19
August, 1998


   Meditation                                                                                                                          Rev. Michael DeVries



                              Jehovah, Our Shepherd

                                                   "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."   Psalm 23:1



                                                                  repeatedly  get  themselves  into  a                       toral  experience  as  a  shepherd.
                                                                  predicament.  What pathetic crea-                          And the opening verse says it all.
                                                                  tures, indeed!  That is the picture                        The following verses are but the de-
                                                                  the Scriptures draw of sheep.  And                         velopment of what is really implied
                                                                  the picture is accurate, as I can tes-                     in the statement:  "The LORD is my
What pathetic creatures
                   sheep are in so many re-
                   spects.  Sheep are weak:                       tify from having raised sheep for                          shepherd; I shall not want."
they  are  very  susceptible  to  sick-                           several years of my youth on my
ness, disease, parasites, and injury.                             father's farm.                                             A shepherd
Sheep  are  helpless:    they  are  un-                                  "All we like sheep...."  Yes, it                               What characterizes a shepherd,
able to care for themselves.  Sheep                               is true, these pathetic creatures are                      one who cares properly for sheep?
are defenseless:  they are easy prey                              pictures  of  us  as  God's  people.                       In the first place, a good shepherd
for the lion or the bear, the wolf or                             God created the sheep to be a pic-                         knows  his  sheep.    The  shepherd
the coyote, even stray dogs.  Sheep                               ture of His people.  It is very hum-                       does  not  have  an  indefinite  num-
are stubborn:  it is almost impos-                                bling, is it not?  Who of us would                         ber of sheep.  He is able to identify
sible to make them go where they                                  choose to be compared to a sheep?                          his sheep.  Here in the West, where
do not want to go; far better to lead                             A lion, perhaps, or maybe a bear                           many  flocks  graze  in  the  lush
sheep  than  to  try  to  drive  them.                            or an eagle.  But a sheep?  Never!                         mountain foothills during the sum-
Sheep are foolish: they will gorge                                But, an accurate picture it is.  For                       mer,  each  shepherd  has  his  own
themselves  on  rich  hay  or  grain,                             by  nature  we  are  such  pathetic                        distinctive ear-mark, which he cuts
and  do  not  hesitate  to  endanger                              creatures.  From this point of view,                       into the ears of his sheep.  Or, some-
themselves in various ways.                                       what  unspeakable  comfort  Psalm                          times, a particular brand is placed
       Sheep are wayward:  they will                              23  affords  us.    How  simple  it  is,                   upon  the  back  of  the  sheep  by
                                                                  yet so very profound.                                      means of a colored dye.
                                                                         What a  proper and beautiful                                 A  good  shepherd  knows  his
                                                                  figure is that of the shepherd and                         sheep.
Rev. DeVries is pastor of First Protestant                        his  sheep.    The  inspired  psalmist                              In  the  second  place,  a  good
Reformed Church of Edmonton, Alberta,                             David is given to speak God's word                         shepherd knows the proper pasture
Canada.                                                           here as it flows from his own pas-                         for his sheep.  He chooses that pas-


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434/Standard Bearer/August, 1998


ture  with  great  care.  A  barren,       sizes  especially  the  fact  that  our     devil,  as  a  roaring  lion,  walketh
over-grazed pasture will not do, for       God is a covenant God.  It empha-           about, seeking whom he may de-
the sheep will go hungry.  Sheep           sizes  His  perfect    faithfulness.        vour"  (I  Pet.  5:8).    He  knows  He
which  have  been  grazing  on  the        Jehovah's  word  is:    "I  will  never     must protect us from our own fool-
dry mountain grass will not be per-        leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Heb.         ish,  wayward,  rebellious  natures
mitted  to  graze  in  a  cornfield  or    13:5).  Do we understand the im-            which would certainly lead us into
even a field of rich alfalfa, for they     plications of this word of God in           destruction.  Jehovah has given His
would  surely  gorge  themselves.          Psalm 23:1?                                 own only-begotten Son even to the
Many would overeat and die.  The               As  the  all-knowing  Jehovah,          death  of  the  cross  that  we  might
good shepherd leads his sheep with         He knows all His sheep by name.             be delivered from every foe!  And
care  to  green  pastures  where  the      Not  one  escapes  His  omniscient          our exalted Lord Jesus Christ pro-
sheep can safely eat to their hearts'      sight.  He knows His sheep in sov-          tects His sheep by His indwelling
content.  If the sheep are fed grain,      ereign love from before the foun-           Word  and  Spirit.    He  delivers us
the shepherd will carefully mix and        dation of the world.  He speaks to          from  the  grievous  wolves  who
measure  their  ration  so  that  they     Jeremiah:  "Before I formed thee in         would enter in among us, not spar-
might safely eat their fill.               the  belly  I  knew  thee"  (Jer.  1:5).    ing the flock (Acts 20:29).  He leads
    Thirdly, a shepherd knows the          The  all-knowing  Jehovah  is  re-          us  safely  through  every  danger,
enemies of the sheep, and he has           vealed to us in the highest degree          sheltering  us  in  His  perfect  fold.
the power and  willingness  to de-         in Jesus, Jehovah Salvation.  Jesus         The good Shepherd says:  "And I
fend his sheep.  His rod and staff         speaks  in  John  10:14:  "  I  am  the     give  unto  them  eternal  life,  and
will  be  in  hand  to  protect  them.     good  shepherd,  and  know  my              they  shall  never  perish,  neither
Often a sheep dog is employed to           sheep...."  He has known us from              shall  any  man  pluck  them  out  of
protect the sheep and to keep them         eternity, when the Father gave unto         my hand" (John 10:28).
together.  A good shepherd will be         Him  our  names.    Jesus  Christ           Finally, Jehovah God is filled with
on guard against predators.                knows His sheep by name, and all            patience and longsuffering with re-
    Finally, let it be emphasized, a       the love of Jehovah for His sheep           spect to the sheep of His pasture.
shepherd  must  be  very  patient,         is  manifested  in  Him  who  laid          We  confess  with  the  prophet
longsuffering with his sheep.  From        down His life for His sheep!                Jeremiah:  "It is of the LORD's mer-
this viewpoint, not just anyone can            And  Jehovah,  our  shepherd,           cies that we are not consumed, be-
be a good shepherd.  Many farm-            knows the proper pasture we need.           cause  his  compassions  fail  not.
ers and ranchers will have nothing         He feeds us in the green pastures           They are new every morning:  great
to do with sheep.  Sheep are very          by means of the preaching of His            is thy faithfulness" (Lam. 3:22, 23).
labor  intensive.    They  require  al-    inspired, infallible Word and by the        Listen to the inspired testimony of
most constant attention and faith-         use of the sacraments.  Though at           Isaiah:  "He shall lead his flock like
ful, loving care.  If that kind of care    times our flesh would rebel against         a  shepherd:    he  shall  gather  the
is not provided, the sheep wander          the pasture He provides, though by          lambs with his arm, and carry them
away; they are devoured by their           nature we would gorge ourselves             in His bosom, and shall gently lead
enemies; they get sick and die.  Pa-       upon the lusts and pleasures of this        those  that  are  with  young"  (Is.
tience and longsuffering are neces-        sinful  world,  Jehovah  knows  our         40:11).  "And Jesus, when he came
sary virtues of a good shepherd.           needs and has provided us with the          out,  saw  much  people,  and  was
                                           perfect pasture.  We  are given to          moved  with  compassion  toward
Jehovah, our Shepherd                      partake  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,      them, because they were as sheep
    All  these  characteristics  of  a     the Bread of Life and the Water of          not having a shepherd: and he be-
shepherd we find in the highest de-        Life.    Jesus  exhorts  His  under-        gan  to  teach  them  many  things"
gree  in  Jehovah!    Jehovah  is  the     shepherds:  "Feed the flock of God          (Mark 6:34).
name  of  our  God  par  excellence.       which is among you..." (I Pet. 5:2).              Can you not testify of the pa-
This is the name by which our God          In Him we live; in Him we are sat-          tience  and  longsuffering  of  our
is  distinguished  forever  from  the      isfied; in Him we are most blessed          Shepherd  within  your  own  life?
idols of the heathen.  He is Jeho-         forever!                                    Have you perhaps strayed from the
vah, the I AM THAT I AM, the per-              To be sure, Jehovah knows our           flock?    Have  you  ever  wandered
fectly  independent  and  self-suffi-      enemies.    He  protects  us  from          into  forbidden,  dangerous  paths?
cient God, who has no need of any          them, "for He is able to do it, be-         Have  you  not  known  and  wept
creature outside of Himself.  Jeho-        ing Almighty God, and willing, be-          about your sins and miseries?  But,
vah  is  the  sovereign  Creator  and      ing a faithful Father" (Heid. Cat.,         without fail, our faithful Shepherd
Lord of all.  Jehovah is the eternal,      Lord's  Day  9).    He  knows  the          leads us back to the flock, delivers
omnipotent, unchangeable God.              wicked world would like to swal-            us from danger, comforts with the
    But the name Jehovah empha-            low  us  up.    He  knows  that  "the       word, "Thy sins are forgiven thee."

                                                                                               August, 1998/Standard Bearer/435


Abundant Provision                          through His Word.  He rules us by           tions.  If Jehovah is your shepherd,
    What more could we ask?  He             His grace so that we willingly sub-         if you have no want, then you are,
makes abundant provision for us!            mit to His guidance and serve Him           indeed, His sheep.  Then you know
"I shall not want."  I will not suf-        in  love.    He  protects  us  from  all    Jesus.  He says, "... and am known
fer any lack.  Oh, want or lack is          our  enemies,  preserves  and  sus-         of  mine"  (John  10:14).    It  is  the
dreadful!  It is misery.  Look at a         tains us through every trial, every         spiritual  knowledge  of  the  heart,
flock without abundant provision.           suffering,  and  through  all  of  our      the knowledge of faith.  Then you
They  are  ignored,  neglected,  un-        sorrows.    Hear  His  voice:    "My        hear  the  Shepherd.    Jesus  says:
known by their shepherd.  They are          grace is sufficient for thee:  for my       "My  sheep  hear  my  voice"  (John
impoverished--forced  to  gnaw               strength is made perfect in weak-           10:27).    From  Sabbath  to  Sabbath
away at bare, brown fields.  They           ness" (II Cor. 12:9).  He is our faith-     we hear His Word and  recognize
fall prey to predators.  They have          ful Shepherd, providing for our ev-         our Shepherd's voice in the preach-
scant shelter to protect them from          ery need, even as we walk through           ing of the gospel.  Then we follow
the  storms.    They  have  only  pol-      the valley of the shadow of death.          Him.  Jesus says,  "... and they fol-
luted  water  to  drink.    They  are           We may not possess all that we          low me" (John 10:27).  We will not
weak and diseased.  Many wander             wish  for,  but  we  shall  not  want.      be deceived by wolves in sheep's
and are lost upon the hills.  They          The  psalmist  testified  of  that  in      clothing.    We  will  know  that  the
suffer  want!    Their  needs  are  ig-     Psalm 34:10:  "The young lions do           voice of the hireling is false.  We
nored.  No one makes proper pro-            lack and suffer hunger;  but they           love our Shepherd, trust Him, and
vision for them.  The sheep suffer          that seek the LORD shall not want           follow Him.
grievously; they die!                       any  good  thing."    Whatever  may                  We  are  pathetic  creatures  no
    But  Jehovah  is  our  Shepherd;        come--famine, affliction, poverty,           more.    For  even  now  we  are,  in
we shall not want!  For our great-          persecution,  death--I  shall  not           principle, new creatures in Christ!
est  want  is  fellowship  with  our        want.  Though we cannot always              And presently in glory we shall be
God.    Remove  our  God,  separate         comprehend  the  Lord's  ways,              manifest  as  perfected,  victorious,
us from our God, and we die a mis-          though we may be inclined to ask,           glorious  sheep.    May  our  hearts
erable, eternal death!  But, thanks         "Hath  God  forgotten  to  be  gra-         sing:
be  to  God,  Jehovah  is  our  Shep-       cious?"  we  are  given  to  confess,              The LORD my shepherd holds
herd!  As such, He established His          "Thou  leadest  thy  people  like  a        me, within His tender care,
covenant of friendship and fellow-          flock  by  the  hand  of  Moses  and                  And with His flock He folds
ship with us.  He feeds and nour-           Aaron" (Ps. 77:20).                         me, no want shall find me there.
ishes  us  by  His  grace  and  Spirit          But  understand  the  implica-                                  Psalter #55.    u

  Editorial

                                           The Reformed Worldview

           2. The Failure of Common Grace
In the editorial of May 15, 1998, in natural life.  By this grace they spheres of creation and how he re-
   I described the worldview that           can, and often do, create a culture         lates  to  the  ungodly  in  everyday
   Abraham Kuyper proposed for              that is good, that is, a culture that       life.
Reformed  Christians.    This  is  a        glorifies  God  and  that  God  ap-                  Kuyper laid out this common
worldview of common grace.  Ac-             proves.   This common  grace  per-          grace worldview in six lectures at
cording  to  the  Dutch  Reformed           mits, indeed requires, Christians to        Princeton Theological Seminary in
theologian, all men and women re-           cooperate with unbelievers in their         1898.  The lectures have been pub-
ceive a certain grace from God dur-         positive development of culture.            lished as Lectures on Calvinism.
ing this life.  This grace restrains            Common grace is the founda-                      Through Kuyper's powerful in-
the  power  of  sin  in  the                tion  and  driving  force  of  the  life    fluence, the worldview of common
unregenerated so that they are not          and work of the Reformed Chris-             grace dominated in the Reformed
totally depraved, as otherwise they         tian  in  the  world.    It  determines     Churches  in  the  Netherlands  and
would be.  It enables them to love,         how the Reformed Christian lives            in the Christian Reformed Church
seek, and do what is good and right         in  the  various  ordinances  and           in North America.  The Christian

436/Standard Bearer/August, 1998


Reformed  Church  made  the                  three  points  of  common  grace               quires, the holy people of God to
worldview of common grace offi-              adopted by the Christian Reformed              cooperate with the world that hates
cial, binding  doctrine  in  her  syn-       Church in 1924, points which the               God  in  carrying  out  the  mandate
odical decisions of 1924 adopting            PRC repudiate.                                 of Genesis 1, Scripture knows noth-
common grace.  Conservative Pres-                                                           ing.
byterians  also  embraced  it.                   Relative to the first point which                  The  complete  lack  of  biblical
Kuyper's  lectures  were  given  at            concerns the favorable attitude of           basis  for  the  grace  that  Kuyper
Princeton in 1898, then a conserva-            God towards humanity in general              taught in his lectures at Princeton
tive Presbyterian seminary.  B. B.             and  not  only  towards  the  elect,         is  reflected  in  the  lectures  them-
Warfield was in Kuyper's audience              synod declares it to be established          selves.  They are not biblical.  The
                                               according  to  Scripture  and  the
and enthusiastically approved the              Confession  that,  apart  from  the          contents of the six lectures are to-
worldview  advocated  in  the  lec-            saving grace of God shown only               tally  lacking  in  explanation  of
tures.  Over the years, many non-              to those that are elect unto eternal         Scripture.  Indeed, they are virtu-
Reformed, evangelical schools and              life,  there  is  also  a  certain  favor    ally void of references to Scripture.
theologians  also  made  the                   or grace of God which He shows               I urge all to whom this is impor-
worldview of common grace their                to His creatures in general....                tant  to  re-read  the  lectures  from
own.                                             Relative  to  the  second  point,          this viewpoint.  In what admittedly
    Kuyper's  worldview  of  com-              which  is  concerned  with  the  re-         was  not  a  scientific  study,  I
mon  grace  prevails  in  Reformed             straint of sin in the life of the in-        scanned the lectures page by page
                                               dividual man and in the commu-
circles  still  today.    This  was  evi-      nity, the Synod declares that there          to note quotations of Scripture, as
dent at a conference commemorat-               is such a restraint of sin accord-           well  as  Scriptural  exposition.
ing  the  centennial  of  Kuyper's             ing to Scripture and the  Confes-            There are only a few quotations of
Stone  Lectures  this  past  March.            sion....    God  by  the  general  op-         Scripture with exact reference--as
The conference was held at Calvin              erations of His Spirit, without re-          few as two or three, perhaps 20 al-
College  in  Grand  Rapids.    The             newing the heart of man, restrains           lusions  to or  quotations  of  Scrip-
sponsor was the Calvin Center for              the  unimpeded  breaking  out  of            ture without reference, and no ex-
Christian Scholarship.  The theme              sin, by which human life in soci-            planation  of  Scripture  whatever.
of  the  conference  was  "Abraham             ety remains possible.                        The  lectures  are  theoretical  and
                                                 Relative  to  the  third  point,
Kuyper Revisited:  The Stone Lec-              which is concerned with the ques-            philosophical,  not  biblical.    The
tures Centennial."                             tion of civil righteousness as per-          worldview  of  common  grace  of
    Professor  Nicholas  Wolters-              formed  by  the  unregenerate,               Abraham Kuyper in the Lectures on
torff, a leader in the Christian Re-           synod declares  that according to            Calvinism is a theory spun  out of
formed  Church,  especially  in  the           Scripture and the Confessions the            the magnificent mind of Kuyper.  It
area  of  Christian  education,  gave          unregenerate, though incapable of            is not the mind of Jesus Christ as
the  keynote  address.    His  speech          doing  any  saving  good,  can  do           revealed in Scripture.
was titled, "Kuyper's Significance             civil good....  God without renew-                     Scripture teaches the very op-
for the 21st Century."  The philoso-           ing  the  heart  so  influences  man         posite.    Only  the  elect,  renewed,
                                               that  he  is  able  to  perform  civil
pher  and  teacher  correctly  ob-             good....    (cited  in  Herman                 believing saints have learned Christ
served that  the  topic of Kuyper's            Hoeksema, The Protestant Reformed            so that, by grace, they put off the
Stone  Lectures  was  the  vital,  pe-         Churches in America, 2nd ed. 1947,           old man and put on the new man
rennial issue, "How shall the Chris-           pp. 317, 354, 377).                          and live rightly in every sphere of
tian      live     in     the     world?"                                                   earthly  life.    The  unregenerated
Wolterstorff frankly acknowledged                In view of the fundamental im-             walk in the  vanity of their mind,
that Abraham Kuyper showed Re-               portance  of  a  church's  and                 having  the  understanding  dark-
formed Christians the way and that           individual's  worldview  and  in               ened, being alienated from the life
Wolterstorff could not improve on            view  of  the  popularity  of  the             of God through the ignorance that
Kuyper's instruction in 1898.  Com-          Kuyperian, common grace world-                 is in them, giving themselves over
mon grace remains the foundation             view, it is necessary to remind our-           unto lasciviousness, to work all un-
of the Reformed worldview and the            selves  why  we  say  no,  and  must           cleanness  with  greediness  (Eph.
power of the Reformed life in the            say no,  to the worldview of com-              4:17ff.).  Those outside of Christ are
world.                                       mon grace.  First, of a grace of God           ignorant of the good (which is God,
    Since  1924  the  Protestant  Re-        that restrains sin in the unregener-           always  and  only  God!),  hate  the
formed Churches (PRC) have taken             ate; that enables the ungodly out-             good, despise the good, and are in-
lonely exception to the worldview            side of Christ to know, love, seek,            capable  of  doing  the  good  (Eph.
proposed  by  Abraham  Kuyper.               and  do  the  good;  that  empowers            4:18; Rom. 1:18-32; 3:11; John 15:5).
Kuyper's  worldview  of  common              the wicked to develop a good cul-              The culture that the wicked are de-
grace  was  the  real  subject  of  the      ture; and that permits, and even re-           veloping  in  history,  as  willing

                                                                                                        August, 1998/Standard Bearer/437


slaves of Satan, is a culture of the         teaches the total depravity of the               gard  to  the  workings  of  God's
glory, pleasure, and advantage of            unregenerated, the proposed foun-                grace  in  the  world  outside  the
man;  a  culture  of  lawlessness;  a        dation of the Reformed worldview                 church, expressed in the doctrine
culture  of  death;  a  culture  of  the     teaches the restraint of sin in the              of common grace (Creating a Chris-
kingdom of the beast (I John 2:15,           unregenerated, so that they can do               tian Worldview:  Abraham Kuyper's
                                                                                              Lectures  on  Calvinism,  Eerdmans,
16; Matt. 24:12; Rev. 13, 18).  Rather       works that are good and thus de-                 1998, p. 116).
than oneness in worldview and co-            velop culture to the glory of God.
operation in carrying out the call-          Whereas the confessions teach the                  This  is  implicit  admission  by
ing  implied  in  worldview,  Scrip-         radical spiritual separation of the            Kuyper himself that his theory of
ture  teaches  radical  difference,          elect  church  from  the  reprobate            common  grace  conflicts  with  Re-
separation,  and  antithesis  (Psalm         world, a holy people in an unholy              formed predestination.  Predestina-
147:19, 20; Deut. 33:28; II Cor. 6:14-       world, the proposed foundation of              tion  threatens  Kuyper's  common
18; Rev. 18:4).                              the Reformed worldview teaches a               grace.  Therefore the only thing to
    Second,  the  Reformed  confes-          oneness in divine grace and a  coop-           do  when  proclaiming  common
sions do not so much as mention              eration in obedience to a divine call-         grace is to ignore predestination.
the common grace that is supposed            ing.                                               This  is  a  damning  indictment
to  be  the  very  foundation  of  the               The doctrine of common grace           of common grace.
Christian  worldview,  much  less            as put forward by Kuyper on be-                    Predestination  may  never  be
emphasize and extol it as the vital          half  of  the  Reformed  worldview             ignored, that is, really, denied by
doctrine  that  Kuyper  made  of  it.        conflicts with the confessional Re-            silence.
In fact, the only reference to "com-         formed doctrine of predestination.                 Predestination may not be ig-
mon grace" in the "Three Forms of            At the very least the theory of com-           nored  in  the  matter  of  the  Re-
Unity" is a condemnation of it as            mon grace rudely shoves the truth              formed worldview.
part  and  parcel  of  the  Arminian         of  predestination  into  the  back-               Whatever supposedly Christian
heresy:                                      ground.    Let  no  one  dismiss  this         worldview can make its way and
                                             charge as merely a piece of Protes-            hold its own only by ignoring pre-
  The  Synod  rejects  the  errors  of       tant Reformed logic-chopping.  In              destination  is  thereby  exposed  as
  those ... who teach that the cor-            his superb analysis of Kuyper's lec-           false.
  rupt and natural man can so well           tures  at  Princeton,  the  British
  use the common grace (by which                                                                The  Reformed,  Christian
                                             scholar, Peter S. Heslam,  calls at-
  they  understand  the  light  of  na-                                                     worldview  is  in  perfect  harmony
                                             tention to this very thing, namely,
  ture), or the gifts still left him af-                                                    with  God's  election  and  reproba-
  ter the fall, that he can gradually        that  in  the  interests  of  common           tion from eternity.  It has its source
  gain by their good use a greater,          grace  Kuyper  deliberately  down-             and foundation in predestination.
  viz.,  the  evangelical  or  saving        played predestination.                         The power of the Christian life that
  grace  and  salvation  itself.    And                                                     flows  from  and  expresses  the
  that in this way God on His part             Although the doctrine of election,           Christian's  worldview  is  the  par-
  shows  Himself  ready  to  reveal            or predestination as Kuyper pre-             ticular grace of election.
  Christ unto all men ... (Canons of             ferred  to  call  it,  is  often  consid-
  Dordt, III, IV, Rejection of Errors/         ered to be the most characteristic               Whatever  else  the  Christian
  5).                                          element  of  Calvinistic  theology,          worldview may be, it is a view of
                                               Kuyper gave no special attention             life and work in all of creation as
    Is  it  unreasonable  that  Re-            to it in his exposition of Calvin-           holiness unto the triune God.  Mak-
formed churches and Christians ex-             ism  in  the  Stone  Lectures.    This       ing this worldview known to Israel
pect that a truth so basic as to be            doctrine did not in fact feature as          and  calling  Israel  to  the  life  that
the foundation of their worldview              prominently  in  his  writings  as           expresses it, Moses grounded the
                                               might  be  expected,  not  only  be-
be found in the creeds?  Is it un-                                                          worldview in God's election:  "the
                                               cause of his commitment to Cal-
worthy of Reformed churches and                                                             LORD thy God hath chosen thee to
                                               vinist theology, but also because
Christians to note with alarm that             he  considered  it  to  be  the  cor         be  a  special  people  unto  himself,
the  proposed  foundation  of  their           ecclesiae ("heart of the church"--            above all people that are upon the
worldview--common  grace--con-                   DJE), and central to the Reformed            face of the earth" (Deut. 7:6).
tradicts the fundamental doctrines             confession.  His  De gemeene gratie              The apostle did the same to the
of  their  faith  as  set  forth  in  the      (Kuyper's  three-volume  work,               church  of  the  new  covenant:    we
creeds?  Whereas the creeds teach              Common Grace--DJE) provides an                should be holy and without blame
particular  grace,  the  proposed              indication as to why this was the            before Him, "according as He hath
                                               case.  There he criticized Reformed
foundation  of  the  Reformed                                                               chosen us in Him before the foun-
                                               theologians for having made pre-
worldview teaches common grace.                                                             dation of the world" (Eph. 1:4).   u
                                               destination the chief focus of their
Whereas  confessional  Calvinism               attention,  paying  only  scant  re-                                            --DJE

438/Standard Bearer/August, 1998


  Letters


                                              which was  The Sovereignty of God.          May 1998).   This article has been
s A Decidedly                                 This book clearly presented argu-           very helpful in that it has shown
Unbiblical Teaching                           ments against the well-meant offer.         that the  PRC are not alone in re-
                                                  I want to give you my sincere           jecting  the  well-meant  offer  as  a
                                              thanks for your analysis of this sub-       decidedly unbiblical teaching.
You are  probably aware that  I
    wrote a letter to  Christian Re-          ject in your book  Hyper-Calvinism              I've  written  another  letter  to
newal  (18  May  1998)  regarding  a          & the Call of the Gospel.  But know-        Christian  Renewal   refuting  what
letter by Jelle Tuininga on the well-         ing  the  antipathy  of  Tuininga           Tuininga wrote in the issue of 18
meant offer.  Though I cannot re-             against the PRC, I did not want to          May 1998 in response to my letter
call a sermon on this subject, I have         refer to your book in my first let-         for the same date.  In my refuting
never  believed  in  it,  but  did  not       ter for evidence against the well-          letter I've taken the liberty to ref-
have  a  good  defense  against  it.          meant offer.                                erence the article by Frew and to
Then several years ago I was made                 You  have  presented  me  with          quote from John Gerstner's "Fore-
aware of the writings of A.W. Pink            additional  information  on  the  of-       word" in your book.  Many thanks
through  our  daughter,  who  is  a           fer.  For this I want to give you my        again for your fine publication.   u
Christian school teacher in Hunts-            sincere  thanks  for  the  article  by                           Herman Dykstra
ville, AL. She presented me with a            Jimmie  Frew,  Sr.  that  you  pub-                                 Concord, CA
gift of four of Pink's books, among           lished  in  the  Standard  Bearer  (15


  Review Article                                                                           Prof. David J. Engelsma


                                  Universalism in the
                                 Reformed Churches

                                              Timothy 2:4:  "Who will have all            many,  what  the  gospel  could  not
The One Purpose of God:  An Answer            men  to  be  saved."    Interpreting        accomplish--their  repentance--
to the Doctrine of Eternal Punishment,        "all" in this text, in Romans 5:18,         temporary "hell" will bring about.
by Jan Bonda.  Tr. Reinder Bruins-            in I Corinthians 15:22, in Romans               This salvation of all without ex-
ma.    Grand  Rapids:    Eerdmans,            11:32,  and  in  other  places  in  this    ception will occur only by way of
1998.  Xxv + 278 pages.  $25 (pa-             way, Bonda contends that God will           and in connection with the future
per).                                         eventually save every human with-           salvation of all physical Jews, those
                                              out exception.  The book is a dar-          who have died in unbelief as well
                                              ing, bold affirmation of universal-
The one purpose of God referred                                                           as those then living.  With appeal
    to  in  the  title  of  this  book  is    ism.  By virtue of this fact, it is a       to Romans 11, Bonda insists upon
God's alleged desire to save every            denial of  hell as everlasting pun-         the continuing significance of "Is-
human without exception.  The au-             ishment.                                    rael," which he understands as the
thor,  a  minister  in  the  Reformed             Ominously  the  book  begins            totality of physical Jews.  The im-
Churches in the Netherlands, sup-             with a quotation of the early theo-         portance and place of the Jews yet
poses that this is the meaning of I           logian Origen.                              today in God's scheme of salvation
                                                  Eventually, all those who died          is the other side of the book's cen-
                                              in  unbelief  will  be  converted  to       tral theme.
                                              Christ and be saved.  This will take
Prof. Engelsma is professor of Dogmatics      place by means of their suffering             Paul also writes about this judg-
and Old Testament in the Protestant Re-       for  a  limited  time  the  anguish  of       ment--the  day  of  God's  wrath,
formed Seminary.                              hellish  judgment.    In  the  case  of       when "he will repay according to

                                                                                                  August, 1998/Standard Bearer/439


  each  one's  deeds"  (Rom.  2:5-6).          writes  Bonda's  radical  heresy.                    raises such questions as, Will God
  The judgment is the beginning of             Woudstra  charges  that  in  their                   achieve his desire?  Will there be
  the  great  deliverance.    Under            teaching of eternal punishment the                   an end to God's  desire of salva-
  Christ's  kingly  rule  God's  chil-         Reformed  creeds  are  "seriously                    tion for certain individuals?  Par-
  dren--those  who  are  Christ's--              flawed" (p. xx).  The Christian Re-                  ticularly the question, Is a person's
  will  lead  lost  humanity  back  to                                                              eternal fate irrevocably sealed at
  God.  All who ever died will be              formed theologian expresses agree-                   his or her death?  (pp. xix, xx)
  made alive in Christ, and at last            ment  with  an  implication  of                         The  book,  therefore,  does  not
  God will be all in all (Rom. 8:14-           Bonda's universalism, namely, that              permit  itself  to  become  a  handy
  21; I Cor. 15:20-28).  So there will         the cross of Christ was not "satis-             sword with  which the "conserva-
  be  salvation  for  those  who  died         faction," that is, was not "a price             tive  Calvinistic"  theologians  and
  in a state of unbelief; salvation af-        paid  to  God":    "that  death,  as            churches can slash the "liberal" Re-
  ter the judgment.  There will also           Bonda points out, was not a price
  be salvation for those who rejected                                                          formed  Churches  in  the  Nether-
                                               to be paid to God" (pp. xx, xxi; cf.
  the  gospel.    The  majority  of  the                                                       lands and, perhaps,  the Christian
                                               pp. 86, 87).  Woudstra once vowed
  Jewish people did that, but all Is-                                                                 Reformed  Church  in  North
  rael will be saved....  God (in the            to  uphold  the  Reformed                                  America  to  their  own  ad-
  judgment--DJE)  makes  evil  fall             creeds and never to criti-                                   vantage.    This  is  what
                                                                                         If God
  back  on  the  heads  of  evildoers.         cize them, whether pub-                                        they will do, gasping at
                                                                                       has a desire
  He  does  not  have  in  mind  their         licly  or  privately.    But                                    and fulminating against
  destruction, however, but their re-          why  concern  oneself                   to save all             gross  heresy.    But  the
  demption  and  healing;  they  will          with lying to the Holy               without exception,          book  is  a  sword  that,
  be ashamed and loathe what they              Ghost in the church, if                 born of His
  did, and return to God.  Eventu-                                                                              as soon as they try to
                                               there  is  no  hell  any-               love for all
  ally  all  will,  with  their  whole                                                                          wield  it,  pierces  the
                                               way?                                 without exception,
  heart,  choose  for  the  good  for                                                                           heart  of  their  own
                                                                                    but some of these
  which God initially created them.                The  fundamental                                             "conservative"  theol-
                                                                                          perish
  Israel  will  do  so  first.    Then  all    assumption of the book                                          ogy.  For the universal-
                                                                                      everlastingly,
  nations will join redeemed Israel            is that God has a pur-                                          istic, hell-denying book
                                                                                     God will suffer
  (p. 258).                                    pose, or desire, of sav-                                       rests squarely--and im-
                                               ing  every  human  with-                everlasting            movably--on  the  notion
    Does  the  Reformed  man  or               out exception.  The bibli-                misery.             that  God  has  a  purpose
woman incredulously object on the              cal  basis  is  a  reading  of  I                          to save every human with-
basis of the book of Romans with               Timothy  2:4  and  similar  texts               out  exception  inasmuch  as  He
its clear teaching of predestination?          that explains "all" as referring to             loves them all.  And this is the the-
Most of The One Purpose of God con-            every human.  The predestinarian                ology  of  all  who  maintain  the
sists exactly of an interpretation of          texts are made to harmonize with                theory of the "well-meant offer of
the entire book of Romans that re-             the passages that speak of a desire             salvation."  The agreement of most
jects predestination, limited atone-           of God to save all.  From this de-              "conservative Calvinists" with the
ment, and particular grace (pp. 74-            sire of God to save all, Bonda con-             "liberal"  Bonda  and  Woudstra  is
255).  According to the exegesis of            cludes that all will, and must, be              evident  in  their  interpretation  of
Bonda, admittedly following Karl               saved, if not before death, then af-            Bonda's  basic  text,  I  Timothy  2:4
Barth,  the  book  of  Romans  pro-            ter death.                                      and,  by  necessary  implication,
claims the final salvation of every                Woudstra  outlines  the  argu-              verse 6.  They too explain that God
human by a grace of God that em-               ment:                                           wishes  to  save,  and  that  in  some
braces all.  The chapter with which                                                            sense  Christ  gave  Himself  a  ran-
Bonda begins his exposition of Ro-               The title of the book, The One Pur-           som for, every human without ex-
mans is titled, "God Wants All to                pose of God, succinctly captures the          ception.
Be Saved."                                       point Bonda tries to make on the                      The  issue  is  God's  purpose,
    That  a  minister  in  the  Re-              basis of meticulous biblical exege-           God's  desire,  God's  sincere wish,
formed  Churches  in  the  Nether-               sis.  This title is based on Paul's
                                                 words in I Timothy 2:4 that God               that is, the purposing, desiring, sin-
lands  pointedly  and  publicly  as-             "desires everyone to be saved and             cerely wishing God.  If God has a
sails  basic  doctrines  in  the  Re-            to come to the knowledge of the               desire  to  save  all  without  excep-
formed confessions, as Bonda does,               truth."  The book's subtitle, "An             tion, born of His love for all with-
comes  as  no  surprise.    It  is  star-        Answer to the Doctrine of Eternal             out  exception,  but  some  of  these
tling,  however,  to  find  Christian            Punishment,"  follows  from  that             perish everlastingly, God will suf-
Reformed          theologian          Sierd      text.  Once we accept Paul's con-             fer everlasting misery.  Just as the
Woudstra doing this in his enthu-                viction here at face value, the doc-          believing  parents  of  nine  godly
siastically  favorable  foreword.                trine  of  eternal  punishment  be-           children grieve daily over one un-
Woudstra  unequivocally  under-                  comes at least problematic.  For it

440/Standard Bearer/August, 1998


godly child, insomuch that the grief            tives"  are  committed  with  their         of  God  in  love  to  save  a  certain,
over the one bids fair to overwhelm             "well-meant  offer."    Time  will          definite  number  of  the  elect  in
the joy over the nine, so God will              show it!  Time  has  shown it!  Uni-        Christ, accompanied by an eternal
forever grieve over the eternal per-            versalism in the Reformed churches          rejection  of  the  others  unto  ever-
dition  of  those  whom  He  once               has shown it!                               lasting  damnation,  or  an  eternal
loved and sincerely desired to save,                The  issue  in  the  Reformed           desire of God to save every human
and still (being unchangeable God)              churches today, as ever, is predes-         without exception (I Tim. 2:4 on the
loves and desires to save.  Heaven              tination: election and reprobation.         reading  of  many  "Calvinists"!),
will be an everlasting hell for God.                Either  the  Canons  of  Dordt,         which explodes predestination, de-
    This is impossible.                         wholeheartedly, honestly, unabash-          nies the cross as satisfaction, and
    If God does, in fact, have a pur-           edly, and consistently maintained,          abolishes everlasting hell.
pose in love to save all, all must,             or Jan Bonda's  The One Purpose of              Bonda's book should make for
somehow, be saved in the end.  For              God.                                        some theological soul-searching in
God's sake!  To this the "conserva-                 Either the one eternal purpose          the Reformed community.    u



  All Around Us                                                                                         Rev. Gise VanBaren

                                                of the Word of God found in Rev-              world's most powerful economy,
                                                elation  13.   There  is revealed  the        the United States is exporting its
s Two Beasts                                    two beasts: one arising out of the            laws  and  regulations  to  the  rest
                                                sea (one world-power arising out              of the world.  The message: any-
                                                                                              one who wants to do business in
                                                of  the  instability  of  nations),  and
We often speak of the nearness
         of the end of time.  In fact,                                                        America has to play by American
                                                one out of the earth (the rise of one-
throughout the New Testament age                                                              rules.
                                                world church and development of
the church has testified of this.  It                                                           All this work has two things in
                                                science  in  a  "stable"  political
is very true that for the past 2,000                                                          common.
                                                scene).  Two reports brought this
years  the  church  could  rightly                                                              First, little of it protects work-
                                                to my attention recently.
speak of the nearness of the end of                                                           ers or communities, or reins in the
                                                    The  Christian  News,  May  4,
time and of Christ's return.  Since                                                           power of global markets.  Instead,
                                                1998, reports on a call for church            it is aimed at making the markets
it  is  the  next  great  event  on  that
                                                unity:                                        safer,  more  efficient  and,  hence,
"time-clock" of God, it is properly                                                           more powerful.
called  "near"  even  though  thou-                                                             Second, it is taking place virtu-
                                                    Kampen,  the  Netherlands
sands  of  years  have  transpired.                                                           ally unnoticed and not debated by
                                                  (ENI)--
The question might arise, however:                                                            voters, politicians or the press.  To
                                                    The  general  secretary  of  the
could  another  thousand  years  go                                                           a great degree, the rules are being
                                                  World Council of Churches has re-
by before Christ's return?                                                                    written  by  experts  and  techni-
                                                  newed his call for the main Chris-
    There have always been "nor-                                                              cians, with no democratic input.
                                                  tian churches to start, in the year
mal"  disasters.    Christ  even  says                                                          The dread of the global market's
                                                  2000, a process to lead to a uni-
                                                                                              power  and  anarchy  has  grown
concerning the coming of these that               versal Christian council uniting all
                                                                                              since the Asian financial crisis last
the end is not yet.  But there have               churches and Christians.
                                                                                              autumn  and  dominates  debates
been  additional  and  remarkable                                                             whenever world economic leaders
signs seen in our generation.  There                And from the Denver Post, May             gather.
has been the rapid development of               7, 1998:                                        "Creating  the  institutions  and
mankind  in  the  realm  of  science                                                          arrangements          for     handling
                                                    In private parlays from Zurich
and medicine--just think of those                                                              globalization is the greatest intel-
                                                  to  Hong  Kong,  in  closed  court-
things  which  have  happened                                                                 lectual  challenge  now  facing  the
                                                  rooms from Singapore to Paris, in
within our lifetimes!  But in addi-                                                           world,"  Richard  Haas  of  the
                                                  legal  chambers  in  London  and            Brookings Institution said.  "A gap
tion to that, there is the fulfilling             New York, in government offices             must be filled.  This is going to be
                                                  from Washington to Tokyo, close-            the next great area of intellectual
                                                  knit bands of global planners are           endeavor."
                                                  writing the rules that will govern            As the market's power has in-
                                                  the  world  economy  into  the  21st        creased,  so  have  efforts--some
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant         century and beyond.                         governmental, some private, some
Reformed    Church    of    Loveland,  Colo-        Most  of  these  rules  carry  an         both--to wrap it in the rules and
rado.                                             American  stamp.    With  the               regulations  that  long  have  con-

                                                                                                        August, 1998/Standard Bearer/441


  trolled  all  the  major  national           number,  insurance  and  ailment.           ment  is  ruled  legitimate  in  our
  economies,  including  the  Ameri-           Then she inquired, "What is your            democratic discourse.  But invoke
  can one.                                     religious  preference?"    I  was           the  Bible  as  grounding  for  your
                                               tempted to say, "I think Buddhism           politics, and the First Amendment
    A global market ultimately re-             is the coolest of all, but I happen         police  will  charge  you  with
quires  a  one-world  power  to  en-           to be Jewish."                              breaching the sacred wall separat-
force  the  rules  and  regulations              My second impulse was to re-              ing church and state.  Carter notes,
adopted by the nations and by the              peat what Jonah said when asked             for example, that one is  allowed
                                               by the shipmates of his founder-            to have any view on abortion so
marketplace.  Some of this is seen             ing skiff to identify himself: "I am        long as it derives from ethical or
already in the European Common                 a Hebrew, ma'am.  And I fear the            practical or sociological or medi-
Market,  where  the  individual  na-           Lord,  the  God  of  Heaven,  who           cal  considerations.    But  should
tions are increasingly submitting to           made the sea and the dry land."             someone  stand  up  and  oppose
centralized control.  And, of course,          But that would surely have got me           abortion for reasons of faith, he is
the  United  States  of  America  ex-          sent  to  psychiatry  rather  than  X       accused of trying to impose his re-
ists as a "common market" because              ray.  So I desisted.                        ligious beliefs on others.  Call on
of  the  centralized  control  found             In  ancient  times,  they  asked,         Timothy Leary or Chairman Mao,
there.  As such control is extended            "Who  is  your  God?"    A  genera-         fine.  Call on St. Paul, and all hell
                                               tion ago, they asked your religion.         breaks loose....
over the nations of the world, one             Today your creed is a preference.             ...We've  come  a  long  way  in
can recognize the rise of the "beast           Preference?    "I  take  my  coffee         America.  After two centuries, it
out of the sea."  There will be an             black,  my  wine  red,  my  sex             seems  we finally do have  a reli-
enforced unity which will surely be            straight  and  my  shirts  lightly          gious test for office.  True religi-
the  kingdom  of  the  antichrist.             starched.    Oh  yes,  and  put  me         osity  is  disqualifying.    Well,  not
Then, even as we are already see-              down for Islam."                            quite.    Believers  may  serve--but
ing, the faithful child of God will                                                        only if  they check their belief at
suffer  great  persecution,  and  the            The article continues:                    the office door.
attempt will be made to silence the                                                          At  a  time  when  religion  is  a
                                                                                           preference and piety a form of ec-
faithful church of Christ.                       According to Chesterton, toler-           centricity  suggesting  fanaticism,
    It is true that we know not the            ance is the virtue of people who            Chesterton  needs  revision:  toler-
day or the hour of Christ's return.            do  not  believe  in  anything.
                                               Chesterton meant that as a critique         ance  is  not  just  the  virtue  of
Surely, however, we ought not to               of tolerance.  But it captures nicely       people who do not believe in any-
deceive ourselves into thinking that           the upside of unbelief: where reli-         thing;  tolerance  extends  only  to
hundreds  or  even  thousands  of              gion is trivialized, one is unlikely        people who don't believe in any-
years can transpire before His re-             to  find  persecution.    When  it  is      thing.  Believe  in  something,  and
turn.                                          believed  that  on  your  religion          beware.    You  may  not  warrant
                                               hangs  the  fate  of  your  immortal        presidential-level attack, but you'll
                                               soul, the Inquisition follows eas-          make yourself suspect should you
                                               ily; when it is believed that reli-         dare  enter  the  naked  public
                                               gion is a breezy consumer prefer-           square.
                                               ence, religious tolerance flourishes
s "Coffee, tea, or He?"                        easily.  After all, we don't perse-           But you ought to find and read
Charles Krauthammer, in an es- cute people for their taste in cars. the entire article yourself.  The man
     say  appearing  in  Time  maga-           Why for their taste in gods?              (whose  "conviction"  is  evidently
zine, June 15, 1998, writes a very               Oddly,  though,  in  our  thor-         the Jewish religion) "hits the nail
penetrating article concerning reli-           oughly secularized culture, there         on the head."  How true: anything
gion:  conviction--or  preference?              is one form of religious intolerance      is condoned and the "rights" of all
One is surprised, to say the least,            that does survive.  And that is the       are insisted upon--except when it
                                               disdain bordering on contempt of
that in a national magazine of the             the culture makers for the deeply         is a matter of worshiping the one
stature  of    Time  an  essay  of  this       religious, i.e., those for whom re-       true God as He has revealed Him-
insight  could  be  presented.    But,         ligion  is  not  a  preference  but  a    self in His Word.  It is another in-
likely, few will read an article that          conviction.                               dication of the last times in which
might pinpoint the vast void in the              Yale  law  professor  Stephen           we live.   u
nation's religious convictions.  He            Carter  calls  this  "the  culture  of
writes:                                        disbelief," the oppressive assump-
                                               tion that no one of any learning
    As  I  checked  in  for  an  outpa-        or sophistication could possibly be
  tient  test  at  a  local  hospital  last    a  religious  believer--and  the  so-
                                               cial penalties meted out to those
  week, the admissions lady asked
  for  the  usual  name,  rank,  serial        who nonetheless are.
                                                 Every manner of political argu-

442/Standard Bearer/August, 1998


  When Thou Sittest in Thine House                                                         Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers


                                            The Reformed Family:
                            The Church Picnic

                                            enough for continuing them.  Oth-            and the other is a fruit pie because
"And all the congregation of them that      ers come down to us through time-            Dad  prefers  fruit  pies.    Mother,
were come again out of the captivity        honored  tradition,  no  reason  for         however, takes great pride in the
made booths, and sat under the booths       discontinuing them.                          texture and height of her meringue
... and there was very great gladness."           One of those good traditions of          -- and we kids are warned not to
                        Nehemiah 8:17       the church, not regulated by Scrip-          pick off the toasted tips on the me-
                                            ture, is the yearly church picnic.  I        ringue -- it must show well at the
                                            don't know the antiquity or history          church picnic!  The pungent aroma
                                            of  the  church  picnic,  but  it  is  at    of baked beans fills the kitchen this
There are some things in our
        personal lives that we should
        hold  on  to  no  matter  how       least a hundred years old and prob-          morning.    When  done,  these  will
busy and complicated our lives be-          ably began in the Netherlands.  As           be swathed in layers of newspaper,
come.    Each  of  us,  for  instance,      is  true  of  many  traditions,  the         and  finally blanketed in  the  least
should commit himself to pockets            church  picnic  is  one  tradition           frayed of the bath towels to keep
of  time  for  reading  worthwhile          which lends collective coherence to          the beans as warm as possible dur-
books  and  meditating.    And  per-        our  busy  lives  and  qualitative           ing the long afternoon.  The Satur-
sonal prayer times ought to punc-           meaning  to  the  fellowship  of  the        day  cleaning  must  be  completely
tuate each day, reminding us that           saints.  In  Habits of the Heart, Rob-       finished  by  noon  today  because
earthly pursuits are not the sum to-        ert  N.  Bellah  writes:    "Our  lives      games  for  the  kids  begin  at  2:00,
tal of our lives.                           make  sense  in  a  thousand  ways,          and we have a brother or sister in
     There  are  some  thing  in  our       most of which we are unaware of,             nearly every age category.
family  life  that  we  should  never       because of traditions that are cen-              All week, really, we have been
give up.  Eating meals at the table         turies, if not millennia, old.  It is        getting  ready  for  the  church  pic-
-- not in the van -- with their ac-           these  traditions  that  help  us  to        nic.    Doing  each  day's  chores  a
companying  devotions  and  lively          know  that  it  does  make  a  differ-       little earlier than usual has  made
discussion of political and spiritual       ence who we are and how we treat             things so confusing  that it's hard
topics, should be a high priority on        one  another."    No  one,  however,         to realize that it is actually Satur-
each  family's  list.    Family  board      will  ever  be  put  under  discipline       day.  The lawn is already mowed,
games and evenings spent together           for  neglecting  the  church  picnic.        the garage is swept and hosed out,
in silent reading ought never fade          Like attending the societies in the          and the car is washed.  It looks as
into gradual disuse.                        church, it is purely optional.               if the boys have seen to their Sat-
     There  are  some  things  in  our                                                   urday work, too.  Dad will be home
church life that are not negotiable                 333    333    333                    from the factory at noon.  Our hair
for the Reformed believer.  Simplic-                                                     is already washed and braided, an
ity  of  liturgy  in  worship,  singing         It  is  an  early  Saturday  morn-       ordeal usually reserved for Satur-
the  Psalms,  attending  worship  at        ing in 1954.  Like many other fami-          day evening, and our canvas shoes
least  twice  a  Sunday,  catechizing       lies in Hope Protestant Reformed             have been scrubbed and are pres-
the  youth,  and  house  visitation         Church, we have been up for sev-             ently  drying  on  the  fence.    My
come to mind.  Scripture regulates          eral hours already.  Many potatoes           brothers  all  have  their mitts,  and
some  of  these  activities,  reason        have  to  be  peeled,  vegetables            Dad makes sure they do because,
                                            diced, and eggs chopped to make              although  he  doesn't  own  a  mitt,
                                            the  potato  salad.    Today  we  will       he's planning to play ball, married
                                            enjoy  bakery  buns  that  Dad  will         men against the singles--the only
Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in the    pick  up  on  his  way  home  from           way the teams have ever been or-
Protestant Reformed Church of South Hol-    work.  Mother bakes two pies.  One           ganized--and he'll need to use one
land, Illinois.                             is piled high in a cloud of meringue         of the boys' mitts.  Mother reminds

                                                                                                 August, 1998/Standard Bearer/443


him that last year he threw out his         legged burlap bag race or just flat-            ing,  long-drawn-out  calls  that
back playing ball, but her warning          out running. I'm a pretty fast run-             would  do  a  Kentucky  hog  caller
falls on deliberately deaf ears.            ner and I have been practicing run-             honor.    No  husband  comes  run-
    Dad loads the trunk of the old          ning the length of the driveway for             ning.    Not  one  as  much  as  turns
black Buick with baskets of food,           several  weeks  now.    But,  just  in          around.    They  have  heard  those
bats, balls, mitts, baby buggy, ex-         case my game is a ball toss, I have             calls  before,  and  know  from  the
tra  clothes  for  the  boys  who  are      been brushing up on that skill as               strength  and  intensity  of  the  call
sure  to  fall  into  the  creek,  and      well.    I  notice  that  my  brothers          that anyone with that much energy
sweatshirts in case it gets cold.  As       have been, too.                                 can't  possibly  be  hurt.    Then,  a
he slams the trunk, he can't resist             The minister, the late Rev. J.A.            new, young bride steps up.  In  a
remarking to Mother, "There won't           Heys, presides at the picnic.  He is            most  sweet  and  dulcet  voice,  she
be  room  for  the  kitchen  sink  un-      wearing  his  Sunday  suit  with  a             melodiously sounds her husband's
less we strap it on the top."  "Just        stiffly-starched  long-sleeve  white            name.  To the wonder of us all, he
be  careful  of  the  pie,"  she  point-    shirt, and his ubiquitous bow tie.              stops in mid-stride, drops his bat,
edly  reminds  him.    All  the  win-       No one mistakes who is the minis-               and  saunters  the  distance  across
dows of the car are cranked down,           ter at our church picnic.  In the thir-         the park to see what she wants.  I
and without a seatbelt in sight we          teen years of Rev. Heys' ministry               haven't  always  patterned  her  ex-
kids are crowded into the back seat         at Hope, I never recall it being any            ample, but I've never forgotten it
with strict warnings that there had         different.    But,  everyone  at  the           either.
better not be any fighting for the          church  picnic  is  dressed  very                   Sunday  morning  finds  every-
short ride to Johnson Park.                 neatly, and with most body parts                one  sitting  properly  in  his  accus-
    This is a long-awaited day!  It         well covered.                                   tomed  pew.    A  few  of  the  elders
is the highlight of our summer, be-             We  sit  at long  rows  of  picnic          carry themselves a bit gingerly, and
ing one of  its very few picnics!  All      tables, and one reason I am so anx-             scattered throughout the congrega-
my  classmates  will  be  at  the  pic-     ious to get there early is so that we           tion there is a broken arm or two;
nic, and we will be able to enjoy           can set our food on a table next to             the mothers do look a mite drained,
an  ice-cream  cone  dipped  from  a        my best friend, Betty.  But Mother              but everyone is starched and clean
heavy canvas bag packed with dry            has  other  plans:    we  will  set  our        once again.
ice.    I  remember  that  one  has  to     table next to those who don't have                  It was a great church picnic, a
stand in the ice-cream cone line for        friends or relatives in the church.             memorable  celebration  of  God's
a long time because the ice cream           How cruel, she implies, to frater-              great  goodness  and  the  love  and
is as hard as a brick, and  I'm  al-        nize only with one's friends ... at a             unity in this small country church.
ways  a  little  apprehensive  about        church picnic, no less.  I don't get            Even so, I didn't win the  race ...
the hairy-armed man who puts that           it!  But Mother is firm in her deci-            again.
very  arm  deep  within  the  bag  to       sion, and so we sit next to people
dig out the ice cream.  But later in        I've never talked to before in my                          333    333    333
the day, the dry ice will be great          life.  It wouldn't have worked out
sport to play around with.  I won-          anyway,  I  find  out  later,  because              For  the  32  years  my  husband
der who pays for the ice cream, be-         Betty's  mother  holds  to  the  same           and I have been in South Holland,
cause we don't.                             standards as mine does.                         there  are  certain  older  members
    I want to win a prize this year.            After  the  evening  meal,  the             who have never missed the church
I've never, ever won a prize at the         men and boys hurry to the ball dia-             picnic ... or the school auction, or
church picnic, and how proud I'd            mond while the women and girls                  the  twice  yearly  lectures,  or  the
be to win just this once.  Everyone,        clean up the dishes and debris.  It             school graduation exercises, or ....
even  the  minister,  watches  the          is  still  early  and  light  out.    It  is    This is not merely coincidental, but
games, beginning with the toddlers          then that the most lasting impres-              rather, these folk seem to plan their
digging  pennies  out  of  sawdust          sion of the church picnic is made               lives around these extra-curricular
and ending with the water balloon-          on  me.    After  the  men  leave,  a           events.  I remember the years when
throwing  contest  by  our  parents.        game is announced for the married               they used to play ball as nimbly as
Even as young kids we know the              women.  Each woman has to stand                 any mountain goat, and bandaged
husbands who don't dare get their           by the picnic tables and take turns             their own children's knees.  Now,
wives wet -- although they'd like            calling her husband from the ball               they take out their lawn chairs and
to -- and the ones who deliberately          diamond.  The wife whose husband                participate  vicariously  through
throw  the  waterlogged  balloon  a         responds to the call by coming back             their children, grandchildren, and
little out of range and fast.  I am         to the picnic area is the winner.  To           great-grandchildren.    But  they
sure  that  my  game  will  be  some        my  dying  day,  I'll  never  forget            haven't  stopped  attending.    They
kind of running race, either a three-       those yells.  They are loud, pierc-             are the much-needed role models

444/Standard Bearer/August, 1998


for  us  and  for  our  children.    By           3. Befriend the lonely, reach out               5. The  church  picnic  is  a  great
their  godly  example  they  have                 the hand of fellowship to the un-               equalizer.    One  can  go  on  exotic
shown  us  that  life  in  the  church,           lovely.    Break  out  of  one's  struc-        vacations with one's friends or golf
the communion of saints, takes pre-               tured little group, and be amazed               at exclusive clubs with one's cro-
cedence over the other more attrac-               at  the  other  interesting  people  in         nies, but at the church picnic ev-
tive recreations.                                 the church.  I now get it!                      eryone is the same.  We are all re-
      Lessons Learned at the Church               4. It takes united family effort to             duced  to  the  lowest  common  de-
Picnic:                                           attend the church picnic.  One of               nominator.  There we sit, row upon
1. Someone  is  always  faster  or                life's  little  ironies  is  that  the  less    row,  a  great  banquet  of  sinners,
smarter.    Each  of  us  is  but  one            one  has  to  do  in  preparation  for          saved by grace.
building  block in  God's  great  ca-             the church picnic (most food is ca-                 That's  what  I  learned  at  the
thedral.                                          tered at today's church picnics), the           church picnic as a child.
2. There is a loving, effective way               less likely one is to attend.                       Your children are learning their
to talk to one's mate.                                                                            lessons, too.   u

     That They May Teach Their Children                                                                   Prof. Russell Dykstra


                                          The Covenant:
               The Life of the Preaching*

                                                  Calvinism).  The  Protestant  Re-                   Total depravity  is  maintained
                                                  formed doctrine of the covenant is              by the preacher faithful to the cov-
                                                  not only perfectly consistent with              enant.  Man  neither  has,  nor  can
The covenant of grace is the
          life  of  Reformed  preaching.
          Covenantal  preaching  will             the  "five  points,"  it  is,  to  my           have, any part in the establishment
be,  first  of  all,  Reformed--as  Re-            knowledge, the only covenant doc-               of the covenant. It is unilateral.
formed  as  John  Calvin.  The  doc-              trine that  is totally consistent with              Proper respect for the covenant
trine of the covenant,  it could be               the five points.                                means that grace is irresistible. God
said,  flowed  out  of  the  sixteenth                The Reformed preacher, there-               sovereignly does save His people
century  Reformation.  The  theolo-               fore,  will  preach  unconditional              and incorporate them into His cov-
gians of the reformation were cov-                election.  Not  an  election  isolated          enant.
enantal--Calvin,  Olevianus,  Bul-                 from the covenant, but election wo-                 Perseverance  of  the  saints  is
linger.  Their contemporaries and                 ven into the covenant. That is, that            likewise  a  necessary  part  of  the
followers developed the doctrine of               God elects the members of His cov-              covenant.  God  preserves  His
the  covenant.  The  theologians  of              enant.  In  addition,  unconditional            people. They do not fall away. His
the Netherlands in particular con-                election  means  that  God  sover-              covenant, being eternal, is not bro-
tinued the development of the doc-                eignly  establishes  His  covenant              ken.
trine.                                            with the elect alone, and that, with-               The  Protestant  Reformed
      Preaching that is faithful to the           out conditions.                                 preacher will, of necessity, empha-
covenant must necessarily empha-                      Covenantal  preaching  will                 size  the  Protestant  Reformed
size the doctrines of sovereign and               stress particular atonement. Those              distinctives  on  the  covenant,
particular grace (the five points of              chosen, covenant people, the elect              namely that it is unconditional, and
                                                  alone, are redeemed by the blood                that grace is not common, but sov-
                                                  of  Christ,  and  effectually  re-              ereign  and  particular  and  of  one
Prof. Dykstra is professor of Church His-         deemed. This means that the gos-                kind--saving.
tory  and  New Testament  in  the Protes-         pel is not an offer of the covenant                 Covenantal preaching not only
tant Reformed Seminary.                           to all, nor a general promise to all            will be Reformed, it will be  doctri-
*     This is the last part of the text of the
address given at the seminary graduation          the baptized. The covenant and the              nal. That follows from the fact that
of Nathan Brummel on June 15, 1998.  For          promise of forgiveness are only for             the  covenant  is  essentially
the first part, see SB July 1998.                 the elect.                                      theocentric--it  is  the  truth  about

                                                                                                            August, 1998/Standard Bearer/445


God. The preacher who wants his             God! The covenant does not leave          He rather looks for ways to work
people to live the covenant of grace        the believers with a list of do's and     with them and enjoy their fellow-
will want them to know  God. That           don'ts. It does not leave the people      ship.
means  they  must  have  doctrine!          with  conditions  they  must  fulfill.            In that same connection, teach-
Truth.  Every  sermon  is  teaching         Rather, it sets forth the way of cov-     ing catechism is a  top priority in
them  about  their  covenant  God,          enant  fellowship  with  God,             his  work.  It  never  receives  short
their Savior, in Christ.                    namely,  obedience,  thankfulness,        shrift  in  the  pastor's  busy  sched-
    Covenantal  preaching  is  also         and loving God.                           ule.
antithetical. It repudiates all lies be-        Proper  attention  to  the  cov-              Why  this  special  attention  to
cause  lies  defame  the  covenant          enant will yield preaching that is        the youth? Because the covenant is
God.  Covenantal  preaching  calls          authoritative. As is the covenant, so     with believers and their seed! Be-
God's  people  to  forsake  sin  as         the preaching will be unconditional       cause God is pleased to gather His
friends of God; to be holy as God           on the commands of Scripture--the          church from the children of believ-
is holy. It commands them to seek           covenant is not an agreement. The         ers. Because the youth must know
God and to love Him with all their          Reformed preacher, therefore, does        God if they are to live in covenant
heart, mind, soul, and strength. It         not  bring  his  own  word  or  opin-     fellowship with God.
calls them to forsake the world, not        ions,  but  only  God's  Word.  God               House visitation also has cov-
to  be  friends  with  the  world,  be-     speaks  His  word  though  the  or-       enantal support. It is not an activ-
cause friendship with the world is          dained preacher. Consequently, the        ity to be evaded or minimized. It
enmity with God.                            Reformed  minister  preaches  with        is  perfectly  in  harmony  with  the
    In  addition,  preaching  of  the       authority.                                covenant  of  grace--fellowshiping
covenant is preaching the cross. At             Consider also the profound ef-        together about the Word of God.
the cross the Mediator of the cov-          fect that the covenant has on how                 However,  family  visitation  is
enant realized the covenant in the          the minister views and addresses the      not a mere social visit. Rather, as
shedding of His own blood. There            congregation. He addresses them or-       representatives of the Chief Shep-
the covenant people were adopted.           ganically as covenant people, not         herd,  the  minister  and  elders  are
Righteousness  was  merited  for            dividing  the  sermon  into  a  word      most interested in the spiritual con-
them by Christ. There Christ mer-           to the converted, a word to the un-       dition of the home. Are the believ-
ited  for  them  eternal  life.  In  the    converted, and another word to the        ers living the truth of the covenant?
cross, the chosen were reconciled           "seeking."  Surely he does not ad-        Do  they  hear  God  in  the  preach-
to God.                                     dress them as unbelievers, but as         ing?  Do  they  seek  His  face  dili-
    Thus, preaching directed by the         covenant people. They are the "be-        gently in church? Do they obey His
covenant will be a preaching of the         loved in the Lord."                       Word? In short, are they living and
whole counsel of God. How could it              The preacher does not drive the       active members of the covenant, or
be  different?  The  covenant  is  the      sheep with a rod. Nor is his preach-      dead  and  inactive,  members  in
very  center  of  God's  counsel.  It       ing but impotent pleading. Rather,        name only?
serves, directly, the glory of God.         in  the  sermons  the  preacher  con-             Conscious of the covenant, the
Such preaching will insist that sal-        sciously instructs the covenant chil-     Reformed  pastor  goes  to  the  sick
vation is sovereign and sure to all         dren of the Most High God, know-          and sorrowing. The telephone rings
the  elect,  to the  covenant  people.      ing that grace to obey is conveyed        in the parsonage. Perhaps it is late
At the same time, it will set forth         by admonitions.                           at  night,  or  very  late  in  a  busy
the truth that there is no salvation                                                  week,  when  sermons  are  not  fin-
outside the covenant.                       The covenant and the minister's           ished. Someone is in the hospital,
    The  covenant  determines  the          life in the congregation                  seriously sick, or a member in the
manner of preaching. It will be, first          God's covenant likewise deter-        congregation  is  touched  by  the
of all, warm and pastoral, not coldly       mines  the  character  of  the            death of a loved one. The Reformed
doctrinal. Preaching is not a lecture       minister's life in the congregation.      pastor does not have to be forced
on doctrine or a speech on moral-               The covenant shapes the work          to visit--it is the essence of friend-
ity. It is rather the speech of God         that a Reformed pastor does.  Take,       ship to go! He loves the sheep, and
to His covenant people. They hear           for  example,  his  work  with  the       desires to bring comfort from the
the voice of the Good Shepherd in           youth  of  the  flock.    The  pastor     Word.  These  people  are  his  cov-
the preaching; He whispers to them          seeks diligently to know the youth,       enant friends.
His secrets (Ps. 25:14).                    to be able to talk with them.  He                 Counseling  is  guided  by  the
    Covenant-directed preaching is          desires to help them in  their many       truth of  the covenant.  The pastor
practical and down to earth. This is        trials and heartaches, as well as to      is  a  shepherd  who  leads  the
to be expected, for the covenant is         share  in  their  joys  and  triumphs.    troubled  with  kindness.  Yet  the
the  heart  of  religion--life  with         Certainly he does not avoid them.         Word of God and His covenant are

446/Standard Bearer/August, 1998


not  compromised.  Sin  is  pointed            In  addition,  the  covenant  re-      and the lowliest of them--called to
out, and sinners are admonished.           quires that all his life and activity      be  their  servant.  A  minister  is  a
Sin,  after  all,  brings  God's  wrath    in  the  congregation  be  pure  and       slave of Christ, called to serve God
and cuts the sinner off from cov-          holy. There must never be a hint           by serving the people, taking spe-
enant fellowship with God.                 of evildoing in the minister's life--       cial care for the weak of the con-
    Furthermore, the covenant pre-         no impropriety, no immorality. In          gregation.
scribes much in the one area that          covenant  life  with  congregation,            In all his activities in the con-
the Reformed preacher deals with           the minister entreats an elder "as a       gregation, the minister honors God,
most, namely, marriages and fam-           father;  and  the  younger  men  as        who alone is worthy of praise. The
ily. Husbands and wives will be in-        brethren; the elder women as moth-         Reformed  preacher  emphatically
structed to live the covenant--the          ers; the younger as sisters, with all      does  not  want  the  attention  or
husband loving his wife, as Christ         purity" (I Tim. 5:1-2).                    praise  drawn  to  him.  The  whole
does the church; the wife submit-              The minister's life with the con-      purpose of the covenant is that all
ting to her husband, as the church         gregation is marked by friendship.         the glory goes to  God. A minister
does to Christ.                            Negatively, it ought never be char-        who  lives  the  covenant  does  all
    Divorce  is  rejected  as  a  solu-    acterized by animosity. He is not          things for God's glory.
tion to the troubled marriage. That        at war with the congregation. Nor
because marriage, as the beautiful         may it be dictatorial. He is not con-      The covenant and the preacher's
picture of God's unbreakable cov-          stantly seeking to exercise author-        life in the world
enant,  is  an  unbreakable  bond.         ity, grabbing for power. Addition-             Finally,  notice  that  the  cov-
Thus it follows that remarriage is         ally, the preacher/congregation re-        enant  determines  how  the  Re-
not an option for those who are di-        lationship  is  not  a  business  rela-    formed preacher carries himself in
vorced,  even  for  those  whose           tionship where he signs a contract         the midst of the world. If it is true,
spouses have committed adultery            to do a certain work for a time, or        and it is, that all believers, as mem-
or  who  have  sinfully  deserted          so long as it goes well.                   bers of the covenant, are represen-
them. Only death breaks the bond               But the relationship is that of        tatives of God, the minister is su-
of marriage.                               godly friendship, the foundation of        premely so. He lives antithetically.
    The  covenant  determines  the         which  is  their  common  unity  in        He does not desire honor from the
instruction and admonition given           Christ--one truth, one love of God,         powerful men of the town. He lives
to troubled families--how parents           one Spirit (Eph. 4). Together they         spiritually separate. His life reveals
are to instruct and discipline their       are members of the body of Christ          his love for God by his obedience.
children (in love). That the parents       and of the covenant family of God.         His friends are not the ungodly.
must  demand  respect  from  chil-             The  Reformed  minister  dis-              In  this  world  he  is  a  witness
dren  because  parents  represent          plays an open love for the congre-         both  to  the  blessings  of  the  cov-
God to the children. How children          gation, a love that they return. In        enant (the good news of salvation),
must behave towards one another.           that  love  he  seeks  the  advantage      as well as to the curse to all out-
It is all grounded in the covenant!        of  the  members  of  the  congrega-       side the covenant (warning of judg-
    What rich instruction flows out        tion. They are first. He spends him-       ment). By word and example, with-
of the doctrine of the covenant for        self for the sheep.                        out embarrassment, he testifies to
those  who  are  overcome  with                The covenant dictates that the         the truth of the Reformed faith and
doubts.  The  preacher  reminds            Reformed preacher open his home            walk.
them, "You had assurance, but now          and family to the congregation, and            The Reformed preacher is not
it is gone? But God's covenant is          to the stranger. It is a covenant of       one  who  says,  "I  will  live  as  I
eternal  and  unconditional!  You          friendship.                                please, so long as my conscience is
cannot be lost."                               The Reformed preacher's life is        clear with God." He cares about the
    To  those  who  are  burdened          characterized  by  humility  in  the       impression  people  get  from  his
with  anxious  care,  his  word  is,       sphere of the congregation. These          speech and life--not because he is
"God cares for you. He is your cov-        are God's people--of greatest im-           concerned  about  the  opinions  of
enant Father."                             portance.  They  are  the  apple  of       men,  but  because  he  cares  what
    The  covenant  guides  in  the         God's  eye.  God  has  loved  them         men say about his covenant God!
problems between the saints. They          from eternity. They are the sheep              The Reformed preacher is also
are to regard each other with the          given  to  the  great  Shepherd,  for      friend to the stranger. The covenant
judgment of love, as believers, cov-       whom the Shepherd laid down His            determines this. God made us, who
enant people. They are members of          life.  They  are  predetermined  by        were strangers and aliens, to be His
the family of God. They must settle        God to live in heaven with Him in          friends.  The  preacher  knows  this
their differences and live in peace        eternal,  blessed,  covenant  fellow-      personally and therefore is first in
and love.                                  ship. He  is but one  among  them,         line to welcome the stranger in the

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worship service. He is as quick to             the  Reformed  preacher.  I  charge              In it all, however, the Reformed
hold out the hand to the stranger,             the  graduate  to  take  fast  hold  of      preacher  must  keep  his  congre-
as  he  is  to  shun  the  company  of         that  doctrine.  You  have  a  good          gation's  eyes  focused  on  the  life
the ungodly.                                   foundation of covenantal theology.           awaiting us--the full enjoyment of
        In conclusion, take notice that        Grow in it. In that way I promise            covenant  friendship.  Remember,
the covenant of grace is not just a            you  a  good  ministry,  an  exciting        too,  and  this  will  keep  the  Re-
doctrine, but a way of life. It is not         and most enjoyable ministry.                 formed  preacher  humble,  that  no
merely  a  truth  that  the  minister                  This is the particular calling of    matter  how  much  we  come  to
preaches  about,  but  a  truth  that          the  faithful  Protestant  Reformed          know  and  enjoy  this  covenant  in
governs the whole of his life and              minister, namely to hold fast to and         this  life,  the  full  enjoyment  in
work.                                          defend  the  precious  treasure  that        heaven will be better than anything
        It is the central truth of the Re-     God  has  entrusted  to  us.  What  a        we ever taught the congregation.
formed  faith.  What  one  believes            privilege to teach God's people the              Preach,  and  live,  this  cov-
about the covenant will determine              power,  beauty,  and  glory  of  cov-        enant--the sovereign, eternal, un-
also what effect it has on the life of         enant life with God.                         conditional covenant of grace.   u

  Ministering to the Saints                                                                        Prof. Robert Decker




           The Discipline of Officebearers (2)


                                                 Christ in the way of ruling God's          connection  that  "immediately"
                                                 people, ministering Christ's mer-          does not mean that the offending
                                                 cies to the poor, and preaching the        elder or deacon must be suspended
                                                 gospel.    Public,  gross  sin  makes      before a careful investigation is car-
Article 79 speaks of the pro-
            cedure to be followed by a
             consistory when one of its          them  unfit  to  work  on behalf  of       ried out.  The consistory must be
members commits public, gross sin                Christ.    They  must  be  removed         certain that the man in question is
and needs to be suspended and/or                 from office.                               indeed guilty of public, gross sin.
                                                 2.      Because of the sacredness of
deposed from office.1   In addition                                                         But when the consistory is certain,
                                                 the special offices and the impor-
to the application of discipline out-            tance of these offices in the church,      the  sinning  officebearer  must  be
lined  in  Articles  71-78  which  ap-           unfaithful  officebearers  cannot          immediately suspended.
plies to all members of the church,              and may not continue in these of-              This  suspension  is  not  neces-
the  Church  Order  declares  that               fices.                                     sary in the case of the elders and
ministers, elders, and deacons who               3.      Public, gross sin makes it im-     deacons.  The Article stipulates that
commit  "any  public,  gross  sin                possible  for  officebearers  to  rep-     "the elders and deacons shall im-
which is a disgrace to the church                resent Christ among God's people,          mediately ... be suspended  or ex-
or  worthy  of  punishment  by  the              to serve as an example to the flock        pelled    from  their  office,  but  the
                                                 of God, and to warn the saints of
authorities ..." must be suspended                                                            ministers  shall  only  be  suspended.
                                                 the ways of false doctrine and sin.
and deposed from their office.  This                                                        Whether these shall be entirely de-
is necessary for several reasons:                                                           posed from office shall be subject
                                                       Article  79  distinguishes  be-
                                                                                            to the judgment of the classis, with
                                               tween  the  censure  of  elders  and
  1.      These men hold special offices                                                    the advice of the delegates of the
                                               deacons on the one hand and the
  in  the  church  in  which  they  are                                                     (particular)  synod  mentioned  in
                                               censure  of  the  ministers  on  the
  called to exercise the authority of                                                       Article 11" (emphasis mine, RDD).
                                               other.  In  the  case of  an elder or
                                                                                            No doubt the reason why a minis-
                                               deacon  committing  public,  gross
                                                                                            ter  must  first  be  suspended  and
                                               sin the suspension shall be imme-
                                                                                            may  not  be  deposed  without  the
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical The-    diate.  In the case of the ministers
                                                                                            judgment of the classis and the ad-
ology  in  the  Protestant  Reformed  Semi-    the  process  is  a  bit  different  and
nary.                                                                                       vice  of  the  synodical  delegates  is
                                               longer.  It ought to be noted in this

448/Standard Bearer/August, 1998


that the ministers, while serving in              or depose, and if the disagreement       churches in common concur when
particular congregations, belong to               cannot  be  resolved,  the  matter       he accepts a call.  The churches in
the entire denomination.  More on                 must be brought to the classis.          common must have a voice, there-
this  a  bit  later.    In  the  case  of  a                                               fore, in his deposition from office
sinning  elder  or  deacon,  the                    Ministers, according to the ar-        as well.
consistory  itself  must  decide                ticle and as noted above, may not              It stands to reason that if the
whether to suspend first and then               be immediately deposed.  When a            officebearer does  not repent after
proceed to depose, or simply to de-             minister commits public, gross sin         suspension  and  deposition,  he
pose the offending officebearer im-             he  must  be  suspended.    This  is       must  be  disciplined  according  to
mediately.   The nature of  the  sin            done by his consistory and with the        the  steps  outlined  in  Articles  76
may be such that the consistory is              concurrence of the consistory of the       and 77.
convinced that the man ought, for               nearest  church.    In  addition,  be-         The  extremely  difficult  ques-
the sake of the name of Christ and              cause  the  ministers  serve  the  en-     tion is often asked whether a man
the reputation of the church, be de-            tire  denomination,         all  the       who  is  deposed  from  office  and
posed immediately.  In this event               consistories must be notified of the       who repents of his sin can be or-
there would be no suspension, just              suspension.    When  the  other            dained once more into the same or
deposition.                                     consistories are so notified, they are     another office.  The Church Order
        In either case, that is, whether        not  asked  to  approve  of  the  sus-     itself does not deal with the ques-
the consistory decides first to sus-            pension, they are simply informed          tion.  This may mean that the fa-
pend or decides to depose imme-                 of it.  They must recognize the sus-       thers  considered  it  to  be  obvious
diately,  this  must  have  the  ap-            pension.                                   that once a man is deposed he is
proval of the consistory of the near-               Before a consistory may finally        forever barred from serving in of-
est church.  No consistory may act              depose a minister, the matter must         fice.  Or it could mean that the fa-
alone!  Suspension and deposition               be brought to the classis.  At that        thers  considered  it  to  be  obvious
are matters so serious that another             meeting of the classis, the synodi-        that a deposed man could be rein-
consistory  must  be  involved  and             cal deputies from the neighboring          stated in office if he repented and
concur.    The  fathers  were  con-             classis  must  be  present.    The         showed amendment of life.
cerned  that  in  matters  so  serious          consistory must present its decision           However  that  may  be,  if  one
no mistakes be made, no injustices              to depose the minister and clearly         compares the list of the "principal,
be done.                                        state its grounds for that decision        gross sins" which according to Ar-
        The  procedure  which  the              to the classis.  The classis must give     ticle 80 "are worthy of being pun-
consistory must follow is:                      careful consideration to the matter.       ished  with  suspension  or  deposi-
                                                The classis must take a decision to        tion from office," with the fact that
  1.      The consistory makes a deci-          advise  the  consistory  to  proceed       ministers, elders, and deacons must
  sion to suspend or depose its of-             with the deposition.  The synodi-          be "blameless" and "have a good
  fending  elder  or  deacon  depen-            cal deputies must also agree with          report of them which are without,"
  dent  upon  the  approval  of  the            the decisions of the consistory and        the answer would seem to be obvi-
  nearest church.                               the  classis.    Only  then  may  the      ous. 2   Still more, Article 80 also
  2.      The consistory of the nearest         consistory  proceed  to  the  deposi-
  church is notified and meets with                                                        speaks  of  "all  sins  and  gross  of-
                                                tion.  If there is disagreement be-
  the consistory in charge of the sus-                                                     fenses  as  render  the  perpetrators
                                                tween the consistory and classis, or
  pension.  The entire case is care-                                                       infamous  before  the  world,  and
  fully  discussed  so  that  the               if  the  synodical  deputies  cannot       which in any private member of the
  consistory of the nearest church is           concur  with  either  the  consistory      church would be considered wor-
  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the             or the classis, the matter must be         thy  of  excommunication."    These
  case  and  is  able  to  make  an  in-        resolved by the synod.                     considerations,  it  would  seem,
  formed and correct decision.                      There are good reasons, in ad-         point in the direction of answering
  3.      The consistory of the nearest         dition to the one cited above, why         the question in the negative.  Once
  church then meets separately and              the classis and the synodical depu-
  comes to its decision.                                                                   a man is deposed, he ought never
                                                ties must concur in the deposition
  4.      If  this  decision  is  to  concur                                               be ordained to office again.   u
                                                of  the  ministers.    The  ministerial
  with the suspension or deposition,
  a  proper  announcement  is  com-             office is a sacred office indeed.  The
  posed by the consistory and given             minister is called to serve in that
  to  the  congregation  on  the  next          office for life.  Besides, the churches    1 See the Church Order of the Prot-
  Lord's Day.                                   in common through their synod ex-          estant Reformed Churches, hereafter,
  5.      If, however, the consistory of        amined  him  and  declared  him  a         the Church Order.
  the nearest church does not con-              candidate  for  the  ministry  of  the     2 See I Timothy 3:1-13.
  cur with the decision to suspend              Word  and  sacraments.    The

                                                                                                       August, 1998/Standard Bearer/449


  Contending for the Faith                                                                Rev. Bernard Woudenberg



                 The Promise and/or Law

                                                                                             for the elect.1
                                              spect for each other, their theologi-
                                              cal  outlooks  were  different.                  Now  for  those  familiar  with
Therefore it is of faith, that it might       Hoeksema was a logician, Schilder            traditional  Reformed  thinking,
be  by  grace;  to  the  end  the  promise    a  rhetorician;  Hoeksema  built  his        these propositions would seem to
might be sure to all the seed; not to         ideas through well organized theo-           make  perfectly  good  sense,  and,
that only which is of the law, but to         logical thinking, Schilder searched          given  the  Arminian  influences  of
that  also  which  is  of  the  faith  of     for effective expression; Hoeksema           our  day,  to  lay  down  principles
Abraham; who is the father of us all.         was concerned with finding truth             which are well worth being said.
                          Romans 4:16         and explaining it, Schilder with es-             What is dealt with here are the
                                              tablishing  moral  responsibility;           blessings  of  the  covenant  as  they
                                              Hoeksema worked to build under-              derive  from  that  basic  promise
                                              standing,  while  Schilder  would            given by God to Abraham in Gen-
There are numerous old say-
       ings which reflect on the ten-
       dency  of  those  who  have  a         make  authoritative  pronounce-              esis 17:7:  "I will establish my cov-
fault to see that fault as existing in        ments.  The result was that, as sim-         enant between me and thee and thy
nearly everyone else, while failing           ply  and  concisely  as  Hoeksema            seed after thee in their generations
to recognize it in themselves.  One           sought to lay out the formulation            for an everlasting covenant, to be
is reminded of this when reading              of the Declaration, Schilder insisted        a God unto thee, and to thy seed
through Dr. Schilder's little book,           he could not be sure what it meant.          after thee."  The point is simple and
Extra-Scriptural  Binding  ­  A  New          His  claim  was  that,  because  of          beautiful.  The Lord God appeared
Danger.  This book, being a critique          weakness  in  its  composition,  the         to Abraham and promised him that
of  our  Declaration  of  Principles,         Declaration  was  not  allowing  for         He would always be with him as
seeks  to  demonstrate  that  this            what he was convinced had to be              his God and his friend (James 2:23),
document  did  not  warrant  being            allowed,  while  in  fact  he  and           as well as with  his children after
adopted because it was "not clear"            Hoeksema were looking for differ-            him.
in  its  formulations.    But  Schilder       ent things.                                      The difficulty is that historical
does so in terms so often obscure                                                          development made it clear that this
                                                      333    333    333
and confusing that one can hardly                                                          seed  did  not  include  all  of
refrain from recalling that ancient                                                        Abraham's  physical  descendants,
proverb brought to our attention by               The focal point of this problem          or even all who received the sign
Jesus,  "Physician,  heal  thyself"           was in that central portion of the           of the covenant; but rather, as the
(Luke 4:23).                                  Declaration  of  Principles,  to  which      New Testament goes on to explain,
    Nevertheless,  it  is  important          Schilder  directs his  primary  criti-       this seed was essentially only one,
that  we  try  to  understand  what           cisms throughout.  It reads:                 the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  (Gal.  3:16),
Schilder was meaning to say.  Both                                                         and all those who, by sharing the
                                                a. All the covenant blessings are
he and Hoeksema were men of ex-                                                            same faith which Abraham had, are
                                                for the elect alone.
ceptional ability, and able commu-                                                         joined to Him (Gal. 3:26-29).   Such
                                                b.  The  promise  of  the  gospel  ...
nicators,  each  in  his  own  way  --                                                      faith is not something anyone can
                                                concerns  only  the  believers,  that
which is perhaps where the prob-                                                           produce by himself, but it is a gift
                                                is, the elect.
lem lay.  As deep as was their re-                                                         wrought by God in those He has
                                                c. If the promise of God is  for them
                                                (the little children), then the prom-      chosen  from  eternity  (Canons
                                                ise has to be  infallible  and  uncon-     1:5,6).  And this is what the  Decla-
                                                ditional  and can  therefore only con-     ration  very briefly says:  "the cov-
                                                cern the elect.                            enant  blessings  are  for  the  elect
Rev. Woudenberg is a minister emeritus          d. Hence, that promise is surely only      alone."
in the Protestant Reformed Churches.

450/Standard Bearer/August, 1998


    This,  however,  Schilder  in-           hold him responsible to meet His           sia,  and  then  Stalin,  Hitler,  and
sisted,  is  not  in  every  sense  so.      demands throughout life and into           Mussolini, always confronting the
There is a very real way in which            all eternity.                              world  with  the  question  of  who,
the  blessings  of  the  covenant  are           Now there is a certain truth to        and what nation, had the right to
for  everyone;  and  his  effort  to         the fact that God does have such a         rule.  And in the middle of it all,
prove  this  is  the  central  focus  of     claim,  not  just  to  those  who  are     especially  in  Schilder's  formative
this book.                                   baptized, but to every child born          years,  there  was  the  influence  of
    Schilder begins his effort in this       throughout time and in every land.         the  great  Dutch  leader,  Abraham
way:                                         Their Creator holds a right to them,       Kuyper.    For  a  whole  generation
                                             which includes a responsibility that       Kuyper  had  worked  to  mold  the
  What is the meaning of  are for  in        will  never  cease,  even  after  the      minds of the people to his concept
  the sentence  the covenant blessings       close of time.  But is that what the       of sphere sovereignty, the idea that
  are for the elect alone?  Does it mean     covenant  is  about?    Evidently          every  person  is  given  a  place,  a
  lawfully and legally affecting the         Schilder thought it is.                    sphere of operation within which
  addressed man to the letter, seiz-             But  there  is  another  element       he held special rights tied to spe-
  ing  him  and  putting  him  for  all
  eternity  under  an  unremovable           which appears here almost in pass-         cial responsibilities.  And if these
  claim?  Then we say "It  is for ev-        ing which we should not overlook.          responsibilities  were  kept,  men
  erybody."2                                 Schilder takes a sneering attitude         would be given the right to rule in
                                             toward  stating  of  doctrinal  truth      their own sphere,  pro rege,  for the
With this we are given our first in-         when he says, "Do I receive a dog-         king;  but  if  they  did  not,  they
sight into Schilder's chief concern,         matic statement: God brings all the        would have failed.  To the Dutch
the matter of legality and law, the          elect to salvation?"  It is as though      of that day it was an idea with end-
legal rights and responsibilities of         somehow such would be a repul-             less fascination, and for Schilder as
the individual person.  To him this          sive thing.  And one wonders.  Did         well.    Differ  as  he  might  with
is what the covenant is all about:           Schilder not know what he was do-          Kuyper's view of presupposed re-
"seizing him and putting him for             ing, for fewer things were closer to       generation, there still continued in
all eternity under an unremovable            the  heart  of  Hoeksema  than  that.      his  heart,  apparently,  the  convic-
claim."    Apparently,  to  the  mind        Hoeksema had spent his life seek-          tion that this kind of a legal claim
of  Schilder,  it  is  not  friendship       ing out and teaching doctrinal truth       was that with which the covenant
which  God  brought  to  Abraham,            to young and old.  It was to him           of God has to do.
but  a  legal  claim,  to  his  life  and    the central focus of Christian ser-            And  so  it  continues  as  he
that of his children, with rights and        vice and life--as it had been to all        moves  further  into  this  book.
responsibilities for all.                    of the great Reformers in their time.      There Schilder returns to the idea
    And so it is that Schilder, as he        And  now  Schilder  would  snub  it        of promise, as he writes:
continues  in  the  next  chapter,           off as though of little regard?
would apply this to baptism:                     And that is not the end.  In the         If I understand only  one  syllable
                                             next chapter Schilder continues in           of the gospel, it is that it has to do
  The big question that now appears          the same vein:                               with  messages, not with God's hid-
  is: What happens at baptism?  Do I                                                      den thoughts, but with what He
  receive a dogmatic statement: God            If the words "are for" mean that           has to  say  to us. In this case it is
  brings  all  the  elect  to  salvation?      the promise creates a legal connec-        not  spoken  by  an  objective  re-
  Or  am  I  addressed  with  a  legal         tion  and  acknowledges  the  al-          porter who can produce news of
  statement,  in which I am person-                                                       facts  and  happenings,  but  by  an
                                               ready existing connection and also
  ally and individually involved?3             puts the baptized person individu-         ambassador sent by Him. In front
                                               ally  under  legal  claims,  then  we      of others, such an ambassador rep-
This is what baptism means to him;             say the promise is for all.4               resents his own king with author-
                                                                                          ity.  He does not just come to tell
and it lies at the heart of his con-                                                      something about His majesty, such
troversy  with  Hoeksema--the                 Once  again  we  have  this  same            as when and where he was born,
meaning  and  significance  of  bap-         thing, a "legal connection" and "le-         what  his  family  tree  looks  like,
tism.  As far as Schilder was con-           gal claim."  It sounds so strange.           how many children he has, where
cerned, it has to do with rights and         What  was  Schilder's  fascination           his  residence  is,  what  his  habits
responsibilities,  and  the  fact  that      with things like that.  Then we have         and  hobbies  are,  in  short,  news
they are inalienably tied together.          to remember that he grew up in a             that  fills  our  papers  and  maga-
With  the  rite  of  baptism,  a  "legal     different  place  and  in  a  different      zines numbers and facts.  Not so
statement"  is made with regard to           age.   His were  those days in  Eu-          this  ambassador; he comes with of-
                                                                                          ficial  authority  as  an  accredited
every baptized child.  God claims            rope when great dictators were all           representative, to do business. He
that  child  for  His  own,  and  will       the rage, men like the Czars of Rus-         comes not to refer to a truth, but

                                                                                                 August, 1998/Standard Bearer/451


  to say, "This and that is the will       Shorter Catechism, "We may glo-             to all who, as he, did believe.  It
  of  my  King.  I  am  appointed  to      rify God and enjoy him forever."            was a confirmation of love that He
  make this known in His name. I           Is  all  of  this  to  be  sarcastically    would  always  be  there  as  their
  do not bring a news report and I         shoved  aside  so  that  simple  pro-       friend--hardly a commandment of
  do not just communicate facts, but       nouncements of law may be made?             law.
  I bring an authoritative word con-
  cerning a testament."5                       But Schilder is not through.  He             And one would that that were
                                           goes on to explain further what he          all,  but  once  again,  even  more
Now  it  is  the  rhetorician  that        has in mind:                                harshly, there comes through that
speaks, concerned not with the con-                                                    bitter  caricature  concerning  the
tent of what is said, but with what            In  short,  when  I  read  of  the      teaching  of  facts.    Schilder  now
authority the speaker says it.   No          promise of the gospel then I stick        speaks  not  just  of  "reading  the
                                             to this leading thought....  I want
interest here with pleasing words,                                                     heading `City News' in the news-
                                             to read this term promise of the gos-
decorated and garnished verbiage,                                                      paper," but he goes on to add, "No
                                             pel  as it is used in the Canons of
designed  to  appeal;  Schilder's                                                      news-cast, such as: apples don't fall
                                             Dort, especially in II, 5, where we
would be the voice of one having             can read that the promise of the          far  from  the  tree,  or:  it  is  nice
"official authority as an accredited         gospel  ought  to  be  announced          weather,  or:  the  earth  has  two
representative"  pro  rege,  for  the        (this  is  something  different  than     poles,  or:  God  is  a  simple  Being,
king.  Schilder would speak as an            reading the heading "City News"           or: three persons are together one
ambassador to whom the listeners             in the newspaper) and proclaimed          Being, or: a heaven and a hell are
are required to listen.  And that is         (this  is  something  different  than     coming."  And one shudders.  With
                                             giving an objective paraphrase of
fine.  Certainly with such author-                                                     one breath he combines such apho-
                                             it) with the demand to repent and
ity the gospel does speak.  But as                                                     risms as "apples don't fall far from
                                             believe.  I would love to see the
gospel, as good news, is it not in                                                     the tree, or: it is nice weather, or:
                                             Canons of Dort maintained.
the  fact  that  God  will  save  those        They frankly say:                       the earth has two poles," with great
who  believe--who  are  only  the             a.  The  promise  comes  with  the        Bible truths as "God is a simple Be-
elect in the end?                            command. This is not a mere news          ing, or: three persons are together
    And  we  could  go  on,  except          report, mere objective, "hm, hm,"         one Being, or: a heaven and a hell
that  there  is  also  here  another         but  a  placing  under  God's  claim.     are  coming."    These  are  some  of
ironic slur that should not be over-         No  news-cast,  such  as:  apples         the  great  truths  of  the  Christian
                                             don't fall far from the tree, or: it
looked.    With  condescension                                                         faith,  things  of  which  Jesus  says,
                                             is nice weather, or: the earth has
Schilder  speaks  of  "hidden                                                          "ye shall know the truth, and the
                                             two poles, or: God is a simple Be-
thoughts" as "spoken by an objec-                                                      truth  shall  make  you  free"  (John
                                             ing, or: three persons are together
tive  reporter  who  can  produce            one Being, or: a heaven and a hell        6:32) .
news of facts and happenings." With          are coming.                                    There is a sadness to that.  Here
"something  about  His  majesty,               No dogma, no mere statement,            is  one  who  suffered  so  much  for
such  as  when  and  where  he  was          but  an  official  address  to  some-     the faith, and spent his life teach-
born,  what  his  family  tree  looks        one, an approach.  An announce-           ing  and  inspiring  the  people  of
like,  how  many  children  he  has,         ment.  A proclamation!(Proponere).        God; and did it come to the point
                                             Don't be a proponent of yourself
where  his  residence  is,  what  his                                                  that, here so close to the end of his
                                             or of your sermon proposal.  For
habits  and  hobbies  are,  in  short,                                                 days, he was ready to defend the
                                             that proclamation of your  word has
news  that  fills  our  papers  and                                                    proposition that pronouncement of
                                             nothing to do with the Canons of
magazines  numbers  and  facts."             Dort II, 5.  The preacher must of-        law should be substituted for the
And one wonders what is meant.               ficially  present  God  as  the           doctrines of grace as the essence of
Perhaps, of course, there is valid-          Promiser and Commander in one,            the covenant of God?  One could
ity  to  such  when  speaking  of            in one authoritative message.6            only wish it hadn't been.   u
earthly kings.  Their personal lives
are  often  far  less  than  what  one     And once again there is no dispute,
might  wish  to  have  known.    But       that is, in regard to what the Can-         1  Schilder,  Klaas,  Extra-Scriptural
here in the covenant it is the Lord        ons have to say.  That the promise          Binding -- A New Danger,  Inherit-
God  of  heaven  and  earth  with          of the gospel with this command             ance  Publications,  Neerlandia,
whom  we  have  to  do,  pure  and         to repent and believe is to be pro-         Alberta, Canada, p. 88.
perfect and holy in all of His ways.       claimed  to  all  nations,  no  one         2 Ibid. p. 89.
A  whole  book,  the  Bible,  He  has      would  ever  dispute.    But  is  this      3 Ibid. p. 89.
given to us, filled with news and          what the covenant is about?   This          4 Ibid. p. 90.
facts about who He is and what He          is God's word to the nations; while         5 Ibid. p. 136.
does, so that, in the words of the         the covenant was given with sign            6 Ibid. pp. 136-137.
                                           and seal to Abraham, and with him

452/Standard Bearer/August, 1998


  Book Reviews


                                               Driving the revived paganism                 A  practical  warning  to  Re-
                                           in the United States are feminism            formed  Christians  with  reading
                                           and  perverted  sex.    In  a  chilling      children, as well as to our Chris-
                                           quotation, Jones cites the feminist          tian  schools,  is  that  Madeleine
Spirit  Wars:    Pagan  Revival  in        Naomi Goldberg:                              L'Engle is one of the revivalists of
Christian America, by Peter Jones.                                                      the  "pagan  revival  in  Christian
                                             The feminist movement in West-
Mukilteo,  WA/Escondido,  CA:                                                           America."    L'Engle  is  a  popular
                                             ern culture is engaged in the slow
Wine Press Publishing/Main Entry                                                        writer of books for children.  Ac-
                                             execution  of  Christ  and  Jahweh.
Editions, 1997.  331 pages.  $18.95                                                     cording  to  Jones,  "Madeleine
                                             Yet  very  few  of  the  women  and
(paper).  [Reviewed by the editor.]                                                     L'Engle  judges  that  the  new
                                             men  now  working  for  sexual
                                             equality  within  Christianity  and        worldview needs a new god `who's
    Spirit Wars is the second book           Judaism realize the extent of their        big  enough  for  the  atomic  age'
by the author on the resurgence of           heresy (p. 195).                           since the God of Christ's time `has
pagan  religion  in  America  as  the                                                   deteriorated'" (p. 141).  He quotes
revival  of  the  Gnostic  heresy,             The advocates of heathen wor-            her uttering this blasphemy:  "the
damned by the early church.  The           ship are wicked.  Many are apos-             paternalistic  male  chauvinist  pig
first was The Gnostic Empire Strikes       tates from Christianity; some, like          Old Testament God" (p. 183).   s
Back:    An  Old  Heresy  for  the  New    Virginia Mollenkott, are apostates
Age  (P&R,  1992).    The  Standard        from evangelical Christianity.  God          Princeton  Seminary:  Faith  and
Bearer reviewed The Gnostic Empire         has given them over to a reprobate           Learning, 1812-1868 and Princeton
in the February 1, 1994 issue.             mind.  They are also fools.  One, a          Seminary: The Majestic Testimony,
    In Spirit Wars, Peter Jones dem-       self-proclaimed  "ecofeminist  les-          1869-1929,  by  David  B.  Calhoun.
onstrates that the spirituality and        bian witch" (probably explained by           Edinburgh:  The  Banner  of  Truth
worship  of  the  heathen  religions       the fact that she got a theological          Trust, 1994, 1996.  Pp. xxvi-495 and
are rampant in the United States.          degree  from  Harvard  Divinity              Pp. xxi-560.  Vol. 1 $35.99, Vol. 2
This spirituality is pantheistic:  all     School),  announces  to  the  world          $29.99 (cloth).  [Reviewed by Prof.
is god.  It is mystical:  a religion of    that she experiences "deep spiritual         Robert Decker.]
feeling (this is the "knowledge" of        communion (with) her cat."
gnosticism).  It deifies man:  all is          There  is  nothing  funny  about             Here  is  a  detailed  history  of
god, but every human is especially         the movement.  Peter Jones, a solid          what was for over a century a bas-
god.                                       Presbyterian theologian, professor           tion of Reformed/Presbyterian or-
    Weird as the beliefs and prac-         at Westminster Seminary in south-            thodoxy.  The first volume contains
tices of this paganism are to the av-      ern California, warns the saints that        excellent  chapters  on  Archibald
erage American, to say nothing of          "we are witnessing the first signs           Alexander,  Samuel  Miller,  and
a Christian, it is effecting tremen-       of  an  assault  against  the  truth  of     Charles Hodge.  Likewise volume
dous  change  in  the  whole  of  the      Christ the likes of which the church         two contains excellent chapters on
Western way of life.  Jones remarks        has  never  seen  before"  (p.  257).        Benjamin  Breckinridge  Warfield
that  "few  in  the  church  and  the      With the other signs of the return           and J. Gresham Machen.  Calhoun
popular  culture  realize  the  enor-      of Christ, including the formation           also  treats  in  detail  the  "mighty
mity  of  the  revolution  going  on       of a "new world order" (which the            battle," as he calls it, between the
around us" (p. 251).                       neo-pagans  enthusiastically  pro-           conservatives  and  the  modernists
    Heathen  worship  of  the  gods        mote), this sign--apostasy accom-             in the Presbyterian Church, a battle
is  openly  practiced  in,  and  pro-      panied  by  lawlessness--points  to           which commenced around the turn
moted  by,  the  (nominally)  Chris-       the nearness of the Day of Christ.           of the century.  This mighty battle
tian churches.  Jones examines the         Immediately prior to the revelation          finally resulted in the establishing
notorious,  revealing  meeting  of         of Christ must come the revelation           of Westminster Theological Semi-
women from the liberal Protestant          of Antichrist (II Thess. 2), the king-       nary  in  Philadelphia  by  Machen
churches  in  1993  that  was  called      dom of the beast.                            and  several  of  his  colleagues  in
the  "RE-Imagining  Conference"                That  Jones  does  not  spell  out       1929.  Interestingly enough, though
(see  pp.  142ff.).    This  is  where     this significance of the movement            they  were  staunch  supporters  of
"Gnosticism"  comes  in.    The  an-       is a weakness.  Perhaps we are to            Machen,  Geerhardus  Vos,  Caspar
cient  heresy  attempted  to  unite        expect  this  in  the  book  that  is  to    Wistar  Hodge,  and  William  Park
Christianity with pagan religion.          follow.                                      Armstrong  chose  not  to  join

                                                                                                August, 1998/Standard Bearer/453


Machen  at  Westminster.    Said             resisting higher criticism, when vir-            Third,  however,  there  was
Machen in the main address given             tually all of the  other prestigious         some  very  "strange  fire  on
at  the  formal  opening  of                 seminaries in America (Yale Divin-           Princeton's altars."  A.  A.  Hodge
Westminster  on  September  25,              ity,  Union  Seminary,  e.g.)  had           claimed  that,  "The  difference  be-
1929,  "Westminster  Seminary                yielded  to  the  critics.    Great  em-     tween  the  best  of  either  class
would endeavor to hold the same              phasis was placed on careful and             (Arminianism  and  Calvinism,
principles that old Princeton main-          faithful  exegesis  of  Sacred  Scrip-       RDD)  is  one  of  emphasis  rather
tained....  We believe, first, that the      ture using the original Hebrew and           than of essential principle.  Each is
Christian religion, as it is set forth       Greek languages.  Princeton theol-           the complement of the other.  Each
in  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the      ogy was derived from Scripture.              is necessary to restrain, correct, and
Presbyterian  Church,  is  true;  we             Second,  the  Princeton  faculty         supply the one-sided strain of the
believe, second, that the Christian          was graced by several outstanding            other.    They  together  give  origin
religion  welcomes  and  is  capable         theologians.    Some  of  these  "big        to the blended strain from which
of  scholarly  defense;  and  we  be-        names"  are  of  course  A.  A.              issues the perfect music which ut-
lieve, third, that the Christian reli-       Alexander, Samuel Miller, Charles            ters  the  perfect  truth"  (vol.  2,  p.
gion should be proclaimed without            Hodge,  A.  A.  Hodge,  B.  B.               73).    If  Hodge  were  right,  the
fear or favor, and in clear opposi-          Warfield, and J. Gresham Machen.             Westminster  Standards  and  the
tion  to  whatever  opposes  it,             These were men strongly commit-              Canons of Dordrecht are hopelessly
whether  within  or  without  the            ted to the Reformed faith.  Warfield         one-sided!    D. L. Moody and Ira
church, as the only way of salva-            told  his  students  that,  "A  `Chris-      Sankey were cordially received by
tion for lost mankind" (v. 2, p 396).        tianity'  which  can  dispense  with         the seminary as well (cf. pp. 24-26,
        These  two  volumes,  in  the        the  immediately  supernatural,  to          vol.  2).    In  addition  to  these
opinion  of  this  reviewer,  make           which  the  pre-existence  and  the          Arminian influences, several of the
clear three main points concerning           proper  deity  of  Christ  are  un-          faculty,  notably  Warfield  and
Princeton  Seminary.    One  is  that        known, which discards the expia-             Machen, were weak at best in their
really up until the 1920s the Semi-          tory  work  of  Christ,  and  which          evaluation of evolutionism (cf. pp.
nary held fast to Reformed ortho-            looks  for  no  resurrection  of  the        256-257 and 360 of vol. 2).
doxy,  especially  over  against  the        body, may readily enough do with-                All in all this is a fine account
higher critics in Hermeneutics.  At          out the fact of the resurrection of          of Princeton seminary.  It's written
the turn of the century through the          Christ.  But when it comes to that,          in  a  pleasant,  readable  style  as
outstanding work of men like John            may we not also do very well with-           well.    Those  who  wish  to  learn
D. Davis, Robert Dick Wilson, and            out such a `Christianity'?  What has         from  the  past  would  do  well  to
Geerhardus Vos, Princeton was still          it  to  offer  to  the  sin-stricken  hu-    read  these  two  volumes  on
                                             man soul?" (vol. 2, p, 249).                 Princeton.   u



  News From Our Churches                                                                       Mr. Benjamin Wigger

                                             rented  facilities  for  ten  years,  by     Lord has richly blessed us in that
Congregation Activities                      God's  grace,  in  the  year  of  our        He  has  given  to  us,  a  small  con-
                                             tenth anniversary we now have a
We received the following note                                                            gregation of only twenty families,
          from Rev. R. Miersma, pas-         church building which we can call            not  only  a  new  church  building,
tor  of  the  Immanuel  PRC  in              our  own.    The  first  worship  ser-       but  also  a  new  parsonage  across
Lacombe, Alberta, Canada and de-             vices in the new building were held          the  parking  lot  from  the  church.
cided to include most of it here for         on  September  21,  1997.      Truly  a      The pastor and his wife were able
you our readers.                             memorable day.  Most of you have             to  move  in  just  before  the  1st  of
        "The Immanuel PRC considers          never  experienced  the  frustration         December 1997.  As congregation
it a privilege to share with you our         of  having  to  change  the  times  of       we desire to thank all of you who
joy in having our own new church             services several times a year to suit        gave freely and willingly in your
building.    After  worshiping  in           the needs of the congregation who            offerings for our building fund to
                                             owns the building.   Now we can              help make all this possible.   That
                                             have our own Psalters and Bibles             is  a  testimony  of  caring  for  and
                                             in the pews, our own literature and          sharing  with  one  another,  in  the
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant     books displayed for our own con-             body  of  Christ,  unto  the  benefits
Reformed  Church  of  Hudsonville, Michi-    gregation and for evangelism.   The          of the whole.
gan.

454/Standard Bearer/August, 1998


    "We  invite  you  to  come  to
sunny Alberta to visit us and our
sister church in Edmonton.  After
a  scenic  tour  of  the  Canadian
Rocky Mountains you can have the
privilege of worshiping with fellow
saints on the Sabbath day.  We look
forward to seeing you."
    The Bethel PRC in Itasca, IL has
been experiencing continued delays
with obtaining the necessary build-
ing  permits  needed  before  con-
struction could begin on their new
church building.  A  major part of                          Immanuel PRC, Lacombe, Alberta, Canada
this difficulty has been having to
deal with more than  one govern-
ment  agency  for  approval  of  the
permits.  Thankfully, this now ap-       grace,  through  the  history  of  our      area.  This has resulted in new visi-
pears    to  be  coming  to  an  end.    churches from the very beginning.           tors to their services.
Their hope was that actual start of          The Evangelism Committee of
the  project  would  begin  with         First  PRC  in  Edmonton,  Alberta,         Minister Activities
ground-breaking on July  2--coin-         Canada thanked their congregation
cidentally, the same day our First       for their help recently in distribut-       Candidate  Daniel Kleyn,  now
                                                                                          Pastor-elect  Kleyn,  has  ac-
PRC in Holland, MI celebrated the        ing  over  1000  "Welcome"  bro-            cepted the call he received from the
dedication  of  their  newly  com-       chures to mailboxes in the neigh-           Edgerton, MN PRC.  Plans are for
pleted church building.                  borhood around their church.  This          him and his wife to finish his sum-
    The  now  disbanded  Trinity         effort  was  followed  in  early  June      mer commitment in Pittsburgh, and
PRC of Houston, TX gave their as-        with  a  Spring  Lecture  in  which         then move to Edgerton in August,
sets  to  the  churches  (approx.        Rev.  M.  DeVries  spoke  on  "The          before being examined at the regu-
$90,000)  to  use  as  they  wished.     Battle for our Children:  vs. Public        lar  fall  classis  in  Loveland,  CO.
Synod decided that $25,000 should        Policy; vs. the Media and Entertain-        Candidate Nathan Brummel will be
serve as seed money for a new fund       ment; and vs. Family Breakdown."            filling  Edgerton's  pulpit  after  his
for the purchase of homes for our                                                    brother,  Rev.  A. Brummel,  leaves
home  missionaries,  with  the  bal-     Denomination Activities                     for  South  Holland  in  early  July,
ance going to the Emeritus Fund.         The PR Psalm Singing Choir has D.V.
    Back in April, the consistory of         recently  completed  work  on
Immanuel  PRC  in  Lacombe,  AB          their third recording, entitled "Fit-
sponsored a lecture to promote the       ting Praises III."  They are making                   Food For Thought
cause  of  having  their  own  Chris-    it  available  at  a  special  introduc-        "That  which  begins  not  with
tian school.  Rev. R. Miersma spoke      tory  price  of  $6.00  per  tape  or       prayer seldom winds up with com-
on "The Call to Arise and Go For-        $11.00  per  CD  through  August.           fort."
ward."  Perhaps partly in response       You may place your order by con-                                 --John Flavel   u
to that lecture, in early June there     tacting Mr. Mike Feenstra, 4342 41st
was a meeting at their church for        St., Grandville, MI 49418  /616-531-
the purpose of reconstituting their      2349, or after August 31 at the Re-
own school society, with the goal        formed Book Outlet, 3505 Kelly St.,
of having their own school.              Hudsonville, MI 49426 / 616-669-
                                         6730.
Evangelism Activities                        The  addition  of  ten  new  sta-
The Peace PRC of Lynwood, IL tions  in  the  month  of  June  has
   sponsored  an  "informal  lec-        brought an increase of response to
ture"  on  June  19  with  Rev.          the  Reformed  Witness  Hour,  the
Cornelius Hanko speaking on "The         radio voice of our churches.  The
P.R.C:    Past,  Present,  Future."      group  of    believers  in  Pittsburgh
What an opportunity to listen and        with whom our churches are labor-
learn  from  the  wisdom  of  an  old    ing  added  a  "tag"  on  the  end  of
saint  who  has  lived,  by  God's       the  program  broadcast  in  their

                                                                                               August, 1998/Standard Bearer/455


         The
Standard
  Bearer                                                                                                                                       PERIODICAL
                                                                                                                                               Postage Paid at
     P.O. Box 603                                                                                                                              Grandville,
     Grandville, MI  49468-0603                                                                                                                Michigan



                                                                    ANNOUNCEMENTS

           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                 NOTICE!!                                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
         The council of Hope PRC express their                     Classis West of the Protestant Reformed                 The Lord willing, on August 2, 1998, our
Christian sympathy to Elder Marinus Kamps                     Churches will be hosted by the Loveland Prot-          parents and grandparents,
in the loss of his daughter-in-law,                           estant  Reformed  Church  in  Loveland,  Colo-              DONALD and BONNIE HOKSBERGEN,
            MRS. PAUL (LISA) KAMPS.                           rado  on  Wednesday,  September  2,  1998  at          will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.
         May  he  and  his  family  find  comfort  in         8:30  A.M., the Lord willing.  All material for the          We  thank  the  Lord  for  their  godly  ex-
God's Word, "Blessed be God, ... the Father                     classical agenda is to be in the hands of the          ample, and the Christian upbringing they gave
of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who                   stated  clerk  thirty  days  before  classis  con-     us.  We pray that our heavenly Father may
comforteth  us  in  all  our  tribulation"  (II               venes.    All delegates  or  visitors  in  need  of    grant them many more years together, and that
Corinthians 1:3, 4).                                          lodging  or  transportation  from  the  airport        their marriage may be a reflection of that per-
                    Rev. James Laning, President              should notify the clerk of Loveland's consistory,      fect marriage between Christ, our Savior, and
                               Harry Langerak, Clerk          Mr. Larry Nelson, 617 West 36th St., Loveland,         His bride, the church.   "Know therefore that
                                                              CO  80538.  Phone: (970) 667-0952.                     the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God,
             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                              Rev. Steven Key,       which keepeth covenant and mercy with them
         On August 24, 1998,                                                                       Stated Clerk      that love him and keep his commandments to
            ROBERT and ANNE DRNEK                                                 NOTICE!!                           a thousand generations" (Deuteronomy 7:9).
will celebrate 25 years of marriage.  We are                       Classis East will meet in regular session         Y     Mike and Teresa Potjer
grateful to the Lord for giving them to one an-               on Wednesday, September 9, 1998 at the First                   (4 children in glory)
other  and  to  us.    We  are  thankful  for  their          Protestant Reformed Church, Holland, Michi-            Y     Craig and Heather Hoksbergen
godly instruction and example to us.  May God                 gan.  Material for this session must be in the                 Colton, Deanna
continue to bless them in their marriage in the               hands of the stated clerk no later than August         Y     Kent Hoksbergen
years to come.                                                10, 1998.                                              Y     Amanda Hoksbergen
         "Truly God is good to Israel, even to such                                             Jon J. Huisken                                                 Hull, Iowa
as are of a clean heart" (Psalm 73:1).                                                             Stated Clerk
Y        Jonathan Drnek
Y        Rodney and Elizabeth Kleyn                                                                       On Isaiah 53
           Sarah and Alyssa
Y        Daniel Drnek                                                           Open Thou my mind and heart, Lord, that I may see
                                     Hudsonville, Michigan
           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                           The truths and comfort Thy servant brings to us -- to me --
         The Ladies' Society Ruth of Hope PRC                                           Within Thy sanctuary; I confess to Thee:
express their Christian sympathy to our fellow                                                       Mine, mine the need.
member, Mrs. Marinus Kamps, in the sudden                                       Man of sorrows, by Thine own rejected and despised,
death of her daughter-in-law,                                                 Beaten with stripes, bleeding on a Roman cross devised,
            MRS. PAUL (LISA) KAMPS.                                        Taking on Thyself Thy people's sins, for our peace chastised --
         May she and her family find comfort in                                                     Mine, mine the blame.
God's Word, "It is of the Lord's mercies that                                    Wounded and bruised, He for our iniquities atoned,
we are not consumed, because his compas-
sions fail not.  They are new every morning:                                 Stricken and smitten by Father God.  The crowd condoned
great is thy faithfulness.  The Lord is my por-                        The cross, the mockery of the Holy, righteous One; yet I bemoan:
tion,  saith  my  soul;  therefore  will  I  hope  in                                               Mine, mine the shame.
him" (Lamentations 3:22-24).                                                 Like wandering, stubborn sheep, willfully our way we trod.
                    Rev. James Laning, President                  Yet, interceding 'twixt His guilty people and the righteous wrath of God,
                         Evelyn Langerak, Secretary                 He hung; for me His life blood flowing from hands and feet unshod--
                                                                                                     Mine, mine His love.
                Seminary Convocation                                                Thus He, for His people, died, arose, ascended,
         Seminary  Convocation  will  be  held  on                               Sits at Father's right hand, by angels now attended,
September 9 in First PRC (Grand Rapids) at
7:30                                                                         Calls to Himself in time His own, by Comforter defended;
         P.M.  We urge all to demonstrate their
support of the denominational work of training                                            Mine, mine that glorious home above.
young men to be pastors by attending this pro-                                                                                               --Hulda J. Kuiper
gram.

456/Standard Bearer/August, 1998


