A Reformed





 vu/.   uu,  /vu.    I L
 March 75, 7990


C o n t e n t s                                                                                      THE
                                                                   March 15,1990                STANBARD
Meditation  -  Rev. lames  D.  Slopsema
   NO BONE BROKEN                                                                      267          BFARER
Editorial  - Prof. David  /.  Engelsma                                                           ISS N 0362-4692
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266  / The Standard Bearer  / March 15, 1990


Meditation
Rev. lames Slopsema                       No Bone Broken

   The Jews therefore because               And so they went to the              capital punishment, the corpse
it was the preparation, that              Roman governor, Pilate. From           was to be buried by sundown,
the bodies should not remain              Pilate they obtained permission        lest if defile the whole land.
upon the cross on the sabbath             to break the legs of Jesus and the       Now it was the concern of the
day, (for that sabbath day was            malefactors, thereby hastening         Jewish leaders that the land be
an high day,) besought Pilate             their deaths. In this way all three    not defiled with the corpses of
that their legs might be                  could be disposed of before dark.      Jesus and the two malefactors.
                                            The legs of the two male-            We see here a hypocrisy that is
broken, and that they might be            factors crucified with Jesus were      well-nigh unbelievable. The
taken away.                               broken. But when the soldiers          Jewish leaders were all con-
   Then came the soldiers, and            found Jesus already dead, they         cerned about defiling the land of
brake the legs of the first, and          thrust a spear into His side,          Canaan with a few dead corpses.
of the other which was cruci-             rather than break His legs.            But at the same time, however,
fied with him.                              John, who observed all this,         they saw no trouble with defiling
  But when they came to                   saw in this incident a fulfillment     the land by murdering Gods Son
Jesus, and saw that he was                of prophecy: "A bone of him            on the cross.
dead already, they brake not              shall not be broken."                    Be that as it may, the Jewish
his legs . . . .                            Being a fulfillment of               leaders went to Pilate and ob-
  For these things were done,             prophecy, this incident also pro-      tained permission to break the
that the scripture should be              claims to us the gospel of salva-      legs of Jesus and the malefactors.
                                          tion.                                  This was a common way to
fulfilled, A bone of him shall             7%  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *         hasten the death of those
not be broken.                               It was the day of the Passover      crucified. One crucified could
                    John 19:31-33,  36    feast.                                 hang on for several days before
                                             It was also the day of prepara-     death finally came to deliver him
  It was Friday, the day of the           tion, that is, the day of preparing    from his agony. But when his
Jewish Passover.                          for the Sabbath day which was to       legs were smashed, shock set in
  It was also the day of Jesus'           follow. And since this was the         and death came rather quickly.
crucifixion. At 9 o'clock in the          week of the Passover feast, this       This is what the Jewish leaders
morning Jesus had been nailed to          particular Sabbath was "an high        requested be done with Jesus and
a cross at Golgotha, just outside         day," a special and sacred Sab-        the malefactors so that their
Jerusalem, between two other              bath. The Jewish leaders did not       bodies could be disposed of by
malefactors.                              want the bodies of Jesus and the       sunset and the land be not de-
  The Jewish leaders were con-            malefactors to remain upon the         filed. Pilate willingly granted this
cerned that the bodies of Jesus           cross over this special day.           request.
and the malefactors not remain              We must bear in mind that in           Evidently the soldiers started
on the cross during the Sabbath           this OT era a dead corpse would        with the two malefactors,
day, which was rapidly ap-                defile the land. For that reason it    smashing their legs to bring a
proaching.                                was the practice to bury the           quick death.
                                          dead, if at all possible, by sun-        But when the soldiers turned
                                          down. In fact, God had given in-       to Jesus, who was hanging from
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of Hope           structions through Moses that          the middle cross, they found to
Protestant Reformed Church of             when a corpse was hanged in a          their amazement that Jesus had
Walker, Michigan.                         tree as an intensification of          already died. And so, instead of

                                                                                  March  15,199O  / The Standard Bearer  I2167


smashing His legs, they thrust a                  The fact that no bone of Jesus      heavy burden of sin. No, it was
spear into His side, drawing                    was broken is a testimony of          not the burden of His own si.n
blood and water. This was done,                 Jesus' perfect righteousness.         that He bore. For we have just
evidently, to assure that Jesus                   This is plain from Psalm 34:19      seen that, personally, Jesus was
was in fact dead.                               & 20, "Many are the afflictions of    without sin. The burden of s:in He
* * * * * * * * * *                             the righteous: but the Lord           bore was the burden of our sin.
   John, who observed all this,                 delivereth him out of them all.       Being our Mediator, Jesus is per-
was led by the Spirit to see in                 He keepeth all his bones: not one     sonally responsible for the sin of
this a fulfillment of Old Testa-                of them is broken."                   all Gods elect people. That sin
ment prophecy. These things                       Here the Psalmist speaks of the     was placed upon Him from birth.
were done, that the Scripture                   suffering of the righteous. Many        And for that sin Jesus endured
should be fulfilled, A bone of                  are the afflictions of the            the bitter wrath of God all His
Him shall not be broken.                        righteous. However, the Lord          life long. He endured the wr#ath
   The Old Testament passage                    delivers the righteous out of all     of God as He lived in a world
that John has in mind is obvious-               his afflictions so that no bone of    that is under the curse of God.
ly Exodus 12:46, which records                  him is broken.                        He endured the wrath of God as
the instruction of Moses to Israel                This is exactly how God dealt       He was contradicted by wicked
concerning the original Passover                with Jesus. Jesus was afflicted at    men. Especially did He come
supper. Each family was to slay a               the hand of His enemies and suf-      under the weight of God's wrath
lamb and sprinkle its blood on                  fered greatly. He was betrayed        when He was nailed to the cross.
the doorposts. That very night                  and slandered. He was buffeted        For that was the accursed death.
the lamb was also to be eaten by                and spit upon. He was maimed          There, at the cross, Jesus suffered
every family in its home. Nothing               by the soldiers' whips and cruci-     all the agony of hell as the just
of the lamb was to be carried                   fied. Yet the Lord kept all His       punishment of God for our sm.
outside the home, Nor was a                     bones. Not a one of them was            The fact that God preserved all
bone of the paschal lamb to be                  broken.                               His bones is Gods seal and
broken.                                           What a wonderful testimony of       testimony that through His inex-
   Upon close examination, we                   the perfect righteousness of Jesus    pressible anguish, Jesus has com-
discover that this instruction of               Christ!                               pletely paid the price of sin and
Moses to Israel was indeed a                      This righteousness of Jesus is      is perfectly righteous before God
prophecy.                                       our salvation.                        as our Mediator.
   In fact, the whole Passover                    The righteousness of Jesus at-        And this is our salvation.
feast was a prophecy which                      tested to through the keeping of        For, the sins for which Jesus
looked ahead and pointed Israel                 His bones is, first of all, the       paid the penalty at the cross
                                                                                      were not His own but ours.
to the great salvation of God in                righteousness Jesus possesses as
                                                                                        And the perfect righteousness
Jesus Christ. The Passover lamb                 the Son of God. Jesus is Gods
and its blood pointed ahead to                  eternal and only begotten Son!        of Jesus, attested to by the keep-
                                                                                      ing of His bones, is a righteous-
the Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus                 And as the Son of God Jesus
                                                                                      ness He has obtained for us that
Christ, Who through the shedding                possesses the perfect righteous-
                                                                                      we may be righteous before God.
of His own blood would forever                  ness of God. This righteousness is
deliver us from the power of sin                His even in our flesh. Being the        This righteousness becomes
and death. For this reason God                  eternal Son of God, Jesus is not      ours through faith in Jesus Christ.
                                                guilty of the original sin of man-    Let us therefore cling by faitlh to
required the Passover to be                                                           Jesus our Savior, putting all our
repeated year by year.                          kind. Being divinely conceived in
                                                                                      trust in Him alone.
   In this setting, the fact that no            the womb of the virgin Mary,
                                                                                        Then we will be righteous
bone of the Passover lamb was to                Jesus escaped the pollution of sin
                                                                                      before God in Him and heirs to
be broken was also a prophecy                   that has laid hold of the human
                                                                                      eternal life. 0
of what was to come.                            race. And therefore Jesus lived in
                                                perfect obedience to the Father
  And it was fulfilled on the very              from the cradle to the grave.
last Passover day that ever had                   But, more importantly, the
any significance for the church of              keeping of Jesus' bones is God's
God. When the Lamb of God was
slain on the cross and His blood                testimony to the righteousness of
was shed, no bone of Him was                    Jesus Christ as our Mediator.
broken.                                           As our Mediator Jesus lived all
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *                    His life on the earth under the

268  I The Standard Bearer  / March  15,199O


                                         The Covenant of God
                                         and the Children of
 Editorial
Prof. David Engelsma                     Believers (I)

   The covenant of God is not a          Dogmatiek,  Vol. III, Kampen, 1918,         estant Reformed Churches and
relatively minor and secondary           p. 220).                                    that is confessed by the PRC. It is
aspect of God's truth, much less a          And in his work on the place             important that the reader knows
passing theological fad. Rather, it      of children in the covenant, Her-           this. In some Reformed circles
is one of the most prominent,            man Hoeksema has written:                   there is ignorance of, and confu-
most important doctrines of Holy         The Jachin and Boaz in the temple           sion about, the truth of the cove.
Scripture, if not that grand reality     of the truth of God (the reference is       nant. This is one of the reasons
which is the very heart of the           to the two pillars in Solomon's tem-        why members can defect to Bap
whole biblical revelation.               ple mentioned in I Kings 7:21 -             tist churches (whether "Cal-
  This is how Reformed                   DJE) are the truth of Gods.  sovereign      vinistic" or free willist makes no
theologians have always viewed           grace and the truth of God's cove-
                                         nant . . . , This doctrine (of the cove-    difference), which deny the cove-
the truth of the covenant. The           nant - DJE) is really more                  nant in one of its essential
German theologian of the 19th            characteristically Reformed than the        elements, namely, the inclusion
century, Heinrich Heppe, who             doctrine of election  (Believers and        of children in the covenant. In
summarized the Reformed tradi-           Their Seed, Grand Rapids, 1971, pp.         view of the importance of the
tion from Calvin to his day,             9, 11).                                     doctrine of the covenant both in
wrote, "The doctrine of God's               Scripture itself points out the          Scripture and in the Reformed
covenant with man is thus the in-        centrality of the covenant. The             tradition, this is intolerable. The
most heart and soul of the whole         history of Israel in the Old Testa-         PRC have a definite conception
of revealed truth" (Reformed             ment is a history of God's cove-            of the covenant. We know what
Dogmatics, London, 1950, p.              nant with Abraham and                       we believe about the covenant. If
281). He quotes the 17th century         Abraham's seed. The goal of that            anyone is ignorant or confused,
Reformed theologian, J.H.                history is Jesus the Christ (Luke           we ask that he give us a hearing.
Heidegger: ". . . the marrow and         1:72, 73). Jesus appears as                   Besides, there is difference,
as it were the sort of center of         Mediator of the new covenant                even sharp difference, among Re-
the whole of Holy Scripture is           (Heb. 8:6; 12:24). The work of              formed churches regarding the
the . . . covenant of God, to            Christ, therefore, is the establish-        understanding of the biblical and
which . . . everything in Scripture      ment, realization, and perfection           creedal teaching on the cove-
must be referred' (p. 281).              of the new covenant (Heb.                   nant. In view of the importance
  Herman Bavinck agreed:                 13:20).                                     of the covenant, these differences
The doctrine of the covenant is of          For this reason, the Bible itself        are not insignificant. Because the
the greatest significance both for       has the names that it does: Its             truth of the covenant lies at the
dogmatics and for the practice of the    two main divisions are called               center of all the teachings of
Christian life. The Reformed church      "Old Testament" and "New Testa-             Scripture, error in the doctrine of
and theology has understood this,        ment." Since "testament" is really          the covenant will certainly affect
more than the Roman Catholic and         "covenant," we rightly refer to             other biblical teachings as well,
Lutheran churches and theologies.
On the basis of Holy Scripture, the      the Bible as the book about the             specifically the doctrine of
Reformed have conceived the true         old and new covenant.                       sovereign grace, or "the five
religion of the Old and New Testa-          I readily acknowledge at the             points of Calvinism." If some hold
ments always as a covenant between       outset that the covenant doctrine           a different view than that
God and man (Gereformeerde               that I present here is that which           presented here, we ask only that
                                         has been developed by the Prot-             they give us a good hearing, at-

                                                                                      March 15, 1990 I The Standard Bearer  I269


tempting to learn what the PRC                  17:7, God Himself describes the        Jehovah, Israel is My son, even
believe, and why, in order then,                covenant this way: "to be a God        My firstborn" (Ex. 4:22).
of course, to compare our view                  unto thee . . . ." The covenant is       Marriage and the parent-c:hild
not only with their own but also                this: Jehovah's being Abraham's        connection are relationships of
with Scripture, the only rule of                God and Abraham's being                love and communion. They are
faith.                                          Jehovah's man. It is the relation-     simply special forms of friend-
   I must also make clear that my               ship - the special, close, loving      ship. And the covenant is the
emphasis falls on the place of                  relationship - between them.           real marriage and the real
children in the covenant and on                 This description of the covenant       Parent-child relationship.
the conversion of the covenant                  is repeated, again and again, in         Third; there is the figurative
children. This is the area in                   the Old Testament (Covenant)           explanation of the covenant as
which some of the sharpest dis-                 when the covenant is made or           God's tabernacling with His
agreement surfaces. Not only is                 confirmed with Israel. It appears      people. In Revelation 21 the vi-
this the area in which the                      in the significant prophecy of the     sion of the new world and o,f the
Reformed part company with all                  new covenant in Jeremiah               perfected church is immedia.tely
Baptists, but it is also the arena              31:3 lff.: "I will make a new cove-    explained by a great voice that           j
of division within the Reformed                 nant with the house of Israel and      says, "Behold, the tabernacle of
community.                                      with the house of Judah,"              God is with me, and He will
   Because my emphasis is the                   Jehovah says; and then He adds,        dwell with them . . ." (v. 3a). The
place of children in the covenant,              in virtual definition of the cove-     reference is to that building at
I will be very brief in setting                 nant, "and will be their God and       the center of Israel in the OId
forth what the covenant itself is,              they shall be My people."              Testament (Covenant): the taber-
according to the revelation of the                Second, the fundamental earth-       nacle. That holy building was the
covenant in Scripture. Yet the                  ly analogies to, or symbols of,        place where God lived with Israel
nature of the covenant must be                  the covenant are relationships -       and Israel lived with God in
pointed out, both because this is               relationships of the most intimate     sweet communion. Heaven will
basic to a consideration of the                 friendships known to humans. If        be the real, and gigantic, taber-
place of children in the covenant               a person had any doubt whether         nacle inasmuch as the bliss of
and because there is widespread                 the covenant is a relationship,        heaven will be the life of the
ignorance, confusion, and error                 these biblical analogies should        covenant: dwelling with God.
among Reformed people as to                     settle the matter. The Bible re-       John immediately applies to this
what the covenant essentially is.               quires us to think of the covenant     tabernacle-life in the coming
God's Covenant of Grace                         as a marriage and as a father-         world the words that we have
   What is the covenant of God?                 child relationship. In Ezekiel 16,     seen to be descriptive of the:
   What is that covenant that was               the prophet describes the LORD's       nature of the covenant:  ". . ,. and
established with Abraham and his                covenant with Jerusalem as a           they shall be His people, and God
seed;' that has been fulfilled in               marriage: "Now when I passed           Himself shall be with them, and
Jesus Christ; that now is made                  by thee, and looked upon thee,         be their God" (v. 3b).
with believers and their children;              behold, thy time was the time of         In this light the church must
and that will be perfected with                 love; and I spread My skirt over       view the greatest, and centr.al,
the church gathered out of all na-              thee, and covered thy nakedness:       wonder of salvation, namely, the
tions from the beginning to the                 yea, I sware unto thee, and            incarnation of the eternal Son of
end of the world at the coming                  entered into a covenant with           God. The meaning of it, John
of our Lord?                                    thee, saith the LORD God, and          gives in John 1:14: "And the
   The covenant is the relation-                thou becamest Mine" (v. 8).            Word was made flesh, and t'aber-
ship of friendship between the                  Judah is Jehovah's wife in the         nacled (such is the literal transla-
triune God and His chosen                       covenant.                              tion; the KJV has `dwelt') among
people in Jesus Christ.                           At the very beginning of             us . . . ." In Jesus, the triune God
   That the covenant must be                    Israel's history as a nation, God      comes close to us for friendship,
conceived by us as a relationship,              made plain that the covenant be-       so close that He becomes one of
as a bond of communion, be-                     tween Himself and Israel, on ac-       us. When the Spirit of the
tween God and His people is                     count of which He would redeem         crucified and risen Son of God
proved from the following                       them from the slavery of Egypt,        unites us to Jesus Christ by faith,
biblical teachings. First, when                 was nothing other than a Father-       we come close to God, so cl'ose
God establishes His covenant                    child relationship. For Moses          that we are God's bride and
with father Abraham in Genesis                  must say to Pharaoh, "Thus saith       God's children. 0                 -DJE

270  / The Standard Bearer  / March  15,199O


                                       The "Other Side"
Letter                                 of Postmillennialism

  It is with a touch of sadness        of Anti-Christ," that it "tempts       following passages I find that
that I feel constrained to write a     the people of God to identify the      Christ's kingdom in history (the
brief response to an article by        kingdom of anti-Christ with that       fifth monarchy of Daniel) is so :far
my friend Prof. H. Hanko which         of Christ," and that postmillen-       from being a mirage that it is the
appeared in the January 1, 1990        nialism "is a sweet siren song         only abiding reality (Psalm 2;
issue of The Standard Bearer           that gradually sings the child of      22:27, 28; 37:9-11;  46:8-10;  47;
("The Illusory Hope of Post-           God to sleep" is simply incredible     66:1-4; 72;  86:9;  138:4, 5;  149:5'9;
millennialism").                       language, coming from an other-        Isa. 2:1-4; 9:6, 7; 11:9, 10;
  Almost always I find myself be-      wise well-informed theologian.         65:19-24;  Dan. 2:35, 44; 7:13, 14;
ing instructed and edified by            Further, such an unwarranted         Heb. 12:26-29; Rev. 11:15). Fur-
Prof. Hanko's articles and book        attack greatly damages the grow-       ther, the parables of Matthew 13
reviews, but when he took on           ing respect that many Calvinists       clearly teach that Christ's
the subject of "The Illusory Hope      outside your denomination have         Kingdom in this world is to be a
of Postmillennialism" he went          been developing for you.               growing kingdom, not a
seriously astray, in my opinion.         Permit me briefly to rebut the       diminishing one - from a
  He faults the postmills for hav-     article in question with the           mustard seed to a tree. Isaiah 9:7
ing "little patience with anyone       following points:                      says that "there will be no end to
who does not agree with them,"           1. The Amillennial position of       the increase. of His government.."
but his own rigid perspective on       Prof. Hanko leans heavily on the       That one prophecy alone is the
the nature of Christ's Kingdom is      Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24) as         death knell to pessimistic                 `.
just as unbending; and there is        proof that the New Testament           Amillennialism! Did not Christ
nothing wrong with having              Age is to grow progressively           tell His church to make disciples
strong convictions!                    more evil, with all those ominous      of all the nations (Matt. 28:18-20),
  I find it incredible that Brother    signs to become increasingly           not just individuals? Was He
Hanko accuses Calvinist                more apparent. (But where was          merely expressing a pious wish
postmills, such as the Puritans        the high point from which the          or was He declaring a prophetic
(some would include Calvin and         decline supposedly began?) Post-       reality based on His powerful
other Reformers who tried to           millennial expositors, on the          reign from the Father's throne?
change the world by the Word of        other hand, see the Olivet             Does not Paul teach that Christ
God), practically all Presbyterian-    Discourse up to verse 34 as hav-       shall reign (in history) until all
ism until this century, and            ing been fulfilled in the last days    His enemies shall have been put
present advocates of this              of apostate Judaism, culminating       under His feet and He has
eschatological emphasis, of being      in the fall of Jerusalem in A.D.       abolished all (ungodly) rule,
guilty of all the "heresy" that he     70 (cf. Matt. 23:36-38; 24:1-2; Lk.    authority and power (I Cor.
attributes to them in his article.     21:6-32). Further, they see many       15~24,  25)? Yes, the Kingdom of
Biblical postmills get their view      of the "Lord is at hand" passages      Christ is very much in this worlld,
of Christ's growing and conquer-       in the New Testament as also           beginning in the regenerate heart
ing Kingdom from the Scriptures.       referring to the A.D. 70               and working itself outward to
To say that we "fail to reckon         vengeance of God.                      bring all spheres of life under
properly with the fact of sin,"          2. Is the Kingdom of Christ not      Christ's Lordship (Eph. 21:20-22)
that we do "not take sin serious-      in this world, as Prof. Hanko          The Luke 18:8 passage, on whic:h
ly," that our view of Christ's         asserts so boldly? Is this concept     Prof. Hanko places so much
Kingdom is really "the Kingdom         simply a mirage? As I read the         weight for a defeated church at

                                                                               March 15, 1990  I The Standard Bearer I271


the end of history, may be better                  3. As far as the Reformed Con-       realistic," I can only say that
interpreted to mean that when                   fessions are concerned, the             most of `Reformed Christianity
the Son of Man comes to destroy                 original Article 36 of the Belgic       has believed it fervently for
Jerusalem (cf. Matt. 24:30; 26:64)              Confession reflected the domin-         many centuries. To say that
in A.D. 70 He will not find faith               ion orientation of the Reformers        postmills who have led the way
in the "land" (of Israel) in that               rather than the vapid "pluralism"       in missions and the Christian.iza-
generation (Matt. 24:10-12).  If the            of their descendants who put            tion of Western. culture for cen-
geography needs to be extended,                 "democracy" ahead of biblical           turies (see lain Murray's the
Paul complained of the same                     theology and corrupted that arti-       Puritan Hope) were really
problem of lack of faith on the                 cle. The Heidelberg Catechism           motivated by a false hope and
part of many as he neared death                 (Q. 124) in explaining the Second       were actually promoting the
at the end of that same period of               Petition of the Lord's Prayer cer-      Kingdom of Anti-Christ is, I say
time (II Tim. 1:15; 3:13; 4:3, 10,              tainly teaches that Christ's            again, simply incredible. I shall
16).                                            Kingdom is in this world, that it       refrain from any stronger conclu-
  Often Amills will appeal to                   is a conquering kingdom, and            sions.
John  18:36 as proving that                     that "every power" (including             Thank you, gracious editor, for
Christ's Kingdom is not in the                  every society and government)           your patience and willingness to
world in any external manifesta-                that exalts itself against God and      let your readers hear the  othier
tion. But a closer view of the text             His Christ is to be destroyed! Or       side of this subject. May God lead
simply shows that our Lord was                  in the words of Psalm 2, the na-        all of us into the riches of His
referring to the source of His                  tions have been given to Christ         truth through patient study, com-
Kingdom, not its sphere of opera-               and He "shall break (rule) them         paring Scripture with Scripture,
tion. His Kingdom comes from                    with a sceptre of iron" (vs. 9).        and a willingness to learn from
heaven, not from the power                        All of this will be accomplished      all the brethren.
politics of the Jews. But His                   in history, not after the Judgment           (Rev.) Norman Jones
Kingdom is here in power; it is                 Day, and it will be accomplished             Reformed Church in the U.S.
not restricted to heaven. Indeed,               by the pure preaching of the Law             Pierre, S.D.
John declares over and over that                and the Gospel (Isa. 2:1-4; Matt.       Response
the saints rule with Christ OR                  28:18-20; II Cor. 10:3-5).
earth (Rev. 2:26, 27; 5:lO;                       If this faith and confident ex-         Professor Hanko's response to
11:15-18; 20:4, 6).                             pectation sound illusory and "un-       this letter will appear in the next
                                                                                        issue of The SB.                    -Ed.


                                                The Church, Theology,
Church                                          and Violence in
and State
Mr. lames Larding                               S o u t h   A f r i c a

                                                  A Different Gospel in South           century, and more recently as
                                                Africa. The historic Christian          Marxist-inspired "liberation
                                                church has always been tempted          theology" in the last two
                                                to adopt a political, economic,         decades. Reformed orthodox:y
                                                and social agenda addressing the        has condemned these movements
                                                plight of the oppressed, poor, and      as a "different gospel," a goslpel
                                                powerless in society. This con-         other "than what ye have r-e-
Mr. Lanting, a member of South                  cern emerged in the form of the         ceived" (Galatians 1:6, 9).
Holland Protestant Reformed                     "social gospel" of theological            But apparently some in the
Church, is a practicing attorney.               liberalism in the first half of this    Dutch Reformed tradition in

272  I The Standard Bearer  I March 15, 1990


     South Africa are now developing          "establish a society which can         ultima ratio - the last resort.
     a "theology" that legitimizes            benefit those who suffer most."        Violence is justified as a last
     revolutionary counter-violence to          Structural Violence. Critically      resort, writes Villa-Vicencio,
     "liberate" the economically and          analyzing the 19th century Dutch       when it is "goal oriented and pur-
     politically oppressed in South           Reformed missionary movement           poseful," when it is directed
     Africa. Weary with the injustice         in South Africa, the authors con-      toward the overthrow of a state
     of apartheid and the alleged ex-         clude that this missionary zeal        which is itself guilty of institu-
     ploitation of blacks by the              was "nothing more than an at-          tional violence, a state which has
     capitalist economy there, South          tempt to convert Africans to           lost the consent and respect of
     African theologians and intellec-        westernism and imperialism."           the governed.
     tuals in the Dutch Reformed              Dutch missionary motivation was           Not only is revolutionary
     churches are suggesting that             essentially "capitalist expan-         counter-violence justified under
     armed violence is now a political        sionism and militarism." The Prot-     such regimes, it is an inevitable
     necessity in that country.               estant missionaries preached           political reality, a historical
       This theology of the inevitabili-      that "the God of Europe was            necessity. "History and
     ty and necessity of counter-             superior to the Gods [sic] of          theology," Villa-Vicencio tells us,
~    violence to overthrow repressive         Africa." This, suggests one writer,    "both suggest that the will to
     and unjust regimes is articulated        was "cultural arrogance" and           liberation is part of what it
     in a recent significant book,            gave prominence to the "struc-         means to be a human being."
     Theology and Violence: The               tural violence of imperialism,"        Now that all other political alter-
     South African Debate,  edited by           Historically, the book insists,      natives in South Africa are
     Charles Villa-Vicencio (Eerdmans,        the Reformed tradition has             foreclosed, the structural violence
     1988). This book is a collection of      "largely supported regimes that        of white South Africa has created
     essays by South African intellec-        promote the Western values of          a society where counter-violencle
     tuals and church leaders in-             capitalism, colonialism and sup-       is inevitable, unavoidable, and
     cluding Allan Boesak (President          pression of the poor." The result      politically necessary.
     of World Alliance of Reformed            was the emergence of a                    The Church and revolution.
     Churches), Desmond Tutu (Arch-           "bourgeois church captive to           But what should be the place of
     bishop of Cape Town), Dirkie             bourgeois ideology," encrusted         the church in this "inevitable"
     Smit (Professor of Systematic            with the "cultural and political       revolution of counter-violence
     Theology, University of Western          accretions" of the "ruling class"      against a repressive capitalistic
     Cape), Charles Villa-Vicencio            in the West.                           regime? Villa-Vicencio informs us
     (Professor of Religious Studies,           Such is the case, the authors        of the crucial role of the church
     University of Cape Town), and            claim, in South Africa today. The      in the revolution:
     others.                                  South African government's               The church which is obedient to
       The essays in this book critical-      policies of apartheid, detention of    the gospel of Jesus is compelled to
     ly examine Western Christianity's        dissidents, capital punishment,        hear the cries of the widows and or-
     (and particularly the Reformed           and capitalism are nothing more        phans, the sick and the lame,
     tradition's) posture toward              than violence - "structural" or        prisoners and oppressed people  -
     violence and unjust governments.         "institutional" violence. And the      those who Qre marginalised  by the
     The essayists share some                 bourgeois church has traditional-      powerful and strong in society.  It is
     remarkable and controversial                                                    the task of the prophetic church to
                                              ly endorsed such "structural           represent those whose interests are
     conclusions: (1) unjust and              violence" while inconsistently         not adequately accounted for in the
     repressive governments are guil-         condemning any use of counter-         oolitical  equations of society. The
     ty of "structural" or                    violence to overthrow such un-         church knows that peace is not
     "institutional" violence; (2) when       just political and economic            oossible until the injustices of sociecv
     non-violent means are exhausted,         systems.                               ire redressed. Yet . . . justice may
     revolutionary "counter-violence"           Violence as a "last resort."         not be possible without violence. The
     to overthrow these repressive            Borrowing from traditional "just       task of the Christian, called to be
     regimes is justified as an ultima        war" theory, the essayists suggest     Deacemaker, is to diminish the
     ratio (a last resort); (3) the church    that although non-violent means        .oower of the oppressor QS Q means
     as "peacemaker" must take a              of eradicating such repressive         to eliminate the major source of  evii!
     prominent role in the inevitable         governments are preferable,              A Reformed Response.
     violent revolution "liberating" the      nonetheless the time comes when        Needless to say, the Reformed
     poor and oppressed and                   revolutionary counter-violence is      believer is at a loss where to
                                              necessary and justified as an          begin to criticize this heretical

                                                                                       March 15, 1990  I The Standard Bearer  / 273


book. The authors are un-                       evidence. The reason for this is               amination of the relevant gospel
ashamedly Marxist in their                      their almost blasphemous view of               passages suggests that Jesus himself
analysis of history, politics, and              the Biblical text, for as one                  never advocated, endorsed nor con-
economics, borrowing heavily                    essayist writes:                               doned violence. At least that seems
from contemporary liberation                       The Bible, including the prophetic          to be how the evangelists presented
                                                                                               him. How accurate this portrayal of
theologians such as Gustav0                     traditions, is, of course, silent about        Jesus is we have no way of
Gutierrez, Jon Sobrino, and Juan                the responses or perspectives of the           establishing beyond  a reasonable
Segundo. Moreover, their ethical                oppressed and exploited on violence.           doubt.
philosophy is rudely utilitarian -              The reason is simple. The oppressed              This kind of analysis of the Bi-
counter-violence as a means is                  did not write the Bible. It was the            ble's teaching on violence is, of
justifiable as a last resort to                 oppressors or their ideologists who
                                                wrote the Bible. The biblical text             course, typical of contemporary
achieve the end (goal) of a better                                                     Qs      theologians who deny the dloc-
                                                Q  discursive practice is  Q  ruling  class
society.                                        document.                                      trine of infallibility of the Scrip-
   But perhaps more telling is the                 Another writer argues that                  tures. Consequently, it must be
shocking attempt to theologize                  there is no "one uniform                       said that this book regrettably is
without ever appealing to Scrip-                response" to violence in the New               of little help to the orthodox Re-
ture, for the book contains few, if             Testament gospels because of the               formed believer who is seeking a
any, attempts to ground this new                various Sitze in Leben of the                  trustworthy analysis and solution
"theology" of the necessity of                  gospel writers. He concludes:                  to perennial conflict in Soutlh
counter-violence on biblical                       While the responses of the                  Africa today. Cl
                                                evangelists may vary, a careful ex-





 The Day                                        Enduring Mercy and
of Shadows                                      Everlasting Peace
Rev. john Heys



   A truth which we should never                   There are many passages in                  had no right in the slightest
forget, and a song which we                     Holy Writ where we find in-                    degree. For they listened to Satan
should sing repeatedly every day,               stances of this truth, so that we              rather than to God, and bec,ause
is found in and based on what                   have a shadow of this comforting               of his lie sought to be gods rather
the psalmist wrote in Psalm 136.                truth cast down upon Gods                      than in humility to bow before
There the psalmist ends every                   church throughout the ages. The                God and confess Him to be IGod
verse with the words: "For His                  reality of that mercy and grace is             alone. Yet, in His amazing grace
mercy endureth for ever." Yes,                  there for us to see in these                   and tender mercy, they were
that is the way every one of the                shadows. In fact, if there is one              given that wonderful promise of
twenty-six verses ends. In one of               thing Adam and Eve could have                  a Savior, and a salvation in Him
our psalter versifications based                sung, and in their hearts every                that would lift them above the
on this Psalm, each stanza ends                 born-again child of God should                 glory which they had through
with these words: "For His mercy                sing, it is that although we all in            creation.
doth endure, Ever faithful, ever                Adam fell into guilt, and .deserve               Then too, when the waters of
sure."                                          the awful punishment of hell,                  the flood came upon the earth,
                                                Gods mercy and grace were                      and wiped off the face of this
                                                undeniably revealed to. Adam                   earth the whole world of
                                                and Eve; and His grace was very                unbelievers in God's holy wrath
                                                evident when He gave them that                 and sovereign visitation upon
Rev. Heys is                                    mother promise of salvation in                 them, Noah and his family were
                 a  minister emeritus in
the Protestant Reformed Churches.               Christ. To mercy and grace they                saved so that they could sing:

274  I The Standard Bearer  I March  15,199O


"Give thanks to God, for He is         hand of Pharaoh preventing or             gift means that we are a guilty
good, His grace abideth ever. To       making it hard for them, because          people in ourselves, a people
Him all praise and glory be, His       of the merciful and gracious hand         who deserve punishment, not
mercy faileth never."                  of God that sent His Son to suffer        salvation.
  And now, when Abraham and            for all the sins of all the elect. His      Plainly Abraham had no right
Sarah lied about Sarah being           promise to Abraham could be               to go back to the promised land
Abraham's wife, and in His mer-        fulfilled because of what He did          and to the fulfillment of God's
cy and grace the almighty God          and not because of what                   promises. Their lie - Abraham's
arranged for a harmless return to      Abraham did.                              and Sarah's - called for punish-
the promised land, they had               Note the different here be-            ment as surely as Adam and
reason to sing of Gods unfailing       tween the world and the church            Eve's eating of the forbidden fruit
mercy and abiding grace. There         before God's face. Abraham and            called for death. That they were
just is no other way to explain        Sarah safely and conveniently             allowed to go back is and could1
this amazing protection that God       left Egypt to go to the promised          only be because of what God
gave Abraham and Sarah. Surely         land. But Pharaoh and Egypt had           Himself did for them in His Son.
here we have a shadow of what          been visited by painful plagues.          That Paul also wrote in his epis
is always happening to every           This undoubtedly made Pharaoh             tle to the Ephesians. In chapter
elect child of God.                    afraid of touching Abraham; but           1:2 we read, "Grace be to you,
  In His mercy toward Abraham          it also reveals how God touched           and peace, from God our Father,
and Sarah, God made Pharaoh            Abraham and Sarah in His mercy            and from the Lord Jesus Christ."
command Abraham - it was not           and grace.                                  Likewise Abraham did not
a request or suggestion - to             To appreciate God's grace we            deserve to get Sarah back as his
leave Egypt. In Genesis 12:19 we       have to take hold of the                  wife. Having lied to the king, he
read, "Now therefore behold thy        awesome truth that it is dealing          could be cast into prison and
wife, take her, and go thy way."       with one in exactly the opposite          have his wife taken from him --
And then in verse 20: "And             way from what that person                 not merely taken from him by
Pharaoh commanded his men              deserves. We can give gifts to            Pharaoh but by God. Let it be
concerning him: and they sent          our relatives and friends who             clearly understood that Abraharn
him away and his wife, and all         have also dealt kindly with us.           sinned against God before he
that he had."                          But Gods grace always without             sinned against Pharaoh. Planning
  Get that! Not only did Pharaoh       `exception is dealing with sinners        this lie, and not having executed
command his servants to see to it      who deserve the everlasting tor-          it yet, Abraham and Sarah sinned
that Abraham left Egypt, but he        ment of hell. Remember what we            against God and revealed lack osf
allowed Abraham to go with all         already considered, namely, that          trust in His promise to them.
that he had and all that he            only one sin - remember Adam                And now, having reached that
gained there in Egypt. He did not      and Eve's - calls for everlasting         promised land, Abraham con-
impose a fine upon Abraham. He         punishment and denies one                 tinued to taste Gods mercy and
did not take some of his gold and      anything that is good. Eating one         grace. Not only in His grace and
silver, cattle and servants away       piece of forbidden fruit brought          mercy had He given Abraham
to punish him. Nor did he assure       death. One sin, even though it            his wife back, and given to them
Abraham that if he came back,          takes only a split second of time         a safe journey to Canaan with all
he would suffer for his sin. No, in    to perform it, denies God, tells          their possessions, but He also
His mercy and grace God pro-           Him that He is not God and He             gave spiritual gifts which could
tected Abraham and Sarah so            has no right to demand certain            only come from God in His mer-
that there was no financial or         works of us or to deny us the             cy and grace.
fleshly loss, no flogging or im-       right to this or that work. And             Let us be honest about it. We
prisonment. Instead, Abraham is        God's grace is not simply giving a        are quick to enjoy things that
free to go back to what God            free gift to someone who does             pleas-e our flesh, and to thank
promised him. We must see              not deserve it. It is God giving          God for them. But how much joy
Christ here in the full pardon of      everlasting blessedness to those          do we find in the spiritual gifts
Abraham's and Sarah's sins, par-       who deserve everlasting punish-           which God gives us? How often
don that made it legally possible      ment. In fact, as Paul writes in          do we thank Him for them? Is
for them to escape the punish-         Ephesians 2:8-10, it is Gods grace        faith in God a really precious gift
ment that they deserved because        that makes it possible for us to          to us? Is salvation a most
of their sin. They might safely go     do good works, and that salva-            wonderful thing in our judgment?
to Canaan without the powerful         tion is a gift. Salvation being a         What thrills you the most? Was

                                                                                  March 15, 1990  I The Standard Bearer I275


winning that chess, scrabble, or                whole land (Genesis 12:7). What         ability to do that which is
ball game a greater thrill than                 does God's mercy and grace do           spiritually good, to all the things
the forgiveness of sins, and the                to Abraham? Does it move him            necessary for its performance.
new spiritual life that wants to                to chase Lot away? Does his flesh        Behind our rebirth and faith, and
walk in love before God? That                   lead him to fight for that land         behind every good work which
trip you are going to take to                   God promised him? No, to Lot he         we perform, is Gods mercy and
Europe, or to some beautiful park               said, "Let there be no strife, I        grace. That grace sent His Son to
in the mountains - is that more                 pray thee, between me and thee,         go down to the torment of hell
exciting than to think that one of              and between my herdmen and              that we might be lifted up to the
these days you will with your                   thy  herdmen; for we are                blessings of the kingdom of
soul go to heaven to be with                    brethren" (Genesis 13:8). In fact       heaven. Well may we with the
Christ, have a much more in-                    he even tells Lot that if he wants      psalmist sing: "How precious also
timate covenant fellowship with                 to go to the left, he, Abraham,         are Thy thoughts unto me, 0
God through Him, and be                         will go to the right.                   God! how great is the sum of
delivered completely, one hun-                    Shall we praise Abraham for           them" (Psalm 139: 17).
dred percent, from your sinful,                 this? We may thank him for his             The more we take hold of that
fleshly nature? Do the novels and               kindness and marvel at his strong       truth, the more we will realize
stories written by men of this                  trust in God to fulfill His prom-       that He must be praised and not
world thrill you more than Gods                 ises. But the praise must be            man. This truth we must tak:e
word with its heavenly promises,                Gods. Do we not in the Heidel-          hold of when we consider what
and with these divine stories of                berg Catechism, question and            Abraham did. Never may we stop
how true it is that His mercy                   answer 114, read that after our         with man. Gods mercy and grace
faileth never and His grace                     conversion we do not "perfectly         are here presented so that we
abideth ever on His elect                       keep Gods commandments"? In             will, by that mercy and grac:e,
children, chosen in Christ and                  fact there we read that while in        praise Him.
justified by His precious blood?                this life, and after our conver-           Let us then go back and sing
   Look now then at Abraham                     sion, we "have only a small             the song of praise to God sug-
who is back in the promised                     beginning of this obedience."           gested a few moments ago:
land, and a struggle arises be-                 And for that little good work that         Give thanks to God, for good is
tween him and Lot, because they                 we do perform we owe God                      he, His grace abideth ever;
both had so many cattle, and                    praise. For He made all of it               To Him all praise and glory be,
there was not room for both of                  possible.                                     His mercy faileth never.
them "to dwell together" (Genesis                 Behind all of our earthly life is        His wondrous works with  p.raise
13:6). And remember that God                    God. He gives us every heartbeat              record, His grace abideth ever,
had promised Abraham that unto                  and breath of life. But He also, in        The only God, the sov'reign  Lord,
                                                                                              Whose mercy faileth never.
his seed He would give that                     His mercy and grace, gives us           Psalter #378, based on Psalm l36:1-4.
                                                everything, from the desire and                                                0




Contribution
Prof. Herman Hanko                              Psalmody Conference

                                                  While many Presbyterian and            gregational singing.
                                                Reformed Churches have moved               In the interests of meetin;g
                                                away from Psalm singing in the           together to encourage each other
                                                worship services, different              and to promote Psalm singi:ng
                                                denominations in this country            among other churches and
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church              have remained faithful to this           denominations, a Psalmody Con-
History and New Testament in the                aspect of their heritage and con-        ference is being planned for next
Protestant Reformed Seminary.                   tinue to use the Psalms in con-        ~ summer in the first part of

276  I The Standard Bearer  I March  15,199O


 August. It is certainly not too late    to the conference grounds, for          The titles of the speeches to be
 to include this Conference in           those who wish to camp. Motel         delivered will, I think, quicken
vacation plans; and it appears as        and cabin facilities will also be     the interest of those who might
 if the Conference will be a good        available for those who wish for      consider attending. While the
 one.                                    somewhat more elaborate accom-        matter of speakers has not yet
    The initiative for such a Con-       modations. The conference             been completely settled, the
 ference came from the Pres-             grounds include facilities for        plans are to follow this schedule:
 byterian Reformed Church, a             eating, for swimming (probably          1) Rev. G. I. Williamson: "The
 small denomination in the East.         including a pool, which will like-    Regulative Principle of Worship."
 Two men from this denomina-             ly be completed by the time of          2) Dr. J. Renwick Wright: "The
 tion, Dr. William Young (a              the conference) and for games. It     Place of Psalm singing in Public
 minister in the Presbyterian Re-        also includes a meeting hall for      Worship."
 formed Church and professor             the plenary sessions. So the            3) Dr. William Young: "The
 emeritus of philosophy in the           facilities are splendid for a week    History of Psalm Singing."
 University of Rhode Island) and         of vacationing with families; and,      4) Rev. Malcolm McGinnis:
 Mr. Arthur Lamoureux (ruling            indeed, families are urged to at-     "The Imprecatory Psalms."
 elder in the congregation of War-       tend with their children. A             5) Rev. Duncan Lowe: "Christ
 wick, Rhode Island) sent letters to     nursery will be provided for          in the Psalms."
 various men in Presbyterian and         children from 1 - 5 years old.          6) Prof. Herman Hanko: "Thie
 Reformed denominations to serve           The theme of the Conference         Psalms: A Spiritual Biography of
 as a steering committee to lay          is: "Praising God With Psalms,"       the Christian."
 plans for such a Conference.            and the theme text is Psalm             7) Rev. Charles Butler: "The
   Undersigned was invited to be         149:l: "Praise ye the Lord. Sing      Psalms: Songs of Sanctification."
 a part of this steering committee,      unto the Lord a new song, and           On the first afternoon a
 which met in Pittsburgh, Penn-          his praise in the congregation of     workshop will be held for the en-
 sylvania during the month of            the saints." Because the sessions     tire assembly on the subject of
 January. Present at the meeting         will include Psalm singing by the     "The Technique of Psalm Sing-
 were Dr. Young, Mr. Lamoureux,          audience, a special booklet is be-    ing." On the second afternoon,
 Rev. John Stodghill from the            ing prepared which will contain       the assembly will be divided into
 Associate Reformed Presbyterian         from 50 to 75 Psalms taken from       four sectionals,  held concurrent-
 Church, Rev. Frank Schutz  from         the Scottish Metrical Psalter, the    ly. In one, a video tape will be
 the Reformed Presbyterian               Book of Psalms used by the            shown entitled: "Lessons in
 Church in North America, and            Reformed Presbyterian Church in       Precenting." This sectional will
 myself. Rev. Frank Smith from           North America, and the 1912           be led by Charles McBurnie. In
 the Presbyterian Church in              Psalter adopted by the                the second, Rev. Frank Smith will
 America was unable to come, but         Presbyterian Church which is          lead a discussion on "Psalms in
 gave the committee the benefit          used in our Protestant Reformed       Personal and Family Devotions."
 of his ideas and was in telephone       Churches. This booklet will also      In the third, Mr. Mike Bushel1 will
 contact with the committee dur-         include a conference schedule,        lead the meeting on the subject:
 ing its meetings. The committee         biographical notes of the             "How to Introduce Psalm Singing
 met over the course of two days         speakers and workshop leaders,        in a Congregation." And the
 and laid extensive plans for the        and blank sheets for note taking.     fourth, led by Alan Wagner, will
 Conference.                               The general schedule for the        discuss "The Pitfalls of Hymn
   While all the plans for the Con-      conference will be as follows: 1)     Singing in Worship."
 ference are not yet firmly in           three morning sessions will be          A committee was appointed to
 place, we are able to give our          held which will include devotions     be in charge of publicity. This
 readers some previews of what           and Psalm singing; a speech, a        committee will also be sending
 the Conference will be like.            break, a question period and          out brochures and registration
   The present plans are to hold         Psalm singing and closing devo-       forms to interested churches and
 the Conference August 1 - 3 at          tions. 2) Two afternoon sessions      individuals. The registration
 Bonclarken Assembly Conference          will follow something of the same     forms are necessary because a
 Grounds in Flat Rock, North             pattern, with a workshop also         registration fee will be charged
 Carolina. These facilities will pro-    scheduled and free time made          which will include the cost of the
 vide for all the needs of those at-     available. 3) Two evening ses-        booklet to be used in the Psalm
 tending. A campground, which            sions will also follow the general    singing. They can be obtained by
 includes trailer hookups, belongs       pattern of the morning sessions.      writing the Conference Director,

                                                                                March 15, 1990  I The Standard Bearer  / 277


209 Tanner Avenue, Warwick, RI                 denominations will attend. It will     rich and fruitful as many come
02886-4410. Our Protestant Re-                 be a time of fun and relaxation        together from all parts of the
formed readers can obtain them                 for those who are looking for an       country, united in the joys of
from the clerk of their Con-                   unusual vacation. It will give         singing Scripture's rich and
sistory, since all of them have                those who attend opportunity to        beautiful Psalm book.
recently been supplied with a                  discuss with many others the rich         May God bless these labors so
quantity of the forms, to make                 heritage of Psalm singing, still       that the joys and blessedness of
for easy availability. The forms               maintained in some parts of the        singing the Psalms are en-
will have to be submitted by the               church. It will be good to witness     couraged among those who seek
first of June, 1990.                           to others who have introduced          to remain faithful to this aspect
   It all sounds rather exciting,              hymns in the worship services          of our Reformation heritage.
and it is the hope of the commit-              concerning the blessings of Psalm         Set aside the dates now and
tee that many from various                     singing in the worship services.       plan to attend! 0
                                               And the fellowship ought to be



                                               The Spiritual
Into All                                       Condition of the
the World
Rev. Ronald VanOverloop                        Evangelizing Church

   The book of Acts shows that                 tern, no amount of evangelism          healthy congregation. It is these
there is a most definite relation-             will make that church attractive       characteristics which each local
ship between the spiritual health              to others. Any growth ex-              congregation must emulate.
of a congregation and the                      perienced by congregations of          * * * *  ;k  * * *  li  ;k
positive fruits harvested by the               this sort will likely be only of a
evangelism efforts of that church.             physical nature and not spiritual.       Of the characteristics of ec-
   God's blessing cannot be ex-                "`Be not deceived; God is not          clesiastical health, as well as of
pected to be given to a church                 mocked: for whatsoever a man           the church that truly grows, the
which is not otherwise faithful! A             (or a church - RJVO) soweth,           chief is the faithful preaching of
church that is losing its salt                 that shall he (the church -            the Word of God. It was the
(becoming more worldly) is going               RJVO) also reap" (Galatians 6:7).      preaching of Peter, Philip, and
to be good for nothing. If a                     Throughout the book of Acts          Paul which pricked the souls and
church in its preaching and prac-              the Holy Spirit teaches us that        brought people to repentance
tice is wiping out the line of                 the local congregation, from           and to faith in Christ (Acts 2; 4:4;
demarcation between the church                 which the Word of the risen            12:24; 13:48; etc.). In this caste it
and the world, no amount of                    Christ spread and to which Christ      is just as important that we
evangelism to others will revive               added those whom He was sav-           observe what the Bible does not
that church. If a church is split              ing, had certain characteristics.      say: it was not gimmicks, crystal
into factions and there is a great             Specifically, when the congrega-       cathedrals, charisma, friendliness,
want of brotherly love and con-                tion at Jerusalem daily grew           or the four spiritual laws which
                                               numerically because to it the          were the means Jesus used to
                                               Lord Jesus was adding the ones         add to the congregations at
                                               He was saving, then it had cer-        Jerusalem, Philippi, and Ephesus.
                                               tain spiritual features. As we con-    The faithful preaching of the
                                               sider these characteristics, note      good news was the instrument
                                                                                      God used to open hearts (Acts
Rev. VanOverloop  is pastor of Bethel          well that these are nothing more       16:14). It is to be understood that
Protestant Reformed Church in Elk              and nothing less than that which       this preaching is to be biblical1
Grove Village, Illinois.                       describes a normal, spiritually

278 /The Standard Bearer  I March 15,  1990


(reasoning, opening, and alleging        Timothy in II Timothy 4:1-5, in-        they loved and cared for one
- Acts 17:2, 3) and that it              cluding "do the work of an              another.
presents the whole counsel of             evangelist," this is not to be            Later this aspect of the
God (Acts 20:27).                        understood as something besides         church's fellowship was per-
   The first mentioned character-        preaching the Word in season            formed by the deacons. They
istic of the congregation at             and out of season. The reason is        guided the members of the
Jerusalem to which Christ added          that preaching is evangelism            church in their caring for each
daily was a steadfast continuance        (even the Greek word shows              other. It is no mistake that, im-
in the apostles' doctrine and a          this). Preaching the whole              mediately after the Holy Spirit
joyful reception of the Word             counsel of God is showing the           records the institution of the of-
(Acts 2:41, 42). This is the first       door of the kingdom to all who          fice of the diaconate, it is re-
characteristic mentioned because         believe, and it is giving the           corded that the number of the
it is the most important. It has         assurance that all who come to          followers of Jesus Christ
this importance because living in        Christ He will in no wise cast out.     multiplied greatly (Acts 6: l-7).
the Word of God is fundamental              In conclusion, it is obvious that    The Holy Spirit shows us that
to spiritual health. It also has this    it is vital that the members of the     there is a relationship between
importance because such activity         congregation pray the Spirit to         the careful and diligent work of
on the part of the people of God         bless the preaching, because it is      the deacons and the growth of
indicates their deep appreciation        the Spirit of Christ Who makes          the church or the positive fruit of
for and delight in the faithful          the preaching effective.                its evangelism. This is true
preaching. Steadfast continuance          * * * * * * * * * *                    because the proper work of the
in doctrine is the other side of                                                 deacons is vital to the spiritual
the coin of preaching. The                  Another feature of the church        health of a congregation,
members of the Jerusalem con-            which experiences true spiritual        *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
gregation did not depart from or         health and whose evangelism               Thirdly, the church to which
allow that doctrine to be cor-           receives positive fruit is the          Christ added daily was a spiritual
rupted by heresy or by a sinful          fellowship of the members               church, for "fear" for God was in
walk. They held firmly to the            among themselves (Acts 2:42,            every soul (43; also 5:14; 9:31).
apostles' doctrine in the weekly         44-46). The members of the              Does not the presence of the fear
preaching. The whole congrega-           Jerusalem congregation showed           of God also indicate a congrega-
tion manifested their lively in-         Christ's work in loving one             tion's spiritual health?
terest in the Word by their com-         another.                                  Their continuing in doctrine
ing together faithfully for study           Just like the preaching, this        was not dead orthodoxy or for-,
and for worship. The empty pew           was and must be done steadfast-         malism, and their continuing in
is a curse on the witness of the         ly. The implication is that it is       fellowship was not superficiality.
service, a caustic and eloquent          most difficult and that it required     In the "fear" of God, they loved
message to any visitor. The saints       earnest desire and great effort.        Him and His people. Seeking on-
at Jerusalem came together               There were and are constant and         ly God's glory, they walked
eagerly and expectantly (not             fierce pressures to lose or to cor-     humbly `before God, before each
reluctantly) for the preaching and       rupt this fellowship.                   other, and before their unbeliev-
teaching of the apostles. During           One common expression of              ing neighbors.
the week they meditated on the           this fellowship of the saints at          This fear of God implies that
Word individually, and discussed         Jerusalem was their gathering           there was a great reverence for
it as families and in groups.            often in worship and for the            holy things and for the holy
  In connection with our ex-             Lords Supper.                           people of God. In worship and in
planation of the chief character-          The fellowship was also ex-           life they showed honor for God
istic of the preaching, notice that      pressed by the love shown to the        and for His church. They loved;
Paul did not make evangelism a           poor members (Acts 2:44, 45).           the church and did everything
particular concern, but it was a         Those who had wealth lovingly           they could for the well-being of
part of the total package of his         and willingly responded to the          the church. When each member
labors. In the record of his labors      needs of those who lacked, by           labors actively in the fear of God,
in the book of Acts, no distinc-         giving to the church (placed at         then the church will be spiritually
tion is made between his                 the feet of the apostles - Acts         healthy, and then the church will
preaching and his performing             4:37; 5:2). It is evident that the      grow. It is most important that
evangelistic labors. And when            church at Jerusalem lived in the        each member, young and old,
Paul details the responsibilities of     consciousness of being one Body;        walk in the fear of God for their

                                                                                  March 15, 1990  I The Standard Bearer I279


own sakes, but also for the sake                perspective, speaking about the       live in fellowship, then why
of the church of God.                           gospel is no more than one beg-       would they want to join us?
   If the church is rooted and                  gar telling another beggar where        Remember that ou; individual
grounded in the truth of the                    to find food.                         congregations and our evan-
gospel and motivated by the fear                * * * * * * * * * *                   gelism are nothing. We do
of God, then it will be most                      The evangelism work of a con-       nothing in ourselves, and we
natural for the members of the                  gregation which has these             deserve nothing (unprofitable ser-
congregation to manifest this dai-              characteristics will be as blessed    vants). We are completely depen-
ly. Thus, evangelism has its place              of God as the congregations men-      dent upon the Lord. Not every
naturally (the church cannot help               tioned in Acts.                       spiritually healthy church will1
but stand out in the world).                      If the church is spiritually        grow numerically - though i,t
  The work of a congregation's                                                        certainly will spiritually.
Evangelism Committee does not                   healthy and if God has His
                                                people in that area, then that          Let us rejoice in the ability to
make unnecessary the witnessing                                                       be active in the work of
of the members. We read that all                church will grow.
                                                  However, if there is no stead-      evangelism and in doing our call-
(except the apostles) were scat-                fast continuing in the Word, then     ing toward the spiritual health of
tered and "preached" (Acts 8:1-8                you cannot expect anyone out-         our congregations, rather than
& 10:21). The pastor may faith-                 side to pay attention to our con-     looking for positive and
fully proclaim the whole counsel                                                      numerical fruit. Remember th.at
of God, including a calling to                  fession. If others see that our
                                                confession is mere formality,         the Lord counts faithfulness as
repentance, but the members                                                           fruit. Look at your efforts as sow-
must bring other people into the                then why would they want to           ing seeds, which requires much
worship services. Are you shy                   join us?                              patience.
about asking a friend to go to a                  From the same perspective, if         Pray for God's blessing upon
game, fishing, shopping? Look at                others see that we do not love        your congregation. Be diligent to
it this way: from a certain                     each other and that we do not         do your part in keeping or mak-
                                                                                      ing her healthy. 0




 Taking Heed                                    God's Purpose
to Doctrine
Rev. Bernard Woudenberg                         in the Gospel

   For Cod so loved the world,                    We find it dealt with somewhat      pens; God does send people to
that he gave his only begotten                  negatively in the well-known          hell. That the Scriptures clearly
Son, that whosoever believeth in                text, Ezekiel 33: 11: "Say unto       tell, as in Hebrews 10:26: "For if
him should not perish, but have                 them, As I live, saith the Lord       we sin wilfully after that we have
everlasting life.              John 3:16        God, I have no pleasure in the        received the knowledge of the
   If the proclamation of the                   death of the wicked; but that the     truth, there remaineth no more
gospel is to go forth to all men, is            wicked turn from his way and          sacrifice for sins, but a certain
it God's desire that all men                    live: turn ye, turn ye from your      fearful looking for of judgment
should be saved? And if not, why                evil ways; for why will ye die, 0     and fiery indignation, which shall
does God send His word to them?                 house of Israel?"                     devour the adversaries," and II
This question concerns the pur-                   We are told here of that in         Peter 3:7, "But the heavens and
pose of God; and it is important                which God has no pleasure, the        the earth, which are now, by the
for us to seek to understand it.                death of the wicked. God is not a     same word are kept in store,
                                                sadist who sends people to death      reserved into fire against the: day
Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the                and destruction because He en-        of judgment and perdition of
Protestant Reformed Church of                                                         ungodly men." But God does not
Kalamazoo, Michigan.                            joys seeing them suffer. It hap-

280  I The Standard Bearer  I March  15,199O


 send them there because He has          testify of man: for he knew what        was on Nicodemus' mind, and in-
 pleasure in their suffering; He has     was in man." This was one of the        terrupting him said, vs. 3, "Ver,i-
 a higher purpose than that.             great wonders of Jesus; no one          ly, verily, I say unto you, except
   Ezekiel brings that out as he         ever fooled Him. He had just per-       a man be born again he cannot:
 goes on with his text, "But that        formed some miracles, and as a          see the kingdom of God." Unless
 the wicked turn from his way            result a number of people came          people understand what the
 and live." This is God's positive       desiring to be disciples. It would      kingdom of God is, they can
 pleasure; He is pleased when sin-       seem to have been a wonderful           have no part. But that requires a
 ners repent from their sins. Of         thing, but apparently Jesus did         new and different outlook"on life,
that we read also in the rest of         nothing to encourage them; and          one for which a person must be
 Scripture, as in Psalm 51: 17: "The     John explains why. Jesus was            "born again." Nicodemus, and all
 sacrifices of God are a broken          able to tell if people were             who would follow Jesus, must
 spirit: a broken and a contrite         sincere; and apparently these           understand this. And that was
 heart, 0 God, thou wilt not             weren't. They were interested in        what those who had wanted to
 despise," or as Jesus put it so im-     His miracles, but not in His word.      follow Him that day did not.
 pressively, Luke 15:7: "I say unto        As it was, however, there             They weren't interested in His
 you, that likewise joy shall be in      stood in His audience that day a        message, and in what He was
 heaven over one sinner that             member of the Jewish Sanhedrin,         seeking to illustrate with His
 repenteth, more than over ninety        named Nicodemus. He too was             miracles. Their only concern was
 and nine just persons, which            impressed - until, that is, that        with the crowd; and that didn't
 need no repentance." And so that        last move of Jesus. That he             interest Jesus at all. To His
 it may be, God sends his gospel         couldn't understand. He was             kingdom they did not belong.
 into all the world, "Turn ye, turn      himself a leader of people; and           But Nicodemus didn't under-
 ye from your evil ways; for why         he knew, after all, how difficult it    stand any more than they. He
 will ye die, 0 house of Israel?"        could be to gain a following.           sensed that Jesus knew what He
 Many, of course, don't care; it's       How could a prospective leader          meant; but he didn't. "Born
 meaningless to them. They know          turn people so ready to follow          again?" . . . "Born again?" It
 not God, and will die. But there        Him away? To him it just didn't         sounded strange and bizarre, so
 is the Israel of God who do; and        make sense.                             that impulsively he blurted back,
 to them by this the strongest             That night as he went home he         vs. 4, "How can a man be born
 motivation for repentance is            couldn't get it off his mind. There     when he is old? can he enter the
 given.                                  was something about Jesus he            second time into his mother's
   But perhaps we see this more          couldn't ignore; but how could a        womb, and be born?" And sar-
 positively if we turn to the even       leader deal with prospective            casm hung heavy over what he
 better-known text, John 3: 16:          followers like that? Perhaps he         said.
 "For God so loved the world, that       went to bed but couldn't sleep. In        But Jesus, as short as He had
 he gave his only begotten Son,          any case, he couldn't wait.             been with the inquirers of the
 that whosoever believeth in him         Regardless of the hour, he had to       day, now was patient and kind.
 should not perish, but have             find Jesus and lay out his prob-        Carefully He explained, 3:5,
 everlasting life."                      lem directly before Him. This he        "Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
   Here we have a text which is          did.                                    Except a man be born of water
 known by many, but understood             Finding Him at His residing           and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
 by very few. And the reason is          place, and still awake, Nicodemus       into the kingdom of God. That
 that they read it out of context,       approached Him politely, John           which is born of the flesh is flesh;
 they don't follow the thought of        3:2: "Rabbi, we know that thou          and that which is born of the
 Jesus through.                          art a teacher come from God: for        Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I
   The thought of the passage has        no man can do these miracles            said unto thee, Ye must be born
 its roots back in the preceding         that thou doest, except God be          again. The wind bloweth where
 chapter, 2:23-25, "Now when he          with him . . . ."                       it listeth, and thou hearest the
 was in Jerusalem at the Passover,         But Jesus didn't allow him as         sound thereof, but canst not tell
 in the feast day, many believed         much as to finish. Perhaps He           whence it cometh, and whither it
 in his name, when they saw the          had seen Nicodemus in the               goeth: so is every one that is
 miracles which he did. But Jesus        crowd; and perhaps He had               born of the Spirit."
 did not commit himself unto             marked him as one who would               Here was the heart of the mat-
 them, because he knew all men,          certainly come to Him some day.         ter: spirit and flesh are not the
 And needed not that any should         In any instance, He knew what            same, even as are not the

                                                                                   March 15, 1990  I The Standard Bearer  I  :281


kingdom of God and the world. It              the Son of God who came from             often come to indicate the world
was something Nicodemus should                God and is at the same time with         of men; but the difference is in-
have known, for the whole of the              God. He is God; or as Peter was          different. The point is that God
Old Testament was built on it, as             later to express it, Matthew             shows His love in a very specific
in I Samuel 16:7, "The LORD                   16:16, "Thou art the Christ, the         way.
seeth not as man seeth; for man               Son of the living God." It is a            God has given His Son, to be
looketh on the outward ap-                    confession which comes from              raised upon the accursed tree, so
pearance, but the LORD Iooketh                God, and a truth only God can            that "whosoever believeth in
on the heart." But he also had to             give [Mt. 16:17].                        him" - that is, those who have
realize that this was not                       And it was for such that Jesus         been born again by the Spirit to
something a person does simply                laid out the greatest wonder of          believe - "should not perish but
by himself; it takes a miracle of             all, vs. 14: "And as Moses lifted        have everlasting life." This is the
God, a miracle of newness which               up the serpent in the wilderness,        purpose of God. His is not a
only Gods Spirit can bring about.             even so must the Son of man be           universal love which would like
It's like the wind. We know it's              lifted up: that whosoever                to save everyone, but cannot do
there; but we can't explain from              believeth in him should not              so by itself. God, like Jesus that
where it comes, or where it goes,             perish, but have eternal life."          day on the streets of Jerusalem,
nor can we tell it what to do. It's           Here was the wonder of it all,           has a very particular people to
a work of God, the breathing of               the highest fulfillment of divine        whom His love is directed, and
His Spirit.                                   love. Gods own Son would be              whom He will surely save.
   But to Nicodemus it made no                lifted up on an accursed cross,            This is Gods purpose; andi this
sense, and he snapped back, vs.               like the wretched snake of the           is the goal for which all things
9, "How can these things be?"                 wilderness curse. No earthly             serve, as vs. 17 goes on to say,
   And gently but firmly Jesus                understanding, short of a new            "For God sent not his Son into
answered back, vs. 10, "Art thou              birth from God, could ever               the world to condemn the world;
a master of Israel, and knowest               receive that. And it is for them,        but that the world through him
not these things?" This, after all,           the "whosoever believeth" -              might be saved," which brings us
was one of the basic teachings of             literally "those believing in him"       right back to Ezekiel 33. Gods
the law; should not one as well               - that God has given His most            purpose is not condemnation; He
studied as Nicodemus know that?               precious Son, that they may live.        has no pleasure in that. His pur-
  And so He went on to add,                     This brings us to 3: 16: "For          pose is to save His people; and
vss. 11, 12, "Verily, verily, I say           God so loved the world, that he          also the condemnation of the
unto thee, We speak that we do                gave his only begotten Son, that         wicked must be there for that, as
know, and testify that we have                whosoever believeth in him               the remainder of Jesus' discourse
seen; and ye receive not our                  should not perish, but have ever-        goes on to bring out, vs. 18-21,
witness. If I have told you earthly           lasting life." So often bantered         "He that believeth on him is not
things, and ye believe not, how               about, it is a text to be read slow-     condemned: but he that believeth
shall ye believe, if I tell you of            ly, carefully, and with reverence.       not is condemned already,
heavenly things?" Nicodemus'                    "For . . . so." That is the em-        because he hath not believed in
failure was crucial. If he could              phasis of the text. The original         the name of the only begotten
not grasp the difference between              Greek sentence is so laid out that       Son of God. . . . But he that
the flesh and the spirit, that                the full emphasis falls on the little    doeth truth cometh to the light,
which was written all through                 word so. Usually it is interpreted       that his deeds may be made
the history of Israel, how could              to mean, so greatly, or to so            manifest, that they are wrought
he possibly grasp those things                great cm extent; but that isn't ac-      in God." It is the dividing force of
which Jesus was about to bring                tually what it says. The word            the Gospel, Jesus separating His
down from the Father above.                   properly translated means, in this       people from the world that they
  After all, vs. 13, "No man hath             manner, or in this way. Thus the         may live.
ascended up to heaven, but he                 meaning of the text is, "For in            Turn ye, turn ye, for why will
that came down from heaven,                   this way God loved the world."           ye die, 0 people of God? Cl
even the Son of man which is in                 The word "world" too is wor-
heaven." Here was the basic                   thy of note. In the Greek it is
truth that had to be received. He,            kosmos, or as we would say,
Jesus, was not just a miracle                 cosmos. It literally means, a har-
worker; He was not just "a                    monious arrangement,  or
teacher come from God"; He is                 unioerse. By derivation it has

282 I The Standard Bearer I March  15,199O


 Decency
and Order
Rev. Ronald Cammenga                  Student Preaching

   "Students who have received          The Synod of Dordt, 1618-`19,          "Afscheiding" Ye-introduced stu-
permission according to the rule      disapproved the practice of stu-         dent preaching in the public wor-
in this matter, and persons who       dent preaching in the public wor-        ship services of the church. In
have according to Article 8 been      ship services, and returned to the       part this was due to the severe
judged competent for the              practice favored by the Synod of         shortage of ministers and the
ministry of the Word, shall, for      Wezel. The original Article 20 of        large number of vacant churches.
their own training, and for the       our  Church Order as drafted by          (By 1836 there were 128 con-
sake of becoming known to the         the Synod of Dordt read:                 gregations, but only 6 ministers.)
congregations, be allowed to            In churches where there are more       It was felt that student preaching
speak a word of edification in the    competent ministers, the use of prop-    in the congregations was also
meeting for public worship."          ositions shall be instituted, that by    useful practical training for the
Church Order, Article 20.             such practices some may be               ministry.
HISTORY OF                            prepared for the ministry of the           The churches of the "Dolean
STUDENT PREACHING                     Word according to the rule of this       tie," 1886, the reform movement
  The history of student              matter established by this particular    led by Dr. A. Kuyper, did not
preaching shows that there have       Synod.                                   favor student preaching.
been two distinct viewpoints con-     The use of "propositions" was a            This controversy over student
cerning this practice. There have     return to private practice-              preaching continued with later
been those who have favored it,       preaching before the ministers           synods. The Synod of Amster-
but there have also been those        and consistories.                        dam, 1892, the Synod of Middel-
who opposed it.                         The decision of Dordt is to be
                                      understood in light of the Armin-        burg, 1896, and the Synod of
  In 1568 the Synod of Wezel          ian controversy raging at that           Groningen, 1899, all favored the
decided that ministers with ex-       time. The faculties of the univer-       practice. But the Synod of
ceptional abilities should take       sities were responsible for ex-          Amsterdam, 1908, the Synod of
young men under their wing who        amining and licensing students           Zwolle, 1911, and the Synod of `s
desired training for the ministry,    for preaching in the churches.           Gravenhage, 19 14, expressed
giving them opportunity, as part      But many faculty members were            disapproval of the practice.
of their training, to preach          sympathetic to the Arminian              THE PRACTICE IN
privately before the minister or      position. It was largely because         OUR CHURCHES
the minister and his consistory.      the Synod of Dordt no longer               The Church Order of our Prot-
  The Synod of `s Gravenhage,         trusted the university professors        estant Reformed Churches makles
1586, ruled that students for the     properly to supervise student            provision for student preaching.
ministry might teach in the           preaching that they did away             Our present Article 20, therefore,
public assemblies for worship, but    with student preaching in the            is not the product of the Synod of
only after they had passed an ex-     churches. In addition, Gomarus           Dordt, but the revision of the
amination and been judged com-                                                 Church Order by the Christian
petent.                               and Thysius, professors at this
                                      time at the University of Leyden,        Reformed Church in 1914.
                                      objected to student preaching in           Before graduation from our
                                      the churches on the ground that          Theological School, every student
                                      preaching belongs to the official        must complete six credit hours of
                                      work of the ministry, to which           practice preaching. Two sermons
                                      students have not yet been or-           are required for one hour's
                                                                               credit. These practice preaching
Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the        dained.                                  sermons are delivered before thle
Protestant Reformed Church of           In 1834 the churches of the
Loveland, Colorado.                   secession known as the                   faculty and the rest of the stu-

                                                                                March 15, 1990  I The Standard Bearer  I 283


dent body. After delivery these                  he lacks ordination the student,         lege and Seminary. It is worth
sermons are "criticized" by the                  although he may speak a work of          noting the procedure followed in
faculty and by assigned students.                edification, does not, cannot,           this denomination.
Attention is given to exegesis                   preach the Word as a minister.             a. The Board of Trustees of
(Biblical interpretation),                       This is also why the student may             Calvin College and Seminary
homiletics (sermon organization),                not officially pronounce the                  may grant licensure to con-
and delivery.                                    benediction or administer the                duct religious services in our
  At the discretion of the faculty,              sacraments.                                   churches only to such as:
competent students are licensed                  BENEFITS OF                                   1) Are enrolled as regular
to preach in the public worship                  STUDENT PREACHING                               students in our seminary.
services of the churches. Article                  The article mentions two                   2) Have successfully pass,ed
XIII of the "Constitution of the                 benefits of student preaching that              the final examinations of
Theological School" reads: "The                  lend support to the practice:                   the junior year in the
Faculty shall license a student to               ". . . for their own training, and              seminary.
speak a word of edification in the               for the sake of becoming known             b. The board shall not grant
meetings of public worship when                  to the congregations . . . ."                licensure to such students
it deems him ready." This student                  Student preaching certainly                till it has made sure of the
preaching is then monitored by                   serves a good purpose in the                 following with respect to
the faculty and all preaching                    practical training for the ministry.         each applicant:
assignments are made through                     It gives the student the oppor-               1) That he is a member in
the faculty.                                     tunity to "preach" in the actual                good standing in our
SPEAKING A WORD                                  worship situation, hands-on ex-                 churches.
OF EDIFICATION                                   perience, so that by the time of             2) That he has spiritual qual-
  Although Article 20 favors the                 his ordination he has gained                    ifications necessary for
practice of student preaching, it                some valuable training in this                  the ministry, and that he
is careful to distinguish student                most important aspect of his                    considers himself called of
preaching from the official proc-                work. This points up the need for               God to prepare himself
lamation of the gospel.                          practical training for the ministry             for the office of minister-
  This distinction is made when                  that gives students experience in               ing the Gospel of Jesm
the article refers to student                    various aspects of the work of                  Christ.
preaching as speaking "a word of                 the minister: teaching catechism,            3) That he intends to enter
edification." The original speaks                visiting the sick, leading societies,           the ministry of the Chris-
of a stichtelijk  woord, that is, an             conducting consistory meetings,                 tian Reformed Church.
edifying word. There is a dif-                   attending classis and synod                  4) That he has sufficient
ference, a difference that this ar-              meetings.                                       knowledge of the Bible,
ticle of our Church Order forces                   There is also good benefit for                and especially of our Re-
us to recognize, between the                     the churches in this practice. The              formed principles to act
preaching of a minister and the                  one benefit mentioned in the arti-              as a guide to others.
preaching of a student.                          cle is that the congregations                5) That he speaks acceptably
  That difference is NOT that the                become acquainted with the                      and to the edification of
one is edifying and the other is                 students. The reference is not so               the churches. It is left: to
not. The difference is not some-                 much to personal acquaintance,                  the discretion of the
thing that concerns the actual                   but acquaintance with their                     board, however, whether
content of the word that is                      abilities, especially with a view to            it will obtain this informa-
brought.                                         calling them later. The benefit is              tion by consulting the
  But the difference concerns the                also that the vacant congrega-                  seminary faculty or by
authority of the one who brings                  tions are able to have pulpit sup-              examining the applicants.
the Word. The student has not                    ply, rather than reading or tape           c. The board has the right to
been ordained, and therefore                     sermons.                                     extend the licensure of
does not bring the Word as an of-                SUPERVISION OF                               those who want to take
ficebearer who has been sent out                 STUDENT PREACHING                            post-graduate work, but with
by Christ and through the                          In the Christian Reformed                  the understanding:
church. The minister brings the                  Church supervision of preaching              1) That this privilege is to be
Word always in the capacity of                   by Calvin Seminary students is                  granted only to such who
an ordained officebearer. Ordina-                directly under the control of the               are taking post-graduate
tion means something! Because                    Board of Trustees of Calvin Col-                work in theology, ansd

284  / The Standard Bearer  / March 15,  1990


        declare that it is their                 theology outside of the       the student has successfully
        definite intention to enter              United States or Canada).     passed such courses as homiletics
        the ministry in the Chris-         d. The board is obliged to          (principles of sermon-making) and
        tian Reformed Church.                 revoke the licensure:            hermeneutics (principles of
     2) That this extension is                1) Of those who have com-        Biblical interpretation), and done
        valid for no more than                  pleted their theological       commendably well in "Practice
        one year.                               studies but have failed to     Preaching" before the faculty and
    3) That further extension                   take steps to enter the        student body. Only faculty-
       may be given at the end                  sacred ministry of the         approved sermons may be used
       of the first year in case                Word.                          by the students in their preaching
     the applicant makes his                  2) Of those undergraduate        in the churches.
       request in writing, and at               students who either dis-         It may be worth considering
       the end of the second                    continue their studies or      giving the Theological School
       year if he appears in per-               fail to enroll again at the    Committee (roughly equivalent to
       son and is willing to sub-               seminary.                      the Board of Trustees of Calvin
       mit to another examina-             In our churches, the seminary       Coilege and Seminary) a more ac-
       tion (the latter part of rule    faculty exercise supervision over      tive role in granting licensure
       3c does not apply to             student preaching. This usually        and supervising student
       those who are taking             takes place after the first year of    preaching. 0
       post-graduate work in            seminary instruction and after




                                        The Conscience
 In His Fear
Rev. Arie denHartog                     of the Christian

  In our last article we con-           of the law the natural man stands      are assured of our own personal
sidered the idea of conscience.         condemned in his conscience            righteousness in Christ before
Conscience is an inner sense, a         before God who is the judge of         God. This is the basis of the
function of the mind and heart          all men. He is left without ex-        Christian conscience. The con-
that God has created in every           cuse. The condemnation of the          science of the Christian witnesses
man. According to his conscience        conscience of the evil man is          within him that he is without
every man has a certain knowl-          predictive of the final judgment       condemnation before God. By th.e
edge of the ethical value of his        of God to come in the great day        operation of the Holy Spirit
actions. He knows what is good          of judgment.                           within us our conscience testifies
and what is evil in the absolute          There is a great difference be-      that we have peace with God
sense of the word. The con-             tween the conscience of the            through our Lord Jesus Christ.
science of man is the voice within      Christian and the conscience of        This is the blessed and wonderful
that condemns man when he               the natural man. That great dif-       reality of justification by faith as
does evil and justifies him when        ference was made first of all          it is consciously experienced by
he does that which is good. The         when God justified the Christian       the child of God.
function of man's conscience is         by imputing to him the perfect           Though the Christian is, ac-
based on the works of the law           righteousness of Christ Jesus. God     cording to the gospel, righteous
that God has written in the heart       has declared in the gospel the         in Christ he still also has within
of man. Because of this testimony       blessed truth of justification by      him the voice of the conscience
                                        grace and through faith alone.         of the natural man. This con-
                                        The Christian is one who has           science daily accuses him
Rev.  denHartog  is pastor of Hope      heard and received this gospel in      because of his remaining sinful
Protestant Reformed Church of           his heart. Through the work of         nature, and whenever he through
Redlands, California.                   the Holy Spirit in our heart we        weakness falls again into sin.

                                                                                March 15, 1990  / The Standard Bearer  /  285


However, through faith in Christ                 Lord, I have sinned greatly in          so bad" philosophy of the world.
and in the way of true repen-                    that I have done: and now, I            Furthermore there is in this
tance the Christian also daily ap-               beseech thee, 0 Lord, take away         ungodly world much evil
prehends the righteousness that                  the iniquity of thy servant; for 1      teaching, both within and
is his in Christ. This blessed ap-               have done very foolishly."              without the church, that
prehension triumphs over the ac-                 Though this verse does not ex-          minimizes the seriousness of sin.
cusing voice of the natural con-                 pressly speak of the conscience,        What was once considered tco be
science of the Christian. It                     it nevertheless speaks of the func-     shameful wickedness even by the
silences this voice, it destroys it              tion of David's conscience.             world is today condoned in :many
altogether, it says to the voice of              David's conscience convinced            churches. This is going to get
our accusing conscience that                     him of the greatness of his sin         worse and worse as the end of
there is no basis whatsoever on                  before God. This was good and           this age approaches and the
which we can be condemned                        necessary. This brought David to        world becomes ripe for judgment.
because we are perfectly                         his senses. The conscience of the       All of this can easily have an ef-
righteous in Christ in spite of our              Christian in conjunction with the       fect on the true Christian so that
sin and guilt before God. One of                 work of the Holy Spirit in him          his conscience too becomes
the nicest statements of this reali-             does the same for him. The              dulled. We must keep our con-
ty in the Christian is the one                   Christian's conscience is able to       science sharp by sitting under the
found in Lords Day 23 of the                     do this in a better way than the        faithful preaching of the Word
Heidelberg Catechism.                            conscience of the natural man.          and the strict preaching of t.he
How art thou righteous before God?               The regenerated child of God has        law and by constantly maintain-
Only through faith in Jesus Christ; so           the Holy Spirit in his heart Who        ing the seriousness of separation
that, though my conscience accuse                makes the law of God plain to           from the world.
me, that I have grossly transgressed             him in all of its perfect demands         We must be guided by our
all of the commandments of God,                  and implications. By the working        conscience and not act contrary
and kept none of them, and am still              of the Holy Spirit the Christian.       to it. The judgment of our con-
inclined to all evil; notwithstanding                                                    science, however, can be our
God, without any merit of mine, but              has a more profound understand-
only of mere grace, grants and im-               ing of the awfulness of his sin.        guide only if it is constantly com-
putes to me, the perfect satisfaction,           When he sins against the law of         pared with the objective
righteousness and holiness of Christ;            God his "heart smites him." He is       testimony of the Word of God
even so, as if I never had had, nor              tormented by the condemnation           found in the scriptures. Again,
committed any sin: yea, as if I had              of his conscience. He becomes           the best way to keep a good con-
fully accomplished all that obedience            conscious of the heavy hand of          science before God is through
which Christ has accomplished for                the Lord upon him. David                faithful attention to the preaching
me; inasmuch as I embrace such                   describes this experience in            of the Word of God. I am re-
benefit with a believing heart,                  Psalm 32, a Psalm that he wrote         minded in this connection of the
Notice among other things the                    soon after confessing his great sin     famous words of the great
reference to our conscience in                   with Bathsheba. Through the             reformer Martin Luther when he
this beautiful statement of our                  work of the Holy Spirit within          was asked by the Diet of Worms
confession.                                      him the Christian with smitten          to recant his teachings and he
   The conscience of the Christian               conscience is led to God and to         answered: "Since then your
performs a very important func-                  Christ to plead for mercy and           serene majesty and your lord-
tion. It serves a good function                  forgiveness.                            ships seek a simple answer, I will
when it convinces us of our sin,                   The law of God must be strict-        give it in this manner, neithler
for when the Christian is con-                   ly preached in the church that          horned nor toothed: Unless I am
vinced in his heart of the awful-                our conscience may function             convinced by the testimony of
ness of his sin he is led by the                 properly to convince us of our          the Scriptures or by clear reason
Holy Spirit to Christ. We have a                 sin before God and drive us to          (for I do not trust either the pope
classic example of this in the life              Christ. In the midst of this ungod-     or in councils alone, since it is
of David after he had committed                  ly world it is possible for the con-    well known that they have often
the grievous sin of numbering                    science of the Christian to             erred and contradicted thern-
the people of Israel. We read in                 become dull. We can easily grow         selves), I am bound by the scrip-
this connection in II Samuel                     accustomed to the sin and               tures I have quoted and Mk
24:10, "And David's heart smote                  wickedness of the world. We can         CONSCIENCE IS CAPTIVE TO
him after he had numbered the                    easily go along with the "every-        THE WORD OF GOD. I CANNOT
people. And David said unto the                  one is doing it so it must not be       AND I WILL NOT RETRACT

 286  I The Standard Bearer  I March 15, 1990


ANYTHING, SINCE IT IS                  also to blaspheme the name of                     God's Grace
NEITHER SAFE NOR RIGHT TO              the God that we claim to worship
GO AGAINST THE CONSCIENCE'             and serve. If on the other hand              To The Redeemed
(emphasis added AdH). Our con-         we, by the grace and Holy Spirit       Grace is the sweetest sound
science must be bound by the           of God, strive to live in obe-            That ever reached our ear;
Word of God both in our confes-        dience to God's law in true holi-      When conscience charged and
sion of the truth of the Word of       ness and love for God, then our              justice frowned,
God over against all the apostasy      conscience will testify of God's          `Twas grace removed our
of our day, and also in our life of    approval and we will be assured                 fears.
good works and holiness before         of the blessing and favor of God.
God.                                   The testimony of our conscience        `Tis freedom to the slave,
   The Christian must hold faith       in connection with the Word of            `Tis light and liberty;
and a good conscience before           God will give us peace with God        It takes its terror from the grave,
God as Paul also exhorts Timothy       even though the whole world ac-          From death its victory.
in I Timothy 1:19. A good con-         cuses us. The testimony of a           Grace is a mine of wealth
science is a conscience that           good conscience will enable us to         Laid open to the poor;
testifies of the approval and          give a faithful witness before the     Grace is the sov'reign spring of
blessing of God upon a life of         world that will ultimately put to            health;
sanctification. Our conscience is      silence the accusations of evil          `Tis LIFE for EVERMORE.
defiled through the corruption of      men, and bring glory to God. A
sin. Then our conscience will          good conscience before God will        Of grace, then, let us sing!
again condemn us. We must live         give us strength to endure the           (A joyful, wondrous theme!)
out of a free and good con-            false accusations and persecu-         Who grace has brought shall
science before God. This is impor-     tions of the world. If God be for            glory bring,
tant for our whole walk before         us, who shall be against us.             And we shall reign with Him.
the Lord and our testimony in            The good conscience of the           Then shall we see His face
the world. If we walk in ungodli-      Christian apprehends the                 With all the saints above,
ness and practice the same evil        righteousness that is his in Christ    And sing forever of His grace,
.things  that the world does while     and assures him of the hope of           Forever of His love.
at the same time professing            glory that God has set before him
ourselves to be Christians, then       in His blessed Word. Cl                                              -S.B.,  192:8
our conscience will accuse us
that we are hypocrites. God will
condemn us in our hearts. The
world will be able to accuse us
and justly to find fault with us.
The world will have occasion


                                       News From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                    Our Churches

                                                           March 15, 1990 ~ to the advisability of establishing
                                       MISSION ACTIVITIES                     a mission field in the area.
                                         In mid-February, Rev. B. Grit-         Rev. and Mrs. J. Kortering,
                                       ters, along with Elder Pete Koole,     who were in Northern Ireland
                                       spent ten days in Venice, Florida      the first two months of this year,
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Prot-    on behalf of our churches' Mis-        sent back letters to their con-
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-     sion Committee. They went there        gregation in Grandville,
ville, Michigan.                       to try and answer the question as      Michigan, telling them of some of

                                                                               March  15,  1990  I The Standard Bearer  I287


  THE
STANDARD                                                                                                  SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                          Postage Paid at
 i!?MR                                                                                                    Grand Rapids, Michigan
 l?O.Box6064
Grand Rapids, MI 49506


their experiences. In one letter                  In a letter dated February 4,        pass surgery at this time. Medica-
Rev. Kortering writes, "We have                the New Church Building Com-            tion, diet, and later testing were
all the conveniences of home, in-              mittee of the Grandville P.R.C. in      advised.
cluding a microwave, washer,                   Grandville, Ml informed their              We express our congratula-
and dryer, so we have more than                fellow church members that their        tions to Rev. and Mrs. Dykstra of
heart can desire. It sounded good              new sanctuary is almost ready.          the Doon  P.R.C., Doon, IA on the
to hear the vacuum running this                The trim is up and most of it is        occasion of the birth of a balby
morning, even sounds like home.                stained and lacquered; the beams        girl, Courtney Jae, born January
We even have "mastered" the                    have been stripped of their pro-        17. 0
driving, with a stick shift. It will           tective coat of paper; and the
take all the nerve I have to have              walls have been given an initial
Mrs. Kortering behind the wheel,               coat of paint. What this all leads      ATTENTION STUDENTS!
but we shall try, one at a time."              to is that, the Lord willing, the          The Protestant Reformed
  And, in another letter, "It is a             congregation in Cirandville has         Scholarship Committee is taking
joy to see the Holy Spirit work in             been given a probable occupancy        applications for scholarships to
the lives of the people here.                  date of March 9.                        be awarded to future Protestant
There are five families that are                 The congregation and all              Reformed ministers and
really committed to the Re-                    visitors of the lmmanuel P.R.C. in     teachers for the 1990-91 school
formed faith, and that form the                Lacombe, AB were invited to a          year. Each applicant must also
heart of the Covenant Reformed                 light supper in the social hall        submit an essay of at least three
Fellowship. But outside interest is            after the second service (their        hundred words, answering this
limited, so we are discussing                  second service is 4 PM). Follow-       question: "What's the respon-
ways by which we can reach out                 ing the supper, there was a short      sibility of the teacher/minister in
to others. Lectures seem to be                 song service sponsored by the          relationship to the parents in
the chief way. So . . . . every Fri-           young people. An offering was          covenant instruction?" For an
day evening, lecture we do!"                   taken for the convention this          application, contact:
  And, as reported here one                    summer in Redlands, California.               Mr. Jim Holstege
month ago, Alice Hanko did in-                   In mid-February the soon-to-be-             1637 Sylvan Ave. S.E.
deed have surgery last month.                  married couples of the Byron                  Grand Rapids, MI 49506
From a letter from Florida, I                  Center P.R.C. in Byron Center,            The application, accompanied
learned that this surgery found                Ml were invited to attend a series     by the essay, must be returned
no cancer.                                     of Pre-Marriage classes sponsored      by June 1,199O.
MINISTERIAL CALLS                              by their church. Those who
  Rev. S. Key has declined the                 planned to attend were asked to        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
call he was considering from the               read chapters I & 2 of Prof.              The Council of Southwest
Hope P.R.C. in Isabel, S.D.                    Engelsma's book, Marriage, the         Protestant Reformed Church ex-
CONGREGATIONAL                                 Mystery of Christ and the Church.      presses its sincere Christian sym-
ACTIVITIES                                       As part of a physical exam,          pathy to our fellow office
  On February 4, Rev. S. Houck                 Rev. G. Van Baren, pastor of the       bearer, deacon  Randal  Vander
preached his inaugural sermon as               Hudsonville P.R.C. in Hudson-          Veen, and his family in the loss
pastor of the Peace P.R.C. in Lyn-             ville, Ml had a stress test and        of his father, MR.  ITSE               .
wood, IL. He chose as a scripture              later a heart catherization. This      VANDERVEEN, whom the Lord
text, Romans 1:15-16, and en-                  revealed "substantial" blockage        in His mercy and grace recently
titled his sermon, "Ready to                   in two coronary arteries.              took home to glory.
Preach."                                       However, after another test given         "Mark the perfect man, and
  By the way, Rev. and Mrs.                    the following week it was deter-       behold the upright: for the end
Houck's address in Lynwood, IL                 mined that the partial blockage        of that man is peace." (Psalm
is 20128 Catalpha Ave., 60411;                 of his arteries did not require by-    37:37)
phone (708) 474-6064.                                                                 Rev. M. Kamps, President
                                                                                      B i l l   DeKraker, Vice-Clerk


288  I The Standard Bearer I March  15,199O


