c BEARER
          A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                  .





 Satan brings TV into the homes of the
world, and that is understandable. But he also
brings  TV  into the homes of the church, and
that is reprehensible! We ought to recognize
from a cursory viewing that TV is geared for
the destruction of the godly home and
family.  .  What better characterizes the con-
          l     l

tent-of the programs of TV than what we read
in Galatians  5  concerning  the works of the
flesh?
                         See  "In His Fear" - page 348




                                              Volume LVI, No. 15, May I,1980 -


338                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER
                           CONTENTS:                                                                        ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                  Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                   Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association,  Inc
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                                                                             Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
   Isaac's Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .338    Department Editors:  Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Arie  denHartog,  Prof.
                                                                             Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma, Rev. Richard Flikkema,
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341      Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev.
                                                                             Kenneth  Koole,  Rev. Jay  Kortering,  Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev.
Editorial  -                                                                 Rodney Miersma, Rev. Marinus  Schipper,  Rev. James  Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                             Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman,
   Reformed or Baptist - Either. . . Or . . . . . . . .341                   Mr. Kenneth G. Vink.
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MEDITATION



                                                         Isaac's Faith
                                                                 Rev. H. Veldrnan


                "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come."
                                                                                                                               Heb. 11:20


   The struggle of faith is particularly twofold. There                        Only, this reckoning of Abraham was by faith. Then,
is, first of all, the struggle between faith and reason.                      there is also the struggle between faith and the flesh.
Of this, Abraham is a clear example. His reason could                         This aspect of the struggle is more pronounced and
have told him, when sacrificing Isaac, that the death                         general in our lives. The way of faith and the way of
of Isaac would mean the end of the promise. But                                our flesh are so often in conflict. What we believe and
Abraham did some reckoning, some reasoning; he                                what we desire according to the flesh are often such
reckoned that God would raise his son from the dead.                          violent contrasts.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   339



  It is the latter aspect of this struggle which stands      his desire. 0, he knew how Rebecca felt about Esau
upon the foreground here with Isaac. For Isaac to            and Jacob, who her choice was. He also must have
bless Jacob involved him in a severe struggle, a             known who would have the birthright blessing. And
struggle with the flesh. We read that Isaac blessed          he also knew Esau's profanity, his selling of the
Jacob and Esau by faith. First, did he also bless Esau?      birthright. He deliberately conceives of and executes
Secondly, did Isaac do what he did by faith? Does            a policy whereby Esau would receive the blessing and
Isaac strike us in the entire narrative as prompted by       tells him to prepare venison to his liking.
faith?                                                          Secondly, Rebecca intervenes. Shrewd and con-
                                                             stantly alert and aggressive, Rebecca is equal to the
              AN APPARENT UNTRUTH                            occasion. She certainly knew the mind of her
   First, let us look at Isaac prior to this text. Does      husband, knew his desire, and was determined to
Isaac strike us as a man of faith? Is he not the least       frustrate it if at all possible. The story we know.
spiritual of the patriarchs? When we look at the               One may well ask: where is the faith whereof the
incident to which this text refers (Gen.  27), who           writer to the Hebrews speaks? Does Isaac not strike
makes the worst impression, and which character              us as stumbling, hesitating, vacillating throughout the
appeals the most?                                            entire procedure? Is it not really true that he is guilty
   First, he is a son of Abraham and Sarah in their old      of a big blunder, that he blesses Jacob only because
age. His mother died when he was thirty-seven years          he thinks that this "Jacob" is Esau? Is Jacob not the
old, and he was not comforted until Rebecca came             deceiver who bears his name, "supplanter," with
into his life. During all these years, from his birth on,    honour? In fact, is it not true that the only character
he must have been severely spoiled. He was surely            who appeals to us from a natural point of view is
petted, all his needs were fulfilled immediately, and        Esau, and he gets the worst of it?
he knew little if anything of the difficulties and
hardships of life. He did not have to make any                              A SEVERE STR UGGLE
decisions; everything was decided for him, and this            The birthright blessing.
even included the choice of a wife.                            The birthright blessing was, after all, nothing else
   Secondly, the Word of God speaks of his marriage.         than an expression of what God had decreed to
In this he had no choice. Abraham probably did not           bestow upon the sons that were blessed. The
care to entrust this decision to his son. His eldest         patriarchs were informed by God of His counsel unto
servant must fetch for him a wife. However, although         that end, and this blessing was the patriarchal
comforted~ in Rebecca's arms, Rebecca cannot cure            announcement of this blessing of Jehovah.
him of his weaknesses. He liked good meals, preferred          Generally speaking, there was no difficulty here,
his mother's cooking. It was only after Esau grew up         because usually the firstborn received it. But here
that he enjoyed a good meal.                                 something extraordinary had happened: the Lord had
  Thirdly, we read of his lack of aggressiveness. We         revealed to Rebecca that the younger should receive
read of the time that his servants digged wells. But,        this birthright blessing in order that God's absolute
when a controversy developed about them, instead of          sovereignty might be revealed. In fact, this is surely
defending them he simply moves on. At Gerar he               the reason why Esau was born first. God had
imitates the example of his father and told the lie          sovereignly arranged this. Would Esau have received
that Rebecca was his sister. When he is one hundred          the birthright blessing had Isaac blessed him? Indeed
thirty years old he feels exhausted, would bless his         not! Isaac's blessing was of power only as in harmony
son before he dies, although he continued to live fifty      with God's counsel and will.
years after this.                                              Now we read that Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau.
  Does Isaac strike us in all this as a man of faith, as     Does this mean that Isaac blessed Esau? Some believe
one who deserves a place among the heroes of faith in        this. However, the account in Genesis 27 shows
Hebrews 1 l?                                                 clearly that Esau was not blessed. Literally we read in
  And -now, secondly, we look at Isaac in the light of       verse 39: "Away from the fatness of the earth." That
this text. The text refers to Genesis 27. It is this         Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau simply refers to the
incident that must indicate that Isaac really ranks          entire incident, and it is of the utmost significance
among the heroes of faith. We read that it was by            that Jacob is blessed first. After all, also Esau came to
faith that Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning           Isaac to be blessed. But what he received was not a
things to come. But, is this incident of Genesis 27          blessing, not as far as its content was concerned.
really a true picture of what we read in Hebrews 11,           What a severe struggle on the part of Isaac!
that Isaac did what he did by faith?                           First, Isaac loved and was drawn to Esau. On the
  First, Isaac resolves to bless Esau. This was surely       one hand, there was Esau's personality. He was,


340                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



naturally, a far more pleasant man than Jacob. Jacob              then, did he not wait? But he does not wait. After
was cunning, shrewd, deceitful; Esau was a "happy-                considerable hesitation, much struggling, he blesses
go-lucky," frank, liberal, and cordial. Besides, Esau             his younger son.
and Isaac were opposites. Isaac was weak, had little                Secondly, Isaac maintains the blessing. Presently
courage; Esau was strong and bold, a hunter and a                 Esau enters his father's tent. And of Isaac we read
mighty man of the woods. Isaac felt drawn to Esau,                that he trembles. Again that battle rages in his soul.
as opposites, it is said, usually attract. This explains          Again the voice of Esau melts his heart - he is drawn
Isaac's desire to bless Esau. He did not love Esau                to his elder son. But faith has the victory because
spiritually. How could he? Esau was a fornicator. He              Isaac maintains the blessing. 0, had he wished, he
felt drawn to him naturally. It would be a struggle for           could have changed it. He could have declared the
him, a severe struggle, to bless Jacob rather than                blessing upon Jacob of none effect; he could have
Esau, to bypass his elder son. He would be compelled              nullified it, declaring that it had been obtained by
to set aside all his natural love and affection.                  fraud and deception. He could have called Jacob and
  Secondly there is the spiritual, invisible point of             Rebecca and rebuked them and then have blessed
view. Esau was a fornicator, sovereignly rejected of              Esau. But he does nothing of the kind. He maintains
God. He was a godless, profane man. Spiritually,                  the blessing upon Jacob. Esau, we read, found no
there was nothing attractive in him. And Isaac knew               place of repentance although he sought it with tears.
this! First, he surely knew what God had revealed to              This can only mean that he sought this place of
Rebecca before the twins were born. And, secondly,                repentance, this change in the heart of Isaac  .after
Esau had also revealed himself as the rejected of the             Isaac had blessed Jacob. Esau would transfer the
Lord. He married the daughters of the land, which,                blessing upon Jacob to himself. Isaac, however, does
we read, was a grief to both Isaac and Rebecca. And               not change; he maintains the blessing. Fact is, he tells
he had also revealed his spiritual carelessness and               Esau that he should serve his brother. Speaking thus,
indifference when he had sold his birthright for a                he uses the very words which the Lord had revealed
mess of pottage.                                                  to Rebecca, that the elder should serve the younger.
  Now this explains Isaac's struggle. What shall he                 Finally, Isaac repeats the blessing in Genesis 28
do? A fierce struggle goes on in the soul of Isaac. For           when Jacob is about to leave for Padan-aram. Of this
years, undoubtedly, the only son of Sarah had                     we read in Genesis 28: l-4. Indeed, Isaac's blessing of
struggled with this problem. Shall he believe, defy the           Jacob was not simply a fortunate mistake. It was an
natural order, and bypass the elder and bless Jacob?              act of faith. Isaac fights against his carnal desire and
Or, shall he follow his natural desire and bless Esau?            overcomes. And when Jacob is about to leave, to flee
And when, after years of struggle, he sends Esau for              to his uncle Laban, he repeats the promise. This, too,
venison and tells him that he will bless him, it seems            we must understand, belongs to this text, that Isaac
that the carnal Isaac has triumphed over the spiritual         blessed Jacob by faith.
Isaac. This, however, is not the end. We read: by faith             Faith must have and `does have the victory! In the
Isaac blessed Jacob. And so we notice finally how                 case of Isaac, the patriarch must and does overcome
Isaac's faith has gained the victory.                          his natural love and affection. In our case, and
                                                               throughout the ages, we must also overcome our
              A GLORIOUS VICTOR Y                              natural desires, the world, the things that are therein,
  First, Isaac blesses Jacob. Was Isaac really de-             and cleave unto the invisible God and the invisible
ceived? Was not the voice the voice of Jacob? Is it            things of the Kingdom of God and of heaven. This
possible, as Jacob stood before him, that he realized          faith is never of ourselves. It is always the gift of God.
that, in spite of his desire to bless Esau, it is Jacob        To Him, to Him alone, be all the glory, now and
who stands before and must be blessed? Be this as it           forever.
may, Isaac blesses him. If Isaac were in doubt, why,

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                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              341





                                         Editor's Notes

Editor's Error. As of this writing, I have not yet seen                          *****
the April 15 issue of the  Standard Bearer.  But our
Business Manager has seen it, and he phoned to tell
me I pulled a boo-boo in my note about the RFPA            Do you ever wonder how our RFPA publications are
Book Club. Really, now, I didn't mean to give you a        evaluated by others? Here are a few snatches from a
scare. The current Book Club discount is  20% not          bulletin of the Tabernacle  Bookshop of Metropoli-
10%. What I should have written is that if the Book        tan Tabernacle, London, England.
Club membership reaches 400, the discount will             -  Hoeksemars   Behold He Cometh  remains as the
increase to  30%! And do you know that we need             most exciting flood of matter on the subject.
fewer than 100 new members to reach that goal?             - Herman Hoeksema's  Behold He Cometh  is solid
With the prices of books going up, a 30% discount          preaching from another amillennial preacher who
sounds pretty good, doesn't it?                            equated the millennium with the Gospel age. It is said
   Here are the rules:                                     that Hoeksema loved to preach on Revelation and
1) You must be from a Standard Bearer home. More           this Commentary is the result of his third such
than one member of a family may join.                      excursion through the book in the course of a long
                                                           ministry to an enormous congregation in Grand
2) You must agree to purchase automatically every          Rapids. Needless to say his work is much more
new book published by the RFPA, with the excep-            exhilarating than the usual kind of commentary and
tion of educational texts. If you are a member, these      so rich with spiritual thought and application as to
new publications will be sent to you when they come        greatly enthuse and stimulate any preacher.
from the press, you will be billed, and as a member
you promise to pay by return mail.                                               *****
3) You may, by virtue of your membership, pur-
chase any RFPA publication at the going discount
rate.                                                      According to the latest report, a new printing of
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EDITORIAL


              .Reformed or Baptist - Either . . . Or

                                              ProJ H.C. Hoeksema



   In these columns we have more than once made            name "Reformed Baptist" is really a contradiction in
reference to the fact that the terms  Reformed  and        terms. The same is true of the term that is sometimes
Baptist are mutually exclusive, and that therefore the     used, "Calvinist Baptist." We are aware, of course, of


342                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



the reasoning behind the use of these names. Both the        us on one matter, that of baptism. We must rather
"Reformed" and the "Calvinist" part of these names           convince them that they are not Reformed as long as
is intended to convey the idea that Baptists who go          they are Baptist, and we must strive to convince them
by these names hold, or claim to hold,  some  of the         to become genuinely Reformed and to abandon their
truths which are professed by Reformed, or Calvinist,        Baptist position.
believers. The reference is usually especially to the          Do not forget meanwhile that Baptists themselves
so-called "doctrines of grace," sometimes designated         are very insistent on their baptistic position. They
as the "Five Points of Calvinism."                           elevate it to the  sine  qua  lzon of ecclesiastical
  Now one can only rejoice at the fact that there are        fellowship. To them the essential thing is not whether
Christians outside the Reformed family who hold to           you are Reformed but whether you are Baptist.
and proclaim these "doctrines of grace," at the same         Accordingly, they divide people into Reformed
time hoping that these Christians will see the light         Baptists and Reformed non-Baptists.
and will profess the full-orbed Reformed faith.                Of this I was' reminded by an article from the pen
  At the same time, however, we must insistently             of Pastor Errol1 Hulse, Editor of Reformation Today
deny to them the right to the name "Reformed" or             and pastor of Cuckfield Baptist Church, Sussex,
"Calvinist." We must insist that both historically and       England,  (Reformation Today,  Number 53, pp. 3,
confessionally   it belongs to the very genius of the        ff.). The article is entitled "Unity, the Covenant and
Reformed faith to hold to the truth of the covenant          Baptism." The article is an abridgement of the first
of grace, to the truth that infants no less than adults      chapter of a forthcoming book under the above title.
are included in the covenant and church of God, and          The book, in turn, is a reply to a discussion of
that infant baptism is therefore a necessity (Heidel-        Reformed Baptists and their practice by Prof. Dr. J.
berg Catechism, Q. and A. 74). The thought is -not           Douma of the Theological College of the  Gerefor-
uncommon that profession of the doctrines of grace,          meerde Kerken (Liberated) at Kampen. Prof. Douma
or the Five Points of Calvinism, is the distinguishing       wrote at length in De Reformatie, especially in reply
mark of a Reformed believer, or a Calvinist. This is a       to and criticism of a little book by David  Kingdon,
mistake. There are a good many truths which it is            Children  of  Abraham.  At the time he wrote, I was
essential for a Reformed believer to profess. But            struck by the fact that with the Liberated position on
certainly, if one were called upon to mention those          the covenant (a general, conditional promise) there is
truths which are distinctively Reformed - I say again,       no defense against Kingdon's position. Incidentally,
both from a confessional and a historical point of           Prof. Hanko is writing an extended critique of
view - the above-mentioned truth of the covenant of          Kingdon's position in our  Prot. Ref. Theological
grace and all that is implied in it deserves a place next    Journal. But all this is not my point at present.
to the truth of sovereign grace. The former is as              My point is that Pastor Hulse in the course of this
distinctively Reformed as the latter, if not more so.        article repeatedly refers to "Reformed Baptists" and
But it is that former truth that constitutes a               "Reformed Non-Baptists."
stumblingblock for all Baptists. And it is the denial of
this truth that also denies to them the right to the           Editor Hulse finds seven factors which, according
name "Reformed." Personally, I am also of the                to him, unite "Reformed Baptists" and "Reformed
conviction that it is ultimately impossible in process       Non-Baptists." It is not my purpose at this time to
of time to maintain either one of these truths               debate the accuracy of these alleged points of
separately. It certainly is impossible to maintain the       agreement, though I have grave doubts as to the
truth of the covenant of grace and its inseparably           accuracy and truth of some of them as far as Mr.
related truth of infant baptism without adhering to          Hulse is concerned, as our readers well know. Permit
the doctrine of sovereign grace. But although it may         me simply to list these points:
be possible for a time, perhaps, to maintain the             "1. A shared thankfulness for the Reformation.
doctrine of sovereign grace without teaching the             "2. A common belief in the infallible Word of God as
doctrine of the covenant of grace, I believe that            the only authority for faith and practice.
ultimately this is impossible and that the Baptist must
end in some kind of Arminianistic position. But that         "3. The sovereignty of God and predestination.
is another story. I wish to emphasize now that               "4. The sovereign grace of God in salvation.
Baptists have no right to the name "Reformed," and           "5. A joint desire for true Christian worship.
that the name "Reformed Baptist" is a contradiction
in terms.                                                    "6. The recovery of powerful, evangelical preaching.
  Nor do we do Baptist brethren a favor by allowing          "7. A shared belief in the importance of biblical
them to call themselves Reformed or by recognizing           Theology and the covenant."
them as Reformed brethren who merely differ with                But now take note of the fact that Pastor Hulse js


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                               343


insistent on his baptistic position. When it comes              must take a definite position on baptism. This is
down to the hard issue, he very definitely wants to             because the practical implications are so far reach-
divide not into Reformed and non-Reformed, but                  ing." And again, in conclusion "6" he states: "The
into Baptist and non-Baptist. He writes (italics mine):         maintenance of two basically contradictory practices
       Now it is my purpose                                     on Christian initiation is confusing to converts."
                                    to prove that Reformed
    Baptists give proper credence to the place, develop-           Now I am quite willing to recognize the crucial
    ment and importance of the covenant. Not o&y do             difference between the Baptist and the Reformed
    they do this in common with Reformed non-Baptists           position. In fact, I would find the difference to be
    but they go further. Reformed Baptists alone  do            even more significant than does Mr. Hulse. The
    justice to the diversity of the administration of the       difference is emphatically one of  principle,  not
    covenant.  Reformed Baptists alone are consistent in        merely of far reaching practical implications.
    heeding the tremendous stress expressed in Hebrews
    chapters 8-10. They and they alone heed the double             But I do not want to be classified as a non-Baptist!
    imperative to observe that the New Covenant has             Not even as a Reformed non-Baptist! In the first
    entirely replaced the Old, and that the Old as a way        place, that name is negative; and it is negative by way
    of practice or administration is now totally and            of reference to the baptistic position. That is histor-
    completely revoked. . . .                                   ically incorrect. It is also factually incorrect. The
       Reformed Baptists in this way are consistent in          Reformed believer does not occupy a negative
    their practice, They'alone  are true and faithful to        position. No more than you can define a man by
    covenant theology as it respects the New Testament          saying he is a non-horse, or a non-stone, or a non-tree,
    and baptism.                                                or a non-cabbage, no more can you define a Re-
   Notice, further, that in spite of the alleged unity          formed Christian by naming him a non-Baptist. In the
on certain matters, Hulse finds a most significant              second place, I am not a Baptist, nor a non-Baptist,
separation. Notice, too, that the very essence of this          nor a Reformed non-Baptist, nor a paedo-Baptist, nor
significant separation, according to him, lies not in           even a Reformed paedo-Baptist, nor any other kind
the question of being Reformed or non-Reformed,                 of "-isty' or "non-ist." I am Reformed - period.
but in the matter of being Baptist or non-Baptist:                Nor is that a matter of mere semantics.
       We have so much in common by which our unity               It is a fundamental matter, and one which concerns
    is strengthened and our fellowship enriched yet when        the well-known three marks of the church.
    it comes to our churches there is a gulf. The
    difference between churches in which the member-              This is very plain. Pastor Hulse maintains that the
    ship is confined to those who maintain a credible and       Reformation was not complete, and that, too, in a
    consistent confession of faith in lip and life (Baptist,    crucial aspect. But this means really that it was not
    in Hulse's view,  HCH),  and churches where member-         genuine reformation. I maintain that the Reforma-
    ships are infiltrated by nominal believers, sometimes       tion, particularly in its Reformed manifestation, was
    in large numbers (non-Baptist, in H&e's view, HCH),         indeed principally complete and true with respect to
    cannot be exaggerated.                                      all facets of the truth.
  It is not surprising, therefore, that also Pastor
Hulse's alleged thankfulness for the Reformation is               Pastor Hulse wants to divide into Baptists and
greatly tempered, as is plain from the following                non-Baptists. In turn, then, there are Reformed
statement, a statement which again comes down to                Baptists and non-Reformed Baptists; and there are
the difference between Baptist and non-Baptist, to              also Reformed non-Baptists and non-Reformed non-
use Hulse's terminology:                                        Baptists. I know but two fundamental categories:
                                                                Reformed and non-Reformed. Reformed are those
      The reformation of the sixteenth century has              who adhere to Scripture and the historic Reformed
    never been completed because the doctrine of Rome           creeds and manifest, accordingly, the marks of the
    with respect to infant baptism was accommodated. (I         church. Non-Reformed are all others, including not
    challenge Hulse to prove this statement from John
    Calvin.  HCH) Reasoning from the covenant was               only Baptists of various kinds but also many who
   utilised for this accommodation.                             adhere to paedo-baptism, who do not adhere to
                                                                Scripture and the Reformed creeds and who to one
  Now all of these matters are of crucial importance            degree or another do not manifest the marks of the
to Editor Hulse. His real concern is not about being            church.
Reformed or non-Reformed, but about being what he
chooses to call Baptist or non-Baptist. This is plain             But a Reformed church cannot be Baptist; and a
from his "practical conclusions" at the end of his              Baptist church cannot be Reformed. The names  -
article. He writes in conclusion "5" as follows: "If            and the positions they represent  - are mutually
unity is to be feasible at the practical level a Chruch         exclusive. To be Baptist is to be non-Reformed.


344                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


THE LORD GAVE THE WORD





                              Missions and Preaching
                                               Prof Robert D. Decker




  In the previous article we discussed the first             to speak of proper mission methods he is going to
principle of missions, viz;, that missions is em-            have to do so in terms of the preaching of the Word
phatically and exclusively the work of God in Christ         by the Church. Ernest C. Reisinger, in his address
by the Holy Spirit of Christ. This is plainly taught in      entitled, "The Doctrines of Grace and Missionary
Scripture and by our Reformed Confessions. The               Methods," given at the ministers' conference in
Heidelberg Catechism perhaps sums it best when it            Atlanta last fall, sponsored by the Banner of Truth
says : "The Son of God gathers, defends, and pre-            Trust; summed the teaching of Scripture on Mis-
serves unto himself a church chosen to everlasting           sionary Methods in these words: "Prayer, Preaching
.life . . ." (L.D. XXI, q. 54). That missions is the work    and no gimmicks !" He is so right. The matter is really
of God is also obvious from the fact that it is God          very simple. God never told the church to do
Who saves and not man. Scripture teaches that it is          anything else in its mission work than preach the
God in Christ Who directs the course of the gospel           Word!
throughout the world. It is also clear from Scripture          This principle of Missions follows from the first,
that Christ calls (summons and qualifies) the                that missions is the work of God in Christ. While this
preachers of the gospel. Finally, preaching, apart           can never be stressed too much, especially in our day,
from the operation of the Holy Spirit, cannot be             we must not either lose sight of the necessity of
effective. Hence, even though He gathers His Church          preaching. It is indeed true that God was in Christ
through His Spirit and Word, and even though that            reconciling the world unto Himself; and we cannot
Word through which He gathers His Church must be             add to nor detract from this great work of reconcilia-
preached, and even though that preaching is done by          tion. Nevertheless God has entrusted to the church
men, it is God Himself Who gathers His Church.               the ministry  (diacorzia)   of this reconciliation. So
Missions is the work of God. This fundamental                important is this principle that to neglect it means we
principle undergirds all mission work. From a prac-          will lose all sense of responsibility and will fail to
tical point of view this principle is the encouragement      realize that what God will do He will do through His
for the church and its missionaries in the often very        church. In that event the mission work of the church
difficult work.                                              will stagnate. The point is, and this must never be
  This leads directly to the second principle of             forgotten, God accomplishes the gathering of His
missions. What God does He does through the use of           people out of the nations through the instrumentality
means, and the means by which God gathers His elect          of His Church. God does that no other way.
out of the nations is the preaching of the Word by the         This means negatively that the work of missions is
institute of the Church of Jesus Christ in the world. It     not the work of individuals within the church. These
is sad that so much of the church has lost sight of          have a calling, to be sure. We have seen that believers
this. In the hundreds of books, articles, pamphlets,         have a crucial and indispensable calling with respect
and tracts on the subject one finds all kinds of             to missions. Believers must pray for the missionaries
methods advocated. Little or nothing is said about           and their work. They must support and assist the
preaching. Sometimes these authors are even critical         church and its missionaries in the carrying out of the
of preaching. The fact is, however, that if one wishes       task. This calling is certainly important and very


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                345



significant. But the work itself is not done except         missionary preachers in the confidence that there will
through the preaching of the Gospel by the Church.          be positive fruit upon their labors. The fruit does not
   Neither is the work of missions the task of              depend upon men but only upon the grace of the
"mission societies" or "evangelistic associations."         Almighty God.
These arose out of two historical situations: Pietism          Missions has as its ultimate goal (telos, purposeful
and later Fundamentalism; and they arose out of             end) the full manifestation of God's glory in Jesus
lands with state-controlled churches. J.H. Bavinck          Christ at His appearance at the end of the ages. The
points out that this was true especially in Lutheran        preaching of the Gospel to the ends of the earth does
lands. (Cf. Introduction To The Science Of Missions)        two things, or has a twofold effect: it saves them that
Because the Church itself was indifferent to  .the          believe and it destroys the wisdom and power of this
mission task, groups within the church attempted to         world (Cf. I Cor. 1: 18-31). Wherever the Word is
carry out the mission mandate. This latter was an           preached faithfully according to the Scriptures it has
attempt to escape the political (colonial) influences       that double effect. By means of the preaching of the
of the state churches and an attempt to remain              Gospel the Son of God gathers the elect and hardens
faithful to the commission of Christ to preach the          the reprobate. The preaching of the Word changes
Gospel in all the world.                                    stony hearts into hearts of flesh and effects re-
   Therefore, no institution other than the Church of       pentance and faith in the Lord Jesus while it exposes
Jesus Christ may assume the responsibility to preach        the unrepentant in all of their sin and rebellion. The
the Gospel. The Church ordains those called by Christ       preaching of the Word never fails to accomplish that
to preach the Gospel. These are the ambassadors of          purpose. This is precisely why preaching always
the Lord Jesus Christ through Whom the word of              involves a crisis! Preaching is judgmental. No one who
reconciliation goes out (II Cor. 5:20). Their task is to    comes under the preaching of the Word by the
preach (keerussein) and to witness (mar&rein) to the        Church of Jesus Christ remains unaffected by it. He
ends of the earth, as Jesus said just moments before        either believes and is saved or he rejects the Gospel
His ascension (Acts  1:6-8). Christ personally called       and is damned. Once more, neither the Church nor
His Apostles to preach. Through those Apostles,             the missionaries who are sent by the Church need be
inasmuch as they make up part of the foundation of          concerned about the fruit. All the Church must do is
the Church (Ephesians 2:20), Christ calls His Church        preach, and God will give the increase.
to this great enterprise.                                     By that preaching of the Word to the nations, the
  This means that missions belongs to the very              end or goal of all things according to God's sovereign
essence of the task of the Church. One cannot               counsel in Christ Jesus is brought about. When the
conceive of the Church apart from missions. A               first seal of the scroll of God's decree concerning "the
Church that does not engage in missions fails in its        things which must shortly come to pass" is opened by
Christ-assigned task, and is, therefore, disobedient to     the Lamb (Christ) John sees a white horse and rider
its Lord and is not worthy` of the name Church.             going forth "conquering and to conquer" (Rev. 6:2).
Christ commissioned the Church to go into all the           That white horse with its rider represents the vic-
world preaching the Gospel for "it pleased God by           torious progress of the Gospel in the New Dispensa-
the foolishness of preaching to save them that              tion. Jesus told us that "this gospel shall be preached
believe" (I Cor. 1: 2 1).                                   in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and
                                                            then shall the end come" (Matthew 24: 14). The end
  Missions has as its immediate goal the gathering of       of all things comes through the preaching of the
the Church (elect in Christ), both Jew and Gentile          Gospel.
out of the nations. This principle is easily understood.
God has His elect in every nation, and these must be          In no less a work is the Church involved when it
gathered into the Church. These elect can be gathered       preaches the Gospel. This is what happens every time
into the Church only by the means of the preaching          the Word is preached from the pulpits of the churches
of the Gospel. Missions is that task. In its mission the    at home or from the pulpits of the missionary
Church is thrust out into the world to gather the lost      churches abroad. What an incentive for the Church to
sheep. Thus Christ commissioned the Church through          preach and to send out missionaries! Why should the
the Apostles: "Go ye into all the world and preach          Church fear or doubt? Why should the Church ever
                                                            be discouraged in its mission work? God Himself in
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is      Jesus Christ accomplishes the great purpose of all that
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall    He has decreed in Christ before .the foundations of
be damned" (Mark 16:  15,16). This is both the              the world through the "foolishness of preaching."
inspiration and the motivation for the church in its
mission task. God has His people in every nation. God         In that awareness let the Church be busy diligently
promises to gather them into the Church by the              and faithfully with the task of missions in order that
preaching of the Gospel. The Church may send out its        God's glory in Christ may be revealed in the Church.


346                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


FROM THE HOLY WRIT





                              Exposition of Galatians
                                                by Rev. G. Lubbers





EVERY MAN SHALL BEAR HIS OWNBURDEN  -                      eternal Rest into which we now strive to enter! (Heb.
continued Galatians  6:4, 5.                               4:7-l 1)
   In the day of judgment we must boast in our own            Of this keeping of the Sabbath rest Paul is speaking
work and not in that of another. The preening              in these verses. For here in this New Testament
Pharisee boasted in his own work by a false com-           Sabbath rest we are active as a  fellowship of saints.
parison with that of "all the rest" and, in particular,    For notice, that, in verses 6-8, Paul is exhorting him,
of this publican (Luke 18: 11 ff.). For only those who     who is catechized  (ho katechumenon)  to com-
truly have the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace,     municate unto him that teaches (too katechounti) in
etc. shall inherit the kingdom of God! (Gal. 5: 19-24)     all good things. It is to be observed that the text does
                                                           not say "give" or "repay," or some such verb, but
KEEPING THE NEW TESTAMENT SABBATH DA Y                     Paul uses the verb "communicate." There are exposi-
IN DOING GOOD                                              tors who interpret this to mean that there should be
  It might seem strange to caption Gal. 6:6-10 by          spiritual fellowship between the teacher and the pupil
speaking of the Sabbath day; however, a little thought     in the church. Now this is true enough in itself; this
and reflection will shew that recompensing the             should always be the case. But we believe that the
teachers (catechetes) of the Word and relieving the        phrase in question says more. For it speaks of "all
poor is the very quintessence of Sabbath-keeping in        good things" which must be communicated. This
the love of God, which is the very fulfilment of the       must refer to tempera1 goods (Luke 12:  18,19;
whole law, and, therefore, also of the fourth, com-        16:25). Paul is suggesting here that a "laborer is
mandment as given in Exodus 20: 9-l 1, as well as in       worthy of his hire" (I Tim.  5:18: I Cor.  9:9-l 1).
Deuteronomy 5:  14,15.  As much as Paul militates          Meanwhile, such "communicating" is, indeed, a
against the keeping of mere days, months, times, and       voluntary and liberal sharing of goods to those who
years, as being so much weak and beggarly principles       labor in the Word. It is a faith which is energized by
of this world (Gal. 4:8-11; Col.  2:8, 20)  - the          love. It is love in action! It is basically an operation
scrupulous and minutely measuring off of days - so         within the fellowship of the saints, in the midst of
much he insists on the spiritual keeping of the            those who are some firstfruits of God's creation
Sabbath by the Bride of Christ, as she awaits the          (James 1: 18). For are we not now living within the
coming of the Bridegroom in the eternal Sabbath, as        spiritual fulfilment of the year of Jubilee, where each
her resurrected Lord over death and hell. The Lord is      man shares again in his allotted inheritance in Israel?
the Lord of the Sabbath day (Matt. 12:7,8). What is        Here we seek the kingdom of God and His righteous-
Sabbath-keeping without  shewing  of mercy, and            ness, believing that all things are added unto us (Matt.
giving of our tithes to the Levites, who must be           6:33).
remembered forever?  (Hosea 6: 5-7; Mal. 3: 8-l 2;           Now this is very serious business. God is not
Deut. 12: 12,19) Presently, in the eternal Sabbath, the    mocked. Thus speaks Paul in Gal.  6:7. We cannot
tabernacle of God shall be with men! That is the           with impunity turn our nose up to God. Such is the


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                              347



meaning of the Greek verb  mukteerizetai.  In effect,        matter of moral sowing and reaping the Christian
that is what the Galatians were doing. The evil              must in this life begin the eternal Sabbath; he "must
preachers, who corrupted the Gospel, were deceiving          all the days of his (my) life cease from his (my) evil
them. And Paul says "stop being deceived." Do not            works, and yield himself (myself) to the Lord, to
continue to be led astray by these "wandering stars"         work by his Holy Spirit in him (me), and thus begin
(Gal.  6:7; Jude 13). In the matter of giving for the        the eternal sabbath in this life." (Heid. Cat. Question
kingdom we are dealing with God, before Whom all             103)
things are naked and opened (Heb. 4: 13). God has a             First of all, sowing unto the flesh corruption
special care for His laboring servants (Mal. 3:8-l 0).       should be noticed. This is a sowing to fulfill the
Those who withheld the tithes from the priests and           desires of the flesh, the old evil nature. It means that
Levites were robbing God, they commit sacrilege,             we give unto the causes of God's kingdom only for
they rob temples! (`7zierosuZei.s"  Rom. 2: 22) And the      our own sinful, selfish purposes, our own honor and
wrath and curse of God comes upon those who care             advantage, to have glory of men (Matt. 6: l-4). Then
not for His holy temple. But those who bring their           one has his reward: it is the reward of corruption. It
tithes willing to support the ministry in the temple,        is moral corruption, which gives no joy, peace, in the
both in the Old Testament and in the New Testa-              knowledge that we have served God. Only more evil
ment, to them God opens the windows of heaven in a           proceeds from such "communicating." We see how
spiritual harvest. (Mal. 3: 10; Ps. 112:9,10; I Cor. 9:9)    this ended in a Judas, that he went out and hanged
  The text teaches that we are now in the seed-time          himself. God was not mocked in the case of Judas,
of our life; life is a time of sowing. Always we are         who pretended to care for the poor (John  12:1-6;
sowing to enter into the final rest, the eternal             Matt. 27:3-l 0; Acts 1: 16-20). This truth Paul binds
Sabbath. Our sowing is really Sabbath-keeping. Our           upon the consciences of the Galatians concerning the
fathers caught the genius of this in explaining the          proper keeping of the New Testament Sabbath. Well
fourth Commandment concerning the hallowing of               may we take this to heart!
the Sabbath. In Question 103 the answer is "First,              Secondly, there is the sowing unto the Spirit, It is a
that the ministry of the Gospel and the schools be           sowing more and more into (eis) the Spirit..This is a
maintained." That is what Paul teaches here in Gal.          progressive sanctification in this regard. And this
6:6,7. This is not miles remote from the command-            means that we sow more and more in the crucifixion
ment of God in Exodus 20:9-11. It zeroes in on the           of the flesh and in the renewal by the Spirit with a
very heart of the keeping of the Sabbath. Surely,            view to tasting eternal life, joy, peace, hope; it means
surely, Paul taught these Galatians that the first day       that we experience that God opens the windows of
of the week was the day of the resurrection (I Cor.          heaven upon us in showers of blessings of life and
16: 1). Also these Galatian churches must "lay by him        peace. And our communicating to the teachers and
in store, as God has prospered him, that there be no         the ministry of the Gospel has such great reward.
gatherings when I come." These "day-minded" saints           That is the positive reward of keeping the Sabbath!
in Galatia did not need to have that admonition at           No, these are then not merits which we receive, but
this stage of their life, but needed to be told what to      they are good works which God rewards in this life
do on this first day of the week particularly, and no        and in the life to come (Psalm  112:4-9). Yea, even
less on other days of the week. This last matter of          the wicked shall in this life and in the life to come see
communicating to the ministry is a perennial                 the reward of the righteous. Is not Abel a tangible
problem. It is the real problem for those, who, even         evidence in this day? (Heb.  11:4,5) See also II Cor.
now, scrupulously keep the first day of the week in a        9:9-l 5.
most Puritanical manner! Let there be no doubt
about that!                                                    There is still another side to this coin of giving to
  There is also the matter of the two kinds of sowing        those who teach in the Gospel. It is that ministers
and harvesting which is here underscored. There is a         must not teach for the sake of filthy lucre. They are
sowing to the flesh, the sinful lusts, and there is a        "men of God" and should conduct themselves as
sowing to the Spirit, the new life in Christ.                such, as men who labor in the temple of God. They
                                                             must flee from the love of money (Heb. 13:  5,6).
  Let us try to understand!                                  Because they definitely are ordained to work in God's
  Yes, what any man sows, that shall he reap. A              temple, the church (Eph. 2: 19-22),  they must follow
simple farmer knows that principle very well. On this        after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
score he is not deceived in sowing his grain. Nor'is         meekness (I Tim. 6: 10-l 1). Also ministers must heed
any man, for that matter. However, there is also a           the tender assurance of Jesus, that, in their seeking
moral sowing and a moral reaping. And here we are            the kingdom of God, all their earthly necessities will
dealing with the morally evil sowing and reaping and.        be added (thrown to them) unto them (Matt.  6:33).
the morally good sowing and reaping. And in this             There is one thing which is far worse than a poor


348                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


Elijah at the brook Cherith, fed by the ravens, and             No, we must not become fainthearted. Paul men-
that is a covetous minister and elder. For a covetous        tions such faintheartedness of saints more than once,
minister has no power of trust in God, and does not          applying this to himself (Eph. 3: 13; II Cor. 4: 1). We
sow unto the Spirit to eternal life! A minister must         must run the race with patience, also in doing the
say: I do not seek yours, but I seek you, to present         good and beautiful works of maintaining the ministry
you a perfect bride in the day of Christ. May that           of the Word and of the schools. How fainthearted do
boasting never be taken from his lips in the house of        not parents, School Boards often become! The ,price
G o d !                                                      is so high. We pay to ministers' salaries, support
                                                             retired ministers, underwrite and pay for the mission
DO GOOD AND FAINT NOT  - (Galatians  6:9,10)                 efforts of our churches. And this must even remain
   There must be an unflagging doing of "the good."          "communicating." It is the hard and upward road of
The "good" are the "kalos," the beautiful works              faith, where we look for the Lord to open the
which reflect that we are children of God, partakers         windows of heaven for us. When this becomes an
of the divine nature (II Peter  1:3,4; Matt. 5:4-16).        awesome burden because we are impeded by the
They are beautiful before men; they are the grace of         world, we must press on to the gates of heaven. It all
God magnified and manifested in us. In this doing            belongs to our sabbath-keeping as pilgrims and
good we must persevere. We do such good works as             strangers, born from Sarah; yea, as we are persecuted
thankofferings through  (dia-Ieesous)  Jesus, Who            by the children of Hagar. Yes, we shall reap if we
suffered outside of the gate (Heb. 13:  15,16).  Such        faint not. We shall reap in due time  (kaipoo idioo)
are the spiritual which are acceptable by  (dial Jesus       according to the sure promise of God! (Rev. 2:5,16;
Christ (I Peter  2:4,5). This "the good" stands dia-         3: 11;  22:7,12,20) That will be the final harvest.
metrically opposed to all `fthe evil," the loveless!         (Matt 13:30,39; Rev. 14:15)


IN HIS FEAR



                     The Assault on the Foundation
                               of the Home - Marriage
                                                Rev. Wayne Bekkering



   Satan is bent on destroying marriage, because in          strength as God had joined them together, but he
doing so he thinks he can work great destruction             approached Eve separately and through her attacked
upon God's church. The devil is trying to destroy            Adam. A very subtle attack that was, and yet it was
God first of all. Knowing that he cannot, he now             very effective. A shrewd strategist is Satan. Divide
turns his fury upon the church of God. It is his             and conquer is his plan. It appeared that he won a
purpose to destroy the church by working confusion           major victory, and yet he knew that the war was not
and disorder in the church in order to turn her out of       over.
the way of faith and into the way disobedience.                Throughout the ages the devil has continued to
  Satan attacked marriage from the beginning. Adam           rage in his assault against marriage, while using
and Eve were his first target. Their destruction was         various approaches and means as the circumstances
his goal. The destruction of their relationship with         permitted.
God, their marriage, and their blissful life in paradise.      In time past the devil had to work more subtly
Satan worked very subtly. He did not attack directly.        than he does in our day. Now he is able to come out
He did not approach Adam and Eve as a unit in their          forthrightly and boldly against marriage.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 349



   Satan has inspired wicked men and women to join           becomes intolerable. A dissolution of the marriage
the assault. The "women's lib movement," the                 will appear to be a very desirable thing, and thus
International Women's Year and the International              Satan introduces divorce.
`Year of the Child form an effective crusade against            We must recognize this attack of the devil upon
the foundation of the home: marriage.                         our own marriages. We must defend ourselves in
   Satan recognizes that there are two types of mar-         godly fear, in humility and in repentance before God
riage. Marriage in the world and marriage in the church.      and before one another, day by day, lest we fall into
He understands that both are valid before God since          the snare and temptation of the devil.
marriage is a creational ordinance. Yet these two types         Many other weapons are at the disposal of the devil.
of marriage are very different. The fundamental              Following out of pride are all of the works of the
difference is that one is in the Lord and the other is       flesh. In Galatians 5 we have a partial listing of the
outside the Lord.                                            works of the flesh. "Now the works of the flesh are
   The chief goal of the devil is to destroy God's           manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication,
church and to do that by destroying marriage in the          uncleanness; lasciviousness; idolatry, witchcraft,
church. Satan is not first of all concerned with the         hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions,
destruction of the marriage of the world. But he             heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings,
understands that if he is going to destroy marriage in       and such like." Notice that adultery heads the list.
the church he must first of all destroy marriage in the      Adultery has mightily served the purpose, of the devil
world. With the results that he gains in the world he        in his frontal attack upon marriage, and all the others
turns his attack upon the marriage of the church.             serve as well. The flesh with its lusts yearns after
   We recognize that there are difficulties in marriage.     these things and desires these things above all, even
That is true for both the marriage of the world and          above marriage. That ought to be clear for us to see
the marriage of the church. The devil uses these             today. A man will have his adultery above his
difficulties as a lever to divide and conquer.               marriage. When a fleshly man is confronted with that
                                                             sin he will not forsake it in favor of marriage, but
  Many weapons does the devil use in his assault. The        rather he forsakes his marriage in favor of that sin.
first weapon that he uses is the old man of sin, i.e.,
the evil nature that is in every man, woman, and child          Another very effective weapon that the devil uses
that is born. Our evil nature constitutes for the devil      in his assault on the foundation of the home is the
                                                             TV. With TV he is able to bring the enemy within the
an enemy within the gate.                                    gate. If the devil is able to bring his most effective
  The chief sin that the devil stirs up in men is the        medium of communication right into the center of
sin of pride. Pride is the root sin; in fact, it was the     the home, what a powerful weapon he has. Notice I
sin of the devil from the beginning. The sin of pride is     said that the devil brings his most effective weapon
manifest chiefly in selfishness. It seeks and considers      into the home. Who can question that this is true?
self above all. Satan urges man to declare himself the       That does not mean that the TV is in and of itself a
supreme authority in his life. He urges upon every           devilish invention. Yet the TV has so fallen under the
man the lie that he shall be as God if only he will          power and influence of the devil that now, for all
assert himself and take control in his own life.             practical purposes, the TV is the most effective tool
  This sin of pride is one of the best weapons that          of the devil.
Satan has in his assult on the foundation of the home           Satan brings TV into the homes of the world, and
- marriage. In pride every man says, "Everything must        that is understandable. But he also brings TV into the
serve me. `Every person who comes in contact with            homes of the church, and that is reprehensible! We
me must somehow serve me. Everything that exists             ought to recognize from a cursory viewing that TV is
within my reach and in my control must serve me."            geared for the destruction of the godly home and
  You can imagine then what this sin does to that            family. What is TV but a manifestation of the works
most intimate union between one man and one                  of the flesh? What better characterizes the content of
woman. You can see that, if these two who are                the programs of TV than what we read in Galatians 5
closely joined together are each inspired by the sin of      concerning the works of the flesh?
pride, the devil has a very effective weapon to divide         All of us have to admit that there is a correspon-
and conquer.                                                 dence between what comes into our home via TV,
  The husband says, "The wife, the home, the                 and the old man of sin within us. According to the
children all must serve me." The wife says the same          lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes we love that
thing. She says it in a different way and from a             stuff, but according to the new man in Christ Jesus
different perspective, but she says basically the same       we hate it.
thing. If this sin of pride continues to its logical           We must be beware that we do not invite the
conclusion it destroys marriage. Life in the home            enemy into the gate and then complain that we are


350                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



not able to withstand the assault of the devil.            His help to fight against and overcome the difficulties
   How foolish it would be for an army being set in        that come in the marriage relationship.
array for battle to invite an effective "special opera-      Matthew  19:6 is a statement of fact. In the first
tions unit" of the enemy right into the center of their    place it states the fact that God joins man and wife
camp - then to wage war against the enemy without,         together. Secondly it teaches that man may not and
while they must also fight the enemy that they             cannot put marriage asunder.
invited in. Is it any wonder that the devil has so           One may try to draw from that text the conclusion
effectively attacked the home and marriage of the          that the marriage bond is breakable, and that men can
world? Is it any wonder that the devil has used TV to      break it, though they ought not to. The truth of the
corrupt and disrupt the Christian home and marriage?       matter is that man cannot break the bond of
  Our calling is to fight against the enemy - to push      marriage. God has ordained marriage. He defends and
the enemy back. What does that mean then for us on         preserves it, and who is able to resist His mighty
this very important front, but to take the TV set and      power.
push it right out the door and leave it there. And then      A word of warning is expressed in this text that we
by God's grace renew our efforts to fight against the      walk not in the way of divorce, because the end of
enemy without, for the battle is not over yet.             that way is misery and destruction for ourselves.
  The devil has so effectively assaulted marriage in       When this word is set before the world they scoff in
the world that it is virtually destroyed. Now on every     rebellion. Wicked men believe that they can change
hand a note of despair and finality is written upon        this ordinance of God if they wish. Man says that he
marriage in the world. It does not work they say.          is not going to be bound in a marriage relationship
Proof of that is the frequency of divorcerAnd  divorce     that does not please him. Man therefore steps over
brings in its wake unspeakable misery. The conclusion      the boundary of the Word of God. In doing so man
that the devil has brought the world to embrace is         does not succeed in his attempt to overthrow the
that marriage has to go. Marriage may have served in       foundation of marriage. He only succeeds in destroy-
another age, but no longer is it  useful.  Alternatives    ing himself in the attempt. God is not mocked!
are presented; but still new modes must be examined          We only have to look at the marriage of the world
in order to fine a replacement for marriage.               to have that truth impressed upon us. One might
  Men and women of the world have accepted that            expect to find in the homes of the world a wonderful
conclusion and now the devil tries to force it upon        freedom and fulfillment, a high bliss of joy because
the church. But the church cannot and must not             men have gotten their own way. But what is it that
accept that wicked conclusion of the devil. That is        characterizes the homes and marriages of the world?
not the necessary conclusion and the alternative to        Do you find in them a higher degree of peace and joy
the difficulties that beset marriages in the church.       than you find in the homes of God's people? The
Rather we must look at the sure foundation upon            answer is obvious. The homes and marriages of the
which marriage is based. The Scripture says, "Where-       world are beset with every conceivable problem and
fore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What           misery because they refuse to recognize that marriage
therefore God hath joined together, let not man put        belongs to God and not to man.
asunder" (Matt. 19: 6).                                      The church of Christ must not be cowed by the
  Marriage is God-ordained. It is God who joins man        conclusion that the devil holds before her. Marriage is
and wife together. From the beginning that was so.         going to stand because God is for it. Let us as God's
After God had made Adam and Eve He brought them            people consider  His truth concerning marriage,  be-
together and performed the first marriage ceremony.        lieve it, obey it, and enjoy the benefits of His
Now God Himself continues to protect and defend            blessings upon us as we walk in His fear.
marriage. God.assures those who marry in the Lord of



       The STANDARD BEARER
       makes a thoughtful gift
       for a shut-in.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     351



THE DAY OF SHADOWS





                           Correspondence and Reply
                     (Questions Concerning Rachel)

                                                          Rev. J. Heys




Dear Rev. Heys:                                                      As for fact number 1.
  I have read with interest your series of articles                  The same could be said of any of the other three
pertaining to the life and times of Jacob and his                 involved in this troublesome and sinful triangle
family during his stay with his Uncle Laban.                      (Jacob, Leah, Rachel), and let us add Uncle  Laban.
  One reason is that we as Men's Society of Hope                  Deceit and being deceived was the common denomi-
(G.R.) are studying and discussing that particular                nator.
history. I appreciate your well written and descriptive              As for fact number 2.
account of that involved history.                                    She was beautiful and well favored. Apparently it
  Regarding your conclusion re Rachel, I desire that
you know I have different thoughts on that matter.                was a natural born condition with her. But don't
                                                                  blame her for that. If that is all Jacob fell for, he is
  On page 137 of the Dec.  15/79 issue of the                     the transgressor, not her. No doubt her beauty
Standard Bearer, in your article entitled "Love at First          appealed to Jacob's carnality (old man). In my
Sight," you state that both Esau and Jacob marry                  opinion, the common appearance of Leah is con-
unbelieving women.. Esau marries the unbelieving                  trasted over against the beauty of Rachel to show,
Canaanitish woman and Jacob marries the unbeliever                not that Leah is so much more spiritual because of
Rachel. You write, "As far as Jacob's love is                     her unattractiveness, but rather to expose Jacob's
concerned he is marrying an unbeliever - Rachel." I               humanism in their relationships. Sarah also was
beg to differ with you on that matter. By unbeliever              beautiful and fair to look upon as was Rebekah.
in the context of the article I understand it to mean a
person not a child of God. Believer (elect of God),                  As for fact number 3.
unbeliever (child of the devil  - reprobate). She is                 Sure she had idols and wanted to keep them - no
either or - there is no neutral area.                             doubt an example of her spiritual weakness. Idols,
  As far as your facts and description concerning                 charms and the like seem to be a common item in the
Rachel you are correct.                                           household of both  Laban and Jacob. Later on we
  1. Her life did reveal anything but a life of faith.            read in Genesis 35 that he, Jacob, said unto his
                                                                  household to put away the strange gods that are
  2. She was beautiful and well favored.                          among you and be clean and let us arise and go to
  3. She did possess her father's idols and no doubt              Bethel to worship and pay our vows before the Lord
     served them to some degree and in some                       Jehovah. After the dedication and purification of
     manner:                                                      themselves, they continue their journey to Mamre. It


352                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



is at Ramah that Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin.      to thank him for the time and effort expended, and
So it indicates, and that before she dies, Rachel is        the opportunity which it gives me to write further on
purged from idolatry.                                       the subject.
   I for one can hardly believe that after Issac blesses       In his last paragraph brother Koole suggests that I
Jacob with the spiritual blessing and sends him away        might have had a change of mind in March, and that I
to find himself a wife from his mother's household,         no longer hold the position which I took in December
that he, Jacob, would still corrupt himself as did his      in regard to Rachel. I would like to begin there and
brother Esau by marrying an unbeliever. If that be          assure him that I have not changed my mind, and that
the case, then the very purpose he was sent away for        I certainly did not mean that Rachel was a temporary
is defeated.                                                "unbeliever," as he presents King Saul as a temporary
  In verse 22 of Genesis 30 we read, And God                "believer." I made no judgment in March as to
remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her. At             whether Rachel was a believer or unbeliever, but
this point in her life, Rachel finally conceded that it     wrote, "We will not judge Rachel as to whether the
is only God Who gives children and that in His own          reference to God and the use of His name means that
good time and pleasure.                                     she was a child of God." What I wrote in December
                                                            was likewise no judgment as to whether Rachel was a
  Does God answer the prayers and intercessions of          believer. I did not, by the, way, write, "As far as
an unbeliever?                                              Jacob's love is concerned, he was marrying an
  I cannot believe that Rachel, in her situation of         unbeliever  - Rachel." That "-Rachel" is not in my
being barren, only went through the motions of              sentence. Rachel is the first word of the next
prayer and that God "liked" what she said so He             sentence. But I was writing of what Jacob's love did,
answers her.                                                and not what Rachel was. But let me quote the whole
  As far as the use of the mandrakes are concerned, I       paragraph again.
am under the strong impression that not only did               "Let the truth be faced once again that apart from
Rachel "use" them but likewise Leah. Why would              God's grace, Jacob is like Esau, and Esau is like
Leah's son Reuben bring them to his mother? Just for        Jacob. Esau married unbelieving Canaanitish women
a nice bouquet?                                             - and no doubt because of their beauty - and then
  One other related matter concerning Rachel comes          later on an unbelieving daughter of Ishmael. As far as
to mind. I believe this has a bearing on the entire         Jacob's love is concerned he is marrying an un-
question. In Matthew 2: 16-l 8 we read the account of       believer. Rachel in fact reveals anything but a life of
Herod murdering the children of Bethlehem. "Then            faith. And, the Lord willing, we will come to these
was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the           evidences such as stealing her father's idols, and
prophet saying, In  Rama was there a voice heard,           speaking anything but the language of faith when her
lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning,               second and last son was born. That is not the point
Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be           here. The point is that Jacob loved Rachel for her
comforted, because they are not." In brief, this is         beauty of face and well-favoured body. Indeed, he
spiritual Rachel (Jacob's wife) weeping for her             knew that she was  Laban's daughter, and thus the
covenant spiritual seed or/and generations.                 daughter of a believer. He knew that she was in the
                                                            sphere of the covenant. But this is not the reason for
  What do you think?                                        his love for her. Nowhere in the book of Genesis, or
  One final remark. In your March 1, 1980 article           elsewhere in Scripture, do we find one word that
entitled "Homeward Bound" page 258, you seem to             would even suggest that he loved her for her faith in
have second thoughts concerning Rachel's status             God and love for Him. What we read is this, `Rachel
before God. Does that mean that what you concluded          was beautiful and well favoured. And Jacob loved
in your Dec.  15/79  article concern Rachel (un-            Rachel.' Genesis 29:  17,18. Not one word appears
believer) falls away, or do you now contend she was         between these statements; they must be connected
an "unbeliever" temporarily, say like King Saul was a       together to teach us the reason for Jacob's love for
"believer" temporarily?                                     Rachel."
                              Respectfully submitted,         What the reader will note, I trust, is that one
                                               P. Koole     sentence is lifted up and out of a paragraph, is treated
                                                            apart from the rest of the paragraph, and even that
                         REPLY                              one sentence has the focus fixed on one part to such
  One sometimes wonders whether that which one              an extent that the other part falls away, as though it
has written is read, and how carefully it is read.          had not been written. The qualifying phrase that
Therefore, rather than to resent the fact that brother      explains in what sense I was speaking of unbelief is
Koole raises questions about what was written, I wish       dropped, erased, removed so that it is as though I had


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                353



written nothing more than, "Jacob is marrying an                   It may be noted that all that which'brother Koole
unbeliever."                                                 presents as his reason for believing that she was a
   But if our readers will look at my sentence in its        believer took place much later than the period of
entirety in the setting of the paragraph, they will see      time of which I was writing. If he can show one word
that I was not dealing with Rachel, but with Jacob's         in Scripture that shows faith on Rachel's part before
actions. What I did in that paragraph was to compare         Jacob married her, my statement can be subjected to
Esau's method of choosing wives with Jacob's, when           further study and consideration. Otherwise the state-
he fell in love at first sight. Esau chose by outward        ment stands that Jacob loved her for her outward
appearance and by what appealed to his flesh. Jacob          beauty and not for her faith in God. His love for her
did the same thing. Esau did not ask whether these           did not ask, "Is she a believer?" It asked, "Is she
women were believers or unbelievers, and Jacob did           beautiful?"
not either, as far as his love for Rachel was                      And let me add, and be appreciative to brother
concerned. In fact I began the paragraph with the            Koole for the opportunity to  .emphasize this by
observation that, except for the grace of God, we            repeating it, this tragedy happens so often in the
always do exactly like the unbelievers. Jacob's faith        church today. Even in the church young men will
was a gift of God. And if God did not.give him the           assume that, because this young woman belongs to
grace to behave differently from his reprobate               his church, she is a believer. What attracted him was
brother, Jacob would always do Esau's deeds. The old         her beauty, not her faith and pious life. And then
man of sin of the believer does exactly what the man of      after marriage he finds out that she opposes him in try-
the unbeliever does. Only the believer has a new man,        ing to bring the children up in the fear of God's name.
and therefore an old man of sin. The unbeliever has          He, blinded by his fleshly love for her earthly beauty,
only a man of sin. It must be borne in mind that I was       saw her walk of life as just an evidence of weak faith
approaching the matter from that point of view, and          rather than unbelief. That love of the flesh, as with
was not going to answer the question as to whether           Jacob, is willing to marry that face, even when clear
Rachel was a believer or not. I leave that to God, and       evidences of faith are not to be found.
do not want to do her injustice, if God did give her               If, with the understanding now that some might
faith.                                                       stumble over what I wrote, I were to rewrite the
   Now, I will concede that under pressure of the            paragraph, I would write, "As far. as Jacob's love is
work in the congregation, being forced often to ask          concerned, it did not matter that Rachel showed no
just how much time may be taken from the work in             faith in God. He was content to say that he got a wife
the congregation to write an article every fifteen           out of a covenant family. And is it not true that
days, and have copy ready a month before publica-            unbelievers, who also fall in love at first sight, do fall
tion, and being limited as to how many pages are             in love with those who do believe? And why do they
allotted for this department of the magazine, one            fall in love with the daughters of Zion? Because they
does not always develop a thought as fully as one            .see unbelief in them. They see the works of their old
would-like, and hurries on to other matters to be sure       man of sin. Be sure of it that a young woman showing
to get other points in the article. But I believe my         Christ in her life will not be pleasing to
paragraph does show my viewpoint. In fact I state            an      unbeliever, no matter how beautiful of
what the point is and what it is not. I stated that          face she may be. What attracts the unbeliever
whether deeds of Rachel show that she is a child of          to the believer always is that he sees something he
God or not is not the point now. `The point in this          likes; and he cannot like faith and the life of Christ.
paragraph is that Jacob loved Rachel, not for her            Young women, be sure that Christ shines in your life
faith, but for her beauty. I stated that literally.          - especially if God gave you beauty of face  - lest
                                                             you be attractive to the world, and be caught up in a
  What is more, to come back to that qualifying              temptation to marry an unbeliever. Is it not because
statement in the sentence, brother Koole writes as           Esther hid her religion, when she hid her people, that
though I had written," as far as the marks of a true         it was possible for such a godless king as Ahasuems to
child of God are concerned, as far as God's judgment         choose her to be queen and find delight in her?"
is concerned, as far as the rule of faith is concerned,            And since I did not judge Rachel, I need not
as far as the principles of Christianity are concerned,      answer brother Koole's reasons for insisting that she
Jacob is marrying and unbeliever." I did not do that.        is a believer in later life. I do, however, like to point
I will not do that today. I wrote that as far as his love    out that ten lepers prayed to Jesus that they might be
for Rachel is concerned he is marrying an unbeliever.        healed; and it pleased Him to heal all fen. But only
I conceded that she was born in the covenant sphere,         one showed faith, in that he came back to thank
as a daughter of a believer. Yes, with all his evils, I      Christ for the healing. And in I Kings  21:27-29 we
called Laban a believer.                                     read that God was pleased to spare Ahab, that wicked


354                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



king,  and to bring the calamities, which He had            covenant mother in Israel that Rebekah showed, nor
predicted upon him through Elijah, upon his children        even a love for the man who loved her so deeply and
instead of on him personally, when Ahab humbled             openly. And even if we are to take the position that
himself, fasted, and lay in sackcloth. He reacted to        Rachel was an unbeliever, it does not follow that "the
God's word, even though he was an unbeliever. And it        very purpose he (Jacob) was sent away for is
is not always grace to that individual when God gives       defeated." God takes care of His Church and saw to it
him what he likes to have. We must not quickly call         that Jacob did get a believing wife in Leah.
one an unbeliver. Nor must we, as I wrote in March,
take the position that all use of God's name indicates        And is it strange that Jacob would corrupt himself?
faith in Him.                                               Do we all not do that time and again? Did Solomon
                                                            not corrupt himself and marrying even a daughter of
  I did not write that Rachel was to blame for her          Pharaoh? We may be sure that Jacob, according to
beauty. Nor did I even suggest that Leah's lesser           the new principle of life in him, would say with a
beauty meant that she was spiritual. But what puzzles       man like Paul, "The evil that I would not, that I do."
me is that brother Koole writes that I am "correct" in
stating that Rachel's "life did reveal anything but a         But let me close with the opening words of that
life of faith," and that he still wants to maintain that    disputed paragraph, "Let the truth be faced once
when Jacob married her, she was a believer. Scripture       again that apart from God's grace, Jacob is like Esau,
paints such a beautiful picture of Rebekah, Jacob's         and Esau is like Jacob." Jacob had his old man of sin
mother, in her faith. Willing she was to go with            with which to struggle until the day of his death. We
Abraham's servant to be a covenant mother in Israel,        must not be surprised then to find that the natural
not even having seen her husband-to-be  - the               love of his flesh, even while he is seeking a Godfearing
opposite of Jacob who has seen Rachel's beauty.             wife in the covenant sphere, drives him to look away
Instead of Rachel, we read of that incident, on which       from that which is of faith and fixes itself on
I wrote in the January 1, 1980 issue of the Standard        outward, fleshly beauty. As far as the love of his flesh
Bearer, when not one word of opposition is found on         is concerned, he is willing to marry an unbeliever.
Rachel's part to her father's intent to give Leah to        Love that is moved by earthly, physical beauty
Jacob. There was in Rachel no such interest in being a      marries for that which is not of faith.





                   COVENANT PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCH
                                   OF WYCKOFF, NEW JERSEY

          Offers once again the remainder of its original series of bonds to finance
          the continuing construction of a place of worship. These bonds are
          available in denominations of $500.00 or  $l,OOO.OO  and have a
          maturity of 20 years. For a complete prospectus, write or call:


                                           Mr. Richard Hoogmoed
                                           106 Grand Avenue
                                           Hawthorne, NJ 07506
                                           Ph. (201) 427-5483


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              355





                                Letter From Covenant
                                      Prot. Ref. Church





            To our Sister Churches of the                    driveway, all of which must be done before we may
            Protestant Reformed Churches                     use the building. We are thankful to our God for
  Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus             providing us with the means necessary to carry the
Christ, the King of the Church:                              project this far; but it is also at this point that we
                                                             urge you to consider prayerfully our continued need.
  We come to you by way of the Standard Bearer
with this letter for especially two reasons. In the first      In order to finish the work that remains we are
place, we desire to keep you informed with regard to         still in need of nearly $100,000 and therefore are
the progress that we have made with our building             once again offering our sanctuary bonds. We do not
project, and, in the second place, we wish to explain        seek to hide the fact that the interest on these bonds
the fact that we are offering our sanctuary bonds for        is very low and the maturity very long, but because of
sale once again.                                             our limited `means it would make the whole project
                                                             impossible were we to offer higher interest or shorter
  With regard to the building itself, we have made           maturity. We are asking a considerable sacrifice of
considerable progress, as you can see from the               you, therefore, when we ask that you consider the
pictures which accompany this letter. By the time            purchase of these bonds.
this letter is published we hope to have the roof and
siding on the building and also some of the plumbing           The bonds are advertised once again in this issue of
and electrical work finished. All this has been done         the Standard Bearer. There is a prospectus available
for the most part with money that has been raised            `which gives the details concerning these bonds. We
from our congregation in addition to a sizable gift          humbly ask you to consider helping us.
which we received from our sister congregation of
Hope in Walker, Michigan.                                    In Christ's Name,
  The rest of the project, therefore, consists of            The Consistory and congregation of
finishing and furnishing the interior of the building        Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
and in grading and paving the parking lot and                Wyckoff, New Jersey


356                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



ALL AROUND US





                                      Are You Troubled by
                                           Current Events ?
                                                   Rev. G, Van Baren



  My attention has been called to various disturbing          approve this constitutional amendment. Those who
developments that are taking place in the country             most strongly advocate the amendment make claims
today. And one cannot help but observe from news              for it and suggest their opinions on what it will do -
reports that many things are not done in harmony              in terms which ought to shock every Christian. The
with God's Word in our country and communities. I             amendment appears not merely to be a simple means
have before me a copy of "The Midwest Regional                to right a wrong within society, but to destroy the
Reporter," published by the Midwest Association for           very core of the family life.
the Education of Young Children. It is a small
bulletin giving information concerning the training             The International Year of the Child has been
of young children of the community. The paper                 promoted in the `past. It is suggested. that the child
advocates earlier and earlier training of the child by        also has "rights": the right to choose for himself how
the state. It presents in glowing terms the practices of      and if he will serve God; the right to choose for
Red China in training children within the communes.           himself whether or not he will engage in sexual
It encourages support for the ERA and the Interna-            activities; the right to decide for himself what
tional Year of the Child. In short, it advocates much         entertainment he will seek, or where he will go. One
which would tend to break down the family and                 almost becomes discouraged at the trends  - and
enhance the position of the state in the instruction of       wonders where it will all lead.
children.                                                       There is the fact that government makes it in-
  I have another document, "The Christian Voice,"             creasingly difficult to provide the Christian instruc-
which points out the attempt of the IRS to take away          tion we promised before God to give our children.
the tax exempt status of private schools - which was,         The regulations and restrictions increase. The
for the time, defeated by congressional action.               financial sacrifice grows. Those who support public
  Disturbing too are the reports of continuing and            education openly declare their desire and intent to
growing abortion. More than a million unborn are              close down Christian Schools.
destroyed annually in this country alone. We regard              So - what is the Christian to do? That question is
this, as we believe Scripture teaches, as outright            often raised. Within our own churches, too, the
murder. Nor can the just and righteous God look               question is,asked: Is there anything we can do about
down upon such activities with favor but must rather          this?
punish in wrath now and eternally.                              First, there is the real danger that we do nothing.
  One reads, especially in Michigan where we live, of         We realize that Scripture testifies not only that these
gambling  - openly promoted and encouraged by                 things will be - but that, as the end approaches, the
state government. It is an evil which is legal,               evils will grow. And all this is a sign and reminder of
condoned, but which destroys the integrity and fabric         the return of Christ. Yet one might incorrectly be
of society.                                                   inclined to say: since Scripture teaches that evil shall
  There is the push for the ERA amendment. Threats            abound, we ought not even to testify against it. We've
and boycotts are used to try to force legislators to          often fallen into that error - but it is wrong.


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        357


  Secondly, there might be an opposite danger of               advisable. A few simple rules can guide us in this.
adopting tactics of the wicked about us by being               First: address the individual with respect. Secondly,
abusive, even violent, in support of what we believe           state simply and briefly the subject about which you
to be right. Often that has been done. But adopting            are writing. Thirdly, express briefly and without
the tactics of the enemy is inexcusable - it is sin.           abuse your objections to the activity or proposed
  What ought we to do,? We can, and should, inform             legislation. Give your reasons for objecting. Finally,
those who represent us in government what our                  sign your letter. Unsigned letters are usually ignored
opinions are. We can express what we believe and               and surely carry no weight.
why we are convinced that a certain activity is wrong.           One who does this faithfully does give to those
  Whom do we write? We can write national leaders              who represent us an idea of where we stand. If we say
- especially our representative in the U.S. House and          nothing, how can such representatives ever know?
our two senators. We can write the chairman of the
committees which consider the objectionable pro-                 Will our writing change things? Sometimes, as in
posals. We can write our representatives in the state          the case of the proposal of the I.R.S. to remove the
legislature. We ought to do this far more often than we        tax-exempt status from Christian Schools, this kind
have done in the past.                                         of' writing does result in favorable action. It is true,
                                                               we can not, and do not desire to, prevent the coming
  But how do we find out whom we must write?                   of antichrist. His coming is one of the final signs that
Information is usually available at the library within a       show that Christ's return is at hand. Nevertheless, we
community or from the schools. A telephone call will          may not hide our convictions. Diligently we must let
normally provide the information we need.                      others know what we believe. God uses even such
  What ought we to write? Do we believe ourselves             activity to serve His purpose and to allow for His
incapable? Long letters are not necessary - or even           church here a place until Jesus returns. Write today.



                                                To be a minister

  To become a minister in many of the main-line                   dissenting minority of the presbytery was filed with
denominations of our day, one can believe almost                  the Synod of the Piedmont, which turned it down
anything  - or believe nothing.  Clarion,  March 8,               and the minister's critics then took the matter to the
1980, presents an incident which reminds of this fact:            Permanent Judical Commission of the UPC. . . .
                                                                     Mr. Kaseman, who was ordained by the United
      The Permanent Judicial Commission of the United             Church of Christ, said later that he believes that Jesus
   Presbyterian Church has ordered a presbytery to                is divine but wanted to "hold God as supreme" in
   conduct a new examination .of aminister who gave a             answering the question. He indicated that the prob-
   negative answer when asked if he believed Jesus                lem was partly one of semantics, in that Presbyterians
   Christ is God.                                                 equate Jesus with God while his UCC perspective,
      It remanded the case of the Rev. Mansfield                  "that's unusual language for me."
   Kaseman to the National Capital Union Presbytery              So it appears that how one understands the
   with the direction that it "exercise its constitutional    statement that "Jesus Christ is God" is only a matter
   responsibilities in conducting a proper examination of     of "semantics"! How far, indeed, have churches and
   Mr. Kaseman's doctrinal and theological beliefs."          ministers departed from the Word of God when such
      Following the examination, the presbytery voted         an important truth is reduced to a matter of
   to accept Mr. Kaseman as a member. An appeal by a          "semantics."



                                                        fians Kung

  One reads with interest the action of the Roman             theologians: Hans Kung. Protestants have been  in-
Catholic Church in seeking to silence one of its              trigued by this activity - especially since Kung denies


358                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



Papal infallibility. He has been called a modern-day                                                     Kung is no Luther. Luther was a Christian who
Luther. However, Kung is an outspoken heretic. He                                                     believed that Jesus  Christ was born of a virgin, rose
opposes certain heresies of Rome - but also proposes                                                  physically from the dead, and is truly God, the Second
heretical teachings which the churches of the Refor-                                         '        Person of the Holy Trinity. Kung denies these
mation must emphatically reject. Some of this is                                                      fundamental doctrines. Kung is correct when he
pointed out in the Christian News, March 10, 1980:                                                    challenges the infallibility of the Pope, but his views
                                                                                                      about Christ are thoroughly anti-Christian. If he truly
          Liberal Roman Catholic and liberal Protestant                                               believes what he has been saying, then he cannot be
       theologians all over the world are coming to the                                               considered a Christian theologian and certainly not a
       defense of Dr. Hans Kung. Some are referring to                                                "Little Luther."
       Kung as "Little Luther". . . .



                                                                            Christian News

    The above paper, Christian News, is published by                                              too. In recent years  Otten has backed another
Rev. Herman Otten, a pastor in the Lutheran Church,                                               minister and sought his election as! president of the
Missouri Synod. However,  Otten is  nol: "certified."                                             denomination. Now, Otten has been seeking "certifi-
He is not recogriized in the LCMS as one of their                                                 cation," but Preus has been strongly opposing that -
pastors. Since he graduated from one of the seminar-                                              unless  Otten promises to suspend publication of his
ies of the LCMS, he would seem to be entitled to                                                  Christian News. A bit of a stir has been created in the
certification. But  Otten is too "conservative." He                                               LCMS because of this. It will be interesting to see
opposed the developing liberalism in the LCMS a few                                               what the outcome of this is within that denomina-
years ago and backed the conservatives who managed                                                tion. It may well happen that the "conservatives" of
to elect Dr. Jacob Preus as the president of the                                                  that denomination who took over from the "liberals"
denomination. However, in past years Dr. Preus has                                                a few years ago, may be split - allowing the liberals
felt the jabs of the pen of Otten in the Christian News                                           once more to gain control.




                                                                 Book Reviews

THE FAITHFUL SAYINGS  IN THE PASTORAL                                                             words, already in the days of the apostles, the Church
LETTERS, by George W. Knight III; Baker Book                                                      was engaged in formulating her faith in creedal form
House, 1979; 167 pp., $6.95 (paper). (Reviewed by                                                 for use in the worship services. And these expressions
Prof. H. Hanko.)                                                                                  in Paul are the evidences of this.
                                                                                                     The book is interesting and well worth reading
    The clause, "Faithful is the saying . .  .", appears                                          although, because of its extensive use of Greek, it is
five different times in the pastoral writings of Paul. In                                         readable for those who are aquainted with the Greek
three instances there is appended to this clause the                                              language.
added statement, "and worthy of all acceptation." It
is striking that this expression is found only in the
pastoral epistles of Paul and not in his other writings.                                          COMMENTARY ON  GALATNNS, Martin Luther;
George Knight, professor of New Testament at                                                      Kregel Publications, 1979; 388 pages,  $l-C.951 (Re-
Covenant Theological Seminary, devotes this book to                                               viewed by Prof. H. Hanko.)
a   s t u d y   o f   t h i s   p h e n o m e n o n .   A f t e r   e x a m i n i n g   a            Shortly before Luther died he is quoted as saying
number of reasons  ,for this, he comes to the                                                     that there were only two books which he wrote in his
conclusion that the expression calls attention to a                                               life which were any good. One was "The Bondage of
significant point which Paul wishes to make, and that                                             the Will" and the other was his "Commentary on
the significant point is cast into the form of a creed                                            Galatians." Apart from appearing in the collected
used in the liturgy of the apostolic church. In other                                             works of Luther, this is the first time in a long time


                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                           359


that this important work of the Wittenberg reformer                                    book stands high among Luther's writings. I would
has appeared in a separate volume.                                                     almost say that one cannot understand well the
    I cannot recommend this work strongly enough,                                      Lutheran Reformation without reading Luther's
and every faithful son of the Reformation ought to                                     Commentary on Galatians. Yet, finally, the com-
be grateful for this effort of Kregels to make this                                    mentary makes excellent devotional reading. It is not
book available. It can be used as any commentary is                                    difficult to sit down with the book and read it for its
used in a study of this important  book.of the Bible                                   great insights into the truth of salvation in the cross
and the reader will find depths of riches in Luther's                                  of Christ alone.
explanation of it. But there is more than that. Here,                                      The book is somewhat condensed, but the price of
in this commentary, you really find what the truth of                                  $10.95 is a bargain indeed in these days of expensive
the Lutheran reformation, the just shall live by faith,                                books. Get it and add it to your library and, above
is all about. After all, the great theme of this epistle is                            all, read it.
justification by faith apart from the works of the law.                                    I have not checked on the accuracy of the
This was also  the  theological principle of Luther's                                  translation.
reformatory work, and it is no wonder then that this


                                 NOTICE!!!                                                                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
            FUTURE PROTESTANT REFORMED                                                     On May 4, 1980, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND MRS.
                 TEACHERS AND MINISTERS                                                WILLIAM CORSON, will commemorate their 30th wedding anni-
                                                                                       versary. We, their children, are thankful to God for the Christian home
   The Scholarship Fund Committee is offering scholarships for the                     and covenant upbringing that they have given us. It is our prayer that
1980-81 school year. An essay of 300 words written on the topic,                       God will keep them in His care and continue to bless and guide them in
" W H A T   H A V E   Y O U   G A I N E D   F R O M   Y O U R   C O L L E G E   O R    the future.
SEMINARY EDUCATION?", is required, along with a record of your                             "Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord; that walketh in His
high school and/or college  grades  and a recommendation from your                     ways." (Psalm  128:l).
consistory.
                                                                                                                                      Ron and Linda Corson
   If you are interested in an application contact Deb Buiter, 1551                                                                     Melissa, Chad *
Wilson Ave., S.W., Grand Rapids, MI 49504. Applications are due May                                                                   Randy Corson
15,198O.                                                                                                                              Rick Corson
                                   The Scholarship Fund Committee                                                                     Grand Rapids, Ml
                                   Deb Buiter, Sec'y.


                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    The Faith, Hope and Love Society of the South Holland Protestant                      The Ladies Society of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church
Reformed Church express their sincere sympathy to one of our                           (Walker, MI), expresses sincere sympathy to a fellow member, Mrs. C.
members, Mrs. John Flikkema, in the passing of her mother, MRS. AL                     Kamps,`in the loss of her father, MR. A. PONSTEIN.
MI EDEMA.                                                                                  "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
   "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." (Rev.  14:13).                        dissolved, we have a building of God; an house not made with hands,
                                           Rev. David Engelsma, Pres.                  eternal in the heavens."  (I I Cor.  5:`l).
                                           Tena Poortinga, Sec'y.                                                                     Mr. Jon Huisken, Pres.
                                                                                                                                      Mrs. John Buiter, Sec'y.





                                          News From Our Churches


   Rev. Kenneth Koole has declined the call he                                         tion, our retired ministers have been of great help in
received from our congregation in Redlands,  Cali-                                     bringing the lively preaching of the holy gospel to
fomia. Their new trio includes Rev. Richard Moore,                                     many of our pulpits from week to week.
Rev. James Slopsema, and Rev. Gise Van Baren. Rev.                                        Professor Herman Hanko has declined the call he
Schipper,  one of our "retired" ministers, plans to                                    received from our Hope Church in Walker, Michigan.
preach for the  Redlands congregation during the
months of April and May. Since there are more                                             Rev. George Lubbers has made a  .good recovery
pulpits than ministers to fill them in our  denomina-                                  from his surgery in early March, so much so that he
                                                                                       was able to preach in First Church on Good Friday

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




                                               __.-- __-.  -_  _~~




360                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER




and to lead an Easter Chapel in our South Holland,                   Rev. Rodney Miersma, pastor of our church in
Illinois, Christian School on March 3 1.                           Pella, Iowa, spent the month of April in Bradenton,
   Rev. Robert Harbach has made a good recovery                    Florida, preaching there at the request of First
from the eye surgery he underwent in March. Rev.                   Church in Grand Rapids. Attendance at services there
Harbach has always been able to describe many                      was reported to be as many as 70 souls. In the
conditions with quotes from the Scriptures. He                     absence of Rev. Miersma, Rev. George Lanting
describes his own condition as follows: "He who                    preached for the congregation in Pella.
formed the eye" (Psalm 94:9) makes "the eyes of the                  Rev. John Heys, pastor of our church in Holland,
blind see out of obscurity . . ." (Isaiah 19: 18).                 Michigan, is retiring this year. He has scheduled his
   Rev. and Mrs. Ronald Cammenga were blessed with                 farewell sermons for June 1.
the birth of a baby boy, Charles Mark, on March 29.                  Our Holland congregation has sold their present
Rev. Cammenga is the pastor of our church in Hull,                 church parsonage. The present schedule calls for
Iowa.                                                              turning over the house to its new owners in early
   Rev. Ronald Van Overloop  is laboring in Birming-               June. Plans for the construction of a new parsonage
ham, Alabama, as home missionary. He reported to                   are now being made.
his calling church, South Holland, Illinois recently.                Rev. Hanko reports in the bulletin of our Covenant
Rev. Van  Overloop  holds preaching services twice                 Church in Wyckoff, New Jersey, that the walls are up
every Sunday as well as midweek Bible study. He is                 and the roof on their new church building.
able to call upon persons outside of the group that                  A special congregational meeting was held in our
meets regularly. He has begun distributing cassette                church in Hull, Iowa on March 10 to revise the
tapes and R.F.P.A. publications to interested persons.
He is ready to begin a weekly fifteen-minute radio                 budget due to the increase in Synodical assessments.
broadcast over a local station. He also spoke of his               The congregation also approved the purchase of a
need for our prayers "That utterance may be given to               model 523 organ from the Associated Organ Builders.
me, that I may open my mouth, boldly to make                         Two public lectures were scheduled in Hull during
known the mystery of the Gospel."                                  April. Rev. David Engelsma was to speak on "Repro-
  Word has also been received from our missionary in               bation, Is It Reformed?" on April 18, and Rev.
Singapore. Rev. den Hartog writes, "We are having a                Ronald Cammenga planned to speak on "The Fool-
blessed time here. There is much work to do and the                ishness of Preaching" on April 25.
work is going well. We will soon be sending a report                 The Reformed Witness Committee of our churches
to the  Standard Bearer.  The worship services are                 in Doon, Hull, and Edgerton, has decided to take up
attended by more than 100 young people each Lord's                 labors in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Day. I am teaching four catechism classes. There is a                The Spring Meeting of the Eastern Men's and
real measure of love for the Reformed Faith, and a                 Ladies' League was held on Wednesday, April 9 in our
knowledge of it. There is also an earnest desire to                Hudsonville Church. Professor Decker spoke on "The
grow in it."                                                       Signs of the Times." The young people in Michigan
Rev. den Hartog's address is:                                      had a Easter Mass Meeting in Hope Church, led by the
                 Rev. & Mrs. Arie den Hartog                       Kalamazoo young people. Kalamazoo's pastor, Rev.
                 32D Block C Pacific Mansion                       Woudenberg, spoke.
                 River Valley Close                                  A Spring Lecture is scheduled for May 8 in South
                 Singapore 0923                                    Christian High School in Cutlerville, Michigan.
                 Republic of Singapore                                                                                K.G.V.


