       The
  STANDARD
f BEARER
        A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE



  It is that line of the generations of believers
which constitutes essentially the historical
sphere of the covenant.

  .  .  . Elect children of believers and repro-
bate children  of  believers are born,. develop,
live, grow up in that same sphere  and under
the same influences. In that sphere they share
all things  - except grace. For the elect heirs
of the promise all of the above function as a
savour of life. unto life, while for the repro-
bate, carnal children all of the above function
as a savour of death unto death, and that, too,
according to .God's purpose.
  See "A Historical Sphere of the Covenant?"
                                                                page 198

                                            Volume LV, No. 9,  Febiuary 1, 1979  -
                                                       ISSN 0362-4692


     194                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                      Semi-monthly,  except monthly  during  June, July,  and August.
                                CONTENTS:                                               Published   by  the  Reformed  Free  Publishing   Association,  Inc.
                                                                                               Second  Class  Postage  Paid  at  Grand  Rapids,   Mlch.
                                                                                 Editor-in-Chief:  Prof.  Homer  C.  Hoeksema
                                                                                 Department Editors:  Prof.  Robert  D.  Decker,  Rev.  David  J.  Engelsma,
     Meditation  -                                                               Rev.  Cornelius  Hanko,   Prof.  Herman   Hanko,   Rev.  Robert   C.  Harbach,
                                                                                 Rev.  John  A.  Heys,  Rev.  Meindert   Joostens,   Rev.  Jay  Korterlng,   Rev.
        Armed For Suffering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194           George   C.  Lubbers,  Rev.   Rodney  Mlersma,  Rev.  Marlnus  Schlpper,  Rev.
                                                                                 James  Slopsema,   Rev.  Gise  J.  Van  Earen,  Rev.  Ronald  Van  OverlOOP,
                                                                                 Rev.  Herman  Veldman,   Mr.  Kenneth  G.  Vlnk.
     Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . .' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197    Editorial Office:  Prof.  H.C.  Hoeksema
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     MEDITA TIO N



                                                Armed For Suffering
                                                                   Rev.  M.  S&zipper




                       "Forasmuch then as Christ bath. suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with
                   the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the jlesh hath ceased from sin:
                       That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to
                   the will of God. "
                                                                                                                                      I Peter 4: 1, 2.



        That the apostle expected imminent suffering to                            concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as
     befall the children of God is evident from the                                though some strange thing happened unto you"
     following context. "Beloved, think it not strange                             (4: 12). And that he connects this suffering with the


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                              195


     suffering of Christ is also apparent from the same           Christ is the example in Whose footsteps we are to
     context. "But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of       follow; but the apostle has in mind something even
     Christ's sufferings . . ." (4: 13).                          more significant. The believers must be prepared for
       Always the believing church of Christ in the world         this aspect of suffering because they are in Christ. He
     is partaker of His sufferings.                               has regenerated and sanctified them by His grace and
                                                                  Spirit. Thus in principle they are like .Hirn. They are
       But what does this mean? To understand this                holy as He is holy; and as He was without sin, so are
     phenomenon we must see, in the first place, that             they in principle. Therefore as the world hated Him,
     there is a suffering of Christ which is quite unique,        so will the world hate us. It is with this thought that
     that is,  which He suffered all alone, and which we          we must be armed. So must we be ready to suffer in
     both cannot and need not suffer. Of this aspect of           the flesh.
     Christ's suffering the apostle had written earlier              Armed with the mind of Christ!
     (3: 18). "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
     the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to              To be armed presupposes that a battle is to ensue.
     God. . . ." Obviously this suffering which was in our        The battle is spiritual in nature, while the combatants
     behalf only He could suffer. When He suffered the            are the people of God versus the world of the wicked.
     torments of hell, when He endured the wrath of God           Though our warfare is not  against  flesh and blood,
     overagainst our sins, He suffered vicariously. He            but against spiritual powers in high places, make no
     suffered in our stead, in our behalf, so that we would       mistake about it, that battle is not mythical, nor
     not have to endure this suffering, for we could not          mystical, but against the forces of evil as it may be
     bear it.                                                     found in flesh and blood persons who are governed
                                                                  and arrayed by the power of darkness. Jesus Himself
        To this aspect of Christ's suffering the apostle does     described the nature of the enemy when He said, "a
     not refer in the text, nor is it implied, as the             man's foes are those of his own household." In that
     translation would seem to indicate. The translation          context He also said, "he that is not willing to leave
     has: "Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us          father and mother, wife and children for My sake is
     in the flesh. . . ." However, the original text omits the    not worthy of Me." And this implies that though our
     words "for us." Literally, according to the original,        battle is not carnal, nevertheless the battle lines cut
     the text should read: "Christ therefore having               through your own flesh and blood. Historically, too,
     suffered in respect to the flesh, also ye arm yourselves     the real battle of the church of Christ is not fought
     with the same mind. . . ."                                   out there in the world, but most generally within the
        This leads us to understand, in the second place, that    church itself and within our own homes. The wicked
     there is an aspect of the suffering of Christ in which       therefore with whom we do battle are not those who
     we do partake. Peter has in mind that aspect of the          live on the other end of the world, but they live very
     suffering of Christ of which the apostle Paul also           close to us, dwelling in our generations. That does not
     wrote: "For unto you it is given in behalf of Christ,        mean that the wicked of the world leave us alone, but
     not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His       always they are joined with the wicked carnal seed as.
     sake" (Phil. 1:29).                                          it comes to manifestation in the organic development
        And again it must be understood that the apostle is       of the church in the world. This was clearly
     not speaking of suffering in general. There is indeed        demonstrated in the case of Christ, for it was Herod,
     much suffering in the world, suffering in which not          Pontius Pilate, and the leaders of the Jews who were
     only the children of God partake, but also the world         united against Him.
     of the wicked itself. Bodily and mental afflictions            In that battle we are going to suffer in respect to
     befall both the righteous and the wicked alike.              the flesh. In that battle we must be Christ-like, that
     Hospitals, mental institutions, and funeral homes are        is, we must be like-minded with Him. And what was
     stark reminders of a universal suffering. But the            the mind, the thought that pervaded the mind of
     suffering which the apostle has in mind is not general,      Christ when He was caused to suffer in the flesh? It
     but very particular  - it is the suffering of the            was this: I am innocent; I have done nothing amiss,
     believing children of God which is imposed on them           and. yet they persecute Me. Such is the thought, the
     by the world of the wicked simply because these              mind that must be in us when we are buffeted by the
     believing children of God belong to Christ.                  wicked. Let this mind be in you, that he who suffers
        As Christ bore the reproaches, the slander, the           in the flesh has ceased from sin.
     maltreatment, and even death at the hands of the               Suffering then in the flesh is proof of the fact that
     wicked, so are we to be ready to suffer. As Christ           we do not walk in sin. If we would walk in sin and
     suffered in the flesh while He was in the midst of the       follow after the world and its corruption, we would
     world of the wicked, so are we to be armed with the          experience no suffering at all. Then the world would
     same idea in mind. There is a sense therefore in which       love its own, and even bless you. But as soon as it



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196                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


becomes manifested that you have ceased from sin,             abandoned, so that men with men (and we suppose
you will have the mind of Christ, and you will needs          even women with women) left the natural course to
suffer. Armed then must we be with the mind of                do things unseemly and contrary to nature. Homo-
Christ!                                                       sexuality and Lesbianism of today is not something
  0, indeed, this cannot mean that when we suffer             new, nor is it new that now these forms of lust
we sin no more. Nor should we say with the                    assume a cultist, religious connection. This wicked-
perfectionist we have no sin. This would indeed be            ness was in the open already in the days of the
contrary both to fact and to Scripture. Does not the          apostles. And they to whom this epistle is directed
apostle John say: "If we say we have no sin, we               lived in these sins.
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we              But the gospel came, and with it the grace of Christ
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us       that changed them. So they no longer live their lives
our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"?        in this body of flesh to the lusts of men, i.e., human
(I John 1:8, 9) The former we refuse to say, lest we          lusts. By grace they have ceased from sin, and they
deceive ourselves, while the latter we continue to            now live as saints. Not unnoticed are they by their
confess because we have the consciousness of                  former companions in lust, who not only think them "
forgiveness and of cleansing. It means that we believe        strange, but hate and persecute them. They are
we are in principle righteous through the forgiving           determined by the grace of God no longer to live
grace and cleansing blood of Christ. It means that            according to the lust of the flesh, but to the will of
though we still sin, we hate it, and though we walk in        God.
the midst of the world we do so no more as sinners,              The mind of Christ with which they are now
but as saints of the Most High, That is the significance      armed, moves them to seek to do the will of God for
of suffering in the flesh because we have the mind of         the rest of their lives upon the earth. The will of the
Christ and have ceased from sin.                              flesh is brought into subjection to the will of God for
  The end result of this will be twofold. No longer           their lives.
will we live to the lust of men, but we will live the             And what is the will of God for their lives? That
rest of the time to the will of God.                          they live  holily, honoring the law of God which is
  By "the rest of the time" the apostle evidently,            good, fighting against sin and corruption, revealing
refers to the time we have yet to live upon this earth.       the new man which is in Christ Jesus. Yes, even when
The reference is .from the time of our conversion to          this entails reproach, mockery, and even persecution
the time of our death. During that time we live in the        unto death.
flesh, that is, in the present body in which we are still         As Christ suffered as the innocent One, so be ye
enticed to follow after the lusts of the flesh.               armed in your mind to suffer for His sake.
  By "the lusts of the flesh" is meant all kinds of
lust, probably with the emphasis on sexual lusts, but            Such indeed have ceased from sin, and live in
not these exclusively. They to whom this epistle was          respect to the will of God.
directed once lived in these lusts. Then they walked             The time is short. Not long do we have to live in
according to these lusts. Since their conversion from         the body of this flesh. Seventy or perhaps eighty
paganism, however, this has changed. No longer do             years, and we are completely delivered from all the
they live in lusts. In the verses that follow our text        evil lust. But he who lives to the will of God, and has
the apostle explains what their former conduct had            ceased from sin, has the principle of eternal life. Such
been, and how now through the grace of God this had           life has no end, but issues into a most blessed relation
changed. So great had the change been that their              with the living God. This is eternal life, that we may
former companions in evil had noticed and thought it          know Him through Jesus Christ our Lord.
strange. For, says the apostle, "The time past of our            Amen !
life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the
Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts,
excess of wine, revellings, banqueting, and abom-
inable idolatries." This rather detailed description of
their past life not only relates how far the natural
man goes in seeking to satisfy his flesh, but also that                                       NOTICE!!!
this desire of the Gentiles is motivated by and closely
associated with some form of  .religion. The latter is           Classis  West  of  the  Protestant   Reformed   Churches   will  meet  in
implied in the "abominable idolatries." In the service        Edgerton,  Minnesota  on  March  7,  1979  at  8:30  A.M.  Material   for  the
of Bacchus, their idol god, they indulged in all sorts        Agenda  must  be  in  my  hands  thirty   days  before  Classis  convenes.
                                                              Delegates   in  need  of  lodging   should   inform   the  clerk  of  the  Edgerton
of wild orgies. As the apostle Paul describes it in           consistory.
Romans 1, even the created sexual relations were                                                     Rev.  David  Engelsma,   Stated  Clerk


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                               197





                                             Editor's Notes




     Subscription Price Increase. The Board of`the RFPA         Advance Notice, Western Michigan Readers!  A last
     informs me that effective March 1 the price of the         minute telephone call before the deadline for this
     Standard Bearer  will increase to $8.00 per year           issue asked me to inform you that the Spring Lecture
     ($6.00 for Australasian subscribers). This is an           in this ,area will be held, D.V., on May 2. Reserve the
     increase of $1.00 since October, 1968. We have no          date, please. Did you say "spring"? As I write this,
     excuses, only reasons. Frankly, this increase is           the thermometer reads 2 degrees above zero (F.), and
     unrealistic: it does not even keep up with inflation       there are some 21 inches of snow on the ground!
     (which since 1968 would have meant a 100%                                       *****
     increase) or with legitimate increased costs of            Book Suggestion. Our editorial department has been
     production. We have no qualms, therefore; nor have         devoted lately to the subject of the covenant,. Would
     we any fears that our subscribers will forsake us
     because of this small increase. Meanwhile, we wish to      you like to do more of an in-depth study of this
     emphasize that well over HALF of our productions           important subject? Let me recommend Herman
     costs are met by gifts from congregations and              Hoeksema's Believers And Their Seed. I recommend
     individuals. If it were not for these gifts, I fear our    the whole book, but especially Chapters 5-l 1. You
     magazine would be priced right out of existence! May       can  obtain it for $1.95 in the paperback edition.
     I dare to suggest that WE should also inflate our          Write to: RFPA Publications, P.O. Box 2006, Grand
     GIFTS? That would serve two ends: 1) Avoid further         Rapids, MI 49501.    h  *  8  *  *
     increase in subscription rates. 2) Enable our Board to
     engage in increased witnessing via our magazine. May       Covenant Church, Wyckoff NJ. Somehow or other a
     I also urge, as I have so many times before, that YOU      couple of things went wrong with Covenant Prot.
     make it your personal business to gain new sub-            Ref. Church's attempt to advertise their bonds. That
                                                                this little and isolated congregation needs help with
     scribers and readers for our magazine? What have you       their building project, no one can doubt. One way of
     done lately???                                             helping is to respond to their appeal to purchase their
                          *  *  *  *  0                         bonds (see Dec. 15 issue). At least, write for their
     Apologies to Rev. Heys. There must have been some          Prospectus to find out whether you can help and
     gremlins at work at our typesetter's shop. In his          whether you  fit into their plans. Write to: Mr.
     report from "down under" (Dec. 15 issue) two               Clarence De Groot, 176 Prescott Ave., Prospect Park,
     paragraphs were transposed, with the result that Rev.      N.J. 07508. Phone: (201) 278-6791.
     Heys's report began with "But.  s .  ." If you were                             *  *  * * *
     confused, try starting the report with the first two       Reminder.  Questions for Question Box must be
     paragraphs of page 141, column one. Then go back to        signed - and not with a pseudonym. They will not be
     page 140. Sorry, Rev. Heys!                                published with your name, but they must be signed in
                          *  * *  *  *                          order to be accepted for publication and answer.



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198                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


EDITORIALS
Prof: H. C. Hoeksema





                                         A Historical Sphere
                                             of the Covenant?



  We promised to devote separate attention to the                 child that is baptized, you not only run completely
matter of the historical sphere of the covenant, an               stuck and run into insoluble problems, but you also
idea which was criticized by the Rev. J. Geertsema in             will end by making God a liar. The latter, of course,
Clarion, The Canadian Reformed Magazine, (Nov. 4,                 no one wants to do. But to avoid this you have to
1978),  pp. 489, ff. The Rev. Geertsema does not                  read the Baptism Form with some kind of mental
believe that there is such a thing. He writes:                    reservation or some kind of mental parenthetical
                                                                  insertion. The Kuyperians have to insert a "presup-
          And when Prof. Hoeksema comes with the idea of          position." The Heynsians and the Liberated have to
       a historic sphere of the covenant for the reprobate in     insert the idea that the promise is only an objective
       the church, then I say, "No, I cannot find this in
       Scripture."                                                bequest to all which is dependent upon the fulfill-
                                                                  ment of a condition. The difficulty for both is that
          I do not believe that the one child, being baptized,    the Baptism Form speaks of facts, realities. Take, for
       is "in the covenant," and that the other child being       example, that beautiful prayer of thanksgiving after
       baptized is only "in the sphere of the covenant," but      baptism: "Almighty God and merciful Father, we
       not "in the covenant" itself. I do not believe that
       God assures the one child in its baptism: "I make My       thank and praise Thee, that Thou hast forgiven us,
       covenant with you in Christ"; and that God says to         and our children, all our sins, through the blood of
       that other child in its baptism: "To you I give            thy beloved Son Jesus Christ,  and received us through
       nothing. For you your baptism is a fake baptism, an        thy Holy Spirit as members of thine only begotten
       empty form." Can God really do a thing like that? Is       Son, and adopted us to be thy children, and sealed
       baptism meant that way? Then we had better baptize         and confirmed the same unto us by holy
       adults who have the certainty that they belong to the      baptism. . . ." Notice the strong and factual language.
       elect, and not babies.                                     But the moment you try to understand that "us and
  Now I have already pointed out in the previous                  our children" in such a way that it includes  all
issue that Geertsema imputes to us something that we              children born of believing parents and  all  children
do not believe when he suggests that we teach that in             who are baptized, these words will choke in your
the case of reprobate children baptism is a fake                  throat because you know that they are not true. You
baptism and an empty form. Baptism is never fake,                 are compelled to insert something, such as  "pre-
and it is never an empty form. Neither, however, does             supposedly" or "conditionally." But as soon as you
baptism say anything individualistic, such as                     make the insertion, all reason for thanksgiving is
Geertsema suggests, to and concerning a given infant              gone. What this remark comes down to as far as my
when it is baptized, "I make.My covenant with you in              difference with the Rev. Geertsema is concerned is
Christ." One  simply does not find such language in               this: let him explain the Thanksgiving in our Baptism
our Baptism Form. If you try to apply the beautiful               Form  in such a way that it includes' reprobate
language of our Baptism Form to every individual                  children. I very boldly say in advance: he cannot do


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 199


so! And yet he wants to have God say in baptism to            86, ff., for a brief summation of this idea:
every baptized child, `"I make My covenant with you
in Christ."                                                      "Already before the Deluge there is always a
                                                              twofold seed in the spiritual sense: the seed of the
   But let us return to that question of a historical         woman and the seed of the serpent. And this twofold
sphere of the covenant.                                       people is also found in the line of two distinct
   First of all, let me point out that this historical        generations, that of Seth and that of Cain. It is not
sphere of the covenant is not limited to the reprobate        thus, that now for a time the Lord establishes His
in the church. Also the elect children, the children of       covenant with Seth's generations, in order then to
the promise, the seed, are born and grow up in that           return again to Cain. Nor is it thus, that God always
same historical sphere of the covenant. But there is          has His children in both generations, and calls them
this difference: the elect children, the seed, are in the     out of both lines. No, the generations of Seth'are the
covenant, while the reprobate are not. The reprobate          generations of God's people, while the generations of
children are born and grow up in the  sphere  of the          Cain are not included in God's covenant. This is so
covenant; but the promise, "I will be your God," is           strong that there can be no reasonable doubt but that
not for them. Instead, all that they experience in that       by the expression "sons of God" the Sethites are
historical sphere of the covenant functions, and that,        meant, while "the daughters of men" refers to
too, according to God's purpose, for their hardening          children from the generation of Cain.
and condemnation. The elect children are both in the
sphere of the covenant and `in the covenant; and. all            "Before the flood, therefore, the line of God's
that they experience in that sphere of the covenant           covenant runs in the continued generations from Seth
functions as a means of grace and for their conversion        to Noah. Indeed, even then not all who are out of
and their salvation.                                          Seth according to the flesh are God's people. There
                                                              are indeed many who fall away, and the line is
   In the second place, it is very evident from the           repeatedly pruned  and. narrowed down until only
paragraphs quoted above that the real objection of            eight souls can enter into the ark of salvation. But
the Rev. Geertsema is not to the idea of a historical         that does not change the fact that the line runs
sphere of the covenant, nor even to the idea of a             through in the generations of Seth even unto the
historical sphere of the covenant for the reprobate-is-       flood.
the church. No, the real objection is to the fact that
we do not include the reprobate in the covenant.                "After the flood it is no different. The line of
Geertsema wantsall children of believers, both elect          Shem is chosen by the Lord. In that line God
and reprobate, in the covenant. He wants to make              establishes His covenant. Of course, this may never be
them all heirs of the promise. He wants to maintain           understood as .if after the flood there was never any
that God in baptism says to all: "I make my covenant          child of God except in the line of the generations of
with you in Christ." In other words, he wants general         Shem. This is no more true than that all the fleshly
grace and a general promise in the sphere of the              children of Shem were spiritual children of God.
covenant. At the conclusion of his article he                 Things always develop organically. Also Japheth is
desperately tries to bring in election and reprobation;       out of Noah. And undoubtedly for a. time, next to
and in doing so,.he vainly tries to find support for his      the covenant generations of Shem there were also
view in the Canons of Dordrecht. But he corrupts the          other lines of children of God, especially from
Canons, and actually writes as though the FirstHead           Japheth. But only in Shem's generations does the line
is not First and is not followed by all the other heads       run through. In those generations is the main line.
of doctrine flowing from that First Head - on divine          With them God establishes His. covenant. Presently,
predestination. And he reminds me of a remark made            out of Shem comes Abraham; and out of Abraham is
by an old friend when the condition controversy was           Israel as the nation to'whom pertaineth the covenants
raging in our churches in the 1950s (thanks partly to         and the giving of the law. Out of Israel is Judah; and
the Liberated), "De genade komt achteraan  als een            out of Judah is David; and out of David's house is the
hinkende paard. (Grace lags on behind like a lame             Christ of God, the head of God's covenant. Through-
horse.)"                                                      out the Old Testament, therefore, the line of God's
   But, in the third place, there can be no doubt             covenant runs in generations, the continued genera-
about the reality, in the light of Scripture, of such a       tions of believers. From Adam to Christ is one
thing as the historical sphere of the covenant. That          unbroken line. Indeed, that line sometimes almost
historical sphere of the covenant coincides with the          disappears from view; but it is never broken.
historical  line  of the covenant, which is always the          "Neither is it true that this historical line is broken
line of generations. First of all, this is simply history,    at the dawn of the new dispensation, as Baptists of
recounted in  $cripture. Permit me to quote from              every description like to present it. Indeed, the
Herman Hoeksema's  Believers And Their Seed,  pp.             exalted Savior breaks the bonds of Israel's national


200                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



existence and gathers His church in the new                 and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations
dispensation out of all tribes and nations and tongues.     for an everlasting covenant. . . ." Notice already from
Nevertheless, it is simply history that also in the days    this text by itself that there is a distinction made
of the New Testament the line of continued                  between  seed  and  generations.  Those generations
generations is drawn through also among the nations.        include all the fleshly children of Abraham in the line
This accounts for it that also the preaching of the         of Isaac, all the physical descendants of Abraham in
gospel follows such a definite line, a line which may       the line of the covenant in the old dispensation. The
be readily traced on a world map. The course of the         "seed" is something different, however. We must not
gospel is from Jerusalem through Samaria to Antioch,        make the mistake of identifying the "seed" with the
presently through Asia Minor to Greece and Rome,            physical descendants of Abraham. And we have
from whence it spreads throughout Europe, and in            Scripture itself to teach us this. For in Galatians 3 :7-9
due course crosses the ocean with the generations of        we read: "Know ye therefore that they which are of
God's people to the Western Hemisphere. History is          faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the
never thus, that here and there a few believers are         scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the
called, that a few individuals enter into the church of     heathen through faith, preached before the gospel
Christ, called out of the darkness of heathendom, in        unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be
order then to disappear again from those regions. But       blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed
history is thus, that the church of Christ in the world     with faithful Abraham." Or combine the thoughts of
is established and in various definite places continues     Galatians 3: 16 and 29. In verse 16 we read: "Now to
to exist in generations. Fact is that even now every        Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He
particular church in the world establishes itself in the    saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one,
conviction that God will maintain His covenant even         And to thy seed, which is Christ." And in vs. 29 we
to a thousand generations. In that faith believers          read: "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's
come together. In that faith they join with one             seed, and heirs according to the promise." It is plain,
another. In that faith the church is visibly instituted     therefore, that the "seed" is the believers, those who
by them, and churches and schools are built by them.        are Christ's, that is, the elect. And the line in which
After all, they do all these things with an eye to the      that seed is continuously found is the line of the
future. If they were actually of the conviction that        generations of believers - generations which contain,
the Lord did not establish His covenant with believers      indeed, more than that elect seed, contain also
and `their seed, and that therefore a certain church        reprobate children, but in which indeed that elect
could simply end with the existing generation, they         seed, the heirs of the promise, are found.
would not act thus. But now it is different. The Lord
establishes His covenant and will perform the work of         It is that line of the generations of believers which
His grace in the line of the continued generations of       constitutes essentially the historical sphere of the
believers. Also in the new dispensation the line of the     covenant.
history of God's covenant runs through, even to a             But there are many facets  .which belong to this
thousand generations."                                      sphere. To it belongs, for example, training in a godly
 One could enlarge on this idea in connection               home and by believing parents. To it belongs the fact
especially with the history of the old dispensation.        that one comes under the preaching of the Word, the
Who does not recognize, for example, that the line          fact that one comes under the administration of the
ran through in the case of Abraham not with Ishmael         sacraments, the fact that one comes under  cate-
or the sons of Keturah, but with Isaac? Who'does not        chetical instruction, the fact that one comes under
recognize that in Isaac's case the line was continued       the exercise of Christian discipline, and a host of
with Jacob, not' with Esau? Who does not recognize          other, related, matters. Elect children of believers and
the significant difference between being a member of        reprobate children of believers are born, develop, live,
the nation of Israel and being an uncircumcised             grow up in that same sphere and under the same
Philistine, or a Moabite, or an Edomite?                    influences. In that sphere they share all things  -
  But. remember, secondly, that there is a clear            except grace. For the elect heirs of the promise all of
distinction between the "seed" and the generations in       the above function as a savour of life unto life, while
which that seed is brought forth and grows up.              for the reprobate, carnal children. all of the above
Scripture itself makes this distinction. I will not now     function as a savour of death unto death, and that,
refer to Romans 9, which has much, very much, to            too, according to God's purpose.
say on this subject. I will limit myself to one very          More, much more, could be said about this subject,
simple passage,. Genesis  17:7, where God says to           particularly about the reprobate in the sphere of the
Abraham, "I will establish my covenant between me           covenant. But let this suffice for the time being.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               201





                       A Falling Away of the Saints?


  In the same article by the Rev. Geertsema to which           I write this in the light of what the epistle to the
we have already referred, he seeks to pile up                Hebrews itself states concerning that "new cove-
arguments in favor of the position that the covenant         nant." We read in Hebrews 8 :8-12: "For finding fault
can be broken. In the course of his effort he attempts       with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the
what, surely, the writer to the Hebrews himself would        Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the
not have done, namely, in the course of a brief              house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not
paragraph "to bring the whole epistle to the Hebrews         according to the covenant that I made with their
to the readers' attention."                                  fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to
  But in the course of this brief paragraph he opens         lead them out of the  land  of Egypt; because they
himself to the accusation that he denies the persever-       continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them
ance of the saints.                                          not, saith the Lord. For  ,this is the covenant that I
                                                             will make with the house of Israel after those days,
  Now I realize that Geertsema will emphatically             saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind,
deny this, and that he will assert that he believes the      and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a
doctrine of perseverance taught in Canons V.                 God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall
But let the readerjudge.                                     not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his
  Rev. Geertsema writes: "This epistle especially            brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know
speaks about the new and eternal covenant of grace,          me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be
in which also the Hebrews share, being once for all          merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and
perfected by the sacrifice of Christ."                       their iniquities will I remember no more."
  However, in the same paragraph he writes: "It is             Now it is evident that "people of the new
evident that people of the new covenant can fall             covenant" are people in whose mind are God's laws,
away." And he adds: "If. this is not so, I cannot            in whose heart those laws are written; people to
understand the New Testament in its serious warnings         whom God is their God, people who know the Lord,
against apostasy and unfaithfulness."                        people to whose unrighteousness God is merciful,
  Now I call attention to the fact, first of all, that in    people whose sins and iniquities God will remember
the last'quoted sentence there is a typically Arminian       no more. All this is implied in the "new covenant."
argument. Arminians love, to argue from Scripture's
warnings against apostasy and unfaithfulness to the            In a word, people of the new covenant are saints.
possibility of apostasy and unfaithfulness, and thus           Of such people, and that, too, with reference to
falling away, on the part of the saints.                     Hebrews  10:25-end, Geertsema asserts that they can
  But, secondly, much more serious is the flat               fall away.
statement: "It is evident that people of the new
covenant can fall away."                                       Pure Arminianism !



     The STANDARD BEARER


  202                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


   TAKING.'HEED  TO THE DOCTRINE





                               The  Reformed Doctrine
                                        of Reprobation
                                                    Rev. David Engelsma





                  The Relationship between                     chaff serves the grain. The outstanding instance, and
               Reprobation and Election (cont.)                example, is Judas Iscariot. That devil betrayed Jesus
                                                               -
     One-important truth concerning the relationship of             a deed that plunged the traitor into perdition. This
  election and reprobation in the one decree of God            took place according to the eternal ordination of,God
must still be noted. Reprobation is not of equal               (Luke 22:21, 22; Acts 1:16; Acts 4:27, 28). By this,
  importance with election, does not stand on one line         the reprobate served to bring The Elect of God to the
  with election. Election is central and primary, where-       cross, so that He might there redeem all that the
  as reprobation is subservient and secondary. We              Father had given Him.                                  -.
  repudiate the charge often brought against the                    In light of this relationship of election and reproba-
  Reformed doctrine of double predestination, that it          tion, as revealed in Scripture, we must defend the
  give equal weight to election and to reprobation. Men        doctrine of reprobation against the attacks made on it
 express this charge by alleging that the defenders of         today from within the Reformed camp; and the vigor
  double predestination hold the "equal ultimacy" of           of our defense must be the ardor of our love for
  election and reprobation (which is not the same as           election.
  the "equal eternality" or "equal sovereignty" of
  election and reprobation).  '                                                  Reprobation Defended
                                                                    We consider four attacks on reprobation. The first
   In Scripture, election is prominent, outstandingly
  so. Election is on the foreground, and reprobation is        is so hoary with' age and has been so thoroughly
  the dark background that serves to make election             discredited that one is.tempted to ignore it. Yet, since
  stand out in bold relief. The all-important. truth is        it is part of the offensive against reprobation within
  God's gracious election of Jacob-Israel; wholly sub-         Reformed churches, it should be noted, if ever so
  servient is the just rejection of Esau. All the              briefly. It is the familiar charge, so dear to Roman
  Reformed creeds reflect this Biblical centrality of          Catholicism and Lutheranism (after Luther!), that the
  election.                                                    Reformed -doctrine of reprobation- is nothing but
                                                               "heathen fatalism," or "determinism." By this charge
     Reprobation serves election. It illustrates and           is meant both that reprobation makes God the
  recommends to believers the pure graciousness of             Author of sin and that reprobation destroys human
  election. The rejection of Esau shows the sovereign          responsibility and activity, preaching, baptizing, pray-
  grace of the choice of Jacob. The other thief  .on           ing, warning, repenting, and doing good works,
  Calvary serves to outline the sovereign mercy of God         because "if you are lost, you are lost." Indeed, those
  in the saving of the' pentitent thief. The perishing of      who make the charge like to leave the impression
  many around me according to a sovereign decree of            with the people that reprobation teaches that one
  reprobation drives home to me the utter grace of my          could desire salvation, but be turned away because he
   own salvation.                                              is a reprobate. It is the charge faced by the Canons of
  In history, the reprobate serve the elect, as the            Dordt in the Conclusion:


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                            203


    . . . some . . . have violated all truth, equity, and       regards reprobation, no one is ever refused salvation
    charity, in wishing to persuade the public "that the        who turns to God for mercy; not even the weakest
    doctrine of the Reformed churches concerning                member of the congregation - the smoking flax and
    predestination, and the points annexed to it, by its        the bruised reed  - who persists in the use of the
    own genius and necessary tendency, leads off the
    minds of men from all piety and religion; that it is an     means of grace should be alarmed at the mention of
  opiate administered by the flesh. and the devil, and          reprobation. Also, the reprobate go on in their sin,
    the stronghold of Satan, where he lies in wait for all;     deliberately and wickedly, so that their final con-
    and from which he wounds multitudes, and mortally           demnation is strictly on the basis of their own guilt.
    strikes through many with the darts both of despair            We have a question `for those who hurl against
    and security; that it makes God the author of sin,          reprobation the charge, "determinism": If an eternal
    unjust, tyrannical, hypocritical; that it is nothing        decree of rejection is determinism, is not an eternal
    more than interpolated (altered  - D.E.) Stoicism,
    Manicheism, Libertinism, Turcism; that it renders           decree of election also determinism? And if the
    men carnally secure, since they are persuaded by it         counsel of predestination is determinism, must not a
    that nothing can hinder the salvation of the elect, let     counsel of providence, by the same token, be
    them live as they please; and therefore, that they may      determinism? Is it not the ambition of those who are
    safely perpetrate every species of the most atrocious       crying, "determinism," that men, not God, shall
    crimes; and that, of the reprobate should even perform      control their own destiny in time and eternity?
    truly all the works of the saints, their obedience             Another attack  is- the profession of reprobation,
    would not in the least contribute to  their salvation;
    . . . that many children of the faithful are tom,           while viewing it only as God's act in history of
    guiltless, from their mothers' breasts, and tyrannically    punishing the wicked who stubbornly refuse the call
    plunged into hell; so that, neither baptism, nor the        of the gospel and impenitently disobey the law. "This
    prayers of the Church at their baptism, can at all          means that any doctrine of reprobation is illegitimate
    profit by them; and many other things of the same           by biblical standards  except that which biblical
    kind . . ."                                                 teaching sanctions:  that he who rejects God, God
The Canons repudiated this charge as a detestable               rejects" (James Daane, The Freedom of God, p. 200).
error: "which the Reformed Churches not only do                 Reprobation is the judgment of God upon the wicked
not acknowledge, but even detest with their whole               that is described in Romans 1. Not Romans 9, as the'
soul." They laid it in the grave, not merely by their           Reformed have always supposed, but Romans 1 is the
disavowal, but by their thorough, careful explanation           classic passage on reprobation. This is a denial of
of predestination in all its connections. Now G.C.              reprobation as an eternal decree.
Berkouwer exhumes the old allegation: the confes-                 There certainly is a dreadful judgment of God
sion that God gives faith to some and withholds faith           upon the wicked in time and history, because of their
from others according to His eternal decree "makes it           unbelief and disobedience. Reformed preaching must
impossible to distinguish predestination from fate              thunder this. Nor does the doctrine of reprobation as
(bet noodlot);" reprobation views "God as cause" of             an eternal decree in any way minimize this judgment,
unbelief  ("Vragen Rondom De  Belijdenis").   And               much less annul it; reprobation exactly declares God
Harry Boer, that he might come behind the calumnies             to be an awful avenger of sin. But this act of God in
of the Arminians in nothing, refers to reprobation as           history is not reprobation. Romans 9 teaches a
"so sinister and doomful a teaching," caricaturing it           rejection of Esau in hatred before he was born or had
as "a sovereign wrath that damns men to an existence            done good or evil; a hardening of certain men in time
of everlasting death without regard to any demerit on           and history according to a will that  preceded;  a
their part" ("Gravamen").                                       raising up of Pharaoh for the purpose of showing God's
  Against the charge of determinism, we maintain                power `in him; and a Divine fitting of some vessels
that predestination is not the fixed, blind fate of             unto destruction.
heathen philosophy that shuts men up to resignation.              We have a question for those who make reproba-
Rather, it is the wise, good, gracious, and righteous           tion God's rejection in time of those who reject Him:
will of the living God. God realizes  .His counsel of           Why does not God reject us all? Are we not all alike
predestination in such a way, although incompre-                totally depraved, incapable of believing and capable
hensible to us, that He establishes and ,maintains  the         only of rejecting? On the principle, "he who rejects
full responsibility of man and the significance of              God, God rejects," are we not shut up to the terrible
human history. "And truly the Son of man goeth, as              conclusion, "therefore, God rejects  all?" But Scrip-
it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom                ture reveals that some believe. and are accepted by
he is betrayed!" The place  and. importance of                  God, whereas others go on in the unbelief that is
preaching, baptizing, praying, repenting, believing,            common  to, human nature and are cast away. Why?
using the means of grace in the Church, and -doing              Why do some believe and find. grace, whereas others
good works are not jeopardized in the least. As                 do not? Scripture answers this question. Those who


204                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


believe do so because they were ordained to eternal         race distinguish themselves from others in believing,
life, i.e., they were elected (Acts 13:48). Those who       in not rejecting God? Is not their answer that God is
do not believe do not because they are not of Jesus'        wholly-dependent on the sinner, not only in rejecting,
sheep, i.e., they were reprobated (John 10:26). Must        but also in choosing?
not the answer of those who deny reprobation as an                             (to be continued)
eternal decree be that some members of the human

G U E S T   A R T I C L E





                              Ask for the Old Paths
                                                 Rev. R. G. Moore





  In this article, I would like to consider the truth as    unto judgment and damnation. It is then to this
given to us by our God in a particular text of              sounding forth of the Word of God that we now turn
Scripture. It is a Word of God that is especially           our attention. Thus saith Jehovah: stand in the way;
appropriate to consider in the days in which we are         ask for the old paths.
called to live: The text is Jeremiah 6: 16: "Thus saith       We have a glimpse of the occasion for the word of
the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for        our text if we read a portion of Jeremiah 1: 14ff.
the old paths, where is the good way, and walk              "Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the north an
therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they    evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the
said, We will not walk therein."                            land. . . . And I will utter my judgments against them
  This text is addressed to the children of God in the      touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me,
day of great apostasy; and it is addressed to the           and have burned incense unto other gods, and  wor-
church in a day of impending judgment. It was a day         shipped the works of their own hands." It is obvious
then to be likened with the day in which you and I          the occasion for our text is the impending captivity
live. The apostasy that runs rampant in our age is          of Judah as the judgment of God upon their wicked-
without measure, and has never been seen in this            ness. The judgment was severe, as it really was the
measure before. O! there has been great apostasy            end of Israel as a nation. God brought this judgment
before. In the old dispensation in Judah the apostasy       against Israel because of her wickedness and abomina-
was so great that God brought them into captivity.          tions. As we noted in the text quoted above, Israel
But then the church had been gathered through one           had forsaken God. They had left off serving Him;
line (Israel). The church was gathered organically          they turned away from serving God and turned from
from the Israelites; the other nations were heathen.        His Word. The result was that they followed their
And that particular people walked in such a way that        own craftiness and their own understanding. This
their apostasy was a type of the final apostasy that        resulted in further sin: they burn incense unto other
befalls the church in our day. Today the whole world        gods. -This is always the way of apostasy and sin.
has come under the influence of the gospel of Christ,       They served gods of their own making. This indeed is
and apostasy in our day is final. Many fall away, the       the way of natural man!
love of many wax cold! And also today it speaks of            When we come before that Word of God in natural
impending judgment of our Holy God.                         strength, the result is the same. The Word says it is
  It is in those days that Christ strongly admonishes       right and good to serve God, but by nature we say,
His church that they follow not the way of apostasy         No, it is right to serve our own need and will. The


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               205


       .

 Lord says it is right to sanctify the Lord's Day - that     same. They began  ,to worship Baal, they did not
 the day is to be set aside for the worship of God and       instruct their seed in the faith once delivered unto
 is to be used for our seeking Him for the hearing of        their fathers. They took the Word of God and
 His Word. But we would say, no! it is a day for our         counted it of none effect. They changed it wherever
 leisure. Oh, we might go to church for awhile or once       they willed and however it pleased them. This is
 in awhile, but basically the day is ours. It is for our     natural man! This is you and I by nature! Do not do
 ease; we. will use it to watch the football or hockey       this with God's Word, beloved!
 game on T.V. We will use that day for our pleasure.           It is for this reason too that we need to hear the
 and ease.           '                                       Word of our God. In this day of apostasy, in this day
   But understand, when one so" turns from  the              when judgment is `impending, we need to hear.
 commands of God, then it is necessary to change the         Jehovah tells us in this day as He told the church in
 Word of God. Man desires to have no longer a God            the day of Jeremiah, Stand. ye in the ways and see,
 that judges his activity, but rather a God of his own       and ask for the old paths, wherein is the good way.
 making, and reason. He no longer desires the God of         We are to stand in the way and ask for the old paths.
-Scripture. When the God of Scripture says to us that
 we are to walk before Him in such a way that the              What is that way, and what are the old paths? A
 covenant relation of God to His people is to be             way or a path is that which leads from one point to
 reflected in our relationship of.man to woman, then         another. That is evident. You know that figure well!
 by nature we say No! We walk in sin and say the             When you walk in a path it takes you somewhere.
 woman must be equal to man, she must have equal             When you are on a way it implies you have a goal.
 say, equal place in all things, her speech must be          The way includes always the end of the way, the goal.
 heard in the church. And then we depart and seek            And you are to stand in the way. In that, you are to
 after other gods! God will not condone such ungodly         strive to attain the end of the way. And understand,
 heresy and sin. The examples could be multiplied by         there are two different ways which one might trav-
 many. But so had Israel reasoned and sinned. They           erse. And there are only two! The one  path is,
 departed after other gods.                                  according to Christ, a broad way. It is a way easily
                                                             traversed for the flesh. It is a way that brings no
   Further, we read in Jeremiah  2:5ff: "Thus saith          ridicule in life. It never limits you, it is a way that
 the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in          causes the parent never to say to the child - you may
 me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked         not! It is a way that never keeps you from obtaining
 after vanity, and are become vain, Neither said they,       your hearts desire. It is a broad way and an easy way.
 where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land        But, Christ says that that broad way leads to
 of Egypt. . . ." The Word asks, has your God given          destruction!
 you the occasion for departing? Then lay your charge
 before God! God calls our attention to the fact that          There is another way  - it is a narrow way. That
 fie has not forsaken His ways. And it is not true that      narrow way is so narrow that it becomes very hard
 the people did not know. It is not true that the            for the flesh. It is a way that we do not like by
 people of Israel in their history did not see that the      nature. For if we walk that way by the grace of God,
 merciful God delivers from sin, and that God by grace       our activity is limited, our thoughts are limited, our
 alone led them from captivity, led them through the         friends are limited, our entertainment is restricted,
 wilderness; and brought them into the land of               our work is limited. We can not obtain the high wages
 Canaan, overflowing with milk and honey, a land that        of the union laborer, for instance, for we are re-
 typically looked forward and spoke of glory! He has         strained by God's grace from joining ourselves in an
 revealed mercy and grace.                                   ungodly union. That narrow way brings upon us
                                                             mockery, and ridicule from the ungodly. It is a hard
   But what is so is that they have forsaken to
 rehearse the history of that gracious and merciful          way for the flesh. But Christ says it is the way that
                                                             leads into the fellowship of our God.
work of God. They ceased to talk of God's judgment
 against the wicked. They did not want a God who               Our text concerns which way you will walk.
 judged - a God Who would destroy every man, woman,          However, it does not imply that you will make the
 and child in Canaan because they had filled their cup of    right decision naturally. Because if it were a question
 iniquity. Rather, they wanted a god who loved all           of our natural choice of waik, there is no question
 men. They despised the Word of God that spoke of            which way we would take. Don't be so foolish to
 an antithetical walk, a Word that demanded that             think that you would take the narrow way. You or I
 they have no part with the world. They filled their         would never do that. There is not one of us so holy!
 heart with a new word, one that taught that we must         No! if it were up to  us,  we know which way we
 infiltrate the world in order to make it like us. The       would go. Oh, I know that - too much I know that!
 result is very predictable, because it is always the        Is that not our confession?


206                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  But we have a strong and efficacious Word of God.               paths! Stand in the faithful creeds, and upon the
There is no condition here. But God says, "Stand ye'in            faithful translation of  th,e Scriptures (The King
the way and ask for the old paths." That is the                   James). which is tried and found to be true over the
command of our God! It is the powerful command df                 years by our fathers. Ask for the faithful preaching of
Christ to His church! Walk in those ways. By grace                the catechism, and of the Word. Ask for the faithful
that Word takes hold of the child of God. It over-                labors of elders and deacons. Thus saith Jehovah.
powers him. It gives him strength to fight the battle               Understand, ihis is not-my' word, but thus saith the
of faith.               -                                         Lord. God says this; itis His command. Oh, you may
  What more specifically are those ways? The cove-                say to yourself: that is just the Bible, 1 will not hear.
nant youth asks the question  ii Psalm  119:9 "How                But ybu cannot do that. Oh, you may think that you
shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed                 can, but you may not without sure judgment! You
thereto according to thy word." It is a question that             may not do this and walk asGod's faithful child.
tie all are concerned with, and its answer is our only              Christ's word comes with power. And it strikes the
comfort. The way? The old paths? That which leads                 child of God in his heart, and causes him to turn! The
into the blessed fellowship with our Father in                    Word says, stand in the ways. From II Cor. 1:24 it is
heaven? It is the path of God's Word! God gives us                evident that faith stands so. Faith'given His child by
His Word, and when we walk ifi the way, we walk in                God causes one to stand. in the way. And as God
His Word. It is the remembrance of God's way, of                  admonishes us to that faith, he nourishes it and
God's law, of His deliverance, whereby we have been               strengthens it, and we shall stand and ask for the old
delivered by the blood of Christ.                                 ways. Beloved, God teaches  US the means of grace
  We are to follow the  old. paths. But, today man                that so enable faith to stand. He does so in Eph.
wants everything new. And the church man wants                    6: 1 l-l 5. We shall stand with our loins girt about with
everything new. That is why he does;? follow the 61d              the truth, and with our feet shod with the Word of
paths any. longer. The sound preaching of the Word                God, having on. the breastplate of righteousness. God
must be replaced with something more appealing to                 admonishes the child of His grace to stand upon His
the masses, to the youth. A little story with a moral             Word and the righteousness ztlone in Christ,
slant will suffice. They say we want more participa-                And our text says, "and see. . .  ." Not to stand
tion in church service. We need longer liturgy.                   founded in the faith of our fathers, upon the Word of
Further, the old ways offend, say they, for according             God, is not to see. It is to dwell in darkness, and to
to the old way we close our church service to half of             lose all comfort of salvation. But standing by faith in
the congregation. It offends when women are not                   the ways of God we see, and taste the ljlessedness  of
able to vote or have offices in the church. We may                Father's felldwship in Christ Jesus our Lord. There is
not follow these ways, say they. And the doctrine of              peace, joy, and comfort.
the old ways makes divjsion. Much better to draft
new statements of faith that will not offend, but will              Thus the Spirit admonishes us to ask, to dig
rather bring together all. Thus the result is that there          deeply. The same admonition of our Lord comes to
is not rehearsed before the children the old paths.               us when He admonishes, "Seek ye first the kingdom
The way of salvation -through the blodd of the Lamb               of God and His righteousness." It refers to our whole
also is silent. That alone which can deliver from                 walk. May God  give us the grace to hear and obey.
bondage and bring into the land of rest becomes,                  Then we shall be satisfied with the old ways. The
dead. They sought new and exciting ways  - a new                  result is peace and salvation. There is rest for your
and exciting God. The church is filled with apostasy              soul. The reason is that in those ways is the blood of
and becomes dead!                                                 Christ, the cross, grace, the grace to walk in the
                                                                  fellowship of God! Surely, then, our desire shall be to
  Beloved,  .in that  day, in this  day, ask for the old          stand and to ask for the old ways and paths, to walk
ways, do not ask for the  new ways, ask for the old               therein.


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                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        2 0 7


     VOICE OF OUR FATH-ERS





                                          The Holy Supper of
                                        Our Lord Jesus Christ
                                                         PuoJ: Robert D. Decker




               "We believe and confess that our Savior Jesus Christ did  ordain and institute the sacrament of the holy
               supper, to nourish and support those whom he hath already regenerated, and incorporated-into his family,
               which is his church. Now those, who are regenerated, have in them-a twofold life, the one corporal and
               temporal, which they have from the first birth, and is common to all men: the other spiritual and heavenly,
               which is given them in their second birth, which is effected by the word of the gospel, in the communion of
               the body of Christ; and this life is. not common, but is peculiar to God's elect. In like manner God hath
               given us, for the support of the bodily  avd earthly life, earthly and common bread, which is subservient
               thereto, and is common to all men, even as life itself. But for the support of the spiritual and heavenly life,
               which believers have, he hath sent a living bread, which descended from heaven, namely, Jesus Christ, who
               nourishes and strengthens the spiritual life of  believeri, when they eat him, that is to say, when they apply
               and receive him by faith in the  spirit. Christ,  that he might represent unto us this spiritual and heavenly
               bread, hath instituted  an'earthly  and visible bread  lis a sacrament of his body, and wine as a sacrament of
               his blood, to testify by them unto us, that, as certainly as we receive and hold this sacrament in our hands,
               and eat and drink the  same. with our mouths, by which  Qur  life is afterwards nourished, we also do as
               certainly receive by faith (which is the hand and mouth of our  soul) the true body and blood of Christ our
               only Savior in our souls, for the support of our spiritual life: Now as it is certain and beyond all doubt, that
               Jesus Christ hath not enjoined to us the use of his sacraments in  vain, so he works in us all that he.
               represents to us by these holy signs, though the manner surpasses our understanding, and cannot be
               comprehended by us, as the operations of Holy Ghost are hidden and incomprehensible. In the meantime
               we err not, when we say, that what is eaten and dirunk by us is the proper and natural body, and the proper
               blood of Christ. But the manner of our partaking of the same, is not by the mouth, but  by the spirit
               through faith . .  ."
                                                                                       Article jotXV,  The Be&c Confession



      Because Christ instituted the Lord's Supper along                   of the believer's abiding within the fellowship of that
     with Baptism as the two sacraments for His church it                 covenant, his being nourished and sustained in God's
     follows that  our Confession, having discussed Bap-                  household. For this reason Baptism is administered
     tism, now speaks of the Lord's Supper. The two                       but once while the holy supper is celebrated
     sacraments are related as far as their  meaning and                  repeatedly. Still more, this is also the reason why
     significance are concerned. Baptism is first because it              Baptism  is administered to children in the line of the
     is the sign and seal of the believer's entrance into the             covenant, while confessing believers partake of the
     covenant of God,, into the spiritual. family of God.                 Lord's Supper. All this the  Confession emphasizes:
     The Lord's Supper follows, for it is the sign and seal               "We believe and confess, that our Sairior`Jexls  Christ


L


 208                                           THE STANDARD  BEAREd



 did ordain and institute the sacrament of the holy           heaven, namely, Jesus Christ, who nourishes and
 supper, to nourish and support those whom he hath            strengthens the spiritual life of believers, when they
 already regenerated, and incorporated into his family,       eat him, that is to say, when they apply and receive
 which is his church." The supper is instituted for           him by faith in the spirit."
 regenerated believers, those already incorporated into         To represent to the believer this spiritual and
 the family of God which is His church.                       heavenly bread, Christ Jesus, Christ has instituted an
    .While the  Confession  refrains from polemics and        earthly and visible bread as a sacrament of His body,
 presents the truth concerning the Lord's Supper              and wine as a sacrament of His blood. These the
 positively, it does, nevertheless, stand against the         believer must eat and drink with his mouth as the sign
 errors ,which have arisen in the church with regard to       and seal of his receiving Christ by faith, the "hand and
 this sacrament. Roman Catholicism teaches the actual         mouth of our soul." The elements, therefore, of the
 physical presence of our Lord's body and blood. This         Lord's Supper are signs and seals. These elements are
 according to Rome is accomplished by the miracle of          the bread and the wine which are the signs and seals
 transubstantiation at which time the elements of             of  .Christ's body and blood. This is literally the
 bread and wine are changed into the very body and            Scriptures : "And he (Christ) took bread, and gave
 blood of the Lord while their properties, appearance,        thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This
 texture, taste, etc. remain unchanged. Thus Christ is        is my body- which is given for you: this do in
 on the altar and sacrificed  in, an unbloody manner.         remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after
 This our Heidelberg Catechism rightly calls an               supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my
 "accursed idolatry." But from this it follows that the       blood, which is shed for you." (Luke  22:19, 20)
 grace imparted by the sacrament is received- auto-           Furthermore, belonging to the elements of the supper
 matically and that too by all who partake whether            are the breaking of the bread and the pouring out of
 they be believers or unbelievers. The error of               the wine, and the communion of the saints gathered
 Lutheranism which is called by the name,  consub-            about the table. These are signs because they point to
 stantiation, is somewhat more complicated. Briefly,          spiritual and invisible realities. The bread and wine
 Lutheranism teaches that the bread and wine are not          stand for the body and blood of our Lord. The
 literally changed into the body and blood of our             breaking of the bread points to the breaking of
 Lord, but the body and blood of Christ are "in, with,        Christ's body on the cross and the pouring out of the
 and under" the bread and wine. Principally this is no        wine to the shedding of His blood, Taken together,
 different from Roman Catholicism. Zwingli went to            therefore, the broken bread and poured out wine
 the opposite extreme and taught that the sacrament is        point to the vicarious and meritorious suffering and
 not really a means of grace, but merely a memorial           death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The gathering of
 meal. The church celebrates the Lord's Supper merely         the saints about the table points to the fellowship of
 to remember the Lord's death. There is no grace              the saints in the body of Christ. These elements are
 communicated to the  .believer through this celebra-         seals because they are visible pledges or guarantees of
 t i o n .                                                    God that He will actually give that which is signified.
    Overagainst these errors stands the teaching of the         As to the eating and drinking of the bread and the
 Word of God concerning the sacrament of the Lord's           wine the believer does not literally eat and drink the
- Supper. This teaching is beautifully set forth by the       body and blood of Christ. Some think the Confession
 Confession. The Confession begins its discussion by          teaches this when it says: "In the meantime we err
 speaking of the need of the sacrament. This need is          not, when"we say, that what is eaten and drunk by us
 spoken of from the point of view of the-two:fold life        is the proper and natural body, and the proper blood
 of the regenerated elect: There is the natural life. This    of Christ." We must not fail to note, however, that
 life is common to all men. It is received from the first     the  Confession  goes on to say: "But the manner of
 or natural birth and it is a life which is temporal and      our partaking of the same, is not by the mouth, but
 corporal. For the support of this "bodily and earthly        by the spirit through faith." The believer really eats
 life" God has given us "earthly and common bread,            and drinks the body and blood of Christ, but he does
 which is subservient thereto, and is common to all           so by faith which is "the hand and mouth of our
 men, even as life itself." The -regenerated also have a      soul." This means that by faith the believer lays hold
 spiritual life. This is the heavenly life which is given     on Christ and all the blessings of His cross and makes
 them in their second birth. This life is "effected by        them his own. This is accomplished by the operation
 the Word of the gospel, in the communion of the              of the Spirit in his heart and through the Word
 body of Christ, and this life is not common, but is          brought by the minister, which Word is the Word of
 peculiar to God's elect." For. the support of this           Christ Who is the host at this spiritual banquet. This
 spiritual and heavenly life whi.ch belongs to believers      operation of the Spirit "surpasses our understanding,
 God has sent "a living bread, which descended from           and cannot be comprehended by us, as the operations


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               209


 of the Holy Ghost are hidden and incomprehensible."        ungodly indeed receives the sacrament to his con-
   The blessings received by the believer through the       demnation, but he doth not receive the truth of the
Lord's Supper are many and rich. His spiritual life         sacrament. "
and faith are nourished and fed by these visible signs
and seals. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself Who is in             Proper self-examination is, therefore, necessary for
heaven comes to the believer and makes him partaker         the believer. The Scripture says: "But let a man
of Himself and all His blessings. The Corzfession  puts    examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and
it beautifully when it says: "Christ gives us there to      drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh
enjoy both himself, and the merits of his sufferings       unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to him-
and death, nourishing, strengthening and comforting        self, not discerning the Lord's body." (I Corinthians
our poor comfortless souls by the eating of his flesh,      11:28, 29) This self-examination must be to discover
quickening and refreshing them by the drinking of his      whether we are in the faith and walking in the right
blood."                                                    way of sanctification before the face of God. This
                                                           includes the knowledge of our sins and our sinful
   Finally, the  Confession  speaks of the proper          natures. The believer must know that by nature he is
partakers of this sacrament and of the necessity of        a sinner who is incapable of doing any good. He must
true self-examination. There is a two-fold operation       know whether he is truly sorry for these sins and
of the sacrament. The believer who partakes in faith       weaknesses and earnestly desirous to fight against
is blessed; he receives the grace of salvation and life    them and walk in the way of God's commandments.
through the means of the sacrament. The unbeliever         He must learn to seek his salvation outside of himself
is condemned, condemned the greater for having             in Christ Jesus. Thus in godly sorrow and in true
partaken. As the creed says: "Furthermore, though          repentance the believer humbly draws near to the
the sacraments are connected with the thing signified,     table of the Lord to be nourished up unto everlasting
nevertheless both are- not received by all men: the        `life.

THESTRENGTHOFYOUTH





                                            Truly Wise
                                             Rev. Ron Vatz Over-loop





  Do any of you remember the first question and            possession and enjoyment of the highest good. Psalm
answer of the Essentials catechism book?                   144: 15." The next question and answer tell us that
  The first question of Lesson One is, "What is above      the highest good is covenant-fellowship with the
all things precious?" The answer is, "The knowledge        ever-blessed God.
of the true God through Jesus Christ Whom. He has             (Did you look up John  17:3 and Psalm  144:15?
sent. John 17:3."                                          Do you see how they are proof?)
  A couple of months ago we wrote about how well              Do you know of other passages of the Word of
we know the Scriptures. There is a reason why it is so     God which also prove that a knowledge of God is
important that we have a good grasp of the                 necessary for salvation?
Scriptures. That reason is given in the second                Assuming to be true that to know of our salvation
question and answer of Lesson One. "Why is this            it is necessary for us to know. God, we ask, How can
knowledge so precious? Because it is necessary for the     one know God?


210                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



  We know God only because He has revealed                     They are of absolute authority. They and they
Himself to us. The Bible is God's revelation.               alone determine what is right and what is wrong, not
  We may then say that to know of our salvation it is       our imagination, nor our desires. They alone deter-
necessary for us to know God as He is revealed in the       mine what we must believe and how we must live.
Scriptures. This is proven by II Timothy 3: 15,             With Martin Luther we must hold to them alone.
". . . the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee       .They are sufficient. They give to us all we need to
wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ        know for belief and life. We need nothing more than
Jesus.`: The Scriptures are able to make you to know        what God has given to us in the Bible.
your salvation.                                                They interpret themselves. With a few, useful aids
                       *****                                such as a concordance and dictionary, we are able to
  Do you ever think about whether the Bible is true?        gain an understanding of the Scriptures.
Or whether God really is?                                                         * *  *  *  *
   Do you wonder whether you are a child of God?              What do we learn which makes us wise unto
Are you absolutely sure you are elect? Or  is it a          salvation through faith?
matter of little concern?                                      Briefly we learn: 1. God is a sovereign God Who
   If you do wonder and are not absolutely sure, then       created and upholds  -all things. 2. God is jealous of
the answer is simple: READ THE SCRIPTURES.                  His love and loves only those in Jesus Christ. They
Read them AGAIN. And AGAIN. And then do it                  alone are made happy. 3. Man deserves no blessing,
again. Do you think it is, sufficient to read the           for he is conceived in sin and of himself only daily
Scriptures only once a day? Remember: they are able         increases his guilt. 4. Jesus alone is the ground for
to make you wise unto salvation through faith which         salvation because He bore the curse due to us and
is in Christ Jesus.                                         satisfied God's justice. 5. Jesus Christ calls is to the
  The unbeliever is "ever learning and never able to        power of the gospel, raising us from spiritual death
come to the knowledge of the truth." (II Timothy            and giving us life by His Spirit. 6. He is coming again
3:7) But he who comes to the Scriptures with faith in       to make all things new and establish a kingdom of
Christ Jesus is made wise unto salvation.                   glory and joy.
                       *  8  4  * *                           The holy Scriptures teach us that we are saved by
  There is only one state and condition which is            grace alone. Therefore we must live in conformity
joyful, peaceful, and truly blessed and. happy. That is     with God's will. We mtist live at peace with God and
SALVATION. In it one is free from guilt. He enjoys          our neighbor within the law of love. The Scriptures
the blessedness of being right with God. He is already      teach obedience in the place of rebellion, honesty in
delivered from the power of sin. He receives the grace      place of the lie, holiness instead of lust, love rather
to repent.                                                  than hate.
  The way to this state is the holy Scriptures. In                                *  *  * *  *
Psalm  19:7 we read, "The law of the LORD is                  Do you doubt? Are you afraid you are not elect?
perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the            Theri do something about it! Read and study the
LORD is sure, making wise the simple." And in Psalm         holy Scriptures.
119:98 we find more proof: "Thou through thy                  Know them and believe them.
commandments hast made me  wi$er  than mine
enemies: for they are ever with me."                          .They are able. They have the power. The power is
                                                            activated by faith which is that gift of God by which
  The holy Scriptures have this power because "all          we believe.
scripture is given by inspiration of God." (II Timothy
3: 16)                                                        Therefore, read them again and again. Memorize a
                                                            verse every week. We all did that in Christian grade
  God moved and directed men so to write His Word           school because we had to do it. Now let us do it
that He alone is the author. The Almighty used a            becau?e we want to do it  -  because,we want to be
living, thinking, reasoning, knowing man to write.          wise.
The Only Wise One had each writer of the  holy
Scriptures born at a certain time and place, possessing       Do not think that through the more reading of the
specific gifts, equipped with a definite kind of            Bible salvation comes. Salvation is not brought about
education, undergoing specific experiences. The Holy        in a mechanical fashion. Without faith it is impossible
Spirit prepared each man and moved him to pen with          to please God.
his own style the exact words God desired.                    But. . ~. the knowledge unto salvation through faith
  Therefore the `holy. Scriptures are without error         is strengthened and assured by reading and studying
and contradiction.                                          the holy Scriptures. There is no way it can get into


                                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                       211


your heart except through your head.                                                             to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it."
                                    *  * *  *  8                                                 Amos 8:  11, 12.
    A world-wide problem in the Church today is the                                                Therefdre, "buy the truth and sell it not." Proverbs
appalling ignorance.                                                                             23:23.
    The demise of the Protestant Reformed Churches                                                 Jesus says, "Receive my instruction, and not silver;
(which I earnestly pray never will come) will come                                               and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom
because of a lack of knowledge of the holy                                                       is better than rubies; and all things that may be
Scriptures.                                                                                      desired are not to be compared to it." Proverbs 8: 10,
                                                                                                 11.
    "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:
because thou hast rejected knowledge, I  .will also                                                 "Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of
reject thee . . . seeing thou has forgotten the law of                                           the foolish is near destruction." Proverbs 10: 14.
thy God, I will also forget thy children." Hosea 4:6.                                              Are you wise?
    "Behold the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I                                              Do you want to be "wise  unto salvation through
will send a famine in the land . . . of hearing the                                              faith which is in Christ Jesus"? The holy Scriptures
words of the LORD: and they shall . . . run to and fro                                           are able to make thee wise.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE





                                                           Letter to Timothy



                                                              February 1, 1979                   work of deacons. These articles read:
Dear Timothy,                                                                                                  The deacons shall be chosen, approved, and
    We have finished our  fliscussion of the whole                                                      installed in the same manner as was stated concerning
question of women in the office of deacons, and must                                                    the elders. -Article 24.
now finish our discussion of this office which Christ                                                          The office peculiar to the deacons is diligently to
has instituted in the Church. It is not my purpose  to                                                  collect alms and other contributions of charity, and
d i s c u s s   t h e   o f f i c e   o f   d e a c o n s   f u l l y .   I f   y o u   a r e           after mutual counsel, faithfully and diligently to
interested in a much fuller discussion of the office, or                                                distribute the same to the poor as their needs may
if you wish to have your deacons study this office                                                      require it; to visit and comfort the distressed and to
more in detail, I recommend P. Y. De Jong's book,                                                       exercise care  that the alms are not misused; of which
"The Ministry of Mercy for Today." Our purpose is                                                       they shall render an account in consistory, and also
more limited: to  give  some of the more fundamental                                                    (if anyone desires to be present) to the congregation,
principles of the office  - as we have done in our                                                      at such a time as the consistory may see fit. -Article
discussions of the other offices.                                                                       25.
                                                                                                               In places where others are devoting themselves to
    Before we make some remarks about the principles                                                    the care of the poor, the deacons shall seek a mutual
of the office of deacons, it might be well to have                                                      understanding with them to the end that  the alms
before our minds what our Church Order and our                                                          may all  the better be distributed among those who
liturgical forms have to say about the office. Articles                                                 have the greatest need. Moreover, they shall make it
24-26 of the Church Order speak specifically of the                                                     possible for the poor to make use of institutions of


212                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



       mercy, and to that end they shall request the board              We need not repeat what we said already about the
       of directors of such institutions to keep in close             qualifications of deacons, the manner of their call,
       touch with them. It is also desirable that the                 the  origin of their office, and the relationship
       diaconates assist and consult one another, especially          between their office and the other special offices in
       in caring for the poor in such institutions. -Article          the Church.
       26.
  Concerning the meetings of deacons, the Church                        But it is evident from a consideration of all the
Order says :                                                          material which we find in these passages that the
                                                                      deacons also occupy an office of  authority in  the
              The deacons shall meet, wherever necessary, every       Church. They, along with the ministers  ,and elders,
       week to transact the business pertaining to their
       office, calling upon the Name of God; whereunto the            possess an authority with which they are clothed by
       ministers shall take good heed and if necessary they           Christ. Also with respect to the deacons, that
       shall be present. -Article 40.                                 authority is, first of all, the authority of the  office
  In the Form of Ordination of Elders and Deacons                     itself. Every office in the Church (indeed in all of life)
we read:                                                              is a position of authority. That is the nature of the
                                                                      office. But, in the second place, that authority which
              Concerning the deacons: of the origin and institu-      is so integral a part of their office is an authority of
       tion of their office we may read, Acts 6, where we             the Word of the Scriptures. Christ alone has authority
       find that the apostles themselves did in the beginning         in the Church. And that authority is exercised only
       serve the poor, "At whose feet was brought the price           through the Word of Christ which we find in the
       of the things that were sold: and distribution was             Scriptures. No man can exen-cise the authority of his
       made unto every man, according as he had need. But
       afterwards, when a murmuring arose, because the                office whatever it may be except he come with the
       widows of the Grecians were neglected in the -daily            Scriptures. Only when he speaks what the Scriptures
       ministrations," men were chosen (by the advice of              speak does he speak in the name of Christ and does
       the apostles) who should make the service of the poor          he exercise the authority of Christ. The authority of
       their peculiar business, to the end that the apostles          the office is inseparably connected with the authority
       might continually give themselves to prayer, and to            of the Word of the Scriptures which he brings.
       the ministry of the Word. And this has been
       continued from that time forward in the Church, as               There is an old prayer found in Reformed liturgy
       appears from Rom. 12, where tie apostle, speaking of.          which is the opening prayer for the meeting of
       this office, saith, "he that giveth, let him do it with        Deacons. It reads:
       simplicity."  An< I Cor.  12:28  speaking of helps, he                Bestow upon us also the grace we  need, not only
       means those, who are appointed in the Church to                    to relieve want by means of external gifts, but also to
       help and assist the poor and indigent in time of need.             instil the comfort of Thy Holy Word in hearts
              From which passage we may easily gather, what               afflicted with misery. Truly, man lives not by bread
       the deacon's office is, namely, that they in the first             alone, but by every word that proceeds out of Thy
       place collect and preserve with the greatest fidelity              mouth. We pray, therefore, that Thou wilt bless our
       and diligence, the alms and goods which are given to               niinistrations and wilt multiply the bread of the poor,
       the poor: yea, to do their utmost endeavors, that                  to the end that both they and we may have reasons to
       many good means be procured for the relief of the                  praise and thank Thee. -Quoted from The Ministry
       poor.                                                              of Mercy for Today.
          The second part of this office consists in distribu-
       tion, wherein are not only required discretion and               Yet, although the office of deacons is also the
       prudence to bestow the alms only on objects of                 office of the  Word,  the deacons are nevertheless
       charity, but also cheerfulness and simplicity to assist        called to bring that Word in connection with the
       the poor with compassion and hearty affection: as              peculiar work of their own office. To them is
       the apostle requires, Rom., chap. 12; and 2  Car.;             entrusted that noble and glorious task of the care of
       chap. 9. For which end it is very beneficial, that they        the poor within God's Church. And in connection
       do not only administer relief to the poor and indigent         with that work they must bring the Word.
       with external gifts, but also with comfortable words             It ought to be remembered by us that it is
       from Scripture.                                                important to recognize the blessedness which belongs
  In the exhortation addressed to deacons, the                        to the Church because of the presence of the poor.
following is said:                                                    We so often have a misconception of this. There are
              And, ye deacons, be diligent in collecting the alms,    churches which give thanks to God that they have no
       prudent and cheerful in the distribution of the same:          poor. Apparently the idea of such thanks is that,
       assist the oppressed, provide for the true widows and          God's blessing rests especially upon a congregation
       orphans, show liberality unto all men, but especially          where none are poor. This is a sad mistake and
       to the household of faith.                                     exactly the opposite of the true nature of things.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                213



Christ informed the disciples at the time when Mary         come to a family which is, at the moment, in need,
anointed His feet: "The poor ye shall always have           but which is in need because this family fails to live as
with you." This must not be interpreted to be               good stewards of God's gifts, they may perhaps help
nothing more than some kind of accurate prophecy;           in the immediate need, but they may not admonish
it is rather a promise which the Lord makes. He says:       the family concerning its calling. If there are families
"I personally will see to it that there are always poor     which are not paying their budget, they may perhaps
in the Church." And this can only mean that Christ          inquire concerning whether this failure to pay the
considers it most essential that, for the welfare and       budget is  because  the family is in need, but if they
spiritual blessedness of the Church, there be always        find that this is not the case, they must keep their
poor in her midst. Without the presence of the poor         mouths shut about anything else, and simply go on
the church lacks something essential to her full life as    their way.
a congregation of Jesus Christ. Without the poor              We must not take such a narrow view of the office.
there are blessings which Christ gives His Church           There may be, in all these cases, specific work for the
which that congregation does not receive. If a              elders or the minister, but the fact remains that the
congregation is to live a full life as the Church of        deacons must bring the Word of God wherever they
Christ and receive all the blessings of Christ it is        have the calling to do this.
essential that she also have poor in her midst.               It is from this point of view that the office of
  It is in connection with this work of caring for the      deacons is somewhat more broad than we often
poor that the deacons must bring the Word of God.           conceive of it. In connection with the ministry of
The ministers bring that Word in the preaching and          mercy, the deacons have a broader calling to visit the
the administration of the sacraments. The elders bring      widows and orphans not only, but to play a larger
that Word in connection with the rule and discipline        role in the ministry of mercy to the sick and afflicted.
of the Church. The deacons bring that Word in               There is no question about it that this must always be
connection with the care of the needy.                      a work in connection with the specific needs of alms
  It stands to reason that there is then going to be a      which the people of God have; but, if I may use the
certain overlapping of the work between the offices.        term, the deacons who are faithful in their office, are
We talked about this last time in connection with the       much more aggressive than we often think.
whole question of deaconesses, but it is well to              I hope all these things help in an understanding of
emphasize this once again. There are periodically           the offices in the Church. It is important that we hold
questions which arise in connection with the work of        fast to these things in these days when the offices are
the deacons concerning this matter. Some have said          being relegated to the dustheaps of history. Just
that the work of deacons ought to be so sharply             because Christ rules in the Church and does all the
circumscribed that they are limited exclusively to          work in the Church, we must hold to those offices
bringing alms to the poor and reading (and perhaps          through which Christ is pleased to work. And only
explaining) a pertinent passage of Scripture. If they in    then will the blessing of Christ continue to rest upon
any way go beyond this they are trespassing on the          His Church.
office of their fellow elders and ministers. Thus, if
they come to a widow who has no immediate needs,                                       Fraternally in Christ,
they may do nothing but bid her farewell. If they                                      H. Hanko



                                          Book Review

ALL TRUTH IS GOD'S TRUTH, by Arthur F. Holmes;              basic principles of all knowledge, the validity of
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1977; 145 pp.,              inductive and deductive reasoning, and many related
$3.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                 subjects. His whole thesis is firmly rooted in the
                                                            contention that there is, in God, an objective stan-
  This book is really a kind of introduction to a           dard for all truth, and his last chapter is a strong
Christian course in logic and epistemology. The main        statement on the relevance for truth in all areas of life
thesis of the book is that truth is always God's truth      - especially in the fields of education and the arts.
no matter where it is found. In demonstration of this       For all these reasons, the book is well worth reading,
thesis the author examines the whole question of            and, in fact, ought to be must-reading for logic and
knowing, the relation between knowing and faith, the        philosophy students.


 214                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


   There are, however, points at which we disagree           has come to know that leaf better yet. If he then
with the author; and these disagreements are by no           examines the relationship in which that leaf, say of an
means peripheral. They really go to the heart of a           oak tree, stands in relationships to the leaves of maple
Christian theory of knowledge. There are especially          trees, cherry trees, pine trees, etc., he has again added
three areas of disagreement which ought to be men-           to his knowledge of that leaf. But even then he can
tioned. and briefly discussed.                               increase his knowledge by investigating the relation-
   The first point of disagreement lies in the author's      ship between that leaf and other plants in the king-
firm commitment to common grace. He makes the                dom of plants, the relation between that leaf as a part
matter of common grace a central thesis of his theory        of the tree and the inorganic soil, the relation be-
of knowing. And this has serious consequences for his        tween that leaf and the animal kingdom and man
entire view. Common grace teaches that the unregen-          himself. And even here, he can learn to know that
erated man is still capable of much good. As applied         leaf better if, e.g., he examines all the uses to which
to the theory of knowing, the result is that both from       that leaf can be put: as shade from the sun, as
a formal and from a material point of view, man's            compost when it falls to the ground, etc. And so we
ability to know is not seriously impaired by sin.            could go on.
   From this follow several conclusions which Holmes            But all these relationships are merely formal rela-
develops. In the first place, the cultural mandate is        tionships. They are important for knowing that leaf;
still in force not only, but even fallen man is capable      but they are nevertheless formal relationships which
of fulfilling that mandate in some measure. In the           any person can discover whether he be regenerated or
second place, there is a great deal of truth to be found     unregenerated. Ungodly men can know all these
in almost every place. Such truth can be found in            things and write very learned books about them
pagan philosophy and worldly culture: "we find frag-         which can be used for textbooks in a school.
ments and degrees of truth in all sorts of surprising           But there is one other relationship in which that
places" (p. 51); and thus it is not necessary to be re-      leaf stands which is the most important of all. In fact,
generated in order to develop the truth. There  .is a        it is really true that no full and true knowledge of
problem here, of course, and we shall return to it in        that leaf is possible without understanding the rela-
a moment. In the third place, the theory of common           tionship in which that leaf stands to  God.  For the
grace makes it possible to teach that man, even after        lack of a better name, we can call this the material
the fall, retained some elements of the image of God.        relationship in distinction from the formal. But this is
And the result of this is, according to Holmes, that         fundamental. Nothing can be truly understood apart
some error is not necessarily due to sin but only to         from this most basic relation of all. And this is the
human limitation; that it is this retention of some of       most basic relation because that leaf is, in a most
the image which is responsible for man's ability to          basic sense, a Word of God which stands in rela-
produce good; and Holmes seems to say that even              tionship to all other creatures as other Words of God
knowledgeable refusal of the truth is not necessarily        and to God Himself Who spoke that Word and
a matter of the will:' "His difficulty has more to do        formed that leaf.
with his limited access to evidence and arguments
than with moral turpitude or willful rebellion against         Now it is here that the central problem arises. For
God." (p. 52).                                               this relation is exactly the one denied by unregener-
                                                             ate man. Do not be mistaken about this. Even
  There is a point here which Holmes does not take           unregenerate man cannot ignore this material rela-
into account. And this brings me to the second point         tionship of the leaf. But because he hates God, he will
of criticism of his book. It is a generally recognized       not admit that that leaf stands in relation to God.
fact that man is able to  kszow anything only as it          And so he invents other gods who are his own
stands in relation to other things. And the more one         inventions. And he attempts to explain that leaf in its
understands the relationship in which one given thing        most basic relationship by imaginations of his own
stands to other things, the more one understands the         sinful heart. Perhaps he makes evolutionary processes
thing itself. Take, e.g., a leaf of a tree.  .One  cannat    his god to explain this relation. Whatever the case
know that leaf isolated from all other creatures in the      may be, it is precisely here that the spiritual question
creation. Any knowledge which he could conceivably           enters in. Sinful man not only does not admit the
acquire of that leaf would have no meaning at all. He        relationship between that leaf and God, but he
knows that leaf only in its relationship to all other        canrzot do this, for he is depraved and opposed to
things. If, e.g., he knows the constituent parts of that     God with the whole of his nature.
leaf and the chemical processes whereby that leaf              Now the result of  this is that he really cannot
manufactures sugar, he has. gained some knowledge of         know anything at all in any true sense of the word.
that leaf. If, further, he knows the relationship in         His refusal to confess God in relation to that leaf so
which that leaf stands to the branch on which it             vitiates his whole knowledge of that leaf that he has
hangs and the tree as a whole of which it is a part, he      only a certain formal knowledge of it which is not


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                               215


really of any significance. And it is not of any              would be only fact. The fact is, e.g., that there is no
significance because he uses all his formal knowledge         place in the whole world where one  finds the  so-
which he acquires to sin against God and to build a           called geological column of which evolutionists make
kingdom from which he can, in his judgment, banish            so much and which they palm off as proved fact.
God. Thus, at bottom, his knowledge is, after all, the          But whatever the case may be, just as soon as you
lie.                                                         have made this distinction - and this brings me to the
   We must make a further distinction here which is          third point  - you have introduced a moral and
of some importance. The question is asked (if-1 may           spiritual dimension into the discussion. And then you
be permitted to get at the matter in this rather             have to talk about faith.
left-handed way) in connection with Christian in-               Although Holmes talks about the relation between
struction in a Christian School: how is it possible to       faith and knowing, his' discussion is altogether in-
teach, e.g., mathematics from a distinctively Christian      adequate. He admits that faith has an intellectual
point of view? Teachers readily see that history, the        aspect, but then almost makes faith synonymous with
natural sciences, the social sciences, etc., can be          historical faith. And for the rest, he speaks only of
taught from a distinctive Christian perspective. But         faith as trust. (p. 71ff.) But this will not do.
they have difficulty with a subject like mathematics
- or  logic.dWell,  this is understandable, for mathe-          Faith is, above all, the living bond of fellowship
matics is not like other subjects. Mathematics is not,       and friendship between the elect and Christ. It is by
in itself, a subject which has to do, as such, with          faith that the life of Christ is imparted to God's
God's creation. It is what may perhaps be called, a          people. But this very life of Christ is also the
helper subject. It is a subject which  .deals not with       destruction of sin's power and the spiritual power of
specific  things  in God's creation, but  .with the          a new life by which one lives in relation to God. It is,
relationships  between these things. There is no value       therefore, the power whereby all man's opposition to
or purpose in mathematics itself, taken by itself.           God is destroyed and man is made spiritually able to
(Other than perhaps its being some kind of mental            confess God as -He has revealed Himself in Scripture.
discipline.) Its purpose and value is in helping to          Thus it is only by faith that one receives the material
understand one aspect of the relationships in which          relationship in which all things stand to God. And all
various parts of the creation exist. So mathematics          this is revealed only in God's infallibly inspired Word.
belongs to the  formal  aspect of knowledge  - to            1 But when one has this faith, then one has also that
formal relationships.                                        true knowledge which gives meaning and content to
   Now because all these things are part of the              all other merely formal knowledge. It is after all
formal relationships which exist among creatures, the        according to Scripture, by  faith  that we  understan;
ungodly are able to discover them. And from a formal         (not merely believe in the sense of trust) that the
point of view they.are correct. And because they are         worlds were framed by the Word of God so that
correct, the child of God is able to make use of them        things which are seen were not made from. things
also even though they have been discovered by                which do'appear.
unbelieving men.                                             j  .This faith needs not empirical or rational proof in
  But two things must be remembered. The one is              the accepted meaning of those terms. This faith is the
that this discovery of formal relationships between          power to put  us  in fellowship with God through
things does not require regeneration  - or common            Christ. And this faith needs no more proof  ,for the
grace. One does not have to be curbed in his sin in any-     existence of God than I need to prove the existence
way to discover these facts. The simple fact that, even      Of my wife when she is sitting at my side and I have
after the fall, man remains man is sufficient to enable      my arm around her. The fact that we are talking
him to know all these formal relationships. The              together is proof of her existence which transcends
second point to remember is that, because sinful man         any other proof. The fact of our love, daily experi-
will always introduce the wrong material relationship        enced, is proof which nothing can alter. So is faith. It
(because he is a rebel of God) the Christian will have       is itself proof of God as that faith receives the Holy
to be very careful, when he takes the formal facts as        Scriptures as God's Word and brings us into God's
his own, both to sift out all the wickedness which the       fellowship.
unbeliever has integrated with these facts, and to put       i But this is the possession of the child of God alone.
these facts into the true perspective-of Scripture. And      Also in this area, the antithesis is complete and total.
this requires no little skill of a spiritual kind. We may    Also in the area of knowledge there is no common
find an illustration of this in the field of geology.        ground between believer and unbeliever. Also here
When a believer reads a book on geology which is             Christ can have no `concord with Belial, nor light with
written by an unbeliever he will find that, because the      darkness. If a true Christian theory of knowledge is to
unbeliever is a man addicted to evolution,.this evolu-       be developed, these are the truths which. have to be
tionism has distorted oftentimes what ordinarily             r.$aintained.

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





                                -.--e

216                                           THE STANDARD BEARER




                                      REPORT  0F:CLASSIS EAST

                                                 January 10, 19 79
                                           Southwest I&ot. Rex Church



  Classis East met in regular session on  January 10,'           with the disapproval of  Classis on the following
1979 at Southwest  Chu&h.  All the churches  -were               grounds: 1) Article 7 of this constitution treats the
represented by two delegates. Representing for the,              appointment and tenure of faculty and not eligibility
first time their respective churches of Faith and                for call, and 2) Change to present policy should be.
Southwest were Revs. Bruinsma and De Vries. Also!                made by overture to Synod to alter its decision of
in attendance were Revs. Lubbers and Veldman. Rev.'              1962, Article 261.
Van  Overloop led in opening devotions,  Rev.!                     Hope presented a request for permission to contact
Woudenberg chaired the meeting.                                  the churches in  Classis for help, in the form of
  The minutes of the previous session were  heard!               collections, for the financial support of Mr. and Mrs.
the appointment of the necessary committees was                  Andrew Young of Christchurch, New Zealand. Mr.
made, and reports from the Stated Clerk and                      Young will be attending our seminary next fall, and
delegates  ad examina  were given.                          !    since the United States Immigration and Naturaliza-
  Southeast requested classical appointments. The                tion Service does not allow foreign students or their
following schedule was adopted: January 28  1                    wives to work, Mr. and Mrs. Young  .will need our
Joostens, February 4  - De Vries, February 18  i                 financial support. This request was  granted~ and a
Bruinsma, February 25  - Van  Baren, March 11  +                 request to Synod of 1979 to make a similar appeal to
Van Overloop, March 25 - Woudenberg, April 1 -+                  the churches in Classis West was approved.
Bruinsma, April 8 - De Vries, April 22 - Van Bar-en;               Classis busied itself for some time with voting
April 29 - Joostens, May 6 - Van Overloop.                  /    matters. Revs. Van  Overloop  and De Vries were
  Classis was also asked to turn its attention once              elected to serve three-year terms as  primus  ad
again to the organization of a congregation in                   secundus delegates ad examina. Revs. Van Baren and
Skowhegan, Maine. These brethren once more  apj                  C. Hanko were chosen as church visitors with Rev.
pealed for our help and expressed sorrow over  not               Veldman as alternate. The following were chosen as
hearing from the committee appointed by the May                  delegates to Synod of 1979:  Ministers  -  Primi: C.
Classis to which they had given an invitation to visit           Hanko, M. Joostens, G. Van Baren, R. Van Overloop;
them.  Classis decided: 1) That its previous decision            Secundi: W. Bruinsma, A. den Hartog, M. De Vries, J.
not to organize a congregation there would stand and             Heys;.  Elders  -  Primi:  J. Buiter, C. Doezema, J.
2) That an apology be made to these people for the               Huisken, G. Pipe;  Secundi:  H. Boer, K. Bylsma, E.
failure of our committee to communicate with them.!              Miedema, G. Van Overloop.
  Several matters were brought by local consistoriesl              The Finance Committee reported expenses of
Faith presented an overture to the Synod of 1979:                $404.98. 1980 subsidy requests from Kalamazoo for
asking for the revision of Article 7 of the  Constitui           $9000.00 and from Covenant for $8000.00 were
tion of the Theological School. Faith proposed that              approved and forwarded to Synod.
this article be changed to read that lifetime tenure be            After the questions of Article 41 of the Church
given to seminary faculty after four years thus,/                Order were asked, and answered,  Classis adjourned.
allowing a faculty member to consider a call from one            The next meeting will be held on May 9, 1979 at
of our churches after six years (A 2-year waiting                Faith Church.
period was established by the Synod of 1962, Art.:
26 1) rather than waiting nine years as presently is the                                Respectfully submitted,
case. This overture was forwarded to Synod of 1979                                      Jon J. Huisken, Stated Clerk


