                The
  ~ STANDARD
  ~  BEA#?ER
f- A  RiiFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                                                                    z





       This sonnet was first written by the late  Rev.  Herman Hoeksema  for the Anniversary Issue of Beacon Lights in
       1950. Then it was published in the Silver Anniversary Booklet of the Protestant Reformed Churches. It is still
       appropriate at the occasion of our  chxqches' Golden Anniversary.





                                                                   Volume LI, Number 11, March 1, 1975-


242                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


ANNIVERSARY MEDITATION

                             Great, Is Thy Faithfulness
                                                 Piofi H. C. Hoeksema
                It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are ndt consumed, because his compassions fail not.
              They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
                                                                                 - Lamentations 3 :22,23

  Father in heaven, we as a communion of churches                 That wonder we, with Thy people throughout the
are privileged to commemorate fifty years of                   ages, have beheld many times. We have beheld it in
existence.                                                     reality. And as surely as we represent the church of
  As we do so, 0 Covenant God, we are moved by                 our Lord Jesus Christ, as surely as we are of the party
the testimony of Thy Spirit in our hearts to join with         of the living God, as surely as we are marked as Thy
Thy servant Jeremiah, with the despised and                    church according to its distinguishing marks of the
persecuted and mourning remnant in captivity, with             preaching of Thy Word, and the right administration
Thy church and people throughout the ages, and to              of the sacraments and of Christian discipline  - so
confess before Thy face, "Great is thy faithfulness!"          surely, 0 Lord, we have ourselves experienced this
                                                               very wonder in our own fifty years of existence as
  When we contemplate these fifty years, then we               Protestant Reformed Churches. And at this occasion
can find a thousand reasons to humble ourselves. We
can discover unnumbered reasons why we should                  of our anniversary, we contemplate it with awe!
have been consumed. We can recount numerous                       Jeremiah beheld that wonder, and he speaks here
occasions when we would have been consumed.                    not for mere men, not for any nation whatsoever. He
                                                               speaks for himself and for the remnant of Judah in
 Yet here we are!                                              captivity, for the church of the old dispensation. We
 : And that` we are here fifty years after our                 contemplate that wonder, and we understand that the
beginning, that we may still be the very same                  burning bush is the church: the church organically, as
cjhurches that we were fifty years ago, that as                the gathering of believers; the church institutionally,
representing the cause of Thy Son, of Thy truth, of            with its ministry of the Word and sacraments; the
Thy covenant, we have survived to this very moment             church from the viewpoint of its members, the
- that we are not consumed is not because of                   individual believers. And concretely, we understand
ourselves. It is of Thy mercies. It is because Thy             that we and our children, our churches and their
compassions fail not. Great is Thy faithfulness!               ministry of the Word and sacraments, our churches
  Above all else, it is this that impresses us deeply.         organically as manifestations of the gathering of
                                                               believers and their seed - we represent that bush, or
  And it is this that we desire to confess before Thy          rather, that burning bush represents us. This we
face.                                                          firmly believe, 0 Lord, with all our heart! By Thy
  Thine be all the glory!                                      grace we are Thy church!
                          *****                                   And we are not consumed!
 : 0 Lord, when we contemplate our history of fifty               Come, ye people of God, and contemplate this fact
years, then we behold the very same wonder that was            with me: and then confess it before the face of our
before the eyes of Thy prophet Jeremiah. With our              Covenant God!
own eyes we see the same wonder that Thy church
throughout the ages has beheld again and again. We                To what does this being not consumed refer? It is
view - only now in reality rather than in a figure -           not to be understood in a natural sense. It does not
the wonder which Moses beheld when he approached               mean that as people, as men, for various reasons, such
the mount of God.                                              as war or famine or tribulation or death, God's people
   The wonder of the burning bush!                             are no more in the world. God wills that His people
                                                               shall be in the world as long as the world is; and all
   A thorn-bush Moses beheld: a thing of no                    the assaults of the world, the enemy, the devil and his
significance, a shrub of the desert easily consumed by         host, cannot destroy the people of God in that sense.
the fire, completely helpless over against the fire. One       For that same reason, this confession, as we take it
would expect that bush, burning fiercely, to be                upon our lips, cannot have reference to our mere
consumed in a moment and to be no more. Yet it                 outward, natural existence as Protestant Reformed
kept burning, and it was not consumed.                         Churches. That in itself, however necessary it may be,


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 243


 is not important. And for that same reason the mere          ourselves we would be swallowed up by the enemy -
 fact `that a denomination known as the Protestant            the enemy from within and the enemy round about
 Reformed Churches, a mere handful of small and               us. Besides, we always make ourselves unworthy of
 struggling congregations scattered from ocean to             being called Thy people and Thy church: for we have
 ocean and going unnoticed among the masses of                only a small beginning of the new obedience. Time
humanity and the imposing ecclesiastical                      and again we showed ourselves, also during those fifty
 organizations of our times, has succeeded in existing        years, to be unfaithful, worthy not of Thy favor and
for fifty years - that is not the point, and that is not      Thy preserving mercies, but worthy only of Thy
reason for celebration.                                ,I     fierce wrath. For sin dwells within us. Indeed, we are
   No, the reference is to being not consumed in a           redeemed and forgiven, and also delivered; but sin
spiritual  sense. To be consumed means to be                 remains in us. Sin remains in us individually; and sin
 destroyed spiritually, and thus to lose our spiritual       remains in the church in the midst of this world. Sin
identity. For old Judah to be consumed would mean            remains not only in the form of the carnal seed that is
that God would completely extinguish them as a               always present among us; but sin remains in all of us
separate nation, as the people of God, and would let         who are Thy children. And - we confess it - sin as
them be swallowed up by the nations of the world.            such must needs bring the fire of Thy wrath. One sin
For the church of the New Testament day, and                 is sufficient to consume us. Moreover, from the very
therefore for us as churches, to be consumed would           beginning of our history there were enemies round
mean that the Lord would take the light from the             about us, seeking to destroy us. They deprived us of a
candlestick, would take His Spirit and grace out of          name and a place and an office in the church. They
our  :midst, so that we would become world, or               persecuted us and deprived us of even a place to
worldly church, false church  - the object of His            worship Thee. They scorned and mocked and
consuming wrath! It would mean that we would no              ridiculed. They said, "Let them alone; they will soon
more proclaim His Word, no more love and stand for           wither and die." Soon there were enemies who arose
and fight for the truth, no more adhere to the faith of      from within, from among our own familiar friends.
our fathers according to our Reformed creeds, no             Ecclesiastical Quislings they were, who sought to
more adhere to and defend the blessed truth that             destroy us from within, who strove to turn us from
God's grace is always particular, no more glory in the       the faith of our fathers, to lead us into paths of error.
wonderful gospel of God's everlasting and                    They plotted, they threatened, they cajoled, they
unconditional covenant of friendship, no more stress         misled multitudes. 0 God, Thou knowest what fierce
the calling of God's people to be in the world but not       storms came upon us as churches through all those
of the world. We would have lost our spiritual               fifty years! Thou knowest how the enemy did all in
identity as the manifestation of the church of Jesus         his power to seek our destruction. Yea, and Thou
Christ, lost all that makes our being Protestant             knowest how unworthy and how weak we proved
Reformed and having existed as such for fifty years          ourselves to be. Thou knowest how often we were
significant. Moreover, for the individual believer,          inclined to trust not in Thee, but in an arm of flesh.
memlber of the church of Jesus Christ, to be                 Thou knowest what lukewarmness, what indifference,
consumed would mean that he falls from grace, that           what disobedience to the truth, what carnal lusts
the new life in him is snuffed out, that he forfeits all     frequently characterized us. And Thou knowest  -
the blessings of salvation, and that ultimately he is        and we confess - that all these are but proofs of the
consumed in everlasting desolation.                          general truth that it is the ever-operating tendency of
                                                             sin to draw us away from Thee, the living God, to
  But we are not consumed. . . .                             offend Thee - so that as far as we are concerned, in
  We might have been consumed.                               ourselves, we cannot exist and must needs have
  Nay, we surely would have been consumed! How               perished long ago!
does Psalm 124 put it? "If it had not been the Lord            But we are not consumed!
who was on our side, when men rose up against us:              Still we are! Still the light is on the candlestick!
Then, they had swallowed us up quick, when their             Still God's covenant is with us and our children! StiIl
wrath was kindled against us: Then the waters had            we are the people of the living God! Still we stand as
overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:           a citadel of the truth in a day of great and
Then the proud waters had gone over our soul."               ever-increasing apostasy! Still the sweet sounds of the
  This we confess, 0 God of our fathers. As far as we        gospel of sovereign grace are heard from our pulpits.
are concerned, we could not for a moment continue            Still we may have faithful ministers and elders and
to exist. Were it not for Thy mercy, we would surely         deacons who love Zion and Zion's God. Still we have
have  `been consumed long ago. For we have no                a seminary where Thy Word is taught and where
strength to endure and to resist the enemy. In               faithful ministers are trained. Still a clear and


  244                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


  unequivocal witness may be sent forth from our             deeds of Thy mercy. They are new every morning!
  churches. Still the seed of Thy covenant may be            Thou watchest over us, and there is never a deed done
  instructed and trained in Thy fear.                        by Thee to us that is not a deed of mercy and that
   i Indeed, we are not consumed!                            does not have for its result that we are not consumed.
                         *****                                  Thy mercies, 0 Jehovah, are too numerous to
                                                             recount !
   It is of Thy mercies, 0 Jehovah!                                                   *****
    That Judah was not consumed in Babylon, that the            And why?
  church throughout the ages was not consumed in
  its darkest hours, that we as congregations, as a           i Is the reason in us? God forbid!
  communion of churches, as individual believers are            Thy compassions, 0 Jehovah, fail not. The source
  not consumed - all this is of Jehovah's mercies!           of these mercies is only in Thee, the unfailing,
    That is the only explanation. We are not worthy          overflowing Fountain of mercy! The source is in Thy
  that we still are; neither are we stronger than the        love toward us, a love that is free and sovereign and
  enemies in ourselves. But the mercies of Jehovah,          infinitely great, the love wherewith Thou hast loved
  wonderful deeds of mercy, always have saved and            us from eternity! It is that love that bums toward us
  always do save the church in the midst of the              as compassion as long as we are in the world, as long
  enemies.                                                   as we are in the present misery.
   : Thy mercy, 0 Lord, how wonderful! Thou art the             It never fails!
  merciful God in Thyself, Who eternally willest                It never ends. Nothing can extinguish it. For it is
  Thyself as the infinitely blessed God. And Thou art        Thine! And because it is Thine, it is independent,
  merciful unto Thy people, willing to make them             eternal, unchangeable. Never is there a moment when
  blessed as Thou art blessed, willing to deliver them       this fire of compassion does not burn and glow in
  out of their misery and into the highest possible bliss    Thy divine heart.
  of Thy everlasting tabernacle.                                And in this unfailing compassion is the source of
   And Thy mercy is revealed in a multitude of               all the mercies. No matter what betides, no matter
  mercies, concrete acts of mercy which we experience.       how the enemy raves, no matter how great the
  The mercy of forgiveness, the mercy of deliverance,        danger, no matter how hot the fire, no matter how
  the mercy of preservation, the mercy of restoration,       weak and undeoendable we are, no matter how great
  the mercy of consolation, the mercy- of hope in the        and numerous and scarlet our sins, no matter that
  midst of despair, the mercy of strength in moments         "we sometimes through weakness fall into sin," the
. of faintness, the mercy of encouragement at times of       burning compassion of Thy love protects us till we
  discouragement - all these, and many more mercies          shall be saved to the uttermost!
  Thou hast shown us. And all these multiplied by the           Great is Thy faithfulness!
  numerous occasions in our history when we would              True to Thyself and to all Thy divine perfections
  otherwise have been consumed!                              art Thou, 0 Jehovah. True to Thine own Triune
    Mercies revealed centrally in our Lord Jesus Christ      covenant life art Thou. True to the sworn oath of
  we have experienced. For that He came, Thy only            Thy promise art Thou. And therefore stable and
  begotten Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh was pure     dependable is Thy Word to Thy people. True and
  mercy. That He died, that He was cast into the             faithful art Thou, as Thou hast revealed Thyself in our
  crucible of Thy wrath, that He was not consumed,           Lord Jesus Christ, and that in spite of all our
  but raised from the dead - this was the revelation of      unfaithfulness.. Thanks be unto Thee, our
  yjure, sovereign mercy! And that we are in Him by a        unfaithfulness can never affect nor change Thy
  living faith, this, too, is pure mercy, 0 God. And         faithfulness.
  from this central deed of Thy mercy flow all the             Great, infinitely great,  unsearchably great, 0
  other mercies which we have experienced. Through           Jehovah, is Thy faithfulness!
  our Lord Jesus Christ all Thy dealings with us are           Amen, so let it be!


                                    Know the standard and follow it.

                                    Read the STANDARD BEARER!


                                                                     .


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  245


EDITORIALS

                                                    ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema

                   Thoughts  Qn, Our Golden Anniversary (1)

                   Act Of Agreement                                              the furnishing of information and advice to others,
    Whereas the Synod of 1924,  assetibled  in                            ..     outside of our own congregations.
 Kalamazoo, Mich., adopted three pointS  of doctrine                                d. That whatever  shall be decided by said
 which, according to our most sacred conviction, are         ,*.                 combined Consistories by a majority vote shall be
 in direct conflict with our Reformed Cogfessidns and                            considered f=m and binding.
 principles;                                                                    The above Act of Agreement marked the official
  2. Whereas, by the actions of Classis G&d Rapids                        beginning of the Protestant Reformed Churches in a
 East and Classis Grand Rapids West, we are denied                        positive sense. At that time their organization was
 the right to discuss and interpret said three points of                  provisional, pending their appeal to the Synod of
 doctrine of said Synod;                                                  1926; and therefore, too, they organized as Protesting
    3. Whereas, by the actions of said Classes, the                       Christian Reformed Churches. But the appeal was
 pastors, elders and deacons of Kalamazoo I, Hope and                     denied, not unexpectedly; and then the provisional
 E&ern Avenue, together with their congregations are                      organization became permanent.
 actually expelled from the fellowship of the Christian
 Reformed Churches;                                                             Now it is fifty years later.
    4. Whereas it follows necessarily from the action                           Most likely our leaders at that occasion fifty years
 o$ said Classes, that said office-bearers and their                      ago did not attempt to dream what the fifty years of
 c?ngregations cannot simply submit themselves to the                     the future would hold for the churches then being
 action of said Classes until such time as Synod shall                    provisionally organized. Undoubtedly they were too
 have considered their appeal, which they made in a                       preoccupied with the affairs of the moment to think
 le&l way to Synod, but were forced by circutistances                     of much more than the immediate needs of the
 to continue to function in thejr respective dffices as                   people of God under their care. And I dare say that if
 pastors, elders and deacons of their respective
 congregations;                                                     .' it had been possible for them to envisage the trials and
                                                                          tribulations which the future held for them and their
   : 5'. Whereas -they are informed and know                              churches, they might have been smitten with at least
 positively, that hundreds of our people otitsicie of our
 oyn congregations share our convictions and with us                      a moment of hesitancy. From that point of view, it
 cannot acquiesce in the actions of Classes and Synod,                    can only be good that we are not able to peer into the
 neither from a doctrinal. nor from a Church-political                    future and discern coming events: for there would be
 viewpoint;                                                               many times that we would hesitate, lose courage, and
                                                                          even cringe with fear.
    6. Whereas the above mentioned matters .concern
 us as appealing churches in common, and demand our                             But we may now look back upon those fifty years.
 cooperation and united action;                                           There are still some individuals among us, though
                                                                          only a few, who lived through those fifty years as
   :Therefore, be it resolved by the Combined
 Consistories of Kalamazoo I, Hope and Eastern                            adults and who even had an active part in the events
 Avenue, assembled March 6, 1925 in the `Eastern                          which transpired. There are also some of our churches
 Aienue Church:                                                           who were part of the denomination for all of those
                                                                          fifty years. But all of us, young people and old,
   `a. That we adopt as our common basis the Three
 Forms of Unity and the Church Order  : of the                            young churches and older congregations, are heirs of
 Reformed Churches;                                                       the heritage which, though in reality much older, has
                                                                          come to us as a distinctively  Protestant Reformed
   ; b. That at the same time we stand on the b&is  of                    heritage through these fifty years.
 otir appeal and intend to address our appeal to the
 Synod of 1926;                                                                 And let me emphasize that this heritage, the
    c: That we unite as Consistories for the following                    heritage of sovereign, particular grace and of God's
 purposes: (1) To unitedly bring odr appeal from the                      everlasting, faithful  co.venant.  of friendship, as well as
 actions of Classes Grand Rapids East and Weit to the                     the heritage of our antithetical calling, is the
 Synod of 1926. (2) To'decide on such matters'as have                     Reformed  heritage, the heritage of our Creeds, the
 reference to the interests of our congregations in                       heritage of the faith once delivered to the saints.
 coinmon; (3) To decide in all matters that pertain to                    About this there can be no doubt!


246                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


  Let us celebrate this with rejoicing!                                     revived us as churches, and in many respects our
  Let our pulpits remind us of it and inspire us to                         churches are prospering as never before. There is an
celebrate. Let us celebrate it all year long  - in our                      attitude of temperate optimism. There is dedication.
worship services, in our families, at the various special                   There is zeal for the cause. There is hope for the
events and programs which are being planned for this                        future.
anniversary year. Let this entire year be a year of                           There is abundant reason for joyful celebration, for
celebration.                                                                a year of jubilee!
   Undoubtedly many of you can remember with me                               But let us not rejoice in men. Let us not rejoice in
the Silver Anniversary of our denomination. Then                            ourselves and in what we have accomplished.
there was not much inclination to celebrate. There
was somewhat of an air of pessimism with respect to                           Let us take care that all our rejoicing ends in the
the very existence of our churches. And there was                           Lord our God, of Whom, and through Whom, and
suspicion, because one did not always know who was                          unto Whom are all things! To Him be the glory
friend and who was foe in our churches. Today the                           forever!
situation is much different. Not only have we                                 That is my first anniversary wish for our Protestant
survived that crisis of the 1950s; but the Lord has                         Reformed Churches.

                   A Significant Overture On Student Aid (2)

 ! In our first editorial concerning the overture from                      local congregation. And the various authorities on the
the Council of Hope Church, Grand Rapids, we paid                           Church Order of Dordrecht all make the point that
attention to the historical background of financial aid                     this work may be taken care of by the local church as
to students for the ministry in Reformed churches.                          well as by a broader assembly. But this is by no
We found that the idea of such aid by the churches                          means the same as saying that it belongs in the sphere
preceded the provision of such aid out of state funds.                      of diaconal work.
In fact, from their earliest beginnings as a communion                      As To The Principle
of churches the Reformed churches in the
Netherlands took the position that it was the duty of                         But history alone may not be the determinative
the churches to make it possible for `worthy young                          factor with regard to this overture. History is a
men to prepare for the ministry. True, we found that                        weighty factor, but by itself not determinative. If the
soon after their establishment the Dutch churches fell                      principle of Hope's overture is correct, then it must be
into the error of accepting government support in this                      adopted regardless of historical practice. Hence, we
regard. But we pointed out, too, that student aid was                       must pay careful attention to the principle of this
not the lone victim of such support. The support of                         overture.
both active and retired ministers also came from the                          What is that principle?
state in that era of alliance between church and state
in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, we found that the                           We may let the overture speak for itself. The Hope
history of student aid does not support the suggestion                      Council asks synod to "inform the Churches that this
o;f  t h e   H o p e   O v e r t u r e   t h a t   p r e s e n t - d a y    work belongs  properly  to the labors of the  local
denominational  provision of student aid is to be                           diaconate. " (italics added)
traced to the former practice of  government                                  Pay careful attention to this point.
provision. Nor did we find any historical evidence                            The point is not that this work belongs properly to
that after 1834 and 1892 the churches of the                                the local  congregation.  I would agree with this,
Secession and the Doleantie simply fell unthinkingly                        provided I might add that the local congregations are
into the practice of providing student aid on a                             also at liberty to perform this work in common. That
broader level than that of the local congregation. Nor                      is exactly the present status of matters. We must
did we find any evidence that at any time in the                            beware that we do not put the  denomination  over
history of the Reformed churches they ever took the                         against the local congregation. This is hierarchical and
position that the financial support of students for the                     collegialistic thinking. The denomination is the local
ministry is peculiarly the work of the deacons, that is,                    congregations in voluntary federation; and when the
belongs in the sphere of the care of the poor, the                          denomination acts, this is the churches-in-common
work of benevolence. There is, indeed, abundant                             acting. Moreover, as living in voluntary federation,
evidence that the churches  allowed  this work to be                        the churches freely agree to accomplish certain work
accomplished on various levels - that of the general                        at the classical level and certain work at the broadest
synod, the particular synod, the classis, and even the                      level, that of synod. This is simply in the nature of


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                247


 our, presbyterian-synodical form of church                  is the care of the  poor,  and that, too, precisely in
 government. But this is not the point of the Hope           their capacity as poor  - not in their capacity as
 overture.                                                   aspiring ministers, teachers, doctors, dentists,
   The Hope overture specifically wants synod to             mechanics, blacksmiths, or what have you. To limit
 assign student aid to the labors of the local diaconate,    aid. to students for the ministry only would be
that is, to the work of Christian mercy and to the           discriminatory, therefore. But I doubt very much
 care of the poor.                                           whether our churches would be prepared to accept
                                                             this consequence.
   Let us note the implications of this principle. For
they are important:                                             Such are the implications.
   1. This overture would put our students in the               And it is properly the duty of the Hope Council to
general class of the poor and indigent in the church of      furnish proof in favor of the principle that student
Christ, that is, in the class of those who are unable to     aid is the rightful work of the local diaconate.
support themselves and who are therefore the                    However, I look in vain for any proof of the above
recipients of the mercies of Christ. But students for        principle in this overture. I can  find arguments in
the `ministry are not  unable  to support themselves.        favor of student aid being left to the local
They have voluntarily put themselves in a position in        congregations. All authorities on church polity
which they cannot be full-time wage-earners and in           readily grant that this is allowable, including our own
                                                                  ~._"_
which their expenses are greater than their income.          Rev. Ophoff and Prof. Hanko. None of them,
   2.4 This overture would make all the students who         however, says that this is  mandatory.  Nor does the
are members of a given congregation (even if they            Hope Council quote any authority to show that it is
have, transferred because of school attendance) the          specifically the work of the  deacons.  Now this is
sole, responsibility  of the deacons of that                 significant. For if student aid is truly the work of the
congregation. It makes no difference whether there           deacons, then it follows inexorably that it is not
are  :two or fifteen students. They are the sole             merely allowable, but  mandatory  that the local
resp:onsibility  of the local diaconate. And I               congregation has the responsibility. Deacons' work
emphasize: sole. Whatever may be claimed about               may not be done by classis or synod.
other diaconates assisting, this does not enter the            Still more, in its chief argument of principle the
picture. All diaconates or no diaconates might offer         Hope overture begs the question. This is point III-A:
assistance; the students would remain the                    "In the Church of Jesus Christ, Christ has appointed
responsibility only of their local deacons.                  the office of deacon to give money to those who need
  3.  ! This overture does not only imply  financial         it. Therefore the giving of money belongs there - in
support; it includes students among those to whom            the office of deacon. . . . If the sheep have a need, no
the deacons must also go (for possibly seven years)          matter what the need may be, the care of that need is
and speak "comfortable words from Scripture."                provided by Christ through the offices in the
                                                             individual congregations. The deacons have the
  4. No discrimination in aid on the basis of                unique calling of dispensing the mercies of Christ.
schoiastic  ability would be permissible. The students       This includes the monetary aid given to students."
would be helped in their capacity as  poor and               The entire position of this paragraph is too general, in
indighzt,   not in their capacity as students. Deacons       the first place. It certainly is not correct that the
could not say, "We will help you provided you                monetary needs of all are the province of the
maintain a `B' average." Such matters are outside            deacons. The monetary needs of the  poor and
the domain of deacons; they may only inquire                 indigent are the proper domain of the deacons. And,
whether someone is honestly poor.                            secondly, it is exactly the statement that the
  5. No repayment of aid could be required, as is            dispensing of the mercies of Christ "includes the
now  ,done under some circumstances. Our churches            monetary aid given to students" that is in need of
now have the rule that should a student decline to           proof. But it is left unproved. A janitor, an organist,
enter the ministry after graduation, or should he drop       a minister, a minister emeritus  - these all have
out of school, aid must be repaid. But benevolence is        monetary needs. Their care, however, is not the
a gift, and repayment cannot be required.                    province of the deacons, but of the consistory. Their
                                                             support comes not from the Benevolent Fund, but
  6. I It could properly be argued that such aid could       from the General Fund.
not be limited to students for the ministry, but
should be granted to those who are preparing for any           Synod would be justified, therefore, in rejecting
other profession or trade and who have difficulty            this overture for failure to furnish the necessary
meeting their educational and living expenses while in       grounds.
school. For remember that if this is deacons' work, it         But I am interested in the positive principle of this


248                                              THESTANDARD BEARER


matter of student aid. For this is important.                 work of the deacons the Church Order is completely
   That principle is that it is the calling of the church     silent about the care of students.
to, preach the Word. And to this sacred obligation to            Principally, therefore, it is as much the duty of the
preach the Word belongs the duty prescribed in                churches to support students in their needs as it is the
Article 19 of the Church Order: "The `churches shall          duty of the churches to support active ministers and
exert themselves, as far as necessary, that there may         ministers emeriti. And none of these is the specific
be students supported by them to be trained for the           work of the deacons.
ministry of the Word." In other words, to this calling        As To The Practice
to preach the Word belongs the duty of furnishing
ministers of the Word, and therefore, students to be             On this subject I may be brief. I have already
trained for the ministry. And included in this is the         pointed out that this could be done locally and
support of such students. The duty prescribed in              individually by the congregations. It may also be
Article 19, therefore, is not a duty included under the       done by the churches in common (completely in
office of deacon, but under the office of the ministry        harmony with the nature of denominational unity),
of the Word.                                                  and then the administration of this aid is most
                                                              efficiently accomplished by a synodically appointed
  ,In complete harmony with our Heidelberg                    committee.
Catechism is this principle of our Church Order. In
explaining the Fourth Commandment the Catechism                  In addition, I may point out:
says: "First, that the ministry of the gospel and the            1. There is nothing to prohibit the giving of gifts
schools be maintained. . . ." And this duty, included         to our students, either by individuals or churches. But
under the Fourth Commandment, is clearly distinct             even if churches do this, this is not  diaconal work.
from another duty mentioned in the same answer,               These would only be gifts of love and esteem.
". . . and contribute to the relief of the,poor. . . ."       Moreover, if this is done, care should be taken to
 This is very well put by Rev. Ophoff in one of the           guard against partiality and inequality.
paragraphs quoted by the Hope overture: "In the                  2. There is nothing in the Church Order to prevent
words of the Form, the church was given the special           a congregation from assuming sole responsibility for
prerogative that to her were entrusted the oracles of         the financial support of its own sons who study for
God. It follows therefore. that the church has a divine       the ministry. This would not free. a congregation,
mission to proclaim the Word of God. The church,              however, from the obligation to contribute to the
then, performs the task of proclaiming the Word               common fund of the churches. Nor may a
through the special office as its organ. Hence, the           congregation bind such a student to its service upon
obligation to advance what is in direct connection            graduation: this would be contrary to the regulations
with this task, so I wrote, the responsibility to.see to      of the Church Order with respect to calls.
the `pastors and teachers,' rests solely and squarely on         3. Our present system works very well and is fair
the church. The church is in duty bound to recruit            to all. Nor is it stingy, as is sometimes alleged. All
fr)om its ranks, God-fearing and capable youths and to        things considered, I think our students are treated
prepare them for the gospel ministry. And the church          rather well. In addition to monetary aid which some
certainly is in duty bound to supply: its recruits in         receive, do not forget that all of their education in
training with the means of living if they came without        our school is free. Using the tuition rates in our
means and could not train unless supported." Not a            Catalog, we may figure that a student over a period of
word does all this say about the office of deacon.            seven years' pre-seminary and seminary training
0,phoff is writing here about the office of the               receives more than $6000 worth of free education.
ministry as implying and including the duty                      4. Our students should be well supported in their
prescribed in Article 19 of the Church Order.                 need. This does not mean we should be reckless in
 j This is also the position of Monsma and Van Dellen         handing out aid. This should be done judiciously and
in their commentary: "The purpose of Article 19 is            to worthy students. And this is the purpose of our
not to help needy students, but rather to help the            rules.
Churches. Article 19 is a provision against a                    And if I may put in a "plug" for our students - for
dangerous and detrimental dearth of Ministers."               I am on their side, even if they might not always
 : And the Church Order itself supports my                    think so!  - our students generally show themselves
contention. Article 19 is not found in the context of         worthy of our support and are appreciative of that
the office of deacon, but very definitely in the              support. Remember them in your prayers and with
context of the office of minister. It is not until            your support!
Article 22 that the Church Order speaks of the office            But let us abide by our present system and by a
of elder. And it is not until Article 24 that it speaks of    sound principle of church polity. Improve the system
the deacons. And in the articles which speak of the           if need be, but don't scrap it.


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 249


QUESTION  B O X

                                        As, To Luke 6: 33
                                                    ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema

 Question                                                           sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
                                                                    But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend,
    At the time of my lecture at Calvin Seminary, I                 hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be
 received the following question from a listener: "How              great, and you shall be children of the highest, for he
 do you.reconcile Luke 6:33 which tells that sinners do             is kind to the unthankful and evil. Be ye therefore
 good  to them that do good to them with the view                   merciful, as your Father is also merciful."
 that the non-elect can not do any kind of good?"                      Now does the text teach that the ungodly
                                                                    reprobate actually do good? Let it be a relative good,
 Reply                                                              a lesser sort of good; but a good that is thankworthy,
                                                                    a good that meets a measure of our Lord's approval?
   First of all, I must emphasize, as I have so often
 done before, that you must never quote `a single text                 The very contrary is true. The text plainly states
 from Scripture all by itself: then you can make                   that sinners "do good to those who do good to
 Scripture "prove" almost anything you please. We                  them." They do not do good to  all their fellowmen,
 must always quote and explain a given text in its                 but only to those to whom it is personally profitable
 immediate context as well as in the light of `the                 for them. Is this good? Relatively good? Does our
 "current teaching" of Scripture.                                  Lord- recommend it? Of course not! Our Lord
                                                                   disapproves it and emphatically warns against it.
   Secondly, therefore, let us get the immediate                   Why? Because it is pure selfishness and self-seeking.
 context before us: "But woe unto you that are rich!
 for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you               Such men do not even do good in the so-called natural
                                                                   sense of the word, not even in a "humanistic" sense.
 that iare full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that            They do not seek to "help their fellow man." They seek
 laugh! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you
 when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their            themselves and please themselves. In this same sense
 fathers to the false prophets. But I say unto you                 the natural man "loves" those who "love" him. In the
                                                                   same sense they lend to those from whom they
 whicih hear, Love your enemies, do good to them
 which hate you. Bless them which curse you, and                   receive again. And their desperately evil character
                                                                   becomes evident in the fact that these are those who
pray, for them which despitefully use you. And unto
 him that smites thee on the one cheek, offer also the             hate, curse, despitefully use, and smite God's people.
 other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not                 This was, of course, one of the passages quoted by
 to take away thy coat also. Give to every man that                the Synod of 1924 in support of Point III. One can
 asketh of thee; and of him that taketh thy goods ask              only conclude that the Synod (or its committee) was
them not again. And as ye would that men should do                 desperate when they clung to such straws as this for
to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love                proof.
them that love you, what thank have ye? for sinners                   Nor, by the way, does it take any kind of grace to
 also love those that love them. And if ye do good to,             do this kind of "good." The whole world is full of
them that do good to you, what thank have ye? for                  this. "You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours.
sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them              That way we'll both benefit." This only requires the
 of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for               discernment of natural light.



                                             STUDENT AID INFORMATION
                                     Students who have been accepted by The Protestant Reformed
                              Theological School Board and are in need of financial support should
                              contact Mr.  Thebdore  Engelsma, 2333 Clyde Park, S.W., Grand Rapids,
                              Ml 49509, Telephone CH 54706, or, Mr. Gerrit Pipe, 1463 Ardmore,
                              SE., Grand Rapids, Ml 49507, Telephone CH 56145.


250                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



L'ENTEN  MEDITATION

                                 Christ's Cross Foreordained
                                                    Rev. M. Schipper
                "`Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
              taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. "                              Acts 2123
  In this season of Lent, when the church perhaps                Though we may not be able to answer all the
more than at any other time centers her attention on          questions that enter into the working out of this
the suffering and death of her Saviour as it culminates       relation, it is nevertheless abundantly clear from the
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should              text that such a relation exists. It should also be
understand clearly that Christ's death on the cross           clearly understood that in this relation man never
was not accidental.                                           stands independently free, though he does what he
  Though it is true that the enemies: of Christ had           desires willingly. The relation between God's
not planned that Christ. should be done away with in          sovereignty and man's responsibility is not a
such an open manner - for they had in mind to kill            coordinate relation. God remains supreme, and the
Him secretly - it must not be concluded that because          first cause, while man remains subordinate to and
things got out of hand, and by dint of circumstances          dependent on Him. This in no way makes God the
Christ accidentally was brought to the cross. Such a          author of sin, the very thought of which is
conclusion would be farthest from the truth.                  blasphemy. When man sins he does not do so because
                                                              God makes him sin; rather, he sins because he wills
  I What is true is the fact that God  over.ruled the         to. And God uses his sinful acts to accomplish His
thoughts and actions of wicked men to realize His             eternal purpose. Man is responsible because he always
purpose. That purpose was that the Saviour of His             remains the conscious and willing subject of his
people must die the accursed death of the cross in            deeds. Not for a moment does he feel compelled by
their stead. So must we understand that the cross of          an outward force that urges him to act against his
Christ was foreordained.                                      will. Never is there a conflict between the choice of
  Peter, in his Pentecostal sermon, makes this truth          his will and, the act which he performs. He is the
plain to his audience. After he had shown clearly that        author of his sinful acts. And just because this is true,
the events occurring on the day of Pentecost were the         he is also subject to the righteous judgment of God
fulfillment of the prophetic Scriptures, he turns to          for all his crimes.
charge his audience with the dastardly deed of doing             This certainly is implied in the charge which the
away with Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God            apostle makes, when he informs his audience that
among them by mighty works, wonders, and signs,               they had taken and by wicked hands had crucified
which God did by Him in their midst, as they well             and slain the Son of God in the flesh.
knew. Moreover, he lays to their charge the murder of            Through the hand of lawless men Christ was made
Christ, Who by wicked hands was crucified and slain.          fast to the cross and slain. Pontius Pilate, while he
Further, he shows unto them that Christ was not only          was convinced that Jesus was innocent, nevertheless
delivered over to their will by Pontius Pilate and their      willingly sentenced Him to death. And the Roman
rulers, but that the crucifixion of Christ was                soldiers, who had no moral scruples, pounded the
ancording  to God's sovereign and eternal                     nails into His blessed hands and feet, thus carrying
foreknowledge.                                                out the decree of Pilate. And the men of Israel, who
 The counsel and foreknowledge of God was the                 cried for His death, and would not suffer Pilate to
determining factor in the crucifixion of Christ.              release Him, made themselves guilty of the murder of
       This in no way mitigates the crime committed by        Christ. They, who knew the law. but took it into their
the wicked hands that were instrumental in nailing            own hands to do away with the Just and Good One,
Christ to the cross.                                          made themselves guilty of blatant murder. When
                                                              Pilate hypocritically said: "I am innocent of this
       Ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified      man's blood," the Jews said, "His blood be upon us
and slain, - such is the charge the apostle makes.            and our children." None of those in Peter's audience
 Here is a plain case of God's sovereign,                     could disavow or deny that the crucifixion was their
unchangeable counsel overruling the acts of ethical,          act. And until they would confess this sin, the apostle
moral, responsible creatures to accomplish His own            would uphold the charge: "Him ye have delivered up,
.determinate purpose.                                         and, having affixed to the cross, slain."


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                251


   Indeed, the perpetrators of this deed could draw             No other death might the Son of God in the flesh
no pther conclusion than that they were guilty as            die. Not by being cast from a precipitous precipice.
charged!                                                     Not a death by stoning. Nor may He be secretly
   They had no conception of the promised Messiah            stabbed in His back. But He must die on the cross,
than that which was earthly. They had no other               and again, not any cross, in any place; but on the
thought in their souls than that Christ was a                cross of Calvary, to which He is affixed, which cross
malefactor for whom was no room on the earth.                was to be planted in the midst of two other crosses,
                                                             just outside of the city of Jerusalem, on the hill of
   Not at all did they know that God had abandoned           the skull.
His  ;Christ into their hands. It was, indeed, now the
hour of the Son of Man! Often during His earthly                And the purpose?
ministry the enemies sought to kill Him, but could              It was twofold!
not; for His hour was not yet come. But now that                In the first place, that the wickedness of men
hour decreed by the Almighty and All-wise God had            might be revealed. Though this is not directly stated
struck.                                                      in the text, it is certainly implied, when the apostle
   So the cross was not an accident, but the result of       lays the charge of the sin of the  &ucifixion at the
an overruling counsel and efficacious providence of          hands of the wicked. Indeed, the cross of Christ must
God.                                                         serve as the condemnation of the world. God purposed
   By the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of           to show by the crucifixion of Christ how desperately
God;!                                                        depraved the world is. Verily, He was saying in that
                                                             cross: I am going to show you how depraved you
   Abo in the mind and purpose of God the cross of           really are; when I give you the opportunity to get
Christ was not accidental. And by that we mean that          your hands on Me. This is precisely what you will do,
cross was not a means of last resort, an incident upon       - you will take the living God and kill Him!
which God fell because all other possible means
failed. In the eternal wisdom and foreknowledge of              0, when I think of this, how much more
God' the cross was central in His plan of redemption.        abominable does that doctrine  "of the good that
The ' knowledge of God which is eternal is likewise          sinners do," become!
causal. It is not an afterthought, but a preceding one;         Man not only does not want salvation from sin and
and irresistibly effective. When man knows something         death, but he is bent on destroying the very means
before it happens, his knowledge does not make that          whereby he must be saved!
which he knows to come to pass. But with God this               And do not forget, beloved reader, Peter was
foreknowledge is causal. And in relation to `God's           preaching the gospel when he declared this truth. It
decrees it is logically first. The determinate counsel is    belongs to the preaching of the gospel to declare this
the decree, while the foreknowledge is the how and           truth. The preaching of the gospel is not the
why of the decree - all-of which'reflects the`infinite       presentation of some silly offers, which man may
wisdom of God whereby He knows how and utilizes              accept'or reject at will. It is not the declaration that
the best means to accomplish His purpose.                    God loves all men and wants to save all men. It is the
  This is the determining factor and overruling power        fearful pronouncement, that as far as man is
that makes the cross of Christ necessary!                    concerned, he is hopelessly lost. His sin is not only
  Notice how Peter further delineates this truth in          that he eats of the forbidden tree because he has the
the Book of Acts. "And now,. brethren, I wot that            desire to become as God; but his sin reaches its acme,
through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.        its highest point when God gives him the opportunity
But those things, which  .God before had  shewed  by         to destroy the living God. 0, my God, how
the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should            desperately wicked I am! To this, the proper
suffer, He hath so fulfilled." And again, "For of a          preaching of the gospel must bring me.
truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast             But thanks be unto God, there is more!
anointed, both  Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the            It is the purpose of God in the crucifixion of Christ
Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered            to save His people from their sins!
together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy
counsel determined before to be done." (Acts 2: 17,            Those wicked hands which slew innocent blood
18'; 4':27, 28).                                             were instrumental in pouring out the very blood of
                                                             atonement!
  Indeed, the Jews and all who collaborated in the
crucifixion of Christ may have acted in ignorance, yet         The salvation of God's people was not only
responsibly; but God acts with infinite intelligence         determined, but also realized in this purpose.
and irresistible purpose.


252                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


  The cross was God's instrument to condemn the                      0, my God, how infmite is Thy wisdom, and how
Innocent! Only the blood of a perfectly .and righteous            boundless is Thy grace which Thou hast revealed
Man could atone for our sins. Only the perfect                    when Thou didst overrule the violence of man to
righteousness of a wonderful Saviour, while He bore               accomplish my salvation!
the eternal wrath of God over against our guilt, could               In that grace Thou hast purposed to beautify me
make satisfaction for our guilt and merit                         with all Thy saints with Thy own beauty, in order
righteousness for us.                                             that in Thy people Thou mightest see forever Thy
  This, too, is implied in the gospel Peter preached.             own glory.
And such is also the good news of salvation which                    May Thine be the glory now and forever more!
must yet be preached.                                                Amen!


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS

                               Belgic Confession, Article VI
                                                 Prof. Robert D. Decker
             We distinguish those sacred books from the apocryphal, viz.: the third book of Esdras, the books of
          Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Jesus Syrach, Baruch, the appendix to the book of Esther, the song of the three
          Children in the Furnace, the history' of Susamrah,  of Be1 and-the Dragon, the prayer of Manasses, and the
          two books of the Maccabees. All of which the Church may read and take instruction from, so far as they
          agree with the canonical books; but they are far from haying power and efficacy, as that we may from their
          testimony confirm any point of faith, or of the Christian religion; much less detract from the authority of
          the other sacred books."
                                                                                   Article VI, The Belgic Confession

  /The question of the place of the apocryphal books                 There was apparently no unanimity among the
in the canon hardly concerns us any more. Many,                   ancient church fathers on the question. Some of them
perhaps, are unaware of their existence and most                   quote from these books in their theological writings
certainly have no knowledge of their contents. Yet,               and ascribe them a place of honor along  .with the
this question marks a significant difference between              canonical books of the Old Testament. This may be
the Church of Rome and Protestantism. For this                    explained from the fact that while these books were
reason it is worth our while to consider the matter.              not included in the Hebrew Canon and were never
After all there are principles involved in the whole              accepted by the Jews, they do appear in the
question, viz. : those principles pertaining to the               Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament
canonicity of sacred writings and the, sufficiency of             which had been prepared in Alexandria ea. 200 B.C.
the Holy Scriptures as the only rule of faith and life.           Others of the fathers, notably Athanasius, sharply
  1 The term apocryphal is derived from the Greek and             distinguished between the books of the Hebrew
means, "that which is hidden, obscure, dark, or                   Canon and the apocryphal books which might be read
concealed." In the Christian church the term was                  for the edification of the people but which possessed
used to refer to "that which is excluded from public              no divine authority. Throughout the Middle Ages the
use in the church." Augustine, for example, used the              apocrypha were read in the churches and judged to be
word to describe certain spurious writings which                  divinely inspired. Rome's decision at the Council of
claimed to be part of the canon but whose origin was              Trent (1545-1563) was vague, but the Vatican
obscure and whose content was of dubious value. In                Council of 1870 ended all uncertainty within the
Reformation times the term was applied to the                     Church of Rome by declaring the apocryphal books
writings specifically listed in this article. These are           divine and canonical.
not forged or spurious documents, nor is the origin of               The position taken by Article VI was expressed
them unknown, since they appeared towards the                     early in the Reformation. In Martin Luther's
close of the Old Testament period and in the early                translation of the Bible these books appear after
part of the history of the New. The contents,                     Malachi as books not to be accorded canonical
however, are considered far inferior to that of the               dignity, but which may be read with profit. Calvin
canonical books. It is in this latter sense that our              was in complete agreement with this stand. Calvin
Confession employs the term apocryphal.                           argued that these were rightly designated, apocryphal,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                253


since they contained only private opinion and were          itself. Then Habakkuk shouted, `Daniel, Daniel! Take
not `part of God's special revelation to, His people.       the dinner which God has sent you.' And Daniel said,
Later this issue was rather sharply debated at the          `Thou hast remembered me, 0 God, and hast not
great Synod of Dordt (1618-l 6 19). Many still favored      forsaken those who love thee.' So Daniel arose and
the age-old custom of permitting the reading of these       ate. And the angel of the Lord immediately returned
books in public worship. Especially Gomarus (usually        Habakkuk to his own place." (The  Apocrypha,  BeZ
on the "right side" of issues!) insisted that they          And The Dragon  verses 31-37, Revised Standard
should be eliminated from the official Dutch                Version.) Another passage which illustrates this point
translation of the Scriptures. The. Synod, however,         goes as follows: "This, then, is how matters turned
decided to include these books in small print after the     out with Nicanor. And from that time the city has
canonical writings with the warning: "because they          been in the possession of the Hebrews. So I too will
are not' canonical, they are not to be read  lxtblicly      here end my story. If it is well told and to the point,
in the congregation." It seems strange that this Synod      that is what I myself desired; if it is poorly done and
which adopted the official version of our Confession        mediocre, that was the best I could do. For just as it
did not strike from Article VI the words, "all of           is harmful to drink wine alone, or, again, to drink
which the church may read and take' instruction             water alone, while wine mixed with water is sweet
from. . ."                                                  and delicious and enhances one's enjoyment, so also
  In, spite of this statement, the creed is clear enough    the style of the story delights the ears of those who
While the apocryphal books may be read and we may           read the work. And here will be the end." (II
take: instruction from them, this is qualified by the       Maccabees 15:37-39)
statement: "so far as they agree with the canonical            Even more serious than the above is the fact that
books. . ." Still more, the  Confession goes  on to         these writings contain teachings contrary to the
assert "that they are far from having such power and        doctrine of the Scriptures. In Jesus Syrach alms and
efficacy, so that we may from their testimony               prayers are presented as meritorious works. In  II
confirm any point of faith, or of the Christian             Maccabees  12:39-45 we read of a certain Judas who
religion; much less detract from the auth:ority  of the     paid for prayers for the dead in order to effect their
other sacred books." The position of our creed is that      atonement. This was called a  ,"sin offering." Tobit
the apocryphal books are not divinely inspired and          tea  the  s an unbiblical conception of angels and
therefore do not belong within the Canon of the holy        demons and mentions with approval certain magical
and divine Scriptures.                                      practices as is evident from the following passage:
  This position rests upon solid ground. It is a fact       "Now as they proceeded on their way they came at
(and; this was  the chief objection raised by the           evening to the Tigris river and camped there. Then
Reformers) that the Old Testament Church to whom            the young man went down to the river to wash
"were committed the oracles of God" (Romans 3:2)            himself. A fish leaped up from the river and would
never included them among the canonical writings.           have swallowed the young man; and the angel (his
By divine guidance the saints of the old dispensation       travelling companion, R.D.) said to the young man,
refused to accept these books as inspired Scripture.        `Catch the fish.' So the young man seized the fish and
This ,is why, too, Jesus and His apostles never refer to    threw it up on the sand. Then the angel said to him,
thes.e or quote from them. Then, too, it is                 `Cut upon the fish and take the heart and liver and
immediately evident upon reading them that the lofty        gall and put them safely away.' So the young man did
language of the Scriptures is not present. Consider the     as the angel told him; and they roasted and ate the
following passage chosen at random: "They threw             fish. And they both continued on their way until
Daniel into the lions' den, and he was there for six        they came near to Ecbatana. Then the young man
days: There were seven lions in the den, and every          said to the angel, `Brother Azarias, of what use is the
day they had been given two human bodies and two            liver and heart and gall of the fish?' He replied, `As
sheep; but these were not given to them now, so that        for the heart and liver, if a demon or evil spirit gives
they might devour Daniel. Now the prophet                   trouble to anyone, you make a smoke from these
Habakkuk was in  Judea. He had boiled pottage and           before the man or woman, and that person will never
had broken bread into a bowl, and was going into the        be troubled again. And as for the gall, anoint with it a
field to take it to the reapers. But the angel of the       man who has white films in his eyes, and he will be
Lord said to Habakkuk, `Take the dinner which you           cured:' "`(Tobit  6: 1-8)
have: to Babylon, to Daniel, in the lions' den.'              Finally, there is the fact that some of these
Habakkuk .said, `Sir, I have never seen Babylon, and I      apocryphal writers openly disclaim divine inspiration.
know nothing about the den.' Then the angel of the          This is stated in the prologue to  Jesus Syrach  and
Lord took him by the crown of his head, and lifted          repeatedly mentioned by the writer of First and
him !by his hair and set him down in Babylon, right         Second Maccabees. On these grounds the Reformed
over the den, with the rushing sound of the wind            Churches refuse to receive these as "holy and divine


2511F                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                               I

Scriptures." They may not be used to confirm a point         completely. One thing is sure, we believe: "that those
of faith or to detract from the authority of the other       Holy Scriptures (the sixty-six books of the Canop of
sacred books. We may read them  only in so far as            Holy Writ, R.D.) fully contain the will of God, and that
they agree with the rest of Scripture. Their value is        whatsoever man ought to believe, unto salvation, is
very limited. Perhaps it is best that we ignore them         sufficiently taught therein." (Art. VII)
                                                                                                                               ,

A;LL AROUND US

           "Present Truth': and the Immortality of the Soul

                                                   Pro$ H. Hanko

   `In the December 1 issue of the Standard Bearer, I        matter of immortality especially as it was taught by
included in my column a brief quotation which was            Martin Luther. He writes:
                                                                -.  _. .
 originally taken from  Christian News in  which                     Luther's view of immortality closely paralleled his
 quotation was found an additional quotation taken               view of justification by faith. Righteousness is not an
from  Present Truth magazine. It appeared from this              inherent quality within the believer. It is property of
 quote that the writer of the pertinent article in               Christ, and it remains His inherently. In the same
Present Truth denied the immortality of the soul.                way, immortality, according to Luther, is not an
                                                                 inherent quality in the nature of man. Like
   ,A rather large bundle of material was sent to the            righteousness, immortality is the sole property of
 editorial office of the Standard Bearer by the editors          Christ (I Tim. 6: 16), and it remains His inherently.
 of Present Truth, among which material was included                 Yet Luther could say that God has given us all
tl$e original article from which the quote in Christian          things in Christ (Eph. 1:3), including immortality.
News was takkn. After perusing this material, it                 `. . .our Saviour Jesus Christ . . . hath abolished death,
 b&comes evident that it is not true that Present Truth          and brought life and'immortality  to light through the
 d&ies the immortality of the soul. We are sorry that            gospel.' 2 Tim. 1: 10: Death has been abolished'for us
 oQ quotation misrepresented the position of the                 in Christ. Yet it is not yet abolished in us. We have the
 wiiters of this paper on this question, and we offer            victory over death, not. as an empirical reality (for
our apologies.                                                   Christians still die), but we possess this "deathless-
    The article in question is entitled "Individual and          ness" by faith. In the same way, the gospel brings us
                                                                 the gift of immortality. We may possess it by faith.
 Cosmic Eschatoldgy". In it the author is at pains to            Yet it shall not be ours by visible possession until
 point out that the Scriptures emphasize that the child          Christ comes again and bestows it upon His people
 of God does not receive his full blessedness until the          (see I Cor. 15~51-56).
 day of Christ's second coming. The author                      The point which the writer is making is that
 emphasizes the fact that death which is the                 immortality is only in Christ, but is given to the
 ptinishment for sin struck down the whole of man;           believer as a gift of grace. The article goes on to point
 that this was because the whole man  sinfied; that          out that this was indeed Luther's position, but that
 Christ died to redeem the whole man; that it is the         Luther's views on this subject were discarded and the
 yhole man who is saved; and that this salvation does        old pagan notion of immortality, first espoused by
 n?t become the possession of the believer until Christ      Plato, crept back into the church;
 returns again to take the whole creation and all His          We are inclined to agree with this view of
 people into glory, The article warns against an             immortality. Because immortality has been said to be
 "individual eschatology" which leads the believer to        an attribute of man by virtue of his creation,
 pin his hopes on salvation at the moment of `death
 while ignoring the salvation which shall only be his at     immortality is also claimed to be a part of the image
 tlie moment when Christ comes again.                        of God in man. For example, L. Berkhof writes in his
                                                             Systematic Theology:
   i In this connection the article briefly discusses the            Still another element of the image of God is
 idea of the immortality of the soul. It points, out,            immortality. The Bible says that God only  bath
 correctly, that man does not have immortality of                immortality, I Tim.  6:16, and this would seem to
 &self. In the paper,  The Australian Forum: Topic               exclude the idea of human immortality. But it is
 ko. 7 and entitled "Martin Luther Speaks to this                perfectly evident from Scripture that man is also
 Generation", Robert D. Brinsmead discusses the                  immortal M some sense of the word. . . .


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                               255


The result of this has been that the teaching arose in         God. What, from a psychological viewpoint, takes
the church that man retains some parts of the image            place at death is not easy to understand. And
of God even when he falls. And immortality itself has          certainly in connection with this, it is also difficult to
been defined in terms of its being nothing else but            understand what takes place at the final resurrection.
existence after death  - both for the saved and the            But there are several points which are clear. In the
damned.                                                        first place, death is not "natural". Man was not
  However, in connection with the emphasis of                  created to die. Death is a penal concept. Death came
Present Truth  upon "cosmic eschatology" which is              as the judgment of God upon sin. And physical death
given to believers only at the coming of Christ, the           is the door into hell for those who come under the
question arises: what does the writer teach                    righteous judgment of God. Furthermore, through
concerning the intermediate state? Does the believer           the power of Christ's resurrection, death becomes a
go to glory at the moment of his death? Does he                triumph for the believer. The power of death is
enter consciously into the salvation which Christ has          destroyed. And, though the believer must die,
purchased for him?                                             nevertheless, death is passage into life. It is true that
                                                               we cannot answer all the questions which arise in
  On this point Present Truth is not altogether clear.         connection with death; but it is also true that this is
It stresses correctly that the believer surely cannot          because of the miracle of Christ's victory over death
enjoy complete salvation at the moment of death.               - a victory which He won for His people. The same is
But it seems to go beyond this. With its emphasis on           true of the resurrection. We cannot understand the
the fact that the whole man fell and that the whole            miracle of the final resurrection. But we do know
man is saved, it seems to `fall into the error of              that at the resurrection our bodies shall arise. Present
teaching some kind of soul sleep.  Present Truth               Truth  says that Scripture nowhere speaks of a
claims that Martin Luther taught just such a view.             resurrection of the body. Quoting William Barclay,
Quoting Althaus, Present Truth says:                           the article says: "Scripture does not speak either of
      Luther generally understands the condition               the resurrection of the body or of the resurrection of
   b,etween death and the resurrection as a deep,              the flesh." But this is not true. To quote but one
   dreamless sleep without consciousness and feeling.          passage, I Corinthians 15 is exactly speaking of the
Then quoting Luther:                                           resurrection of the body: "But some man will say,
      For just as a man who falls asleep and sleeps            How are the dead raised up? and with what body do
   soundly until morning does not know what has                they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest  is not
   happened to him'when he wakes up, so `we shall              quickened, except it die: And that which thou
   suddenly rise on the Last Day; and we shall know            sowest,  thou  sowest  not that body that shall be, but
   neither what death has been like or how we have             bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other
   come through it.                                            grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased
    We are to sleep until he comes and knocks on the           him, and to every seed his own body. . . . So also is
   grave and says, `Dr. Martin, get up.' Then I will arise     the resurrection of the dead. It (and Paul is
   $J a moment and will be eternally happy with him.           emphatically speaking here of the body.) is sown in
   (Quotations are taken from Luther's "Table Talks.")         corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in
                                                               dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness;
  Interestingly enough, Present Truth claims that this         it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is
view of soul sleep was directly connected with                 raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and
Luther's view of the immortality of the: soul; while           there is a spiritual body. . . . Now this I say, brethren,
Calvin, who reverted to the old Platonic idea, taught a        that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
certain intermediate state  - although, as  Present            God. . . ." (Vss. 35-38, 42-44, 50.)
Truth points out, he was brief in his discussion of it.          Present Truth  claims that a preoccupation with
  To explain this idea of soul sleep, the article itself       individual eschatology (that is, with the notion that
goes on to say:                                                believers go to heaven at.the moment of death) tends
      Yet Luther could still speak of the departed as          "to eat up cosmic eschatology" so that the hope of
   being with the Lord as fully redeemed men. This is          the believer is no longer fastened on the return of
   bbcause he saw God as above a.nd outside of our time.       Christ. Thus, individual eschatology is to be rejected.
   When a man dies, he passes out of time and arrives at       However, Scripture is quite clear on the fact that the
   the last day. In this sense there is no time between        believer indeed goes to glory at the moment of death.
   death and the resurrection. Yet all will reach the last
   clay together.                                              There may be problems in understanding this; and it
                                                               may be that in some circles this idea tends to obscure
  There is no question about it that there are many            in the mind of the believer the hope of the second
difficult problems which arise in connection with              coming of Christ; but Scripture is clear on this
Scripture's discussion of the death of the people of           nonetheless. We cannot enter into the question now


256                                           THE STANDAkD BEARER


in, detail, but we refer the reader to such texts as,        Seventh Day Adventists, and that his present
Luke  23:43, II Cor.  5:1, John  14:1-3, Rev.  6:9-11.       connection with this sect was not now known. I
Our Heidelberg Catechism expresses it very                   wrote to the editorial offices concerning this matter
beautifully when it says in Q. 57: `What comfort             and received today a letter in which Norman Jarnes
doth the `resurrection .of the body' afford thee? That       the Publishing Editor wrote: "In regard to your
not only my soul after this life shall be immediately        inquiry, The Australian Forum and its official organ,
taken up to Christ its head; but also, that this my          Present Truth,  are in no way connected with any
body, being raised' by the power of Christ, shall be         denominational sponsorship, nor do they represent
reunited with my soul, and make like unto the                any denominational viewpoint. Those who participate
glorious body of Christ."                                    in our publications and in our public forums come
                        *****                                from varying denominational backgrounds. . . . Mr.
                                                             Brinsmead is an independent evangelical scholar. He
  There is a footnote to all this. After the original        was disfellowshipped from the Adventists Church
article appeared, several correspondents wrote that          back in 1962 because of conflict, and holds no
Robert Brinsmead was'at one time affiliated with the         denominational membership."


GUEST  A R T I C L E
                              The .Ministry of Mercy
                                                  Rev. M. Kamps

 The nature of the work of the diaconate is                  to murmur regarding this unfair treatment of their
oftentimes misunderstood in the Church of Christ.            widows. Who were these Grecians? They were not
This misunderstanding is revealed frequently by the          Greeks, not by birth nor by belief. These Grecians
members of the church and by the deacons                     were Jews by birth; physically they were of the same
themselves. More than one well-meaning deacon, when          race as the Hebrews mentioned in this passage. But
seeking out the poor, has received a sharp rebuff from       the distinction between the "Grecians" and the
an unjustly irritated member of the church to whom           "Hebrews" is to be found in the fact that the
the deacons had offered financial assistance in              Grecians were Jews that had been born in foreign
Christ's name. You see, the unjustly irritated church        countries. They were the descendants of the Jews of
member was insulted by the fact that these deacons           the Diaspora, but who had subsequently returned to
had the audacity even to think that she or he might          live in Palestine and in particular in Jerusalem. They
be poor! Poverty is in our society, supposedly, an           were, therefore, distinquished from the Hebrews by
occasion for shame! But deacons themselves at times          the fact that they spoke the Greek language while the
reveal either ignorance concerning the nature of their       Hebrews spoke Aramaic, which was then currently
work or spiritual insensitivity to their calling: this is    spoken in Palestine.
revealed, for example, when deacons: refuse to visit           These Grecians murmured to the apostles about
and read the Scriptures and pray with those persons          the fact that their widows were neglected in the daily
who receive financial assistance from the deacons.           ministrations. What specifically is referred to by
These are serious problems, which can be easily              "daily ministrations" is impossible to determine,
overcome if we will be instructed by the Spirit of           because the text nor the context tells us what
God.                                                         specifically is meant. We know that it concerned the
 In Acts 6: 1-7 we have, according to the form for the       "serving of tables." Some have said that the reference
o,rdination of elders and deacons, the historical            is to the "love feasts", the  agapee,  of the early
"origin and institution of their office." If we pay          church. These Grecian widows were not able to
close attention to this passage in its context, we can       provide for their own table at these feasts.
learn a great deal about the office and work of the          Supposedly then, the other members of the church
d,iaconate.  You should open your Bible to this              were to provide food for the poor and did so; but
passage and read it.                                         when distribution was made the Grecian widows were
  The occasion for the institution of the office of the      neglected. I would be inclined, for several reasons,
deacons, we are told, is the neglect of the widows of        which are not pertinent here, to give the expressions
the Grecians, with the result that the :Grecians began       "daily ministrations" and "serve tables" a broader


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               257


meaning. I take these expressions to refer to all the      therefore called upon the members of the
physical needs from day to day of these widows, who        congregation to elect seven men to be appointed to
were not able to provide for themselves.                   this work of mercy, who were to meet the
  We should point out that this neglect of the             qualifications stipulated by the apostles.
Grecian widows was not by design. Nor was this                It has been said of the seven men who were
neglect evidence of a racial strife between the            appointed to do this work that they were not really
Grecians and the Hebrews, for as I pointed out they        deacons or officebearers in the church. They were,
were. all of the same race. Not only that, but the         according to this position, just helpers, assistants to
distribution to the poor was, evidently, the work of       the apostles. I think that that position is a wrong
the apostles at this time, whom we may be sure did         interpretation of Acts 6, because it does not take into
this  iwork without deliberately showing partiality.       account the following: 1) that these men are of such
Positively, the neglect of these Grecian w,idows must      importance that their personal names are given us, 2)
be found in the great growth of the Church at this         that they were elected as qualified men, 3) that they
timej and in the fact that there were only the twelve      were elected to the specific work of distributing the
apostles to carry out this distribution., Note how         alms of God's people to the poor, 4) that they were
Luke carefully intimates this fact in the opening verse    ordained to this work in the presence of the
of Acts 6: "when the number of the disciples was           congregation and by the laying on of hands. I believe
multiplied, there arose a murmuring. . .  ." If we         that the act of the laying on of hands, by which these
compare our text with Acts  2:41, 4:4 and 5:14 it is       seven men were appointed to this work, is conclusive
not absurd to say that the Church had at this time         proof that they were ordained to the specific office
growIn to about ten to fifteen thousand members in         of deacon. (Cf. I Tim. 4: 14, II Tim. 1:6 and Numbers
and about Jerusalem. Among such a large                    27: 18) The laying on of hands did not always mean
congregation, is it any wonder that some of the poor,      that one was ordained to a specific office in the
the Grecian widows, were neglected? It can be readily      church (Acts 8: 14-18); but in the context of Acts 6 it
understood why it was that these widows were               can have no other meaning, it would seem to me. The
neglected by the apostles: the Church was too large        laying on of hands is a symbolic act. Therefore, it
for the twelve men upon whom the work fell.                signified that these men had been called and qualified
  "It is not reason that we should leave the word of       for their office and work by God, who had given
God, and serve tables." Thus did the twelve apostles       them His Spirit and the gift of wisdom with the result
`reason with the congregation which  `was called           that these men were of "honest report" among the
together to consider a solution to this problem. The       people.
apostles were keenly aware of their calling to busy           It is important to note a moment that the
themselves with prayer and the proclamation of the         historical circumstances recorded in Acts 6, which
gospel of Christ; they no longer could do both the         necessitated the institution of the office of the
work of a deacon and the work of an herald of the          deacon, were circumstances determined and created
gospel. The work of the apostles as preachers was "to      by the exalted Christ and were the means, therefore,
serve" the church in the proclamation of, the gospel.      through which Christ acted to give to His Church this
That work was one aspect of the one office of Christ,      specific office, through which His mercy would be
and specifically it was the work of a prophet who          revealed. It is for this reason that the acts of the
brings God's Word, in God's name, to His people. The       apostles are the authoritative revelation of God
work of "ministering" to the poor is the work of a         through Christ to His Church in all ages. The
deacon as he manifests Christ's office as the              deaconship is therefore a permanent office in the
Highpriest of His people. The one office of Christ         Church, through which the mercy of Christ is
comes to expression here in the two-fold work of           bestowed upon "the poor" who are ever with us.
ministering to God's people; on the one hand in the        (Mk. 14:7)
heralding forth of the word and on the other hand in         The deacon's work is the ministry of mercy. Mercy
the ministry of mercy to the poor.                         is the expression of the love of God to one who is in
  To solve this problem the apostles instructed the        misery. The mercy of God was revealed centrally in
congregation to elect out of their number seven men,       the cross of Christ, when God, who is rich in mercy,
who  ,were of "honest report, full of the Holy Ghost       gave His Son in our flesh to be crucified for the sins
and wisdom," whom they might appoint over this             and guilt of His elect people, who groaned in misery
work. The church, not the apostles, chose the seven        under the heavy burden of the knowledge of their sin
men to be appointed to this work. So also today, the       and guilt.
church members choose or elect its officebearers who         In what way concretely do the deacons reveal this
are installed into office. Undoubtedly, the apostles       mercy of Christ to the poor? The answer is that
wanted to avoid any form of heirarchy, and                 poverty is misery, lack is anguish, want is suffering.


258                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



Therefore, to such in the church Christ wills that His      Frequently he is tempted to murmur even against
mercy be revealed through the deaconship as it labors       God. Listen to the prayer of a man filled with the
to' satisfy the physical needs of the poor - mercy to       wisdom of God and who therefore understood these
those in misery. But the misery of the poor is not          things : "give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me
only limited to physical wants but also to spiritual        with food convenient for me; Lest I be full and deny
needs occasioned by lack, want and poverty.                 thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or Zest I be poor, and
  `I would warn that we must not have a superficial         steal, and take the name  of  my God in vain."
conception of this ministry of mercy to the poor. The       (Proverbs  30:8b-9) Poverty can be the occasion for
office and work ,of deacons is not limited merely to        one who out of despair and resentment is confronted
the physical needs of the poor. It is out of ignorance      with the temptation to steal from his neighbor and to
or' indifference about this matter that the problems        curse the name of God. The physical and the
arise, which I mentioned earlier.                           spiritual, soul and body, are inseparably related, and
                                                            the one is greatly influenced by the other.
  `Let me be specific! Negatively, the deacon's work
is  ! not the rather insignificant work of "counting          Consequently, deacons must seek out the poor to
pennies" once a month, or that of a payroll clerk.          alleviate physical burdens and thereby bring spiritual
Nor is it the work of deacons merely to mail out            healing and strength. If deacons understand that their
checks to the poor. Some people think so, but they          work is to satisfy. a spiritual need through the means
could not be more mistaken. If deacons come or send         of giving physical assistance to the poor among God's
to the poor only money, clothes or food - physical          people, they will then reveal that they are men full of
things - what then distinguishes them and their work        the Spirit of God and wisdom. That is, men able to
from "welfare workers" of the state? Are your               perceive spiritual things which belong to the Kingdom
deacons performing the same service as the welfare          of Heaven. These spiritual things humanistic,
workers of your city? There are those who would             tear-stained-faced, welfare workers of the state never
answer affirmatively. This attitude toward the office       perceive; for "except ye be born again ye cannot see
of the deacons is revealed by social gospel churches,       the kingdom of heaven." To insure that our deacons
which admire and praise the cruel `mercies of an            will understand the nature of their office the church
humanistic social welfare system, and rightly so, if        must elect men to be deacons who are filled with the
the deacon's work is merely to look after the physical      Holy Spirit and with wisdom from above.
needs of the poor.                                            I would like to conclude by reminding ourselves
 I But the office of deaconship is much more than           that when deacons bring financial assistance to the
merely providing for the physical needs of the poor.        poor they are to do so with comfortable words from
The work of the deacons is a spiritual one, a work of       Scripture. That is a must. Why deacons are to do that
the Kingdom of Heaven. The deacons are to satisfy a         ought to be obvious. The spiritual needs of the poor
spiritual need through the giving of physical things in     are to be satisfied, not with mere naked physical
Christ's name to the poor, to whom the deacons              things, but by giving material assistance accompanied
come with "comfortable words" from Scripture and            with the reading and discussion of a portion of God's
with whom they give thanks to God for His mercy,            Word and by turning to our heavenly Father in
w,hich is bestowed upon them through Christ. I want         prayer. When members of the congregation and the
to underscore this fact: the `deacons are to minister to    deacons cooperate in this spiritual work as the
the spiritual needs of God's people. Surely, the pastor     citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, the people of
and the elders serve the spiritual needs of God's           God will be less inclined to turn to the state or
people through the preaching of the word and by             county for aid. The deacons have a very important
watching over the confession and, walk of the               work to perform in Christ's name, a work which is of
congregation; but the deacons share in this spiritual       tremendous benefit spirtually to the Church.
work of caring for the sheep of Christ.                     Obviously the result of the faithful labors of the
                                                            seven men of whom we read in Acts 6, was that the
  Allow me to amplify and clarify.                          Grecians stopped murmuring and they stopped
  Poverty is a threat to the believer's spiritual           murmuring because the occasion for resentment was
welfare. Poverty can bring with it despair,                 removed. Peace, harmony and tranquility was
resentment, bitterness, and hatred over against fellow      restored to the apostolic church. The apostles were
believers and God. The man who is financially unable        freed from serving tables and to busy themselves with
to provide dental care, eyeglasses, shoes, Christian        the word. All this is intimated by the words of Acts
education etc. for his children is one who is               6:7, where we read; "And the word of God increased;
spiritually in a precarious situation. He begins to         and the number of the disciples multiplied in
"murmur." Suffering want, he is inclined to express         Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests
his hurt and pain at the indifference of believers.         were obedient to the faith." Priests,  who saw the


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     259


good works of those who revealed the Highpriestly            prayers of thanksgiving for the gift of the mercy of
offic;e of Christ, were now obedient to the faith and        Him, who abundantly provides for all our needs, both
glorified  God with the Church.                              physical and spiritual. Thus also, deacons will be able
                                                             to bring God's Word to that spiritually poor, unjustly
   If, our deacons so labor among the poor of the            irritated person who gives them a sharp rebuff. If
church they will be instruments in God's hands to            deacons understand the spiritual character of their
open and fill the mouths and hearts of those, who            work, they will be able to fill such a person's spiritual
were tempted to curse, with songs of praise and              need with a little meat out of God's Word.


FROM HOLY WRIT

                          Exposition of Hebrews 12: 14-17
                                                   Rev. G. Lubbers
THE NECESSITY OF PURSUING PEACE AND                          ushering in of the new heaven and the new earth,
HOLINESS (Vs. 14)                                            wherein Christ shall be revealed in all His glory, that
  This necessity is underscored here in our text.            the Church and the Bride pray, "Come, Lord Jesus,
However, it is also a repeated theme in the Scriptures.     yea, come quickly. Amen." (Rev. 22: 17, 21) The
Scripture teaches us rather explicitly what it means        saints are not satisfied in the deepest longings of their
"to see the Lord" and also why this certainty of             hearts until that Vision of God in Christ is their
`seeing the Lord is connected with a life of holiness       portion.
which expresses itself in the pursuit of peace.                Now to share in that glory of Christ, in His
  To "see the Lord" means that  we  have the  Visio         Parousia (everlasting presence), it is requisite that we
Dei in the face of Jesus Christ, the glorified Lord of      pursue peace and holiness. Shall we see the Lord,
the church and over all things (John 17: 24). No one        then we must be "like Him". (I John 3:2,3) Only the
will ever see God as He is in the exalted and immense       holy ones can see the Holy One, the Lord of glory.
depths of His own essence. Then He is the                   Only like can see like. Only those who are created
inapproachable light; He dwells in the light which no       unto the image of God can stand in His presence.
man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor           (Psalm 15: 1) Only those portrayed to us in Psalm
can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting,            34:14 shall see the Lord. These have the spiritual
Amen. (I Timothy 6: 16). In our text reference is to        qualifications. And that is what the writer to the
the glorified Lord, who has passed through the              Hebrews brings so forceably to the attention of the
heavens as our Ring-Priest, and who will come a             Hebrew Christians. We must seek peace and pursue it
second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews            like in a chase, as if we are afraid that we shall fail. It
9:28) As the Great High Priest Jesus prayed that it         must be with holy fear and trembling.
was His priestly will that we might one day be where           It is in view of this that we read the warnings
He is, in heavenly glory of the perfected tabernacle of     uttered in the threefold warnings which begin with
God  ,with men. He desires that every one who will          "lest". The term "lest" is a conjunction used to
believe on His Name through the preaching of the            denote some fear and apprehension on the part of the
apostles will behold His Messianic glory in His             writer. In the Greek the term is a combination (mee
heavenly kingdom. When we see this glory, we shall          tis) of a negative particle and an indefinite pronoun:
see God as He is in all His glorious virtues; all the       not any. It is here used in three different negative
fulness of God in the church. (Ephesians 3: 19)             purpose clauses. Lest there be any, (1) Who fails of
  To "see" the Lord is the highest manner of                the grace of God (Vs. 15) (2) There be a bitter root
enjoyment. Sight is a more intimate manner of               of bitter fruit springing up in the church (3) There be
fellowship and communication than hearing. At Sinai,        a profane person or fornicator like Esau in the
Israel, might hear the voice of the words of the Law,       church.
but they really could not behold the glory. They were
terrified; even Moses said, "I do exceedingly and           THE GREAT NEED OF VIGILANCE AND
quake." (Hebrews  12:21) This seeing of God is,             OVERSIGHT (Hebrews 12: 15-l 7)
therefore, really reserved for the future when we shall        The text connects this need of oversight
stand' before the throne of God and of the Lamb.            grammatically with the pursuing of the peace of the
(Rev.  22:4, 5) It is for the coming of that great          Cross in the hope of seeing God in the face of Jesus


26p                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



Christ. It makes this having oversight over the church                  God's church. The case here is very serious. It is
as being a present vigilance, which must be performed                   either-or, Christ or Belial, God or idols, under the
without let-up. Besides, the matter is one which is an                  blood or eternal damnation.
integral part of pursuing peace with all, that is, with                   An example of this we have in the case of Esau, the
the entire church. Only where there is such vigilant                    natural first-born son of Isaac and Rebecca. (Gen.
oversight will the saints be kept safe against the                      25 :33) Elsewhere we read of God's hatred for Esau in
wolves which would rise within the church.                              distinction from His love for Jacob. (Mal. 1:2, 3) Paul
  ' It should be noticed that the  "falling short of the                refers to this in Rom. 9: 13. In this passage, too, the
grace of God" is not merely a mere lack of grace, not                   matter is the question who is the true Israel. It is not
having a full measure, but would be, that, Jewish                       a question of littleness of faith, nor of a walking in a
unbelief which denies the atoning blood of the Son of                   particular sin. It is the sin of outright unbelief and
God, Jesus, would affect men to unbelief. This is the                   unbelievers upon whom the wrath of God abides.
same as the "heart of unbelief" and the "falling away                   (John  3:36b.) These shall never see life, much less
from the living God" through unbelief in Hebrews                        shall they ever see the Lord in all His glory. Now this
3 ; 1 O-l 3! ! This is falling away from the pure teaching              sin of unbelief and of being a spiritual fornicator, a
of the Cross and back to the Old Testament types and                    covenant-breaker, we see clearly and unmistakably
shadows as if Christ had not come, to fulfill the                       portrayed to us as a case-study in the life and conduct
promises. This means that there be true preaching of                    of Esau, Jacob's twin-brother. He had the natural
the Word and that all heresies repugnant to it be                       preeminence as the first-born son of Rebecca. He was
rejected. Truly, this is a timely warning, then and                     the elder son. He had the right to the double portion.
now! And this requires vigilant oversight, much good                    Thus he was thoroughly instructed by his parents,
teaching and warning, both on the part of the office                    even, quite likely, by the aged patriarch Abraham in
of all believers, as well as from those who have the                    Sarah's tent. But the young man did not love God.
official oversight over the flock, as caring for the                    His basic attitude was that of love for this world. He
souls and as being such who must give, account to the                   loved the land of Canaan, not because it was the land
Chief-Shepherd of the flock. For Satan comes not                        of promise, a picture of a better and heavenly
only with fire and sword, but he also comes as an                       country, but because he could hunt in it. He did not
angel of light. And the false prophets'm  our day are                   live by the Word that proceeded from the mouth of
legion. And those having itching ears will multiply                     the Lord, but he had his sinful, worldly philosophy
teachers to themselves because they  .cannot endure                     and ethics, in which sin and grace, the blood and
sound doctrine. (II Tim. 4: l-4) May God destroy all                    forgiveness had no place. He could not and did not
those who oppose His Word with the breath of His                        see the kingdom of heaven. He was not a pilgrim and
mouth. (Romans 16; 20)                                                  a stranger. He desired to have his inheritance here and
 Furthermore, this also sheds' light on the                             now. His philosophy was: Let us eat, drink and be
implication of what is meant with this prevention, on                   merry, for tomorrow we die! He was like the
the phrase "a root of bitterness springing up trouble                   Epicurean worldly church-goer, like many a so-called
you, and thereby many be defiled". The springing up                     Christian today. When they must choose, and choose
of a root of bitterness is spoken of by Moses in Deut.                  they must, they will choose this world. The
29 : 18. There it refers to "a man or woman, family or                  "birthright" which gives us a place in the new birth of
tribe, whose heart turneth away from . . . the Lord                     regeneration they "despise" with utter hatred.
our God, to go and serve the gods of .these nations"!                     The text says of Esau two things. He was, first of
Surely, such a root of bitterness refers to a radical                   all, a "fornicator". He was this not only spiritually
and determinative breaking away from Jehovah God                        toward the living God. That he was first of all. But he
to serve idol gods, the things which are an                             was this also most literally. The wives which he chose
ajbomination   t o   t h e   L o r d .   Th,is   i s   r a d i c a l    were not women professing godliness. They were of
covenant-breaking. It is the refusal to be under the                    the people of Canaan, whom God will destroy to give
blood of sprinkling on the door-posts of Israel. It                     the land to His people. Small wonder that they were a
means to be destroyed with Egypt because such                           grief of soul to Isaac and Rebecca. They were women,
count the blood of the Covenant a common thing. It                      who when you married them, you put on a strange
is terrible to fall into the hands of the living God, and               yoke with unbelievers. They would lead you to hell.
such  shall die without mercy. (Hebrews  10:28, 29)                     And Esau was led willingly. He loved women, and not
This is called a "root of bitterness" springing up                      godly wives. He had three: Judith, Bashemath, and a
because it is such a basic departure, so radical and                    later wife Mahalath. He becomes a great nation, but it
irretrievable. Besides, such departure if unchecked                     is a nation upon whom God has indignation forever.
will "defile man". This defilement makes them                           Such was the fruit of his fornication. Secondly, he
unholy, and fit to be cast out of the holy place of                     was also a "profane person". He violated all that


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER.                                                                          261


which was sacred. He had no regard to God nor for                    of God with good preaching, sound administration of
sac&d and divine things. He never honored the                        the sacraments and with Christian discipline.  There
diffdrence between what was of God and `what was of                  must be good strong key-power of the Kingdom of
the world of Satan's dominion. He did not want that                  heaven. The  Esau's and all those who would create
 dis$ction., ,& ~9s religious as all the godless are, but            men and women to become like Esau must be put
 he was not godly and reverent.                                      out of the church.
   Ths is held up as an example for us to ,flee and not                  There is no hope for such Esau's. They never find a
have! a root of bitterness in the church. This calls for             place for repentance. It is final when they turn away
eternal vigilance. The evil must be put out of the city              from the living God.



                                      CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY

  All young men desiring to begin studies this fall in              r e c o m m e n d a t i o n   o f   t h e   T h e o l o g i c a l   S c h o o l
either the pre-seminary or seminary department of                   Committee, to such an aspirant only who comes
the Theological School of the Protestant Reformed                   supplied with a testimonial of his consistory that he
Chui-ches are `requested to appear `before the                      is a member in full communion, sound in faith and
Theqlogical School Committee at its meeting to be                   upright in walk, and also a certificate from a
held  ,on Thursday, March 20, 1975, at  7:30 P.M. in                reputable physician showing him to be in good
the Theological School Building, 4949  Ivanrest Ave.,               health.
S.W.;   Grandyille,  Michigan 49418.                                    A complete high school education and the
Pre-shninary Department:                                            equivalent of a four year (125 hour) college
                                                                    education are required for entrance into the seminary
  Peimission to pursue the pre-seminary course of                   department. Moreover, each entrant into this
study shall be granted by the Theological School                    department must produce evidence  that he has credit
Comeittee. A transcript of grades from High School                  for the required college courses. Requirements are
and College (if any), a letter of testimony from a                  listed in the school catalog, available from the School.
student's pastor or consistory, and a certificate of
health from a reputable physician shall be submitted.                  In the event you cannot be present at this meeting,
                                                                    please notify the undersigned secretary of your
Seminary Department:                                                i n t e n t i o n s , p r i o r   t o   t h e   m e e t i n g .   M a i l   a l l
  Permission to pursue the Theological course in the                correspondence to the Theological School.
semhary shall be granted by the Synod, upon                                                            Richard H. Teitsma, Secretary



             But not to wrangle about words, I .wiIlingly, and in a moment, confess that what I have written is this:
          "That the Fall of Adam was not by accident, nor by chance; but was ordained by the secret counsel of
          God." And this is the doctrine which you positively pronounce to be "the doctrine of the devil." You are,
          in your own eyes, I know, a judge of the highest authority, and therefore it is that, in your self-conceit, you
          imagine that you can, by five words of the foulest abuse, knock down that firm fabric of truth which I have
          erected, and which I have supported by the most impregnable arguments. You call upon me to produce a
          testimony from the Scriptures, from which it is manifest that Adam fell not, but. by the secret decree of
          God. But had you read even a few pages of my writings with any attention, that sentiment of mine could
          not have escaped you which everywhere occurs in my books - that God governs all things by His secret
          counsel and decree. You ascribe a prescience to God after your own fashion, representing Him as sitting in
          heaven as an idol, inactive, unconcerned spectator of all things in the life of men. Whereas, God Himself,
          ever vindicating to Himself the right. and the act of holding the helm of all things which are done in the
          whole world, never permits a separation of His prescience from His power! Nor is this manner of reasoning
          mine only, but most certainly Augustine's also. "If (says the holy father) God foresaw that, which He did
          not will to be done, God holds not the supreme rule over all things. God, therefore, ordained that which
          should come to pass, because nothing could have been done had He not. willed it to be done."
                                                            -John Calvin, The Secret Providence of God, pp. 280,281


262                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                Book Reviews
TtiE MOST REVEALING BOOK OF THE BIBLE:                             THE ORIGIN AND DESTINY OF MAN, by Francis
Making Sense Out of Revelation,  by Vernard Eller;                 Nigel Lee; Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974; 214                      Company, 1974; 119 pp., $2.95 (paper). [Reviewed
pp., $3.95 (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko]                   by Prof. H. Hanko]
  This book, written by a minister in the Church of                   The author of this book was a `professor of
the Brethren and a Professor of Religion at LaVerne                philosophy and religion for three years at Shelton
College in California, is intended to be a commentary              College, New Jersey. He was a pastor of the Dutch
on the Book of Revelation.                                         Reformed Church of South Africa. He is at present a
  It is not a very good book. From a formal point of               trial lawyer of the Supreme Court of South Africa
view the book is not good for the following reasons.               and a scholar in residence at the Christian Studies
It is. written in a very facetious and off-hand way                Center in Memphis, Tennessee.
which is altogether out of keeping with the                           In many respects this is an interesting book.
seriousness of the book of Revelation. It is too brief             Especially the first three chapters ("The Origin of
to be of any real help in understanding John's                     Man", "The Essence of Man", "The Plight of Man")
prophecies. This is evident, e.g., from the fact that              have a great deal of excellent and interesting material
less' than a page is devoted to the discussion of the              in them. The author tells of how he was converted
beast out of the sea in Revelation  `13, and only                  from evolutionism to creationism and explains the
slightly more than a page to the beast out of the earth            creation of man in terms of the historic creationistic
in the same chapter.                                               position. However, he takes the position that it is
 From the viewpoint of its contents, we object to                  impossible to tell the length of the days of the
the book on the following grounds. It leaves the                   creation week, although he -does not argue for long
authorship of the Book of Revelation in doubt. It                  days and for an old earth to make room for
considers Rev. 13: 18, 17:9-l 7 to be additions to the             evolutionary processes. He has a lot of interesting
book by a later interpolator who was trying to                     material from the viewpoint of a Christian
"calendarize" the book  - something which the                      psychology in his second chapter, and he describes in
author detests. The author considers both passages to              some detail the fall into sin in the third.
be some kind of cipher or puzzle which must be                        In the last two chapters, however, ("The Hope of
figured out through intricate mathematical devices.                Man", "The Destiny of Man") he adopts a
But more seriously, the book adopts the position of                post-millennial position. He speaks in glowing terms
pre-millennial&m in Revelation 20. His brand of                    of man's future and is optimistic about the position
premillennialism however, is a little different from               which the people of God shall occupy in the future
dispensational pre-millennialism. The author claims                age. His is not the liberal post-millennialism of the
that the book teaches a literal thousand year reign of             social gospel; it is rather the more fundamentalistic
Christ on earth in a kingdom which shall include all               postmillennialism which is so common in these
men. There is never any specific mention of the Jews.              circles.
And more seriously yet, the author teaches that into                  To learn what this type of post-millennialism is like
all1 eternity the wicked in hell will have an                      makes this book worthwhile.
opportunity to repent of sin and leave hell to join the
company of the saints in heaven. In this respect he is
an admitted universalist.

             You affirm, however, that there is one question in particular on which the arguments of my enemies
          against me are too powerful to be refuted by the contents of any of my books which I have as yet written
          upon the subject. That question, you say, is the great subject of predestination, or fate. I would that you
          could resolve either to inquire into that subject modestly, or to argue upon it honestly, rather than to cast
          off all shame and to confound in one things the most diverse from each other, in order to prevent all true
          light from falling upon them. Fate is a term given by the Stoics to their doctrine of necessity, which they
          had formed out of a multiplex labyrinth of contradictory reasonings; a doctrine calculated to call God
          Himself to order, and to set Him laws whereby to work. But Predestination I define to be, according to the
          Holy Scriptures, that free and unfettered counsel of God by which He rules all mankind, and all men and
          things, and also all parts and particles of the world by His infinite wisdom and incomprehensible justice.
          Now if the depravity of mind and the lust of cavilling and diabolical pride have so blinded you that can see
          nothing in the mid-daylight; yet to readers who really have eyes which can see, the distinction I have laid
          down shows, in a moment, the great justice and equity (!) of your quarreling with God in the profound
          matter of His "Secret Providence."              - John Calvin, i'%e Secret Providence Of God, pp. 261,262


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  263


                                       News From Our Churches
                         February 14, 197.5                                  "1) The organist will stop playing after the minister
                                                                             and council are finished praying; 2) the congregation
    Rev. M. Kamps is currently considering the call                          will rise with the minister; 3) the minister will give
from ;Kalamazoo.                                                             the invocation; 4) the organist will give the cue for
                                                                             the doxology and the congregation will sing; 5) the
    Rev. and Mrs. Lubbers are, of course, well into                          minister will announce the first Psalter number."
their labors in our congregation in Pella. Rev. Lubbers
writes that they're happy to be there, that he is quite                                                    *****
busy,: and that he tries "to do the work with all the                            Bulletins of our churches in the Grand Rapids' area
zest that a sixty-five year old man can muster with                          carried notices, during the past several weeks,
God's help." He was, incidentally, scheduled to speak                        concerning ` `the first Singspiration during the
at the chapel exercises in Pella Christian School on                         anniversary year of our churches." The theme for
the 19th of February.                                                        that Singspiration is, appropriately, "God's Covenant
   Mrs. G. Vos celebrated her 80th birthday on                               Faithfulness." It's to be held on the evening of
Saturday, February 15. She was remembered on that                            Sunday, March 2, in First Church.
occasion by an open house, held in the Hudsonville                               "God's Covenant Faithfulness" is, as you probably
Church on Friday evening, the 14th of February.                              know, the theme of the 1975 Protestant Reformed
                                   *****                                     Young Peoples' Convention - the 35th in the history
   A January 12 bulletin of Faith Church reported                            of our churches. This particular convention is,
concerning progress in the construction of Faith's                           therefore, as far as our young people are concerned,
parsonage. By the middle of January the exterior                             of significance in itself. But it takes on added
brick, work was completed, and the carpenters were                           importance in that it will be held concurrently with
"busy working on the interior trim." March 1 is the                          the 50th anniversary celebration of our churches. The
target, date for the completion pf the house.                                host societies (First Church's Senior and Junior
                                                                             Young Peoples') are putting forth every effort to plan
                                   *****                                     a convention which will rank with the best. The
   Hope Church of Grand Rapids instituted a change                           planned site of the convention, the beautiful and
in its order of worship. As of February 16, the                              expansive Calvin College Knollcrest Campus, will
invocation in Hope's service precedes the singing of                         surely help in that regard. But the concern of the host
the doxology. The reasoning of the Consistory was                            societies is for more than facilities. "We want to
that it's proper that the service begin officially "with                     believe,?' they write, "that this will be one of the
the minister declaring the votum." The new order,                            most profitable spiritual conventions ever held."
according to the February 9 bulletin, is as follows:                                                                        (continued on back page)


                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   The Mary-Martha Society of the Kalamazoo (Michigan) Protestant               The members of the Priscilla Society of First Protestant Reformed
Reformed Church extends heartfelt sympathy to two of its members,            Church wish to express their sincere sympathy to their fellow member,
Mrs. John Rust and Berdena Rust, in the death of their husband and           Mrs.  LaVerne  Pastoor, in the death of her husband, MR. ROBERT G.
father, MR. JOHN RUST, whom the Lord took Home on January 30,                PASTOOR.
1 9 7 5 .                                                                       May she be comforted by trusting in the God of all wisdom Who
    "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." (Rev.  14:13).             doeth ail things well.

                                               Mrs. William Clason, Pres.                                                       Mrs. P. Decker, Pres.
                                                                                                                               Jessie Dykstra, Sec'y.
                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   The Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School Board expresses its                              50TH ANNIVERSARY
sympathy to fellow board member Mr. Stan Dykstra in the death of his                              THANI<S BE TO GOD!
father, MR. DICK DYKSTRA, whom the Lord took to Himself on
February 1, 1975.                                                               The Lord willing, the Hull  (Iowa)  Protestant Reformed Church will
                                                                             observe her 50th anniversary on March 21, 1975. We, the members of
   "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance          this congregation, give thanks to our Faithful Covenant God for the
shall be for ever." Ps. 37: 18                    Dewey  Engelsma,  Pres.    many blessings of the past and look to the future with trust in Him, and
                                                     Clare Kuiper, Sec'y.    Him alone.
                  __.
                                                                                "Be thankful unto Him and bless His Name. For the Lord is  good:
                                  NOTICE!!!
             I                                                               His mercy is everlasting: and His truth endureth to all generations."
   The Free Christian School of Edgerton, Minn., is in need of a             (Psalm 100:4,5).
teacher for the lower grades  (thru  Grade  4), during the 1975-76 school       An anniversary booklet has been prepared and may be obtained for
year. Those interested should contact Mr. Art Ver Hey, Edgerton, MN.         $1.00. Address requests for this booklet to: Mrs. Tom Van Maanen,
58126. Phone  - 507-442-5133.                                                RRI, Hull, IA 51239.


                                                                                   -me=-,

                                           ~~~  _~~  ~~~~  ~~--~
`I'I~E STANDARD  BEARER
        P.O. Box 6064                                               pgEj%j
Gland Rapids, Michigan 49506                                             .





264                                                                           .

 On  August  6  Wednesday  of  the  Convention   week)
there will be a Field Day intended for  all  of our
people. In writing concerning that event, Randolph's
bulletin suggested that "this is a good opportunity for
all of us to renew old acquaintances and to make new
ones. This is a good time to come together as a
denomination and celebrate `God's Covenant
Faithfulness.' As many of us as possible should plan
to be in Michigan for this event."
                         *i:**ic**
 That same Randolph bulletin, by the way,
contained a couple of other paragraphs which ought
to be of general interest. One concerns the missionary
labors carried on in Maine, the other concerns that in
Texas. The first, lifted from a letter written by Mr.
John Hilton, reads as follows:
 : "Now Rev. Kuiper is working here and although
we don't have any more regular worshippers than
before, many people have come to know about us
through the newspapers and radio as well as his visits.
We now have a weekly radio program here.' Rev.
Kuiper goes to Portland to preach every other Sunday
afternoon and people from there come here on the
other Sunday. . . . We only wish more people would
make use of the priceless privilege of hearing the
preaching and join with us."
 I The second paragraph from Randolph's bulletin
was, according to its introduction, "gleaned from
Pella's bulletin." And the latter indicated that it came
from  a  letter  written  b y   Mr.  Joei  Sugg,  teacher   of
`tthe Country School" at Brookshire, Texas. The
following excerpt, then, has reached us by a route
somewhat less than direct. Here it is:
   "With the seed planted over ten years ago through
the loving ministry of Rev. G. Lubbers, the Protestant
Reformed Churches have provided an unbroken
continuity of preaching since Rev. David Engelsma's
profoundly powerful clarion call of the Gospel
preached to over 80 souls gathered at the Cottage on
sthe 3rd Sunday of September, 1973. Presently Rev.
Robert Harbach is the Missionary pastor preaching to
our group of 8-10 families meeting every Sunday in
Houston, and while our greatest gratitude is for the
gift of God's Son, we have knowledge of this only
through the Gospel, which has been brought before
us by these ministers. May God be praised!"




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