      STAlVD.RD
               BEARER.
F              A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE

        Family devotions and family fellowship are
     being sacrificed for the rush and tumble of
     our daily existence. Family rooms are but a
     name. Our homes are more  ,like hotels, with
     tenants coming and `going. . . . We are too
     preoccupied with entertainments and plea-
     sures of all sorts. Well may we be wat-chful in
     prayer, striving to hold that which we have
     and to pass it on to the generations to come,
     that no man take our crown. Ultimately, our
     own families, our own churches, our own
     personal faith, and our own blessedness are at
     stake.                                 . .._
     See "God's Providence in 1953 . . . "
                                              - page 116
                                                     Volume LV, No. 5, December 1, 1978  -
                                                               ISSN 0362-4692


98                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                            Semi-monthly, except  monthiy  during June, July, and August.
                                                                                 Published.by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                      Second Class Postase Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                             CONTENTS:                                  Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer  6. Hoeksema
                                                                        Department  Editok  Prof. Robert  D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
                                                                        Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach.
                                                                        Rev. John A.  Heys. Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert Joostens,
Meditation  -                                                           Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma,
                                                                        Rev. Marinus  SchiPPer,  Rev. James  SUoPsema,  Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
                                                                        Rev. Ronald Van  OverlooP. Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Kenneth G.
      The Only Possible Mediator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .98     Vink.
                                                                        Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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      Dordt Did Not Cultivate a TULIP . . . . . . . . , . 10 1          Church News Editor:  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink
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      Don't Destroy the TULIP! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102    Editorial Policy:  Every editor  is solely responsible for the contents of
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MEDITA TIO N



                              The Only Possible Mediator
                                                              Rev. C. Hanko



                  "Why must he be very man, and also perfectly righteous?
                  `Because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which hath sinned,
               should likewise make satisfaction for sin; and one, who is himself a sinner, cannot satisfy for
               others.  "
                  "Why must he-in one person be also very God?
                  "That he might, by the power of his Godhead sustain in his human nature, the burden of
               God's wrath, and might obtain for, and restore to us, righteousness and life."
                  "-Who then is that Mediator, who is in one,person both very God, and a real righteous
               man?
                  "Our Lord Jesus Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
               sanctification,. and redemption. "


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 99


  The Song of Redemption                                     when we are speaking of things heavenly and spir-
  The apostle John writes in Revelation, "And every          itual. Actually Scripture never speaks of God and
creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and           man as two parties at variance, who must be recon-
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all         ciled to each other. We are always the guilty ones,
that are in them, heard I saying, `Blessing, and  honoi-,    who are unfaithful by our willful disobedience. Even
and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon          though His justice is offended, and satisfaction must
the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.' "          be made. God always keeps covenant. God is like the
(Rev. 5: 13).                                                faithful husband who still loves and seeks his erring
                                                             wife, even though she has grossly sinned against him
  The echo of that song rings in our hearts  when we         with her adulteries. Therefore Scripture speaks of
read question and answer 18. It is as if we hear the         God reconciling us unto Himself, never to reckon our
sound as of a great thunder, like the voice of many          sins against us.
waters carrying the song of deliverance and  of vic-
tory.                                                          We are now writing Mediator with a capital  IM. It
                                                             may have seemed to us as if the Catechism was slow
  We notice at once that Christ is presented in  all  His    in reaching this point. Lord's Day 5 spoke of the kind
jiulness.  Not piecemeal, as if we must learn to know        of mediator we must seek for. The first part of Lord's
Him bit by bit, but in full harmony with our faith, we       Day 6 asks, as did Anselm of Canterbury centuries
embrace the complete Savior. Even a small child              before, Why must the mediator be man, why righ-
knows in his simple way the confession: "Our Lord            teous man, why very God in one person? All this is
Jesus Christ."                                               no vain speculation, but drives home to us, on the
  We also notice that when the writers of our Book           one hand, how desperately hopeless our salvation is,
of Instruction come to this point, words fail them.          if it in any way depends on us. On the other hand, it
Who dares to attempt to put in his own words such a          shows the love of God Who keeps covenant forever.
glorious gospel of salvation, especially when Scripture      No, still more, it shows the wonder of our salvation,
is at hand in which God tells us about it? We can            for "great is the mystery of godliness: God was
appreciate the fact that our fathers wisely turn to the      manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of
Scriptures. The answer to question 18 is almost              angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
literally a quotation from I Corinthians  1:30. Here         world, received up into glory." (I Timothy 3: 16).
Christ is spoken of as the revelation of the wisdom of
God to us. That Wisdom is revealed to us as Christ             The Perfect Mediator
our Righteousness, and also our Sanctification. To              "Who then is that Mediator, who is in one person
sum it all up, He is our full Redemption!                    both very God, and a real, righteous man?"
  Finally, what even adds to the beauty of this                 "Our Lord Jesus Christ." We hear  the angels
answer is the fact that this is a  confession.  You and I    singing upon the fields of Ephratha, "Glory to God in
are placed before the question, "Who then is that            the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
Mediator?" To which we answer in one accord with             men." (Luke 2: 14).
the church of all ages, "Our Lord Jesus Christ, who of
God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and                Our Mediator is  Jesus.  The name Jesus, let us
sanctification, and redemption." We hear Job testify-        never forget, means Jehovah-salvation. God came into
ing, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." We hear the           the flesh, born of a virgin. Deny that wonder, and
church of the shadows, "For unto us a child is born,         you have no Savior, not now or ever. Maintain that
unto us a son is given: and the government shall be          wonder, and  yoti see the dawning of the new, eternal
upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called              day in that Babe of Bethlehem, the person of the Son
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The ever-             of God with a complete, yet weakened human nature.
lasting Father, The Prince of Peace." This is my             He is Immanuel, God incarnate. He is like us, except
comfort, that I am not my own, but belong to my              for the fact that He is righteous, sinless. God sent His
faithful Savior Jesus Christ.                                own Son into the world to shed His blood and to
                                                             redeem us  fr,om our sins.

  The Only Mediator                                            Our Mediator is the  Christ.  He stands eternally
  Our Catechism has been writing mediator with a             before the face of God as God's Anointed, chief
small m. A mediator is generally defined as "one who         Servant in God's House to carry out the eternal
mediates or interposes between parties at variance for       purpose of His will. He is the Face of God, the
the purpose of reconciling them." Such a mediator            revelation of Him Whom no eye can see, nor ever will
seeks to remove the enmity between two parties, in           see. He is .the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
order to bring harmony between them. He is in that           and the end, of Whom are all things, through Whom
sense a "go-between." But human definitions fail us          are all  thjngs, that in Him all the fulness of glory may


 100                                          THE STANDARD  BEARER



dwell forever. To our addrable God must be the  glorjr     mankind. Marvellous wisdom. of God made it possible
unto all eternity.                                         for Jesus to be born of a virgin, to tabernacle among
   Our  Lord!  Already then, when  He stood in the         us, to atone for our sins by His horrible death on the
presence of God as our eternal Mediator, He was            cross, to die our death, to arise again, and to be ex-
appointed to be Lord of His Church. When He                alted to glory. This same Jesus comes with His Spirit
dwelled among us the disciples saw His glory as the        into our hearts to teach  us true wisdom. Christ, the
glory of the only begotten Son of God, full of grace       wisdom of God, tells us of God's promises, the secrets
and truth. At first they addressed Him as Rabbi, but       of Father's heart, the mighty working of the power of
the more they saw of His glory the more they were          His might in raising Christ Jesus, and in exalting Him
prompted to address Him as Lord. After the victory         to glory for our sakes. He teaches us God's precepts,
of the cross and His glorious resurrection from the        which alone can lead us in wisdom's ways, to bring us
dead, Thomas says, "My Lord and my God." Christ's          to Himself in the glory He has prepared for us with
Lordship was fully realized when He ascended to            Him in heaven. "Blessed is the man who heareth me,
heaven and took His position of power at the Father's      watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my
right hand. Christ is exalted  as Lord over all, with a    doors." (Proverbs  8:34). "0 the depth of the riches
Name above all names in heaven, on earth, and down         both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how un-
to the deepest hell, yet always as Head of His Church.     searchable are his judgments, and his ways past find-
Christ rules out of Zion, carrying out the counsel of      ing out! . . . For of him, and through him, and to
God unto its consummation in the great and glorious        him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.
Day of the Lord when every knee must bow and               Amen."
every tongue must confess that He is Lord,  fo the            God's Wisdom is revealed to us in righteousness.
glory of the Father.                                       The Holy Word assures us that Christ is our Righ-
                                                           teousness When Christ during His earthly ministry
  The Gift of God                                          walked the way of the cross, we walked that way
  Our Lord Jesus Christ! We utter His Name in awe-         with Him. When He spread His arms to be spiked to
some adoration, for He is made unto us of  Go.d,           the accursed beam, we spread our arms in Him. When
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification; yea,        He cried out in anguish of hell under the consuming
complete redemption!                                       wrath of God, we cried out in Him. When He died, we
                                                           died. When He was buried, we were buried. When He
  Wisdom of God.                                           arose, we arose. When He ascended to heaven to sit at
  Have you never read with rapt wonder that  amazi         the Father's right hand, we attained that exalted
ing 8th chapter of Proverbs, where Christ speaks of        position with Him. In holy wonder the apostle Paul
Himself as the Wisdom of God saying, "The Lord             declares, "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great
possessed me in the beginning of his way, before  hi+      love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead
works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the      in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by
beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no       grace ye are saved); and hath raised us up together,
depths, I was brought forth; when there were no            and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
fountains abounding with water. . . . Then was I by        Jesus." Even now God clothes us from head to foot
him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily His       in the garments of Christ's righteousness, so that
delight, rejoicing always before him." The figure          when He sees us, He sees Christ in us, and declares us
seems to be of a child who admires everything that         free from sin and guilt, worthy of eternal life. When
father does, so that father finds his joy in his  son:     we finally stand before the great white throne we
Christ is the wisdom of God already in the decree,         shall be declared righteous on the basis of Christ's
that in Him all fulness of blessedness should dwell,       merit, and be given our own place in glory with Him.
and that as Head of the Church. He is the revelation         God's wisdom is also revealed to us in sanctifica-
of God's eternal wisdom in creation, specifically in       tion. Notice the difference, Christ  is  our Righteous-
the creation of Adam. We cannot overlook the fact,         ness, but not our holiness. He is oui sanctification.
that in question 1'6 we read, not, "I who have sinned      Holiness was merited for us on the cross, and is
must also make satisfaction for my own sin." Then          worked in us by Christ's Spirit. The same Spirit Who
salvation would be forever impossible. But we read,!       gives us our rebirth by implanting the life of Christ in
"The  same human nature  which hath sinned should          us, also brings us to repentance, and the longing for
likewise make satisfaction for sir-i." That immediately    forgiveness. He likewise teaches us to hate sin, to flee
reminds us of the wisdom of God that made  Adam'           from it, to fight off temptations, and to walk in a
our representative head and our first father. Only'        new and holy life. We do not merely have the right to
because Adam was our representative head in  paradise:     be sons; we are sons, with the beginning of eternal life
could Christ, the last Adam, be our representative         in our hearts, a life which reaches out to Christ and
Head by coming in the flesh and bearing the sin of         for the perfection to come.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        101



   Sum it all up in that one glorious word:  Redemp-        Life. In Him is all our salvation.
tion. Christ is our Redeemer, for He is our Savior, our       Let him who glories, glory in the Lord!
Justifier, our Sanctifier, our Resurrection and our

EDITORIALS
Prof H. C. Hoeksema





                          Dordt Did Not Cultivate a TULIP



  Reformation Today  is a magazine published by                 Calvin, his predeccessor, did not hold the doctrines of
Cuckfield Baptist Church, Sussex, England. Its editor           grace in an harmonious proportion. Orthodox Dutch
is  Errol1 Hulse, with whose writings I first became            Christians in turn reacted against Arminius. They
`acquainted through his little booklet,  Billy  Graham,         produced the formularies of Dordt. These were fine
The Pastor's Dilemma.  The magazine mentioned                   Scriptural statements. Part of the Confession con-
above is the voice of a whole group of so-called                sisted of a refutation of Arminius' five points. The
Reformed Baptists. However, it is becoming increas-             five points countering Arminius came to be known as
                                                                the five points of Calvinism, even though Calvin had
ingly evident, especially from their increasing empha-         no part in composing them.
sis on the so-called "free offer of the gospel" and a
proportionate decreasing emphasis on and departure            In the next paragraph Hulse continues: "Since
from genuine Reformed and Calvinist truths, that            Dordt (1620) scores of books have been written
there is little that is Reformed and much that is after     based upon the outline known as TULIP. It is here
all Arminian about them. This is disappointing. When        that many have gone off the right track. They have
I first read the booklet mentioned above, I was             forgotten that a system taken from a controversy in
somehow led to hope that Mr. Hulse, who was at one          the past has to be studied in that context. It is so easy
time deeply  involyed in Graham's crusade evangelism,       to go off balance'on the one side or the other."
was moving in the right direction. Apparently this is         Now there is considerable mythology in this little
not the case. For his recent writings indicate an           introduction:
increasing movement in the direction of Arminian            1. There is the slanderous myth that Beza differed
generalism. Some time ago we criticized his booklet         doctrinally from Calvin. Mr. Hulse is not alone in this;
on the "free offer." The September-October, 1978            in fact, he must have learned this tale from someone
issue of  Reformation Today  contains two extensive         else. But it is nevertheless a slander of a very godly
articles from Hulse's pen which militate strongly           and  learwd -Reformed scholar, for whom Calvin
against the Reformed faith.                                 himself had only the highest respect and warmest
   The first article is entitled "Are we on the right       f r i e n d s h i p .
track?" (pp. 14-16). The  Standard Bearer  probably         2. It is not true that Arminius reacted against Beza,
would have criticized it anyway; but at the special         and especially not that he reacted. against  Beza in
request of a reader in England we offer a more              distinction from Calvin. The truth is that he reacted
detailed criticism of it and of the second article, "Did    against the Reformed faith as it was already estab-
Christ Come To Save The Whole World?"                       lished and confessed in the Netherlands, even to the
   Mr. Hulse begins by misrepresenting both  Dor-           extent that the Arminian party sought a revision of
drecht and TULIP. He writes:                                the existent creeds, the Heidelberg Catechism and the
       Are we producing `TULIP Calvinists' or `Biblical     Belgic Confession (neither of which can be traced to
    Calvinists'? We need to remember the origin of          B eza, by the way). Arminius and his followers
    TULIP. Arminius reacted against Beza who unlike         (among whom were friends and fellow-travellers of


102                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


the Socinians!) manifested a fundamental  antipathi           between what he calls "TULIP Calvinists" and "Bibli-
against Calvinism itself, not merely against a  suppo$        cal Calvinists." For if it is true, as he says, that "the
edly extreme brand of Calvinism taught by Beza. The           formularies of Dordt" were "fine Scriptural state-
battle was not between moderate and extreme Calvin-           ments, "then it also follows that what he calls
ists, but between Calvinists and anti-Calvinists.             "TULIP Calvinists" must be identical with "Biblical
3. TULIP did not originate at Dordrecht. The Synod            Calvinists."
of Dordrecht, did not cultivate a TULIP. A cursory              All of which is not to say that there is anything
study of the Canons of Dordrecht will make this               fundamentally wrong with TULIP  - provided, of
plain. TULIP is a mnemonic (memory aid) to assist  ip         course, that one remembers that it is nothing more
remembering the so-called Five Points of Calvinism  ih        than a mnemonic, a  pons  assinorum,   an "asses'
the following order: 1) Total depravity; 2) Uncondi-          bridge." One must certainly not elevate either the
tional election; 3) Limited Atonement; 4) Irresistible        order or the terminology of a mnemonic to the status
grace; 5) Perseverance of the saints. But the above           of dogma. And as is the case with all mnemonics, if
five points are not the  same as the Canons  @f               one remembers the mnemonic, but fails to remember
Dordrecht either in  order  or in  language.  The Canons      that of which it is intended to be a reminder, the
of Dordrecht are the following: 1) Of Divine Predesti-        mnemonic is of no value. Still more, one must
nation; 2) Of The Death Of Christ, And The Redemp-            remember not only the  names  of the Five Points of
tion Of Men Thereby; 3  & 4) Of The Corruption Of             Calvinism, but must know and understand and believe
Man, His Conversion To God, And The Mann&                     the  doctrines  covered by those names. If he does that,
Thereof; 5) Of The Perseverance Of The Saints. It is          he will unreservedly take his stand with the Canons of
obvious that significant differences in order and             Dordrecht, those "fine Scriptural statements." And
language prevent the use of TULIP with application            then eventually he will find little or no need of a
to the Canons of Dordrecht. However famous thk                mnemonic such as TULIP.
Netherlands may  b'e for its tulips, this "TULIP"  was
not cultivated at Dordrecht.                                    Nevertheless, it is historically inaccurate to ascribe
4. Mr. Hulse nevertheless draws a false disjunction           the cultivation of TULIP to Dordrecht.





                                          Don't Destroy the TULIP!

   This is what  Errol1 Hulse does.                           human reason, but no contradiction in the mind of
   You understand, I am now referring to TULIP in             God." I propose that the Canons of Dordrecht indeed
its proper sense, as a mnemonic reminding us of the           maintain the responsibility of both the Christian and
so-called Five Points of Calvinism as maintained and          the unbeliever without resort to "seeming contra-
expounded in the Canons of Dordrecht, those "fine             diction."
S c r i p t u r a l   s t a t e m e n t s . "                   In the second place, he claims never to have heard
   In fact, in one way or another Past& Hulse pulls all       "a really satisfactory treatment" of limited atone-
the petals from this flower; and he literally proposes        ment. Again, I refer him to the Cations of Dordrecht,
the substitution of a new flower, TCUIPP, facetiously         Chapter II, both the negative and positive sections.
suggesting that "In another language a word might  b$         And if he desires more, there are numerous passages
made  ~of it."                                                in our Protestant Reformed writings, both in books
   In  the first place, Hulse seeks to destroy the  flower    and in The Standard Bearer.
by suggesting that "essential truths such as human              In the third place, he sharply militates against
responsibility are omitted in TULIP." With an appeal          irresistible calling when he takes exception to the
to J.I. Packer, he speaks of the fact that human              interpretation of Matthew  23:37 which applies "thy
responsibility and divine sovereignty must be held            children" to the elect. This is the well-known passage
together. But what does he mean by this human                 which reads: "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
responsibility? The telling statement is: "There is           killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent
such a thing as `antinomy', seeming contradiction to          unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               103


  children together, even as a hen gathereth her chick-       atonement is suggested in the context of preaching
  ens under her wings, and ye would not!" Hulse calls it      the Gospel to all," one can only be reminded of that
  "a distortion" to make "thy children" apply to the          form of general atonement which is unlimited in its
  elect. But the choice confronting him is plain. Either      desire, its sufficiency, and its availability, but limited.
  Jerusalem's children here are elect children whom           in its efficacy, a la Prof. Harold Dekker and the
  Christ willed to gather, and then Christ's will also        Christian Reformed Church.
  prevailed over against the will of wicked Jerusalem,           Along with this goes a goodly dosage of philoso-
  which "would not." Or they are not elect, and Christ        phizing about common grace on the part of Hulse.
  graciously  willed to gather them, but the will of          Pastor Hulse speaks of "Exposition of Scripture the
  wicked Jerusalem prevailed over the will of Christ  - a     best way." Let him remember that exposition of
  form of resistible grace and a genuine Arminian             Scripture is more, much more, than simply giving
  doctrine. Hulse, with an additional appeal to Luke          references and quoting texts. For example, he appeals
  19:41-44,  chooses the latter and speaks of "those          to Romans 1: 19 to 2: 16 as  iroving that the apostle
  who had missed their time of opportunity."                  expounded "the doctrine of common grace which
    In the fourth place, in presenting  a. chart which,       essentially precedes and is preparatory to saving
  purports to set forth the comparative positions of          grace." Let Pastor Hulse begin at Rom. 1: 18 ("For
  Arminianism, Calvinism, and Hyper-Calvinism, he dis-        the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. . .  ."), and
  torts these positions in more than one respect, so that     let him demonstrate how this passage teaches any
  Calvinism is watered down and so that what is true          grace of God to the reprobate. The entire last section
  Calvinism is presented as Hyper-Calvinism. Two ex-          of Romans 1 speaks of wrath, nothing but wrath! It
  amples of watered down Calvinism: 1. Total deprav-          speaks of the fact repeatedly that God in that wrath
  ity: "Man has fallen in all his faculties including his     visited sin with more sin and corruption. Some grace!
  will." Three remarks: a. The third point of the             Furthermore, let Pastor Hulse consider seriously the
  Remonstrants in  16jO was stronger than this. b. An         fact that the doctrine of common grace which he
  Arminian like Billy Graham says the same thing in           proposes in the statement quoted above is exactly the
  World Aflame.  c. Pastor Hulse's own description in         Arminian doctrine of common grace. And let him
  BiZZy Graham - The Pastor's Dilemma is better than          consider, too, the fact that the only time the Canons
  this. The question is: is natural man dead in trespasses    of Dordrecht speak of common grace, they place it in                        -
  and sins (not a Hyper-Calvinist doctrine)? Is he            the mouth of the Arminians. Finally, let him consider
  incapable of any good,  and'inclined to all evil by         that even the acknowledged greatest authority on
  nature? 2. Perseverance of the Saints: "Through faith       common grace (Abraham  Kuyper., the author of three
  the elect persevere to salvation." The Arminian             large volumes on  the subject) never wanted to con-
  teaches this, too. The question is whether the elect        nect common grace with saving grace and with the
  persevere because they are infallibly preserved. Two        preaching of the gospel, but always insisted on the
  examples of misrepresented Hyper-Calvinism:                 particularity of grace in that area.
  1. Limited Atonement: "God deals lovingly with the             No, when you change TULIP to TCUIPP (total
  elect and only wrathfully with the non-elect for            depravity, common grace, unconditional election, ir-
  whom there are no benefits from the atonement and           resistible grace, perseverance of the saints and particu-
  no common grace." Not only is there nothing pecu-           lar redemption) you have distorted  and destroyed
  liarly Hyper-Calvinistic about this statement, but it is    TULIP..
  thoroughly in keeping with the Canons of Dordrecht,
  t h o s e "fine Scriptural statements." 2. Irresistible        That no genuine lover of the doctrines of grace will
  Grace: "The Holy Spirit regenerates the elect without       ever do! (Next time: Did Christ come to save the
  prior preparation." This is a way of stating the truth'     whole world? My answer is Yes. Errol1 Hulse's answer
  of "immediate regeneration," a doctrine repugnant to        is really No.)
  all Baptists, of course. But again, there is nothing
  peculiarly Hyper-Calvinistic about it; and it is in
  thorough harmony with Dordrecht.
    Worst of all, however, are the distortions which
-Hulse presents as being exposition of Scripture and as                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  being "the best way." The first is an alleged substitu-        The Ladies' Society of Randolph Protestant Reformed Church
  tion of "particular redemption" for "limited atone-         extends their heartfelt sympathy to one of their fellow members, Mrs.
  ment." No Reformed man, of course, can object to            Frank Soodsma, and to her husband in the death of their infant son,
  speaking of particular redemption. But when a dis-          LUCAS JOHN, on October 18, 1978. May they find their comfort in
                                                              the covenant promise of our Faithful Father. "Even so it is not the will
  junction is created between particular redemption           of your Father which is in Heaven, that one of these little ones should
  and limited atonement and when the statement is             perish." Matthew  18:14
  tiade (in question form) "that no limitation in the                                                      The Ladies Society


 104                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


 LEST WE FORGET





                 The Doctrinal Issues of 1953 (2)

                                               Projf H. C. Hoeksema





4. What was the substance of the minority report                  That "Decision re the Hoeksema, Ophoff-Fuller
which was adopted by  Classis East in May of 1953          Case" was very lengthy and thorough. But because of
with respect to the two statements of the Rev. H. De       its importance we quote it in its entirety:
Wolf?                                                      "1. In our opinion both the statements which the
   The main thrust of their report, as adopted by          protestants condemn are literally heretical regardless
Classis East, is contained in the following paragraphs:    of what the Rev. De Wolf meant by them, regardless
   "We, the undersigned, members of the- committee         of how he explains them because:
appointed to study the protests of the Rev.                       the first teaches a general promise of God unto
Hoeksema and the Rev. Ophoff against their  con-           salvation to all that  exte.mally  hear the preaching of
sistory in re its action with the Rev. De Wolf cannot      the gospel, head for head and soul for soul, limited by
agree with the necessity nor with all the contents of      a condition which man must fulfill, while Scripture
the long document which precedes the advice given          and our confessions plainly teach:
by the other members of our committee. Neither can
we sign the advice that they have drawn up. Instead,              1. That, indeed, the proclamation of the gospel
as our minority report we present the following:           comes to all to whom God in His good pleasure sends
                                                           it.
   "1. We cannot agree that the Consistory should
maintain its former stand that the statement `God                 2. That, however, in our proclamation of the
promises everyone of you that if you believe you will      gospel, we may never say that God promises salvation
be-saved' is not a concise statement of the truth. In      to everyone of the hearers, on condition of faith, for
our opinion both the statements which the protes-          the promise itself is particular, unconditional, and
tants condemn are literally heretical regardless of        only for the elect; for it is an oath of God which He,
what the Rev. De Wolf meant by them, regardless of         in His everlasting mercy and grace, swears by Himself
how he explains them. We take this stand:                  to His beloved elect; which He, by sovereign grace,
                                                           fulfills only to and in them, without any condition or
  "a. because the protestants. have clearly shown          prerequisite to be fulfilled by them; and which
from the Scriptures and the confessions that the           promise implies that, by His Holy Spirit, He causes
literal statements are heretical.                          them to receive and appropriate salvation by a true
  "b. and because we believe this is necessary for us      and living faith.
to state in the light of our past experiences and                 the second teaches that our act of conversion is a
history with the Liberated churches who use these          prerequisite to enter the Kingdom of God, which
Arminian expressions."                                     means that we convert and humble ourselves before
5. What was the final and complete form of the             we are translated from the power of darkness into the
decision of  Classis East as it was transmitted to the     kingdom of God's dear Son, while Scripture and the
Consistory of First Church?                                Confessions plainly teach:


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 105



      1. That the whole work of our conversion, regen-          submit to the proposed action as stipulated under No.
eration in its narrower as well as in its wider sense, in       2, b, which God graciously forbid, such elder or
virtue of which we humble ourselves, is sovereignly             elders be disciplined according to the articles of the
wrought by God, by His Spirit and Word, through the             D.K.O. pertaining thereto.
preaching of the gospel in His elect.                             Grounds: Art. 79, 80, D.K.O. (Note: These are the
      2. That this entire work of conversion is our             articles of the Church Order concerning the discipline
translation and entering into the kingdom of God.               of ministers, elders, and deacons. HCH)
Hence, it is not, cannot be  before" but THROUGH                "4. That  Classis appoint a delegation of three minis-
our conversion that we enter the kingdom. We hum-               ters and two elders to personally acquaint the  Con-
ble ourselves IN the light, never IN darkness; we               sistory with the above decisions and advice at the
humble ourselves, whether initially or repeatedly, IN           earliest consistory meeting:
the kingdom, never OUTSIDE of it. Hence, our ACT
of conversion is never antecedent to our entering in,,            Grounds:
but always is performed IN the kingdom of God, and'               a. Almost all the elders of the First Church are
there are no prerequisites.                                     absent from  Classis meeting and thus are not aware of
      Grounds :                                                 the five days of deliberation which preceded the
                                                                above advice.
      a. the protestants have clearly shown from Scrip-
ture and the confessions that the literal statements              b. The matter is one of great magnitude and
are heretical.                                                  importance.
      b. we believe this is necessary for us to state in the      c. We owe the mother church of our entire denom-
light of our past experiences and history with the              ination such courtesy and respect.
Liberated churches who use these Arminian ex-                     d. We should spare no efforts on our behalf, under
p r e s s i o n s .                                             the blessings of our Covenant God, to save the dear
"2.  Classis  advises the Consistory of the First               brethren involved."
Church:
      a. to demand that the Rev. De Wolf make a public            For the sake of clarity it is necessary to insert some
apology for having made the  - two statements in                historical notes at this point, especially for those
question.                                                       readers who did not live through this history.
      b. that the Consistory also publicly apologize for          It was the above decision of  Classis East which
having supported the Rev. De Wolf with respect to               precipitated the so-called split in our churches. Or, if
the two statements in question.                                 you will, it was the above decision which constituted
                                                                a kind of declaration of Reformation in  our churches.
"Grounds in re the first statement:                               I cannot very well tell the whole story in all its
      a. Scripture: Heb.  6:16-l& Rom. 9:6-8, 16, 18,           details at this point; that would take us too far afield.
Acts  13:48,  John  6:36 and 37, John  10:26-30.                What follows is but the barest sketch of a period of
      b. Confessions:  Heid. Cat. 20, 65; 66; Confession        storm and battle in which men's souls were severely
22, 33-35, Canons I, A, 6, 7, 10; I, B, 2,  3;5; II, A, 5,      tried and in which congregations and whole families
8.                                                              and hundreds of members were put to the test as to
"Grounds in re the second statement:                            their loyalty to our Protestant Reformed heritage.
                                                                From a certain point of view those were glorious
      a. Scripture: Col.  1:13, Eph. 2: 1-3, John 3:3-5,        times: times of renewed dedication to the cause of
Phil. 2: 12-13.                                                 the truth, times of renewed zeal in the pulpit, times of
      b. Confession:  Heid. Cat. 8, Canons III, IV, 1-3,        relief from the well-nigh intolerable tensions of strife
10-12; v. 6-8.                                                  and of release from a terrible atmosphere of dis-
"3.  Classis further advises the Consistory of First            loyalty and suspicion. But from another point of
Church :                                                        view, considered from the  .point of view of the tearing
                                                                apart of churches and families, the decimation of
      a. that in case the Rev. De Wolf should refuse to         congregations, the parting of the ways among those
apologize, which our God graciously forbid, the                 who had once been officebearers and members in a
Consistory proceed to suspend him from the office of            small and closeknit denomination, or from the point
the ministry of the Word and the Sacraments, accord-            of view of the tremendous struggle it required to
ing to the pertinent articles of the D.K.O. (Note:              reconstitute churches, to hold congregations and the
"D.K.O." is a Dutch abbreviation for "Church Order              denomination together, to face the myriad problems
of Dordrecht." HCH)                                             attendant upon `the struggle to keep or to reacquire
      b. that in case any elder or elders should refuse to      church properties  - I say, from this point of view,


106                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


one could never wish to live through such times again.      was only one entire congregation and one minister
Nevertheless, the Lord made all things well for our         who remained Protestant Reformed. The congrega-
churches. Let us never forget that!                         tion was  Doon, Iowa, and the minister was the writer
  What happened as a result of that momentous               of these lines. There were four congregations (Hull,
decision of  Classis East?                                  Iowa; Edgerton, Minnesota; Redlands, California; and
                                                            Lynden, Washington) which were split, and in which
  When the special committee of  Classis East con-          the faithful element of the congregation had to be
veyed the decision to the Consistory of First Church,       reconstituted. All of these were also temporarily
the latter decided on June 1, 1953 to adopt the             without ministers. Later  Pella, Iowa was also reconsti-
decision of  Classis and to act accordingly. However,       tuted. On the other hand, no fewer than six entire
when it came to executing that decision later in June,      congregations left the Protestant Reformed Churches
neither the Rev. De Wolf nor the elders agreeing with       and later either disbanded  `or eventually found their
him would apologize. Consequently Rev. De Wolf was          way into the Christian Reformed denomination along
suspended and the elders were deposed. But they did         with the rest of the De Wolf group. Ten of the eleven
not submit to this discipline, not even under protest.      ministers of  Classis West went along with De Wolf.
On the contrary, they made it known that they
intended to take over First Church and to hold                In October, 1953 the storm struck  Classis East.
services in the church building. The faithful  con-         The De Wolf faction tried to have delegates seated at
sistory, rather than bring about an open physical           the October continued session of  classis. When they
conflict for the property, held services after the break    failed in this and when  Classis decided that the
in the auditorium of the Grand Rapids Christian High        Hoeksema-Hanko consistory was the legitimate  con-
School. There they continued to meet until the              sistory of First Church, those who sided with De Wolf
property question was settled many months later.            stood with him and left the denomination. It is safe
First Church, therefore, was "split" from this time         to say that also in  Classis East no church was left
on. That was June, 1953.                                    completely unaffected.  `But in several churches there
                                                            was a division.  Creston (Grand Rapids), Second
  Farther than that the separation did not proceed          Church of Grand Rapids (Southwest at present),
during the summer of 1953 in  Classis East, which at        Fourth Church (now Southeast), and Holland saw
that time included all congregations east of the            splits. Kalamazoo actually became so small that it was
Mississippi River.                                          a branch of First Church for a little while, until it was
  Surprisingly enough, the split next affected the          reconstituted. Of the ministers of  Classis East, four
churches of  Classis West. The consistory of First          sided with De Wolf and said farewell to our denomi-
Church had quite properly sent notices to all sister        nation; and several years later the Rev. R. Veldman
consistories of the denomination notifying them of          added his name to that group, subjecting Southeast
the suspension from office of the Rev. De Wolf.             Church to another split.
Several churches in  Classis West took occasion from
this notification to "take sides" rather than recognize       This, in briefest outline, accounts for the radical
even formally and temporarily the suspension of De          difference  in- the denominational statistics of 1952
Wolf. And not only did those churches take sides, but       and 1954 which I quoted last time.
they sent overtures to the September session of               But the issues were doctrinal issues. And they were
Classis West urging them to take sides in favor of De       not insignificant doctrinal issues, but issues which
Wolf and opposed to the legal consistory of First           went to the very heart of our Protestant Reformed
Church. There was even an overture at that early date       heritage. That is the reason why our churches and
to oust Revs. Hoeksema and Ophoff from the Theo-            membership were willing to undergo the tribulation
logical School.  Classis West heeded these overtures by     of the separation in 1953.
various decisions. The result `was that the conflict
spread like wildfire through the churches of  Classis         And to these important doctrinal issues we shall
West even before there was any further activity in the      call attention in greater detail.
east. What was the outcome? In  Classis West there            Lest we forget!

                       AN IDEAL  CHRlSTlViAS GIFT
                                A Subscription To The
                              STANDARD BEARER


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                107


SIGNS OF THE TIMES





                                   Signs in Society (4)
                                                 Racism

                                              Rev. Mark Eoeksema




  In the light of the teaching of the Scriptures,          employment discrimination, of educational dis-
particularly the visions of Revelation 13, we have         crimination, of economic discrimination, and some-
been examining various aspects of signs of the times       times of religious discrimination, as well as discrim-
as they become manifest in society. We have stressed       ination in housing and in the administration of
the idea that in order for the antichristian kingdom to    justice. In all of these areas these minorities are
become a reality, there must be, as much as possible,      inferior: they are usually at the bottom of the job
uniformity in society, and a general equality among        ladder, are more poorly educated than whites, are
mankind. We have looked at two social phenomena or         over-represented in the category of those who are
movements that clearly point in this direction, the        poor, have been relegated to substandard housing in
women's liberation movement and the gay rights             big-city ghettos, and often do not receive fair treat-
movement. In harmony with the theme of this series         ment in the courts of the land. .
of articles, we now turn our attention to another            That all of these facts are true has been demon-
factor in the growing trend toward unity in society,       strated repeatedly, so that no lengthy proof is re-
namely racism.                                             quired here. And that all of this discrimination in its
  This darker side of our society (and others) is          various forms' has caused sometimes violent upheavals
known variously as class struggle, at least when the       in American society is also well known. That the
emphasis falls upon economically-based distinctions,       whole American way of life has been affected by an
or sometimes as intergroup conflict. But whatever its      awareness of racism is also clear. One need only have
name, racism in whatever form consists of conflict         lived during the 1960's to be conscious of these
between various groups in society based upon notice-       truths; during that time especially the news media
able physical or cultural differences between those        were literally full of news concerning racism and
groups. Though it has assumed many forms in the            efforts to overcome it. And the same is. true today,
course of history, in our day its most common form         though perhaps on a lesser scale, as is witnessed by
is discrimination because of race or national origin.      the continuing controversy over school busing in
Thus, in America, the most common objects of               many cities across the land.
racism are blacks, persons of Spanish descent, such as       The causes of racism are many and complex. Some
Mexicans or Puerto Ricans, and American Indians.           would argue that the distinction between classes and
Together these groups make up about 16% of our             the resulting differential treatment of them is due to
population, which makes them a definite minority,          economic factors. Others argue that it is due to
and likely candidates for discrimination. This dis-        cultural patterns which have been ingrained through
crimination, or differential treatment of such persons     many generations. Still others look for the cause
due to their characteristics, takes the form of job or     along the lines of various psychological theories. It is


 108                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


not my intention to try to enumerate all of these            1866 and 1875. But racism was not dead at all; it
theories, or to evaluate their worth or truthfulness.       flourished for almost one hundred years, especially
Nor is it appropriate here to moralize or to preach         under the doctrine of "separate but equal." Then
concerning our attitude towards racism as manifested        came 1954, when the Supreme Court decided that
in our society. And surely anyone who knows any-            the principle of separate but equal was unconstitu-
thing about the history, causes, and manifestations of      tional with specific application to educational oppor-
racism in all its intricacies will not attempt to offer     tunities. After this decision was enforced by the
any instant panacea for it. At bottom, of course,           federal government by the use of the military, and
racism is rooted in the hatred of the natural man,          after mounting pressure from civil rights groups,
hatred against God, but hatred which shows itself in        another civil rights act was passed in 1959 and
maltreatment of his fellow man. And the only real           another in 1960, both of which were aimed at
cure for any form of hatred is the love of Christ in        protecting voting rights of all peoples. Then came the
the heart.                                                   1960's and with them, rapid and drastic change. The
   But the significant  thing is not racism itself, nor     black power movement arose and exerted consider-
even its causes. After all, the differences between the     able influence in American society, and various com-
races are God-ordained, and of long standing; the           mittees and organizations sprang up, all seeking equal-
distinctions can be traced all the way back to Babel        ity in various ways. Largely in response to all of this,
and the confusion of languages. And to the Christian        discrimination in housing, in jobs, in education, and
the hatred that is evident in society is no surprise        in voting was outlawed, cf. especially the Civil Rights
either in the light of what the Scriptures have to say      Acts of 1964 and 1968. Many government programs
about the nature and results of sin. The history books      were initiated to help minorities: Medicare and
are full of wars, persecutions, and atrocities by one       Medicaid, Job Corps, Model Cities, Head Start Pro-
people against another, a scenario which will not           gram, Urban Renewal programs, National Health
change appreciably until the end of time. The con-          Centers, and Neighborhood Youth Corps are just a
clusion must not be drawn from all of this that racism      few examples. More recently, the courts have decreed
is justified  (this reasoning has been used); the con-      equality of opportunity and integration by means of
clusion is that conflict between groups in society,         the busing of children to various schools in the cities
whether within nations or between nations, is a reality     of the land. It is now illegal, in fact as well as in
of life today, as it always has been.                       theory, to discriminate against anyone because of his
                                                            race, creed, or national origin.
   The significant thing in this whole matter of racism
in relationship to the signs of the times is the attempt      What is striking is that all of these laws and
to overcome and eradicate it. To modern man racism          programs are efforts to eliminate racism. But even
is intolerable; it is a blot on the record of human         more significant is the underlying assumption that
history, and an embarrassing reminder of the failure        there should not be any differences between races. If
of "civilized" man to live with his fellow man. And         this were not true, then there would be no reason for
therefore it must be eliminated if at all possible; no      the prohibition of all discrimination. The goal  bf man
expense or trouble must be spared. And particularly         today is to make everyone equal in every way
since the last decade, when man became highly               possible. And therein lies one of the signs of the
conscious of this problem, it has occupied center           times. Equality, uniformity, are necessary for the
stage in the drama of `human endeavor. Today we             success of the antichristian world power. If all the
hear a great deal about the relations between the           peoples of the world are to be truly united, willingly
developed and wealthy nations of the world and the          and voluntarily, under the universal dominion of
Third World nations. The nations of the world freely        antichrist, then it is above all  else needful that they
give of their advice to such countries as Ireland and       be as much as possible the same. We are seeing before
South Africa. Stories of genocide originate from            our very eyes an overt and flagrant attempt to bring
Southeast Asia regularly. All the world knows of the        about that kingdom as soon as' possible. And in the
nationalistic and cultural violence in the Middle East.     context of the beast who had the deadly wound that
And the President of the United States is now               was healed (Revelation 13) this attempt to  ov'ercome
embarked on a campaign for human rights through-            the God-ordained division of Babel shall be for a time
out the world.                                              apparently successful; all outward differences among
                                                            the peoples of the world shall be overcome to the
  But this same pattern may be seen in our own              point that they will unite under the  headship of
country. When reading history books one would               antichrist. This ungodly union will, of course, exclude
think that racism was dead after the Civil War, for         the people of God, who will be the objects of the
both by war an'd by subsequent legislation the- black       most violent persecution in the history of the world.
minority was made equal to the white majority, cf. the      But according to Revelation, this spurious union will
Thirteenth Amendment and the Civil Rights Acts of           dissolve, for once more nation will rise against nation


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                109



and people against people, and their hatred will               the world, but instead that we live as citizens of the
culminate in the final battle of Armageddon, which             heavenly kingdom. Solving the problems of the world
will signal the destruction  of this world, the return of     is not the church's business, contrary to popular
Christ, and the salvation of His elect people.                 opinion today. Rather, our calling as Reformed Chris-
                                                               tians is to seek the company of believers, and to be
  What then should be our stance regarding all of              discriminating on the proper basis of the principle of
this? As Christians, faithful to the Scriptures, we            a true faith and walk. Then matters of race are of
believe that there are essentially only two kinds of           little importance, for in Christ there is neither Jew
people, namely, believers and unbelievers. This                nor Greek. And our calling is to read the sign of the
implies that we are not trapped into some  .version of         attempted amalgamation of the peoples of the world,
the social gospel, nor devote our time and efforts in          and in the light of the imminence of the kingdom of
cooperation with the attempts to obliterate racism in          antichrist, to seek the heavenly country and city.

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE





                          Jude  - Contend Earnestly
                                          For the Faith

                                                    Rev. J. Kortering





  One thing we are most concerned about when                  subject to debate. He only designates himself as
considering the welfare of the church today is how to         servant of Jesus Christ and not as an apostle of Jesus
deal with apostasy. True, we are concerned about the          Christ. He also refers to certain "words spoken before
general decay in society, the lawlessness of our age,         by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ," verse 17,
and the utter contempt for that which is good. When           seeming to exclude himself. John Calvin considers
this spirit is expressed in the church by disregard for       him one of the apostles and does not  fin@ sufficient
the Scripture, by demanding the right to violate              proof to do otherwise. Besides this, he is "brother of
God's law and go unpunished, and by scoffing at the           James." This James was the brother of Jesus, Matt.
faithful who follow God's ways, we become very                 13:55, and also author of the Epistle of James. He           .
much concerned. This is apostasy in the church. The           was a leader in the church at Jerusalem. This makes
book of  Jude deals with this important subject.              Jude a brother of Jesus; he is listed in the family,
                                                              Matt.  13:55 (the Judas there is Jude). If.1 Cor.  9:5
AUTHOR                                                        refers to him, and it appears as if it does, he was a
  He describes himself in verse  1  as"`servant  of Jesus     married man and travelled about as a preacher.
Christ and brother of James." Ultimately the Author           Rather than calling himself "brother of Jesus," he
is Christ Who writes through  Jude, a shortened  form         calls himself "brother of James,"  dn keeping with the
for the name Judas. There were two disciples of               de-emphasis upon the blood tie with Christ. Since his
Christ named Judas: the one called Thaddaeus, Matt.           older brother James was well known in the churches,
10:3, and the other Judas Iscariot, Matt.  10:4.              the readers would know his identity.
Whether the author of this book was one of them is


 110                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



DATE                                                        joined Satan in the rebellion, vs. 6, the inhabitants of
   It is difficult to pinpoint the exact year. There are    Sodom and Gomorrah who were homosexuals (going
two different views. The one suggests that it was           after strange flesh) vs. 7, and the people who lived on
written between  AD. 70-80, after the destruction of        the earth at the time of Enoch and persecuted him,
Jerusalem and after the writing .of II Peter, from          vs. 15.
which it is suggested Jude quotes (verses 6, 7 from II         Because of this, Jude declares that God will judge
Peter 2). The other view has it written at an earlier       them as he did the wicked people in years gone by.
period, A.D. 66-70. Most conservative Bible scholars        He reminds them  that, concerning the rebels in the
place it during the earlier period. The significance of     wilderness,  "God afterward destroyed them," vs. 5;
the date is seen in that it is  nears the close of the      the fallen angels are "reserved in everlasting chains
apostolic age and just prior to the terrible destruction    under darkness unto the judgment of the great day,"
of Jerusalem by the Romans. The people of God in            vs. 6; the inhabitants of Sodom "suffered the ven-
those times needed the warning and comfort of this          geance of eternal fire," vs. 7; and Enoch pronounced
book.                                                       upon his enemies, "The Lord  cometh with ten
                                                            thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all
THE MESSAGE                                                 a n d   t o   c o n v i n c e   a l l   t h a t   a r e   u n g o d l y   a m o n g
   Keeping with the style of writing letters in those       them . .  ." vs. 15.
days, Jude identified himself as the writer and then           We may ask, why did Jude spend so much time
mentions the ones to whom he writes: "to them that          describing these wicked people and pointing out the
are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in          nature of their sins? The answer comes in verses 17
Jesus Christ, and called," verse 1. This is a complete      and 18: "remember the words . . . how they told you
description of God's people in the world: called,           there should be mockers." We must expect to. see
sanctified, and preserved. From the letter, we cannot       them and be able to identify them. This is also crucial
learn whether  he had any special group of Christians       today. It `is so easy to excuse apostasy as ignorance  -
in mind. It is a fact that apostasy was widespread          pedple mean well, they don't know any better. The
then, and the need for this epistle was general.            fact is that anyone who  justifies  the lie and  excu,seS
   He pronounced upon them the blessing of Christ:          sin is wicked. Such people are brought up within the
"Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied,"          church, know the truth, but reject it. They are a
verse 2. Mercy is mentioned first, since this need is       corrupting influence and must be rooted out.
critical for the church struggling with apostasy. She          In order to do this, we must be spiritually strong
needs the love of Christ that delivers them from evil.      ourselves. We must build up ourselves in the most
   The purpose for writing the letter is stated in verse    holy faith, pray in the Holy Ghost, and keep our-
4. Jude evidently had a different purpose originally        selves in the love of God, looking for Christ to come,
(to write concerning the truths of salvation), but          vs. 20, 21.
changed this due to the need to exhort them to                 Jude mentions an important balance which is
contend earnestly for the faith. There were certain         necessary if we are to deal with apostasy effectively.
men who justified their wicked deeds and actively           We must know the error, be strong ourselves, but also
taught others to follow them. They, "turned the             be personally' concerned for those who walk' in sin.
grace of God into lasciviousness" (lustful, sexual          Even though he describes their sin in awful detail, he
expression). They were antinomian (against the law          does not say "Let them go to hell," "kick them out
of God), claiming that grace freed a man from the           of the church and be done with it."  No,,listen: "And
obligation to keep the law.                                 of some have compassion, making a difference: and
                                                            others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire;
   From this short letter we learn how terrible these       hating even the garment spotted by the flesh," vs. 22,
men were. We will list the things mentioned: they           23. Some must be rebuked firmly and severely; others
were' secretive, vs. 4, denied Christ, vs. 4, proud and     must be gently led to see their evil, using discretion
disdained those in authority, vs. 8; they were ignorant     and wisdom. In all instances, sin must be abhorred as a
and brash, vs. 10, hypocritical and deceitful, even         contaminated garment (probably referring to one a
joined the love feasts of the church, vs. 12; they did a    leper wore).
lot of grumbling about some people and flattered               He assures his readers that the only hope for safety
others, whichever was to their own advantage, vs. 16,       and salvation is in Jesus Christ, Who is "able to keep
and finally were schismatic, causing division, vs. 19.      you from falling, and to present you faultless before
  Jude shows how bad they were by placing them in           the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the
the company of wicked men in past history. Those            only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty,
mentioned include the stiff-necked Israelites who           dominion, and power both now and forever. Amen,"
complained in the wilderness, vs. 5, the angels who         vs. 24, 25.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     111



SPECIAL POINTS                                                spirit of the libertines infects every age, including the
  In a  more detailed discussion of this letter, there       New Testament age. The apostles had to deal with it
are three questions that would inevitably arise. We           repeatedly: Corinth (chapters 5:1-13,  6:13-20,
will deal with them briefly.                                  11:  17-22), Colosse (2: 16-23,  3:5-l  l), Thyatira with
                                                              the Nicolaitans (Rev.  2:14, 15, 20). This evil spirit
  1. Does verse 4 prove reprobation? "For there are           reached its culmination in the Gnostics of the second
certain men crept in unawares who were before of old          century. The old deviltry of, "let us sin that grace
ordained to this condemnation. . .  ." The original           may abound," Rom. 6: 1, has its appeal in every age.
word for "ordained to this condemnation" is "wrote
before  of this condemnation or punishment." The              QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDE~TION                         .
prophets and apostles predicted that these evil men
would suffer God's judgment. This prophecy, how-  .~             1. What is included in the "faith once delivered
ever, in order to be true is rooted in God's counsel of       unto the saints," verse  3? Would this be the contents
reprobation.                                                  of the entire Bible?
  2. Are the verses 9 (Michael contending with the              2. Who are the libertines in our day? How could
devil over the body of Moses) and 14, 15 (Enoch's             they be "spots in our feasts of charity"? verse 12.
prophecy) quotations from some apocryphal book,                 3. Some of these apostates are outside the local
and if so does that lend credence to them? Origin, the        congregation and in other churches, yet they claim to
church father, claims verse 9 to be a reference to the        be part of the church of Christ. What should be our
book entitled, "Asumption of Moses"; and some                 response to them?
commentators claim verses 14, 15 to be a quotation              4. Discuss how different methods of approach
from the "Book of Enoch"  1:9. Neither the  Asump-            must be used when dealing with people who are
tion of Moses nor the Book of Enoch are included in           walking in sin, verses 22, 23. Is this even true when
what we call the Apocryphal Books as listed in Art. 6         correcting children that have different natures? A
of our Netherlands Confession. Two considerations             family, especially with young people, might discuss
enter here. More than likely the reference is to part of      what this involves.
the Jewish tradition that lived in the mind of Jude. It
could be a reference without quotation. Even if it is a         5. How does this letter show the seriousness of
quotation (something hard to prove or disprove), it           dealing with sin?
would be no different from Paul's reference to the              6. Contending with the faith involves growing in
philosophers (Acts  17:28,  -Titus 1: 12). It would not       the faith ourselves. What does this involve? How can
mean an endorsement of all the -ideas, especially not         this best be done?
of the apocryphal writings, but simply  makiqg a
certain point that applied.                                     This letter reveals sharp condemnation of all who
  3. Were the apostate people referred to (the                teach that it is all right for a Christian to sin. Nothing
libertines) the Gnostics of the second century? These         can be more destructive of Christ's cause in the world
people openly taught that sin was of the "flesh" and          than such a lie and its accompanying immorality.
of  no  real  cbnseqience. We should realize that the           We do well to contend  earn&tZy  for the faith.


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112                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


ALL AROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren





                                           What about Christmas?



  About a year ago there appeared in this rubric a                    etc. have their origin,' not in the pagan Roman
quotation from  Christianity Today  concerning the                    festival, but froni Celtic and Teutonic people's cus-
evils in the celebration of halloween. Trouble was, the               toms. Again, the Roman Church simply "baptized"
quotation appeared more than a month after the                        these formerly pagan ideas into Christian usage.
celebration of that notorious day. In response to the                    If you represent true Biblical faith and in the best
article, two letters were received which sought to                    Protestant tradition? you will not only refuse to
apply some of the same objections to the celebration                  observe Halloween, but Christmas as well. It was the
of our Christmas  - but the letters were received after               Lutherans, you remember, that maintained that all
Christmas. Rather than presenting them  in this  col-                 Romish holidays and observances were permissible so
umn several months after Christmas, I have held on to                 long as they were not prohibited in  de Scripture.
them til this season. My apologies to the writers for                 Luther simply "baptized" the s&called church calen-
holding them so long, but I trust they will under-                    dar of the Roman Catholics into Protestant usage.
                                                                      The Calvinists held that no doctrine, church govern-
stand.                                                                ment, discipline, or element of worship should be
  Read these  - what do you think?                                    acknowledged as valid ejlcept those which Scripture
       Dear Editor:                                                   specified. The most consistent and thorough-going
                                                                     ,Reformers in Switzerland, France, England, Scotland,
          The article by Rev. G. Van Baren entitled, "Happy           and Holland absolutely prohibited the observance of
       Halloween" (Vol. 54, No. 6; December 1977) was                 the Christmas.
       very enlightening, but conveniently so. After all, it is
       not likely to affect anyone much when almost every-               It is of no use to protest that the rites of pagan
                                                                      antiquity have lost their anti-Christian meaning. That
       one is caught up in the spirit of Christmas (whatever          same excuse might be made for the Navaho rain
       that is). Perhaps someone will reflect momentarily             dance (I suppose few Navaho's really believe it evokes
       and seriously contemplate, "I simply must consider             the gods). But since most Reformed people do not do
       that next Halloween."                                          the Navaho Rain Dance, it probably does not touch
          In the meantime, perhaps your readers should               your conscience. Doubtless the name "Christ", in
       seriously consider the equally pagan origins of Christ-      vulgar usage has lost its meaning to most people, but I
       mas. It is well known that pagan Imperial Rome                 hope' you would forbid its irreverent usage anyway.
       observed weeklong solstice celebrations called Saturn-
       alia and Juvenalia which culminated in Brumalia on                I realize that this letter comes at a convenient time
       the 25th of December. It was a time of merry-                  (Dec. 27), but I hope you will seriously consider it
       making, exchanging gifts, lighting candles, and wine           next December. In the meantime, and on Halloween
       drinking. Any Ecclesiastical Encyclopedia will verify          and Christmas and Easter, Protestants must be con-
       this.                                                          sistent in their condemnation of the Roman Church
                                                                      for its compromising with the pagan world.
          Consonant with Romish evangelistic methodology
       the pagan rites of Caesar's Rome were simply sancti-                                   Sincerely,
       fied for the use of Papal Rome. The heathenish                                         (Rev.) Karl A. Hubenthal
       "harmless" elements were transformed into the                                          Knox Orthodox
       "Christ-Mass" cycle of holidays. This cycle gradually                                  Presbyterian Church
       evolved around the day of Christ's supposed nativity.                                  Lansdowne, Pa.
          Other customs such as the Christmas tree, mistle-           P.S. Rev. Van Baren wonders whether we should tell
       toe, the feasting on large d@ers of pork, mincemeat,           our children about the pagan origins of Halloween, or


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER  _                                                       113


   just let them have fun while they are young. I suggest                think not. What about the exchanging of gifts at
    we tell them the truth! "Jesus therefore said to those               Christmas time? What about the Christmas tree? What
    Jews that had believed Him, If ye abide in My word,                  about the date? How and what was Calvin's ideas
    then ye are truly My disciples; and ye shall know the                about this day? Or did the church and the pagans also
    truth,  and the truth shall  .make you free." - John                 have -a wedding for this celebration? Is it necessary
    8:31~32.                                                             that the church set apart a day to remember the birth
  In response to the postscript, I would  only suggest           .       of Jesus, especially December ?.5? Were the fathers of
that I assumed that all would take the statement as                      our Church Order wise in making this decision? Do
the "tongue-in-cheek" statement it was meant to be.                      we tell our children about Christ-mas, or do we keep
                                                                         silent, and go along with the world with our trees,
The intent was to bring one exactly to the conclusion                    presents, etc.?
of the writer of the letter: "I suggest we tell them the
truth!" I do regret that the writer of the letter took                      I would like some answers to these questions in a
this as a serious suggestion on my part. On the rest of                  future  Stand&d  Bearer  article. Remember, to be
the letter I hope to comment later.                                      consistent with the Halloween article, we may not go
                                                                         under the so often heard phrase, "That's our Chris-
  ,A second letter was also received from a member                       tian liberty." If that be the case, then we may "trick
df- our congregation at Hudsonville. He raises many of                   or treat" on Halloween, have Easter eggs and bunnies
the same points  as the earlier writer. He writes:                       on so-called Easter, have our trees, presents, and you
                                                                         name it, on so-called Christmas Day.
       In the Dec. 15, 1977 issue of the Standard Bearer,
   you wrote an afticle entitled, "Happy Halloween."                        Where is our separateness, our distinctiveness?
    You quoted from an article which was written in                      Church and Babylon? No, we must be warned against
    Christianity Today by John W. Howe. His article was                  this, of course.
   very instructive and informative, and I am in full                                              Yours in Christ,
    agreement with it.                                                                             Phil Dykstra
       We discussed. this article with several other cou-
   pies, and each time our attention was taken away                      P.S. Maybe this paper can bt: printed in the Standard
    from "Halloween" and turned toward "Christmas."                      Bearer and then a reply by you  0; some other
   Why do we condemn one pagan holiday and not                           minister could follow.
    others? The celebration of "`Christmas" has bothered
   me for several years, and I would like to see some                   I trust that the above will give everyone something
   articles about this day in the Standard Bearer.                    to think about as the Christmas season comes upon
       We have talked about this. day with many, many                 us. Perhaps some would want to use the above
    couples, some agreeing that maybe we should not                   material for discussions on the subject.
    celebrate it, while o&hers disagreeing.                             Brother Phil expects also my response in this
       Are we as churches afraid to talk and write about              rubric. I intend, D.V., to give some comments on the
   it? Is the origin any' less pagan than Halloween? I                subject next time.





                          Mrs. Marchiene Rienstra Resigns

  The Banner, October 27,  1978j contains a "letter              C.R.C. and remains affiliated with a United Presby-
to the editor" from Mrs.  Marchiene Rienstra inform-             terian Church in Grand Rapids where she had served
ing the readers of the  Banner that she has resigned her         as interim pastor (and already had membership while
membership in the Christian Reformed Church. She                 still membef in the C.R.C.). She insists that her
had gone through Calvin Seminary and had applied to              loyalty to Christ in His call to her for the ministry
the Synod of 1978 for admittance into the ministry               must be considered greater  thali her loyalty to a
- the first  wonian who would serve in such capacity             denomination in which she was born and trained. One
in that denomination. Though the Synod admitted                  can only be amazed at a "loyalty" which can so easily
women' to the office of deacon (provided they did                ignore the teachings and practices of the church
not rule within the church), the Synod denied the                throughout the past thousands of years, and the
request of Mrs. Rienstra  - a request supported by               teachings and practices presented in Scripture itself  1
some of the professors of Calvin Seminary. As a result           the ultimate test of proper loyalty.
of that decision, she resigned membership in the


114                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



CORRESPONDENCE  AND REPLY





                                               Calvin College                                Hudsonville, MI
                                               November 1,1978                               November 14, 1978
                                                                   Dr. John Bratt
       Rev. Gise Van Baren                                                                            .t
                                                                   Religion and Theology Departmen
       Standard Bearer  Editorial Office                           Calvin College
       4975 Ivanrest SW
       Grandville, MI 49418                                        Grand Rapids, MI

                                                                   Dear Dr. Bratt,
  Dear Rev. Van Baren:                                               I would  express appreciation and thanks to your
                                                                   response to my article, and especially since it gives me
         I was hurt and grieved by your allegations in the         an opportunity to elaborate on the brief statement to
  October  15 issue of the  Standard Bearer in which you
  say (without documentation) that the church which                which you objected.
  nurtured me and which I love "already holds many                   I would also state that I am sorry to have made any
  positions contrary to Scripture and the creeds"                  statement to hurt or grieve you. That was not my
       (p. 41). I presume you have in mind common grace,           intent. For me, it was a matter of grief to have made
  women deacons, and the like. You give the umnis-                 the claim I did  - for I would wish and pray it were
  takable impression that when we are faced by these               not true. But in light of the history of the past 20
  issues we ignore the Bible and our doctrinal standards           years and more, the reader (who knows this history)
       and take positions either arbitrarily or under pressure     can judge whether the claim is correct. I would dare
       of the times. Such is far from the case. We take the        to say that thousands of voices arise from within the
  Bible and the creeds very seriously and all of our
  positions that we take are based upon them. It is true           C.R.C. itself crying, in sorrow, "Amen" to the state-
  that we read them differently than do you. But what              ment found offensive by you.
  warrant does that give you for claiming that we take               I appreciated your quote from "Uncle John" (as
  positions contrary to these standards? We could as               your  Banner  editor prefers to call  Calvin). And I
  well say the same of you. But that would be unparal-             would express a wholehearted agreement with that.
  leled arrogance. Since the Lord has seen fit to give             Nor was it my intention to leave the impression that I
  neither of us infallible interpretative powers we do             had a "full and perfect understanding on every
  well to listen to John Q&in, the prince of exegetes
  when he says in the preface to his commentary on the             point." I have learned increasingly how incomplete
  Romans, "God never designed in such `a  way. to                  and imperfect my understanding is. But, Dr. Bratt,
  exercise liberality towards His servants as that each            are you not wrongly applying Calvin's statement to
  should be endowed with a full and perfect under-                 my claim? It was not in my mind a question of two
  standing on every point, and doubtless in this respect,          who have differing, but  Scriptural,  interpretations of
  he intended in the first place to keep us humble, and            certain texts of the Bible. If it were, the quote would
  next of all to keep up and maintain the desire and the           have been pertinent. The question at issue is whether
  ex'ercise of brotherly love and communion." It seems             two  can  have  different,  opposing, views of a certain
  to me that the cause of Christ would be better served            passage  .- yet ignore such difference under the guise
  if we kept this salutary advice in mirid.                        of being endowed with but imperfect understanding.
                      Sincerely yours,                             Can one call a color  "blaclc," while another calls it
                      w/s/ John Bratt, Th.D                        "white" - yet claim that the, difference in viewpoint
                      Religion and Theology Department             is due to lack of complete understanding? Can two
                                                                   with equal validity claim that women may and at the
       P.S. 1. would appreciate placement of this letter on        same time may  not  serve as deacons  - on the basis of
  your page.                                                       the same Scripture? I think you know well that such


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    115


                      t
was never Calvin's position. In fact, the paragraph just      years the church did not understand Scripture? Now
before that which you quoted, states, "And if it be           suddenly it does? That smacks of "unparalleled  at-ro-
deemed a great wickedness to contaminate anything             gance" it seems to me.
that is dedicated to God, he surely cannot be en-               I won't burden you with extended treatment of
dured, who,' with impure, or even unprepared hands,           other points. Briefly, I would remind you of the
will handle that very thing, which of all things is the       changed position on divorce and remarriage of the
most sacred on earth. It is therefore an audacity,            guilty party. Formerly, the C.R.C. (and we with
closely allied to a sacrilege, rashly to turn Scripture in    them) maintained that the guilty party, when remar-
any way we please, and to indulge our fancies as in           rying, was living in continual adultery. Now the
sport; which has been done by many in former                  C.R.C. insists that this represents but a single act of
t i m e s . " .                                               adultery which does not require severance of the new
   You `mention that the offending phrase is without          relationship. Similarly, you have your "Report 44"
documentation. I am certain that I can provide that if        on the nature and extent of Biblical Authority. There
it is necessary. In the meantime, I have but to remind        is your altered stand on worldly entertainment: the
you that the  Standard Bearer  has repeatedly pointed         movie and the dance especially. Along this same line,
out on many occasions the "positions contrary to              you know well the agitation within your church to
Scripture" adopted by your various Synods. I also             allow lodge members to become church members.
refer you to various of the issues of  Outlook  maga-         You know well of the attempt to extend the "women
zine where writers who were nurtured also by and are          in office" idea even  to' that of the ministry. You
members of the same church as you are, have made              know -well that many within your churches interpret
charges similar to mine  - and with documentation. If         Genesis l-l 1 contrary to the common and traditional
you wish, I'll give you specific references where these       interpretation of your church in the past. You know
can be found. You have probably perused the  bo6k,            of the conflicting views within your church on the
"A Handbook of C.R.C. Issues," published by the               extent of Christ's atonement. You know well of the
A.C.R.L. (Box 1303, Grand Rapids, MI., 49501; cost:           recent writings about election and reprobation which
$7.95). Abundant documentation for these "many                are admittedly contrary to the position of the creeds
positions contrary to Scripture and the creeds" can           and earlier teachings within your church. All of this
be found there  - prepared by members of the same             represents not equally legitimate Scriptural interpre-
church which nurtured you.                                    tations, but deviations from that which was main-
   You bring up the issue of "common grace." I did            tained in the past. The views are conflicting ones. It is
not mention that in the article. But since you did,           not a question of "limited understanding" as you
may I ask: can God's position be one of  fallow and, of       know. Either your church was in conflict with Scrip-
wrath  against the wicked at the same time? Can God           ture and the confessions in the past  `- or it is now. It
have a  free offer  of salvation to all  wh? hear the         simply can not be correct  both  then and  now.
preaching, and at the same time NOT give such a free            At the risk of being accused  again of "unparalleled
offer? This, briefly, represents the difference between       arrogance," I would maintain that  .our P.R. churches
us. The views on these issues are mutually exclusive.         are far more like the C.R.C. of a generation ago than
And the church which nurtured you, did so judge too           the present C.R.C. is. I think this is why some within
in 1924 and 1925. Call it, if you will, "unparalleled         your church (though with you, nurtured by her in the
arrogance," but the fact is that judgment was made.           past) are turning to our churches to receive that kind
Ministers and consistories were required to submit to         of spiritual nurture for themselves and  for their
this judgment. When, for conscience' sake some could          children  to which they were accustomed in years
not, they were suspended and deposed from office.             gone by. And unless there should be a split in
"Unparalleled arrogance"? Perhaps. But certainly there        the C.R.C. soon (which I personally do not foresee), I
were the conflicting, contradictory views  - both of          would dare predict that more will find a welcome
which could not  be.right at the same time.                   home within the P.R.C. in the future.
   You are aware of the other issues. There is that of          We have surely no "full and perfect understanding
women serving in the office (for the time being, as           on every point," but we do continue to insist that
deacons without privilege of rule  - whatever that            "white" can not be at the same time "black." Nor
may mean). Formerly, the C.R.C. (together with                ought you to suggest that.
most of the church over the past 2000 years) said               I do hope that all this  ,does not further "hurt or
that women may serve in  no  office within the church.        grieve" you, but I believe that I must answer sincerely
We  still say that. Now your churches say that the            to that which so troubled you in my earlier article.
woman can serve in at least one office  i on the basis
of the very Scriptures which were used to condemn                                        Sincerely,
the practice before. You would say that for 2000                                            G. Van  Baren


116                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


GUEST ARTICLE
kev. C. Hank0



                           God's- Providence in 1953
                                     And Our Calling To Instruct Our Children*


  Our subject for this evening, I want you to know,         error into our churches, but Rev. Herman Hoeksema,
creates in me a mixed feeling.                              Rev. G. M. Ophoff, and those who stood with them
  On the one hand, I consider 1953 as one of the            did not preach any more as before. Besides, on one
darkest periods in my life; one that I certainly would      occasion a soundly Reformed sermon could be
not like to live over. First, my closest friends, in        preached, on another occasion conditional theology
whom I had confided and with whom I had associ-             would be heard from the pulpit. Out of that confu-
ated. very intimately turned. against us to introduce       sion arose the notion among many that the whole
error into the churches. Second, controversy at best is     controversy was nothing more than a clash of person-
never pleasant, as all of you who have gone through         alities. Rev. Herman Hoeksema and Rev. G. M.
that experience will agree. But when it involves  th'e      Ophoff were branded as men difficult to get along
                                                            with. This notion persisted for a long time and I ran
household of faith, one's pulpit, one's consistory          into it even some years afterward.
meetings, and every aspect of one's ecclesiastical life,
it is extremely painful. You who in 1953 had a simi-           Third, one reason for the rise of the controversy
lar experience in your congregation will know what I        was dissatisfaction among the ministers and a certain
mean. Besides, we saw many of our churches weak-            complacency among the people. There was a lack of
ened by loss of membership, and some congregations          zeal for the cause, a lack of love for the truth as we
were lost completely; while also a number of minis-         professed and defended it, an unwillingness to sacri-
ters left us to walk no more with us. They deliber-         fice for the cause of the truth.
ately turned their backs to the truth they once               It is now 25 years later. Rev. Herman Hoeksema
professed to have cherished. Of all those who left us,      made the remark early in our history, that a church
I was convinced then and am convinced now, that             must expect a reformation approximately every 25
there were among them many conscientious believers          years. In that case, we are about due for another
who were swept along without realizing all that was         upheaval  - which may God graciously forbid. Yet, to
involved.                                                   be honest with you, when I see the complacency
  On the other hand, I am thankful and rejoice in the       creeping in among our people today, the lack of zeal
fact that the Lord preserved us as Protestant Re-           for society activities, the lack of interest in the  StaFz-
formed Churches, even as through fire. We can be the        dard  Beaver  and  Beacon Lights,  and other religious
more thankful when we see the churches round about          periodicals, then I fear that we are going into a slump
us being infiltrated with various errors.                   out of which the Lord may have to arouse us with a
  Our subject for this evening is very important, and       strong hand.
that for at least three reasons. First, this took place       Therefore my subject is most fitting at this time:
25 years ago. Many of our people were still too young       God's Providence in 1953 and Our Calling to Instruct
to realize just what was happening. Others of our           our Children.
ypunger generation were not yet born.                         Consider with me:
  Second, there has always been a serious misunder-             I. God's Providential Preservation at that Time.
standing about the controversy of 1953. At the time
of the controversy the lines were not always sharply           II. The Necessity for that Preservation.
drawn. Although much was written about conditional            III. Our Calling in the  Light of it.
theology and this was openly defended from the pul-
pit, the defenders  ..still maintained that they were       I. God's Providential Preservation in 1953.
Protestant Reformed. Not they who introduced this             In order to understand the controversy of `53 in its

                    (*Speech delivered for the Men's and Ladies' League, October 10, 1978)


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                117


proper light, it should be understood that the errors        a certain amount of money designated on the check is
that were being introduced into our churches at that         assured. If that person never takes that check to the
time struck at the very heart of the doctrine of our         bank to cash it, that check is worthless. God promises
Protestant Reformed Churches. In 1924 our churches           salvation on the condition that each baptized child
came into existence because we denied two things:            will accept that salvation offered to him. If he fails to
The whole idea of Common Grace, that is, that God            do that, he is a covenant breaker and is lost. That,
shows favor to the reprobate wicked; and the preach-         you understand, is nothing less than the offer of sal-
ing of the Word as an offer of salvation to all who          vation applied to holy baptism. That error we could
hear it. Now to deny something, no matter how seri-          never sanction in our churches.
ous that error may be, is still to take a negative posi-       You ask, how did this error ever lift its head
tion. We publicly denied those errors in preaching and       among us? Well, in 1939, before the split in the
in teaching.  .Yet it soon became evident that to take a     Netherlands, Dr. Schilder was invited to come to
negative position already implies something definitely       America by some of the ministers of the Christian
positive. We found ourselves defending a positively          Reformed Church. Already then Dr. Schilder was sus-
Reformed view of God's covenant. In fact, the Lord           pect because of his views on the covenant and other
used Rev. Herman Hoeksema to develop a most beau-            issues. Certain ministers of the CRC warned against
tiful Reformed view of God's covenant, which clearly         his coming, so that when he arrived many of the invi-
stands out in the Scriptures. It is our position that        tations to speak had been  cancelled and he was re-
God's covenant is not a contract or agreement be-            fused the pulpit in the CRC. In total disgust he
tween two parties, but rather that the covenant of           turned to us, had  various.conferences  with us, spoke
God is a relationship .of friendship between God and         in some of our churches, lodged in some of our
His people in Christ. Although that idea was not for-        homes, and made himself quite friendly with us. Al-
eign to earlier theologians, it was never fully devel-       though there was the difference on the covenant, we
oped. Particularly in that respect our churches are          enjoyed his visit. In 1943 he was deposed from the
distinctly Protestant Reformed. There are many               Gereformeerde  Kerken  in the Netherlands and helped
churches, many denominations which maintain Cal-             to form the "Liberated" group. In 1946 Dr. Schilder
vinism. There are five point Calvinists, four point          came to America again and was heartily welcomed
Calvinists, Calvinist Baptists, and other variations.        among our ministers and requested to speak in our
There are also many churches that profess to believe         churches. About that time and afterward there was a
the Three Forms of Unity, namely, the. Heidelberg            strong influx. of immigrants from the Liberated
Catechism,, the Belgic Confession, and the Canons of         churches of the Netherlands both in the United States
Dordt. But there is no other denomination that holds         and in Canada. These were instructed by their minis-
the rich and beautiful view of the covenant that God         ters in the Netherlands to seek affiliation with the
has entrusted to us. It was this view of the covenant        PRC. These immigrants, having just come out of the
that was being assaulted and that had to be defended         controversy in the Netherlands, were strong on their
for  the future of our churches, or we would have lost       conditional theology. Yet after some discussion with
our right of existence.                                      our ministers they expressed agreement with our doc-
  Let me try to clarify this a moment. The name of           trine so that two churches were organized in Canada,
Dr. Schilder was often mentioned in connection with          one in Hamilton, and the other in  Chatham. Rev.
`53. Dr. Schilder was a leader of the group in the           Herman Veldman was minister in the Hamilton con-
Netherlands that called themselves "Liberated."              gregation for about two years. In 1950 our Synod
These Liberated have a view of the covenant which            drew up a "Declaration of Principles" which you can
teaches that the promise of the covenant comes to  all       still find in our Church Order book. In this "Declara-
baptized children. They stress that when a child is          tion of Principles" we publicly declare that we are
baptized God says to that child, "I, Jehovah, baptize        opposed to the errors of common grace and the offer
thee, John, Mary, or whomever, into the name of the          of salvation, but we also declare that  w,e are opposed
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." This        to the conditional theology of the "Liberated." Proof
means that every baptized child receives the promise         is given from the Confessions that we maintain the
of salvation; He is a son in God's family, an heir to        position held by the fathers. Evidently spurred on by
eternal life. Yet, you say, all baptized children are not    the desire to draw these Liberated people into our
saved. They realize that also. Therefore they teach          churches, some of our ministers began to write in
that this promise is  conditional.   That is, the promise    favor of conditions unto salvation, even defending the
is given, but each child as he grows up must either          idea that faith is a condition unto salvation. Although
accept or reject that promise. It is like an offer of        these ministers, with one exception, voted in favor of
salvatiqn which, if not accepted, becomes null and           the "Declaration" in 1950, they strongly opposed it
void. The example has been used of a bank check. On          afterward. Rev. De Wolf, one of the ministers in First
the check is written the name of the person to whom          Church, Grand Rapids, soon followed their lead. He


 118                                           `THE STANDARD BEARER



made the statement from the pulpit, "God promises            evidence of dissatisfaction. `There was a failure to bear
to every one of you, that if you believe, you shall be       with each others weaknesses. Especially Rev. Herman
saved." Notice the "to every one of you," and also           Hoeksema and Rev. G. M. Ophoff were criticized as
the phrase, "if you believe." This particular statement      being domineering and giving poor leadership. Some
brought a storm of protest from the congregation.            failed to see that God used men of that character and
Later  another,statement was made: "Our act of con-          makeup to serve His purpose. There was an obvious
version is a pre-requisite to entering into the king-        failure to work together, small as we were. For exam-
dom." Upon those two statements, although there              ple, in Michigan a paper was published that was called
were also other questionable sermons that were de-           "The- Church News"; the ministers in the mid-west
livered at that time, Rev. De Wolf was suspended             published, a paper that was called "Concordia." The
from office.  The result was, that many other minis-         churches already had the "Reformed Witness Hour,"
ters defended him and left us, taking along many of          but the churches in the mid-west began the "Sover-
our members. The two churches in Canada had al-              eign Grace Hour." Our synod had published cate-
ready left us to organize their own churches.                chism books to be used in our churches, but
  Although all this was exceedingly painful, we can          individual ministers began to publish their own
See the providence of God in it. What appeared to be         books. Already then the harmony was disrupted. In
evil,  the Lord turned to our good. The whole contro-        the mid-west, conferences were held with the German
versy brought the matter of the covenant in sharp            Reformed Churches which resulted in an effort to
focus. Ministers and `members alike had to take a            unite with these churches. When Rev. Hoeksema and
stand for or against the truth. Many of those who            Rev. Ophoff opposed a hasty union because these
opposed us, many who were luke-warm in their con-            churches were not Reformed, there was a certain un-
victions, many indifferent individuals were exposed          happiness among the ministers about this. Later  Prof.,
and left us. `53 was a purging, a reformation, by -the       Schilder came to America and great enthusiasm was
good hand of the Lord upon us. Well may we say that          shown for his person. There was an attempt to bring
the Lord preserved us, even when those who turned            the Liberated people into our churches, which also
against us sought to destroy us, or we should cer-           accounted for the effort to defend a "conditional
tainly have perished. Our existence today is the result      theology." Ministers opposed the "Declaration of
of the purging that we experienced 25 years ago.             Principles" even though at first they had voted in
                                                             favor of it. All of this culminated in the split of `53.
II. The Necessity for that Preservation.                       But, you ask, even though this was the occasion for
  We ask ourselves, why was that purging necessary           the split, was there not another necessity for such a
only 25 years after our churches were first organized?       separation, viewed now from the aspect of God's
  The answer is, first of all, that the adage holds true,    providence? The answer must be: most certainly.
"All that glitters is not gold." All those who joined us     Churches tend to become complacent, resting on
were not zealous for the cause.                              their laurels. Another generation had arisen that had
                                                             not experienced the struggle of 1924 and could not
  This was true among the members. Already in                appreciate it. They were PR merely because their
1924 and in the years that followed there were those         parents were or because this was convenient for them.
who joined us out of ulterior  motives.  Some came           Parents did not instruct their children in the truth,
because they enjoyed the excitement of a new move-           ministers were no longer fired with zeal for the cause.
ment, others because they were unhappy in their own          The result was that members of the church could
churches, and others possibly for other personal rea-        readily be drawn away from the truth. Remarks were
sons. As time. progressed, young men and young               made that there is not that much difference between
women joined our churches through marriage. Some             the CRC and the PRC. Many were offended by refer-
of these became good, stable members, but others             ences to being "distinctively PR." The efforts to
were never happy with us, showed little interest and         begin our own Adams school and Hope school met
often agitated in various ways against the church. All       with much opposition, even from some of the minis-
of these unhappy and recalcitrant members brought a          ters. It. was only the strong determination and posi-
lot of dissension in our churches. The years before          tive conviction of some of our men and of the
`53 were marked by long classical meetings and long          mothers' club which, under the grace of God, brought
synodical gatherings, just because of the  many pro-         these schools into existence. There was a growing
tests that were brought to these gatherings. So many         conflict in the church papers. But the Lord used also
problems arose that we were sometimes referred to            this internal strife to arouse the faithful members to a
by outsiders as "a fighting bunch." One grew weary           greater zeal for the truth and eagerness -to fight to
of the constant strife within our ranks. How different       maintain the truth of God's sovereign grace as God
our history has been  &nce,`53.                              had entrusted that to us. There was a new interest in
  But also among the ministers there was a growing           reading the church periodicals. There was a new  in-


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                               119


      terest in society meetings, in catechetical instruction,    tonight is that we can never cease to contend for the
      in the preaching of the Word. New life sprang into          faith once delivered to the saints. Eternal vigilance is
      being. From that point of view it was a good time to        the price we pay for the heritage that is ours. Faith,
      live. Even though some of us were deprived of our           and faith only, is the victory that overcomes the
      church home permanently or for a time, there was a          world. Therefore we must continue to attend our
      unity and harmony that thrilled the souls of the            divine worship services in our own churches  ds faith-
      faithful.                                                   fully as possible. We must diligently attend our
      III. Our Calling in the Light of `53.                       society meetings to study the Scriptures together, and
                                                                  to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
        The question is, what does all this mean to us            Communion of saints is a precious gift of God. We
      today?                                                      must read our church periodicals, the  Standard Bearer
        First of all, it should fill our hearts with thankful-    and  Beacon Lights,  as well as other publications of
      ness that the Lord has preserved us by the wonder of        our churches. We must be alert for sound preaching,
      His providence. There is no reason in any of us to          supporting and encouraging our ministers in the
      boast. There were times during those years of strife        defence of sound doctrine. Heresy as such usually
      when it appeared as if we were to be swallowed up.          begins in the  seminarjr  and on the pulpit. But the
      The devil used the instrument of the evil tongue in         occasion for heresy to creep in rests in the pew. People
      gossip, backbiting, and slander, so that many sincere       become lax. They grow weary of long sermons,
      members hardly knew where they stood. Sin certainly         formal worship services. They  watit watered down
      runs rampant in a time of controversy. The split cut        preaching, a relaxing of discipline. The pulpit some-
      right down the center line of our churches, taking          times gives in to this so that the congregation is
      half or more of  some congregations, taking half or         gradually lulled to sleep. And slowly but surely, even
      more of our churches. One could only marvel at the          unawares,  -false doctrines creep in, while no one is
      strong determination of the faithful members among          prepared to oppose them. The devil finds fertile soil
      us. The Sunday after the suspension of Rev. De Wolf         for the seed of error which grows so readily in a
      no one had the slightest idea how many people would         church that is half asleep. A generation arises that
      congregate, not in their own church building at Fuller      knows not the Lord, and that generation is ready to
      and Franklin, but in Grand Rapids Central Christian         ,depart still farther from the truth. At last we become
      High School. Other churches went through a similar          like Laodicea, the lukewarm church that is neither
      experience, as many of you will recall. To our              hot nor cold, fit only to be spewed out by Christ
     amazement, the auditorium was filled, giving us some         Himself.
      200 families in First Church which the Lord had
      spared out  of' the conflict. Likewise in our other           Therefore, finally, a warning is not out of place.
      churches there were faithful members who were               There is obviously a certain complacency among us
      willing to continue with but a handful of those who         today. Our parents are not interested in society
      cherished the truth sufficiently to suffer for it. In       activities as they should be. The church papers are
      Pella there were four faithful people, two couples,         not being read. In fact, very little interest is shown in
      who hung on tenaciously until a viable congregation         doctrinal subjects, and there is very little desire to
      could once more enjoy a full church life. Our               know and understand sound doctrine. Our children
                                                                  do not know our history. Nor are they founded in
      churches have grown, new congregations have been
      added, our mission endeavors have extended beyond           sound doctrine as they should be, mainly because
      our own country to Canada, to Jamaica, to Aus-              there is very  little d&ire to be instructed. Family
                                                                  devotions and family fellowship are being  sacrified
      tralasia, and to Singapore. Our seminary has been           for the rush and tumble of our daily existence.
      producing young men thoroughly trained for the
      ministry, and zealous for their calling. We may be          Family rooms are but a name. Our homes are more
      deeply grateful to God for all that.                        like hotels, with tenants coming and going. Parents
                                                                  and children are not alert to the errors and evils that
         Secondly, we can be thankful for the unity that is       threaten us. Nor is there a great zeal for the things of
      still evident among us. Our people support the min-         God's  kingdom which have virtually become secon-
      istry of the Word and missions, as well as other            dary in our lives. We are too preoccupied with
      causes. We still have our Christian schools, in an ever     entertainments and pleasures of all sorts. Well may we
      increasing number. Our teachers are faithful to the         be watchful in prayer, striving to hold that which we
      Word of God. Our consistories report harmony and            have and to pass it on to the generations to come,
      unity in the congregation& Our classical and  synodi-       that no man take our crown. Ultimately, our own
      cal meetings have not been troubled with serious            families, our own churches, our own personal faith,
      doctrinal issues or matters of internal strife. All this    and our own blessedness are at stake. The Lord calls
      fills our hearts with joy and thankfulness.                 each of us to be-faithful even unto death, for in that
         Thirdly, the lesson we must take home with us            way alone do we attain the crown of life.


L


  THE STANDARD  BEARER  ;                                                                                   S E C O N D   C L A S S   '
        P.O. Box 6064                                                                                       POSTAGE PAID AT
 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506 ,                                                                 1 GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.  1
                                                                                                I                                       I


                                                                                                     .-'
 120                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

                              News From  Our Churches
   No reports have been received as yet on the                learn that Rev. Marvin Kamps, pastor of our church
 proceedings of the meetings of  Classis East and  Classis    in  Doon, Iowa, has been asked to go to Singapore for
 West held last October. Perhaps they will arrive in          six weeks. Rev. James Slopsema, pastor of our church
 time to present in the Christmas issue of the                in Edgerton, Minnesota, spent some time in Singapore
 magazine.                                                    earlier this year at the request of a group of young
   A picture postcard was received from Rev. John             people who are interested in the Reformed truth.
 Heys who is now in far-off New Zealand. The card                Rev. Mark Hoeksema, pastor of our church in Hull,
 arrived in seven days. That's not too bad for traveling      Iowa, and Rev. Wayne Bekkering planned to leave
 half way around the world. Rev. Heys wrote to ask            on November 2 for Birmingham, Alabama. The
 that  Standard Bearer  readers be advised of his ad-         Mission Committee received a letter from a group of
 d r e s s :   4 4 9   Halswell Rd., Christchurch 3, New      interested families in Birmingham requesting the
 Zealand. Rev. and Mrs. Heys welcome mail. Rev.               labors of a missionary from our churches on a
Heys advises that airmail takes 10-14 days and surface        p e r m a n e n t   b a s i s .   T h e   Co.mmittee  a s k e d   R e v .
 mail a month or more. Rev. and Mrs. Heys have been           Bekkering and Rev. Hoeksema. to investigate this field
 very busy  - and very well received by the Christ-           by means of preaching and teaching, a work for
 church congregation. Rev. Heys is serving for about          which their respective consistories have sent them.
 seven to nine months as "minister on loan" from our             There were several more special observances of
 churches to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in              Reformation Day beside those previously reported in
 Christchurch. Judging from the postcard, Christ-             Grand Rapids `and South Holland. Rev. Harbach
 church appears to be located in a valley with snow-`         lectured in Victoria on Romans  8:29. His title was
 capped mountain peaks. in the background. A                  "The Fountain of Predestination." The  Redlands
 beautiful scene.                                             young people sponsored a Reformation Day  Singspi-
   Another of our ministers who would appreciate              ration after the evening worship service on October
 hearing from you is Rev. Robert Harbach. Rev.                29. Our church in Loveland, Colorado commemo-
 Harbach is serving as home missionary of our                 rated the day with a lecture by their pastor, Rev.
 churches in Victoria. Rev. and Mrs. Harbach's address        George Lanting, entitled "Preserving Our Reforma-
 is: 325  - 55 Bay Street, Victoria, B.C., Canada             tion Heritage." The Trinity Protestant Reformed
 V9A 6X9.                                                     Church in Barker (Houston), Texas, sponsored a
   Rev. Harbach writes that the Victoria group is now         Reformation Day lecture given by their pastor. Rev.
 blessed with an open door to radio work. A  fifteen-         Bekkering spoke on "The Reformation  - A Return
 minute program called "Bible Truth Meditations,"             to Preaching." The young people in Hull, Iowa also
 produced by Rev. Harbach and sponsored by our                sponsored a Reformation Singspiration on Sunday
 Mission Committee, is broadcast from KARI, Blaine,           evening, October 29. The evening featured a brief
 Washington, every Saturday morning at  10:45. The            speech by Rev. Slopsema and some special. numbers.
 very first broadcast was enthusiastically received by           The Reformed Witness Committee of Iowa and
 three persons in Nanaimo, some 80 miles "up island."         Minnesota sponsored a lecture in the Sioux Center
 (That's Vancouver Island, y'know!)                           Community Building on October 11. Rev. Hoeksema
   The Victoria group had been singing the doxology,'         spoke on the topic "Our Responsibility Toward
 "May the Grace . . .  ," at the close. of the Sunday         Christ's Church."                                                 ;"
 afternoon services. But the group decided this would            A Fall Ladies League Meeting was scheduled in
 be more- appropriate at other meetings, those not            Hull  .on October 26. Rev. Hoeksema was to speak on
 distinctively worship services. So it was replaced with      the topic, "Safety for such as trust in the Lord."
 the old doxology of Psalter # 197, "Now Blessed Be              The October 22 Hull bulletin carried this note:
 Jehovah God." This was done out of the conviction            "The offering this afternoon is for the Organ Fund.
 that as much as possible, if not exclusively, Psalms         The deacons think that we could use a good collec-
 should be sung in formal worship services.                   tion for our Organ Fund, unless we like singing with
   There is more news concerning denominational               the piano." It sounds as if they have a "tired" organ
 mission activities. From the Edmonton bulletin we            in Hull.
                                                                                                                            K. G. V.


