                       The
           STANDARD

                       A REFORMED SEMI-MON
f





                      phariseeism is not first how you view
     0     .     .




     others. That .is included, but phariseeism
     does not start there. That is just a symptom.
     Phariseeism starts with how you view your-
     self, namely, not as a damn-worthy sinner. If
     `you really see yourself as a publican you can-
     not despise others, or draw yourself up in
                         -
     haughty superiority.
     See "Phariseeism: Still Prevalent"
                                                      -page 419



                                              Volume LAX, No. 18, July I,1983 -
                                                                                   --I


410                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER
                               CONTENTS                                                                              ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                            Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
  Meditation  -                                                                                  SecondClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                 Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       The Preaching of the Gospel:                                              Department Editors: Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur  Bruinsma, Rev. Ronald
                                                                                 Cammenga, Rev. Arie  denHartog, Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. Richard  Flik-
          AMeansofGrace........................410                               kema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Mr. David Harbach, Rev.
                                                                                 John A. Heys, Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Ja Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers,
  Editorials  -                                                                  Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus S 1.
                                                                                                                                C rpper, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                                 Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
       Seminary Graduation - 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413             Editorial  Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATIOlV

                              The Preaching of the Gospel:
                                                   A Means of Grace
                                                                        Rev. C. Hanko


                  Ques. 65. Since then we are made partakers of Christ and all His benefits through faith only,
               whence does this faith proceed?
                  Ans. From the Holy Ghost, who works faith in the hearts by the preaching of the gospel, and
               confirms it by the use of the sacraments. Lord's Day 25. Heidelberg Catechism.


  An important question.                                                            Christ and all His benefits through faith only,
  We find that the questions of our Catechism are                                   whence doth this faith proceed?"
often as important as the answers. This is indeed                                      We are made partakers of Christ. We do not be-
the case here. "Since we are made partakers of                                      come partakers of Christ by our free choice or by


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  411



some act of our own. We are made partakers. By              upon us, we have the answer of God Himself, that
His own work of grace in our hearts God gives us            He does this by the preaching of the Gospel. This
Christ as our Mediator, Savior, and Lord. We are            p r e a c h i n g   o f   t h e   G o s p e l ,   a l o n g   w i t h   t h e
engrafted into Him, even as a branch is engrafted           sacraments, is often referred to as "means of
into the vine (Lord's Day 7). We live, yet no more          grace." They are the means whereby the Holy
we, Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20). The righteousness       Spirit bestows the blessings of God's grace upon
which Christ merited by His atoning death on the            His people.
cross is our righteousness (Lord's Day 23). There-             Means of Grace.
fore we are one with Christ, sons and daughters of
God, members of God's family and heirs of eternal              God uses means to bring us to a conscious faith.
life.                                                       That does not mean that God could not possibly
                                                            save us apart from those means, or that God is
   Also we are made partakers of all Christ's bene-         bound or limited by those means. Nothing is impos-
fits. Christ's incarnation, atoning death, resurrec-        sible with God that is in harmony with His will. But
tion, ascension, and sitting at the right hand of God       God does bind Himself to certain definite means
are all spiritual benefits that serve toward our sal-       and refuses to work His grace in us apart from
vation. Christ comes into our hearts by His Spirit to       those means, that is, apart  from Uze preaching of the
dwell in us, never to leave us. He regenerates us,          Gospel.
calls us out of death into life and out of darkness
into light, converts us, justifies us, sanctifies us,          This should not seem strange to us, if we but con-
and leads us to glory. Christ grants us the gift and        sider that God also binds Himself to means in sus-
desire of prayer, joy, peace, covenant fellowship           taining our earthly existence. We cannot live with-
with God and with His saints, and the hope of               out the air we breathe. We need food, not once a
eternal life. A hope that is never put to shame, be-        month, but two or three times a day, besides all the
cause the love of God is spread abroad in our hearts        other necessities of life. With a false piety we might
(Rom. 5:5).                                                 contend that God can keep us alive without these
                                                            means; yet in doing so we would be tempting God
   These gifts of salvation come to us through faith,       and would soon become starved, sick and die. The
and through faith only. Faith is the living bond that       same applies to our spiritual existence. God works
unites us with Christ. It is like a power line that car-    faith through the preaching of the Word. Only
ries the powerful life of Christ into our hearts and        through the preaching do we obtain Christ, Who is
returns to Him in a sincere knowledge of Him as             the Bread of Life, the Water of Life, the Way; the
our Savior and a hearty confidence that all our             Truth and the Life.
salvation is in Him. We confess that we are saved
by grace, and that in no sense of us, but it is God's          That raises the question, does not God use other
work in us, lest there should be any boasting in us         means to save us, means which often seem to be
(Eph. 2:8,9).                                               much more effective than the Word? Does He not
                                                            sometimes use mystical means like an inner voice,
   We are lavishly graced with every spiritual bles-        or miracles, or speaking in tongues? Does He not
sing in Christ Jesus, so that we confess,                   bring conviction of sin and guilt and the need of sal-
         Come, hear, all ye who fear the Lord,              vation through some traumatic experience, a
         While I with grateful heart record                 serious accident or a severe illness, a tragic death or
         What God has done for me.                          the loss of a dear one? Does He not arouse faith in
   Whence doth this faith proceed? We find our-             us through some inspiring novel, some soul-stirring
selves confronted with two questions. The first,            music, a movie, or a dramatization of some sort?
Who works that faith in us? The second, How does            The answer is an emphatic No! This does not mean
He work that faith in us?                                   that God does not use circumstances in our lives to
                                                            bring us under the power of His Word. God
   In answer to the first question, we readily con-         brought Saul on the way to Damascus intending to
fess that the Holy Spirit both works and confirms           persecute the church, in order that there he might
faith in us. Salvation is of the Lord. His blessing is      meet the Lord Jesus Christ, be stopped on his rebel-
upon His people. The triune God, Who is our                 lious way, and brought under the preaching of Ana-
Father, has chosen us unto Himself in Christ Jesus,         nias. God caused the Ethiopian eunuch to be riding
has redeemed us unto life and glory by the death of         in his chariot and reading Isaiah 53 about the suf-
His dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and now be-            fering Servant of God at the moment when God
stows on us the Spirit of our exalted Lord, Who             brought Philip to him to expound for him the Scrip-
makes us partakers of Christ and of all His benefits.       tures. God used the imprisonment of Paul and
   In answer to the second question, as to how the          Silas, the earthquake and threat of losing two im-
Holy Spirit bestows these blessings of salvation            portant prisoners, to awaken in the jailer the  con-


412                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



sciousness of the preaching that he had heard be-        not a single man who does not have certain faults
fore, so that he begged of Paul and Silas, "What         and weaknesses, which soon become evident in his
must I do to be saved?" Yet all the incidents and        preaching. Usually when a minister begins preach-
experiences that we may undergo in our lives do          ing in a congregation he is liked, admired, and often
not work faith in our hearts. Our fathers are so very    praised as the best yet. But before long we become
right when they say that nothing, absolutely             weary of hearing the same man from week to week.
nothing can work faith in our hearts except the          We see his faults. We readily criticize. All the while
preaching of the Word.                                   we are forgetting that we do not come to church to
  We do well to bear this in mind, especially in a       hear the preacher, but to hear the Word. Actually,
time when the devil is doing his utmost to minimize      the minister is nothing more or less than an ambas-
the value of the preaching of the Word. Many seem        sador of Jesus Christ. He is sent in Christ's name to
to think that preaching has failed to attain its de-     herald the Gospel of the Living God. He does not
sired purpose. People have grown weary of sitting        and may not bring his own word, his own ideas
in the church for some length of time, are not in-       about the Scriptures, or his own theories, but he
terested in what they consider cold doctrine, dry        must declare, "Thus saith the Lord." His preaching
sermonizing. They crave something more exciting,         must be expository, bringing the Word of God to
more appealing, more entertaining. Catering to           us, so that we hear the glad tidings of salvation. We
these wishes the churches have introduced revival        must hear Christ speaking to us from the Word,
meetings, given place to dialogue, sought to enter-      applied to us personally by the Holy Spirit in our
tain young and old with outside speakers, choirs,        hearts confirming the Word. We readily expose
solos, dramatizations, movies, and even coffee and       ourselves to the danger that we criticize the Word
lunches after the service. We are reminded of the        of God when we say that we are criticizing the ser-
warning of our Lord Himself, in connection with          mon.
the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, "If they          From this follows that we may not neglect the
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they       fellowship and assembly of the saints. God has in-
be persuaded, though one rose from the dead"             stituted His church with its threefold office of min-
(Luke 16:31).                                            ister, elder, and deacon. No one can ignore that in-
  The Preaching of the Word.                             stitution or calling of God. Today there are too
                                                         many running around who call themselves preach-
  You and I need the preaching of the Word. This         ers, yet were never called and ordained by the
means that we must maintain with might and main          church, and thus by Christ. We recall how Paul
that Scripture is the infallibly inspired, inerrant,     waited for some time after he was appointed to be
authoritative Word of God. All these new transla-        the apostle to the Gentiles, even until the church at
tions and paraphrasings of the Bible that are now        Antioch called and ordained him. How shall we
on the market only arouse doubts concerning the          hear, unless we hear the voice of Jesus speaking to
accuracy of the inspired Word and minimize its           us through the Word? And how shall anyone
authority, apart from the fact that many transla-        preach unless he is called and sent by Christ?
tions are corruptions of the truth of the holy Scrip-    (Romans 10:14, 15).
tures. We must insist that there are not two authors
of Scripture, a human author as well as a divine           We need our weekly Sabbaths, which God has
Author, but that God inspired holy men to write          wisely set apart for us. We need the communion of
His Word as it was breathed into them by the Holy        saints under the ministry of the Word as a foretaste
Spirit. Moreover, we cannot allow any time of day        of the Heavenly Rest and eternal covenant fellow-
to those who would insist that the Word of God is in     ship with God and with His saints before the
the Bible, but that this Word of God is wrapped up       throne. Only through that God-given means can we
in myths, sagas, old wives' tales, traditions, and       grow in grace to the glory of our God, Whose is the
whatever man might have introduced into the              kingdom, the power, and the glory forever, world
                                                                                         -     -
Scriptures. Scripture is the revelation of the God of    without end!
our salvation in Jesus Christ, whereby Christ
through His Spirit gathers and preserves His
church unto heavenly perfection. He who adds                     The Standard Bearer
anything to the Scriptures or in any way detracts
from it will suffer the severe judgment of God, both        makes an excellent gift
in this life and in eternity (Revelation 22: 18, 19).
  We also need the preaching of the Word. We do            for the sick and shut-in.
not come to church to hear the preacher, or to hear
what he has to say. He is but a man. And there is


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                            413



EDITORIALS
Prof. H. C. Hoeksema



                   Seminary Graduation - 1983

  The greater part of the first three days of our
1983 Synod was spent in a thorough-going examina-
tion of our two seminary graduates, Barrett Lee
Gritters and Kenneth Wayne Hanko. We may be
thankful that our churches still insist upon such a
thorough examination before anyone is declared
candidate for the ministry among us.
  On Wednesday afternoon each student delivered
a sermon on a previously assigned text. In addition,
the sermon outlines had to be submitted to an
examining committee appointed by Synod. Besides,
each student was required to submit written exege-
sis of an Old Testament passage (working, of
course, from the Hebrew original); and each               1 to r: Candidates Barrett Lee Gritters and Kenneth
student was required to submit written exegesis of                  Wayne Hanko
a New Testament passage (working from the
Greek). The latter work is also submitted to a            in closed session, Synod declared the two young
synodical examining committee.                            men candidates for the ministry in our Protestant
                                                          Reformed Churches.
  Almost all of Thursday was taken up with a thor-
ough oral examination in Dogmatics. And on Friday           The real climax of this examination and of their
there were examinations in Church History,                years in our school came on Tuesday evening, June
Church Polity, Old Testament History, and New             7. A goodly audience gathered for this joyful occa-
Testament History. All of these examinations are          sion. It was my privilege this time to deliver the
conducted by the professors. An examination in            commencement address, a transcript of which ap-
"Practica" (conducted by the Rev. George Lanting          pears elsewhere in this issue. A snapshot of our
this year) ended the examination process about            candidates accompanies this report.
mid-afternoon on Friday. At this time, after voting         May God bless our candidates!



                         Synod of the Protestant
                        Reformed Churches, 1983

  This is a brief and unofficial report. It must needs      On Wednesday morning, June 1, Synod met for
be brief, because my space in this issue is already       the first time; and, as usual, the morning was spent
more than used. The official report, which will also      in election of officers and in making committee
be complete, will appear in the  Acts,  which will        assignments. The Rev. G. Van  Baren was elected
make its appearance in a month or two.                    president, and he served capably, keeping synod's
                                                          "nose to the grindstone," but allowing for the
  At the pre-synodical service, under the auspices        necessary discussion and deliberation. Other offi-
of the Hope (Walker) Consistory, the Rev. J. Korter-      cers were: Rev. J. Kortering, vice-president; Rev.
ing led us, preaching an appropriate sermon the ad-       M. Joostens, first clerk; Rev. W. Bekkering, second
monition found in I Corinthians 15:58.                    clerk.


414                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



  Not much of synod's business was conducted              support of another student from Singapore, Mr.
during the first three days, as I already remarked,       Jaikishm Mahtani, who will be arriving D.V., this
due to the examinations conducted. This does not          summer.
mean, however, that no work is done. Every avail-           Synod next took up the report of Advisory Com-
able hour in which synod is not in session is used        mittee I. It was the task of this committee to advise
by the four advisory committees, so that their re-        synod on the many and difficult items related to
ports may be ready when the examinations are fin-         Domestic Missions. It is impossible to include here
ished and so that synod may begin its work of de-         a report on the lengthy discussions on these matters
liberating and deciding upon the matters of the           Suffice it to say that synod wrestled long and hard
Agenda. This year synod was able to do some of its        with certain items; and it is to be hoped that some
work already during the first week. In the first          solutions were reached. Time will tell. We report
place, on Thursday the examination was interrupt-         the following:
ed briefly in order to allow the Rev. Bruce Backen-
sto to address synod. Mr. Backensto was the repre-        1) Synod approved the continuation of labors in
sentative of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of          the Birmingham, Alabama field, but also author-
North America (Covenanters). At the invitation of         ized the use of Rev. Van Overloop  for the discovery
our Contact Committee, he came to bring the greet-        of new fields of labor.
ings of his denomination and to help get us               2) After lengthy discussion, Synod approved the
acquainted with the Covenanters and their stance.         calling of a missionary for Jamaica by First Church.
In the second place, Advisory Committee II was            It also adopted a "Policy for Missions in Jamaica."
ready with its report; and therefore, in the remain-      It also stipulated that the missionary was to have an
ing hours of Friday afternoon, after the completion       assistant for at least 6 to 9 months of the year, and
of the examinations, synod made considerable pro-         that this assistant was to be either a retired minister
gress in treating the items of that report.               or a minister on loan from one of our congrega-
  In connection with the latter, we mention the fol-      tions.
lowing:                                                   3) Synod also discussed at length the matter of
                                                          making provision for our field in Ripon,  California.
1) Synod declared an appeal from an elder of Lyn-         In connection with this, there was the problem of
den not legally before synod, on the ground that the      differences       concerning jurisdiction         among
appellant's disagreement was not actually with a          Redlands, Hope-Walker, and the Mission Commit-
decision of  Classis  West, but with the fact that his    tee. Synod made decisions designed to resolve these
consistory adopted the advice of  Classis.  He            differences; and again, time will tell as to their suc-
should, therefore, have protested to his consistory       cess. As far as positive action is concerned, the
rather than attempt an appeal from classis to synod.      major decision was to appoint Hope-Redlands the
2) Another attempted appeal was rejected because          calling church to call a missionary for Ripon.
it did not meet the Agenda deadline, though it very         If my memory and my notes serve me correctly,
well could have done so.                                  to Committee III goes the honor that all its advice
3) Synod rejected an overture from Hull to change         was adopted as presented and without being sent
the constituency of the Mission Committee to all          back for reformulation. The. following items of
eastern members.                                          interest may be mentioned:
4) Synod adopted an overture of South Holland to          1)  The Committee to Index Synodical Decisions
include in our Psalter the ecumenical creeds (Apos-       was admonished to complete its task.
tles', Nicene, Athanasian), decided to add the Chal-      2) The Report of the Study Committee re Synodical
cedonian Creed, and gave the matter of execution          Assessments was adopted: to continue our present
in the hands of a committee.                              method of assessments.
5) After considerable discussion and after recom-         3) Various items of the Contact Committee's Re-
mitting to the Advisory  Committee, Synod rejected        port were dealt with. We may mention the fact that
an overture of Southwest concerning Student Aid           synod authorized the committee to send two mem-
on the ground of Article 46 of the Church Order.          bers to confer with the committee of the Reformed
6) Several routine decisions were taken concerning        Presbyterian Church of North America and to be
our Foreign Mission work. Perhaps the two most            observers at their Synod in the latter part of June.
important were: a) Authorization to call a second         Synod also authorized the committee to explore the
missionary for Singapore "should this prove neces-        matter of sister-church relationships with the
sary and acceptable to the Session of the Evangeli-       E.R.C. of Singapore.
cal Reformed Church." b) Authorization to take            4) Theological School matters were also the assign-
collections in the churches toward the financial          ment of this committee. Here we may mention: a)


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                              415



Synod's decision to express to the churches the          is very important for each  classis to do its home-
need for students. b) Synod's approval of a proposal     work before it passes subsidy requests on to synod.
from the TSC re special gifts and bequests. In this      Most important of this committee's work was the
connection, synod also approved expenditure of up        proposed budget for fiscal 1984. Understand, this
to $10,000 for the purchase of word processing           committee does not  make  the budget; it merely
equipment from this special fund. c) Synod ap-           tabulates all the budgetary decisions of synod
proved a proposal to strengthen the academic re-         throughout. its sessions. And then the committee
quirements of the seminary department of our             must make recommendations as to how to meet the
school. The purpose of this change was to provide        budget. The outcome? The committee reported that
the faculty with more objective standards in guid-       if the full amount of the 1984 budget were to be
ing and advising our students. There was consider-       reached, the assessments would be $425.50 per
able discussion of this matter at synod. And in the      family per year. Taking into account the estimated
course of this discussion it was brought out that the    surplus for 1983 and various other factors, how-
faculty does not simply apply standards and re-          ever, the committee advised setting assessments at
quirements in "hard-nose" fashion, but deals with        $350.00 per family per year-substantially the
students on a personal basis-as one professor put        same as last year.
it, almost in "grandfatherly" fashion.                     For a complete report, see the 1983 Acts.
  Advisory Committee IV has the unenviable task            May the Lord bless the decisions taken unto the
of dealing with all financial matters. It wrestled       welfare of our churches and of the cause of His
with problems related to Subsidy Requests, in con-       church in the world!
nection with which it was brought out again that it

COMMENCEMENTADDRESS


                        At the Point of the Wedge
                                            Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


(Transcript of the commencement address de-              to a rather small group of men who have graduated
  livered at the Graduation Program of our Sem-          from a small and little known institution, but es-
  inary, June 7, 1983 at the Hope Protestant Re-         pecially from the point of view of the fact that those
  formed Church, Walker, Mich.)                          diplomas are unique in  character.  They mark you as
Graduates Gritters and Hanko, Brethren of the            candidates for the ministry in our Protestant Re-
Synod and Theological School Committee, Faculty          formed Churches, that is, as candidates for the
Colleagues, and Beloved Brethren and Sisters:            ministry in the true church, that is, as candidates
                                                         for the ministry in the purest manifestation of the
  .Our gathering tonight is in honor of our two          body of Christ on earth.
candidates; they are our guests of honor. And this
occasion of graduation calls for congratulations to        It is my purpose in this graduation address to call
our candidates. For me-and I am sure also for my         your attention to that unique position, and I do that
colleagues-there is always an element of nostalgia       under the theme:
in graduation, because it means the end of the way.                 AT THE POINT OF THE WEDGE
As far as the faculty-student relationship is con-              I. The Wedge and Its Point
cerned, we say farewell to you as students. Never-             II. The Point of the Point
theless, this graduation is an occasion for joy, also         III. Our Calling To Stand At That Point
for us. We rejoice with you that after many years
you have attained to your goal; and our hope and         The Wedge and Its Point
prayer is certainly that the Lord may soon provide         You will have detected immediately that there is
places for you in the ministry of our churches.          a figure of speech in my subject: the figure of the
  You, as candidates, belong to a unique group. I        wedge. If you consult any good dictionary, you will
say that not so much from the point of view of the       find that a wedge is one of the six basic mechanical
fact that the diplomas which you shall receive to-       devices, along with, for example, the wheel, the in-
night are relatively rare and mark you as belonging      clined plane, and others, Such a wedge may be de-


416                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



fined as a piece of metal, thick at one end, tapering       preaching of the Word, the proper administration
to a point, or thin edge, at the other, which is used       of the holy sacraments, and the proper exercise of
in such processes as the splitting of wood and of           Christian discipline. Those marks, therefore, may
rocks. From this basic idea it has obtained a second-       be said to represent the point of the wedge. True, it
ary usage in the area of military science and mili-         is the church which is known by those marks which
tary tactics. It is used to refer to a body of troops or    is at the point. But it is those marks, after all, which
soldiers that is drawn up in the form of a wedge. It        represent the real nature, the essential character, of
belonged, for example, to the group of formations           the point. If you ask the question, "Where is the
which was possible under the phalanx arrangement            point of the wedge?" the answer is: the point of the
for which Alexander the Great was noted in ancient          wedge is where those marks are.
times. It is to that latter idea of the wedge in the          Now among those marks which I just mentioned,
military sense that the poet John Milton refers             the pure preaching of the Word, or the confession
somewhere in the lines:                                     of the truth, may be singled out as the chief, the
       In warlike muster they appear,                       principal mark. I will not spend much time on argu-
       In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and           ing that point. On that pure preaching of the Word
       .wings.                                              the other marks depend. From that pure preaching
  That figure of the wedge has been and may ap-             of the Word the other marks grow. That is also the
propriately be applied to the position of the true          position, for example, of the Public Declaration of
church in the midst of the world. That true church          Agreement to which our synodical delegates assent-
is not to be conceived, as some theologians have            ed at the beginning of our Synod. You read in that
suggested, in terms of a wheel with its hub and             Public Declaration: "Of all the marks by which the
spokes, so that all the various churches here in the        true church distinguishes itself from all human so-
midst of the world, with their differences, are like        cieties, the Confession of the Truth  ,must be men-
those spokes: each approaching the center, the hub,         tioned in the first place." The Formula of Subscrip-
the true church, but from various positions and             tion similarly lays exclusive stress on that confes-
various directions. That is not the idea of the true        sion of the truth and on the necessity of preaching
church of Jesus Christ in the midst of the world.           and teaching that truth of the Word of God faith-
Much more appropriate is the idea of the wedge.             fully.
That true church is like a wedge, a military wedge,            From that point of view, the point of the wedge
like a body of troops drawn up in the form of a             is, in a word, our Reformed faith according to the
wedge, moving through history, moving through               Three Forms of Unity. Not, you understand, next to
this present world. At the point of the wedge stands        or instead of the Word of God! Of course not! But it
the true church in its purest manifestation; and            constitutes the point of the wedge because those
trailing back from that point are various other             confessions, as the Formula of Subscription and the
churches, still to some degree representing the true        Public Declaration of Agreement both state, do
church, but in increasingly lesser degrees of purity        fully agree with the Word of God. To that confes-
and truth. That is the basic idea of the figure of the      sion of the truth, that pure preaching of the gospel,
wedge in my address tonight.                                we are committed. We are committed diligently to
  That true church here in the world, remember, is          teach it and faithfully to defend it. We are commit-
known and clearly discernible by the well-known             ted never to contradict it by public preaching or
three marks, distinguishing marks, which our  Bel-          writing. That is the vow of every officebearer; and
gic Confession of Faith mentions in Article 29. It is       that will be the vow of our candidates when, the
known-and we must always remember that-not                  Lord willing, they will be ordained in the future.
by its membership. There have been those, you               Moreover, that commitment is an antithetical one.
know, who have accused us at times of understand-           We are committed not only to reject all errors that
ing the idea of the true church in that latter sense.       militate against that truth, and particularly the
And then they have flung in our faces sometimes             errors of Arminianism, which are condemned in
the taunt, "You Protestant Reformed people think            the Canons of Dordrecht. But we are committed to
that you are the only ones who are going to heaven,         refute and to contradict those errors, and to exert
that everyone else is going to hell; you think that         ourselves to keep the church free from them.
you are the only elect, and that all the elect are             Such, briefly, is the character of the point of the
found in the Protestant Reformed Churches." That            wedge.
is nonsense, of course! The true church is not              The Point of the Point
marked by its membership, nor by the holiness of
its membership, nor by the elect character of its           But we may be, and we must be, even more
membership, or any such thing. The true church is           specific.
characterized by the marks, namely: the pure                  Negatively, you understand, we as Protestant Re-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             417



formed Churches are not simply Reformed in the              That point was sharpened once more in the years
confessional sense of the word if that means that         around 1953. We have our Reformed heritage as
we  merely  stand where Reformed churches stood           maintained and developed over against the errors
350 years ago at Dordt. We must remember that.            of that time, particularly the errors of Heynsianism
We are not, and we may not represent ourselves to         and of the Liberated theology, errors concerning
be merely "conservatively Reformed," as many              the covenant and concerning baptism and concern-
others in our day still attempt to represent them-        ing a general, conditional promise. And again, let
selves. We are not that, and we may not represent         me remind you that those errors have not evaporat-
ourselves as such, either at home or on the mission       ed into thin air. They have not! Turn where you
field!                                                    will in the ecclesiastical world today-and I speak
  Positively, I want to stress that we occupy a dis-      from experience-you will find these errors every-
tinctive position, and we have a distinctive heri-        where.
tage, and we proclaim a distinctive message. And I          And so beloved, it is quite appropriate to speak
mean distinctive, not merely as over against the ec-      tonight of the point of the point! We have a distinc-
clesiastical world at large, or even the "evangeli-       tive heritage. And that distinctive heritage is not
cal" ecclesiastical world at large, but in distinction    only negative: it is not only that we stand  against
from the world of Reformed churches. It is to this        certain things. No church can exist by mere nega-
that I allude when I speak of the point of the point.     tives. That heritage is positive as well. We have a
  Why is that? Why is it that we have a distinctive       heritage!
position and a distinctive heritage and a distinctive       That heritage can be summarized in various
message?                                                  ways, but permit me briefly to spell it out tonight as
  That is not, you understand, because we have            follows.
something esseritially and principally more or new or       In general, that heritage consists in the truth of
additional in relation to our confessions. 0 no! We       the organic conception of the development of the
stand foursquare on the basis of our Reformed Con-        covenant of God, in connection with the organic
fessions. Period! But that we have a distinctive heri-    development of all things, according to the
tage is due to the fact that the wedge of the true        sovereign counsel of God, and along the lines of
church moves through history. We do not stand at          sovereign election and reprobation. Let me just
Dordt any longer; we live in the latter part of the       spell that out very briefly.
twentieth century. And when that wedge moves
through history, in the process of that movement            First of all, that means that God in the beginning
the point of the wedge is sharpened. Better put, the      created the world not simply a mass of creatures,
Lord our God Himself sharpens the point, causing          but a cosmos, an organic whole. He created it in an
the true church here in the world to develop, to          ascending scale, from the non-living, or anorganic
grow, to be enriched in the truth, and to be en-          matter, to plants, to the animals as living souls, to
riched in the pure preaching of the gospel. Always,       man, who was created, in the image of God, in true
remember, this development and enrichment is in           knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. The center
the line of the confessions; and usually, if not al-      of that cosmos lay in the heart of man as he came
ways, it takes place through the process of crisis        from the hand of his Creator. And through that
and conflict. That is what happened to us as Pro-         heart of man the entire world, the entire cosmos,
testant Reformed Churches. Hence, today we have           was united in the covenant fellowship of friendship
and we maintain our Reformed Confessions; but             with the heart of God. That was the original state of
we do so, in the first place, over against the errors     things. And there you have, already in the begin-
of 1924. And, by the way, do not imagine that             ning, the fundamental idea of God's covenant.
somehow over the years those errors have vanished           Secondly, in that original harmonious relation-
into thin air somewhere. They have not! They are          ship a breach was struck. That breach was struck,
everywhere in the ecclesiastical world today! Very        however, not + the essential relation of things. The
really! You don't have to search far to find them         world did  not: become a chaos. And man did not
anywhere in the church. We have that heritage             become an animal, or insane, or a devil. No, the
over against the error that there is grace for the        original organic relationship of the universe was
reprobate; over against the error that the gospel is a    maintained by God by His providence. But the
general offer of grace and salvation to all men; over     breach was struck in the heart of man. It was a
against the error that sin is restrained through com-     spiritual, ethical breach. The image of God in him
mon grace, so that depravity is not total; and over       was perverted into its diametrical opposite. Man
against the error that the unregenerate man can do        became totally depraved. He became an enemy of
much good. That is our heritage! The point has            God. He became, subsequently, the proper object
been sharpened!                                           of the wrath of God. The result of that was death:


418                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



death for Adam, death for all his posterity by                  What is involved in that?
nature. And the result was, too, that the whole                 Briefly, it means that you must instruct and in-
creation, which stood related to man, came under              struct and instruct-in pulpit and in catechism
the curse of God. Everything came to exist in the             class, at home or on the mission field. Always, of
cycle of vanity.                                              course, that instruction must be according to the
  A third stage was brought about, however, by                capacity of those whom you are instructing. It
grace in Christ Jesus. We must remember that the              means that the minister of the Word of God must
fall and its result certainly came about through the          indoctrinate and indoctrinate and indoctrinate!
wilful disobedience on man's part, and that man in            There is nothing that is more important in all your
that connection is responsible. There can be no               work than that. And it means that you must warn
question about that! We must also remember, how-              and warn and warn against all heresies repugnant
ever, that this fall and disobedience came about not          thereto! I do not mean this, you understand, in the
outside of, but  according to  the sovereign counsel of       sense that you are always going to be speaking in
the Most High. Because of that, also through the fall         the pulpit in the most direct sense of the things
God attained His purpose. The Lord God, beloved,              which I have just outlined tonight. A minister must
is sovereign, absolutely sovereign! That purpose of           not ride a hobby horse. But I mean it in the sense
God, from before the foundation of the world, was             that these truths must permeate all your preaching
to establish and realize His everlasting covenant of          and teaching, and that with respect to them you
friendship in Christ Jesus! It was His purpose to es-         must be specifically specific! That is your calling.
tablish and realize that covenant in Christ, Who is,            That is necessary. Do not ever begin to think that -
according to Colossians 1, the Firstborn of every             it is not necessary. It is absolutely necessary. If you
creature, and that, too, as the first begotten from           don't do that, you will soon find yourselves and
the dead! The purpose of God was not to repair and            your churches no longer at the point of the wedge,
restore what Adam and the devil and sin have                  but somewhere back farther from that point. A
spoiled, perhaps; but it was to raise up His creation         rather popularly stated rule applies here: "Use it, or
through the deep way of sin and death and the                 lose it!" But the deepest reason, of course, why that
grave and resurrection to heavenly glory-to raise it          is your calling is the fact that it is the calling from
up to the glory of His heavenly house and His                 God Himself. For this heritage is from Him!
heavenly tabernacle in the new creation, as it shall
presently be revealed in the day of our Lord Jesus              That calling is difficult-very difficult. To stand
Christ. That purpose of God He accomplishes and               at the point of the wedge, at the point of the point,
reaches, remember, along the lines of sovereign               beloved, can be a very, very lonely position-some-
election and sovereign reprobation. Grace is not              times lonely even in the midst of your own church.
common; grace is not general. But it is always par-           I know that. I know it by experience. Most of you,
ticular, for the elect alone. And by that grace the           my colleagues in the ministry, do not know that by
kernel, the elect kernel, is saved, while the shell is        experience. I do. I literally experienced that among
rejected and perishes. Because of that, there is creat-       my fellow ministers in 1953, out west; I had to
ed here in the midst of the world the antithesis.             stand strictly alone. That is a lonely position. Don't
What does that word mean, that word which is                  forget that! It may very well happen again some
more and more forgotten in our day? It means this,            day. Sometimes I am afraid that I see telltale signs
that on the one hand, from a natzual point of view,           that such times are going to come again some day
men here in the midst of the world have all things            for us! Further, it is difficult also because none of us
in common. God, you see, still maintains providen-            -not you, not I-wants to stand in that position as
tially the organism of the race. But that antithesis          we are by nature. We want to run away from it!
means, on the other hand, that from a spiritual point           Therefore, my concluding word is: may God give
of view there is contrast, absolute contrast, and the         you candidates and give us all His grace, that we
conflict of sin and grace.                                    may be willing and ready to stand at the point of
  Such, briefly, is the point of the point.                   the point of the wedge!
Our Calling To Stand At That Point
  It is our calling to stand there.                               The Standard Bearer
  That is the calling of all our churches, our people,
the calling of all of us. But it is especially the calling      makes a thoughtful gift
of our ministers. And tonight I want to emphasize
that it is the calling of you two young ministers-to-
be. That is your calling, especially your calling, by              for many occasions.
virtue of your very position as ministers.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 419



SIGNS OF TI3E TIMES


                        Phariseeism - Still Prevalent
                                                     Rev. K. KooZe


    "And the Pharisees and scribes murmured,                  increasingly free from phariseeism. Right? Wrong!
   saying, this Man receiveth sinners, and eateth             And one could not be more so. One must not imag-
    with them."                         Luke 152              ine that by refusing to rebuke any for sin he, there-
  Phariseeism! What an odious word. Its connota-              fore, has freed himself from the sin of phariseeism.
tions today rank right up there with "prejudice"              Nor must one imagine that a text such as Luke 15:2
and "discrimination." In dealing with  "Pharisee-             is to be interpreted in such a manner. To do so is to
ism," what it is and what it is not, we raise a warn-         reveal a sad misunderstanding of what phariseeism
ing against a very common evil in Protestantism               is. The fact remains that the Christian church en-
today, one which, because of belittling of the clear          courages the sin of phariseeism whether she will
and pointed application of God's precepts in the              admit it or not.
preaching, can only continue to strangle Protestant-            The decisive question is not, do you ever rebuke
ism in its icy grip.                                          a man for living as a cheater, or a woman as a har-
                                                              lot? If the wife commits adultery or the husband
  That we should maintain that Protestantism is               cheats on his income tax, the spouse is to offer no
being characterized to an increasing measure by               rebuke? That is not the question. Nor is it a matter
Phariseeism might surprise one. When one first                first of all whether you see others as publicans and
looks at the church world it is not readily apparent          sinners. But the decisive question is, are you ready
that the Christian church is infected with self-righ-         to confess that you are a publican  and a sinner, and
teous pharisees. Today the churches are filled with           so are worthy of condemnation? That is  the  ques-
people who claim to despise a phariseeistic, holier-          tion.
than-thou attitude. This is the one thing that is
preached from the pulpit. If it is one thing they will          The fact of the matter was that what the Phari-
not do it is to condemn others of being publicans             sees accused those with whom Christ was associat-
and sinners. They will accuse others of no sin. How           ing was true. They were guilty of cheating and of
then they can be phariseeistic? The Pharisees con-            harlotry. The sin of phariseeism is not that you
demned everybody but themselves. Everybody else               reprimand cheaters, harlots, and drunkards,
was worse. They were perfect. Where do you find               warning them that those defiled with such sins can
that in the modern Christian church?                          not inherit the kingdom. We may be sure that
                                                              Christ rebuked them. The epistles are full of His re-
  Today, if anything, people go to the opposite ex-           bukes. Have you never read James  4:4? The ques-
treme. In fact, it is to escape the charge of  phari-         tion is, do you number yourself among, will you
seeism that many refuse to perform the task of                allow the world to identify you with, those  publi-
Christian discipline or censure. To do so you would           cans and sinners? That is where the Pharisees erred
have to make judgments. You would have to                     first of all. They would not admit guilt to such sins.
rebuke publicans, those who become rich through               They were scandalized at the thought. Rather, they
dishonest means, warning them of exclusion from               thanked God that they were not as others, whom
the Kingdom; or you would be forced to excom-                 they could name, were.
municate adulterers, those living with another's                It is  .here with respect to phariseeism that con-
spouse. And that they will not do, lest they con-             temporary Protestantism errs so grievously. She is
demn another. In fact, if you practice discipline             content to leave her members in their phariseeism.
they will accuse you of phariseeism. Today those              How many declare from the pulpits that as a con-
living as greedy publicans, harlots, or in other sins         gregation we are publicans and sinners, cheaters
have the implicit approval of the church. They will           and adulterers, worthy of condemnation? And
not charge any of their members with breaking                 again, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye
God's commandments. They want nothing to do                   not that friendship with the world is enmity with
with any possible charge of phariseeism.                      God?" How many will stand with David, who had
  So, all this makes the modern Christian church              murdered Uriah and committed adultery with


420                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



Bathsheba, and hear Nathan the prophet say,              First we must repent of our self-righteousness, our
"Thou art the man!"? How many will then say, "I          phariseeism, then we can go on to enumerate the
have sinned against the Lord"? Not many. In such         rest. Until self-righteousness is confessed, it is vain
an environment phariseeism grows unabated.               to confess the rest.
  The chief fault of the scribes and Pharisees was         Let me add, of this the ministers of the gospel
not that they said that the publicans and sinners did    who bring that convicting word must be ever so
not deserve salvation and were not even worth ad-        mindful. It is so easy to say, "I will take this sharply
monishing (though they did say that, revealing their     pointed text, and hurl it at the people. They need to
evil spirit); but their chief fault was that they re-    be pierced." But the Spirit says, "Have you hurled
fused to identify themselves with the undeserving.       it at yourself first of all? If not, do not address it to
This is a serious matter. Those who refuse to iden-      the congregation, lest behind it be the wrong spirit;
tify themselves with damn-worthy publicans and           yours, not Christ's." Only after one has humbled
sinners are numbered amongst the "just persons,          himself and applied the convicting word to oneself
which need no repentance" (Luke  15:7).  And see-        can one preach, not  & a Pharisee to publicans, but
ing not one's need of repentance, they needed not        as a sinner to publicans in Christ's name.
Jesus as Christ.                                           In light of the above the question arises anew,
  The publicans and sinners knew that they were          whether it can be said that the modern Christian
not just. What they knew was that, because of their      church is in the grips of phariseeism. People protest
sin, they were damn-worthy. Therefore they               that they do not have a high view of self. People
sought Him out Who alone could save them from            will say, "Look, I do not think I am better than the
the curse of the law. It was because the Pharisees       publicans. Do not accuse me of phariseeism. I can
would not confess that they were damn-worthy,            identify with publicans. I will eat with them. (I will
which one must do before he will seek out the            even drink with them.)"
Christ of the Scriptures, that they would not hum-
bly draw nigh to Him as Savior. The question must          How correct then is our contention?
be asked, "How many are led to see that they are           There is a rather simple question that gets to the
damn-worthy before the law?"                             heart of phariseeism in self and in man today. The
  A consequence of phariseeism is that men seek a        question that needs to be asked is, "How many of
different Christ than that of the Scriptures. The        the church today are ready to confess, `I, by nature,
Pharisees did. They wanted a Messiah who patted          am totally, completely depraved? How many are
them on the back, who said, "You are pretty good         willing to say that in me, (that is, in my flesh)
people. I am impressed with your zeal and dedica-        dwelleth no good thing?' " (Romans 7: 18).
tion. You have some faults, but they are minor             The answer is, not many. Apart from grace,
compared to your virtues. I would be honored to          nobody. This is that one doctrine concerning which
have you select me as your Messiah. Will you             today, there is a deafening silence.
please, please follow me? I would be forever in            It is not enough simply to say, as man is wont,
your debt." That's the kind of Christ which              "I'll admit that I am not perfect. I have my faults
appealed to them, the same kind that appeals to the      too. I am no better than my friends (though no
Christian church today. Modern Evangelists have          worse either) ." Such a "confession" is not suffi-
given them  that  kind of a Messiah; one who tells       cient enough to dissociate oneself from the Scribes
people they are pretty good, and who is indebted to      and Pharisees of Christ's day. One must come to
them for choosing him. Their phariseeism is left in-     the point where one confesses that one's best works
tact.                                                    are as filthy rags. To that the doctrine of Total De-
   To recapitulate, phariseeism is not first how you     pravity drives one. Who will be driven that far?
view others. That is included, but phariseeism does
not start there. That is just a symptom. Phariseeism       When the sadly neglected doctrine of Total De-
starts with how you view yourself, namely, not as a      pravity is properly preached, it does not take long
damn-worthy sinner. If you really see yourself as a      for the phariseeism in man's heart to begin to sur-
publican you cannot despise others, or draw your-        face. Who wants to confess that in himself there is
self up in haughty superiority. But if you despise       to be found  no good thing  to commend oneself to
others it can only be because you have too high an       God?
opinion of yourself.                                       As long as the doctrine of man's Total Depravity
   The natural tendency of man is to have a high         and the absence even of a natural  inczination
opinion of himself. That is his phariseeism. Who         towards good is not preached, phariseeism will
cannot find that in himself? The word must declare,      flourish, however much the church disputes it.
"Repent of that first of all. Repent of that before        Today religious men clothe themselves with the
you repent even of being a publican and a sinner."       cloak of publicans but their deeply rooted pharisee-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               421



ism remains firmly in place. And today the great           ing all as unrighteous to flee to God for Righteous-
majority of preaching scarcely makes even the              ness, and phariseeism of the heart had the church's
most feeble attempt to uproot it from the heart of         approval, that the axe was laid to the root of the
the listener.                                              tree, judgment fell on the house of Israel. So again
  All this is a serious matter. It was in the day          the day draws close at hand. Let this word then be
when the word the church preached ceased direct-           uttered again, "Flee the wrath to come."

IN HIS FEAR


                 The Distinctive Traits of the Godly
                                     Christian Home
                                              Pastor Arie Den Hartog


   Recently I was asked to speak for one of the            tics that our homes must be different. From a
Adult Fellowship meetings of the Evangelical Re-           natural point of view our homes are much the same
formed Church of Singapore on the subject "Setting         as those of the world. Some of us may live in beauti-
Up A Godly  Christican Home." This subject is of           ful palaces, others in simple lowly and plain homes.
particular relevance for the young. people of the          Some of us may have very beautiful furnishings in
church here. Most of them were raised in pagan             our homes; others may have nothing more than the
homes. They were therefore not taught from child-          barest necessities. It does not really matter. Let us
hood on what a Christian home is. They do not              not be overly concerned about this. Let us not
have the example of a parental home after which to         spend all our time and energy making our homes
pattern their own homes. When they establish their         only physically beautiful. Let us be especially con-
own homes they must needs be radically different           cerned that our homes are spiritually beautiful.
from the homes they grew up in. How thankful               From a spiritual point of view our homes must be
unto the Lord we in our Protestant Reformed                radically different from those of the world. I want
Churches should be for our Christian homes. How            to present to you a list of twelve spiritual character-
thankful we as young people should be that we have         istics that ought to characterize the godly, Christian
the model of our parental homes to follow in estab-        home. To do that we will need the space of two
lishing our own homes. Perhaps we do not appre-            Standard Bearer  articles.
ciate the great significance of this because we take
it all so much for granted. For some of us this bless-       The home of the Christian is first of all a place
ing of the Lord is greater than for others. Sad to say,    where the fear of God is. God is known and wor-
there are homes in our midst that bear little distinc-     shiped and served as the only true living God of
tive Christian character. The families of such             heaven and earth. God is known in that home as
homes are in danger of being cut off from the cove-        the absolutely sovereign Lord and God of heaven
nant of God in their generations. There are other          and earth. It is profoundly known in that home that
homes in the midst of our churches however which           God is a God of perfect righteousness and holiness,
are shining examples of truly Christian homes. We          a God therefore Who hates sin and evil with divine
thank the Lord especially for these. These are a           and perfect wrath, a wrath which is terrible to
testimony for the whole church.                            those who live in sin and wickedness. He is a God
                                                           Who judges all men in perfect righteousness. He
   It is good for all of us to ask the question, what      curses the house of the wicked and blesses the
really makes a Christian home Christian? What dis-         habitation of the just. Though this God is a God of
tinguishes such a home from the ungodly homes of           just wrath to the ungodly, in His holiness He is a
the world? More distinctively, we ought to ask the         God of faithfulness and mercy and lovingkindness
question, what ought to characterize our homes as          to those who fear Him and who according to His
truly Reformed Christians, even distinguishing our         grace and Spirit live by His commandments. In the
homes from others that call themselves Christian?          truly Christian home all of this is known about
   It is of course according to spiritual characteris-     God. Therefore husband and wife in this home live


422                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



in fear and trembling before Him. They reverence         strength and mind. They are taught how God, as
and worship this God in humility and godly sub-          their creator and redeemer in Christ Jesus, as their
mission. Children in the Christian home are taught       faithful provider and protector, as the God of all
of the infinite greatness of God and of His perfect      mercy and lovingkindness is worthy of that love.
holiness so that they too learn to fear before Him.      The children of the home of the godly are taught
The principle of the fear of the Lord determines all     also that they must reveal the love of God in their
that goes on in the home of the godly. It determines     relationships one toward another. They are taught
what things are done and what things are avoided.        that it is a grievous sin for them to live in strife and
It determines the very motive and spirit with which      bitterness against each other.
all the activities in the home are conducted.              The love of God is reflected in the home of the
  In the second place, the home of the godly is          godly also in the attitude that is there towards out-
where the love of God reigns. That is of course im-      siders. The home of the godly is a place of genuine
mediately related to the fear of God. God is feared      Christian hospitality. Especially fellow members of
out of the motive of love and not out of the motive      the church of Jesus Christ are often found in that
of dread and terror. In the home of the godly the        home. There they find comfort and counsel, there
Lord God is loved for all that He is and all that He     they find fellowship and love in the Lord. In the
has done and is doing through His blessed Son the        home of the godly there is hearty concern for the
Lord Jesus Christ. In the home of the Christian          poor and the needy. The virtuous woman of Prov-
there is a great delight in God, there is constant       erbs 31, though she is very busy with her own
seeking of His blessed presence and fellowship. It is    family, does not fail to stretch out her hand to the
the greatest desire of the godly family to do only       poor. There is a general attitude of respect and righ-
those things which are pleasing in the sight of the      teousness toward the neighbor, in the home of the
Lord God and those things which bring glory to His       godly, because of this love. The home of the godly
name.                                                    surely is not a place of gossip and slander and evil
  The love of God in Jesus Christ is evident also in     speaking about the neighbor. It is not the place
the godly home in the relationships of the members       where the neighbor is dealt with deceitfully and
of that home. The godly husband loves his wife,          craftily. All the dealings with the neighbor are done
and the godly wife loves her husband. This they do       in such a love and justice that always the good of
according to the operation of the Spirit and grace of    the neighbor is sought, even when this means
God in their hearts. This goes much further than a       financial sacrifice and loss. How important this is.
mere natural affection or shallow romantic attrac-       How sad it is when Christian homes have the repu-
tion. The love that there is between the husband         tation of being corrupt and deceitful. What a re-
and wife in the godly home is the holy love of God       proach this brings to the name of the Lord, what
in Christ Jesus. In this love the husband and wife       dishonoring of His name and glory.
give thanks unto the Lord for each other. In that           In the home of the godly there is a covenant con-
love they delight to live with each other in com-        sciousness. It is known in that home that God is the
munion of life, having been made one flesh. In that      wonderful covenant God Who has established His
love the husband gives himself, as Christ gave Him-      covenant with believers and their children. The
self for His church, to nourish and support and          knowledge of this covenant is the source of great
sanctify his wife. In that love the wife submits her-    joy and blessedness in this home. In the conscious-
self unto her husband, to serve him as his loving        ness of this covenant, children are brought forth in
helpmeet. This is her life and joy. Radically dif-       this home. Children are not brought forth merely
ferent from the world in this respect is the home of     for the pleasure and joy of the parents because they
the godly. Because of this love the husband and          are so cute and nice and because they can bring
wife live in life-long faithfulness and devotion to      much glory to their parents. Children are brought
each other. The husband does not, when his wife          forth in the Christian home according to the com-
gets older and loses some of her physical beauty,        mand and obligation of God's covenant. They are
look for a younger and prettier woman. He does not       brought forth in the hope of God's covenant prom-
lust after the women of-the world but rejoices in the    ise for succeeding generations. It is known in this
wife of his youth and is satisfied with her love. The    home that the woman is saved through child-bear-
wife of the godly home does not go flirting after the    ing. This determines the attitude toward birth con-
men of this world, dressing and tempting them to         trol and the number of children that are found in
lust after her. She is discreet and chaste because of    the home of the godly. Though the whole world
her love for her God-given husband.                      today is strongly emphasizing birth control (in
  The children of the home of the godly are also         Singapore even the government is forcing families
taught that love of God. They are taught that God        to limit their children to two), it remains true that
must be loved with all the heart and soul and            one commonly finds many children in the home of


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             423



the godly. This is not because of rebellion against         devoutly observed in this home. The family of this
human governments but rather because of a godly             home goes faithfully to the house of God to worship
,desire to bring forth the children of the covenant.        God together. The Lord's day in that home is as
Because of this covenant consciousness, children            much as possible sanctified for the Lord's use. The
are brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord.         love for the church and kingdom in that home is re-
The primary concern of the parents of that home is          flected also in that not only the worship services
not merely to give their children a good education          but the other activities of the church are well at-
by the standards of the world or to prepare them for        tended. Children from that home go faithfully to
a financially stable and prosperous future. It is a far     catechism classes. When they go, they go well pre-
greater concern of the parents in this home to raise        pared because they have been faithfully instructed
the children in such a way that they grow up to             by their parents. Young people attend young
acknowledge and fear God and to serve Him                   people's society eagerly and zealously. Father and
through all of their life in the future. Parents in that    mother in that home do not make themselves so
home are willing to make all kinds of sacrifices so         busy with the things of this world that they are not
that the children of the home may get a good Chris-         able to attend church activities. Furthermore, one
tian education. These parents themselves spend              finds in this home a hearty and zealous support of
much time in their home to teach their children out         the church. The church and her ministry in this
of the Word of God. They seek to be a godly exam-           world are constantly prayed for. When it comes to
ple to their children in all that they do. Indeed, this     the financial support of the church and Christian
must be one of the striking characteristics of the          school the home of the godly is known by how
home of the godly that  makesiit  so very different         liberally and cheerfully it gives of all of the abun-
from the world. This spiritual characteristic is per-       dance that the Lord has given. The home of the
haps of all most sadly lacking in many so-called            godly is where real and great sacrifices are made for
Christian homes.                                            the sake of the kingdom. There is there a willing-
  The home of the godly is where one finds a deep           ness to forego some of the riches of this world in
love for the cause of God's church and kingdom.             order that the church and kingdom of Christ may
This can be seen first of all in that the Lord's day is     be seen to prosper.

                          News From New Zealand
                                .





Lower Hutt (Wellington) Protestant Reformed Fellow-         Palmer&on  North Railway station
ship from Wellington and Palmerston North together.

Dear Brethren and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ:         which gave some of the Palmerston North people
  Here are two more photos for you. The first one           the opportunity to say farewell to Rev. John A.
was made at the Lord's Day  17/4/1983  after the            Heys and Mrs. Heys. The following day they would
service, in the church. You see Rev.  John A. Heys          go to Singapore, and some days later to Tokyo, and
and  Mrs. Heys together with the Brethren and Sis-          finally to the U.S.A., going to see their married
ters, and some of their children, from Wellington           children and-back home-the Holland Congrega-
and Palmerston North.                                       tion.
  The second one was made at the Palmerston                   Quite a few tears were shed.
North Railway Station, when the Silverfern-Express                       Yours in the love of Christ,
from Wellington to Auckland (a total of twelve                                     J. P. deKlerk
hours travelling) stopped there at  lo:30 A.M.


424                                        THE STANDARD BEARER


           The Reformed Presbyterian Church
                                            of Ireland
                                           Professor Adam Loughridge


[A Word of Introduction:                                  country and Canada which has its roots in the Re-
  Within the last two or three years the Committee        formed Presbyterian Church in Ireland and Scot-
of Contact of our Protestant Reformed Churches            land. With this latter denomination our Committee
has had some contact with the Reformed Presby-            of Contact' has also had some correspondence and
terian Church of Ireland. While the contact to this       meetings.
point has been limited to a few exchanges of letters,       We hope that this article (and other promised ar-
various ways of increasing this contact have been         ticles) will acquaint our people with those with
explored. One of these ways which was agreed              whom we have had closer contact in recent years:
upon was an exchange of articles to be published in                                       Prof. H. Hank01
our respective church papers which would serve
the purpose of acquainting the members of our               The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland
separate churches with each other. The following is       has its roots in the second Scottish Reformation of
an article which was prepared by one of their pro-        1638 to 1649. Under the leadership of John Knox,
fessors which tells something of the history of their     Scotland enjoyed the blessings of Reformation a
denomination.                                             century earlier and Presbyterianism was formally
                                                          established in 1560. The principles that he held so
  To our people who are relatively unacquainted           dear began to be eroded soon after his death and
with the history of presbyterianism, especially in        more particularly from 1618 by the opposition from
the British Isles, some of the references in this ar-     the Royal House of Stuart. A second Reformation
ticle may be unfamiliar. While it is impossible to        was necessary and this was thoroughly accom-
clarify all the obscure points, a few comments may        plished in Scotland by the signing of the National
be helpful. The references to "Covenanters" and           Covenant in 1638 and the Solemn League and
"Covenants" is a crucial part of the history of this      Covenant of 1643. These Covenants pledged to re-
branch of Presbyterianism. In the days of the             cover the purity and liberty of the gospel, to pre-
second reformation in both Scotland and Ireland,          serve the reformed religion in Scotland and to work
efforts were made on the part of the rulers to foist a    for the reformation of religion in the three king-
hierarchical form of church government on the             doms according to the Word of God. The charter
churches so as to bring them under the control of         for this programme was prepared at Westminster
the king. These efforts were resisted in various          by able. and godly men in the form of a Confession
ways, one of which was the signing of national            of Faith, Catechisms, a form of Church Govern-
covenants by the clergy and people which bound            ment and a Directory for Public Worship.
the people to resist state encroachments on the
church which was under the rule of Christ alone.            The northern province of Ulster in Ireland had
These covenants also bound the  ~people  to seek          been progressively settled from 1607 by Scats Pres-
reformation in religion, doctrine, liturgy, and life      byterians and English Puritans. A succession of
among the people of the realm. For these covenants        ministers like Robert Blair, Josias Welch and John
the people suffered untold persecution.                   Livingstone were greatly used in propagating this        -
                                                          faith, and the chaplains of the Scottish Army who
  There is also a reference in the article to a           came to Ulster to quell the rebellion by Roman
"Regium Donum." After bitter persecution on the           Catholics in 1641 organized the Church on a
part of Charles II against the Covenanters, the king      regular Presbyterian footing in June 1642. In 1644
made various concessions to the Covenanters               the Solemn League and Covenant was comprehen-
which gave them some freedom again, but which             sively signed in Ulster. A season of revival followed
nevertheless, in a subtle way, brought the church         and by 1662 there were 68 ministers committed to a
effectively under the control of the state. This          testimony that was Presbyterian, Reformed and
caused a split among the Covenanters, for some of         Covenanted. Sixty-one of these ministers were de-
them resisted also these overtures of peace brought       posed from office for non-conformity in 1662. Ten
by the magistrate as another attempt to gain control      years later the majority of those who remained of
of the church.                                            this faithful band accepted a Regium Donum from
  The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North               Charles II and from that time a diminishing minori-
America (Covenanters) is the denomination in this         ty of Presbyterians adhered to the Covenants. They


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                            425



were encouraged by regular visits from Alexander         moved from the Presbyteries to Boards and
Peden between 1682 and 1685 and formed them-             Committees appointed annually by the Synod. The
selves into Societies on the Scottish pattern. They      growth of the Church at home was first cared for as
survived the days of persecution, stood apart from       the Home Mission Board gave help and encourage-
the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church         ment to smaller congregations. The needs of  Cov-
and formed the root from which the Reformed              enanters who had emigrated to Canada and to
Presbyterian Church in Ireland grew.                     Australia were next considered and, following the
  The_position  of the Covenanters in Ireland after      terrible famine in 1845 to 1847, a mission to Roman
1690 was a difficult one. They had no ministers and      Cahtolics was organised. This important work has
no meeting-houses. They were scattered in compara-       been carried on since then and is effectively main-
tively small groups where the Scottish influence         tained in the South and West of Ireland today. A
was strongest. Their seemingly hopeless position         Foreign Mission programme was begun in Syria in
was revived in 1692 when David Houston, an               1871. This continued until after the second World
ardent Covenanter wh0 had been well commended            War when the centre of witness moved to Lebanon.
by James Renwick, threw in his lot with them and         Work ceased there when a new Mission was sent to
served them faithfully for four years until his death    Ethiopia in 1963. This promised to be a fruitful
in 1696. Thereafter they kept in touch with their        field, but the Revolution in 1975 compelled the
brethren in Scotland by means of correspondence          Church to withdraw her workers. Just now a new
and exchange of delegates. They were visited at          field is being carefully and prayerfully investigated
intervals by John MacMillan, the only Reformed           in France. The Canadian congregations of our
Presbyterian minister in Scotland at that time.          Colonial Mission were integrated into the R.P.
Many of them crossed the North Channel to Scot-          Church of North America in 1879, and the Australi-
land for fellowship, marriage and the baptism of         an Mission became an independent Reformed Pres-
their children.                                          byterian Church in 1965.
Organization                                             The Training of Ministers
  As the Scottish Church grew stronger following           The Church has always set a high standard for
the formation of their first Presbytery in 1743, it      the training of young men for the ministry. This
began to show an increasing concern for the              training was formerly entrusted to the Scottish
brethren in Ireland. Ministers were appointed to         Church, but in 1854 a Theological Hall was estab-
visit the province of Ulster regularly and their work    lished in Belfast. This has always been staffed by
was crowned with blessing when in 1757, William          professors who were also pastors, so there has been
Martin was ordained. Six years later when                a strong emphasis on preaching and pastoral work.
Matthew Lynn was ordained, the first Irish Re-           The course consists of three sessions. Normally stu-
formed Presbytery was set up. The progress of the        dents are university graduates, though in recent
Church was encouraging and within ten years              years special arrangements are made for the admis-
some ten congregations were organized and four           sion of mature men of suitable gifts into the cours-
ministers ordained. One of these, William Staveley,      es. An external Board of Examiners conducts a final
exercised an outstanding ministry and under his          examination for a Diploma in Theology.
leadership a further ten congregations were estab-         In addition to the training of students for the
lished.                                                  ministry, the Church has shown concern for the
  The young Church faced difficulties due to emi-        training of children and Sabbath Schools have been
gration and especially through the republican            operating successfully since 1860. An association
movement that provoked the rebellion of 1798. But        formed in 1890 to provide young men and women
progress was made and in the new century there           with a programme for Bible Study and fellowship
was a marked increase in the membership. This            has been superseded in 1923 by The Covenanter
was mainly due to the incidence of Arianism in the       Young People's Union.
Synod of Ulster and to a change of policy on the         Distinctive Doctrines and Practices
part of the Secession Synod that led to acceptance         Many of the great principles for which the Cove-
of the Regium  Donum. Ten new congregations in           nanters suffered in the 17th century were heartily
seven years strengthened the Church to such a de-        accepted by the nation in 1690 and placed on the
gree that the Presbytery was divided into four in        statute book. Others, no less tenaciously main-
1810 and the first Synod met in 1811.                    tained, were ignored and it was for these that the
The Missionary Vision                                    Reformed Presbyterian Church specially witnessed.
  For some years after its constitution the Synod          In common with others, particularly the Free
left most of its administrative work in the hands of     Church of Scotland, Reformed Presbyterians un-
the Presbyteries. In due course the burden of work       questioningly accept the Bible as the Word of God


426                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



and the final authority and infallible guide in all        hope that a small denomination, with an interest in
matters of faith and conduct. As a concise summary         true scriptural unity, might find encouragement
of its teaching they adhere to the Westminster Con-        and`friendship in a truly reformed atmosphere. For
fession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Cate-          a time this seemed the answer, but within the past
chisms. They are thus Calvinists and Protestants.          eight years, disquieting trends began to appear, and
  In worship, they use the Psalms only, and render         certain member Churches, particularly from
their praise without instrumental accompaniment.           Holland, began to condone error in doctrine and
A choir leads the praise service in about one quar-        practice.
ter of the congregations; in the others a precentor is       There were demands in the Synod that the
the praise leader.                                         Church should withdraw from membership follow-
  Their testimony has much in common with other            ing the unsatisfactory nature of the 1976 R.E.
Protestant and Evangelical Churches in the area of         Synod, but it was agreed to proceed with the ap-
national righteousness. Their commitment to the            pointment of a delegate to the Synod at Nimes in
Scottish Covenants of 1638 and 1643 lays on them           1980, on the understanding that if matters relating
special obligations. They feel debarred from active        to dual members of the Reformed Churches in the
participation in the political life of the nation under    Netherlands in the R.E.S. and the World Council of
present conditions. They do not join the member-           Churches and certain defects in the discipline exer-
ship of societies which demand an oath of secrecy          cised in relation to liberal attitudes to Scripture,
at initiation, and whose practices and religious           were not resolved to our satisfaction, steps would
ritual are in many respects unchristian. They              be taken to terminate membership. A Commission
oppose the evils of betting and gambling in every          of the Synod was appointed to receive the report of
form, witnes to the  s=anctity  of the Lord's Day and      our delegate to Nimes and it was unanimously
condemn all participation in the traffic of intoxicat-     agreed to withdraw from membership in August
ing liquors, even to the extent of debarring  publi-       1980.
cans from Church Membership.                                 The main strength of the Church has always
Relations with Other Churches                              been in rural areas and today the strongest congre-
                                                           gations are in farming communities. There are 42
  When the World Council of Churches was                   congregations with a communicant membership of
formed in 1948, the R.P. Church of Ireland prompt-         just over 3,000, and a total church population, in-
ly rejected any idea of association with such an un-       cluding adherents, of perhaps 7,000. All but six of
biblical group and has witnessed since then against        these congregations are in the area known as
the liberal and humanistic emphasis in the Council.        Northern Ireland and are to be found where the in-
For several years the possibility of linking with the      fluence of the  Scats settlers of the early 17th
International Council of Christian Churches was            century is strongest. The Church has full fellow-
investigated, but this too was set aside because of        ship and enjoys  mutual eligibility arrangements
its inadequate reformed commitment. When the               with the R.P. Churches of Scotland, Australia and
opportunity came to join the Reformed Ecumenical           North America.
Synod, the invitation was readily accepted in the

-FROM HOLY WRIT


          Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures
                                                 Rev. G. Lubbers


                      Chapter VII                          Scriptures. For the interpreting of the prophetic
  The "Seven Dispensations" of Scofield's Bible            Scriptures is a weighty task, a sacred trust from
                      (continued)                          God to His faithful servants in His church. And
  That the  Scofield "notes" do not rightly divide         ever the pattern must be such that we see in Christ
the Word of truth we have begun to show thus far           Jesus the end of the law for righteousness to
in former chapters. However, we must now  pro-             everyone that believes. We must be able to demon-
teed with this task with unabated dedication to the        strate that our interpretation is such that,  whatso-


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                             4 2 7



ever promises there are, these are Yea in Christ and              ourselves guilty of violating the Ninth Command-
in Him Amen, to the glory of God the Father.                      ment in the Decalogue, and we, in effect, are only
  It is the basic failure of the dispensational "exe-             criticizing our own misrepresentation of Scofield, a
gesis" of the prophecies to cling to Christ the Head              mere  carricature,  instead of the actual false
of the church. Their exegesis is such that it is                  teaching of dispensationalist-premillennenialism.
weighed in the balances and is found wanting. We                  Hence, we have quoted Scofield's "note" in toto.
have attempted to show this in our criticism of Sco-                Perhaps the basic error of Scofield is that he fails
field's dispensation of "Innocency" and of "Con-                  to interpret properly the Covenant of God with
science."                                                         Noah, that he completely separates this Covenant
  We now have arrived at what Scofield denomi-                    from the Covenant of grace, as taught in the Gene-
nates the dispensation of  ' `Human Government.  '  '             sis record. In a word: he has no room for the Christ,
This is the time from the Flood till the giving of the            the heir of all things, in his representation of the
promise to Abraham, the father of all believers, Jew              "Noahic Covenant" which allegedly subjects
and Greek. It is not at all clear that in the teaching            humanity to the test whether they will rule for
of Scofield this dispensation of "Human Govern-                   God. There is not one iota of Gospel, of glad-tidings
ment" ceased at the time of the giving of the                     in the Dispensational view of the "Noahic Cove-
promise to Abraham. In a "footnote" under Gene-                   nant." This covenant is nothing but a "testing at-
sis 8:20 we notice that he captions the entire section            tempt" on the part of God, and it is not a manifesta-
from Genesis  8:20 through Genesis  11:51, as                     tion of God's Covenant faithfulness!
follows: "The Third Dispensation-The Third or
Noahic Covenant to Genesis 9:27."                                   This should put us on our guard, on our qui vive!
  At the foot of the page 16, we find the following                 Let us not overlook the grand truth that all that
informative paragraph.                                            Noah is, he is in sovereignly free grace; that is the
     . . .                                                        only reason why Noah did not perish with the evil
              under Conscience, as in  Innocency,  man utterly
   failed, and the judgment of the Flood marks the end            men of his day. Do we not read "but Noah found
   of the second dispensation and the beginning of the            grace in the eyes of the LORD"? This was the sover-
   third. The declaration of the Noahic Covenant sub-             eign grace of election by which Noah and his family
   jects humanity to a new test. Its distinctive feature is       were saved "by the water in the ark" (I Peter 3:20,
   the institution, for the first time, of human govern-          21). Noah was saved by grace through faith (Eph.
   ment-the government of man by man. The highest                 2:8). A careful study of such Scripture passages as
   function is the judicial-taking of life. Man is responsi-      Genesis  19:9; Exodus  33:12; Luke  1:30; Acts  7:46
   ble to govern the world for God (sic, G.L.). That re-          will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the
   sponsibility rested upon the whole race, Jew and Gen-          grace, which Noah found in the eyes of the Lord,
   tile, until the failure of Israel under the Palestinian        was the saving grace of elective love! It was not of
   Covenant (Deut.  2%30:1-10) brought the judgment of            works at all! Ultimately it was not that Noah was a
   the Captives, when the "times of the Gentiles" (Luke
   21:24;  Rev.  16:14)  began, and the government of the         righteous man. He was a righteous man because he
   world passed exclusively into Gentile hands. (Dan 2:           "found grace" in the eyes of Jehovah, the Covenant
   36-45; Luke 2124;  Acts 15:14-17)  That both Israel and        God! It was not of works, lest any man should
   the Gentiles have governed for self, not God, is sadly         boast. Least of all should Noah boast from the heart
   apparent. The judgment of the confusion of tongues             of the ark, as he is saved by the water. This Flood
   ended the  racial  testing; that of the Captivity of the       was a picture of baptism itself, which is a matter of
   Jews, while the Gentile testing will end in the smiting        having a good conscience, washed by the blood and
   of the image (Dan. 2) and the judgment of the nations.         Spirit of Jesus Christ.
   (Matthew  2531-46)                                               This is further exemplified in the grand truth in
  The above quotation from the "notes" is meant                   God's gracious dealings with Noah and his genera-
to be a directive for the reader of the Scofield Bible.           tions, as they proceeded from the church of the
It is meant as chartering the course for the proper               "eight souls." It was in that church, in the ark, that
dividing of the word of truth. And all these  Sco-                we find the "holy line" from which Christ sprang,
fieldian distinctions are purported to be the unfold-             as is so clear from the  genealogical data in Luke
ing of the implications of the "Noahic Covenant,"                 3:23-28.  Christ was really in that ark in the loins of
This Noahic Covenant, then, subjects "humanity"                   Noah, Shem, Abraham, David. That is what really
to the iron-clad test whether they will rule the                  kept that little bark of an ark afloat. The church is
world "for God" or "for self." The test is: will it               the only thing which keeps the world having mean-
work to place "man over another man" for  world-                  ing; she is the only meaning in world-history. The
government?                                                       history of the world is the history of the church.
  It is important to present properly and honestly                Church history is world history. It was in that ark
the view of Scofield, lest in our criticism we make               that God "remembered" Noah!


428                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  What is the biblical import of the verb to remem-         mony, by placing His bow upon the cloud! And this
ber?                                                        "rainbow" speaks of the all-embracing magnitude
  It is really the quintessence of God's covenant           of God's covenant mercies over His church, em-
faithfulness. He remembers His own words and                bracing heaven and earth. It is the rainbow which
keeps them faithfully, so that not one jot or tittle re-    is symbolical of God's throne of mercy in Revela-
mains unfulfilled by Him. Therefore, let it not be          tion  4:3 over His church! From this throne, in the
forgotten, we read that God remembers Abraham's             most holy place, God issues His commands, and
prayer, and His promise when He liberates Lot               maintains His covenant mercies. Grace breaks
from the destruction, and fire and brimstone which          through wrath! Noah found grace in the eyes of the
turned Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes (Gen.                  LORD. Jeremiah points out this faithfulness of God
19:29). And when Israel groans in the bondage of            in the starry heavens, when he says in exalted
Egypt, Jehovah "remembers" His covenant with                words from the LORD, "If my covenant be not
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 2:24,25).  Trem-          with day and night, and if I have not appointed the
ble with holy awe when you read these exalted               ordinances of heaven and earth, then will I cast
words in Exodus  2:25, "And God looked upon the             away the seed of Jacob, so that I will not take any of
children of Israel, and God had respect unto them."         his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham,
He has Israel in His book of remembrance; they are          Isaac, and Jacob . . . (Jer. 33:25,26).
engraved in the palms of His hands!                            Let him that reads understand!
  In this "Noahic Covenant" God does not test the
nations and "humanity, " but He shows His loving-              Noahic Covenant of "testing of humanity?" Not
kindness unto the church as she shall be in the Old         at all. It is the great promise of God who smelled a
Testament Dispensation in the confines of Shem,             "sweet savour" of the clean beasts which Noah of-
and as in the birth of Christ God will enlarge              fered upon being permitted to come forth from the
Japheth and cause him to dweZZ  in the tents of Shem!       ark. It was the thank offering (burnt offering)
That will be Japheth's perpetual dwelling-place!            which sanctified the good creature; it was the first-
(Gen.  9:27). Here we see in prophetic language,            fruits of God's new creation (James 1:18). It was the
with the bold strokes of the heavenly Artist, the dis-      reason for the existence of the world till Jesus
tant perspectives of the Dispensation of the fulness        comes: while the earth remaineth,  seedtime and
of times. Into this framework, this "pattern" of pro-       harvest, cold and heat, and summer and winter
phecy, we see that the Holy Spirit fits the promise         shall not cease (Gen. 8:22).
to Abraham, "and in thee and in thy seed shall all             And in this world God would have His people
nations be blessed." Paul says of this lofty promise        live a "quiet and peaceful life." And the  "sword-
to Abraham as it pertains to the "nations" the fol-         power" was given to kings, kings who had been in
lowing in Galatians  3:8: "and the Scripture, fore-         the world of men in the form of "government"
seeing that God would justify the heathen through           from the days of Adam! But now there is the "ven-
faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham,             geance of  God"upon those who try to kill and do
saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed."              kill those "made in the image of God." This  per-
  Such is the grand perspective of the "Noahic              tams  par  excellence to God's sons and daughters,
Covenant! ' '                                               conformed to the image of God's Son, that He
  Here the horizons lift; and dimly in the distance         might be the Firstborn of all things, and the First-
we see the day of Christ (John  8:56; II Peter  1:19;       born among many brethren! (Col. 1: 18; Rom. 8:29).
Heb.  11:8-10).                                                Dispensation of "Human Government?" Not at
  And this all, by Scofield's Bible, is reduced to a        all!
mere "testing of humanity," a certain governmen-               It was the dispensation of grace upon Noah and
tal-dispensation, which must certainly be doomed            in the church of the ages!
to failure in a fallen and corrupt humanity, apart
from the Cross of Christ! Words can not utter my
sadness over so much folly which has been
wrought by so much ignorance that prates as know-            Know the standard and
ledge of the Prophetic Scriptures. Here we echo the
words of Paul in I Timothy  1:7, "desiring to be                        follow it. Read
teachers . . . . understanding neither what they say,
nor whereof they affirm!"                                           The Standard Bearer!
  For let it not be overlooked by us that God's
covenant faithfulness is betokened to Noah, and
ever since his day to the whole world, as a  testi-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                429



FAITH OF OUR FATHERS


                                        Nieene Creed
                                              Rev. James SZopsema


Article 2 (cont'd)                                        with the Father. His divinity was a delegated divini-
  In our previous article we saw that the early           ty and therefore an inferior one. He was not made
church confessed in Article 2 of the Nicene Creed         one in substance with the Father. But He was made
that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God.        morally one with the Father. This view was cham-
This biblical expression alone should have estab-         pioned especially by Paul of Samosata, the bishop
lished the fact that Jesus is truly God, co-eternal,      of Antioch from A.D. 260 to 272.
co-essential and co-equal with the Father. How-             Perhaps more' popular was the view of the
ever, there were many in the church that would not        modalistic monarchians. In the main they taught
confess this truth. They either denied the personal       that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three
distinction between the Father and the Son, or they       distinct persons but three different modes or forms
denied that the Son is truly God with the Father.         of revelation of the one God. Already around A.D.
Hence, the church felt compelled in this second ar-       180  Noetus of Smyrna in Asia Minor taught that
ticle of her creed to add that Jesus Christ is "begot-    "Christ was the Father Himself, and that the Father
ten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light,      Himself was born and suffered and died." This
very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of        view was also brought to Rome by Praxeas, a
one substance with the Father."                           follower of Noetus. Over against the teaching of
  One group that denied the true divinity of Jesus        Praxeas, the church father Tertullian wrote, "He
Christ in the early church was the monarchians.           put to flight the Holy Spirit and crucified the
This term is the same as our word "monarchy,"             Father." These views of Noetus and Praxeas were
which means a rule by one. This term was applied          further developed by Sabellius, who taught in
by the church father Tertullian to a group in the         Rome about A.D. 215. According to Sabellius, the
church who maintained that God is one in person           Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are simply different
as well as in being, thus denying the Trinity. Wrote      manifestations of the one God. The Father is God as
Tertullian, "They are constantly throwing out the         He originally revealed Himself (in history) as Crea-
accusation that we preach two gods and three              tor. The Son is the same person Who later revealed
gods.... `We hold,' they say, `the monarchy.' "           Himself as Redeemer. And the Holy Spirit is again
Hence the term monarchian was applied.                    the same as the Father and the Son, only now after
                                                          Pentecost revealed to us as our Sanctifier.
  The monarchians were of two different classes.
There was first the dynamic monarchians. They               It was evidently to combat the errors of both the
taught that the Father is God alone. The Word, or         dynamic monarchians and the modalistic  monar-
Logos, of which we read in the Scriptures (cf. John       chians that the early church confessed in the
1: l), as well as the term "Son of God," refers not to    second article of the Nicene Creed that Jesus
a person but to a power of God the Father. The            Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is "begotten
same is true of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not a      of the Father before all worlds."
distinct person but simply an impersonal power.             It is characteristic of all heretics that they use the
Hence, God is one person, the Father. They taught         terminology of the Scriptures but alter the true
further that the divine power of the Logos had filled     meaning of those terms to fit their erroneous views.
Moses and the prophets of the Old Testament so            This they are forced to do if they will gain a hearing
that they were inspired to prophesy God's Word.           in the church. Certainly no one in the church will
This divine Logos also filled Jesus. Although Jesus       pay them any heed if they do not use the language
was born of the virgin, he was nevertheless from          of the Bible. And so every heretic that has arisen in
birth only a man. At His baptism however He was           the church has come quoting the Bible. But this
endowed with the divine Logos. This Logos Jesus           presents no problem to those who would mislead
possessed in a higher degree than did the prophets        God's people. They simply make of the Bible what
of the Old Testament. The result was that Jesus at-       they want. They take the beautiful terminology of
tained a certain divinity. He was not made equal          the Bible and pour into these terms anything they


     430                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



     want.                                                     t r u t h . "
       This is what the monarchians did too. With the            To contradict the error of the dynamic monarchi-
     church, they too acknowledged that Jesus Christ is        ans the early church added to this that Jesus Christ
     the only begotten Son of God. They had to. The            is begotten of the Father "before all worlds." As
     Bible taught it in no uncertain terms. However,           already indicated, the dynamic monarchians taught
     contrary to the Scriptures, they interpreted this         that Jesus is not the Son of God eternally. The term
     term to fit their own unique heresy. The dynamic          "Son of God" simply refers to a divine power of
     monarchians claimed that the term "son of God"            God given to Jesus at His baptism. Hence, there
     simply referred to a divine power which was               was a time when Jesus Christ was not the Son of
     granted to the prophets and to Jesus Christ. That         God. In fact, there was a time when Jesus was not.
     Jesus is called the one begotten Son of God simply        For until He was born of the virgin Mary He did not
     emphasizes that this divine power was especially          exist at all except in the counsel of God. Jesus there-
     strong in him so that he attained a sort of delegated,    fore has a beginning as any other creature. And that
     inferior divinity. And the modalistic monarchians         beginning is found in history. To contradict this er-
     also spoke of the fact that Jesus is the only begotten    ror the early church at this juncture in the Nicene
     Son of God. To them this term simply expresses the        Creed proclaimed that Jesus Christ is begotten of
     idea that Jesus was a unique and distinct manifesta-      the Father "before all worlds (literally, ages)." In
     tion of the one true God.                                 this way she confessed that Jesus is eternally the
       In light of all this it became necessary for the        Son of God. Even before the worlds or ages were
     early church in her creed further to define her con-      brought forth, God the Father had brought forth
     fession that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of     His Son. The church of Christ confesses an eternal
     God. She had to rule out the interpretation given to      Son of God.
     this term by the monarchians. Over against their            Although the expression "before all worlds" is
     view she had to set forth the true meaning of the         not found as such in the Bible, the idea or truth con-
     term "only begotten Son of God." This she did by          veyed in this expression certainly is. There are es-
     adding to her creed the statement that Jesus Christ       pecially two passages in John 17 which definitely
     is "begotten of the Father before all worlds."            convey this truth. The first is verse 5, "And now, 0
       First, there is the confession that Jesus is "begot-    Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine Own self with
     ten of the Father." At first glance, this expression      the glory which I had with Thee before the world
     appears to add very little to the church's confes-        was." Notice that Jesus not only addresses God as
     sion. How can this possibly be a further definition       His Father but also speaks of the fact that He was
     of Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God?          with God His Father before the world was. We find
     How can this possibly refute the errors of  monar-        the same idea expressed in verse 24 of this same
     chianism? The key is the word "Father." If Jesus is       chapter, "Father, I will that they also whom Thou
     begotten of the Father, then He is personally dis-        hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they
     tinct from the Father. The Son can not be begotten        may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me:
     or brought forth of the Father if the Son and the         for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the
     Father are one and the same person, as the modal-         world."
     istic monarchians claimed. That the Son is begotten         In our next article we shall consider the other
     of the Father means that the Father is one person         group in the early church that denied the true deity
     and the Son is another person distinct from the           of Jesus Christ. These were the Arians. Against
     Father. That certainly is the way we find it among        them the rest of the expression found in Article 2 of
     mankind. Father and son are two distinct persons.         this creed was written.
     So also is it with God, Who created the father-son
     relationship among us to mirror the Father-Son
     relationship as it is eternally in Him. That Jesus                   Book Review
     Christ is begotten of the Father, therefore, was in-
     serted into the Nicene Creed to contradict the error
     of the modalistic monarchians.
       And that Jesus Christ is begotten of the Father is      JEHOVAH SHEPHERDING HIS SHEEP,
     certainly the testimony of Scripture. We have seen        Sermons on the Twenty-third Psalm by J. R. Beeke;
     before that several times in the Scripture Jesus is       Netherlands Reformed Book and Publishing
     called the only begotten Son of God. In John  1:14,       Committee, 1982; 451 pp. (Reviewed by Prof. H.
     however, He is called the only begotten of the            Hanko)
     Father. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt             This book contains a series of some 21 sermons
     among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of       which the author preached from  Psalm 23 in his
     the  onZy  begotten of the Father,)  full of grace and    congregation, along with the ordination sermon

L


                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                    431



which was preached at the time of the author's or-
dination into the ministry, his inaugural sermon,
the speech given at the dedication of the Nether-                                                 Read and Study
lands Christian Reformed Church in Rock Valley,
the sermon delivered at the dedication of the organ,                                   The Standard Bearer!
and the farewell sermon of the pastor when he left
his charge in Sioux Center.                                                                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   The sermons are given in this book for a double
purpose: they are intended to be used by the public                                  On July 21, 1983, the Lord willing, our beloved parents and
                                                                                  grandparents, MR. AND MRS. C. M. DOEZEMA, will celebrate their
for devotional reading and they are intended to be                                30th wedding anniversary.
used for reading services in the church. To accom-                                   We, their children and grandchildren are thankful to our heavenly
plish this double purpose, certain sections in each                               Father for them and pray the Lord continues to bless them in the
chapter are marked with brackets.                                                 years ahead.
                                                                                     "Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: that
   If anyone would like to know what preaching is                                 thou mayest love the Lord thy God, obey His voice, cleave unto Him:
like in the Netherlands Reformed congregations,                                   for He is thy life and the length of thy days" (Deut. 30:20).
then this book will be an excellent sample, for it is,                            Steve and Neva Feenstra                     Dorothy Doezema
I think, a fair representation of the approach to                                     Joshua and Travis                       Beth Doezema
preaching which is taken in that denomination.                                                                                Chuck Doezema
                                                                                  Robert and Deborah Doezema                  Joan Doezema
And by this particular approach to preaching, the                                     Kathy, Brenda, Kimberly
minister gives clear evidence of his covenant views                               Roger and Anne Veldman
and of how the congregation is viewed by the min-                                     Ruth and Geoffrey
ister in the preaching.                                                                                 TEACHER NEEDED!!!

                                                                                     Covenant Christian School of Lynden, WA is in need of a teacher
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                             with a background of Language Arts and Social Studies, with assign-
                                                                                  ments in Junior-Senior High School Grades for the `83-`84 School
   On July 28, 1983, our parents, MR. AND MRS. HERMAN SCHIP-                      Year.
PER, will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.                                  Contact H.W. Kuiper, Administrator, at his home  - Phone (206)
   We thank God for His faithfulness through the years and ask His                354-2592, or the School  - Phone (206) 354-5436, or write to:
blessing upon them in their lives together in the days ahead.                     Covenant Christian School, 9088 Northwoods Road, Lynden, WA
   I, . . ..Blesed are all they that put their trust in Him." (Psalm 2: 12).      98264.
Their children and grandchildren                                                                                                       John Meyer, Sec'y.
Bill and Linda Lafferty                                                                                          NOTICE!!!
    Laurie, Mike, Kathy
Jerry and Pat Schipper                                                               There is available a series of four tapes on the history of the
    Becky, Jason, Jeremy, Emily                                                   Protestant Reformed Church as told by Rev. C. Hanko, Prof. Hoek-
                                                                                  sema, Prof. Hanko, and Prof. Decker. This informative collection can
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                             be purchased by sending fifteen dollars to:
                                                                                           Kalamazoo Young Peoples Society
   The Ladies Aid Society of the First Protestant Church of Grand                          427 N. Fletcher
Rapids, Mich., expresses their Christian sympathy to one of its mem-                       Kalamazoo, Ml 49007
bers, Mrs. John Pastoor, in the death of her husband, MR. JOHN
PASTOOR, whom the Lord took unto Himself on June 4, 1983.                                                        NOTICE!!!
   "Cast thy burdens upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee; He
shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. (Psalm 55~22)                          Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in Ed-
                                                                                  gerton, Minnesota on September 7, 1983, at  8:30 AM, the Lord
                                                     Mrs. Nell Phillips, Pres.    willing. Material for the Agenda is to be in the hands of the Stated
                                                     Mrs. H. Baar, Sec'y.         Clerk 30 days before  Classis  convenes. Delegates in need of lodging
                                                                                  are to inform the Clerk of the Edgerton  Consistory.
                      NOTICE YOUNG MEN!                                                                                               Rev. David Ehgelsma
   Synod of 1983 took note of the fact that there is a shortage of                                                                    Stated Clerk
young men entering the seminary to prepare themselves for the high
calling to proclaim the Gospel. It is the prayer of our churches that the                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
Lord may bind the call to the ministry upon the heart of some of our                 On June 11, 1983, our beloved parents, MR. AND MRS. PETER
young men.                                                                        KOOLE, celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. We, their
                                                    For the Synod,                children and grandchildren, are thankful to our Heavenly Father for
                                                    Rev. M. Joostens, S.C.        the years they have had together and for the years we have had with
                                                                                  them.
                      NOTICE OF BEQUESTS                                             "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
                                                                                  them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children."
   The synod of our churches publicly and gratefully acknowledges                 (Psalm 103:7).
the receipts of sizable gifts from the estates of Mr. J. Schut and Miss           Lawrence and Patricia Koole
Gertrude Kooistra.                                                                                                               James and Gladys Koole
                                                                                  Rev. Kenneth and PatsyLou Koole                Ronald and Sherry Koole
                                                    For the Synod,                James and Kathleen VanderKolk                             Timothy Koole
                                                    Rev. M. Joostens, SC.                                     and 15 grandchildren

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





                                      i.-  -    -           -II_~
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                                                                           pI____---.-





432                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



                         News Frond Our Churches

  First of all, hearty congratulations are to be given            In regards to music in our churches;  Doon Prot-
to candidates Barry Gritters and Ken Hanko on                   estant Reformed Church included, (in its May 8
their completion of seminary instruction and also               bulletin,) this excerpt from an article by Rev. Engel-
their successful examination by Synod. May our                  sma in the Beacon Lights, March, 1983 issue: "Our
faithful covenant God provide these candidates a                exclusion of choirs and soloists (`special music')
place to labor in His vineyard. I look forward to in-           from the worship services is based on the revealed
forming you about the calling of both candidates.               will of God that in His worship the congregation-
  Synod was also busy making the following deci-                all the members as one body-is to sing His praise. . .
sions that I found in First Protestant Reformed                 Inevitably, choirs and special numbers in the ser-
Church's bulletin: "Synod gave approval to First                vices not only infringe on the preaching, but also
Church to call a missionary to Jamaica. Rev. `den               weaken congregational singing. The musical power
Hartog will continue laboring in Singapore and at               and beauty of the church is not a large and excel-
such a time as the church there desires and demon-              lent church choir, but good congregational sing-
strates the need for more help,  Doon may call                  ing."
another missionary. Also, Redlands was designated                 The Activities Committee of Kalamazoo Prot-
the calling church for a new field in Ripon,  Califor-          estant Reformed Church "has been giving some
nia. Rev. Van  Overloop will continue his labors in             thought to building a library of Christian books
Birmingham, Alabama. Synod decided to continue                  which' would be worth our reading. If there are any
to help the few families in Wellington, New Zea-                who have books they might like to donate...contact
land, by laboring as Rev. Heys did last year."                  the committee."
  On Wednesday, June 22 and Thursday, June 23,                    A reminder to those of you who have difficulty
Loveland Protestant Reformed Church celebrated                  reading the print in the Standard Bearer: each recent
their Twenty-Fifth anniversary. A congregational                issue of the Standard Beaver is available on cassette
picture was to have been taken and is available for             tape. If you know of some person who would
ten dollars. If you are interested in this picture con-         appreciate a cassette copy of each issue, contact
tact Twyla Griess, l-303-669-4835.                              Gary VanDer Schaaf, 826 Edna S.E., Grand Rapids,
  Doon Protestant Reformed Church had this an-                  MI, 49507. Telephone number 1-616-241-4164.
nouncement about church growth in its May 15,                     One of our ministers desires to buy a  redbook
bulletin: "The Consistory at the May 2 meeting ap-              copy of History of Protestant Reformed Churches.
pointed a Committee to consider the expansion                   This book has been out of print for many years. If
needs of the Church. We are keenly aware that our               you would like to sell a copy of this book, call  l-
present seating capacity is rapidly being filled.               616-399-4841.
Therefore, should we continue to enjoy God's gra-                 Hope Protestant Reformed Church had this
cious provision and blessing, our present seating               announcement about handicapped children: "The
capacity will be insufficient in the not too distant            members of the Society for Protestant Reformed
future. The members of this long range committee                Special Education are thankful to announce that ef-
are James Hoogendoorn, Dennis Burgers, and John                 forts are now being made to begin a Christ centered
Van Den Top.".                                                  course of instruction for Protestant Reformed
  First Protestant Reformed Church, Holland,                    special children. If you are the parent, relative, or
Michigan has a need. "The Consistory informs the                friend of one of our children with special needs, or
congregation that we are in need of additional or-              if you have an interest in Protestant Reformed Spe-
ganists immediately.. . .Parents are also encouraged            cial education.. .please  contact Peter VanDer Schaaf
to provide for the, training of their children to play          (669-0703) or John Buiter (453-8402) ."
the organ in order that there will be organists in the                                                            DH
future."


