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A   R E F O R M E D   S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E



I N   T H I S   I S S U E :     `I


         . Meditation: learning To Be Content

           Editorials: Op De Lange Baan Geschoven

                          An Attempted .Reformed Defense of Billy Graham


           Billy Graham's Methods and Doctrjne


         -.Barth's Doctrine of Scripture: The, Scriptural Basis



                                               ~`Volwne- XLII/~Nmnber 19 /-August 1, 1966


434                                                                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                                                                                                         I            T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE,`R

                                                                                                                                                      Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
                                                                                                                                                              Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
                                                    C O N T E N T S                                                                                                      Editor- Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
Meditation -                                                                                                                                          Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
     Learning to be Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              434        Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1842 Plymouth Terrace, S.E., Grand
           Rev. J. Kortering                                                                                                                          Rapids, Mich.
Editorials  -                                                                                                                                                              49506. Contributions will be limited to 300
     "Op De Lange Baan Geschoven" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437                                   words and must be neatly written or typewritten. Copy dead-
            Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                      lines are the first and fifteenth of the month.
     An Attempted Reformed Defense of Billy Graham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
            Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                      All church news items should be addressed toMr. J. M. Faber,
The Lord Gave the Word -                                                                                                                                        1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
     The Divine Calling in the Preaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440                                    Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included must
            Rev. C. Hanko
All Around Us -                                                                                                                                       be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below;
     The Christian Reformed Synod                                                                                                                     All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
     The Reformed Church and COCU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                               442                   Mr. James Dykstra, 1326  W. Butler Ave., S.E.
            Prof. H. Hanko
In His Fear -                                                                                                                                                             Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
     Handle With Care (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444                   Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
            Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                                                           received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
From Holy Writ -
     The Good Shepherd of Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447                        scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
            Rev. G. Lubbers                                                                                                                                             Subscription price: $5.00 per year
A Cloud of Witnesses -
     The Lord's Anointed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449                    Second Class Postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
            Rev. B. Woudenberg
Trying the Spirits -                                                                                                                                                            IN MEMORUM
     Billy Graham's Methods and Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
            Rev. R. C. Harbach                                                                                                                        On the evening of July 5, 1966 we were grieved by the
Heeding the Doctrine  -                                                                                                                               passing of one who was very dear to us, our sister
     Barth's Doctrine of Scripture -The Scriptural Basis . . . . . . . . . . . 453
            Rev. D. J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                           MRS. ANNE  M. SPRUYT
Book Reviews -
     God is Dead                                                                                                                                      Our prayer is that we  tnay continue to find comfort in
     God is Not Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
First Church  - Holland, Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455                               the blessed assurance that we are but pilgrims and
News FromOur  Churches -                                                                                                                              strangers on this earth, and that have an abiding place
     Mr. J. M. Faber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456    in Heaven, where Christ our Lord is preparing a place
                                                                                                                                                      for us.
                                                                                                                                                              "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord".
                                                                                                                                                                                     Mr.  & Mrs. John Bartelds
                                                                                                                                                                                     Mr.  & Mrs. Adrian Griffioen
                                                                                                                                                                                     Mr.  & Mrs. Ralph H. Meyer
                                                                                                                                                                                     Mr.  & Mrs. Gerard  E. Bylsma
                                                                                                                                                                                     Mr.  & Mrs. George De Vries


              MEDITATION-

                                                                        Learning To Be Content

                                                                                                                              by Rev.  J.  Kovteving

                                                       "For I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content."
                                                                                                                                                                         Philippians  4:11- b

        Some lessons are not easily learned.                                                                                                          Mark Job who lost all his possessions, even his chil-
        Contentment is one such lesson.                                                                                                               dren. His contented cry was, `?Ihe Lord hath given,
        That's true for two reasons.                                                                                                                  the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the
        The subject matter itself is profound.  It defies                                                                                             Lord." David, the man after God's own heart expressed
human imaginations !                                            Its depth lies not in natural                                                         a similar thought while he gazed upon his dead son,
perception, but in spiritual discernment. We marvel                                                                                                   "But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I
 at the child of God that has learned this lesson well.                                                                                               bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    435

not return to me." Listen to Daniel's three friends,          His children in which they are able from their inmost
"If it be so, our God is able to deliver us from the          being to look through all their outward circumstances
burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of          and gaze into the face of God in Jesus Christ, acknow-
thine hand, 0 king." Here in our context, the Apostle         ledge that all things which God is pleased to send their
Paul was imprisoned in Rome. The raucous shouts of            way are good, and rejoice in that goodness of God, and
reprobate Rome, being entertained with the blood of           therefore give Him all their thanksgiving and praise.
martyrs, filled his prison cell. He penned these words           It must be apparent that contentment demands that
to his beloved church in Philippi, "For me to live is         we stand in a proper relationship with God.
Christ, and to die is gain."                                     We must not confuse contentment with carnal satis-
   It follows from this that the learning process itself      faction. There are many unbelievers who are able to
is difficult. One does not shout forth the language of        adjust to certain circumstances in life and remain
our text, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am            satisfied. This satisfaction, however, is always super-
therewith to be content," unless one is educated in the       ficial; and in their inmost beings they know it, and have
school of trial. The great Pedagogue leads His children       no real peace. When things go bad for them they try
through the depths of suffering, in order to teach them       to do something that will make it possible for them to
this contentment.                                             continue in life. The world tries two clever ways to
   Even though the lesson of contentment is very              remain satisfied in the face of difficulties. They first
difficult, we do not despair. We desire to learn it well.     of all try escapism, they try toget away from the things
We know that the more we plumb the depths of this             that are unpleasant. Men and women try to drown their
subject, the more we are able to live to the glory of         fears in alcohol. The world seeks the fantasy of LSD
our God and be happy all our days. Paul did not say,          and other kinds of dope and drugs. They crave pleas-
"I wish I could be content;" rather, "I have learned          ures as a relief-valve for pent up tensions.          The
to be content!`? Thanks be to God that the learning of        psychiatric couch is occupied day after long day with
this lesson is not dependent upon high intellectual           one patient after another. The second scheme they use
acumen, but rather on an abundance of sovereign grace         is that of philosophically accepting troubles. Some
which our Father promises to give unto us in a suffi-         stoically find some comfort in the fact that we all have
cient measure.                                                to take our hard knocks; we can't do anything about
   Contentment involves the proper inter - action be-         them anyway, so we might just as well learn to live
tween our inmost being and the outward circumstances          with them. Others idealistically claim that the troubles
of our life. You recall that God made man by a two-           of life, sickness, pain, wars, and the like are all birth-
fold act: He formed him out of the dust of the earth and      pangs necessary to bring forth the great society and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Because        therefore must be recognized as necessary means to a
of this we may properly distinguish two aspects in            great end. In that way theyfindsome consolation in the
man's creation.                                               midst of war, crime, sickness, and even death. Con-
   Man from an outward point of view is earthy. Our           trariwise, when things seem to prosper they express
bodies are dependent upon the earth for its sustenance.       their satisfaction in themselves. They boast of their
We must eat food, we must breathe air, we need                accomplishments and greedily seek to advance their
protection from the elements of nature and from the           own gain.
hazards placed around us by our fellow man. Our                  Yes, the world has a form of satisfaction. This is,
bodies are subject to disease and death, for, "dust           however, rooted in their enmity against God. We must
thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." From this         not confuse this sort of thing with the contentment of
point of view we can live in human relationships. The         which Paul speaks here in our text.            This carnal
fellowship within the home, of husband and wife, parents      attitude has its roots in the spiritual whoredom of man
and children is an expression of this outward man. We         in rebellion against God.      It is a prostitution of the
have contact with each other in the church because we         inner man before the god of this world, man himself.
are able to see one another, to hear one another, and         The natural man may be satisfied in his folly, but never
to speak together. We have our daily work to do as            can he be content.
employer or employee. We are citizens of a certain               Contentment can rest only in a heart that is in
country and are called to fulfill certain obligations.        harmony with God. As children of God we know God
   We recognize, however, that our life consists of           as God. To us He is not simply a Supreme Being; He
more than that activity which we reveal to one another.       is our Father. He is the Father of creation. By His
There is a certain inner life which is not subject to         omnipotent Word He called all things into being, and by
the scrutiny of one another, which is very personal,          that same Word He upholds all things and continues to
and which is the cause and source of all outward activity.    give them their being.       He rides the clouds as His
We do much thinking, longing, and planning, some of           chariots, the wind is His breath. He can be seen in the
which comes to outward expression and some does not.          fragile texture of the most delicate flower, or in the
There is deeply within each man a spiritual core called       fatal blast of the desert wind. He is, however, much
the heart. It is within this heart that man knows that        more.        He is our Father in Jesus Christ. He has
God exists and either loves Him or hates Him. From            redeemed us unto Himself as His precious children.
this inner dwelling, man reaches up far above his own         He laid upon Jesus, His Only Begotten Son, the curse
environment and stands in relation to almighty God.           due to prodigal sons. By that work of atonement God
   Contentment is the spiritual virtue that God gives to      has prepared the way for us to enter into the joy of


 436                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

family life with Him. He calls His children by name;           a long road of suffering. Loneliness may mark our
we hear that call and come unto Him for rest. He              life. Probably you are experiencing such today. To be
draws us unto the cross and directs our troubled and          content means we may say,
                                                                                           . =-"`.My portion is of God; it
weary souls to the covering of the blood of Jesus and          is good, for by it I amdrawnby His all-sufficient grace
tells us that though we deserve hell, He has transferred       nearer to Him. I rejoice even now, not -in the. affliction
that judgment to One. Who could bear it, and did bear it,      itself, but in the God Who sends it. I am thankful to
and therefore has removed from us once for all the             Him for His dealings because afflictions are for my
burden of sin. He assures us that we need not try to          profit." Then the inner man is able to be quiet and in
walk the weary course of life alone; He shall walk            peace, no matter how turbulent it may be on the out-
beside us by His Spirit to comfort us, and therefore He       side.
`shall be our Guide even unto death.                              The same is true for prosperous times. It's even
    Being engrafted into Christ by such a living faith,       harder to be content then. Don't be surprised at this.
we perceive two truths which are fundamental to con-           When we are able to work every day, and the work of
tentment.                                                      our hands produces an abundance of earthly gain, pride
    The first is that Almighty God in His sovereign            so easily overrules and we boast and become selfish.
direction of our lives, gives us only good things.            If you today are well and ,hea@hy and can rejoice in
Nothing comes to pass by mere chance, but all things          fellowship within the home, the church, and among
according to His direction.        His direction is based     neighbors and friends, you also by grace may speak
upon perfect wisdom and love, whereby He knows what           contented language. Then we say that we deserve none
is good for us in this life in order to bring us unto         of these things, but God has given them to us to be
Himself in glory.       Therefore, we conclude, that no        redeemed unto Himself. We confess that God is good
matter what may be our portion here, it is good for us.       in giving them, and we rejoice that wemay with all that
It is not a question of what we may happen to like, it is     we have serve Him and use it to His honor and glory.
rather what does Father in sovereign wisdom, which is             We must needs learn this profound lesson. Content-
far greater than ours, consider to be good.                   ment has its source in God alone. It is the fruit of
    The second is that the strength to endure unto the         sovereign grace.
end does not rest in human power, but in divine pro-              Have you learned it?
vision. Our Father does not dealout  a certain measure            We learn it in especially two ways.           First, by
of His counsel and expect us to make the best of it.           searching the Word of God and in prayer. This is true
Always we must remember even as God revealed to               on Sunday, but no less on every day of the week. When
Paul in the context, "My grace is sufficient for thee".       we have problems and are confronted by sorrows, we
To this we respond with the Apostle,  "I can do all           must not run away from them, nor runfirst of all to our
things through Christ which strengtheneth me."                fellow man; we must run to our Father. Too often we
    When we learn these truths, we are able to speak          gulp down an aspirin and seek relief in medicine or
the bold language of Paul, "I have learned in whatso-         psychiatry while we should be on our knees searching
ever  state  I am, therewith to be content." In the           the Bible and pouring out our heart in prayer. Secondly,
immediate context it is apparent there are principally        we learn it through the trials of life themselves. Paul
.two states, that of abounding and being abased, that of      wanted to get rid of the "thornin his flesh," it bothered
being full or empty.: It is our privilege to be content in    him. But God answered, "My grace is sufficient for
either one.                                                   thee". With each sorrow, each pain, each disappoint-
   There, are many troublous times. Life is full of           ment we turn to our Father in prayer; and He supplies
disappointments.      We're fearful of losing our job or      us with a renewed measure of grace; and by that grace
encounter financial hardships for no reason of our            we learn to be content.
own.    The power of nature consumes our crops and                Contentment is a foretaste of heaven.
hours of work are reduced to nothing. We struggle                 With trembling lips and feeble voices we now
with ,the' fruits of sin in the church while we long for      express our contentment; presently we shall declare
perfection. We bear persecution from those who hate           the goodness of our God in the strength of a soul set
our Lord Jesus Christ. Our eyes become faint through          free.


                  Besides, this doctrine (of sovereign election) affords us unspeakable consolation, and
               is the source of all true comfort and assurance. It dare not be objected to this doctrine
               that this truth offers no comfort to poor ,,sinners, for nothing could be farther from the
               truth. True, this doctrine has no consolation for the impenitent wicked; but we ask: is
               there any form of presentation of the Gospel that could possibly comfort the wicked and
               ungodly? There is no peace, saith my God, for the wicked1  But is there a more comfort-
               ing gospel than that of God's gracious election for the penitent, the seeking soul, the
               hungry and thirsty, the weary and heavy laden? He may be assured that he will be re-
               ceived, and be saved, for his penitence, seeking, hunger and thirst, are the fruit of
               electing grace.
                                                         -H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p. 24


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       437



EDITORIALS-


              "Op De  .Lange~ Baan Geschoven"

                                                  by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


   The above is an apt idiomatic Dutch expression which              effectuation in the lives of men; the universal implica-
describes what has been done with the so-called Dekker               tions of the atonement.
Case in the Christian Reformed Church. The expression                    The advisory committee made a serious attempt to
means "shuttled to the long track" and is used to  con-              reformulate adequately some of the Study Committee's
vey the idea of maneuvering to delay the treatment of                propositions and to support them with adequate Scrip-
an issue or a troublesome problem in order to postpone               tural and confessional grounds, but this proved to be
                                                                     impossible in view of limited time and research
or avoid a showdown.                                                 facilities available.
   The. issue is the rank Arminianism which came to                         The Synod therefore recommitted the report to the
expression in Prof. Harold Dekker's writings in 1962,                Study Committee for further reflection and  improve-
in which he defended the  ,notion  of a redemptive love              ment, taking into account the above observations, and
of God for all men and, at the  same time, the heresy                asked the committee to report in 1967.
of a death of Christ for allmen.  Both of these doctrines           Any kind of decision in this crucial matter,  there-
are key elements of the Arminian position. In 1963 an            fore, has simply been postponed until 1967. Moreover,
attempt to counteract these errors of Prof. Dekker               there is no guarantee whatsoever that there will be a
suffered shipwreck on legal grounds. In 1964 an  over-           satisfactory decision at that time; in fact, the  possi-
ture resulted in the appointment of a study committee.           bility is very real that there will either be further
.This study committee took two full years to "study"             reasons for postponement or an indefinite  postpone-
these simple. issues. The fruit of this study was a  70-         ment (as the Refosrmed Jouvn.al has proposed), or even a
page report to the 1966 Synod, -- a report which, though         turning of the tide in favor of Professor Dekker's
very weak and inconsistent, principally because it               position.       For: 1)  lf the Study Committee could not
attempts to maintain the First Point of 1924,  never-            produce a satisfactory report in two years, what  rea-
theless came to the conclusion that Prof. Dekker's               son is there to believe that they can do so in one more
doctrinal position was wrong.                                    year? 2) Additional problems have been assigned to
   And now the 1966 Synod of the Christian Reformed              this committee, some of them, as, for instance, the
Church has once more avoided a showdown on this                  one concerning election and the sincere (why not  well-
matter by recommitting the report to the Study  Com-             meant?) offer of the gospel, knotty problems. It is
mittee for further reflection and improvement. This I            indeed likely that when this committee reports onthese
learned from personal correspondence and from  pub-              additional problems, thereby lengthening, - and further
lished reports. Although the official decisionis not yet         confusing, - its already long report, there will bemore
available in full, there is a rather detailed report of          problems and further disagreement, with the attendant
thismatterin "R.E.S. News Exchange," Vol. III, No. 6,            necessity of postponing a decision for another year.
p. 216.       This report was furnished by Prof. Martin          3) There is a very vocal segment of the Christian
Woudstra (of Calvin Seminary). I quote it in full:               Reformed Church that has already expressed itself as
                                                                 in favor of the propositions of Dekker and as opposed
           The 1966 Synod of the C.R.C. considered a report
    concerning certain writings of Professor Harold Dekker       to any binding decision along the lines of the commit-
    of Calvin Theological Seminary. (see R.E.S. N.E., May        tee's recommendations.           In other words, there is
    1966) The advisory committee of Synod reported that it       radical disagreement as to the recommendations them-
   deemed the report to express "substantially the Re-           selves.      If this be true, - and it is a disagreement that
    formed tradition in the areas discussed".         It also    reaches into the seminary faculty itself, -then no
    judged that the grounds of the recommendations fail to       amount of clarification and reformulation will avoid
    reflect adequately the Biblical and confessional support     the necessity of a showdown decision. Such a showdown
    found in the report. It furthermore pointed out that         decision, if its consequences are accepted, will require
    there are related problems which arise out of this           either cleavage or a complete retraction on the part of
    context which need theological clarification and precise
    statement. Among these were mentioned: the relation-         Dekker and those who agree with him. Neither of the
    ship and distinction between the love of God and the         two can I envision in the Christian Reformed Church.
    grace of God; the relationship between election and the      The alternative is the course followed up to the pres-
    `sincere offer of salvation; the specific role which each    ent time: postponement, or "op de lange baan schuiv-
    person of the Trinity has in the atonement and its           en."


438                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

   Apart from the above, however, how plain it is that          This places them in the impossible position of
the Christian Reformed Church has been impotent to           agreeing in essence with the position of Prof. Dekker
follow any course but that of postponement.                  and yet attempting to condemn his position as contrary
   Consider the situation.                                   to Scripture and the Confessions, and to do this without
   Here is the case of a seminary professor, - and           at the same time condemning the First Point. That this
others with him, - who has openly violated the Formula       is true is evident from the Study Committee's long
of Subscription. Moreover, he has militated publicly         report, which I hope to criticize in detail later. But it
against two cardinal doctrines of  `the, Reformed faith.     is evident that the entire report was written with one
The issues involved were settled clearly and with            eye on the First Point: by all means, the committee
finality three hundred fifty years ago at the Synod of       had to avoid agreeing with the Rev. Herman Hoeksema's
Dordrecht.    And now a Reformed denomination takes          criticism of the First Point of 1924. At the same time,
years to debate and decide the issues at stake, Mean-        however, the committee agreed on two fundamental
while Prof. Dekker, and others, are free to instruct         elements with Dr. Daane, namely: 1) That the natwe of
future ministers of the Christian Reformed Church in         the atonement is not limited; and, 2) That grace is not
these false doctrines; and ministers and professors          an attribute of God.
are free to propagate these errors in theological
journals.                                                       And how, then, can they ever condemn Prof. Dekker's
   The latter, of course, is always the danger of post-      doctrinal position in good conscience and in a satis-
ponement . It allows time for false doctrine to be           factory manner? No amount of postponement will
propagated in the churches. The final result is that         enable the Study Committee to do the impossible!
the false doctrine is adopted into the official stand of        And what is the price that must be paid?
the church, and the entire denomination officially de-          It is a high one: the loss of the Reformed truth of
parts from the truth.                                        the sovereign, particular, elective love of God; and the
   And what, we may ask, is the reason for this im-          loss of the Reformed truth of particular and definite
potence? How can it happen that a denomination tyhich        atonement.
officially stands on the `basis of the Canons of Dord-          I write this not in glee, but in sadness.
recht can for already four years not prevent the error          There is but one way out for the Christian Reformed
of general atonement and the error of the universal,         Church. That is this: renounce the First Point of 1924,
redemptive love of God from being taught?                    and return to the unadulterated Reformed truth.
   The answer lies in 1924.                                     Let those who still love that truth raise their voices
   On the one hand, Prof. Dekker, Dr. Daane, and             in protest against its denial. But let them not emascu-
others, have done nothing but carry the position of the      late their protests by holding to the First Point at the
First Point of 1924 to its logical consequences.             aune time. And if their protests go unheeded, or if it
   On the other hand, the Study Committee (and others        already has become hopeless to protest in this fashion,
in the Christian Reformed Church) do not want to go so       let them take their stand with us. For by the grace of
far. Meanwhile, they wish to hold on to the First Point      God we hold to the Reformed position without com-
and to. its traditional explanation.                         promise.




             An Attempted

                     Reformed  Defen.se of Billy Graham

                                               by Pv-of. H. C. Hoeksema


   In Missionary Monthly (June, 1966) Dr. Jerome De          making some partial quotations of statements by
Jong once again reacts to my criticism of Billy Gra-         Graham, Dr. De Jong succeeds in making it abundantly
ham's doctrine. And, in answer to a question which I         clear that he wants to defend Billy Graham at the
posed to him in my editorial of March 15, 1966, he           expense of the Reformed truth, and that therefore he
attempts to agree, both with Dr. Graham and with our         rather recklessly is ready to sing Kom Susser Tod
Reformed confessions. In attempting to do so, how-           (Come Sweet Death), as he sugg.ests, in the face of the
ever, he minimizes Billy Graham's denial of total            imminent danger of ecclesiastical suicide.
depravity and he misquotes, and thereby corrupts, the           Before proceeding to reply to the doctor on this
Canons of Dordrecht.        By doing this, as well as by     matter, however, I must remind him of two items.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      439

   .The first is that `ili all fairness he owes an answer       answer. For he never answered my argumentation. In-
to several prior questions which I `raised  in, my              stead, he ignored my argumentation and proof and
editorial of:Febru&ry 1,1966, whichwas writtenin reply          engaged in a sarcastic and vitriolic attack on me,
to his rather vitriolic attack on my criticism of Gra-          while he', defended Graham. To this I replied in the
ham's doctrine of regeneration.. If Dr. De Jong wishes          Standard Beaver  of February 1, 1966, at the same time
to answer questions, he should follow the rule of "first        asking De Jong several questions which have to this
things first."                                                  date gone unanswered.
   The second item is that Dr. De Jong should  .be
more careful with his quotations. Both. in his pre-                Then, in the March i5 issue, I criticized Graham's
vious article and in the article presently under dis-           doctrine of total depravity, quoting from his book,
cussion he ,misqtiotes  me by quoting me only partially.        "World Aflame," and pointing out, with proof from our
And  in the present article he misquotes Calvin, mis-           confessions, that though Graham uses the term  toi%!
quotes Graham, and misquotes our confessions, - again,          depravity,  he  .does not  at' all hold to the Reformed
by making partial quotations. There is nothing wrong,           doctrine bf total depravity. Again I pointed out that
of course, with partial quotations, provided  that it is        Graham must, deny the totality of depravity because he
indicated that the quotations are only partial, and             wants to proclaim a natural man who can choose for
provided  that key statements are not deliberately              God,. can yield himself to God, even before he is Ye-
omitted.     On my part, I am very willing to discuss           generated.
this matter of Graham's, anti-Reformed doctrine with               Now what does Dr. De Jong do in his reply?
anyone and to defend the proposition that no Reformed              In the first place, he attempts to modify Graham's
man can consistently support Graham, that no Re-                doctrine. Commenting on my quotation: from "World
formed church can do so without committing              ec-     Aflame" with respect to total depravity, he states:
clesiastical suicide as a' Reformed church. But such                   However I think that what Graham is trying to say
`discussion must be on a fair basis; and Dr. De Jong               is that although every sinner is totally depraved and
should not attempt to destroy my arguments by omit-                enslaved by sin and is subject to eternal condemnation
ting key elements from quotations.                                 as a result not every sinner is as bad as he can pos-
                           * * * *                                 sibly be. It is true that he is spiritually corrupt but
   The reader will recall that I raised this entire                there remains some natural good- on the horizontal
question of Graham's teaching concerning tota! depravity           level (man to man).        ,.
in connection with his doctrine of regeneration. I
claimed (Stu&pd                                                    I make bold to say that if De Jong has read Graham's
                      BeaTer, Nov.  1, 1965) that Graham
"denies the Biblical truth of regeneration and the              book, and if he ever listens to Graham's radio speeches,
absolute necessity of the new birth by making the new           he knows very well that this is not Graham's doctrine.
birth something that is in final analysis dependent on          Graham teaches that the natural man (who, according
man."       In this connection I pointed out Graham's           to him, is supposedly totally depraved) is able to yield
denial of total depravity. Graham teaches that man              to God  before he  is  YegeneTated. Though he is sup-
must have and can have the willingness to yield to              posedly dead in trespasses and sins, he can neverthe-
God and to decide to be reborn                                  less be willing to yield to God. Graham is not con-
                                   before he is regenerated.
At that time already I quoted from our Reformed                 cerned with the so-c$lled "horizontal level (man to
confessions to prove that this was a denial of the              man)," but with the relation of man to God. This is
Reformed doctrine of total depravity. For all of our            Graham's book. This is also Graham's "evangelism."
confessions insist that regeneration is solely the work         I have heard him say that God is willing to save men,
of God, that it is the strictly divine exception to total       but that God is powerless to save, helpless,unless man
depravity, that natural man in no way contributes to or         is first willing to accept and make a decision for Christ.
can contribute to this work of regeneration, and that,             Moreover, even that bit of philosophy about the
in fact, natural man cannot even show a willingness             natural good of natural man on the "horizontal level
or a longing for the new birth. All this I proved by            (man to man)" is just exactly that, -philosophy. It
extensive quotations both, from Graham and from our             remains one, -- although Dr. De Jong does not mention
Reformed confessions. And in this connection I stated           common grace in so many words, - of the Second and
that "for Reformed churches to lend their support to            Third Points of ,1924. Even the reference to Calvin's
the teaching and preaching of Billy Graham is nothing           "Institutes" and to Canons III, IV, 4 remind one of this.
short of ecclesiastical suicide." The latter was a very         But about this later.
clear statement. For if Reformed churches support                  In the light of the above, De Jong's conclusion as
the teaching and preaching of Billy Graham, they are            to Graham's doctrine of depravity cannot stand. That
supporting the teaching and preaching of Arminianism.           conclusion is as follows:
Arminianism stands diametrically opposed to the Re-
formed faith.        This is historical fact;, and this is             On this basis if Graham means,, as I believe he
doctrinal reality. Hence, if Reformed churches support              does, that man is totally depraved but not as bad as he
Arminianism, they are supporting that which is opposed              can possibly be on the human plane, I agree with him.
                                                                    If he is saying - I do not believe he does - that man is
to their historical and doctrinal existence. Andwhat is             bad but not wholly lost then I agree with professor
that but suicide?                                                   Hoeksema since we both accept our Reformed Stand-
   To all this Dr. De Jong chose to give no direct                  ards.


440                                         THE STANDARD BEARER

       Dr. De Jong has adduced no proof that Graham         does not believe this. And in Canons III, IV, 3 Dr. De
means to say what De Jong is trying to make him say.        Jong omits the words: "and without the regenerating
Graham himself says that total depravity "does not          grace of the Holy Spirit, they are neither able nor
mean that man is totally sinful, hopelessly and ir-         willing to return to God, to reform the depravity of
reparably bad, without any goodness at all." Graham         their nature, nor to dispose themselves to reformation."
himself says that sin only "has infected the totality of    Because Graham does not believe this, as I have proved,
man's life," that sin only "darkens" man's intellect,       he does not really believe the doctrine of total depravity.
that it only "enfeebles" his will. Graham himself           Thirdly, Dr. De Jong completely neglects to mentionmy
teaches that regeneration is a possibility for all men,     quotation from Canons III, IV, B, 4, which precisely
conditioned upon man's willingness to yield to God.         condemns the very error that Graham teaches, namely,
Graham himself would never say what our confessions         "That the unregenerate man is not really nor utterly
say about total depravity; nor would he ever say that       dead in sin, nor destitute of all powers unto spiritual
regeneration as the unaided and unconditional work of       good, but that he can yet hunger and thirst after right-
God is absolutely and sovereignly first, before any         eousness and life," etc. Also this Graham does not
willingness and any yielding to God on the part of the      believe; if he did, he could never teach that the natural
sinner.                                                     man could show any willingness to be regenerated or
      That brings me to my second point of reply to Dr.     to yield to God.
De Jong. My critic refers to the fact that I adduced as
proof Heidelberg Catechism 5 and 7 and Canons III, IV,         My space for this issue is used up. I will continue
3.      But here is a case of misquotation by partial       my reply next time, D.V.
quotation. For, in the first place, Dr. De Jong neglects       Meanwhile, let me remind Dr. De Jong that he must
completely to mention that I also cited Canons III, IV,     not try to take a "both . . . and" position. It is "either
1. Secondly, even in referring to my proof from the         . . . or." That is: either our Reformed confessions or
Heidelberg Catechism, 7, and Canons III, IV, 3 Dr. De       Graham's doctrine.      He must choose; and I suspect
Jong omits the most crucial point. For in the Cate-         that he has chosen.
chism the only exception to being "wholly incapable of         Let me also recommend that he pay close attention
doing any good, and inclined to all wickedness" is our      to the articles on Billy Graham by my colleague, Rev.
being regenerated by the Spirit of God.         Graham      Harbach.



THE LORD GAVE THE WORD-  .  ..Psalm  68~1



             The Divine Calling In The Preaching

                                                 by Rev. C. Hank0


      A very beautiful and concise description of the       For, as Jesus applies His Word, "Many are called,
divine calling in the preaching of the gospel is pre-       but few are chosen." Matthew 22:1-14.
sented to us in the parable of the Marriage Of The             How beautifully and accurately the contents of the
King's Son.     The Lord shows us in this parable that      gospel message are summed up in the simple state-
the gospel is always the glad tidings of the promise        ment, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain
of salvation in Christ Jesus. He also informs us that       king, which made a marriage for his son."
God sends forth His messengers to preachthis gospel            The figure speaks for itself.        God is the King,
of the promise only to those to whom He is pleased to       Whose kingdom is eternal in the heavens. That king-
send them. And He points out that this preaching al-        dom is never in any sense of the word of this earth.
ways has a twofold effect as a savor of life unto life      It never belongs to the passing things of this world;
and a savor of death unto death, gathering those who        flesh and blood cannot enter into it. The history of
are made worthy in the righteousness of Christ, and         this present time only serves to realize that heavenly
exposing and condemning those who are unworthy              kingdom in all its glorious perfection in the new
because of their rebellion and sin. So that the con-        creation, where the "kingdoms of this world are become
clusion of the parable is that God gathers His own;         the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; and He
the wedding chamber is filled with guests, even while       shall reign for ever and ever." Then the highest
the rebellious are cast out into everlasting torment.       purpose of all things will be realized, for every


                                                THESTANDARDBEARER                                                   441

creature will join its voice in singing that grand song                He only is thy rightful Lord,
of redemption, "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and                     To Him thy worship bring.
thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto
our God for ever and ever. Amen." This already                         Enthroned in royal state,
suggests that the chief content of the gospel is God, to                 All glorious thou shalt dwell,
Whom must be the glory forever.                                        With garments fair, inwrought with gold,
   The King's Son is Jesus Christ, the Crown Prince,                     The Church He loveth well.
to Whom is promised the kingdom of His Father. He                In the parable the guests that receive a place at the
is the Firstborn of God, Who through the deep way of          marriage and the Bride are one and the same. The
suffering enters into the glory that is prepared for          gathering of the guests constitutes the bringing of the
Him.    As a reward on His accomplished work of the           Bride to the  .wedding  feast.        The blessedness of
cross He receives a place at the Father's right hand,         covenant fellowship at the wedding feast is the joy and
and all power is entrusted to Him in the heavens, on          blessedness of the Bride, the Church of Christ.
the earth, and unto the depths of hell. Ascension Day            Indeed, blessed is that people whose Godis Jehovah.
is His Coronation Day. -And when all things are finally       And blessed are they that hear the joyful sound of the
accomplished according to the decree of God, He will          gospel.
subject Himself with all the new creation unto the               Throughout the parable the emphasis falls upon the
Father, that God may be all in all. All power is given        call that is issued by the king to come to the wedding
to Him in heaven and on earth. He is carrying out the         feast. We read:
work of God unto that time when He will appear with              "And (the king) sent forth his servants to call them
the clouds to raise the dead, to judge the nations in         that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not
righteousness, and to take His Church unto Himself            come.
in glorious perfection.      The preacher must preach             "Again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell
Christ crucified and risen, in whom is revealed the           them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my
living God, the God of our salvation.                         dinner.: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all
   For Christ's Bride is the Church. It is exactly as         things are ready: come unto the marriage.
Head of His Church that Christ receives the kingdom.              "But they made light of it, and went their ways,
Therefore Scripture speaks of that assembly of the            one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
redeemed as something very special in the eyes of God.            "And the remnant took his servants, and entreated.
She is God's chosen people, His peculiar possession,          them spitefully, and slew them.
which He gives to Christ as His Royal Bride. What                 "But when the king heard thereof, he wasp wroth:
figure could better express that most blessed covenant        and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those
fellowship which God eternally establishes with His           murderers, and burnt their city.
people in Christ?       What could better describe that          "Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is
most intimate bond of life and love that unites God's         ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
people to Him in Christ?                                          "Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many
   Therefore the marriage of the King's Son takes             .as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
place at the time of His coronation. When Christ is              "So the servants went out into the highways, and
exalted to heaven He also immediately proceeds to             gathered together all as many as they found, both bad
take His Bride unto Himself. Pentecost marks the              and good; and the wedding was furnished with guests,"
beginning of the marriage of the Lamb. It is the ful-         Matthew 22:3-10.
fillment of the promise for Christ and for His Bride,            We notice at once that the parable distinguishes
and therefore it is also the realization of all their         between two different calls that are sent out. There
eager expectations.      This grand event is worthy of        is the first call that announces the marriage, informs
a special recognition both by the King and by the sub-        that the date has been set, and urges those who are
jects of His kingdom. God prepares a feast of oxen            called to come to the wedding. Later this same call
and fatlings and invites His guests to share His boun-        is repeated with the added assurance that all things
ties and His joy at His table.            He makes wedding    are now ready, the wedding is about to commence.
garments that His guests may be properly attired at           But there is also a second call that is proclaimed
this. royal feast.     Their own wretched, filthy rags        upon the highways or crossroads of the world. Only
are replaced with garments of Christ's righteousness,         after this second call has served its purpose are all
which have been washed in the blood of Calvary. They          the guests assembled and the wedding is "furnished
know no higher honor that can be bestowed on them,            with guests."
but that they may be in the same room with their                 Jesus is plainly making a distinction between the
King, may sit at the table of the King's noble Son,           preaching of the glad tidings in the old dispensation
and may express their praise and adoration to their           as it was limited almost exclusively to the Jews and
sovereign King.       And as if that were a small thing,      the preaching of the gospel in the new dispensation
they may even eat of the King's bounties to the praise        as it reaches out to every nation, even unto the ends
of His glory. In anticipation of this marriage of the         of the earth.
Lamb the poet of Psalm 45. sang,                                 It is even possible that the text makes distinction
        Thy beauty and thy grace                              between two phases of the preaching in the old dis-
          Shall then delight the King;                        pensation.       The Lord speaks of the call to the mar-


                                                                                                                          I
442                                           THE STMDARD BEARER

riage, which is later repeated `with the assurance           made light of it and would not come to the marriage.
that the dinner is prepared. The first call most likely      Only in some, -that is, in the elect, was this external
refers to the announcement by the prophets of the ap-        calling accompanied by the work of the Holy Spirit in
proaching marriage of, the King's Son, urging those          the, heart unto salvation. We have here the preaching
who were called to prepare to come and pay homage            of the gospel as it is proclaimed from the pulpit and
to their King. The second-call was by John the Baptist       on the mission field wherever that Word is preached
and by Jesus Himself, proclaiming that the kingdom of        in sincerity and truth.
heaven was at hand. But in any case, the preaching              The point I wish to make at this time is, that even
was addressed to those who were professedly citizens         this general preaching of the gospel is not universal,
of the kingdom, to those who were historically in the        but is limited in its scope. In the old dispensation it
line of the covenant. The preaching was limited within       was limited almost exclusively to the.line of the cove-
the narrow confines of Israel as a nation.                   nant. We can trace that line very clearly in the gener-
   When the. Lord speaks of the `servants being sent         ations of Adam, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Jacob,`and  the
into the crossroads of the world, He evidently is re-        twelve tribes of Israel, or the Jewish nation. Only oc-
ferring to the preaching of the gospel to the ends of        casionally were some' brought into that line of the
the earth, and therefore to others than those who were       covenant from among the Gentiles. But many nations
within the narrow confines of, the Jewish nation. Al-        never heard the gospel message in the old dispensation.
ready in the old dispensation God had promised. that         Many-people lived and died without having had any con-
Japheth would dwell in the tents of Shem. `Besides,          tact whatever with the law and the prophets. God sent
Abraham's seed is a spiritual seed, since he is the          His Word to whom He would.
father of  ,a11 believers.    The multitude promised to         Even Christ in His public ministry limited Himself
him as innumerable as the stars of heaven is not             to the small area of Palestine, rarely going beyond the
complete until the elect are gathered out of every           border of Jewry, and then only for a short distance and
nation and people of the earth. Christ spoke of other        a brief visit.    If He had willed He certainly could
sheep that He still must gather before His flock is          have provided means whereby He could have reached
fully gathered in.                                           the entire then known world with His ministry.
   Therefore the call that `is referred to repeatedly in        But also in the new dispensation the gospel preach-
this parable is the general preaching of the gospel as       ing has been' very limited. Paul is the only one of all
it is sent forth wherever it pleases God to send it.         the apostles who was appointed to go. out among the
Generally when we speak of the divine calling we dis-        Gentiles. And even his ministry was limited, so that
tinguish between the external calling through the preach-    finally he was writing as an apostle in chains. Yet he
.ing and the internal calling by the Holy Spirit in the      knew that the Word of God is never bound, but is al-
heart. Only when the external call is accompanied by         ways the power unto salvation, whenever and wherever
the call of the Holy Spirit in the heart .is the call of     God will use it to gather His people. And when that
God powerful and efficacious unto salvation. But the         Word was preached it never returned void. And never
emphasis of the parable falls upon the external aspect       does. It always serves God's purpose.
of the calling, as is evident from the fact that many           That we must discuss. next time.



       ALL AROUND  US-


                                 The- Christian Reformed Synod

                               The  Reformed Church and COCU


                                                 by Prof. H. Hanko


THE CHRISTIAN REFORMED SYNOD                                 information available. The evidence leads emphatically
   This brief summary of the Christian Reformed              to the conclusion that this year's Synod of the Christian
Synod is not intended to be a complete survey of all         Reformed Church took the denomination another big
the business which was transacted in Pella, Iowa.this        step down the road of apostasy. It was very liberal;
year. The official reports are not yet available. But        it opened the, door yet further to propagation of false
some reports on the more curcial issues before Synod         doctrine; it approved officially of a degrading form of
have appeared in religious periodicals and we offer the      worldly sin.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

   One decision was taken on the "Dekker Case". We             tion - a question important enough in its own right;
shall not enter this matter extensively since this is          but it also involves the more basic question of the
being done by our editor. It will suffice to make a few        infallibility of Scripture and the absolute authority of
observations.                                                  Scripture in all matters of faith and practice.
   The committee which -had been appointed to study               Again Synod hedged. It has long been Synod's prac-
this whole problem brought a report to Synod which             tice. to. postpone decisions on these prickly questions
occupied some seventy pages in the printed agenda.             by referring them to a study committee and thus letting
The committee report was not only lengthy, but was             the matter die. This is what was done again with the
also very unclear in many instances, even though in            whole "Dekker Case." But in this instance Synod in-
its final recommendations (quoted before in the Standard       vented yet another way to postpone action of any kind.
Beaver)  it was condemnatory.       An illustration of this    It did not appoint a study committee to come with
was in the committee's assertion (which was also a             mature advice to next year's Synod; rather it appointed
concession to Dr. James Daane) that grace is not an            a committee of six members to study the question of
attribute of God. It seems to me increasingly clear            the .constituency of a study committee and the mandate
that at this point we come to the crux of the matter.          which would be given to such a committee. So this
   However, the Synod decided to refer the entire              committee will presumably, make preparations for a
matter back again to the same committee. Dr. Henry             study committee to be appointed next year. Then the
Stob had pleaded in recent issues of the Refovmed              study committee, to be appointed (hopefully) next year
Journal  for freedom of theological discussion and had         will have another one or two years to consider the
pleaded that no binding decisions be taken. This advice        problem.    But even then the purpose of such a study
was evidently heeded, and the matter continues for             will not be to define the truth of Scripture on this
another year. A summary of this part of Synod's work           question, but will only be to provide assistance to
appeared in the RES News Exchange:                             pastors in counselling their congregations and to serve
      The 1966 Synod of the C.R.C. considered a report         ecclesiastical assemblies with guidelines.
   concerning certain writings of Professor Harold Dekker         It seems sometimes as if the Synod wants to post-
   of Calvin Theological Seminary. .The advisory com-          pone consideration of these fundamental questions of
   mittee of Synod reported  t'hat it deemed the report        the truth until the Lord returns.
   to express "substantially the Reformed tradition in            The matter of affiliation with the World Council of
   the areas discussed." It also judged that the grounds       Churches was `.also up for consideration. This matter
   of the recommendations fail to reflect adequately the       came about because of recent decisions of the Gere-
   Biblical and confessional support found iri the report.
   It furthermore pointed out that there are related prob-     formeerde Kerken (a sister church of the Christian
   lems which arise out of this context which need             Reformed Church).       A move was under way in the
   theological clarification and precise statement. Among      Christian Reformed Church  to,warn the Gereformeerde
   these were mentioned: the relationship and distinction      Kerken against affiliation. But the- Synod, never got
   between the love of God and the grace of God; the           around to warning her sister denomination in the
   relationship between election and the sincere offer of      Netherlands; Instead, this was taken as an opportunity
   salvation; the specific role which each person of the       to appoint yet another committee to study the Christian
   Trinity has in the atonement and its effectuation in the    Reformed Church's own position in. regard to this
   lives of men; the universal implications of,the atone-      aspect of the ecumenical movement. The result is that
   ment.
       The advisory committee made a serious attempt to        it is entirely conceivable that the Christian Reformed
   reformulate adequately some of the Study Committee's        Church shall, in the future, seriously consider mem-
   propositions and to support them with adequate Scrip-       bership in the W. C. C.
   tural and confessional grounds, but this proved to be          The World Council of Churches is no place for a
   impossible in view of limited time and research             denomination' of the Reformed faith. It is the one asso-
   facilities available. The Synod therefore recommitted       ciation of Churches which, at present, comes closest
   the report to the Study Committee for further reflection    to being a universal church and which presents the
   and improvement, taking into account the above obser-       best avenue to union with Roman Catholicism. Surely
   vations, and asked the committee to report in 1967.         there is no need to consider the matter of affiliation
   To all intents and purposes this means that Prof.           with this, apostate organization. That Synod decided to
Dekker's views will never be condemned by the                  do so bodes ill for rhe future.
Christian Reformed Church.           His heresy, against          Finally, there was a decision which the Synod took
which the entire Canons of Dort were written, shall be         on the matter of movies. A couple of quotations will
allowed to prevail.                                            aptly illustrate what Synod did on this matter.
   The Christian Reformed Church also faced the                   Chvistiunity Toduy reports :
problem of theistic evolution.         This problem _ was            After long holding a standoffish position against
brought to Synod via two overtures which weredirected             Hollywood movies, the synod adopted an extensive,
against the teachings of theistic evolution in Calvin             positive document on "The Church and the Film Arts."
College and against the writings of a member of the               It asserts, "If our Christian witness is to have rele-
board of trustees who openly supported this form of              Vance and redemptive value in modern society, it is
                                                                  necessary for us to make the meaningful distinction
evolution.    It ought to be understood that this is a            between the film'arts  as art forms, which are to be
matter also of vital interest to the Church, for it does          judged as legitimatemedia of culture," and as "products,
not. simply involve the question of creation vs. evolu-           which are in each instance to be subjected to the moral


444                                             THE STNDARD BEARER

   judgment of the Christian community." The  report           postpones.    When a matter of worldliness is up for
   also declares that "although the film arts as a cultural    approval, the Church jumps at the opportunity to make
   medium is largely under secular control, its products       a decision. It becomes increasingly apparent that the
   are no more secular than . . . the daily newspaper, the
   radio, or the literature of our western world, and %an      bridge of common grace built across the abyss of the
   be used similarly for cultural edification." One dele-      antithesis is made of sturdy stuff -- strong enough to
   gate asserted that the adoption of this document was a      lead the Church into the world and the world into the
   clear sign that the CRC has really changed. Another         Church.
   delegate was overheard calling home, "Ma, movies
   are legal now."                                             THE REFORMED CHURCH AND COCU
   Concerning this matter, Martin Woudstra writes in
the RES News Exchange:                                            In the last issue of the Standard Bearer we made
           The Synod considered an extensive report on the     reference to the decisions of the SouthernPresbyterian
   Christian's relation to the film and to the world and       Assembly to join the COCU talks -- "Conversations on
   adopted a set of directives. These directives recog-        Church Unity." This was important for two reasons:
   nize the film arts as actualized in the cinema and          1) The liberals strongly favored it within the Southern
   television as a legitimate cultural inedi,um to be used     Presbyterian Church while the Conservatives were
   by the Christian in the fulfilment of the cultural          fiercely opposed.     This is understandable since the
   mandate. They further recognize that since the film         COCU talks embrace churches who retain leaders who
   arts are largely under the control and administration       deny the truths of the trinity and the virgin birth and
   of non-Christian agencies, the Christian must exercise
   a Spirit-guided and enlightened discrimination in the       deity of Christ. 2) The conservatives were afraid that
   use of the film arts. They state that the Christian         the decision to join COCU would endanger or, perhaps,
   should reject and condemn the message of those film         scuttle other merger talks with the Reformed Church
   art products which sanction sin and subvert the Chris-      of America, a denomination considered to be somewhat
   tian interpretation of life. They declare that it is im-    more conservative.
   perative that the Christian community engage in the            The fears were entirely unjustified. The Reformed
   constructive critique of the film arts, being led by        Church not only decided to continue these merger talks
   those who are specialists in art and in Christian           with the Southern Presbyterians, but decided to study
   ethics. They also formulate a number of declarations        its own participation in the COCU talks. It is therefore
   with respect to the pastoral task of the church in this     entirely possible that the Reformed Church of America
   area.                                                       shall, in the not too distant future, join in these super-
   From all this it is obvious that the Church made            church plans. However, a fraternal letter was sent to
basic concessions in this important field of Christian         the Southern Presbyterians asking for some clarifica-
ethics.       It never faced, which, to my mind, is the        tion of their decision.
fundamental question, the problem of drama itself. In             The other decisions of the Reformed Church had to
a way this was inevitable since participation and attend-      do mainly with political and social issues, which have
ance in movies and drama have long been advocated              become rather standard procedure today for ecclesi-
and even encouraged in the high schools and Colleges.          astical bodies.
The matter was not really considered a problem any                One is amazed how swiftly the Reformed Churches
more. What is ironic about the whole decision is that          are departing from the faith. How urgent becomes
it was made. Whenit comes to the calling of the Church         our calling to maintain our heritage without compro-
to condemn false doctrine, the Church hedges and               mise.


            IN HIS  FEAR-

                                          Handle With Care


                                                    by Rev. J. A. Heys


   Handle with Care is not the same as Do not Touch.           when we do not use the name of God when it is required
   We may not take God's name in vain, but we surely           of us.
must make use of it. We may not lift it idly, but we              There is a classic example of failing to use God's
certainly must lift it. Silence may be golden when the         name and of a silence that reveals perverse unbelieving
alternative is gossip and slander. But silence is evil         hearts in Scripture. Indeed, some are going to object,


                                             THESTANDARDBEARER                                                     445

but the defence of God's name and glory demands it.          there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews
And so we present it that we may understand the evil         from another place; but thou and thy father's house
of silence, When there certainly was abundant occasion       shall be destroyed." Esther responds with equal lack
for calling upon and mentioning the name of God. Esther      of the language of faith, "If I perish, I perish." There
and Mordecai are so frequently lauded for their actions      is not the speech of Daniel's three friends who mani-
which are recorded in a book wherein the name of God         fested their faith by the words, "We are not careful
does not appear even once. And that means, of course,        to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God
that Esther and Mordecai did not use that name of God        Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning
either. Nor is it recorded of any of the Jews in general     fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand,
that they gave thanks and praise to God for deliverance      0 king. But if not, be it known unto thee, 0 king, that
and life. All we read is that they made themselves,          we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden
"days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one       image which thou hast set up.."
to another and of gifts to the poor." This could have           What is more, in order to seek to insure the safety
been done by any heathen .nation after a deliverance         and success of the venture, there is no prayer offered
from an enemy.                                               or requested or even suggested. The people are re-
   The reason is at hand, if only we want to see it.         quested to fast. Elsewhere in Scripture the child of
Esther and Mordecai, yea, all the principal characters       God cried unto Him, ran in prayer to God in connection
in the book of Esther, are unbelievers, The fear of the      with his fasting.    We are reminded of the words of
Lord was not to befoundin them, only the fear of Haman       Solomon in Proverbs 15:8, "The sacrifice of the wicked
and of the king. Let that be made plain at once. First       is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the
of all, you have the fact that Mordecai is quite willing     upright is his delight." This outward manifestation of
to have Esther commit the adultery of marrying a king        contrition of heart and of faith in God without the actual
who divorced his wife, not for fornication but because       faith is hypocrisy. Faith without works is dead, but
she was more honorable than he and abhorred fornica-         works without faith are an abomination to the Lord.
tion and adultery. And Esther on her part is willing to      Esther and Mordecai showed no faith. The essential
sell her soul and body to a king of incest and moral         element of prayer they omit and perform only the out-
filth whose "beauty contest" was a following of the          ward formalism of fasting. They do not use the name
basest of the lusts of the flesh. Night after night the      of God; and they sin in their silence, for here indeed
"contestants, each at her own turn, (and Esther with         was the place for the mentioning of His name and of
them when it was her turn) "went in, and on the              seeking Him by and through that name.
morrow (they) she returned into the second house of             They belonged to the remnant of Jews that had no
the women."                                                  interest in the kingdom of Christ, spurned the covenant
   Then there is the fact that at Mordecai's advice          promises, were not interested to return to the promised
and, in fact, command, Esther had not all the time she       land, did not hang their harps on the willows in captivity
was preparing for the "beauty contest" and lived as          and were not glad when the call came to those who
the queen up till the time that she was forced to do so,     desired to do so to return to the type of heaven and to
"had not  shewed her people nor her kindred: for             fellowship with God in His temple in Jerusalem. With
Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it."       them it was not a matter of "Do not touch!" Nor was
In itself such an act need not be sin, but for a Jewess      it a matter of "Handle with Care". With them it was
to do so in that day was quite a different matter. The       a matter of unbelief, pure and simple, an avoiding of
Jews were set aside by God since the call of Abraham         the name of Him Whom they hated and for Whom they
out of Ur of the Chaldees to b e the people of His           had no use.
covenant.    Only these knew Jehovah and worshipped             Surely our silence may not be such! It is true that
Him. And to hide her people and her kindred was for          we had better think twice before we use His name. It
Esther to hide her religion all these months. She            is proper for us to have Him consciously before our
neither prayed to Jehovah, nor sacrificed nor observed       minds when we address Him, and when we speak con-
any of His feast days or ceremonial requirements. She        cerning Him to others to do so as before His face. But
lived as the heathen among whom she dwelt; and there-        it is just as true that we must use that name and that
fore you may be sure that she never lifted the name of       we ought to delight in the use of that name and ap:`,
God in their midst. The book is simply an indication         preciate our ability to do so.
in its utter lack of the mentioning of the name of God          There is then that matter of the oath wherein one
of what went on in the lives of both Esther and Mordecai.    takes God's name either in vain or to His glory.
   And this was not simply true before the heathen in        Conscientious objection has been raised to swearing an
Shushan.     It was characteristic of all of their own       oath and still prevents many from doing so. To'be
conversation.     Mordecai does not say to Esther, "For      avoided is swearing by heaven or by the earth or by any
if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then      creature of the heavens or earth. "By George" is to
shall our covenant God Who cannot fail to keep His           be condemned, and "Cross my heart and hope to die."
word to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Who has promised        If we are going to swear an oath, then let us do so
that David's Son will sit on the throne forever, give        properly and render unto God the glory due to His
enlargement and deliverance". Instead he spoke these         name by using His name in that oath. For a proper
words which any unbeliever can and would say, "If thou       oath is to the honor and glory of God's name.
altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall           An oath is an act whereby we stand consciously and


  446                                            THEST?liVDhRD'BEARER

  willingly before God.       In the oath we come to stand      believing wife `for Isaac, and he made his servant
  before Him for a special purpose. We are always before        swear an oath that he would not let Isaac take a wife
   His face. There is no place where we can flee from           of the unbelieving Canaanites.         The Israelites were
  His presence. But. in the oath we acknowledge that we         instructed by God in Exodus 22:ll to swear an oath
   are there, and we behave conscious of the fact that He       when they were protectors of another's cattle and the
   sees and hears and reads the very `motives of-the            beast would die or be hurt or stolen, no man seeing
  heart. Therefore in the oath we confess Him to be the         it.      There must have been a long procession of such
  omnipresent, infinite. God that He is. We honor Him           oaths. David swore an oath to Saul to assure him that
  with virtues that are not common to man. The judge            he did not try to take his life. The believer thinks big
  who demands the oath of us cannot read the heart, is          because he thinks of God's glory and is desirous of
  very limited in his dealing out of justice, depends upon      pleasing Him.        He likewise is subjection to God in
  our words and. evidence in mute objects. He cannot            love seeks to serve rather than to oppose God's
   always be sure, and perhaps we can say that he can           officebearer.      He does not want to stand in the way of
  never really be sure. Circumstantial evidence and the         the duty and calling of the authorities whose mandate
  half truth of one of the witnesses-may mislead him in         is to do justice and to punish the evil doer. He co-
  his judgment. But when we take God's name upon our            operates for God's sake and is not averse to using the
  lips in an oath, we honor Him with being the reader of        name of His God to help that servant in his work of
  man's heart.                                                  .judgment. This likewise is no trivial matter but one of
         What is more, we honor Him with being a righteous      deep seriousness.
  judge who surely will punish only the evil doer and will             It is our carnality and our superficiality that makes
  never condemn the innocent. We honor Him, in fact,            us demand oaths of each other. We ought to so live
  with being God! And what greater honor can you bestow         that our yea is taken for yea, and our nay for nay.
  upon Him than exactly that! He does not consider it           But we prove ourselves to be liars so often. We retain
  vain use of His name when you use it to confess in the        some of the fact and withhold part of the truth so often
  oath that He is the sovereign, all-knowing, everywhere-       that, when this other part is learned another way, men
  present and righteous judge of heaven and of earth.           do not trust us and do not, trust human nature and
         The unbeliever  had better not take an oath, for he    therefore demand an oath of us.          How often do men
  can never so confess God. His unbelief exactly pre-           not reply to our remarks, "Not really?" It is a ques-
  vents him from taking God's name  holily. He sins             tion and, at the same time an evidence that we do not
  every time that he mentions God's name, because it is         trust each other. Shame on us that we cannot take each
  not and cannot be a use in love. Woe to those who say         other's word without an oath! It is not living in His
  (and do not then live) Y`Lord, Lord" as unbelievers.          fear.
  It is better for the unbeliever not to use His name at               In His fear we dare not speak the lie knowing that
  all, as, Esther and Mordecai,. than as the false prophet      God not only reads our hearts but also will most
  to speak of Him and present Him as the god that He is         assuredly punish all evil. Living in His fear, we do
  not! Yes, again it is god and not God! Present Him to         not, then, say, "But God punished mine already on the
  any degree contrary to what He says of Himself in             cross of Christ." If that is our attitude we had better
  His Word, and you are talking about a god to that             stop to ask ourselves whether Christ actually did die
  degree and not of Jehovah.                                    for us. The fruit of the cross is not to make us care-
     The believer as he seeks to please God and as he           less  but. very careful. For the fruit of the cross is
  seeks to promote the advantage of ,his neighbour must         thankfulness and the fear of the Lord in our hearts.
  and can properly take God's name upon his lips in the         Living in His fear we will be glad to honor him with
  oath. He may not bear false witness either under oath         the use of His name in the oath when we can thereby
  or outside of the oath.          But he may have to bear      confess and glorify Him as the God that He is.
  witness against the neighbour in order to protect the                Handle that name, but handle it with care.
  innocent neighbour. He may have `to choose-and really                Handle that name even more carefully than you want
  he has no choice in the matter of whom he will defend-        men to handle your name.
  between neighbours; and to assure the limited. and weak              Your use of His name will reveal whether or not
/ judge that he speaks the truth, he may and must place         you are in His fear and to what.degree His fear has a
  himself consciously by an act of his will before The          place in your heart'and life.
  Judge of heaven and of earth.
     The believer, then, will be - and because he, is a
  believer he must be -- a man who thinks big because                           RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY
. he thinks right!      Trivialities, things of little con-     The Mary Martha Society of the Southeast Protestant
  sequence and that simply give a few moment of earthly         Reformed Church expresses its heartfelt sympathy to
  advantage for the flesh will not move him to lift this        Mrs. John De Vries, in the sudden death of her Mother
  holy name of God in an oath - and for that matter not
  in prayer either. There is a long line of saints whose                              MRS. L. LANTING
  lives are recorded  in. Holy Writ who did swear an            We know that all things work together for good to them
  oath, and Jesus Himself heads the list of those who           that love God, to them who are the called according to
  made proper use of God's name in the oath. Abraham            his purpose.                     Mrs. F. Ondersma, Pres.
  was deeply concerned about the covenant matter of a                                              Miss A. Reitsma, Sec'y.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  a7



FROM HOLY  WRIT-


                      The Good  Shepherd.,Of Israel.

                                                      J o h n      lO:l-39

                            ,                     by Rev. G. Lubbers


THE FATHER'S LOVE FOR THE SON-SHEPHERD                        brethren. (Rom. 8:29; Col. l:l6) He is the eternal Logos
(John 10:17, 18)                                              in the flesh, full of grace and glory. (John 1:14) He is
   Jesus is the .good  Shepherd of the sheep which the        the Wisdom of God in which the Lord has His daily
Father gave Him as His own. He is not an hireling             delight. (Prov; 8 : 30)
whose own the sheep are not.          The sheep are his            Christ, the good Shepherd is here the object of the
peculiar possession. He loves all the sheep, both of          Father's love, the One in Whom the Triune God has all
the Old Testament dispensation and of the New Testa-          his good pleasure and delight. In our text Christ lays
ment in his blood, with a love which causes him to lay        bare the mystery of this love of the Triune God for
down his life for them. Thus had Jesus spoken in the          the Shepherd. Says Christ: "therefore doth my Father
foregoing section of this chapter.                            love me, because I lay down my life in order that I
   Now he will reveal another aspect, another dimen-          might take it again." (John 10:17).
sion, so to speak, of his being the Shepherd. He is an             There is some difference of opinion amongst com-
obedient Shepherd. He is the eternal Son of God in the        mentators concerning the grammatical construction in
flesh. The life which he gives for the sheep is human         verse 17. Some hold that the "therefore" (dti tout0 in
life. He became like unto the sheep in all things, sin        Greek) is resumptive .and refers baclc to the immediate
excepted. He is busy in the things which pertain to God       context. Then the thought is that the Father loves the
as a high priest. It is all official ministry. He fulfills    Shepherd because He will bring all the sheep of all
the command of His heavenly Father, so that of all            ages into one fold under one Shepherd. This makes
which the Father has given Him He will lose none, but         good sense.      Then the love of the Father toward the
will raise them up in the last day. His authority to          Son-Shepherd is based upon what He accomplishes in
suffer and to die in behalf of the sheep is given.him         the salvation of all the sheep. Others hold that the
from the heavenly Father. It is very real; it is not          "therefore" refers to what follows in the text, "That
usurped, but it is given Him; He is the solely authorized     I lay down my life to take it  -again." This would
and appointed Shepherd. -God declares from the de-            emphasize the legal basis and reason of the Father's
cree: thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.         love for the Son-Shepherd.       According to this con-
(Psalm 2:7)                                                   struction, Jesus here unfolds the mystery of the cross
   This we must bear in mind constantly.                      and resurrection as the ground of the Father's love for
   Jesus here affirms the Father's love for Himself.          the Son in the flesh, as this love is concretely shown in
What is this `%x@? In what capacity does Christ               the Son's exaltation over all things, the Lord of glory,
here speak of Himself as being the peculiar object of         the great Shepherd of Israel. And this love for the Son
this love? And what is the legal basis of this love of        in the flesh is at once also the love of God for all the
the Father for the .Son?                                      sheep in Christ. We are loved for the sake of the love
   To be sure, Jesus is the eternal Son of God, very          which God has for His suffering Servant, Who was
God of God, coequal and co-eternal with the Father            wounded for our transgressions, Who was bruised for
and with the Holy Ghost. Wherefore we might be tempted        our iniquities, and upon Whom the chastisement of our
here to view this love of the Father as the love which        peace is, and by Whose stripes we are healed. (Isaiah
the first Person cherishes toward the second Person in        53:5)
the divine Trinity. Of course, this is not to be ruled             It seems .to me that the latter interpretation is to
out. God is love, out of the Father, through the Son,         be preferred. ?t`agrees with the great emphasis which
and in the Spirit. However, that is not the viewpoint         Christ places upon His laying down of His life in order
here in the text. Christ is speaking here of Himself as       to take it again. The question is: what does it mean,
the eternal Son in the flesh. He is here the Son-Shep-        "I give my life"? The Greek text emphasizes that
herd, appointed of the Triune God in His covenant of          Christ emphatically states that "I, I give my life"
peace. Here the Christ is David's great Son, and Lord.        (ego0 titheemi) He is the giver of His life. He lays it
He is the First-begotten from the dead, the Firstborn         down as a sacrifice. He is thesubject. And this laying
of all creatures, the Firstborn Son among many                down of His life is pure act. In His passive obedience


448                                             THESTANDARDBEARER

He is wholly active in giving His life. No man ever             Father in heaven is fulfilled, the word of prophecy is
gives his life. In the battlefields of the world a man          come to pass, and God is all in all.
loses his life; he is shot, killed by sword, or otherwise,
but he does not lay down his life as a pure act of his
will. But Christ is the Lamb Who is dumb before his             THESHEPHERDOFISRAEL  -
shearers.       This is so important an element in the          THE SWORD OFDIVISION. (John 10:19-21)
suffering of Christ and for the consequent love of the             There is a certain sinful aversion which men have
Father for Him, that He repeats with emphasis: "No              for "division." The Greek word for this is "schisma,"
man taketh it from me. I have power to lay it down of           from which comes our English term schism. We know
mine own self." vs. 18. This is borne out in the suf-           that there is sinful schism which should not be. Of
ferings of Christ in every stage. No one could destroy          such sinful schism Paul speaks in I .Corinthians 1:lO:
him, for his hour was not yet, we often read. (John             "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our
1:39; 7:30; 8:20) Never was there amoment when Christ           Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing,
did not wholly give Himself unto death. With great              that there be no divisions (Schisms) among you; but
longing and desire he longed to eat the passover with his       that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind
disciples. (Luke 22:15) When Peter would defend Him             and in the same judgment." And again, in I Corin-
in Gethsemane Christ speaks of the willingness todrink          thians ll:l& we read: "For first of all when ye come
the cup.       Had He willed, He could have summoned            together in the church, I hear that there be divisions
twelve legions of angels to His aid. But He laid down           among you; and I partly believe it." For such schisms
His life.      He tasted death in our behalf. Such is the       we may well have great disapproval.
import of the phrase, "because I lay down my life".
       However, the fine point of Jesus' instruction is that       But there is a division too amongst men and in the
he lays down His life with the purpose of taking it again.      church which is due to Christ, His Word, His kingdom
All His sufferings were such that, in that suffering,           and the work of God's grace in gathering, defending,
He was laying hold on the crown. He endured the cross           and preserving of the church in the world. This is the
and despised the shame. He did this because of the              enmity between the two "seeds", the Seed of the
"joy which was set before him." (Hebrews 12:2) Thus             Woman and the Serpent-seed in the world, as this
He went and sat down on the right hand of God, which            enmity makes a division right through the church of
is the exhibition of all the Father's love for the Son in       God. The great question is: what say ye of the Christ?
His eternal good pleasure.                                      It is the division between believers and unbelievers,
       We should not overlook the import of Christ's            between those for whom the true preacher of the
teaching concerning His "taking his life again." This           Word is either a savor of life unto life, or a savor of
is more than a passive receiving of His life again.             death unto death.     Of this division Christ speaks in
When the saints shall rise in the day of the resurrec-          Matthew 10:34: "Think not that I am come to send
tion they shall not take their life:. they shall receive        peace on earth: I came not to send peace but a sword.
everlasting life and glory.        In this case, however,       For I am come to set a man at variance against his
Christ takes up His life again. He has the power and            father, and the daughter against her mother, and the
the authority to do this. (John  10:18) The pangs of            daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.' And a
death could not hold Him; it was not possible that He           man's foes shall be they of his own household."
should be  holden of death. (Acts  2:24) Had He not,               Such is the clear-cut language of Scripture.
through dying, destroyed him who has the power of                  Of this division the evangelist John speaks more
death, the Devil? We read in Romans 1:4 that Christ is          than once. It was the common occurrence that, when
powerfully revealed to be the Son of God, according to          Jesus spoke, there was the expression of faith's
the Spirit of sanctification, through the resurrection of       approval of Christ and of unbelief's disapproval. We
the dead. Is He not the Firstborn of all creatures as           read in chapter 7:43: "so there was a division among
the Firstborn out of the dead? (Cal. 1:15, 18) Is He            the people because of him." Again in chapter 9:16 we
not the Begotten of God in God's counsel as the First-          read: "Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This
born out of the dead?          Hence, He does not merely        man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath
receive His life again, but He takes it to Himself.             day. Others said, how can a man that is a sinner do
       When the Shepherd takes his life again, He is not        such miracles. And there was adivision among them."
-where He was before He laid down His life. He has              In our text we have the indication that this division was
made a gain which no mortal ever has made. He has               quite a common occurrence. We read: "There was
passed from the earthly into the heavenly. He has               therefore a division again amongst the Jews for these
broken down the middle wall of partition in the temple,         sayings."    Ever and again the Word of God is the
which made separation between the circumcision and              sword of division, the two-edged sword. 0, those who
the uncircumcision, between the sheep in the stable of          believed in Him appeal to the works which He per-
the Old Testament sheep and the stable of the New               forms, particularly to the work of the opening the eyes
Testament sheep. He removes the types and the sha-              of the man who was born blind. Can such work be
dows forever by His death and resurrection, and thus            ascribed to demons ? But unbelief deliberately attributes
He makes a new man, a new creation, one fold and one            Christ as being of the cause of the Devil. Therefore
shepherd in heavenly glory!                                     the sword of division is clearly manifest. He that is
       Thus the commandment which Christ received of His        not for Me is against Me !


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 449



A CLOUD OF  WITNESSES-



                                 The Lord's Anointed

                                                 by Rev. B. Woudenbevg

                                 And the  Lovd said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou
                            mouvrz  fov  Saul, seeing I have  rejected him  from  reigning
                            ovey Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee
                            to Jesse the Bethlehemite:  for  I have  provided me a king
                            among  his sons.
                                                                            I Samuel 16.9

   As unwavering as Samuel had been in announcing             that Israel did need a king, a single governmental
God's rejection of Saul as king over Israel, it had hurt      head to rule over all the nation and hold all its diverse
him immensely to do it. Through the years he had              elements together. This was good for the people. And,
come to feel a strong attachment to that man. From            if Saul with his lack of spiritual discernment did not
the first, of course, he had realized that Saul was not       fill this place as completely as he might have, Samuel
essentially a religious man. He knew very little about        had long recognized that fact that Jonathan was due to
the service of Jehovah and possessed little religious         follow in his place; and in Jonathan there was a young
discernment.     Nevertheless, there had been something       man of immaculate reputation.        Here was a man of
about Saul, a certain innocence, a certain eagerness to       faith, a young man of courage and conviction such as
receive advice, a willingness to learn, which had led         was seldom found. And there was Samuel's problem.
Samuel to hope and pray that Saul might develop into a        Even if Saul did fall rather short of what was to be
real king for Israel in every sense of the word. But it       desired in a king, why could not Jehovah bear with it
had not worked out that way. He had had every oppor-          until such a time as Jonathan was ready to take his
tunity.     God had aided him with many great victories       place? This Samuel could not understand. Dutifully
over all of his enemies.         Some of them were very       he had gone to Saul and pronounced the rejection of
evidently miraculous, so that he might know beyond            God upon him and his house; but it had not been his
question the importance of God to his kingdom and             choosing, and when he returned home to think about
office. He had the opportunity to call upon Samuel for        it, it became even more displeasing still. Days passed
all of the instruction and advice he might want. But          by as moodily he brooded in his home. He thought that
somehow it never got through to him. He did develop           he only grieved for Israel; but in fact, he was displeased
from a certain point of view. He gradually took on a          with the way of the Lord too.
regal bearing, and his original innocence gave way to an          When finally, therefore, the Lord returned again to
attitude of authority and even a certain haughtiness.         speak to Samuel, there was a sharp note of reprimand
And as far as religion was concerned, Saul had always         in what He said. "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul,
been quite willing to abide by the proper formalities         seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?
too. He had even proved willing toimpose certain good         fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to
and proper restrictions upon the people, such as his          Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king
refusal to allow anyone to engage in witchcraft or            among his sons."
sorcery.      But increasingly through it all one thing           But this was not what Samuel wanted to hear. He
became ever more evident: Saul's first concern was            had thought about it long and hard and had become
with himself and his own glory. He was never able             thoroughly convinced that there was only one who was
to grasp the fact that as king he was still and in a very     fit to be Israel's king, and that was Jonathan. He didn't
special way a servant to Jehovah, Israel's God. It was        want to hear about any other man from any other
for this reason, Saul's refusal to put the command of         household so that, when he heard this command of the
God first before his own glory, that Saul was finally         Lord, he immediately reacted against it. Impulsively
rejected by God as king over His people Israel; and           he blurted out an excuse why he could not do what God
because of it Samuel grieved.                                 commanded. It was this, "How can I go? if Saul hear
    Perhaps it was not so much for Saul personally that       it, he will kill me."
Samuel felt so badly although he had so hoped for better          The reasoning was poor and fallacious, andnormally
things from him. It was for the people, and in a very         Samuel would have known far better than so to argue
special way for Saul's son Jonathan. He could see now         with his God. There was in actuality no reason at all
    .


450                                          THE STANDARD BEARER

why anyone should know the reason for Samuel's going         had stood as a rock in obedience and dedication to the
to Bethlehem. - And the very argument of Samuel              worship of Jehovah. As a result, he had been blessed
brought out how completely unworthy Saul was of ruling       and had prospered at the hand of the Lord. And so had
over Israel one moment longer than the Lord would            his children after him, for they had shared with their
allow him, for it acknowledged that the whole life of        father the same spiritual love. And with Jesse his
Israel had come to be dominated by theuncompromised          grandchild, and with his children too, it was the same.
pride of king Saul.                                          They together as a family stood as a monument of
   Accordingly the answer of the Lord was curt, and he       dedication to the Lord. It was almost to be expected
spelled out for Samuel in simple detail what with a.few      that in coming to Bethlehem a special note of recogni-
minutes of quiet thought he could have figured out by        tion should be given to that household above all the
himself. God said, "Take a heifer with thee, and say,        rest.
I am come to sacrifice to the LORD. And call Jesse to           Once Samuel had given to Jesse his greetings, how-
the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do:      ever, and bestowed upon him and his household the
and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto           blessing of the Lord, he made known to him in private
thee."                                                       that there was also a further reason for his presence
   Being a faithful prophet, Samuel proceeded `im-           there which had to do particularly with Jesse's house-
mediately to do what the Lord said even though it took       hold. Careful to say no more than was strictly neces-
some time and a good part of his journey to reconcile        sary, he exljlained  to Jesse that one of his sons had
himself to -the fact that the Lord's will concerning         been chosen unto a special duty and responsibility by
Saul and his house was not to be changed. But as he          the Lord, and his purpose there was to anoint that son
traveled he thought, and prayed, and repented from his       unto that task. Moreover, being a faithful child of God
past discontentment with the will of the Lord so that        with no reservations, Jesse was careful to inquire no
by time he arrived at Bethlehem his heart was much           further into the matter than Samuel chose to lead him;
lighter and he even felt a certain'eagerness to meet the     and when Samuel requested of him to make a feast
one to whom the Lord was leading him.                        after the sacrifice which was about to be offered and
   When at last Samuel arrived at the gate of Bethle-        there to introduce him in turn to each one of his
hem, he was met with a greeting of shocked surprise.         children, Jesse immediately consented.
This in itself was not so strange. Through the years            Thus it was that a great sacrifice was held in
Samuel had very frequently traveled to various cities        Bethlehem, and thus it was that the feast after the
and towns which had become deeply enmeshed in some           sacrifice was held in Jesse's home. It was all just as
sin so as to admonish them and, if possible, lead them       might have been expected under the circumstances
in a. sacrifice of repentance. Thus it was not at all        even when Jesse made a point of introducing his sons
uncommon for him to be met almost everywhere in              one by one to the old prophet, an act of common
much the same way that today many a parishoner will          courtesy. Little could anyone but Samuel that day have
greet the unexpected visit of his pastor. The words          realized the tremendous importance of that which was
spoken were cordial, but every uneasy gesture and            taking place. Eagerly, tensely, the old prophet waited
expression cried out with the question, "And now what        for the children of Jesse to appear before him; and as
did we do wrong?" Only in Bethlehem the people were          soon as the first did, his heart jumped for here before
common and crude and spiritually very much concerned         him was a  manof exceptionallyfine appearance. Surely,
so that soon the question itself came out, "Comest thou      he thought, that already his search was ended; and he
peaceably?"                                                  waited for the approving word of the Lord to come to
   But Samuel was by now an old man of extended              him. But instead there was only a rebuke. Samuel was
experience.    This was his life and he knew exactly         old and experienced; but still he needed to be reminded
how to calm the fears of such troubled people. Quietly       as God said, "Look not on his countenance, or on the
and with kindness he said, "Peaceably: I am come to          height of his stature; because I have refused him: for
sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come       the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on
with me to the sacrifice." It was enough. In fact, once      the outward appearance, .but the LORD looketh on the
the simple folk of Bethlehem were assured that it was        heart."
not to blame them but to bless them that the prophet            Justly rebuked and more careful, Samuel watched as
was come, they were elated. Bethlehem was a com-             the second came while the word of God spoke to his
munity of spiritual people, and for them to discover that    heart and- said, "Neither hath the LORD chosen this."
Samuel, the great prophet of Jehovah, had come               And so it was with the third and the fourth on until
especially to their village to hold a feast of sacrifice     seven sons had passed before Samuel, and still the Lord
with them was an event of greatest importance. Quickly       did not approve. With Jesse Samuel could see no more
the word was spread through the town that everyone           children, and in perplexity he turned to Jesse and
might prepare himself for the feast.                         asked, "Are here all thy children?"
   Neither was it surprising to anyone that while these         To Jesse it had seemed perfectly logical that if one
preparations were taking place Samuel should search          of his children was to be called for special service
out the house of Jesse to visit there. For Jesse was         before God, it, would have to be one old enough to
the grandson of Boaz, and Boaz had long ago already          perform the duties of a man. Thus his youngest child,
become a legend in that community and beyond. In a           as yet hardly more than a child, he thought to be
day when sincere, spiritual life was hard to find, he        naturally exempted.    Thus when Samuel asked, he


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  451

explained, "There remaineth yet the younger, and,              to David. But when they thought of it, it was natural
behold, he keepeth the sheep."                                 too. Farthest from their minds was the thought that
   At the command of Samuel this child was also called,        this anointing could have anything to do with the office
He was to the amazement of Samuel the most beautiful           of king. As far as they knew, Saul and his family were
of all Jesse's handsome children, reddish of hair with         firmly established on the throne and always would be.
the healthy look'of the.field.  ,But what was more, when       All they could conclude was that David. was being
he appeared the voice of ,God also spoke, "Arise," it          appointed to take up the office of prophet, and that
said, "Anoint him: for this is he."                            seemed natural, for David was surely the one more
                                                               concerned with the things of God than were any of his
 Perhaps .there  was an element of jealousy among the          brothers.    Neither were they entirely wrong, for a
older brothers as they, saw this special attention given       prophet David proved to be, but also much more.
               . .


TRYING THE  SPIRIiS-


                      Billy  Graham's Methods and  Doctrine

                                                 by Rev. R. C. Havbach
                                           .
                         _'

   Our last installment provided evidence that Billy           campaigns preaches the Gospel. So far as I know, his
Graham loves to be a great mixer with modernists               preaching does not partake of modernism..."5
and ecclesiastical. liberals, in fact, that he himself            Although this is the general thrust of most of the
disclaims. Fundamentalism and insists he is a Liberal.         criticism made of Billy Graham, there is more to it
The emphasis of the previous article was primarily on          than that he is simply a little off on his "evangelistic
the ministry of Graham,. while his doctrine was not            methodology." But there is the added charge that he
particularly pin-pointed.         Most of Graham's' critics    does not go far enough, even in preaching the gospel.
take him to task chiefly for his methods, rather than          For, "people continually say that Billy preaches the
for his teaching: Fundamentalists contend that Graham          Gospel. .As I have stated, it is plain that he does not
is wrong in the former; but right in the latter. He is         preach the whole Gospel  - or anywhere near the whole
basically right and scriptural in doctrine, they say. It       Gospel."6 People are slowly coming to the realization
is just that he uses shockingly unscriptural methods.          that Graham is not to be recognized as the true prophet
Therefore, Fundamentalists do concede that Graham              of this generation. The majority of his severest critics
preaches the Gospel.           "I think we must agree that     do not think he has as yet abandoned the gospel; but many
Billy Graham preaches the simple Gospel of salvation."1        feel, however, that he has "abandoned, completely
The trouble is that some Fundamentalists are not               abandoned the distinctive, glorious, intolerant.  position
satisfied merely that "he preaches the true Gospel;"           of the everlasting  Gospel..."7 (ital. added), whatever
they want him to go farther, to identify and denounce          that is supposed to mean! How is it possible to abandon
"those who preach a false gospel," because he "fails           the position of the gospel without abandoning the gospel?
to get across the fact that the gospelwhich he preaches        The position of the gospel is a firm, eternal stand on
is the  only  true gospel."2 Agreed, say others, that          the truth of God's Word. Then, if thut is the position
Billy Graham is a preacher of the gospel; it is his            `of the gospel, doesn't a man abandoning that position
methods that are not to be condoned "simply because            abandon his stand on the Word of God? And if he does
the gospel is proclaimed and saving fruits accrue there-       that, doesn't he abandon the gospel? Another eminent
from."    This last quotation appears in a pamphlet            critic of Graham confirms this, saying, "God's-  people
where Graham is not specifically mentioned, but where          are waking up to the fact that Billy iGraham has aban-
the reference more than likely includes him.3 There            doned the historic Protestant  position."8 He was
are some Fundamentalists who, agreeing with the above,         raised a Presbyterian and was taught to memorize the
still have doubts as to what Graham believes. They             Westminster' Shorter Catechism.         It is as plainly
say, "The statement  ,is usually made that `Billy              evident `as it can be that he has abandoned the historic
preaches the Gospel.' And it is admitted that he can           .Reformed.  position that is so beautifully expressed in
and does preach the Gospel, for he certainly knows             the Westminster standards.      This means also that he
what the Gospel is."            But these Fundamentalists      has by that very fact abandoned the position of the
"wonder whether he believes it himself," since he              Calvinistic Baptists as expressed in their Philadelphia
employs "liberalistic methods."4 They make it plain            Confession, which is but a mild form of the West-
that what they attack in Graham `is not his preaching.         minster Confession.     Therefore it is no surprise to
"Let it clearly be understood that Dr. Graham in his           read that his evangelism "is not the evangelism of the


452                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

New Testament."9 Graham does not stand the test of             the world is it possible to lay down the principle of
the Calvinistic confessions, nor, as we shall see, the         Christ's peerless and sinless person and work only to
test of Scripture. Then isn't it high time that people         conclude therefrom the possibility of man, mere man,
who call themselves Reformed cease holding with the            fallen man's resistance to temptation! Why no natural
world this modern flatterer as the world's greatest            man does any good (Rom. 3:12), is because he cannot
preacher of the Word of truth?                                 (Jer.  13:23). The Reformed have always believed that
   It is a lamentable fact that Graham cooperates with         man was not merely partially disabled by the Fall, but
modernists. This causes many to wonder whether he              completely ruined, so that he is "incapable of doing
is a true believer, after all. "True believers will            any good and inclined to all wickedness" (Heid. Cat.,
never join hands with the- modernists of the twentieth         Q. 8). Consequently man is not merely weakened, but
century to do the work of God or to confuse the church         is "without strength" (Rom.  5:6). From the perfect
of Jesus Christ."10 This herein reviewed position of           example of a Man not able to sin overcoming all temp-
Fundamentalism, namely, that although "Graham's                tation and sin, it is not possible to infer that a man not
methods are questionable, his doctrine is acceptable,"         able not to sin (i.e., one who cando nothing but sin) can
leads to the following reasoning and inference. 1. Billy       "resist the temptations of Satan."
preaches the gospel. 2. Billy is no believer. 3. There-
fore, Billy is a Balaam. Now the latter was a false               In defense of Graham it is said that "he is following
prophet who was compromised by the enemies of Israel,          the Canons of Dort (II, 3,5) in calling men to repent and
but who nevertheless, as far as the record goes,               believe." Graham follows the Canons of Dort about as
preached nothing but the truth (Num. 22:38). But does          much as Pike holds the deity of Christ. When Graham
Graham preach the Scripture truth? Let us see.                 calls on men to believe, he at the same time tells them
       "Thus because we are made in God's likeness,"           that they can believe. He admits that man is dead in
Graham avers, "we can know  Him."11 The "we"                   sins, but he is dead something like that man who fell
here refers to all men in the world, including the most        among thieves -- only half-dead, or ninety-nine and
fallen sons of Adam.         That men aye made in God's        forty-four one'-hundredths per cent dead, so that
likeness means that even now, after the ruin of the            despite his deadness, he can still believe!14 Man is
Fall, they stiill retain the image of God. This is not the     devoid of spiritual life, but his spiritual death does not
biblical doctrine that man not only lost the image of          affect his will, leaving the will with native powers it
God, but in his fallen state is turned into the image          can bring into operation, which enable man to believe
of the devil (Jn. 8:44). Graham says such a man "can           or not to believe, as he may choose. "We can accept
know" God.          If he refers to the salvability of the     or reject God -- that is our privilege" (sic!).15 "If you
reprobate, he is wrong. But even the elect by nature           are willing.. .you can do it now...It is up to you. You
are incapable of knowing God, they lack the ability to         must will to be saved. It is God's will, but it must
know Him (II Cor. 3:5). For Scripture not only teaches         become your will,  too."16  Graham under cover of
that the world through its wisdom does not know God            teaching man's Yesponsibility to believe comes in with
(I Cor. 1:21), but also that in its natural state it cannot    his error of man's  ability  to do so. Then he comes
know Him (2:14).                                               with an innovation the Reformed have always rejected
       Pointing out that man is not a machine or a robot       because it elevates the fictional powers of free will as
(Reformed language has it that he is not a senseless           having a basis in reality (Canons of Dort, IV, R. III).
stock and block), he states that Adam "could choose            For this is contrary to the biblical declaration not
whether he wanted God's friendship and fellowship or           only that the natural man will not come to Christ (Jn.
not," and that God "wanted man's love and fellowship           5:40), but that he cannot come (6:44), and that he, ac-
because                                                        customed to doing nothing but evil (Gen. 6:5), cannot
              man  chose to love God" (ibid., p. 63, ital.
added). God wanted man's love, nor because He willed           possibly do anything good (Jer. 12:23).
and sovereignly ordained to have it (Job 23:13 with I             While the truth of total depravity is the first of the
Jn.  4:19), but because of man's decision to requite           Five Points of Calvinism, it is by no means first in
God's love. The sovereign and everlasting love of God          Graham's "theology," for in his latest book, where
is made to depend for its fruition and realization upon        by the way, he comes out about -as clearly as he has
the caprice of man, and man's vacillating love for Him.        ever done on what he believes, he does not get around
The covenant and its relation of friendship then does          to it ,until after 73 pages. There he says, "Thus man
not depend upon the determinate counsel and eternal            is described as being totally depraved. This-does not
purpose of God, but on the indeterminate will of man.          mean that man is totally sinful...without any goodness
In the covenant, as Graham has it, God is not a                at  all."17 But "the true doctrine having been ex-
Sovereign-Friend, but a would-be companion, and man            plained," we reject "the errors of those who teach
is not a friend-servant, but "alittlegod."l2  (Ddsion,         that the unregenerate man is not really nor utterly
March 1966, p.  l), i.e., an absolute sovereign in his         dead in sin, nor destitute of all powers unto spiritual
own invulnerable, impregnable and inviolable bastion of        good, but that he can yet" do that "which is pleasing
free will.                                                     to God" (Canons, IV, R. IV). Scripture confirms this
   Referring to Christ's resistance to the devil, which,       last statement. "The whole head is sick, and the whole
by the way, was the triumphant act- of One who could           heart faint.    From the sole of the foot even unto the
not sin, the inference is drawn "that it is possible for       head there is no soundness init, but wounds and bruises
man to resist the temptations of Satan"13 But ,how in          and putrifying sores..." (Isa. 1:5, 6).


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  453

     1. Rev. Robert Dunzweiler, "Billy Graham -- A Cri-                8. ibid., C. McIntire,  (p. 53).
        tique," Faith Theological Seminary, P.O. Box 74,               9. ibid.. p. 54
        Elkins  Park, Philadelphia, Pa., 19117, lOC, (p. 15).         10. ibid.; p. 40
     2. ibid., p. 37                                                  11. "World Aflame, " by Billy Graham, Doubleday,
     3. "Cooperation in Evangelism," by John Murray,                      Garden City, N.Y., 1965, 61
                                                                                                       p.
        Bible Truth Depot, Swengel, Pa., (p. 24).                     12. "Decision," March 1966, 1.
                                                                                                           p.
     4. "A Ministry of Disobedience," Christian Beacon                13. "World Aflame," 
                                                                                              p. 68
        Press, Collingswood, N.J., 35c (p. 20).                       14. ibid., 109.
                                                                                    p.
     5. ibid., pp. 29, 27.                                            15. "Decision," March 1966, 1.
                                                                                                           p.
     6. ibid., p. 68                                                  16. "World Aflame," 156, 159f.
     7. ibid., p. 38                                                  17. ibid., 73.
                                                                                    p.



HEEDING THE  DOCTRINE-

                         Barth's Doctrine Of Scripture


                                               The Scriptural Basis

                                                     by Rev. D. J. Engelsma

   The crucial question Concerning  that which Barth               prisingly conclude that the facts in the case fail-to
proposes as the true doctrine of Scripture is: does                substantiate verbal inspiration and infallibility., `This
this doctrine have its ground in and does it conform to            bad conclusion is the inevitable result of every attempt
the teaching of Scripture itself? When we put Barth's              to formulate a doctrine of Scripture which-bypasses
doctrine of Scripture to the test of Scripture, we only            Scripture's testimony about itself, about its "apparent
heed  Barth's own admonition:                                      legends," about its "apparent theological errors,"
                                                                   about its "apparent contradictions," in order to
       "...the right doctrine of Holy Scripture cannot
   claim abstract validity, but its confirmation must              determine, open-mindedly, what Scripture really is.
   always be sought and found in exegesis and therefore          I This way to an understanding of what  `the, Bible is
   in Holy Scripture itself" (CD, I, 2, p. 462).                   has been closed to the Church once. an&for .all. It has
                                                                   been closed by the simple  fact.th&:Scripture  itself
   Although Barth acknowledges that the doctrine of                plainly states what Scripture is. I;The'.,only  way now to
Scripture, like  all Christian doctrine, must be an                an understanding of the doctrine.of',Scripture is the
expression of Scripture's own teaching, and although               way of a believing and very humble acceptance of
he also makes an attempt to prove his doctrine of                  Scripture's description of itself. To try still to arrive
Scripture from the Scriptures, he reveals himself to               at a doctrine of Scripture in any `other way, for any
be guilty, nevertheless, of ignoring and disobeying the            reason whatever, is the disobedience of unbelief; that
Reformed, Scriptural rule that Christian doctrine is               other way is a dead-end; the Church may not and will
not the Church's notions imposed upon Scripture but                not go that way because it is not Christ's will for her
Scripture's own teaching, elicited from Scripture by               that she die.
exegesis and formulated systematically. Barth's verdict               When Barth finally does take note of what Scriptuze
that Scripture is `a fallible, human book, full of errors,         says concerning itself in the classic passages on
contradictions and legends, has not been arrived at by a           inspiration, he is amazingly brief. The interpretation
submissive listening to Scripture's judgment upon it-              he offers of the passages, apart from its truth  or
self that it is the Word of Cod, that it came about by             falsity, is scanty. This extreme brevity with respect
being breathed of Cod (II Tim. 3:16), that its human               to the very basis of the doctrine is a grave, formal
speakers and writers did not act on their own initiative           weakness of Barth's doctrine of Scripture. The
but spoke from Cod, being moved by the Holy Spirit                 brevity at this crucial point indicates that the classic
(II Peter 1:20, 21), and that it is unbreakable (John              passages on inspiration do not have major importance
10:35). Rather, Barth and those who agree with him                 in Barth's doctrine of Scripture. What Scripture says
carry out their own learned, thorough, but private in-             of itself does not control everything from the very
vestigation of Scripture, scrutinize and judge all the             beginning; by the time we come to these passages the
data in the Old and New Testaments independently of                question has already been decided; all that remains
the rigorous claim of Scripture, to be the Cod-breathed            as far as these passages are concerned is to show
(inspired) Word of Cod in its "entirety, and unsur-                that these passages do not contradict the conclusion


454                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER

that the Scriptures are fallible words of men. In fact,                   actively outbreathing and spreading abroad and making
one wonders whether Barth is actually serious when he                     known the Spirit" (CD, I, 2, p. 504). This definition
dismisses the phrase, "all scripture is given by                          of the word  theopnemtos   is worthy of note since it
inspiration of God" (II Tim.  3:16), with the words: "a                   shows that Barth allows the word to carry an active
statement is made about the relationship between God                      meaning, "God -breathing, II as well as a passive mean-
and Scripture...which cannot.. .be expanded but to which                  ing, "God  -breathed."
                                                                                2. The doctrine of inspiration is more a descrip-
only a  - necessarily brief -- reference can be made. At                  tion of the  wviters  of Scripture, than a description of
the decisive point all that we have to say about it can                 the Bible itself.        "Theopnmstia   in the bounds of
consist only in an underlining and delimiting of the                      biblical thinking cannot mean anything but the special
inaccessible mystery of the free grace in which the                       attitude of obedience in those that are elected and
Spirit of God is present and active before and above                      called  to  this obviously special service" (i.e., the human
and in-the Bible" (CD, I, 2, p. 504).                                     writers-DE.      CD, I, 2, p. 505). Barth comes very
   Barth does offer some explanation, however, of the                     close, here, to saying that "inspiration" only means
                                                                          that the human writers of the Bible lived and wrote at
passages in which Scripture speaks concerning its own                     the time when God revealed Himself, so that their
origin and nature, especially II Tim.  3:16 and II Peter                  writings can be regarded as rather reliable, eye-
1:20, 21. Because these passages and their meaning                        witness accounts by honest men. But he is quick to
are and ought to be of crucial importance to us for                       add that this special obedience was due to their being
the doctrine of Scripture, we must note what Barth                        "surrounded and controlled and impelled by the Holy
has to say about them.                                                    Spirit" (CD, I, 2, p. 505). In any case, their inspira-
   II Timothy  3:16 reads: "All scripture is given by                     tion, their "special obedience," does not mean that
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for                   they were safeguarded from errors. On the contrary,
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous-                    inspiration is a miracle, the truth of which is that
                                                                          "here fallible men speak the Word of God in fallible
ness:" (King James Version). The key word in this                         human words" (CD, I, 2, p. 529).
text is the word translated "given by inspiration of                            3. Inspiration is not, as the Reformed Churches
God."         In the Greek original, the word is "`God-                   insist, to be limited to the production of the Scriptures.
breuthed,"   so that we are told: "All scripture is                       This is only one part of inspiration. Inspiration in its
God-breathed." In II Peter  1:20, 21, the apostle says:                   entirety includes two elements: 1) God's revelation of
"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture                    Himself to the writers of the Bible and His "guidance"
is of any private interpretation.              For the prophecy           of them as they wrote. 2) God's revelation of Himself
came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men                     to the readers of the Bible through the words of the
                                                                          human writers of Scripture. "This self-disclosure in
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost"                        its totality is theopneustia,  the inspiration of the word
(King James Version).            A more literal translation of            of the prophets and apostles" (CD, I, 2, p. 516). In
the 21st verse would be: "For prophecy never was                          proof of this contention, Barth points us to I Cor. 2,
brought forth by the will of man, but, being carried                      telling us to read II Tim. 3:16 in the light of I Cor.
along by the Holy Spirit, men spoke from God." In                         2.
this text, the apostle denies that the prophecy contained                       This very peculiar extension of the doctrine of
in the Old Testament Scriptures originated with the men                   inspiration to include God's revelation of Himself Eo
who spoke and wrote that prophecy. On the contrary,                       the readers of the Bible may be due, in part, to Barth's
those men spoke                                                           strong aversion to the notion that the natural man has
                         from  God (not: "holy men of God
spake," as the KJV has it), being carried along by the                    ability to read and understand the Scriptures. Every
                                                                          man needs the inner work of the Spirit to know God
Holy  Spirrt.        The Holy Spirit's activity of carrying               by the Scriptdres.        But it is due as well to Barth's
along or bearing the prophets as they spoke is evidently                  equally strong! aversion to any teaching of an inspired
the same activity as that referred to in II Timothy                       Book.     Inspiration must be an  event. There is "in-
3:16 by the word  rrGod-bveathed.rt   II Peter speaks of                  spiration" at  Fe moment that God flashes to me the
an activity of the Holy Spirit which produces a  spoken                   knowledge of Himself through the human, fallible Bible.
Word of God; II Timothy refers to an activity of the                      Otherwise, there really is not any inspiration, only an
Holy Spirit which produces a w&tten Word of God.                          incomplete inspiration.
   Barth recognizes that these two passages deal with
the same subject, "the priority and' character of Holy                    Does this interpretation of II Timothy  3:16 and II
Scripture as such" (CD, I, 2, p. 504). He maintains                    Peter  1:20, 21, even  resemble  the words of the texts?
also that, although the passages refer primarily to the                Is this explanation even an attempt to state the meaning
Old Testament, they apply to the New Testament as                      of the words: "All Scripture is God-breathed"?
well.      His interpretation of these passages consists,
in the main, of an explanation of the word  "God-                                           ANNOUNCEMENT
breathed",  (theopneustos),  in II Timothy  3:16.                      Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches
Concerning this word and the reality- of inspiration it                will meet in Edgerton, Minnesota, on Wednesday,
describes, Barth says the following:                                   September 21, at 9:00 A.M.              All material for the
            1. The word, theopneustos, ("God-breathed"), as a          Agenda must be received by the Stated Clerk thirty
         description of the Holy Scriptures, means that "the           days before the convening of  Classis, that is by
         whole Scripture is -literally: `of the Spirit of God,'        August 22nd.
         i.e., given and filled and ruled by the Spirit of God, and                             Rev. D.J. Engelsma, Stated Clerk


                                                    THESTANDARDBEARER                                                              455


B O O K   REVIEW-                                God Is Dead

                                                                 God IS Not Dead
GOD IS DEAD, by Kenneth Hamilton;              are examples of books which are writ-           by all who are concerned about this
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,                ten to defend the faith over against the        problem.
1966; $1.25 (paper).                           denial of God.                                     The weakness of Hamilton's bookis
                                                  Kenneth Hamilton's book, "God Is             that only at the very end does the
GOD IS NOT DEAD, by Gordon H.                                                                  author affirm strongly, "The God of
Girod; Baker Book House, 1966, $2.95.          Dead," has the subtitle: "The Anatomy
                                               of a Slogan." In his book he discusses          the Scriptures is the Living God." If
    The church of Jesus Christ is              the meaning of this new heresy and its          there is to be any worthwhilecriticism
called to a sturdy and unremitting             relation to other theologians who, in           of these evil men who deny God, it
defense of the faith.          This surely     the opinion of the author, have paved the       would be much better if the truth of
implies that the Church answer those           way for this modern day "Christian              God were positively set forth. Hence,
who set about to destroy the faith and         atheism." The book is more philosoph-           too, the author fails to demonstrate
reiterate again and again the truth            ical and therefore rather difficult to          that God is the Author of revelation,
over against the `lie. Yet, in spite of        read. The author speaks of the theology         and that the revelation of Himself as
this calling, there comes a time when          of such men as Tillich, Bonhoeffer,             the living God can only be accepted by
the defense of the faith seems to be           Heidegger, Barth, Jaspers, Nietzsche,           faith -- a faith which God Himself gives
O u t   of place.      This time comes, it     and ties in the new heresy with their           to His people through Christ.
appears to me, when men so blatantly           thinking. The value of this is, as the             Girod's book is much like his
deny the very fundamentals of the              author also makes clear, that it is             other books, not at all profound, yet
truth, when men so blasphemously               apparent that men like Hamilton,  Al-           clear.      It is good reading and is
corrupt the very essence of the faith          tizer, and other modern atheists are            recommended to our readers. I would
that there is no part of the truth left        not bringing anything new, but are              have liked the book better if the author
in their confessions.        Something like    merely stating what others have said,           had emphasized that in spite of all the
this may very well be true of the men          even though in somewhat different lan-          evils of our age, God is gathering His
who teach the current "death of God"           guage.                                          elect according to His own purpose
heresy.      If the unbeliever wants to           Rev. Girod's book covers the whole           and is preserving His Church through-
deny God Himself, he is, according to          field of modern day apostasy. He does           out all history unto final salvation and
Scripture's own words, a fool. Does a          not limit himself merely to the "God            glory.      Nevertheless, the book is a
fool need answering, except according          is Dead" thinkers, but discusses also           worthwhile addition to our home li-
to his folly?                                  such questions as the denial of Scrip-          braries as a readily understandable
    Nevertheless, a spate of books have        ture, the new morality, -secularism,            answer to the evils of our modern
been appearing ever since these evil           universalism,      evolution,    etc.    His    day.
men have raised their ugly and proud           treatment of the evil of civil disobedi-                                 Prof. H. Hanko
heads to deny God. These two books             ence is very good and should be read


                                          First Church - Holland,  Michipn





    Pictured here is the First Protestant Reformed                     congregation has a church extension committee which
Church of Holland, Michigan, of which the Reverend                     is dedicated to the distribution of Protestant Reformed
George Lanting is pastor. The church, constructed in                   literature in the area.           Holland also has a School
the summer and fall of 1964, is located at 29@ East                    Society which is active in the operation of a school
18th Street, three blocks west of U.S. 31 on 16th                      bus, used to transport several of their children to
Street, and two blocks south on Hazel Avenue. The                      the Hope `Protestant Reformed Christian School of
auditorium has a seating capacity of 150; the annex                    Grand Rapids.
(foreground) contains the entrance hall, three class-                      The members of Holland's congregation are grate-
rooms, and the furnace room.                                           ful to our covenant God for providing these wonderful
    The congregation was organized with 9 families                     facilities. A hearty invitation is extended to worship
in 1929, and today it numbers 16 families, comprising                  the Lord with them when you are vacationing or visiting
83 souls,            Besides the usual church societies, the           in the Holland area.
                                                                                                                                J.M.F.


456                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


                                        NEWS FROM OUR  CMURCHES-

                                          July 15, 1966       must remind the brethren in Jamaica of the proverb
   Rev. .H. Veldman, of Hope Church, Grand Rapids,            (we suppose they have it there also),  `,All.good things
has received the call from our Randolph congregation          c o m e   s10w1y".        If this promise does develop into a
from a trio which included the Revs. J.A. Heys and          reality, they will have had a solid foundation  forthat
G.  Vanden  Berg.                                           -instruction through the means of the Correspondence
   Edgerton  has announced a new trio: Revs. C. Hanko,        Course prepared by Rev. Heys. In the meanwhile,
G. Lubbers, and M. Schipper.                                  Jamaicans, heed the words of our Lord Jesus, "Search
   Hudsonville has scheduled a'congregational meeting         the Scriptures..... they are they which testify of me."
for July 19 when they will call a minister from  the,                . . . see you in church                                J.M.F.
following trio: Revs. G. Lanting, G.  Vanden  Berg, and
H. Veldman.                  *  *- *                                  .`_          REPORT OF  CLASSIS  EAST
   Redlands' pastor, Rev. C. Hanko, is gratefully ex-                                   July 6, 1966
periencing recovery from his recent surgery. Rev.                                         At Hudsonville.
and Mrs. Hanko' have received many, many cards and                      Rev. R.C. Harbach led in the opening devotions.
letters from the people of the denomination and are                  After the Classis was constituted, the Rev. G. Lanting
especially appreciative `of this demonstration of the                presided, while the Rev. Harbach recorded the minutes.
                                                                        All the churches were represented by two delegates
communion of saints as it exists in that bond of love                each, and Prof. H.C. Hoeksema and Rev. R. Decker,
that transcends time and distance;
                             *  *`*                                  who were in attendance,  ,were given an advisoryvote.
                                                                        The transcribed minutes of the April Classis were
   Some of our. `young  pe,ople's  societies are in full             read by the Stated Clerk and approved. His report re
swing even though most of them are insummer.  recess.                correspondence, as well as the report of the Classical
Hull's society, in an after recess discussionintroduced              Committee, was filed for information.
by Jerry Brummel and Andy Jansma, treated the ques-                     The brethren Herman Kuiper and Peter Koole were
tion, "At what age should young people make confession               appointed by the chair to serve on the finance committee.
of faith?" South Holland's society was. host to that of                 The Classical Committee was instructed to supply
Oak Lawn July 19; the guests furnishedthe after recess               the .next Classis with -a copy of its constitution.
                                                                        Classical appointments were granted to Hudsonville
p r o g r a m .              *  we                                   and Randolph as follows: HUDSONVILLE: July 17 -
                                                                   Harbach, July 24 - Schipper, July 31- Van Baren, Aug.
   Seminarian D. Kuiper and his wife are spending the                14 - Lanting, Aug. 28 - Lubbers, Sept. 4 - Veldman,
summer in the Isabel-Forbes area, where Mr. Kuiper                   Sept. 11 -Van Baren, Sept. 25  - Schipper, Oct. 2-
is supplying the pulpits.                                            L a n t i n g .
                             *  * *                                     RANDOLPH: July 17 - Lanting, July 24 - Lanting,
   Hull's congregation scheduled their annual picnic                 July -31- Veldman, Aug. 7 - Lubbers, Aug. 28 - Har-
for the 4th of July, and invited  Doon's pastor, Rev. R.           bath, Sept. II-- Schipper, Sept. 18 -Lubbers, Sept. 25
                                                             ":
Decker, to speak. His topic was, "Independence Day".                 - Veldman, Oct. 2 - Van Baren,  Oct. 9 - Harbach.
Proceeds of the canteen were earmarked for "The Re-                     A letter from the Stated Clerk of Synod was read
                                                                     and filed for information.
formed Action Society". *  *  *                                         Two appeals appeared on the agenda of Classis,
                                                                     which Classis decided could not be treated because
   Bulletin Quote  (Oak Lawn's), quoting Chas. Hodge                 the Consistory did not have sufficient time to give a
on the word, "Love": "The word used by the apostle                   final answer to them.
expresses properly the strong natural affection between                 Mr. J. M. Faber was appointed to thank the ladies
parents and children, but is applied also to tender af-              of Hudsonville for, their excellent catering.
fection of any kind. Here, no doubt, the idea is that                   Classis  acck@ed  the invitation of Holland to meet
Christians should love each other with the same sin-                 there next time on the first Wednesday in October.
cerity and tenderness as if they were `the nearest                      Questions of Article 41 of the Church Order were
relatives."                                                          asked and answered satisfactorily.           .
                             * * *                                      After the concept minutes  .were read and approved,
                                                                     and the chairman expressed appreciation for the co- .
   One of the decisions taken at the 1966 Synod was to               operation of the delegates, Classis sang Psalter Number
instruct the Mission Board to draw up plans for a pro-               325, and the Rev. R. Decker of our Doon Church offered
gram of on-the-scene instruction in Jamaica, to be                   the closing prayer of thanksgiving.
submitted to the 1967 Synod. This nebulous promise                                                  M. Schipper, Stated Clerk


