             The
     STANDARD
      ,'                            /jEA/l?Ej?
c             A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE


       The most wise; righteous, and gracious
     God, doth  o.ftentimes  leave for a season His
     own children to manifold temptations, and
     the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise
     them for their former.sins, or to discover unto
     them the hidden strength of corruption, and
     deceitfulness of  their,hearts,  that they may be
     humbled; and to raise them to a more `close
     and constant  dependexe  for their support
     upon Himself, and to `make them more
     watchful against all future occasions of sin,
     and for sundry other just and h,oly ends.

             The  ,Westminster Confession (V,  5)
             See "Faith of our Fathers" - page  378


c                                                 Volume LVI, No. 16, May  15,198O   1


362                                                        THE STANDARD B'EARER


                                                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER
                           CONTENTS:                                                                          ISSN 0362-4692
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MEDIkA TIO N


                                               Jesus is the! Christ
                                                                     C. Hanko :


                @es. Why is he called Christ, that is anointed? '
                Arts. Because he is ordained of God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Ghost, to be
             our chief Prophet and Teacher, who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of
             God concerning our redemption; and to be our only High Priest, who by the one sacrifice of
             his body, has redeemed us, and makes continual intercession with the Father for us; and also
             to be our eternal King, who governs us by his word and Spirit,. and who defends and
             preserves us in (the enjoyment of) that salvation, he has purchased for us.
                                                                                                         Lord's Day 12, question 3 1.

  And in Jesus Christ!                                                       Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son.
  I believe with the church of all ages in God the                               Jesus is my Christ. Jesus is His personal name,
Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in                          Christ is His title. Just as we speak of the prophet


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 363



Elijah, Aaron the high priest, or king David, so we             Prophets spoke of Christ's coming, priests brought
also speak of Jesus, the Christ. For Christ, even as the     their sacrifices as anticipatory atonement for the sins
Hebrew term Messiah, means for us the Anointed, the          of the people, and kings ruled over the theocracy of
Anointed of God. My Savior holds the highest                 Israel as foreshadowing the power and glory of Him
position that anyone can possibly hold, both here on         Who would sit on David's throne with a glory far
earth and in heaven. Our Catechism therefore quite           exceeding that of Solomon. The believing saints
correctly lays emphasis on the fact that no one but          longed to see His day, while inspired poets sang of His
God, no one but the Son of God could hold such an            sufferings and the, glory that `would follow. In the
exalted position by asking: Why is He, the Son of            fulness  of time God sent His Son, born of a woman,
God, called Christ, the Anointed?                            born under the law, to deliver us from the bondage of
  There were prophets, priests, and kings in the old         the law into the glorious liberty of Christ as sons in
dispensation who were anointed as types and shadows          God's House. Zachariah and Elisabeth, Joseph and
of the Anointed of God who was to come. Anointing            Mary, the shepherds and the  wisemen, Simeon and
with aromatic oils symbolized the fact that a man was        Anna worshipped Him at His birth. At the outset of
ordained and chosen of God from eternity to an               His ministry His disciples rejoiced in the fact that
office of prophet, priest, or king. No one might             they had found the promised Messiah. When Nathan-
intrude in that office, nor could he be placed in office     ael met Jesus he confessed in amazement, "Rabbi,
by mere man. He could acquire this rare privilege            thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel."
only by a direct calling from Jehovah, and was               The chosen twelve at first referred to Him as
therefore also qualified for his specific office by the      "Rabbi," but gradually learned to address Him as
Holy Spirit. Rarely was any one chosen and fitted for        "Lord," whereupon they -were ready to make the
more than one office, yet essentially the offices were       good confession, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
actually one, as they became manifest in our Savior,         .living God." After Jesus' resurrection Thomas cries
Jesus Christ.                                                out, "My Lord and my God!" Upon this confession
                                                             Scripture lays its divine seal in I John 4:2, 3, "Hereby
  We must trace this threefold office all the way            know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that
back to Paradise. Adam was created in the `image of          confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of
God in true knowledge as God's prophet, in                   God." And on the other hand, "Every spirit that
righteousness to devote himself to God as God's              confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
priest, and in holiness to serve God with the whole          not of God: and thisis the spirit of antichrist."
earthly creation as God's king. Our first father stood by
his very creation in a covenant relationship to God;God        Christ our Prophet.
was His sovereign Friend and he was God's  friend-             Christ is our Prophet and Teacher who fully reveals
servant. He was called and privileged to stand in the        to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning
midst of all the mighty works of God to devote               our redemption. A prophet must know, must be filled
himself in love to God, to behold the marvels, of all        with and bubble over with the Word of God, saying,
God's handiwork, and thus to glorify God with his            "Thus saith the Lord!" Who could'know better than
whole life and being. He was qualified to rule over the      God Himself Who is infinite truth and knowledge?
animals, to care for the vegetation, and to surrender        Who can know  Gad better than the Son, the exact
the whole of Paradise to the praise of the glory of the      image of the Father? ,And who can reveal the infinite
Creator, Who is blessed forever. What a glorious task        glories, the eternal thoughts and purposes of God
and privilege for Adam, and for Eve as his helper!           better than the Son, Who is the Word, the very
Yet, by their own willful disobedience, they abused          revelation of God Himself? 0, the depths of the
and deprived themselves of these gifts to their own          knowledge and wisdom that caused the Word to
condemnation and misery. The friend-servant of God,          become flesh and to dwell among us, that we may see
mind you, struck up a friendship with the devil,             the glory of the only Begotten of the Father, full of
against God, by transgressing God's commandment.             grace and truth! Even asHe was eternally ordained of
This was a breach of covenant which demanded the             God to be our great Prophet, He was also gifted with
punishment of death. Yet God kept covenant. Adam             the Holy Spirit to speak, not in the foolishness of the
did not seek God, but God sought Adam and Eve,               scribes, but with the power and authority of God,
implanted in them the new life from above, aroused           always revealing the infinite riches of divine grace.
them to an awareness of their horrible transgression,        Many gladly heard Him, for He opened unto them
humbled them in sorrow and repentance, and                   the Scriptures. His disciples clung to Him, saying,
promised to them the CHRIST, the eternally Anoint-           "Thou hast the words of eternal life." Even now
ed Friend-Servant of God, to be their and our great          upon His ascension He still speaks from heaven
Prophet, exalted Highpriest, and sovereign King, our         through His Word and Spirit. His sheep hear His voice
Savior and our Lord forever and ever!                        and they come to Him to follow Him. He is their


364                                               THE STANDARD  BEARER


Bread and Water of life, their Way as their Truth and         God sees us in Christ as clothed in the righteousness
Life, even their Resurrection and their eternal               merited for us on the cross, without spot or wrinkle,
fellowship with the Father. For we shall see God face         as j God's beloved. Our Savior prays for us, and the
to face, in the face of Jesus Christ, to behold His           Father gladly hears Him. In answer to His prayers
glory and to enjoy His covenant fellowship forever.           God bestows on Christ every spiritual blessing, which
  Christ our High priest.                                     He, in turn, pours out upon us according to our every
                                                              need. Also our prayers ascend before the throne as a
  A high priest must be characterized by loving               sweet smelling savor in the nostrils of God, because
devotion to God and by mercy toward God's people.             they are sanctified through our Mediator Who
Our High priest testified already through the Psalmist        presents those prayers, in His Name, before the
of old,                                                       Father. Also Jesus pleads, "Father, I will that they
           The off'ring on the altar burned                   also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I
             Gives no delight to Thee;                        am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast
           The hearing ear, the willing heart,                given me" (John 17: 14).
             Thou givest unto Me.                                He is also our King.
           Then, 0 my God, I come, I come,                       h king must have power and authority to rule.
             Thy purpose to fulfill;                          According to the promise, He is the Seed of  the.
           Thy law is written in my heart,                    woman who enters into the citadel of the prince of
             `Tis joy to do Thy will.                         this world to crush his vile and wicked head. From
                              (Ps. 40, Psalter No. 109).      the moment of His birth the Christ of God marches
  At twelve years of age our Savior amazed the                triumphantly toward His victory in glory. Even as
doctors of theology in the temple with His knowledge          David fought the battles of the Lord, the greater
of the Scriptures, but also amazed His mother with            David destroys all the powers of darkness to subdue
His devotion to His God by saying,"Wist ye not that           them all unto Himself forever. To the amazement of
I must be about My Father's business?" At Jesus'              His disciples, winds and waves obey Him, devils
baptism the voice from. heaven declared Him fully             tremble and flee before Him, sickness and death lose
qualified for the task which was laid upon Him by             their power before Him. At the moment when His
saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well            enemies think that they have triumphed over Him by
pleased." We can appreciate the fact that our                 putting Him to death He declares His victory over
Catechism lays such a strong emphasis here on the             them and His accomplished work of salvation by
redemptive death of Christ. Especially when we hear           crying out: "It is finished!" God sealed His victory by
drummed into our ears from" every side that God               sending His persecutors on their way beating their
loves all men, even at the expense of His justice, we         breasts and putting' all their vain boasts to shame,
enjoy the glad tidings of the gospel coming to us from        even filling them with terror by raising Christ from
the fathers, speaking once more of our guilt and debt         the dead and exalting Him to the highest heavens.
of sin that had to be borne away by-our Savior. We            Every knee must bow and every tongue must confess
who are slaves of sin are redeemed, set free, made            that He is Lord of lords and King of kings forever and
sons in God's house by the redeeming sacrifice for            ever !
our sins upon the cross. This lies in the secret counsel         Our Christ rules over heaven, hell, the nations and
and will of God, our fathers tell us, and is now made         the peoples, and even over every creature that stirs to
known to us by God's dear Son, our Savior, so that            our salvation. He is for us, so that nothing can be
we may enjoy the salvation He has purchased for us            against us. He assures us: "Behold, I come quickly,
with a joy unspeakable and full of glory!                     and my reward is with me!" More than conquerors
  Our High priest is now in heaven, where He makes            are we in Jesus Christ, our eternal `Prophet, Priest, and
continual intercession for us with the Father. Every          King in the heavens, to Whom be the glory forever
moment day and night Christ stands before the face            and ever.
of God as God's delight, and as our righteousness.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER;                                                       365


EDITORIALS                                                           I
ProJ: H.  C. Hoeksema





                                          The Study Report
                                     on the Boer Grav;imen

  At long last the Report of the Study Committee on         look at the conclusion. Here are the final recom-
the Boer Gravamen has become available, and it              mendations of the Study Committee, quoted from
appears in the 1980 Agenda for Synod of the                 page 401 of the Agenda:
Christian Reformed Church.                                      VI. RECOMMENDATIONS:
  The reader will probably recall that the Boer                    1. That synod give the privilege of the floor to the
Gravamen was directed against the doctrine of                   following representatives of the study committee
reprobation as taught in the Canons of Dordrecht,               when; this report is discussed: the chairman, B.
I/A/6 and I/A/l 5. Dr. Boer demands in his gravamen             Nederlof; the reporter, A. Hoekema; and other
that this doctrine be "exscinded from or become a               members of the committee who may be available at
nonbinding part  ,of the creeds of the Christian                the ti@e.
Reformed Church." He bases his demand - in which                   2. IThat  synod do not accede to the request made
he expresses himself viciously against the doctrine of          in Dr; Harry Boer's Confessional-Revision Gravamen:
reprobation  - on the claim that the Canons do not              namely, that "the doctrine of reprobation ought . . .
furnish the "express testimony of Scripture" in                 to be: exscinded from or become a nonbinding part of
support of this doctrine which they claim there is. To          the creeds of the Christian. Reformed Church"
back up his claim, he treats every text furnished by            (Gravamen, p. 330).
the Canons; and he claims to have shown conclusively               Grounds:
that none of these texts supports the teaching of the              a.  jThe Canons of Dort do not teach what the
Canons. He concludes, therefore, that unless the                          gravamen erroneously understands the doctrine
Synod of the Christian Reformed Church can furnish                   iof reprobation to be: namely, a decree by
other Scriptural proofs, unknown to him, they'must                   imeans of which God is the cause of man's
needs repudiate the doctrine of reprobation taught in                unbelief, and by means of which God has from
the Canons or declare it nonbinding.                                 ieternity consigned certain human beings to
                                                                     .damnation  apart from any merit or demerit on
  This Boer Gravamen was assigned to a study                         itheir part.
committee in 1977. The committee consisted of nine                 b. /The Scriptures do teach a doctrine of election
members, three of whom are professors at Calvin                      ;and reprobation, in that they teach that some
Seminary (Anthony A. Hoeksema, Bastiaan Van                          ,but not all have been elected to eternal life.
Elderen, Henry Zwaanstra) and one of whom is a                     3.  :That synod' recommend this report to the
professor at Calvin College (Nicholas P. Wolterstorff).         churches for study.
This committee was to "receive the reactions of
individuals, consistories, and classes, to study the               4. iThat synod refer this report for information to
gravamen in the light of Scripture, and to advise the           the churches which are in ecclesiastical fellowship
                                                                with jthe Christian Reformed Church, and to the
Synod of 1980 as to the cogency of the gravamen and             churches which belong to the Reformed Ecumenical
how it should further be dealt with by Synod." The              Synod.
committee reports (without divulging or summarizing
contents) that 50 reactions were received from                     5. iThat synod discharge the committee.
individuals, consistories, and classes. It then proceeds      Yau  wiill see immediately that the meat of the
with its own analysis and critique of the Boer              recommendations  .appears to be in point 2. It also
Gravamen.                                                   appears that the Study Committee does not agree
  Let me satisfy the reader's curiosity immediately         with the Boer Gravamen, and therefore does not want
by doing what I always do first with a study report:        the Canons' doctrine of reprobation cut out of the


366                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


Canons or declared nonbinding. The grounds are, first        mittee in leaving the impression of agreement with
of all, that the Boer Gravamen misinterprets and/or          th" Canons, but meanwhile agreeing totally with the
misunderstands what the Canons actually teach about          furidamental position of Dr. Boer. The final recom-
reprobation. Secondly, the grounds refer to Scripture.       mendation, read superficially, leaves an altogether
   Taken at face value and without reference to the          false and deceitful impression. A careful reading of
body of the Study Report, this is a recommendation           the body of the report brings out the fundamental
which ought to gain the support of most, if not all, of      agqeement of the Study Committee and Dr. Boer.
the delegates to Synod, whether they are for or              Thky arrive at the same destination, but by different
against the doctrine of reprobation. It is designed to       roa`ds.
satisfy the opponents of the doctrine of reprobation,           This I will prove by referring to certain key
first of all. For it expresses that the Canons do not ac-    sections of the Study Report. I wish I could quote
tually teach that dreadful doctrine which Dr. Boer           the Report in its entirety, but this is impossible
understands them to teach. Besides, the recommenda-          because of its length. I will refer to the report at
tion says nothing directly or indirectly about Dr.           length. It follows the outline below:
Boer's criticism of the Scriptural proofs offered by
the Canons. Hence, Dr. Boer and those agreeing with             f3. Outline of the Report
him ought apparently to be satisfied. Or will they be           I. Introduction
satisfied? Will men like Boer and Daane be willing to                   A. The Mandate
swallow the idea that they have never understood                        B. Outline of the Report
the thrust of `the Canons with respect to reproba-                      C. The Gravamen
tion? Especially when they have the backing of                          D. Correspondence
numerous Dutch theologians and even of the Synod                        E. Other Materials
of the Gerefomeerde Kerken?                                             F. The Work of the Committee.
  On the other hand, the report is designed to                     II. The Teaching of the Canons on Election and'
placate those who disagree with Dr. Boer and who                : Reprobation
                                                                        A. The Historical Background of the Synod of
claim (to one degree or another) to want to maintain                    Dort
the Canons. In the first place, the recommendation                      B. A New Translation of I, 6 and I, 15
does not uphold Dr. Boer, but apparently wants to                       C. Comments about Reprobation Made-by the
retain the Canons. In the second place, it suggests                     Delegates to the Synod of Dort
(without actually saying it or meaning to say it) that                  D. An Analysis of the Canons, with Specific
the Scriptural proofs are correct. Actually it only                     Reference to Their Teaching on Reprobation
states that the Scriptures do teach a doctrine of               III. The Gravamen
election and reprobation  - a statement with which                      A. An Historical Evaluation of the Gravamen
everyone can agree,, be he Boerian, Daanian, Dortian,                   B. The Meaning of the Expression, "the express
Arminian, Barthian, or Berkouwerian.                                    testimony of sacred Scripture"
                                                                        C. An Analysis of the Gravamen
  Only time will tell what the  reaaction of the
Christian Reformed Synod will be, and whether                   I IV. The Scriptural Basis
everybody, anybody, or nobody will be satisfied with                    A. Scripture Passages Adduced by the Delegates
this very clever recommendation.                                        to the Synod of Dort
                                                                        B. An Analysis of the Scripture Passages Dealt
  I call it "clever" because behind the recommenda-                     With in the Gravamen
tion lies a lengthy report of some 60 to 70 pages in                    C. Other Scriptural Material Which Is Relevant
which it becomes very plain that the Study Com-                         to the Question at Issue
mittee is in fundamental agreement with Dr. Boer.                  V. The Continued Functioning of the Canons in
  Amazing?                                                      the Church
                                                                        A. The Binding Character of the Canons
  I `found it amazing, too. In fact, when I went back                   B. The Canons and Preaching
and studied the report, I marvelled at the adroit
intellectual gymnastics displayed by the Study Com-                VI. Recommendations

                                         The Study Report,
                          the Boer Gravamen,; and Scripture
  You will recall that the thrust of Dr. Boer's              express testimony of Scripture in support of their
Gravamen is the claim that the Canons produce no.            doctrine of reprobation. Dr. Boer recognizes, indeed,


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER:                                                        367


that the Canons cite various Scripture passages in              grace, and love; and (2) those not selected have
connection with reprobation; but it is exactly his              disqualified themselves through their sins. On the one
claim that these passages do not prove what they are            hand, God could exercise his sovereignty as a potter
supposed to prove. Hence, he devotes a large part of            exercises control over the clay he manipulates. In
his gravamen to an attempt to prove the latter point.           fact, God even did so in the history of Israel in his use
Dr. Boer produces his own exegesis of the various               .of Pharaoh. However, this gives man no occasion to
texts adduced by the Canons; and in every instance              challenge or blame God. On the other hand, in all of
                                                                his dealings with mankind, both with the elect
he claims to have demonstrated that the Canons are              (vessels; of mercy) and the nonelect (vessels of wrath),
wrong and he is right. The passages dealt with by Boer          he exercises great long-suffering and mercy.
are the following: Acts 15: 18, Eph. 1: 11, Rom. 9: 20,
Matt.  20:15, Rom.  11:33-36, Rom.  9:.18, Matt.            Notice the statements: 1) "those not selected have
13:11,Matt.   11:25-26, Rom. 9:11-13.                       disqualified themselves through their sins." 2) "On
                                                            the other !hand, in all of his dealings with mankind,
  Now the Study Report really did not have to deal          both with the elect (vessels of mercy) and the
with this exegetical question, since the main thrust of     nonelect  (vessels of wrath), he exercises great
its report is that Dr. Boer misinterprets the teaching      long-suffering and mercy."
of the Canons on reprobation. Boer, according to the           By the way, notice that above the vessels of wrath
Study Committee, imputes to the Canons a doctrine           are designated as nonelect. And then take note of the
which they do not actually teach. In other words, his       following  iinterpretation  of Romans  9:22-23 in the
whole gravamen was, so to speak, a tempest in a             committee's paraphrase or expanded translation of
teapot.                                                     this passage, p, 382:
  Nevertheless, the Study Report deals at length with              In conclusion, an expanded translation of 9:22-23
all of the passages of Scripture with which Dr. Boer            would be: "Since God, although desiring to show his
deals in his Gravamen.                                          wrath and to make known his power, has endured
                                                                with much patience vessels of wrath who had
  And what is the outcome?                                      prepared themselves for destruction, how much more
  In one of the introductory remarks of this section            will he not be gracious to his chosen ones in order to
                                                                make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of
the Study Report states: "It only intends, in this              mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory?"
section of the report, to point out that in the exegesis        To be observed here is that God is not responsible for
of Scripture passages there are in some cases                   the vessels of wrath - for if he had made them vessels
considerations which are not fully honored either by            of wrath, what would be the point of his dealing
Boer or by the Canons." This sounds as though the               patiently with them? On the contrary, he does endure
committee assesses some blame on both Boer and the              them with much patience. However, God has himself
Canons.                                                         prepared the vessels of mercy for glory, both from
                                                                the Jews and from the Gentiles.
  However, the fact is that on every significant point
the Report agrees with Dr. Boer, sometimes stating            One more example from this section. This concerns
this in so many words. And on no significant point          the matter, of hardening as it occurs both in Remans
does the Report disagree with Dr. Boer. In some             9:17, 18  iand Romans  11:25-26. Note how the
instances they almost out-Boer Dr. Boer in their zeal       Scriptures  jare twisted to teach that this hardening
not to find a doctrine of sovereign reprobation in          was temporary and revocable and it had a redemptive
these passages of Scripture.                                purpose. This is sufficient to make one rub his eyes in
                                                            disbelief, p: 383:
  Permit me to document my evaluation.
  The Study Committee begins this section of its                  It is m the light of this foregoing discussion that
                                                               the  concept of hardening must be seen. The Jews who
report with a rather lengthy discussion of Romans              were cut off were hardened (11:7,  25). God hardens
9-l 1 in general. Already in this section they make it         the hearts of whomever he wills  (9:18). This
plain that they agree with Dr. Boer that there is no           hardening, to be sure, is not an arbitrary or despotic
doctrine of reprobation taught here. On page 380 we            act of God. The hardening of the Jews is subsequent
find the following paragraph:                                  to  thei sins and unbelief.  Pharaoh's heart  &as
                                                               hardened. However, these examples of hardening had
      The second question Paul answers with a theo-            a redemptive purpose (9:17; 11:25-26).  This harden-
   logical argument. The sovereignty of God, which             ing was temporary and revocable. If any hardened
   defines God as God, grants him the right to deal with       Jews discontinue in their  .unbelief, they can be
   his people as he pleases. This sovereignty, however,        grafted back into the tree (11:23). This reaffirms the
   must not be construed in a crass or despotic way.           well-meant offer of the gospel: in every proclamation
   Rather, two considerations must be kept in perspec-         and invitation of that gospel, the possibility of
   tive regarding this: (1) God's selection is an act of       acceptance by the hearers is an open one.


368                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



  Turning now to specific  passages  treated by Boer,                         suggests is a proper interpretation of this concept, as
we find,  First of all-a treatment-of Acts 15: 18. The                       : indicated in the interpretation of Romans 9-l 1 given
Study Report agrees with Dr. Boer, as is, plain from                         j above. Hence, it is improper to cite "having mercy"
the following paragraph, p. 384:                                             I and "hardening" as "firmly decreed" in Romans
                                                                             : 9: 18, as is done in the Rejection of Errors, I, 8.
          As a proof text for the eternality of God's decree,
       this inferior text does not establish a decree of                Also on Romans  11:33-36  the committee is in
       reprobation. However, the preferred  .text of Acts             agreement with Boer, p. 387:
       15: 18, cited above, does not teach the eternality of                 To cite Romans  11:33-36 as referring to the
       God's decree, but rather refers to the Lord's action of                "mysteries" of election and reprobation is improper.
       revealing his activities to his people - in fact, not all             / This doxology is an expression of faith and hope for
       his activities, but only those referred to in the                 I the believer as he reflects upon his election.
       immediate context. Hence, according to the preferred             When it comes to Matt. 13: 11 the committee's
       text Acts 15: 18 does not teach anything regarding
       God's eternal decree, and according to the inferior            treatment is rather long and technical. And since we
       text it only refers to the eternality of God's decree          ha$e already quoted at length, we will not quote their
       and not specifically to a decree of reprobation.               explanation. We will quote their explanation of Matt.
                                                                      1  lj25-26,  in which they agree with Dr. Boer, as well
          Future translations of the Canons should more               as  :&heir concluding statement in this section, where
       clearly indicate that an inferior reading of Acts 15: 18
       is being cited in I, 6.                                        they  expr'ess  that Boer is correct, p. 388:
                                                                         1       Matthew 11:25-26 is Jesus' prayer of thanksgiving
  With regard to Eph. 1: 11 the Study Report again                       : to the Father following the pronouncement of woes
agrees with Dr. Boer's criticism of the Canons' use of                   upon Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. It is
this passage, p. 384:                                                         followed by a discussion of the relation of the Father
          This doxology in Ephesians 1:3-14 eulogizes God's              ; to the Son in verse 27, and by the familiar "come
       redemptive work. The focus is on God's election                   unto me . .  ." in verses 28-30. The Rejection of
       (1:4) of the Ephesians, on -their foreordination (1:5,           i Errors, I, 8 quotes Matthew 11:25-26 to distinguish
       ll), and on the revelation of the mystery of his will                  the "wise and understanding" from the "babes" as if
       to them (1:9). The doxology makes no reference to                 I the former were the reprobate and the latter were the
       the unredeemed ("reprobate") or their lot.                             elect. However, to identify the two groups in
          Apparently the Canons consider that "all things"               ' Matthew 11:25-26 as two fixed groups is question-
       in 1: 11 must include reprobation. Dr. Boer rightly               ' able. Entrance into the kingdom is through humility
       challenges this assumption, since the passage deals              : ("becoming as a child"). The "wise and understand-
       only `with the elect. Furthermore, the term "all                       ing" must humble himself as a "babe" - the childlike
       things" is completely enclosed by concepts referring             and innocent state of an initiate in the faith (cf. Matt.
       to election and the calling of the elect. Ephesians              :  18:3). The contrast is not in terms of two fixed
       1: 11 introduces the second formulation of the reason            I groups but rather in terms of two conditions which
       motivating this doxology. The two formulations 1:4               : can be found in one individual.
       and 11) of the reason are closely parallel in content,           !        This revelation to the "babes" is according to the
       structure, and vocabulary. Both refer to the ex-                 "gracious will" (eudokia) of God (11:26).  When used
       perience of the redeemed. Insofar as the Canons in I,            ! of God, this term refers to God's divine favor upon
       6 affirm that God's people are redeemed through                        his chosen ones. Furthermore, the Son chooses those
       grace according to the counsel of God's will, they               to whom he reveals the Father (11:27). No reference
       properly cite Ephesians 1: 11.                                         is here made to those not chosen. At best, Matthew
                                                                        :  11:25-26 refers only to God's gracious attitude
  When it comes to Matthew 20: 15 the committee                               toward his, chosen ones; it does not refer to the
disagrees with Boer at least in part. It states: "To say,               ! nonelect.
as Boer suggests, that the Canons are using this
passage to prove the doctrine of reprobation is false,                           In. conclusion, Dr. Boer has correctly judged that
                                                                        i Matthew 11:25-26 and 13 : 11 do not prove that God
since the Canons here are reacting against the                                decreed (decrevisse) to leave some in condemnation
murmurings of the Arminians who claimed that the                        ' (damnatio) or to pass them by (praeterire).
Reformed view represented God as not dealing
equitably with all men.                                                 IFinally, what about Romans 9: 11-13, the  well-
                                                                      known Jacob-Esau passage? The committee again
  On Romaps 9: 18 the committee agrees with Dr.                       agrees with Dr. Boer that there is no reprobation
Boer. Notice, p. 386:                                                 taught here. Two quotations will suffice. The first is
          As was shown earlier, the salvation-history or              as .follows, p. 3 89:
       Heilsgeschichte approach to Romans 9-l 1 is a valid                       It must be observed that the Canons rightly use
       and preferred interpretative framework for these                 : Romans 9: 11-13  in I, 10 to substantiate the doctrine
       chapters. Furthermore, the focus on the historical                     of election. It is also noteworthy that this passage was
       and limited dimension of "`hardening" which Boer                 not used elsewhere in the Canons to substantiate the


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER;                                              369



   doctrine of reprobation. Boer rightly objects to a            Scripture; passages in question, and that the Canons
   popular use of the Esau reference to support                  do not adduce express testimony of Scripture in
   reprobation.                                                  support of their doctrine of reprobation. Ground: the
  The second statement is this:                                  Study Report demonstrates that the Canons' use of
   . . . The passage does not motivate this attitude of God      the various Scripture passages in question is incorrect.
   (His great displeasure regarding Esau, HCH), but from           In the `second place, it ought to be plain from this
   the context it is clear that God's attitude is a              that when in ground "b" of its second recom-
   consequence of the unbelief and rebellion of  `the            mendation the report speaks of the fact that "The
   sinner @au) and is not due to an eternal decree. On           Scriptures do teach a doctrine of election and
   the other hand, the context clearly indicates that            reprobation. . . ," it  does not refer to the Scriptures
   God's love for the elect (Jacob) is motivated by his
   grace and kindness, but by the actions of the                 which  thie Canons use. For these, according to the
   individual.                                                   committee, do not, speak of reprobation.
                                                                    In the third place, this raises the question:
  There you have it! The committee agrees with Dr.               precisely what does the committee understand by
Boer and has effectively gotten rid of all the                   reprobation? In answer to this question, it is my
Scriptural underpinning of the doctrine of reproba-              contention that the committee has no real doctrine of
tion which the Canons adduce.                                    reprobation left, that it really believes only in single
  They might at least have been gracious enough to               predestination, not the Reformed doctrine of double
add another point to their recommendations, some-                predestination. But this is a long story, and I have
what along the following lines: That  Synqd declare              already used more than my usual space. With this
that Dr. Boer is correct in his exegesis of the                  question we shall deal, D.V., in the next issue.


THE LORD GAVE THE WORD




                      Missions and the Lo&al Church
                                                    ProJ: Robert D. Decker



  In their Church Polity generally and with respect              mission work of the churches, but the local churches
to Mission work in particular the Protestant Re-                 have very; little if any direct contact with the mission
formed Churches from their beginning have always                 work. Although the pendulum may have swung
attempted to steer a course between  two dangerous               toward the one or the other of these through the
errors. These errors are: independentism and hier-               years (some of our leaders feel that the churches are
archy with its "synodical boardism." Concerning                  going in the direction of independentism today) it is
mission work the question is, who must do the work?              fair to say that the Protestant Reformed Churches
According to those who favor independentism the                  have consistently avoided both of these. No one
local congregations do missions. quite independently             really wants independentism and certainly no one
of each other. Each congregation has its own mission             wants hierarchy. There has always been close coop-
program. Those who favor hierarchy insist that the               eration among the local congregations. After 1924
Synod must strictly regulate and operate the mission             the churches organized a denomination along Biblical
program of the churches.  Synodical committees or                and Reformed lines just as soon as that became
boards select the fields, supervise the missionaries,            possible  in order that a Seminary could be maintained
assign the missionaries, and administer the finances             and mission work done, etc. That the churches want
involved. Under this arrangement there is strong                 no part of hierarchy is evident in their very name. We
central control and often efficient management of the            are not the Protestant Reformed Church in America


370                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



but the Protestant Reformed Churches (plural) in              When the local church is involved in the mission
America.                                                      work,,it  brings the work much closer to the hearts of
  The question remains, however, who must do the              thei people of God. They know the field and the
mission work, synod or each local church? The                 missionaries. They are aware of the problems and
answer is, both. Scripture teaches, and we believe,           difficulties encountered by the missionaries. They
that missions is the work of the local church in              share firs&hand in the joy of the missionaries when,
cooperation with its sister churches of the denomina-         as a fruit of the preaching, the elect are gathered and
tion. To put it concretely, God calls First Grand             a church is established. In this way they are enabled
Rapids to do mission work and He also calls Hope of           to pray the more fervently and knowledgeably for the
Redlands, California to do mission work. But neither          missionary and the field. In this way too they are able
First nor  Redlands may do that work independently            to encourage and assist the missionary more readily in
of the other churches of the denomination. By the             his ineed. Synodically run missions tend to remove the
same token, missions may not be done by a Synodical           fields and missionaries from the people of God, and
committee (board) apart from the local churches.              all  ,these things become rather vague and nebulous.
Mission work according to Scripture and our Church            Besides, it is much easier to mobilize a smaller group
Qrder (including the Questions for Church Visitation)         behind the cause than a larger group. In addition,
must be done by the local congregation in coopera-            there is much which the local church can do and
tion with its sister churches in the denomination.            ought to do in its own area. Radio broadcasts of
                                                              differing formats (one of the worship services,
  There are at least two grounds upon which this              preaching like the Reformed Witness Hour, Question
truth rests. The first is that it is only the local church    and Answer, etc.) can be sponsored. Rallies at the
which is authorized to preach the gospel, administer          time of Reformation Day and lectures can be held.
the sacraments, and exercise Christian discipline.            These ought to be advertised well in advance. Tracts
Only the local church may call a minister or a                and pamphlets can be published and distributed in
missionary. The local church with its threefold office        public places, in libraries, or mailed. Personal contacts
of Christ (minister, elder, deacon) is a complete             with area residents can be made. Even the smaller
manifestation of the Body of Christ in a particular           churches of the denomination can do these things.
locale. To each such manifestation of Christ's Body           But, whatever the method, the Word must be
comes the word, "Go ye into all the world, and                preached, and that may only be done by the institute
preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16: 15).           of the church of Christ.
No  classis and no synod may preach the Word and
administer the sacraments. Synods may not. call and             This mission work done by the local church must
ordain missionaries. Only the local church may do             be done in cooperation with the sister churches of the
that. The task of missions, which is essentially the          denomination. Sister churches of the denomination
preaching of the gospel, belongs to the institute of          have the sacred obligation to seek one another's
the church of Jesus Christ.                                   fellowship in the truth, to help and assist one another
  This ground is in harmony with the principle of the         in the calling to preach the gospel, and to work in
"autonomy of the local church." This principle,               concert to accomplish those tasks which each by
affirmed by the General Synod of the Gereformeerde            itself is unable to do. A Theological School must be
Kerken of Middleburg  (1896), has always been                 maintained so that the churches are supplied with
jealously guarded by the Protestant Reformed                  ministers and missionaries, contacts must be nurtured
Churches. This is Biblical and, therefore, Reformed.          with foreign churches of like faith, churches must be
The Apostle Paul and Barnabas were not called by a            assisted in the work of missions. This is the Biblical
synod to go on that first missionary journey. The             way. The churches of the early New Testament lived
Holy Spirit worked through the Church at Antioch:             and worked this way. When Jerusalem's poor church
"Now there were in the church that was at Antioch             was in need, the Apostle Paul collected money from
certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and               all  ! the churches to help in that need. There was
Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene,           constant contact and communication among the
and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod              churches. When a problem arose concerning the
the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the             circumcision of the Gentile converts (a problem
Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me            which strikingly enough arose out of mission work!),
Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have               a conference of church leaders was called in
called them. And when they had fasted and prayed,             Jerusalem to resolve the difficulty. (Cf. Acts 15)
and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.              Practical considerations of various sorts make
So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost,                  cooperation among the churches advisable but even
departed . . ." (Acts 13: l-4).                               necessary. Some fields, many perhaps, are too large
  There are practical considerations in this respect.         and: complicated for any one church to handle by


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER'                                                 371



itself. If there were no cooperation, smaller con-            of the churches in common. 2. To find possible fields
gregations would be limited in their ability to carry        and .recommend them to the churches. 3. As part of
out the mission mandate. Still more, the churches in         its regulation of the mission work of the churches in
common have a responsibility to use their mutual              common,: to advise a calling church with regard to all
gifts, talents, resources, and manpower in the work of       matters concerning the labor and field of activity
preaching the gospel at home and abroad.                      connected with the appointment and maintenance of
                                                             a missionary. In case of disagreements which cannot
  We conclude then that the local church, in                 be resolved the final disposition shall be left to
cooperation with the sister churches of the denomina-        Synod . . . I. 6. To advise the calling church with regard
tion, has the calling to do the work of missions.            to the organization of a new congregation. . .  ."
Where there is cooperation among the congregations,          Article seven reads: "Although the local church has
needless and harmful duplication of efforts can be           the calling. to perform the work of missions, Synod
avoided. The Synod through its mission committees            regulates the mission work of the churches in
must search for fields where God has opened a door           common through its mission committee, working
for the churches. It must coordinate the work, and it        closely with. the local consistory. The relationship
must serve the churches with advice and counsel. In          between the local church and the Mission Committee
this way the work will be done by the institute of the       will mean: 1. That the local church and the mission
church and the entire denomination will be involved          committee will work closely together to determine a
in a meaningful way. The Gospel will go forth                field of labor, the time of labor, and the method of
wherever God out of His goodpleasure sends it. And,          labor to be employed. 2. That the decision of the
the evils of independentism and hierarchy will be            local calling church regarding the field of labor, the
avoided.                                                     time of labor, and the method of labor, is to receive
  This is clearly delineated in the Constitution of the      the approval of the mission committee. In no case
Domestic Mission Committee of the Protestant                 shall the  :field of labor, the time of labor, and the
Reformed Churches. (Cf. Acts of Synod, 1977, pp.             method o,f labor be determined without the advice of
32ff.) Article Four of this constitution reads: "The         the Mission Committee. . . . 4. The missionary shall
duties of the Mission Committee are: 1. To carry out         send a copy of his bi-monthly report to the calling
all mandates of Synod that pertain to mission activity       church." :


TRANSLATED TREASURES


                            Pamphlet Concerning the
                       Reformation of the Churches
                                                   Dr. A. Kuyper       :



            (Kuyper has been talking about the particular work of the individual office bearers. He has
            discussed up to this point the office of the ministry of thi Word and the office of elders. In
            the following two paragraphs he turns to the work of prcifessors of theology and the work
            of deacons.)


24. What Is to Be Said Of Professors.                        stated there that the Lord has set some to be apostles
  The question if there is, alongside of the office of       and some evangelists, but then it follows: some
preacher, elder, and deacon, yet a fourth office, that       pastors and teachers. If it said: some to' pastors and
of Doctor or Professor in the church of God, is not to       some to teachers, then the matter would be decided.
be decided by an appeal to Ephesians 4: 1. Indeed it is      Now it is not. Our Confession, in Articles 30 and 31,


372                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



knows only three offices, and indeed there are four             deacon holds an office, a royal office conferred on
offices spoken of in the Church Order of Dort,                  him by Christ, in the same way as the minister of the
Article 2. But first of all the Church Order must be            Word and the elder. To say that deacons work in
explained according to the Confession, not the                  material things and are thus lower than preachers and
Confession according to the Church Order. And                   elders who labor in the spiritual realm is a false
secondly, the church, also after 16 19, has not gone in         distinction which falls away as soon as the office of
the direction of an ecclesiastical professorial office.         the diaconate is considered in its highest significance.
On this ground it must be recognized that the office            The diaconate is the office of Christian love; and just
of professor is still in a state of change and only by          as  ithe Lord Christ, during His sojourn on earth,
degrees shall come to its own through a further                 performed two kinds of divine work, first the
development of ecclesiastical circumstances. With               preaching of the, gospel to check sin, and secondly,
that further development, the following ought to be             relieving the misery of the sick and hungry to break
consi'dered  as a rule: 1) That the ecclesiastical              the consequences of sin, so also the deacons must
professorial office is completely distinct from the             stand alongside of the presbytery to manifest the
university titles granted to graduated persons. 2) That         ministry of divine mercy alongside of the ministry of
the ecclesiastical title of professor is never a bare title,    the divine Word. The diaconate must thus by no
but is really an office, having as its purpose to train         means end in collecting and distributing to needy
prospective ministers of the Word, to -expound                  persons, but it ought gradually to develop as the
scientifically the truth, and to defend the truth which         glorious instrument of the `-church for Christian
the church confesses against heresy. The purpose of             philanthropy. The care of orphans and widows, of
this office is for one of these three or for all together.      aged and sick, of blind and idiots, of insane and
3) That such professors be placed in ecclesiastical             incurably sick, yes indeed of prisoners and itinerant
seminaries, preferably at the same time retaining               strangers, etc., lies also upon the deacons. And while
some part of the work of the ministry of the Word. 4)           in this way they have to help the miserable who are
That such ecclesiastical professors receive a place in          the: Lord's to support and comfort them, not only
the consistory of their church and have an advisory             with money and goods, but also with spiritual
vote on  Classis and Synod. 5) That they are not                comfort, they have to work spiritually in the con-
eligible for election to professor until after a proper         gregation to teach the people to give. The giving of
examination of studies and godliness. And 6) that               money is for the selfish and greedy man a spiritual act
these ecclesiastical professors are designated for their        unto which only grace equips him and which also
office by the church and installed in their office              brings him grace. So also deacons are lacking in
either by the consistory if they are locally called, or if      devotion to duty towards the congregation if they do
they are appointed for an ecclesiastical seminary, by           not, teach the people to give. Thus, far from dis-
the  Classis or Synod which has established this                daining the diaconate as a purely natural office, it
seminary.                                                       ought to be honored as a highly spiritual office even
  Professors in theology at universities, i.e., `not at         though nowadays it is operated in almost no church
ecclesiastical seminaries but at independent and non-           according to this requirement.
ecclesiastical scientific'institutions, can be appointed          Deaconesses hold no office, but are to be con-
by the consistory of their own town to be at the same           sidered as helpers to deacons. They must ,be honored
time ecclesiastical professors; but they are not auto-          as such in each church because the love of Christ for
matically professors. It is most advisable for such             the miserable cannot come to its own unless it has
universities that they, before the appointment of               also feminine tenderness as its instrument.
their professors in theology, invoke the cooperation              The ones who hold this office must be chosen by
of the church in such a way that to these professors            the i congregation even as the ministers and elders, but
the ecclesiastical office is given and to the church is         must be called and ordained by their fellow office
given the supervision over those who rule this office.          bearers in the same way as was described in connec-
25. What Is the Work Of the Deacons In the. Church              tion with ministers of the Word and elders. The
Of Christ.                                                      requirements for their office are first of all spiritual;
  The office of deacons was already partly corrupted            but  I as soon as the indispensable requirements of
in the old Christian Church. It was entirely corrupted          uprightness and godliness are met, the requirement of
in the Romish Church. At the. time of the Refor-                a certain position in daily life is necessary so that
mation it was only partly restored to honor. It was             their souls are not in danger by managing money and
only partly restored to honor because the Lutheran              so that trust ,in them remains unshaken.
Church dropped it entirely. But it was also only                  Whether they must be ordained in conformity with
partly restored because even in the Reformed Church             Acts  6:9, with the laying on of hands, is uncertain.
it never came to proper and full development. A                 `Ueti it seems certain from the laying on of hands by


                                              THE STANDARD BEARE'R                                                373



the apostles on the first deacons that their office          no doubt about the manner in which this conflict
must not be slighted in worthiness in relation to other      must  b:e resolved. From the clear fact that our
offices.                                                     Reformed Churches, after their first troubles, did not
                                                             permit `deacons on the  Classis or Synod, it appears
  If then, in connection with the broader develop-           that the diaconate was not recognized as a unique
ment of the ecclesiastical diaconate, individuals            ecclesiastical body. Indeed, they ought to have a seat
should devote their entire effort to this office, there      in the plenary council where all the office bearers
is nothing against the idea of providing such deacons,       come together to represent the congregation. But if
just as preachers, with a livelihood for themselves and      they have a part in the government of the church in
their families, provided that the money for this is not      the villages, this is because of the small number of
taken from the benevolent funds, but is provided by          elders whose deficiency they supply. On the other
the church.                                                  hand, we do not agree with those who permit the
       The question is much debated whether the              deacons; to have no greater part in the calling of elders
deacons have a part in the government of the church.         and deacons than the members of the congregation.
The practice in our Reformed Churches was common-            This must not be. An office is an office. And also the
ly that in almost one thousand of the eleven hundred         deacons: sit in the council of the church as office
congregations the deacons did have a part in such            bearers. j
government, namely, in all country congregations and            Another question which we touch on only lightly
in the very small villages; and that, therefore, on the      is: whether just as Classis and Synod are gatherings of
other hand, in about one hundred congregations the           many churches which are busy with all things
deacons formed a separate body and only voted in             concerning the rule in the churches, so also deacons
the calling of office bearers and in the material affairs    from different churches ought to come together in a
of the council of the church. From this arises  .the         like manner to be busy with the matters which
seeming conflict between the Confession which in             concern i the poor. For the arrangement of the care of
Article, 30 combines the deacons, elders, and min-           orphans: in small villages, for the. care of the sick,
isters in one consistory, and our Formula of Subscrip-       idiots, lunatics, blind, strangers, etc., such a coopera-
tion which distinguishes the body of deacons from            tion in a classical meeting of the diaconate appears to
the meetings of ministers and elders. And still there is     be all the more indispensable.


MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE



                                      Letter to Timothy


                                          May 15,198O        picture i the life of the child of God with respect to
Dear Timothy,                                                sin. That is, we must discuss, not the relation between
  In our discussion of the conscience, we were               the child of God and sin in general, but the relation
talking in our last letter of the "searing of the            between! sin and the conscience of the child of God.
conscience" and how that takes place. We discussed             To do;-this we must understand clearly what sin is
how, from man's point of view, he silences the voice         like and! what the power of sin really is in our lives.
of his conscience so that it no longer speaks to him;        We believe, because the Scriptures teach it, the truth
and we talked about how, from God's point of view,           of total  :depravity.  This is not, however, an abstract
God punishes sin and hardens in sin so that man              doctrinel It is a reality in our lives. Sin is not
becomes spiritually immune to sin.                           something which characterizes only what we do; sin is
  It is time now to talk about the other side of the         in our natures, corrupting and polluting them. The


 374                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 result of this is that the power of sin in our natures      explaining away that which is obviously quite con-
 is so great that we are even unable to recognize our        trary to the will of God. And, while this is quite
 own sin. Sin makes us so spiritually blind that we lack     clearly true, the answer to the attempt at evasion is
 the power to see our own sin for what it truly is. The      simply: "Yes, but we are also responsible before God
 result is that the sinner cannot and will not recognize     for the sinful nature which is the fountain of all our
 and admit to the depravity which characterizes him.         sin. For this nature too we must plead forgiveness."
 It takes the work of God's grace in the sinner even to      But  ,so often the excuse is nothing else than an
 .bring the sinner to a recognition and confession of his    antinomian evasion which seeks to escape account-
 own sin.                                                    ability before God.
    Because the sinner is this way, when he does sin he         We have become extremely adept at such  self-
 will never admit to it and express proper sorrow for        justification. The trouble is that we have remarkable
 it. He will instead make every effort to justify his        ability to see sin in others and we are very quick and
 conduct and explain away what he has done wrong. It         eager to point out these sins and to condemn them.
 is always characteristic of the sinner that he attempts     But when the same sins are found in our own life, we
 to explain away his sin;                                    cannot see -them, or, if we can, we have a thousand
    But this characteristic is found also in the people      excuses why, in our case, we are perfectly justified in
 of God. And it is found also in them because  .they         doing what we did. This is so true that  self-
 still have the power of sin in their own flesh and life.    justification and condemnation of others almost
 In how many ways is this not true? It began already         always goes hand in hand. The Pharisee in the temple
 in Paradise when Adam blamed Eve for his sin and            boasted of his good works for he was blind to his own
 when Eve blamed the serpent. It has continued ever          sin. But he was eager to condemn the poor publican
 since as  a. major part of our life. When we do             yonder who was surely not worthy of a place in
 something which is contrary to God's command-               God's house. And so it always is.
 ments, we always react with outraged innocence. Not            The trouble is that it is exactly this sort of process
 we are to blame for what we have done. Sometimes            of self-justification which lies at the bottom of
 we blame others, as if they are at fault for our            searing our own conscience. When we attempt to
 transgressions. A rebellious child blames his parents       explain away or justify or excuse our sin, we have set
 and teachers for making demands upon him which are          our feet-upon a path of hardening and have put into
 too great; a husband blames his wife for his marital        motion a plan of action which will silence our
 unfaithfulness; a drunkard blames his companions for        conscience and make us spiritually insensitive to sin.
 leading him into drunkenness; etc. Sometimes sin is         And,/ if that process continues, we shall lose the voice
 blamed on circumstances. One excuses his lack of            of our conscience, live in sin oblivious to its con-
 interest in the Church and in the things of God-by          sequences and horrors and be deprived, by God's just
 blaming his upbringing. Another excuses his theft by        judgment, of even a sensitivity to sin.
his environment in which he was deprived of so many
 things in life. Another justifies his cheating in school       It is exactly because of this that Scripture puts so
 by saying, "They all do it." Not he himself is to           much emphasis on confession. We need not spend a
 blame, but the circumstances in which he finds              lot of time at this point proving this contention.
 himself. Or, again, sin is excused on some higher and       Anyone who is at all acquainted with the Scriptures
 nobler ground which is supposed to give him license         knows that confession is emphasized on almost every
 to break God's law. A man admits that union                 page  :of Holy Writ. It is so tremendously important
 membership is wrong, but he justifies his continued         because it is the'only power to break that vicious
 membership in the union on the ground that God              cycle; of sin, justification of sin, more sin, hardening,
 calls him to feed his family; or on the ground that no      and damnation. Nothing in all the world will break
 other job is available to him and God commands him          that terrible cycle except .the one act of confession.
 to work. He operates on the principle that the end            Confession is, on the one hand, so simple; and, on
 (which is approved. by God) justifies the means to          the other hand, it is so desperately difficult. It is so
 attain that end (though the meansmay  be contrary to        simple because nothing in all the world seems, from
 God's will). There are even times when a man                one point of view, to be easier than to say those two
 attempts to excuse his sin by an appeal to his sinful       words which sum up all confession: "I'm sorry." That
 nature. I suppose that every minister has had the           is  all.! That is what confession is all about. There is
 experience of hearing one of his parishioners come up       really, nothing more to it than that. It is really quite
 to him after the service and say, "Yes, pastor; what        amazing, when we stop to think about it, that these
 you said in your sermon is true. But you must               two words can have such a mighty power and do such
 remember that I carry with me my old sinful nature          great things. But indeed it is true. To say, I'm sorry, is
 which can do no good." And the implied argument is          to stop sin in its tracks, to break a vicious circle
 that this sinful nature is a ready. and handy excuse for    which leads finally to hell, get out of that hopeless


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  375



situation where one sinks deeper and deeper into the         not only not loved God, but he has not loved his
quagmire of sin. Two words do it all. And yet, yet,          neighbor  - whether that neighbor be his wife or
what, in all the world could be more difficult? It has       children; his friends or working companions, his
been said, with considerable truth, that these two           fellow saints wit.hin the Church of which he is a part.
words are the two hardest words in the language of           To confess one's sins means that one puts out of his
any people to say. In fact, (and we might just as well       mind all thoughts about trying to justify his conduct,
say it) the difficulty is so great that it is really         blaming  I others for it, explaining away what he has
impossible to say these words apart from grace.              done. There is a certain sense in which he stands
  There are several reasons for this. In the first place,    alone an'd naked with no shelter behind which to hide
to confess sin is to go contrary to all our nature. At       and says, "I did this. It was wrong. I am responsible. I
the very root of all sin lies that one devastating sin of    am sorry." Nothing else but this will finally do. And,
pride. Pride  ,govems all we do. And pride is such a         finally,  .confession of sin means that one is so sorry
controlling force in our lives and is so in control of       for what he' has done that he has the deep desire that
the whole of our nature that it absolutely prevents us       that fault will never again be a fault of his life. He has
                                                               .
from ever truly confessing our wrongs. Our whole             a smcere sorrow of heart for his sin, but he has also a
depraved nature absolutely prevents us from con-             deep longing never to let that happen again., It is what
fession. And there is no earthly power which can             our Catechism calls the crucifixion of the old man
break this deadly hold of our nature upon us. In the         and the quickening of the new man.
second place, to say I'm sorry implies a number of             Understanding this, it is not difficult to see that,
other things  - all of which are really spiritual            after all; confession can only be the work of God
impossibilities. To confess one's sins means to have a       through the Spirit of Christ in the heart of the sinner.
deep spiritual awareness that one's sins are sins            Only God can break the horrible circle of sin. Only
against  God. I cannot stress this enough. There is a        God can deliver from sin's devastating power to suck
certain remorse for sin to be found even in the world.       us ever  ideeper into its grasp. And God does this
Judas had something of this when he hurled his               mighty work by causing the sinner to do that which is
ill-gotten pieces of money on the floor of the temple.       humanly' impossible - confess his sin before God and
But this has nothing to do yet with confession. At           man.     ;
bottom is the awareness of, as our Catechism puts it,
having transgressed against the most high majesty of           This is the way to escape from hardening and to
God. This awareness is altogether apart from a               keep one!3 conscience from being seared as with a hot
sorrow of the consequences of sin and is quite               iron. There is no other way than this. It is the way of
different from a general remorse over what we have           a good conscience before God.
done. It is a pure and unalloyed awareness that God            But to what Scripture says about a good con-
has been hurt by what we have done. And we are               science before God we must address ourselves at some
sorry for that.' To confess one's sins means that one is     future date.
aware that one has harmed others by his sins and has
wrought havoc not only in his own life, but also in                                             Fraternally in Christ,
the lives of those who are touched by his life. He has                                                      H. Hanko


THE DAY OF SHADOWS                                                         I


                                      Prevailing by: the
                                      Power of Prayer
                                                   Rev. John A. Heys


  In obedience to God, and with a strong desire to           the land iYhich God had promised to him, and before
do so because of  Laban's treachery, Jacob left the          him to his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham.
land of Haran and. was already within the borders of         Laban had pursued Jacob and had falsely accused him


376                                           THE STANDARD  BEqRER



and then returned to his own land without laying a          we read in Hebrews 12: 1 that we have a cloud of
hand on Jacob, because God had appeared to him and          witnesses to encourage us as we live in the midst of
warned him not to touch him.                                countless enemies whose power is increasing every
   Now a new fear grips Jacob. It was not an                day, /and whose hatred of us is not covered but open.
unexpected one, nor was it a sudden apprehension            No, we must not expect an host of angels to come
that overwhelmed him. For a long time the matter            from: heaven into our living room, bedroom, hospital
had been in the back of his mind. But now as he             room, or funeral parlor. We cannot, as Jacob did after
approached his father's house, that fear forced itself      this host appeared; call a particular spot Mahanaim,
to the front place in his consciousness. He must face       that  : is, Two Hosts, but we do have these angels
Esau! Twenty years before this, he had cheated his          appear before us on the pages of Holy Writ. And we
brother and lied to his father. He had used treachery       have j more than angels therein. For we have the Angel
and deceit, and had gotten the birthright blessing by       of the Lord, Christ Jesus our Lord Himself to assure
trickery. Indeed God gave it to him according to a          us that no man can pluck us out of God's hand or
promise given even before he was born. This does not        keep! us from our birthright blessing in the new
take away the fact, however, that Jacob was deceit-         Jerusalem.
ful. Instead it only shows more clearly that Jacob was        But even after this display of guarding angels, the
not walking by faith. He did not take hold of God's         weakness of Jacob's faith again comes to manifesta-
promise. He was not walking by faith, but as though         tion.! He sends his servants to meet Esau with the
God had not given such a promise, or was unable to          word, "Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned
fulfill His promise without Jacob's sin. And that is        with  Laban, and stayed there until now: And I have
awful! To doubt God's faithfulness, to question             oxen, and asses, and flocks, and menservants, and
whether He is able to do that which He promises is          womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that
one thing. But to conduct oneself in such a way as by       I may find grace in thy sight."Now, that Jacob wanted
it to say that God needs your SIN to help Him do            peace and sought favour in Esau's sight need not be
what He promises is quite another thing. That is what       wrong or a manifestation of weakness of faith, or
Jacob's deception of his father, and struggle with          unbelief itself." Blessed are the peacemakers, for theirs
Esau for the birthright blessing, means and shows.          is the kingdom ,of heaven." But note that Jacob calls
                                                            himself Esau's servant, and calls Esau his lord. That
  With a spiritual mentality like that we can under-        he does literally, not merely by implication. He is up
stand that Jacob had real and great fears as he comes       to his old tricks. Yes, he trusts in God, but also thinks
back home to face his brother who had made known            that  :God needs his help. He had the birthright. He
his plans to kill him. Was his father still living? We      was designated to be the head of the church after his
have no indication that Jacob had any knowledge to          father's death. And he need not humble himself in
the effect that his father was alive. The closest we        the dust before Esau and call him lord. God had told
come to it is that we read that God told him to go          him `before he left  Haran, "I will be with thee."
back to the land of his fathers. This need not at all       Twenty years before this at Bethel, God, standing at
mean that Isaac was still alive. And remember that          the top of the ladder which Jacob saw from heaven to
Isaac had called Esau in to fix venison, and intended       earth, had said to him, "I am with thee, and will keep
to bless him, because he thought that the day of his        thee I in all places whither thou goest, and will bring
death was near. Remember also that Esau had                 thee. back again to this land; for I will not leave thee,
declared that he would kill Jacob as soon as his father     until: I have done that which I have spoken to thee
was dead. And although twenty years had come and            of." Just before speaking these words God had
gone, Jacob had not forgotten any of this. What is          promised to give that land of Canaan to him and his
more, Jacob had a whole lot more to lose now than           seed; Jacob need have no fear of Esau. He did have
then. He had a family of eleven sons and one                great fear. But he had need of no fear. And yet we
daughter. Benjamin had not yet been born. It is not         read :that after his servants had met Esau and returned
now the matter of Jacob's own life alone that               to Jacob, and informed Jacob that Esau was coming
concerns him, but he has twelve children and two            with. four hundred men, "Then Jacob was greatly
wives (and their maids) that are his direct responsibil-    afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that
ity and the object of his love.                             was with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the
  In His mercy God sent an host of angels to                camels into two bands; and said, If Esau come to the
encourage him. No matter how unfaithful we be-              one company, and smite it, then the other company
come, God remains faithful. And knowing our weak-           which is left shall escape." Jacob is trying to salvage
nesses He sends us courage and comfort. If only we          what he can by his own ingenuity and wrestling with
would look at those angels which God also sends to          menl His faith is not strong, and he has definite
meet us in our trials and fears, we could have courage      lessons to learn.
and comfort as well. Those angels are there. In fact          Now Jacob had remembered that God had given


                                              THE STANDARD BEARE'R                                              377


                                                                   :

him all those promises. For he makes mention of that        that all his trickerv and attempt to help God actually
fact in his prayer to God immediately after he had          were fighting Him, wrestling with  Him. Jacob was
given these instructions to his servants. He cried, "0      aware of the fact that all his life he had been
God of my father Abraham, and God of my father              wrestling with men - with Esau, with his father Isaac,
Isaac, the Lord which saidst to me, Return unto thy         and with  Laban. Now he understands that, since he
country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with      was not:clinging to God by faith with implicit trust in
thee; I am not worthy of the least of Thy mercies. . . .    Him, and with patience for Him to fulfill His
for I passed over this Jordan with my staff; and now I      promises in the way of righteousness, he in all his sins
am become two bands. Deliver me I pray Thee from            was wrestling with God; and in this he was hopelessly
the hand of my brother Esau: for I fear him, lest he        outmatched. He learned the hard way that He must
come and smite me, and the mother with the                  wrestle /in prayer with God, and not with men by
children." Yet right after that prayer he sets aside a      means of the arm of his flesh and the ingenuity of his
present for Esau consisting in two hundred she goats,       own mind. He prevailed and got the name Israel,
twenty-one he goats, two hundred ewes and twenty            Prince of God, not by wresting it out of God's hands,
rams, thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine,     but by prayer and clinging to Him in faith.
ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals. Indeed he         And now for the rest of his life he is a cripple. But
needs to learn a lesson or two. He prays to God, and        understand well that God blessed him with a crippled
yet at the same time he seeks to win Esau's favour by       leg. 0, yes, it was a blessing for Jacob. So often we
gifts of that which God was pleased to give him.            fail to see God's blessing in that which He does for us
                                                            and unto us. And without a doubt it bothered Jacob
  God is now ready to teach him that lesson. Jacob is       to halt in his walking. Undoubtedly we would want
alone. And out of the night a man appears and begins        to pray : for Jacob that God would. take this away as
to wrestle with Jacob. Did Jacob at first consider this     some form of the curse. But not so! For the child of
to be one of Esau's men, who had come to prevent            God nothing is a curse. Christ bore all the curse. He
him from proceeding on his way back to his father's         drank the whole cup to the last drop and left none
house? At any rate Jacob could not go forward. He
was halted in his tracks and barred from further            for us yet to drink. And we see so clearly when we
movement towards his father's house by one who              also walk by faith that this was a blessing for Jacob,
                                                            and that in his life also all things work together for
wrestled with him till the break of day. It was             good to those that love God. You see, Jacob
actually the Almighty God Himself Who wrestled              continued through the rest of his life with his old
with Jacob, and in wonderful mercy the Almighty             Jacob-nature even though he had received the new
limited Himself to the exact strength of Jacob so that      `name Israel. He still had his old man of sin, even
neither He nor Jacob prevailed. He could have broken        though the new man is the Prince of God. And every
Jacob in two and "crushed every bone in his body. He        time that Jacob was tempted to go back to  his old
could have destroyed him and cast him into the lake         tricks of wrestling with men of God's blessings, that
of fire. But He did not. He matched Jacob's strength        old thigh problem would remind him of this lesson
so that the wrestling match went on hour after hour         which he learned. God gave him that reminder to take
until the day began to break. But He did more than
that. All this was physical. He also worked spiritually     along with him the rest of his life for that reason. Do
                                                            not curse your afflictions. Do not accuse God of
in the heart of Jacob so that he began to understand
that this was no mere man, and indeed was                   workingi things against you  - unless you are an
                                                    God
Himself, and God to Whom he had prayed for                  unbeliever - when He gives you thorns in the flesh.
deliverance from Esau and his hatred. And God did           He does that in mercy to humble you, to teach you
                                                            to look to Christ, in Whom we have the healing of all
this in connection with touching the hollow  ,of his        our diseases in the day of His coming. Do not
thigh and making him a cripple. Unable to continue          complain about anything that God gives you to draw
the wrestling, because his thigh was out of joint,
Jacob throws his arms around the neck of  .th.is            you closer to Himself. Instead, thank Him for these
wrestling Partner for support. He is not wrestling          things.
now. He is not fighting his adversary now, but is             Jacobi prayed and said, "I will not let Thee go
clinging to him for support. He clings to a Friend          except Thou bless me." God did bless him, not
instead of pitting his strength against an enemy.           simply in that name Israel but in that crippled thigh
Knowing now that it is God, Jacob inwardly clings to        which reminded him every step of his way that he
Him by faith, and outwardly with his fleshly arms           must wrestle in prayer with God, and in that way be
also holds tightly on to Him. And when God tells            the prince of God. If God gives you that which makes
Jacob to let go because the day was dawning, Jacob          you seek Him in prayer, you are blessed by that
says, "I will not let Thee go until Thou bless me."         affliction, that fear, that circumstance. And by the
                                                            power of prayer you will prevail to enjoy the truth of
  Now, for the moment at least, Jacob understands           being His prince.


378                                                          THE STANDARD  BEARER


FAITH OF OUR FATHERS





                                   Chapter V - Of Providence
                                                             Rev. Ron Van Overloop




  The Westminster Confession has followed up its                             joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding,c
treatment of God's eternal decrees in Chapter III with                       and other wise ordering and governing of them, in a
the treatment of creation in Chapter IV. The subject                         manifold dispensation, to His own holy end+ yet so
of the providence of God follows most naturally.                             as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the
                                                                             creature, and not from God; who, being most holy
           1. God, the great Creator of all things, doth                     and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or
       uphold,a  direct, dispose, and govern all creatures,                  ahprover of sin.:
       actions, and things,b from the greatest even to the
       least,c by His most wise and holy  providence,d                        a. Romans  .11:32-34; II Samuel  24:l with I Chronicles
                                                                             21:l; I Kings 22:22, 23; I Chronicles 10:4, 13 14; II Samuel
       according to His infallible foreknowledge,e and the                   16:lO; Acts 2123; 4:27,28.
       free and immutable counsel of His own will,f to the                      b. Acts 14:16.
       praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice,                       c. Psalm 76:lO; II Kings 19:28.
       goodness, and mercy.g                                                    d. Genesis 50:20; Isaiah 10:6, 7, 12.
                                                                              e. James  1:13,14,17;  I John  2:16;Psalm  50:21.
          a. Hebrews 1:3                                                       : 5. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God,
          b. Daniel 4:34, 35;  Psalm 135:6;  Acts 17:25,26,  28; Job
       38-41.                                                                doth oftentimes leave for a-season His own children
          c. Matthew 10:29-31.                                               to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their
          d. Proverbs 15:3;Psalm 104:24;  145:17.                            own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to
          e. Acts 15:18;Psahn 94:8-11.                                       discover unto them the hidden strength of  corrap-
          f. Ephesians 1:ll;Psalm 33:10,11.
          g. Isaiah  63:14; Ephesians  3:lO; Romans  9:17; Genesis           tion, and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may
       45:7;Psalm   145:7.                                                   be humbled;a  and to raise them to a more close and
                                                                             constant dependence for their support upon Himself,
          2. Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and                  and to make them more watchful against all future
       decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass               occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy
       immutably and infallibly;a yet, by the same provi-                    ends.b
       dence, He ordereth them to fall out according to the
       nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or                  a. II Chronicles 32:25,26, 31; II Samuel 24:l.
       contingent1y.b                                                          i b. II Corinthians 12:7-g; Psalm 73; 77:1,10,12  (Read the
                                                                             intermediate verses in the Bible.); Mark 14: from the 66th
          a. Acts 2:23.                                                      verse to the end, with John 21:15-17.
          b. Genesis  8:22; Jeremiah  31:35; Exodus  21:13, with
       Deuteronomy 19:s; I Kings 22:28,34; Isaiah 10:6,7.                      : 6. As for those wicked and ungodly men, whom
          3. God in His ordinary providence maketh use of                    God as a righteous judge, for former sins, doth blind
   means,a yet is free to work  without,b  above,c and                       and hardena from them He not only withholder% His
       against them,d at His pleasure.                                       grace, whereby they might have.been enlightened in
          a. Acts  27:31,44; Isaiah  55:10, ll;Hosea  2:21,22.               their understandings, and wrought upon in their
          b. Hosea 1:7; Matthew 4:4; Job 34:lO.                              hearts;b but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts
          c. Romans 4:19-21.                                                 which they had,c and exposeth them to such objects
          d. II Kings 6:6; Daniel 3:27.                                      asi their corruption makes occasion of  sin;d and
          4. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and                    withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the
   infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves                      temptations of the world, and the power of Satan:e
   in His providence, that it extendeth itself even to the                   whereby it comes to pass, that they harden them-
  first fall, and all other sins of angels and men,a and                     selves, even under those means which God useth for
       that not by a bare  permission,h but such as hath                     the softening of 0thers.f


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                            379



           a. Romans 1:24,26,28;  11:7,8.                              Psalm 135:6-l 3. It is God that feeds the beasts (Psalm
           b. Deuteronomy 29:4.                                        104:21-27; 147:9). He increases or decreases nations
           C. Matthew 13:12;  25:29.
           d. Deuteronomy 2:30; II Kings 8:12,13.                      (Job 12(23) and sets up or takes down kings (Daniel
           e. Psalm 81:11, 12; II Thessalonians 2:10-12.               2:21).  He directs the steps of each individual
           f. Exodus  7:3 with  8:1$, 32; II Corinthians  2:15, 16;    (Proverbs  16:9; James  4:13-15). He causes the
    Isaiahs  8:14; I Peter 2:7, 8; Isaiah 6:9, 10 with Acts 28:26,
    27.                                                                demoralized Egyptians to give away their possessions
           7. As the providence of God doth, in general,               (Exodus,  12:36). He moves the hearts of men
    reach to all creatures; so, after a most special manner,           (Proverbs 21: 1). He causes the saint to work out his
    it taketh care of His church, and disposeth all things             salvatioli  (Philippians 2: 12, 13). And the Bible does
    to the good thereof.a                                              not grow weak in describing God's control over even
           a. I Timothy  4:lO; Amos  9:8, 9; Romans  8:28; Isaiah      the sinful acts of men, moving Shimei to curse, David
   43:3-5,14.                                                          to  boas!, and the Jews to crucify (II Samuel 16: 10;
  Nothing happens by chance. It never "just hap-                       24: 1; Ac,ts 2:23; 4:27,28).
pens."                                                                    Consider with faith and let us be humbled. A flu
  Nor does anything come about by fate.                                "bug," $ cancerous growth, an insect bite, a crashing
  The first section emphasizes the relationship God's                  car - alltare in His hands.
eternal decree has to providence. Because in His                         And let us glorify Him. For that is the end design
eternal and unchangeable counsel God ,has predeter-                    of His sd:vereign control. Romans 11:36.
mined all things, it must follow that He executes His                     Sectiofis  two and three deal with the manner in
purpose by continual control of all creatures and                      which  qod's providence operates. Although His
their actions. This is not a difficult step for faith to               providen'ce  is most certainly sovereignly efficacious,
make. In turn, we must admit that it is a most                         yet the +anner of God's providence is consistent with
difficult logical jump for the unconverted mind to                     the mode of activity of every creature.
make. We should add that it is also impossible for the
confessing child of God to understand it if he sets                      God  bontrols His creatures and their activities,
aside faith and uses only the powers of his natural                    minuscule and magnificent. This control is always
understanding and imagination. This subject must be                    perfectly' consistent with the nature of the creature.
approached by faith in Jesus Christ, with the                          After all, it is not the case that the creature is
Scriptures alone serving as the sufficient light to guide              independent and God must cooperate with it, God
the steps of our consideration.                                        created that creature and gave it its power and mode
                                                                       of  actioli.  Ever after He preserves it and guides it.
  The Scriptures teach and the Confession acknowl-                     God's decree of creation is in perfect harmony with
edges that man and every creature has existence as a                   His decrge of providence, and vice versa. God is not a
gift from God. That the creature has this existence                    God of cpnftision.
does not make the creature self-existent. The ground
for the creature's existence and for its activity are                     Each  treature acts responsibly. And yet it cannot
both found not in them, but in God. "In Him we live,                   be denied that God was present. Consider each man
and move, (literally: are moved - RVO) and have our                    used by  God for the writing of Holy Scripture. He
being" (Acts 17:28a).                                                  was so controlled by God that the product was
                                                                       infallible.: Nevertheless, there is the spontaneous
  The exact way in which God exercises His                             exercise of his faculties by each writer. Thus each
sovereign control over the universe, and each creature                 creature gets freely in accordance with the law of its
therein, is not revealed. But that it is a fact cannot be              nature.  i
disputed. The psalmis;t tells us that Jehovah "preser-
vest man and beast" (36:6) even to the extent that                       God ordinarily works His purposes through means,
He holds "our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet                 using the; agency of the creature. Remembering that
to be moved"  (66:9). It cannot and may not be                         God made that creature according to His purposes, it
doubted that "He upholdeth all things by the word of                   is not strange to consider that He uses that creature,
His power" (Hebrews 1:3).                                              without violating its nature, for the fulfilling of His
                                                                       purposes.! In all of the created sphere, including the
  Not only is it a fact that the creatures existence                   operation, of grace, God ordinarily uses means. That
does not make him self-existent, but also that any                     is, He uses other creatures (each in perfect harmony
creature has properties and powers, the exercise of                    with its nature) in their relation and interrelationship
these does not make the creature independent and                       to other  ,creatures,  to effect His purposes. Thus in
beside God.                                                            history we see the hand of God, accomplishing His
  Let us pause to look up the oft-neglected book of                    will through all of creation.
Job. Consider verses 6-13 of chapter 37. Also                            But God is not restricted to fhis ordinary means.
consider the strength of the statements found in                       Man is.  !We cannot eat bread today and soap


380                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



tomorrow expecting the same results. We cannot go            Larger Catechism.
through doorways today  Andy walls tomorrow. God                 Q. 19. What is God's providence toward the angels?
created each creature, but He is not dependent
upon them. Ordinarily He uses them, but He                       A. God by His providence permitted some of this
                                                                 angels, willfully and irrecoverably, to fall into sin and
does not have to use them. It is not that God must               bamnation,a  limiting and ordering that, and all their
use the creature as a secondary cause. The Almighty              sins, to His own glory;b and established the rest in
remains infinitely greater than His works. He is the          holiness and  happiness;c employing them all, at His
Transcendent One.                                                pleasure, in the administrations of His power, mercy,
   Therefore, He can make axeheads to float, asses to            kd justice.d
speak, and dead wombs to give birth. He can make                      a. Jude 6; II Peter 2:4.
fire to be without effect. And He can make the dead                   b. Job 1:12;Luke  10:17;Matthew  8:31.
                                                                      c. I Timothy 5:21; Mark 8:38; Hebrews 12:22.
sinner alive.                                                    :    d. Psalm 104:4;Hebrews 1:14.
   But the creature is dependent upon God's provi-             Sections 5  - 7, but especially 7 show that all of
dence. And, according to the decree of that provi-           God's providential ways are not of importance.
dence, he is dependent upon the other creatures              Rather He uses some as means to ends. His control of
about it. Therefore, we must make use of the                 the iphysical universe is subordinate as a means to an
God-made means of grace for the consciousness of             endi to the control He has over His moral creatures.
salvation. Thanks be to God.                                 Thus, too, His providential government over mankind
   Sections 4-6 speak of the relation of providence to       in general is subservient to His gracious providence
evil.                                                        toward His Church. Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba are all
                                                             for ihe sake of God's people (Isaiah 43:3). All is ours
   Section four tells us in general terrns that there        and; we are Christ's and Christ is God's (I Corinthians
definitely is a relation which God has to sin. The           3:22,23).
words used to .describe that relationship are: permis-
sion, bounding, ordering, and governing. One might             Whereas in section seven we see the general idea of
question the use of the word permission if it were not       God? providence toward His people, in section
accompanied by the other words, if this section .were        five  j we have God's providence in relation to
read without the previous, and if the proof texts cited      His  : people and their sin. God's people are
were not considered.                                         not immediately translated from the earth and out of
                                                             this body of death and sin at the moment of regenera-
   Sinful actions are ordered and controlled by' God.        tion! We remain on earth and in the earthly house
Joseph was sinfully sold into Egypt, God meaning it          of this tabernacle, and that for a good reason,
"unto good" in order "to preserve life" (Genesis             according to God's providence. Notice, however,
50:20;  45:5). Pharaoh hardens his heart that God            that; it is only "for a season;" Undoubtedly the
might show His power and declare His name                    Westminster derived such language from I Peter
throughout the earth (Exodus 14: 17; Romans 9: 17).          1:6.; The purpose which the providential government
God determined that men would wickedly crucify His           of God has with regard to sin in relation to His people
Son (Acts 2:23).                                             is defined in four infinitive clauses: to chastise or to
   Yes, there is a very definite relationship which          discover and to raise and to make.
God's providence has to sin.                                   How beautifully expressed. God uses sin to
   But that relationship is not that God authors sin,        admonish, teach, and warn His people. Just think
nor does He approve of it. The responsibility for each       how much more we would sin if we were not
and every sin lies directly upon the creature. The           chastised for our sin to the degree that we are. Do we
Westminster makes no attempt to explain this. It             not' flee from sin in the measure that we do because
simply states the fact. This is not a weakness, but its      we `have learned and are still learning by personal
strength. Faith believes. The natural mind may shake         experience how horrible and devilish and powerful sin
its head sarcastically at such a conundrum and may           is?  jNever complain when sin is preached. When a
inquisitively pry and wantonly trifle. But faith             sermon pricks and makes you quake, rejoice, for it
believes and glorifies God. "How unsearchable are His        drives you to the throne of grace.
judgments and His ways past finding out! For who               Why does God put the treasure of the life of Christ
hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been            in an earthen, sinful vessel? He does so "that the
His counsellor" (Romans 11:33b, 34)?                         excellency of the power may be of God, and not of
   God hates sin and manifests that in His every deed.       us" `(II Corinthians 4: 7).
He is the "awful, irreprehensible, and righteous judge          Section six is occupied with God's providence
and avenger thereof" (Canons of Dordrecht, I-l 5).           towards those who are not His people, and their sins:
   Before passing on, it is fitting to quote q. 19 of the    A difficult subject; but a Biblical subject.


                                              THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                       381



  Notice first the verbs which are used to express the       tempted ,when he is drawn away of his own lust and
divine action: "doth blind and harden,"  "with-              enticed" ; (James 1:  13b, 14). God is His most wise
holdeth, " "withdraweth," "exposeth," "gives over."          providence gives good things to the just and to the
These are frightening words. But we must understand          unjust. The graced ones receive them humbly and
that God performs this activity "as a righteous              with gratitude. But the wicked and ungodly in their
judge." As that judge He performs these actions upon         corruption make these good gifts occasions for sin
the wicked and ungodly "for their former sins." Thus         which, to say the least, they are not thankful for and
God is not unjust in this activity. He is perfectly right    greedily desire more of the same for the satisfaction
in this action, for He is rewarding man for his sin.         of their lusts.
  There is a result of this activity of God. When God           A most wise and holy providence. That is how the
justly rewards the wicked and ungodly for their sin,         Westminster describes it. It so upholds, directs,
then "it comes to pass, that they harden themselves."        disposes,, and governs all creatures that the material
Those who are the objects of grace, when exposed to          serves the animals, and they both serve mankind,
that same expression of judgment repent and confess,         while they all serve the elect in particular. God has
but the wicked and ungodly confirm themselves in             put all things under Christ's feet that He might use it
the way of evil. The difference is grace.                    all for the sake of the Church, which is His Body
  The language of the Confession that God  "ex-              (Ephesians  1:22,23).
poseth them to such objects as their corruption                 Because of our- belief in this most wise and holy
makes occasion for sin" might seem to say that God           providence, "we know that all things work together
tempts man to sin. But "God cannot be tempted with           for good to them that love God, to them who are the
evil, neither tempteth He any man: but every man is          called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).


ALL AROUND US



                         Bible Reading and Biblei Knowledge

                                                 Rev.  G. Van  Baren   :




  We live in a busy age - often times too busy. Too          question:, "Who reads the Bible daily or more?" The
busy it is when there is not sufficient time to read         answer was, General Public: 12%; Protestant: 18%;
and study Scripture. Too' busy it is when we do not          Roman Catholic: 4%. Another question asked: "Who
have enough time to read materials which would be            reads theiBible  less than once a month or never?" The
beneficial for our spiritual lives. There is reason for      answer was, General Public: 52%; Protestant: 41%;
concern. When one does not know well the teachings           Roman Catholic: `67%. I do wonder where our homes
of Scripture, he can not stand in the face of many           would fit. One would hope and pray that it would be
heresies which arise. What is the situation in our           within that 18% of the first answer. But this is some
homes? Are we devoting sufficient time to the                of what the author wrote:
reading and study of Scripture? Do you read through
Scripture? How long does this take? Do you discuss                   . 
                                                                    . . I We are discouraged to see how few actually
                                                                 turn to the Bible (as opposed to what they
what you have read? Can you honestly maintain that               hypothetically would do "if" they wanted a question
you are developing in your knowledge of Scripture?               answered), and how little they know of it. It is
Some interesting remarks on this are presented in                apparently one thing to Mime that the Bible is God's
Christianity Today,  Mar. 2  1, 1980, in an article:             Word and quite another to read it.
"Belief and the Bible: A Crisis of Authority." In it                These facts reflect dismally upon the reading
the author, Walter A. Elwell, comments on certain                habits of the American people. We have to reject the
surveys made and points out some dangers in a                    explanation that people are not reading much these
neglect which is very obvious. The survey asked the              days. l2etail book selling has been growing year by


382                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


       year for the last 25 years. A standard reference work         `the genkral public, 39% of the Protestants, arid 20%
       lists over 8,000 publishers in America, an increase of        pf the 18-29 age-group knew the correct answer.
       40 percent over five years ago. It is not that we are         G.V.B  .)
       not reading very much; it is rather that we are not           / When asked how many of the Ten Commandments
       reading the Bible very much.                                  `they could name, 45 percent of the general public
         We are also troubled that both those who are                `could name only four or fewer, as compared with 49
       younger and those who are more educated tend not              `percent of the  Protestar#, and 44 percent of the
       to read the Bible very frequently. Only 14 percent of         .Roman Catholics.
       those with a college background and 6 percent of the          :       These two tests reveal the dismally low state of
       18- to 29-year-olds reported reading the Bible daily or       iAmerican biblical knowledge. Over 40 percent of ariy
       more. It is also troubling that 56 percent of the                  group did not know what Jesus said to Nicodemus,
       college-educated and 58 percent of the  l8- to                ;even when supplied with the answer, and could not
       29-year-olds read.it less than once a month or never.              name even five of the Ten Commandments. It is no
          The same unhappy situation exists in the area of                surprise that the cults and aggressive people who
       factual Bible knoivledge. When people fail to read the             claim religious authority, sometimes even biblical
       Bible it is unlikely they will know much about it.                 authority, are making such gains today. It would
       Christianity Today  chose one of the best-known               ,appear that most people simply would not know the
       chapters in the New Testament (John 3) and one of                  difference between theological truth and error. . . .
       its most frequently heard references ("ye must be
       born again") to test the public's biblical literacy.         How  about you and your family?  Are we
       Responses to the question `Which of the statements         recdgnizing  the fact that there is required a constant
       is what the Bible says Jesus told Nicodemus?" are          work and effort in applying oneself to a reading and
       indicated in figure 4 (the choices were supplied by        study of Scripture?  We  must be putting in that effort.
       the questionnaire). (Figure 4 shows that only 29% of



                                                      CRC or CCC

  The Rev. Edwin H. Palmer,  in  the  Outlook  of                    bffrmed the inherent incompatibility of lodge and
April, 1980, points out instances where the Christian                ,church membership. But Richfield went ahead any-
Reformed Church begins increasingly to resemble                      way. Contrary to the advice of the church visitors in
Congregational Churches. This ought to be a question                 November, it accepted five lodge members as mem-
of deep concern. Where, within a denomination, each                  ;bers of the church. a few weeks later. When the
does what is right in his own eyes, denominational                   `January 1980 Classis was told of the situation by the
                                                                          church visitors, Classis turned down every motion to
unity has not much meaning any more. Those who                       ,do something about it and thereby gave its silent
believe in proper Reformed church government may                     Iconsent. Fortunately, some consistories with courage
not and can not allow such a situation to continue.                       are considering protesting. . . .
Of several instances of this trend which Palmer points               `4. Sunday Worship
out, I would quote two:                                              :  Item:  Church Order of the Christian Reformed
       1. Lodge Membership                                                Church, Article 51: "The congregation shall as-
         Item: The Richfield Christian Reformed Church                    semble for worship at least twice on the Lord's Day
       (Clifton, N.J.) wrestled with the admission of lodge          ,to `hear God's Word, to receive the sacraments, to
       members. After a long study and lengthy report, the                engage in praise and prayer, and to present gifts of
       Synods of 1970 and 1977 repeated the historic                      gratitude." At, least twice on Sunday. They may meet
       position of the Christian Reformed Church by stating          `more, but not less.
       firmly and decisively that membership in the church           '       Yet there are churches that have only one worship
       of Jesus Christ is incompatible with membership in            ,service.
       the lodge. They contradict each other. Richfield
       protested and asked  classis to overture synod that           '       Hence the title of this article: CRC Or CCC? What
       they may "be entrusted with the essential responsibil-             do you think?
       ity of determining whether such persons (lodge
       members) become members of that congregation."                I think, Dr. Palmer, you are so very correct. I think
          Classis  Hackensack at first approved the overture,     too, that such a situation, if it continues, is
       but on more mature reflection, rescinded its action.       intolerable. None, loving the principles of Reformed
       Richfield then bypassed classis and appealed directly      chtirch  government, can allow such anarchy to
       to synod. Synod again (1979) emphatically  re-             continue.


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER,                                                                  383


                                     Christians and Muslim Wi&ques

     In the Calvinist Contact, April 11, 1980, comments                        one must have to enter the community of Islam. A
are made about a strange development within the                                Muslim is a man in pursuit of righteousness. And not
Reformed Church in the Netherlands. On the basis of                            for one moment can the Muslim ever be sure of his
"oneness," a minister of that denomination felt                                standing with Allah.
bound to assist a Muslim group to find a place to                            The writer is rightly offended at the terrible
worship: Again, the terrible apostasy of the church                       development reported. What unity can light have with
becomes evident:                                                          darkness?: What oneness exists between Christ and the
          Should Christians help build Muslim Mosques?                    idol? Yet this is all part of the continuing develop-
      This question was raised by Rev. J. Slomp, former                   ment of `the antichristian church. First, the church
      missionary to Pakistan and now serving as an                        establishes a basis of unity with the ungodly: the
      evangelist on behalf of the Reformed Church in The                  goodness  iwhich is found in the wicked through the
      Netherlands (GKN) to the 200,000 Muslim in the                      work of the Holy Spirit. There is a presupposed
      Netherlands. Rev. C. M. Boersma, who belongs to the                 oneness in things secular-and earthly. With this, there
      same denomination as Rev. Slomp, says that in his                   is also a minimizing of the differences with those of
      judgment Muslims are not unbelievers, but people,                   other denominations. Ties even grow between
      who believe, differently. Rev. Reedyk, a Reformed
      (GKN) pastor in Rotterdam, tells the story how he                   Reformed and Roman Catholic. Nor is it difficult to
'     helped Muslims in Rotterdam find a place of worship.                continue in this line of reasoning and see the work of
      He also thinks that the God of the Jews, Muslims and                the Spirit, in the realm of the spiritual - among those
      Christians is the same God. I cannot understand why                 of different religions, as the Muslims. If the church is
      these questions should be raised or how a Christian                 to withstand these inroads of apostasy, it must return
      pastor can spend time and effort helping Muslims find               to the fundamental principle of the separation of
      a place of worship! Shouldn't the church have  a                    light and idarkness. It must see and confess that the
      vigorous evangelistic approach towards Islam?                       love and  j grace of God is manifest through Christ
         islam is anti-Christian. It denies that God, as the              upon His elect only. Then the church will also be able
      Muslim scholar Isma'il R.Al Faruqi says, "had to                    to maintain without equivocation that Muslims and
      ransom humanity by means of oblation and sacri-                     all those like them teach a false religion and worship
      fice." Islam denies that a man can be saved by faith                not the true God but the idol.
      alone. Faith, according to the Muslim, is that which



                            NOTICE!!!                                                  j RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
     According to the decision of the Synod of 1979, the Consistory of       The Faith, Hope and Love Society of the South Holland Protestant
the Randolph Protestant Reformed Church, Randolph, Wisconsin, was         Reformed Church expresses their sincere sympathy to one of our
appointed the calling church for the 1980 Synod. The Consistory of        members, Mrs. Kay  Weirsma, in the passing of her mother, MRS.
Randolph Church hereby notifies our churches that the 1980 Synod of       GRACE SCOTT.
the Protestant Reformed Churches in America will convene, the Lord
willing, on Wednesday, June 11, 1980 at 9:00 A.M., in the Randolph           "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
Protestant Reformed Church. The pre-Synodical service will be held        them that fear Him." (Psalm  103:17).
Tuesday evening June 10, at 8:00 P.M. Rev. G. Van  Baren, President of                                             Rev. David Engelsma, Pres.
the 1979 Synod will preach the sermon. Synodicai delegates are                                                     Mrs: R. Poortinga, Sec'y.
requested to  meetwith the Consistory before the service. Delegates in
need of transportation from the Madison Airport should contact Mr.
Jake Regnerus, 326 Tamarack St., Randolph, WI 53956. (Phone
414-326-3786).
                                                 Jake Regnerus, Clerk.





                                    News From Our  Church;es

     Our congregation in  RedIands, California has                          Mr. and' Mrs. Dewey Engelsma left for Singapore
extended a call to Rev. Gise Van  Baren to be their                       on April 29. They will assist Rev. Arie den Hartog in
pastor. The Redlands trio also included Rev. Richard                      his mission work there. According to the bulletin of
Moore and Rev. James Slopsema.                                            our Covenant PRC, the Engelsmas plan to work in


THE STANDARD  BlkARER                                                                           SECOND CLASS
       P.O. Box 6064                               - ~__.-~~~   _  2                           POSTAGE PAID AT
Grand Rapids, Michigan 4960r--~mm  -. __~-  ~--                                             GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





384                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



Singapore for about three months.                               consistories of our sister churches for their willingness
  In accordance with Article 44 of our Church                   to send their pastors for up to four weeks."
Order, church visitation is done once a year. Usually               Rev. C. Hanko spent some two months in
this is done before Classis meets in the spring. Rev. C.        Bradenton this winter. Part of his report reads as
Hanko and Rev. J. Heys serve as church visitors for             follows: "I was deeply impressed by the interest
Classis East. In addition to performing their official          shown by the members of other churches who
function when visiting our Covenant Church in                   attended our services. We had visitors from many
Wyckoff, New Jersey, the church visitors will also              denominations. Almost without exception they spoke
give two public programs for the congregation. Rev.             with appreciation of the truth as proclaimed by the
Heys will show pictures of New Zealand on Thursday              various ministers who labored there last year and this
evening May 8 and talk about his work there as                  year. Repeatedly the remark was made that we
minister-on-loan. On Friday evening, May 9, Rev.                maintain the truth as it was confessed by our fathers.
Hanko was scheduled; to give a public lecture on the            Some lamented the apostasy and laxity in their own
subject of Worship.                                             churches. Almost without exception they urged us by
   Rev. Ronald Hanko, pastor of our Covenant                    all means to continue the work there."
Church, was twice invited to preach for the morning                 Reluctantly, the work in Bradenton has been
service at the People's Park Reformed Church of                 suspended at the end of April. A continued supply of
Paterson, New Jersey. With the permission of his                ministers was not possible through the summer
consistory he did this on January 27 and March 23.              months. In addition, the place of meeting was proving
This is possible as Covenant's morning worship service          unsuitable as it is being converted to serve as a bingo
does not begin until 11:30 A.M.                                 parlor. Finances are another problem. By the end of
  First Church, through its Church Extension Com-               April, $4,000 of the $5,000 budgeted for church
.mittee, conducted worship services in Bradenton,               extension work in 1980 was expended.
Florida beginning in December of 1978. Five of our                 The consistory does not feel the work in  Bra-
ministers labored there. In a three page newsletter to          denton is finished. An attempt is being made to find a
the congregation concerning these labors, the consis-           more suitable place for meeting. An attempt will be
tory further describes the history of the work. "It             made to enlist the services of retired ministers so that
happened that, by the end of April  (1979), the                 fewer men will be involved, for longer periods, and in
consistory had pretty much exhausted its list of                doing so, less of an imposition will be made on sister
ministers available to carry on the work. We had no             congregations. The consistory has stated its intention
choice therefore but to discontinue, for the time               to  jcall a special congregational meeting to explain
being, our efforts in Florida. In light of the reports of       further the work in Bradenton and to give the
those who had labored there, however, we could                  congregation an opportunity to ask questions about
hardly abandon the field entirely  - unless we were            it.  i
willing to discount the unanimous testimony of the                 The newsletter concludes on this note, "Our
Lord's ministers who had preached His Word in                   churches are heirs to a precious Reformed heritage.
Florida. We therefore made arrangements during the             Perhaps we do not always appreciate that as we
summer for a renewal of the work in the fall." This             should. Those from other denominations who attend
was done, beginning in November.  ". . . We had                 our services in Bradenton recognize it. The King of
hoped that we would be able to obtain the services of           the Church has been pleased to use us, the First
several ministers, each of whom could make a more              Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, to
extended stay in Bradenton. As it turned out, we                share it with them. We thank Him for that."
were somewhat disappointed in that regard, for only
one minister was able to remain longer than-a month.                                                            K. G. V.
But we were nevertheless most grateful to the


