    S'J-A/t,/ DAB D

    BEARERS.  .,
fp A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





      Though our country Pd
                                            ri es itself, as
                                                                  -.
   being a  nation  of government by law,
  `and though from time to time it boasts
  that the constitution, the law, is above
   every citizen, nevertheless the  _ deepest
  principle  - and that is, after all, the prin-
  ciple of `the natural man always - is
  6`every man  for himself, and devil  take
  the hindmost.?'

                See "The Ruthless Lawlessness
             of the Strike  Weapon" -  p.  245
                               I'_.


                                       Volume LIV, No. 11, March 1, 1978
                                                ISSN 0362-4692


242                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



                              ,CONTENTS                                                                                THE  STANDAFD  BEARER
                                                                                     Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
 Meditation  -                                                                            Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
       Enemies of the Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .242                            Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                             Editor-in-Chief.'  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
 Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245     Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J.  Engelsma,
                                                                             R e v .   C o r n e l i u s   H a n k o ,   P r o f .   H e r m a n   H a n k o ,   R e v .   R o b e r t   C .   H a r b a c h ,
 Editorials  -                                                               R e v .   J o h n   A .   Heys,  R e v .   M a r k   H .   H o e k s e m a ,   R e v .   M e i n d e r t   J o o s t e n s ,
                                                                             R e v .   J a y   K o r t e r i n g ,   R e v .   G e o r g e   C .   L u b b e r s ,   R e v .   R o d n e y   Miersma,
       The Ruthless Lawlessness                                              R e v .   Marinus   S c h i p p e r ,   R e v .   J a m e s   S l o p s e m a ,   R e v .   Glse   J .   V a n   Baren,
                                                                             R e v .   R o n a l d   V a n   Overloop,   R e v .   H e r m a n   Veldman,   M r .   K e n n e t h   G .
          of the Strike Wagon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245       V i n k .
       Lest We Forget: A Silver Anniversary . . . . . . . .246               Editorial  Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                              4 9 7 5   lvanrest   A v e .   SW.
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MEDITA TIO N




                                          Enemies of the Cross
                                                               Rev. M, Schipper

                   "(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that
               they are the enemies of the CYOSS of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their
               belly, whose glory  is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)"
                                                                                                                                           Philippians 3 : 18, 19.

  Within parentheses this text is placed, and that not                          salvation and glory of the church of Christ is the
without reason. For there is indeed an interruption in                          mark for which he himself presses. And the church is
the thought pervading the closing part of the chapter.                          urged to follow his example and to mark those who
  The positive truth which the apostle sets forth in                            are like-minded with the apostle. The ground for this
the preceding context, and which is picked up again                             exhortation the apostle sets forth in the verses follow-
in the verses following this text, may be briefly                              ing our text. Our citizenship is in heaven from
summarized. He had called attention to the prize of                             whence we expect the Lord Jesus, Who will change
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The ultimate                           our vile body, that is, the body of our humiliation, so


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 243



that it conforms to His glorious resurrected body.          our text does not attempt to give these enemies a
Thus in body and soul we shall enjoy the perfection         particular name, which he could easily have done if it
of our salvation in the heavenlies forever.                 were in his mind to do so. All he says is that they are
                                                            enemies of the cross of Christ, and that concerning
   It is not the intention of the apostle when he sets      them he had spoken often, and even now speaks of
forth this beautiful and positive objective and urging      them weeping.
the church to follow his example in pressing toward           Why does he speak of them now as he weeps?
the prize, that we follow a mere man. That would be
dangerous indeed! Rather, it must be clearly under-           Because he sees them walking in the midst of the
stood that the example is an apostle, one who is            believing church. Many walk, he says. They walk
infallibly inspired by the Spirit of Christ to reveal       within the visible manifestation of the church of
unto the church all the truth, and in this sense to be      Christ in the world.
an infallible guide in the direction of the prize.             0, indeed, if the enemies were that rabble that
                                                            milled around the cross crying for Christ's cruci-
  But the apostle senses that there are and will be         fixion, that would be serious enough; but you would
those, whom he designates as enemies of the cross of
Christ, who will attempt to draw the believing church       have no difficulty in identifying them and taking
                                                            your position over against them. Nor would you have
away from following after this high and holy objec-         any difficulty in separating yourselves from those
tive. He therefore interrupts his line of thought to
sound a word of warning against these enemies.              enemies of the cross who flatly denied the Christ of
                                                            the cross by insisting that your salvation depends on
  Necessary it is therefore that the church of Christ       your righteousness in fulfilling the demands of the law.
not only mark him as an example to follow shall she         Nor would you even have trouble in separating
go in the right direction, but also to mark them who        yourselves from a sect that causes divisions and
are the enemies, who would lead the church in the           offences contrary to sound doctrine, such as the
wrong direction. This latter is the intention of the        antinominian-libertines which raised up their ugly
text.                                                       heads in the church.
  Enemies of the cross of Christ!                             The real enemies of the cross of Christ are not the
  Who are they? Where are they? And why should              violent' opponents of Christ and His cross, though
we mark them?                                               enemies they be. Rather, the enemy walks, and he
  Attempts have been made to identify these                 walks with you!
enemies. With some apparent justification attention is         He declares that he is a friend, while he is an
drawn to the opening verses of our chapter, where the       enemy. He professes to believe and glory in the cross
apostle speaks of "the dogs, the evil workers, the          of Christ, while actually he glories in his shame. He
concision." Here the reference is no doubt to the           wants you to believe he is pressing toward the mark
Judaizing teachers and their followers, who would           for the-prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus, while
deny the efficacy of the cross to save, and have you        actually he is rushing on the way to destruction. He
return to the work-righteousness of the law for your        boasts of seeking after the living God, while his god is
salvation. And, of course, no one can deny that these       actually his belly. He sings with you: "In the cross of
are enemies of the cross of Christ just as really as the    Christ I glory, towering o'er the wrecks of time,"
kings of the earth and the rulers who together with         while in reality he refuses to bear the reproach that
Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and              comes with taking it up and bearing it after Jesus.
the  people  of Israel, were gathered together against        Among those who mark the apostle and follow his
the Holy Child Jesus. (Acts  4:26, 27). Others identify     example in pressing toward the mark are others,
these enemies with the Epicurean-Antinomians de-            enemies of the cross of Christ, who would have you
scribed by Paul in Romans 16: 17, 18, who advocated         believe they are one hundred percent with you, while
a liberty which would allow the church to indulge in        they seek the things which are below. Yes,  .they walk,
the lusts of the flesh. There the apostle says of them,     many of them, and they walk with you.
"for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus
Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and            Mark them!
fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple."              Mark their walk! The main characteristic, the high
Attention is called here to the similarity of the           point of their walk is: they mind earthly things.
description to that given in our text. And it cannot be       The earthly things pertain to the things of this
gainsaid that these also are enemies of the cross of        world, our daily vocation, our food, drink, and
Christ, just as really as those who were immediately        shelter, our money and possessions, our body and
responsible for Christ's crucifixion.                       soul, our wives and children. Of course, these things
   It should be noticed, however, that the apostle in       are not in themselves sinful; nor does the apostle


244                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



imply that it is sinful and corrupt when we are busy        sidious influence upon the real marchers to heaven.
daily with these things. He is not advocating world
flight, nor that we are to assume a careless attitude in      Enemies of the cross they are!
respect to earthly things. Surely it belongs to our           Mark them!
calling to be good stewards of the possessions which          And separate yourselves from them, or they will
God in His providence lays on our pathway in life.          lead you to destruction.
  But mark well, the apostle says that the enemies of          That is their end!
the cross "mind earthly things." That means that
they set their heart on them. They seek these things          The apostle speaks of their walk. And one's walk
with all their heart, in order that they may consume        includes the whole of life as it is lived here upon the
them to satisfy their lust. They want money to have         earth. But everyone who walks is going somewhere.
carnal pleasures. They seek possessions so `that they       His walk has a destination. Whether he is conscious of
may be comfortably independent. They are so busy            it or not, his way leads to an end. So it is also with
with the earthly things that they do not have time or       the enemies of the cross.
energy to think on the things heavenly and eternal.           Their walk ends in destruction. They may deceive
They are so involved in gathering earthly treasures         the true children of God into believing they also are
that they lose out of sight the treasure reserved in        children of God; and that is why the apostle warns
heaven. They do not eat to live, but they live to eat.      the church against them. They may even be  deceivi,ng
Their god is-their belly. They glory in their shame.        themselves with all their superficial piety, concluding
                                                            that their baptism, their confession of faith, their
  These enemies of the cross may differ from one            church attendance, will bring them at last to the
another in their pursuits but essentially they are all      prize; but their deception will become plain to them
alike. The one literally seeks after that which satiates    when the Lord shall say to them, I never knew you!
his appetite, that fills his belly; the other craves        Depart unto the place where there is weeping and
earthly possessions. The one may seek  the pleasures        gnashing of teeth.
of the world; the other, name and fame. The one goes
all out seeking the treasures of the world; the other,        In the meantime they have an evil influence.
the wisdom and beauty of Athens. The one looks for            We must not forget that the true children of God,
ease and refinement; while the other seeks those            who are truly spiritual, who strive earnestly to
things that satisfy his carnal lust and passion. How-       apprehend that for which they have been appre-
ever, it really makes no difference how you look at         hended, who therefore would follow the example of
them, they are actually the same  - they are in pursuit     the apostle pressing for the prize, do this while they
of and their heart is set on earthly things.                also live in a sinful and corrupt flesh. That flesh, like
  And mind you, this they do while they walk with           that of the enemies of the cross, seeks the things
you. They attend the same church, and hear the same         below, and relishes the pleasures of the world. And
sound preaching. Perhaps they may hear a sermon on          when they behold fellow church members, who are
the same text to which our attention is now called.         really enemies of the cross, indulging in worldly
They squirm a little perhaps as they sit in their pews,     pleasures they, according to their flesh, cannot help
but what the preacher says goes in one ear and out          but be attracted to them, and follow their example.
the other. They profess to serve the true and living          How urgent. then is the positive calling of the
God. When the minister and an elder visit them in           church of Christ to follow the example of the
their homes and confront them with the question:            apostle!
Are you children of God? they answer affirmatively.           Flee from the idolatry which would have your belly
When the danger of becoming worldly-minded in our           for your god, and press to the mark of the  high
affluent society is presented to them, they hesitate        calling in Christ Jesus. Set your heart then on the
not to admit it, or perhaps shrug off the remark with       things which are above, where your citizenship is.
a curt reply: Well, it seems like everybody's doing it;
But they do not repent. They `have just enough                The way to your glorious and eternal salvation is
formal religion to escape the discipline of the church,     the way of self-denial, not self-indulgence.
not realizing they cannot escape the discipline of the        That way Jesus trod, yea, He opened the way for
Word spoken to them or preached.                            you that you might walk safely in it unto the glory of
  Does this sound familiar?                                 God's everlasting covenant.
  The apostle saw it in his day, and he wept. Not,            Walking in that way, you shall never be ashamed,
you understand, because he is disappointed in those         world without end.
who manifested themselves as enemies  - for these in          Amen!
holy wrath he denounces; but because of their in-             Amen!


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               245





                                         Editor's Notes
RFPA Book Club Progress.  Our Business Manager               are not books for  every  reader, but have a limited
informs me that as of Saturday, February 11, Book            purpose. As a Book Club member you may buy these
Club membership had reached a total of 93. That's            books at the club discount. We hope that many of
only a fair beginning. It's a far cry from our goal of at    you  wibl  buy them. But it is not required. And now
least  SOO!  Come on! Get those membership cards in          get your membership cards mailed!
our RFPA box!                                                                     * * * * *
                        * * *  *  *                          Australian Business  Office. If you watch our
Questions About The Book Club.  In personal con-             masthead, you will have noticed that it no longer lists
tacts with some of our readers two questions have            a separate business office for Australia. The
popped up in connection with Book Club  member-              Reformed Literature Centre, of Rockhampton,
shib. Perhaps the answers to these questions will            Queensland, informed us that they could no longer
encourage more responses. The first question asked           continue to handle this work for us, due especially to
me was: if I sign up as a Book Club member, how              the fact that all their help is volunteer. Hence, all
many books will I be committed to buy? The motiva-           business correspondence for Australia should be sent
tion of this question was a fear on the part of some         directly to our home office. We thank the Reformed
that they will be over-extending themselves and be           Literature Centre (connected with the Evangelical
committed to buy more books than they can afford.            Presbyterian Church of Rockhampton) for their past
My answer to this question, based on past experience         help.
and knowledge of the mechanics of publishing, is that                             8  *  *  *  *
you would be committed to`buy, at the most, two or           The Day  of  Shadows.  These notes were almost ready
three books per year. For example, I wrote in the last       for the printer when we received word from Rev.
issue that we have three new projects on the front           John Heys that he will undergo open heart surgery
burner at present. However, we would be doing very           around the 22nd of February, according to present
well indeed if we succeeded in getting` all three            plans. This means that we will miss his department in
projects completed this year. The second question            the  Standard Bearer  for some time. Our prayer is that
was: does Book Club membership bind me to buy                the Lord will sustain our brother in this experience,
educational books, such as the new Bible manuals and         and, if it be His will, may this surgery be a means for
workbooks? The answer is: No. We realize that these          Rev. Heys's restoration to health and strength.

EDITORIALS
ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema



                                  The Ruthless Lawlessness
                                       of the Strike Weapon

  As these lines are written, our nation has been            datory power blackouts, in an effort to conserve and
victimized by a coal-miners' strike now for some             to make available for as long as possible a minimal
seventy days. According to news reports, a proposed          amount of power, are being planned, and the public is
settlement has been rejected by the miners' bargain-         being warned to expect them. Industrial plants are
ing council by an overwhelming vote. No new pro-             warning that in case of such cutbacks, they will be
posed settlement is yet in sight. In many areas a            compelled to shut down, with the result that thou-
shortage of electrical power threatens to become a           sands will be thrown out of work.
reality in a matter of days; in some places cutbacks in        In short, the current miners' strike is a graphic
power have already been ordered. In others man-              illustration of the power and the willingness of an


246                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



organized group of workers to bring, if necessary, a         capital, and over his own goods. Yes, I am well aware
whole nation and an' entire economy to its knees, all        that "capital" can sin and does sin, that it can oppress
in order to gain its own ends.                               the worker and has oppressed him; for this the
   This I characterize as ruthless.                          employer is responsible before God, too  - whether
                                                             he `is a godly `or an ungodly employer. But this is not
   The miners and their union simply do not care.            the point. One wrong does not justify another. The
They do not care for anyone, except, perhaps,                wrongs and injustices of the employer do not justify
themselves and their own ends. They do not care              the rebellion and lawlessness of the employee or
whether the wheels of industry are brought to a              group of employees. Both are responsible before the
grinding halt. They do not care  whether,millions  of        Judge of heaven and earth. And in this particular
people may be left without heat and  ligvt. They do          instance it is my purpose to emphasize that the strike
not care whether the economy of the nation is                is lawless because it is violation of the law of God  -
seriously impaired. They do not even  c&e whether            the law that stands above any law of the land. Its
thousands upon thousands of their  fellok workers,           principle is the principle of revolution!
their union brothers, are thrown out of dork. And is
this not ironic, when it is one of the boasts of               The ruthlessness of the current strike only serves to
unionism that .it cares for the worker, seeks the            underscore the lawlessness of the strike weapon.
welfare of the worker, aims to improve t                       I suppose it may be said that such lawlessness is
worker? But the miners do not care.                          only to be expected. For not only do we live in an era
doubtful whether they really care for                        of increasing lawlessness in every sphere of life today,
an economic sense: for not in a  lifetim                     but our very country was founded in revolution, and
recover in terms of benefits                                 is founded on the principle of revolution. That is, of
millions of dollars lost by the                              course, the deepest reason why the strike-weapon is
They are simply out to gain their                            recognized by the law of the land, too. Though our
matter what the costs. They are ruthless!                    country prides itself as being a nation of government
  And they are lawless!                                      by law, and though from time to time it boasts  .that
  No, I am not saying that they are                          the constitution, the law, is above every citizen,
of the land. I am well aware that                            nevertheless the deepest principle  - and that is, after
land it is lawful to strike; in                              all, the principle of the natural man always  - is
the strike-weapon or the threat of the                       "every man for himself, and devil take the hind-
only real weapon which a labor union                         most."
thinking of our country so-called  collectiv4 bargaining       Of these things the Reformed Christian should be
is always bargaining with a pistol at your head.             keenly aware. He should have a keen eye for the
  Neither am I referring to the fact that there have         increase of lawlessness among men. For that lawless-
been numerous instances of violence  repprted. Not           ness is a sign of the times! And he should be
only did the union miners refuse to  wor$, but they         reminded of the wickedness of the strike-weapon by
tried by force to prevent non-union  mtners from             this concrete example, lest as a Christian worker he
working and to shut down non-union  Tines. And               be tempted to join forces with the world. It is our
more than once it has become                                 calling also in this respect to keep ourselves unspotted
police to employ force to protect                            from the world!
property of those not even involved                            Meanwhile, our "evangelical" President has shown
dispute. This, too, was lawlessness on the part of the       himself as weak and as unwilling, thus far, even to
miners; and it only serves to underscore how ruthless        invoke what little power he has against this lawless-
they will be in their lawlessness.                           ness. For he has refused to invoke even the very weak
  But I am referring to the  .fact                           tool of that provision of the Taft-Hartley Act by
principle of the strike is lawless. It is                    which an  80-day cooling off period can be ordered. Is
"might makes right." It is violation                         he afraid of "big labor"? Or is he afraid, perhaps, that
authority of the employer to                                 the miners are so lawless that they would not heed
own sphere, over his own property, ovkr his own              such an order?


                       Lest We Fdrget: A Silver Anniversary

  This year of 1978 marks an important                         "What?" you say. "It is only three years ago that
a silver one, for our Protestant Reformed                    we celebrated the Golden Anniversary of our  de-


                                             THE STANDARD  BEARER                                               247



nomination. And now you speak of a Silver An=               along with a good many present and form  ,r
                                                                                                           d  elders
niversary?"                *                                2nd deacons,  ai well as  &any of the older ge'neration
  That is correct.                                          of our' people. I had a part in the struggle, and I
                                                            witnessed the ecclesiastical warfare, and I saw some-
  But this is the anniversary, of course, not of the        thing of the fierce struggles of others, and I can bear
birth of our denomination. That would be impossible.        testimony as to the heart-wrenching effects these
  However, count back twenty-five years  - those of         events had on my colleagues, on our leaders of those
you who can remember, at least  - and you will              days, and on our churches. In fact, as I write these
discover that this year marks the Silver Anniversary        lines, I have to struggle to bring them to the fore-
of a very important event in the year 1953 in the           front of my memory. I  tiould rather, much rather,
history of our Protestant Reformed Churches.                forget.
  You ask, "Do you mean the `split' of  1953?"                No, not as the "split" of 1953 ought we to cel-
  My answer is: No!                                         ebrate it in this twenty-fifth anniversary year.
  Put in terms of a "split," this is an anniversary           But there is another aspect.
which I, for one, would rather forget. I would prefer         Properly speaking, the so-called split of 1953 was
not to designate it as "silver." In fact, I would not       the Reformation of 1953 for our Protestant Reformed
have to reminisce very long before I would be in a          Churches.
proper mood, even twenty-five years later, to hang            Yes, it was a different kind of reformation. Only
some crepes. For no one who at all had an active part       too often in the history of the church events have pro-
in the life of the churches at that time, whether at        ceeded to that point where reformation has demanded
consistorial, classical, or  synodical level, would care    separation on the part of the faithful element and the
to relive the events of that period of the history of       instituting of the church anew. This time it was, by
our churches, unless he had a completely warped             God's grace, a reformation from  within.  We remained
sense of what is enjoyable; and for the same reason,        the Protestant Reformed Churches. We, through that
no one would care to celebrate the anniversary of the       admittedly painful struggle of the "split," were
troubles, the struggles, the suspicions, the doubts, the    cleansed of a large element which did not want to be
distrust, the deceit, the plotting and conniving, the       truly Protestant Reformed. And thus, through this
disappointment, the pain of separation, the covert
and open attacks on the truth, the vicious slanders of      process of reformation, our Protestant Reformed
                                                            Churches, as they represented and still represent
faithful officebearers and defenders of the truth by        today the cause of God's church in the world, were
one's own familiar friends, in whom he trusted, and
all the other sad aspects of that period which are too      preserved.
numerous  - and too distasteful  - to recall. No one          It is not my intention in this editorial to go into
who experienced those years would willingly agree to        detail as to either the issues or the events of that
relive the aftermath of the "split," with its struggles     reformation. In condensed form the history is
for survival, its painful attempts to bring order out of    recorded in our Fiftieth Anniversary commemorative
chaos, its battle to salvage something out of the           volume,  God's Covenant Faithfulness.  You would do
wreckage wrought by the enemy, its valiant attempts         well to refresh your memory from that source, or, if
to bring the life of the congregations on an even keel      you have them, from the volunies of the  Standard
and to return to the positive work of the church and        Bearer  of the 1950s. And some day, the Lord willing,
the positive development and proclamation of the            there will be an updated version of the  History of the
truth; and for the same reason no one would care to         Protestant Reformed Churches  in which both the
celebrate  this anniversary from that point of view.        events and the doctrinal issues will be dealt with in
None who had a part in these things would willingly         proper detail. This is something highly necessary for
pass again through the agonies of fighting for              the new generation of our churches.
ecclesiastical name and place before the civil magis-         For the present, I wish to stress only three items.
trate, spending wearisome hours and days and weeks
on labors which as such were of no positive benefit           In the first place, through the Reformation of
for the cause of church and kingdom. And for the            1953 our distinctive heritage of God's sovereign grace
same reason, again, no one would care to celebrate an       and of His sure and unconditional covenant and
anniversary of these events  - not from that point of       promise was preserved. For that was surely at stake in
view.                                                       the battle. It was not a matter of a couple of
                                                            relatively insignificant heretical statements, though
  And I know: for though it was the early years of          the ecclesiastical battle came to center on these. But
my ministry, I experienced all these things, along          it was a matter of that heritage of the truth which
with several of my colleagues who are still living and      constituted and still constitutes the very reason of


248                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


our existence as Protestant Reformed Churches.               means, you understand, that the Lord of history has
Further, not only was our heritage preserved, and we         vindicated us. We represent God's cause in the world!
preserved in its possession; but the Lord also used this       In the third place, we must not forget! This is a
history to sharpen us in our understanding of these          very, real possibility and a very real danger, simply
truths and their implications. Also in this respect the      from the point of view of the passage of time and
struggle of 1953 was the Lord's refiner's fire.              generations. Have you ever stopped to consider that
  In the second place, history has vindicated us as          there is a large portion of our constituency which
churches. We are still here! Not only so, but by God's       does not know of the Reformation of 1953 by
grace we are strong and vigorous and faithful to the         experience?. There are many of our people who  ai-e
truth of our Reformed heritage. The Lord revived us          now adults, but who were only children and toddlers,
and made  ail things well with us! And where is that         or even unborn, in 1953. Do  you realize, for example,
element which sought to lead our churches away               that of our living ministers there are only six who
from the truth and sought our destruction as Protes-         were ordained prior to 1953, and nineteen who were
tant Reformed Churches? As we all know, though for           ordained after the crisis of  1953?  I suppose the
a time they tried to claim a Protestant Reformed             proportions are not the sanie among our elders and
identity, they soon were swallowed up and lost their         deacons and our membership at large; but you may
ecclesiastical identity in the amalgam of the Christian      be sure that there are many who can know the facts
Reformed Church. History has vindicated our cause            and the issues of that history only secondhand. And
as God's cause. And that "history" has vindicated us         this means that we must  instruct.  Lest we forget!

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                                         March 1, 1978
Dear Timothy,
  In our discussion of the offices in the Church we          connection with these needs, the special offices were
are about ready to talk about the subject of how             instituted in the Church. The institution of these
these offices came into existence after Pentecost, and       offices, therefore, is always in connection with the
what their significance was for the Church of all ages.      history of the Church itself.
You will recall that we  em.phasized especially the fact       In the third place, all this was done under the
that Christ is the true and only Officebearer in His         direction of the apostles. We must understand clearly
Church as the fulfillment of all the typical offices of      the implications of this. The apostles occupied a
the Old Dispensation. So the question really is: How         special office in the Church. This was a special office
did  Christ  institute the New Testament offices?            because it was the office which God used as a vehicle
  There are especially three things to remember in           for divine revelation. This is why Paul can write to
connection with the establishment of the offices in          the Ephesians that the Church is built upon the
the New Testament Church. In the first place, God            foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
did not, so to speak, hand the early Church some             Himself being the chief cornerstone. Through the
kind of early edition of the Church Order of                 apostles was given the truth of revelation, which
Dordrecht in which were a number of rules laid down          contained all the will of God for His Church for all
for the operation of the Church in her institutional         ages; and they were the means by which this truth
form. If this had been the case, all the Church would        was recorded infallibly on the pages of Holy Writ.
have had to do was consult certain pages and articles           In this sense of the Word, the apostles incorporated
from time to time in order that they might learn what        all the special offices in the Church in their office.
the will of  -God was in any particular instance. But        Because they were the instruments of divine revela-
God never works that way.                                    tion, they were emphatically prophets. Thus they
  In the second place, along with all the principles of      were used by God to bring His Word to the Church.
church government, the principles concerning the             But in the early history of the Church, they were also
offices in the Church arose  organically  out of the life    the elders and deacons in the Church. The rule of the
of the Church. This is a very important point, and we        Church fell upon them, and the care of the poor fell
cannot emphasize this enough. As the work of the             also upon them. All the work of the Church was done
Church progressed, certain needs arose in the life of        by them. But as the Church developed, and as various
the Church. These needs could only be met by the             needs arose, the other offices arose out of the office of
institution of particular offices in the Church. And, in     apostles. They were, so to speak, new shoots which


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  249



grew out of the stem of the office of the apostles. By         question who would care for them. The apostles were
the time, therefore, that God's revelation was com-            too busy. A special office was therefore instituted to
plete and the office of apostles had served  its'pur-          provide for this need. And, in connection with this
pose, the three offices of minister, elder, and deacon         need, we have given to us information also as to the
were firmly established in the Church.       '                 specific duties which were entrusted to this office.
  There is, therefore, a close relationship between               In the third place, the office was instituted and
the special offices in the Church and the office of            men were chosen for this office by the Church  at
apostles. On the one hand, we can almost say that the          Jerusalem, but under the direction and control of the
office of apostles was subdivided into the three               apostles themselves. The role of the apostles,
special offices which Scripture tells us ought to              described in vss. 3, 4, 6, indicates that the idea came
function in the Church. On the other hand, the three           from them and that the men were ordained into
offices which are in the Church are guided in an               office by the apostles with the laying on of hands. The
absolute way by the Scripture's which were given by            role of the congregation, described in vs. 5, was the
the apostles. The power of the offices in the Church           actual choice of the men  Gho were appointed by God
is the power of the  Word.  And that Word was given to         to fill this office.
the Church through the apostles as the infallible                 In the fourth place, the role of the deacons was,
record of the will of God. So there remains that               during `this apostolic era, somewhat broader than the
connection between the special offices in the Church           role of deacons is today. We read of both Stephen
and the office of apostles through the Word of God.            and Philip, two of the deacons, that they were also
  In connection with this it must also be remem-               men who preached, performed miracles, and did great
bered that there is here too continuity between the            wonders among the people. Because these offices
Old and the New Testaments. That is, when the                  were arising out of the Church in the era of the
special offices were ordained in the Church in the             apostles, the lines were not as sharply drawn as they
New Testament, this was not something radical and              are today. Nevertheless, there was really no essential
new in the sense that it was something wholly foreign          difference. I would like to return to this a bit more in
to the thinking of the Church. It must have been true          detail in a later letter, but for the moment it ought to
that the Church immediately sensed that this was a             be observed that, because all the offices share the
part of the Church's life which grew directly out of           prophetic office, all the offices in the Church essen-
the Old Dispensation. The Church must have sensed              tially preach the Word. So there was no  essential
that the office of deacon, e.g., was a New Testament           difference from the office today.
fulfillment of the office of priest; that the office of          We do not really read of the office of elders until
elder was the New Dispensational counterpart of the            the time of Paul's first missionary journey. In Acts
office of king; and that the office of minister was the        14:23 we read: "And when they had ordained them
realization of the office of prophet. There was no             elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting,
absolute break between the Dispensations. There was            they commended them to the Lord, on whom they
only fulfillment and perfection. It is the book of Acts        believed." But in  15:4 we read: "And when they
particularly which tells us how these offices rose in          were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the
the Church. We are all familiar with the history which         church, and of the apostles and elders, and they
is recorded for us in Acts 6 and which tells of the            declared all things that God had done with them."
institution of the office of deacon. There are, how-           From these two passages it is evident that the Church
ever, a few things we ought to notice about this               in Jerusalem had elders before the apostles departed
passage. In the first place, it is evident that the care of    on their first journey, and that Paul, in ordaining
the Grecian widows who were being neglected in the             elders in every city where a church was established,
daily ministration was, before this time, the responsi-        was only doing what was already commonly accepted
bility of the apostles. This is clear from the words of        practice in the Church. It is striking in this connec-
the twelve: "It is not reason that we should leave the         tion to note that the reference to the Jerusalem
word of God and serve tables." The point is that the           meeting which is recorded in Acts 15 is a reference to
apostles found themselves too busy to take care of             a council that was composed of apostles and elders.
this work which needed to be done, and believed it             The two are repeatedly mentioned together. See vss.
important that they concentrated their attention on            2, 6, 22, 23 as well as  16:4.  And the point is that the
the Word of God. The office which was instituted,              apostles and elders functioned together in a matter
therefore, arose out of the office of apostles.                which concerned the rule and government of the
   In the second place, the institution of this office         Church.
arose organically out of a need in the Church. No one             That there is no special mention made of the
doubted for a moment that these widows had to be               institution of this office seems also to indicate that
cared for. There was no question about this. It was a          the office arose rather spontaneously in the life of the


250                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



Church under the leadership and as an offshoot of the       obviously, be ministers of every congregation which
office of apostles.                                         was established), and because of the fact that the
  There are two words which are used in the New             office of apostles quite spontaneously shot forth the
Testament for "elder": epikopoi'  and  presbyteroi.         shoot of this office in the Church. There are other
Later, in the history of the New Testament Church,          references to ministers in the Scriptures, but to these
these two words became an occasion for dis-                 we shall pay attention at a later date.
agreement. As the hierarchical system of Roman                 What is interesting to note is that the ministers
Catholicism developed, a distinction was made be-           were also considered elders, although they were elders
tween  episcopoi  and  presby teroi,  which distinction     who were busy in the preaching. This is clear from a
developed into a distinction between bishops and            passage such as I Timothy 5: 17: "Let the elders that
priests. But this is really contrary to the Scriptures.     rule well be counted worthy of double honour,
Scripture looks at the office of elder from two dif-        especially they who  labour in the word and doc-
ferent viewpoints:  episcopoi  emphasizes the aspect of     trine." Here, though elders and ministers are both
the  oversight  which the elders have of the Church;        designated as elders, a distinction is made between
presby teroi means "older" or "elder" and looks at          those that rule and those that are busy in the Word
the office from the viewpoint of its continuity with        and doctrine. That this should be the case in Scripture
the Old Testament Church in which there were elders,        is not surprising when we consider the fact that there
and from the viewpoint of the qualifications for            was in the New Testament a reflection of the offices
office.                                                     as they existed in the Old Testament, especially the
  That there were ministers also in the apostolic           fact that the prophetic office was shared by the other
Church is clear from the writings of the apostles  -        offices.
especially the letters to Timothy and Titus, both of           But we must bring this letter to a close for this
whom were ministers of the gospel. Of this office too       time, Timothy. We shall return again to this subject in
we read of no special institution. It appears that also     our future correspondence.
this office arose because of the consciousness of
continuity with the Old Testament, because of the                                          Fraternally,
pressure of the work of the apostles (they could not,                                      H. Hanko

TRIUMPH THROUGH TRIALS




                            Our All-Sufficient Savior
                                                  Rev. J. Kortering

  Frustrating, isn't it, how we can have good days           never the same, but we go on. Soon the sunshine
and bad days.                                                breaks through the clouds.
  Good and bad, that is, regarding faith.    -                 Our deepest frustration, however, is not at such
   One day we can be so strong, we smile; the next           times. Far more difficult for us is the up and down,
day we can be so cast down, the whole world is               the good and bad days, when the circumstances in
shrouded with clouds.                                        our lives are the very same. For some of us it may be
   Sometimes we may experience this when the                 that our lives are filled with goodness from the Lord.
circumstances of our lives change. Our health may            We are healthy; we have work to do so that we are
become shattered with the intrusion of cancer. Our           not bored with life; we have a happy marriage; we are
marriage may be broken by the cold hand of death.            blessed with healthy, active children. Yet, within the
The routine of our lives may be brutally interrupted         framework of so many blessings, we can one day be
by the "tragedy" of an accident. Of course, our              exhilarated, our faith life shines with the lustre of
response is drastic. We cry; we are crushed; we groan        heaven, we are thankful  - and anyone looking at us
in our distress. And soon we rise above the blow and         can see it. Yet, a short time later, for no apparent
begin to see life in a different perspective. Life is        reason, we can be down, depressed; we can't seem to


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      251



get ourselves together, and we walk around as if the                 The outstanding truth in this entire passage is that
whole world is crushing us  td pieces.                            salvation is completely in the Lord Jesus. He Himself
  That's frustrating!                                             walked upon the water! He is the Lord of life; He is
                                                                   our Redeemer and Savior Who has also become our
  The same is true for many of you who have grave                 Lord. He died for our sins. He made complete
trials in your lives. You are weeping because you are             satisfaction so that the billows of God's wrath are
lonely, death has struck your home. You have known                forever taken away from us, His people. He has
pain because of disease or surgery. You have to carry             received of the Father the Holy Spirit whereby He is
a great burden either because of your affliction or               able to impart to us a living faith.
because you have to help a loved one who is afflicted.
Sometimes you have days when the light of heaven                     Whether we are up or whether we are down, He
shines upon you and you know contentment. Oh, not                  saves us.
that it is easy on those days, but your outlook is                   There is more, however, to instruct us.
bright and that makes such a difference. And, before                 We also learn of our relationship to Him. We like to
you know it, maybe the very next day, you are                     have strong days, we like to be "up." How can that
crushed beneath the load. The circumstances are the                be? Only one answer is obvious: "Look to Jesus!"
very same, yet you feel gloom; you cry with self pity;             Concentrate upon the Lord, learn His will, contem-
it seems too much; you are discouraged.                            plate His great salvation, search the Scripture, and
  That's frustrating!                                             prayerfully ask for His presence and strength, and will
  What must we do?                                                 walk upon the water. Grace and wisdom and all
  The Word of God gives us direction.                              spiritual blessings come from Him through faith.
                                                                   Faith looks upon Jesus. There is no boast when we
  It is true that we may console ourselves to a certain
degree that such is the character of our life as long as           are "up." We are able to do all things through Christ
we are on this side of the grave. We can certainly turn            Who strengtheneth us.
to many examples of Scripture to see God's saints in                 We also learn what to do when we are "down."
their ups and downs, Jacob from Bethel to Peniel,                 There is something wrong with our faith; it is weak.
Elijah from  Carmel  to the juniper tree, Jonah from               Rather than looking at Jesus our Savior, we are
Nineveh to sulking under the withered vine.                        looking at our own problem, we are feeling sorry for
  There really is no comfort in this. It helps us to               ourselves, we are engrossed in the hardship of life
understand that such trials are common to God's                    rather than looking at Jesus Who promises to give us
people, but it doesn't solve the problem.                          strength no matter what the need. That really is sin.
  Let me suggest that you read again Matt.  14:22-33.              Listen to Peter, "Lord, save me!" Oh, yes, when we
  We see in this experience of Peter a spiritual lesson.           are "down" we need salvation! We need our faith
He walked on the water. He had "good days." The                    strengthened, we need grace, we need the Holy Spirit.
                                                                   Do you do the right thing when you are down? We
storm didn't make him afraid; the waves didn't seem                must turn to Jesus, read His Word, pray for salvation,
to bother him; he walked to Jesus.                                 for a lifting up of our souls to the God Who loves and
  But, when he looked at the wind and waves, he                    cares for us. And He does just that, Jesus reached
became afraid, verse 30. He began to sink and he                   down and lifted Peter and gently reprimanded him.
cried, "Lord, save me." And Jesus stretched forth his
hand and caught him and said, "0 thou of little faith,               We have an all-sufficient Savior.
wherefore didst thou doubt?" verse 31. In other                       "In doubt and temptation I rest, Lord, in Thee;
words, Peter's down days were due to his lack of                     My hand is in Thy hand, Thou  carest for me;
faith. He was preoccupied with the storm rather than                 My soul with Thy counsel through life Thou wilt
with the presence of Jesus. It was a time of  "little-                 guide,
faith."                                                              And afterward make me in glory abide."

THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS


     Everyone's Duty to Join the True  Church
                                                  ProJ: Robert D. Decker

             "We believe, since this holy congregation is an assembly of those who are saved, and that out of it there
           is nd salvation, that no person of whatsoever state or condition he may be, ought to withdraw himself, to


252                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


               live in a separate state from it; but that all men are in duty bound to join and unite themselves with it;
               maintaining the unity of the Church; submitting themselves to the doctrine and discipline thereof; bowing
               their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ; and as mutual members of the same body, serving to the
               edification of the brethren, according to the talents God has given them. And that this may be the more
               effectually observed, it is the duty of all believers, according to the Word'of  God, to separate themselves
               from all those who do not belong to the Church, and to join themselves to this congregation, wheresoever
               God hath established it, even though the magistrates and edicts of princes were against it, yea, though they
               should suffer death or any other corporal punishment. Therefore all those, who separate themselves from
              the same, or do not join themselves to it, act contrary to the ordinance of God."
                                                                                  -  The Belgic Confession,  Article XXVIII
   Speaking of the Church and the fact that there is                   is able either to separate himself from or join himself
no salvation outside of it, John Calvin said:                          to the organism of the Church, the true spiritual
          "We may learn even from the title of mother, how             Body of Jesus Christ. One either is a member of the
       useful and even necessary it is for us to know her,             Body of Christ by virtue of divine election or he is
       sifice there is no other way of entrance into life, un-         not. On the other hand it is entirely possible to sever
       less we are conceived by her, born of her, nourished            relations with or to join the Church as institute.
       at her breast, and continually preserved under her
       care and government till we are divested of this                   We must not conclude from this that there is only
       mortal flesh, and `become like the angels.' For our             one true institute of the  Church,in the world at any
       infirmity will not admit of our dismission from her             given time. It would not be proper to say, for ex-
       school; we must continue under her instruction and              ample, that the Protestant Reformed Churches are
       discipline to the end of our lives. It is also to be            the one, true Church and all other churches are false.
       remarked, that out of her bosom there can be no                 God gathers His people out of the nations of the
       hope of remission of sins, or any salvation, according          world, and establishes His Church among the nations.
       to the testimony of Joel and Ezekiel . . . In these             Nevertheless it remains true that the true Church
       words the paternal favour of God, and the peculiar              exists throughout the world and is easily distin-
    testimony of the spiritual life, are restricted to his
       flock, to teach us that it is always fatally dangerous          guished from the false by the marks of the true
       to be separated from the Church."                               Church. (Cf. Article XXIX)
                                            Institutes: IV,  i, 4         This institute of the Church is "an assembly of
These words are certainly apropos to the situation of                  those who are saved." This cannot mean that all the
our times. We hear an increasing chorus of voices                      members of the Church institute are saved. We know
rising in criticism of the Church. More and more, so it                both from the Word of God and from experience that
seems, people are less than impressed with the neces-                  there is  always a carnal element in the Church. This is
sity of being joined to the true Church. Calvin says                   one reason why the Church must have the pure
unequivocably that no one can be saved outside of                      preaching of the Word and the exercise of discipline
the Church and that is the point of this Article of our                in, order that these may be expelled. We also believe
Confession.  This simply means that the matter of                      and confess that outside of this assembly there is no
one's church membership may not be treated in                          salvation. The institute of the Church is the visible
cavalier fashion. To put it bluntly, where one goes to                 manifestation in the world of the Body of Jesus
church is of crucial importance and has eternal con-                   Christ. To that one Body of which Christ is the Head
sequences.                                                             belongs the one Spirit of Christ. The saving operation
                                                                       of the Spirit is within the Body of Christ and,
  There has been over the years no little disagree-                    therefore, outside of that Body no one has any part
ment as to what the  Confession  means by the Church                   with Christ.
or the true Church. The  Confession  calls the true
Church, a "holy congregation" and an "assembly of                       Hence no one, "of whatsoever state or condition
those who are saved." Because of this and especially                   he may be, ought to withdraw himself, to live in a
because the  Corzfession   states concerning this                      separate state from it; but . . . all men are in duty
assembly of those who are saved that "out of it there                  bound to join and unite themselves with" the visible
is no salvation," there are some who insist that the                   manifestation of the Body of Christ on earth. That is
reference is to the Church as organism. It is evident,                 where Christ is in the office of believers and in the
however, that the  Confession  is referring not to the                 special offices of minister, elder, and deacon.
organism as such but to the organism as it becomes                     Through the institute of the Church the means of
manifest in the institute of the Church among all                      grace are dispensed. To the Church the ascended
nations of the world in time and history. This is why                  Christ gave pastors and teachers: "For the perfecting
the  Confession  declares it to be the duty of believers               of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
to: "join themselves to this congregation, whereso-                    edifying of the body of Christ." (Ephesians 4: 11, 12)
ever God hath established it. . .  ." No man of himself                It pleases God "by the foolishness of preaching to


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                             253


save them that believe." (I Corinthians 1: 2 1) Romans          ly. Just as one must join the true Church where the
10: 13-15 teaches that in order to be saved one must            Word is purely preached, so the only reason one may
call upon the name of the Lord. In order to call upon           justifiably sever relations with a Church is when the
the name of the Lord one must believe in Christ and             preaching and doctrine are corrupted and discipline is
in order to believe in Christ one must hear Him. In             no  longer exercised in obedience to the command of
order to hear Christ. one must have a preacher who is           Christ. Always his duty remains to walk worthy of his
sent. Thus to leave the Church where the Word is                calling in the love of God, "endeavoring to keep the
purely preached is to despise the God-ordained                  unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Ephesians
means of salvation. It is in effect to leave the                4: l-3)
fellowship of Christ Himself, and that is  teiribly               Believers must submit themselves to the doctrine
serious! John Calvin, speaking to this point, gave this         and discipline of the Church. They must bow under
warning :                                                       the yoke of Christ. The point is, and this will be
       "Hence it follows that a departure from the              further developed in Article  XXX, that Christ is the
    Church is a renunciation of God and Christ. And such        chief and only officebearer in the Church. Christ has
    a criminal dissension is so much the more to be             appointed' officebearers in the Church: ministers,
    avoided, because, while we endeavour, so far as lies in     elders, and deacons. Through these officebearers, who
    our power, to destroy the truth of God, we deserve to       represent Christ, Christ speaks His Word, governs His
    be crushed with the most powerful thunders of his           flock,  and ministers His mercies to the poor. Thus by
    wrath. Nor is it possible to imagine a more atrocious
    crime, than that sacrilegious perfidy, which violates       submitting to the Christ-ordained officebearers be-
    the conjugal relation that the only begotten Son of         lievers "bow their necks under the yoke of Jesus
    God condescended to form with us."                          Christ." Obviously this implies a responsibility on the
                                       Institutes, IV, i, 10    part of the officebearers. They must speak only the
                                                                Word of Christ as revealed in the Holy Scriptures and
                                                                they must rule the congregation and dispense the
  This would also imply that there are manifestations           mercies of Christ according to the Word. Then and
of the institute of Church which are corrupted and              only then are they faithful and obedient to the
have departed from the truth. It falls upon believers           Church Who called them. Then they truly represent
to sever relations with such a corrupt institute and            Christ and have the right to demand obedience in His
join that institute which is pure and holy. If men do           name.
not do this they act contrary to the ordinance of
God. And, it may be added, they will reap the harvest             Believers must, "as  mutual members of the same
of their error upon themselves and upon their genera-           body, (serve) to the edification of the brethren,
tions. It is well to note at this point the viewpoint of        according to the talents God has given them." Christ
the  Confession.  The  Confession  considers this whole         through His Spirit has graced the members of His
matter from the point of view of the obligation which           Body with a wide variety of spiritual gifts. No man in
rests upon all believers. They are in duty bound to             the Church has received these gifts for his own selfish
join themselves to the true Church and not to                   interests, but has been given them in order that with
withdraw from it. That is done through the outward              them he may serve the welfare of the Church of Jesus
sign of baptism, either of infants or of adults and             Christ and the  cause of the Kingdom of Heaven. (Cf.
through public confession of faith. Thus through the            Romans  12:5-8) Believers must use their gifts for the
union in public worship, the celebration of the                 benefit of their fellow saints so that the Church may
sacraments, and in general,  particifiation in the              be built up in the faith and knowledge of the Son of
organic life of the Church one joins the true Church.           God.
Again, let it be emphasized, that is where Christ is.             Finally the obligation to join the true Church
There through the preaching of the Word the voice of            wheresoever God has established it is so serious and
the Good Shepherd is heard calling His sheep so that            so sacred that one must obey it regardiess of the
they follow Him. Outside of it there is no salvation.           consequences  - "even though the magistrates and
   The  Confession  also speaks of the demands which            edicts of princes were against it, yea, though they
rest upon believers as members of the Church. They              should suffer death or any other corporal punish-
must maintain the unity of the Church. They may                 ment." This was emphatically true at the time when
not commit the sin of schism, a sore evil which has             the  Confession  was written. Guido de Bres himself
plagued the Church from the very beginning of its               was hanged on account of the faith. It will, no doubt,
history. John Calvin warned against this sin  repeated-         be  true again, probably in the not too distant future.
                                 Know the standard and follow it.
                              Read  The Standard Bearer


 i54                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


 IN HIS FEAR                                                              ,,




                            Praying For the Church
                                              Rev. Meindert Joostens

   About this time each year we set aside a day of         the spiritual center of the promised land of Canaan.
prayer. Sometimes we call this day the Day of Prayer       All the physical attributes that speak of the beauty of
for Crops and Industry. It is this title that brings to    Zion only point to its true spiritual grandeur. It was a
light the true emphasis that our Prayer Day must           city compact and fair with towering defenses, the city
have. The Annual Day of Prayer is to ask the blessing      of the king. It was unto the city of Jerusalem that
of Jehovah our God upon the fertile fields that they       God's people journeyed, for there was the Most Holy
may bring forth a harvest of good things for us. And,      Place.. On Mt. Zion God dwelt with His people in
although most of us are far removed from the land          covenant communion and fellowship. There the ark
and agriculture, we do well to pay attention to the        of the covenant was found under one roof with the
emphasis of Prayer Day. However, in this article,          Holy Place where the children of Abraham might
without doing violence to or destroying the afore-         bring their sacrifices. Zion was the place of God's
mentioned emphasis, I want to depart a little from         delight! There He chose to live with His chosen
tradition and call your attention to another petition      people.
which must have a chief place in our prayer. We must          The true beauty of Jerusalem is designated in its
pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We must have delight      very name. Jerusalem designates the habitation,
in the prosperity of the Church. God's people spoke        dwelling, or possession of peace. It was the city of
in the captivity of Babylon, "If I forget thee, 0          peace. Not primarily an earthly and physical peace,
Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I      for this was only true in part. During the reign of
do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the          Solomon peace reigned in Israel, and Solomon was
roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my       able to execute the delight of his father David in the
chief joy." (Psalm  137:5,  6) So, as we live in the       building of the temple. But Jerusalem saw much war,
midst of the bosom of the antichristian world, must        as anyone at all acquainted with Old Testament
we regard the church in our prayers.                       history knows. Yea, the city of peace was even
   Often we find this love for the Church revealed to      destroyed in 586 B.C. But the peace of Jerusalem was
us in the Psalms. Many times we read of the dear place     the tranquility that God's people enjoyed with
that Zion,. God's holy hill, and Jerusalem, the city of    Jehovah. The peace of Jerusalem was the peace of
God had in the hearts and prayers of God's people in       God's covenant. It was the result of God's gracious
the old dispensation. I think for example of one of        forgiveness of sin. The peace of Jerusalem was found
the Psalms of degrees, Psalm 122. We could do no           in the many sacrifices that all pointed to the Christ
better than to have this Psalm resound in our soul         Who would truly establish peace for His people.
when we-approach unto God's House from Sunday to             But the typical, though beautiful, must ultimately
Sunday. "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us         fail and give way to the real which it foreshadowed.
go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand        The city of Jerusalem and Mount Zion as we just
within thy gates, 0 Jerusalem." (verses 1  & 2) But        spoke of it was no exception. The church and
then notice especially verses 6-8: "Pray for the peace     covenant of the Old Testament becomes universalized
of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace     in the new dispensation. Jerusalem becomes the
be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy             catholic church. Zechariah prophesied of this already
palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I          in the times that belonged to the shadows and
will now say, Peace be within thee."                       pictures. He said "Jerusalem shall be inhabited as
                                                           towns without walls. . .  ." Isaiah spoke of enlarging
  The terminology of the Psalms deal of course with        the tent, lengthening the cords, and strengthening the
the figures of the old dispensation. This Psalm focuses    stakes.  (54:2)  Since the veil of the temple was torn in
upon Jerusalem as it is the Old Testament type and         twain, the Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel has taken
picture of God's covenant and church. Jerusalem was        up His covenant abode in the hearts of His people in


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               255


every nation, tribe, and tongue. Since the Priest, who       the preaching of the Word of God. Paul described the'
was priest par  excellence,  offered Himself as the          proclamation of the Word as "Preaching Christ
atonement for the sins of His own, we are the temples        crucified." This is the same gospel which was mani-
of God. And even as the name Jerusalem depicted the          fest in a typical way in the temple at Jerusalem
characteristic of the peace of God that belonged to          through the priesthood and sacrifice. It was this that
that typical city, so the church today is tranquil in        made Jerusalem the spiritual center of the land of
peace, for her warfare has been accomplished.                Canaan and the love of God's people. So it is with the
Though the Devil, the world, and all the powers of           church today. We repair to God's house each Sabbath
evil threaten against us, we shall not be greatly            to be invigorated spiritually by the Spirit through the
moved! For there is nothing that can separate the            preaching of the Word. It is for us an oasis in the dry
church from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus         desert land of this pilgrim's journey.. We have a
our Lord.                                                    longing to be so instructed and uplifted, do we not?
                                                             Let us' pray for the peace of Zion that we may have
  But let us understand that the complete peace of           the doors of our churches open each Sunday
Jerusalem will be ushered in only when she finally           morning. What a wealth immeasurable is ours! "Be-
descends from heaven as a bride adorned for her              cause of the house of the Lord our God I will seek
husband. Though her warfare has been accomplished,           thy good." (verse 9) Jerusalem without the temple
the church is still militant. That is our experience.        was of no consequence. The people who returned
Quite obviously, we know this to be the case from an         from the captivity of Babylon realized this very
external point of view. The church is plagued by             keenly. We seek the Church because there God
persecution and oppression. Though we do not as yet          delights to dwell. In the Church He takes His abode in
experience this in the country in which we live, the         the midst of His people! We must be careful not to
church is and will be persecuted for righteousness           seek Jerusalem because of her beautiful buildings and
sake. So terrible will this persecution become, that         magnificent palaces. We may not love the Church of
the days will be shortened for the sake of the elect of
the Church. Things must get worse before we see the          God simply because of its outward appeal. All too
better of the eternal peace. But there is also an            many churches have forgotten the sacrifice in the
internal aspect to the peace of Zion, the Church. Not        temple, Christ crucified, and made their drawing
only do we as members of the Body of Christ have to          power a social gospel and physical attraction.
suffer the lashing of the world, but we also struggle          And we pray for the peace of Zion, "for my
with ourselves! The members of the flesh war against         brethren and companions' sakes." Our prayer is never
the spirit. Our souls are not always calm but some-          selfish or egotistical. There are those who join us as
times in great upheaval, knowing that our warfare has        we approach the house of the Lord. They are my
been accomplished, our flesh is still often lured by         companions. They too are God's covenant people
that which no longer has a hold upon us, and, worse          that have the same delight for the church in their
yet, is sometimes overcome. Among the saints, the            heart. They too seek Jerusalem because it is the house
citizens of Jerusalem, we find much worry, anxiety,          of the Lord our God. Together we have itching ears
distress, and littleness of faith. It is not always          for the pure gospel of Christ. We are one in the body
peaceful in Zion.                                            of Christ and unified by the bond of faith that ties us
                                                             to Christ Who is Head of the Body of the Church. We
  Therefore, pray for peace! Such a prayer is moti-          pray for peace that our brothers and sisters may
vated by a true love and concern for Zion. The               worship with us, singing the songs of Zion and
Church of Christ as it makes itself manifest here upon       hearing the Spirit address the Church. That's why it
the earth must be dear to our hearts. The cause of the       bothers and we are filled with concern when pews are
kingdom must be uppermost in our minds. Our                  empty. We join in the joys, sorrows, and problems of
situation is analogous to that of the Babylonian             our companions. We seek the welfare of Zion before
captivity. There they could not sing the songs of            our own!
Zion. It was altogether too painful for them. Yet, this
was a result of their deep love. If I forget Zion, let my      And the encouragement in all this is that they who
right hand forget her cunning. These are powerful            love Zion shall prosper. I must point out the original
words. As the Church in the new dispensation has             here. The word prosperity here is the same word that
been made catholic, so the type of Babylon is                the Psalmist uses with regard to Jerusalem's peace. So
universal. Today the Church lives in the clutches of the     really the idea is that those who seek the peace of the
world that has no use or love for the Church. There          Church shall themselves experience peace. If our
must be a special place in the heart of the child of         sincerest desire is not for Zion, if the Church is not
God for the Church. We must see her beauty and               chief in that which we seek, then we must not expect
spiritual significance for us. We are told in our            the blessing of peace in our heart and life. But for
confession that the Church is chiefly characterized by       those who seek the good of Jerusalem, who love the


  256                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  Church and show it in very deed, God gives abundant            We pray for the  pe'ace of Jerusalem now and that it
  prosperity. We shall see God's kingdom prosper and          may come in all its perfection on that great day of
                                                              days. As those who prosper in Zion, we shall abide in
  increase all our days here below.                           His fear.

  THE DAY OF SHAD0 WS




                                       Prenatal Perplexity
                                                   Rev. John A. Heys

    When you deal with matters over which you have            model, an object for the artist to paint or sculpture
  no control, you often have to hurry. Because we have        because of grace of line and proportion. He made her
  no control over the approaching storm we hurry to           not for the lust of man and so that contraceptive
  get into a sheltered place, if not to escape the killing    factories might employ men and keep the economy
  lightning bolt, then to be safe from the drenching          going. She was made, as Solomon also in his wisdom
  rain. Because we have no control over the minute            points out in Proverbs 5 : 15, to be the fountain out of
  virus that causes the fever to rise dangerously near the    which the human race would flow, the cistern, or if
  fatal mark, we rush our loved one or friend to the          you will, the well, out of which the man receives his
  nearest hospital. When we see the days roll by and old      children. He writes, "Drink waters out of thine own
  age approaching relentlessly, and we know that we           cistern, and running waters out of thine own well."
  cannot make the day stay with us, we often hurry to         And that Solomon is referring to the woman is
  get a matter accomplished which we know should              evident from verse 18: "Let thy fountain be blessed;
  wait and be done more leisurely, and perhaps not at         and rejoice with the wife of thy youth."
  all. A young woman may rush into marriage. A young             But God is in no hurry to give Isaac a child out of
 man may speed down the highway at a reckless rate            that fountain. He need not be in a hurry. For He has
  of speed. But an older couple may invest without            all things completely under His control. He had
 investigation to get rich quickly so that retirement         shown in Abraham and Sarah that even when  they
  may be reached before the days arrive when they             came to the point of being completely incapable of
  cannot enjoy that retirement.                               bringing forth children, He could still do so. With
    The God Whom we serve and Whose we are never              God it is never, "Hurry up before it is too late." What
 hurries. And this is true exactly because He has all         is more, God has His calendar and His stop-watch. He
  things at all times completely under His control. He        has all things scheduled for a particular moment of
  created time and has perfect control of every               time and knows the end from the beginning. He is in
  split-second of time. He created space and rules every      no hurry because there is nothing and no one that can
 nook and cranny of it with almighty power.                   hurry Him. There never is at any moment of time an
    And so it is that after Isaac and Rebekah became          emergency and therefore no situation that requires
 man and wife, when Isaac was forty years old, twenty         haste on His part. There never is with Him a moment
 years went by before God gave them their first child.        that if this or that does not happen just now, it
 It would seem to us, and it may have seemed to               cannot and will not happen. On time, according to
 Abraham, that for the fulfillment of His covenant            God's unchangeable calendar, what He knew and
 promises they should have a child at once. After all,        decreed before the foundation of the world occurs
 Abraham did not send for a wife for Isaac simply so          with clock-like precision, not hurried, not delayed,
 that Isaac would quit mourning for his mother and            but at the exact second in time that it was decreed
 have a companion in life. He had his eye on a child,         before time began.
 on children, on seed as -the sand upon the seashore.           From the point of view of man, for whom these
 And did God not make the woman as she is so that             things occur and around whom they revolve in God's
 she might bring forth children? Does not the little girl     mystery as it is in Christ, there are reasons why events
 in time develop exactly in such a way that she is            seem delayed. So often we need such "delays" and
made ready for bearing children? God does not bring           deliberate withholding of what God promised. We
 her to her maturity so that she may be a shapely             need to be taught to pray, and to pray more


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  257


earnestly. Never in this life do we reach the point          word has various meanings. Among them is break,
of perfection in our prayers. Never do we learn              bruise, crush and oppress. Unborn Jacob and Esau
to pray as zealously and earnestly as we ought. And          were not engaged in a friendly wrestling match. It was
what we call delays are used by God to cause us to fix       a struggle for mastery, even though they could not
our eyes more intently upon Him, the Giver of every          yet consciously do such a thing. And although  `we
good and perfect gift. All too often we live as though       find a different word in Genesis 3 : 15, we do have
we  aYe like God and we need Him only in dire                here a fulfillment of that prophecy and prediction of
emergencies. We sing of needing Him every hour               God that seed will bruise seed, and enmity will exist
while actually we need Him every heartbeat. We think         between seed and seed. Here amazingly enough we
in terms of years and days when we do not know               haye it between children of one conception, children
from one second to the next what will befall us. The         of  on& father and one mother. Yea we have it in twin
moments when we look up to Him, the moments                  brothers of two devout, believing children of God.
when we are really asking Him  - rather than just               Now, however, we do read of Rebekah praying to
reaching out and taking what we see before us  -  are        God, "And she went to enquire of the Lord." Genesis
so few and far between. And in our hectic rush to get        25  :22. And her question is, "Why am I thus?"
out of this life what we can and to enrich ourselves         tiowever, she precedes this question with, "If it be
with as many of the treasures of this world as we can,       so." And this has been translated in different ways.
we need to be taught to wait upon the Lord and to            Combined with "Why am I thus?" it receives some
begin to reckon with Him.                                    St&king interpretations. Calvin explains that Rebekah
  Isaac did. 0, not at first. We just expect children;.      despaired of life and wanted to die rather than bring
and just for a brief moment after their birth do we          forth two sons that would be at each other's throats.
stop and say that a miracle has happened. For the rest       There are also those who shrink from the word
it is just a biological process that usually works. Often    struggle and want to temper it to mean jostle. Yet
it happens to the dismay of husband and wife, often          that  cly of Rebekah ought to indicate that it was
filling a young unmarried couple with fear and               more than a mere movement, a normal nudging of
desperation; but usually it is just the thing to expect.     two- in such close confinement, the one moving and
God has been doing this for centuries, and why pray?         quite naturally jostling the other. There just was not
When He is in no hurry it becomes a different matter.        room enough to move without touching the other.
When we are in a hurry we begin to look up, to pray          With all this we cannot agree. Rebekah, even though
and to recognize the fact that after all He does have        this was her first conception, and she had not felt life
something to do with it. And receiving children is by        in her before by a previous conception and birth,
no means the only area wherein we have to learn to           knew that this was something unusual. She did not
look up, to pray and to wait patiently for God's             even know when she cried out `that there were twins
counsel to unfold and for Him to send those things           within her, and by all means that they were sons and
that will work together for good  .to those that love        wduld be heads of nations. But she knew that a
Him.                                                         struggle was going on, that there was more than
  But, as we began to say, Isaac did make it a matter        normal movement of a developing child.
of prayer. He "entreated the Lord for his wife,                Although there may be some reason for believing
because she was barren." We may believe  - even              that Cain and Abel were twins, since we read of only
though it is not stated  - that Rebekah also prayed.         one conception in Genesis 4: 1, this is not at all
This was no mixed marriage in which the one is               conclusive. It is not at all impossible that here we
spiritual and the other carnal, so that the one prays        have the first set of twins  - at least that Rebekah had
for a child, and the other's secret hope is that nothing     known none before  - and that Rebekah has every
will come of this; the one entreats God and the other        reason to wonder what was going on within her, what
is already contemplating an abortion-murder if He is         actions this  one  child was performing. The older
entreated. Rebekah came from her own home this               women in Abraham's house  - for Isaac and Rebekah
great distance to be Isaac's wife in order to bear him       were still in Abraham's house  - told her that at such
children. She also wanted a child. And more im-              and such a time she would begin to feel life; but such
portantly she too was interested in God's covenant.          a violent, such a definite struggle she did not under-
  And when He was entreated she had great dis-               stand. If it be so, if a developing child flexes its
comforts and could not understand what was going             muscles and moves  tibout,  why is this such a pro-
on in her womb. This is her first conception. She had        nounced and strong movement that suggests conflict?
never felt life within herself before. And this was no       And we do Rebekah injustice to say that she wanted
mere gentle movement that assured her that there was         to die. No, she wanted this "child" and went to God
life and hope of a child being born. There was a             ndt to ask to die but to ask what it all meant.
struggle. Her womb was a battlefield! The Hebrew               And yet, the context demands more. It cannot be


 258                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 doubted that the older women told Rebekah what to            child, why am I thus  - torn with an inner struggle by
 expect. But the text and context says nothing about          that child?
 this and does not connect her words up with such a             And it takes the revelation of God to explain that
 construction. These words follow at once upon the            this is not one child but two, and not only two
 statement that "the Lord was entreated of him, and           children but two nations, two seeds with opposite
 Rebekah his wife conceived." The full idea then is           loves and hatred, two who will struggle and fight, and
 this, Isaac and Rebekah prayed not simply for a child        - as we read in Romans 9: 12 also  - the elder shall
 but for a covenant child, one in whom the promises           serve the younger. Something unusual is taking place
 of God to Abraham would be fulfilled. They looked           in her because something unusual will take place in
 forward to such a child, expected a believing child         the lives of these children: the elder shall serve the
 with the same meekness and spirituality that God had        younger.
 given them. They looked forward to a child that                Once again God is entreated and He comes with
                                                             revelation and assures us as well as Rebekah that the
 would patiently walk as a pilgrim and stranger with         world will serve the Church, the chaff will serve the
 them in the land of promise, one who would not fight        wheat. There will be a struggle. Our heel shall be
 for the land but wait for God to give it. If that be so,    bruised and crushed. But be of good cheer, the head
 if God has now heard their prayer and this is the           of Satan shall be crushed!

 FROM HOLY WRIT




              Exposition of  the Book of Galatians
                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers

THE LAW DOES NOT CONFLICT WITH THE                           law the same life-giving powers which He has reserved
PROMISES OF GOD (Galatians 3 : 2 1)                          for the operation of the Holy Spirit. If the law were
   If the law did not add anything to the terms of the       of  such a nature  that it had the innate power
promise of God to Abraham and to his seed, and if it         (dunamos,  compare our English: dynamite) to make a
could not disannul the terms of the promise, and if          dead sinner alive, a rebellious sinner willing, then it
the law was only added for the sake of bringing out          would be doing what the Holy Spirit does in the risen
the sinfulness of sin in horrible transgressions, then       Christ at God's right hand. (Eph.  2:5-7)  Then the law
there seems to be a conflict between the law and the         could and would be doing what grace now does, the
promises. God was then performing a conflicting              rich mercy and love whereby we have been made alive
work at Ur of the Chaldees and on mount Sinai. That          with Christ and whereby we have been set with Christ
seems to be the legitimate inference and conclusion.         in heavenly places. But that is as unthinkable, in the
                                                             light of Scripture, as it is untrue. Then righteousness
   To this the apostle replies with the strongest            would have been by means of law and Christ would
denial:  God forbid!  (Gal.  3:21) For a similar denial      have died on the Cross unnecessarily. The law would
see Rom. 6: 1 where the seemingly legitimate con-            have made the Cross redundant, superfluous! But
clusion is warranted concerning the "added law that          such a law was not given. God did not save us both by
the offense might abound." (Rom.  5:20) Let that             law and by grace. And, therefore, the law is not
conclusion never even arise in our hearts to subscribe       against the promises of God. God forbid!
such folly to the most wise God, Who does all things
in wisdom and prudence, (Eph.  1:8, 9) making                  Now we look for the highest wisdom and beautiful
known unto us the mystery of His will! The law               design of the architect of our salvation in the law-
cannot, in the divine wisdom, be "against" the               giving at Sinai, The righteousness whereby we are
promises of God! God is too great a Teacher and              saved is without law as the  basis  of salvation. (Rom.
Pedagogue of His saints to perpetrate such folly and         3:21) Such is the testimony of all the law and the
injustice.                                                   prophets. Paul now calls attention to all these Old
                                                             Testament Scriptures and tells us that "the Scrip-
  What then?                                                 ture," as the revelation of the divine plan and pur-
   Such folly could only be true if God had given the        pose, had something in mind with the law-giving in


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   259



relationship to the fulfilment of the Promises of God.        design of the law, That was the purpose of the
                                                              law-giving: it was for the transgressions' sake. (See
THE SCRIPTURE'S PURPOSE IN PLACJNG ALL                        verse 19)
THINGS UNDER SIN (Galatians 3 :22)
                                                                It is worthy of notice that the phrase "under law"
  Paul's appeal is here not to human logic or mere            is only found in the writings of Paul, and then only in
correct inference from certain data of Scripture. Paul
appeals to the last court of appeal, the normative,           the Romans and Galatians. Again, we should notice
                                                              that this term "under law" sometimes refers to being
canonical teaching of the Old Testament Scriptures.           legally 
Before this teaching all human reason must bow.                           under law, that is, under condemnation.
                                                              (Rom. 6: 1.5) It is the very opposite of being "under
These are the spiritual weapons which are mighty
through God to the pulling down of strongholds. (II           grace" of justification. Being "under law" means to
Cor.  10:4) The foolish imaginations of these  Judaiz-        be legally in the -status of a servant of sin. We then
ing teachers, which exalts itself against the knowledge       have no  right  to serve God as sons. Sin is our legal
of God, must be brought down crashing to its                  master before God. In Romans 7: 14 we read that
destruction. All must be brought to the obedience of          Paul confesses that, even as a free-born son, (Rom.
Christ. And, therefore, Paul says:  The Scripture hath        7:3, 4) he is, as far as his flesh is concerned, "sold
included (shut up) all things under sin  in order that        under sin." His flesh is completely under the  sin-
the promise might be  out of faith of Jesus Christ,  to       principle. (Compare for the idea of being entirely
all them that believe!                                        under the grip of sin such passages as I Kings 21, 25
                                                              and II Kings 17: 17, where it means to be wholly and
  Before this Scripture all must bow! There may be            entirely and totally under the dominion of sin.) Paul
some difference of interpretation relative to the term:       is  sold  under sin as far as his flesh is concerned. There
Scripture. In the Greek the definite article points out       is no good in it. Here "under sin" is not quite the same
the well-known Scripture in this regard. Whether this         as being "under law." However, in our present pas-
refers to a definite Scripture passage in the Old             sage, which we are considering here in Gal.  3:22, the
Testament or whether it refers to the Scripture as a          term under sin, means  legally  and  spiritual  under the
whole in its united teaching is not of great con-             sin-principle. And, it must be understood that we are
sequence as far as Paul's positive setting forth of the       legally  thus under this principle, because we are under
truth of the Gospel is concerned. Sometimes the term          law-principle  which  cannot  make us alive, nor  can  it
refers to a definite Scripture passage in the Old             justify us!
Testament. (Mark 12: 10, Ps.  118:22) Sometimes the
term "the Scripture" refers to more passages than               Now the entire teaching of Scripture is that we are
one, to a group of passages as in John  7:28, 42. Here        thus "shut up" under sin. We are like fish in a net.
reference is to such passages as Ezekiel 47: l-12; Joel       There is no escape, there is no getting from under this
3:l;  4:13;  Zechariah  13:l;  14:8. It seems to this         law. The Scripture thus teaches everywhere in all the
writer that here, in Galatians  3:22, the apostle has in      law and the prophets. Thus it was in the Old Testa-
mind  all  the law and the prophets. These all testify of     ment from Sinai till Calvary; any other teaching
this great "purpose" of the law in relationship to the        concerning the law is a lie.
fulfilled promise. (Rom.  3:21) For this reason Paul            However, this law is not a sadistic contrivance to
can say  the  Scripture, just as he did in verse 8 of this    torture  the  heirs  of the promise; it was the Divine way
Chapter, where he personifies the Scripture, making           of underscoring the grand Gospel-message, by the
the Scripture a  preacher  of the gospel-tidings to           greatest contrast, that  the promise  is for those who
Abraham that in him all nations would be blessed.             believe alone. Only it is for such only in the way of
This same "Scripture" is here once more personified           "out of the faith of Jesus Christ." The false teachers,
as putting "all things under sin." Here the Scripture is      who had descended upon the Galatian churches like
not a "preacher" but is more a "keeper of a city," a          vultures, would admit that the promise is only for
Divine pedagogue to Christ.                                   believers.  What they denied was that it was  "onZy  out
  But we are anticipating.                                    of faith" without works of law. Thus they denied the
                                                              great promise of God, and all the teaching of "the
  Now Paul tells us some very instructive and in-             Scripture" concerning the  very purpose  of the law!
teresting things about the law, as given 430 years            They failed to hear the Gospel message in the Scrip-
after the gracious promise-giving  to  Abraham. This          ture. They failed to hear the one "Scripture" which
law did only one thing. That was all it  could  do. In        spoke of the promised salvation to all nations, and of
comparison with the life-giving promise of the Spirit         the role of the law in Israel toward that sure and
it was weak. It did not merely leave us in our sins, but      wonderful goal. They erred because they did not
it most emphatically put  us under  sin.  (upo  hamar-        know the Scriptures, nor the power of God, (Mark
tian)  That was the very operation and functional             12:24)


 260                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


THE FAITH WHICH WAS ABOUT TO BE RE-                                What is this "faith" which was about to be re-
VEALED (Galatians 3 : 23)                                       vealed? A mere glance at this Chapter here in  Gala-
   The law was really a marvelous institution of God,           tians will show us that Paul uses the term "faith"
given by angels in the hand of Moses for Israel at              many times, more than a dozen times. In some
Sinai. Although it kept Israel, the heirs of the                instances he refers to faith as the subjective faith in
promise, under sin, it had a very definite purpose of           our hearts, by which we lay hold upon and appropri-
pointing to the fulfilment in Christ's death and                ate to ourselves all the benefits of Christ. (see verses
resurrection! Christ would be delivered for our                 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11 etc.) Then faith is not only a certain
offenses and He would be raised for our justification.          knowledge whereby we hold for true all that God has
(Romans  4:2.5;  Isaiah  53:4)                                  revealed to us in the Gospel, but it is also a hearty
   Writes Paul, "we were kept under law, shut up                confidence which the Holy Spirit works in our hearts
unto  (eis)  the  faith  which was about to be revealed."       by the Gospel, that there is for me forgiveness of sins,
Hence, there is now a point of reference for Paul in            everlasting righteousness and eternal life merely for
his reasoning. It is "before" and "after" faith came.           the sake of Christ's merits. (Heidelberg Catechism,
Israel in the Old Testament, under law, lived  "before          Question 2 1) However, here in Gal. 3 : 23 the apostle
faith was revealed," We live  "after  faith is revealed."       Paul uses the term "faith" in the sense of the  entire
Now this has great meaning in Paul's argument                   merited salvation  by Christ on the Cross. It empha-
against the false teachers. These disregarded this              sizes that now there is nothing of the "works of law"
before  and  after  faith of the Scriptures, They would         left. What the gospel proclaims is "faith": the Cross
bring the church back from the "after" to the                   and all its benefits are this faith. This is "the faith"
"before" faith came. Thus they denied the truth of              once delivered to the saints. (Jude 3) Paul would have
the Gospel of Christ: justification by faith, receiving         the Galatian churches and the church of all' ages
the Spirit by faith! They were really enemies of the            "earnestly contend" for this faith: the Christ
Cross of Christ.                                                crucified, evidently set forth in the preaching of the
  Now we must understand this well!                             Gospel.

ALL AROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren



                         Coral. Ridge leaves the Presbyterian Church U.S.
  One of the best known of the Southern Presby-                    change is tantamount to doing away with the West-
terian churches, the  C.oral Ridge Presbyterian Church,            minster Confession of Faith as the foundation of the
has voted to leave its present denomination to affili-             Church's doctrinal position."
ate with the new Presbyterian Church in America.                      Dr. Kennedy indicated that before the congrega-
The  Presbyterian Journal  reports in its issue of Jan.            tional meeting, all of the organizational leadership of
18, 1978:                                                          the church, from the session to the Christian educa-
        Two prominent south Florida congregations, one             tion council, had registered unanimous votes in
   with an international reputation, have joined the               support of separation.
   exodus from the Presbyterian Church US (Southern)                  Almost identical consideration and actions accom-
   in anticipation of union with the new Presbyterian              panied the vote at Plantation. Speaking for the
   Church in America.                                              church in the absence of the pastor, the Rev. Joseph
        Voting simultaneously on Jan. 8 to separate from           A. Scharer, who was unavailable at press time, the
   the PCUS were the 4,500-member  Coral Ridge Pres-               Rev. Anthony J. Casoria, associate pastor, told the
   byterian Church here and the  500-member First                 Journal that the new ordination vows probably con-
   Presbyterian Church of Plantation.                              stituted the deciding issue.
        The vote in the Coral Ridge congregational meet-              It is understood that both congregations will
   ing was 1754 to 1. The vote in the Plantation meeting           pursue the possibility of formal dismissal by the
   was unanimous.                                                  parent presbytery, Everglades, before taking the uni-
        "Overriding consideration in our action," said the        lateral route of withdrawal.
   Rev. D. James Kennedy, Coral Ridge's senior minister          The consequences of this kind of shift of allegiance
   who has an international reputation in the field of         remain to be seen. One can not help but wonder what
   evangelism, "was the changes that the PCUS has made         this will do  tp the P.C.A. There have been already
   in the ordination vows for officers. We feel that the       there some rather strong differences of opinion on


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  261


significant doctrinal questions. We will be watching         #Coral  Ridge anticipates no difficulty. Though their
the effect of a union by Coral Ridge congregation            property cost more than $5 million to build, it
with the P.C.A.                                              remains heavily in debt. The huge mortgage is said to
  A second question which arises would be: what              require $4,000 per day! The Southern Presbyterian
will happen to the properties  - valued at several           Church will likely not be too anxious to take over
millions of dollars? According to  Christianity Today,       properties with that sort of indebtedness.


                                   Episcopalians and Roman Catholics
  Christianity Today,  Jan. 27. 1978, reports on the                  In the section on the Bible, the document states in
efforts to unite the Episcopal and Roman Catholic                 part: "Episcopalians and Roman Catholics believe
denominations:                                                    that in the Bible the inspired Word of God is
                                                                  expressed: through the Holy Scriptures the living God
      Episcopalians and Roman Catholics in the United             speaks to us still today. . . . To help comprehend the
   States share such a "unity of faith" that they must            meaning of Scripture [both] churches endorse and
   give it "visible expression and testimony now." That           utilize historical, critical methods of exegesis."
   is the conclusion of the officially appointed
   Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation after twelve                  The report identified four "problem areas": papal
   years of study.                                                authority, the role of women, the tension between
      The nineteen-member body, composed mostly of                "normative" tradition and individual conscience, and
   theological professors but chaired by two bishops,             the degree of unity that must be reached before there
   issued its report last month. The seventeen-page               can be "sacramental sharing."
   document suggests specific joint activities for demon-       Other magazines have reported also on the above.
   stration of unity. These include cooperative projects     There appears to be a readiness, yea even an eager-
   in evangelism, the war against world hunger, and the      ness, w i t h i n   t h e   l e a d e r s h i p   o f   t h e   A n g l i c a n
   like.                                                     (Episcopal), Church to seek union with the Roman
      The report cites six areas where there is wide         Catholic denomination. And there are admittedly
   agreement: baptism and the Eucharist; the Bible as        many similarities between certain segments of the
   the inspired Word of God; traditional central doc-
   trines (the Trinity, Christ as true God and true man,     Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church. It
   the Church, and others); the role of bishops; ethics      would be difficult to predict whether there will be an
   and Christian life-style; and personal life in Christ.    actual merger, or whether greater and greater co-
   Indeed, suggests the document,  tliere is so much         operation will ensue. But all of this surely works to
   agreement that the two bodies can be considered           the time when the antichrist will rule within his
   "sister churches."                                        church and against the faithful in Jesus Christ.


                                            Corporate Responsibility

  In an article with the above title, John Murray                 bear witness in our own congregation, disregarding
writes in the  Bulwark,  the magazine of-"The Scottish            what may be happening in the churches which have
Reformation Society," and published in Scotland. An               become unfaithful to Christ in their corporate wit-
interesting section treats "denominational responsibil-           ness. Good people and also ministers of the Word
ity." There are some pertinent thoughts which ought               have settled down and consolidated themselves in the
to be considered by those who believe that they can               position that in the situation of widespread declen-
remain affiliated with a denomination which is rapid-             sion and apostasy it is their responsibility to do their
                                                                  utmost to preserve and promote orthodox faith and
ly departing from God's Word, yet maintain their                  practice in their own local congregation. And they
loyalty to Scripture in their local church. There are             console themselves with the thought that their con-
important thoughts also for us who are called ever to             gregation maintains a witness to Christ and his gospel
be aware of denominational  act&ties and decisions  -             even though unbelief may abound throughout  the
and to assume an active role in this.                             denomination.
       Corporate responsibility not only makes it man-                It is necessary to be faithful, first of all, in our
    datory that we give earnest consideration to  the             local situation and it is there that individual and
    question of our denominational affiliation, but also          corporate responsibility is most accentuated. But it is
   that we be deeply aware of and sensitive to the state          to desert the corporate responsibility which we avow
   and condition of that church to which we belong or             in our local situation if we do not apply it in the
   with which we have affiliated ourselves. We can never          broader context of the church as a whole. This is the
    take the position that we can'segregate ourselves and         same evil of independentism and individualism as that


262                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


       by which we seek to isolate ourselves as individuals            that the denomination is strictly orthodox in its work
       from our corporate relationships and responsibilities.          and witness and that we need not concern ourselves .-.
       Only, in this case, this individualism is applied to the        about it. Let the premise be true, the inference is
       local congregation rather than to the individual per-           false. The unity of the body of Christ is the principle
       son.                                                            which exposes its falsity, and experience has demon-
          This evil of concentrating our thought and interest          strated  that the sure road to decline and eventual
       and concern upon the local congregation appears,                heterodoxy is exclusive absorption with the work and
       however, in orthodox denominations as well as                   witness of the local congregation. The whole  de-
       heterodox. It is not only in opposing wrong that our            nomination is a unit, and if one member suffers all
       corporate responsibility appears. It manifests itself           the others suffer with it, if one member is honoured
       also in the whole range of those functions which it is          all the others rejoice with it. Such organic unity
       the responsibility of the church as a corporate entity          makes isolation of any kind impossible.
       to perform. Every member of the body of Christ                     Let us then take our full share of the  responsi-
       must be alert to the corporate functions of the whole           bilities that belong to us in the church of Christ and
       church. It is only in this way that the witness of the          let us realise that only as each one of us is conscious
       church can be maintained and furthered. Sometimes               of our relation to the whole shall we be sensitive to
       exclusive preoccupation with the work and witness of            the demands of the honour of Christ and of the
       the local congregation may arise from the persuasion            purity and unity of his body.


                                                 A Scientist on Creation
  Several of the religious magazines have recently                     the universe was compressed into an infinitely dense
quoted from a book,  Until the  Sun  Dies,  by Robert                  and hot mass when the world began; and  ,in the
Jastrow, founder and director of NASA's Goddard                        searing heat of that, holocaust, the evidence needed
Institute for Space Studies. The man is, evidently, an                 for a scientific study of the cause of creation was
unbeliever. He also is convinced of the old age of the                 destroyed."
universe. Yet in his book, he makes some startling                        Equally vexing to the scientist, he says, is that "at
admissions. As quoted in the  Presbyterian Journal  of                 present, science has no satisfactory answer to the
Jan. 11, 1978, he states:                                              question of the origin of life on earth."
          "In science, as in the Bible, the world begins with             "Perhaps the appearance of life on the earth is a
       an act of creation," writes Dr. Jastrow. "That view             miracle," Dr. Jastrow speculates. "Scientists are
       has not always been held by scientists. Only as a               reluctant to accept that view, but their choices are
       result of the most recent discoveries can we say with          limited: Either life was created on the earth by the
       a fair degree of confidence that the world has not             will of a being outside the grasp of scientific under-
       existed forever; it began abruptly, without apparent           standing, or it evolved on our planet spontaneously,
       cause, in a blinding event that defies scientific ex-          through chemical reactions occurring in nonliving
       planation.". . .                                               matter lying on the surface of the planet."
          How the universe came into being, he writes, "can        Interesting! Remember Rom. 1:  20? "For the invisible
       never be answered: We can never tell whether the            things of Him from the creation of the world are
   hand of God was at work in the moment of creation;              clearly seen, being understood by the things that are
       for a careful study of the stars has moved. as well as      made. even  His eternal  Dower and Godhead: so that
       anything can be proved in science, that all matter in       they  are without excuse.;'


                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                         2 6 3



                                                                                I~\.      1  '  ,RcSOLUTION
                                                                                         ,I!.-                      OF SYMPATHY
                                                                                   The Martha Ladies Ajd Society of the Hull Protestant Reformed
                                                                               Church expresses sincere and heartfelt sympathy to one of its members,
                                                                               Mrs. Harold Van  Maan'en,  in the death of her mother, MRS. HENRY
                                                                               SANDBULTE.

                                                                                   Our prayer to God is that He will supply her with that abundant
                                                                               peace, knowing that God doeth all things well.

                                                                                                                        Rev. M. Hoeksema, Pres.
                                                                                                                        Mrs. John Hoksbergen, Sec'y.

                                                                                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
              STUDENT AID INFORMATION                                              The Ladies Aid Society of Hope Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                               (Grand Rapids) express its sympathy to Mrs. Dick Kooienga in the loss
   Students who have been accepted by The Protestant Reformed                  of her sister, Mrs. Harold Nienhuis, who passed away February 13,
Theological School Board and are in need of financial support should           1978.
contact Mr. Theodore Engelsma, 2333 Clyde Park,  SW., Grand Rapids,                "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world
MI 49509, Telephone CH 54706, or, Mr. Gerrit Pipe, 1463 Ardmore,               giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
SE., Grand Rapids, MI 49507, Telephone CH 56145.                               afraid." (John  14:27).
                                                                                                                        Mr. J. Huisken, Vice Pres.
             ATTENTION MUSIC LOVERS!!!                                                                                  Mrs. P. Knott, Sec'y.

   The Federation Board of the Protestant Reformed Young Peoples
Societies has a limited supply of record albums of "The Songs of                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Easter", sung by the combined choirs of the Grand Rapids area
churches. If you do not have a copy of this beautiful album, please                The Adult Bible Class of Faith Protestant Reformed Church  (Jeni-
support our Young Peoples Societies-by ordering one for the low price          son,  Mich.),  expresses their Christian sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas
of only $3.50, or two for only  $6.50! (Postage and handling included).        Miersma in the sudden loss of her father, JOHN PERSENAIRE, of
                                                                               South Holland, Ill.
Order by making check to: P.R.Y.P. Federation Board and mail to:
Beth Bos, Fed. Bd. Librarian, 1785 Broadview SW, Jenison,  Mich.                   May they be comforted in the truth expressed in Psalm  116:15  -
49428.                                                                         "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
                                                                                                                        Rev. M. Joostens, Pres.
                             NOTICE!!!                                                                                  Jacob Kuiper, Jr., Sec'y-Treas.
   The Northwest Iowa Protestant Reformed School,  Doon, Iowa, will
be in need of three  (3) teachers for the 1978-79 school term. Lower                          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
room  - K., 1st. and 2nd. grades, Middle room  -  3rd., 4th. and 5th.
grades  - Upper room  -  6th., 7th. and 8th. grades. Application can be            The Adult Bible Class of Faith Protestant Reformed Church  (Jeni-
made by writing to: The Northwest Iowa Protestant Reformed School,             son,  Mich.),  expresses their Christian sympathy to Mrs.  Johanna
Doon, IA 51235,  c/o Mrs. Ed Van Egdom or Henry Bleyenburg, 909  -             Schmidt and Mrs. Hildrene Smith in the loss of her father and grand-
12th St.. Rock Valley, IA 51247.                                               father, JOHN WENSINK, at the age of 88 years.

                             NOTICE!!!                                             "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
                                                                               them that fear Him." (Psalm  103:17).
   Applications for employment in the Protestant Reformed Christian
School of South Holland are being accepted. We have one definite                                                        Rev. M. Joostens, Pres.
                                                                                                                   Jacob Kuiper, Jr., Sec'y-Treas.
opening in the primary room at this time (grades 1 and  2).

                                Gise Van  Baren
                                Secretary of                                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                 Educational Committee
                                16057 School Street                                The Council of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church (Grand
                                South Holland, IL 60473                        Rapids), expresses its heartfelt sympathy to two of its members, Elders
                                                                               Dewey Engelsma and Jay Bomers and to the family in the recent death
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                          of MR. MELVIN ENGELSMA. May these brothers and this family find
                                                                               comfort and strength in God's Word knowing that God's grace is suf-
   The Ladies Aid Society of Hope Protestant Reformed Church                   ficient to bear this burden of grief.
(Grand Rapids) express its sympathy to Mrs. Grace Engelsma in the loss
of her husband, MR. MELVIN ENGELSMA, who passed away Feb-                         "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the
ruary 8, 1978. Also to his sisters, Mrs. J.  Bomers and Miss Sybil  Engels-    feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet
ma and his sisters-in-law, Mrs. D. Engelsma and Mrs. G. Engelsma.              without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
                                                                               that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
   "Sing 0 heavens: and be joyful 0 earth; and break forth into sing-          (Hebrews 4: 15,  16.1
ing, 0 mountains: for the Lord hath comforted His people, and will                                                 Joe King, Vice-Pres.
have mercy upon His afflicted." (Isaiah  49:13)                                                                    Jon Huisken, Clerk
                                    Mr. J. Huisken, Vice Pres.
                                    Mrs. P. Knott, Sec'y.
                                                                                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                 SYMPATHY RESOLUTION                                              The Senior Mr. and Mrs.  Soc'iety of the Hope Protestant Reformed
   The Bible Class of the  Pella Protestant Reformed Church hereby             Church (Grand Rapids), expresses its sincere sympathy to its members,
extends its sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Bernie Menninga in the death of           Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Terpstra, in the loss of her brother, MR. MELVIN
his sister, HENRIETTA. May the God of all comfort richly bless this            ENGELSMA. May they find comfort in the Word of God and in this
experience to the increase of their living hope for the inheritance incor-     time do  a's God instructs us in Psalm  37:5  - "Commit thy way unto the
ruptible, undefiled and which fadeth not away.  (I Peter  1:4).                Lord; trust also in Him; and He will bring it to pass."

                                Rev. George C. Lubbers, Pres.                                                      Prof. Herman Hanko, Pres.
                                Mrs. Catherine Vander Wiel, Sec'y.                                                 Joann Huisken, Sec'y.


  THE STANDARD  BEARER           -___-------- -              -                                   SECOND CLASS
            P.O. Box 6064                                                                       POSTAGE PAID AT
 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





 264                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

                                 News From Our Churches .
    The following news was printed in the Hope                    a snow storm. For the first time in memory, First
 Church (Walker, Michigan) bulletin of January. 15                Church canceled the Sunday morning service because
  concerning their pastor, Rev. Van Overloop, who is              of the snow. Classical appointments in neighboring
 `on loan' to Christchurch, New Zealand. "Word has                cities could not be kept and many other activities
 been received from our pastor and his family that                were postponed. It seems that these January storms
 they arrived safely in Christchurch, New Zealand.                arrive with regularity on or about the undersigned's
 They have been warmly received by the congregation               birthday.
 and are in the process of `settling in'. In addition to             Our Seminary has not suffered from any want of
 preaching twice each Sunday, Rev. Van  Overloop  has             pulpits for the school's professors and students to
 been engaged in pastoral work as well as all the                 preach from of late as First Church is without a
 activities which belong to the organic life of the               pastor, Hope's pastor is in New Zealand for nine
 church: young people's doctrinal instruction in a                months, Kalamazoo's pastor was in Jamaica for the
 bi-weekly meeting with all the members' of the con-              Mission Committee, and various of our other min-
 gregation, etc. Our pastor reports that "As we are               isters were kept from their pulpits by illness on
 settling in, the work within the congregation is                 occasion.
 becoming more definitely set out before us and we
 are eager to get going. At the present time the extent              Sometimes the `news' comes in rather roundabout
 and nature of the work within the denomination is                ways. A note in the  Edgerton Minnesota bulletin
 not known. . . . Please remember us in your prayers.             informs us that our church in Prospect Park, New
 The Lord is supplying our every need."                           Jersey, is about to receive their building permit for a
                                                                  new church building after more than a year and a half
    Rev. Robert Harbach, who is engaged in mission                of `red tape'.
 work for our churches in Victoria, British Columbia,
 Canada, kindly sent in a copy of his little paper called            At a congregational meeting on January  IOth, the
 the  Calvinist  Conteudeu.  The January issue contains           members of our Southwest Church decided to accept
 many quotes from various church fathers and applica-             an offer to purchase their present church building and
 tions to our lives of the Reformed Faith. The follow-            parking lot. After the sale contract is signed the
 ing is an example. "The motto of Ursinus which hung              congregation will have 30 days to vacate the building.
 over the door of his study read, `Friend, who enters             Southwest will keep their organ. Temporary facilities
 here, be short, or go, or help me with my work!' Are             for worship services and other activities are being
 we as avid, dutiful, diligent and painstaking in our             investigated until the new church building now under
 service unto the Lord? Do we give `of our time and               construction is ready.
 strength for the advance of the Reformed Truth?                     Rev. C. Hanko has now moved out of the `old'
 Ursinus did, and as a result today we have the                   Hudsonville parsonage into his new "retirement" villa
 beautiful little book of comfort we call The Heidel-             at 5046  - 32nd Ave., Apt. 14, in Hudsonville,  Mich-
 berg Catechism. Do you know it and live its con-                 igan.
 tents?"                                                            The funeral service for Mrs. Nick Yonker took
   The Reformed Witness Committee of Northwest                    place on February 1 in Muskegon with Rev. John
 Iowa and Minnesota sponsored a lecture in the                    Heys of Holland, Michigan, officiating. Mrs. Yonker
 Sheldon, Iowa Community Building on February 1.                  reached the ripe old age of 100 years, and had she
 Due to the good response to an earlier lecture there,            been spared another fifteen days would have reached
 the Committee decided to follow up with another                  101. But for the child of God death is gain and for
 lecture by Rev. Kamps on "How to Interpret the                   the attainment  .of things which we could never have
 Bible." Rev. Kamps is the pastor of our church in                and enjoy here below in this vale of tears. The above
 Doon, Iowa. However, due to the poor weather on                  is included from the Holland Church bulletin on the
 the lst, the lecture was postponed until the 8th.                suggestion of Rev. Heys, as he is sure that many of
   And, speaking of poor weather, our Michigan                    the older people in our churches would remember the
j churches were not spared. On January 26 and the                 Yonkers.
 days following, the Midwest  was.`shut  down' by quite                                                          K.G.V.


