A Reformed
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 vu/.   03,   IYU.    I3
 April I, 7989


 Contents                                                                                 THE
                                                              April I, 1989          szi4lwm
 Meditation  -  Rev. lames  D.  Slopsema                                                 BELZRER
    TOUCH ME NOT                                                             291

EDITORIALLY SPEAKING..  .  - Prof.  David).  Engelsma                        293     ISSN  0362-4692
 Editorial  - Prof. David/.  Engelsma                                               Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
                                                                                    and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
   CONDITIONAL SUBMISSION?                                                   293    lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                                    at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
 LETTERS                                                                     295    EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                    Editor-in-chief: Prof. David  J. Engelsma
Contribution  - Mr.  John Clarke                                                    Managing Editor: Prof. Robert  D. Decker
                                                                                    Editors' Assistant: Mr. Don  Doezema
    RUTHERFORD AND RESISTANCE                                                296    DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                    Rev. Ronald  Cammenga,  Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
Guest Article  - Mr. lames Lanting                                                  Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
   EVANGELICALS RESORT TO CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE                                 298    Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
                                                                                    Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John  Heys,  Rev.
In His Fear  -  Rev. Arie  denHartog                                                Jason Kortering, Rev. George Lubbers, Rev. James
                                                                                    Slopsema, Rev. Charles Terpstra, Rev.  Cise
    LOVING THE LORD OUR GOD WITH OUR WHOLE BEING (2)                         301    VanBaren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
                                                                                    EDITORIAL OFFICE
All Around Us  -  Rev.  Cise  /.  VanBaren                                          The Standard Bearer
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   JANSSEN CONTROVERSY RE-EXAMINED                                           303    Crandville,  Michigan 49418
   EDITORIAL REVIEW OF 1988                                                  304    CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                    Mr. Ben Wigger
Guided Into All Truth  - Rev. Char/es  /. Terpstra                                  6597  - 40th Ave.
                                                                                    Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
   ATHANASIUS AND THE  ARIAN CONTROVERSY (2)                                 305    EDITORIAL POLICY
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BOOK REVIEWS                                                                 308    of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
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NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  -  Mr. Benjamin Wigger                               309    Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
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290  /  The Standard Bearer


Meditation
Rev. lames Slopsema                     Touch Me Not'

  But Mary stood without at                Jesus saith unto her, Touch            Their purpose is to visit the
the sepulchre weeping: and as           me not; for I am not yet                sepulchre of Jesus. On Friday
she wept, she stooped down,             ascended to my Father: but go           they had witnessed it all. They
and looked into the sepulchre.          to my brethren, and say unto            had seen their beloved Master
  And seeth two angels in               them, I ascend unto my Father,          condemned to death. They had
white sitting, the one at the           and your Father; and to my              seen Him die on the cross. They
head, and the other at the feet,        God and your God.                       had followed Joseph and
                                                                                Nicodemus to the sepulchre
where the body of Jesus had                                     John20:11-17    where the body of Jesus had
lain.                                                                           been laid. And now they return
  And they say to her,                     During the forty days between        to the sepulchre to anoint Jesus'
Woman, why weepest thou?                His resurrection and ascension in-      body.
She saith unto them, Because            to heaven, Jesus appeared to His
                                        disciples ten times.                      As they approach the
they have taken away my                   The purpose of these ap-              sepulchre, the women discover
Lord, and I know not where              pearances was twofold. First,           that the great stone covering the
they have laid him.                     Jesus proved to His disciples           entrance to the sepulchre had
  And when she had thus                 through these appearances that          been rolled away. Mary
said, she turned herself back,          He had indeed risen from the            Magdalene immediately assumes
and saw Jesus standing, and             dead. But Jesus also used these         that someone had stolen the
knew not that it was Jesus.             appearances to instruct His             body of Jesus. While the other
                                                                                women proceed to the sepulchre
  Jesus saith unto her,                 disciples concerning the nature         to hear the first Easter sermon,
Woman, why weepest thou?                and significance of His resurrec-       Mary returns to Jerusalem to in-
whom seekest thou? She, sup-            tion.                                   form the disciples of her "find."
posing him to be the gardener,             Having commemorated Jesus'           Upon hearing Mary's report, both
saith unto him, Sir, if thou            resurrection just a short while         Peter and John rush to the
have borne him hence, tell me           ago, we consider Jesus' first ap-
                                        pearance. This is His appearance        sepulchre, see the empty tomb,
where thou hast laid him, and           to Mary Magdalene on the very           and leave, all before Mary is able
I will take him away.                   morning of His resurrection.            to return.
  Jesus saith unto her, Mary.              The particular significance of         Now Mary Magdalene is at the
She turned herselt; and saith           this appearance of Jesus is to be       sepulchre alone. And Jesus, her
unto him, Rabboni; which is to          found in Jesus' words to Mary,          beloved Lord, suddenly appears
say, Master.                            "Touch me not."                         to her. She reaches out to grasp
                                                  *  *  *  *  *                 Him. But He pulls back and tells
                                                                                her, "Touch me not . . . ."
                                           Early Sunday morning a small           How strange this command of
                                        group of women leave Jerusalem.         Jesus seems to be!
                                        There is Mary Magdalene, Mary             Touch me not.
                                        the mother of Jesus, Salome the           Certainly this command seems
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of the Prot-    mother of James and John,               strange when we consider who
estant Reformed Church of Walker,       Joanna, and other women whose           Mary Magdalene is. From Scrip-
Michigan.                               names are not mentioned.                ture we learn that Mary

                                                                                                The Standard  Bearer  I291


Magdalene hails from the city of         But now Jesus stands before            Through His resurrection Jesus'
Magdala. That's why she is called      her. The one she had mistaken          body was glorified and made
Mary Magdalene. It was from this       for the gardener is her beloved        heavenly. That which had been
same Mary that Jesus had cast          Lord. UnexpIainabIy He is no           sown in corruption had been
out seven demons. In loving            longer dead, but alive. Suddenly       raised in incorruption. That
gratitude Mary had become one          her great sorrow has been              which had been sown in dishonor
of Jesus' devoted followers. With      changed into ecstatic joy. Her be-     had been raised in glory. Weak-
various other women she had            loved Jesus is back! She reaches       ness had been changed into
ministered to Jesus out of her         out to grasp Him,                      power. The natural had become
own substance (Luke 8: l-3).             But He rebuffs her.                  spiritual.
Faithfully and carefully she had         Touch me not.                          But this tremendous change ef-
provided for Jesus' earthly needs        How strange!                         fected by Jesus' resurrection
and comforts.                            Certainly Jesus understands the      spelled an end to the previous
  Now, seeing her beloved              grief she had known and the            relationship Jesus had enjoyed
Master alive from the dead, Mary       great joy that now floods her          with His disciples. Jesus was now
reaches out to Him. She will cling     soul.                                  heavenly. His disciples, Mary
to Him.                                             * * * * *                 Magdalene included, were still of
  But Jesus tells her not to touch                                            the .earth earthy. It was impossi-
him.                                     There is good reason for Jesus'      ble, therefore, for the old rela-
  How strange!                         command to Mary not to touch           tionship to continue. The
  Were Mary some stranger, or          Him.
                                         This reason is to be found in        previous relationship enjoyed by
an enemy of the Lord, we could                                                Jesus and His disciples was
understand this command. But           the very nature of Jesus' resur-       forever severed by Jesus' resur-
Mary is a devoted disciple who         rection. Jesus' resurrection was a     rection.
had ministered to His needs . . . .    resurrection into the heavenly.          And especially Mary
  This command of Jesus to             This had not been the case with        Magdalene needed to be taught
Mary also appears strange in           resurrections prior to this.           this truth.
light of the terrible sorrow Mary      Several individuals had been             Upon seeing the risen Jesus,
had that has now been changed          raised from the dead both in the       Mary reaches out to cling to Him.
into joy.                              Old Testament and the New Tes- -       None of the other disciples do
  Mary's sorrow had known no           tament. Jesus Himself had raised       that when Jesus appears to them
bounds. Mary, with the other           three different individuals from       later on. In fact Thomas, who in-
disciples, had not anticipated the     the dead. The most recent had          sisted on putting his finger
death of Jesus. Nor had they           been Lazarus, about one month          through the nail holesbefore he
understood it. Neither therefore       before Jesus' own resurrection.        could believe the resurrection,
did they anticipate Jesus' resur-        But all these resurrections had      refrains when Jesus does appear
rection. To them Jesus' death on       been merely a return back to this      to him. None reach out to grasp
Friday had been the shattering of      life. The resurrected bodies of        Jesus, except Mary Magdalene.
all dreams and hopes. Mary and         those raised before were still of      For she more than the rest fails
the others had been left both          the earth earthy. They were still      to understand that Jesus' resur-
stunned and confused.                  flesh and blood. They were still       rection has destroyed the old
  And, coming to the sepulchre         subject to death so that in every      relationships. Mary expects that
this Sunday morning, Mary found        instance those raised from the         everything will be the same as
her grief intensified by the fact      dead died again. And right along       before. Jesus is back from the
that someone had evidently             with all this was the fact that        dead. She will be able to follow
stolen Jesus' body. So great was       after their resurrections those        Him and administer to His needs
her sorrow that she didn't even        raised from the dead were able         as before. Nothing is changed.
appear to notice that angels were      to resume all the earthly relation-      But Mary must be taught.
present and that she had com-          ships they had enjoyed before.           Touch me not . . . .
municated with heavenly                Being a return to this life, the                     * * * * *
messengers. In her grief she was       resurrection had changed nothing         Through the resurrection Jesus
preoccupied with only one thing,       for them.
                                         But the resurrection of Jesus        enters into a new relationship
finding the body of her beloved        was different. His resurrection        with His disciples.
Master.                                was not a return but an advance-         Certainly Jesus' death and
                                       ment.                                  resurrection did not sever all ties
                                                                              between Jesus and His disciples.

292  / The Standard Bearer


Then Jesus would cease to be                  Before His resurrection Jesus       basis of His perfect obedience
their Savior. And it would have             called His disciples His friends.     and death on the cross.
been better that Jesus had never            But now His disciples are His           But through Jesus' resurrection
died. Not all relation is severed           brethren. And together they are       we too become sons and
through Jesus' resurrection; only           all the sons of God, Who is their     daughters of God.
the former relation is severed.             Father.                                 And Jesus, being our eldest
  And in the place of the old                 This is the salvation of the        brother, shares with us the in-
there arises a new relationship.            church.                               heritance He receives through
For through His resurrection                  For a son is an heir.               His own resurrection and ascen-
Jesus becomes the brother of His              Jesus, the only begotten Son of     sion into glory.
disciples.                                  God, is fhe heir of God. For Him        How glorious the resurrection
  Notice what Jesus tells Mary              God the Father has a giorious in-     of our Lord!
Magdalene. Referring to the                 heritance, incorruptible and un-        As sons of God we give hum--
disciples, Jesus says to Mary, "Go          defiled, that fadeth not away.        ble thanks.
tell my brethren . . . ." And then          This is the inheritance of eternal      And we look for the return of
Mary is given instruction also to           life and glory in heaven. This in-    our eldest brother from heaven
tell the disciples, "I ascend to my         heritance comes to Jesus on the       to take us to our glorious in-
Father and your Father . . . ."                                                   heritance.  0




Editorially speaking. . .


   The Rev. George C. Lubbers,              its present-day form as               ordered from the author at 2074
emeritus minister in the Prot-              "theonomy") and pre-millennial-       Cranbrook Dr. NE, Grand Rapids,
estant Reformed Churches, has               ism. A review of the book ap-         MI 49505 for $13.95 plus $1.25
just published The Bible Versus             pears elsewhere in this issue. It     for mailing. Copies of his com-
Millennial Teachings: An Ex-                suffices here only to state that      mentary on Galatians,  Freeborn
egetical Critique, a 424-page               the work is a treasure-house of       Sons of Sarah, and of his com-
defense of the Reformed doctrine            Biblical exegesis and of insight      mentary on Hebrews, The Glory
of the last things against both             into the realities of the Kingdom     of the True Tabernacle, are also
post-millennialism (particularly in         of Heaven. The book can be            available. 0                          -DJE
                                       -





Editorial                              Conditional Submission?

  In the February 15, 1989 issue            Presbyterian, Samuel Rutherford.      and Scripture itself and therefore
of this magazine appeared a Iet-            This letter asked whether the         to be exposed and repudiated as
ter out of strife-torn Northern             teaching of Rutherford is in har-     error?" In response to our re-
Ireland referring to the views on           mony with the teaching of John        quest, our correspondent has
the Christian's calling towards the         Calvin, or whether it is "a depar-    written a summary of Ruther-
civil government of the Scottish            ture from the Reformed Faith          ford's beliefs on this matter,

                                                                                                      The Standard  Bearer  / 293


which we publish in this issue         tyrannically, the Christian is                It has already been shown in a
under the heading, "Rutherford         released from his obligation to             previous editorial that this posi-
and Resistance." The article sets      submit and may freely resist the            tion is violently in conflict with
 forth in brief the contents of the    officials of the state.                     the teaching of John Calvin.
 book in which Rutherford pro-           Presbyterian men and women                Rutherford, like his fellow-
 pounded his political theory, the     put this doctrine into practice.            countryman, John Knox, rejected
 famed Lex, Rex, or the Law and        Rutherford issued Lex, Rex (in              Calvin's teaching as to the uncon-
the Prince.                            which this teaching was set forth)          ditional nature of the believer's
    Because Rutherford's position      in the heat of the conflict be-             calling to submit to the state.
 on the calling of the Christian       tween Scottish Presbyterianism                This departure from Calvin is
towards the state is by this time      and the tyrannical Stuart kings.            serious because Calvin faithfully
the prevailing position, not only      Encouraged by the license given             gave the teaching of the Word of
of Presbyterian and Reformed           them in this book, Presbyterians            God.
people, but also of evangelicals of    declared themselves free from                 The error is, first, that Ruther-
every stripe and because this          the authority of the kings and              ford supposes the source of the
position is spiritually perilous to    parliaments of their country;               state, and its authority, to be the
believers in times pecuiiarly          fought against the king's officers          people. There is very little dif-
suited to make Rutherford's posi-      and armies with the decidedly               ference between his view and the
tion appealing to believers, an        carnal weapons of bullet and                modern view that holds that
examination of this position, as       steel; and refused to pay taxes.            government is the result of a
our correspondent has requested,       When the Presbyterian preacher,             compact between the ruler and
will be profitable for us all. We      James Renwick, was on trial for             the ruled, so that whenever the
will be assuming, and not              his life in 1688, he was asked if           ruler fails to keep his end of the
restating, the doctrine of the         he acknowledged King James II               bargain, the ruled have every
state that was developed by            to be his lawful sovereign. He              right to withhold their sub-
many writers in the special issue      answered, "No! I own al1 authori-           mission, and rebel. Scripture,
of December 1, 1988 that occa-         ty that has its prescriptions and           however, teaches that the source
sioned the request, and that was       limitations from the Word of                of government is God. Not only
enlarged upon in two subsequent        God . . . ." To the question                government in general, but every
editorials on "Another Look at         whether he had taught that it               existing government - whatever
Nonresistance." We remain con-         was unlawful to pay taxes to the            government there may be - has
vinced that this doctrine of the       king and his government, Ren-               been set up in authority by God.
state is, in the main, the Re-         wick replied that "it was unlawful          "For there is no power but of
formed teaching, based squarely        so to do" (that is, pay taxes to            God: the powers that be are or-
on the inspired Scriptures.            such a king and such a govern-              dained of God" (Rom. 13:l). Even
   Rutherford's position, which is     ment) (Jock Purves, Fair Sun-               when it is the case that God uses
that also of many Presbyterians,       shine, pp. 111, 112). Presby-               election by the people to put
Reformed, and evangelicals, is         terians resisted the higher                 rulers in office, as is the case in
that the Christian has the perfect     powers. Not all did, as Purves              our own country, the source of
right to revolt against the rulers     reminds us in his delightful little         these rulers' authority is not the
of the nation under certain cir-       study of the Scottish                       people, but God. Besides, the no-
cumstances. It is not merely           "Covenanters," as the                       tion that government is due to a
Rutherford's position that the         Presbyterians of that day are               "social compact" is a pure fiction,
believer is required at times to       called, for many bore their                 historically. God established
refuse to obey the rulers (which       persecution at the hands of the             government in the headship of
no one denies); but it is his          wicked, tyrannical, and anti-          .    4dam, quite independently of
teaching that the Christian may        Christian Stuart kings patiently.           any agreement of wife Eve or of
`take up arms against the existing     But some revolted. And they did             :he posterity of Adam. Govern-
government in order to over-           so because they believed that               ment through democratic process
throw it and set up a new              submission to government was                has been very rare in history,
government. The calling to sub-        conditional. For this belief,               and is relatively recent. Were the
mit is conditional. The condition      Samuel Rutherford was largely               Roman Caesars of the apostles'
is that the rulers faithfully carry    responsible.                                time chosen by popular vote? Did
out their duty. When the                 Rutherford's position in Lex,             the Christians addressed by the
magistrates become unfaithful to       Rex is erroneous.                           first epistle of Peter suppose that
their duty, ruling unjustly and                                                    the royal power of the kings

 294  / The Standard Bearer


whom they were called to honor            the "royal power is three ways in      but a creature of the people. But
in reality lay in them? Did our           the people," as Rutherford, and        if the source of the state is God,
Lord teach that Pilate's authority        many today, teach, submission          submission depends, not upon the
came to him from below (the               by the citizens is indeed condi-       will of the people, but upon the
people) or from above (God), in           tional. I would go further and say     will of God. (to be continued) Cl
John 19: 1 l?                             that, in this case, submission                                           -DJE
  This error about the source of          depends upon the whims of the
the state's authority is basic. If        people. For the ruler is nothing





letters


Nonresistance? Yes!                       Nonresistance? No!                     right of some authority to
                                                                                 govern, by virtue of the will of
  I read and Ye-read your                   I am not a member of the PRC,        God. Unqualified obedience is
editorials in the January 15 and          but I do subscribe to The Stan-        owed to no human. One some-
February 1 issues of The Stan-            dard Bearer and do appreciate          times must disobey a rightful
dard Bearer, "Another Look at             the fine magazine. However,            authority, whether civil govern-
Nonresistance." These editorials          there are articles that provoke        ment, parents, or husband. One
on the thought of Calvin and              questions; and this is the case        must disobey when the authority
Luther are excellent. In the              with your editorials on "Another       commands him to sin against
January 15 issue, you mentioned           Look at Nonresistance" (January        God. The Bible teaches this in
your special issue of December 1,         15 and February 1, 1989). There        Acts 5:29: "We ought to obey
1988 on this subject. Since my            are instances in the Bible of re-      God rather than men." Uncondi-
first issue of your wonderful             sistance that have God's blessing      tional submission, however, is
magazine started with the                 - the midwives in Egypt; Rahab;        owed to all authorities placed
December 15, 1988 issue, could            and the anointing, of David by         over us by God. We must respect
you send me a copy of the                 Samuel. If the American Revolu-        them as "gods" (Psalm 82:1, 6); as
December 1, 1988 issue, since I           tion was unjustifiable, the present    "the minister of God" (Romans
am very interested in this subject        government of the United States        13:4); and as God's hand over us
of nonresistance. I am enclosing          must be illegal. The Christian's       (Heid. Cat., Q. 104). We must sub-
$1.00. . . .                              problem is not revolution, but
         William England                  slavish submission to all govern-      ject ourselves to them as we do
                                                                                 to the Lord Jesus Himself (Ephe-
         Westville, New Jersey            ment mandates. Does the Chris-
                                          tian owe unqualified obedience         sians 5:22). We may never revolt,
Response                                  and submission to government? I        using force to resist their rule or
                                                                                 to destroy them. Such submission
  The issue you request is on the         believe that severe persecution is     for God's sake is not the shameful
way.                                      in the offing and Christians           act of slaves, but the glorious ex-
  We remind our readers that              should be prepared by their-           ercise of their freedom by the
copies of the special issue of            ministers for this.                    children of God.. God's sons and
December 1, 1988, "The Re-                       Howard E. VanManen              daughters are free to obey the
formed Faith on Civil Govern-                    Grand Rapids, MI                Lord Jesus; are free to suffer in
ment," are still available from the                                              well-doing; are free from the
Business Manager at $1.00 per             Response                               tyranny of rebellion against
copy.                             -Ed.      There is a difference between        authority that holds most of man-
                                          obedience and submission. Obe-         kind in bondage. Why is submis-
                                          dience is doing what an authority      sion always "slavish submission"?
                                          commands. Submission is the            Was Jesus' conduct before Pilate
                                          heartfelt acknowledgment of the        "slavish submission"?

                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  /  2%


   When the persecution of the            Letters                               regard is Missing from Action:
last days breaks out, it must not                                               Vanishing Manhood in America
have been provoked by the                   I am interested in your medita-     by Weldon  M. Hardenbrook
revolutionary behavior of those           tion in this week's Standard          (Nashville: Thomas Nelson
who call themselves Christians,           Bearer ("Hannah," February 15,        Publishers, c. 1987), 191 pp. It
lest we suffer as evildoers (I Peter      1989). I do pray that many more       lacks the Reformed perspective
4:15). In case there are fiery            young men will be called into the     and may be a bit simplistic in its
spirits among the saints who are          ministry in Reformed churches.        historical approach, but there is a
ready to reach for their pistols            It's true we need godly             message in this book which we
and shotguns when the state               mothers willing to pray that God      need to consider, especially if we
persecutes, the Word of the Lord          will grant them such children,        want to know how women's lib
Jesus must be heard, "Put up              but there's another mission ele-      and its predecessor movements
again thy sword into his place:           ment we need to pray for: godly       have wreaked havoc on the men
for all they that take the sword          men who are real men and real         and boys of our generation. The
shall perish with the sword" (Mat-        fathers and teachers to their boys    price of $14.95 for a slim hard-
thew 26:52). I hope that all              so that the young men will have       back is outrageous, but worth the
Reformed pastors are giving this          examples worth emulating of           money for its content. Perhaps it
instruction to their congregations,       men who truly respect the office      is available now in paperback. I
because this is preparation for           of pastor and the idea of serving     don't know.
the persecution.                  -Ed.    the church as shepherd or under-
                                          shepherd. A book I would recom-              Natalie Jefferson
                                          mend to all - men and women                  Mount Vernon, NY 0
                                          - to stimulate thinking in this





                                    Rutherford and
Contribution
Mr. john Clarke                           Resistance

   Samuel Rutherford was the              against Arminianism and as a          was occasioned by the ap-
leading theologian in Scotland            defender of Presbyterian church       pearance of a book by John Max-
during the first half of the 17th         government. His fame was soon         well, an Episcopalian, who con-
century. To most of us he is prob-        established. He was made Pro-         tended for the right of kings to
ably best known by his letters,           fessor of Divinity of St. Andrews     rule independently of parliaments
said by Spurgeon to be "the               and was more than once invited        and people, and required of the
nearest thing to inspiration which        to serve as a Professor of            people passive obedience in the
can be found in all the writings          Theology at Utrecht. As one of        most absolute and unqualified
of mere men." But this is not his         the Scottish Divines who took         terms. This belief in the ab-
only work. He wrote extensively           part in the Westminster Assembly      solutism of the divine right of
                                          he had a prominent and active         kings was held and practised by
                                          role in drawing up the West-          the Stuart kings who ruled
Mr. John Clarke is an Ulster Presby-      minster Confession of Faith and       throughout most of the 17th cen-
terian, a son of the Scottish             Catechisms.                           tury in Scotland.
Covenanters. He and his family are          His great treatise on civil           The opposition expressed
members of the Reformed Covenant          government, entitled Lex, Rex, or     against this belief by Rutherford
Fellowship of  Lame, Northern             the Law and the Prince, was           was not the first in Scottish
Ireland, which is requesting a mis-       published in 1644. Its publication    Presbyterianism. Almost a cen-
sionary from the PRC.

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 tury before, John Knox's              only by divine law but also by          make Omri king and not Zimri,
 memorable reply to the question       "natural law." This law does not        and Deuteronomy  17:15ff. The
put to him by Queen Mary,              exist by itself but is the result of    king having been chosen, there
"Think you that the subjects hav-      Gods having made human beings           exists between the people and
 ing the power may resist their        with the desire to join together        the king a covenant (II Sam. 5:3)
princes?" was this: "If princes ex-    and provide themselves with             which imposes certain obligations
ceed their power, no doubt they        government. Rutherford insists          on both ruler and people. In
may be resisted, even by power.        that all men are born free, and         answering the question, what
For no greater honour is to be,        that by birth one does not have         happens if the king fails to fulfill
given to kings than God has com-       authority over others. "No man          his obligations and becomes a
manded to be given to father and       cometh out of the womb with a           tyrant, we discover Rutherford's
mother. But the father may be          diadem on his head or a sceptre         views on resistance. Here, having
struck with a frenzy, in which he      in his hand." The authority to          regard for the due process of
would slay his children. Now,          rule must come from the people          law, Rutherford, like Calvin,
Madam, if the children arise, join     as a whole since it is to them          places the leadership of
together, apprehend their father,      that God has given this authority       resistance in the hands of the
take the sword from him, bind          by nature. He accepts that the          lesser magistrates, they being
`his hands, keep him in prison till    authority of the king is a trust        "vicars" of God just as much as
the frenzy is over, think you,         originating with God, but he in-        the king. Central also to Ruther-
Madam, that the children do any        sists that it reaches the king by       ford's view of resistance is the
wrong? Even so, Madam, it is           the suffrages of the people. He         importance of the Law: Lex est
with princes that would murder         asks, "Whence is it that this man       Rex. To the sovereignty of law,
the children of God that are sub-      rather than that man is crowned         as agreeable to God's Word, king
ject to them."                         king? and whence is it - from           and people must be subject. He
  Nor was it the last to be            God immediately and only - or           states, "A king essentially is a liv-
published on this subject amongst      is it from the people also and          ing law, an absolute man is a
Scottish Presbyterians. It was         their free choice? For the pastor       creature they call a tyrant, and
followed in 1687 by Alexander          and the doctor's office is from         no lawful king." To the question,
Shields book, A Hind Let Loose,        Christ only, but that John rather       who shall be judge between the
which can be ranked almost with        than Thomas be the doctor or            king and the people when the
Rutherford's own as a study in         the pastor is from the will and         people allege that the king is a
political science, and is in line      choice of men. The royal power          tyrant, he replies, "There is a
with the thinking of Rutherford        is three ways in the' people: 1).       court of necessity no less than a
and the early Scottish Reformers.      Radically and virtually, as in the      court of justice and the funda-
  Although Rutherford's argu-          first subject. 2) Collative uel com-    mental laws must then speak;
ments are particularly directed        municatue, by way of free dona-         and it is with the people in this
toward the form of government          tion, they giving it to this man,       extremity as if they had no
that existed in his day, namely a      not to that man that he may rule        ruler."
monarchy, the principles he ex-        over them. 3) Limitate - they             He believes in the justice of a
pounds have a much wider appli-        giving it so as these three acts re-    defensive war against a king by
cation. Through forty-four             main with the people (1) that           his own subjects. He says, "If it
chapters, or "Questions," Ruther-      they may measure it out by              be natural for one man to defend
ford develops his argument. The        ounce weights, so much royal            himself against the personal inva-
book itself, according to Dr.          power, no more and no less, (2)         sion of a prince, then it is natural
Hume Brown, is "tediously              so as they may limit, moderate,         and warranted to ten thousand,
pedantic," and the reading of it       and set banks and marches to the        and to a whole kingdom, and
for us today is not without dif-       exercise, (3) that they give it out,    what'reason to defraud a king-
ficulty. Nevertheless, the reader      conditionate, upon this and that        dom of the benefits of self
who perseveres will find a work        condition, that they may take it        defence more than one man."
of real power, and amidst the          again to themselves what they           When the king acts as a tyrant
minute details will discover the       gave out upon condition if the          he is acting contrary to his God-
passion of a man who has a great       condition be violated."                 given power; and since such an
love for liberty.                        In support'of this position that      abuse of power is not from God,
  At the outset Rutherford states      the people make the king he             it may be resisted. Hence Ruther-
the source of all government.          quotes such scriptures as 1 Kings,      ford distinguishes between a ruler
Government is established not          chapter 16 where the people             who is of God and a particular

                                                                                                The Standard  Beaher   / 297


exercise of power that is not of        title of conquest, he asserts,         political textbook of the
God. He says, "That power which         "Mere conquest by the sword,           covenanters and its arguments
is contrary to law, and is evil and     without the consent of the people,     are their justification for their
tyrannical, can tie none to sub-        is no just title to the crown."        taking up arms against the king.
jection."                               He accepts however that, "This         It helped to lay the basis for the
   In his explanation of Romans         title by conquest, through the         establishing of the constitutional
13 he contends that this passage        people's after consent, may be         monarchy in Britain; and the
refers to the office of magistrate      turned into a just title."             bringing over of William of
(the magistrate in abstracto), i.e.,      Having looked briefly at some        Orange was the practical out-
to a person using his power law-        of Rutherford's main arguments         working of the principles of Lex,
fully. When a king -acts unlaw-         in his treatise, we conclude with      Rex. It has been said, "The prin-
fully, he is not a "higher power,"      a short analysis of the impact of      ciples of this book, however ob-
but is acting as an ordinary man.       his work. It was received with         noxious they may be to the
The lawful ruler is not to be           great excitement by the Scottish       devotees of arbitrary power and
resisted because he is not a ter-       General Assembly. "Every               passive obedience, are sub-
ror to the good works but to the        member," says Guthrie, "had in         stantially the principles on which
evil; but that ruler who perse-         his hand the book lately pub-          all government is founded and
cutes the church becomes in             lished by Mr. Samuel Rutherford        withotit which the civil magis-
these acts a terror to good works,      which was so idolized that             trate would become a curse
and therefore the reason in the         whereas Buchanan's treatise, De        rather than a blessing to a coun-
text proves that a man who does         Jure Regni apud Scotos, was            try."
these things against the office is      looked upon as an oracle, this           "It is reported," writes Howie,
to be resisted. We are only to be       coming forth, it was slighted as       "that when King Charles saw
subject to the power and royal          not anti-monarchical enough and        Lex, Rex he said, it would scarce-
authority in abstracto, in so far       Rutherford's Lex, Rex only             ly ever get an answer, nor did it
as, according to his office, he is      thought authentic." The prin-          ever get any except what the
not a terror to good works, but         ciples taught in Lex, Rex were         Parliament in 1661 gave it, when
to evil.                                those that undergirded the             they caused it to be burned at
   In answering the question as to      Puritan revolution in England. So      the Cross of Edinburgh by the
whether or not a kingdom may            this book is their best theoretical    hands of the hangman." 0
lawfully be purchased by the sole       vindication. It became the





                                        Evangelicak Resort to
Chest Article
Mr.. lames Lanting                      Civil Disobedience

                                          "Queen Mary. `Yea, but none            Queen Mary. `But yet, they re-
                                        of these men [Moses, Daniel, the       sisted not by the sword.'
                                        Apostles] raised the sword against       John Knox. `God, Madam, had
                                        their princes.  '                      not given them the power and the
                                          John Knox. `Yet, Madam, ye           means. '
                                        cannot deny that they resisted,          Queen Mary. `Think ye that
                                        for those who obey not the com-        subjects, having the power, may
Mr. Lanting, a member of South          mandments that are given, in           resist their princes?'
Holland Protestant Reformed             some sort resist. '                      John Knox. `Zf their princes ex-
Church, is  Q  practicing attorney.                                            ceed their bounds, Madam, no

298  / The Standard Bearer


doubt they may be resisted, even        ly promoted by Rev. Jerry              "camps" to learn tax evasion
by power. '                             Falwell and others who suggest:        techniques and "survival tactics"
  At these words, the Queen             "Buy it for your friends who hide      against the "satanic I.R.S."
stood as it were amazed, more           behind Romans 13." Rutherford          The Call to Revolution?
than a quarter of an hour. "            Institute president John White-          Although some Christian ac-
     John Knox, The History of the      head in his popular book, The          tivists (such as Randall Terry)
           Reformation in Scotland.     Second American Revolution,            urge non-violent passive dis-
                                        also calls Christians to civil dis-    obedience, other evangelical
   Evangelical Christians have pa-      obedience to stem the tide of the      writers are suggesting something
tiently protested abortion-on-          "ever growing power and uncon-         quite different: organized
demand for fifteen years now            stitutionality of the federal          resistance and overthrow of evil
and yet the bloody atrocities           government." Gary North and            governments by force. "There
against the helpless unborn con-        David Chilton of the theonomic         comes a time," writes John
tinue unabated. And this mass           Reconstructionist movement pro-        Whitehead, "when force, even
murder not only is sanctioned by        mote a confrontational theology        physical force, is appropriate.
our government, but in many             wherein a "full scale Christian        When all avenues to flight and
cases the abortions are paid for        counter-offensive" is now              protest have closed, force in the
by our tax dollars. May Christians      necessary to overthrow secular         defensive posture is appropriate."
tolerate (fund?) this holocaust any     humanism. Their bold motto is:           Charles Colson, in his latest
longer?                                 "Christ or chaos, God's law or         and widely acclaimed book, King-
  Many state officials continue to      tyranny."                              doms in Conflict, boldly ad-
prosecute parents who are "home         Taking to the Streets                  vocates revolution:
schooling" their children, alleging       Many Christians are heeding          When all recourse to do civic obe-
violation of restrictive teacher        these "calls to action." On the        dience has been exhausted and the
certification laws. Church schools      left of the religious spectrum,        evil of the state is so entrenched  us
and day-care centers are being          many have been arrested for            to be impenetrable, then the Chris-
padlocked by local officials for        violating trespass laws at South       tian may be justified in organizing to
violation of zoning, building           African embassies while protest-       overthrow the state.
code, or licensure laws. Should         ing apartheid. Other Christians          As an illustration of such a
Christians allow these violations       involved in the Sanctuary Move-        commendable overthrow of
of religious freedom to continue?       ment have been jailed for illegal-     government by Christians, Colson
  Many Christians in Central            ly harboring Central American          cites the "February Revolution"
America, South America, and             refugees. And still others have        in Manila when Cory Aquino,
other continents are being perse-       chained themselves to fences or        with the indispensable assistance
cuted and exploited by evil dic-        gates at military installations to     of the powerful Roman Catholic
tatorships and corrupt military         protest nuclear armaments.             Cardinal Sin, overthrew the evil
regimes. Should they passively            Civil disobedience has recently      tyranny of Marcos. But what cir-
allow such repression to persist?       become de rigueur for the              cumstances would justify a Chris-
A Call to Civil Disobedience            Religious Right also. Evangelical      tian's (the church's?) participation
  The surprising answer given to        leaders James Kennedy, Pat             in such a political revolution?
these questions by many Chris-          Robertson, and Jerry Falwell           While no one could ever develop a
tian leaders today is: the time has     have all endorsed Randall Terry's      rigid formula, it seems to me that the
arrived for Christians everywhere       "Operation Rescue" movement, a         combination of the  Murcos regime's
                                                                               refusal to allow free elections, the
to "take to the streets." Libera-       confrontational pro-life group         suspension of civil liberties, the
tion theology aside, many evan-         gaining recent notoriety because       massive corruption of the govern-
gelical Christian writers in this       of the arrests of hundreds of its      mental process, the trampling of
country are now promoting the           members in Atlanta, Georgia.           human rights and  Marcos' own
traditional tactics of civil disobe-    More extreme groups have fire-         blasphemous pretensions,  gave the
dience to combat evil and in-           bombed "abortuaries" and even          church a mandate to act. A
justice in governments. In his          kidnapped abortion clinic              courageous cardinal, the Philippine
book, The Christian Manifesto,          employees. Other extremists on         church, and two million ordinary
the late Francis Schaeffer states       the Religious Right have orga-         citizens opened a light in the dark
that "if there is no place for civil    nized "tax protest" movements,         canopy that envelopes so much of
disobedience, then the govern-          refusing to report income or pay       planet earth. Through their civil dis-
                                                                               obedience and resistance to evil, the
ment has been made autono-              income taxes. Many of these tax        ;;;gdom  of God has been made visi-
mous." This book has been wide-         protestors attend seminars and

                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  I299


Civil Disobedience and the              arms and launched a revolution         pelled to do something contrary
Reformed Calvinist Tradition            "For Christ's Crown and the            to God's revealed will or (2)
   The knotty questions of when         Covenant." Other reformers,            hindered from doing what God
and how Christians must "obey           however, embarrassed by Knox's         commands. This remarkably
God rather than men" have               and Rutherford's writings,             straightforward and workable
always plagued the church. Nor          deplored the armed resistance of       guide perhaps condemns much
does there appear to be a con-          the beleaguered Covenanters.           civil disobedience today. For ex-
sensus of opinion on this matter        Some Reflections on                    ample, because the mothers, doc-
among leaders in the Reformed           Civil Disobedience                     tors, and the government are in-
and Presbyterian tradition. For           Although the contemporary            dependent, moral agents respon-
example, Luther, Calvin, and            evangelical Christian is apt to be     sible for abortion, Operation
John Knox had disparate views           confused by the bewildering ar-        Rescue members are not "com-
on civil disobedience.                  ray of voices suggesting that we       pelled' or "hindered" in the re-
   Luther insisted that the state is    must now resort to civil dis-          quisite way by the abortion laws
"God's minister and servant of          obedience and even organized           they are protesting. The same
wrath" to punish evil and pro-          forceful overthrow of govern-          could be said of the Sanctuary
mote good. Accordingly, he              ments, each believer must calmly       Movement and other similar ac-          .
warned, disobedience is a terrible      and carefully assess this recent       tivist causes.
sin, unless rulers "would compel        trend. The following distinctions         Thirdly, Lynn Buzzard and
a subject to do something con-          and remarks may be helpful.            Paula Campbell point out in their
trary to the will of God or hinder        First, surely the distinction be-    fine book Holy Disobedience
him from doing what God com-            tween civil disobedience and civil     (Ann Arbor: Servant Books,
mands." In those instances only,        rebellion is being ignored by          1984), that perhaps the only
the `obligation to obey ceases.         many evangelicals today. It is         morally defensible and biblical
Such disobedience, however,             one thing to claim that at times       form of civil disobedience is
must always be passive, sub-            the citizens of Christ's Kingdom       direct, individual, non-coopera-
missive, and without resistance.        will "obey God rather than men";       tion. Much disobedience today is
The only other alternative, in-         it is something quite different to     "indirect" - protestors breach
sisted Luther, is exile.                suggest that we may overthrow          laws other than the one they are
   Calvin likewise wrote that           the evil government we are con-        protesting (e.g., violating trespass
"private individuals" must              strained to disobey. The crucial       laws to protest abortion). More-
tolerate and obey even "unjust          scriptural passages are, of course,    over, most disobedience is not in-
magistrates" who may "cruelly           Romans 13:1-7 and I Peter              dividual, but highly organized in-
torment" or "greedily despoil"          2:13-17. Those who follow Knox         to large groups of hundreds or
their subjects, since "it is not for    and Rutherford and suggest that        even thousands of participants
us to remedy such evils." But on        Paul and Peter implicitly in-          acting in concert. Finally, civil
the other hand, Calvin surprising-      tended exceptions to submission        disobedience often goes beyond
ly allowed for revolutionary ac-        (e.g., when the government is          passive non-compliance and drifts
tion by the "magistrates of the         perniciously evil), have the dif-      into areas of confrontational, il-
people" who have not only the           ficult if not impossible burden of     legal demonstrations. According-
right but the duty to "withstand'       explaining why the apostles used       ly, civil disobedience is then used
an evil king.                           such  explicit  "exceptionless"        as a political weapon or public
   John Knox, the feisty Scottish       language while writing in the          crusade where the protest itself
Reformer, went even further by          historical context of the evil,        may become the source of mean-
declaring that whenever wicked          blasphemous Roman Empire. The          ing, "a religious high, a glorious
and cruel rulers "exceed the            tragic end of the Scottish             tantrum" for the participants.               I
bounds" of their God-given              Covenanters should perhaps be            Fourthly, Buzzard and Camp-
authority, the duty of obedience        reason enough to convince              bell also remind us that the in-
ceases and the tormented Chris-         Whitehead, Colson, and others of       dividual conscience is "an indis-
tian may rise up and overthrow          the sobering import of Jesus'          pensable but inadequate guide to
his wicked.rulers by force. The         words to Peter regarding the           moral judgment." Accordingly,
dreadfully persecuted Scottish          destiny of those who "live by the      the individual conscience alone is
Covenanters of the 17th Century,        sword."                                an insufficient basis for civil dis-
emboldened by the writings of             Secondly, Luther's strikingly        obedience. Because "no scripture
Knox and his follower Samuel            simple formula may be the best:        is of private interpretation,"
Rutherford (1660-l 661), took up        obedience unless (1) one is com-       before an individual decides, for

300  / The Standard  Bea.rer


example, to stop paying his in-           tion, or even thoughtless obe-           It is noteworthy that as Christ
come taxes to an unjust govern-           dience. On the other hand, as          and the apostles "turned the
ment, he is duty-bound to find            Buzzard and Campbell remark,           world upside down" by spreading
authoritative decisions, creeds, or       vibrant biblical submission            the revolutionary gospel
confessions of the historic church        emerges from a conviction that         message, they were variously ac-
that substantiate his subjective          the meek, the helpless, the poor,      cused of forbidding payment of
views. The alternative is moral           and the oppressed have their           taxes (Luke 23:2), insurrection
chaos in the church world (and            heart set, not on earthly king-        (Luke 23:5), civil disobedience
society).                                 doms or governments, but on a          (Acts 16:20, 21), treason (Acts
  Finally, it is absolutely crucial       much deeper reality, a kingdom         17:7), and public dissension (Acts
for Christians to grasp the pro-          always unaffected by traditional       24:5). When brought before the
found biblical concept of "sub-           tactics of civil disobedience and      magistrates, their plea always
mission." True "submission" to            rebellion.                             was: not guilty; the charges are
worldly governments does not                                                     false. If indicted, will our plea be
entail silence, apathy, resigna-                                                 the same today? U





                                          Loving the Lord Our
                                          `God with Our Whole
 In His tear
Rev. Arie denHartog                       Being (2)

   The law of God requires that              We must love God first of all       worship and serve God we must
we love the Lord our God with             with all our heart. Our heart is       do so with all our heart. All our
our whole being. There can be             the spiritual center of all our af-    affections must go out to God.
no division in us. This is im-            fections. Out of our heart are all        Look in a concordance and see
possible. All imagination that we         the issues of life. Through our        how often the Word of God
can love God with only part of            heart we receive the wonder of         speaks about the heart of man.
our being is proven to be false by        the love of God towards us and         By nature that heart of man is
the summary of the law. We are            respond in love to God. True           desperately wicked so that no
to love God with all our heart            love for God is a hearty love.         man can know it. Through the
and all our soul and all our mind         Without the heart love is cold         wonder of regeneration God has
and all our strength. It is well for      and formal and only superficial.       given us a new heart. God says
us to consider each of those four         Many times God complains               in His law, "give me thine heart."
"alls," that we might know the            against His people that they do        True religion before God is one
depths and perfection of the love         not love Him with their hearts.        of the heart. If we set our hearts
which God requires of us.                 They pretend by outward expres-        on anyone or anything other
                                          sions and rituals that they love       than or besides God, we have
                                          God, but all the while that they       made unto ourselves an idol. This
                                          are engaged in religious exercise      is strictly forbidden. When we do
                                          their heart is far from God.           this we rob God of the love that
                                          Therefore God is burdened and          we owe to Him alone. God is
                                          grieved by all their offerings and     jealous for all the love of our
Rev. denHurtog  is pastor of the Prot-    sacrifices. In fact, they are          heart.
estant Reformed Church of Run-
dolph, Wisconsin.                         loathsome to Him. When we

                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  /  307


  We must love God with all our        we delight in Him for all that He      which He has revealed to us. It
soul. The soul is deeper than the      is in His blessed and holy being.      means that we love the true doc-
heart. The heart is an organ of        We love God with our whole soul        trine about God. We receive and
the soul. The soul is the seat of      when our only desire is to exist       know that doctrine through our
our life and the center of our per-    for Him and for His glory.             sanctified mind. We love God
son. God made man to be a per-         Through our souls we have fel-         with all our mind when all the
sonal, living soul. This distin-       lowship and communion with             powers of our intellect are di-
guishes man from animals.              God. To love God with all our          rected towards knowing Him
Though the Bible sometimes also        soul means that this fellowship        truly in all of His wonderful self-
speaks of the soul of animals,         and communion is the greatest          revelation to us. Through our
there is a difference. There is no     purpose and delight of our whole       mind the truth of God enters our
animal that is a personal and liv-     life.                                  heart and soul. We love God with
ing soul. Through the soul man            We must love God with all our       our whole mind when our mind
stands in personal relationship to     mind. Our mind is not only the         is constantly occupied with the
God. It is only because of the fact    faculty of our reason and intellect    knowledge of God. We seek that
that God created man with a soul       but also includes our conscious-       knowledge not only when we are
as well as a body that man can         ness. God made us intelligent, ra-     engaged in the science of
know that God is, and have             tional beings. That is another         theology and in the study of
fellowship and communion with          great wonder of the creation of        God's Word, though that is of
God. We stand before God with          man. We cannot of course               course of primary importance,
our soul. Through our souls~ we        separate one faculty from the          but we seek the knowledge of
know and love God personally.          other. God made man soul and           God in all of His creation, in
In the wonder of salvation God         body. God made man a personal,         every discipline of learning.
has redeemed our souls. Both our       moral, rational being. Through         When learning and science lead
body and soul were affected by         our minds we can know and              us away from God, then we have
the fall. Both the body and soul       understand who and what God is.        violated the great commandment
of the wicked shall be destroyed       Because of the fall, man's mind is     to love God. All our study must
in hell. Therefore the judgment is     darkened. Therefore he no              lead us to God to see His glory
so terrible for the ungodly. But       longer knows God rightly. Sinful       and to delight in Him and in His
God has redeemed our soul from         man uses his mind in enmity            truth.
hell. When our bodies at the end       against God, seeking by all              Loving God with all our mind
of our earthly pilgrimage will be      means to deny that God is and to       means also that God lives in our
placed in the grave our soul will      deny the truth about God. Evil         consciousness. It means that we
go to God.                             men devise all kinds of worldly        are always consciously thinking
  There are many mysteries in-         philosophies to deny that God is       of Him. It means that all our
volved in all of this that are         and to deny His work of creation       thoughts are controlled by the
beyond our understanding.              and salvation. Through the             consciousness that He is, that He
Because God has redeemed our           wonder of regeneration by the          is God, and that He is the source
soul from hell we must love Him        Spirit of God our minds are re-        and standard of all truth. To pass
with all our soul. When we love        newed and enlightened. Through         a whole day without ever think-
God with all our soul our whole        the Spirit-filled and sanctified       ing about God is a very serious
inner being and person go out to       mind we can once again truly           violation of the great command-
Him. When we love God with             know God. We can know God              ment to love God. We love God
our souls we love, Him personal-       through His own revelation in          with all our mind when God is
ly. Soul love is deeper than mere      His Word and in His creation and       central to all the plans and pur-
emotions and feelings. We love         providence.                            poses of our life, when there is
God with all our soul when we             Love for God involves our           nothing that we consider in-
love Him first of all personally       mind. It is not mindless emotion       dependently from God and the
for all that He is in Himself. Love    and feeling. The latter is the         truth that is in and from God.
for God may not be first of all        teaching of many of the modern-        Love for God must so rule our
love for ourselves. We do not          day charismatics. These imagine        minds that we do nothing
love God first of all because of       that true love for God ignores         without regard for that love. We
what He has done for us. That is       doctrine and truth. Doctrine is        love God with all our mind when
selfish love. Then we love our-        not of great importance to them.       our meditation is upon Him. We
selves above God. We love God          But true love for God means that       love God with all our mind when
in the depths of our soul when         we love the truth about God            we use our mind to order the

302  / The Standard Bearer


whole of our life that we might            duct ourselves in these occupa-       greatness and seriousness of serv-
,live it all in obedience to Him           tions that we live in obedience to    ing the Lord in His church and
and for His glory.                         His Word and bring glory to His       kingdom. Our Lord in the parable
   We must love God with all our           name. Laziness is a sin against       of the talents teaches us how dis-
strength. God gives us all our             this great requirement of love for    pleased the Lord is with His
strength. We have no strength              God. We may not refuse to             wicked and slothful servants who
that does not come from Him.               employ our talents and energies       hide their talents in the ground
We must return all our strength            in our daily occupations.             because they refuse to serve the
to God in love. The whole of our             An even greater sin is the          Lord God in love.
life goes forth constantly through         misuse of our strength. We may          The more carefully we con-
God-given strength. We must                not use the strength that God         sider the great commandment of
love God in all that goes forth            gives us for our own glory and        the law of God the more we
from us in our daily lives. Love           advantage. We may not use that        realize how very far short we fall
for God is not fulfilled merely in         strength in rebellion against God     of what it requires. In fact we say
passive meditation on God                  and in a life of sin and wicked-      in our hearts how impossible it is
through all the day. We have an            ness. That is what the ungodly        to love God with our whole be-
occupation and calling to per-             man does daily. For all of this he    ing. Only the angels in heaven
form. God Himself has given us             will come into judgment.              can live that way. But the love of
that occupation. That is not only            In a special way we must use        God in our hearts causes us to
true for the minister and mission-         our talents and energies in the       desire to love God perfectly. We
ary. That is true for all of us. God       church and kingdom of God. We         cannot be satisfied until we love
gave us our abilities and talents          have by the grace of God been         the Lord our God with our all.
in order that we might fulfill our         made citizens of that kingdom         We strive all the days of our life
daily occupations in the world.            and members of His church. We.        here on earth to love Him more
By God's strength we must be               must be ready to forsake all the      perfectly. Finally we shall lay
faithful fathers and mothers. By           things of this world in order that    aside our old sinful nature and all
His strength we must live as               we might be servants of the Lord      enmity against God in us shall be
children and young people in               in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus      destroyed in the grave. Then all
such a way that we prepare our-            Christ. We sin grievously against     that separates us from God shall
selves for our adult life. By His          the great commandment to love         be removed. We shall enter into
strength we must perform our oc-           God when we refuse to serve           the realm of the blessed. Never
cupation as doctors and lawyers,           God in His church and kingdom         again will anything distract us
as farmers and merchants, as               and when we refuse to give our        from perfect love for God. There
employers and employees or                 God-given talents for the promo-      we shall fulfill through all eterni-
whatever our occupation might              tion and welfare of that kingdom      ty the blessed purpose for which
be. By the strength which God              on earth. Many who call them-         we were created and re-
Himself gives us we must so con-           selves Christians fail to see the     deemed. q



                                           Janssen Controversy
                                                Re-examined
 AI/ Around Us
 Rev. Cise VanBaren                        Editorial Review of  1988

                                           Janssen Controversy                   Seminary, reports on an address
                                           Re-examined                           by Dr. David Holwerda given this
 Rev.  VQnBQren  is pastor of the Prot-                                          past September 8 at the seminary
 estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-          "CTS in.Focus," a paper             chapel. According to the article:
 vile, Michigan.                           published by Calvin Theological

                                                                                                  Jhe Standard Bearer  I303


   Dr. David Holwerda explored             dress. No doubt Holwerda is cor-             But the colleges' administrators
questions about interpreting Scrip-       rect in concluding that this con-          prevented The Banner from getting a
ture. He chose as his subject Dr.         troversy does account "for the             reply. One college did send us care-
Ralph Janssen, an Old Testament           different ways of reading the Bi-          fully phrased and rather lengthy
professor who was deposed in 1922.                                                   statements.
Holwerda, whose speech marked his         ble in the church then and now."              I do not believe that we could find
appointment as Professor of New            I wonder to what extent Hol-              two science teachers at our colleges
Testament with tenure in 1987,            werda and his associates at                .who teach the stuff that is taught by
asked if the views of both Janssen        Calvin Seminary agree with the             the "creation scientists" of the San
and his opponents influence the pres-     position of Janssen who was                Diego Institute: a six-times-twenty-
ent reading of Scripture. He con-         deposed by the Christian Re-               four-hour formation of everything
cluded that they do, and showed           formed Church in 1922.                     and a 6,000-to-8,000-year-old  earth.
how they account for different ways                                                  Whatever such folks cannot explain
of reading the Bible in the church        Editorial Review                           they blame on the flood.
then and now,                             of 1988                                       The second comment of in-
   . . . After surveying events sur-                                                 terest to us is what the editor has
rounding the Janssen controversy,            The editor of The Banner,               to say about past issues of The
Professor Holwerda dealt with key         December 26, 1988, presents an             Standard Bearer. It is somewhat
issues in it. Regarding miracles,         interesting review of the past             strange that the editor bases con-
Janssen argued with Abraham               year's events as these took place
Kuyper that "grace never creates a        in the world as well as in the             clusions on what he read merely
single new reality" and that his op-      church. Two of the various points          in the index - but perhaps he
ponents held an Anabaptistic, unac-       which he made should be of con-            has the ability of determining the
ceptable dualism between nature           cern and interest to our readers:          contents of articles simply by
and grace. On revelation, Janssen                                                    reading the titles.
argued for more dependence of                Yet we did not make an all-out ef-        A few weeks ago I was looking at
biblical authors on earlier sources       fort to win our neighbors and the          the  Standard Bearer,  the publication
than Herman Bavinck, whom he              world for Christ. We were pre-             of the Protestant Reformed Church,
cited in his defense, would allow. He     occupied with internal bickering.          a  5,000-member denomination that
also defined theology as a critical       And we will be judged for that.            split off from the CRC in the 1920s
search for truth, which made his op-         Our bickering mainly concerns
                                          two matters: the role of women in          under the leadership of Herman
ponents very apprehensive, They           the church and the understanding of        Hoeksema. The PRC left because we
criticized him particularly for what                                                 were, Hoeksema said, teaching that
he left unsaid and for depending too      the biblical account of creation.          we share common ground with un-
simply on human reason. They ac-            For the past fifteen years we have
                                          discussed whether women may hold           believers and were also neglecting
cused Janssen of not integrating faith    church offices, and we have decided        the doctrine of double predestination
and reason. Janssen countered that                                                   taught in the Canons of Dort.
while not always expressing it, he        that women may be eligible for the           HoeksemaS  son, Homer, was the
proceeded from a Reformed stand-          deacon's office only. But in 1989 we       editor of The Standard Bearer for
point and that he took seriously the      should have another report on what         many years. His final editorial was
doctrine of common grace.                 the Bible means by "headship" in           on the topic of creation and evolu-
  The last section of Professor           male-female relations.                     tion. I was paging through the issue
Holwerda's address sorted out the           The teaching of three science pro-
                                          fessors at Calvin College - who say        that had the index of a year's ar-
issues in the controversy that remain                                                ticles in the magazine. You would be
for us today. The address will be         that the universe is very old and that
                                          we should learn the history of its for-    amazed to see how many of these
published in its entirety in a forth-     mation from a careful story of God's       had been written in response to
coming issue of  The Calvin Theolog-                                                 some article in The Banner or a hap-
ical Journal.                             creation rather than just from
                                          Genesis 1 and 2 - came under               pening in the CRC.
   The "they" in the above article        much scrutiny and attack during this         What our subscribers hardly read,
included especially the late Rev.         year. The attack ended (but didn't         The Standard Bearer  analyzes.  Why?
Herman Hoeksema. The question             really) with the appointment of a          Because the right to existence of the
of the reality of miracles as well        study committee that should report         Protestant Reformed Church depends
as the issue of common grace              to Synod 1991.                             on the untruthfulness of the Christian
was involved in the controversy.            The Banner attempted to take the         Reformed Church. The more we sin,
Reference to this event is made           heat off Calvin by sending the fol-        the better justification they have to
in. the (out-of-print) book, "The         lowing inquiry to science teachers at      be what they are. (I should also say
                                                                                     that Homer Hoeksema was a gentle-
History of the Protestant Re-             all other CRC-supported Christian          man editor  - careful and fair, given
formed Churches in America."              colleges: "What do you say to your         his particular` frame of mind.)
  One can await with interest             class about how and when of the              A similar situation is now growing
the printing of this entire ad-           formation of our planet and the
                                          universe?"                                 within the CRC. , . .

304  ! The Standard Bearer


  Well, Mr. Editor, we have done         Our young people not infrequent-           While we do admire the zeal
it again. I assure you, however,         ly intermarry.                           of the CRC in many areas, we
that though most of your sub-              So, if there ever was a time           are concerned about its current
scribers do not read The Stan-           that our churches needed to              course. We are concerned both
dard Bearer, our own readers are         write critical articles about the        because of many friends and
both interested in and deeply            CRC in order to justify our own          relatives of ours in your church,
concerned about those things             existence, that is surely not true       but also because your church can
which take place in the CRC. We          today anymore. The differences,          and does, have an effect upon the
still speak of the CRC as our            once measured especially in              members of our own churches.
"mother church." Most of our             terms of "common grace," have            And we can also more knowl-
members came originally from             grown greater over the years.            edgeably pray the Lord of the
the CRC. We have many friends                                                     harvest that He turn the CRC
and relatives still in your church.                                               again to the "old paths." 0





Guided into                              Athanasius and the
All Truth
Rev. Char/es Terpstra                    Arian Controversy (2)

  In our last article we ended           fore He is by nature subject to          ATHANASIUS - THE MAN
with a reference to a letter             change and variation, as are all ra-     AND HIS LIFE
drawn up to explain the reasons          tional creatures. And the Word is          Athanasius was born about
for the deposition of the heretic        foreign from the essence of the          A.D. 296 of wealthy parents in
Arius and his followers in A.D.          Father, and is alien and separated       Alexandria, Egypt. While he
321. This letter clearly set forth       therefrom . . . (The Nicene and Post-
                                         Nicene Fathers,                          received a liberal education in
                                                             vol. iv, p. 70).
the errors of the Arians as we             The threat of this heresy was          the Greek classics, it was
described them:                          great, as was pointed out last           especially his spiritual training
  And the novelties they have in-        time, and therefore the Spirit           that left a life-long mark on him.
vented and put forth contrary to the     gave to the church a great man           His catechism training was in the
Scriptures are these following: -God                                              sound school of Alexandria,
was not always a Father, but there       - a man great in spiritual knowl-        where knowledge of the Scrip-
was a time when God was not a            edge and wisdom, a man great in          tures was stressed by his
Father. The Word of God was not          spiritual stamina and courage, a         teachers. Theologically, he was
always, but originated from things       man great with pen and word -            deeply influenced by Alexander,
that were not; for God that is, has'     Athanasius. To this sometimes
made him that was not, of that           lone warrior of the fourth cen-          the bishop of Alexandria, under
which was not; wherefore there was       tury we owe much of the                  whom he grew up.
a time when He was not; for the Son      church's doctrine concerning the           At a very young age he
is a creature and a work. Neither is     Trinity and concerning Jesus             became deacon in the church at
He like in essence to the Father;        Christ. When this young deacon           Alexandria. He was only about
neither is He the true and natural                                                twenty-two when he wrote his
Word of the Father; neither is He His    of the church at Alexandria              first two important works,
true Wisdom; but He is one of the        signed the above-mentioned let-          "Against the Heathen" and "On
things made and created. . . . Where-    ter against the Arians (some say
                                         he even composed it), it marked          the Incarnation of the Word"
                                         the beginning of a life devoted to       (A.D. 318). He was a mere
Rev. Terpstra is pastor of  the.Prot-    the defense of these cardinal            twenty-five.years old when he
estant Reformed Church of Pella,         truths of the Christian faith.           supported the ouster of Arius in
Iowa.                                                                             A.D. 321. At the time of the

                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  / 305


Council of Nicea in A.D. 325 he        they were born in the heat of the                 Truly this man of God could
was still deacon, but also served      battle. He wrote so vigorously             say with Paul when he had
as Alexander's secretary, and          and so forcefully because he had           finished his course: "I have
thus had a great influence on the      to struggle with these heretics in         fought a good fight, . . . I have
delegates and on the final state-      the churches of which he was               kept the faith: Henceforth there
ment of this first ecumenical          head, and because he saw the               is laid up for me a crown of
council through his notes and let-     danger they presented to the               righteousness . . ." (II Tim. 4:7,
ters written during the forty-two      truth of God and to the saints.            8).
days of deliberations. In A.D. 328     There were times when he near-             ATHANASIUS - HIS
he was elected to the highest of-      ly stood alone. The story is told          ORTHODOX POSITION
fice in the Eastern Church, Arch-      about one such time during the                    As we have noted, the funda-
bishop of Alexandria, which em-        Nicene Council:                            mental error of Arius was his
braced all of Egypt and Libya. In.       At the fever point of the controver-     false view of the relationship be-
this position he served off and on     sy, when the current appeared to be        tween the Father and the Son.
(cf. below) until his death in A.D.    running strongly against the or-           By teaching that Jesus Christ was
373.                                   thodox school, a certain delegate          a creature of God with an entire-
   Athanasius early took up his        went to Athanasius and said, `You          ly different being, Arius denied
pen and the sword of the Spirit        are fighting a losing battle. Does         Chrisys deity. And by applying
against Arius and his heresy.          Athanasius not know that the whole         the same idea to the Holy Spirit,
Soon after he assumed the posi-        world is against him?' . . . He said
                                       quietly, `Is the world against             Arius effectively threw out the
tion of archbishop in A.D. 328,        Athanasius? Then Athanasius is             truth of the Trinity. But
he published a brief but clear         against the world. ' (H. W Coray in        Athanasius set forth the truth
"Statement of Faith," in which he      Valiant for the Truth, p. 15).             concerning the Triune God. He
set forth the orthodox position on     That was the epitaph set over              too was concerned for the unity
Jesus Christ's relation as Son to      Athanasius' life: Athanasius con-          or oneness of God, but he also
the Father (we will quote from         tra mundum  - "Athanasius                  saw clearly that there are three,
this later). After the controversy     against the world."                        distinct Persons in the Godhead.
had raged for a period of nearly          Such a life-long battle was not         He knew that to separate the Be-
twenty years, during which time        without its costs to this pious            ing of God and the three Persons
the Arians attacked both the           church father. Just as in every            would result in polytheism. He
decision of Nicea and Athanasius       battle for the defense of the faith        also clearly perceived from the
personally, Athanasius rose to his     there are sufferings to be en-             Scriptures that the three Persons
own defense in his work,               dured, so there were for                   are equally divine. Consequently,
"Defence Against the Arians" (c.       Athanasius too. To give you                the truth which he came to see
A.D. 347) and to the defense of        some idea of the difficulties              was that of the oneness of God's
the Nicene Creed in the work           Athanasius had to endure in life,          Being. God's Being is one, and
"Defence of the Nicene Defini-         I quote again from the book                the three Persons share alike in
tion" (c. A.D. 351-355). And final-    Valiant For The Truth,  (p. 16):           the fulness of this one Being.
ly, in his longest and most de-          Stung by their defeat at Nicea, the      Hence, the Father, Son, and Holy
tailed refutation of Arianism,         Arians counter-attacked with venom.        Spirit are of the same essence.
Athanasius penned his "Four Dis-       They launched a vitriolic whispering         In coming to this understand-
courses Against the Arians" (c.        crusade against his character.             ing Athanasius focused first of all
AD. 356-360),  in which he gave        Athanasius, they said, was guilty of       on the proper idea of the rela-
clear exposition of all the texts      treason, of immorality, of sorcery, of     tionship between the Father and
the Arians had misinterpreted          sacrilege; Athanasius was a                the Son. He rejected Arius' error
and twisted with regard to Christ.     murderer. Not content with slander,        that the Son was not eternal but
   Throughout his life, therefore,     they resorted to every art in the
                                       ledger of political maneuvering to         begotten before time as a
Athanasius labored and con-            destroy him. They had him exiled           separate creature. Instead he
tended earnestly for the faith.        five times. They hounded him from          posited the eternal generation
And that battle was fought not in      the Egyptian deserts to Rome . . . . In    and thus the full deity of the Son.
the abstract but in face to face       his old age he was forced to flee to a     In his "Statement of Faith"
confrontation with the enemy.          cemetery and take refuge for nearly        Athanasius wrote:
His writings were not produced         a year in a sepulcher. In all, he            We believe in one Unbegotten
fn some hidden monastery in            spent in exile twenty of his forty-        God, Father Almighty. . . . And in
Egypt, where he was involved in        seven years as head of the Alexan-         one Only-begotten Word, Wisdom,
idle speculations on the Trinity;      drian episcopacy.                          Son, begotten of the Father without

306  /  The Standard Bearer


beginning and eternally; . . . abso-          denied it. For that reason                  among many liberal churches. At
lutely perfect Son, . . . the true Image      Athanasius would not com-                   stake is salvation itself.
of the Father, equal in honour and            promise with the semi-Arians and              What Athanasius said regard-
glory. . . . Very God of very God, . , .      strenuously defended the Nicene             ing the deity of the Son he also
Almighty of Almighty. . . . He is then        statement in his work "Defence              said regarding the Holy Spirit.
by nature an Offspring, perfect from          of the Nicene Definition."                  Throughout this controversy
the Perfect, begotten before all the
hills (Prov. 8:25),  . . . as Paul also in       What is so striking about                which centered on the Father
another place calls Him `first-born of        Athanasius' defense of the deity            and the Son, the doctrine of the
all creation'. But by calling Him             of Christ, however, is that he was          Spirit was in the background. Yet
First-born, he shows that He is not a         chiefly motivated by a concern              the truth concerning the third
Creature, but Offspring of the                for the doctrine of salvation. He           Person of the Godhead was
Father. For it would be inconsistent          understood clearly at the outset            always involved. For that reason
with His deity for Him to be called a         of the controversy that salvation           the Nicene Creed included an ar-
creature, Nicene Fathers, vol. iv, pp.        was possible only if Jesus Christ           ticle on the Spirit (cf. the new
84-85.                                        was a divine Person. If He is not           Psalter), and Athanasius made
  Athanasius would allow no                   the essential Son of God but only           constant references to this Person
compromise on this critical point             a mere creature, then salvation is          throughout his works. However,
of the deity of Jesus Christ as the           impossible, for we cannot be                it was only after the relationship
Son of God. The Creed that was                saved by a mere creature, though            between the Father and the Son
produced by the great Council of              he be the first and highest. If             was settled that the truth con-
Nicea in A.D. 325 (which con-                 salvation is all of God, then He            cerning the Spirit could be stated
demned the error of Arius) stated             who comes in the flesh to be our            clearly.
concerning Jesus Christ that He is            Saviour must also be very God.                And so Athanasius came to
"the only-begotten Son of God,                With this in mind Athanasius                assert that the Spirit too was a
begotten of the Father before all             wrote in one of his "Discourses             distinct Person of the Godhead,
worlds; God of God, Light of                  Against the Arians":                        one in essence with `the Father
Light, very God of very God;                    For if, being a creature, He had          and the Son. This was given
begotten, not made, being of one              become man, man had remained                creedal expression, some eight
substance with the Father . . . ."            what he was, not joined to God; for         years after Athanasius' death, at
That last clause was the crucial              how had a work been joined to the           the second great ecumenical
one. In fact, the whole contro-               Creator by a work? or what succor           council of Constantinople (A.D.
versy concerning the deity of                 had come from like to like, when            381). With this council the
Christ centered on one word                   one as well as other needed it? And         Trinitarian controversy of the
from that expression - the word               how, were the Word a creature, had          third and fourth centuries came
homoousion in the Greek, which                He power to undo God's sentence,            to a close. The Spirit had again
means "of the same substance."                and to remit sin . . . ? . . . How then     led the church into the truth ac-
The Arians, of course, would                  could things originate undo sin? But
                                              the Lord is He who has undone it, as        cording to the promise of Christ.
never accept that word, for they              He says Himself `Unless the Son             He had done that using the great
said that Christ was of a different           shall make you free: and the Son,           evil of Arianism; He had done
substance from the Father. But                who made free, has shewn in truth           that using the great good of
there was also a moderate party               that He is no creature, nor one of          Athanasius. 0
of Arians, called the semi-Arians,            things originate, but the proper
who were willing to say that                  Word and Image of the Father's
Christ was like the Father in                 Essence . . . . Nicene Fathers,  p. 384.           THE SCRIPTURES
substance. This position was ex-                This shows how crucial the
pressed by the Greek word                     issue of this controversy was; it           "Within this awful volume lies
homoiousion, "of like substance."             was a matter of our salvation.              The mystery of mysteries:
You will notice a difference of               This is what the Spirit-led                 Happiest they of human race
one letter in these two Greek                 Athanasius understood. We may               To whom their God has given
words. Let us never think that,at-            be thankful that he did. But then             grace
tention to detail in defending the            this is what you and I must also            To read, to fear, to hope, to pray,
truth is unimportant, for that one            bear in mind in dealing with                To lift the latch, to force the way;
letter separated orthodoxy from               modern-day deniers of Christ's              But better had they ne'er been born
heresy, truth from error; the                 deity found among many of the               Who read to doubt, or read to
former word upheld the full deity             cults (Jehovah's Witnesses, Chris-            scorn. "
of Christ, while the latter word              tian Science, Mormons, etc.) and

                                                                                                           The Standard Bearer  I307


                                          Book Reviews

THE BIBLE VERSUS MILLEN-                  of the elect and the hardening of        (no price). (Reviewed by Prof. H.
NIAL TEACHINGS: AN EX-                    others. The Law is written -             Hanko)
EGETICAL CRITIQUE, by                     potently! - by the Holy Spirit in           Francis of Assisi was an ex-
George C. Lubbers; published by           the hearts of those who believe          tremely influential and engaging
the author, 1989; available by            the Gospel, so that they fear God        figure in the Middle Ages. Much
mail from the author at 2074              and keep His commandments -              has been written about him, but
Cranbrook Dr. NE, Grand Rapids,           powerfully!                              little is known of his life. This
MI 49505; 424 pages; paper;                  The polemic against millennial-       book, rather well researched, fills
$13.95 plus $1.00 for postage             ism is solidly grounded in a             in many gaps: insofar as it is a
(Reviewed by the Editor)                  positive development of "The             biography, it is an interesting and
    The Bible Vs. il4illennial  Teach-    Christian Hope of Heaven and             helpful one.
ings: An Exegetical Critique may          Earth," by means of a careful in-           But the purpose of the authors,
well be George C. Lubbers'                terpretation of Genesis l-3. The         both Protestants, is wider than
magnum opus. It is a treasure-            book's value is enhanced by              that of sketching a mere
house of Biblical exegesis and of         several significant appendices, in-      biography. Their purpose is best
insight into the realities of the         cluding expositions of marriage;         stated in the Foreword:
Kingdom of Heaven. Treating               of the seventy weeks of Daniel 9;          So read this book with an open
eschatology (the Bible's teaching         and of the passages on Gog and           mind and perhaps Francis will open
about the last things), the book          Magog, in Ezekiel and Revela-            your heart. In an attitude of sharing,
carries on the Reformed con-              tion.                                    rather than argumentation, Prot-
troversy with millennialism, both           The power of the book in its           estant brothers and sisters might well
in its post-millennial and in its         controversy with millennial              find themselves becoming more
pre-millennial forms. Lubbers is          teachings and in its instruction of      understanding of Catholics, and
especially incisive (and helpful) in      God's people concerning their            Catholic brothers and sisters might
                                                                                   well find themselves becoming more
his analysis of theonomy, a post-         hope lies in its sound, careful,         understanding of Protestants. It is
millennial movement calling on            and rich interpretation of Scrip-        then, when we embrace one another
Christians to take dominion over          ture. It is an "exegetical critique."    in the "holy fire" of the Gospel that
the world and presently making            The student of Scripture will be         we will find our hearts eternally
waves in Reformed and Presby-             helped by both an index of sub-          melted together in the power of the
terian churches. Facing                   jects and an index of texts ex-          love of God. It is then that we may
theonomy's charge that historic           plained.                                 truly call ourselves brothers and
Reformed amillennialism is "im-             This is a worthy addition to a         sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is
potent religion," Lubbers shows           growing body of Protestant Re-           then that we may more truly under-
from Scripture that the "Chris-           formed literature and a signifi-         stand the vision of Francis of Assisi.
tianizing of the world" is not on-        cant contribution to the Re-                Francis of Assisi is pictured as
ly an empty dream, but also a             formed treatment of the last             the catalyst able to bring
seriously unbiblical doctrine. Not        things.                                  together all the branches of
the enforcing of laws, not even             It is also a very handsome             Christendom. The Second Part
                                                                                   especially deals with this subject
the enforcing of God's Law, is the        volume. q
power of the Kingdom of                                                            under the Headings: Worship,
                                                                                   Theology, Society, Destiny.
Heaven, but the preaching of the          FRANCIS: A CALL TO CON-                    Interestingly, the book is dedi-
Gospel of grace; and this Gospel          VERSION, by Duane W.H. Ar-
always has its twofold effect: the        nold & C. George Fry; Zondervan          cated to Terry Waite. 0
saving (not the "Christianizing")         Publishing House, 1988; 143 pp.

308  I The Standard Bearer


                                       News From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                    Our Churches

                     March 15, 1989      This winter has been especially      doxologies in the afternoon ser-
MINISTERIAL CALLS                      hard on some areas of this coun-       vice: "Glory Be to the Father"
   Rev. C. Terpstra accepted the       try as well as Canada. Flu has         and "May the Grace of Christ the
call he received from our South        reached epidemic proportions in        Savior." AIso, the first doxology
Holland, IL congregation.              some areas. This must also be          in each service will be sung as a
  The Council of our Peace             true in Edmonton. There was a          response to the pastor's words,
P.R.C. in Lynnwood, IL presented       notice on a recent bulletin that to    "Our help is in the name of
the following trio for their con-      prevent the spread of colds and        Jehovah, Who made the heavens
gregation's prayerful considera-       other infections, the person who       and the earth." The consistory
tion. Revs. K. Hanko, T. Miersma,      takes care of the crib sheets in       has also decided that the con-
and K. Koole. At a meeting heid        the nursery is also requested to       gregation will recite the Apostles'
February 5, Rev. K. Koole was          take the nursery toys home each        Creed with the minister, during
chosen to receive the call.            week and wash them.                    the prayer as found in the Lord's
  The newly organized con-               I am afraid that sometimes we        Supper Form. This is in harmony
gregation in Norristown, PA            who are members of a larger            with the words, "whereof we
named their first trio, consisting     congregation forget the particular     make confession with our mouths
of the Revs. K. Hanko, R. Hanko,       difficulties faced by some of our      and hearts, saying . . . ."
and J. Kortering. From that            smaller groups. I couldn't help          The Young People's Society of
group they extended a call to          but notice this while looking at a     our First P.R.C. in Holland, MI
Rev. K. Hanko, who, of course,         bulletin from our Covenant             sponsored a cross-country skiing
served the group in Norristown         P.R.C. in Wyckoff, NJ. Their Con-      and ice-skating party for their
as missionary until their              sistory transferred a number of        congregation.
organization in January.               families from their membership           On February 24 a Potluck Sup-
  The saints of Hope P.R.C. in         rolls to the newly organized           per was planned for the entire
Isabel, SD voted to extend a call      church in Norristown, PA. These        congregation of Kalamazoo
to Rev. C. Haak. He was chosen         families always attended Nor-          P.R.C. in Kalamazoo, MI.
from a trio which included, along      ristown; but in addition there was     SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
with Rev. Haak, the Revs. R.           one family from Covenant who             Everyone in the Lynden P.R.C.
Dykstra and K. Koole.                  requested their papers be. trans-      in Lynden, WA was invited to at-
CHURCH ACTIVITIES                      ferred to Norristown as well. The      tend a turkey dinner at the Cove-
  There was a notice in the            consistory noted that they were        nant Christian School. There was
bulletin of Peace P.R.C. request-      very sad that they were leaving        volley-vall and films after dinner.
ing all those interested in forming    them. For them it means the loss         Heritage Christian School in
a Choral Society to meet briefly       of another family, which in a          Hudsonville, MI presented their
after the morning service. The         small congregation such as theirs      All-School Program on February
meeting was to determine in-           is very difficult. But continue        23. The theme this year was
terest in working on music for an      they must, and continue they           "The Wonderful Names of our
Easter Singspiration.                  will, by the grace of God. Let all     Lord."
  The congregation of First            of us resolve to remain steadfast        Alumni, parents, and sup-
P.R.C. in Edmonton, Alberta held       here in the church in which.           porters of Covenant Christian
a Dedication Program for their         Christ has placed us, and be ever      High in Walker, MI were cordial-
new church on February 17. A           closer in love for each other.         ly invited to a "Super Potluck"
time of fellowship was held after        The consistory of the Im-            held on Saturday, February 18 in
the program.                           manuel P.R.C. of Lacombe,              the gym at Covenant. This
                                       Alberta has made several               potluck was held in connection
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Prot-    changes in the order of worship.       with Homecoming `89. AI1 pro-
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-     They will begin to sing two new        ceeds went toward the CCHS
ville,  Michigan.                                                             Phase I Bldg. Project.

                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  / 309


CONGREGATIONAL                        film of the Institute of Creation        ment and additional stations. We
HIGHLIGHTS                            Research, featuring Ken Ham              can support either, as individuals,
   The 1989 P.R.Y.P. Convention       from Australia) was shown at             societies, and/or congregations.
will be held August 14 - 18. Due      Byron Center P.R.C. in Byron             Let us all work together to pro-
to limited finances, the young        Center, MI on Feb. 21. This was a        mote the spread of the Gospel of
people of the sponsoring church,      preview of the Creation Con-             our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hope in Walker, MI wish to lodge      ference to be held on March 17             And a final thought lifted from
out-of-state conventioneers in the    & 18.                                    the bulletin of our Trinity P.R.C.
homes of volunteers from their          And, just a reminder, the              in Houston, TX:
church.                               Reformed Witness Hour needs                "Holiness is not the way to
   "Creation or Evolution?" (a        our support. Presently there are         Christ, but Christ is the way to
special showing of a promotional      two areas of need, new equip-            holiness." -A. Toplady Cl





Rev. Ronald Hanko                     Report of Classis West

   Classis West met on Wednes-        some of the members of the Mis-          to study the practice of treating
day, March 1, 1989, in South          sion were at the meeting of              minority reports on the floor of
Holland, Illinois. Classis met in     Classis to witness Classis' deci-        Classis in light of the ongoing in-
three sessions and finished its       sion. The members who were               decision and disagreement over
business at about 8:30 Wednes-        present also publicly introduced         this matter.
day evening.                          themselves to the delegates.               Classis also received, an over-
   This was the first Classis at        Classis, in harmony with a             ture from a brother and his Con-
which delegates from the new          recommendation of the Classical          sistory asking that the wording of
Congregation of Peace, in Lyn-        Committee, admonished the Con-           the Apostles' Creed be changed
wood, Illinois, were present at       sistories which have not allowed         in future printings of the Psalter
Classis, and a report was read at     their ministers to fill Classical ap-    and that the changes be recom-
Classis of their organization as a    pointments. It was pointed out at        mended to the Churches. There
new congregation. Their organi-       Classis that this practice is con-       were two changes desired: the
zation was carried out by the         trary to Article 31 of the Church        words "Holy Spirit" being
South Holland council.                Order.                                   substituted for "Holy Ghost" and
  The South Holland council will        Classical appointments were            "living" for "quick." This over-
also have another organization to     scheduled for Hope PRC of                ture received the disapproval of
carry out, now that Classis has       Isabel, South Dakota, for the            Classis on the ground that the
granted the request of the North-     Pella, Iowa, PRC, and for Peace          words were used throughout our
west Chicago Mission for organi-      PRC of Lynwood, Illinois.                creeds, Psalter, and liturgy and
zation and appointed South              Two protests concerning a              there was little point in making
Holland to carry out this pleasant    previous decision of Classis on          the changes in only one place.
duty. Rev. R. Van Overloop and        the matter of home-schooling             Classis also decided that the use
                                      were received by Classis. Classis        of these words in the recitation
                                      decided that the September,              of the Apostles' Creed was best
                                      1988, Classis erred in entering in-      left to the discretion of the local
                                      to the matter and declared that          Consistories.  Classis, therefore,
                                      the decision of the previous             refused to recommend the
                                      Classis was null and void. The           changes to the Congregations.
                                      matter was, therefore, sent back           An overture from one of the
Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Prot-     to the Consistory involved.              Consistories in Classis West was
estant Reformed Church of Houston,      In connection with these pro-          also received. This overture dealt
Texas.                                tests, a Committee was appointed         with a decision'of Classis East

310  I The Standard Bearer


proposing a division of the          walk, a certificate of health        Protestant Reformed Church.
Churches into three Classes. The     from a reputable physician, and      Material to be treated at this
overture asked that Synod refrain    high school and college tran-        session must be in the hands of
from taking any action on this       scripts must accompany the ap-       the Stated Clerk at least three
matter until all the churches had    plication. All applicants to the     weeks prior to the convening of
opportunity to study and to          seminary department must have        this session.
speak to the matter. This over-      completed the equivalent of a                 Jon  J. Huisken
ture was declared out of order in    four-year college education (125              Stated Clerk
light of the fact that Synod         semester hours) and must meet
already has a procedure for          the course requirements for en-      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
changing Classical boundaries        trance to the seminary depart-         The Men's Society of the
that allows all the Churches op-     ment. These entrance require-        Hope Protestant Reformed
portunity to discuss and protest     ments are listed in the seminary     Church expresses its sincere
any proposed changes.                catalog available from the           Christian sympathy to their
  Requests for subsidy were          s c h o o l .                        members, Mr.  lake Kuiper and
received from seven of the             All seminary department ap-        Mr. Peter Petroelje, in the death
churches in Classis West. With       plicants must appear before the      of their sister and sister-in-law,
one exception these requests         Theological School Committee         MISS ELSIE KUIPER, on March
were granted for a total of          for interview before admission       3, 1989.
$123,686.34  in assistance for       is granted. In the event that a        "For to me to live is Christ,  -
1989 and 1990.                       student can not appear at the        and to die is gain." (Phil.  1:21)
  Various elections were con-        April  2Qth meeting, notification
ducted. Rev. R. Moore was re-        of this fact along with a sug-                Dewey Engelsma, Pres.
appointed to the Classical Com-      gested interview date`must be                 Arnold Dykstra, Sec.
mittee, Rev. D. Kuiper was           given to the secretary of the
elected as delegate ad examina,      Theological School Committee         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
and Revs. R. Moore and G. Lant-      before this meeting.                   The Adult Bible Society of
ing as Church Visitors. The            All correspondence should be       the  Doon (Iowa) Protestant Re-
ministers chosen as delegates to     directed to the Theological          formed Church expresses Chris-
Synod, 1989, were Revs. A. den       School Committee, 4949               tian sympathy to Mrs. Henrietta
Hartog, C. Haak, K. Koole, and       lvanrest Ave., Grandville,           Klein in the passing of her
D. Kuiper. Elder delegates were      Michigan 49418.                      beloved husband, MR.
Mr. R. Brands, W. Bruinsma, H.                                            CLARENCE KLEIN on February
                                         Jon Huisken, Secretary
Hoekstra, and J. Sugg.                                                    18, 1989.
  The next meeting of Classis is     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                 "For to me to live is Christ,
scheduled for September 6, 1989,       The Ladies' Society of the         and to die is gain." (Philippians
in Doon, Iowa.                       Protestant Reformed Church of        1:21)
       Rev. Ron Hanko                South Holland wishes to express               Rev. R. Dykstra, Pres.
       Stated Clerk 0                its sympathy to Mrs. Barney                   Mrs. Grace Van Den Top,
                                     Haak and to Mrs. Art De  Jong                   S e c ' y .
                                     in the death of their infant
CALL TO ASPIRANTS                    granddaughter RUTH  JOHANNA          ATTENTION TEACHERS!!!
TO THE MINISTRY                      DE  JONG.                              Loveland Prot. Ref. Christian
  All young men desiring to            "For if we believe that Jesus      School, Loveland, Colo. is seek-
begin studies for the 1989-90        died and rose again,  even so        ing a teacher for the 1989-90
academic year in the Theologi-       them also which sleep in Jesus       school year. Teaching position
cal School of the Protestant Re-     will Cod bring with him." (I         open is for grades 4-6. For more
formed Churches should make          Thess. 4:14)                         information contact Ron Koole
application at the April 20, 1989         Rev. G. Lanting, President      (Principal) at school 705 E.  57th,
meeting of the Theological                Mrs.  J. Lenting, Vicar         Loveland, Colo. 80537 (303)
School Committee.                                                         667-9289 or to Larry Kooienga
Seminary Students:                   NOTICE!!!                            (Board Sec'y) 448 E. .12th St.,
  A testimonial from the stu-          Classis East will meet in          Loveland, Colo. 80537 (303)
dent's consistory that he is a       regular session on Wednesday,        669-4662.
member in full communion,            May IO, 1989 at the Hudsonville
sound in faith and upright in

                                                                                             The Standard Bearer  I311


 THE
STANDARD                                                                                          SECOND us:
                                                                                                  Postage Paid at
BIYWZR                                                                                            Grand Rapids, Mich
PO. Box 6064                         _.____---   _ _ _   ---.~~----- _ _ _ _   I_~   ~~ -
Grand Rapids, MI 49506



ATTENTION TEACHERS!!!                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                 NOTICE!!!
       Hope Christian School of            The Martha Society of the              The Northwest Iowa Prot-
Redlands, CA is seeking to add          Doon (Iowa) Protestant Re-             estant Reformed Christian
a teacher to its staff beginning        formed Church expresses its            School, of  Doon, Iowa, is in
the 1989-90 school year. Teach-         Christian sympathy to Mrs.             need of two lower grade
ing assignment would be either          Clarence Klein and to her fami-        elementary teachers for the
grades K and 1, or 2nd - 4th.           ly in the death of her husband,        1989-90 school year. Please co
Those interested may call Ed            MR. CLARENCE KLEIN.                    tact:
Karsemeyer (Principal) at school           "The Lord is my light and my        Mr. Chester Hunter, Jr.
(714-793-1504) or at home (714-         salvation; whom shall I fear?             (Administrator)
793-7166), or Mike Critters             The Lord is the strength of my         106 Fifth Ave.
(Secretary of School Board), at         life; of whom shall I be afraid?"      Doon, IA 51235
(714-739-4439). Applications or         (Psalm 27:l)                           (712) 726-3381
resumes should be sent to Hope               Rev. R. Qykstra, Pres.                     or
Christian School, 1309 E.  Brock-            Nancy Zeutenhorst, Sec'y.         Mr. John Mantel
ton, Redlands, CA 92374.                                                          (Board President)
                                        ATTENTION STUDENTS!!!                  R.R. 2, Box 247
NOTICE!!!                                  The Protestant Reformed             Rock Valley, IA 51247
  The South Holland Protestant          Scholarship Committee is ac-           (712) 476-5609
Reformed School is seeking ap-          cepting applications from future
plications for a teaching posi-                                                IN  MEMORIAM
                                        Protestant Reformed teachers
tion at the elementary grade                                                      On February 20, 1989 the
                                        and miriisters. For an applica-
level beginning the  1989/90                                                   Lord took to his heavenly horr
                                        tion contact Dirk Westra, 1880
school year. Direct all inquiries                                              our beloved husband, father,
                                        Elizabeth Lane, Jenison,
to:                                                                            and grandfather, RICHARD
                                        Michigan 49428 (616) 457-0705.
Lamm Lubbers, Administrator                                                    MONSMA, at the age of 76.  M
16511 South Park Avenue                                                        rejoice that he is now with his
                                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
South Holland, IL 60473                                                        Lord in glory, and pray that  WI
                                           On April 2, 1989, our parents
(312) 339-6585                                                                 who have, for a little while,
                                        and grandparents, MR. AND
        or to                                                                  been left behind may  continue
                                        MRS. DONALD DYKSTRA, will
James Lanting, Board Sec'y.                                                    to experience in our sorrow th
                                        celebrate their 65th wedding an-
16230 Louis Avenue                                                             sustaining grace of our Father
                                        niversary. We are thankful to
South Holland, IL 60473                                                        heaven.
                                        our God for the many years we
(312) 596-5093                                                                    "There is therefore now no
                                        have enjoyed with them and we          condemnation to them which
                                        pray that the Lord will continue       are in Christ Jesus, who walk
RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                  to bless them and keep them in         not after the flesh, but after  tl
       The Ladies Society of the        his care.                              Spirit." (Romans  8:l)
South Holland Protestant
Reformed Church expresses                 Tunis and Rose Dykstra                  Mrs. Richard Monsma
                                           Albert and Harriet Dykstra
Christian love and sympathy to                                                    Richard Gregg and Penny
its sister Mrs. Jennie Stouwie             Arnold and Donna Dykstra                     Monsma
and family  in the passing of her          Don Dykstra                            Dr. Raymond and Joy  Crunc
                                           Rich and Faye Dykstra
sister, Mrs. Grace Schutt. "He                                                    Gloria Monsma
                                          27 grandchildren
healeth the broken in heart, and                                                        and 5 grandchildren
                                          45 great grandchildren
bindeth up their wounds."                   2 great, great grandchildren
Rev. George Lanting, pres.
Mrs. Arthur De Jong, secy.



312  / The Standard  Bearer


