  A Reformed
  Semi-Monthly
 Magazine             BBR





I Vol. 66, No. 2
/ October 75, 7989


 Contents                                                 October 15,7 989                      THE
                                                                                         STANDARD
Meditation  - Rev. lames D. Slopsema
    PEACE THROUGH JUSTIFICATION                                                   27          BELZRER
 Editorials  -  Prof. David  1.  Engelsma                                                 ISSN  0362-4692
   A FESTIVE CONVOCATION                                                          29     Semi-monthly, except monthly during  June. July,
   THE RURAL, ISOLATIONIST, AND DEFORMED PRC                                      29     and August. Published by the Reformed  f:ree Pub-
                                                                                         lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                                         at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
LETTERS                                                                           31`    POSTMASTER:  Send address changes to The
                                                                                         Standard Bearer, P.O. Box 6064, Grand Rapids, MI
A Cloud of Witnesses  - .Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                           49516.
                                                                                         EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
   POLYCARP: MARTYR OF CHRIST                                                     32     Editor: Prof. David  1. Engelsma
                                                                                         Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
Taking Heed to Doctrine  -  R'ev.  Bernard/. Woudenberg                                  Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
                                                                                         DEPARTMENT EDITORS
   CONDITIONALITY AND THE GOSPEL                                                 35      Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
                                                                                         Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
Into All the World  - Rev. Ronald/.  VanOverloop                                         Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
                                                                                         Hanko. Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev.
   "SUCCESSFUL" MISSIONS                                                         38      Kenneth Koole, Rev. Jason Kortering, Mr. James
                                                                                         Lanting, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs.  Marybeth  Lub-
Decency and Order  - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                             bers, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev. Charles Terpstra,
                                                                                         Rev. Cise  VanBaren,  Rev. Ronald  VanOverloop,
   PARITY OF OFFICEBEARERS                                                       39      Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg.
                                                                                         EDITORIAL OFFICE                          CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
SECRETARY'S ANNUAL R.F.P.A. REPORT - Mr. Peter Koole                             41      The Standard Bearer                       Mr. Ben Wigger
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   THE END TIMES  - WHEN WILL THE END COME?                                      43      Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
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NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                                    47      and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
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 In This Issue . . .                                                                     editorial office.
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                                                                                         BUSINESS OFFICE                     NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
title from 1958 through 1971. The cloud of witnesses to which that title                 The Standard Bearer The Standard Bearer
referred consisted of the saints of the old dispensation, as Rev. Woudenberg             Don Doezema                         c/o Protestant Reformed
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26  I The Standard Bearer  / October  15,  1989


                                       Peace Through
Meditation
Rev. lames Slopsema                    Justif ication

   Therefore being justified by        righteousness of Jesus Christ. The    area of our life, God shows to us
faith, we have peace with God          righteousness of Christ is ours by    how we are to serve Him in love.
through our Lord Jesus Christ.         faith alone in Jesus.                    Furthermore, God makes
                     -Remans 5: 1        With this truth Martin Luther       known to us that He is our
                                       finally found peace with God.         Judge, Who judges us according
  The great Protestant Reforma-'       With this truth God used Martin       to His law. Those who are able
tion of the 16th century was           Luther to spark a great reforma-      to stand before Him in perfect
sparked by Martin Luther's             tion in the church.                   obedience (righteousness) God
search for peace with God.               Being justified by faith, we        will bless with every good thing.
  Peace with God is the most           have peace with God through our       Those, however, who stand
precious treasure a man can            Lord Jesus Christ.                    before Him in sin, having fallen
possess. This peace is enjoyed by      *  * * * * * * * * *                  short of His commandments, God
those only who are right with            Peace with God!                     will destroy.
God.                                     Peace with God is an inner             This is the revelation of God in
  The church told Martin Luther        peace of heart and soul as one        holy Writ.
that to be right with God and          stands face to face with God.            This is also the revelation of
have peace with God he must              Every day we stand face to          God to those who have not the
obey the commandments of God           face with God. This is true           Word, but see God only in crea-
and the church. But try as he          because of God's revelation. God      tion. For when the Gentiles,
might, Martin Luther could find        reveals Himself to man in His         which have not the law, do by
no peace. He did all that the          Word, the Bible. Whenever we          nature the things contained in
church required. But, for all that,    are confronted with this Word of      the law, these, having not the
he was convinced in his soul that      God, we stand face to face with       law, are a law unto themselves;
he had not done enough. He was         God.                                  which show the work of the law
not right with God and could find        God also reveals Himself            written in their hearts, their con-
no peace.                              through the creation. The in-         science also bearing witness, and.
  This drove Martin Luther to          visible things of God are clearly     their thoughts the mean while ac-
the Scriptures, where he redis-        seen from the creation of the         cusing or else excusing one
covered the great truth of             world, being understood by the        another (Romans 2:14, 15).
justification by faith alone in        things that are made, even His           We have peace with God only
Jesus Christ.                          eternal power and Godhead             when, standing face to face with
  We are made right with God           (Romans 1:20). The heavens            God through His revelation, we
not by what we do but by what          declare the glory of God, and the     are confident that God will judge
Jesus has done for us on the           firmament shows His handiwork.        us to be righteous before Him
cross. We must not stand before        Day unto day utters speech, and       and thus will bless us with His
God in our own righteousness or        night unto night shows knowl-         boundless goodness. Should we
obedience, but in the                  edge (Psalm 19:1, 2). Wherever        have doubts about God's judg-
                                       we look, therefore, we see God        ment upon us, or should we be
                                       and stand face to face with Him.      convinced that Gods judgment
                                         Through His revelation God          will be unfavorable, our soul will
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of Hope        makes known to us, first of all,      be tormented day and night.
Protestant Reformed Church of          His will. Through ten command-        * * * * * * * *  x *
Walker, Michigan.                      ments, which touch upon every

                                                                              October 15,  1989  / The Standard Bearer  / 27


  Those who seek to stand                        earthly existence, sinking deeper          And the beautiful thing about
before God on the basis of their                 and deeper into the cesspool of          the justification of God is th.at it is
own works will find no peace                     sin.                                     a free gift of His grace. We need
with God.                                           Man, therefore, has no                not make ourselves worthy of the
   There were those in the early                 .righteousness  that he can present      righteousness of Christ; we need
Christian church who advocated                   before God. The man who stands           not do something to merit this
exactly that: we are to stand                    before God with his own works            righteousness. In fact, we are not
before God on the basis of our                   will surely be condemned by God          able to do so. God provides us
own achievements. They taught                    and will fall under the eternal          with the righteousness of Christ
that everyone is able to keep                    weight of God's wrath.                   as a free gift of grace. In fact, he
God's law perfectly. And this is                    By the works of the law is no         grants this gift to all whom He
exactly what we must do to ob-                   man justified before God.                has ordained to eternal life.
tain a favorable judgment of God.                   Of this truth every man is most         Consequently, we are justified
We must walk in perfect obe-                     keenly aware. For God has not            not by works but by faith alone
dience to God's law. This obe-                   only revealed it in His written          in Jesus Christ.
dience constitutes our righteous-                Word; He also speaks the same              Faith is God's gift to His
ness before God on the basis of                  thing to every man through his           people, that brings them into
which God receives us and                        conscience. So, when Martin              spiritual connection with Jesus
blesses us with every good thing.                Luther sought to be right with           Christ. For through faith we are
Our righteousness before God is                  God on the basis of his own              led, first, to a godly sorrow over
therefore a self-righteousness. We               works as he was taught by his            our sins. This sorrow in turn
are justified (i.e., declared                    church, he found no peace. His           leads us to God in prayer to seek
righteous by God) on the basis of                own conscience condemned him.            the forgiveness of sins. But those
our works.                                       For all his works and efforts he         who so approach God in faith do
  This same teaching in a some-                  was not right with God. His soul         not base their plea of forgiveness
what modified form was taken up                  was tormented day and night.             on what fhey themselves have
by the Roman Catholic church                        Such is the experience of all         done or promise to do. Their
later on in history. Rome taught                 who seek peace with God; con-            trust is in the perfect work d
(and still does) that a man is                   trary to the spiritual realities of      Christ. They rely on the perfect
justified, at least in part, by his              life.                                    righteousness of Christ. He is the
own works.                                       * * * * * *  * * * *                     basis for their plea and request.
   In this epistle to the church of                 We are justified, not by works          And so it is that in the way of
Rome the apostle Paul shows the                  which we do, but by faith alone          faith God reckons the righteous-
dreadful error of this position. By              in Jesus Christ.                         ness of Christ as ours.
the direction of the Holy Spirit                    Because of our inability to.            We are justified not by works
Paul teaches that when Adam                      stand before God in our own              but by faith alone.
sinned at the very dawn of                       righteousness, God graciously              When, therefore, we stand
history the whole human race                     provides~ us with a righteousness        before God our judge, let us cast
sinned in and through him. The                   that is not our own.                     our works aside and cling by
result of this original sin of man-                 He provides this righteousness        faith to Jesus Christ and His
kind is `that death came upon the                in Jesus Christ, His Son. Through        righteousn&s.
whole race. This death is not just               His suffering and death on the             Then we shall be justified!
physical but also spiritual. This                cross, Christ paid the price of sin.       And then we will have peace
death deprives man of all the                    Through His perfect obedience            with God! 0
good gifts which he received                     before God, Christ met every
through creation and which                       obligation of the divine law. And
enabled him to serve God in                      this is the righteousness we need
love. This death leaves man evil,                to stand before God and receive
corrupt, depraved, capable only                  a favorable judgment of God.
of living in sin against God. In                    The glorious reality of justifica-
that death man is born. Unless he                tion is that God accounts the
is changed by a new birth in                     righteousness of Jesus Christ to
Jesus Christ, man continues in                   be our righteousness, so that we
that death throughout his entire                 appear before God righteous in
                                                 Jesus Christ, heirs to God's eter-
                                                 nal blessings.

28  / The Standard Bearer  / October 15, 1989


                                                 A Festive Convocation
                                                 The: Rural, Isolationist,
          Editoria Is                                   and Deformed PRC I
          A Festive Convocation                  berg Catechism, "The Song of              The speech will be published
             The evening of September 6,         Comfort."                              in The Standard Bearer in two in-
           1989 witnessed a festive gather-         The address by the most re-         stallments, beginning with the
           ing at the Byron Center Protes-       cent addition to the faculty of the    November 1 issue. 0                   -DJE
          tant Reformed Church in Byron          Seminary was entitled, "The Task       The Rural, Isolationist,
           Center, Michigan. A goodly            of the PRC with Their Seminary."
           number of men and women from             The rector, Professor Robert        and Deformed PRC
          Western Michigan responded to          Decker, introduced the seminary           It seems that the Rev. Steve M.
          the invitation of the Theological      students, Mr. Mitchell Dick, a         Schlissel, stormy petrel in the
          School Committee to attend the         third-year iseminarian,  and Mr.       Christian Reformed Church, is
          ceremony of convocation mark-          Leonard Holstege, Jr., a first-year    determined to have a contro-
          ing the beginning of the school-       seminarian. Three young men            versy with the Protestant Re-
          year of the Protestant Reformed        will be taking certain pre-            formed Churches.
          Seminary. Members of the Prot-         seminary courses at the                   Not long ago, in a public lec-
          estant Reformed Church of South        Seminary, while they attend area       ture that was intended to deal
          Holland, Illinois made the trip of     colleges. The rector informed the      with evils in his own denomina-
          over 300 miles to join in the          gathering that several young           tion, this Christian Reformed
          festivities.                           men, most of whom are presently        minister gratuitously threw in the
             The church building was filled      in college, have recently indi-
                                                 cated their intention to enter the     remark that the PRC are "dead
.c;       to capacity.                                                                  wrong" on the issue of common
..-; '       Rev. Barrett Critters, president    Seminary. :They include men out-       grace. In the September 11, 1989
          of the TSC, welcomed the               sidethe Protestant Reformed            issue of Christian Renewal (a CR
       audience and remarked on the              denomination, as well as               religious periodical out of
          reason for coming together. After      members of these churches.             Canada), he informs us that he
          opening prayer, he read the sec-          After singing by the audience       has since downgraded his
          ond chapter of II Timothy, in          of a versification of Psalm 111,       adverse judgment upon the PRC
          which the apostle commands             "He sent redemption unto his           to merely "just plain wrong."
          Timothy;-"And the things that -        people: he! hath commanded his           It will not shock Rev. Schlissel,
          thou h&f heard of me among `.% `.      covenant for ever: ..holy and          I trust; to hear that his
          many witnesses, the same com-          reverend .is his name" (v. 9), Pro-    magnanimity does not send the
          mit thou to faithful men, who          fessor Herman Hanko led in             PRC into paroxysms of ecstasy.
          shall be .able to teach others         seeking God's blessing upon the        Still less are we inclined to
          a l s o "  (v.  .@,,.,.                work of the Seminary in prayer.        celebrate our redemption from
             The Hope Heralds, a male            A time .of fellowship followed in      the realm of the "dead wrong"
          chorus under the direction of Mr.      -Byron's fellowship hall.              into some more blissful region of
          Gerald  Kui,per, sang the rousing         It was an encouraging evening
                                                 for the work of the churches in        the "just plain wrong" in view of
          hymn, "Rise Up 0 Men of.God,"                                                 Rev. Schlissel's further, even
          and an arrangement of the pro-         our Seminary.                          sorer, and (so far as I am aware)
          found first question of the Heidel-                                           entirely unprovoked assault on

                                                                                         October 15, 1989  /.The Standard Bearer  / 29


the PRC. In the same article in                  ably, to tend some livestock,              It is the judgment of Rev.
which he snatches the PRC from                   chant "TULIP," and let the rest of       Schlissel that the doctrine of
the company of the "dead                         the world go by.                         common grace has nothing: to do
wrong," he rails against them as                    By renewing this charge, the          with the woes that he so loudly
rural, isolationist, obsessed, and               CR pastor declares that the ills of      laments in his own church. It is
d e f o r m e d :                                the CRC (many and serious,               the judgment of Rev. Schlissel
. . . the anti-common-grace  error  is           according ,to Rev. Schlissel) are        that the PR controversy with
related to rationalism . . . it is in-           unrelated to that church's com-          common grace as adopted (and
teresting that its adherents have been           mitment to the philosophy of             enthusiastically put into practice
mainly rural and isolationist, far               common grace .as formulated in          by the CRC is an exercise i:n
from the biblical example of Chris-              the synodical decisions of 1924. It     futility. It is the judgment of Rev.
tians whose faith could thrive in                is foolish of the PRC to make so        Schlissel that the issue fought out
cities . . . they (the PRC - DJE) have
become obsessed with one issue to                much of the issue that resulted in      in 1924 in the CRC, resulting in
the point of deformity  - one can                their separate existence. In fact,      the CR adoption of a doctrine
barely find anything any one of them             although no longer "dead                that has God loving all men in
has ever written which fails to men-             wrong," they are "just plain            the gospel of Jesus, that has the
tion (harp on?) this issue.                      wrong" in their confession of par-      unregenerate only partially
   It will come as something of a                ticular, sovereign grace; of the        depraved and therefore produc-
surprise to many PR heads of                     total depravity of the unregener-       ing good works, and that has the
high-powered businesses and cor-                 ate; and of the life-and-death          kingdom of Christ and the
porations, to PR men in virtually                seriousness of the call to every        kingdom of Satan fellowshipping
all the professions, and to the                  believer, to be separate, spiritual-    and cooperating on the basis of a
overwhelming majority of the PR                  ly, from this present evil world.       common, shared blessing and
membership, men and women,                         That the ecclesiastical warrior       grace of God and resulting in the
who live and work in the cities of               from the Bronx falls upon the           formation of the PRC, which
North America - Chicago; Ed-                     PRC, hacking and hewing, is             repudiates this doctrine and con-
monton; Grand Rapids; Houston;                   unexpected. One would think             fesses,the very opposite - it is
Los Angeles; Philadelphia; and                   that he had opportunities enough        the judgment of Rev. Schlissel
others, to learn that they are                   for his martial energies in his         -that this issue is insignificant. The
rural and isolationist.                          own denomination. One might             controversy over common grace
   Besides, a slur is cast against               even put to him as a minister in        is a theological tempest in a.
the farmers and against the in-                  the CRC and therefore corporate-        teapot!
habitants of the smaller, country                ly responsible for the decisions           The judgment of Rev. Schlissel
towns. A farmer's wife in North-                 and practices of his church the         is overturned by the judgment of
west Iowa can be cosmopolitan                    question of our Lord in Matthew         history.
in her outlook. Indeed, the Re-                  7:4: "how wilt thou say to thy             Does not Rev. Schlissel know
formed faith gives all its people                brother, Let me pull out the mote       that the doctrine of limited atone-
a concern for the universal                      out of thine eye; and, behold, a        ment was gutted in his church in
church and an interest in world-                 beam is in thine own eye?"              the 1960s with explicit appeal to
events. On the other hand, a                       Secretly, a member of the PRC         the doctrine of common grace?
man may live in the heart of                     (hope springing eternal in the             Is Rev. Schlissel unaware that
New York city, but be provincial                 human breast!) might even have          the doctrine of reprobation (and
in spirit - an urban bumpkin.                    entertained the thought that a          therefore the creedal doctrine of
  What Rev. Schlissel intends, of                Reformed preacher who has ex-           predestination not only, but also
course, is to ring the changes on                pressed his love for the Reformed       the creedal teaching of the "five
the hoary charge by the ad-                      traditions would have a word of         points of Calvinism" in their en-
vocates of common grace, that                    praise for a denomination of Re-        tirety) was repudiated in his
the PR denial of common grace                    formed churches that still stead-       denomination in the 1980s with
and confession of the (spiritual)                fastly holds the faith and life set     explicit appeal to the doctrine of
antithesis between the elect                     forth in the Three Forms of Uni-        common grace?
church and the ungodly world                     ty. Instead, the PRC receive a            Surely, Rev. Schlissel has read,
amount to an anabaptistic pen-                   crueler, more cutting, and more         or heard, that virtually every
chant for physical world-flight. As              contemptuous criticism from this        synodical decision from the 1950s
the monks of old fled to their                   "conservative" than the "liberals"      to the present that has opensed
monasteries, the PRC withdraw                    are wont to give.                       wide the floodgates to allow the
to the country, there, presum-                                                           world to pour into his church (I

30  I The Standard Bearer  I October  15,1989


think specifically of the decisions     that "the doctrine of common               If there is a church that is
to sanctify the movie and to            grace . . . `does provide a              obsessed with common grace
redeem the dance) has been              perspective that shapes the field        (and the language is that of Rev.
grounded in an explicit appeal to       on which the hermeneutical               Schlissel, not mine), that church
the doctrine of common grace.           game is played. If one rejects           is not the PRC.
  Even the new interpretation of        common grace, the shape of the             This is simply the judgment of
Scripture that now gains ascen-         field is significantly altered, and      history.
dancy in his church, un-                the hermeneutical ballgame will            Regarding the curious proposal
mistakably evident to every             be played under a different set of       of Rev. Schlissel that concludes
member in the interpretation of         rules" (p. 33). The author draws         his castigation of the PRC, "How
Genesis l-11 as unhistorical fic-       sharp lines from the common              about a joint family conference in
tion and myth, with the new doc-        grace controversy in the early           1990?", if he is being flippant, thle
trine of Scripture itself from          1920s to the "new interpretation"        tag line is unworthy of him, in
which it arises, namely, that the       of Scripture in the CRC today.           light of the grave charges he has
Bible is a human book, which              Contemporary CR historians do          raised against the PRC. I am
"new hermeneutic" much exer-            not dismiss the common grace             tempted then to respond, "We
cises the "conservatives," defends      struggle of the 1920s as trivial.        rustics cannot get away from the
itself by explicit appeal to the        Rather, they regard it as nothing        cows; and even if we could, we
doctrine of common grace. Will          less than a watershed in the             do not know how to get to New
Rev. Schlissel read the article,        history of the CRC, so that the          York. Is that in America?" But if
"Hermeneutical Issues Then and          "mind" that prevails today in the        he is serious, he must not pro-
Now: the Janssen Case Re-               CRC is the"`common grace mind"           pose a family conference, but a
visited," in the April 1989 issue       (cf. James D. Bratt, Dutch               theological conference with a
of the theological journal of his       Calvinism in America, Eerdmans,          definite subject for consideration
seminary - Calvin Theological           1984, especially pp. 67- 119).           and debate.
Journal? It is argued, not by an          If ever a man could get away             That subject must be common
"obsessed" PR, but by a rational,       with dismissing common grace as          grace. q                             -DJE
thoughtful spokesman of the CRC         insignificant, this is not possible
                                        today.




Letters

Home-Schooling                          upbringing. Some of these verses         true. With finances more freed
  . . .                                 are Proverbs  1:8,  2:1,  3:1,  4:1,     up, parents can afford some of
           I was surprised and dis-     5:l.                                     the high tech equipment
appointed with the hostility ex-           The slam against programs             available. Home computers, word
pressed in the September 15             used by home schoolers may               processors, monitors, etc. can be
Standard Bearer  toward home            have been valid for some cur-            purchased to help teach subjects
schooling ("Protestant Reformed         riculums, but not all. Besides,          that parents may be weak in.
Christian Schools - Covenantal          parents can certainly point out             The third question of our bap-
Cooperation"). Deuteronomy              errors in the books and programs         tism form asks us whether we
6:7-9 tells us to teach our             used and explain why we believe          will bring up our children in the
children everywhere and                 differently,. The teachers do the        aforesaid doctrine to the utmost
whenever we can. I believe              same thing, don't they? The text-        of their ability and power. You
parents may delegate this respon-       books used in classrooms certain-        can't say home schooling parents
sibility to the teachers in the P.R.    ly aren't all written from a             don't take this calling serious-
schools; but the Bible certainly        Reformed ,perspective  either . . . .    ly . . . . q
doesn't demand this! In fact,              As to parents being inadequate                        Bill Clason
throughout the Bible, fathers are       to raise and teach their children                        Zeeland, MI
held responsible for the children's     in the modern age - this is not

                                                                                  October 15, 1989  / The Standard Bearer  I31


PRC and Missions                                     Please take note:                     Having been a choir director,
   I am writing to you about                      1. I have listened to the tape of      through the years we have often
something which appeared in                          the sermon again and cannot         sung a choir anthem based on
The Standard Bearer March 15,                        find, "They do not believe in       Psalm 48 entitled "Let Mount
1989 issue and was reprinted in                      missions."                          Zion Rejoice." In today's chsoir
the publication of the Reformed                   2. I was careful in the discussion     selection it would be considered
Church in the United States                          of the differences between the      archaic and is not heard in these
(April, 1989). In the article titled                 CRC and PRC to speak of the         times. However, it was very
"Can a Reformed Church Do Mis-                      "nature" of missions, or about       popular in former days, esplecial-
sions?," you say:                                    "how" we fulfill the directive      ly for large groups of singers.
                                                                                           There is one noticeable unique-
  Not long ago, a minister of a                      of our Lord. I continue to dis-
Reformed church in the south                         agree with what I understand        ness about The SB; and that is
suburbs of Chicago devoted a Sun-                    the position of the PRC to be,      that generally it is written for,
day evening sermon to an expose of                   but please recognize the point      and addressed to, the believers.
the PRC. Predictably, the conclusion                 of disagreement to be the           Seldom do we read statements
that would render these churches                     how, and the who, rather than       addressed to the elect unbelliever.
forever odious to Reformed folk was,                 whether the PRC believes in         I was forcefully reminded of this
"They do not believe in missions. "                  missions. I did not accuse the      when recently reading through
The charge is patently false . . . .                 PRC of not believing in mis-        the book of Deuteronomy. Com-
   Since the reference is oblique I                  sions.                              ing to-chapter 5 and verse 29, I
am not sure if I am the person                                 (The Rev. Dr.) Calvin     read, "0 that there were such an
who is supposed to have said,                                      L. Bremer             heart in them, that they would
"They do not believe in                                        Lansing, IL               fear me, and keep al1 my com-
missions." However, since the                       Reading and re-reading Prof.         mandments always . . . ."
south suburbs are not that large,                 R. Decker's splendid meditation.         Nevertheless, I enjoy reading
and I do not know of that many                    in The SB (8/15/89) has profited       all that is written in The SB and
who have "devoted the Sunday                      me greatly. It has afforded me         am edified by the articles written.
evening sermon to an expose of                    spiritual blessings and a thorough     May it ever sound the clear
the PRC," I am somewhat                           understanding of the meaning of        trump of the Reformed faith. q
suspicious that you have me in                    the text. The Word of our God is                   Henry Doorn
mind as the speaker . . . .                       indeed powerful and penetrating,                   Kentwood, MI
                                                  as well as encouraging and com-
                                                  forting.




A Cloud                                           Polycarp: Martyr
of Witnesses
Prof. Herman Hanko-                               of Christ

Introduction                                      by this, for the Scriptures speak      saints, men, women, and some-
   The church of Jesus Christ,                    of it in countless places; and         times children, who loved not
while in the world, is always in                  what Paul told the churches he         their lives unto death and who
persecution. It is her lot in this                organized on his first missionary      sealed their faith with their
life to suffer for righteousness'                 journey is true for all time: "We      blood.
sake. We ought not be surprised                   must through much tribulation            Among all these is the ancient
                                                  enter into the kingdom of God"         Polycarp, elder and minister in
                                                  (Acts 14:22).                          the church of Smyrna. He is not
Prof Hanko is professor of Church                   This incessant persecution has       the first of the martyrs. He did
History and New Testament in the                  produced a list of heroes of faith,    not suffer more than many
Protestant Reformed Seminary.

32  I The Standard Bearer  /  October 15, 1989


others. His death was not               church and one noted for her           persecution brought much work
necessarily more illustrious than       works of charity, dreamed that         to deacons. They had to care for
the death of other saints. But he       she was to go to the gate of the       women and children whose
provides for us an example of           city called the Ephesian Gate and      husbands and fathers were in
faithfulness in martyrdom, a            redeem there a young boy who           prison or had been killed. They
testimony to the power of the           was a slave of two men.' This          had to visit the saints in prison to
grace of Christ in great suffering,     she did and brought Polycarp to        comfort them and encourage
and an enduring encouragement           her own house where she gave           them in faithfulness, while at the
for Gods saints today who suffer        him a Christian home, taught him       same time trying as best they
for the sake of the gospel of           the ways of the Lord, provided         could to ease their sufferings by
Jesus Christ.                           for his education, and adopted         bringing them food and clothing
His Early Life                          him as her son.                        and salves for their lacerated
  While the date of his birth is          Soon after the boy came into         backs. And they had to gather
about A.D. 69, near the date of         Callisto's home he gave evidence       money from a congregation of
Paul's martyrdom in Rome,               of the work of the Spirit of Christ    people who themselves had very
Polycarp was not born in a Chris-       in his heart. He was grave and         little in this earth's goods.
tian home. In fact, his birthplace      reserved, kind towards those             Because of his learning, how-
is unknown, for he appeared on          with whom he associated, much          ever, Polycarp was soon called tto
the scene of the history of the         given to the study of Scripture,       be an elder in the church - a
church in a strange and perplex-        and diligent in witnessing to          presbyter, as Scripture calls those
ing way, a way that is an               others of his faith. An outstand-      who held this office. And, upon
evidence of the mysterious ways         ing feature of his conduct was his     the death of the minister (then
of God's providence.                    self-denial, something which un-       already called the bishop), he
  It all started in Smyrna. If you      doubtedly! was used by the Lord        became pastor and minister in
will look at your map, you will         to prepare him for future martyr-      the congregation. An old tradi-
find Smyrna less than fifty miles       dom. It is difficult to see how        tion has it that John the apostle
north by northwest of Ephesus           self-indulgent, excessively            ordained him to the ministry,
on the western coast of the prov-       pampered' people, who have             which, if not true, could at least
ince of Asia in Asia Minor. It          much too imuch of this worlds          mean that John was present to
was a city in which a church had        goods and who always crave             witness the event. His fame and
been established early, perhaps         more can `face martyrdom if it         influence extended throughout
by the apostle Paul during those        should be required of them.            Asia Minor. Not only was he
years when he was laboring in             Perhaps' one of the most in-         respected because of his close
Ephesus when "all they which            triguing aspects of Polycarp's ear-    association with the apostle John:,
dwelt in Asia heard the word of         ly manhood is his acquaintance         but for his own piety he gained a
the Lord Jesus" (Acts 19:lO). The       with the apostle John. Twenty          name among the saints in that
Lord Himself wrote a letter from        years they knew each other, and        part of the world.
heaven to the church of Smyrna.         ,Polycarp had the privilege of           There were several interesting:
He had nothing to reprimand the         studying at John's feet. It is easy    events in these years of labor in
church about; He had only words         to envy Polycarp. One can im-          the church.
of encouragement and comfort in         agine listening to Jesus' beloved         Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, a
her sufferings at the hands of her      disciple speak of his years with       city quite distant to the east
persecutors (Revelation 253-l 1). It    the Lord and teach what Christ         where Paul had begun his labors
is possible that Polycarp was           had taught him. All this careful       in Asia Minor on his first mis-
minister in the church at the time      training prepared him for work         sionary journey, came through
this-letter arrived in Smyrna and       in the church.                         Smyrna on his way to Rome and
that he read it to his congrega-        His Work In Smyrna                     martyrdom there. They spent a
tion, little knowing that it spoke        The work which the Lord              few pleasant days together in
of his own martyrdom at the             called Polycarp to perform in          Smyrna, recalling their past
hands of the wicked.                    Smyrna was extensive and im-           friendship when Ignatius also
  At any rate, some years earlier       portant. He was first of all a         lived in Smyrna and when they
a man named Strataeas, a                deacon in the church and labored       had both studied under the
brother of Timothy, was either          for the care of the poor. This was     apostle John.
elder or minister in the church at      an especially important work in           Polycarp also traveled to
Smyrna. A wealthy woman                 the early church, for persecution      Rome, somewhat later. A dispute
named Callisto, a member of the         was the lot of the saints and          over the date of the commemora-

                                                                                October 15,  1989  I The Standard Bearer I33


 tion of our Lord's death and                    times when persecution broke          was a most unusual and illegal
 resurrection had threatened to                  out in fury. The church was           trial that went something like
 tear the church apart. The                      hated in the Roman Empire,            this, the magistrate speaking first.
 churches in Asia Minor com-                     especially by the Jews and pagan        "Swear by the fortune of
 memorated these events at the                   Romans. Every natural calamity,       Caesar! Repent! Declare: Death to
same time of the year as they                    whether flood or earthquake or        the atheists!"
had taken place; i.e., the com-                  drought, was blamed on the              Turning to the mob, with a lift
memoration began on the 14th of                  Christians and on their refusal to    of his head and a wave of his
Nisan, the day of the Passover                   worship Caesar as God.                hand, Polycarp shouted, "Death
when the Lord ate the last supper                   There is something striking        to the atheists!"
with His disciples. This meant, of               about this. The Christians were         But the magistrate knew what
course, that these events in the                 called atheists and were              Polycarp meant. "Apostatize!
Lord's life were observed each                   persecuted for being atheists. It     Swear, and I will set you free at
year on different days of the                    reminds me of a l'emark made to       once! You have but to insult
week, and the resurrection was                   me by a vice-president of the         Christ."
not celebrated on the first day of               UAW some years ago. He insisted         "I have served Him for eighty-
the week every year. This tradi-                 that the union was truly patriotic    six years and He has never done
tion, according to Polycarp, was                 and truly Christian because the       me any wrong. Why then should
apostolic, for both Paul and John                union tried to help the underdog,     I blaspheme against my King
had taught these churches this                   while our churches were neither       and my Savior?"
practice. But the other churches,                patriotic nor Christian because of      "Swear by Caesar's fortune!"
led by Rome, wanted the resur-                   our opposition to the union.            "You flatter yourself if you
rection of the Lord celebrated on                  When Polycarp was an old            hope to persuade me. In all truth
the first day of the week; and so                man, at least 85 years old, a         I solemnly declare to you: I am a
they had instituted the practice of              flurry of persecution broke out in    Christian."
celebrating it on the first Lord's               Smyrna, brought on by the mobs          "I have the lions here, to use
Day after the first day of Spring.               who were thirsting for the blood      as I think fit."
The question was a minor one, of                 of the Christians. Fourteen Chris-      "Give your orders. As for us
course, but it threatened to split               tians were seized and dragged to      Christians, when we change it is
the early church into two fac-                   the public arena where they           not from good to bad: it is splen-
tions.                                           were fed to wild beasts. All but      did to pass through evil into
   Polycarp, in the interests of                 one died gloriously, one even         God's justice."
settling the matter, traveled to                 slapping a wild animal that             "If you do not repent I shall
Rome to talk with Anicetus, the                  seemed to be too lazy to attack       have you burned at the stak:e,
minister in the congregation                     the Christian who was intended        since you are so contemptuous of
there. They discussed the matter                 to be its dinner.                     the lions."
at length, but neither could per-                  The crowd'was not placated            "You threaten me with a fire
suade the other. The result was                  and began to shout for more.          that burns for an hour and then
that they decided to allow the                   Particularly, they began to shout     dies down. But do you know the
churches the liberty of celebrat-                for Polycarp whom they knew to        eternal fire of the justice that is
ing these events of the Lord's                   be minister in the church and         to come? Do you know the
Iife on the date they chose with-                who was, at the urgings of his        punishment that is to devour the
out rancor, bitterness, or strife.               flock, in hiding. The police were     ungodly? Come, don't delay! Do
As a gesture of their friendly                   sent to find him, and finally did     what you want with me."3
parting, Anicetus asked Polycarp                 find him, after exacting informa-       The condemnation was  pro-
to preside at the administration                 tion of his hiding place from a       claimed; the mob rushed from
of the Lord's Supper in the                      servant, who was subjected to         the seats to gather sticks and fag-
church of Rome, which Polycarp                   hideous torture.                      gots, with the Jews gleefully
also did?                                          The Crowd and the local             helping along. Polycarp told the
Polycarp's Martyrdom                             magistrate were present in the        soldiers in charge of the execu-
  But the threat of persecution                  arena when Polycarp was appre-        tion that they need not fasten
always hung over the head of the                 hended. He was brought before         him to the stake, for he had no
church in those days. There were                 the magistrate in the stands of       intention of fleeing. The flames
times of relative peace and                      the arena and immediately tried       leaped high, while from the
surcease from persecution in its                 and convicted while the frenzied      flames could be heard this prayer
most brutal forms, but there were                crowd shouted for his blood. It

34  I The Standard Bearer  / October 15, 1989


from the lips of Christ's faithful       faith with prayers and songs of            this crowd and their false teachings,
servant:                                 praise on their lips were those            and turn to the word which hath
  Lord God Almighty, Father of Thy       who knew what they believed,               been given us from the begin-
beloved and blessed Son, Jesus           loved that truth, and were                 ning . . . . "
Christ, through whom we have             prepared to die for it. Polycarp              Knowing that persecution soon
received the grace of knowing Thee,      had made his love for the truth            will be upon the church also to-
God of angels and powers, and the        clear in a letter he wrote to the          day, ought not we take heed to
whole creation, and of the whole         church at Philippi, in which he            these things? 0
race of the righteous who live in Thy
presence; I bless Thee for deigning      warned them against heresies               Footnotes:
me worthy of this day and this hour      already appearing in the church.             1. While some of the details of Polycarp's
                                                                                    life are uncertain, the evidence for these facts
that I may be among Thy martyrs          He said:                                   is rather strong. See McLintock  & Strong, En-
and drink of the cup of my Lord            Whoever doth not confess that            cyclopedia of Religious Knowledge.
Jesus Christ. . . . I praise Thee for    Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is        2. The controversy was not settled for a
all Thy mercies; I bless Thee, I         antichrist, and whoever doth not           long time and it continued to disturb the
                                                                                    church. It became the occasion for later
glorify Thee, through the eternal        confess the mystery of the cross, is of    bishops of Rome to attempt to extend their
High Priest, Jesus Christ, Thy be-       the devil; and he, who wrests the          authority over the whole church.
loved Son, with whom to Thyself and      words of the Lord according to his           3. This material is mainly from The Church
the Holy Spirit, be glory both now       own pleasure, and saith, there is no       of Apostles and Martyrs by Henri Daniel-
and forever. Amen.4                      resurrection and judgment, is the          Rops.
                                                                                      4. Quoted from The History of tke Christian
  It is an abiding lesson to us          first-born of Satan. Therefore would       Church by Philip Schaff.
that those who died for their            we forsake the empty babbling of





 Taking Heed                             Conditionality and
to Ihe Doctrine
Rev. Bernard Woudenberg                  the Gospel

   For there is one God, and             be brought? And what are we to             seeking entrance into the
one mediator between God                 say when we bring it? These are            ministry. The wording may have
and men, the man Christ                  questions that call for answers if         been awkward, but it was very
Jesus; who gave himself a ran-           we are to understand and fulfill           purposefully devised to keep
som for all, to be testified in          Christ's mission in this world.            what the Auchterarder men
due time.        I Timothy 25, 6            To begin with, therefore, how?          thought to be a doctrinal perver
                                         And, particularly, is the gospel to        sion out of the churches which
                                         be conditionally or unconditional-         they served.
   Inasmuch as we are called by          ly brought?                                   (For those of us in the Prot-
Christ to proclaim the gospel to            It is now over two hundred fif-         estant Reformed Churches who
every creature - that is, to "of-        ty years ago, in the early 1700s           lived through our controversy in
fer" it, in the historical Latin         that a presbytery in the small             the early 1950s this might well
sense of the word,' but not in           village of Auchterarder, Scotland          have a familiar ring. Not only is
the modern colloquial sense2 -           composed what has come to be               the subject matter similar, but
there are a number of questions          known as the Auchterarder                  also the need to pin down some
that arise: How are we expected          Creed: "I believe," it said, "that it      strange and elusive sounds that
to bring this gospel? To whom in         is not sound and orthodox to               were being heard. To one who
real and practical terms is it to        teach that we must forsake sin in          has never lived through such
                                         order to our coming to Christ,             problems, the effort might seem
Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the         and instating us in covenant with          nit-picking and trivial; but for
Protestant Reformed Church of Kala-      God."3 The purpose of this                 those who care, there are at
mazoo, Michigan:                         creed was to test young men                times necessities that demand be-

                                                                                     October 15, 1989  / The Standard Bearer I35


ing met.)                                        before this he bows, grieving and      nomianism on the other, while at
   For a good century prior to                   fleeing from sins, he can properly     the same time placing sanctifica-
that time, from the days of the                  be called to Christ, to the Lord's     tion, or the keeping of the law, in
early Puritans on, the churches of               Supper, and full acceptance as a       its proper place after salvation
England and Scotland had been                    member of the church of Christ.        rather than before - much as
struggling with the problem of                   In practice, however, what hap-        the Heidelberg Catechism does.
the gospel address. If the gospel                pened was that in many situa-          Moreover, and important in the
is to be preached in this world, it              tions an inordinate emphasis was       Auchterarder matter, it warned:
was reasoned, presumably there                   placed on sorrowing and grieving         In this covenant there is not any
will always be hearers who are                   for sins, as the work which had        condition or law to be performed on
reprobate, those whom God has                    first to be done, while the com-       man's part, by himselt;  no, there is
not ordained unto salvation                      forts of the gospel were left un-      no more for him to do, but only to
through faith, Can then the                      said.                                  know and believe that Christ hath
gospel, which is "good news," be                   It was to this the presbytery at     done all for him.4
properly addressed to such? Is                   Auchterarder objected. Not only           This was well said, but, having
there not something about the                    did it limit gospel proclamation,      said that, it went on shortly, in
very nature of the gospel that,                  contrary to the command of             an effort to defend a general proc-
for the sake of honesty to God,                  Christ, but it made it conditional,    lamation of the gospel, to add:
limits its proper address to those               dependent on something the               I beseech you consider, that God
alone who by it can be blessed?                  hearer must do prior to his union      the Father, as he is in his Son Jesus
The dangers they saw were                        with Christ. This they believed        Christ, moved with nothing but with
                                                                                        his free love to mankind lost, hath
various. What if some should                     was Arminian, and wrong.               made a deed of gift and grant unto
presume themselves saved who                       But not everyone agreed with         them all, that whosoever of them  all
are not? What if the gospel                      that. It wasn't long before a          shall believe in this his Son, shall not
should be offered to some to                     young man who had failed their         perish, but have eternal life . . . that
whom it does not belong? What                    test appealed his case to the          is, Go and tell every man without ex-
if salvation should be promised to               General Assembly of the Presby-        ception, that here is good news for
those to whom it cannot be                       terian Church. The matter was          him; Christ is dead for him; ant! if he
given? And, on the other side,                   heard, the Auchterarder creed re-      will take him, and accept of his
what if some of God's elect                      jected, and the presbytery's deci-     righteousness, he shall have him.
should think themselves lost                     sion overturned.                       Wherefore, you having so good a
because to them the gospel had                     But Auchterarder was not             warrant as God's command, and so
                                                                                        great an encouragement as his
never been properly brought?                     without defenders. Among those         promise, do your duty; and by the
Through the years many                           attending the General Assembly         doing thereof you may put it out of
theologians, some of the most                    was a group of young ministers         question, and be sure that you are
eminent in English history, strug-               - some of whom were to                 also one of God's elect.5
gled with these questions; and                   become the most celebrated of             Now whether this is what
various answers were tendered.                   their day, men like James Hog,         Auchterarder had `in mind is hard
  Through it all, however,                       Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, and        to say; but upon the thinking of
regardless of these answers, a                   even Thomas Boston - who had           Edward Fisher, and of the Mar-
common conviction had arisen                     sympathy for what Auchterarder         row men - as Thomas Boston
that in gospel preaching care                    was trying to say. In behalf of it     and his friends have come to be
should be taken to determine                     they were ready to raise a lance;      known - it certainly sheds a dif-
whether the person spoken to is                  and they did. They brought forth       ferent light. While rejecting the
elect, and thus able to receive                  from the past a book, seventy          idea of a conditional covenant on
that which is presented. Failure                 years out of publication, which        one hand, they were quite ready
to do so, it was thought, could                  they had found and come to             to receive it on the other; while
only lead to all kinds of miscon-                love. It was entitled The &%rrow       accusing the General Assembly of
ceptions; and there was a way in                 of Modern Divinity, written by a       Arminianism, they were in much
which it could be done. Before a                 certain Edward Fisher.                 the same frame of mind thern-
person is brought the positive                     As a book it was rather quaint,      selves.
promises of the gospel he should                 but effective in its way as well.        It wasn't, of course, as though
first be presented with the cove-                Dealing with the difference be-        they admitted this. In fact,
nant of works, or - as we might                  tween the law and the gospel, it       Thomas Boston went on to
say - the law with its command-                  brought out the dangers of             republish Fisher's book with an
ments, warnings, and threats. If                 legalism on one hand and of anti-      extensive series of notes defend-

36  I The Standard Bearer  I October  15,1989


ing the Reformed validity of The         as motivation for them to fulfill      God, His oneness and simplicity.
M&rowS presentation. His argu-           the required condition. If then           Throughout Scripture this
ments are close knit and often           salvation itself cannot be prom-       oneness, this harmonious con-
difficult to follow, but they are in-    ised to everyone, at least the         sistency of God, is fundamental in
teresting and worth trying to            conditional offer can; and if the      everything, as Moses said, in
understand.                              hearer will do his part, God cer-      Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, 0
   On the one hand Boston                tainly can be relied upon to           Israel: the LORD our God is one
wanted to defe.nd Fisher's Re-           follow through and provide the         LORD." Upon it rested the em-
formed credentials. He quotes ex-        grace needed to bring about true       bryonic moral precept, verse 5,
tensively from the historical            saving faith --even though,. of        "And thou shalt love the LORD
Reformed confessions (pp. 124,           course, we know that in the end        thy God with all thine heart, and
125); and he speaks of "the elect,       those who do this will be the          with all thy soul, and with all thy
the chosen, or believers, whom           elect alone.                           might." It wasn't new; Moses had
Christ represented, and obeyed,.           In effect what Boston was do-        met it first already at the burning
and suffered for" (p. 129). He           ing was bringing into evangelical      bush, Ex. 3:14, 15, "And God
argues that Fisher did not mean          thinking an equivocal kind of          said unto Moses, I AM THAT I
to tell every person "Christ died        casuistry, the supposition that in     AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou
for him" (p. 127); and he                good conscietice one can confess       say unto the children of Israel, I
repudiates "Arminius and other           a certain truth outwardly while        AM hath sent me unto you . . . .
Universalists" (p. 128). But at the      maintaining as an inward reser-        this is my name for ever, and this
same time Boston did not believe         vation almost the exact opposite.      is my memorial unto all genera-
that the doctrine of election            One may confess the sovereignty        tions. "
could be the basis for an                of God in all things, including the       What the Marrow men said is
evangelical proclamation of the          election and reprobation of men,       true: the gospel must be
gospel, as he said, "that God hath       while at the same time conceiv-        preached to all men - and no
given eternal life to the elect, can     ing of a secondary level of grace      one should impose conditions toi
be no such foundation" for "faith,       in which God loves all men and         limit this. But neither should con-
and warrant to all to believe in         would like to see them all come        ditions be added of a different
the Son of God" (p. 119). If we          to Him. It is this latter then that    sort in order supposedly to
are to expect unsaved people to          can be used in evangelism, going       enhance its universal appeal.
believe, we must show that they          forth to teil everyone of God's        And, above all, the oneness, the
are provided a real "common in-          willingness to save each of them       consistency, and simplicity of our
terest" in Christ (p. 119) based on      if only they will do what He           God, must not be compromised
a real "love for mankind lost."          wants - even while we know             or lost, as Paul wrote in I
And this can be done because of          that God has chosen and will           Timothy 2:5, 6, "For there is one
the "sufficiency of the sacrifice of     give the grace so to do to only        God, and pne mediator between
Christ for all" (p. 126) so that it      some.                                  God and men, the man Christ
can be said, if "not, `Tell every          But such reasoning has its con-      Jesus; who gave himself a ran-
man Christ died for him,"' at            sequence; it brings into the           som for all, to be testified in due
least, "`Tell every man Christ is        church's concept of God an am-         time. " Cl
dead for him;' that is, for him to       bivalent kind of duality, almost a
come to, and believe on; a Savior        split personality. On the one          1. "Offero: to bring before, to exhibit, to
is provided for him . . . the use-       hand it sees God as sovereign             obtrude"  Classic Latin Dictionary,
making of which he may be                Lord foreordaining in quiet great-        Volley Publishing Co., Chicago, 1952
saved" (p. 128). Clearly Boston,         ness and in the uniformity of in-      2. "An undertaking to do an act or give
                                                                                   something on condition that the  part.y
having rejected the condition of         finite wisdom all things which            to whom the proposal is made do
repentance, was seeking simply           come to pass, while on, the other         some specified act or make a return
to substitute another, in this in-       it presents. Him as standing in           promise." Webster's Seventh New
Stance that of believing in Christ.      uncertainty wishing for much              Collegiate Dictionary,  G  & G Merriam
  And with that we come                  more than ever does come to be,           Company, Springfield, MS 1970
                                                                                3. The Great Debate, Alan P.F. Sell,
perhaps as close as we can to the        because in the end it finally             Baker Book House, Grand Rapids,
origin of the "offer of the gospel"      depends on the will of men. He            1983, p. 56
in its modern concept. Boston            makes His offer; but, unless man       4. Fisher, Edward.  The Marrow of
was convinced that, if evangelism        meets the condition, His desire           Modern Diuinity:  with note by the
is to be done, one has to be able        cannot prevail. And lost through          Rev. Thomas Boston, Reiner Publica-
                                                                                   tions, Swengel, PA. 1978, p. 116
to offer something to everyone,          it all is that most basic wonder of    5. Ibid, pp. 126, 127, 132

                                                                                 October 15, 1989  I The Standard Bearer I37


 Info All
 the World
Rev. Ronald VanOverloop                          "Successfd Missions

   Success is described as achiev-               sionary who preaches week after        success means a numerical in-
ing fame, wealth, or rank, ac-                   week to a few people (enough to        crease. But what is it to be sue-
complishing one's goal. The                      sit in a living-room) is considered    cessful? And what does it take to
notorious "success story" is about               either as a failure or an object of    be successful according to the
someone who began small and                      sympathy. Disparagement is cast        standard of the Scriptures?
insignificant, but became big,                   upon those who attend the small          It is most important to
rich, and important.                             country church. The most "suc-         remember that Scripture does not
   American culture has a carnal                 cessful" congregations are the         define success as numerical
fascination with size and success.               largest and most rapidly growing.      growth. Size has never been. con-
Our society appreciates every-                   They are held up as examples of        sidered one of the marks of the
thing that is big (except, maybe,                what a local congregation should       true church. God specifically tells
the family). Success in business is              be like. Churches send their           His chosen people, Israel, that
identified with increased sales,                 ministers and leaders to attend        they were the fewest of all pleople
advancement, and growth.                         conferences which deal only with       (Deut. 7:7). God's people are
   Christians often seem to think                how they can grow. At these            often described in Scripture as a
in the same terms. "Success" also                conferences the methods of the         remnant and as a little flock
in the church is defined only in                 mega-churches are examined, not        (Luke 12:32). The history of
terms of new building programs                   in order to be evaluated in the        David's numbering the people (II
necessitated by an increase in at-               light of Scripture, but in order to    Samuel 24) warns against any
tendance. The emphasis is on                     be emulated. The number of             fascination with large numbers.
numerical growth, an increase in                 books and pamphlets which show         Therefore, we must not be
the number of those who are                      "how too" make a church grow           fascinated with size (and the
members of a congregation or                     inundate book stores and book          money, which is often associated
mission field. It is invariably the              catalogs. Because success is iden-     with size).
case that when ministers who are                 tified by growth and size, it is         Secondly, we must note that
meeting for the first time get                   thought that the saving of souls       the Bible does not allow the
together, they will talk about the               and the growth of the local con-       believer to dismiss and despise
size of their Sunday School atten-               gregation is the supreme goal of       altogether the growth of the local
dance or Sunday morning wor-                     the church and of each believer.       congregation or of a mission
ship service. (Never have I heard                It is then so easy for one to be       field. On the one hand, Scripture
any talk about the attendance at                 inclined to conduct himself as if      urges us to have a proper con-
the Sunday evening service.) One                 the only power that can ac-            cern for healthy church growth.
minister spoke of his denomina-                  complish this work is the              We delight to see the Lord add-
tion as being interested only in                 strength of man. All are per-          ing daily to the church the ones
the "Three Big Bs," by which he                  suaded by the thinking that if the     that He is saving. With the angels
meant "Big Buildings, Rig Bap-                   church can be made to grow,            of heaven we rejoice in seei:ng
tism roles, and Big Budgets."                    any means is legitimate, in-           the lost found and a sinner
Congregations have month-long                    cluding puppets, clowns, weight-       brought to repentance. On the
competitions to see which can                    lifters, or monster trucks (I am       other hand, good stewardship of
get the most to attend their Sun-                not making up any of these; they       the monies spent for church
day School classes. The mis-                     all happened in the communities        growth or for a mission field.
                                                 in which I have lived).                demands a concern for the wisest
Rev. VanOverloop  is pastor of Bethel              The Reformed believer is not         and best use of these talents.
Protestant Reformed Church in                    exempt from such thinking. He            Thirdly, Scripture places a.
Northwest Chicago, Illinois.                     too is inclined to conclude that       much higher priority on being

38 I The Standard Bearer  I  October 15, 1989


faithful. To be "effecthe" and         faithfulness to God and to His          Who is faithful. His Word does
"successful" in God's eyes is not      Word, for the Scriptures are the        not return unto Him void, but ac-
the performance of some spec-          medium which the Holy Spirit            complishes that which He pleases
tacular feat, which deserves           uses to accomplish the growth of        (Isaiah 55: 11). When we faithfully
God's praise and the admiration        the church. Then one is being           preach His Word, then we know
of men. Rather success is "mere-       truly successful.                       that He is using it to accomplish.
ly" being faithful. Often Scripture      If being successful is being          His will. We might not be able to
describes the believer and the         faithful, then evangelism and mis-      see what He is accomplishing,
minister of the Word as a servant      sions can be performed with             either of a positive or of a
of the Master, Whose will must         great patience. There is no             negative nature, but our inability
be done, and Whose goods must          pressure to cease the work or           to see what He is accomplishing
be cared for. As servants of the       close a field, just because there is    does not make us useless. We are
Master Who has all and Whose           not the kind of positive response       being used by the Master
we are, we are unprofitable.           that a business man would ex-           Himself. We can then thank God
Therefore, God delights in "faith-     pect. We learn that God's timing        Who "always causeth us to
fulness." Faithfulness is the          is often not our timing, for His        triumph in Christ . . . . For we
diligent performance of one's          ways are much higher than our           are unto God a sweet savour of
God-given calling, using one's         ways. We must be convinced that         Christ, in them that are saved,
talents and opportunities to the       we are successful when we faith-        and in them that perish" (II Cor.
best of one's ability. God ac-         fully sow the seeds of His Word         2:14, 15).
claims the good and faithful ser-      at every opportunity and to               If being successful is being
vant with a "Well done." Jesus'        every "neighbor." Often it takes        faithful, then we know that God
work earned Him the name               a long time before we are able to       is using us to bless the church of
"Faithful" (Rev. 19: 11); and He is    see fruit upon the seeds sown.          Christ. The addition of members
called the "faithful witness" (Rev.    Therefore, Paul writes that one         in our congregation is not the on-
1:5).                                  sows, another waters, and still         ly way in which God blesses
  Therefore, the Reformed              another gathers the harvest. Just       positively His church. Often we
church and missionary must not         because we are not doing any            are used of Him to help a fellow-
be primarily concerned with            harvesting, does not mean that          saint in another congregation or
numerical growth. The supreme          we are not successful. And James        in another denomination. We can
object must be the glory of God,       teaches that the chief attribute of     be assured that in such a case wle
not the salvation of souls and the     the farmer is that he "waiteth for      are "successful."
growth of the local congregation.      the precious fruit of the earth,          Let us get our thinking
It must be remembered that the         and hath long patience for it"          straight. Success is not numbers.
only power that can accomplish         (James 4:7). We are successful on-      Success is faithfulness. It is being
the growth of the church is the        ly by being faithful.                   faithful to God Whose Word must
Holy Spirit, not the strength of         If being successful is being          be declared into all the world. ·i
man. The emphasis must be on           faithful, then we can rest in Him



Decency and
Order
Rev. Ronald Cammenga Parity of Officebearers


                                         "Among the ministers of the           classis; which equality shall also
                                       Word equility shall be main-            be maintained in the case of the
                                       tained with respect to the duties       elders and deacons." Church
                                       of their office, and also in other      Order, Article 17.
Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the         matters as far as possible, accord-     INTRODUCTION
Protestant Reformed Church of          ing to the judgment of the con-            This article concerns what is
Loveland, Colorado.                    sistory, and if necessary, of the       commonly referred to as parity

                                                                                October 15, 1989 I The Standard Bearer  /  39


of officebearers. Among office-,                himself against all suspicion and en-     officebearers share equally the
bearers there is to be parity or                ticement to lord it over others. "        office of Christ, one cannot ble
equality. The word for "equality"                  The Synod of Dordtrecht, 1578:         above another, one minister over
in the Dutch version of the arti-               "No church shall in any way lord it       another minister, one elder over
cle is gelzjkheid, that is, "similari-          over or have the upper hand over          other elders, one deacon pre-
ty, likeness, equality."                        other churches, no minister over          eminent over his fellow deacons.
   The article is concerned not                 other ministers, no elder or deacon
                                                over other elders or deacons, but         Is Christ above Christ?
with equality of the OFFICES in                 rather each one shall be on one's           In the second place, it follows
the church. There is equality                   guard against all cause and suspi-        from this that if all the office-
among the several offices. While                cion of this, although from duty of       bearers share the whole office,
the offices are of three kinds, it is           love one church not only may but          they are all also called to per-
not the case that one of the of-                also should admonish another, one         form all of the duties of the of-
fices is higher or lower than the               minister another, etc.                    fice. All of the deacons are ex-
others. All the offices possess the                The Synod of Middelburg,               pected to share equally in all. of
same authority, the authority of                1581, adopted what is essentially         the labors of the deacons. All of
Jesus Christ, albeit authority in a             our Article 17. The decision of           the elders are expected to sh.are
different sphere.                               Middelburg was reiterated by the          equally in all of the labors of the
   Nor is the article directly con-             Synod of `s Gravenhage in 1586.           eldership. And if there is mo.re
cerned with equality among                         Several confessional statements        than one minister in a given con-
officebearers of the various con-               also express agreement with the           gregation, those ministers
gregations within the same                      principle of Article 17. The Sec-         together are expected to share
denomination. This certainly is                 ond Helvetic Confession of 1562           equally in the various labors that
true and is a valid implication of              states: "To all ministers in one          belong to the ministerial office.
the teaching of Article 17. This is             church is given one and the same          PARITY OF AUTHORITY
something that the Church Order                 authority and office." The French         AND DUTIES
states explicitly in Article 84: "No            or Gallican Confession of Faith of          The equality referred to in Ar-
church shall in any way lord it                 1559, in Article 30 states:               ticle 17 has to do with two mat-
over other churches, no minister                  We believe that all true pastors,       ters especially: authority and
over other ministers, no elder or               wherever they may be, have the            duties.
deacon over other elders or                     same authority and equal power              There is parity of officebearers
deacons." But this is not directly              under one head, one only sovereign        with respect to their authority.
the subject of Article 17, as is                and universal bishop, Jesus Christ;       There is to be no lording over
                                                and that consequently no Church
plain from the reference of the                                                           another officebearer by a fellow
article to "the judgment of the                 shall claim any authority or domin-       officebearer. In this article th!e
                                                ion over any other.
consistory."                                       Our own Belgic Confession of           Reformed churches expressly re-
   Instead the article refers to                                                          ject the Romish hierarchy and
parity of officebearers within the              Faith, in Article 31, states:             the superintendency of the
same congregation. When there                     As for the ministers of God's           Lutheran, Episcopal, and
                                                Word, they have equally the same
is more than one minister in a                  power and authority wheresoever           Methodist churches. In these
given congregation there is to be               they are, as they are all ministers of    systems of church government
equality between them. This is                  Christ, the only universal Bishop and     each rank or office is higher than
also to be true in regard to the                the only Head of the Church.              the preceding and, consequently,
elders and the deacons.                           Two outstanding principles              vested with higher authority.
STATEMENTS OF EARLY                             upon which Article 17 is based            There is no parity of office-
SYNODS AND OF THE                          '    come out here. First, all the of-         bearers.
CONFESSIONS                                     ficebearers share equally in the            In the Reformed system mat-                . .
  There are several early deci-                 office of Christ. One does not            ters are radically different. AH of-
sions of the Reformed churches                  possess 100% of the office, while         ficebearers are of equal authaori-
that are forerunners of Article 17.             another has only 85%, and still           ty. No minister is head over the
Among them we may sight the                     `another only a meager 60%.               other ministers. No elder or
following.                                      Every minister possesses ALL of           deacon is head over his fellow
  The Synod of Embden, 1571: "No                the prophetic office of Christ.           elders or deacons.
church shall lord it over another               Every elder possesses ALL of the            This does not imply that one          :
church, no minister of the Word, no             kingly office of Christ. And every        minister may not preside as lpresi-
elder or deacon shall lord it over              deacon possesses ALL of the               dent of the consistory, although
another, but each one shall guard               priestly office of Christ. If all the     even this is to be by rotation (cf.

40  I The Standard Bearer I October  15,1989


Church Order, Article 37). Nor             ficebearers implies that as much       vacations, fringe benefits, etc.
does this prevent one deacon               as possible all ministers in a         Does this imply that all the
from serving as the president of           given congregation share equally       ministers must receive equal
the deacons, although this can             in the duties of the office. The       salaries? Not at all. The needs of
only be by the majority vote of            consequence of not doing this is       each family and special circum-
the other deacons But serving as           inevitably hierarchy in the            stances must be taken into con-
president does not imply greater           church, a plague abhorred by           sideration. But one minister must
authority. There is still parity           every truly Reformed congrega-         not be given an extravagant
among the officebearers. Prac-             tion. The evidence of this begins      salary, while another is paid
tically speaking, the vote of one          to show itself when titles like        skimpily. One minister must not
carries as much weight as the              "senior" pastor and "assistant"        be afforded a mansion of a par-
vote of another, and none has              pastor are used. The best preven-      sonage, while another is forced
the power of veto over his fellow          tative of hierarchy in the church      to live in crowded and unfit
officebearers.                             is the insistence that each office-    quarters. If there is parity among
   Parity of officebearers also ap-        bearer, elders and deacons as          the officebearers, then they must
plies to the duties of their offices.      well as ministers, perform all the     also be treated equally.
If their authority is the same, it         duties belonging to the office.           There will always be certain
follows that there ought also to           This will also prevent the notion      exceptions. Article 17 foresees
be a sharing of the work that              from gaining headway that cer-         this: ". . . as far as possible . . . ."
belongs to the office. Generally,          tain labors are more important         The article is not iron-clad, but
the work load ought to be                  than other labors, and that there-     wisely allows for some flexibility.
divided equally among the office-          fore the persons performing            Age should always be taken into
bearers: preaching, catechism              those labors are also to be con-       consideration. Health is often a
teaching, sick-visiting, family            sidered more important.                factor. One's abilities enter into
visitation, discipline, and various        EXTENT OF THIS EQUALITY                the picture. One may show a cer-
other committee work.                        Even though equality among           tain lack in one area, while
  Article 17 is opposed to the             the officebearers includes,            another shows a definite
compartmentalizing of the office           especially their authority and         strength. A consistory is wise to
of the ministry that goes on in            duties, it extends beyond this. Ar-    utilize each man's strengths.
Reformed churches today, so                ticle 17 says, ". . . and also in        Who decides the exceptions?
that, besides ministers who                other matters . . . ." Here the ar-    The consistory: ". . . according to
preach, there are also ministers           ticle is warning against partiality    the judgment of-the con-
of education, ministers of visita-         and preferment. The application        sistory . . . ." Appeal to classis is
tion, youth ministers, and                 here would be especially to mat-       always left open: ". . . and if
ministers of music. Parity of of-          ters of honor, salary, housing,        necessary, of the classis . . . ." 0




                                          Secretary% Annual
Mr. Peter /Coo/e                          R.F.P.A. Report

                  September 2 1,. 1989     new and much needed- magazine          "We are concerned to instruct
Dear Board, Association mem-               named "The Standard Bearer."           and to help the Reformed child
bers, and friends of the Reformed          The need was urgent to explain         of God in the living of a full,
Free Publishing Association:               and defend their scriptural posi-      deep, all-sided Christian life for
  Threescore and five years ago            tion regarding the Common              his Lord in every relation, on
our spiritual forefathers brought          Grace controversy of that day.         every plane, and in every sphere.
forth in this our fair city of               A quote from the original            Scripture must teach us; in it Go'd
churches (Grand Rapids, MI) a              statement of purpose says it best:     must speak to us; according to it

                                                                                   October 15, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  I41


must be our world and life view."                   For this yearly report, our            disk. The computer age can
We who are gathered here                          Business Manager furnished the           benefit us, and we hope to report
tonight must rightfully remember                  Secretary with the following in-         progress in this area at a later
the past to be fully appreciative                 formation: As of this date 1,956         date.
of the present and to prepare and                 copies of the S.B. are being sent          No-longer are we paying rental
plan properly for the future of                   to addresses in the U.S.A., 105          storage fees for the extra
the Standard Bearer. Before we                    overseas, 62 to Canada, and 150          Standard Bearers - individu.al
begin our business at hand, let us                for Bound Volumes, for a total           copies and volumes accumul.ated
pause and be truly thankful that                  count of 2,273 per mailing.              over the years. The undersigned
God in His providence raised up                     Since October 1, 1988, we              volunteered the use of his base-
men of deep spiritual conviction                  have gained better than 100 new          ment. All copies and volumes are
and stature where and when He                     subscribers. Approximately a             identified and put either in heavy
did in the history of the church                  third of those were through the          paper bags or storage boxes on
militant.                                         return of postcards which we             shelves. Thanks, Pete.
   Now for what took place in                     printed, offering a one-year               The Board raised the subscrip-
Volume Year 65 (October 1, `88 -                  subscription for half-price to first-    tion price for all Canadian and
Sept. 15, `89). First of all, due                 time subscribers. The remainder          other foreign country subscribers
recognition is to be given to our                 of the 100 came by word of               to $15.00 per year. This is to
Editor-in-Chief, Prof. D.J.                       mouth, recommendations, and              help cover the added mailing
Engelsma, who completes his first                 gift subscriptions. Whether they         costs. Research shows this action
year at the helm of the Standard                  continue their subscriptions re-         to be in harmony with the policy
Bearer. God grant him and others                  mains to be seen.                        of other magazines.
of the Editorial Committee and                      Our new equipment for mail-              We also informed our P.R.
Staff zeal and dedication to con-                 ing of the S.B. has served us well       churches that the Board is
tinue, as the late Prof. H.C.                     during the past year.                    discontinuing the practice of giv-
Hoeksema so fittingly put it, to                    The Editorial Staff has adopted        ing a one-year free subscription
"hew the line and be on time."                    several modifications in the for-        of the S.B. to newly-married
   Less than a year after his                     mat of the magazine, and also in-        couples. There was a duplication
retirement as Editor-in-Chief of                  troduced a couple of new rubrics         of effort by the Board and some
the S.B. (24 years), Prof.                        and writers. Although the Board          congregations. The Board also
Hoeksema was, after a short ill-                  is not directly involved in this         sensed that it belonged more in
ness, called home to his eternal                  aspect of the work, the interest         the realm of the local con-
reward, on July 17, 1989. May                     and response shown is encour-            sistories. Besides, our present
the Lord comfort the mourners                     aging to all. We might add that,         practice of one-half cost to first-
and give them peace and submis-                   on September 15, 1988, the               time subscribers is a bargain all
sion.                                             Board received a letter from the         by itself and should attract those
   Worthy of mention is also the                  Editorial Committee, over the            who desire to give a gift to feed
retirement of Henry J. Vander-                    signature of Prof. Robert D.             a man's soul.
Wal, after 21 years of dedicated                  Decker, expressing their desire            Thinking of all those who so
service as Business Manager of                    and willingness to cooperate with        diligently contribute month after
the S.B. (1968-1989). We                          us in promoting the Standard             month to make our fine
recognize his past services with                  Bearer.                                  magazine arrive at your address,
an inscribed plaque to be                           Besides the monies received            we recognize and thank such as
presented to him this evening.                    through subscriptions, we rely           the Editorial Committee, depart-
   Taking complete charge is the                  heavily on personal gifts and P.R.       ment editors, guest writers,
conscientious, capable Mr. Don                    Church collections to cover our          church news editor, business
Doezema. Rest assured that Don,                   monthly expenses and to main-            manager, office help, Board
with his efficient wife Judi, will                tain still a working balance. We         members, and John Veldman
give the Standard Bearer ex-                      sincerely thank all who support          who for the last several years has
cellent service. They are that                    our magazine. Our year-ending            assisted in the mailing of the
kind of couple. Some people                       balance is $4,619.20.                    magazine. We also appreciate the
make waves. Don is like an                          We are hoping to reduce our            cooperation and workmanship of
undercurrent who gently pulls                     typesetting cost by providing our        Commercial Printing Company
and guides without self promo-                    current typesetters, not with the        and Wobbema Litho, for type-
tion and fanfare.                                 manuscripts, but with the articles       setting, printing, and meeting the
                                                  already typed onto a computer            deadline of the 1st and 15th of

42  I The Standard Bearer  I  October  15,1989


every month. A special word of            ment in the affairs of the S.B.                 benefits" (Ps. 103:3).
thanks is in order to our Editor-           Above all else, we thank God,                                           Respectfully submitted,
in-Chief, who shows good ability          and do say; "Bless the Lord, 0                                             Board of the R.F.P.A.
and sound leadership and judg-            my soul, and forget not all His                                           P. Koole, Secretary 0


                                         The End Times -
 The Strength                            When Will. the
of Youth
Rev. Barrett Critters                    End Come?

   If there is a subject young                                                                   "                "
                                                                                                                      ,,+.,`
                                                                                                                                               .-`
                                                                                                                                                           ."
                                                                                                                                                                 .,
                                                                                                                                                                                                              _*
                                                                                          `,           .`
                                                                                                           ,:/                    ,     .`
                                                                                                                                              `     `
                                                                                                                                                     ,                    .`      I.       `
                                                                                                                                                                                             ,.
people are interested in discussing                                                       +:,~:;`
                                                                                                      n;.  /  /  :,               ~.                /)'     `
                                                                                                                                                            .ik                  /.,O      (S           .                `_
                                                                                                                          __            .,.`~`.
                                                                                          :;  .I.  `  /  ",  )  `  -`..,.C  ,:  :-,:                                                              ,,
in Young People's Society, it's the                                                       `=  ;`  ./  _  .-  ,  /  :  .`  <  _
                                                                                          -o,yp$@ the':$&iJ$eGp~e i :: `. .( '
subject of the last times. And if                                                         ~,yqr@g:pf%ple  &tiy @oiip  "if ."
there is an aspect of that subject                                               rhle'~Standa;diBea`;er.:i   w&..  ,) ,
that spurs more interest than the                                                si: /
                                                                                 ?Fk.`o f th& ha& ,$ti +fact,.:$ @gs
question, "When will the end                                                     #if$i$.&~ i q&d "no< $ritem qy
come?' I don't know what it is.                                                  ", / 2` & `A' .I, - ::i ,                                    /  1  .'                            : *.,
                                                                                                                                                                 '  .`,*;..  (_  `_  1 `
                                                                                 :.
   Part of the reason we are in-                                                 141@$& 1 &&ri~`~ t&nk$ ;And :
terested in asking the question,                                                 111;$+$`
                                                                                                                  +~or$  ,th+l@ze,`ai2d  ef-'
"When will the end come?" is                                                     ;fj<~plq  {have nqt,,  p"l~asgask.ihem,~~  '
that we have a natural curiosity                                                 :i'l$i. This  &@oii:-&desi&tid  z~  :  _'
a b o u t   t h e s e   t h i n g s .                                            v-cis~`~~r;t-and:~~~ne~~~~   S$r,$+   ox`                                                                                                     .
  Then some of us are interested                                                 f'lS$illJ  bd `Afte; @igh ;Schooi??  '
in the question because we are                                                   4.:Sha~~~~Prepa~~::for~~~r~~~~~?"-
terrified at the prospect thatthe                                                I%@u@TZd:I                                             H&dle'-a~Sinning
world will end. We fear that we                                                  ,1, %
                                                                                 /j / 1, `h&b+ ~~~,&@&&ts `;$;?.  6 f ;~ '
will not be ready. We fear that                                                  i:z:Ih~~~~-~~ht..t~e~subj~ct,of,`~~~~
the return of Christ will be a ter-                                              :"f;x3t~~C),+zll~   @);ot%aizt  fdr,,
rifying coming. We fear that we                                                  `.         c;  ~  .,                                                      j_)  l~_`,h
                                                                                                 .,I'"*  *  * ;/ , `-_, ."`(..(, .`..L. / /  ) ,:(/  i _ ` i
will not be able to handle the                                                   1;;t~~~~iiie~~e.(i;erhaps.qn'  .$I?-.  ~
days before that coming. Or, we                                                  xb
                                                                                 a/ i&t- &$$~Lq$~s!!`~od `b;[eSs
                                                                                          k..ri  I _ `                                                     / / _ ; /
fear' simply because we do not                                                   :. l'  `.,  ,;,  )/  j  ,`(  ;I                                                                                   i
                                                                                          -1  :(  <L,'  .(                                                                         `
                                                                                                                            *                             ,`,`;;`,,
know what the Bible says will                                                    2-                                        ._*,  (P  id.  .:                                                                  ,.( . .
                                                                                          I.  `.il,il                                                                              `- ,                             j
happen in the last days. And this           Let's try to get a good, broad                 day the world as we know it will
last is probably more often the           picture of the Reformed view of                  come to an end. To this day the
case than not. How much do you            the end times. Then our un-                      Old Testament judgments
remember of your Essentials in-           healthy curiosity or unhealthy                   pointed. The destruction of the
struction in Lesson 29? How               fear of the future will be put                   world with the flood, and the
many weeks did you spend learn-           aside. My prayer is that you will                destruction of Sodom and Gomor-
ing about the second coming of            be confident about what Scrip-                   rah, both pointed to the day of
Christ and the events prior to            ture says will happen in these                   the Lord when the righteous will
that coming?                              last days.                                       be delivered and the ungodly
                                            When will the end come?                        world destroyed. When will this
                                            By the end, I mean the day                     take place?
                                          when Jesus Christ returns for the                           Don't forget, this is an impor-
`Rev. Gritters is pastor of the Prot-     judgment of the wicked and the                   tant issue not only for us, but for
estant Reformed Church of Byron           salvation of the righteous. On this              Christ! This is His return. It's
Center, Michigan.

                                                                                                 October  15, 1989 /The Standard Bearer  I43


possible for us to get caught up                    Even though we know there             world events; but he's not only
in the study of the last days,                   are signs of the coming of Christ,       blind, so that he cannot see, he's
thinking about what will happen                  in the end of our search for an          also drunk so that, even if he
to us, where will we be when it                  answer, we have to say, "We do           saw, he would not be able to
happens, how many of God's                       not know when the day will be."          understand what he saw. Lik:e a
people will survive the great                       But this we do know about the         warning to a drunken man t.hat
tribulation, what heaven will look               day: It will be a complete and           he ought not to drive, it doesn't
like . . . but forget that the last              terrifying surprise FOR THE UN-          bother him at all . . . until he
things have to do with Christ. We                BELIEVER.                                perishes.
must be Christ-centered and God-                    More than once in Scripture              But you, BELIEVING YOUNG
centered in our thinking of the                  God describes the second coming          PEOPLE, are not in darkness (I
end of time. In God's decree,                    of Jesus as a coming like a thief        Thess. 5:4ff). Being born again by
Christ was central. In the focal                 in the night. The key to a thief's       the word of God, you are neither
point of history, Christ came, suf-              success is the element of surprise;      deaf nor blind. You can see Ithe
fered, was crucified, buried,                    he wants to take his prey                things of the kingdom, read the
raised, exalted, and then He                     unaware of his coming. The com-          signs of the times, hear the warn-
poured out His Spirit on the                     ing of the Lord will be like that;       ing signals of the coming of
Church. Christ will be central in                He will come when the                    Christ.
the last day, too, because it is                 unbeliever is least expecting              This does not mean that we
"His day" (see Phil. 1:6, 10).                   Him. There is no warning (see I          will be able to pinpoint the clay
Christ is the meaning and pur-                   Thessalonians 5:lff). As a woman         or even the year of Christ's com-
pose of everything in the past as                first experiencing labor pains,          ing. I remember well one after-
well as in the future. It is His                 unexpectedly, at any hour of the         noon as a boy waiting to pick up
glory, His honor, His praise that                day or night, in any place, so the       the papers for my afternoon
is the issue of "The Day." It will               coming of the Lord will be for           paper route, that all the people
be the day when every knee                       the wicked. "Peace and safety,"          were excited about the supposed
shall bow, and every tongue con-                 they say; "then sudden destruc-          moment for the end of the world.
fess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to              tion shall come upon them."              Looking into the sky for some
the glory of God the Father. In                    Why is this true for the un-           thing, they thought this woulid be
our discussions about the last                   believer? Why will this be true          the time. That's not only impossi-
things, keeping that in mind is                  even for the unbeliever in the           ble; it would be spiritually un-
essential!                                       church who has learned about             healthy if we were to know ,that
   When will this day of Christ                  the coming of the Lord perhaps           in, say, three years and six
come?                                            right beside you in catechism and        months, Jesus would return.
   The answer is, "We don't                      church? First, because he is               But this does mean that the
know!!!"                                         spiritually blind, out of touch          day of the Lord will not be a sur-
   Even though there are many                    with things of heaven. You can           prise for us. Noah was not sur-
signs that point to the coming of                try to show him things as clear to       .prised when the flood came; nor
Christ, we need to remember the                  you as the sun in the heavens;           will believers be when the Lord
words of Jesus to the disciples in               but as a blind man cannot see            returns to make all things new.
Acts 1:7ff: "It is not for you to                the sun, he cannot see the ap-             But I am waiting, as a Re-
know the times and the seasons,                  proach of Christ. Add to that the        formed believer, "with uplifted
which the Father hath put in his                 spiritual drunkenness of the             head . . . for the very same .per-
own power." The words of Mark                    unbeliever (that is, his spiritually     son, who before offered himself
13:33ff bring this out: "But of                  r$r@~senses) and the picture is          for my sake: :_ ..*. to come as judge
that day and that hour knoweth                   co?riplete.  He cannot understand        from heaven: who shall cast all
no man, no, not the angels in                    spiritual things because he's not        his and my enemies into everlast-
heaven, neither the Son, but the                 only totally blind, he's stone,          ing condemnation, but shall
Father. Take ye heed, watch and                  dr$$$hough -his house were on            translate me with all his chosen
pray: for ye know not, when the                  fire$$@$&Xd not know it. .l  .$  ;"      ones to himself;into heavenly
time is." When the-ten virgins in                 -f'4aw!we  apply  that  to  the-.:;"    joys and glory" (Heidelberg
the parable were waiting for the                 coming of Jesus Christ. You can          Catechism, Q&A 52).
coming  of, the groom, although  -'              hold:before the unbeliever's eyes          Are you?
they knew he was coming, they                    the truth that the Lord is coming,         I then saw in my dream that (they
didn't know the hour.                            show him the signs of the com-           went on till they came into a certain
                                                 ing, compare prophecy with               country, whose air naturally tended

44  I The Standard Bearer  / October 15, 1989


to make one drowsy, if he came into       through that call that God              know not the day and the hour,
it a stranger. And here Hopeful           preserves in holiness, and              we will not be taken by surprise
began to be very dull, and heavy of       through that call that God              when the day of Jesus Christ
sleep; wherefore he said to Christian,    preserves in watchfulness.              comes!"
I do now begin to grow so drowsy            Are you awake? Are you ac-                        *  *  *  *  *
that I can scarcely hold up mine          tive in the life of the church? Are
eyes; let us lie down here and take                                                 Questions to discuss with
one nap. CHRISTIAN: By no means,          you busy in the things of God's         parents or friends:
lest sleeping, we never awake more.       kingdom? Do you love the truth            1. If the Bible is so plain that
HOPE: Why, my brother? Sleep is           and confess the faith? I wish it        we do not and cannot know the
sweet to the laboring man; we may         would work to take each of you          precise time of Christ's return,
be refreshed if we take a nap.            by the lapels and with loving           why do so many Christians try to
CHRISTIAN: Do you not remember            concern in my voice say to you,
that one of the shepherds bid us                                                  pinpoint it? What type of religion.
                                          "Wake up, young people, wake
beware of the Enchanted Ground?                                                   especially does this?
                                          up." Charles Spurgeon is said to
He meant by that, that we should                                                    2. Is it possible for a Christian
                                          have taken drastic steps one Sun-
beware of sleeping; wherefore "let us                                             to be "sleeping" when Christ
                                          day when more than a few
not sleep as do others, but let us                                                comes?
watch and be sober.  " (from John         people were sleeping in church.           3. What are some examples of
Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.)             At his signal, one of the children      spiritual drunkenness and sleepi-
  You may ask, "If the believer           pulled the fire alarm in the            ness?
will not be surprised at the com-         building. And when asked in a             4. If a church member is
ing of the Lord, why the warning          panic where the fire was, he said,      spiritually drunk, or sleeping, is it
to watch and be sober? Is there           "In hell, waiting for those who         possible that he would be saved
any need?" Let me ask you this,           are sleeping, spiritually."             if Christ returned today?
"If God's people will never                 Wake up, young people, wake             5. If someone has learned
perish, why the call to a holy            up! Be sober, young people, be          about the end times just as you
life?" Of course there is a need          sober!! Put away every ungodly          have, but is an unbeliever, how
for the warning to watch and be           practice and unbelieving confes-        can it be that he will be taken by
sober, just as there is the con-          sion. Take to yourself the holy         surprise at the second coming
stant need for the call for every         life and the Reformed confession.       and you will not? Cl
Christian to a holy life. It is           And then comfort one another
                                          with these words: "Though we





                                          Book Reviews

WHAT MEAN YE BY THIS                      nion ("paedocommunion"). Three             The effects of this notion have
SERVICE?: PAEDOCOM-                       or four year old children of            been significant in Presbyterian
MUNION IN LIGHT OF THE                    believers, or even infants in arms      and Reformed churches. It has
PASSOVER, by Richard Bacon;               according to some, are supposed         caused division. It has occasioned
Presbyterian Heritage Publica-            to be worthy partakers of the           study committees and lengthy
tions, 1989; 42 pp.; $2.75. Avail-        Lords Supper. Advocates of this         reports. Also, it has resulted in
able from Presbyterian Heritage           practice argue that infant com-         church decisions that open up
Publications, P.O. Box 180922,            munion is required by infant bap-       the Table to children. Among
Dallas, TX 75218. (Reviewed by            tism and that participation in the      others, both the Christian
the Editor)                               Passover by little children under       Reformed Church and the Re-
   In recent years, men have in-          the old covenant demands par-           formed Church in America have
troduced into Reformed and                ticipation by little children in the    taken synodical decisions recent-
Presbyterian worship the novelty          Lords Supper under the new              ly that permit (require?) partak-
of child, and even infant, commu-         covenant.                               ing of the Supper by very young

                                                                                   October  15, 1989  / The Standard Bearer  I4.5


children. At the synod of the                      This little book of 42 pages,         of the case, however, that many
RCA in Grand Rapids in June,                     another fine offering from Pres-        conclusions in the area of the
 1989, delegates spoke of the par-               byterian Heritage Publications, is      history of the early church, the
taking by children as young as                   a good study for one who finds          specific circumstances under
four years.                                      himself or herself attracted by         which the epistle was written,
    Proponents of paedocom-                      the position of paedocommunion,         and the influence of the cultural
munion are sharp in their con-                   as well as for anyone who is in-        setting of the times upon James
demnation of the historic (and                   terested in the issue. 0                are speculative and are to be
creedal!) Presbyterian and Re-                                                           taken with a grain of salt. Never-
formed policy that catechizing                   JAMES: THE MAN AND HIS                  theless, much valuable material
and a confession of faith are re-                MESSAGE, by James B. Adam-              can be found in it.
quired of the children'of                        son; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing           The material in the epistle
believers before they come to the                Company, 1989; xxii + 553 pp.,          itself is treated ,in a topical way
Table. One zealot, writing in                    $29.95; (paper). (Reviewed by           and the main themes in the epis-
Journey (November-December                       Prof. H. Hanko)                         tle are extensively discussed.
1988, pp. 12ff.), charged that the                 Dr. Adamson is the author of a        While this leads to some repeti-
traditional Reformed position is                 commentary on the epistle of            tion and overlapping of material,
"spiritual infanticide" and "incip-              James which is a part of The            it does help give one an overall
ient Arminianism." He called on                  New International Commentary            picture of James' epistle.
"those who forbid covenant                       on the New Testament. This                The major problem with the
children to partake of the Lords                 book is not itself a commentary,        book is its obvious higher critical
Supper" to repent of their sin.                  but is to be considered a compan-       approach. Some instances of this
    what  M&an Ye by This Service?               ion volume to be read and               we can mention. In my judgment
addresses this controversial issue.              studied in connection with the          the author is too much given
Carefully following the principle                commentary. It does not,                over to what amounts to an
that Scripture must interpret                    therefore, treat James' epistle         almost psychological assessnnent
Scripture, Richard Bacon, a                      verse by verse, or even chapter         of James and Paul; and this is
ruling elder in a Presbyterian                   by chapter, but contains material       done because of his over-
church, demonstrates that infants                which is intended to serve as the       emphasis on the human elernent
and young children were not per-                 background of the epistle and to        in Scripture - there is no men-
mitted to partake of the                         help understand the epistle as a        tion of the divine inspiration. by
Passover. (The title of the book is              whole.                                  the Holy Spirit and the Spirit's
the question that the children                     There is no question about it         meaning in the book. Paul was
asked at the occasion of the                     that Dr. Adamson has spent a            sometimes in his writings in a
Passover according to Exodus                     great deal of time studying this        Phariseeistic mood (p. 210); :Paul
12:26.) Therefore, the require-                  important book of the New Testa-        was "Hellenized" (p. 226); Jalmes
ment of I Corinthians 11, that all               ment. In fact, he did his post-         had a wrong conception of
who partake of the Supper ex-                    graduate work at Cambridge Uni-         Christ's second coming (p. 431);
amine themselves (which require-                 versity, where he was awarded           James' belief in a personal devil
ment excludes infants and little                 the Ph.D. for a dissertation on         is most probably under the in-
children), is in harmony with the                this epistle. Undoubtedly, this         fluence of current beliefs and is
celebration of the Passover in the               book is the fruit of such intensive     probably not correct.
Old Testament.                                   study.                                    The theology of the book is
   Bacon concludes:                                The book has a great deal of          not always sound either. The
Reformed  Churches should continue               background material in it. The          author shows his Arminian bias
to fence the table of the Lord as has            author deals not only with ques-        in different places (pp. 210, ;!ll,
been done from at least the institu-             tions of authorship, destination,       2 16). He deals inadequately Iwith
tion of the Passover. They should                style, etc., but loads the book         the problem of evil in the world
continue to encourage their covenant             with information on the history         because he does not approach
children to inquire into the meaning                                                     the problem from the viewpoint
of the sacrament. And parents and                of the early apostolic church;
                                                                                         of God's sovereignty. But most
Churches should together continue to             material on the political,
catechize their covenant children un-            economic, social and religious          serious of all, in dealing with! the
til such time as they "`are of years             climate of the day in which the         main theme of the epistle, th.e
and ability to examine themselves"               book was written; and references        relation of justification and
b.  42).                                         to many early Jewish and Chris-         works, the author does not
                                                 tian writings. It lies in the nature    understand the relation between

46  / The Standard Bearer  / October 15, 1989


faith, justification, and works,             While the book is a scholarly        viewpoint of a strong commit-
which misunderstanding is rooted           and thorough treatment of the          ment to the truth of infallible in-
in a misconception of faith.               epistle, it is not written from the    spiration. 0




                                           News From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                        Our Churches

    Let's start out this issue of the      complete the project. For a cou-       September and October. Their
news with a look at M@iisterial            ple of weeks church services           pastor, Rev. B. Gritters, led these
Calls.                                     were held in the parsonage, due        classes. The first, on September
    As reported last time, Rev.            to the mess and paint fumes in         14, dealt with the structure of thle
Kortering declined the invitation          the church: On September 10 the        Christian family. There was am-
to go to help the saints in Burnie,        congregation was' again able to        ple time for audience participa-
Tasmania for a year. Rev. Arie             meet in their church.                  tion, and refreshments were
den Hartog, along with his con-              The members of the Lynden            served. My wife and I attended
sistory, is now considering the            P.R.C. in Lynden, WA were in-          this class. What a worthwhile
matter.                                    vited to attend a lecture entitled     hour of instruction. We were
    Our congregation located in            Gods Everlasting Covenant spon-        disappointed that more of our
Lynwood, IL, the Peace P.R.C.,             sored by their church's Extension      people weren't there.
called Rev.-Ron  Hanko to be               Committee. This lecture was held       DENOMINATIONAL
their pastor, from a trio of               on September 15 at Trinity Col-        ACTIVITIES
Pastors A. den Hartog, S. Key,             lege in Langley, B.C., and I              The annual meeting of the
and R. Hanko.                              assume that Rev. Haak was the          R.F.P.A. was held on September
   Now a look at Congregational            speaker.                               21 in the Southwest P.R.C. in
Highlights.                                  Many of our churches have            Grandville, MI. Three new board
   On September 18 the                     choirs. Usually these begin prac-      members were elected. Prof. D.
Evangelism Society of the South-           tice in September or October           Engelsma spoke on "The Stan-
east P.R.C. in Grand Rapids, MI            with the idea that a concert be        dard Bearer: Holding the Tradi-
held a Dutch Psalm Sing at                 presented around the end of the        tions." Several special numbers
Fulton Manor, a retirement home            year.                                  were given and a plaque was
with more than a few -Dutch                  The Hope Heralds, an all male        presented to Mr. Henry Vander
residents.                                 choir from our Hope Church in          Wal, retired business manager of
   It looks as if the congregation         Walker, MI are an exception to         the S.B., for his 21 years of faith-
of our Trinity P.R.C. in Houston,          this rule. It must be that they        f u l   s e r v i c e .
TX has been busy these.past                practice during the summer               One of our churches' "retired"
months with the construction of            months, since they presented           ministers, Rev. J. Heys, submitted
an addition to their church sanc-          their annual concert at Hope on        to prostate surgery at Holland
tuary. If I read their bulletins right,    September 10.                          Hospital. He returned home to
this addition included work on               The Evangelism Society of the        Hudsonville, and by Gods grace
the fellowship room and kitchen.           Byron Center P.R.C. in Byron           is making a good recovery.
Work bees were scheduled                   Center, MI invited all area P.R.`s,      Families, friends, alumni, and
for a couple of Saturdays to help          along with the community of            all supporters of Covenant Chris-
                                           Byron Center, to attend a mini-        tian High School in Walker, MI
                                           series of classes on "The Chris-       were invited to an open house to
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Prot-        tian Family.`: Classes were held       view the new and remodeled
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-         on four successive Thursdays in        facilities of the Phase I building
ville,   M i c h i g a n .   .                                                    plan on September 13. 0

                                                                                  October 15, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  / 47


  THE
STANDARD                                                                                                                                                SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                                                                        Postage Paid at
BMR                                                                                                                                                     Grand Rapids, AGchigan
I=!O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, MI 49506



    CLASSIS  WEST REPORT                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                        The Ladies Society of the
   Classis West met on Wednes-                                                                                                              You are invited to attend a
                                                    South Holland Protestant Re-
day, Septe.mber 6, 1989 in Doon,                    formed Church expresses its                                                                "Conference on
Iowa. Classis met in two sessions                   Christian love and sympathy to
and finished all its business at                                                                                                                 REFORMED
                                                    its member, Elaine Van Der
about 4:00 Wednesday afternoon.                                                                                                                EVANGELISM"
                                                    Noord, in the passing of her
Rev. M. De Vries served as Presi-                   father, MR. PETER A.  POOR-                                                            emphasizing the work of local
dent of the meeting.                                TINGA. "Blessed are they that                                                          congregations in evangelism
  This was the first Classis at                     mourn: for they shall be com-
which delegates from the new                                                                                                               Friday Evening, November 10:
                                                    forted." Matthew  5:4
Congregation of Bethel, in Elk                                                                                                              1. "The Necessity of Each
                                                             Rev. George Lanting, president
Grove, Illinois, were present.                               Mrs. Arthur De Jong, secretary                                      -             Local Church Doing
   Most of the business of Classis                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                     Evangelism"
was routine. Classical appoint-                         The Ladies Society of the                                                              Speaker: Prof. David J.
ments were granted to the con-                 South Holland Protestant Re-                                                                      Engelsma
gregations of Hope, Redlands,                  formed Church expresses Chris-                                                               2. Workshop: How to Orga-
California, Hope, Isabel, South                tian love and sympathy to its                                                                   nize an Evangelism
Dakota, and Peace, Lynwood, Il-                sisters,  Tena Bruinsma and Irene                                                               Committee
linois, though  Classis did decide                  Pfau, in the passing of a                                                              Saturday, November 11:
to ask Classis East for help in                     mother-in-law and grandmother,                                                          1. "The Necessary Spiritual
supplying Peace's pulpit. A re-                MRS. ANNA MOREHOUSE.                                                                            Condition of the Chur,ch"
quest for additional subsidy for               "Thou wilt show me the path of                                                                  Speaker: Rev. Ronald J.
1989 and 1990 from the Pella,                       life: in thy presence is fulness of                                                          VanOverloop
Iowa congregation was also ap-                 joy; at thy right hand there are                                                             2. "Ideas" Workshop: Brief
proved.                                        pleasures for evermore."                                                                        presentations from local
   Classis adopted the report of a                  Psalm 16:ll                                                                                churches regarding speci-
committee appointed by the                                        Rev. George Lanting, president                                               fic, important aspects of
March, 1989 Classis that advised                                  Mrs. Arthur De Jong, secretary                                               the work.
Classis to make a change in its                                                                                                                Moderator: Rev. Bernard
rules of order and in the way it                                                                                                                 Woudenberg
has been dealing with majority                      X.,rnonlhl" ,""I,  Lnr.l"b, .nd *uI"n,
                                               1  -.Y-.-*.lall.I---._UI-~.   I--                                                            3. "Basic Principles of
and minority reports.                               ,94P  ,-`Cnn*"nrWI ,PIIII                                                         I
                                                    -ll."
                                                            -*"
                                                                    -~~--"
                                                                                       (*l~~---
                                               '                                                                                               Evangelism"
  A protest from one of the Con-                    ImaFw"OulhT""~SE.,Cd~P~,M,                  49106
                                               ,  ,I-duw-"
                                                                               -      Y"
                                                                                         ."
                                                                                               .....,-m.-MAsr1U
                                               --dU"
                                                              .b.U                                                                             Speaker: Missionary
sistories against the decision of                   ~~~~Frrrhrbl~*,~.~.~~~,=~~,~,                               49116
                                               I..._.du--0'                                                                                      Steven R. Houck
the last Classis to admonish those
Consistories that had not allowed                                                                                                                 Registration fee:
their ministers to keep Classical                                                                                                                    $15 per person
appointments was rejected by                                                                                                                    (couples welcome!)
Classis. An overture to Synod                  `
                                                    ~,~~=`
                                                                       Ta--`
                                                                                       ----,---~,"
                                                                                                                 ~-.,----                  Where?
concerning the Jamaican mission                                      ,.a-                                I     -"
                                                                                                                         .-.I
                                                                                                                                             Byron Center Protestant
field, asking that that field be                                                                                                               Reformed Church
closed, was sent on to Synod                                                                                                                 1945 84th Street
without comment.                                                                                                                             Byron Center, MI 493 15
   The next meeting of Classis                                                                                                                 (10 miles south of Grand
West will be in South Holland, Il-                                                                                                              Rapids)
linois, on March 7, 1990.
         Rev. R. Hanko                                                                                                                        To register, write soon,
         Stated Clerk Cl                                                                                                                      or call: (616) 878-1811


48 / The Standard Bearer / October 15, 1989


