                                                                     -'
  VOLUME   X X V I I I                                      NOVEMBER   1,  .1951   i-  GRAND   RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN                                          NUMBER   3

                                                                                                   willing, in all His living and work in perfect lzarmony
           M E Ii I T A `T .I: 0                                                                   with the .only norm of Gopdness, and that is His own
                                                                                                   Being. Righteousness is that  -which answers to the
                                                                                              ' highest. and only  *norm of goodness. Righteous is
          The Blessedness &ho&i that- Hung&                                                        one .&`;?n tliis n&i of. goodness is laid alongside of
                                     .and  Thirst                          `-              ' his thought,' word and deed, and when this norm ex-
                                                                                                   press& that he is in hslrmohy  with- goodness.
                  "Blessed are they which- do  hupger and thirst                                        -!I'0 speak very simply: righteousness-.is good con-
                after  righteousxiess:  for they shall  be filled."
                                                                                  M&t. 5  :6. duct.                   -'                     0
                                                                                                        And that is the virtue of God Triune. He always
     `Tht? Lord Jesus `i$ teaching His disciples on `the does all  things well. Attend to Deut.  33  :4: "He  is
 unnamed mount of Galilee.. My text is  .part of the                                               the--R&   His work is perfect: for all His ways are                   -
 celebrated `Sermon on the- Mount, which extends from                                              judgment f a :God of truth and without iniquity, just
 this chapter &rough chapter seven.                                                                and right is He." It is the song of God! It describes
     It is  si&ificant that this  -Sermon b&gins  with  a                                          the living  G,od in His ways, His conduct. You will
description-of those that are citiiens of the. Kingdom                                             s!ng that`song unto all eternity. Far is the Lord from
 of Heaven. It  coiars the  whoie sermon. And also                                                 all. iniquity-!
this: they are pictured not so muCh in their outward                                                    God, our .own God; is righieousness` itself!
 behayiour as in their subjedtiv.c  estate.. -Significant, for                                     .                        .
 they  are blessed, seven  ii-mes blessed.                                           .                                            *  -it  *.-h
     The L.aw of the Kingdom is fulfilled in them: they                                                                     .,
 exhibit the  ,inner principle of  the  .love of God. For.                                              And therefore  tiafi is  righieous;
 &tit reason-.th&-are  the poor in spirit, atid the. meek,.                                             That is, man as he. was created by this righteous
 they hunger.and thirst after the righteousness of that                                            God. When  .man was created, God looked at  hi,m,
 Kingdom : they know an+ have tasted .its .wonGers.,                                               &rough   him, and  ,said, Behold,  hie is  .very good! Oh
     These citizens of the Kingdom of God. are c@led                                               yes, we came from the  hand of the Creator  very
b!essed  because they. hnnger and thirst after. righteo.us-8                                       righteous: cre&itur&+.  -
ness, and they shall surely be filled with that righteous-,                                             But we fell, and thereby hangs a story of unspeak-
 ness.              -                --.      .             _-       -. . .                        able misery;. fol- tie bec'ame unrighteous. Nq, we did                     .
   Righteoukness  !                          .-               _.-                                  not merely lose righteousness as the wotiderful  virtue'
     What 1s it?                _                                          _ _                     of good conduct, but WB turned into its very opposite:
     I thi-nk. that there `are many .p.ossibie. answers; add we became crook&d-iti all our wa.y~. Our thoughts, our                                                           a
 that because this concept is so indescribably rich in. words and our deeds lj&ame  crooked; for we in ous
 c&tent.                   _                                               . . . . . deepest being became crooked. We are a perverse lot. $i
     God is righteousness !                         ._,.                                           And  hi&y has `written  h&r commentary -on that
     Christ is called: the Lord  .our  righteousness~!  I-.  : t,ruth.  `That is the reason why the whole  hi'stbry of
     And God's people  of. every age are.  .ca&d. the                                              man may be  $r$tten   ,in  bldod and  te$rs.`.  We  are a
                                                                                                                                   ..$
 rightkous !                                                  , .                                  p e r v e r s e   l o t .
    ,.God is Righteousness!  .:He is  His. virtues.  _                                    -~  - - But God loved .mati from all eternity.
     In  :God it is one of His virtues.  Righte0usnes.i is                                         rAnd in that  iove God determined by' Himself to
that virtue in God wherein He is, in all ais l&g and                                               glorify` Himself in. millions. of !6gk;teous men.' He de-
                                                                                          . . :                                                   :-  .


 50                                     T.T-Ii  S-TANDARD,  BEARER

 termined.from  before the foundation of this world to          to bring in an everlasting righteousness!
 have a commonwealth of men  .that would be very -                 ;And we need just that, and so very, very much !
 righteous and that would surround His throne unto all             R&ember? We said that righteousness is good
 eternity, singing and joying before Him, telling Him           conduct. Now look strongly on. Jesus ! Heaven, earth
 unto everlasting how wondtirfully good He is. In other         and hell have left their testimony: He was a good
 words, God determined that there should be a living           man-! Oh yes, Jesus was a very righteous Man.
 mirror around about Him in which He' would see a                  Heaven said it: This is My beloved Son in Whom
 reflection of His own righteousness.                          is all My goodpleasure !
       . But how is this possible? &Ian is so unrighteous,         The earth- said it: He went through the land, do-
 so crooked that w~hen you henceforth approach him              ing good. And could  We forget the testimony of
 with good conduct, he will turn away from it; no,             PSlate? I find  -no guilt in this Man?
 more, he will turn to you and towakd your righteous-              Hell said it:  attend to Judas, the incarnation  of
ness and try to destroy it. He hates good cdnduct from         Satan : I have shed the innocent Blood ! May I bring
his inner heart. That is proven in the bloody pages of         in the circumstance that the Sanhedrin had need of
history. I will have opportunity to prove this. very           false witnesses? It is a strong testimony for Christ's
c o n c l u s i v e l y .                                      righteousness.
       The answer to this question is found in Jesus             Yes, Jesus ,is very Righteousness, a righteousness
Christ, our Righteousness..                                    which God, the Triune CGod, planned, thought out from
       You see, when man fell away from G&d and from           all eternity.
righteousness,  ,God had provided  some  better thing           And Christ established this righteousness, this
than Adam showed even in his state of -original right-         good conduct. He died for the ungodly. He paid the
eousness. It was not Goh's will to glorify Himself             price that God's justice demanded. For all that com-
eternally in and through the first Adam. He deter-             monwealth of which I spoke before this. . For a cer-
`mined from before tlie foundaiion of ihe world that           tain number of men and women and children, Jesus
the Universe should be united to Him in the second             paid the price which God's justice demanded because
Adam, and that is Jesus: the perfect Man of God's              of their sins.
good pleasure. This will of God is so central in His               But that, is only part of the good conduct of Jesus.
eternal  counsel that the Scriptures teach how even                He fulfilled the Law of the Ten Commandments for
the -fi!rst creation, I mean the creation that fell away       us. God said to the righteous Adam in Paradise: You,
froni God in Adam, was created by  Ch&st and. for              your wife, your sons and the whole human race in you
Christ. Read the first chapter of Col.  1:14-20,' and          shall love Me as the highest Good, and you shall love
tremble. The adorable Godhead planned tb reveal all            your neighbor as yourself!
the glory of its perfect Being iri Christ! That is cen-           We did not.
tral in all God's counsel and- planning. I      .                 And this Christ fulfilled that which we failed to do.
       And so we come to the perfect, the righteous Man i         His conduct in this was sd wonderful, He loved God
       And He is Christ, the Christ of God !                   and his neighbor so intensively that He fulfilled the
                                                     -----3
                                                     -         law for many, and secondly, He brought us to the
                             *  *  f?  75            --.J
                                                          _    heavenly heights. He does not bring'us back where we
' `The Righteous Man!                                          came from, but He brought us to the heights of the
       Jesus ,Christ our Lord f r                              spiritual man in Him that will lie with Him in the
       Attend to it that the Holy Ghost calls Hjm: The         bosom of the Father.
Lord Our Righteousness!  -                                     ' Must I .add here that He could do all these miracles
       God will show the second, the last Adam to the          because He also is very God Himself? Mere man could
world, aqd so Jesus w& born in Bethlehem in the ful-. not satisfy God's justice, It demands eternal wrath,
ness of time.                                                  and eternal wrath is eternal: poor, weak,' miserable
       But H&was Heralded from the beginning of time.          man would never get through paying. Second: mere
       And He was the Angel of Jehovah from the begin-         man cannot redeem himself, so how could he redeem
ning  ,of time.                                                his brother ?     Man cannot make overtime with
       And He was concretely revealed from the begin-          .God.' But he-will not either. Say that the possibility
ning of time.                                                  were opened to do this, even then he would not, for he
       Read Paul in I COY'. 10, and marvel. Marvel, my         hates God. And, finally, mere &an cannot bring him-
dear brother, foi Paul wrote that Christ was in the            self by good conduct  to..the  heavenly glory of CGod's
Old Testament. And the Rock was Christ.                        covenant in Christ.
       Atid Daniel saw the Son of Man in th.e IOld Testa-         But Jesus could.
ment, and he wrote of His adve'nt, how E& would come           -&d  H e   d i d .                             /I       I
                                                                                                         s


                                         TrrE
                                                       STANDARB
                                                                             BEA.RER                                      ki

     He was delivered for ou.r offenses and raised again       of-this Righteousness, the more he will try to build his
 for our  justi,fication.                                      own good conduct before the face of God, so that he
     The Righteous Man !  -  -  "-  _I                    D    will endeavour to become his own redeemer. Witness
                                                               .the sorry  speactacle of the self-righteous Pharisees.
                             f?**f?         ).I                   ,Good' conduct by natural man?, A little while ago
                                                               I said that I. would say a little more about that. Well,
    Righteousness of my text!
   Itis the object of the hunger and thirst of the peo-        here is the proper place?
                                                                   Bring God to the nation ; bring Christ to the na-
 ple of my text.                            ,'                 tural man; show the good conduct that Jesus did for
     Now we .can see it. These people are the blessed
 people of God.                                                His own to the natural man ; place the Godhead wit&
     The reason why these people hunger and thirst  aft-       in reach of natural man in the Person of Christ, and
                                                               he will murder Him. `rhat is the truth.
 er.the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ is because            Vvitness Golgotha, and tremble, tremble, tremble I
 they have received the Holy Ghost which was shed
 abroad in their heart. That Spirit of God, united with           Oh yes, natural man does hunger and thirst. B u t
 His blessed Word, taught-these people that they were          they long and yearn for sin. 1 know because I find it
 black with sin and corruption.                                in me. lqothing  humans is strange to me.
     But this Spirit gave these people, also through the           T.hey long for sin, for perverseness, for the earth
 Word of God, a taste of this Righteousness in Christ.         and for eartnly things. They wallow in sin and would
 In other words: the Spirit of `Christ brought them in         have more. of it. &.nd they have success in it. `lhe end
 contact with the Christ of God. And gave them a taste         shall be the revelation of the Man o$ Sin, and tnat is
 of. this Christ.       -                                      Antichrist.
     And that, my friends, makes all the difference -in            But there always will be a people that genuinely
 t h e   w o r l d .                                           hunger and thirst for .Christ, and for His righteous-
     Through that blessed operation of-the Holy Spirit         ness.
 of Pentecost and the Word of God, we receive a taste              They are those that were regenerated by God.
 of' the .good conduct of Christ. We learn to know that            And converted by God.
 Christ in all His riches: His coming, His suffering for           And sanctified by God.
 us, His vicarious death and resurrection, His glorifica-          And justified by God.
 tion upon His ascent to the highest heavens, and .His             And they shall. be glorified by God.
 return in the Holy Spirit.                                        God' does it `all. Yes, some of it through us, but
     And I assure you that the view of that Christ is          even then, our fathers said, and I agree with them:
beautiful beyond compare.                                      even the act of believing is of Him..
     It makes all the difference in the world, When.you            And these people .are blessed, secondly, because
 once have received a view of that Christ of God, of           they shall be filled.
 that Righteousness in Him, you can never forget Him.              That happens even now on earth.
 You. will follow after that righteousness -from morri             There is a beginning of this fu1filmen.t.~~
`till night, yes, you will die for it. Thousands  upo:n            Good conduct is given them in regeneration and
 thousands have died for that view, that glorious view         conversion and sanctification. No, it is not a perfect
 of the Christ of God. And more thousands will die for         fulfilment. It is only a beginning. There winds a
 it again and again before the sorry history of this           thread, a golden thread of good conduct through the
 world is over and done with.                                  lives of these, citizens of heaven. And we love that
     They hunger and they thirst for this righteousness,       golden thread. It pays to be good. To be good, to
. for this Jesus.                                              think good thoughts, to say good words and to do good
     It is the Righteousness of my text.                       deeds carries its own reward, It gives you a little bit
    .And they are blessed- indeed !                            of heaven in your heart.
     First, because this hunger and thirst is a true ear-        And the complete, the perfect fulfilment is coming.
 mark of grace..                                                   What shall I say of that?       '
     Natural man does not hunger for this righteous-               It is so heavenly and I am so earthy.
 ness.                                                             It is so glorious  and I am so tarnished.
     Natural -man will always try to build his own                 It is so eternal and I am so temporal.
 righteousness. It is the earmark of natural man to do             But the Bible speaks of it. I have heard the
 this for he is poisoned by the devil. `The devil's sin is     heavenly song.  .And I heard a great voice of much
 pride, and he has instilled this pride in the heart of people in heaven, saying, Alleluia!
 man from the beginning, and he continues to do so.                That, my dear reader, is good conduct, that is
     And the nearer you bring natural man to the gospel        righteousness !                             G. vos.


52                                                             T H E   .STANDARD   B E A R E R


                        TME STANDARD BEARER                                              ~-                    EDIT0.RI.A.L
           Semi-monthly, except monthly in July and August
      Published by the Reformed.. Free Publishing Association
           Box 124, Station C., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan                                                            dur Synod of $951
                  EDITOR  - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
      Communications relative to contents should be addressed
      to Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S.  E., Grand                                               The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches
      Rapids 7, Michigan.                                                                              of 1951 definitely closed its sessions on October 3.
      All matter relative to subscription should be addressed                                             It belongs, therefore, -in the past, and will un-
      to Mr. J. Bouwman, 1350  Giddings  Ave.,. S. E., Grand
      Rapids 7, Michigan. Announcements and Obituaries must                                            doubtedly go down in history as one of the ,most im-
     be mailed to the cbove  address and will be published at a                                       portant synods-if not the most important-that to
     fee of $1.00 for each notice.                                                                    date was ever held.
     Renewals:- Unless a definite request for discontinuance
     is received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the                                            The reason lies, of course, in the fact that  OUI
     .subscription   to continue without the formality of a re-                                       churches finally officially declared -what according to
     newal order.                                                                                      their conviction is the truth as expressed in our con-
                      Subscription Price: $3.00 per' year                                             fessions, especially concerning certain fundamental
     Entered as Second Class mail' at Grand Rapids, Michigan                                          principles, all concentrating around the promise of
                                                                                                      God and the preaching of the gospel, and therefore
                                                                                                      around one aspect of "common grace."
                                                                                                          I say fin&q our churches declared themselves offi-
                                                                                                      cially on these fundamental principles.. It would prob-
                                                      :-                                              ably have been more proper, and undoubtedly more
                                                                                                      expedient too, if they had drawn up a Declaration of
                                                                                                      Prmciples.  as soon as they had become definitely or-
                                                                                                      ganized as a separate group of churches in 1924. I
                                                                                                      am convinced that if this had been. done, such a de-
                                  C 0  N`-T E N  T S                                                  claration would principally have been no different
                                                                                                      from the one that was adopted by our last synod. And
MBDITATION-                                                                                           I am also confident that if such a declaration had been
      The Blessedness of those that .Hunger and Thirst. . . .`. . . . . . . 4 9
            Rev. G. Vos  _                                                                            adopted at that time by the general consistory, or some-
EDITORIALS-                                                                                           what later by the classis (a synod was not yet organ-
      Our  Synod   of.1951......:...........:.......................  52                              ized, of course), it would not have met with any
           Rev. H.  Hoeksema                                                                          serious opposition whatsoever. But this was not done,
THE  TRIPLE   :KNOWLEDGE-                                                                             although there was sufficient occasion for it in the
      An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism.. . . . . _. . . . . . . . . . . . 54
      1                                                                                               adoption of the Three Points of 1924 by the Synod of
           Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                           Kalamazoo:- The reason why some such declaration
As  T?  BOOKS-
      De Algemeene  Openbaring - Dr. G. C. Berkhouwer.. . . . .                                57     was not drawn up cannot be officially ascertained. I
           Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                           rather surmise that at least one of the reasons was
      Thine.is  the Kingdom -. James El. Hunter. . . . . . . : . . . .                         58     t.hat our churches were small-we consisted only of
            Mrs. H. C. Hoeksema                 ,-                                                    three congregations : Kalamazoo, Hope and Grand
OUR   DOCTRINB-                                                                                       Rapids Eastern  <Avenue-aM  we all felt that our
      The Hexaemeron  or Creation-Week (8). . . . . :. . . . . . . .                           58
           Rev. H. Veldman                                                                            ministers and consistories, as well as our people, would
                                                                                                      all give a strong testi$ony against the theory of com-
THROUGH   THE  AGES-
      The Arminian  or Remonstrant Struggle. . . . . . . . . . . . .                           62     mon grace and in favor of the confessional truth of
           Rev. G. M. Ophoff  \                                                                       particular grace pure and simple. However,  fin&y
IN HIS  FEAR-                                                                                         our last synod d,eclared in an official document what
      Back to School  (6)..........................:......                                     66     had been always considered the truth of our Confes-
      Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                            sions as they are understood and maintained in the
FROM  HOLY   WRIT-                                                                                    Protestant Reformed Churches.
      Expostion  of Acts 13:32,  33ff.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .          68
           Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                                                             For this we may be thankful to God, Who moved
_     Et Is Geene  Verdoemnis.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                          70     usto maintain the truth of His holy Word as expressed
           Rev. G. Vbs                                                                                in our Reformed Confessions. I
                                                                                                          I feel that we may indeed say : "It seemed good


                                        -  THE  S T A N D A R D   BEA$ER                        `_     '     -.          5.3

 to the Holy Ghost and to us," to adopt the Declaration          grace of God or a gracious attitude of G.od toward
 of Principles.                    :                             humanity in general "in which, of course, the .repro,
      It means that our churches still stand on the.same,        bate are included." But thirdly, that it was indeed the
 basis on which they stood in 1924, immediately after            intention of ;Synod to declare that God is gracious to.
 the Christian RePormed  Churches had cruelly cast us            all men is evident from the proofs; which Synod ad-
 out, that is, they stili stand on the ground of the Three       duced from the confessions and from Scripture. The
 %orms  of Unity without any additibn or falsification.          proofs from the confessions are as follows:
 For, that the De&ration  of Principles stands four-                 Canons II, 5 : "Moreover, the promise -of the gospG1
 squarely on the basis of the Threee Forms of Unity no           is, that whosoever believeth  ia Christ crucified, shall
 one has ever contradicted.                                      not perish, but have everlasting lif,e. This promise, to-
-'    This stand concerns oilr position  over against the        gether with the coinmand to repent and believe, ought
 Three Points of 1924, more especiaily otie~ against the         to be declared and published to all nations,- and to all
 first of these points, which was always the chief bone          persons promiscuously and without distinction, to
 of contention. For it is especially the First Point that        whom God out of .his good pleasure sends. the gospel."
 declares that there is grace of God for the reprobate,              Canons III, IV, 8: "As many as are called by the
 tnd that this grace is especially manifest in the               gospel, are unfeignedly called. For God hath most
 preaching of the gospel. It therefore very.really main-         earfiestly and truly declared in his Word, what will be
 tained that the promise is for all.                             acceptable to him ; namely, that all who are called,
      `It may be expedient tp rehearse that First Point          should comply with the invitation. He, moreover,
 and its history at the Synod of Kalamazoo, 1924.                seriously promises eternal life and rest, to- as many
      Literally that First Point as it was finally adobted       as shall come to him, and believe on him."
.Peads as follows;!         .                                        Canons III, IV, 9: "It is not the fault' of the
      "Reiative  to the first Joint, which concerns the          gospel, nor of Christ, offered therein, nor of God, who
 fsvorabie attitiido  of God towards humanity in general calls  men by the gospel, and, confers upon them
 and not otdy tow&& th@ QlO&j Sya& declares it to be             various gifts, that those who are called by the ministry
 e~tsblishlod  accs?ding to &&tilre &fid the- C,anfBssion        of the Word refuse to come."
 th&  apart  fi;sti  thg  s&ig  grace  SB  &cl shown  only           Thus far Synod, which evidently wanted to em-
 to those that are elect unto @t&%ai life, there is also a       phasize the general qffer of the gospel, quoted this last
 certain favor or grace of God which ife showvs to His. article, which continues as follows:
 creatures in general. This is evident from the &rip-                `I
 tural passages qupted and from the Canons of Dord-                        . . the fault lies in themselves ; some of whom
 recht, II, 5 and ,II, IV, 8 and 9, which deal with ihe          when' called, regardless of their danger, reject the.
 general ofi&*  of the g'sspei, while it also appears. from      word of life; others, though they receive it, suffer it
 the citations ,rnede  %xam the ReZbrm~d w~itera of the          not to make a lasting impression on their heart; there-
 most flourishing period -of Reformed theology that our          fore, their joy, arising from a'temporary faith, soon
 Reformed writers frqm the pa& favored this view." vanishes, and they fall away ; while others choke the
      As the declaration  statids, -apart;  from its auppdsed    seed of the word.by perplexing cakes,  and the pleasures
 proof  from  th                                                 of the world, and produce no fruit.-This our. Sav-io&
                    e confessions  and Scripture, it appears
 rather harmless. It seems to deciare nothing else than          teaches in the parable of the sower. Matt. 13."
 that there is a Certain favor or grace, of God which He            -And as far as the Scriptural passages adduced by
 shows to His creatures in generii. To this .we might            Synod of 1924 are concerned, part of them are sup-
 even have-subscribed in 1924. Had we not always our-            posed  to prove the theory of common grace in the
 selves taught that `God is good and gracious to all His         Kuyperian  `sense, and part of them evidently are sup-
 creatures, that in that sense, according to Ps. J45:9,          posed to teach that the promise of the gospel is gener"a1
 He is good to all-? But, first of all, we must remember         and is `grace for all that hear. As to the' first the `fol-
 that the Synod did not mean to speak of a. grace of             lowing texts are quoted: Ps. -145 :9; Matt. 5 :44, 45';
 God over all creation in the organic sepse, but definite-       Luke 6 :35, 36 ; Acts 14 :16, 1'7. And as to the second,
 ly wanted to say some$hing concerning the, gracjous             which we will here quote in full, the following texts.
 attitude of God toward -all men. This is evident al-            ase adduced :
 ready from the introductory clause, "Relative to tl>e               I Tim.  4:10, "For therefore we both  labour and
 first point, which concerns the favorable attitude of           suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, _
 God  towa&ls  humanity  in general and not  only to-            who is theSaviour  of all men, specially of those that
wards the elect." This is still more evident from the            b e l i e v e . "
 original report of the committee of pre-advice I'd hoc.             Romans 2:4, "Or despisest thou the riches of his
 They  -had advised  Synqd to `declare that there is  8  _ goodness and forbearance  and  longsuffering; not


54                        (.           TQ$J       STANDARD                   BEARER

knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to. re-
pentance'?'
       Ezekiel 33 :ll, "Say unto them,  As I live, saith the    1  THE  +RIPLE KNOWLEDGE
Lord  `God, I have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked ; but that the wicked turn from his way and
live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why An- Exposition Of, The Heidelberg
will ye die,  10 house of Israel?"                                                    C a t e c h i s m
 * Ezekiel 18:23, "Have I any pleasure at all that the
wicked should ,die? saith the Lord God ; and not that'                                 PART TWO                     .,
he should return from his ways, and live?"                                   `6 f, M a n' s R e d id& p t i o n
' The question may -be asked: how did the Synod of                                                *
1924 come to iquote.the proofs from the'Conf&sion  that                            LORD'S DAY  XXX1
speak of the promise of the gospel, and how did they
lapse into the error of insisting that this promise of                                    `2 .
the gosfiel is grace for all that he'ar ? The answer is                         The  Promise of  ihe Gospel
@her plain. Synod was looking for proofs from tlie                                                      :
Confessions for the theory of commons  grace in `the               In our ecumenical age, it is almost like a voice cry-
Kuyperian sense ofi the word  (geme'ene  gratie).  B.nt         ing in the wilderness when we insist that the church
of course, the' Confessions did not deal with this ques-        must still. exercise its ljower of the keys. Under the.
tion whatsoever. They only spoke of the grace in                slogan of a wrong  interpre'tation and application of
Christ Jesus, that is, what is called particular grace.         John. 1'7 :21, "that they may alla be one,? most churches
And the Synod nevertheless, desiring to prove its               have long discarded'the truth of the gospel, abrogated
point, namely, that there is common grace in the' Kuy-          their confessions, and strive to unite into one ecumeni-
perian sense of the word, naturally lapsed into the             cal church; in wl&in Arminians and Calvinists, Mod-
error of the Arminians, which the Confessions, and              erns and Barthians, Baptists and Episcopalians and
especially.the  Canons of Dordrecht, opposed and com-           even goman Catholics can find a place. The attempt is
batted.                                                         to make one `body of $11 the churches over the whole
       Thus the Synod came to tea,@ that the preaching          world. Only it is not the body of Christ. The salt has
of the gospel is a welllmeaning  offer on.the part of God       lost its savor, and is' good for nothing, but to. be cast
to all that hear, or briefly, that the preaching of the         on the du-ughill and to be trodden under foot of men.
gospel is grace for all. And this is the same as saying,        It stands to reason that in the light of this ecumenical
especially in the light of the confessiofis  quoted by the      striving the subject of the keys of the kingdom of
Synod, that the promise of the gospel is grace for all          hemen- has become antiquated. Yet, the true chu.rch,
that hear.                                                      however small,  may not follow this false. ecumenical
       This is what tie cafled "het puntjee van het eerste      trend, but must insist on the exercise of the power of
punt."                                                          the keys.
       This is the Heynsian view of common'grace within            Thus far we found that the key-power consists in
t h e   covenant.                                               the authority, power, and sacred obligatidn to open and
       And over against this error we always maintain.ed        shut the kingdom of heaven to men on earth, and that.
-that the promise is not generali but particular, and is        too, in such a way  t&t this act on the part of the
only for, the elect.                                            church on earth will be valid in  Heaven.  We found,
       -And what we always maiatained we now declared           secondly, that this authority and power rests principal-
officially in the Declaration of P!rinciples,  which is. not    ly only with .Christ. He only can open, and no man
a fourth,form,  but is simply the expression of the Con-        shutteth; and shutteth, and no man opens. We further
fession and may be tested by the Confession at any              noted that this power and authority was, nevertheless,
t i m e .                                                       conferred upon the apostles, and that, finally, the same
                                                 H .   H .      power and authority is ,transmitted through the Word
                                                                of ,God as contained in, the Scriptures and, by the in-
                                                                dwelling Spirit, to the church of the new dispensation.
                                                                The purpose-of this exercise of the key-power is three-
                                                                fold: the glory of God in Christ, the maintenance of
           Help us ori thee to cast our care,          '        the purity of the church visible in the world, and the
             And on thy word  dto rest;                         salvation of the sinner that. repents.
           That Israel's God, who heareth prayer                   In the present chapter we must discuss the Wbrd,
             Will grant, us our request.                        or the preachillg  of the- Word, as a key-power. In re-


                                                                 _     I     -     ..-
                                        THE      iTANDARD                    BEARE'
                                                                                          R





gard to this, the Heidelberg Catechism instructs us in         ness ,of their faith and endurance, and the severity of
Quest& and Answer 84 as follows :                              their sufferings, we may se& reflected the -beauty and
   "How is the .kingdom  of heaven opened and, shut;           the riches of the promise they possessed and saw afar
by `the preaching of the holy gospel?                          OPT'. The third chapter of the epistle to the Galatians
   "Thus.; when according to the command of Christ;            is a classic chapter on this subject of the promise. It
it is declared and publicly testified to all and every be-     emphasizes that the protiises were made to Abraham
liever, that, whenever they receive the piomise of the         and his seed, and that this seed of Abraham is central-        -
gospel by a true faith, all their sins are really forgiven     iy and essentially Christ. vs. 16. It is plain that Christ,
them of God, for the sake of Christ's merits ; -and on         the Seed, Who is the ful;fillment  of the proEi.se,  is at
the contrary, when it is declared and testified to all         the same time also the chief recipient of the same
unbelievers, and such as do not sincerely repent, that         promise. It states that tne law which came four hun-
they stand exposed to the wrath of God, and eternal            dred and thirty years later than the promise to Abra-
condemnation, so long as, they are unconv@rted: ac-            ham- could not possibly make the latter of none er'ect,
cdrding  to which testimony of the gospel, God will            vs. 1'7, and that *God gave the inlieritance to Abraham
judge them, both in this, and, in the life to come."           by promise, vs. 18. It reaches the conclusion that if
   It is evident that, in this question. and answer,           we are Christ's, then are we Abraham's seed, and heirs
&pecially three elements demand our attention. First           according to the promise, vs. 29. As to `the contents
of, all, the fact that the contents of the preaching is        of this promise, Scripture speaks of it as the promise
here defined as the .promise  of the gbspel.  Secohdly,        of the Holy ISpirit, which is given to Christ, Acts 2~23,
we must call attention to the fact that this promise of        and to them that are of Him by faith, Gal. 3 :14; It
the gospel must be preached by the church. And final-          speaks of it as the promise of life, I Tim. 4 :8, II `Tim.
ly, we confyont. the question, how by this preaching of        I. :1 ; the promise .of eternal life, I John 2 :25 ; the
the promise of the- gospel the kingdom-.of heaven is           promise of Christ's coniing, II Peter 3 :4; the promise
opened to believers and shut to nnbelievers.                   of entering into His rest, Heb. $:ll; the promise of
   What i& meant by the promise of the gospel? Both            becoming heir of the world, Rom. 4 :I3 ; the promise
Sbripture  and the Conf,essions  very. frequently speak        of raising up a Savior f?om the seed of David, Acts            -
of that promise.                                               13 :23. Hence, it also speaks of the Spirit as the Spirit
  `As to Scripture, it refers to the promise in the            of promise, Eph. 1:13 ; of cliildren of the promise, that
plural to express the manifold riches of its implica-          is, of children that are born not only in the line of the
tions, as well as in the singular, to cienote  its unity ancl prom-i+ but also. by the power of the prsmisc and ac-
identity. Always the promise is %he same, both'in the          cording ta, the promise and upon whom the promise
old and new dispensation. It is the promise that is            rests, Rom. 9 :8. It points out the heirs of- the promise
given to  Abel,~  Enoch, Noah,  Abkaham,.. Isaac,' and         and the co-heirs of the promise : for not all men have
Jacob. `For having mentioned these, saints of--@. old          received the promise, nor is the promise meant f,or all.
dispensation, and  having spoken -of their  li-fe  atid        Heb.  6,:17,  11:9: And at the beginning of the  -new
death, or `translaiion  by faith, th& :-eleventh chapter of    dispensation the Scriptures speak of the same promise
the .Hebrews tells us : "These all'-died in faith, not         in. the following words  : `Fpr unto you is the promise,
h&ing received the promises; but ha%& se& ,.them               a.nd tb your! children, and to all that are afar, off, as
afar off, and were persuaded of them, an'd &braced             many .as the Lord. our God shall call." Acts 2 :39.
them, and confessed -that -they were strangers and                     Also our Confessions very frequently speak of the
pilgrims on the earth." vs. 13. And having reviewed            promise, and give it a very rich contents. In Question
the life and battle by fr,ith~of  many more of the great       22 of the Catechism we read : "What then is necessary
cloud of witnesses, and including= them all in his view,       for the Christian to believe? All things promised us
the author of, Hebrews finally states: "And these all,-, in the gospel, which the articles of our catholic, un-
ha+ing obtained a good report through faith, received          doubted Christian faith briefly teach us." It is evident
not-  the promise." vs.  39.. It is  evid&t from  thes? that the whole coritents  `of the Christian faiths is h&e
passages that  all. through the old dispensation there         described as the.promise  of the gospel. That God, the
was a promise given unto-.thhe saints, whi& they em-           Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, is our Father
braced and believed, by miliich they lived and diedj for       in Jesus Christ our Lord,  Who establishes an eterna:
the which they `were willing to be strangers and pil-          covenant of grace with us, makes us His children and
grims in the earth, suffer hunger and exile and im-            heirs, and .provides us with all good things,.is declarec]
prisonment, endured  crueltjr and mockeries  atid              in the' promise of the- gospel. That Jesus Christ, the
scaurgings, were slain with the stiord a?d sawn as-            only begotten Son, 1s &me into the flesh, as He was
under,. wandered about -in sheepskins and goatskins,           born- of the Virgin Mary and conceived by the Holy
af?li&ed, destitute, and. tarmented. And in the great-         Ghost, is .implied in the contents of the gospel. That


56                                  THE STANDARD  BEARER

Christ suffered and died on the cross of Calvary; des-        cup of the Lord, as certain signs of the body and blood
cending into all the agonies of hell, thus satisfying for     the minister, and taste with my mouth the bread and
all our sins, so that ,God was in Christ reconciling us       of Christ." And what this further implies is explained
unto Himself, is part of the promise of the gospel.           in Question 76, where it is stated that the forgiveness
`Ihat He rose again from the dead on the third day,           of sins and life eternal and the becoming more and
ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of        more-united to Christ by the Holy Ghost is the promise
God the Father Almighty, in order from thence in the          that is signified and sealed in the supper of the Lord.
fuiness of time to come again to judge both the quick            Also in the Belgic Confession we read of that
and the dead and to make all things new, all belongs to       promise of the gospel more than once. The promise of
the content of the gospel. Besides, the Holy Ghost, as        the gospel is that God will forever be our gracious
the Spirit of Christ, given unto the elect in order to        E ather, that Christ washes us from all our sins by the
apply ail the ble,ssings of salvation to them and to the      power of the Holy Ghost, and regenerates us from
whole church, forgiveness and righteousness, sanc_titi-       children of wrath unto children of God. It implies all
cation and complete redemption, preservation and  per-        the gifts of grace, washing, cleansing, and purging of
&rvance, and the glory  02 everlasting life-all  this is      our souls from all filth and unrighteousness, renewing
contained in the promise of the gospel. `Ihe promise          our hearts, and filling them with all comfort, putting on
of the gospel is also the subject which is the chief -ob-     the new man and putting off the old man with all his
ject signified and sealed in -the sacraments. For --the       deeds. Art. 34. By implication Article 35 speaks of
sacraments are holy visible signs and seals, appointed        the same promise- as implying all the merits of Christ's
ui God for .-this end, tllat `by the use thereof, he may      suffering and death and the nourishment and strength-
more ruby declare and seal to us the promise o$ the           ening of our souls, quickening and refreshing them by
gospel, viz., that he grants us freely the remission of       the drinking of His blood.
sm., .and iire eternal, for the sake of that one sacrifice       Also the Canons of Dordrecht speak of the same
of Caris!, accomplished on the. cross." ' Remission 01        promise of the gospel, though not always in so many
sin and eternal life, therefore, belongs to the contents      words. It is undoubtedly the promise of `the gospel
of ,the promise of the gosp.el.  Qu. 66. In Question 69       that "God hath decreed to give to Christ, to be saved
we read of the same promise of the ,gospel in the fol-        by him, and effectually to call and draw them to his
lowing. words : `-`i'hat Christ appointed this external       communion+ by his Word and Spirit, to bestow upon
washing by his blood and Spirit from all the pollution        them true faith, justification and sanctification ; arid
of my soul, t&at is, from all my sins, as I am washed         having powerfully preserved them in the fellowship
externaily  with water, by which the filthiness of the        of his Son, finally, to glorify them for the demonstra-
body is commonly washed away." And what it means              Lion of his mercy, and for the praise of the riches of
to be, washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ is          his glorious grace."- Canons Ij 6. And in Canons II,
plainly expressed in Question 70: `-It is to receive of       5 we read: "Moreover, the promise of the gospel is,
G.0c.l the remission of sins, freely, for the sake of         that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified, shall not
Christ's blood, which he shed for us by his sacrifice         perish, but have everlasting life. This promise, to-
upon the cross ; and also to be renewed by the Holy           gether with the command to repent and believe, ought
Ghost, and sanctified to be members of Christ, that so        to be declared and published to all.,nations,  and to ,511
we may mar.e and more die unto sin, and lead holy             persons promiscuously and without distinction, to
and unblamable lives." Hence, forgiveness of sins, re-        whom God of his good pleasure sends the gospel," And
generation, and sanctification to be members of Christ,       that this promise of the gospel is not meant for ali, but
so that we may put off the old man and put on the new         only for the elect, is very evidently implied in Canons
man, is implied in the promise of the gospel. Even            II,  8:- "For this was the sovereign counsel, and most
infants receive this promise, for "redemption from            gracious will and purpose of God the Father,-that the
sin by `the blood of Christ, atid the Holy aGhost, the        quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious
author of faith, is promised to them no less than to the      death of- His Son should extend to all the elect, for
adult." Qu. 74. Also Question 75, which treats of the         bestowing upon them alone the gift of justifying faith,
supper of our Lord, speaks of the same promise:  _ thereby to bring them infallibly to salvation: that is, ,!J
"adding'these promises : first, that his body was offered     was the will of God, that. Christ. by the blood of the
and broken on the cross for me, and his blood shed            cross, whereby he confirmed the new covenant, should
for me, &certainly as I see with my eyes, the bread           effectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation,
of the Lord broken for me, and the cup communicated           and language, all those, and those only, who were from
to me; and further, that he feeds and nourishes my            eternity chosen to salvation, and given to him by the
soul .to everlasting life, with his crucified body and        Father ; that `he should confer upon them faith, which
 shed blood, as assuredly as I receive from the hands of      together with all the other saving gifts of the Holy


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              57
                                                                     __
Spirit, he purchased for them by his death ; should            he will dwell in LB, and sanctify us to be members of
purge them from all sin, both original and actual,             Christ, applying unto us, that which we have in Christ,
whether committed before or after believing; and hav-          namely, the washing away of our sins, and the daily
ing faithfully preserved them even to the end, should          renewing of our lives, till we shall finally be presented
at last bring them free from every spot and blemish to         without spot or wrinkle among the assembly of the
the enjoyment of glory in his own presence forever." elect in life eternal."
Again, in III, IV, 8 the Canons speak of the promise              Hence, according to all our confessions Christ and
of the gospel for all that come to Him and believe on          all His benems,.  as merited by Him, and as applied by
Him as follows: "As many as are called by the gospel           Him through the Holy Spirit, are implied in the
are unfeignedly called. For God hath most earnestly            promise of the gospel.
and truly declared in his Word, what will be acceptable                                                       H. H.
to him ; namely, that all who are called should come
unto him. He, moreover, seriously promises eternal                                  El  Ei  Ei  El  El
life and rest, to as many as shall come to him, and be-
lieve on him." And, that the gift of faith, and there-
fore the Holy Ghost, is essential to the promise 6of the                          As To BooLs
gospel, is plainly taught in III, IV, 14 : "Faith.is there-
fore to be considered as-the gift of ,God, not cm accotmt      DE ALGEMENE  OPENBARING,,  door. Dr. G. C. Berkhouwer;
of its being offered by God to man, to be accepted oi           uitgever  J. H.  Kok,  n.v.  &mpeq,,Nederlandz  Prijs f. 7.90.
rejected at his pleasure; but because it is in reality            Zooals de `titel aangeeft, behandelt in dit boek Dr.
conferred, breathed, and infused into. him;. nor even          Berkhouwer het  .probleem van de z.g.n. algemeene
because- God bestows the power or ability to believe,          openbaring. In elf hoofdstukken bespreekt de  schrij-
and then expects that man should by the exercise of            ver de beschouwingen. van verschillende schrijvers.`
his own free will, consent to the terms of salvation,          Vooral de beschouwing. van Barth komt herhaaldelijk.
and actually believe in Christ; but because he who             in bespreking. Deze, zooals bekend is, kant zich nict
works in man both to will and to do, and indeed all            slechts zeer scherp tegen wat bekend staat als "nai
things in all,- produces both the will to believe, and the     tuurlijke theologie", maar wil ook niet  weten van
act of believing also,"                                        eenigen vorm van "algemeene openbaring?. Zijn. eigen
    ,Of the same promise of the gospel, as witnessed and       beschouwing geeft Dr. Berkhouwer hoofdzakelijk in
sealed unto us in holy baptism, the first part of tb.e         de capita zeven tot negen.' Hoofdstuk zeven' behandeit
"Form for the Administration of Baptism" speaks; Ac-           "openbaring en kennis" in verband  met Rom. 1; hoofd-
cording to it, in that promise of. the gospel that is          stuk acht spreekt over "dpenbaring en wetsvervulling"
sealed unto us in holy baptism "Go.d  the Father wit- in  verband  -met Rom. 2. `(In dit  verband  noemt de
nesseth and sealeth unto us that He doth make an               schrijver mij ook nog even in `t voorbijgaan "Hoekse-
eternal covenant of grace with us, and adopts US for           ma, die eveneens door zijn apriorische instelling te-
His children and heirs, and therefore will provide us          genover -de gemeene gratie het spoor hier bijster
with every good thing, and avert all evil or turn it to        raakte" p. 154) ; en in hosfdstuk negen behandelt de
O'UI  profit."    This is what God the Father witnesses        schrijver  "oljenbaring en verlichting" vooral in  ver-
and seals unto us, that, He sw,ears  by an oath that He        band met den proloog van het evangelie van Johannes.
will surely fulfill His promise to His people. More-              Wie belang stelt in het probleem der "algemeene
over, according to the same "Form for the Adminis              openbaring". schaffe  zich vooral het werk van Dr.
tration of -Baptism," the &on "scale&  unto us, that He        Berkhouwer  aan. Hij zal hier veel vinden, dat zijn
doth wash us, in His blood from all our sins, incor-           belangstelling dubbel waardig is. De schrijver is e&n
purating us into, the fellowship of His death and re-          man van ernstige studie. En alleen zijn bespreking van
surrection; so that we are freed from all our sins, -and       de verschillende beschouwingen van anderen  .is voor
accounted righteous before ,God." Perfect righteous-           den lezer, die belang stelt in dogmatische studie, van
ness in Christ is implied in the promise of the gospel,        groot belang.
as sealed unto us in holy baptism. Finally, the promise           Maar het laatste woord over de z.g.n. algemeene
of the gospel also includes th,e gift of the Holy Spirit       openbaring is hier niet gezegd. Eigenlijk zou een boek
`as the Spirit of Christ that applies all ,the benefits of     als dit veel breeder  moeten  worden  besproken
salvation to us. - For let us never forget: there is no        dan in eene  ,korte "boekbespreking" mogelijk is.
promise of the gospel -excel&through  the HQ~Y  Spirit.        Verschillende vragen bleven onopgelost, die tech zeker
Hence, in the baptism-form we rend : "In like manner,          om oplossing roepen. Wat is openbaring? Is er eigea-
when we are baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost,            lijk we1 openbaring zonder den Heiligen Geest? Wat
the Holy Ghost assures us, by this holy sacrament, that        openbaart God van Ziehzelf aan de heidenen, zoodat


ks                                        THE  STANDARD  BEARER

hetgeen van Hem bekend is (to gnooston `tou theou) in
hen openbaar is (phaneron estin en autois) ? En wat
is de beteekenis in Rom. .2 :14, 15 van "de ,dingen, die                   O U R - D O C T R I N E
der wet zijn" (ta tou nomou). en van "het werk der
wet" (to ergon tou nomou) ? Dat dit niet kan betee-
kenen dat de. heidenen van nature de wet volbrengen,                  The Hexaemerora or CreatiodVeek
en dat de wet in hunne harten geschreven is, is niet                                          .  (8)
alleen uit heel de Schrift, maar ook uit het verband                             THE CREATION OF MAN (1)
zeer duidelijk. Maar zou .het ook kunnen beteekenen,
.dat hetgeen `de wet bij Israel deed (n.1. zeggen "gij                             HlOW HE WAS CREATED
zult en gij zult met") de heidenen "van nature" doen?
Zie, Dr. Berkhouwer kan wel. even in `t voorbijgaan                   Xwiptural  r e f e r e n c e s
opmerken, dat ik door mijn apriorische instelling                        The direct and detailed references in Holy Writ to
tegenover de gemeene gratie hier het spoor bijster                    the creation of man we find, of course, in the account
raakte, maar daartegenover zou ik  willen opmerken,                   of creation in the book of Genesis. In Genesis chapter
dat hijzelf door zijn apriorische instelling inzake de                1 vs. 26-28 we read: "And God said, Let  us  make
gemeene gratie het spoor bijster is geraakt.                          man in our image, after  ,our likeness : and let
      Uit bovenstaande zal men in elk geval kunnen zien,              them have dominion over the f&h of the sea, and over
hoe ik gaarne een breedere bespreking van Dr. Berk-                   the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all
houwer's- boek zou willen geven. Misschien doe ik het                 the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth
later nog  we1 eens, evenals van zijn boek over de                    upon the earth. `So God created man in His own image,
Voorzienigheid.                                                       in the image .of `God created He him ; male and female
      Intusschen beveel ik het boek van Dr. Berkhouwer                created He them. And God bl,essed  them, and God said
van harte voor ernstige en critische studie aan.                      unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
                                -\             H        .         H. -earth, and subdue- it : and have dominion over the fish
                                                                      of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
                                                                      living thing that moveth upon the earth.`? In Genesis
                                                                      2 :7-g we read : "And the Lord God formed man of the
TXXNE  IS THE KINGDOM, by James H. Hunter, published                  dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
  by Zondervan Publishing House. Price $3.00.                         breath of life ; .and man became a living soul. And the
      This novel is3the first prize winner in the second              Lord. God planted a garden eastward in Eden ;- and
`International Christian Fiction Contest. With its bet-               there He put the man whom He had formed." And
ting in the area of three beautiful lakes in northern                 in the same chapter, verses 18-25 we are told the fol-
Canada, it tells the story of a successful attempt to                 lowing: "And the Lord CGod said,. It is not good that
. overthrow Communism there. The book has a clever                    the man should be alone ; I will make him an help meet
and interesting plot based on the interplay of.identical              for him. And .out of the ground the Lord God formed
twins, and- is easy and enjoyable to read. The char-                  every beast of the" field, and every fowl of the air ; and
acters. in their thrilling and dangerous dealings Jyitii              brought them unto Adam to see what he would call
the Communists acknowledge their dependence on  ,God.                 them: and whatsover Adam called every living crea-
      It is a Christian novel that can be recommended to              ture, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave
old and young. Yet, as in almost all such novels, it                  names to all cattle,`and to the fowl of the air, and to
cannot be recommended without reservation. The book                   every beast of the field ; but for Adam there was not
has a tendency toward post-millenialism, and it sets                  found an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused
democracy over against Communism as. the `God-or-                     a deep sleep- to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He
dained state. And the characters often quote Scrip-                   took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead
ture in so free a way as'to make it almost profane.                   thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken
                                      Mrs. H. (C. H.                  from man, made He a woman, and brought-her unto
                     El  !A  El  El  q                                the man. -And Adam said, This is now bone of my
                                                                      bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Wom-
                Subscribers : Please Note.                            an, because she was  -taken out of Man. Therefore
      Will you kindly refer to the subscription date op-              shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall
posite your name on this issue. If past due please for-               cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And
ward the subscription price as soon as possible. We                   they were both naked,.the man and his wife, and were
will appreicate your co-operation.                                    not ashamed."
                                          THE  BCARD                     (Other  Scriptural references to the Divine creation


                                                                                                                B     8,.
                                            `ri313 S T A N D A R D   B,EARER                                         5 9

 of man (of course, all of Scripture establishes `the          obdurate in heart and will, and impure in his affec-           .
 Divine origin of man) are passages such as Matt. 19 :4        t i o n s . "
 an-d Acts 1'7 :26 : "And he answered and said unto them,         And in the Heidelberg Catechism we read in Lord's
 have ye not read, that He Which made them at the              Day 3, answer 6 : "tiy no means ; but God created man
 beginning made them male and female . . . And hat-h           good, and after His own image, in true righteousness                _
 made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on          and holiness, that he might rightly know God his
 all the face of the earth, and  bath determined the' Creator, heartily love Him and live with Him in
 times before appointed, and the bounds of. their habita-      eternal happiness to glorify and praise Him."
 tion."
                                                               In  ldistinction  from the  "animal  auorkd."
 C o n f e s s i o n a l   ref.erence: .                        The reader will notice that the expression: animal
     Our Confessions, of course, also refer to this amaz-      world,  OCCUFS in  3quotation  marks.. We need not be
 ing work of the almighty Creator of the heavens and surprised if and when modern science tells us that
 the earth. Art. XIV of our Confession of Faith reads.         man is the hignest animal. It is simply a ract tnat tne
 in part as follows: "We believe that God created man          holy Scriptures, already in the  inraliible account  01:
 out of the dust of the earth, and made and formed him         creation, uses, the same term with respect to man ana
 after His own image and likeness, good, righteous, and        the rest of the animal world. Both are called in HoIy
 holy, capable in all things to will, agreeably to the will    Writ "living souls." This also appears from the Hol-
 of  `God. But being in honor, he understood  it. not,         land translations of Gen. 1:20 and Gen. 2 :7, and we
 neither knew his excellency, but  wilfully subjected          quote :` "En God zeide  : Dat de wateren  overvloediglijk
 himself to sin, and consequently to death, and the curse,     voortbrengen een gewemel van levende zielen ; en het
 giving ear to the words of the devil. For the com-            gevogelte vliege boven de aarde,. in -bet uitspansel des
 mandment of life, which he had received, he trans-            hemels . . . En ,de Heere God had den mensch gefor-
 gressed ; and by sin separated himself from God, Who          meerd uit het stof der aarde, en in zijne neusgaten
 was his true life, having corrupted his `whole nature ;       geblazen den adem  des levens ; alzoo werd de mensch
 whereby he made himself liable to corporal and                tot eene levende ziel." `The reader will notice that the
 spiritual death. And being thus become wicked, per-           expression: levende zielen, occurs in both passages.
 verse, and corrupt in all his.ways, he hath lost all his      The expression : "living creature," in Gen. 1:2-O and :
 excellent gifts,. which he had received from God, and         `bliving soul," in Gen. 2:7 are in the original identical:
 only retained a few remains thereof, which, however,          living soul.
 are sufficient to leave man without excuee  ; for all the        Now we read in connection with the creation of
 light which is in us is changed in darkness, was the the animalsin Gen. 1:20-25 as follows : "And God said,
 Scriptures teach us, saying: The light shineth in             Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving  '
-darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not:              creature that bath' life, and fowl that may fly above
 where St. John calleth men darkness."-end of quote.           the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God
 Of note, in connection with this article, is the fact that    created great whales, and every living creature that
here the truth is expressed that man `was created by           moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly,
 God in such a way hat he was `able in all things to will      after their kind; and every winged- fowl after his kind :
 agreeably to the will of ,God. Man was created per-           and God saw that ,it was good. And God blessed them,
fect; he lacked nothing. It is therefore not true,  3,s        s.aying,  Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in
 the Roman Catholic Church would have us believe,              the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the
that something'was added to man after his creation.            evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God
 We will have occasion to call attention to this later.        said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature aft-
     The same truth is held before us in the Canons of         er his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of
Dordrecht, Art.' 1. of the third and; fourth heads, where      the earth after his kind: and it was so. And  ,God
we read`: "Man was originally formed after the image           made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle
 of God. this understanding was adorned with a true            after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon
and- saving knowledge of his Creator, and of spiritual         the earth after his kind: and  ,God saw that it  was
things ; his heart and will were upright; all his affec-       good."
1 tions pure ; and the whole man was holy ; but revolting       It is evident from these several Scriptural passage2
from `God by the instigation of the devil, and abusing         that the distinction between the creation of man and
`the freedom of his own-will, .he f,orfeited  these excel-     that of the animal. is two:fold. On the one hand, the
lent gifts ; and on the contrary entailed on himself           animals' were created in such a way that the earth
blindness of mind, horrible darkness, vanity and. per-         brought them forth upon the creative word of the liv-
verseness of judgment, became wicked, rebellious, and          ing God, whereas man was formed out of the dust of


 60          '                          T H E   S,TANDARD   B E A R E R

 the earth. And on the other hand, God breathed into         ground was's sort of clay image, a well formed but
 man95 nostrils the breath of life and man was created       lifeless clay image (a C&NJ image inasmuch as it was a
 in the image of the `Lord. -      (                         product of the dust of the ground but lifeless), and
        In passing we may also remark that both, man and     that the- Lord, when He later breathed into its nostrils
 the animals, have in common that they are created out       the breath of life, thereby caused that clay image to
.of the dust of the earth.                                   live. This explanation of the text is surely quite im-
                                                             possible. First, it is' impossible.because  we read that
 Ai such.                                                    God formed man out of the dust of the ground. We
  ' First, we would make the observation that there          do not read that God formed his body out of the dust
 is no essential difference between the accounts in Gen.     of the ground, but man. And it is surely beyond all
 1:26-27 and Gen. 2:7-8. It is quite evident that in         doubt that the expression "man" refers to something
 Gen. 126-27  we have a more general account of God's        more than merely the body. Secondly, this explana-
 creation of man. In Genesis. 1 the creation of man ap-      tion is impossible in the light of its comparison with
 pears at the end of the Scriptural account of the crea-     the creation of the animal world. God did not merely
 tion `of. the heavens and, the earth, and more parti-       cause' the earth to bring forth lifeless, soulless animals,
 cularly of the latter inasmuch as the viewpoint of this     but animals, living souls. The expression: lifeless,
 work of tlie Lord in Genesis 1 is earthly, is regarded      soulless  animals,. is a contradiction in itself, inasmuch
 from the vewpoint of  the~`earthly. And therefore in        as the word "animal" means  ,literally  : living soul:
 Genesis 1 the creation of man also appears as -the          Hence, Gen. 2:7-8 must also then be interpreted as
 climax of this work df..God. But in the second chapter      signifying that God formed man, the complete man,
 of `Genesis we have the same creative act of God but.       out of the dust of the ground. However, we have
 then as set forth in greater detail. This greater de-       stated that the Divine creation of man- was a two-fold
 tail appears, first of all, from Scripture's account of     work of God. The ILord not only, .formed him out of
 the creation of Adam. We are told that the Lord God         the dust of the ground, but we are also informed that
 formed man of the dust- of the ground, and breathed         God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. This
 into his nostrils the breath of ,life, and that man thus    does not mean, obviously, that' we `have here two
 became a living soul.        And, secondly, this appears    separate, successive works of God, the one following
 from the fact that we also have a detailed setting forth    closely upon the other.     In the first act, then, God
 of the creation of `Eve. Concerning this latter work        created the body, and in the second part He formed
 of the Divine Creator we read in the verses 21-22, and      the soul. -We have already called attention to the fact
 are told that the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall      that that which was formed by God out of the dust of
 upon Adam and then proceeded to take one of his ribs,       the ground was not merely the body, but man. Hence,
 closing up the flesh instead thereof, and made of tha.t     we do not have here two successive works of the Lord
 rib a woman and brought her to the man. This clear- but one work of God with two sidesas it were, both oc=
ly confirms our assertion that the account in Genesis        curring simultaneously. Besides, this account in Gen.
 2 is a more detailed account than that recorded in the 2 :6-7 dwould not inform us that God first created a
 first chapter.                                              living being which was in some respects an inferior
    Secondly, when we deal with Scripture's account. being, that He breathed into his nostrils the breath of
 of the creation of man we must be careful. `This ap- l.ife, and thereby elevated it to a higher plane or level.
 plies particularly, we understand, to `what we read in.     This would smack of. Roman Catholicism. We have
 Genesis 2 :7-8, and we quote once more: "A& the             here one work of God, described from the viewpoint
Lord `God formed man of the dust of the ground, and          of its two-fold aspect. The first aspect describes man
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man      from his earthly aspect, as he is earthly, and this we
became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a must understand asreferring to both; body and soul.
garden eastward in Eden ; and there He put the man           And the second part or aspect describes the same man
whom He had formed." !At present we are merely in-           from his spiritual-heavenly aspect as he was marvel-
terested in this creative act as such. We will have op- lously adapted unto the living God; and this, of course,
portunity later in this series of articles to focus at-      in distinction from every other earthly living creature.
tention a little more. closely upon man's being and es-
sence according to Holy Writ. It is clear from Gen.          Th.e wention of Eve.                                   .
2:7-8 `that- God's creation of man is described- as a.          It is at this time, before we continue with the crea-'
work of the Lord with a two-fold aspect. First, we are       tion of man, that we would  -devote a little space to
informed that God formed him out `of the dust of the         Scripture's account' of the creation of Eve..
ground. This cannot mean, we should understand,                Various Scriptural passages ref,er to this marvel- -
that that which the Lord formed out of the dust of. the      lous work of the Lord. In Gen. 2 :18, 21-24 we xye,a&,

                                                                 0


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                      -@'                           61
  "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man         creation of Eve than before?. What of it? The im-
  should be alone ; I will make him an help meet for him.     portant question is not: How did .the Lord do this,
  And the Lord #God caused a deep sleep to. fall upon         and then proceed to speculate  =  and "-philosophize. Of
  Adam, and he slept and He took one of his ribs, and         much greater importance is?he question: why did the
  closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib,. which    Lord thus make Eve? Why did Jehovah not make the
  the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman,           woman as `He made the man? Why did He not form
  and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This           her out of the dust,of the ground and breathe into her
  is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:; she        nostrils the breath of life?'
  ehall be called Woman, because she `was taken out of            Scripture's answer to this question is. two-fold..
 Man. Therefore shall a-man leave his father and his          First Holy Writ would emphasiz`e the truth that even
  mother, and shall cleave unto his wife : and they shall     as the woman is out of the man and man was therefore,
  lee one flesh." In Eph. 5 :22-33 this beautiful passage     formed first, therefore she must serve him and be sub-
 -occurs : "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own hus- ject unto him. This is surely the clear teaching of
  bands, as unto the Lord-. For the husband is the head       Holy Writ. This we read, e.g., in Gen. 2 :I8 : "And. the
  of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church:      Lord God said, It is. not good that the man should- be
  and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore `as the        alone; I will, make him an help meet for him." An help
  church-is subject unto Christ, so let the wives b,e to      meet is an help meet, proper for Adam. The idea is that
  their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love           the man is the responsible party, the one who must not
  your wives, even as Christ also loved'the church, and       only rule in the home, but also be of the party of the
  gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and             Lord in the midst of the world. And the woman has
  cleanse it with the washing of water by the word;           been created to help him, stand at his side, be his sup--
  fhat He mightpresent it to Himself a glorious church,       port in. the midst of the struggle in the midst of this
 `not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but         world: As such she must also be subject unto him.
  that it should,be  holy and without blemish.. So ought      `Ihis does not mean that he must "lord" it over her, and
  men to love their wives as their own. bodies. -He that      the relation between a man and his wife must not re-
  loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet         semble that of a master and his slave. The wife is not
 hat,ed his own flesh ; but nourisheth and cherisheth it,     merely his "squaw. " The fact remains that she must
  even as the Lord the church: For we are members of          be an help meet for him, he&p him, also with..counsel
  His body, of His flesh, and of His, bones. For this         and advice. Nevertheless, man is the ruling party and
  cause shall a man leave `his father and mother, and         the woman is subservient. to him. How little .this is
 shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one     understood in our present day is known only too well!
  flesh. `This is a great mystery: but I speak concern-       Yet, man is the ruling party, and to ignore and ridicule
 ing Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one this created ordinance of the living God (as is so often
  of you in particular so love his. wife even as himself ;    done today) simply means that we court and. invite
 and the wife see that she reverence her husband.!' In        disaster. However, we remarked at the beginning of
  1 Cor. 11:8-g-we read this : "For:the  man .&not of the     this paragraph that the answer .of the Word of ,God
  woman; but the woman of the man. Neither .was the           to this question is two-fold. But, the second part of
 man created for the woman ;. but the. woman for the          this Scriptural answer must wait until our following
 man." And the'last passage which.we wish to quote            article.
  is f Tim. 2:12-13: "For Adam .was"first  formed, then                                             H: Veldman
  Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman
 being deceived was in the transgression."
     Modern Criticism has also directed its attack upon                                 El
  then Scriptural account of the creation of Eve; If It
 be true, they declare, that the woman was formed out                          Attention : Cons&tories
 of the man, then it follows thst man originally must
 have been a double being, masculin-feminine. Or, if it           The Board of the RFPA decided at their .last board
 be true, so they' continue, that the Lord formed Eve         meeting to send THE STANDARD BEARER to all
: out of one of Adam's ribs, then .the man today' must        the young men of our demoniation who are in. the
 be minus one rib. `What reasoning ! 8 How :vain and          Armed Forces. Will you please forward their names
 ridiculous to dispute or cast doubt upon this marvel-        and addresses to Mr. John Bouwman, 1350 Giddings
 lous work of God ! The simple fact is that. the Lord         Ave.,  S.E.; Grand Rapids `6;  Mich. Also PLEASE
 caused a deep sleep to fall  upon&dam,  and while            KEEP- US INFORMED  .OF CHANGES  CF  AD-
 &dam slept the Lord God..to.ok  one of his ribs.and made~ DRE:SSES.
 a woman of-it. Did Ada'm have one'less  rib-after the                    .                      T H E   B&RD

                                                      .


68                                 .   .   .THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                     cording to the word of Christ : John 15 :5.
      THROUGH THE AGES                                               Without me thou cans't do nothing.
                                                                       "Wij gelooven dat de mensch het zalig-
                                                                     makend geloof van  zich zelven niet heeft,
         The &m~an or Renkmstemt                                    noch uit kracht van zijnen vrijen wil, alzoo hij
                                                                     in den staat der_afwijking en der zonde niets
                           Struggle                                  goeds, dat waarlijk goed is (gelijk inzonder-
                                                                     heid het zaligmakend geloof) uit en van zich
      Having stated in the third and last part of the in-            zelven kan denken,  willen of doen, maar dat
troduction to `their "Remonstration" wliat particular                het noodig is, dat hij van God in  Chris&s
doctrines of the Calvinists especially grieved them, the             door' zijn Heiligan Geest worde herboren en
Remonstrants-Wtenbogaert and his party-proceed                       vernieuwd in zijn verstand, genegenheden,
to possitwhat  they believe. This they .do in five articles,         wil en alle krachten, opdat hij het ware goed
known to posterity- as the Five Articles. of the R,eA                recht moge verstaan,, bedenken,  willen en
monstrants. The obvious purpose of -these proposi-                   volbrengen, naar het woord van Christus:
tions is to show that the Remonstrants are good                     Joh. 15  :5.  Zorzder  mij  kunt  gij  niets  do,en."
orthodox people and that there is no appreciable dif-              Let us, get before us just what the Remonstrants
ference between their teaching and that of the Calvin-          here profess as their faith.
ists.                                                                1. There are such things as election and re-
      Article I has to do with Predestination.                       probation (see the introduction to their "Re-
                                                                    monstration." ,
           "We believe that God by an eternal and
         -unchangeable decree in Christ Jesus His Son,              .2. Election is God's eternal and unchange-
         before the, foundation of the world, decided                able decree whereby He decided to save all
         from fallen and sinful humanity to save in                  such who-mark you well, who by the grace
         Christ and for  Christ's- sake and through                  of the Holy Spirit should believe in Christ.
         Christ all such who:by  the grace of the Holy               3.  .Grace is not of man, it is  a- gift of the
         Spirit. would believe in' Christ and in that                Holy Spirit. Faith is not of man ; it is God's
         faith and in the obedience of faith through                gift.
         this same grace persevere to the end."                     4. The unregenerate, natural man cannot of
           "Wij gelooven, dat God, door een eeuwig                  and out of himself think will or perform any
         -en onveranderlijk besluit, in Jezus Christus,              good that is truly good. `That is to say, the
         zijnen zoon, eer's werelds grond gelegd was,               natural man is spiritually dead in ,his tres-
         besloten heeft uit het gevallen zondig men-                passes and sins and thus, unless`he be born
         schelijk geslacht diegenen in Christus, om                  again by the Spirit of Christ, can only pro-
         Christ@ wil en door Christus zalig te maken,                duce out of himself moral and spiritual cor-
         die door `de genade des Heiligen Geestes in                ruption.
         Jezus geloven en in dat geloof en in de ge-               This has the semblance of sound doctrine. It makes
         hoorzaamheid des geloof s . door diezelf de            the natural man as depraved as the Scriptures say
         genade ten einde toe volharden zouden."                that he is, and grace and election as sovereign as any
                                                                supra-lapsarian even of the type of `Gomarus  can con-
      If we think this to be sound doctrine we will espe-       ceive. For certainly if the natural man is totally de-
cially be impressed by the orthodoxy of the third of            praved, and he must be, if as the Remonstrants here
these five articles.                                            state he cannot of and out of himself think, will and
           "We believe that man does not have the               perform any good that is truly good, then in that case
         saving faith of himself, nor out' of the               grace and election must of necessity be strictly sover-
         strength of his free will, considering that in         eign ; and then it is also- correct to say with Gomarus
         the state of deviation and sin he out and of           that election is the .decree  of God whereby He pre-
      himself cannot think, will or do any good that            destined .out of the whole human race a certain num-
         is truly good `(as especially saving faith),           ber of persons unto everlasting life without any res-
         but that it is necessary that in .his mind, in-        pect to their faith alid obedience.
         clinations, will and all his strength he be re-           Identical sentiments receive expression in the forth
         born of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit          article of the series.
         in order that he may rightly understand,                     "We believe that this grace of God is the
         think, will and perform the truly good ac-                  principle, progress and completion of all good,


                                      PI$E  ~TAI&ABD  BE~ARER                                                             63

    also in so far as without this previous, re-.                   What Wtenbogaert really .had in mind is glaringly
   vivicating, accompanying and co-operating                 evident ~from`the  other articles of the series.
    grace the regenerated person `can neither                '       IArt. 2.
    think, will and'perform the good nor also re-
    sist any temptation, `SO that all conceivable                        "We believe that by virtue of #God's eternal
    good deeds or workings must be ascribed to                        decree Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the
    the grace of .God."                                               Worlad,  died for every man, in the sense that
       "Wij gelooven, dat deze genade Gods het                        by His crucifixion -He merited reconciliation
    beginsel, den voortgang en de volbrenging.                        and pardon of sins for .all, but in this sense,
    van alle goed is, ook in zoover de -wederge-                   `however, that no one, except they who be-
    boren mensch zelf zonder deze vqorgaande  of                    lieve, actually enjoy the pardon- of sins. I
    voorkomend`e,     opwekkende,     volgende     en                 Joh. 2~2. Ancl he is the propitiation for our
    medewerkende  genade noch het goede denketi,                    sin: and not for  OUTS only, but  also  fov  the
   -  willen of  doen  kan,  noch ook eenige  verzoe-                 s6a.s of the whole world."
    king kan wederstaan, zoodat alle goede daden                         "Wij gelooven dat krachtens Gods eeuwig
    of werkingen, die men maar bedenken &an                           besluit Jezus Christus, de  .Zaligmaker  der
    aan de genade Gods in Christus mdeten toe-                        wereld, voor ieder mensch gestorven is, alzoo
    geschreven  worden  . .  ."                                       dat Hij voor allen door den kruisdood de ver-
                                                                      zoening en de vergeving def zonden verwor-
   Apparently the thrust also of these sentences is:                  ven heeft,  alzoo nochtans dat niemand de
Man is nothing, grace is all. God's is all the glory.               vergeving der zonden werkelijk geniet dan
   l0.n reading this material mosf of the Calvinists                  de gelovige. I Joh. 2 :2. `Hij is de verzoeniiig
were satisfied and even elated. Remarks such as these                 voor onze zonden en niet alleen voor de onze,
were heard: These people are reformed. Wtenbogaert                    maar voor <die der gansche wereld.' "
and his party admit, ,don't they, that all is of grace.             Art. 4. in its .entir@y reads:
They believe an eternal and unchangeable decree aid.
they set forth Christ as the sole ground of salvation                    "We believe that this grace of God is the
and salvation as worked by Him alone. These are thg                   principle, progress and completion of all good,
things that are essential; ILet everything that goes                  also in so far as without this previous, re-
above and beyond these things remain private opinion.                 vivicating, accompanying and co-operating
Let us then have peace. Why controvert about private                  grace the regenerated person can neither
opinions.                                                             think, will and perform the good nor resist
                                                                     `any temptation, so that all conceivable good
   Such were the reasonings. And it is not-a wonder.                  deeds or workings must be ascsibed to the
Even Wtenbogatirt's definition of election, stating, as               grace of God." But now take notice, "But
`it does that God decided to save all such who Z;zj the               regarding the manner of the working of this
gyuce of His Ho& Spoil-it should believe in Christ, bears             grace, this is not irresistable.  For we read of
the semblance of the truth. Apparently the worst that                 many that the$ have resisted-the Holy Spirit.
can be said about the definition is that it is new. Yet               &ts `7 and elsewhere in many places."
nobody really interested in  seeing forth the truth
about election, would so define it. For the definition no            Art.  5:                 1.
clear and definite answers to the questions whether                      ".We believe that they who by a true faith
grace is soverei& and thus whether the divine decree                  are grafted into `Jesus Christ and by reason
of election iS also and actually the fountain and. cause              thereof have become partakers of His  life-
of faith.                                                             giving Spirit, have abundant strength to
   The sad fact is that Wtenbogaert and hi's party                    strive against Satan, siri, the world and their
were again equivocating. They were masking them-                     .own flesh and to secure the victory, to be
selves with the truth and the near truth to throw                     sure always by the assistance of the grace of
their critics  `off-gual;d. And with what  sticcess, we               Christ's Spirit; and that Jesus Christ always
have just seen. All but a `few Calvinists concluded                   assists them in all temptations, offers them
that they were men sound enough in their thinking.                    His hand, and if only they dre prepared to
The trouble with these Calvinists was that for some                   stjrive and desire His help always and without
reason.or other they refused to take notice of the %eal               fail, will make them to stand and so to stand
thrust of Wtenbogaerts sentences, of. their true under-               that neither by satan's guile noli by his vio-
lying meaning.                                                     lence  cali they be mislead or plucked out of


 64              -_'                    T H E   S T A N D A 'R D   B E A R - E R
            s
         Christ's hand. See the-word of Christ in Joh.            government in  the first of the five articles. Verily
         10 : `no one shall pluck them out of my hnnd.' "         this : that God, by an eternal and unchangeable decree,
           "But whether through neglect they cannot          j    resolved to save in Christ all such persons who of and
         forsake the principle.of their being in Christ,          out of themselves and as assisted by God's grace should
         again cleave to this present world, depart               choose to believe in God's Son and be saved. This is
         from the holy doctrine once delivered them,              predestination of  Wtenbogaert  and his party-a pre-
         lose their good conscience, and neglect the              destination that is based on God's f,oreknowledge  of the.
         grace (of God), that shoul'd  first have to be           use that men of and out of themselves should choose
         made a matter of investigation from the                  to make of God's grace.
         Scriptures, before we could teach it with full              It is said and held generally that the. &qm of the
         confidence.?                                             doctrine  6f.`the third article, of  the series  `(quoted
           "Wij gelooven  dat, die .Jezus Christus door           above)  `is. that "all is of grace." Actually,' however,
         een waar geloof zijn ingelijfd en overzulks              this tl+d a?ticle ,as td its real teaching is as. ,bad as
 -.  qijn levendmakenden Geest deelachtig zijn                    the others. And it cannot ,well be otherwise seeing that
         geworden, overvloedige  kracht hebben om                 underlying also this article is first the conception that
         tegen den Satan, de zonde, de .wereld  en bun            man is free in his willing-free in  the sense that he
         eigen vleesch te strijden en de overwinning te           can choose to serve <God  or darkness, choose to accept
         verkrijgen, welverstaande altijd door den                or reject the aid to salvation that the grace of God af-
         bijstand van de- genade van dien ,Geest;  en             fords him; and second the conception that all the good
         dat Jezus  Christus  hen door zijn Geest in              choices of man-his choice to believe, his choice Lo
         alle verzoekingen bijstaat, de hand biedt en,            yield himself to `God and be saved-ape of and out of
         zoo zij maar  allen ten strijd  bereid zijn en           man and thus originate in man ; and, third the concep-
         zijn hulp begeeren  eq in geen  gebrek  zijn,            tion that, if a man has once made up his mind not to be
         staande houdt,  alzoo dat ze door list  noch             saved, all God's efforts to save -him are vain.
         geweld- des  Satan.s verleid of uit Christus'               This third article states that saving faith is not of
         handen getrokken kunnen  worden   ;  zib het             -man. But faith as Wtenbogaert and his party con-
         wooed  van  Christus bij Johannes 10:  `Nie-             ceived of it, is a figmant of Wtenbogaert's own imagi-
         mand zal ze uit mijne hand rukken.' "                    nation. For  it is faith  min.us the good' choice and
           "Maar of ze door nalatigheid het beginsel              power of man's will to believe. These, this choice and
         van bun zijn in  Christus niet kunnen  ver-              power,. are of man. Such is the real idea of article 3.
         laten, de tegenwoordige wereld weer  aan-                The article itself clearly indicates this by the follow-
         hangen,  jan de heilige leer, hun eenmaal                ing statement occurring in it, "We believe that man
         gegevan, afwijken, de goede conscientie  ver-'           does not have the saving faith of himself, nor"-mark L
         liezen' en de genade  verwaarlozen;  dat  iou            you  well-%oy  frocm the power of  his free will . . ."
         eerst nader uit de Schrift moeten onderzocht             Thus, according to Wtenbogaert, man has a free will,
         zijn, eer wij het met volle verzekerheid onzes           and this  will of man has power-power to choose
         gemoeds zouden kunnen leeren."                           Christ and .his salvation. But what iS faith minus this
        The teaching of these articles-2, 4,  ani 5.  J&          goodwill, power, choice to be saved? It is nothing. It
what is it? Concisely stated, it is this :-                       doesn't exist.  -
                                                                     The article goes on to say .( see above) that out and
    Art. 2. Christ merited for .a11 the right to the bene-        of himself man in the state of sin cati neither will nor
fits of .His death. .Legal& therefore all are heirs of            think nor perform`the truly good. Yet, according to
God and co-heirs with Christ, and accordingly are ob-             this same teacher, man of himself can think and will.
jectively  saved-saved  to the uttermost-in Christ                to choose for Christ in rejection of darkness and the
unto God. Yet, only the believers are actuilly saved,             lie, wliich can only mean that after all man of himself
and saved on the condition of their faith ,ppd. repent-           can indeed think and will and perform the truly good.
ance.'            -                                 .d ,
                                               <                  For certainly a better work than that of Chodsing for
    Art. 4. Man can resist God's grace. This can mean             Christ is not well conceivable. And if a man of and
but one thing, namely that man can make it impossible             out o-f himself is capable of works of this nature why
for God to save him by his unwillingness to be saved,             then should he still have need of being reborn. and
        Art.: 5. `The reborn man can again lose. the new renewed of` God's Spirit in his mind, inclinations, will
life once implanted in his heart by rejecting and de.- and power in order that, as the article maintains, he'
parting from it.                                                  may understand, mind, will and perform the really
        These teachings clearly enough indicate  what             g o o d .
Wtenbogaert and `his party meant to be telling their                 The article cl&es,  it will be noticed, with a quota-


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   -,'                                          65

 tion from John's Gospel: "without me thou. canst do                 child of God still, as is, evidenced by the fact that, in
 nothing." Yet certainly, according to the author of                 the language of this same Form, he is sorry for these
.- these articles, man of himself can do nearly everything           weaknesses, and earnestly ,desires to fight against his
 regarding the matter .of his salvatioli. He can ofiginate           unbelief, and live according to all the commandments
 his good choice to be saved as though he were God.                  of  ,God. A Christian that  can  reverse  himself again
 And at every point of the way to glory the sole deter-              to yield his members as instruments of unrighteous-
 mining factor of man's steadfastness is again man's            ness to sin is simply not a Christian. No man's wili is
 very own will. Of and out of `himself he chooses and           free in this arminian sense, much less the will of the
 continues to choose not to reject and forsake and there-       Christian. "vvhosoever  is born of God doth not  corn--
 by lose the principle of grace within him.                     mit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot
    What a pious fraud this third article-turns out to          sin, becaiise he is born of #God." (I Joh. 3 :Y,) .
 be., How all but a few Calvinists, on reading this                     This precisely is the point to Paul's reasoning in
 article, could wax enthusiastic, and in their enthusiasm       Ram. 6. ?Vhat'sha!l we say then? shall we continue
 hail Wtenbogaert and his party as men of sound doe:            in sip, that grace may abound? God forbid. how shall
 trine is a conundrum. But so it goes. And so also,             we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
 sad to say, it continues to go. It is with an eye td this            Know ye not, that so many pi us as were baptized
 third article that the historian .Walker  remarks, "It         into Jesus Christ were baptized into his ' death. . .?
 (Arminianism) was at one with Calvinism in denying                     The lifth article of the "Remonstration" contains
 the ablity ,of men to do anything really good of them-         this quotation from John's.Gospel,  "No pne shall pluck
 selves-all is' of divine grace. Hence the Arminian;            them ou;t of my hands," no one, Wtenbogaert sfiouid
 tiere not Pelagians."                                         have added, .but the Christian man himself. For that . .
    But essentially they were Pelagians.          For with      was his teaching. Strange therefore that in *quoting
 Pelagius, the Arminians-Wtenbogaert and his party              this passage in support OX his heresy he was not aware
 -held to the  fretidom  of  the will. Also their slogan       that he overturned the very words of Christ Him&f.
 was, "If I ought, I can." Pelagius said, "as often as                  Let us now get before us in their order `the five
 I speak of the principles of virtue and a holy life, I ,am     articles of the Remonstrants as to the substance of                  .
 accustomed first of all to call'attention to the capadity      their _ teaching.
 and char@er of humari nature and to show what it is Art. 1. Predestination is based on divine fore-
 able to accomplish; and from,this to arouse the feei-                          knowledge of the use that men of them-
 ings of the hearer, that he may strive after different                         selves would chose to make of the means of
kinds  ofVvirtue." `This, too, was necessarily the attitude                  - grace.
 of the Arminians, and of every one who holds in hi.s                  Art. 2. Christ died for all,.ih&gh none receive the
 thinking to the freedom of the human will i-n thin                             benefits of his death except the believers.
Pelagian and Arminian sense.                                           Art. 3. Men are"incapable of doing anything real13
    The Arminians' concept?on of a true Christian is                            good of themselves-all is of divine grace.
 that of a man with a free will, thus of a man who                     Art. 4. Grace' is resistable.
 truly loves and serves God but who tit &ny time can                   Al%. 5. True believers can fall from grace.
reverse .himself and reject ,God to serve sin and da?k-
ness, yield his members as instruments of unrighteous-                  Of course, as lifted out of the thought-structure of
 ness unto sin. `,But this certainly is not the right con-     Arminius, and as occupying its own place in the
ception. It clashes with the teachings of the Scrip-           thought-structure of the' Scriptures, this third pro-
tures on this point. According to Holy Writ, the be-           position or articles is  sound doctrine. But certainly
liever is grafted into Christ by a faith that is living        in the mouth of Arniinius it is heresy,-%he reason be-
and indestructible and that therefore cannot cease. His        ing that in his mouth the term. ",grace",  and with It
will therefore  is. anything but free in  this  arminian such terms as faith, and counsel, etc., etc., take on new
sense. Never can he will to reverse  himself to return: meanings-new as compared with the, meanings. $at- :
to the old ways of sin. For he is a new creature in            these  terms have in the Scriptures-thus meacings  df
Christ now and everlastingly. True, he still has his Arminus' own invention. A man may get himself `on
sinful flltsh in which there dwells no good thing. And         the housetop and shout until he is hoarse that all is oi
therefore also, in the language of the Form, he feels          grace etc, and still in the point of view of his defini-
many infimities and miseries in himself, -3s namely,           tiorz of terms be proclaiming the lie. The question is:
that he has no perfect faith, and that he does not give        *hat is the man's thought-structive in which he' lives
himself to serve God with that zeal as he is bound, but        and moves and thinks and speak-that of the  trutn
has daily to strive-with the weakness of his faith, and        or of the lie.
                                                               -,
evil lusts of his flesh.  Bu.t for all  thati he is  a.true
                                                  _                                                         G .   M.  O p h o f f
                                                       -

                               .


 6 6                        -7             Tj313  S-TANDARD   BEARER

                                                               in particular of the training of our  childr,en,  thz
         I-.N  H.  I~  S.  F E  .A  R                          Preacher  .tells us to train up a child in the way he
                                                               should go, and when he is old he will not depart there-
                                                               from.  -
                B&k To School                                      Not infrequently in our day we lose sight of the
                                                               real spiritual nature of this  ppomise.       And instead.
                            (6)                                stress is laid upon the glorious outward achievemen:s
                                                               that are possible. for a Christian educational institu-
   In our past few- ar.ticles  we have tried to urge not       tion. We like to lay all stress upon the fact that it is
the expediency of truly Christian, and therefore, Pro- possible for our Christian institutions to gain a place
testant Reformed education, but the principal neces-           under the sun, to be recognized and applauded even by
sity of a,strictly covenant education for our covenant         the world. Men like to emphasiie  that it is possible
children. And we have expressed that principle as              for th.e products of our in'stitutiong to find a place in
consisting in the isdation. of God's people, by virtue o E.    the world, to ke recognized.for  their scholarship and
the very fact of -their belonging to His covenant, ap-         research. And sometimes the matter is  so pictured
plied  pow particularly to the sphere of education.            that the cause of covenant education involves no strug-
Moreov,er, from that principle of isolation we con-            gl,e and no danger at all, outside of the fact that it in-
cluded to our calling to isolate ourselves educationally.      volves an extra financial layout.
Further, by w_ay of application, we appealed to. our               I consider this a grave danger. The danger is that,
Protestant Reformed .people,' to the extent that they          setting our sights upon the gbove-mentioned  objects,
have no yet begun to  p.Tactice  this  prin'ciple  in the      we conform our schools to that goal. And then we are
sphere &f education, to take action;atid tb do so be'fore      lost. To be sure, it is not wrong in itself that our
we reach that stage of historicafl development in OLE          educational institutions should be good fro-m the formal
generations at which all love and zeal. for Christian          viewpoint-they must indeed be educational institu-
education is dead. We make this appeal on the basis            tions. Th? idea of a Christian School  is not that the
,of a confidence that the principle is indeed present, not     children are going to church five days a week extra,
only on some confessional .paper,  but in our hearts, and      while in a public school they  go to school. No, our
simultaneously we sound the alarm because we fear              schools must indeed be schools; and,. as much as pos-
that it is dying for l,ack'of exercise.                        sible.they must be good schools as respect equipment
   IA warning and an incentive ar&, we feel, necessary         and scholarship, instruction  and training in the various
in this connection. We speak of a warning because              branches. But these things are not a goal in them-
also in this matter of education the &ore `stringentlv         selves.  Havifig them all, and having no fear of the
you apply this pfinciple of Christian isolation, the m&e       Lord in them, you fail to have a, Christian School.
dangerously you live ; and we should be aware of that          Moreover, it is as certain as the rising of the sun in
fact. And we mention an incentive, because the more            the east that if we find our satisfaction in such things,
stringently you apply this principle of the `antithesis,       our Chrstian schools will have no battle at all. Any-
the more safely and serenely `we walk in the midst of          one will allow yoi~ to have' a private school. But prin,
the  world; and we should be encouraged thereby.               cip&lly  .the world will never grant you the right to
Dangerous Living                                               maintain a  Christian  school. And to  -the extent that
                                                  _     _      the Christian schools fail to experience a very sharp
   The note which Scripture sounds in conn&ion with            and continual conflict with the world, to that extent
our spiritual separation is a gloriously cheerful one,         they may well ask themselves whether there is some-
full of promise.     If we turn to  thb passage from           thing wrong, perhaps, with their Christian school. For
Deuteronomy which we cited previdusly,  wk discovered          we must remember, the world under the comtiand of
that the assurance qf Israel's safety is attached to her       `the devil will -never  cease to do. batile against <God's
isolation. For Moses the man of Gdd, tells Israel in           people in this present time. To be sure, the battle may-
chapter 33, verse 28 : "Israel then shalL,dwell in saf.ety     rage more `fiercely at one .time than at another ; but it
alone." And when the apostle @au& speaking to the              never ceases. And the Christian, ,or the band of Chris-
believers, to those who have righteousness, who have           tians, or the Christian institution that begins'to find
concopd  with Christ, who are the temple of -God, sounds       itself the' pbject of the world's friendship instead 0-f
the call to separation in.11~ Corinthians 6, vss. J4, ff.,     its enmity may well pause for inventory-an inven-
we find that at the same time he adds this incentive:          tory of the status ,of their spiritual isolation.
"and I will, receive you, And will be a Father unto               For we must not forget that from a certain view-
you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith-the          point this way of isolation is a dangerous  way to. live..
Fiord Almighty." vss. 17 and 18. And, speaking.more            Certain it is, on. the. basis of Scripture,. that ?t is. the :


                                      THE              STARBOARD              BEARER                                  67  _

way of  the realization of God's promise, and that               Bpt the danger of isolatidn is much greater, and
therefore in that way Israel, the church, and the in-         runs much deeper. Is it not necessary for our earthly
dividual child of `God, together with his covenant seed,      life to unite with the world, to seek her friendship, in-
shall dwell safely. IAnd by faith we apprehend that           &ead of inviting her hatred and enmity? What can
sure pro&se  of God also. But by the world and the            we do without the world and its favor? God's people
f,lesh and by all who live from the worldly principle         are small and limited in power, of no account as far
of utility that position of isolation is considered both      as influence is concerned. Genekally  they do not pos-
foolish and dangerous. It is `not a wonder that it is tii-    sess this world's goods in abundance. Nor, as a rule,
ways exactly against this way of life, as it .roots in        do they occupy positions of influence and power; the
God's eternal elective decree to separate, His people,        positions where the factors  o$ name, position, honor,
that men set themselves, also often iii%he. midst of          respect, and all our earthly way are controlled. No,
what calls itself church.' To dwell alone is not easy ;       it `is the world that numbers among its citizens the
nay, it is for the flesh impossible. The flesh cali -go       great and powerful  ineli, who have the ability and
alone as long as no separation from the wor!d is re;          au.thority to determine your and my entire position in
quired. But that same flesh will netrer  stand for the        the world, who hold in the baiance prosperity and ad-
cause of the living ,God, because the carnal mind is          versity, life and death for you and me.  ,Do we not
enmity against God. .Only faith can do that. And our          need the  world's favor?
Christian schools must be strictly a venture of `the           _ What will become of us if we always emphasize in
faith which is the substance of things hoped for, and         word and deed our separation. Do we not inyite the
the evidence of things unseen. Proceeding out of any          hatred of the world, its reproach and contempt. Will
dther principle they may be schools, but they will not        they nqt trample us, and refuse us a place in their
be Christian.                                                 mid&, and finally deny us- a-place on the earth? Ex-
    And from that vi4wpoint  it is well for us to. con-       actly those will be the results: . We will be refused a
sider the cost. Td dwell alone is eveiyithing but pleas-      name and position, power and influence, money and
ant.                                                          goods.       They will speak evil against us, persecute us.
 To be sure, it requires financial sac&c& It means,           hate us and reproach us and kill us all the day long, if
for example, that in' addition to the legally Tequirecl       we do not l'eave our isolated, position.
support of the world's schools through taxation we               Moreover, bear it in mind that when you give your
must also see to it that we support and maintain oily         children a covenant education, you are training them
own, separate, schools. The world will not help us            for exactly such experiences. Your dear ones, whom
-with  that, while we must help support their schools.        you love with all your heart, your flesh and blood, will
In other words, the cost of education is double for us.       have just such a reception-and not a prosperous one
And there is no question nbout it that this financial         -from the world from which they are trained to be
burden is `sometimes great.                                   separate.
    But yet this is not the worst. Nowadays the em-              And in the light of all this is it not foolish  and?
phasis is often upon that aspect o$ cost in dollars-and       dangerous, foolhardy, to maintain that! God's people
cents. And often it seems too as ,though that financial       must dwell alone and that their safety lies in their
problem is the most difficult for our school boards. But,     isolation?              -
in the first place, we must get out from under the rule          Moreover, does not histoqy teach us a lesson in
df the almighty dollar in that respect also, alid shouid      this respect? Israel dwelt alone, and what became of
increasingly learn tha% our wealth is the very least we       her? Were they not finally wiped out as a nation? Did
have to sacrifice. If it never comes any further than         they not become the object of the fierce hatred of all
that we have to pnzj for the education of. our children,      the nations? Did the nations not use Israel as a plag-
even to the' extent of sacrifice, then we have a fairly       thing, to vent all their rage and cY'ue1 hatred upon her?
easy time yet. And in the second place, the case of           And was not her whol'e institution finally destroyed
extreme financial sacrifice is in our times rare in this      and brought to utter ruin and desolation?
respect. Most of us can afford to have three sqyare              And does not the history of the new dispensation
meals a day yet, plus-a little cake and pie, and at the       teach- us the very same lesson? Was it not true
same time support the Christian schpol handily. And through all of history that the church that.dwelt  alone,.
I submit that when the time comes that we can follow          that maintained her isolation faithfully, that steag-
the example of our forefathers, and, put the money            fastly defended her spiritual ramnarts against the on-
for the Christian School tuition aside before we know         slaughts of error and human philosophy, was always
where the next loaf of bread is coming from to satisfv        small and-despised, the object of reproach and persecu-
the physical needs of OLK childpen-then we can speak          tion? And was it not the church"that  came out of its
of real sacrifice.                                t           isolation that invariably occupied a favorable position


68                       :           _  .THB,  s?ANDARD  BhAkER

in the world? We need not wonder then, that few                  And. this horrible response is that they will not, th&t
have ever  maintaiqed  the isolationist position. A              He be King over them !
small minority have always insisted that the safety of              To- them comes the preaching together with the
God's people is, in their isolation, while the great ma-         command- to believe and repent!
j&y have always  ,said with ever more emphasis:
God's people can never dwell safely alone': our safety              ,Such is clearly the teaching of Holy Writ, and such
lies in the greatest possible degree of amalgamation             is the very preaching of Paul here on this Sabbath2
with the world.                                                  morning in Antioch of Pisidia.
      Dangerous living indeed !.                                    It is .very clear not only from the subsdatient  iit-
                                      H. C. Hoeksema            titude of unbelief on the part of % r&Q-&r large number
                                                                -in this audience,  (s.ee vor& 45) but  &o from Paul's
                                                                 preaching itself that the pretiching came also to the
                                                                 unbelievers, that is, that it came into their hearing.
                                                                They heard and did not understand, they saw and yet
                                                                 did not see. Their ears were .dull of. hearing and their
                                                                `hearts were fat nevertheless, lest they repent and the'
                                                                Lord heal them ! Yes, the preaching they hear with-
 F R  0  M  H.0 L Y  `W R I  `I? out spiritually. perceiving and grasping the. content
                                                                with believing hearts.
                                                                    Hence, we r,ead in verse 45 "But ,when the Jews
      Exposition of Acts 13:32,33ff                             saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, ant1
                                                                contradicted the things which zuere  spoken by Paul,
                              v'          .'                    and  bla%phe&ed."     And what  ~does Paul then say:
      In this last essay. of our exposition' of Acts 13 :32.    This word is not spoken to you? Nay, he says "it was
33 we wish to call rurther-attention  to the element ill        izecessary that the Word of `God should first be! spoken
the text, that speaks  of the preaxhtng, the procla&&g.         to you. Seeing ye thrdst it from, you, and judge your-
of the glad-tidings of the Gospel, that -God hath ful- `selves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the
filled the. Promise in r&sing Jesus, oul- Lord, from the        Gentiles !" And this word is spoken by Paul and Bar-
d e a d .                                                       nabas very boldly. These contradictors are told that
                                                                the word was spo(ken to them first. They are the Jews,
      This glad-tidings is preached  definitely to the peo-     whd would save themselves i establish their own right-
ple; to the congregation as a word of comfort and' ex-          eousness they seek to do.
hor:tation.                                                         Have they then not heard the preaching?
      Thus we attempted `to point out `in our former
tirititig on this subj&t.'                                          Indeed they have heard it; it was preached to them
                                                                on this Sabbath morning. But they have not believing
      But the .qnesti?n still remains in this connection        hear-ts.. They cannot be justified by works of law and
(`it persists) does -this preaching, this  evangel&zing         yet they will continue in their sins. And the fault is
.merely  come to those children of the covenant, who are        not of the gospel, nor of Christ offered (presented)
the spiritual Seed -of Abraham, or- is the pr.eaching  also     therein, nor of God tiho calls men by the gospel, &d
to those who remail1 unpersuasive to the Gospel.                confers upon them various gifts, that they who arc?
      To this question we can My answer, in .the light          called by the ministry bf the Word, refuse to come and
of the sermon of Paul recorded here in Acts 13, that            be converted : the fault lies in themselves ; some of,
the  preaching  of the glad-tidings comes to all to- whom       whom when called; regardless of their danger, reject
God in His good-pleasure  sends .it. It. does not only          the word of life ; others though they receive it, suffer
come as preaching, as sermon (Canons of .Dort,- III,            it not to make a lasting impression. on their ,heart ;
IV Art. 6) "merely to those who believe, and who from           therefore, their joy,  arisirig only from a tempprary
the good  heart bring forth good fruits,  but it also           faith, soon vanishes, and they fall' away; tihile others
comes to those .who are to be likened. unto. the three          choke the seed of the word by perplexing cares, and
kinds of unfruitful soil- iii the Parable of the Sower.         the pleasures of this world, and produce no fruit.
Such also hear the Word and .react to. it ;I they give a            It seems that  these  contradictors are those in whom
spiritual-ethical. response to it. It is a horrible re-         the seed.fa&s  upon stony ground. They did not under-
sponse, but it is a respone nevertheless .to the preach-        stand the word that was sown in their hearts, and
ing of the glad-tidings concerning the fulfilled Promise the Evil One came  and'  to-ok  it  otit of their hearts.
in JesL!s, that ,God has-made Him bathsLord  and Christ.        They heard but did not understand ; they did not com-


                                       T H E   S T A N - D . A R D   B E A R E R                                        69

pare spiritual things with spiritual. And so they are         and applies it to the situation in his day.
only blind before so much light and cieaf before such             Thirdly, it ought to become very clear to us, that
great and glad-tidings.                                       his  quoted  passage is full of rich significance. In it
      Was this preaching glad-tidings to these people?        reference is'made in the judgment and marvelous deeds
Did' these unbelieving Jews consicZer  and +ud$e this         of .God in the entire history of the Pan-Asiatic nations,
message of Paul from all the  #Old Testament Scriptures       to wit, Chaldea, (Babylon) Medo-Persia, and then
to be glad-tidings of great joy? Of course not! For           af.terwards in the Western world-powers of Greece
this joyful tidings is joyful tidings to  all the peopl;e.    and Rome. Mighty judgmAents God would work. The
And to the rest, who are hardened in their hearts and         impossible would happen. Jerusalem will be besieged
blinded, it .-was bitter in their mouth, the Rock of of-      and made a desolation. The city of the great king
fense upon- which they are crushed, and which shall           David will be taken by the proud Chaldeans. It will
dash them to pieces ! `To such says Jesus in John 12:         then seem to be the end of the work of `God's redemp-
47-49 "And if any man hear my sayings, and' keep              tion and that the glory has departed from Judah. Her
them~not,  I judge him not : for I came not to judge, th.e    kings will be led, captive' in chains, the temple of the
world, but -to save the world. He that rejecteth .me,         Lord destroyed and layed in ruins, the walls of the city
and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth           will be broken down. The people once delivered by
him: the word that I spake the same shall judge him           .God's high and mighty arm out of the land of Egypt
in the last day."                                             will be led to a country that is not theirs. Then shall
                                                              Jeremiah write his Lamentation, and the unbelieving
 Surely the word  is spoken to all ; to all to whom           people will have their wall of wailing. And all shall
God sends it in His good-pleasure. Let each therefore,        be for an atdnishment and a hissing. And they that
beware how. he hears !                                        pass by  will wag the head. Psalm 2 with its word
     Thus also Paul speaks a word of warning to the that the Lord will `have the nations in derision and
congregation before him, composed of the elect kernel         that He .will laugh at them will seem to be true no
and the shell, children of the Promise and children of        l o n g e r .
t h e   f l e s h !                                              But high and above these judgments the Word of
     To this church comes the word of warning as writ-        God stands, that even then the just shall live by faith !
ten in the Prophecy of Habakkuk. In chapter 1:5 we            It must be written by him who climbeth into the
read "Behold ye among the nations, and look, and -watch-tower of the Prophetic vision,; it must so be
wonder marvellously.; for I am working a work in your         written in bold and large letters, that he that runneth
days, which ye will not believe though it be told you." may read the glad message even in the midst of these
     Concerning this quotation we would like to make          judgments : "My just shall live by faith." That is still
a few introductory remarks in connection with the true of the people of God's promise in such times. And
subject of the preaching of the Gospel asit comes to          so they only see these judgments with their eyes, but
all who hear it.                                              it does not really come nigh unto them. They take
                                                              refuge in the Name of the Lord, which is a strong
  - In the first place, we would remark, -that we have        tower of their strength.
in this passage a very clear and conclusive  "case-
study" of what our fathers refer to when they, speak-'           ,On the other hand if anyone's heart is-not right in
ing of the preaching of the promise of the gospel, ex-        him, if he is not trusting the Lord, then God has no
press that this preaching of the Promise of the Gospel        delight in him and he falls back into p&dition. At such
always goes together with the commccnd ~of faith ixnd         a time the souls of men are tried. And if the gold of           ,
repentance. Canons II,, 5. And it is our- conviction,         faith is lacking the judgments will clearly reveal it.
that this should not be overlooked.. We should notice            Now this. was all written for the warning of the
this fact as a fact, and should emulate it in our preach-     church.
ing of the'promise of the ,Gospel.  It is the confronta-         And. this word of warning is uttered here by Paul
tion of all with the preaching.!                              in this memorable sermon in Antioch of Pisidia.-
    In the second place, it should not escape our notice,
that this text quoted by Paul in this sermon from                &rid' it is still applicable.
Habakkuk 1:5 is the direct word of warning from the              For God still works the great and mighty judg-
mouth of the Lord. It is a word of warning from God           ments. It is true: the time on the clock of God's times
to Israel in the days prior to the Babylonian Captivity _ and-seasons is a bit`later. But fundamentally the pat-
under Nebukadnezzar, warning them to take notice of           tern of God's dealings in the Word is the same. Fact
His marvelous judgments upon the earth. And Paul,. is, .that there is an intensification of the judgments of
who lives a few centuries later, quotes this same word,
  ._ .-_                                                      ,God. Is not Pentecost the opening of the era of the


70                                        T H E   STAN.DARD   B E A R E R

Great Day of the Lord? Is not. the preaching of the
Word of the Cross that which shall convict .the world                       Ev is Geene Vwdoemenis
of sin, righteousness and judgment, and is it not also
the saving power unto life eternal of all those believ-                         "Zoo is er dan nu geene verdoemenis  voor  de-
i n g ?                                                                    ,genen  d:e in  Christus  Jezus zijn, die niet naar het
                                                                              vleesch wandelbn  maar  naar den gee&. Want de w&t
      When Paul begins to preach here in Antioch then                         des  gee&es  des levens in  Christus  Jezus heeft mij
all men are called to repentance. God shall judge`the                         vrijge-maakt  van de wet der zonde en des daods."
world through one man Jes'us Christ, and this judg-                                                                   Rom.  82, 3.
ment shall be according to `Paul's gospel.                             Wat we in onzen tekst lezen is een gevolgtrekking
       And so there is in the preaching itself threatening,        van datgene wat Paulus de gemeente geschreven had in
warning, calling to repentance. It is the precepts` of             de voorgaande hoofdstukkenDat geleerde komt hier op
the #Gospel calling to walk in" the old yet new Com-               neer, dat de mensch, zondaar zijnde en schuldig voor
mandment. It is the call to ,walk not after the flesh              God, niet uit de werken der wet gerechtvaardigd Iran
but according to the Spirit in the ministry of recon-              worden.  Maaf Paulus had geleerd van Jezus Christua
ciliation. And through this call and these warnings                en van Zijne gehoorzaamheid, waardoor velen recht-
the Holy Spirit turns I&s people unto Christ in whom               vaardig voor God gesteld zouden worden.  Het kwam
the Promise. is realized, for this is a part of the Min-           neer op deze kardinale vraag: Zijt ge geborgen  in
istry of reconciliation. Any other ministry is the min-            Christus Jezus, ,den Middelaar Gods en der menschen?
istry of the law. And this ministry of law kills us !              Is het antwoord bevestigend, dan is er groote vrede
      When Paul says to the church: "Beware,- lest that            voor zulk een mensch ;. is het antwoord ontkennend,
come upon you, which was spoken in the word of the .dan is men in zijn.zonde en daarom onuitsprekelijk
prophets," then those, who had ears to hear took refuge            ellendig. Want dan wacht niet anders dan een toor-
to Christ-by faith.                                                nend *God die zekerlijk reeht zal',doen  in dien grooten
                                                                   dag, wanneer alle menschen voor Zijn vierschaar ge-
      !And the rest became manifest to be void of,`.faith,         bracht zullen worden.   Maar als we geborgen zijn in
while they contradict the Word!                                    Christus Jezus, dan is het geheel anders. Dan werken
                                                  G. Lubbers       alle ~dingen ons mede ten goede. Dan is er niet dan
                                                                   zonlicht op ons pad, want dan reizen we naar den
                                                                   hemel   heen. Van die zaligheid spreekt mijn tekst.
                                                                   Indien we in  Christus Jezus  zijn, dan is er geene
                                                                   verdqemenis. En men kan het weten. Want de tekst
                                                                   gaat verder en zegt, dat dit soort menschen niet naar
                                                                   het vleesch wandelen maar  naar den Geest. En de
                                                                   tekst zal het ons ook verklaren hoe het mogelijk is, dat
                                                                   menschen, die van der jeugd aan geleerd hebben om
           ,Grace has enabled. me to love                          kwaad te doen, naar den Geest kunnen wandelen. Het
             Thy holy law and will ;                          *    komt hier van daan, dat Sij vrijgemaakt zijn van de
           But sin has not  yet.  ceas'd to move,                  wet der zonde en des doods; en het middel tot die
             It tyrannizes still.                                  vrijmaking is de wet des Geestes  ,des levens in-
                   .                                               Christus Jezus. Last ons nu eenige oogenblikken bij
           Hence often fill'd with dread alarms,                   die versehillende gedachten stilstaan, als we schrijven
             My peace and joy subside ;                            over het hoofdthema: Er is geene verdoemenis. Eerst
           And I've employ for all the arms                        zullen we zien de beteekenis daarvan; dan de reden ;
             The gospel hath supplied.              .              en,' eindelijk, het gevolg daarvan.
                                                                      Eerst dan de beteekenis.
           Thus diff'rent pow'rs within me strive,                    Verdoemenis is een vreeselijk woord, en het is
             While opposites I feel:                     .         drag& van een verschrikkelijke idee. Het is een rechte-
           I grieve, rejoice, decline, revive,                     lijke term, en beteekent, dat men veroordeeld is door
             As sin or grace prevail.                              den rechter.  Maar er zit meer in. Het houdt ook de
                                                                   straf in voor degenen die door den rechter  veroordeeld
           But Jesus hath his promise pass'd;                      zijn. En er zit ook het vreeselijke van die straf in dat
             Sin with the body dies  ;                             woord. Verdoemd  te zijn is verschrikkelijk. Als we
           And grace in all his saints at last                     door God verdoemd worden  dan worden  we door Hem
             Shall gain its victories.                             gedoenid `totdat we geheel en al verdaan worden.  Dat


                                       YHE  s7xNDARD  BEARE,R                                                                        il
                                                              . . . -
                                                                   i
     voorvoegsel  ver spreekt van een eeuwige verwording                 mensch van nature  haat de  idee van dit inzijn in
     voor het toornige aangezicht van God. Iets hooren we                Christus, en dan vooral als de  natuurlijke  mensch
     ervan als de goddeloozen uitroepen: de groote dag                   hoort, dat men. daardoor alleen zalig kan worden.  Met
     Zijns toorns is gekomen en wie kan bestaan?           Ook           andere woorden: "de mensch van nature is zoo trotsch
     lezen we van het erbarmelijke roepen der goddeloozen                dat hij niet uit genade zalig wil worden.  Hij wil zijn
     ale ze spreken van het oog Gods en van den toorn des                eigen rechtvaardiging bewerkstelligen.      In  Christus
     Lams. 0 het zal vreeselijk zijn.           .                        Jezus te zijn in den juridischen zin beteekent, dat GOT!               '
         Die.verdoemenis  is er nu al. Zij is aanvankelijk in            van voor de grondlegging der wereld  zekere menschen
     de plaats.  waar de goddeloozen komen als ze hier 01~               aan Jezus Christus gegeven heeft, dat God Jezus Chris-
     aarde sterven. Er is verdoemenis bij  `God in Zijn                  tus voor die menschen verantwoordelijk stelde, dat
     oordeel waarmede Hij alle dagen oordeelt. En er is                  Jezus `Christus antwoorden moet op alle de vragen die
     een voorsmaak van eeuwige verdoemenis. in den.god-                  God Hem .stellen zal in yerband met de  zonde en
     delooze hier .op aarde. Er is nu al een smaken van den              ongerechtigheid die door die menschen bedreven zou
     onlust des Almachtigen &Is men wandelt in de paden                  worden  in den tijd. Het is nu eenmaal een  feit, dat
     der goddeloosheid.                                                  God-.zekere  menschen, een vast aantal bij God bekend
                                                                         en door God  bemind van eeuwiglieid,  aan  Christus
         Nu dan, ,de tekst komt tot ons met het liefelijke               gegeven heeft met de opdracht, dat Hij  er niet  e&n
     Evangelie, dat er voor sommige menschen geene                       van verlieze,  maar dat Hij.  .hen  op  ZOU wekken ten
     verdoemenis is. Dat is negatieve taal, maar er zit een              uiterste  dage.. Dat feit kan niemand ontkennen, want
     positieve gedachte in. De Heilige Schrift spreekt vaker             het  word+  op duizend bladzijden van  `Gods  Woord
     in dien stijl. Zoo hooren we Jezus zeggen: Die tot                  geleerd. Het duidelijkst-`bewijs-vinden we in Johannes
     Mij komt zal Ik geenzins uitwerpen!             Dat is ook          17, dat ons het Hoogepriesterlijk gebed van Jezus
     negatieve taal, maar het houdt juist het tegenoverge-               openbaart. Daar zegt Jezus tegen Zijn Vader: Zij
     stelde in van uitwerpen, namelijk, aannemen, ontvan-                waren Uwe, en Gij hebt Mij dezelven gegeven! Zou
     gen, in Mijn armen drukken, enz. Zoo ook in Psahn                   het daarom zijn, dat  zeker,  ,dichter zong: Veilig in
     32, waar van het kind Gods gezegd wordt : Welgeluk-                 Jezus' armen?  Dat zijn `de welgelukzaligen voor tijd
     zalig is de mensch . . . in wiens geestgeen bedrog is.              en eeuwigheid. De Heilige Schrift noemt hen met vele
     Dat houdt zeker in, dat in  ,zijn geest  lde waarheid               en met  schoone, met liefelijke namen. Zij zijn het
     woont. En zoo ook hier. Als de  t-ekst  zegt, dat er                bundelken  der levenden ; de gelief den van eeuwigheid,
     geene verdoemenis is voor dit soort menschen, .dan                  het nachthutje in den komkommerhof, het overblijfsel
     houdt dat in, dat er voor hen juist het tegenoverge-                naar de genade, de uitverkorenen, de gekenden, enz.
     stelde is, namelijk; vrijspraak voor Gods troon, en                 Onuitsprekelijk zalig is de mensch die tot dat getal
     volkomen rechtvaardiging met al de zaligheid die zU&                mag behooren. Zingt gij niet: Welzalig is de mensch
     een staat ons brengt. pals er voor U geene verdoemenis              die `t mag gebeuren, dat God naar recht hem niet wd
     is, dan blijft er niets.anders  over dan dat ge het eeuwig          schuldig keuren ? .Welnu, die menschen worden  bier
     welbehagen en de gunste Gods ontvangt. Dan zijt ge                  bedoeld met het "in Christus Jezus zijn."         _
     welgelukzalig. En als ge nu bet teksthoofdstuk verder  '               Wat  mag nu `de, reden zijn, dat er voor hen geen
     leest, dan  zult ge zien, dat die zaligheid van deze                                                                       -
                                                                         verdoemenis is? We staan hier `voos een schijnbaar
     menschen daarin verder beschreven wordt.,                           raadsel, namelijk, dit : Hoe kan God sommjge men&hen              .
         En  nu komt  ,de . vraag :  wie' zijn die gelukkige             niet verdoemen? Alle menschen zijn tech zondaar, en
     nenschen?      En dan zegt de tekst :  .die in  Christus            verdienen dubbel en dwars pm verdoemd te worden'                       r
     Jezus zijn. Wat mag dat beteekenen? In  Christus                    tot in der eeuwigheid? Ziet  ,God de zonden door de
     Jezus zijn kan tweeerlei  beteekenis hebben, namelijk               vingers ? Zegt Paulus niet in Romeinen drie dat bet
     een juridische of een organisch-geestelijke betrekking              geheele menschdom voor God verdoemelijk is? Hoe
     of relatie.    `Hier is het duidelijk, dat de juridische            kan hij dan nu zoo beslist ieggen, dat er voor sommige
     beteekenis op den voorgrond staat. Dat is eersk al >menschen geene verdoemenis is? De  reden  waarom
     duidelijk uit het gebruik van de rechtelijke term:                  er geene verdoemenis is  voor dit soort menschen is,
     verdoemenis. Maar het is ook overduidelijk uit het                  omdat zij vrijgemaakt zijn. Vrijgemaakt waarvan?
     feit, dat er van deze menschen gezegd wordt, dat er                 Van #de wet der zonde en des doods. De wet der zonde
     geene verdoemenis voor hen is. Dat kan nooit afhangen               en des doods! Hoe vreeselijk! Stelt het U voor.: onze
     van onze goede werken. Maar hangt alleen af van Gods                staat en toestand van nature wordt een wet genaamd.,
     welbehagen: En wat `beteekent het nu, dat we juridisch              Hier zit een ontzettende gedachte in. De mensch is
     in Christus Jezus zijn? Het antwoord op deze vraag,                 zoo absoluut goddeloos van nature, dat zijn woelen in
     mijne vrienden, behandelt een waarheid die zeer gehaat ,de zonde en de ongerechtigheid vergeleken wordt bij
     is in alle eeuwen dat het Evangelie gepredikt is. De                een wet. De mensch is onophoudelijk in de zonde



L                                                                                                         _-  ---


                                          ;

                                  --
       7;      __                         '
                                  :_~'         i`
                                                xB--sl-.g.drr- .~-u~ /BwE-&,-E.  R-- --__ --,

                                                                      i    _;
       bezig, van de wieg tot de laatste snik is hij zondaar.        wet is. Het is wet der  Tiea- Geboden die door den
       Alles wat `hij doet is zonde; het is een wet, een vreese-     Heere . Jezus vervuld zijn. Eerst hierin dat Hij de
       lijke hebbelijkheid voor hem om te. zondigen. Dat is          vloek van die wet droeg yoor Zijn, volk, dat Hij ver-
     .- de idee van wet hier. Maar er is nog meer. `Iiij is ook      doemd werd door die Wet. En tweedens, en dan actief,
       gebonden aan de wet .des doods. Ziet ge, God had .ge-         dat Hij die Wet der -Tien geboden vervulde voor Ziju
       zegd bij- den aanvang der historie : Indien ge. daar, an .volk Hem van den Vader gegeven, en dan zoo intensief,
       eet zult ge den dood sterven. En later lezen we f de          dat Hij een plaats verwierf voor hen in een Paradijs
      ziel die zondigt zal sterven. Dat is ook een wet.' En          Gods, dat boven het  eerste-  Paradijs uitstak als de
      er is geen uitzondering op. Het behoort bij het God-           hemel hooger is dan de aarde. En in het vervullen van
      zijn van -God om de zonde te straffen met den dood.            die Wet heeft Hij een  gehoorzaamheid  geopenbaard
      Zondigt  ge? Wel, dan moet  <de dood volgen. En ge -die genoemd mag  worden  de gehoorzaamheid der liefde
      moet dat woordje .dood  hier in zijn voile beteekenis          Gods des verbonds des vredes.- Door die Wet zijn de
      lezen: Het houdtin de lichamelijke, de geestelijke en          Christenen vrijgemaakt.
      de eeuwige dood Dood is scheiding van God en .pan                    En wat is het gevolg?
      Zijn lieflijkheid. Dood is ook rebellie tegen God. -Dat
      is de geestelijke dood. Maar het vreeselijkst is de                  Dit, dat -ze niet meer naar- het vleesch wandelen.,
      eeuwige dood. Dan is men weggedaan van voor ,Gods              maar naar den Gee&. En.wat mag dat inhouden? Wat
      aangezicht en dan komt men jammerlijk om in de                 is de beteekenis van het vleesch? Het .vleesch omvat,
      plaats die gemaakt is voor.  de, duivel en zijn engelen.       de ,dood, vers 6 ; vijandschap tegen God, vers 7; onder-
      Ik mo.et er niet in komen. Het is een-vreeselijke  plaats.,    werpt zich der wille ,Gods niet want het kan zulks ook
      En dan vbor -eeuwig. Nooit komt men er uit;- En dat ,is        niet, ook in vers `7 ;- en het vleesch kan Gode niet beha-
      een wet- voor elk natuurlijk.  mensch. Het is eeh wet          gen, vers 8. Daar hebt. ge een beschrijving van bet.
      voor hem om te zondigen. Het is een .wet voor den              vleesch in het onmiddelijke verband: Het vle.esch  is de,`
     ~. zondaar om te sterven. Gestorven komt hij ter wereld.        zondige' mensch die altijd het kwade- bedenkt en doet.
      En sterven doet hij steeds meer totdat hij in de plaats        E% zoo zult ge we1 kunnen verstaan wat het zeggen
      des doods, des eeuwigen doods. aanlandt, en dat is de          wil om naar dat vleesch te wandelen. iVuar beteekent
      put ,die bwndt vau vuur en sulfur, waar hij gepijnigd' hier overeedomstig.  Men wandelt in harmonie met het
      zal worden  met den draak en zijne engelen. Is het niet goddelooze vleesch, en dat dbet elk mensch van nature.
      vreeselijk?                                                    Maar -die in. Christus Jezus zijn wandelen niet naar dat
              Maar deze menschen zijn vrijgemaakt van die            vleesch. Waarom met-? Omdat diezelfde 3Geest  waard
      dubbele ,wet  der zonde en des doods. Hoe is dat tech          door ,Jezus hun tot een offer werd, nu oak in hen k&it.
      geschied? En de tekst zegt, dat zij `vrijgemaakt  zijn. te wonen. Die Geest wederbaarde en bekeerde hen en
      door de Wet des Geestes des- levens in Christus Jezus: stortte bet geloof in hen. En door de-werking van dien
      Daar hebt ge Uw antwoord. Wat het beteekenenmag?               Gee& .en door het Woord van God- dat door dien Geest
      Het beteekent dit: De Geest bier is'de Geest van den           toegepast wordt, dooden die menschen hunne leden  die
      DrieEenigen God. Als zoodanig  is'.het de Geest  de*           op de aarde zijn. Wat dan? Dit yolk wand&naar den
      levens van God. Het leven waar hier sprake van is is           Geest. Dat. wil zeggen, ze wandelen overeenkomstig-
      bet leven Gods, Zijn eeuwig  verbondsleven.  Maar  er          dien Geest van Christus. Ze-bed&ken wat des Gee&es
      is meer. Het is de Geest van dat verbondsleven zooals          is, wat ,Godes is, en wat -daarom  welluidt. En als ge nu,
      die Geest aan Christus -Jezus is geschonken en waar-           ter eener zijde, meer wilt  weten van  -bet- wandelen
      dqor Hij Zichzelven den Vader-opgeofferd heeft. Leest          naar `t vleesch, leest dan Gal.. 5 : 19-21; en -wilt ge meer
      het maar in Heb. 9 :14. Dat is een van de depste teksten       weten van het wandelen naar den Gee&, leest dan CGal;
      in `Gods  Woord; En die tekst is zekerlijk verbonden           5 :22. ,Crn kort te gaan : het wandelen naar het vleesch
      aan de waarheid die hier ons.geleerd'wordt.  Let er op,        is-de he1 op aarde ; maar- het wandelen naar den Geest
      dat deze gelukkige menschen vrijgemaakt worden  door           is de hemel  op aarde. En daartoe worden we als Chris-,
      den Geest bdes levens  in. Christus. Jezus. Er. was dan- tenen ook geroepen. Betracht- ge dat?-                    .'           .-.
                                                                                            . :                                 ._
      ook geen and&e weg. Zelf zouden ze het no&t kunnen                   Geve de Heere U' en mij genade `qm het leven der
      doen. Het neemt de eeuwige almachtige kracht van               liefde `Gods in Christus Jezus te leven hier op aarde.
      den God .des levens om menschen te zaligen, en dat-            Tot Zijn.eeuwigen  prijs en lof.
      wordt hier geleerd. We worden  vrijgemaakt van zonde                        .                                 ,G. Vos.
      en dood door den Heilige Geest die  Christus  gener-'                      `I-'  _
      eerde,  bewaarde, en waardoor- Jezus .Zich den Vader
     offerde  als het onstraffelijk Lam, dat de zonde  der                                         @&mu
      wereld wegdraagt. En let-er nu op, .dat dit ook een
                             .


.              -             -


