    VOLUME  XXX111                            MARCH 15,  1957-GRAND   RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                 NUMBER 12

                                                                     ty. He is the King of the Jews indeed, that is, the praisers
          M E D  i T A T I 0. N                                      of God, but His kingship and Kingdom are both heavenly
                                                                     and glorious.
                JESUS BEFORE PILATE                                     It is also true that Jesus perverted the-nation, only He
                                                                     did so from evil to good, while they ave; before Pilate that
            "And the whole nlultitude of them arose, and led He brought the nation to i-uin by teaching them evil things.
            Him unto Pilate." Luke 23 :l                                And, yes, He forbade to give tribute to Ceasar, that is,          '
   We would like to point you to three moments in the text :         undue tribute. And there was nothing  evil in that. And
first, we will see the behaviour of the accusers, the Jews;          finally, it was the simple truth thit Jesus indeed is the Son
then, the behaviour of Pilate  ; and, finally, the world's con-      of the living -God. He did not W&W Himself Son of God, it is
demnation in the sentence expressed.                                 His glorious name from everlasting to everlasting.
   First, then, the behaviour and attitude of the Jews whp              As to the general'claim  that Jesus was a malefactor, we
condemned Jesus. Yes, it seems strange to us that Jesus ever         would say that His whole life testified to the contrary of that
would come in the seat of the accused, but such is the case.         foul accusation. He went through the whole land doing
Pilate approached the howling multitude that brought Jesus           good ; both Pilate and Herod see His innocence at once, and
to him and asked: What. accusation bring' ye against this            three times Pilate tells the multitude : I find no fault in Him !
man  ? This blunt question puts the Jews on the defensive.           Is that man a malefactor?
And their answer is a mockery: If he were not a malefactor,             But the most terrible thing in this accusation is this:
we would not have delivered Him up to you ! As though the            through it the Jews and their rulers utterly abandon their
mere fact that they brought Him to Pilate would establisll           King, their real Sovereign, their God ! God had promised that:
guilt. They show at once in their first utterance to Pilate          the Messiah would come to crush the head of the serpent and
their utter contempt for things righteous.                           to deliver them from all evil and to crbwn  them with all tha.t
   Of course, they notice that their bombastic statement did         is good and wonderful. And when He came they drag Him
not make any impression on the judge and therefore, they             to the Roman worldpower which is not so utterly corrupted
proceed to accuse Him. Accusation one : He perverts the na-          as the leaders of the Jews : He would release Jesus, but they
tion  ; number two : He forbids the people to give tribute to        would not. He shall be crucified! It shows the depth of
Caesar ; and, three, He makes Himself some sort of -King !           human degradation ! It reveals that the hkart of man hates
                                                                     God and  His  Son !
And finally they even come to the world with the claim of
Jesus that He is the Son of God. But even in the form of                                       * * :k  *
the accusation they reveal their utter unbelief In this fantastic
claim: He makes Himself the Son of God !                                Now let us see the behaviour of Pilate.
                                                                        First of all, we may expect of him the strictest justice.
   Notice first of all that these'accusations are a mixture of       The Roman concept of law and righteousness was great.
truth and the lie and are therefore very deceitful. Christ
certainly spoke the truth when He made Himself King. He                 Moreover, he is a judge,  arid a judge must above all love
is the King of the Jews, rightly considered. But here is the         justice and right. And for that reason he must gather all
point: the Jews cunningly averred that Jesus made Hims$              the information he can, in order that he may know how to
an earthly King, a competitor to the  other  kings and rulers        free the innocent and condemn the guilty.
of the earth, while all that ever heard Jesus would have to             Therefore, Pilate ought to be moved only and exclusively          .
admit that Jesus never aspired to earthly rule and sovereign-        by the sole question: is this Man guilty or innocent. He is


2                6      6                        THti  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

     called to judge, and therefore he really stood in the place of     shall visit all this show of wickedness in the day of Judgment.
     God in this instance, even as every judge throughout all           But before God's own judgment Jesus must take the place of
     history.                                                           the guilty and He must and He is condemned and must wall<
        We may even go a step further: every judgment here              the way of the Cross.
     on earth ought to be so strict and true and righteous that we          Unspeakable sufferings of th? Son of God !
     would have a shadow of the great Judgment Day to come
     in the end of the world.
        But what a miserable show of j;d@llent we behold at the
     trial of Jesus ! This weak man did not consider the quesiton           But this spectacle is also the world's condemnation.
     of justice at all. If he,had, he would have pronounced Jesus
     innocent and would have given commandment to the guard                 As far as the world is `concerned, this is not the trial of
     to clear the court of the howling mob of the real malefactors.     Jesus !
        But Pilate would be rid of Jesus. He wants to evade the             Heaven, earth and hell proclaim His innocence! There is
     whole procedure. This becomes plain, first, by his suggestion      the voice from heaven at His baptism: He is the beloved
     that the Jews take Him and judge Him according to their            Son of God. Alsq from heaven came the angels at His birth
     own law. But the Jews refuse to do that. They have not             in order to tell men that He is the joy of the angelic hosts.
     the right of pronouncing and executing the death sentence,         There is also the record of His life an earth: He went
     and Jesus must die! And, second, we see how Pilate evades          through <the land doing good. He healed the sick, gave bread
     the issue by proposing  i choice between Jesus and Bar-abbas !     to the hungry, raised the dead, made the heart of the widow
     Surely, he thought, they will not choose a murderer in the         and orphan sing for joy! The enemies admitted in spite of
     face of this majestic m& ! They will choose Jesus and I will       themselves that Jesus was innocent. Why would they other-
     be rid of this thorny predicament ! But here he also fails, for    wise seek for false witnesses ? Then there is the thrice re-
     they do the a`wful thing: they choose a murderer rather than       peated testimony of the judge himself: I find no fault in this
     the Prince of Life ! Third, he tries to evade the issue by         man. But most striking of all: hell itself will bear testimony.
     sending Jesus to Herod.  Surely Herod will treat this case ) When Judas came to himself and saw what he had done,
     and I will be rid of it. But Herod sends Him back and Pilate       he wailed: I have shed the iuznocent  blood! Certainly, this
     is no nearer to a solution of this problem. And, finally, he       was not the trial of Jesus !
     tries to evade the issue by repeatedly proposing to release            No, but the world was on trial! If this so-called trial
     Jesus, and as a sop to their hatred of Jesus he scourges Him,      emphasized anyt.hing at all it was the innocence of Jesus. But
     contrary to all righteousness.                                     the world was on trial ; there can-be no doubt about it.
        Can you imagine the suffering of Jesus, the Son of God             And also the world  at its best. The very wisdom of
     in human nature as He stands in the midst  df all this corrup-     Greece, absorbed by the Roman worldpower, was present
     tion, hatred, torturing `of justice and seeking of wicked self     here. And this wisdom of the world such as it never shone
     rather than the seeking of God and His virtues ?                   either before or after this trial, so-called, was linked with
        The nation that rejects Him harbors His elect children,         the Roman concept of law. Moreover, we also find here the
     even though they bear the very name of one of the children         world's religion. We behold before this tribunal the very
     of God. They are called'Israe1,  but they act like the heathen,    flower of the Israelitish nation. However, make no mistake :
     nay worse than the heathen. The heathen Pilate would re-           this nation has deteriorated: they are legalistic, selfrighteous
     lease Him, for the m&n knew that He was innocent. But              and hypocritical. Yes, they refuse to enter the judginent  hall
     they, although  they have the Word of God and in it a descrip.-    on this holy day and piously step backward: they shall not
     tion of the Messiah who was to come, they clamour  and cry         be corrupted by contact with these heathen abominations.
     until they have their wish : Jesus must be crucified !             Yes, but all this time they are crucifying the Christ of God !

         Moreover, He loves justice and righteousness and these             And this world which really is on trial before and with
     virtues are degraded before His face. His very name is the         Pilate proves its own corruption. They have taken the
     Lord our Righteousness, but it is His torture to stand in the      most wonderful revelation of God and deem it worthy to be
     midst of those that pervert truth and equity.                      cast out and crucified. God has never shown His goodness
        Then too, He realizes at &is dreadful hour that although        and wonders such as when He sent Jesus to this earth. Do
     He is innocent and  just, He is nevertheless condemned, for        you not see that the question :, what shall I do and think of
     He came in order to take upon Himself the guilt of all His         this Jesus determines your own state ? It shall tell the whole
     sheep. Innocently condemned, and such that even the Triune         earth and heaven what and who you are. Love Him, cling to
     God made Him to stand in the place of the guilty, such is          Him, believe Him and worship Him, and you show that you
     the suffering of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Oh, God certainly         ,are one of God's children. Despise Him,. lie about Him,


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                         267

torture Him and cast Him out to be crucified and you prove
that you are utterly abominable.                                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   8EARER
   And that is' what the world did.. Pilate,  Herod, the                Semi-monthly, except  month.ly   &wing   Jun-e, July  awl  August
Scribes and Pharisees with the howling mob were on trial for                Published by the  REFORMED  FREE PUBLISHING  ASSXIATION
their lives, for their lives as they shall spend it in hell for-         P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
ever and ever.                                                                                Editor-  REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA  '
                                                                         Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
   And they have conclusively proven before the bar of                  .H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
God's justice and even before the bar of the world that reads.          All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
the record of the so-called trial that they are utterly corrupt          G. Pipe, 1463.  Ardtiore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
and abominable ; that Jesus is innocent but that the world              Announcements and Obituaries musIt be mailed to `the above
                                                                        address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
stands condenmed. Casting out righteousness itself, they are            RENEWALS:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
proven to be unrighteous.                                               ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes  &he subscription
                                                                        to continue  svithout the  formal& of a renewal order.
   And all .this happened according to the adorable wisdom
of God. The Son of God, the Saviour of His people is un-                                        S&scrip+ price: $4.00 per year
justly condemned, so that the number of elect might be                  E+ttared  as  Seco&  Class matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan
acquitted before the judgment seat of God in the day of days.
                                                            G.V.

                                                    ,'                           .-                       CO'NTENTS

                     Announcement                                   MEDITATION  -
   Classis East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will                     Jesus  Befotre Pilate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
                                                                                       Rev. G. Vos
meet on Wednesday, April 3, at 9 A. M., in the Hudsonville
Prot. Ref. Church. Will all consistories resorting in Classis       E D I T O R I A L S   -
East kindly take note.                                                       The Free Offer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..1................i.268
                                    M. Schipper, Stated Clerk                          Rev. H. Hoeksema

                                                                    QUESTION  Box . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . .I. .269
                                                                                       Rev. H. Hoeksema
                  THE CROSS OF CALVARY                              THE MULTIFORMITY 0~ THE CHURCH.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271
           My God, My God, I cry to Thee ;                                             Rev. H. Hanko
           0 why hast Thou forsaken Me ?                            FROM HOLY WRIT-
           Afar from Me, Thou dost not heed,                                 Exposition of I Corinthians 12-14 (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .277
           Though day and -night for help I plead.             I                       Rev.  `G. Lubbers
           But Thou art holy in Thy ways,                           IN HIS  FEAR -
           Enthroned upon Thy people's praise ;                              Respect and Obedience (5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279
           Our fathers put their trust in Thee,                                        Rev. J. A. Heys
           Believed, and Thou didst set them free.                  COZWENDING   FOR THE FAITH -
           Thy cried, and, trusting in Thy N&e,                              The Church and the Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281
           Were saved, and were not put to shame;                                      Rev. H. Veldman
           ;But in the dust My'honor.  lies,                        THE  VOICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS-
           While all reproach and all despise.                               The  Expo'sition of the Canons of Dordreoht  . . . . . . . . . . . . .283
                                                                                       Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
           My words a cause for scorn they make,
           The lip they curl, the head they shake,                  DECENCY AND  ORDER-
           And, mocking, bid Me trust the Lord                               The Church and the State (Cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..285
                                                                                       Rev. G.  Vtiden Berg
           Till He salvation shall afford.
           I live and will declare Thy fame                         ALL  ARUUND  Us-
                                                                             Doctrinal Sensitivity.. . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .287
           Where brethren gather in Thy Name ;                                         Rev. M. Schipper
           Where all Thy faithful people meet,
           I will Thy `worthy praise repeat.         -
                                                Psalm 22 :l-4, 1


 265                                           T.HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                       powerful operation of God in Christ, through the `Holy
               EDl.TORIALS                                             Spirit, that men receive the faith and are saved. Butj in the
                                                                       above paragraph, this powerful operation of the grace of
                                                                       God is not even mentioned ; in fact, it has no place in it.
                          The Free Offer                               God, so the paragraph states, motivated by a sincere desire
    The last time we were discussing the fact that the authors         to save  $1 men, and filled with lovingkindness for all is
 of "The Free Offer" postulate a real desire in God to save            "contemplating the blessed result to be achieved by com-
, all those to whom the "Free Offer" of salvation is brought           pliance with the overture proffered and the invitation given."
 or proclaimed.  we compared this theory with the West-                   What does this mean in connection with the entire para-
 minster Confession and discovered that Murray and  Stone-             graph ?
 house certainly do not believe but corrupt their own con-                It is evident that, in the paragraph the. ter& "contem-
 fession to which, nevertheless they subscribe.                        plate" means to consider something as probable and con-
        However, we must say still more about the paragraph            tingent on something else, to look forward to `as a possi-
 in their "Free Offer of the Gospel" we were discussing in             bility. That which God thus looks forward to is !`the blessed
 the last number of our paper. For the convenience of our              result to be' achieved by compliance with the overture prof-
 readers, we quote this paragraph here once more:                      fered and the invitation given."
        "Again,  the expression `God desires' in the formula that         What results does God thus contemplate ? Is it the sal-
 crystallizes the crux of the question, is intended to notify-         vation of the elect? No; election has no place at all in the
 not at all the `seeming' attitude of God but a real attitude,         above paragraph. God is filled with lovingkindness to all in
 a real disposition of lovingkindness inherent. in the free offer      proffering the overture and in giving the invitation. Hence,
 to all,. in other words, a pleasure or delight in God, con-           he contemplates the possible result that all that hear may
 templating the blessed result to be achieved by compliance            comply with the overture of the gospel.
 with the overture proffered and .the invitation given." .                If words mean anything at all, they mean exactly this in
        It is especially to the last words of this paragraph that      connection with the entire paragraph. Moreover, this is
 we now wish- to call special  attention.                              exactly  the meaning they are intended to convey.
        Notice :                                                          Now, apart.from the fact that God cannot "contemplate"
        1. The gospel is an overture to all men, i.e. a proposition    such a possibility and that, in fact, He cannot and does not
 presented to all that hear the gospel for their consideration,        "contemplate" any possibility at all because He knows and
 either for their acceptance or rejection.                             determined all things  from before the foundation of the world,
        2. The gospel is an invitation given to all men with the       this is Pelagianism and Arminianism of the worst kind.
 sincere desire on the part of God,, that all may accept and              On what is compliance with the proffered overture, or
 comply with the invitation.                                           the possibility of accepting the invitation given, based ? Cer-
    3. In that overture ,proffered  and that invitation given,         tainly not on the sovereign grace of `God. Then the contem-
 God expresses His pleasure or delight as He contemplates              plated result is certain. Then the invitation cannot be given
 the blessed result to be achieved by compliance with the              in lovingkindness to all. Then the proffered gospel .is. no.
 overture or invitation.                                               proof of "a real attitude or disposition of lovingkindness in
        This is what professors Murray and Stonehouse teach            the free offer to all." But it is based on the theory that
 at the seminary of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.                  God wills that all men be saved on condition that they, on
        Is it wonder that one never hears a Reformed sermon            their part and by their, own free will, comply with the gospel
 from those that graduate from that Seminary ?                         invitation and the proffered overture.
        For this is sheer Arminianism.                                    Once more, I maintain that, if words have any meaning,
        In fact, the "Five Arniinian Articles of 1610," although       the above is the only significance that can be given to the
 principally in agreement with the above quoted paragraph,             paragraph we quoted and are discussing at present. This is
 express themselves much more carefully.                               the meaning these words must' convey to any reader. And
    They, indeed, confess an election on the ground of  fore-          this is the meaning the `professors Murray and Stonehouse
 `seen faith, but they also definitely express that "God, by an        intend them to convey to the readers.
 eternal, unchangeable purpose in Jesus Christ His Son, be-               Reformed theologians and the Reformed Churches do not
 fore the foundation of the world, hath determined out of the          speak of a proffered overture or of an invitation given, but
 fallen, sinful race of men, to save in Christ, for Christ's           of the calling. It is true that, in the English translation of
 sake, and through Christ, those who, through the grace of             the Canons of Dordrecht, the term  "irivitation" once occurs,
 the Holy Ghost, shall believe on His Son Jesus, and shall             viz., in III, IV, 8, but even this is a corruption of the text.
 persevere in this faith  and obedience of faith, through this         In the English translation, one reads: "for God hath most
 grace, even unto the end"                                             earnestly and truly declared in his Word what will be ac-
        Here, at least, it is, apparently, all attributed to the       ceptable to him, that all who are called should comply with


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               2 6 9

the invitation." But in the original Latin, and also in the           pel that His wrath is upon every sinner that does not re-
Holland translation we read : "Serio enim et verissime osten-         pent and that, unless he repents, he will be sent unto eternal
dit Deus verbo suo, quid sibi gratum sit, nimirum, ut vocati          desolation in hell.
ad se veniant." The last part of this sentence does not, as               Such among other truths is the contents of the preaching
it is translated in our English version, read: "That all whom         of the gospel. I say among other things, for the preaching
are called should comply with the invitation" but: "that the          of the gospel also shows the only way out: faith in Jesus
called should come unto him."                                         Christ. If the sinner does not repent while he learns about
   For the rest, in the Reformed Churches, they usually               the only way out, it means that he must have nothing of
do not speak of the invitation, but of the calling, whihh is in       God and His Christ, that he emphatically loves his sin and
harmony with the Scripture. This calling is distinguished             corruption, and that his condemnation is made the heavier
as outward and inward calling: The former is the preaching            and that, too, according to the justice of God.
of the gospel and comes to all that hear. The latter, the                 This is the so-called external calling, which comes to all,
inward calling, is God's own calling, the irresistible and sav-       elect and reprobate alike.
5ng calling that  comes, through the Holy Spirit, only to                 But there is also an inward calling. This inward calling
the elect.                                                            is powerful and efficacious.
   This the professors Murray and Stonehouse -know  just                  This calling is described in our confession, Canons III,
as well as I do, but all this they ignore and deny in their           IV, 10: "But that others who are called by the gospel obey
pamphlet "The Free offer," in order to replace it by a. gen-          the call and are converted, is not to be ascribed to the' proper
eral overture and invitation to all without exception and that,       exercise of free-will, whereby one distinguishes himself
too, as a revelation of the general lovingkindness of God.            above others equally furnished with faith sufficient for faith
                          *  *  * *                                   and conversibn  `(as the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains) ;
   `But I must still call attention to the last paragraph of          but it must be wholly ascribed to God, who as he has chosen
the introduction to the "Free Offer."                                 his own from eternity ip Christ, so he calls them effectually
                                                                      in time, confers upon them faith and repentance, rescues
   I quote it here:                                                   them from the power of darkness, and translates them into
    "Still further, it is necessary t6 point out that such `de-       the kingdom of his own Son, that they may show forth the
sire' ,on the part of God for the salvation of all must never         praises of him that called them out of darkness into his mar-
be conceived of as a desire to' such an end apart from the            vellous light; and may glory not in themselves but in the
means to that cad. It is not desire of their salvation irre-          Lord, according to the testimony of the apostles in`various
spective of repentance and faith. Such would be inconceiv-            places."
able. For it would mean, as Calvin says, `to renounce the                 More about this in our next issue, D. V.
difference between good and evil.' If it is proper to say that                                                                  H.H.
God desires-the salvation of the reprobate, then He desires
such by their repentance. And so it amounts to the same
thing- to say `God -desires  their salvation' as to say He desires
their repentance.' This is the same as saying that he desires
them to comply with the indispensable conditions of salva-                                   QUESTION BOX
tion. It would be impossible to say the one without implying              The second question by. the Rev. E. E. of R., Wis., reads
the other."                                                           as follows :
   The crux of the matter  in the above paragraph must be                 "Does this truth above militate against the fact that,
found in the term "desire." God desires the salvation of the          while the experience and witness of Pharaoh's heart will
reprobate and He desires their. repentance. It is, according          be that he go&s to hell because he has sinned against God,
to the writers of this pamphlet perfectly proper to say that          the  deepest rearon for his punishment and condemnation is
God desires the salvation of the reprobate if only it is added        to be explained by the fact that this decree of Reprobation.
that He also desires the repentance of the reprobate.                 has its soztrce in God and in His good pleaswe?"
    Note the idea is not that God calls all men to repentance             Also to this question he adds a word of explanation as
in the preaching of the gospel. This is perfectly proper and          follows :
Scriptural, provided that by calling is meant the outward                 "Is this not also true of Election? Mercy  XXX always
call, apart from the efficacious calling unto salvation by the        for the people of God-before they did any good. But the
Holy  Spirit.  To be sure, that outward call, through the             mercy reveals itself in this life and walk of the child of God,
preaching of the gospel, comes ko all, and is also a calling td       i.e. through appointed means. In this way, God takes His
repentance. God cannot permit any man to walk in sin and              people to heaven, rewards their good works by giving them           '
rebellion against Him. He is -holy and .righteous and just.           eternal life, the reward of grace. However, notwithstanding
Hence, He proclaims, especially in the preaching of the gos-          the above, is not the DEEPEST REASON of Eternal Life


 2     7    0                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

Election w'nich is revealed and manifested in J&us Christ                 In the question, the brother suggests the possibility:
and in the Cross ?"                                                       a. That, on the one hand, subjectively, that is, for the
      I will try to answer this question as follows:                  consciousness of the sinner, he is condemned and goes to hell
      1. I said, in answer to the first question, that we must        because he sinned against God.
not say that God punishes the sinner in the way of sin, but               b. That, however, the real and objective. "the deepest
surely on account of and because of his sin. Otherwise you            reason," is not the sin against God which the sinner com-
are in danger of losing the truth of the responsibility of man.       mits, but the decree of reprobation, the fact that this .decree
Reprobation is surely sovereign: God did not reprobate                has its source in God and in His good pleasure.
 some on account of their sin (which is the Arminian error)               Now, of course, the deepest reason -for all things in
but sovereignly. And we may also say that God sovereignly             heaven and on earth lies in the sovereign counsel of God.
realizes His decree of reprobation. But He does this through          In that counsel of God lies the salvation of the elect and
the sin and willful disobedience of the reprobate. And the            the damnation of the reprobate. About this there is no ques-
sinner is condemned and punished not for his being a repro-           tion. But the qukstion is not whether the damnation of the
bate, but for his sin and rebellion against God.                      reprobate is sovereignly decreed by God, but whether the
      2. This is also revealed in the cross of Christ. The            punishment and condemnation of the sinner is, not only
brother writes : "In this way, God takes His peo$e to heaven,         subjectively, before the consciousness of the sinner, but also
rewards their good works by giving them eternal life, the             objectively, before God, and according to His righteous
reward of grace. However, notwithstanding the. above, is              judgment, a fact that is based on His sentence of strictest
not the  DEEP&T REASON of eternal life Election which                 justice.
is revealed and manifested in Jesus Christ and the Cross ?"            I To put it very succinctly, may we ever say to any sinner :
I do not know whether' I understand the question. Hence,              `You think or imagine that you are condemned and go to
rather than risking the danger of giving a wrong answer,              hell, if you do not repent, but this is not true  ; the real reason
I will briefly draw the line and let the brother draw his own         why you go to hell is that God has from eternity, even apart
conclusions.                                                          from your sin; consigned you to eternal desolation"?
      This line must be drawn as follows:                                 No one would ever dare to say this.
      God's election is absolutely sovereign. He chose His              Nor would this be the tiuth.            ..'
own from before the foundation of the world. He chose them                The truth is : a. God sovereignly decreed reprobation.
in Christ and unto eternal life. He chose them, not because           This is plain from Paul's reference, in Rom. 9, to the exam-
of foreseen faith or because of any good work foreseen of             ple of Jacob and Esau: before the children were born or had
the elect by God in His counsel, but solely in His sovereign          done good and evil, God loved Jacob and hated Esau. b.
good pleasure. The .elect (and that is, no doubt, also accord-        According to God's decree, man' fell and plunged himself
ing to the counsel of Godj fall with the whole human race             into the mire of sin an iniquity. This was not God's act but
into sin, and are, therefore, with the entire race objects of         man's. It was willful disobedience. God is not the author
wrath and eternal condemnation. But the elect are chosen              of sin though He sovereignly controls it. c. For this God is
in Christ, and God realizes His counsel of election in  .Him.         filled with wrath over all the workers of iniquity and pun-
Hence, it the fulness of time He comes, dies on the cross,            ishes them' with eternal desolation. d. That this is true, not
and fulfills all obedience instead of and in behalf of the            for the elect, but for the reprobate only, is due to the fact
elect. He, and not the elect themselves, merits eternal life,         that God chose the former in Christ.
for them. He receives the Spirit and, through that Spirit he              This is the truth of all Scripture. But it is also the tes-
makes them partakers of eternal life and all the blessings of         timony of the cross. If it were true that it is only before the
salvation. He gives them the new' life, faith, justification,         consciousness of the sinner that God is filled with wrath
sanctification and the grace of `perseverance `unto the end.          and condemns him on account of his sin, and that this is not:
Thus, and thus-only, they walk in good  works. It'is all a            objective reality, then the experience of Christ on the ac-
gift of grace to them, even their good works and the fact             cursed tree had no objective reality either. But that suf-
that _ they walk in them : it is not of themselves but it is          fering was, neverthkless,  very real. The wrath of God Up011
the gift of grace. Not of works, lest any man should boast.           Him, which He bore His entire life but especially on the
-Hence,  it is not true that they receive eternal.life as a reward    cross, not for His own sin but for the sin of His people, was
for their good works. They have eternal life only for the             also very real. God, in His wrath and for the just punish-
sake of the merits of Jesus Christ and by the power of His            ment of those whom the Father had given Him, sent Him
grace.                                                                to hell. And when He finally cried out: "My God, my
      This is the Reformed line and the line of Scripture as far      God, why hast Thou forsaken me," this being forsaken of
as election and its realization is concerned.                         God was no imagination or a mere matter of His subjective
      3. But how about reprobation and the punishment of sin          consciousness, but was objective reality.
and its condemnation is concerned ?                                                                                               ,H.H.

                                                                                                         -


                                              T H E   STANDAR'D   B E A R E R `                                                        2?l

     THE MULTIFORMITY OF THE CHURCH                                     receives to serve the cause of Jesus Christ in his own
                                                                        peculiar way. And when the Church is perfected in heaven,
                           (Concluded)                                  these gifts will continue to serve the fulness of the body of
    The Church does assume different forms from the point of            Christ.
view of liturgy, the members that compose it, and especially               There is secondly, the diversity of spiritual gifts. This
from the point of view of the fa6t tllat the Church grows in            undoubtedly includes the gifts that are mentioned by Paul
the knowledge of the Scriptures. Yet we must' remember                  in 1 Corinthians 12. The gifts of prophecy, the gifts of speak-
that that is not the Scriptural idea of multiformity. It speaks         ing in other tongues, the gifts of miracles are included; but
always of the Church in this connection as a unity- which is            also the gifts of grace, of the Holy Spirit, of insight into the
gathered from the beginnin,m to the end of time. And thus               truth of the Scriptures. And in these gifts also there is a
the multiformity of the Church speaks not of the various                wide diversity among the various members of the Church
forms that the Church as a whole assumes at different times,            of Jesus  Christ.
for that is not and cannot be true, but rather of the diversity            There is finally the diversity of the meastire  of gifts. One '
of the various members that compose that Church. There is               receives more than another of all these gifts. Some may not:
a manyformedness of members; there is a many sideness of                !have them at all ; others may have an-abundance of them. The
the saints that compose the. membership of the body of Christ.          gifts of prophecy and speaking in other tongues are not even
This is fundamental, for from this diversity of membership              present in the Church today any longer. But as each person
flows   the diversity of the manifestation of the Church in             jn his bwn relationship to Christ receives these gifts in time,
history. Of this we must speak later.                                   he is prepared by these gifts and the exercise of them for
    The multiformity of the Church means therefore, the                 his,place in Christ's body, that with them he may occupy that
diversity of the members that compose that Church. This -,place and serve in his otin way the functioning of the whole
diversity can be distinguished as a diversity resulting from            organism. Because one member has the gifts that he has and
the two attributes of the Church which we mentiqned  above.             not others, he can only occupy one particular place in the
There is therefore the diversity and multiformity in the                body of Christ and no other place will he fit into. No two'
Church because the Church is catholic. This diversity is                places are. alike ; no, two members are alike. Each has his
especially outward. It includes differences in outward ap-              own place, according to the way he has been prepared for
pearance, differences of personality and character. These               that place in the world. And because the Church is the ob-
differences are as to physical and psychological make up.               ject of God's sovereign election, therefore the place and the
And undoubtedly the diversity of physical and physchological            individual to fit info that  piace  are prepared by God eternally,
make-up shall be retained in heaven. Now it is true that!               ,so that there can never be a misfit. This view has been
this diversity exists also in every man without taking into             developed especially by Rev. Hoeksema who speaks of this
account the fact that the Church `is catholic. And yet it can           multiformity thus : "However there is, in the body of Christ,
be said that this diversity exists to a more fundamental de-            an endless diversity of individual members, and because of
gree in the various races. There are, e.g., the orientals that          this multiformity of the members they are interdependent,
both physically and  psycholog!cally  differ from the Negroid           they supplement one another, they are in need of one an-
races. There is the physical and psychological  differeticer            other, and they constitute a real cowwmtwion of saints."g  Then
between a Jew and a Teuton. These fundamental differences               after a treatment of the various diversities as found in the
that were effected in the human race at Babel are carried               unity of the body of Christ, he goes, on tot say, "This true
over into the Church which is above where it becomes part               multiformity of the members in the one body is, in our opinion,
of the multiformity of the Church.                                      the sole multiformity of the Church we have a right to speak
   There is then in the second place a diversity and multi-             of in the light of Holy  Scripture."lO
formity in the Church because it is an organism, living and                However it is important to note in this connection that:
unified in Jesus Christ. This diversity is especially of  th,ree        not only is that diversity a fact, but it is also absolutely neces-
kinds.                                                                  sary for a proper functioning of the entire organism, for a
   There is first of all the diversity of natural gifts. We put         proper life of the organism, i.e., for a real communion of
this -under the diversity that  iesults from the fact that the          saints . Think of what it would mean-  if all the saints were
Church is united to Christ for a good reason. For the in-               identical in every respect. They would all look just exactly
dividual member of the Church receives natural gifts to fit             alike  ; they would all have the same thoughts, the same
him for his peculiar place in the body of Christ. The natural           desires, the same emotions at exactly the same time ; they
gifts  which the individual member of the Church may have               would all do the same things at the same time. Thus there
include such gifts as the gift of speech, the gifts of intelligence,    could be no real organism, no real fellowship of the saints, no
the gift of reasoning, the gifts that may fit one to be a min-          real purpose of the whole unified body of Christ. But in the
ister of the gospel, the gifts that may fit another to be a             diversity of the saints, in the multiformity lies the possibility
teacher  or laborer in the factory or shop. These gifts he' and reality of the life of the organism. The unity of the


   `272                                       ;THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

   Church "Is also characterized, however, by diversity. If it:         member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not;
   were not so, if all the saints were absolutely identical, there      the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the
   would be no body, no fellowship . . . . The members of my            body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye,
   body all partake of the same life, and they are all controlled       I am not of the body.; is it therefore not of the body? If the
   by the same mind and will. But they are not all alike. If            whole body were an eye, where were the hearing ? If the
   they were, each would be complete and self sufficient. Now           whole were hearing, where were the smelling ? But now hath
   they have no significance in themselves. They exist only             God set the members every one of them in the body, as it
   in union with the whole and to serve the whole. Each mem-            hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where
   ber has its own peculiar virtue, place, and function in the          were the body? But now are they many members, yet but
   body. It is exactly because of this diversity in their unity         one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no
   that together they constitute the organic whole of the body . . .    need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need
   The same is true of the Church. Her members are all one              of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which
   in Christ .  - . Yet, there is among them an endless variety         seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members
   of individual diversity."il                                          of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
       Thus the Church is `not composed of members that ,are            And those members of the body,, which we think to be less.
   as alike as the cars from an assembly line, nor as a set of          honourable,  upon these we bestow more abundant honour  ;
   books on the shelf of a library, but they differ as the needles      and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For
   and branches of the lofty pine. Just as `there are no two nee-       our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the
   dles alike, nor two branches alike, so that they may compose         body  together,`.having given more abundant honour to that
   a harmonious functioning whole, so also is the body of Christ.       part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the
   Just as there is one -rainbow in the heavens, that is the re-        body but that the members should have the same care one
   fraction in the drops of rain of the glorious light beams of         for another. And whether one member suffer, all the mem-
   the sun, yet is composed of a variety of colors, so also the         bers suffer with it ; or one member be honoured, all the mem-
   Church assembled before the throne reflects and refracts the         ;bers rejoice with it.Now ye are the body of Christ, and
   glory of the Son of God to the praise of the Father in a             members in particular. And God hath set some in the
   multitudinous way. Just as in a choir there are no two voices        church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers,
   alike, yet under the baton of the conductor they blend- in           after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments,
   perfect harmony to produce one swelling note; so also the            diversities of tongues. Are all apostles ? are all prophets ?
   assembly of the saints, one in Christ, lift their individual and     are all teachers ? are all workers of miracles ? Have all the
   different voices in the one grand and harmonious oratorio of         gifts of healing ? do all speak with tongues ? do all interpret?
   Moses and the Lamb. In diversity lies communion, in multi-           But covet earnestly the best gifts : and yet shew I unto
   plicity lies the beauty of. the body of our Lord.                    you a more  escellent  way." This is also the teaching of
      This also is the teaching of Scripture in I Corinthians 12.       Christ in the parable of the talents.
   On this chapter especially is based the whole doctrine of               We must now treat the question of the manifestation
   multiformity. We read there, "Now concerning spiritual               of, that Church in its multifo,rmity  in time. The Church is
   gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant . . . Now             manifested in time and is manifested in its diversity.
there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And                   The first question that confronts us is, "How may we
   there are differences of  idministrations,  but the same Lord.       know where that true Church is ?" This question our creeds
   And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same          also treat. In the French Confession of Faith we read in
   God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the           Article XXVII and the first part of Article XXVIII, "Nev-
   Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is         ertheless we believe that it is important to discern with care
   given by the Spirit the word of wisdom ; to another the word         and prudence .which is the true Church, for this title has
   of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the             been much abused. We say, then, -according to the Word of
   same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same             God, that it is the company of the faithful who agree to fol-
   Spirit; To another the working of miracles  ; to another             low his Word, and the pure religion which it teaches ; who
   prophecy ; to another discerning of spirits ; to another divers      advance in it all their lives, growing and becoming more
   kinds of tongues ; to another the interpretation of tongues :        confirmed in the fear of God according as they feel the wanh
   But all these worketh that one and the self same Spirit, divid-      of growing and pressing onward. Even although they strive
   ing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one,       continually, they can have no hope save in the! remission of
   and hath many members, and all the members of that one               their sins. Nevertheless we do not deny that among the
   body, being many, are one body: so also `is Christ. For by           faithful there may be hypocrites and reprobates, but their
   one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether .we be         wickedness can not destroy the title of the Church.
   Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free  ; and have been           "In this belief we declare that, properly speaking, there
  -all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one           can be no Church where the Word of God is not received,


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 273

  no profession.made  of subjection to it, nor use of the sacra-         Neither' does she administer the Sacraments, as appointed
  merits."""" In the Scotch Conf&si?n, Article XVIII this sub-           by Christ in his Word, but adds to and takes from them as
  ject is also treated. ". . . It is ane thing maist requisite, that     she thinks proper; she relieth more up& men than upon
  the true Kirk be decerned fra the filthie Synagogues, be cleare        Christ  ; and persecutes those who live holily according to
  and perfite notes, least we being deceived, receive and  im-           the Word of God, and rebuke her for her errors, covetous-
  brace, to our awin  condemnatioun,  the ane for the uther . . .        ness, and idolatry. These two Churches are easily known and
  The notes therefore of the trew Kii-k of God we beleeve, con-          distinguished from each other."14
  fesse, and'avow to be, first, the trew preaching of the Worde              Thus the true Church is known'by three distinguishing
  of God, into the quihilk God hes revealed himselfe unto                marks : 1) the pure preaching of the Word ; 2) the pure and
  us, . . . Secundly, the right administration of the Sacraments         proper administration of the sacraments; 3) the exercise of
  of Christ Jesus, quhilk man be annexed unto the word and               Christian discipline. And yet these three are essentially one.
  promise of God, to seale and confirme the same in our hearts.          For both the sacraments. and Christian discipline are in
  Last, Ecclesiastical discipline uprightlie ministered as Goddis        reality the preaching of the Word. So the true Church is
  Worde  presecribes,  whereby vice. is  repre.ssed,  and vertew         that Church which proclaims the Word of Christ. Thus Rev.
  nurished. Wheresoever then thir former notes are seene, and            Hoeksema  once remarked in a speech quoted in the Stand-
  of ony time continue (be the number never so fewe, about               ard Buyer,  "It is a striking fact that the distinguishing marks
  two or three), there, without all doubt, is the trew Kirk of           are not the attributes of the Church, viz., holiness, catholicity
  Christ: Who according unto his promise is in the midst of              and apostolicity, but that they are identical with ~the means
  them . . ."I3                                                          of grace, including even Christian discipline." Then after
      By far the most important creed on this subjejct is our            speaking of the Church as Christ's body, he goes on to say,
  own Belgic Confession where in Article XIX we read, "We                "The question then is how do you determine where, among
  believe that' we ought diligently and circumspectly to discern         the gatherings in this world, Christ is ? Christ is where His
from  .the Word of God which is the true Church, since all               Word is, and where Christ is there is His Word for Christ
  sects which are in the world assunle  to themselves the name           speaks through His Word . . . Hence, if we can determine
  of the Church.                                                         where Christ speaks, there we shall find the.Church.
      "But we speak here not of the company, of hypocrites,                  "Where does Christ speak? Not simply where the Bible
  who are &xed in the! Churdh  with the good, yet are not' of            is or where `it is read . . . Where that Word is preached
  the `Church, though externally in it; but we say that the              there Christ is . . . And Christ speaks where His Word is
  body and communion of the true Church must be distin-                  purely preached, i.e., only where it is proclaimed according
  guished from all sects who call themselves the Church.                 to the Scripture . . ."15
     "The. marks by which the true' Church is known are                     Although most theologians who have claimed to be Re-
  these : If the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein ;       formed hold to these marks as the marks of the true Church,
  if she maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as          when the question arises, How the Church becomes manifest
  instituted by Christ; if church discipline is exercised in pun-        as multiform, and what the relation of the true Church is,
  ishing of sin ; in short, if all things are managed acco,rding  toI    to the various denominations in this world, there is much
  the pure Word of God, all things contrary thereto rejected,            put forth that is not Scriptural. Because this is a question
  and Jesus Christ acknowledged as the only Head of the                  that constantly arises in the Church, and is therefore of some       ,
  Church. Hereby the true Church may certainly be known,                 importance, and because some of the views of these theolog-
  from which no man has a right `to separate himself: With               ians are pernicious, it would be well for us to consider them
  respect to those who are members of the Church, they may               at some length..
  be known by the marks of Christians, namely, by faith ; and               There is first of all the view of Dr. A. Kuyper, Sr. He
  when they have received Jesus Christ the only Saviour, they            treats this question in several of his works. We quote from
  avoid sin, follow after righteousness, love the true God and           just two which treat the problem more specifically. In De
  their neighbor, neither turn aside to the right or left, and           Gel+ceen'e  Gmtie we read, "Pluriformiteit is naar onze vaste
  crucify the, flesh with the works thereof. But this is not to be       overtuiging  een phase van ontwikkeling waartoe ook de kerk
  understood as if there did not remain in them great in-                van Christus  in het ,zichtbare  moest komen ; maar de pluri-
 firmities  ; but they fight against them through the Spirit             formiteit i3 historisch op een wijze tot stand gekomen, die
 all the days of their life, continually taking their refuge in          da! eenheidsbesef beleedigt. Hadde ook hier de' zonde niet
 the blood, death, passion, and obedience of our Lord Jesus              alles bedorven, dan had de pluriformit&t  zich. moeten ont-
  Christ, in whom they have remission of sins through faith,             wikkelen zonder de eenheid prijs te geven, ook al kon die een-
 in him.                                                                 beid niet dan federatief gevonden  worden."
     "As for the false Church, she ascribes more power and                  Or more clearly expressed in his Encyclopaedia  we read,
 authority to herself and her ordinances than to the Word of             "Juist met het oog hierop nu ligt voor ons het uitgangspunt
  God, and Will not submit herself to the. yoke of Christ.               voor deze periode in de ontluiking der pluriformiteit.  Niet,


 2     7     4                               TtiE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 alsof hetzij Luther, hetzij Calvijn zulk een pluriformiteit be-      waard wordt. Uit vele geslachten en talen en volken en
 doeld hadden.  Hier is in de verste verte geen sprake van.           natien vergadert  Christus  zijne kerk op  aarde."22 Here
 Zoo te Wittenberg  als the Geneve leefde men jarenlang nog `lB,avinck  seems to be rather correct, but then goes on  to.
 in he onwankelbaar besef, dat de belijdenis, die men zelf            say,."Indien  wij daarom meer naar het N.T. spraakgebruik
 beleed, een absoluut en exclusief karakter  droeg."l' Or again,      onder kerken de plaatselijke kerken in de gansche Christen-
 "Zoo diep was dan ook dit eenheidsbegrip in de toenmalige            heid  verstaan, dan zijn er geen ware en geen valse kerken in
 voorstelling ingedrongen, dat men, terwijl de pluriformiteit         volstrekten  zin. Eene kerk is eene vergadering van ware
er reeds de facto was, en haar werking deed gevoelen,  noch-          Christgeloovigen op eene bepaalde plaats. Indien  ergens  geen
 tans voort ging te redeneeren en te handelen, alsof er nooit         enkel geloovige meer is, noch actu noch potentia, dan is er
 anders dan van eene, uniforme Kerk sprake kon  zijn."18              ook het ,woord Gods onbekend, en is er geen kerk meer. En
 "Deze pluriformiteit der Kerken leidde dan ook ongemerkt             omgekeerd, indien het woord Gods op een bepaalde plaats nog
 en van zelf tot de erkentenis, dat er, behalve  de Armenische,       eenigermate bekend is, zal het zekerlijk zijn werking  doen
 de Koptische en andere kerken in het verre Oosten, met name          `en is er `eene  kerk van Christus, hoe onzuiver en vermengd
 vier grandtypen van kerkformatie openbaar werden ; an we1            dan'  ook."a3  .
 ten eerste als vrucht der Reformatie de Luthersche en de                Hey& acknowledges the diversity due to races when he
 Gereformeerde,  en daarnaast de Grieksche en de Roomsche.            says, "The chief cause of various churches within a denomina-
 Vier hoofdgroepen, die elk een eigen kerkelijk karakter ver-         tion is-geographical obstacles.
 toonen, een eigen streven openbaren, een eigen vorm aan-
 nemen, en als zoodanig ook een eigen theologische  richting             "As to the division in many special Churches or deno-
 vertegenwoordigen. In het dogma van de ecclesia visibilis als        minations, here the chief cause is undoubtedly sin . . .
 openbaring der ecclesia invisibilis werd, zonder dat men het            "There are, however, circumstances that have to be taken
 aanstonds merkte, deze pluriformiteit confessioneel  geijkt.         into account as having contributed to this division in no
 Zoolang   tech de Roomsch-pauselijke eenheidswaan stand-             small degree. We are strongly influenced by nationality,
 hield, was het volkomen natuurlijk, dat men de zichtbare             language'and history . . ._ Where there is difference in these
 Kerk met de onzichtbare identificeerde. Waar slechts eena            respects separate existence as a Church is preferable to a
 openbaring van het wezen is, moge men nog van een gradu-             unity which would be more mechanical and external than real,
 eel verschil gewagen, dat aan het adaequate der openbaring           and would endanger peace `and concord in Church life."24
 in den weg staat, maar door de scheiding tusschen clerus             But in another place he says, "If we apply the test of these
 en laici was Rome ook deze bedenking te boven gekomen."lg            marks (the marks of the true church) we will find that there
 "Wat men zag, kon van toen  af niet meer de Kerk, niet meer          are true and false Churches, that among the first there is a
 het so0Tn.a toz~ Chr&ozt  zijn, en vandaar de noodzakelijkheid,      difference as to the degree of purity, and that none is with-
 waarrnee  tegelijk met de pluriformiteit der Kerkformatie,           out defect. It does not follow, therefore, that a Church is
 het dogma van de ecclesia visibilis als nzie$ adaequaat aan'de       to be rejected as soon as it shows faults and shortcomings in
 ecclesia invisibilis, of van het corpus mysticurn  Christi,   op-    respect to one or more of these marks, for in that case we
  kwam."20 "Zoo werd de Theologie vrij, niet in dien'zin, alsof       would have to reject them  all."25
  ze ooi 10s van haar object en haar principium kon worden,              Berkhof agrees very much with Kuyper and Bavinck on
  maar zoo dat elk der kerkformatien van haar de vindiceering         this point. Says he, "In view of the present divisions of
  van haar streven verwachtte, en dus van dit-ogenblik af ook         the Church, it is quite natural that the question should arise,
  met haar critiek te rekenen had. Want we1 sprak het van zelf,       whether these do not militate against the doctrine of the
  dat de pluriformiteit der Kerkformatien, als uit verschil van       unity of the visible Church. In answer to this it may be
  geestelijken  aanleg en geestelijke sfeer voortgevloeid, haar       said that some divisions, such as those caused by differences
  veelvormig stempel ook op de Theologie' afdrukte, maar de           of locality or of language, are perfectly compatible with the
  Theologie als zoodanig kon tech nooit het proble,em op zij          unity of the Church ; but that others, such as those which
  schuiven, hoe deze pluriformiteit zich in harmonie liet bren-       originate in doctrinal perversions or sacramental abuses; do
  gen met de eenheid  van het soomu eozt Ch~&o~."z1                   really impair that unity. The former result from the prov-
      Although Bavinck is not very clear on his idea of pluri-        idential guidance of God, but the latter are due to the- in-'
  formity, he seems to agree with Kuyper, for he says,  "Ver-         fluence of sin: to the darkening of the understanding, `th,e'
  schil van geslacht en leeftijd, van karakter en aanleg, van
                                                             . .      power of error, or the stubbornness of man ; and therefore
  verstand en hart, van gaven en goederen, van plaats en van          the church will have to strive for the ideal of overcoming
  eeuw komt ook aan de waarheid, die in Christus  is, ten goede.      these. The question may still arise, whether the one invisible
  Hij neemt ze alle in zijn dienst en siert er zijn kerk mede.        church ought not to find expression in a single organization.
  Ja, al heeft de gedeeldheid der menschen in volken en talen         It can hardly be said that the Word of God explicitly requires
  in de zonde haar aanleiding gehad, zij bevat  iets goeds, dat       this, and history has shown this to be infeasible and also of
  in een gemeente ingedragen en alzoo voor de eeuwigheid be-          questionable worth.                                    `.


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            ,275

           "Moreover,. the multiformity of Churches, so characteristic      of heresy in the Church. And a Church which does not root
        of Protestantism, in so far as it resulted from the providential    false doctrine out of its midst soon becomes the false Church.
        guidance of God and in a legitimate way, arose in the most             3) It denies the fact that the true Church is pure in
        natural manner, and is quite in harmony with the law of dif-        doctrine. This is an important point to maintain. It is true,
        ferentiation, according to which an organism in its develop-        of course, that the Church on earth is not pure as to walk.
        ment evolves from the  homogenous  to the heterogeneous. It         And it is also true that the Church on earth is not completely
        is quite possible that the inherent riches of the organism of       infallible so that there is never any questiori  as to what the
        the Church find better and fuller expression in the present         truth of God's Word is, or so that the minister on the pulpit
        variety of Churches than they would in a single external            never utters anything but infallible truth. Yet it is important
        organization. This does not mean, of course, that the Church        that we understand that as far as the doctrine of the Church
        should not strive for a greater measure of external unity. The      is concerned, as the Spirit has guided the Church into the
        ideal should always be to give the most adequate expression         truth of God's Word, that it is highly probable, and mostly
        to the unity of the Church."z6 In connection with his dis-          the case that there is a denomination which denominationally
        cussion of the catholicity of the Church, Berkhof raises some       confesses nothing but truth as it has been developed up to
        interesting questions : Does it condemn denominationalism ?         that point. That means that there is nothing false in its con-
        Is one denomination the true Church, and the other false?           fession  ; that means that there is nothing lacking of the truth
        Are ,Churches  more or less pure ? At what point does a local       of God's Word as it has been taken from the Scriptures up
        Church or denomination cease to be an integral part of the          to that point: that does not mean that there is nothing any
       one visible Church? (We may note here that the visible               more in God's Word to discover, but it does mean that what
        Church also includes only the elect; and therefore it is not        has been discovered is held to by a certain Church. There is
  ,. a question of whether a certain denomination is part of the            upon earth a Church or denomination that preaches the pure
        visible Church.) Is a single external institution or organiza-      Word of God in the pulpit on Sunday, in the administration
        `tion essential to the unity of the visible Church, or not? But     of the sacraments, and the exercise of Church'discipline.
        rather true to form, Berkhof refuses to answer any of these            That denomination may become impure through heresy
        questions.                                                          which arises within it, but the faithful then come out of the
            These writers seem to hold to the following points on this      corrupted denomination and form a new Church that is
        subject: 1) There is no absolutely true Church in the-sense         again pure.
        that any one denomination is completely pure as regards the            It is interesting to note that the view .discussecl  above was
        signs or marks of the true Church. 2) In the same sense             not the view of John Calvin. We read in his Institutes, "In
        there is no absolutely false Church in the sense that these         the next place, that the ministry itself is not so far vitiated
        ,marks are completely lacking. Therefore every denomination         by smaller errors, as to be considered on that account less
        is in a measure a manifestation of the true body of Christ. 3)      legitimate. It has further been shown, that the errors which
        It also seems to be the view of Kuyper that not only is each        are entitled to this forgiveness are those by which the grand _
  `, denomination the manifestation in its own way of the body              doctrine of religion is not injured, which do not suppress the
       .' of Christ, but also that each denomination complements the        points in which all believers ought to agree as articles of
        others. What one may lack, the other emphasizes, and what           faith, and which, in regard to the sacraments, neither abolish
        one may emphasize to its own detriment, the other strikes the       nor subvert the legitimate institution of their author. But
        balance by not as much emphasis on that particular point.           as soon as falsehood has made a breach in the fundamentals
        Then it can be said what Berkhof says, "It is quite possible        of religion, and the system of necessary doctrine is subverted,
        that the inherent; riches of the organism of the Church find        and the use of the sacrament fails, the certain consequence
        better and fuller expression in the present variety of Churches     is the ruin of the Church, as there is an end of a man's life
        than they would in a single external organization."27               when his throat is cut, or his heart is mortally wounded."zs
            Yet this view is as pernicious as it is false. The following       There is on the other `hand the view held to by the Liber-
        objections can be raised against this position.                     ated Churches in the Netherlands that one particular denomi-
            1) It is not the Scriptural,idea  of multiformity, for these    nation can be called the true Church, while all other denomi-
        views seek the multiformity of the Church in the various            nations are the false Church. Neither is this view correct for
denominations'in this world.              .                                 is goes contrary to our own experience, and also it confuses
.-^         2) lt negates the seriousness of false doctrine. False doc-     the denomination on this earth with the true Church as it is
        `trine is. the work of the devil, has its source in hell, and is    revealed `in time.
  certainly as such a manifestation of the false Church. Be-                   How then is multiformity revealed in time? In answer
        cause this is true, false doctrine cannot be tolerated in the       to this question first of all we would say that the same multi-
        denomination that professes to be a manifestation of the            formity that will .exist in the Church in heaven comes to
        true Church. This view would certainly minimize the danger          manifestation in the sphere of the Church in time. But there



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are differences 1 differences because there is yet sin in the       And that, to my mind, is founded upon the truth of Article
Church which obscures the spiritual multiformity of the body        XIX of the Belgic Confession.
of Christ.; differences because of the hypocrites within the                The line of the true Church continues throughout the
Church who are not in reality members of it ; differences           ages of history, and as the end approaches, the lines between
that stem from the physical nature of the members, e.g., the        the true and false Church become evermore sharper until
babies of the Church, and the old people of the Church who          they are finally separated before the judgment seat of God..
cannot manifest the multiformity as they will in heaven. Yet
it is evident now in this world in part.                                    In how far must we seek the unity of the Church of
    What then about the question of the relationship between         Christ? The Church on earth is divided. And that divi,sion
the true Church and the various denominations in this world ?       does not stem alone from differences in race and geograph-
We'would answer first of all that it has nothing to do with         ical boundaries, but there are differences in creed, in liturgy
                                                                    and in Church government. Negatively we may say that
the question of the Church's multiformity, but only comes           this unity must not be sought in a compromise of `the truth.
up because there are those that confuse the two.                     We do not follow the slogan of modern day ecumenicism,
    Nevertheless we must say a word about it. The relation-         "NO creed but Christ." Nor do we compromise for the sake
ship to my mind is as follows. The manifestation of the body        of unity. For compromise is only a. step in the direction of
of Christ in this world cannot be compared to any one               the.false Church. Unity is not achieved, but rather the false
denomination,  nor' yet to all denominations. From the be-          Church is the end.
ginning to the end of time it can be compared to a line
which runs through the course of history. Perpendicular to                   Positively, that means that we seek the unity of the
this line at any one point in history is the false Church. It       Church also in the midst of this world by constantly remem-
can always be found to be running exactly perpendicular to          bering that the Church is one regardless of what man may
the line of the true Church. However also the false Church          do. And the foundation of the unified Church is the Word
can not be limited to one denomination, nor can it be' said         of God.- For by it God gathers His Church. Therefore in
that it is partially found in all denominations (at least           the purity of the preaching from the pulpit, in the administra-
                                                              as
far as the dogma and creed of a particular denomination is          tion of the sacraments, and in the exercise of Christian dis-
concerned) but may be found in many. That line of the true          cipline we seek unity with those who are like us. That is
Church represents the elect as they are called into the Church      our calling, that we must do to the utmost of our power,
in time. The false Church represents the apostate Church as         remembering that in reality the Church can never be sep-
they have fallen away from the truth.                               arated, but that it is and shall remain a unified living organ-
    Now at almost any time, with few exceptions there can           ism in Christ.
be found upon that line of the true Church one or more                      And because the multiformity of the Church is manifested
denominations. That means that that denomination or those           even in the midst of this present world, it is the calling of
denominations are foursquare upon the confession of the true        every child of God to develop to the utmost the talents which
Church, that the marks which mark the true Church are               God has given him so that in his own way with his own gifts'
found in those denominations. However that denomination             he may serve God and thus serve the Church of Jesus Christ.
is wider than the line of the true Church because it also!          As it is expressed in the Catechism in Question and answer
includes hypocrites which become in time or in their genera-        55, "What do you understand by the communion of saints?
tions the false Church. Throughout -the world there may be          First, that believers, all and every one, as members of Christ,
more than one Church upon that line, but each is broader            have part in him and in all his treasures and gifts. Secondly,
than the line.                                                      that each one must feel himself bound to use his gifts,
   There are also various other denominations which are             readily and' cheerfully, for the advantage and- welfare of
somewhere in between the vertical line of the true Church           other members." And thus in that way the beautiful diversi-
and the horizontal line of the false Church, These were at          fied Church of Jesus Christ with Jesus Christ shall be per-
one time upon the line but have forsaken the truth and are          fected in heaven that the light of the Father's holiness may
irrevocably drifting toward the false Church. Also these            be. reflected and refracted through the Church to the ever-
-denominations as to their membership might overlap slightly        lasting glory of God the Father.                                                                                   H. Hanko
the true Church, for there may be true children of God in
them. But as denominations they are drifting evermore to-
ward the false Church. So also there may be at a point in           g )   Rev.   H.  Hmksema,   Abwtda~st   Mercy   ( G r a n d   R a p i d s ,   1949j,  p.  7 2 .   1 0 )
                                                                    Ibid.,  p. 75.           11)  R e v .   H .   H o e k s e m a ,   D o g m a t i c s ,   L o c u s   d e   Ecclesiu  (Mimeo-
hsitory a certain denomination that is foursquare upon the          g r a p h e d   n o t e s ) ,   p p .   6 3 ,   6 4 .   12)  Schaff,   o p .   c i t . ,   p .   3 7 5 .   1 3 )   I b i d . ,   P .   460.
                                                                    14)  Ibid.,  p. 419. 15) Rev. Hoeksema,  Stendmd   B~XWW,  XXIII, (Dec. 1,  1946j,
line of the false Church, even to the extent that no true be-       p.  1 1 9 .   1 6 )   Dr.   A .   Kuyper,   S r . ,   D e   Genteme   Gratie,  I I I   ( A m s t e r d a m ,   .1904),
                                                                    p.  2 3 1 .   17)  Dr.   A .   Kuyper,   Sr:,   Encyclopaedia   dar  Hcilige   Godgehcqdkd,   III
lievers are found in her any more.                                  (Kampen,   1909).  p. 615.  1s)  Ibzd.,  p. 616.  19)  Ibid.,  P.  618.  20)  Ibzd.,   P. 619.
                                                                    21)  I b i d . ,   p .   6 2 0 .   2 2 )   D r .   H .   Bavinck,   Dogmatiek,   I V   (-K-pen,   19Olj,  P .   .Sl.
   This, to my mind, is the relationship between the mani-          23)  Ibid.,   p. 52. 24)  W.   Heyns,   Madrigal   o f   R e f o r m e d   Doctmte   ( G r a n d   RapIds,
                                                                    1926),   p.  154.  25) Ibid.,  p. 153. 26) Louis  Berkhof,   SNctnatic  T1zeolog.Y.  Per&-
festation of the body of Christ and the various denominations.      m a n s ,   1937),   pp.  573, 574. 27)   .Ibid.,   p. 574.   2s)   J o h n   C a l v i n ,   Dtvzm  In-
                                                                    .&zrtes,  translated from the Latin by John Allen (Grand Rapids,  1949),  p. 302.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   277

                                                                     verse 1 is such that it creates a dangerous and an explosive
           FROM HOLY WRIT                                       II situation. It is the danger of a little knowledge in us when
                                                                     we think that we know it all!
                                                                         In such a situation Paul must ask the very arresting
           Exposition of I Corinthians 12-14                         question : are all apostles ? Do all teach? People then no
                                II.                                  longer know their God-appointed place. Dangerous ignorance,
                                                                     indeed !
                      (I Corinthians 12 :l-3)                            Because of this very practical situation in the congrega- '
   In our first article we called attention to the salient points    tion Paul writes the very strong "I zvill not have you ignor-
of doctrine and admonition, as given by Paul, in these chap-         ant." This term "to. will" does not emphasize the idea of
ters from the first epistle of .Paul to the Corinthians.             "plan and counsel," but rather underscores the idea of "deci-
   We need not repeat.                                               sion." And Paul, will stand back of this' decision and write
   We will now attempt to understand the rather bold and             these three Chapters on this matter. That he inserts the
strong statement of Paul in these first three verses of. I           term "brethren" shows the point of contact. This is more
Corinthians 12. The verses read as follows:  "Nozv   COW             than mere mass psychology. It is the new relationship in the
ccl-ning   sp+itual  (gifts),  brethvn, I would  not  hve  you       church. Paul, while pulling the mote out of the eye of others,
ignolpant. Ye know.tlzat ye wme Gentiles, cahed away unto            does not forget the proper relati.onship to them in so doing.
these  dumb idols,  even  a.s ye were led.  Wke7efo?;e  I  give' They are ,"brethren" in the Lord, by virtue of the birth in
you to understa.nd, that no man spea.king by the Spirit of God       Christ. Hence, it underscores Paul's great love in writing
calletk Jesus  acmmed  (Ana.tlz&uta,),  and  tlmt no  ma?z  cam      to these believers.! The love of Christ constrains him. He
say  tht Jesus is Lord (LORD  JEST/S),  bust by the  Holy            knows none according to the flesh  ; he only knows them as
Ghost."                                                              brethren in the Lord.
   Two things we shall attempt to do in the study of these               All that Paul from here on says is, therefore, mellow and
verses. Firstly, we shall try to analyse their import and            kind, even when it is as firm as the Rock of Ages !
meaning. And, secondly, we shall try to show the relation-               Firmness and kindness are-here truly blended so that we
ship of this introductory teaching of Paul to the entire argu-       taste the quality of the body which "is tempered together  !"
ment of Paul concerning the spiritual gifts in the church of             Now Paul proceeds to stir up the remembrance of these
God.                                                                 Corinthian believers, these "brethren," concerning tihaf  they
   In studying these verses we shall notice the following ele-       once "were." They are this no longer. They are  spi&ual
ments in the text:                                                   men and have the mind of Christ. I Cor. 2 :14-16. No longer
   First we notice, that, in verse 1, Paul speaks of "spiritual      are they simply natural men, who have an. eye merely for
gifts." The original Greek here employs a form of the sub-           the "psychical" in the church ! They can put spiritual things
stantive noun, which allows also for the translation "spirit-        with spiritual. These spiritual things have been made known
ual ones" (men). However, we believe that the entire con-            unto them by the Spirit of God, who searches all things, yea,
text shows that Paul is here speaking of spiritual gifts. Thus       the deep things of God. I Cor. 2  :lO. What eye hath not
it is also uniformly translated in the King James Version, the       seen and ear hath not heard, and what bath never entered
Holland and the German translations.                                 into the heart of man, the Mystery of God, that had been
   Evidently some controversy and difference of opinion had          made known to these Corinthian believers. They come behind
arisen in the congregation of Corinth on this matter of spirit-      in no gift! I Cor. 1:7.
ual gifts in the church. And, as always, sin entere'd in. And           And yet they must be admonished and stirred up in the
the very gifts, which were ordained for the unity of the entire      remembrance of .what  they were, that they may see, what they
body, became the occasion of strife and schism!                      have become in Christ, in its proper perspective.
   As always, so here too, there was a necessity of instruc-           The contrast here drawn between the "past" and the
tion on these spiritual matters in the church. It is simply in-      "present" is very sharp and absolute!
struction in the~first principles, the simple A-B-C of the life         In the former they were led unto "dumb idols" and in the
in God's church. No wonder that Paul says "I would not               latter it is the living God, the God who speaks to us in
have you ignorant . . ." A strange ignorance reigned in the          "JESUS !" In each case they are "led *" the former it is a
church concerning the nature, scope, purpose and the                 being led `in "slavery" in the latter led in "liberty !" And,,this
relative importance of the "gifts." As always these "gifts"          contrast must be fully appreciated by the Corinthians. Its
were made an ertd ifz themselves instead of being but means          implication must be very really acknowledged, shall they see
toward a more lofty and exalted end! If ignorance in the             the pB*C  of the purpose of Spiritual Gifts" in the church!
church were simply a negative quality the situation would               In either case man is not autonomous in his knowledge.
not be so acute and serious. People would simply be ignorant         He is not a law to himself. He is either led about to dumb
and do nothing. But the "ignorance" of which Paul tirites in         idols, being possessed, or. he is led by the Holy Spirit, being


278                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-                  - l....

indwelt. The remembrance of the former should serve to-               Spirit is, evidently, due to his insisting, that, we must be
ward a humble and grateful acknowledgement that a great               "sanctified" in heart and mind and soul and strength, shall
and mighty power made us free, and the learning what Paul             we "be able" to say in heartfelt and believing confession:
would "give them to understand" is such that no one will lean
                                                       . .            Lord, Jesus!
upon his own understanding!                                               These two factors must not be confused. In the former
  ' Except these basic truths and realities be confessed by the       it is denied that anything abusive or dishonoring to the Name
Corinthians, there is no hope of their ever understanding the         of "Jesus" ever comes from the lips of one speaking in the
lofty design of God in granting these "spiritual" gifts in the        Spirit of God. That is true without exception. In the latter
church. They will then needs press forward in a madness               we have the categorical statement that no one can even say
"with method ;" sobriety will go out of the window; simply            anything about Jesus in positive confession except as being
an exhibition of "gifts," a mad clamor for honor and the first        indwelt and led by the Spirit, who sanctifies us to be a living
seats in the assemblies - all to no. edifying purpose, to the         temple of God!
profit of all !                                                           About each of these elements we must say just a word.
       Yes, Gentiles, they were once. They were outside of the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of                What does it imply when one' says : ANATHEMA
                                                                      JESUS ! And h
promise. Simply led about, as often as they were led, to                             w. y could such not possibly have as its primary
dumb idols. These idols had ears and could not hear. They             author the Spirit of God7 "Anathema" is a greek term mean-
had mouths and did not speak. They had no word of comfort             ing: a thing set up, a votive offering, and thus a thing "de-
                                                                      voted to God, without hope of being redeemed ; a person
for those worshipping them. And they had not reproof for
those disobeying them. All was without meaning and purpose.           doomed to destruction." Thayer. In the Old Testament
They were simply the expression of man's vain imagination,            Scriptures such an "anathema" was connected with what was
turning the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness.         an "abomination." Trench in his "N. T. Synonyms" has the
(Idol) of four-footed beasts, creeping things and man ! And           following note-worthy observation on this term, "In Attic
at that time, being possessed by their own lust and the in-           writers it is the technical word by which all such costly
stigation of devils, they were  ."led  about." Really they were       offerings as were presented to the gods, and then su.spended
led atway !                                                           or otherwise exposed to view in their temples . . ." And he
                                                                      continues, "but with the translation. of the Hebrew Scrip-
       Now all is become different, fundamentally !                   tures into Greek a new thought demanded to find utterance.
       Wherefore, two factors in the work of God in Christ must       1. The children of God were "devoted" to Him; God was
be very strongly kept in mind.                                        glorified in them. 2. The wicked Canaanites were "devoted"
                                                                      to Him ; God was glorified on them !"
       The first factor is that it is impossible for the Spirit of
God to say anything which is not the truth in Jesus. He                   It is in the latter sense of the term that it is used here in
cannot say that when He searches out the "deep things of              this passage. Such is uniformly its use in the New Testa-
God." However, He also "dwells" in the saints. They are the           ment. It means to devoted to God like the damned in hell.
temple of the Holy Spirit, I Cor. 3 :16. The Spirit dwelling          These do not satisfy the justice of God, but God's justice is
in the church is the ."Spirit" of God! Anyone who is thus             satisfied  @on them ! Terrible thought ! Yet, to say Anathema
indwelt  by the Holy Spirit, and  iq5owered  to  speak  con-          Jesus, means to deny that God would have Him, on the
cerning "Jesus" by this same Spirit, will not "say" : "ANA-           Cross ;- that he was delivered for our offences  and that he was
THEMA JESUS  !" Such speech cannot possible be forth5                 raised for our justification. Such cannot come from the Spirit
coming out of the influence, the enlightenment, love and joy,         of God. For God raised him from the dead!
which the Spirit of God, works in the church as the fruit of              For the same reason no one can say anything good of
grace. For He is the Spirit of God! He searches the "deep             Him, except in the Holy Spirit, which sanctifies our lips, by
things" of God. And there is nothing in these "deep things"           the power of the same Jesus, who is not a "votive offering"
of God's counsel, and of "JESUS" in this counsel,  which1             upon whom He is glorified, but in whom He is glorified !
makes Jesus "ANATHEMA !" Such speech can only come
from those who are led away to dumb idols by the spirit of                Gifts of the Spirit, then? They are such that they must
error, the spirit of devils !                                         serve this name of "JESUS," that is, Jehovah God, who is
       The second factor, which Paul here singles out, is that        yesterday, today and forever the same.
without the. Holy Spirit, there is not one man that can say               Well may we, therefore, put off the shoes from our feet.
anything good about the name of JESUS  1 It should be ob-             For only the God, who dwells in Jesus; does not consume us,
served that `Paul underscores here that no  ones  can say             while his holiness fills us. In this holiness we have "spiritual
"LORD JESUS," except through the Holy Spirit. That he                 gifts !"
here does not speak of the Spirit of God, -but of the "Holy"                                                                      G.L.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    279

                                                                      ordinance among Israel, "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary
             I N   H I S   F E A R                                    head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear,thy  God:
                                                                      I am the Lord."
                                                                          The violation of this principle is recorded in Isaiah 3  5, as
               Respect and. Obedience                                 a calamity and evidence of God's curse. There we read, "And
                                                                      the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and
                              (5)                                     every one of his neighbour : the child shall behave himself
   "And they . . . went out one by one, beginning at the              proudly against the ancient and the base against the honour-
eldest even unto the last," John 8 :9.                                able."
   The setting of these words is well known to all of us.                 The same thing is recorded in Lamentation 5 verse 12:
Jesus had been troubled by a group of ,self-righteous  Phari-         "Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders
sees who tried to make Him speak contrary to Moses and                were not honoured."
presented to Him a woman who had been caught in the sin                   We do not have here simply the recording of breaches of
of adultery. Jesus answered them in a way which they did              etiquette. Nor are these things written to multiply words.
not expect. He told them that the one among them who                  The prophets, apostles and other writers whom God used
was himself without sin should cast the first stone. Con-             to record His word did not have so much copy that they had
victed by their own consciences, we read, they went. out              to produce every so many days or in their life time and then
one by one beginning with the eldest even unto the last.            I simply multiplied words to be sure that they filled enough
   We are not at present interested in the incident .as such.         pages. These things are.there  for us to read. There is not
   We quote  ,the verse above because we are interested in            a superfluous word in the whole Bible. And please note that
that order in which the self-righteous Pharisees dismissed            in the same breath with the words of Leviticus 19:32  which
themselves. It was not the youngest that first left the presence      gave Israel command to rise up before the hoary head-the
of Jesus to go and hide his shame. All waited for the oldest to       aged man - and to honour the face of the old man, we are
leave first. Then he who was next to the oldest turned on             told "And fear thy God : I am the Lord."
his heel and went away. The youngest stood his ground -                   Nor are these the only passages that speak of respect for
tho inwardly he, too, wanted to flee from the searching eyes          those who are older than, we are.
of Him Who so clearly read their inmost thoughts-until
all the others had gone. Then he took his flight.                         We read in Job 32 :4, 6, "NOW Elihu had waited till Job
                                                                      had spoken, because they were elder than he. And Elihu the
   It was, we are told, an oriental custom so to. behave.             son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, "I am young,
Respect was shown by the younger men for the older men.               and ye are very old  ; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not
   The world today' would say that it was the polite thing' show my opinion."
to do.                                                                    Was Elihu afraid of these men? Was he, a younger man,
   But is this nothing more than politeness? Is there not a           afraid of these very old men ? Was he afraid of punishment            1
certain respect that God demands of the younger for the               by the State, sthe authorities for speaking out of turn ? Would
elder even when these elder people are not  ethe actual author-       there be imprisonment or death sentence or a severe mane;
ities over them in the home, in the -Church, in the State?            tary fine for such behaviour..7 No, Elihu knew that verse in
   We have, thus far, been speaking about respect for author-          Leviticus and knew the fear of the Lord.
ity and showing respect to those in authority over us for                                                                             .
                                                                          We will now go to  the. New Testament and rather than
God's sake. In this final article on this subject of respect           weary you with many passages quote only the word. of, God
and obedience we shall consider that respect which is de-              as we find it in I Peter 3 :S, "Finally, be ye all of one mind,
manded also for those that are not over us in authority and            having compassion one for the other, love as brethren, be piti-
yet are in a position where due respect must be paid to them.         ful, be courteous." We have that last admonition in this
    Were the words-which we quoted above the only passage              series in mind : "Be courteous."
in Holy Writ which spoke of such respect of the younger for
the elder, we could dismiss the whole thing and consider it               We are, of course, willing to concede that this word here
nothing more than the precept upon precept and law upon                translated "courteous" and used elsewhere in a different
law that the-self-righteous Pharisees loved to observe and to          form in Scripture does not have that literal meaning. The
dictate to men for the meriting of salvation. That is not the          word Peter uses means "low-minded." Yet who would deny
case, however. There are many passages of Scripture that               that a haughty and high-minded spirit never displays courtesy
speak in the same vein and present such behaviour as God's             but rudely tramples upon the rights and privileges of the
command.                                                               humble and low-minded ?
    In Leviticus 19 : 32 we find a very interesting law and               In the light of all these passages of Holy' Writ we simply


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 cannot look with favour on the growing practice of allowing              We must bear in mind that it is simply not true that God
 little children to address men and women who are old enough           has made all men equal. All are not equally endowed with
 to be their parents, if not even their grandparents, as Mary          talents, with health or even physical beauty. Many are born
 and Bill and Pete and whatever their names might be instead           maimed and deformed. Others are made to stand all alone
.of Mr. and Mrs. so and so. The relationship between chil-             with minds of exceptional brilliancy and talents that seem
 dren and their near relatives also is erased and little children      almost inhuman. Even socially God does not make all men
 no longer speak of Aunt, Mary and Uncle Bill. No, it is' Mary         equal. We understand that the family is the smallest, yet
.and Bill. Children rudely butt in when older people are speak-        most important, unit of society. But in the home God does
 ing and do not even begin to emulate<Elihu's  behaviour. And          not make all equal. Socially, father and mother are in a class
 parents encourage their children in these things by doing             wherein their children are not when they are born. And they
 nothing at all to rebuke and silence them. Instead children           will never "catch up" with their parents. Beautiful is the
are praised for their ability  to argue, their fearlessness and        passage in I Kings 2 :19. King Solomon, in all the majesty,
 "maturity." And then the parents wonder why they have a               wisdom and honor that God gave' to him by making him
 problem to make their children obey them and will not be-             above all men, shows that in one thing he has not "caught
 lieve the teacher and the principle that their child can be           up" with his mother. He "rose up to meet her, and bowed
 troublesome -to put it mildly- in the classroom. Oh,                  himself unto her and sat down on his throne." There is
 no! It is just that the children of other parents are too shy,        something refreshing about reading  .such things when we live
 backward and just plain "weakwilled and cranky."                      in an age when man is so high-minded, discourteous, rudely
        We firmly believe that in Leviticus 19 :32 rising up before    brushing aside fellow men and women, to get the biggest
 the hoary head and honouring the face of the old man stands           advantage for self and children behave themselves proudly
 in such a relationship to that next admonition; "And fear the         against %e ancients."
 Lord" that he who does not do the former does not do the                 Relationships which God has established must be kept or
 latter either. He who shows no respect for the hoary head             we sin against HIM. And we do not walk in His fear when
 and for *the aged man does not fear God. And we are also              we rush against His established ordinances.
 firmly convinced that when Peter admonishes us in God's                  Pride is condemend not only by the fifth commandment
 name to "Be low-minded" (courteous in the English trans-              but surely also by the first and the tenth. Failing to obey
 lation) he has in mind. such respect for each other as `was           the authorities is an act of pride. In it man sets himself above
 displayed by Elihu and indicated as proper in the other pas-          the authorities. By so doing he also sets himself above God
 sages which we quoted. Indeed, Peter means more than that.            who placed the authorities over him. And he declares every-
 We are to be low-minded in respect to many other things  ;            time that he disobeys the authorities -in whatever civil law
 but he who is disrespectful to the aged is not low-minded but         he breaks -that he has l&+~s~l~  as the "other .god" besides
 high minded, proud.                                                   Jehovah. But therein is also revealed his  coveteousness,  his
        Therein, undoubtedly is the error in not rising before the     wicked heart that is not satisfied .with the place where God
 hoary head and in not honouring the old man. If we are                has sovereignly been pleased to set him. And then all man-
 going to condemn something as a sinful practice we `must be           ner of disobedience will be brought forth.
able to show that it is contrary to God's will and is covered             Let us and our children learn to'know that children and
`by one or more of His commandments. We can show that
 a thing is wrong by quoting from this or that book of rules on        adults are not made to be equal by God ; that by placing us on
 etiquette. But to show that a thing is sinful and is not done         this earth before those so recently born, He has made a
 in the fear of the Lord we must be able to show that He has           difference of `which His word speaks and that they must,
 condemned it in His law.                                              therefore, show respect to those. older than they in low-mind-
                                                                       edness. Then we will teach them obedience also to the
        No,`it is not a respect of persons that demands that chil-     authorities. But a child who does not learn to respect age
 dren be silent before those older than they. It is not a respect      and superior relationships of blood and legal ties, does not
 of persons that they show due respect by recognizing them as          learn obedience before the authorities either. And he does
 their uncle or aunt, their grandfather or grandmother as a            not learn the fear of the Lord.
man or a woman instead of on their ownchildish  level. We                                                                      J.A.H.
 want nothing of respect of persons. But it is an act of pride
for children to address those who have attained to adulthood
by their first names and to call those who stand in a special
 blood- and legal relationship to them as tho this relationship
 does not exist. It often happens that one must call "Uncle"                              Teachers Meeting
 or "Aunt" one who is as far as years are concerned one's
 inferior. Yet we believe that the respect must be given in the           The Sunday School teachers mass meeting will be held
 use of those names nevertheless.                                      Friday, April 26, in the Hope Church at 8 p. m.


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       281
                                                                       ._

- II                                                                         St. Augustin, and she continued to occupy the idefinite posi-
             Contending For The Faith II tion of the first centuries on the doctrines of sin and- grace.
                                                                             On the other hand she was much distracted and weakened by
                                                                             barren metaphysical controversies on the abstrusest questions
              The Church  ad the Sacraments                                  of theology and christology  ; and these quarrels facilitated the
                                                                             rapid progress of Islam, which conquered the land of the
        VIEWS   DURING   THE  THIRD   PERIOD   (750-1517 A.D.)               Bible and pressed hard on Constantinople. When the Greek
                                                                             church became stationary, the Latin church began to develop
                   THE   SUPREMACY   OF  THE  POPE                           her greatest energy ; she became the fruitful mother of new
                                                                             and vigorous nations of the North and West of Europe,
                  THE   GREAT   SCHISM  OF  1054 (2).                        produced scholastic and mystic theology and a new order of
                                                                             civilization, built magnificent cathedrals, discovered a new
         The principal sees of the East were directly founded by             Continent, invented the art of printing, and with the revival
   the apostles - with the exception .of Constantinople - and                of learning prepared the way for a new era in the history
   had even clearer title to apostlic succession and inheritance             of the world. Thus the Latin daughter outgrew the Greek
  than Rome. The Greek church took the lead in theology                      mother, and is numerically twice as strong, without counting
down to the sixth or seventh century, and the Latin grate-                   the Protestant secession. At the same time the Eastern church
   fully learned for her. All the oecumenical Councils were                  still may look forward to a new future among the Slavonic
  held on the soil of the Byzantine empire in or near Constan-               races which she has Christianized. What she needs is  a
  tinople (the church councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephe-              revival of the spirit and power of primitive Christianity.     '
  sus, and Chalcedon - H.V.), and carried on in the Greek
language. The great doctrinal controversies on the holy                         When once the two churches were alienated in spirit and
  Trinity and Christology were fought out in the East, yet not               engaged in an `unchristian race for supremacy, all the little
  without the powerful aid of the more steady and practical                  doctrinal and ritualistic differences which had existed long
  West. Athanasius, when an exile from Alexandria, found                     before, assumed an undue weight, and were branded as
  refuge and support in the bishop of Rome. Jerome, the most                 heresies and crimes. The bishop of Rome sees in the Patri-
   learned of the Latin fathers and a friend of Pope Damasus,                arch of Constantinople an ecclesiastical upstart who owed
  was a connecting link between the East and the West, and                   his power to political influence, not to apostolic origin. The
  concluded his labors in Bethlehem. Pope Leo I was the                      Eastern patriarchs look upon the Pope as an.  anti-Christian
  theological master-spirit who controlled the council of  Chalce-           usurper and as the first Protestant. They stigmatize the papal
  don, and shaped the orthodox formula concerning the two>                   supremacy as "the chief heresy of the  ,latter days, which
  natures in the one person of Christ. Yet this very pope                    flourishes now as its predecessor, Arianism, flourished in
  strongly protested against the action of the Council which, in             former days, and which like it, will in like manner be cast
  conformity with a canon of the second oecumenical Council,                 down and vanish away."
  put him on a par with the new bishop of Constantinople.                    THE  PATRIARCH   AND  THE   POPE.  PHOTIUS   AND  NICOLAS.   --
         And here we approach the secret of the ultimate separa-                The doctrinal difference on the procession of the Holy
  tion and incurable antagonism of the churches. It is due                   Spirit will be considered in the chapter on the Theological
  cheifly to three causes: The first cause is the politico-ecclesi-          Controversies. Although it existed before the schism, it as-
  astical rivalry of the patriarch of Constantinople backed by               sumed a practical importance only in connection with the
  the Byzantine empire, and the bishop of Rome in connection                 broader ecclesiastical and political conflict between the patri-
  with the new German empire. The second cause is the grow-                  arh and the pope, between Constantinople and Rome.
  ing centralization and overbearing conduct of the Latin
  church in and through the papacy. The third cause is the                      The first serious outbreak of this conflict took place after
  stationary `character of the Greek and the progressive char-               the middle of the ninth century, when Photius and Nicolas,
  acter of the Latin church during the middel ages. The Greek                two of the ablest representatives of the rival churches, came
  church boasts of the imaginary perfection of her creed. She                into collision. Photius is one of the greatest of patriarchs, as
  still produced considerable scholars and divines, as  Maximus,             Nicolas is one of `the greatest of popes. The former was
  John of Damascus, Photius, Oecumenius, and Theophylact,                    superior in learning, the latter in statesmanship; while in
  but they most confined themselves ot the work of epitom-                   moral integrity, official pride and obstinacy both were fairly
  izing and systematizing the traditional theology of the Greek              matched, except that the papal ambition towered above the
  fathers, and produced no new ideas, as if all .wisdom began                patriarchal dignity. Photius would tolerate no superior,
  and ended with the old oecumenical Councils. She took no                   Nicolas no equal ; the one stood on the Council of Chalcedon,
  interest in the important anthropological and soteriological               the other on Pseudo-Isidor. ..
   controversies which agitated the Latin church in the age of                  The contest between them was at first personal, The de-


282                                              T H E   STAND.ARD   B E A R E R
 -

position of Ignatius as patriarch of Constantinople, for re-                and entered into communication with Pope Hadrian II
buking the immorality of Caesar Bardas, and the election of                 (Dec. 867). He convened a general council in the church of
Photius, then a mere laymen, in his place (858), were arbi-                 St. Sophia (October 869)) which is numbered by the Latins
trary and uncanonical acts which created a temporary schism                 as the Eighth 0eczt;vucenical  Council. The pontifical legates
in the East, and prepared the way for a permanent schism                    presided and presented a formula of union which every bishop
between the East and the West. Nicolas, being appealed :o                   was required to sign before taking part in the proceedings,
as mediator by both parties (first by Photius), assumed the                 and which contained an anathema against all heresies, and
haughty air of supreme judge on the basis of the Pseudo-                    against Photius and his adherents.. But the council -was
Isidorian Decretals, but was at first deceived by his own                   poorly attended (the number of bishops being at first only
legates. The controversy was complicated by the Bulgarian                   eighteen). Photius was forced to appear in the fifth session
quarrel. King Bogoris had been converted to Christianity by                 (Oct. 20)) but on being questioned he either kept silence, or
missionaries from Constantinople  (861), but soon after  apl                answered in. the words of Christ `before Caiaphas and Pilate.
plied to Rome for teachers, and the pope eagerly seized this                In the tenth and last session, attended by the emperor and
opportunity to extend his jurisdiction (866).                               his sons, and one hundred and two bishops, the decrees of the
                                                                            pope against Photius and in favor of Ignatius were confirmed,
       Nicolas, in a Roman Synod (863))  decided in,favor  of the           and the anathemas against the Monothelites and Iconoclasts
innocent Ignatius, and pronounced sentence of deposition                    renewed. The papal delegates signed "with reservation of
against Photius with a threat of excommunication in case of                 the revision of the pope." (The .Monothelites owe their ori-
disobedience. Photius, enraged by this conduct and the Bul-                 gin to an attempt to bridge over the difference between the
garian interference, held a counter-synod, and deposed in                   orthodox position based on the decrees of the Council of
turn the successor of St. Peter (86.7): The Roman Synod,                    Chalcedon, which established the doctrine of the two natures
claiming to be the infallible organ of the Holy Spirit, com-                united in the one Person of the Son, and the Monophysite
pared Photius with a `robber and adulterer for obtruding                    principles, which set forth the one nature of Christ. And the
himself into the see of Constantinople during the lifetime of               Iconoclasts opposed images and image-worship. - H.V.)
Ignatius, deprived him of all priestly honors  and, functions
."by the authority of Almighty God. St. Peter and St. Paul,                    But the peace was artificial, and broken up again immedi-
the princes of the apostles, `of all saints, of the six (why not            ately after the Synod by the Bulgarian question, which in-
seven  ?) oecumenical councils, as also by the judgment of                  volved the political as well as the ecclesiastical power of Con-
the Holy Ghost," and threatened him and all his adherents                   stantinople. Ignatius himself was unwilling to surrender that
with the anathema and' excommunication from the eucharist                   point, and refused to obey when the imperious Pope John
till the moment of death, "that no one may dare hereafter                   VIII commanded, on pain of suspension and excommunica-
from the state of the laity to break into the camp of the Lord,             tion, that he should recall all the Greek bishops and priests-
as has often been the case in the church of Constantinople."                from `Bulgaria. But death freed him from further controversy.
In his famous Encyclical Letter of invitation to the Eastern
patriarchs, Photius charged the whole Western church with                     Photius was restored to the patriarchal see three days after
heresy and. schism for interfering, with the jurisdiction over              the death of Ignatius, with whom.he had been reconciled. He
the Bulgarians, for fasting on Saturday, for abridging the                  convened a council in November, 879, which lasted till March,
time of Lent by a, week, for taking milk-food (milk,' cheese,               880, and is acknowledged by the Orientals as the Eighth Os-
and butter) during the quadragesimal fast, for .enforcing                   cmsenica.1  Council, but was denounced by the Latins as the
clerical celibacy, and despising priests who lived in virtuous              Pseudo-Synodus Photiana. It was three times as large as
matrimony, and, most of all, for corrupting the Nicene Creed                the Council of Ignatius, and held with great pomp in St.
by the insertion of the Filiogue ("and of the Son," - H.V. j,               Sophia under the presidency of Photius. It annulled the
and thereby introducing two principles into the Holy Trinity.               Council. of 869 as a fraud, it readopted the Nicene Creed with
                                                                            an anathema against the Filioque,  and all other changes by
       This  ,letter clearly indicates all the doctrinal and ritual dif-    addition or omission, and it closed with a. eulogy on the
ferences which caused and perpetuated the schism to this day.               unrivalled virtues and learning of Photius. To the Greek
The subsequent history is only a renewal of the same charges,               acts was afterwards added a (pretended) letter of Pope John
aggravated by the misfortune of the Greek church, and the                   VIII to Photius, declaring the Filioque to be an addition
arrogance and intolerance of old Rome.                                      which is rejected by the Church of Rome, and blasphemy
  Photius fell with the murder of his imperal patron, Michael               which must be abolished calmly and by degrees. The papal
III. (Sept. 23, 867). He was imprisoned in a convent, and                   legates assented to all, and so deceived their master by
deprived of society, even of books. He bore his misfortune                  false accounts, of the surrender of Bulgaria that he thanked
with great dignity, and nearly all the Greek bishops .re-                   the emperor for the service he had done to the Church by
mained  faithful to him. Ignatus was restored after ten years               this synod.
of exile by the emperor Basil, the Macedonian (867-886))                                                                              H.V.


                                                        TiiE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       283

                                                                                     with the Latin and Dutch versions. Some of the changes
          The Voice of `Our Fathers                                             II suggested above may be rather minor. But there are others
                                                                                     which, though they may at  first glance seem  ra'ther innocuous,
                                                                                     are nevertheless in my opinion rather important when we
                    The Canons of Dordrecht                                          deal with this crucial subject of the calling as it is delineated'
                                   PART TWO                                          in our Canons. And therefore I want to call special attention
                                                                                     to them and also to their importance. This, I believe, will
                       EXPOSITION  OF THE  CANONS                                    be of assistance ;n coming to a proper understanding of the
               T HIRD  AND  FOURTH H EADS  OF  D OCTRINE                             subject at hand.
 OF  THE  CORRUPTION   OF MAN,  HIS  CONVERSION TO GOD,                                 The crucial points of translation which I wish to note are
                      AND  THE  M A N N E R  T HEREOF                                the following :
                                                                                        1. The conjunction "however." This is  azttem  in the
                 Article 8. As many as are called by the gospel, are
                 unfeignedly called. For God hath most earnestly and                 Latin, and may be rendered variously. But it is aptly trans-
                 truly declared in his Word, what will be acceptable to              lated "doch" in the Dutch version, while it is simply ignored
                 him; namely, that all who are called, should comply
               with the invitation. He, moreover, seriously'promises                 in both the extant English translations. Now this little term
                 eternal life, and rest. to as many as shall come  to' him,          indicates that the fathers were not starting a new line of
                 and believe on him.                                                 thought in this article, something that has nothing to do with
 It is rather well-known that the above rendering of khis                            the preceding. Article 8 does not stand all by itself. It is an
article is far from accurate. The' Christian Reformed "Psalter                       integral part of the line of reasoning which begins ig Article
Hymnal" corrects what is perhaps the most serious inac-                              7, and which is further developed  in Articles 9 and 10 espe-
curacy in its revised translation, which reads .as follows :                         cially. The reader will note that in Article 7 there is a dis-
                 "As many as are called by the gospel are unfeignedly                tinction made among men between those to whom the grace
                 called. For God has most earnestly and truly declared               of the revelation of the mystery of God's will is communi-
                 in His Word what is acceptable- to Him, namely, that
                 those who are called should come unto Him. He also                  cated and those to whom this grace is not giGen and in whom
                 seriously promises rest of soul and eternal life to all             the severity of God's judgments is displayed. And it is this
                 who come to Him and believe."                                       statement of Article 7 which, in the minds of the fathers,
    Even this version, hdwever, is not all that could be de-                         might give rise to the Arminian charge that in the Reformed
sired. And therefore I would like to furnish  3 thorough-                            view the call of the gospel cannot be seriously meant to  aA1
going revision of my own, quoting first of all the Latin  an<                        to whom the go& is preached, - seriously meant, that is,
Dutch versions of this article, by which I' want to support                          on the part of the God Who sends the gospel. It is the old,
my suggested changes, and pointing out what I consider some                          old  accusation,  -one to which in Protestant Reformed cir-
rathtr crucial points in the translation.                                            cles we have become quite accustomed to hearing even from
    The original Latin of this article is as follows :                               those who as Reformed brethren are supposed to maintain
                                                                                     the same Cunons with us, but who corrupt them and deny
                 "Quotquot autem per Evangelium vocantur, serio  vo-
                 cantur. Serio enim et verissime ostendit Deus verbo                 them, - the charge, namely,. that if you have a gospel of
                 sue,. quid  sibi gratum sit, nimirum, ut vocati ad se               salvation for sovereignly elected men only, then you must also
                 vemant. Serio etiam omnibus ad se venientibus et
                 credentibus requiem animarum, et vitam aeternam                     proclaim that gospel only to the elect, and cannot possibly
                 prpmitttit."                                                        have a gospel that can be proclaimed to elect and reprobate
    The Dutch translation, adopted by the Synod of Dordt,                            without distinction. Our Reformed fathers felt the sting of
is as follows:                                                                       that charge from the Arminians. The Remonstrants accused
                 "Doch zoo velen als er door het Evangelie geroepen                  them that in their view God really mocked men in the procla-
                 worden,  die  worden ernstiglijk geroepen. Want God
                 betoont ernstiglijk en. waarachtiglijk in Zijn Woord,               mation of the gospel, was not serious, tantalized them by
                 wat Hem aangenaam is,  namelijk; dat de geroepenen                  dangling before them  the precious gift of salvation which
                 tot Hem komen. Hij belooft ook met ernst  allen, die
                 tot Hem komen,  .en gelooven, de rust der zielen en                 was not meant for them and to which they could not attain
                 het eeuwige leven."                                                 anyway. Over against this Arminian. argument of the im-
    Here follows my o&n translation of this paragraph, In                            possibility of a serious general gospel call under the Re-
which, for the sake of reference, I will italicize the  co;-                         formed view, the fathers here say : "However, as many as are
rections  :                                                             I            called by the Gospel, are seriously called."
                 As many,  however; as are called by  tihe Gospel, are
                 seriouslv   called. For God has  seriozrsly  cntd  most  tndy          2. Secondly,. there  is the most glaring inaccuracy of the
                 sho~~rt  ;n his  Word,  what  is'  filea& to him, namely,           translation "should  comply with the invitation." It is diffi-
                 $hat  the  cdled  shozLld  conce  ado  Iz&ti. He  eve+8 promises
                 seriouslv  to all those  cowziuq to  him  altd  be2ieGwq   rest     cult to understand how the translators could ever arrive at
                 of soul-and eternal life.       -                                   such a rendering, except upon the basis that they deliberately
    The reader .may compare for himself the three English                            attempted to insert their own..view into the Ccvao~  and had
translations, and those who are a$le may also compare them                           themselves already lost the spirit of Dordt. For certainly


284                                         T H E   S T A N D A - R D   BEARER

the article in the original breathes nothing of an "invitation."    ing to Him, namely, that the called should come to Him.
Both the Dutch and the Christian Reformed revision of the           He even seriously promises to all those coming and believ-
English render the Latin literally and accurately by "shouid        ing rest of soul and eternal life.
come unto him." On the other hand, it is rather ironic that           5. Finally, I think it well to maintain in the English trans-
the Christian Reformed Churches who in 1924 principally             lation as much as possible the word order of the original
adopted the Arminian view in their infamous First Point 05          Latin in this -last sentence, in order. that the connection
Common Grace should make this revision, and thus eliminate          between the call to come and believe and the promise of rest
from our creeds. any mention of an "invitation." But thus           and life be maintained. Perhaps I can illustrate best the
it is. And surely, this same correction is long overdue in our      importance of this by giving a translation that slavishly fol-
official Protestant Reformed version of the Ca.nons.                lows the order of the original, as follows : "Seriously even to
       3. In the third place, we should notice the triple use of    all those coming to him and believing, rest of soul and life
the term "seriously." In the accepted English versions the          eternal he promises." This is rather clumsy English ; but
original Latin term,  serio, is rendered by three different         the same sense may be kept by the translation I have given
`words. In the first instance a negative term is used, "un-         above, and which also agrees with the Dutch rendering. In
feigned." In the second instance the word is translated             this connection it is well  to keep the emphatic and all-com-
"earnestly" (the use of the superlative "most," by the way,         prehensive "all," omnibus, rather than the "as many as" of
belongs only with "truly," so that the correct translation is       our accepted version.
"seriously and most truly.") And in the third instance the             .These observations should be helpful in coming to an
word "seriously" is used. Now while it may be true that all         understanding of this article and those which follow it.
three of these translations are not far in meaning from the            A careful study of these articles is necessary for more
idea of "seriously," it nevertheless ought to be emphasized         than. one reason. In the first place, I believe that it must be
that in the original the same term is used throughout; and          conceded that the fathers of Dordt are not at their best in
therefore we prefer to render it uniformly by "seriously." this and the ninth article. That is not to say that they were
Besides, the term "earnestly" in many minds carries the             not Reformed ; they certainly were. But I do not believe that
connotation of an element of eagerness, and ought to be             at Dordt the Reformed truth concerning the calling  ,and
avoided in this connection, lest the idea of "well-meaningly"       closely related subjects had reached the zenith of its devel-
be introduced. Moreover, we ought to note in this connec-           opment. And there is admittedly a lack of clarity here on
tion that in the second instance the term serloztsly  is asso-      certain details, even though the main line of the truth is
ciated with verissime, "most truly." The Dutch has caught           clearly maintained in this article when it is read in- its con-
the idea of this term in translating it by "waarachtiglijk." text. What the immediate reason for this lack of clarity and
This is important, for it shows us what the fathers had in          this failure to touch on certain aspects of the subject is, I.
mind by their use of the term "seriously." "Most truly"             could not say with certainty. But in studying the various
does not merely mean to emphasize that God has indeed de-           opinions on this subject which were handed in by both the
clared in His Word what is pleasing to Him, that it is a fu.cl      foreign and domestic delegates to the. Synod I almost gained
that God has declared this in ,His Word. But this expression        the impression that under the circumstances this was the
has to do with the veracity, the truthfulness, the trustworthi-     best doctrinal statement that could be made, and that possibly
ness of God and of His Word as it comes to men in the               dissension and confention  would have arisen ,if the Synod
gospel. In this way it is related to the term "seriously."          had attempted to say more. At least I found in many of
Does God reveal Himself according to truth in the gospel            those opinions statements to which I would not subscribe,
proclamation? Does He mean what He says  ? Is it possible           and which,. to my mind, cannot be made to harmonize with
that when one obeys the call of the gospel, he will be disap-       the truth as it is expressed in our Canons. In fact, as I
pointed and not receive that which he seeks ? Is it possible        studied these opinions. I was at times almost surprised that
that those who come will be cast out, and not received by           in our Cartons we have as strong and as clear a `statement a.s
God? That is the question. And the answer is: God has               we actually have. Perhaps in a separate article (for we are
seriously and most truly, or truthfully, shown in His Word          studying the Canons, and not the opinions of the delegates)
what is pleasing to Him, namely, that the called should             we could quote some'of these statements and examine them.
come unto Him.                                                      But certainly we must be careful to catch the spirit of
       4. We should, furthermore, notice in the last sentence       Dordt in our explanation of this article. And to do this, we
of this article the term etiam, "even." This last sentence is       must surely view the article against the background of the
not merely an additional statement, as the translation "also"       Arminian conflict.
or "moreover" would `indicate. But it is intended as an                In the second.  place;  this article and the ninth are of
emphatic statement of the seriousness of the gospel call, and       special interest because they were cited by the Synod of the
that too, as that gospel call comes to men, elect and repro-        Christian Reformed Church in 1924 in support of  `the First
bate, without distinction. God not only states what is pleas-                             (Conhmed  OR page 286)


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                285

                                                                           Thirdly, it may not be overlooked that the fact*  of sin
              DECENCY and ORDER                                        has also totally perverted the function of the worldly  State.
                                                                       Man, in his capacity as king, is a rebel who cannot; will not,
                                                                       cannot will to, and may no longer function as the servant of
                The Church and the State                               God's righteousness. H.e is cast out of God's Paradise: He
                                                                       lost his ability and volition to serve. God in the things that
                                 (Concluded)                           are made and his right to do so has been taken from him by
                                                                       virtue of his covenant with. the Prince of Darkness. From
      The State is the temporal and creaturely institution which       this the world's problems originate and to co?plicate mat-
  originates in creation itself. From the very fact that man           ters still  mor.e  it may be added that as the disordered `process
  was  creited to rule and given the mandate of God to "Ble            of the world's social and cultural development  .takes place,
  fruitful, multiply, and' replenish the earth, and subdue it;         the problems in that disordered State become increasingly
  and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the,            intricate. The Sin-process does not remain dormant, neither
  fowl of the air, and over..every  living thing that moveth upon      is it retarded by a common grace,. but it unfolds simulta-.
  the earth," stems the State. Adam was both head of the               neously with the social and cultural development of human-
  family and head of the earthly State. His dominion extended          ity. It is no wonder then that the world today is plagued
  over all the earth.                                                  not only with myriads of problems but with problems of
      Now we may ask .what the specific function or calling            the most prodigious and admittedly insolvable nature.
  of the State is? What is its purpose? It is not easy to cir-             But there is still more. The world is no longer one.
  cumscribe this within a simple definition but we might at-           Since Babel it is divided into many states and these in tiu-n
  tempt it by saying that the State is called to maintain the          stand in a dis-ordered, relation to each other. Out of this
  order and righteousness (or righteous order) of God within           rises the insatiable lust for power and supremacy ; interna-
  the earthly domain. She has the authority to enforce God's           tional jealousies and envies; refusals to acknowledge mutual
  law and to demand of the creature obedience and subjection.          rights  ; tensions  ; cold and hot wars  ; etc. To all of these
  Adam must subdue ,the earth. He must ruie in the earthly             problems the world has no solution ; the State is impotent
  creation so as to bring all things into subjection to his            to remedy them for the very problems are rooted in the very
  Creator.                                                             power that holds the world in bondage, viz: SIN ! The State
      From this it may be observed, firstly, that the authoi-ity       may enact and enforce certain legislation and wield a power-
  of the State is not absolute but derivative. The.State is not        ful sword whereby she temporarily curbs the dissol&eness
  the highest power; it is power only under God.  It is limited        of men but all this is a far cry from an actual solution.
, in its function by the will of the Creator. It cannot do with            All of this must be remembered in considering the rela-
  all things as it pleases ; it may not press all things into the      tion of church and state; We are not confronted with the
  service of the creature man; neither can  it. reject or oppose       question of the proper  relatiori of the  .church to the ideal
  God's will with impunity. The State is subject to God.               state but rather to the state in her present condition under
  "There is no power but of God." (Rom. 13 :l )                        the .curse.
                                                                                                 4:  *  *  +
      In the second place it should be evident that separa-
  tion in the law of God cannot be made when that law is                   In that dis-ordered State exists the Church. To define
  made applicable to the State. This is sometimes done. We             her is not as difficult for we haye  the clear testimony of the
 cannot, however, speak of the State's concern about the               Word. Accordingly, the church may be called the spiritual,
  second table of the law and give it license to ignore and re-        mystical body of Jesus Christ, consisting of all the elect of
  pudiate the first table. The State cannot be concerned with          God. She has her origin, not in creation, as does the State,
  "social relations" ( re a ion
                         1  t       of men td each other within the    but she "has been chosen in Christ Jesus from before the
  complex order of human society) without being concerned              foundation of the world." (Eph. 1  :3) Her origin is- in
  about man's r.elation  to God. Such an arbitrary separation          grace, the free and sovereign grace of God. In the world
  within the law of God is impossible. The law is one and,             she comes to. manifestation through the institute which may
  therefore, inseparable. The  seconh commandment is like              be distinguished in the visible and invisible aspects. This
  unto the first. The love of the neighbor must be rooted in           institution, with `its offices, ministry and sacraments, serves
  the love of God. Consequently, we may not derogate from              as the medium through which the riches of grace and glory
  the function of the State by referring to its task as limited        are bestowed upon her members for "He gave some apostles ;
  to mundane things, natural relations, etc. to the total exclu-       and some.prdphets  ; and some evangelists ; and some pastors
  sion of spiritual relations. The State has also a spiritual          and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the .work
  calling by virtue of the fact that it is ordained, instituted and    of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of -Christ." (Eph.
established by God. She is rightly the. se&ant  of righteous-          4:12) Thus, her principle task and calling is to adminster
  ness.                                                                the Word and Sacraments and to exercise that holy disci-


286                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

pline oi the Word whereby, as much as possible, the purity          the Lord's sake," "be subject to the higher powers," etc.
of the body may be maintained. She is called to fight a holy        The state may not infringe upon the rights of the church nor
war, opposing the damnable heresies of men who lie in wait          interfere with the function of her Divinely imposed duties.
to deckive  ; she must provide positive instruction in the truth    Where this mutual recognition is not acknowledged there
enabling her members to grow in the knowledge of her Lord           is bound to be conflict and even bloodshed which, in the
Jesus Christ; and she must serve as the medium to admin-            present sinful world, is frequently unavoidable.
ister the mercies of Christ, assisting the poor and diqtressed.         (3) Since the State is duty bound to require of its
Hers is a high spiritual calling.                                   subjects obedience to the whole law of God for the main-
       The Church, in distinction from the State, is not under      tenance of good order and the preservation of righteousness
the power and dominion of sin. Grace is her Lord. She is            in her domain, and since the Church, in its earthly institute,
delivered thrbugh Christ from the curse and dominion of             is the possessor of property and other material resources,
sin. This does not mean that sin does. not remain in the            it cannot be avoided that there. will be an overlapping of rule
church. Even as the particular believer is now not yet de-          and concern in some of these things. This follows because
livered from the body of this death, even so the church in          the Sate, a natural organism, is also' given a spiritual callirg
the world is not yet made perfect. She struggles with sia           by virtue of the fact that she stands related to God, and the
 within her and against the power of sin about her but she          Church, a  spirittial organism, has a material side by virtue
 does not serve sin. She lives the life of regeneration and         of the fact that she is in her present institution earthly. This,
 thus manifests obedience to God through her Lord Jesus             however, should not and, if everything was in order in both
 Christ. In all of this there is a vast difference between the      church and state, would nbt create disharmony for there
 church and state even though today this difference is greatly      would then be mutual respect in the overl&pping  area.
 obscured by the fact that much of the so-called church has             (4) The disharmony' between State and Church rises
 conformed itself to the state and many states have put on          from the fact that in this sinful world, one or the other or
 the likeness of a religious face. A common thing it is  to,        both overstep their rightly appointed boundaries or neglect
 hear one speak of the "Christian state" as well as of the          their Divine calling. Thus, to cite but a couple of examples,
 "worldly church." Naturally the two have much in common.           we may point to instances where the State attempts to de-
       Finally, it should be remembered that. the, church's in-     termine what the doctrine and confession of the Church shall
 heritance is heavenly. She recognizes the fact that the pres-      be or when the Church, rightly proclaiming the Word of
 ent creation has fallen deeply under the curse and that the        God concerning morality in such relations as marriage, di-
 end thereof is certain destruction. (II Peter 3 :lO) She lives     vorce, etc., comes into conflict with a State that is lax and
 by faith in the promise of God and' sets her hope upon better      anti-Christian  in regard to these things. And likewise, we
 things, a new heayen and a new earth wherein righteousness         might mention the cases of many "churches" that are guilty
 dwells. (Vs. 14) She does not expect utopia here but rather        of intermeddling in those things that pertain strictly to the
 is prepared to .endure  tribulation for Christ's sake for she      domain of the state.
 knows that in the present evil world she has no abiding                                                                   G.V.D.B.
 place. She matches fervently and pays earnestly, "Come
 Lord Jesus, come quickly." (R&v. 22 :20)
                                                                                  T,HE VOICE  O'F OUR FATHERS
                            *  *  Q  *                                                 (Costiwted   from  page 254)

                                                                    Point of Common Grace, as follows: ". . . This is evident
       As to the relation of the church and state, therefore, we    from the Scriptural passages quoted and from the Canons
 shall conclude with the following observations :                   of Dordrecht, II, 5 and III, IV, 8 and 9, which deal with
       (1) These two are two separate entities, different in        the general offer of the Gospel . .  ." And without conceding
 nature and essence, and must therefore be kept distinct.           for a moment that the Synod of 1924 cited this article prop-
Water and oil are two separate substances. They cannot be           erly, I nevertheless believe that the lack of clarity in this
 mixed. No more can the church and state be unified,. Such          article to an extent gave occasion for its being quoted in
unity shall be, possible only in the Kingdom `of Christ, the        support of so Arminian a doctrine as that of the general,
 perfect Theocracy, where the church shall be the redeemed          well-meant offer of salvation. And of course, the Synod of
 State.                                                             1924 is not alone in this field. It is surprising how easily
       (2) While these ttio exist together temporarily in the       various writers and readers make the ."jump" from "seri-
 present world, they have a mutual calling with respect to          ously" to "well-meaningly." But again, rightly to under-
 each other. The sovereignty of each in their own sphere            stand this matter requires that we study this article care-
 must be mutually recognized. The church, therefore, must           fully against the background of the Arminian controversy.
 "honor the king," "submit to every ordinance of man for                                                                     H.C.H


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 287

I/                                                                    This is the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. Accepting
               ALL AROUND US                                    il it is not a matter of taste but of life and death, for there is
                                                                      none other name under heaven, given among men whereby
                                                                      we must be saved.
Doctrinal Sensitivity.                                                   "Furthermore, let us not be duped by modernism which
        We have been reading with some interest the series of         creates a false antithesis between doctrine and life. Without
articles appearing in the tovch and truwzpe? under the main           the truth thel'e can be no Christian life; truth is the founda-
heading "The Pillars of Our Church." This series is pre-              `tion. The cry of `No creed btit Christ' is but a fundamentalist
sented by different authors evidently to remind especially the        variant of the modern creed.
members of the Christian Reformed Church of their heritage.              "Since doctrine,' then, is inevitable, it boils  down to the
The occasion is the centennial year of the existence of these         question whether we have the true or false doctrine. This
churches as a denomination.                                           is where doctrinal sensitivity functions. Our hearts must be
        The article appearing in the February issue of this peri-     <attuned  to the Word of God . . . As we learn to make every
odical, written by Professor Henry R. Van Til of Calvin               thought captive to the obedience of Christ, we become in-
College under the above named title, aroused more than                creasingly doctrinally sensitive."
usual interest. He not only emphasizes correctly the im-                 Prof. Van Til develops his article under three main head-
portance of doctrinal sensitivity, but also with great boldness       ings. Under the first he shows from Scripture what the Word
dares to enumerate and define with evident fear for the future        of God teaches respecting this doctrinal sensitivity. Writes
of his church the weaknesses of his church and its leaders            he:              _
with respect to this doctrinal sensitivity. There have been those        "We find this-sensitivity ,to the truth of God very pro-
outside of his church who, looking in, have given critical ap-        nounced as we study the history of revelation. But let us
praisal of the things they have seen and heard. B,tit to our          never forget that it is first of all a heart question. Christ said
best knowledge no one in the last three decades within his            to his disciples,' `If any man willeth to do his will, he shall
church has come out in the open with such daring criticism of         know of the teaching whether it is of God, or whether I speak
his church. That the writer was deeply conscious of what              from myself' (John 7 :17) . . . .
he was writing and the repercussions it might have is evident             "In the Old' Testament God expects his people to be
from the f&owing quotation : "I would speak plainly on this           sensitive in distiriguishing between the heathen gods and
important matter; I may not do otherwis"e.  So did Elijah and         Jehovah . . .
Amos. The latter was told to begone from the king's private              "Furthermore, the Lord expected discerment of his people
altar. However, the words of Amos we cannot escape even               and he developed their doctrinal sensitivity by warning them
today : `Woe unto them that are at `ease in Zion, and to them         against false prophets (De+  18:20-22) . . .
that are secure in the mountain of Samaria,  the notable men              "Jehovah also commands his people to educate the chil-
of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come'        dren to be doctrinally conscious and alert to false doctrines,
 (Amos 6 : 1) ."                                                      (Deut. 6 :7-9) . . .
        We cannot, of course, quote the entire article. Only a            "When apostacy did set in God complains through Hosea,
brief synopsis can here be given. We would, however, advise           `My people perish for lack of knowledge' . . .
those who can obtain a copy to read it. It would be worth                 "Furthermore, there ark cases in which Jehovah repri-
your effoit.                                                          manded his people for lack of doctrinal sensitivity.  Jehosa-
        In his introductory remarks Van Til defines the term          phat, the godly king of Judah, for example, is told by Jehu
 "doctrinal sensitivity." He defines "sensitivity" as "spiritual      the seer, `Shouldest thou help the wicked, and love them that
 awareness by which one senses danger. It is glade up of              hate Jehovah ?' This man had made an alliance with wicked
 knowledge of the truth. and a tender regard' for the Word            Ahab and given his son in marriage to Athaliah, the daughter
 of the covenant God." Concerning doctrine, he writes "In its         of Jezebel . . .
 most elementary sense `doctrine' simply means teaching. It                   "The New Testament, however, gives us the most strik-
 may refer to true or false teaching, to the teaching of Christ       ing example in the sudden apostacy of the Galatian believers.
 or of his enemies, the Pharisees, to the teachings of Paul or        who continued in the apostles teaching (Acts 2 :42). Jesus
 of demons . . . Secondly, doctrine consists of fact plus its in-     himself while here upon earth had given the example of
 terpretation. Dr. Machen uses the Pauline phrase, `Christ            developing doctrinal sensitivity in his disciples, when he
 died for our sins,' to illustrate this.                              warned them against the leaven (doctrines) of the Pharisees
         "That Christ died is a fact of history, but without God's    and Sadducees' . . .
 authoritative interpretation we do not know its significance.                "Luke records the doctrinal sensitivity of the Berean  -
 Some said, `he died ,as a blasphemer,' others, `he died as a         believers who daily searched the Scriptures to  see: whether
 deluded fanatic,' still others, `he died a martyr foi- his cause.' the things spoken by Paul were true . . ."
      But Paul preached the gospel that Christ died for our sins.             Much more does the author write in `this section of his


                             --~_-.__~                                                      __-_
283                                                  TH.E  S T A N D A R D   BYEARER

article referring to those passages of Scripture that exhort                        doctrinal sensitivity (Gereformeerde voelhorens) . So many
to doctrinal purity and warn against doctrinal indifference                         no longer judge- a sermon on the score of its doctrinal sound-
and false prophets within and `without- the church who come                         ness first of all, whether it maintains the purity of the faith.
with seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, and in sheep's,                      But depending on one's education and predilection, the ser-
clothing. He closes this section with the statement: "True                          mon is good when it gives practical advice on everyday living,
love of God and. the brethren reveals itself by a spiritual                         when it stirs us emotionally, when it has persuasive logic or
awareness when the danger of false doctrine threatens the                           beautifully turned sentences, and other equally superficial
church. It is  doctrina!ly  sensitive."                                             criteria. This Same attitude of doctrinal laxity is to be ob-
       Under the second part of this article Van Til calls atten-                   served in the songs. that are sung . . 1
tion to doctrinal sensitivity in the life of the church. He in-                            "Furthermore, we lack sensitivity on the doctrine of the
troduces this part with the statement: "In the second place,                        covenant, which is being broken with impunity in many
.that the church universal as well as our own particular seg-                       mixed marriages appearing in our circles.
ment of the body of Christ has been peculiarly sensitive to                                "Another distressing phenomenon is lack of personal
the importance of doctrinal purity is evident from the creeds."                     piety among many of our members. Yes, many are `respect-
       He points out that "the very fact itself that the church                     able people' (brave mensen) and are counted as leaders in
expressed itself creedally, that it undertook the arduous task                      the church, some of them are elders and deacons, others are
of delineating its doctrines versus heretical opinions of false                     captains of drives or Centennial chairmen. But it is easy
teachers, indicated its spiritual apprehension and its concern                      for them to stay home together at the cottage on a Sunday
for the truth."                                                                     evening, or to drive most of the Lord's Day to or from a
       He points up the history respecting the struggle against                     week-end of personal pleasure; they have the Sunday papers
Arianism,  Pelagianism, the false doctrines of the Romish                           scattered all over the living room floor, or even listen to the.
Church, Arminianism, etc., reflected in the Nicene, Athan-                          ball game on Sunday afternoon. All these things and many
asian creeds, the protest of the Reformers, the Canons of                           more indicate a lack of sensitivity as to the Lord's Day,
Dordt. He points to the various forms for ordination of                             sanctification, the offices in the church and the keeping of the
office-bearers and the Formula of
                         ..- r ,.... _. _ _~  -    Sub-~~pt;ee._~!hi~~
                                           .---..                          every    covenant ..-. . . . . `I--;,. _? _-.... .L..-:.y. . . ..-do----
office-bearer must sign, in which they are committed  ts                                   The writer- further points to the loss of doctrinal sensitiv-
preserve and proclaim sound doctrine and battle against all                         ity when he refers to the "ease with which many change their
doctrine repugnant thereto. He reflects on the history of the                       church affiliation today . . . and the ease with which we re-
Secession of 1534, the Doleantie of 1886, and the history                           ceive .members from another church ;" and the way elders are
connected to the origin of the Christian Reformed Church in                         chosen to the holy office in the church ; and finally, to the
lS.57. And he closes with the following significant paragraph :                     fact that "as church we no longer appreciate controversial
       "It is impossible within the limits of this paper to treat                   preaching." In this connection he writes : "We no longer can
this question exhaustively. However, I merely wish to cite                          bear doctrinal debate (ever since the common grace issue we
what others may call an insufficient reason for our denomina-                       have more and more closed our official papers to debate for
tional existence,  the  concern of  0,u.T fathers for  doctrinal                    fear it would lead to schisms) while militancy in the church
p&y. In this Centennial celebration the question of whether                         militant is often seen as belligerency . . ."
they were right or wrong ought to be of real concern to us.                                He then points to specific cases: the notorious Weieman
If our fathers were wrong, we have no right to celebrate their                      case ;" to the case of the writing of a certain minister whose
folly ; or, even worse, their sin of schism. Instead `we ought                      name is not mentioned who wrote a dissertation on Kierke-
to repent and sue for re-admittance to the Reformed Church                          gaard's theology and who now wants Masons to be accepted
of America. On the other hand, if we believe our fathers:                           into the membership of the church ; to the fact that the doc-
were right, we ought to disavow the inclusivistic spirit of                         trine of the antithesis is being denied `by a certain minister;
modernism, which in the name of ecumenicism would join all                          to the Jan&en case ; and to two or three other cases.
churches together without regard to doctrinal purity or basic
agreement concerning the creeds."                                                          I am sorry there is not enough space to quote his com-
                                                                                    ments on each of these cases. I am sorry, too; that there is no
       It is under the third heading of his article entitled:                       space left to make a few comments of our own. Enough has
"In the Christian Reformed Church of Today" that Prof.                              been quoted, we hope, to encourage the readers to find a
Van Til points up the particular weaknesses of his church                           copy of his article and read it in its entirety.
with respect to doctrinal sensitivity. He first writes in general
terms, and then closes his article referring to specific cases                             -A careful perusal of Van Til's article should also have
that have appeared in the history of his church where this                          the.salutary  effect upon us who are Protestant Reformed to
weakness in doctrinal sensitivity were manifested. Writes he :                      be doctrinally sensitive respecting our own heritage.
       "I am fully persuaded that our people are losing their                                                                                          M.S.
                                                                                    . .


