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                    A  REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE




                         IN  THIS ISSUE:
I

                                      Meditation--Jehovah's Well-Dealing Acknowledged


                                      The Christian Reformed Synod and the "Dekker Case"


                                      Missions--The Evangelical Approach in the Old Testament


                                      Evolutionism in the Dutch Churches        .




                                                                            Volume XLI/ Number 3 / November 1,. 1964


50                                                                                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR.ER

                                                    CONTEN'TS                                                                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
Meditation -                                                                                                                                        `Semi-monthly, except monthly during  June, July and August
      Jehovah's Well-Dealing Acknowledged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                     Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
Editorials -
      The Christian Reformed Synod and the                                                                                                                           Edits  - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
      "Dekker Case" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*...................*.............. 52                                                       Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
              Prdf.  H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., SE., Grand Rapids 7,
      ;"Should  I Prepare For The Ministry?" (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54                                                              Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                      neatly written or typewritten.
Our Doctrine -                                                                                                                                     All church news items should be addressed toMr.  J. M. Faber,
      The Sacrament Of The Lord's Supper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56                                                                       1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
              Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                     Ahnouncements  and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included must
Trying The Spirits -                                                                                                                               be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below:
      Buddhism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    58       All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
              Rev. R. C. Harbach                                                                                                                           Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
In His Fear -                                                                                                                                                            Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
      Reformation or Deformation? .,................................ 59                                                                               Renewal: .Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
              Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                                                      received it is assumed that. the subscriber wishes the sub-
A Cloud Of Witnesses -
      Spiritual Confusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..f...........                                       scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
                                                                                                                                            61
              Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                                                                                                     Subscription price: $5.00 per year
From Holy Writ -                                                                                                                                        Second  Class postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
      Exposition Of Romans 5:12 - 21 . . . . . . ..*....................... 6 3
              Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                                                                                                                           PUBLIC LECTURE
Examining Exumenicalism  -
      The History Of The Ecumenical Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65                                                                          PARENTAL OBLIGATIONS RESPECTING
              Rev. G. Van Baren
All Around Us - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~...................................                                                       PROTESTANT REFORMED SECONDARY EDUCATION
                                                                                                                                            6 7
              Rev. H. Hanko                                                                                                                                         by Professor H. C. Hoeksema
The Lord Gave The Word . . .
      The Evangelical Approach In The Old Dispensation . . . . . . 69                                                                              Special numbers have been scheduled. At the S.W.
              Rev. C. Hank0                                                                                                                        Protestant Reformed Church, November  12, 1964  8:OO
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71                                    P.M.
      Mr. John M. Faber                                                                                                                                    Sponsored by Prot. Ref. High School Circle.





                                                                           JEHOVAH'S WELL-DEALING ACKNOWLEDGED

                                                                                                                              Prof. & C. Hoeksema

                                                        Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, 0 Lord, according unto thy word.
                                                                                                                                                                             Psalm 119:65

      Who of God's children is not personally acquainted                                                                                           and had kept his delight even in the midst of affliction.
with the "problem" of suffering? Who of the Lord's                                                                                                 And his experience had been, - and this was and is the
servants has not at one time or another asked in his                                                                                               only real solution to the "problem" of suffering,  -
soul after the meaning of suffering, the reason and                                                                                                that the Lord had dealt well with him in that very
purpose of suffering, the motive of suffering?                                                                                                     affliction.
      No one, least  .of all the child of God, is a stranger                                                                                           In this section of the psalm we find the acknow-
to suffering. And whether that suffering partakes of                                                                                               ledgement of that experienced solution, an acknow-
the nature of the general sufferings of this present                                                                                               ledgement addressed to the, covenant Jehovah.
life, which is nothing but a continual death, or whether                                                                                               Thou, Lord, hast dealt -well  with Thy servant!
it is suffering for Christ's sake, it presents its                                                                                                     According unto Thy Word1
` `problem" for the  child of God,  - a "problem" that                                                                                                 Thou hast dealt well1               .
cries insistently and incessantly for a solution.                                                                                                      Of the past, probably of the very recent past, the
      That solution the psalmist had, and he had it as a                                                                                           poet is speaking. He is speaking  after the fact. And
matter of personal experience. In affliction  .he had                                                                                              looking back on the fact of his recent affliction, he
been, - in this case, affliction for Christ's sake. In                                                                                             makes a confession before the face of Jehovah: "Thou'
the Word of his God the psalmist had had `his delight                                                                                              hast dealt well with thy servant." Hence, the objective


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D .   B E A R E R                                            51

truth taught by the text is that the Lord always deals               that the Lord has dealt well with him. It is good for
well with His servants. For if this can be said when                 me.  that I have been afflicted. In my very afflictions,
the child of God is in extremities, if it is true with               0 Lord, I have tasted Thy goodness unto me1
respect to unfavorable circumstances, if it can be
confessed in the worst conceivable situation, a situa-                    Difficult confession!
tion of affliction and suffering, then it is always true.                 For do not all the facts seem to contradict it?
The Lord always deals well with His servants.                             There is the general suffering of this present time,
    Thou hast dealt well, - in the hour of trouble, in the           the suffering which the people of God must endure along
time of affliction. Thy dealings in the affliction itself            with all the children of men, except, perhaps, that
were well-dealings. Of affliction the psalmist is cer-               God's children often have a greater share of such suf-
tainly speaking here: for more than once inthis section              fering than the children of the world. We are in the
he refers to it. "Before I was afflicted, I went astray,"            midst of death.          This life is nothing but a continual
he says. Of "the proud" who "forged a lie against me"                death. In this world of death we are subject to sorrow,,
he speaks, and of those whose "heart is as fat as                    grief, bereavement, pain, suffering, agony, and death
grease." Moreover, of the fact that it was good for                  itself finally.        And how, in the face of death, is it
him that he had been afflicted he makes his confession.              possible to say, "It is good for me that I have been
And let us understand clearly that when now the poet                 afflicted?"
makes his confession concerning the Lord's  well-                         Besides, there is the particular suffering which the
dealings, it is to those afflictions themselves that he              child of God must endure, suffering, whether in the old
has reference. Not merely of all the good that he had                or the new dispensation, that is suffering'for Christ's
experienced in spite of and alongside of his affliction              sake, - the kind of suffering which comes to the children
does he speak. Not even does he merely refer to the                  of God from their enemies, the wicked, the ungodly
fact that he had been in affliction, but that the Lord               world. It is the suffering that is their lot exactly be-
had delivered him out of his affliction. The latter also             cause they are the Lord's servants, whom the world
is surely the goodness of the Lord. But after all, in                hates. And the simple fact is that the more they are
this life the Lord does certainly not always' deliver us             the servants of the Lord, the more they must suffer
out of our afflictions; eventually in the way of affliction          affliction.        And has not the cry of the saints always
His children go down into death.                                     been, "For thy sake we are killed all the day long?"
    No, the inspired poet is speaking of the affliction              And does not the objective testimony of all that afflic-
itself I That affliction had been the Lord's dealing with            tion seem to stand in' flat contradiction of the truth
him.      And that affliction itself as the Lord's dealing           that God deals well with us? Does it not seem to be a
had been good.        "It is good for me that I have been            testimony of disfavor, of wrath?           And does not the
afflicted...."                                                       tempter, the devil, love to take advantage of that very
    Thou, Lord, hast dealt well with Thy servant1                    suffering to try to make it seem to us as though the
    Squarely in the domain of God's dealings, God's                  Lord deals ill?
sovereign providence, does the psalmist acknowledge                       Yet necessary this confession surely is: for God's
all his afflictions to be. Not by accident did they come,            own glory and for our own peace of heart I For how
nor through mere "happen-stance." It was not ulti-                   could God be glorified in His people if they did not
mately the enemy that brought his troubles upon him,                 confess, but denied, His faithful well-dealings? And
the enemy who hated him because he loved God's                       bow could any child of His ever have peace of heart as
precepts. Not under the control of some evil power,                  long as he thught that the Lord dealt ill with him?
perhaps the devil, were his afflictions. But according                    Necessary it is, not only t-o say, "Thou hast dealt
to God's all-wise counsel, by God's divine government,               well." But necessary, too, is the confession, right in
and through God's active control of things andexecution              the midst of trouble, "Thou a& dealing well."
of His own counsel affliction had become his portion in                   According unto Thy Word1
life.     These afflictions themselves were the Lord's                    In comparison with that Word and in the light of
dealings with him! And what comfort would there be                   that Word alone .is it possible to behold God's well-
for the tempest-tossed child of the Lord if he could not             dealings even in affliction. Not by looking at things,
acknowledge theseafflictions to be from God's "Father-                at circumstances, and then judging God's dealings in
ly hand?"                                                            comparison therewith is it possible to say this. But
    Then, and then only, is it possible to acknowledge               by looking at the grim realities of affliction in the
that they are good, and to say, "Thou hast dealt, weEZ .."           light of God, in the light of His Word that is a larnp
    Apparent contradiction  1 Seeming paradox  1 Good                unto our feet, in the light of the eternal verities of His
affliction!                                                          unfailing Word of promise, the confession is possible.
    God's dealings are always good, - good in the ob-                     For' the Word to which the poet has reference here
jective, the absolute sense of `the word. No matter                  is surely God's Word of promise, spoken from the
what God does, He always does good, absolutely good.                 beginning of the world to patriarchs and prophets,
Even His dealings with the reprobate, whom He sets in                centrally spoken and realized through Jesus Christ our
slippery places and casts down into destruction, are                 Lord, through His cross and resurrection, witnessed
absolutely good. He is the God Who is good in Him-                   by the apostles, preserved in the infallible Scriptures,
self I                                                                and still proclaimed today.         Moreover, the central
    But the poet means something else. He confesses                  testimony, the testimony that is so very necessary for


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                                                                                                              :
                                                                                                                                             .          .
                                                                                                               `.     .,     .          .    _'
                                                                                                                                                   :



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

His .servants,  in the midst, of affliction and darkness,           property?
to whom it so often seems as if the Lord is not doing                    Not by nature, --for by nature we .are servants of
them good, - the central testimony of Jehovah Himself               the devil, -but by pure sovereign grace!                       .
in that Word is always: "I am dealing well with my                       By grace, sovereign grace, we  are..His  servants
servants I"                                                         from all eternity according to Jehovah's sovereign
      What belongs to this well-dealing?                            counsel of election, His predestinating purpose in
 In the first place, Jehovah's well-dealing consists                Christ Jesus! Not because we owned and acknowledged
not in the bestowal of some temporal and material                   Him as our Lord, but because He chose us and owned
good; but it is His eternal purpose and the execution               us from eternity, we are His servants1
of that purpose to realize unto His servants the true,                   Still more: in time the very first of God's well-
the eternal good, that is, deliverance from sin and death           dealings with us is that He actually purchases us as
and the curse into eternal life and glory, into the                 His servants, as `His peculiar possession, with the
heavenly inheritance, which is incorruptible and un-                purchase price of the blood of His only begotten Son in
defiled and fadeth not away, the very essence of which              our flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ,  the  Servant of
is the perfect fellowship with God, in the new heavens              Jehovah. He does not wait for us to become His serv-
and the new earth. Secondly, Jehovah's well-dealings                ants, but He Himself makes us His servants. And hav-
imply that all His dealings with His children in this               ing purchased us, He forgives us, He regenerates us,
present time are directed toward that purpose. In His               He sanctifies us, and He keeps us as His servants by
eternal counsel He so determined all things, including              His Spirit and grace.
all the afflictions which must befall His servants, as so                Only thus can we understand, in the third place, the
many means unto the end of our eternal salvation. And               idea of this service. For to be a servant of Jehovah
in time He so directs all things, realizing His own                 means that we are con.sciously  the friend-servants of
counsel, that they are all made subservient to that                 God, that we live and act as His servants, that we love
final good.        It makes no difference whether we can            Him and do His will, that our delight is in His com-
understand the immediate purpose of His dealings,                   mandments, that we hate and fight against sin. It
whether we can see the particular reason for a certain              means that we have a calling, that we consider our
way of affliction. The Word of His promise stands,                  whole life as a calling, and that this one and only
and by faith we appropriate it in the light of the cross            calling in the midst of the world in all our walk and
and resurrection: "All things work together for goodl"              conversation is to serve Jehovah. It means that we
      . . . . With Thy servant !                                    live our whole life with the question in our heart and
      Only in the capacity and the position of a servant            on our lips, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"
of Jehovah can this Word of promise be apprehended.                      When thus we serve Him, affliction will surely be
For the poet knows himself to be Jehovah's servant,                 our portion in this world,  - affliction for Christ's sake,
and as such is conscious of His well-dealings.                      affliction just because we are Jehovah's servants.
      And a servant of Jehovah is the property of Jeho-                  But as His servants we have His Word of promise1
vah, belongs to Him.                                                     And having His promise, we can say even in afflic-
      But how is anyone a servant of Jehovah, His                   tion: "Thou, Lord, hast dealt welll"





                                     THE CHRISTIAN REFORMED SYNOD
                                            AND THE "DEKKER CASE"

                                                  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

      Some time ago a report of the decision of the                which carried two articles (by Dr. James Daane and by
Christian Reformed Synod in regard to the so-called                Dr. Harry R. Boer) on the matter. I would expect that
"Dekker Case" was given in the Stutivd  Beaver. At                 the very fact that the Refwmed Jouvnal  has renewed
that time I did not have the "Acts of Synod 1964," and             the discussion, and will continue in the future to reflect
was unable to furnish much more information than the               on the issues concerned, will bring a reaction from
decision itself, quoted from The Banner.  Even now I               other quarters. This would be according to the pattern
do not have all of the background information; but from            in the past, when Prof. Dekker first began to write on
the Acts I can glean whatever information is pertinent             the subject of the Love of God to All Men; and pre-
and significant and worthy of further discussion. Nor              sumably this pattern will continue. At least, it ought to.
did I offer any comment or criticism of the said deci-             At any rate, the Stiandavd  Bearer  will reflect on these
sion.                                                              matters, as it has also in the past.
      Now, however, the Dekker case is astir again, at                  It will be profitable, however, first of all, to get the
least in the Reformed  Jownal, the October issue of                background of the case as it was dealt with by the Chr.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  53

Ref. Synod, and also to criticize the decision itself,      tee of pre-advice:
both from a material and a church political point of           "Following this action the delegates of the Hospers,
view.                                                       Iowa consistory registered their negative vote in regard
   Those who followed the Dekker Case from the              to this decision.       In its meeting of May 19, 1964,
beginning will recall that at the 1963 Synod there was      the Hospers consistory prepared a document con-
an overture from Classis Orange City which was ruled        cerning the views of Professor Dekker. This document
to be insufficient on technical grounds, and, rightly or    they forwarded to the Board of Trustees with request
wrongly, was not treated by that Synod. This year           for an answer. In the same April session of Classis
two classes , Orange City-and Wisconsin, were in-           Orange City the minister delegate of the consistory
volved in the matter as it became part of the  sy-          of the First Christian Reformed Church of Orange City
nodical record.       In parentheses, let me note that      also registered his negative vote in regard to classis'
Prof. Dekker makes mention in an address to Synod           decision.    Subsequent to this the consistory of First
of three clcesses;  but only two appear in the proceed-     Orange City drew up and forwarded to this Synod
ings in this year's Acts.     Classis Wisconsin had the     Overture No. 45."
matter under consideration, and ended by addressing            While Overtures No. 37 and No. 38 (from Racine
to the Board of Trustees (of Calvin College and             and Delavan) were declared not legally before Synod,
Seminary) a "communication of concern in which they         the overture from First Orange City was legally
request the board to make an inquiry of Professor           before Synod, according to Synod's decision. It was
Dekker concerning his doctrinal views." Acts, 1964,         particularly this Overture No. 45 that resulted ul-
p. 52. Meanwhile, although the details of this action       timately in the decision which the Synod made. To
are not in the Acts, two consistories of Classis Wis-       the content and treatment of this overture I shall
consin, Racine and Delavan, addressed overtures (Nos.       return presently.
37 and 38 in the printed Acts) to Synod on the matter.         Meanwhile, the Board of Trustees also played apart
Both of these overtures were ruled to be not legally        in this action.       In the first place, they themselves
before Synod, on the ground that the matters contained      initiated action at their meeting of February, 1964.
in them are still in process of consideration in a          This action consisted in appointing a committee that
minor ecclesiastical assembly. This evidently refers        was to draw up a set of questions to serve as a basis
to the fact that Classis Wisconsin had at that time not     for a doctrinal discussion with Professor Dekker at the
brought the matter to a conclusion with the Board           May meeting of the Board. In the second place, by
of Trustees.       Apparently this was from a church        the time of the May meeting they also had before them
political viewpoint a proper decision, at least as in       the communications from Classis Wisconsin and from
as far as I am able to judge from the available data.       the Hospers (Iowa) Consistory, whose delegates had
   In the meantime, Classis Orange City had the matter      registered their negative vote at the April session of
sent back to them in 1963. Things evidently went a          Classis Orange City. And at the May meeting of the
little differently there. Let me quote from the report      Board a doctrinal discussion with Prof. Dekker was
of Synod's committee of pre-advice to give you this         conducted. Cf. Acts, 1964, p. 52.
history:                                                       The Board of Trustees reported as follows (cf.
   "The actions' of Classis Orange City in this matter      Acts, p. 259):
appear to have been concluded in their April 1964              `2 b. The board informs Synod that it has had a
session.     A previous session had appointed a study       discussion with Professor Dekker concerning certain
committee to bring a report in regard to Professor          points which he has raised in his recent articles
Dekker's doctrinal expressions. In the April session        relating to the-, love of God and Limited Atonement.
a recommendation of a minority report was adopted.          After the discussion the board concluded that there are
This report recommended, `That classis do not over-         issues worthy of further inquiry and it trusts that future
ture Synod until it has fully evaluated the position of     exchanges of research and opinion on these issues will
Professor Dekker (,) making a definite judgment on          be profitable to the church.         The board expresses
his views with ground to support its position.' A           its gratitude for Professor Dekker's interest in the
further motion, `That classis hold in abeyance for the      principles, motivation and activity of missions, and its
time being further ecclesiastical action,' was tabled.      confidence that Professor Dekker will continue to have
The study committee was then dismissed and thanked          the love and welfare of the church at heart."
for their labors."                                             Hence, as far as the Board of Trustees was con-
   From this account it would appear that Classis           cerned, they certainly did not intend to have Synod
Orange City is finished with the matter, at least for       treat the matter, nor did they express in their report
the present.     Again, I do not have sufficient data to    any criticism of Prof. Dekker, nor did they request
tell you why this is the case. I can only guess that        any action by Synod on the matter.
perhaps they were willing to wait and allow Professor          Now let us return to the overture from First
Dekker the opportunity to develop his views further         Orange City.       In the introductory part of this over-
without being suspected or charged with doctrinal er-       ture we find: l/ A reference to Prof. Dekker's first
ror.     This `seems, I say, to be the intent of the de-    article (December, 1962) and quotation of Dekker's
cision they took on the matter. However, all were           statement about the commonly held doctrine of limited
not satisfied with this classical decision, as is evi-      atonement impairing the principle of the universal love
dent from the remainder of the resume of the commit-        of God and tending to inhibit missionary activity.

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

2/ A brief summary of Prof. Dekker's contrary posi-'                   issue of the LB,) was taken by Synod.. I will not cite
tion about the atonement. 3/ An assertion that First                   this decision now, but will refer to it as the need
Orange City holds to the commonly understood view,                     arises.
but that if the latter is in error, it should be corrected,                3) Prom the Acts of Synod we learn that Prof.
while, if Dekker's position is in error, it should be                  Dekker later addressed Synod in reaction to this de-
corrected.         To allow both positions will disrupt the            cision. This address is entered in full in the printed
unity  of_ the Church.         Then follows the overture               Acts; and it is a rather significant address, in my
proper:        "Therefore, the consistory of the First                 opinion. It is too long to quote in full, but I will refer
Christian Reformed Church of Orange City, Iowa                         to it and quote from it as the need arises.
overtures Synod to appoint a committee to study, in                        The above is a brief account of the goings on at
the light of Scripture and the Creeds, the doctrine of                 the 1964 Synod of the Christian ReformedChurch.
limited atonement as it relates to the love of God,                        There is no room in these columns for my comments
giving special attention to the issues raised by Prof.                 at this time. But in conclusion, I want to call atten-
Dekker in The Reformed JOUV?U& and to subsequently                     tion to one item.               One of the grounds for Synod's
declare its position relative to this matter.                          decision was:          "A mandate to study these matters
      "Grounds:                                                        will allay much of the unrest which prevails in the
          "1) If the position commonly held by the Chris-              churches."          That there was unrest could hardly be
tian Reformed Church is erroneous, this error should                   denied.       Synod itself was (both in its decision and in
be corrected.                                                          the discussion preceding it) rather concerned about
          "2) If Prof. Dekker's position is faulty it should           this unrest, and evidently hoped to quiet it by a mere
be altered.                                                            mandate to study. Notice, that the reference here is
          "3) The present variation of opinion and po-                 not to the study itself or to the results of the study,
sition in the Church is productive of a confusion which                but merely to the "mandate to study these matters."
will disrupt the unity of the Church and weaken the                    This was evidently intended to quiet things down. Prof.
Church's doctrinal position."                                          Dekker in his speech minimizes the unrest and ex-
      To complete this brief account, I mention the                    presses that he is rather baffled by it. He also states
following:                                                             that he will continue to study and to write about
      1) At first the committee of pre-advice proposed                 these issues. And now Doctors Daane and Boer break
what they called a "doctrinal discussion" with Prof.                   out in print with some rather significant articles
Dekker, to be conducted by the Synod. We need not                      on the issues involved.
discuss this proposal in detail, nor even present it,                      I venture to say in the light of the above that
because it was never brought to a vote at Synod.                       the  synodical decision of 1964 on the Dekker Case
There was considerable discussion of it, most of it                    will not succeed in allaying the unrest, but will, on
opposed to the advice; and the result was that the com-                the contrary stir up more.                  To put it mildly, I be-
mittee itself asked to have the entire matter recom-                   lieve that there is serious reason for unrest. To
mitted for revised recommendations. This was done.                     put it more succinctly: there is cause for alarm1
      2) Then, at a later session, the decision to appoint                 But the rest of my comments must wait until the
a study committee (the decision quoted in an early                     next issue, D.V.


                                    "SHOULD I PREPARE FOR THE MINISTRY?"

                                                                (2)

                                                   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

-The Question (continued)                                              fore, he           certainly      cannot     answer the question
      Thus far we have made the point, first of all, that              definitively, "Am I called to the ministry?" He may
the call to the ministry is not two, but one calling, and              believe for various reasons that the Lord is leading
that this one calling has two aspects, namely, an ex-                  him in that direction. Or he may hope and pray that the
ternal      and     an internal aspect. Secondly, we have              Lord will ultimately call him. He may desire the office
pointed out that the lawful calling to the office of                   with a strong and holy desire. But one thing is certain:
minister of the Word and sacraments is described,                      in the ultimate sense of the word no one is called to
according to our Church Order and our Liturgy, as                      the office of minister, and therefore no one may enter
being inseparably connected with the call by the church,               upon the ministry of the Word, without the lawful call-
the local congregation (including the elements of elec-                ing. If he is not called by and through the church, God
tion, examination, approbation, and ordination), so                    does not call him.
that through that call of the congregation (the external                   All this does not mean, however, that the call some-
aspect) the Lord Himself, binding that call upon a                     how comes as a bolt out of the blue, altogether un-
man's heart, calls to the office (the internal aspect).                related to the rest of our life, and unrelated to the
      Until the call in this sense comes to a man, there-              rest of God's planning and direction of our life, and,


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            55

especially, unrelated to. the matter of our preparation            He has ordained for him.
and training for the ministry. If that were the case,                    Subjectively speaking, therefore, it is `our calling,
a young man would have no way of knowing whether                   task, to follow consciously and willingly in the way in
he should prepare for the ministry or not. He would                which Be leads; it is our part to be led. This, after all,
certainly be able to do nothing else, so to speak,                  is in the broadest sense true of any child of God who
than "take a chance on it," that when he was finished              conscientiously and before the face of God seeks to
with his training, God would also call him. In that case,          know his "niche" in life. These things are not a matter
of course, our seminary and our- churches would suffer              of accident; nor is our life's calling a matter of OU'Y
even more than they do now from a lack of proponents                choice. The question is rather: what is the Lord's will
for the ministry.                                                   and way with respect to my life? This, and not all
   Rather must we have what I would call the "organic              kinds of purely material and personal and carnal con-
view" of this calling to the ministry. The calling in-              siderations, should be the controlling factor for any
volves an entire process,  a process that stands in-                child of God. But we are speaking now in particular
timately connected with the whole of our life. This                 of the ministry. And from this point of view, the basic
process has its climax, its focal point, in the moment              approach to this whole matter ought to be that of an
of the calling as it actually comes to a man through                earnest-minded striving to discern God's will and way
the church.                                                         for our lives. It ought to be that of the question whether
   From this point of view we must proceed from the                 the ministry of the Word is one of those good works
idea of God's counsel, as Reformed people always                    which God has before ordained and prepared for me,
should. In fact, I would put it this way: we must live              that I should walk in it. "For we are his workmanship,
from God's counsel1 We always must do this, even in                 created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God
respect to any vocation in life; but I am applying this             hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
at present to the calling to the ministry.                          Eph. 2:lO.
   Objectively speaking, when a man is called to the                     Hence, the question is not immediately, "Am I
ministry, that man has been called to the ministry from             called to the ministry?" That question you cannot .
his mother's womb, and because from before the foun-                finally answer until you have graduated from the
dation of the world that calling was God's purpose with             seminary, are a candidate, and receive a call. But
him. Moreover, in accord with that divine plan, all                 the question which must seriously be faced is: "Is
the details of his life, - his parents, his character               God busy calling me to the ministry? Is He leading
and personality, his talents and gifts, both natural and            me in the direction of an ultimate call to the ministry?
spiritual, his training and upbringing, his means,                  Does He apparently point me to the fact that this is
his circumstances, - all these belong to and stand in-              His will for my life?" And therefore, concretely put,
timately related to the particular calling and station              the question is: rtShoadd I prepare fov the minis tvy ?' r
which God has ordained for that man in the office of                And that word  should  must be understood in the sense
the ministry in His church. We may not be able to                   of: Is it the Lord's will that I prepare for the ministry?
discern all these details and their relation to that                     And even as the preparation itself begins long
divine purpose. Sometimes we can clearly discern                    before seminary, so the question as to that. preparation
the way God planned only after we have long been                    must actively and consciously be faced, as a rule,
through that way and look back on it. But the fact is,              long before that time. It may very well be faced clear-
whether we can clearly discern all the details of that              ly already in a young man's formative years, his high
way and how they fit, or not, the way and its details               school years. To that preparation belongs also a young
and the goal to which the way leads are foreknown and               man's college education. And under normal circum-
foreordained by God. Still more: the Lord also                      stances, to be sure, we may expect that the answer to
executes His own plan in our lives. He leads a child                this question becomes more clearly discernible as time
of His along the way that He has planned and to that                goes on.
goal of the ministry of the Word and sacraments which                                                            (to be continued)





                     CORRECTION                                     "I hope to be shown where there is no difference
                                                                    between `unbeliever' and `believer"' should read: "1
   In the 1964 Acts of Synod, two errors crept into the            hope to be shown where there is no difference between
printing of the material of Mrs. G. Griess' appeal,                 "unbelieving' and `unbeliever'."
which the sister called to my attention. These are:        .             I apologize to Mrs. Griess and express regrets
   1. Pg. 59, Letter to  Classis West, the clause:                  that these. errors were made in the printing. May
I`.  ;. and the word (therefore) is not speaking of God's           those who have copies of the Acts make these correc-
Counsel" should read: ". . . and the word `therefore',              tions.
is it not speaking of God's Counsel."                                                   Stated Clerk of Synod
   2.  PB. 64, Letter to  Classis West, the sentence:                                   Rev. G. Vanden Berg


56                                             T H E   ST,ANDARD   B E A R E R





                                       THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
                                                     Chapter IX
                                 THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
                                          (continued from October  15 issue)
                                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema

      Thirdly, there is, of course, the symbolism of the         no sacrament, and therefore the Lord's Supper cannot
eating and drinking of the signs of the broken bread             be a means of grace for the strengthening of our
and the wine that is poured out.        At the institution       faith without His Word.         The word of the minister,
of the Lord's Supper the Savior commanded very de-               therefore, repeating, -- preferably as literally as
finitely:    "Take, eat; this is my body." And again,            possible,  - the words which Christ spoke at the in-
when He had taken the cup, He said: "Drink ye all of             stitution of the Lord's Supper, certainly belongs as an
it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is          essential part to the celebration of communion.
shed for many for the remission of sins." The signs                  Lastly, we must still call attention to the table of
of the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, therefore,           communion and to the fact that it is a supper. The
are not simply to be looked at, but to be appropriated           supper is a sign of the fellowship of friendship. The
by eating and drinking. And this eating and drinking             table of communion is the table of God's everlasting
symbolizes the spiritual activity of faith, whereby we           covenant.        As the Lord addresses His church in Lao-
appropriate Christ and all His benefits, as the Lord            dicea: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any
said to the Jews in Capernaum: "Verily, verily, I               man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in,
say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of              and sup with him, and he with me." At the table of
man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso          communion believers eat and drink with Christ, and
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal              through Christ with their covenant God, Who dwells
life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my           with them and walks among them and calls them His
flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.              sons and His daughters. And thus the table of commun-
He that eateth my flesh, and drinlceth my blood, dwell-          ion is a sign of the tabernacle of God with men, and
eth in me, and I in him." The eating and drinking of            will be realized finally in the new heavens and the new
the bread and wine, therefore, as the sign of the activity       earth. Although, therefore, the signs of the bread and
of saving faith, whereby we appropriate the body and            wine, broken and poured out, remain the heart of the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, belongs very essen-              entire symbolism of the Lord's Supper, these elements
tially to the symbolism of the Lord's Supper. As cer-           may never be discarded or ignored.
tainly as the activity of saving faith is necessary for              Now the question is: what is the relation between
the appropraition of Christ and all His benefits, so            the signs and the things signified? In what way is the
surely do the eating and drinking of the broken bread           believer nourished with the body and blood of Christ
and the wine poured out belong essentially to the sym-          through the Lord's Supper?
bolism of the supper of the Lord.                                    One theory is that of the Romish Church, the theory
      But there is more. To that symbolism also belong           of transubstantiation.       According to the Romanists,
the words of the institution of the Lord's Supper that          Christ is present in the Lord's Supper not simply in
must be spoken by the minister that serves communion.           the spiritual sense, as taught by the Reformed, not
These words are: "Take, eat; this is my body;`, and,             even by the real presence of His body and blood in and
"This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed           with and under the bread and wine, as is taught by the
for many." And once more:: ` `This do in remembrance             Lutherans, but by the bread and wine being changed into
of me." These words are not only to be considered in            the very body and bllod of Christ. That the Roman
the sense of a command which must be obeyed although             Catholic Church teaches this error and pronounces
this certainly is also true. For not to partake of the          the curse upon all that deny it is very evident from
table of the Lord, and not to eat and drink the signs of        the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent.
the broken body and shed blood of Christ, and therefore         In its Thirteenth Session, held October 11, 1551,
not to heed the command of Christ to do this in                 that Council set forth its doctrine concerning the most
remembrance of Him, is disobedience. But more impor-            holy sacrament of the eucharist.          In Chapter I the
tant is the truth that the Word of Christ is powerful            Council declares: "In the first place, the holy synod
and efficacious, and that his efficacious Word Christ           teaches, and openly and simply professes, that, in the
will surely speak through the Holy Spirit to the hearts of      august sacrament of the holy eucharist, after the con-
the believers when they celebrate the Lord's Supper.            secration of the bread and wine, our Lord Jesus Christ,
Through the officiating minister it is Christ that speaks       true God and man, is truly, really, and substantially
His own Word to the believers. Without the presence             contained under the species of those sensible things."
of Christ at the communion table, therefore, there is           Again, in Chapter III the same Council declared:


                                              Tl-iE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        57

"And this faith has ever been in the Church of God,                order to be received; for we believe that same God
that, immediately after the consecration, .the veritable           to be present therein, of whom the eternal Father,
body of our Lord, and his veritable blood, together                when introducing him into the world, says: And let
with his soul and divinity, are under the species of               al! the angels  of  God  adove him;  whom the Magi,
bread and wine; but the body indeed under the species              j2-Lling  down,  adored;  who, in fine, as the Scripture
of bread, and the blood under the species of wine, by              testifies, was adored by the apostles in Galilee. The
the force of the words; but the body itself under the              holy Synod declares, moreover, that very piously and
species of wine, and the blood under the species of                religiously was this custom introduced into the Church,
bread, and the. soul under both, by the force of that              that this sublime and venerable sacrament be, with
natural connection and concomitancy  whereby the parts             special veneration and solemnity, celebrated, every
of Christ our Lord, who h&h now &en from the dead,                 year, on a certain day, and that a festival; and that it
to die no move, are united together; and the divinity,             be borne reverently and with honor in processions
furthermore, on account of the admirable hypostatical              through the streets and public places." And the Romish
union thereof with his body and soul. Wherefore it is              Church declared in Chapter IV of the same Canons
most true, that -as much is contained under either                 and Decrees of the Council of Trent, Thirteenth Session,
species as under both; for Christ whole and entire is              the doctrine of transubstantiation as follows: "And
under the species of bread, and under any part what-               because that Christ, our Redeemer, declared that which
soever of that species; likewise the whole Christ is               he offered under the species of bread to be truly his
under the species of wine, and under the parts there-              own body, therefore has it ever been a firm belief in
of." The Romish Church, therefore, teaches that the                the Church of God, and this holy Synoddoth now declare
whole Christ is in the bread and the whole Christ is in            it anew, that, by the consecration of the bread and of
the wine; and what is more, the whole Christ is in each            the wine, a conversion is made of the whole substance
and every particle of both species.       Moreover, it             of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ
teaches that the effect accomplished by  transubstan-              our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into
tiation is permanent.    And from this fact, namely,               the substance of his blood; which conversion is, by the
that the change of the substance of the elements into              holy Catholic Church, suitably and properly called
the substance of the body and blood of Christ remains              Transubstantiation."
permanently, the Romish Church concludes `that the                      In the same Thirteenth Session of the Council of
host, or wafer, may be preserved, that therefore it                Trent everyone that denies this doctrine of transub-
may be brought to the sick, that it may be carried                 stantiation is anathematized.       In Canon I we read:
about in processions, and that it is but proper that it            "If any one denieth, that, in the sacrament of the most
should be worshipped. The Romanists make distinction               holy Eucharist, are contained truly, really, and sub-
between douleia and latyeia. The former may be ren-                stantially, the body and blood together with the soul
dered to the saints and to the angels, but the latter              and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, andconsequently
is due to God alone. Now Christ is God manifested                  the whole Christ; but saith that he is only therein as
in the flesh.    And therefore worship may be paid to              in a sign, or in figure, or virtue: let him be anathema."
Him.    And seeing that after the consecration of the              And in the second Canon: "If any one saith, that, in
bread and wine, Christ is present in the wafer both as             the sacred and holy sacrament of the Eucharist, the
to His divine and as to His human nature, the Roman-               substance of the bread and wine remains conjointly
ists pay homage and worship to that wafer. The pro-               with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
priety of worshipping the wafer as it represents the               denieth that wonderful and singular conversion of the
Christ is also taught in the Canons and Decrees of the            whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the
Council of Trent, Thirteenth Session,        Chapter V,            whole substance of the wine into the blood, - the species
where we read: "Wherefore there is no room left for               only of the bread and wine remaining, -which conver-
doubt, that all the faithful of Christ may, according             sion indeed the Catholic Church most aptly calls Tran-
to the custom ever received in the Catholic Church,                substantiation: let him be anathema." And in Canon III
render in veneration the worship of latria, which is              we read: "If any one denieth, that, in the venerable
due to the true God, to this most holy sacrament.                  sacrament of the Eucharist, the whole Christ is con-
For not therefore is it the less to be adored on this             tained under each species, and under every part of
account, that it was instituted by Christ the Lord, in            each species, when separated: let him be anathema."


            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
The Consistory of Hull Protestant Reformed Church                 The Men's Society of the Protestant Reformed Church
expresses its sincere sympathy to its fellow consistory           of Hull expresses its sincere sympathy to Mr. Tunis
member, Peter Jansma, in the death of his brother                 Jansma in the passing of his father
                    BILL JANSMA
May our Father strengthen him in his sorrow. "All                                          WILLIAM JANSMA
things work together for good to them that love God,               "The mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting to ever-
who are called according to His purpose".                         lasting upon them that fear Him". Psalm 103:7.
                         Rev. J. Kortering, President                                            Rev. J. Kortering President
                         Bert Van Maanen, Secretary                                               Egberr Glitters, Secretary

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





                                                        BUDDHISM

                                                    Rev.  R.  C,  Harbach

      The subject is of interest inasmuch as it now makes            palace, wife, and child to become a hermit for six
considerable headway in our country. Afoot is the so                 years in deep study and asceticism. This life, too,
called "Project Understanding" which plans a                         proved a vanity of vanities. But he convinced himself
$5,000,000 "Temple of Understanding" in or near                      that the secret of the quest for peace could be found by
Washington, D.C., as a "spiritual United Nations"                    force of thinking. Soon he thought that existence is the
which will house six chapels representing the Judaic,                cause of all evil, and that ignorance is the cause of
Confucian, Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic and Christian                    existence. Therefore, if he could remove ignorance,
religions.     Its purpose is to undergird the political             he could remove existence, and so remove all the
United Nations.                                                      miseries and vanities of life. Annihilation, he reasoned,
      It is the tactic of one-worlders to make the heathen           was salvation. Hope was in the hopelessness of it all.
religions of the world seem akin to Christianity.                    The chief end of man is extinction. Salvation is "life-
Buddhism they present as breathing the spirit of the                 less, timeless bliss," and that bliss is the bliss of
New Testament. As a matter of fact, Buddhism is so                   nothingness.         To attain this most coveted oblivion
full of priestcraft and image-worship that it more                   one must eliminate all personal affection for friends
resembles Romanism than orthodox Christianity. There                 or relatives. One must be willing to give up wife and
are certain supposed likenesses of Buddhism to Chris-                children, even if it means they must go into slavery.
tianity. The counterfeit always suggests the genuine                 This is part of Buddhism's "right beliefs," "right
article. However, Buddha never claimed to be a god                   feelings," and "right actions I"          Christian love is
nor to have a god. Salvation, he taught, was accom-                  wholly unknown, - so a holy hate. The aim is to neither
plished by self-effort, without help from other men or               love nor hate and so become "unfettered." Buddhism
from God. If you will pardon an anachronism, Pela-                   not only requires the impossible, but unreality, in order
gianism in very ancient garb1 But Buddhism has about                 to develop its negative philosophy. With these thoughts,
as much similarity to Christianity as legends of the                 Gautama soon became elated with his own pessimism,
Dark Ages do.                                                        enough to desire to enlighten others with his amazing
      Not all passing for Buddhists are strictly so.                 discoveries.        So he announced to all who would listen,
Burmese and Siamese people are more animistic                        "I have overcome all foes andallstains. I am superior
spirit-worshipers than Buddhists.       The Chinese are              to all men and ,a11 gods. I am the absolute Buddha. I
moralistic human-spirit worshipers along with their                  am the Conqueror." In other words, I am the Greatest.
Buddhism. Although this complicated system of thought                     There is no God in Buddhism.             The Buddhist
is considered a religion, its own teaching denies being              catechism, published in Ceylon, asks, "Did a  god-
a religion. This is because: 1) it denies the existence              creator call the world into existence by his will?" and
of any God; 2) it denies the existence of the soul; 3) it            answers, "There is no god-creator upon whose grace
denies all dogmatic authority, claiming no other stand-              or will the existence of the world depends. Everything
ard than free-thought; 4) it prescribes no ritual; and,              originates and develops by and out of itself, by virtue
5) its scriptures disclaim any inspiration or divine                 of its own will and according to its inner nature and
supernatural revelation.      Yet the mere sound of the              condition. Only the ignorance of man has invented a
words of Buddhist law has power to change bats into                  personal god-creator.         The Buddhists, however, ab-
men1                                                                 solutely reject the belief in a personal god, and con-
      Buddhism over three thousand years ago sprang                  sider the doctrine of a creation out of nothing a delu-
from Hinduism, and so is an offshoot or product of                   sion." In theory Gautama's doctrine is pure atheism.
another degraded heathen religion. Gautama, its found-               In fact, however, though Buddhism is strictly no re-
er, was a Hindu who lived and died in Hinduism. He                   ligion, and owns no theology, its worship is  hero-
assumed the title Buddha which means "the Enlightened                worship, Buddha is a god, and his temples are full of
One." Rebelling against the disturbing inconsistencies               debasing idolatry.
of Hinduism or Brahmanisn, he came to regard sac-                         Buddhism rests on four ideas: 1. Suffering-which
rifice of no use, since there was no God to placate.                 comes as a result of conscious individual existence.
Prayer was pointless, since, even if there were a God,               2. The cause of suffering, -the allurements of this
he could do nothing whatever to answer.                              world, desire for them, and delight in the other world.
      Early impressed with the humanmiseries of poverty,             3. The cessation of suffering, - which is reached by the
old age, disease, and death, Gautama could not but be                annihilation of all lust of life. 4. Salvation by annihila-
impressed with the fact that life is vanity and vexation of          tion is reached through right belief, right feelings, right
spirit. So he strongly felt, despite the fact that he was            speech, right actions, right means of livelihood, right
surrounded with every luxury and was married to a                    endeavor, right memory, and right meditation.
lovely princess. To find peace of mind, he abandoned                      According to Buddhism, man has no soul. The


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        59

     Buddhist catechism has the statement, "The wide-                   but universal brotherhood is taught. A brotherhood
     spread belief in an immortal soul within us...endowed              which permits renouncing of wife and children1 A
     with knowledge, differing from others, created or come             brotherhood, which "in Ceylon, for example, where the
     into existence...arises principally from the egotistical           great majority of people are professed Buddhists...its
     desire for eternal, personal continued existence.. ."              people are committing more murders than any other
     Yet when a man dies he appears in another existence,               people in the world...in proportion to their numbers."
     in one of the one hundred thirty-six Buddhist hells,                     In time, pure Buddhism became corrupted, per-
     situated in the earth's interior, or he is reborn in one           meated with foreign philosophies and religions until it
     of the many heavens, in which the least duration of life           lost its atheistic character, beginning to speak of gods
     is about ten billions of years. In all these reincarnated          many, abandoned exclusive self-help in favor of God's
     existences, one may continue as a clod, an animal, a               help, withdrew from its retirement from the world,
     vile insect, or a god. A woman, if she is "lucky" may,             taking more interest in the world and in saving others,
     in one of those reincarnations, become a man. But the               and even began preaching an immediate passage into
     true heaven is annihilation. Human existence is no                  Paradise at death without the maze of transmigrations.
     blessing, but a curse. Misery is no mere stain on life,            With this foreign influence and after-thought revision
     which if it were blotted out (Isa. 43:25) would make for            of Buddhism, it is said now to be wonderfully like
     happiness, but is life's very essence. Death is no es-             Christianity, so much so that it may be deemed a
     cape from misery, for death is only a passage into an-             divine preparation for the gospel in Buddhist countries.
     other form of miserable existence. Escape from this                This is like going through purgatory before  death.
     endless round of reincarnations comes only by thinking                   The differences between Buddhism and Christianity
     oneself off into oblivion.                                          are toto coelo. Buddhism is a quest for light, whereas
        How can this incessant succession of existences                 Christ is the Light of the World. Its atheism gave way
     continue if there is no soul in man? What is it that is            to pantheism; but the infinite, eternal, unchangeable,
     reborn in those other hells or heavens? What is it                 personal God finds no place in it. Buddhism has an
     which needs deliverance from these heavens, to say                 endless succession of evil worlds, coming, evolving,
     nothing of the hells, if it is not the soul? The Buddhist          declining, decaying, perishing, reviving, and all equally
'    catechism sheds its darkness on this question. It is                involved in misery, frustration, disillusionment, and
     the will to live, man's moral character. After the dis-            transmutation. Christianity has a new heaven and a new
     integration of the body, the will, the moral character              earth after the present earth is destroyed by fire, a
     creates a new body in a new existence. This "will"                 perfect, purified world wherein righteousness eternally
     or "character" is not the same as whatwe call "soul"               dwells. Buddhism has the essential part of man moving
     or "the human personality." There is no "transmi-                  through various conditions, in countless bodies of men
     gration of souls." But man is not mere body. He is                  and other creatures, to dwell in various hells and
     "the-will-to-live and its moral character." Doesn't                heavens with no progressive development, but a constant
     the reader immediately feel how philosophically un-                 jumble of transmutations. Christianity holds to one
     satisfactory this view of man is?                                  bodily transformation in which at the resurrection our
        Ethically, Buddhism is ostensibly an improvement                vile bodies are made like Christ's glorious body.
     over the Hindu caste system. Buddhism recognizes                    Buddhism tells men of their terrible misery and offers
     no caste. "Although in Ceylon where Buddhism is at                 them the hope of billions of deaths in as many future
     its purest and where it has prevailed for over two                  existences. Christianity tells of deliverance from all
     thousand years, caste exercises a strong influence"                miseries and of the free gift of God which is eternal
     (Robert E. Speer, The Light of the World). Not caste,              life in Christ Jesus our Lord.




                                          REFORMATION OR DEFORMATION?

                                                         Rev. J, A. Hew

        It was in His fear that Luther nailed his theses to              ninety-five points that required reform. These were
     the door of the church at Wittenburg.                               his Ninety-Five Theses.
        Although the Reformation as we now know it was                        All this was in His fear. For the fear of the Lord
     far from his thoughts when he nailed these theses to                believes the Word of God. To fear the Lord is to be-
     the door of the church, it cannot be denied that he                 lieve that which He declares. The fear of the Lord,
     was seeking reformation and had clearly seen the de-                therefore, always is humility. And the proud, who dare
     formation that had taken place in the Roman Catholic                to deny that which God has spoken in His Word reveal
     Church of that day. There was a crying need for re-                 that the fear of the Lord is not in them. The fear of the
     form. The doctrine of the Word of God was corrupted.                Lord dares not contradict Him, play with His Holy
     Corrupt practices abounded and were advocated by the                Word, and press it into the service of the flesh. The
     church. And Luther without difficulty was able to list              fear of the Lord, therefore, also leads to a walk in the


60                                            THE.STAN.DARD   B E A R E R

way of ,His commandments. It is for that reason that         might again be seen clearly and forcefully on this
Abraham told Abimelech the king of Gerar that he              earth. The lie stifles faith and chokes it. It causes
lied about his wife because he thought, "Surely the fear      the fire to smolder rather than. burn brightly. And
of the Lord is not in this place." In His fear one does       the Spirit, -- Who came on Pentecost with the sound of
not dare to disobey God's command. And Luther dared           a mighty rushing wind, - fanned the fire of faith to
neither contradict the living God nor walk in the wicked      burn brightly again through the Reformation. Not
way that the Roman Catholic Church advocated and              Luther but the Spirit of Christ is the power (wind) that
practiced in that day.                                       fanned in the regenerated that spark of spiritual life
      That same fear of the Lord calls the regenerated       to realize the Reformation, so that today yet we benefit so
believer to reform each day and to turn from his evil         greatly and the fear of the Lord is a distinct reality
ways. It is nothing less than a lack of that fear of the      upon the earth today.
Lord that moves men today to go back to that church              Indeed, one is inclined to think with Abraham that
at Wittenburg and question whether the Ninety-Five            "the fear of the Lord is not in this place" or in that
Theses should have been nailed to that door. Many            place. History is repeating itself, and we may go a
voices     are raised and much thought is given to the        step farther than Abraham and ask whether the fear
question as to whether an ecumenical attitude should          of the Lord is in this church or that church! Many a
not have been taken by Luther and his followers.             group that calls itself the Church of God denies truths
Into this matter we do not desire to enter at the            today to which the Roman Catholic Church still gives
moment, but would only point out that the question is        lip service. Rome still teaches the divinity of Christ
misdirected. How tragic that so-called Protestants           while the Modernistic church of today denies it. Surely
raise that question! The Roman Catholic Church never         it is not the fear of the Lord to dare to tell the Son of
questioned that fact. The matter was settled, not ques-       God that He is not the Son of God! And that such a stand
tioned. Luther did not belong in the Church, and Rome        is found in the churches of the Reformation is de-
promptly proceeded to "excommunicate" him. Who               formation. Then, too, there is that bold stand, utterly
then failed to take an ecumenical attitude? But the          without the fear of the Lord, that man can buy his way
point we wish to make here is that only because the          into Christ's kingdom. No, not with gold and silver
fear of the Lord was in the hearts of countless others,      as the indulgences of Tetzel required, nor by good
the Reformation became an historical fact.                   works for the dead as Rome wants to maintain,
      Men in whose heart was found that same fear of         but by filling the condition that God stipulates as the
the Lord that the Spirit of Christ had implanted in          price for such a glorious life and kingdom. Neither
Luther's soul rallied behind him in the cry for ref-         Luther nor Calvin dared to teach Arminianism which
ormation and stood with him for the truth after his          is so highly cherished in well-nigh all of Protestantism
"excommunication." Actually it was         a matter of       today1 We are quite well aware of the fact that the Re-
following Christ. It was a matter of following the Word      monstrants taught the act of faith from its very nature
of God rather than the philosophy of man, and the way        is undeserving. In the Canons of Dordrecht, the first
of the living God rather than of corrupt men. Thus it        Head of Doctrine, Article III of the Rejection of Errors,
was also when Paul told the Philippians in chapter 3         we read that the Synod of Dordrecth rejected the error
verse 17 to "be followers together of me." Under the         of those "Who teach: That the good pleasure and
inspiration of the Spirit of Truth, Paul could say this      purpose of God, of which Scripture makes mention in
because he was himself a follower of Christ. Such            the doctrine of election, does not consist in this, that
one may follow. Such the fear of the Lord will move us       God chose certain persons rather than others, but in
to follow. And the regenerated believers in Luther's         this that he chose out of all possible conditions (among
day heard Christ in Luther. The note of truth which          which are also the works of the law), or out of the
he spoke and which he maintained set their own souls         whole order of things, the act of faith which from its
vibrating with joy and peace. Christ in them caused          very nature is undeserving, as well as its incomplete
them to see that Luther's stand was in His fear.             obedience, as a condition of salvation, and that he
      One cannot lose his faith. "He who hath begun a        would graciously consider this in itself as a complete
good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus      obedience and count it worthy of the reward of eternal
Christ," according to Philippians l:6, and in spite of       life." But, if I have to give God something, be it "the
Arminianism's comfortless doctrine that one can lose         act of faith, which from its very          nature is un-
it and the grace of God. But faith can smolder, and          deserving," and it is counted worthy  of the reward
believers can go into spiritual hibernation so that there    of eternal life, where is the difference between buying
is hardly any exercise of faith. This is particularly        my way out of "purgatory" by gold and silver and
true when the church does not feed that faith with the       paying the cost of salvation by believing7 The fact re-
truth, and the believer is starved almost to death.          mains that God exchanges eternal life for that which
He will never be starved to death because God will see       I have done. The condition means that I have to do
to it that he does receive enough of the truth to con-       something first. Whether God counts an unworthy thing
tinue in the faith. The Reformation takes on such            as worthy makes no difference. The price He has set
great importance for. that very reason. The starving         is the act of faith, according to all Arminianism.
were fed again, and in His grace God provided spiritual      Whether I get eternal life cheaply or at a great expense
food for generations to come, that they might be strong      makes no difference whatsoever. I must buy it from
in the truth and in faith, and that the fear of the Lord     Him by the act of faith. I must fulfill a condition. I


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE.R                                                    61

must give God something. Were Luther living today,               salvation by works? And is it not salvation by works,
he would add,. the ninety-sixth thesis to the door of            if I have to produce the act (the work) of faith before
the churches that dare to put man and his act of faith           God will elect me, cause me to be a born again
before God and His sovereign grace, whereby He gives             Christian. And then, of course, I produce the act of
us that faith before we can ask for it and the desire            faith before I am born again. I do something before
to ask for it, because, of sovereign electionfYom  before        I am alive. How amazing and wonderful fallen man is
the foundation of the world. The church world is on              after  all11 Before natural birth he can do nothing.
the way do deformation in the measure that it departs            Before       spiritual birth he can perform the spiritual
from salvation in every part of it by grace alone.               act of faith. He needs salvation but not that badly1
Luther did not teach salvation by faith but by grace.            God needs something this unregenerated man has.
To teach that God cannot save us until we ask for it or          BIG man and a little god! Acryingneed for reformation
let Him do so is not only an insult to the almighty,             from deformation!
sovereign God but an evidence that we are desperately                 A more ominous note, because it carries matters
in need of reformation1                                          much further away from the Reformation and is a far
   What then must we say of those who are all for a              more bold step, is sounded in Christian  Economics,
reunion with Rome? Interestingly enough, it may be               September 22, 1964, page 4, where Rev. I.E. Howard
noted that the Roman Catholic Church quotes the same             is reviewing the book, "The Cult Of The All-Seeing
text that many Protestants quote in defense of church            Eye," by Robert Keith Spenser. He writes the follow-
mergers. The words of Jesus in John  17:21, when                 ing:
corrupted, apply in both instances, of course. "That                               Mr.  - Spenser has explored the esoteric lore of
they all may be one. .  ." But leave off then what                           ancient religions, tracing a connection to the symbolism
follows: "That they all may be one; as thou, Father,                         associated with the United Nations meditation room,
                                                                            the great seal of the United States and the Temple of
art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in                      Understanding which Edith Kermit Roosevelt describes
us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent                          in the closing chapters.
me." That makes quite a difference. Was Rome right                          The Temple of Undevstalzding  is supposed to become
in 1517, or was Luther? Who is right today? Has Rome                        the center of a new world religion and to achieve this
changed, or is Protestantism changing?          Cardinal                    goal, the enthusiasts for a universal world religion
                                                                            hope to destroy loyalty to any particular religion.
Cushing, Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston may say,                       They also hope to create a world government, or a
"I am 100 percent" for Billy Graham. And Billy                              Universal Theocratic State, which necessitates the
Graham may say, "I feel much closer to Roman Cath-                          destruction of patriotism.
olic tradition than to some of the more liberal Prot-                        If this book were not so well documented, one would
estants." But who has changed? Has Rome changed its                         think that he were reading science fiction, but this
stand when Cardinal Cushing states, "If I had to re-                        little volume reveals, not the bizarre product of one's
                                                                            imagination, but the blueprint of what many people in-
write the article in the Pilot supporting the crusade                       tend for the future of the Christian religion. Is this
(of Billy Graham) I would have gone right out and en-                       the end result of the ecumenical movement?
couraged all Catholic people to attend his meetings.                 The question wherewith Rev. Howard ends this book
They have everything to gain. The hand of God must               review is a very interesting one. and ought to be a
be upon him." Does Billy Graham preach Luther's                  warning to all those who are interested in mergers
doctrine? Or is Cardinal Cushing unaware of Rome's               for merger's sake. One can see that there is a blue-
doctrine? Is there after all so much difference be-              print for the kingdom of the antichrist in the mind
tween Tetzel's indulgences wherewith one could buy               of Satan and that he is implanting it in the mind of the
salvation by silver and gold and Arminianism's buying            false church. In His fear let us seek reformation and
it by our act of faith? `Can Roman Catholics gain, -             not the deformation of that kingdom. And let us fear
"have everything to gain" - from this doctrine of                God and not what man can do unto us.

                                     /4? &LfbdO~ %tf2ke&&e&
                                            SPIRITUAL  CONFUSI,ON
                                                 Rev, B.  Woudenbevg

                           In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man &d that
                           which was Tight in his own eyes.                                Judges 17: 6
   The book of Judges records for us a history of sad,           for us the battle in which he was called to engage, not
spiritual decay in Israel. From the spiritual heights            only against the heathen nations which had been sent in
which concluded the history of Joshua, Israel descended          judgment by God, but against the wickedness of Israel
gradually into the dark valley of indifference against           which was the cause of it all. Finally, at its conclusion,
which Samson struggled so very much alone. Each                  so that we may understand exactly how debased the
judge that God raised up found his nation weaker than            people of God had become, the book of Judges presents
it had been before. The record of each judge depicts             us with two detailed illustrations of what was actually


62                                                T H E   STANDARD  B E A R E R

taking place during this period. These events were                 might locate.
not temporally successive to the history of Samson.                    The spies returned from their investigation jubilant.
Rather they were taken at random from the preceding                They had found a land far to the north inhabited by a
period of the judges. They illustrate well the spiritual           small company of Zidonians, quiet and peaceable, with-
perversity which had come to flourish among the people,            out any defenses. Soon the whole tribe of Dan was on
the one in their worship and the other in their morality.          the road, leaving the land assigned them by God for' one
       The first of these is the history of Micah, a man of        of their own choosing.
mount Ephraim.         In outward appearance both Micah                But that was not the whole of the matter. The five
and his mother were people of deep, religious inclina-             spies in their original investigation had happened to
tion. Their conversation was filled with repeated refer-           stop one night at the home of Micah. To their surprise,
ences to the name of Jehovah, with affirmations of ded-            they found that the Levite who served as Micah's
ication to Him, and with pleas for Jehovah's blessing.             priest was a man of their former acquaintance. Proudly
In actual practice, however, it was quite evident that             he showed to them Micah's whole set-up, idols, sanc-
they cared not one whit for Jehovah, for what He said or           tuary and all. Instead of being shocked by the perverse
how He commanded that He should be worshipped. They                mixture of idolatry with the worship of Jehovah, they
had no real desire to serve Him or dwell in His fellow-           had admired it, even asking for the Levites counsel
ship. Their piousness was the sickening sort of which              and blessing upon their efforts. The result was that as
we read in Isaiah, "This people draw near me with their           they led the Danites toward their new land, they brought
mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have re-             them also to the house of Micah. When they came there,
moved their heart far from me, and their fear toward              they said to the men of Dan, "Do ye know that there is
me is taught by the precept of men." (Isa. 29:13)                 in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven
       The account opens with Micah returning to his              image, and a molten image? now therefore consider
mother eleven hundred shekels of silver which he had              what ye have to do." Quickly they went into Micah's
stolen. Superstitiously, he feared the curse which she            house, took his images, and drafted his priest to go
had pronounced upon the thief. Piously, his mother                with them. Over against the protest of Micah and his
wished the blessing of Jehovah upon him because, she              neighbors, they proceeded on their way, with the result
said, she had dedicated the money to Jehovah for the              that the wicked practices of Micah became the heritage
making of a graven image and a molten image. There-               of a whole tribe in Israel. Neither was a word of ob-
upon she gave two hundred shekels of the money to                 jection heard in all Israel.
Micah, and he proceeded to have them formed into two                   This is the first illustration of spiritual decay in
idols. In addition, he made an ephod (a priestly gar-             Israel; and the second in its way is even more repul-
ment), teraphim (a number of small images), a sanc-                sive.
tuary to hold them, and he consecrated one of his sons                 This began with another Levite dwelling in mount
to be a priest.        It all served to make him a man of         Ephraim.         He took to be his concubine a beautiful
distinction in his community, a man with his own                  young woman of Bethlehem-judah. His attitude toward
gods, his own sanctuary in which to worship, and his              her was hardly proper, however, with the result that she
own priest to lead in service.         But, if that was not       engaged in whoredom and finally left him to return to
enough, when a wandering Levite appeared at his house,            the home of her father. Drawn perhaps by her beauty,
he enlisted him to be priest in place of his son, for             he went after her. Her father, completely unconcerned
after all God had separated the tribe of Levi for temple          about the well-being of his daughter, welcomed him.
service, and, if possible, it was best to observe such            The greater part of five days were spent by the two
formalities. Proudly Micah exclaimed, "Now know I                 men revelling in fine food and strong drink. Finally,
that Jehovah will do me good, seeing I have a Levite              in the afternoon of the fifth day, after several false
to my priest." (RV) It reflected the sad way in which             starts, the Levite left for home with his concubine. It
the service of Jehovah had been corrupted and inter-              was a foolish and irresponsible thing to do, for now
mixed with pagan idolatry.        Micah was not alone in          there was no possibility of reaching home beforenight-
such practices.                                                   fall. The result was that toward evening he found him-
      It was at this same time that the tribe of Dan was          self by Jebus, later called Jerusalem, the as yet un-
finding itself without sufficient land to support its people.     conquered city of the Jebusites. Wisdom dictated that
It was their own fault. Joshua under the guidance of              he should have stopped there, and his servant urged
God had assigned them the whole of the land of the                that he do so, but his national pride would not allow
Philistines as their rightful inheritance in Israel. But          him to stay with these heathen. Instead he pressed on
at the time they had not felt the need for all of this, and       toward Gibeah of Benjamin.
they had never bothered to drive out the Philistines as               When at last he arrived at Gibeah, his welcome
God had commanded. As a result, the Philistines had               there closely resembled that of the angels of God many
grown strong and powerful, so that in turn they were              years before in Sodom. He was ignored by the inhabi-
taking back more and more of the land which Dan had               tants of the city and left to make out for himself in the
once inhabited. The situation had become critical, and            streets of the city until at last an old man, himself but
the Danites no longer dared to challenge the might of             a temporary resident of the city, came along and in-
the Philistines. Rather, they determined it wiser to              quired about his intentions. Piously and falsely the
withdraw from the Philistines completely. They sent               man explained, "We are passing from Bethlehem- judah
out five spies to find some other land in which they              toward the side of mount Ephraim; from thence am I:


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D .   B E A R E R                                              63

and went to Bethlehem-judah, but I am now going to the                   comitted lewdness and folly in Israel. Behold, ye are
house of the LORD; and there is no man that receiveth                    all children of Israel; give here your advice and
me to his house." Graciously the old man answered,                       counsel." It was true of course, in spite of the mis-
"Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie                     representation by the Levite as to his own part in the
upon me; only lodge not in the street."                                 matter, that a terrible sin had been committed. To-
   All went well until darkness fell completely. Then                    gether the men of Israel determined that Gibeah should
a group of ruffians from the city came to the house                      be punished, and when they consulted with the Lord,
with homosexual intent, demanding that the old man                       His answer was in agreement. Only the tribe of Ben-
bring out the stranger for them. When the men would                      jamin disapproved and determined to stand by their
not be discouraged with words, the Levite, fearful for                  brethren of Gibeah.
his own well-being, brought out his concubine to them.                        The end of the matter was that a great civil war
Impressed by her beauty perhaps, the men were satis-                     took place in Israel, the eleven tribes against Benja-
fied and abused her all through the night.                              min. It was close to disastrous. The Benjamites won
   Unrested and irritated by the events of the night,                    the first two engagements, for they were valiant fighters;
the Levite rose in the morning to prepare for the rest                   but in the third they were roundly defeated. The rest
of the journey. Opening the door of the house, he found                  of the men of Israel, long removed from the practice
his concubine lying before it. Speaking roughly as though                of moral discernment, pushed their pursuit far beyond
somehow she was the culprit, he said, "Up, and let us                    reason.             When they were finished, all of the tribe of
be going." But the young woman didnot stir; and look-                    Benjamin had been destroyed except three hundred
ing closer, he found that she was dead. Now suddenly                     men, and then they all vowed not to give any of their
the Levite's feelings were aroused in righteous indig-                   daughters to the men of Benjamin for wives.
nation. Now he had been hurt and he was determined                            When at last their tempers cooled, the men of
to get even. Without respect for the young woman who                     Israel began to realize the implications of what they
had been his concubine, as soon as he had returned                       had done.             A tribe was about to perish from Israel.
home, he cut up her body into twelve pieces and sent                     Still reason did not prevail. Instead of repudiating their
them into all of the tribes of Israel with a report of                   rash vow, the men of Israel went to war against Jabesh-
what had happened.                                                       gilead taking the young, unmarried women to be wives
   Israel's sense of moral righteousness, although                       to the men of Benjamin.                But still there were not
greatly dimmed, had not yet died completely. The                         enough. Thus they advised the remaining two hundred
message of the Levite, together with its shocking                        Benjaminites to take by force the young women who
evidence, was sufficient to arouse the nation to a pitch                 came yearly to dance at Shiloh. All told, the whole
of moral indignation such as had not been seen for                       situation was such that it can only shock one's sense of
many years. Quickly representatives of all the tribes                    Christian decency. It serves only to bear out the con-
came together to the tabernacle at Mizpeh to decide                      clusion of the Scriptures that "in those days there was
what should be done. There the Levite gave his account                   no king in Israel, but everyman  did that which was right
of what had happened, carefully refabricating  it to re-                 in his own eyes."
flect favorably upon himself. He said, "I came into
Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine,                        In conclusion, we may well note again the objective
to lodge. And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and                     manner in which all is reported. The history of Israel
beset the house round about upon me by night, and                        was not designed in any manner of hero worship. The
thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they                     sins of Israel are clearly pointed out so that all may
forced, that she is dead. And I took my concubine and                    know that God has chosen and remained faithful to His
cut her into pieces, and sent her throughout all the                     people, not because of their excellency, but merely
country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have                      because of His amazing grace.




                                        EXPOSITION OF ROMANS  5:12-21
                                                      Rev. G. C. Lubbers
The Conclusion Of The Whole Matter Summed Up. Vs.                        representative, that is, Adam and Christ respectively.
18 (continued)                                                           Of the class represented by Adam, the figure of Christ,
                                                                         it is said that "theydie" (vs. 15), "they are condemned"
   Fifthly, it ought to be obvious to all that it is irnpos-             (vss. 16, 18), "they are made sinners" (vs. 19). On the
sible to carry through the misinterpretation of the                      other hand those represented in Christ are said to be
Arminian universalists, and give due consideration to                    such that to them "the grace of God and the gift of grace
the text and context in question, and to the teaching of                hath abounded" (vs. 15), "that they are freely justified
all of Scripture. In the entire section a definite and clear-            from many offenses" (vss. 16,  18), "that they shall
cut distinction is made between two definitely different                 reign in life through Jesus Christ" (vs. 17), "that they
classes of people, who are each related to a definite                    are regarded a,nd treated as righteous" (vs. 19).


64                                              THi   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 It is the position of Arminians and Universalist                   are justified inChrist the verses 15b and 19b.
dreamers that both of these various realities can be                The' State Of Guilt And The State Of Innocency  Legally
spoken of and to impenitent sinners and hardened rep-               &sfablished.  Vs.  19
robates.       Pray, can this too both be said of the                    In verse 19 Paul elucidates upon what he had taught
children of God? What Dr. Hodge has to say concern-                 in verse 18. He underscores here that the condemna-
ing this is well worth noticing. We quote the following             tion of the whole class called "all" in Adam is irrev-
from his orthodox pen. " . . . It is not possible so to             ocable. It is a matter which transpired in the court of
eviscerate these declarations as to make them contain               God, where the judgment-seats are set. It was a legal
nothing more than that the chance of salvation is of-               act of the Judge. God had announced to Adam, "The day
fered to all men. To say that a man is justified, is not            thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Gen. 2:17b.
to say that he has the opportunity of justifying himself;           And when Adam took from the tree of knowledge of good
and to say that a man shall reign in life, is not to say            and evil from the hand of his fallen wife, he died by the
that he may possibly be saved. Who ever announces to                verdict of God. God executed His righteous sentence1
a congregation of sinners, that they are all justified,             This is what Paul calls special attention toin verse 19.
they are all constituted righteous, they all have the               Writes he, "For even as through the disobedience of one
justification of life? The interpretation which requires            man the many were constituted sinners....". The KJV
all these strong and plain declarations to be explained             has "`made sinners" while the Staten Vertaling has
in a sense which they confessedly have nowhere else in              "zondaren  gesteld." Luther translates "Sunder  ge-
the Bible, and makes them mean hardly anything at all,              worden.2r)'        The Holland translation "gesteld" comes
is at variance with every sound principle of construc-              most nearly to the meaning of the verb in Greek
tion.     If the all in the latter part of the verse is co-         "katestatheesan", which is third person, Aorist pas-
extensive with the all in the former (verse 18, G.L.),              sive. We all were placed, in one moment, by the act of
the passage of necessity teaches universal salvation;               the judge in the state of sinners. We were placed in
for it is impossible that  to be justified, constituted             the legal status of death, and in this status we have
righteous,  can mean simply that justification is offered           only the right of condemnation to the camp of sinners.
to all men.       The all who are justified are saved. If           We are  Havmavtooloi. That is our new legal name,
therefore the all means all men, the apostle teaches                horrible that it may be.          Such is the case with the
that all men are saved. And this is the use to which                many, the Hoi Polloi. This is the entire human race in
many Universalists have put the passage. As, however,               one man's disobedience1 Such is the nature and the
not only the Scriptures generally, but Paul himself,                manner of the condemnation which is on "all" in
distinctly teach that all men are not saved, as in 11               Adam1
Thess. 1:9, this interpretation cannot be admitted by                    But, thanks be to God, that is not where the case
any who acknowledge the inspiration of the Bible. It is             rests. Jesus Christ was sent into this world. The Son
moreover an unnatural interpretation, even if the at-               of God is called Jesus. And he came to give his life a
tention be limited to this one passage; because as death            ransom for many.            And the many whom he came to
on account of Adam supposes union with Adam, so life                save are surely saved and shall be saved. Thus was
on account of Christ supposes union with Christ. It is              the divine intent and purpose of God bythe Fall through
all who are in Adam who are condemnedfor his offense,               the one disobedience of the one man, Adam in Paradise.
and the all who are in Christ who are justified by his              Here too the apostle employs the same verb as in the
righteousness.     The modern German commentators,                  former part of the sentence. He writes shall be made
even those who do not hesitate to differ from the apostle,          righteous, having the right to eternal life. And this
admit this to be the meaning of the passage. Thus                   happens not to those who. are worthy, but to godless
Meyer says, IDie pa&es anthvoopoi  (all men) in the                 and guilty ones, to the other Hoi Polloi, to those repre-
first  clause, are  dje gesammtheft  dev  A&ms-genera-              sented by Christ. The apostle writes, "shall be es-
tion and in the second clause, die  gesammthett dev                 tablished righteous." That too is the verdict of God.
Chvistus-ge~~atiZon,  Philippi says, `The limitation of             It is no long process in history to which Paul here
the pantes (all) anthvooopoi (men) is of necessity to be            refers.        It is to the verdict of God at Calvary, when
assumed. It can only mean all who believe..... .' The               Christ said before God, the angels, and all of the elect,
Apostle views, on the one hand, the generation of those             "It is finished". For the future passive verb kata-
lost in Adam, and on the other, the generation of those            statheesontii   indicates what grammarians designate as
saved in Christ."                                                   punctiliar action. Such it usually does, and such it does
      Finally, we may observe in the light of the fore-             here very emphatically. The verdict of God from His
going that throughout this entire section Paul definitely           throne is finished. Adam is indeed the figure of him
distinguishes between two classes which are both called             who was to come. We now have the right to be right-
"the  many." He never speaks here of either of these                eous; we have been declared righteous in the court of
classes without employing the definite article in the               God. Nothing can ever change it, for the just demand
Greek text. These two classes are on the one hand the               of the law has been fulfilled! What Christ died, he died
"many" who died in Adam and because of the one                      once, and what he lives, he lives unto God. It is thus
transgression; on the other hand, they are the many                 established upon the merits of the obedience of the one
who are represented by Christ, the multitude of the                man, Jesus Christ, the eternal Son in our flesh.
children of Abraham in the Seed. Confer for the many                The Transgression Made To Abound By The B&ging
who die in Adam vss. 15a, 19a, and for the many who                In Of Law, Vs. 20


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             65

   Paul has some remarkable things to say about the                transgression of law. Not that law can ever be a means
"law", the principle of law. In Rom. 4:14 he says,                 of salvation as did teach that arch-heretic Pelagiusl
I`. ..the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there            Nay, God would indeed show that this one Transgression
is no transgression." And again in this chapter 5 of               would manifest itself in many transgressions. And this
Romans he writes, "But sin is not imputed where there              sin is caused to abound. Not because the law or any
is no Iaw,!' Thus in Romans 8:7b, Paul writes, "...but             "law" is evil; nay the evil is inman who is established
I had not known sin except through law.fJ In Gal. 3:21             by God as being a sinner! This is a profound and start-
he writes "for if there had been a law given which                 ling reality. It is the "keyofknowledge" to understand
could have given life, truly righteousness should have             that phenomenon that where you have more law you
been out of law." In I Cor. 15:56 he calls the law the             havemore sin revealing itself. For law puts fuel on the
power of sin.                                                      fire of sin and causes it to erupt. The more civilized
   The law can only make sin exceedingly sinful. The               the world, the more horrible the transgressions.
law is weak; it cannot save the guilty sinner, and it                   Look at Israel under law. Was there ever a people
cannot make a corrupt sinner good. Thus we read in                 as evil as Israel of old. Is there ever such iniquity as
Rom. 8:3, "For what the law could not do, in that it was           one finds in the most highly developed civilization. Of
weak through the flesh...."                                        course not! Why? Because there is no law that can
   In the light of the foregoing excerpts from Paul's              make alive, that can make one willing to obey it.
pen it becomes very interesting and important tonotice                  Man only learns his misery out of law!
what Paul adds here in verse 20. Writes he, "More-                      That was the divine intent of law, as law - apart
over the law entered, that the offense might abound..."            from grace I
It is clear from the entire context that "the offense"                  This alone explains what is called by moralists
is here the one disobedience of Adam. That is definite-            that what we are experiencing is the "Moral Break-
ly its meaning here. Certainly there was a law which               down." It is not a moral breakdown, but it is a break-
had been transgressed by Adam. It was the original                 ing through of the floodgates of unrighteousness under
command of God relative the forbidden tree in Paradise.            law! Sin is manifestly lawlessness I
However, here Paul refers to a law which was subse-                The Triumph  Of Grace In The Midst Of Sin Abounding.
quently added. Since Paul does not write here in the               vs. 21.
Greek "the" law, but simply law, we believe that Paul                   Grace reigns in the church through righteousness
has in mind any commandment which God gave to man                  into life eternal. Where sin abounds grace does much
subsequently to the Fall. Such is the meaning of the               move  abound!
verb in the Greek here. It is a composite verb. It is
pav-eis-eelthen. To enter into beside, it means. The                    In the righteousness of Christ which is without law,
tense indicates that Paul has in mind the totality of the          whereas it is the free gift of God in Christ, grace
bringing in of law, any law, viewed in one whole. It is            reigns.        Christ has broken the back of sin. He has
evidently what is called a constative Aorist. It is a              condemned sin in the flesh. He has taken away death,
snapshot picture of all of law in every age and clime:             death in its full scope: temporal, spiritual, andeternal.
moral, ceremonial, and civil.                                      The verdict of God is that the righteous shall live. The
   Common grace enthusiasts as well as moralists like              gift of God is eternal life. Those who receive this gift
to speak of checking of sin, andof improvement through             reign through Christ. The victory is complete, it is
law and education. Paul does not teach such here. He               over all of sin manifestly revealed to be sin.
makes a point of it to teach that God would show the                    Grace gives us the complete victory through Jesus
enormity of the sin which was latent in that one trans-            Christ our Lord.          Saved by his death, we are much
gression of Adam. The great transgression of Adam                  more saved by his life. Remain in sin that grace may
must abound in much sin, as being definitely "sin,"                abound? God forbid1





                               THE HISTORY OF THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT
                                                 Rev. G. Van Baven

   During the past months, preliminary to the current              ecumenical`development, I quote from one intimately
presidential election, we have been bombarded with the             associated with the present-day movement:
phrase: "The Great Society." In religious circles                             Since 1900 we have seen actual union, partial union,
there is heard a similar phrase to describe the present                  and negotiations looking toward union among churches
"glorious development" in the history of the church:                     both at home and abroad. The three Methodist churches
"The Great Century." This "Great Century" includes                       in England are one. Three Presbyterian groups in
a hundred years of increasingly intense efforts towards                  Scotland have become the Church of Scotland; the
uniting all churches into one super-church covering                      various Protestant churches of France are now the
the whole earth. To give you a bird's-eye view of this                   Reformed Church of France. The Lutheran churches


       of the United States are working steadily and effectively                                                      --I
 66                                                  i-HE  S T A N D - A R D   B.EARER

                                                                             After several hundreds of years,. this loose unity
       toward greater and greater union. The Congregational             developed into something more concrete. Regional
       and Christian churches have come together. InCanada,             churches united under bishops who, in turn, finally
       Methodist, Congregational, and Presbyterian churches             submitted to the bishop of Rome as the supreme head
       have become the United Church of Canada. In India the            of the church on earth. Thus a measure of outward
       Anglican, the Methodist, and the South India churches            unity existed.           There was much trouble; there was
       have become the United Church of South India.                    schism; yet for the most part the church remained a
          Fifteen denominations have formed a partial union             monolithic organization  - until the 11th century when
       in the United Church of Christ in Japan. In 1948 the
       Evangelical Church in Germany brought some twenty-               it divided into the "Eastern" and "Western" churches.
       seven churches into a federal union relationship. The            Again, though schisms continued after the llthcentury,
       same thing has happened in the Philippines, in China,            it was not until the Protestant reformation, beginning
       and in Brazil among some of the churches there.                  in 1517, that the old Roman Catholic Church was split
          Important conversations and potentially successful            widely apart.
       negotiations looking toward greater union are now                     Since the Protestant reformation, there has been a
       under way all over the world-in South Africa, Iran,              constant splintering of churches (particularly in Prot-
       North India, Ceylon, Nigeria, Madagascar, as well as             estantism). Until approximately the last one hundred
       here at home.      In 1951 representatives of nine de-           years, there had been no mergers, but rather ever-
       nominations began careful consideration of a plan for            increasing divisions. It is this which is held forth as
       forming the United Church of Christ in the United                the continuing scandal in the Church. The president of
       States.     In 1952 preliminary discussions to explore           Union Theological Seminary sums it up thus:
       the possibilities of union were opened between the
       Methodist Church and the Protestant Episcopal Church                               In summary: in the first eighteen centuries, frequent
       in the United States. The National Council of Churches                      and multiplying schisms and scarcely a single concrete
       was formed in 1950. The World Council of Churches                           achievement of church union; in the last century and a
       brings 163 (201 today) different churches from 41 dif-                      half, some new `divisions within Christendom but more
       ferent countries into a working arrangement for think-                      than a hundred fully consummated mergers of pre-
                                                                                   viously independent national church bodies.  Up to the
       ing, praying, and planning together.  1                                     eve of the nineteenth century, scarcely a singie or-
 It Was Not Always So.. . .                                                        ganized Christian association across denominational
                                                                                   lines; at the middle of the twentieth century, thousands
       To the human eye, the above presents a rather                               of vigorously functioning agencies of transdenomina-
 appealing picture. Besides, many of the "negotiations"                            tional  collaboration. These are among the facts that
 mentioned in the book (written some eight years ago)                              justify Sir Ernest Barker's arresting assertion on the
 have reached fruition.          Additional negotiations have                      eve of the World Christian Conferences at Oxford and
 begun since that time.                                                            Edinburgh in 1937: "Our century has its sad features.
                                                                                   But there is one feature in its hstory which is not sad.
       But it was not always so. There was a time when                             That is the gathering tide of Christian union."2
 merger attempts simply were not necessary.                  The
 church was alsooutwardlyone. In  thedays of the church                Missions and Mevgevs
 immediately after Pentecost, there were neither formal
 denominational ties, nor such disunity that the newly                      It appears to be an established fact that together
 established churches were unable to work together.                     with the rise in mission endeavor in the last century
 And. this is easily understood. It is often emphasized                 and a half, there has been. the development of the
 by "ecumaniacs" that this early church with its unity                  ecumenical movement. It was not the local, established
 is the incentive for seeking union today. These point                  church that first emphasized the necessity of an ex-
 out that then the church was outwardly one even though                 ternal unity of all Christians; but missionaries, mis-
 there existed various and opposing doctrines and                       sion boards, and mission churches felt impelled to
 theories.        They mention especially the disagreement              seek closer union with others engaged in the same
 between Peter and Paul- whether the church must                        labors.      This, in turn, provided the momentum for
---retain or cast off many of its ties to Judaism. Now it               merger negotiations between denominations, and the
 is true, the church in that day had its serious problems               establishment of councils of churches in recent years.
 and troubles. Doctrinal disagreements did arise (Acts                      Writer after writer gives the "credit" for the
 15:1-31); personal animosities did exist for a time                    ecumenical development to foreign missions:
 (Acts  15:36-41); many heresies did develop in the                             Moreover, it is on the mission field and among the
 church (I Cor.  1:12;  3:3;  5:l;  15:12). Nevertheless,                   younger Christian churches, richest fruit-age of mis-
 the churches were all established upon the truths of                       sionary outreach, that concrete achievement in almost
                                                                            every type and phase of Christian unity has come ear-
 Scripture unitedly proclaimed by all the apostles                          liest, has moved fastest, and has gone farthest. We
 without exception. The truth was the same through-                         repeat: The Christian world mission has been both the
 out the churches. Error which arose was condemned                          precursor and the progenitor of the effort after Chris-
 and cast out. The apostle Paul declared, "But though                       tian- unity. 3
 we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel                           It can never be too strongly stated that the origin
unto you than that which we have preached unto you,                         of the modern ecumenical movement was in foreign
let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8). There was a measure                        missions.  4
 of true outward unity - only it was based upon the truth                   But why should  ecumenism develop first out of
of God's revelation.                                                   mission activity? Two reasons especially have been


                                             T H E   STANDaRD   BEARE.R                                                  67

advanced. First, the divided voices of manydenomina-       `"mutual counsel and fellowship."
tions in a land predominantly non-Christian tend to               Next, at -Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1910, a conference
confuse both the unconverted and recent converts.          was called, to be composed of appointed delegates by
These are able to make a distinction between Chris-        the missionary boards of the churches. A "continua-
tianity and all other religions. But they have not at-     tion committee" was established which became or-
tained to an understanding of the "fine distinctions"      ganized as the International Missionary Council. This
which separate Christians within Christendom. Hence,       council, in turn, affiliated itself with the World Council
before long, missionaries of various denominations         of Churches at New Delhi in 1961.
began co-operating rather than competing - for the                Two other organizations can be noted. The Faith
sake of these novices in the faith. Secondly, there was    and Order Movement met first in 1927, and the Life
the problem of overlapping mission fields in a world,       and Work Movement first met in 1925 at Stockholm.
two-thirds of which is not even nominally Christian.       These two associated in 1938 to form a provisional
Since such a vast field must be covered, since there       committee of the World Council of Churches which was
has never been an adequate supply of missionaries,         officially constituted in Amsterdam in 1948.
why not work together to attain less duplication of ef-           Much more can be recorded- but for now this
fort and maximum use of men and material available?        must be sufficient. What of the future? Listen:
   That many unique questions arise on the mission                   The achievements of "The Great Century" suggest
field can not be disputed. But the conclusions drawn          potentialities of Christian advance in the last half of
have not always been in harmony with Scripture. It            the twentieth century surpassing those which have been
can very seriously be asked in the present instance               realistic possibilities for any earlier epoch. We have
whether ecumenicalism has not hindered, rather than            repeatedly stressed the dual, or bifocal, character of
assisted, the cause of missions today. The answer              this movement - Chvistiun missions and Chvisttin unit%
ought to become more apparent in later articles.              If we imagine these two parallel and inter-related
                                                               developments pressing forward along the same lines
If The Rolling St~ne....`~                                        and at the same steadily accelerating pace through
                                                               the next forty years, the dawn of the second Christian
   I will not bore you with a detailed history of ecu-        millennium might wimess an approximation of the
menicalism.      To recount the hundreds of significant        twofold goal of the acknowledgment of Christ through-
developments in the past hundred years would require              out the earth and of the unity of a majority of his fol-
the writing of books, -- not simply a few articles. Let        lowers in one "great church." 5
me mention briefly several highlights in this history.            And, you may well be correct, Dr. Van Dusen. In
   The date usually mentioned as the beginning of the      the. "next forty years...the unity of a majority...in one
modern ecumenical movement is 1795. In that year,          great church." It gives one pause for thought, does it
members of the established Church of Scotland, of the      not? Truly "the night is far spent, the day is at
Church of England, and of English Independent and          hand...." (Romans 13:12).
Methodist Churches united as individual Christians
(not as denominations) to form the London Missionary       1. Harold A. Bosley, What did the Wovld Council say
Society.                                                          to you?, Abigdon Press, pp. 37, 38
   1819 is the earliest instance of interdenominational    2. Henry P. Van Dusen, One Great Ground of Hope,
missionary action. In London the secretaries of the               Westminster Press, p. 23
Baptist Missionary Society, the London Missionary          3. ibid., p. 17
Society, the Church Missionary Society (Anglican), and     4. Paul Griswold Macy, If it be of God, Bethany Press,
the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society gathered                p. 39
to form the "London Secretaries' Association" for          5. Henry P. Van Dusen, op. cit., p. 93




                                                Rev.  H, Hank0

DUTCH CHURCHES FAVOR WCC                                   way from the Russian Orthodox Church (which many
   From The Bannev  we have learned that the Gere-         accuse of being a tool of Communist conspiracy against
formeerde Kerken  in the Netherlands have adopted          the free world) to outright Modernists from this
a decision which favors membership in the World            country.
Council of Churches.
   The World Council of Churches is the largest                   Prior to its meeting in New Delhi, India in 1961,
ecumenical council of Protestant Churches, and perhaps     the Council's doctrinal basis read: "The WorldCouncil
also the most liberal -- although the National Council     of Churches is a fellowship of Churches which accept
of Churches in this country runs  2  close second.         our Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior." The doc-
It is an organization that accepts into its member-        trinal basis was changed at New Delhi ( a change that
ship practically any kind of denomination with any         some claimed was formulated by Visser `t Hooft, the
kind of religious belief. The range extends all the        former head of the Council on the back of a scrap


                                                                                                                             _'




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

of paper in a restaurant in Russia during conversation                     Netherlands Churches is to be found in the growth
with a Russian Orthodox prelate) to read: "The                             of evolutionistic views within the Church.
World Council of Churches is a fellowship of Churches                            In the 1920s (1926 to be exact), a certain Dr. Geel-
which confess the Lord Jesus Christ  2s  God and                           kerken was deposed from the ministry by the Synod
Savior, according to the Scriptures, and therefore                         of Assen and his views condemned when he taught that
seek to fulfill their common calling to the glory of                       the first three chapters of Genesis were not necessarily
the one God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost."                                  historically true.     He doubted, specifically, whether
      There were many more conservatively inclined                         there really were such trees as the Tree of Life and
churchmen who considered this somewhat of a victory                        the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Paradise.
in that it was just a bit moreexplicit about fundamental                         But these views so shortly ago condemned by the
evangelical doctrines. But the Council had absolutely                      Gereformeerde Kerken are now openly taught in the
no intention of returning to any conservative line                         Universities and in the churches. And in fact, many
with this change; for it retained another decision which                   have gone beyond these views. Dr. Ridderbos defends
explained this doctrinal basis in a very liberal way.                      what he calls 2 "Framework Hypothesis," which, in
This decision reads: "As its brevity shows, the basis                      effect, also denies the literal historical truth of the
is an affirmation of the Christian faith of the partici-                   creation narrative and substitutes a view that main-
pating churches, and not  2  creedal  test to judge                        tains that there is only one single truth taught in
churches or persons. It is an affirmation of the In-                       Genesis 1: the truth that God created everything. Just
carnation and the Atonement. The Council desires to                        how and in how long a time he did that is not revealed
be 2 fellowship of those churches which accept these                       in Genesis. It must be learned through science.
truths. But it does not concern itself with the manner                           Dr. Lever goes even beyond this and openly espouses
in which the churches interpret them. It will there-                       evolutionism. He will not condemn the view that man
fore be the responsibility of each particular church                       descended from the animal world, although he does
to decide whether it can collaborate on this basis."                       not want to maintain it 2s being certain. He wants to
      There are thousands of liberal churches which deny                   leave room for both possibilities. His hesitation is 2
the divinity of Christ and the blood of atonement                          subterfuge.
who can and who actually have accepted this basis                                Dr. Manten carries the whole thing to its end and
and joined the WCC. It means absolutely nothing.                           openly accepts the entire structure of evolutionary
      The decision of the Gereformeerde Kerken reads                       thought; and Dr. Van der Linden has taken it upon
as follows, (quoted fromThe  Bannev):                                      himself evidently to bring Dr.  Manten's views in
           The Synod declared . . . that, when one keeps in                harmony with Scripture -- or Scripture in harmony
        mind the special character of the World Council as                 with these views.
        an attempt to make the fallen and divided church                         And all are members in good standing in the church.
        in rhe whole world fulfill the requirements of her                       Recently however, Rev. Delleman, 
        mandate and being, and (if one considers) the basis                                                           2  student chaplain
        of the World Council of Churches, namely, in its form              in the University of Gronigen, asked the Synod through
        as modified in New Delhi in 1961, how it can serve                 a formal letter, whether the Reformed Churches were
        as the basis of this particular ecumenical relation-               still bound by the decision of the Synod of Assen in
        ship, and (when one observes) the manner in which                  1926 concerning Dr. Geelkerken.
        its basis functions according to the data provided to                    If Article 31 of the Church Order is still in force
        the Synod (he should see) that there is no decisive                in these churches, there surely was no need of asking
        hindrance for the Reformed (Gereformeerde) Church-                 the question; but the church's failure to do anything
        es to join the World Council of Churches."                         about these views evidently is making people wonder.
      We have come to expect from the churches in the                      Anyway, Synod did not answer that it was; it rather
Netherlands increasing evidences of apostasy. There,                       appointed a committee to study the whole matter and
where the truth of the Reformation was valiantly                          report to the next Synod.
defended, where the Reformed Churches in this country                            What a strange decision. But it appears as if the
have their spiritual origin, apostasy has become in-                      Gereformeerde Kerken what to change their stand
creasingly apparent. No wonder that the editor of The                      about Geelkerken.
Bannev (for the Christian Reformed Church has sister
relationships with the Gereformeerde Kerken) gently                              In commenting upon all this Dr. Klass Runia and
chides the Netherlands Churches. He writes:                               Rev. Gerard Van Groningen co-author several articles
           It is this writer's considered judgment that we will           in 
       serve them best if we tell them in love, with carefully                   The Bannev. The whole issue these men consider
       adduced evidence, and also in no uncertain terms of                important also for the Christian Reformed Church. And
       our convictions that they have not spoken according                indeed it is. For in that denomination the "Framework
       to the Word, and that it is our hope and prayer that               Hypothesis" is fast gaining adherents; and the theory
       they will reconsider the position they have taken.                 of some form of evolution is taught in Calvin College,
      A gentle chiding is really not enough. But then the                 many of the existing high schools, and grade schools
Christian Reformed Church also has within her fellow-                     that have predominantly Christian Reformed parental
ship certain proponents of membership in the WCC.                         support. And it is being preached (or at least the tra-
EVOLUTIONISM IN THE DUTCH CHURCHES                                        ditional view is being questioned) from the pulpits.
                                                                                 These two men are at some pains to establish the
      Another evidence of the speedy apostasy of the                      orthodox position -- particularly that the first chapter


                                                   THE,STANDARD   B E A R E R                                           69

of Genesis (and succeeding chapters as well) must be                  Whether this is true or not is highly doubtful.
taken literally and historically.                                 But this is not the point. The point is that even if a
   We are grateful that there are those in the Christian          literal interpretation would rule out science, Scripture
Reformed Church who are trying to maintain the truth              is the rule of faith and life. Not science. And this is
on this important point of doctrine.                              after all the fundamental question: Are we ready to
   But:. . .                                                      bow unreservedly before the final and absolute au-
   When it comes down to the decisive issue -- the                thority of Scripture? or are we going to make science
issue of whether or not the days of the creation week             (and man's reason therefore) an additional authority?
were       days of 24 hours, the authors of the above             Are we going to let Scripture speak to us? or are we
articles, hesitate, stumble and fall.                             going to insist arrogantly on our right to speak to
   They write:                                                    Scripture?
          Shall we then take Genesis 1 literally, for example,       The authors want courage to face the questions of
   day means twenty-four hours, as the whole story seems          science. Fine. But before we can have this, we must
   to suggest? (cf. "there was evening and there was              have the humility to bow before the Word of God.
   morning"). In the days of the Geelkerken conflict,
   men like Bavinck and Aalders, and since then Reformed          A FOOTNOTE ON CHURCH UNION.
   scholars like Noordtzij and Ridderbos, find it too
   difficult to answer with an outright yes as, did Dr.              The WCC recently carried on a study of church
   V. Hepp and Prof. Louis Berkhof. We today, too,                mergers. They discovered that there are at present
   should hesitate in accepting a literal interpretation          38 separate negotiations involving 102 churches in
   of Genesis 1, for this categorically rules out too much        30 countries striving for church union. Strikingly, of
   material the scientist places before us, material we           these 38, there are 12 negotiations going on between
   must deal with openly, courageously.                           churches who stand on the same confessional basis.
   How sad. Cannot these brethren see that they have              An example of this is the talks going on between the
capitulated to Geelkerken, Ridderbos, Manten, et. al.             Reformed Church in America and the Presbyterian
with this seemingly minor hesitation? Cannot they see             Church US (Southern). Other merger talks are between
that it is just the little toehold that is needed to bring        churches with different confessional bases andwithdif-
the whole theory of evolutionism into the Churches?               ferent church political structures.
Cannot they understand that this is exactly a p&zciPial              The report is rather pleased to see that there is
concession that has led to all the trouble? Why hesitate.         such a swing away from union between confessionally
and draw back? Then, even as in battle, all is after              similar churches to union between confessionally dif-
all lost at the moment of victory.                                ferent churches. In the past 40 years there have been
   This ought to be obvious.                                      37 church unions, 25 of which were between churches
   If the word "day" cannot be taken literally in                 with the same or similar confessions.
Genesis 1, what assurance is therethat any single                    The pleasure of the report is based upon the fact
part of Genesis 1 (or Genesis 2 and 3 and 4 -- and                that this must be an indication that the deeper
the rest of the book) ought to be taken literally? It             differences which separate churches are being discussed
has to be either all literal, historical narrative, or            in the hope of bringing about more radical unions..
there is nothing at all literal about it any more. There             The fact is that in most, if not all, mergers, the
is no sound reason either in the text or under the rules          emphasis on doctrine has been all but non-existent.
of sound Reformed exegesis for taking parts of the                Churches are not interested in merging to preserve
chapter literally and parts symbolically.                         and develop the glorious truth of Scripture. Doctrine
   Besides, it  is. once again obviously a question               is ignored. Confesssions are pretty much shoved aside.
of the relation between science and Scripture. The                For the road to union is paved with pious platitudes,
authors write that they dare not adopt aliteral meaning           hypocritical compromises, cynical disregard for truth
of the word "day" because "this categorically rules               and righteousness. What kind of church does that
out too much material the scientist places before us."            produce ?

                                  74e  &d  $&we  74e  %ad . . ,
                         THE EVANGELICAL APPROACH IN THE OLD DISPENSATION
                                                        Rev,  C,  Hank0
   We are discussing the question, "What is the evan-             woman, who also were conceived and born in sin but
gelical approach according to the Scriptures  ?" In               were regenerated by the Spirit of God. God made
the previous article on this subject we considered                separation, put enmity, by causing election and rep-
the preaching of the Gospel in the world before the               robation to run through the line of the generations
flood.     We recognized the fact that there was a two-           of our first parents. The seed of the serpent devel-
fold seed: the seed of the serpent, or the natural                oped in wickedness, while the covenant seed was
children of Adam and Eve, who were conceived and                  preserved in the midst of an evil world, ultimately
born in sin, and , on the other hand, the seed of the             to bring forth the Christ.     We noticed also that the

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

covenant seed, or the church, was given the prophets,               assured the elect of Isaiah's day, "For I am the -Lord
such as Enoch and Noah, who preached the Gospel                     thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour; I gave
in that first world. They prophesied against the wicked-            Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Sebafor thee. Since
ness of their day and promised deliverance to the church            thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been hon-
through the judgment that would fall upon a world                   ourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give
steeped in iniquity.      God maintained His Name and               men for thee, and people for thy life." Isaiah 43:3,4.
His cause in the earth, proclaiming His righteousness                    It cannot escape us that at the tower of Babel there
as the God of all grace Who shows mercy to those who                is no mention of a prophet nor of preaching of any kind.
fear Him and punishes those who despise and rebel                   Noah and Shem, and many other believers must have
against Him. For almost two thousand years before                   been living at that time; yet God chose not to speak
the flood there was the antithetical preaching of the               through them, but rather to act. The world had united
Word as a savor of life unto life for the elect, but                itself in a common purpose of defying God by exalting
as a savor of death unto death for the reprobate. And               man. Yet with a brush of the hand, as it were, by con-
therefore the flood was type of the final judgment that             fusing their language God foiled their plans and scattered
is still to come.        Just because the flood is a type           them over the face of the earth.            This simple fact
of the final judgment we may not ignore the antithetical            had such far reaching results that even today the peoples
power of the Word in the days of Noah. For the evan-                of the earth have not completely recovered from the
gelical approach of the preaching of the Word is not                blow that God struck at Babel. Each family went its
essentially different in the days of the coming-of the              own way, spreading out, developing in its own manner,
Son of man.                                                         always still dreaming of the time when they will be
      In this article I wish to consider various passages           united as one great world power against God and against
of Scripture that help us to understand the preaching               His Christ.
of the Gospel during the period of the old dispensation,                 Of equal significance to us is the fact that God
from the time of the flood to the coming of Christ.                 called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees to bring him
      Our attention is directed at once to the fact that            to the land of Canaan. If anyone should imagine that
immediately after the flood the Gospel promise centered             Abrahm might have been sent there to tell the Canaan-
upon Shem.       By the Spirit of prophecy Noah said,               ites of God's universal love for all mankind and also
"Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall                  for them, that person must be sorely disappointed in
be his servant." And then he adds concerning Japheth,               Abraham's sojourn in the land. For Abraham isolated
"God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the               himself as a stranger, as did also Isaac and Jacob
tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant."                    after them. They never hesitated to witness of their
By no stretch of the imagination can we speak here of               faith in their God and of the hope of His promise;
an "undifferentiated Gospel" as if God says to all three            yet they remained aloof, separated as pilgrims and
sons of Noah, "I love you and all your generations;                 strangers. And Hebrews 11 approves of this action as
I want to save you and your generations; I will send                an act of faith. We are told, "These all died in faith,
My Son to die for you and all your generations."                    not having received the promises, but having seen them
Quite the opposite is true. God says that the covenant              afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced
line will continue throughout the old dispensation in               them, and confessed that they were strangers and
the generations of Shem. Only at a later date, and that            pilgrims on the earth."
in the new dispensation, will Japheth's descendants                      Some time later Joseph was brought into Egypt.
share in the covenant blessings of Shem. And always                 Again we marvel how he maintained his faith and re-
Canaan, that is, the reprobate world, will be their serv-          mained a stranger in a strange land, always ready to
ant, carrying out the counsel of God for the salvation              confess his God. But it can hardly be said that God
of God's Church.                                                    sent him to Egypt to bring the Egyptians to a saving
      Here again election and reprobation stand on the             faith in the promised Christ. He is described to us,
foreground, not as something hidden, but as the re-                not as a missionary, but as a lone warrior, surrounded
vealed will of God.      God promises to establish His             by foes on every hand, but whose arms were made
covenant with Shem and with Shem's seed after him,                  strong `by the mighty God of Jacob. Gen. 49:24.
as an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto him and to                   Through His servant Moses God declares that He
his seed after him. And reaching far into the future,               is God and that all Egypt's idols are mere human
God promises that many nations, tribes, and peoples                 inventions.         In Exodus 5:1,2 we read, "And afterward
will share in the blessings of the covenant as the                 Moses and Aaron went in,- and told Pharaoh, Thus
covenant broadens from the narrow channels of Israel                saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that
to include the spiritual seed of Japheth also. But there           they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
will always be a reprobate element, like the nations                And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should
on the four corners of the earth, who will be excluded             obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord,
from the preaching of the Gospel until the end of the              neither will I let Israel go." God sends ten plagues
ages is upon them.       Canaan, or the pagan nations,             upon defiant Pharaoh and Egypt, and repeatedly we
never receive the Gospel preaching except shortly                  read that God hardened Pharaoh's heart that he would
before Christ comes again.        And yet these nations            not let the people go. There was a preaching of the
serve their purpose, for they are used by God to try               Word to Pharaoh, not as an offer of salvation or as
and to purify His Church as by fire. Thus God also                 a manifestation of universal love, but rather to de-


                                                     THE-ST'ANDqRD   B E A R E R                                                   ; 71

clare His power, so that Pharaoh may forever be                           the heart of this people fat, and make their ears
without excuse;      For we are told in Romans  9:17,                     heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their
"For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh (this is surely                     eyes and hear with their ears, andunderstand with their
preaching of the Word), Even for this same purpose                        heart, and convert, and be healed," Apart from the
have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power                         fact that God promises that a remnant shall be saved,
in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout                    this is hardly a pleasant mandate for the prophet.
all the earth."                                                            But he did not object. that in that case there was no
   In the history that follows there are four facts that                  Gospel message, nor did he complain that he had no
stand out prominently.                                                     one to address, or that the "addressability" had been
   First,  God gathers His  church  in the  line  of  the                 taken away. He preached to all in the conviction that
continued  generaii'om  of  believers.         The covenant                as many as were ordained to eternal life would be
line runs from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob,                           brought to repentance and to salvation.
and continues in the twelve sons of Jacob, who become                           Second, we must note that God's message also
the twelve-tribes of Israel.       Soon the line centers                   reaches beyond Israel to those who are outside of the
in Judah and in David to bring forth the Christ. Among                    covenant line, even as God in His good pleasure
Israel God sends His prophets, reveals His promises,                      proclaims that Gospel to them.        We know that He
shows His signs and wonders, and instructs His people                     caused His Word to touch the heart of a very unlikely
through types and shadows. There the Spirit works                         person, Rahab, the harlot of Jericho. This woman
regeneration, calling, faith, conversion, justification,                  informed the spies that terror was fallen upon all the
sanctification, and glorification.        The true Israel                 inhabitants of the land, and that their hearts did faint
looks in faith for the coming of Christ, in Whom is                       because of the reports which they had heard, how God
all their salvation. But it is not all Israel that is called              had brought Israel through the Red Sea and defeated
Israel. Rom.  2:28, 29; Rom.  9:6,8.  Thelcarnal seed                     the kings on the other side of Jordan to give His
also resides in the sphere of the covenant, hears the                     people this land of Canaan. She adds, "Our hearts
word of the prophets, learns about the promises, sees                     did melt, neither remained there courage in any man,
the signs and wonders, and receives instruction in the                    because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God
types and shadows. But without regeneration they are                      in heaven above, and in the earth beneath." Josh-
hardened in their sins.       But this is also according                  ua 2:9-11.     The obvious difference between the in-
to eternal sovereign good pleasure. How else can one                      habitants of the land and Rahab was, that while the in-
possibly explain Isaiah's vision in the sixth `chapter                    habitants of the land were hardened against this mani-
of his prophecy? In response to the voice that asked,                     festation of God's power, Rahab's heart was renewed
"Whom shall .I send (to preach to Israel)?" the                           to believe and to seek her salvation among the true
prophet says, "Here I am, send me." And God says,                         people of God.
"Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but under-
stand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make                                                                 (to be continued)




                                   ("All the saints salute thee . . ." Phil. 4:21)

                                                        MY. John M. Faber

   Rev. J. Korterina, of Hull, has received a call                        Stated Clerk recorded the minutes. Mr. S. De Vries,
from the congregation-at Isabel; South Dakota.                            the other delegate from Holland, was allowed to be
   First Church, of Grand Rapids, has announced the                       seated, on his testimony to Classis that he was the
following Duo for Minister: The Revs. J.A. Heys and                       legally appointed delegate. Later in the meeting Classis
B. Woudenberg. The new Trio for missionary consists                       decided to instruct Holland to send their credentials
of the Revs. D. Englesma, G. VanBaren, and H. Veld-                       to the Stated Clerk. Those present for the first time
man. This duo and trio will be presented for the                          were asked to sign the Formula of Subscription. Only
congregation's approval at the regular annual con-                         one delegate found it necessary to sign his name. The
gregational meeting November 29.                                           Chair appointed the brethren P. Offringa and M. Klop
                   Report of Classis East                                 to serve as finance committee for this meeting of
           Held Oct. 7, 1964 at First Church                               Classis.
   Rev. R.C. Harbach, who presided over the July                                Most of the work of this brief meeting of Classis
Classis, led in the opening devotions. All the churches                    was routine. After the transcribed minutes of the July
of Classis East were represented by two delegates,                         Classis were read and approved the Stated Clerk gave
except Holland. Rev. G. Lanting, who was appointed                         his report of correspondence. The Classical Com-
delegate from Holland, and who was to preside over                         mittee tendered no report due to Rev. Lanting's
this meeting of  Classis, never arrived. Consequently                      absence.
Classis asked the Rev. Harbach to preside, while the                            First Church requested classical appointments for


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                                                     ~___ .-~___~__-~. ._~_~~                                                ~.
72                                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

the evening services for the next three months. The                               copies of these sermons by writing to the Reformed
committee, consisting of Rev. G. Lubbers, J. King                                 Witness Hour, P.O. Box 1230, Grand Rapids, Mich.
and G. Pipe, were appointed to arrange the schedule                               49501.
which was later adopted as follows: Oct. 11 - Lanting;
Oct. 18 - Lubbers; Oct. 25 - Veldman; Nov. 1 - Harbach;                                The Protestant Reformed High School Circle has
Nov.  8 - Schipper; Nov. 15 - Vos; Nov. 22 - blank;                               scheduled a public meeting for Nov. 12 at Southwest
Nov. 29 - Lanting; Dec. 6 - Lubbers; Dec. 13 - Veld-                              Church. They have engaged Prof. H.C. Hoeksema to
man; Dec. 20 - Harbach; Dec. 27 - Schipper; Jan. 3'-                              speak on "Parental Obligation Respecting Protestant
vos.                                                                              Reformed Secondary Education". With advance notices
      One of the consistories requested approval of                               in the area bulletins the Circle urges all our people
Classis to increase the censure of a delinquent                                   to attend this meeting.
member. Classis granted the request.                                                   According to Hudsonville's Oct. 18 bulletin their
      Elder H. Velthouse was appointed to thank the                               pastor, Rev. G. Vos, once again occupied the pulpit
ladies of First Church for their excellent catering                               for both services after an extended "sick leave."
service.                                                                          Truly, Hudsonville's beloved pastor is one of those
      Classis re-elected Rev. M. Schipper as Stated Clerk                         faithful ministers of the Word whose motto is, "We
and chose Rev. H. Veldman to serve as alternate.                                  live to serve." Thanks be to God for this continuance
      It was decided to meet, the Lord willing, next time                         of his life of service!
on Wednesday, January 6, at Hudsonville.
      Questions of Article 41 of the Church Order were                                 We have lifted from Southeast's bulletin the
asked of each consistory and answered satisfactorily.                             following: "All societies will meet this week according
      After the usual closing remarks of the chairman,                            to schedule. If you are a living member of this church
and devotions, the Rev. G. Lubbers offered the prayer                             you will be present and attend your society regularly".
of thanksgiving.                                                                  Are we living mem bevs of our church?
                                Rev. M. Schipper, Stated Clerk.                        Rev. H. Veldman addressed the Office Bearer's
                                                                                 Conference held at First Church Oct. 6. His topic -
      The Radio Speaker for the month of November is                              "The Calling of the Elders in Family Visitation".
Rev. M. Schipper of Southeast church in Grand Rapids.                             The speaker asserted that Family Visitation is an
The topics for the month are as follows: Nov. 1 - "An                             official activity conducted in the Name of the Shep-
Exhortation To Walk Honestly". (I Pet.  2:11,12);                                 herd of His Flock, and that Elders are ordained and
Nov. 8 - "An Exhortation To Be Submissive To Govern-                              qualified to speak authoritatively. in that Name. It
ment" (I Peter 2:13-16); Nov. 15 - "AnAdmonition  Re-                             was a timely subject and raised many questions from
specting the Servant-Master Relation" (I Peter 2:18-                              the members of the conference relating to various
20); Nov. 22  - "In The Spiritual Beauty Parlor"                                  aspects of the work and the relative merits of various
(I Pet.  3:1-6); Nov. 29  - "Dwelling In The House Of                             methods used to carry it out.
Knowledge" (I Pet. 3:7). Remember, you can obtain                                                                                           . . . . . . . . see you in church.

                       STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP                                       ing  corporation  have been included in paragraphs 7 and 8
                    MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION                                      when the interests of such individuals are equivalent to 1
             (Act of October 23, 1962; Section 4369, Title 39,                      percent or more of the total amount of the stock or securities
                             United States Code)                                    of the publishing corporation; 10. This Item Must Be Com-
        1. Date of Filing: September  18,1964;  2. Title of Publication:            pleted For All Publications Except Those  WhichDo  Not Carry
        The Standard Bearer; 3. Frequency of Issue: 21 issues per                   Advertising Other Than the Publisher's Own and Which are
        year; 4.  Iocation  of Known Office of Publication: 1326 W.                 Named in Sections 132.231, 132.232, and 132.233, Postal
        Butler Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507; 5. Location                   Manual (Sections 4355a,  435513,  and 4356 of Title 39, United
       of the Headquarters or General Business Offices of the                       States Code)
        Publishers: Same; 6. Names and Addresses of Publisher,                                                                   Average No. Copies           Single Issue
        Editor, and Managing Editor -Publisher: Reformed Free                                                                     Each Issue During             Nearest
       Publishing Assn., Inc., 1326 W. Butler Ave. SE, Grand                                                                    Preceding 12 months To Filing Date
       Rapids, Michigan 49507; Editor: Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139
       Franklin St. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506; Business                      A. Total No. Copies
      Manager: James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave. SE, Grand                               Printed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,200          1,200
      Rapids, Michigan 49507; 7. Owner: Reformed Free Pub-                          B. Paid Circulation
      lishing As&.,  Inc.,1326 W. Butler Ave. SE, Grand Rapids,                           1. To Term Subscribers
      Michigan 49507; 8. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and                                      by Mail, Carrier De-
      Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percentor More                                  Eeyn50r  by Other
      of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages or Other Securities:                                               . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825        825
      None; 9. Paragraphs 7 and 8 include, in cases where the                             2. Sales Through Agents,
      stockholder or security holder appears upon the books of the                               News Dealers, or
      company as trustee or in any other fiduciary  relation,  the                               Otherwise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . None                      None
      name of the person or corporation for whom such trustee is                    C . Free Distribution (includ-
      acting, also the statements in the two paragraphs show the                          ing samples) by Mail,
      affiant's full  knowIedge  and belief as to the circumstances                       Carrier Delivery, or by
      and conditions under which stockholders and securityholders                         Other Means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135                       135
      who do not appear upon the books of the company as trustees,                  D. Total No. of Copies Dis-
      hold stock and securities in a capacity other than that of a                        tributed (Sum of lines
      hona fide owner. Names and addresses of individuals who are                         Bl, B2 and C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960                         960
      stockholders of a corporation which itself is a stockholder or                I certify that the statements made by me above are correct
      holder of bonds, mortgages or qther  securities of the publish-               and complete.                                  James Dykstra, Business Manager


