                                   tandard
                        L-2..-/

                                           earer


A   R E F O R M E D   S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E

IN THIS ISSUE:

       Meditation  - "Mercy Without Measure"

       Editorials-

                  Quo  Vad& Reformed Journal?
                  Sterile Theology
                  The Nature of the Atonement

       Barth's Dqctrine of Scripture

       The Place of Regeneration in the Preaching of the Gospel





                                            Volume XLII/ Number 15/ May 1, 1966


338                                                                                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                            C O N T E N T S
Meditation  -                                                                                                                                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
       Mercy Without Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                   338
              Rev. J. Kortering                                                                                                                             Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
Editorials  -
       Quo Vadis, Reformed Journal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                              340        Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
       Sterile Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    341                      Editor-  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema  a
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                          Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
       The Nature of the Atonement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..-... 343
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                          Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1842 Plymouth Terrace, S.E., Grand
In His Fear  -                                                                                                                                              Rapids,  Mich.      49506. Contributions will be limited to 300
       Worshipping The Unknown God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                               345    words and must be neatly written or typewritten. Copy dead-
              Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                                                               lines are the first and fifteenth of the month.
Heeding The Doctrine  -
       Barth's Doctrine of Scripture (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i                               347    All church news items should be addressed toMr.  J. M. Faber,
              Rev. D. J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                 1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
The Lord Gave The Word  -
       The Place of Regeneration in the                                                                                                                     Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee includedmust
       Preaching of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                 349    be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below;
              Rev. C. Hanko
Trying The Spirits  -                                                                                                                                       All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
       Rationalistic Biblical Criticism . . . . . .._.._...........  ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352                                                          Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
              Rev. R. C. Harbach                                                                                                                                               Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
Book Reviews  -
       The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings                                                                                                              Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
       Principles of Conduct                                                                                                                                received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
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              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
Contending for the Faith  -                                                                                                                                                Subscription price: $5.00 per year
       The Providence of God According to the Confessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355                                                                         Second Class Postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
              Rev. H. Veldman
All Around Us  -
       Trouble Among the Liberated
       Tax Exemption for the Churches                                                                                                                                            SEMLWIR Y STUDENTS
       Schism in the Church of South India
       Criticism of Billy Graham                                                                                                                            Pre-seminary and seminary  students  in need of finan-
       Ecumenical Meeting in Rome
       The National Council of Churches Again                                                                                                               cial assistance in attending our Protestant Reformed
       A Fixed Day for Easter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357                     Seminary should contact the  following:
              Prof. H. Hanko                                                                                                                                                  Mr. J. M. Faber
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                       359
              Mr. J. Faber                                                                                                                                                    1123 Cooper Ave., SE
Reports of  Classis  East and West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                               360                      Grand Rapids,  Michigan  49507


                         MEDITATION-

                                                                                   Mercy  Without  Measure

                                                                                                                                            by Rev. J.  Kovteving

                                                                                        "FOY as the heaven is high above the  earth so great is
                                                                                       his  mercy  toward them that  feav   him." Psalm  103:ll

       It's excitingto live in our scientific age.                                                                                                              This analogy we can appreciate more fully today.
    The advantages are many.                                                                                                                                    From a natural point of view, man is surely
       Our text means more to us because of the science                                                                                                     heavenly minded today.            The space-age craze has
of astronomy.                                                                                                                                               swept over the entire earth. Almost daily we are con-
        "AS the heaven is high above the earth, so great is                                                                                                 fronted with the lofty ascent of one satellite after an-
his mercy toward them that  fear him."                                                                                                                      other.      Circling above the earth is a literal maze of
       The point that the Holy Spirit through the psalmist                                                                                                  beeping wonders. Man has already made outer space
David makes is simply this: God's mercy is so great                                                                                                         his temporary home.
that it staggers our imagination. We cannot begin to                                                                                                            That which stands out most astonishingly is the
fathom the depth or height of God's mercy, for His                                                                                                          distance involved. The heavens are mighty high1 Man-
mercy is without measure. To make this clear, he                                                                                                            made satellites form the lowest rung on the ladder of
draws an analogy between the vast reaches of space                                                                                                          space.       Even these range from 100 to 1000 miles
that encircle the earth and the abundant measure of                                                                                                         above the earth. This seems insignificant when one
God's mercy that encircles the sinner.                                                                                                                      climbs higher on the ladder. The moon is the closest


                                             THESTANDARDBEARER                                                     339

natural satellite to the earth, and it towers at the dis-    that dwell upon the earth, why did God see fit to make
tance of between 225,000 .to 250,000 miles above the         such vast heavens?
earth. We have observed the distance of the third rung          Our text provides the answer. We as children of
first hand.    Not so long ago we followed the Venus         God have a concrete demonstration before our eyes of
probe which took the space ship four months to ac-           the amazing wonder of God's mercy. Whenever we
complish and that travelling at 17,000 miles an hour.        study the vast distances of space, whenever we visit
Venus you understand is the closest of the nine main         the Planetarium or gaze through a telescope we have
planets of the solar system.        The distance of the      an object lesson in the greatness of God's mercy.
heavenly bodies is so great that the limited measure-        "As high as the heaven is above the earth, so great is
ment of miles that is appropriate to the earth cannot        his mercy toward them that fear him". The mo,re we
apply to the distances of space. Scientists speak in         see this, the more we shout forth, r`My God, how great
terms of light-yeavs.  One light year is the distance        thou art I"
that light travels in one year's time, Light travels            Science has an important place in the life of the
at the speed of 186,000 miles per second; multiply           saint.
this by 60 and we have a light minute, by another 60            -Mercy without measure!
and we have a light hour, by another 24 and we have a           Mercy is God's compassion for His suffering chil-
light day, and by another 365 and we have a light year.      dren. To express it in .the words of the author of the
Through means of audio and optical devices scientists        Hebrews, God in mercy is touched with the feelings of
today claim they have discovered heavenly Quasars            our infirmities. While we dwell here in the midst of
as far away as 50 million or even up to 4 billion light      our earthly pilgrimage, we suffer much.           Yes, we
years away. The distance becomes astounding.                 groan under the collapse of this earthly house. How
   As high as the heaven is above the earth! So great        anxious we become when the forces of evil converge
is Jehovah's mercy.                                          upon us to eat up our flesh. Lonely tears of sleepless
   Much has been made of the so-called conflict be-          nights press heavenward  time and time again. In peni-
tween science and the Bible. We surely must be on            tence we cry out, "Oh wretched man that I am, who
our guard when we study science, especially when that        shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Jehovah
science is in the hands of the unregenerate. Apart           hears, for He is merciful. He is attentive to hear and
from God, man refuses to recognize that the heavens          to deliver us from evil.
and the earth declare the glory of God. In proud con-            God is merciful. He is in Himself the only Blessed
tempt, the natural man devises his own theories of the       One, the Highest Good. As such, He is all sufficient,
origin of the universe and eagerly envisions his suc-        nothing can add to nor detract from His own goodness.
cessful conquest of every horizon in order that he           Yet, He freely willed that He would draw into the
may shake his fist toward the heavens and declare,           sphere of His goodness His people. This will of God is
"There is no God". Most of today's science is in the         the eternal decree of election. God's mercy to us is
hands of such rebels.                                        rooted in this decree.      It is His good pleasure that
   Nevertheless, we must not lose our balance and            there should be gathered "around His throne a people
drift into the slough ,of despondency and forthwith          that would forever acknowledge that He is the Most
consign all science to hell!       It is wrong for us to     Blessed One. In mercy He lifts us from hell to heaven.
reason, "science is in the hands of evil men, there-             Our text speaks, of the gYeat?zess  of mercy, "As
fore we must have nothing to do with science." In t,he       high as the heaven is above the earth so great is His
Reformed tradition, we have treasured the Scriptural         mercy toward them that fear Him." We must see this
truth that even as the husk serves the development of        greatness in especially three ways.    I
the ear of corn, so the reprobate world serves the               In the first place, God's mercy is great when we
elect kernel. We must likewise apply this principle to       consider upon whom that mercy is shown.
the realm of science. Using the Bible as the rock of             In our text they are described as "them that fear
authority for all truth, including scientific, we have       him". We must be very careful that we do not imagine
the privilege to use in the service of our God, the          that God waits patiently in heaven for mankind to ex-
findings of all men.     We reject that which conflicts      press reverence and worshipful adoration toward Him,
with the Bible, we appropriate that which supports the       and as soon as they do' this, He condescends upon them
Bible.                                                       in mercy. This would make God's mercy conditional
   Our text is a case in point. As children of God we        upon our fear of Him and forever close the door of
stand under God's canopy and gaze in rapt wonder.            heaven to us. Neither can we claim any right to God's
We reflect upon the massive heavenly bodies, each one        mercy at all; God's mercy is free! It is that unmerited
in its own precise orbit.      We contemplate the vast       compassion- which God expresses toward us whereby
span of space; we cannot help crying out with the            He freely desires to lift us out of our deepest woes
Psalmist, "What is man that thou art mindful of him          and elevate us into the glory of His presence.
and the son of man that thou hast visited him?" We               The greatness of this mercy is that we do not
grapple with the profound metaphysical query, why are        deserve it. Not only are weearthlyand He is heavenly,
there such distances in space? Why did God create so         a reason alone which would make God's mercy beyond
many heavenly bodies that cannot even be seen with the       comprehension, but especially we are sinners and He
naked eye? If from God's point of view, the earth is the     is the Holy God! As the Holy One He delights only in
center of the universe, more particularly His people         that which is good, and hates all that which is evil.


340                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

God is a consuming fire against all the workers of              My God, why hast thou forsakenme". Hell is a terrible
iniquity.                                                       lonely place. In mercy God sent His own Son there in
       It is this God that looks upon us and has compassion     order that He might bear eternal judgment compressed
upon us. We who wallow in the filth of sin, for our sins        into moments of time. He loved us even unto death.
rise up against us prevailing day byday, are the objects            Finally, the greatness of this mercy is driven home
of God's mercy. We cry out to Him for forgiveness:              to us when we consider the benefits for us. Already
in mercy He forgives. We experience that the wages              now, the mercy of God brings tears of thankfulness to
of sin is death and in the midst of death cry out to Him        our eyes. What a burden of guilt is rolled from our
and ask that He will not forsake us: in mercy He con-           hearts when God in mercy comes to us through our
descends to us to sooth us with His promises, assuring          Lord Jesus Christ in the preaching of the gospel.
us that He will not deal with us as we deserve, but He          How we relish the comfort of the Word when Father
will deliver us.                                                assures us that in all His dealings with us, He is not
       That's great I Unfathomably great.                       visiting us with wrath, not even when we are sorely
       In the second place we see the greatness of His          afflicted; He is rather drawing us nearer unto Him-
mercy when we consider the way in which He establishes          self.       When we weep - in mercy He dries our tears
this bond of compassion.         We know that God cannot        and comforts our hearts.          When we are lonely-in
deny Himself and have compassion upon us as sinners.            mercy He comes to be our Friend.            When we are
In ourselves we deserve His judgment. For this reason           tossed upon the turbulent sea of life-in mercy He
God has no mercy for the wicked reprobate who remain            provides an anchor for our soul. In mercy He forgives
in their iniquities. His mercy to them that fear Him            all our transgressions and assures us of life ever-
is rooted in our Lord Jesus Christ.                             lasting.
       While we stand before the Cross of Calvary we                No wonder heaven will be so beautiful1 Our merci-
begin to grasp a little of the greatness of Father's            ful Father assures us even now that presently, we shall
mercy.       Desiring to lift us out of the pains of death,     be delivered from all sufferings, from sorrows, from
He freely willed that the burden of our sins would be           all heartache, and we shall be taken unto Himself,
laid upon His only begotten Son.             Our sins bore a    where joy and peace shall abide forever. So compas-
terrible price. The scales of divine justice demanded           sionate is our Father, He delivers us from  aZZ evil
that the punishment of sins had to be borne. That               and blesses us with every  good.
judgment spelled out the terrible wrath of almighty                 Do you fear Him?        This is for you. As we bow
God against all our sins. God knew that we could not            before His majesty and acknowledge that He is God
bear the wrath. If He should visit us with wrath we             and God alone, we have the proof that in mercy Father
would be consumed in a moment. In mercy He sent                 has drawn us within the fellowship of His friendship.
His only begotten Son into the world in order that He           In deepest humility we acknowledge that man is nothing,
might lay upon Him the iniquities of us all. God's              God is all and in all. Then we fear Him and Him alone.
mercy to us was so great, that rather than visit His                His mercy is great, so great that it is as high as
adopted children with the judgment they deserved, He            the heaven is above the earth.
poured out His judgment upon His own natural Son, a                 Look at the stars sometime and you will begin to
judgment He did not even deserve.                               understand.
       No wonder He cried out of the darkness, "My God,            Mercy, without measure.


         EDITORIAL-




                         QUO  Vadis,  Reformed  Journal?

                                                  by  Pvof. H. C. Hoeksema


       The March, 1966 issue of the above named maga-           Refovmed  Journal.      But he may also guess that I am
zine marked its fifteenth anniversary. Said anniver-            not about to congratulate the Journal on its anniversary
sary is particularly observed (appropriately for the            or on its anniversary issue, except, perhaps, that I
Joumull,   I think) by a lead article entitled, "As We          might congratulate the editors for usually stating their
See It After 15 Years."                                         views rather frankly and, on the whole, rather articu-
       Any regular reader of our  Standard  Beaver  will        lately. The trouble is that in my opinion the Reformed
know that I am a regular and interested reader of the           JozwnuZ,   for all its frankness and articulateness,  rep-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      342

resents what I would call the "liberal wing" of the          Gevefovmeevde  Kevken.         It becomes more and more
Christian Reformed Church. With its liberalism I am          evident in the "old country" that there are serious
in radical disagreement. And therefore when I face           issues under discussion and that there is a very
the question, "Shall I praise you in this?" my answer        serious difference of opinion which may perhaps be
must be, "I praise you not."                                 classified as a conservative-versus-liberal difference.
   So much for amenities. I was rather certain that          In this connection I ask the question, "Quo vadis,
the Journal and the Stunduvd Beaver  understood one          whither goest thou?" Does the Journal want to go in
another apart from the above.                                the same direction as many "liberal" theologians in
                                                             the Netherlands ?
   My interest, however, is in the prognostications of
Dr. Henry Stob's anniversary article. Among other               In the third place, it appears to me that there is
introductory remarks there is the following paragraph:       a plea for open and free discussion of these issues
                                                             which is also characteristic of many in the Nether-
   None of us knows for sure what particular challenges      lands.      Frankly, I fear that it is the kind of discussion
the future will bring, nor what form our obedience to        that will "discuss you to death." That is, it seems
Christ shall have to take when the challenges come,          to be unlimited discussion, discussion not limited by
but standing in the present and scanning the future in       the confessions or by ecclesiastically binding deci-
the perspective of the past it appears likely that the       sions. This would be tantamount to complete doctrinal
Christian Church -- and as one of its servants, this         liberty.
Jownal --will have to face the following issues in the
coming years. These issues are here set forth in the             In the fourth place, the Stundavd Beaver will not be
ecclesiastical and theological context in which the          a mere observer of these discussions, but will criti-
Editors and the  Joumzal   itself moves -that of the         cally join them. Dr. Stob does not limit the "eccles-
Christian Reformed Church and of Reformed theology           iastical and theological context" of these issues to his
in America - but we believe the issues in substance          Christian Reformed Church, but includes "Reformed
confront the Christian Church in America generally.          theology in America" and even the "Christian Church
                                                             in America generally." We of the Protestant Reformed
   Dr. Stob then proceeds to mention a total of thir-        Churches (not "Church", Dr. Stob) are very definitely
teen of such issues and to make a few comments about         part of that "ecclesiastical and theological context"
each.                                                        of "Reformed theology in America." We shall, there-
   My editorial space for this issue is already more         fore, join in the discussion, but always strictly on the
than used up; but I must make a few preliminary com-         basis of Scripture and the Reformed confessions.
ments, with the promise of more detailed treatment               Judging from past performances, moreover, it may
in the next issue, D.V..                                     be expected that the Journal, which is now past its
   In the first place, when I look at the list of issues,    fifteen anniversary; and the Stand&d Beaver, which is
I would venture to predict that the Jouwza,?  looks for-     well past its fortieth, will not very likely be on the
ward to a rather stormy course in the future, but also       same side of the fence.
that we may expect some interesting and provocative              Nevertheless, we hope that the Jozwnal  will pay
writings from the Jouvnal's   editors. For example, we       attention.      It has not always done so in the past. In
may expect more on Biblical inspiration, on "theistic        fact, it has some unfinished business which reaches
evolution," on the doctrine of the eternal decrees,          back as far as the very beginnings of the Dekker Case.
particularly that of reprobation, and on the issues of           But if the Journal  listens not, we expect that others
the Dekker Case and 1924.                                    will.       And we believe the Sturuiizvd Beaver also with
   In the second place, it strikes me that many, if not      respect to the issues proposed by Dr. Stob will con-
all, of the issues mentioned are issues very much on         tinue "to bear the standard."
the foreground at present in the Netherlands in the              I will go into more detail next time, D.V.


             EDITORIAL-


                                         Sterile Theology

                                              by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

   In Tovch and Trumpet  (April, 1966, p.13) there ap-       formed Church of Grand Rapids. I do not intend to
pears an article entitled "The Gospel Call And The           comment at length about said article. Neither, how-
Wrath Of God" from the pen of Mr. Isaac De Mey,              ever, can I pass it without comment, for it comes
"long an elder in the Grandville Ave. Christian Re-          highly recommended by  Tovch and Trumpet.  Let me


342                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

remark, however, that my comments are not directed               At this point I do not know what the Study Committee
against Mr. De Mey personally. I know him only from           in the Dekker Case will produce. But I am convinced
his articles in To&z and Trumpet,  articles whichwere         of one thing: whether the Dekker case is smoothed
obviously written with the Dekker Case in mind. Be-           over for the time being, or whether Prof. Dekker's
sides, Mr. De Mey has evidently "been to school" and          views are condemned, ultimately you cannot success-
"learned his lessons well." For what he presents in           fully oppose Dekker's position on the basis of the First
this and his previous articles he has obviously learned       Point.       My question always is: when will Tovch and
in the church in which he has long been an elder. To          Tmmpet   wake up to this realization?
what different conclusion can one come?                          Let me briefly point to the most fundamental flaws
       However, I can hardly understand why the article is    of this article.
so highly recommended by "T and T." In my opinion,                    1. Mr. De Mey first cuts the very heart out of the
two things are true concerning the article in question:       entire gospel, namely, sovereign election (and, of
1) If it is intended to be an answer and an antidote          course, with it, sovereign reprobation), and then pro-
to the ` `rank Arminianism" which Prof. Dekker has            ceeds to try to speak of the wrath of God, the lifting of
taught and which especially Dr. Daane has supported           the wrath of God, and the abiding of the wrath of God,
(along with others), then it is an utter failure. The         etc.       No Reformed presentation would ever do this.
article is neither openly and frankly Reformed nor            Let Mr. De Mey, or anyone else, compare this article
frankly Arminian. Or perhaps it attempts to be both.          with the presentation of our Canons; there is an obvious
Even the language of the article reminds me of the            and complete difference of approach. It is because of
proverbial  frJanu,s-kop" mentioned in, the past in           this basic flaw that the article can speak such utterly
connection with the First Point of 1924. For in the           un-Reformed language as this, for example: "This is
introductory paragraph we read this: "On two previous         for the simple reason that the day of grace for them
occasions it has been our privilege to write on `The          has passed.         God's love has been withdrawn and his
Love of God' as it is related to the well meant gospel        wrath has come upon them." This is said, note well,
offer.      (Note that already the "gospel call" has be-      with respect to those who perish and who are hardened
come the "well meant gospel offer." H.C.H.) We                in impenitence. But if words have meaning, then this
would now call attention to the other side of the coin.       statement certainly means: 1) That God's love was
(The other face of the Janus-kop? H.C.H.) One of the          once upon these reprobate. 2) That His wrath was not
main reasons that spurred us on to write on `The              upon them. 3) That, however, there came a point in
Gospel Call and the Wrath of God' is that lately (as          time that God's love was withdrawn, and that in its place
we see it), a one sided emphasis has been placed by           His wrath came upon them. And what, pray, is the
some of our leaders on God's love without so much as          difference between this and Professor Dekker's teach-
mentioning God's wrath." (Shades of "the tendency to          ing that God loves all men with a redemptive love?
one-sidedness" of 1924; only now, I suppose, it is                    2. Mr. De Mey avoids and obscures the whole issue
the other side? H.C.H.)                                       of the atonement, to say the least. He never answers
       Notice, however, that from this introductory para-     the question objectively, "For whom did Christ die?"
graph it appears that Mr. De Mey's differences with           Instead, while he never says so in plain words, he
"some of our leaders" are not a matter of principle           leaves the atonement so vague and undefined that any
at all, but only one of emphasis. As long, however, as        Arminian could agree with what he says. Here are
Arminianism is not recognized for what it is and is           examples: 1) "The second Adam through obedience
not acknowledged as being diametrically opposed to            bore the wrath of God against sin and established
the Reformed faith, it can never be successfully fought       righteousness and justice (Rom.  5:15-21) (but: for
and rooted out.                                               whom? H.C.H.) so that God could (could or did? H.C.H.)
2) The entire article is written to combat the Dekker         remove his wrath and impart his love to hell-bound
theology, but it is written with at least one eye on          sinners. On this basis, we conclude that the wrath of
the First Point and its "well meant offer." The result        God in its first stage is ZiftabZe"(liftable or objectively
is that while the article must not be too Arminian            lifted? H.C.H.).       2) The wrath of God is said to be
(because it intends to combat an over-emphasis on the         "lifted from all those who repent and believe on the
love of God), it dares not be too Reformed (for fear of       Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam." But is this the
contradicting the First Point and its well meant offer).      answer to the problem? No one denies that the promise
In this sense, the article represents the type of sterile'    of the gospel is for those who believe and repent. But
theology which has come out of the Christian Reformed         who aye they? Does De Meymean to say that the gospel
Church ever since 1924. It is sterile: it tries to be         is that the wrath of God is liftable and that it will be
neither-nor in its presentation. At the same time, how-       lifted and is lifted only if man is willing to have it lifted?
ever, it is dangerous. For after all, in part its presen-     He does not say this in so many words. But all that he
tation is rankly Arminian.        And it is this Arminian     writes leaves this impression, and he certainly leaves
tendency that always gains the upper hand in time. The        the door open wide for this thoroughly Arminian pres-
Dekker Case itself, with all of its Arminianism, is a         entation. 3) "God from his side has done everything
pointed example. It was conceived in 1924 and born of         necessary for man's salvation. (whose salvation? rep-
the First Point. And the travail that-it causes to any        robate man? elect man? all men? H.C.H.) If it had
in the Christian Reformed Church who at heart love            pleased God to save all humanity, every individual
the Reformed truth must be great I                            sinner, he could have done so on the basis of the rec-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  343

onciliation  brought about by Christ. It is also on the      fundamental Reformed and Scriptural concept of the
basis of this reconciliation that the good news of the       efficacious calling. I am utterly at aloss to understand
gospel can be preached to every sinner, namely, that         how a Reformed man can speak of thecall of the gospel
Christ died for the ungodly and now calls sinners and        without emphasizing that this call of the gospel makes
not the righteous to repentance." Again, there is a          a distinction in its sound and that men are brought to
total lack of definition and precision here.. For whom       faith and repentance by the effectual call of the Spirit,
was reconciliation made?      This question is not ex-       while others are hardened through the means of that
plicitly answered; but these statements leave the im-        same sound of the gospel.
pression that there is a PossibZe  reconciliation for any       There are many other serious errors in the entire
and all sinners, What is the difference, pray, between       presentation of this article. I mention the above to
this and Prof. Dekker's view, except that Dekker is          illustrate my point.
more precise?                                                   But I certainly cannot understand how "T and T"
   3. There is in this article which purports to speak       can recommend an article like this so highly. At best,
of the  ~"gospel  call" a total failure to work with the     it is confusing in its sterility.

    EDllORIAL-

                      The Nature of the Atonement
                                 limited or General?
                                                   Synopsis

                                              by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

   In this extended, and sometimes interrupted, series       subjects, he has some very sharp jabs for the theology
of articles we are confronting the question: is the          of others, and even for the Reformed confessions. But
atonement of Christ in its very nature limited, that is,     I wish that he would come across with a few clear and
for the elect alone; or is the atonement in its very         Scripturally oriented definitions of his own once, and
nature general? This we have done in connection with         tell people what he wants. It seems to me that, next
the so-called Dekker Case, about which it is expected        to being exegetically and confessionally sound, a good
that the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church will         theological method (I mean Reformed method) is char-
declare itself at its coming session in June. We have        acterized by the virtue of clarity and explicitness.
done this, too, in connection with the position taken by     But Daane's writings, while being frequently very
Dr. James Daane in the  Reformed  Jownal.  Daane             negatively critical, are, in my opinion, never charac-
maintains that it is altogether unreasonable and incor-      terized by the virtues I have just mentioned.
rect to conclude from the fact that only the elect are          For my part, I have purposed in these articles to
actually saved to the tenet that the atonement itself        discuss the nature of the atonement. We are consider-
is limited, or particular. He maintains, on the con-         ing the various elements of that nature of the atone-
trary, that the atonement is in its very r&we general,       ment, and we are doing so in the light of the confessions
unlimited.                                                   and in the light of Scripture. The very first element
   I have repeatedly pointed out that Daane, who is          which we considered was that of  satisfaction.  We
very critical of the theological method of others and        found it to be, according to our confessions, of the
who particularly in connection with the Dekker Case          very essence of the atonement; and we found this
has tried to emphasize that it is all a matter of method,    strong emphasis of our confessions to be founded on
is very shoddy in his own method. He furnishes no            Scripture. We are at present still busy with the dis-
definition, and he makes virtually no attempt to prove       cussion of the second element, namely, substitution,
his position from Scripture and the confessions. In-         or, the element of the vicariousness of Christ's atone-
stead, he follows essentially a rationalistic method of      ment. We have already consulted our confessions
theologizing, which amounts to philosophizing. For my        concerning this element, and at this point we must
part, I simply cannot find myself in that brand of           turn to Scripture to discover the harmony of the con-
theologizing. This, incidentally, is one of my main ob-      fessions with Scripture.
jections to Dr. Daane's recent articles  (Reformed
Jouvnal,  March, 1966) about election and grace as           SCRIPTURE AND SUBSTITUTION
events. This subject seems to be somewhat of a hobby-          It must be kept in mind that the elements of satis-
horse for Daane; and when he writes about these              faction  and, of  substitution  in the atonement are  in-


  344                                          THE STANDARD BEARER

  separable. Not only do they occur in conjunction with        through the substitution of the Son of Man. What could
  one another throughout Scripture; but the idea of            be more definite? What could be more objective? From
  substitution is always implied in the terms which            the moment that this substitutionary ransom is paid
  Scripture employs to denote the atonement in its char-       there is, in the most objective sense of the word con-
 acter of satisfaction of divine justice with respect to       ceivable, nothing more to be paid. .There is no more
 our sins.       When satisfaction is not substitution, it     debt, no more guilt. And because there is no more
assumes the character immediately of punishment,               -guilt of the "many", there can be no more condemnation
 not of atonement.       And in punishment, in the first       and no more punishment. They are righteous. They
 place, the sinner does not make  satisfaction, but God,       are entitled to everlasting life. That everlasting life
 the Judge,  takes  satisfaction: He satisfies His own         can never be denied them. They are surely saved.
 justice upon the sinner. The voluntary element is miss-       Mark you well, they were very really saved nineteen
 ing.    Besides, in the mere punishment of sin visited        hundred years ago, when the Son of Man gave His life
 upon the sinner the process of the satisfaction of God's      as a ransom for them. This is objective fact. Some
 justice is never finished: the punishment of sin is           of those "many" had died even many centuries before.
 everlasting.      There never comes a moment when it          Some of those "many" were living when the ransom
 can be said of God's justice with respect to the              was paid. Thousands of those "many" were yet to be
 punished sinner: "It is enough." However, in all the          born. But for all of them the ransom was paid; and it
 terms of Scripture which we mentioned in connection           could never again be demanded or paid.
 with the element of satisfaction the element of sub-             From the above a very plain conclusion is to be
 stitution, the element of the one instead of the other,       drawn. It is this: 1) If the "many" of Matthew 20:28
 was also present. Substantially, therefore, this ele-         is all men, head for head, that is, if Christ died, gave
 ment has already been proved from Scripture. (cf.             His life, for all men, then all are surely saved: not
 the Standard Beaver, Feb. 15 and March 1, 1966)               only possibly  saved, but  surely and  actauxlly   saved.
     There are, however, two terms in Scripture which          To deny this is to deny the validity of the atonement.
  explicitly point to the idea of substitution. These two      2) If the "many" are only some men, -- whoever those
 terms are both rendered in English by the word "for,"         may be, -- then those "some," and they only, are surely
 which frequently, though not necessarily, conveys the         saved: again, not only possibly saved, but surely and
 notion of substitution. I refer to the New Testament          actadly saved.
 terms anti, which very definitely means "instead of,
 in the place of," and                                            Hence, it is as clear as the sun in the heavens, --
                             hupev,  which means generally
  "in behalf of, for the benefit of," but very often with      Dr. Daane to the contrary notwithstanding, -- that it is
 the implication of substitution. Both of these terms          perfectly valid to draw a further conclusion. It is this,
  are used in connection with the atonement, and they          that we may very properly reason from the fact that
  are both rendered in the English by "for." But almost        only the elect are actually saved to the truth that the
 any Greek lexicon will give the meanings which I have         atonement is in its very nature limited, particular.
 briefly mentioned above.                                         If these conclusions are not valid, then let the
     And now let us turn to Scripture.                         above exegesis be shown to be faulty. But I assure
     The first passage to which I direct your attention is     you that the latter cannot be done: it is the plain mean-
 Matthew 20:28. There we read: "Even as the Son of             ing of Scripture. In the light of a passage like Matthew
 man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,          20:28, one must be either a full-blown universalist or
 and to give his life a ransom for many." The beauty           a very stringent particularist. There is no half-way
 of this passage is that in it both ideas, that of satis-      position exegetically possible. The strange thing is
 faction and that of substitution, occur in such close         that there have been very few men in the history of
 connection. We have previously noted the very definite        the church who were willing to be full-blown univer-
 meaning of "ransom" in connection with the element            salists; and, at the same time, there have been rela-
 of satisfaction. Now we may note that the word "for"          tively few who would hold consistently to a strict
  in the phrase "for many" is the term which means             particularism.     The First Point of 1924 was in a
  "instead of, in the place of." To be sure, even here         sense a compromise; and the Dekker-Daane views
 the idea of "in behalf of, for the benefit of" is not         represent a further attempted compromise which has
 missing. But the Son of Man gives His life a ransom           gr,own out of 1924, a compromise in the spirit of
 for the benefit of. and in behalf of many because He          James Arminius.
  acts as their  substitute,  or  vicar. This is the very         This is nothing new, you understand. The battle
 definite meaning of this text. By .voluntarily giving         for the Reformed faith has always been in this area of
 .His life a ransom, the Lord Jesus makes perfect              theology. But the fact that it is nothing new makes it
  satisfaction of the justice of God with respect to sin in    neither less dangerous nor less sad1
 the place of "many." At this particular point in the             The same language of Matthew 20:28 we find in
 discussion we are not interested in who those "many"          Mark 10:45.
  are; we will discuss that aspect later. I only want to          All the language of Scripture agrees with the above,
 emphasize the very definite concept here. Whoever             also in those passages in which the word "for" is the
 the many are, there has been satisfaction of God's            rendering of the other Greek preposition, hupev. To
  justice made in their behalf, and that too, through the      other passages, however, I will call your attention in
 payment of the price demanded (ransom), and that too,         my next installment.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 345


         IN HIS  FEAR-


                         W orshipping the Unknown God

                                                  by Rev.  Jo A. Heys

  .Do we worship the Unknown God?                                "50 gallons of gas given free every week."
   On his second missionary journey the apostle Paul             "Door prizes and valuable gifts for all."
found the altar to The Unknown God in Athens, and he             These are only a few of the evidences in this area
branded the Athenians as "too superstitious." But            at the moment of worshipping the unknown God. They
then Athens was an heathen nation and could stand a          will change with the times and will have variations in
little missionary work and could profit from a sermon        other areas; but they reveal that this sin is not so far
or two being preached on Mars' hill.         But here in     away from us and outmoded in this day and age.
Christian( ?) America is it not even insulting to ask            "Super Bingo" looks not to the living God. Looks
the question as to whether we are worshipping an             not to Him and expects not all good from Him but from
"Unknown God"? And by all means in the Standavd              the unknown God of Luck.        "50 gallons of gas free
Beaver, which comes not to the unchurched but to men         every week" from the god of Luck, if you will accept
and women particularly - although not exclusively --         the "lucky" ticket and bow thus before thegod of Luck.
of the Reformed Faith, to brethren and sisters in the        "Door prizes" are for those who worship the unknown
Lord who confess that Jehovah is God alone, do we            God of Luck and will comply with his rules and regu-
need to ask whether we are that superstitious? Do we         lations.    A polished and refined gambling (but does
not in the Reformed circles subscribe to Article 1 of        not our Form for the celebration of the Lord's Supper
the Netherlands Confession which declares, "We all           warn those who are defiled with the sin of being
believe with the heart, and confess with the mouth,          gamesters to refrain from eating and drinking damna-
that there is only one simple and spiritual Being, which     tion to themselves?) is practiced as though the Word of
we call God; and that He is eternal, incomprehensible,       God did not say, "No man can serve two masters: for
invisible, immutable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise,    either he will hate the one and love the other; or else
just, good, and the overflowing fountain of all good" ?      he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye can-
Do we not likewise agree wholeheartedly with the             not serve God and mammon." That does not mean
Heidelberg Catechism when it asks "What is idolatry?"        that we will not try to serve God and worship this un-
and then answers, "Idolatry is, instead of, or besides       known god.     It does not mean that we will not try to
that one true God, Who has manifested Himself in His         expect all good from Jehovah and yet also look to that
Word, to contrive, or have any other object, in which        box --which is the altar of this unknown god of Luck -
men place their trust?' We know of no unknown god.           for a good that we covet in dissatisfaction with our lot
We confess that Jehovah is God and that there is no          as appointed and arranged by Jehovah, the God Who
god beside Him. We are not heathens, and we are not          has made Himself known in the Son of His love.
idolators, are we?                                               Our god is that object or person whom we worship
   Our trust in this one true God is not strong. That        and serve because we trust in that object or person
we will readily concede.       We live so often in fear      for our good. The unbeliever worships the creature
rather than in His fear. We can sing so seldom with          rather than the Creator because he sees only the
conviction and enthusiasm with David, "The Lord              creature through which the Creator sustains him and
(Jehovah) is my light and my salvation; whom shall I         supplies him with the necessities of life. Men realize
fear?       The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom     the value of the sun and the rain clouds for our food
shall I be afraid?" We are ready to agree that so very       and life. They also fear the burning heat of that sun
often we put our trust in the very coins of our land         and the floods which result when a superabundance of
which state "In God we Trust." The moment sick-              rain falls from those clouds, and they return again
ness, calamity or serious trouble strikes, our thoughts      after the rain. And so the unbeliever worships sun and
are of doctors, insurance, policies, welfare agencies,       rain clouds. The fool says in his heart that there is no
Social Security and what have you? God is an after-          God. The unbeliever ignores and denies the one true
thought.      "In His fear," and "In God we trust" are       God and worships the creature, seeks to appease its
slogans that we revert to because we depart from             wrath and looks to that creature for its life and good.
them so often. But worship an unknown God? Surely                And we try to serve God and mammon. We look to
in the church and in this day and age that is not a sin      Jehovah for all good when it becomes plain to us that
to be found with USI                                         our idol is not able to do so. We look up in prayer to
   But let us look again.                                    Jehovah when our bowing before the altar of the un-
   ` `Super Bingo!"                                          known god of Luck -- to write our name on the half of


3 4 6                                          THE STANDARD BEARER

the ticket in which we put our trust -fails to give us        god of Luck.
what we covet. We hold on to that ticket. We cherish             Therein is also our folly.      We said,  ouy folly.
it.      This might be our key to happiness(  ?) and good.    The Athenians who were too superstitious and wanted
We will feel miserable, if we lose it. This is the thing      to be sure that they did not invoke the wrath of a god
that might make the difference in our life of having          whom they inadvertently overlooked, built also an
our desires filled or of remaining empty-handed of            altar to him(?).     We do the same when besides our
our heart's treasure.. 0, we dare not as we stand             prayers to Jehovah, besides looking to Him for our
before this altar of Luck offer a prayer to Jehovah           all and receiving all from Him as our covenant Father
and say, "Lord guide the hands of the man who will            we resort to acts of "luck", speak of being lucky or
make me lucky." We dare not after (shame on us for            of having had bad luck. Webster tells us that luck is
even having our pictures and names in the paper)              that which happens to us by chance. And we worship
having been "lucky" offer a prayer of thanksgiving to         this unknown god when we take a chance and drop our
Jehovah, as though after all it was His providence and        ticket into the slotted altar to chance the satisfaction
favour upon us rather than this unknown god of Luck.          of our lust.
We did not seek this from Him; and therefore we had              And he is an unknown god. Nothing can be known
better not give Him the thanks for it. We did not seek        about him. For, as Paul states in I Corinthians 8:4,
it in the way of the work which He gave and gives to          "we know that an idol is nothing". And what can be
our hands. We ignored Him. We avoided Him. We did             known about that which is nothing. If it does not exist,
not pray for it, for we did not quite dare, being con-        all you can know about it is that it does not exist. It
vinced in our hearts that as we would be offering such        is unknown and unknowable.       And then it is no god.
a prayer, He might answer us through His Spirit by            And since there is only one God, Jehovah, there can
recalling to our minds His commandment, "Thou shalt           be no unknown god beside Him. Jehovah Himself may
not covet thy neighbour's. . . . . . ." You know, the         not be known by the heathen and is not known by them.
Spirit might just convict us that wanting in jealousy         They know from the testimony of His works that there
what the neighbour has, that is, the same kind of             is a God and therefore are without excuse. But they
treasure, is as evil as wanting his possessions. The          do not know this God to be Jehovah. But He can be
Spirit, you know, might just sanctify us and purify us        known and is known by the regenerated children of God
through the truth, so that we reject that word of the         through His self-revelation in Holy Writ.
unknown god, because we have heard the Word of God               In His fear the child of God bows before Him and
Who made Himself. known to us in the Son of His love          worships Him, putting all His trust in Him. In the
and through the blood of Calvary. No, we will have to         measure that we trust in luck and seek to obtain any-
try to serve God AND mammon. We will have to be               thing in the way of a "lucky" ticket, whether that be
disciples and children of Jeroboam -who made Israel           a door prize or possession obtained in the way of
to sin - by worshipping Jehovah through these golden          lottery, bingo or the like, one does not know Jehovah.
calves of lucky number tickets, bingo, gambling and           In that measure he does not serve Him, does not war-
the like.                                                     ship Him and does not put his trust in Him. Such must
       No different is it really. 0, you may be sure that     not be surprised if He tells them in the day of days,
Jeroboam told Israel that this all was perfectly legiti-      "I never knew you." Away then with all this super-
mate.        No, NO, they were not worshipping an idol.       stitionl For worsbipping the unknown god of Luck is
These golden calves only represented Jehovah Who              superstition.    The word means literally to stand over
brought Israel out of Egypt. No, no you must not forget       or above. And because we cannot serve God and mam-
Him.       This will help you-these golden  c,alves  -to      mon, striving to obtain that after which we lust by
remember Him.         And so we soothe our consciences        means of luck is causing in our thinking (not in actual
and say that after all we are not worshipping and             fact, of course) that unknown god of Luck to stand
serving mammon but God Himself.            We do not bow      above God. Then in that act Jehovah is not God any-
before this altar of the unknown god of Luck as denying       more in our life. If the unknowngod stands above Him,
Jehovah. We look to Jehovah to guide the selection of         then Jehovah is not God anymore but is subject to that
the lucky number. We will acknowledge it all as His           one who stands over Him.         Satan knows more than
kind providence.                                              one way to get us to try to whittle God down to our
       But -where in Scripture `do you ever come across       level and below us so that we can think that we are
that word luck? You can come pretty close to it, how-         like and above him.       Recognize his evil tricks and
ever, in the word  lust! , And lust will move us to           walk not in his evil ways.
seek another god than Jehovah. We know that we can-              Unless we want to be idolators, we had better put
not come to Him to ask Him to satisfy our lusts. We           away all this luck business and put all our trust in the
know that He declares to us, "Love not the world,             living God, Who is known among His people and has
neither the things that. are in the world. If any man         never put them to shame and never will. Only one
love the world, `the love of the Father is not in him.        can go away from the altar of the unknown god of Luck
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the      and not be disappointed. All others are not favoured
lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the         by him and may have squandered their good hard-
Father but of the world." I John 2:15,16. To the God          earned money to seek his favour, and then find that he
Whom we know we cannot come for the satisfaction of           has turned against them to be the unknown god of Bad-
our lust. `We will have to seek that from this unknown        Luck.    Only one can "know" this unknown god at a


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  347

     time.    But Jehovah blesses countless thousands and          This is quite different from trusting to luck and seek-
     never puts them to shame.                                     ing good from a "lucky" number.
         Let us therefore heed the word of His apostle, and           In His fear stand in awe before Jehovah, the God
     not that of Satan's prophets, as He speaks through this       of our salvation, and let it be the truth of your life:
     apostle in Philippians 4:6,7, "Be careful for nothing;        "In God we trust." The world will then speak of
     but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanks-     being lucky, but you will speak of being blessed. The
     giving let yourrequests be made known unto God. .And          possessions the world gains by "luck" it will soon
     the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,            lose in God's wrath. The blessings you receive from
     shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."            Jehovah will increase and be yours everlastingly.

        HEEDING THE DOCTRINE-

                            Barth's  Doctrine  of  Scripture


                                        (The Reformers on Scripture)

                                                     by Rev. D. J. Engelsma

         Two matters remain to be treated in this investi-         as we find it in Scripture itself, was again opened up
     gation and critical analysis of the doctrine of Holy          by the Reformation. The Reformers' doctrine of in-
      Scripture held by Karl Barth. These matters concern          spiration is an honoring of God, and of the free grace
     two main grounds advanced by Barth in support of his          of God" (CD,I,2,p. 522).
     view of Scripture.     Barth appeals, in defense of his
     position, to the teaching of the Reformers, especially,       But the development of the doctrine of Scripture in
     to the teaching of Luther and Calvin, and to the teaching     the post-Reformation period represents a falling away
      of Scripture itself. In connection with the all-important    from the soundness of the Reformers, the result being
     latter "ground," Barth offers explanation of the crucial      the present day heresy of an infallible, inerrant book.
     passages in Scripture which state what Scripture is              Put briefly, the question is: did Luther and Calvin
      and how Scripture came about, especially, II Timothy         hold a doctrine of inspiration which maintains the Bible
      3:15, 16 and II Peter 1:19-21. We intend to take note,       to be an infallible book or a doctrine of inspiration
     briefly, of these two matters: the teaching of the Re-        which allows for errors of all kinds in the written
     formers and the teaching of Scripture itself. We will         record?     Did the Reformers teach the doctrine of
     then take leave of Barth's doctrine of Scripture by           strict, verbal inspiration or was this doctrine the in-
     considering the recent struggle within the Christian          vention of later theologians, who, by this doctrine,
      Reformed Church over the question of the infallibility       came into sharp conflict with the Reformers?
      of the Bible and the proposed "Confession of 1967" of           It must be remembered, first, that the teaching of
     the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., which, in its          the Reformers is not the basic criterion for the Church
      statements on Scripture, is heavily influenced by Barth's    today. Even though the Reformed, Churches would be
     t h o u g h t .                                               foolish to ignore Luther and Calvin, the final and only
                                                                   incontestable authority is Scripture itself. Secondly,
         We have already noted that, although he freely ad-        in all our investigation of the writings of Luther and
     mits his doctrine of Scripture to be a radical departure      Calvin and, especially, when we observe that Luther
     from the teaching of the Reformed Church from the             and Calvin are comparatively silent on the subject of
      17th century on, Barth claims to be in fundamental           an infallible inspiration of the words of Scripture, we
      agreement with the great Reformers.         Although he      do well to. keep in mind that the doctrine of the in-
      says that the strong statements by Luther and Calvin         spiration of Scripture simply was not at issue, in their
      on the verbal inspiration of the Bible "were not free        day.    Dr. A. D. R. Polman emphasizes this, in con-
     from ambiguity" (CD, I, 2, p. 525) and could "later           nection with his explanation of Article III of the Belgic
     1os.e (their) context" and thus be misunderstood, Barth       Confession (I translate):
     makes no serious criticism of Luther and Calvin's
      doctrine of Scripture.     On the contrary, he praises          "in the days of the Reformation, the doctrine of
                                                                   inspiration stood wholly outside the discussion" (@zze
I    highly their view of the Bible:                               Nedevlandsche   Geloofsbelijdenis,   Vol. I,  .p.183)  "In
         "If we take Luther and Calvin together, we can            the sixteenth century;the confession of the infallible
      say that the way to that universal and moving view of        inspiration of God's Word was catholic. In this, Rome
      inspiration which answers to the majesty of God, and         and Protestants were one" (ibid., p.186)


 348                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

 Polman's point is that, although Calvin was in full           those who dispensed with the "ignoble letter of Scrip-
 agreement with the confession of the Reformed Church          ture" and heralded the lofty guidance of the "Spirit,"
 that "The Holy Scripture is the infallibly inspired           Starch, Stubner and Munzer in Luther's day and the
 Word of God, which has absolute authority" (ibid.,            "fanatics" Calvin speaks of in his Institutes,vI,IX,l.
 p.195), Calvin was not faced with the specific conflict       In the Reformers' fierce, almost brutal, condemnation
 that faces us today and, therefore, cannot be expected        of those who jeopardized Scripture's authority, one
 to provide full and pointed explanation of Scripture's        can see how precious they esteemed the authority of
 inspiration and infallibility. "Nearly four centuries         Scripture, how they safeguarded it with holy jealousy
 have passed since the Reformation and in this time            and, to my mind, .how strongly they would oppose those
 much has changed in the Christian Church with respect         who undermine the authority of Scripture by the teach-
 to the matter of the Scripture-question" (ibid., p. 186).     ing of fallibility.
 The change, of course, is that whereas at the time of             But in the second place, it is reprehensible for
 Calvin all of Christendom, except for some sects,             someone to bypass what Calvin wrote when he was
 agreed that the Bible was infallibly inspired of God,         dealing specifically with the doctrine of Scripture, as
 today, much of the Church-world denies infallible in-         the  Institutes,  I,VI-IX, and his commentaries on II
 spiration. In this respect, defenders of an infallibly        Timothy 3:15, 16, and II Peter 1:20, 21, for statements
 inspired Bible are confronted with a new challenge and        dropped here and there by Calvin, when the doctrine of
 a new task.                                                   Scripture is not even the matter with which he is con-
        No one denies that Luther and Calvin held the Bible    cerned.       In the Institutes, explaining the doctrine of
 to be a God-inspired book. That whichBarth and others         Holy Scripture, Calvin writes: "the full authority which
 deny is that Luther and Calvin viewed the doctrine of         they (Scriptures) ought to possess with the faithful is
 inspiration as implying the inerrancy of Scripture. It        not recognised,  unless they are believed to have come
 is the contention of some that the Reformers found the        from heaven, as directly as if God had been heard
 doctrine of inspiration and the presence of errors in         giving utterance to them" (I,VII,l). In thenext para-
 the original manuscripts of Scripture to be compatible.       graph, he goes on to say, "A most pernicious error
 To support their claim that the Reformers viewed the          has very generally prevailed--viz. that Scripture is
 Bible as an error-prone book, some point to certain           of importance only in so far as conceded to it by the
 statements made by the Reformers that supposedly are          suffrage of the Church; as if the eternal and inviolable
 acknowledgments of errors in the Bible. Lester De             truth of God could depend on the will of men. With
 Koster,  writing in the Refovmed Joumzal  of June, 1959,      great insult to the Holy Spirit, it is asked, Who can
 in an article entitled "Calvin's Use of Scripture,"           assure us that the Scriptures proceeded from God;
 gives a list of quotations from Calvin, some of which         who guarantee that they have come down safe and
 are supposed to indicate Calvin's alliance with those         unimpaired to our times. . .?" To be sure, he aims
 who affirm Scripture's infallibility and some of which        the latter remark at Rome. But it fits as well those
 are supposed to indicate Calvin's agreement with those        who posit errors in the "periphery," that is, the
, who assert the fallibility of Scripture. De Koster does      "unimportant" portions of Scripture. For these men
 not help us out by telling us which of the two positions,     make the importance and truth of Scripture depend
 in reality, was Calvin's (obviously, Calvin did not main-     upon the decisions of individual theologians - a "great
 tain both positions, teaching that there were and that        insult to the Holy Spirit," perhaps, a greater insult
 there were not errors in the Bible); but he does state        than Rome's, who, at least, has the Church make the
 that, on the basis of the quotations, men have the right      decisions.
 to decide that Calvin taught a fallible Bible. The quo-           In his commentary on II Peter 1:20, 21, again treat-
 tations in which Calvin supposedly allows for errors,         ing the doctrine of Scripture directly, Calvin says:
 therefore, may very well be decisive to prove Calvin          "Peter says that Scripture came not from man, or
 a cohort of those who teach fallibility.                      through the suggestions of man. For thou wilt never
        To make these statements of Calvin carry the load      come well prepared to read it, except thou bringest
 of proving Calvin to have been a proponent of fallibility     reverence, obedience, and docility; but a just rever-
 or even to allow the possibility of their carrying this       ence then only exists, when we are convinced that God
 load is to burden them with weight they cannot bear.          speaks to us, and not mortal men." Now, although
 Calvin did not produce his voluminous writings in the         those who maintain a fallible Bible have great fun with
 midst of a controversy over Scripture's infallibility.        anyone so naive as to argue that Scripture is God's
 In his day, as Polman has pointed out, the inspiration        Word and, therefore, is inerrant, since God neither
 and authority of the entire Bible stood outside the           lies nor makes mistakes, we ask whether it is con-
 sphere of theological discussion, as accepted truths.         ceivable that anyone can approach the Bible, "con-
 At least, the authority of the Bible was not attacked in      vinced that God speaks to us, and not mortal men"
 the manner in which it is under attack in our day.            and, at the same time, allowing for errors. Calvin
 Certainly, however, even in the days of Luther and            goes on to say, "they (the holy men) dared not to an-
 Calvin, men assailed the authority of the Bible. One          nounce anything of their own, and obediently followed
need think only of the implicit attack on Scripture's          the Spirit as their guide, who ruled in their mouth as
 authority by Rome's elevation of tradition and the            in his own sanctuary.         Understand by prophecy of
 Church to an authoritative position alongside the Bible.      Scviptuve  that which is contained in the holy Scrip-
 There were also, in the days of the Reformers,                tures." The commentary on II Timothy 3:15, 16, con-


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  349

 tains the same strong statements: "we. . .are fully            His explanation is that copyists of the Greek version
 convinced that the prophets. . .only uttered what they         of the Old Testament made an error, changing the
.. had been commissioned from heaven to declare. Who-           number 70 in Genesis 46:27 to 75. Then, copyists of
 ever then wishes to profit in the Scriptures, let him,         the New Testament also changed the number in Acts
 first of all, lay down this as a settled point, that the       7:14 from 70 to 75 to agree with the number in Genesis
 Law and the- Prophets are not a doctrine delivered             46:27. Calvin writes:
 according to the will and pleasure of men, but dic-               "
 tated by the Holy Spirit." ". . .we owe to the Scrip-               . . . it may be that he himself (Luke, in Acts
 ture the same reverence which we owe to God; be-               7:14-DE) did put down the true number (i.e., 70-DE);
 cause it has proceeded from him alone, and has nothing         and that some man did correct the same amiss (i.e.,
 belonging to man mixed with it." If Calvin taught the          changed it to 75-DE) out of that place of Moses. . .
 fallibility of the Bible, he also taught the fallibility of    Therefore, to the end that the words of Stephen might
 God and the errors of the Holy Spirit since Scripture          agree with the place of Moses, it is to be thought that
 "proceeded from him (God) alone, and has nothing be-           that false number which was found in the Greek transla-
 longing to man mixed with it."                                 tion of Genesis was by them put in also in this place;
    Concerning the quotations from Calvin that sup-             concerning which, if any man contend more stubbornly,
 posedly acknowledge errors in Scripture, we may say            let us suffer him to be wise without measure."
 also that each ought to be closely scrutinized, in its            What Calvin's explanation is, is not as significant
 context. To take only one of the quotations, adduced           as the fact that he insisted there must be one which
 by De Koster in his article referred to above, let us          safeguards Scripture from any charge of error, even
note what Calvin says concerning the apparent dis-              on so "peripheral" a matter as that of a number.
 crepancy between Genesis 46:27 and Acts 7:14 on the               Barth himself does not try to find statements in
 number of souls which came down to Egypt with Jacob.           Calvin which express the view that the Bible has
 De Koster quotes only a very small part of Calvin's            errors. Evidently, he realizes that such procedure
 treatment of this apparent discrepancy in his com-             would prove inconclusive, if not hopeless. The state-
 mentary on Acts  7:14.       One would gather from De          ments he does refer to are strong ones which Barth
 Koster's quotation that Calvin merely "brushes. . .            himself admits to be indicative of Calvin's agreement
 aside" the  admitted  discrepancy "as unimportant to           with defenders of infallibility (cf. CD,I,2,p.520). Barth
 the intent of the Spirit."      In fact, however, Calvin       rather appeals to Calvin and Luther as substantiating
 neither admits the discrepancy nor brushes the prob-           his doctrine of a fallible, human Bible, because of the
 lem aside. Rather, he busies himself at length with            fact that both Reformers emphasized that no one could
 the apparent discrepancy, obviously convinced that,            benefit from Scripture, apart from the work of the
 although the difference in number in itself is not im-         Holy Spirit.    That Luther and Calvin stressed the
 portant, whether there were 70 or 75, it is important          necessity of the Holy Spirit for all right reading and
 that there is no actual discrepancy inscripture. Calvin        understanding of Scripture nullifies their strong state-
 does  not  say: "There is an error here, students.             ments which apparently teach verbal inspiration and
 Let us go on." Instead, he laboriously attempts an             proves that they too regarded the Bible in a "Barth-
 explanation which protects Scripture's infallibility.          ian" way.


   THE LORD GAVE THE WORD-  .  ..Psalm  6~11

           The Place of ,Regeneration
                                 in the Preaching of the Gospel
                                                     by Rev. C.  Hank0

     We have come to the very heart of the issue that           entirely so, or we try to introduce something of man
 always distinguishes the sound Scriptural preaching of         into the work of salvation.
 the gospel to the unconverted from all sorts of human             The question can be put very simply: Is there any
 philosophies and corruptions of the truth. Here we             receptivity in the sinner before the work of salvation
 come to the parting of the ways between those,who              wrought by God begins in the heart? Is the lost sinner
 maintain that the gospel is the power of God unto salva-       in any way capable of accepting the gospel message, of
 tion and those who insist on a mere offer of salvation         showing some willingness to receive the glad tidings,
 which man may accept or reject. Here we either con-            and of accepting Christ? Must this receptivity or this
 sistently maintain that salvation is of the Lord, and          willingness precede the work of grace, so that God and


350                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

man cooperate together in man's salvation?                   hearing, as the semi-pelagians sought to describe the
   The position of the predestinarians has always been       natural man. He is not capable of willing either the
that grace is always first. Salvation is the sovereign       good or the evil, as the Arminians taught. He is not in
and complete work of God, without any human aid, so          a stupor or asleep, so that he can still hear the gospel
that he who glories in his salvation-must always glory       invitation, yield to it, come to Christ and emerge a
in the Lord. This is the pure doctrine of the Scriptures.    new man, as Billy Graham confuses the issue. He is
       And this position has always been opposed and at-     not capable of accepting a well-meant offer of salva-
tacked by those who would undermine the truth of             tion as is taught in the Three Points of 1924 and in the
Scripture by giving some credit to man. Already in           writings of Prof. Dekker and others.           He is dead,
the days of Augustine, Pelagius arose, who taught that       spiritually dead I
man is morally neutral, so that he is neither innately
good nor innately bad. He can be influenced by bad           DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS
examples that lead him in the wrong direction, but he            How can a dead man heed the gospel preaching?
can also reform himself so that he overcomes these bad       How can he ever yield himself to Christ and seek to
influences in his life. We readily recognize these Pe-       be saved? One can as well expect a corpse in a casket
lagian errors, especially in the modern psychology that      to respond to the invitation to arise and eat food, as one
is so prevalent in our day. But even after Augustine,        can expect the dead sinner to heed the invitation of the
at the time of Gottschalk, there were the semi-pelagi-       gospel.
ans, who taught that fallen man is corrupted, but not to         But I also must hasten to add that the figure of a
the extent that he is absolutely dead in trespasses and      corpse does not fully describe the spiritually dead
sins. According to this modified form of Pelagianism,        sinner. He is capable of willing and thinking and speak-
man's will is corrupted but not entirely evil; he walks      ing and acting as long as he lives. But he is capable
in the darkness of sin, .but he is not blind; he is sick,    ,only of willing. the evil, thinking the evil, speaking and
but not dead; he is perishing, but not perished. And         `doing that which is evil. His heart is perverse, his
still later Erasmus wrote on "The Freedom Of The             nature is. corrupt, so that he is prone only to that which
Will", compelling Luther to arise in defense of the          is evil.
truth with his "The Bondage Of The Will."                        The. very fact that man was once `created as the
   Thus it was long before Calvin that the church            highest of .a11 God's earthly creatures makes him so
struggled against the error of the free will, which          very corrupt and evil in his fallen state. Adam was
error again was published far and wide by the Armin-         created in the. image of God in true knowledge, right-
ians of Calvin's day. The Arminians taught that man          eousness, and holiness, to know God his Creator, to
has a free will to choose the good or the evil, so that      love Him, and to serve Him-in loving devotion as God's
the will to believe must precede every work of grace.        friend servant. When he fell he retained his knowledge,
God does not do anything toward the salvation of the         but that knowledge was turned into spiritual darkness.
sinner until man is willing to be saved. (See our            The friend of God became God's enemy, making an al-
Canons, III & IV Head of Doctrine, Rejectionof Errors,       liance with the devil in opposition to God. Man retained
article 9.)                                                  his will, but this will turned in hatred against God to
   Now I fail to see any essential difference between        the service of sin. Adam was dead in trespasses and
all these errors of the past and the offer of salvation      sins, a slave to sin, and produced an offspring that is
as it is presented in our day. Billy Graham speaks of        also prone to all evil.
regeneration or the new birth as something "that God            That is what Jesus teaches us in the Sermon on the
does for man when man is willing to yield to God." Man       Mount, when He says, "The light of the body is the eye;
who is dead in trespasses and sins "can come to              if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall
Christ by faith and emerge a new man." (Quotations           be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body
taken from an essay on "The New Birth" by Dr.                shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is
Graham.        See the Standard Beavev of November 1,        in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness I" Our
1965). The  Reformed Journal:  has repeatedly assured        heart is rebellious, our nature is depraved, our ears
its readers through various writers that God loves all       are deaf, our eyes are' blind, our mouth is silenced,
men, makes salvation available to all, and desires to        our hands are paralyzed. And the result is that we will
save all men. And this is writtenin defence of an offer      and think, speak and do only that which is evil continu-
of salvation extended to all men for the very purpose        ously. As the apostle Paul expresses it,
that all men may be saved, if they but will.                 "There is none righteous no, not one;
   All this is plainly contrary to the Scriptures. Let       "There is none that understandeth,
me only refer you to the well-known words spoken by          "There is none that seeketh after God.
our Lord to Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto           "They are all gone out of the way,
thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the          "They are altogether become unprofitable;
kingdom of God." (John 3:3).                                 "There is none that doeth good, no not one.
   This text along with many other passages of Scrip-        "Their throat.is an open sepulchre;
ture teaches that man by nature is dead in trespasses        "With their tongues they have used deceit;
and sins. (See also Ephesians 2:l). He is not morally        "The poison of asps is under their lips:
neutral, as the proud heresy of the Pelagians teaches.       "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
He is not sick or suffering from poor eyesight or poor       "Their feet are swift to shed blood:


                                              THESTANDARDBEARER

"Destruction and misery are in their ways;                   deportment." This always remains external, since his
"And the way of peace have they not known:                   heart is at enmity with God and the neighbor, but for
"There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Rom.           his own advantage he does maintain an orderly external
3:10-U).                                                     deportment, even in spite of growing race riots, total
   Therefore Jesus tells Nicodemus during his noc-           disregard for all authority, and indulgence in sins of
turnal visit in no uncertain terms, "Except a man be         every sort.       But even this natural light with all its
born again he cannot see (no, not as much as see) the        glimmerings does not make the dead sinner partially
kingdom of heaven, much less enter in.                       alive, give him some sort of eyesight to see and know
   That is also the language of our Confessions. Our         God, and to confess that he is a sinner that needs
Book of Instruction that is preached in Reformed             salvation through the blood of the Lamb.             As our
circles every Sunday teaches us to confess, "I am            Canons express it:
prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor." (Lord's           "But so far is this light of nature from being suf-
Day 2). And again, it teaches us that we are wicked          ficient to bring him to a saving knowledge of God, and
and perverse, our nature is depraved, even so corrupt        to true conversion, that he is incapable of using it
that we are wholly incapable of any good, and inclined       aright even in things natural and civil. Nay further,
to all wickedness. And, as the fathers well understood       this light, such as it is, man in various ways renders
from the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, nothing ever           wholly polluted, and holds it in unrighteousness, by
changes that, and nothing can change that except             .doing which he becomes inexcusable before God."
Yegenevation.  (Lord's Day 3).                               (Canons III, IV, article 4.)
   "Are we then so corrupt that we are wholly incap-            There you have it!           Natural man cannot see the
able of any good, and -inclined to all wickedness?           kingdom of heaven. He cannot see God, he cannot see
                                                             himself as a sinner before God, he cannot yield to
   "Indeed we are; except we are regenerated by the          Christ, nor accept the gospel invitation. He renders
Spirit of God."                                              his natural light wholly polluted and holds it in un-
   Our Canons only serve to confirm this truth. The          righteousness.      He can only rebelliously say, "No",
fathers speak of the fact that since the fall there are      as often as that gospel is preached.
"glimmerings of natural light" in man. As a result of           You can take a pig out of its natural surroundings,
these glimmerings (which in recent years have been           wash it, dress it up with a pink ribbon around its neck,
played up to far more than mere glimmerings by the           but at the first opportunity it will return to wallow in
theory of common grace) our fathers said that man "re-       the mud. You can take a lion cub as a house pet and
tains some knowledge of God." He knows that God is           train it to obey you, but you cannot change that lion
God, and he can never escape that fact. No, he cannot        nature. And the same thing applies to the sinner. Ex-
even get rid of God by officially declaring Him dead.        cept he is born again, he remains a rebellious sinner.
Even the devils know that God is God, and they shudder.         Rebirth is a wonder of God, who calls the things
Man also retains some knowledge "of natural things,"         that are not as though they were. Just as power went
so that he can scan the heavens, probe into the depths       forth from Christ as He stood by the tomb of Lazarus
of the sea, search out the bowels of the earth, and          before the dead Lazarus could hear Jesus* voice and
produce amazing inventions. But it still remains true,       respond to His call, so also power goes forth from God
that God is not in all his thoughts, so that with all his    into the elect sinner in the work of regeneration. God
searching he turns against the living God in wicked re-      raises the dead, also the spiritually dead, by the power
bellion. Natural man also retains some knowledge "of         of His Spirit in the heart.
the differences between good and evil." He knows very           This our fathers called a "new creation; a resur-
well that sin is sin, that murder and adultery and steal-    rection from the dead, a making alive, which God works
ing, and. every other sort of sin is transgression of        in us without our aid.
God's law, so that his own conscience condemns him.             Indeed, we must be born again. And that must be
He even "discovers some regard for virtue, good              preached.
order in society, and for maintaining an orderly external       For salvation is of the Lord.


                                                  CALL  TOSYNOD

   The Consistory of the Doon, Iowa, Protestant Re-          evening, May 31, 1966 at 8:00 P.M.  Synodical  dele-
formed Church hereby notifies the churches that the          gates are requested to meet with the Consistory be-
1966 Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches will          fore this service.
convene, D.V., on Wednesday, June 1, 1966 at 9:00               Delegates in need of lodging should contact Edward
A.M. in our Doon church.                                     Van Egdom, Route 1, Box 40, Doon, Iowa 51235.
   The pre-synodical Prayer Service, conducted by                                  Consistory of Doon Prot. Ref. Church
the Rev. M.  Schipper, will be held on Thursday                                        Rev. R.D. Decker, Pres.
                                                                                       Edw. Van Egdom, Clerk


352                                             THE STANDARD BEARER




         TRYING THE SPIRITS-


                          Rationalistic  Biblical  Criticism

                                                  by Rev. R. C.  Havbach


       The rationalistic school of biblical criticism claims    tions plundered, the warriors dead - a mere shell.
that in and after the Protestant Reformation the de-            The kernel of truth has been surrendered in the in-
velopment of biblical textual, literary and historical          terest of conformity to the world. Taking the whole
studies was not possible because of the doctrinal bias          armor of God requires knowing your sword and your
and intolerance of the Protestant theologians. Romanism         enemy 1
also hampered advance in this direction with itscanons             At the outset we must distinguish between biblical
of the Council of Trent (1546), which prohibited not            criticism and biblical investigation. Critics of God's
only other shades of interpretation, but thought other          Word we are not; but rather investigators of it. Mere
than that already imposed by the church. So, both               men cannot actually criticize the Word, but, instead,
Romanism and Protestantism had contributed to in-               are criticized by it, since it is a "discerner (critic) of
tellectual stagnation. Protestants with their insistence        the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:12). We
on the doctrine of justification by faith, and their            are commanded to investigate the Word, "Search the
basic principle of an absolute predestinarian theology          Scriptures. . .for they are they which testify of Me."
were really no better than the Romanists with their             The purpose of such investigation is not to determine
papistical condemnation of the Copernican theory of             whether the Bible is trustworthy, but to apprehend the
the universe (1616), and the Inquisition's denunciation         gift of eternal life (Jn. 5:39). Study of Scripture, then,
of Galileo as "vehemently suspected of heresy," to-             is not criticism, but biblical research.1 The Christian
gether with hierarchical suppression of his scientific          researcher confesses, "I believe, therefore I investi-
findings. This unbearable condition promoted by these           gate." The critic says, "I investigate in order to de-
two almost antipodal circles kept the churches for              termine whether I shall want to believe." Biblical
centuries in a bibliolatrous strait- jacket.                    criticism endeavors to determine whether the manu-
   This attitude is still reflected against the investi-        scripts of the Scriptures are historically objective and
gator who stands in the line of the Reformation, re-            accurate, whether the various books were actually
garding him as a serious hindrance to free thought,             written by the alleged authors, whether the writings
and a naive, surreptitious `and half-baked would-be             originated from the times they have been thought to
student as compared to the intelligent, logical, com-           have originated, and to completely rationalize (human-
prehensive and scholarly  .critic. This contention is           ize) the supernatural Christian faith.
not altogether without foundation in fact, as often the         1.  Its O&gins and Development.      The origin of this
orthodox champions of Scripture have either ignored             method of interpreting the Old Testament began with
or underestimated the rationalistic principles of in-           Astruc, a Paris physician to Louis XIV  (1753), who
terpretation.      Doing this is to err, rendering it im-       assumed that Genesis was written by two different
possible to learn the enemy position of "higher criti-          authors. He drew this conclusionfrom the interchange-
cism," and, consequently, to understand the more                able use in Genesis of the two divine names, Elohim
modified and subtler position of contemporary ene-              and Jehovah. Later, Eichorn (178  l), independently of
mies. He is a poor soldier of Jesus Christ who neither          Astruc, also thought there were two distinct manu-
knows nor cares where and how the enemies of                    scripts which composed Genesis, and supposed them
Scripture truth are emplaced. While he withdraws to             to be distinguished not only by these names of God, but
the snug (smug?) security of his "Maginot" (imagined            by two distinct, separate literary styles and vocabu-
invulnerability), the enemy out-flanks, by-passes and           laries. We shall show how untenable this is. But this
undermines his whole cause. He has made it easier               general idea was further advanced in De Wette, who
for unbelief in its innumerable forms to infiltrate the         added the contention that the Book of Deuteronomy was
ranks of the church, and experiences a defeat without           so different in style and vocabulary from the rest of
a battle.      Truth is fallen in the street! Faith in the      the Penteteuch that it could not possibly have been
Word of God is lost, the Christian world-and-life view          written in the Penteteuchal period, in fact, no earlier
blown away by the confusing winds of philosophical              than Josiah's reign, and so is a "pious fraud." Deu-
inanities.       Many churches are like a citadel which         teronomy, to this evolutionary critical school, was too
may still stand, but with the sentries gone, the muni-          literarily advanced to be from the time of Moses.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   353

   In 1853, Hupfeld theorized that Genesis was com-          rationalism, 19th century "scientific" liberalism, and
posed in part by a priest-contributor, thus suggesting       to 20th century pragmatic atheism. The destructive
a third writer in addition to the aforementioned authors.    criticism, by whatever disguise it may wear, persists
Astruc designated his supposed writers as E and J,           to this day, never having been entirely eradicated.
for an Elohistic writer and a Jehovistic writer, the
former presumed to be the earlier,2 dating, as was              Still closer to our day, some scholars have used
theorized, not from Moses' day, but near to the period       the designations J, E, D (Deuteronomy code) and P,
of the judges. Hupfeld designated what he felt was the       but by them not the dusty Wellhausenianism is intended.
priestly section of the book P, and dated it as coming       What is intended is not early, middle and later periods
from the exile.                                              of religious development, but rather various circles of
   Graf, in                                                  tradition which existed simultaneously, contemporane-
                1856, claimed that the middle sections of
the Penteteuch were written in the period of the exile.      ously, each having its own particular emphasis. Thus
Wellhausen, agreeing with Kuenen and Riehm, adopted          none of these four bodies of tradition, although all
the hypothesis that all the Elohistic sections of the        ancient, is more ancient than the other.           But this
Books of Moses came from the post-exilic period.             trend of the theory is not generally accepted.4
This became the basis of the Graf-Wellhausen theory          2. Its Method and Result.. The composition of Scrip-
of German "higher" criticism, i.e., literarycriticism.       ture was conceived .of as a conglomeration of patched
   Vater came up with the idea that the five Books of        and repaired myths, confused traditions, strange fan-
Moses, particularly Genesis, were constructed from           cies, actual mistakes, and continual (year by year,
some major documents not only, but also from many            century by century) emendations appended to or in-
smaller, disconnected fragments.        Not only did he      serted in the text. The implication was that the com-
conceive of such compositions as E, J, P, etc., but          pilers and authors, J, E, P, D and R, and their various
also thought of E as not actually one sole contributor,      subordinates, though separated by time and place, and
but as representing at least four more of i the same         having nothing in common as to theme, thought, history
Elohistic school, so that we have El, E2, E3, and E4         or life development, yet had a basic commonality in
documents.       Later scholars, addicted to this same       forgery. It was the work of R (the redactor, the editor)
fancy, saw in the J sections not only the work of one        to put all these fragments of fragments into some sort
single Jehovistic writer, but what they assumed to be        of order, making constant additions of his own, even
evidence of multiple authorship, and so designated           transposing entire sections, in order to give a semblance
Jl, J2,  J3,  J4. Other scholars also designated the         of unity to the documents, thus attempting to weld to-
P sections into different P categories as P, Pg, Ph          gether a harmonious whole.
and Ps. Besides these subdivisions there were also
parts of Scripture thought to be of a combined JE               There were said to be as many different authors of
structure.                                                   any one book as there were language differences and
  All this hypothesis is ostensibly traceable through        vocabulary distinctions.5 The expression "male and
complicated fabrications running throughout the Pente-       female" was said to have been penned by one writer,
teuch. This is the partitionist or fragmentary theory        E, whereas a similar expression, "a male and his
of Scripture. It was subsequently emphasized as the          female," was regarded as the peculiarity of the other
documentary theory.        These fragments were pieced       writer, J. Does this theory of a long dynasty of ghost
together, Chinese puzzle fashion, by a string of un-         writers have sufficient evidence to entrench it firmly
known editors called redactors, and designated R, which      against the possibility of valid challenge? Are there
eventually came to represent a myriad of compilers           not many instances in the literary field where a given
                                                             writer is most fertile and proficient in the use of
of  almost astronomical proportions.      In this way, no
part of the Bible has been left untouched by the ration-     synonyms? Is it not the purpose of synonyms to pre-
alist critics, but has been so shredded that it is no        sent principally the same meaning, but with a different
longer in that condition recognizable, understandable        shade of thought? It depends upon what the writer had
or respectable.3                                             in mind when he wrote, "a male and a female," or "a
   More recently, all these previous theories have           male and his female," or whether simply, "man and
given way to a certain extent to another, which divides      woman."     Upon what authority, or for what earthly
the books of the Old Testament into two `basic parts,        reason, are we bound to believe, as the critics claim,
the one identified by the singular pronouns (thou, etc.),    that no one man can be the author of two different
and the other by the plural pronouns (ye, etc.).             styles of writing?
   But does the employ of such grammatical construc-                          (To be continued, D.V.)
tion point to two different documents (or authors,           1 The Bible the  Word  of God, F. Bettex, p.  215f, Jen-
writers) of Scripture? May not the discourse, when             nings  & Graham, N.Y., 1904.
in the plural, be directed to the entire organism of the     2 The Intevpyetev's  Bible, Vol. I, pp. 127f,  134, Abing-
church, and when using singular terminology be directed        don-Cokesbury, N.Y., 1952.
to the individual? There is no necessity in assuming         3  .The Pulpit  Commentuvy,   Genesis, ii-vii.
double (multiple) authorship of the books of the Bible.      4 Revelation and the Bible,  Ed., C.. F. H. Henry, p.
   We may trace this dismembering of Scripture to              340, Baker, 1958.
the English 17th century naturalistic Deism, to French       5 Hastings' Bible  Dictionary,   II, aers. "Genesis" and
revolutionary skepticism, to American 18th century             "Hexateuch," Scribner's, N.Y., 1900.


354                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



              BOOK  REVIEWS-


THE MYSTERIOUS NUMBERS OF THE                  PRINCIPLES OF CONDUCT,  - John                  Co., Grand Rapids,  Mich. 286 pages,
HEBREW KINGS, -- Edwin R. Thiele;              Murray; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co.,              $5.00.
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., Grand               Grand Rapids, Michigan. 272 pages,
Rapids, Mich. 232 pages, $6.00                 $2.25 (paperback)                                   Those who follow our book review
                                                                                               department will recognize that we have
   Here is a book which  notonly be,              The author is Professor of Syste-            reviewed volumes of this series pre-
longs in the library of any serious            matic Theology at Westminster Theo-             viously; we will continue to do  SO  as
student of Old Testament history, but          logical Seminary. The ten chapters of           these volumes are sent to us. This, in
also deserves to be studied carefully.         this book were expanded from a series           my opinion, is one of the better comme
   One of the intriguing problems of           of lectures delivered in 1955.                  taries of this series.      It is rather
the history of the divided kingdom in             There are not many books devoted             thorough, makes a serious attempt at
Israel is that of the chronology of the        specifically to the study known as              honest exegesis, and is fairly sound.
kings of Israel and Judah, and that,           Ethics.    That is the general subject of       The book is a worthwhile addition to
too, in relation to the history and            this book. It does not claim to be a            the library of anyone who is looking for
chronology of the other nations with           complete treatment; it is rather a               reasonably trustworthy commentaries.
which Israel and Judah came into               treatment of certain important aspects          Moreover, the format of these com-
cbntact.     On the surface of it, -there      of Christian conduct.                           mentaries is such that one need not
appear to be many discrepancies of an             Without stating my agreement with            know the original languages in order
insoluble nature. This book is a care-         all that Professor Murray has written            to make use of the comments; this
ful study of that chronology, and it           here, I can certainly recommend this             surely makes the commentaries more
offers a very carefully worked out             book. There is thorough treatment of            p o p u l a r .
solution of the various problems.              the, subjects dealt with; there is a very           This particular volume has a "bo-
   Whether the solutions offered are           serious attempt at careful exegesis; in         nus" of some rather interesting appen-
in every case the correct ones would           general, this is scholarly work.  As  an         dices on various related and pertinent
require a study as careful as that             example, I point to the author's treat-          subjects.
which the author has made; and Iwould          ment of I Corinthians 7, an always                  I was particularly curious as to
not pass judgment on his conclusions           difficult passage, in his chapter on            Murray's interpretation of the crucial
after one reading of this book.                "The Marriage Ordinance." I am                  passages of Romans 9-11. Noteworthy
   He who opens this book must not             always disappointed, however, when a             is the fact that he wants to give full
expect a few evenings' leisurely and           work of this caliber is published  in           value to the term "hated" in Romans
relaxing reading; he must put on his           paperback form.      I realize this is a        9113.     Behind his explanation of Phar-
thinking-cap and take his Bible in             reprint; but I think that even as a             aoh's hardening, pp. 26-30, I would
hand, and probably pencil and paper            reprint it deserves better than a paper-        place a question-mark here and there.
to follow the various calculations.            back treatment.                                 Nor would I be inclined to agree with
   The book is abundantly furnished                                                            his position on a mass conversion of
with charts and tables.                        "The Epistle to the Romans," Volume             Israel, pp. 96-98, although he is cer-
   I heartily recommend it as a                Two (Chapters IX-XVI), by John Mur-             tainly correct in explaining "Israel"
worthwhile  .addition to the libraries of      ray, one of the series, "The New In-            ethnically rather than spiritually.
ministers and students.                        ternational Commentary on the New                   Recommended for careful use.
                                   H.C.H.      Testament;" Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ.                                        H. C. Hoeksema




                      ANNOUNCEMENT                                                            A N N O U N C E M E N T
The Prot. Ref. Chr. School  of South Holland is in need                 The Free Christian School of  Edgerton  will need a
of a teacher for grades 4, 5, and 6. Send all corres-                   teacher for grades l-4.          For more information, con-
pondence to:                                                            tact the undersigned.
                           Mr. G. A. Van  Baren                                                              Allen Hendriks
                            R. R. 1, Box 240 A                                                               Jasper, Minnesota 56144
                            Chicago Heights, Illinois 60411
                                                                                     RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY
                                                                        The Men's Society of the Southeast Prot. Ref. Church
            STANDARD BEARERSTAFFMEETING:                                wish to express their sympathy to Mr. Herman Dykstra,
                                                                        in the passing of his Father
The Standard Bearer Staff will meet, D.V., the evening                                      MR. BERT  DYKSTRA
of June  6  at 8 o'clock P.M., in our  Doon, Iowa church.
Will all the staff members please take notice of this                   "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain".
annual meeting?                                                         Philippians  1:21.                   Rev.  M;  Schipper,  Pres.
                                             J.A. Heys, Sec'y.                                               S. Vander Wal, V. Sec'y.


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                               --1355
                        IN MEMORIAM
On March 30, 1966, our beloved Husband, Father and                                              IN MEMORLAM
Grandfather,                                                            On April 18,  1966  our gracious heavenly Father called
                       BERT DYKSTRA                                     home our sister
was mercifully delivered from this vale of tears and                                       MISS THERESA DOUMA
taken to eternal glory where there is no more pain and                  at the age of 58 years.
suffering.                                                                 Psalm  91:l  & 2: "He that dwelleth in the secret
   Phil.  1:21 "For to me to live is Christ, and to die                 place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of
is gain".                                      . .                      the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge
Mrs. Anna Dykstra                 Miss Jean Dykstra                     and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust."
Mr. and Mrs. Herman               Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius
     Dykstra                            Doezema
Mr. and Mrs. James                Mr. and Mrs. Leonard                                                 Mrs. Thomas (Helen) Newhof
     Dykstra                            Dykstra                                                        George Douma
Miss Agnes Dykstra                Mr. Roger Dykstra                                                    William Douma
Miss Jessie Dykstra                     and 18 Grandchildren                                                 Nieces and Nephews


         CONTENDlNG FOR THE FAITH-


                                     The Providence of God

                                            According to the Confessions


                                                            by Rev.  H.  Veldman

   In our preceding article we quoted at length from                        every succeeding moment. Even what are known as
the Reformed Dogmatics of the late H. Bavinck, in                           inherent laws and forces of nature are no more than
which a brief resume is set forth of the doctrine of the                   living modes of the divine activity, continuing and con-
providence of God. We concluded that article by call-                      ditioning all that exists. Deism is justly chargeable
ing attention to the word providence, noting that the                      with prime inconsistency in allowing a miracle at the
word itself is hardly Scriptural but that it has had a                      commencement of the world, and then affirming the
                                                                            divine indifference or inactivity in its subsequent ex-
place in the history of the doctrine of the Church for                      istence.      God could not, as he would not, create and
ages.         H. Bavinck notes that the word itself is of                  leave alone. This would contradict both his .being and
heathen origin, but that it can be used, provided that                     work. In maintaining the fact and the necessity of the
we understand the Scriptural significance of that which                    preservation of nature by God, these Reformers af-
this truth is supposed to set forth. Before we proceed                     firmed a truth in keeping with the highest philosophy,
with the doctrine itself, let us first call attention to                   no less than with the uniform teachings of Holy
the confessions and see what they teach with respect                        Scripture.
to this truth.                                                             This quotation appears in a chapter which treats
LECTURES ON THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION -                                   the subject: "The Cause of Sin." We know that the
First Series, page 734                                                  Augsburg is Lutheran. We may return to this chapter
                                                                        when we call attention to God's Providence and Sin.
         It is also affirmed in the Article that God "pre-              In the paragraph quoted above, the truth of the provi-
    serves universal nature." This is over against the                  dence of God is maintained, declaring that "God could
    varying forms of Diesm and Rationalism. The whole
    texture of the Article under review consists with the               not, as he would not, create and leave alone." It may
    doctrine of a constant, active providence of God in the             be of interest to quote later from this chapter what is
    world he has made. As this came into being through                  said of the cause of sin.
    an omnipotent act of God, its existence is that of                  SECOND HELVETIC CONFESSION (A.D. 1566)
    created dependence upon  .its author.             The universe      Pages 839-841.
    considered as a whole, or in its several parts, is not
    a structure so perfect as to be able to continue apart                     We believe that all things, both in heaven and in
    from the upholding hand that gave it being. The power                   earth, and in all creatures, are sustained and governed
    calling it. into existence lives in and sustains it through             by the providence of this wise, eternal, and omnipotent


356                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER

       God. For David witnesses and says,  "TheLord  is high             a man of the tribe of Benjamin," etc. (1 Samuel  9:16)
       above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who
       is like unto the Lord, who dwelleth on high, and yet              In this article it is beautifully stated that, although
       humbleth himself to behold the things that  arein  heaven      the Lord has willed and determined all things, namely
       and earth?" (Ps.  113:4-6). Again, he says, "Thou hast         that all the souls with Paul in the ship would be saved,
       foreseen all my ways; for there is not a word in my            this Divine will and decree does not negate the means
       tongue which thou knowest not wholly, 0 Lord", etc.            which we must use, inasmuch as also these means
       (Ps.  139:3-4). Paul also witnesses and says, "By him          have been included in God's Divine decree and will.
       we live, move and have our being" (Acts  17:28); and
       "of him, and through him, and from him are all things"         GALLICAN OR FRENCH CONFESSION (A.D. 1559)
       (Rom.  11:36).                                                 CHAPTER VIII.
          Therefore Augustine both truly and according to the
       Scriptures said, in his book De  Agone  Christi, cap. 8,             We believe that he not only created all things, but
       "The Lord said, `Are not two sparrows sold for a farth-           that he governs and directs them, disposing and or-
       ing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without         daining by his sovereign will all that happens in the
       the will of your Father.' By speaking thus he would give          world; not that he is the author of evil, or that the
       us to understand whatsoever men count most vile, that             guilt of it can be imputed to him, as his will is the
       also is governed by the almighty power of God. For the            sovereign and infallible rule of all right and justice;
       truth, which said that all the hairs of our head are              but he hath wonderful means of so making use of devils
       numbered, says also that the birds of the air are fed             and sinners that he can turn to good the evil which they
       by him, and the lilies of the field are clothed by him."          do, and of which they are guilty. And thus, confessing
          We therefore condemn the Epicureans, who deny the              that the providence of God orders all things, we humbly
       providence of God, and all those who blasphemously               bow before the secrets which are hidden to us, without
       affirm that God is occupied about the poles of heaven,            questioning what is above our understanding; but rather
       and that he neither sees nor regards us or our affairs.           making use of what is revealed to us in Holy Scripture
       The princely prophet David also condemned these men               for our peace and safety, inasmuch as God, who has all
       when he said, "0 Lord, how long shall the wicked, how             things in subjection to him, watches over us with a
       long shall the wicked triumph? They say the Lord doth             Father's care, so that not a hair of our heads shall
       not see, neither doth the God of Jacob regard it. Under-         fall without his will. And yet he restrains the devils
       stand, ye unwise among the people; and ye fools, when             and all our enemies, so that they cannot harm us with-
       will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not            out his leave.
       hear? and he that formed the eye, shall he not see?"
       (Ps.  94:3, 7-9).                                                 In this article of the French Confession of Faith,
          Notwithstanding, we do not condemn the means                the all-comprehensive character of the providence of
       whereby the providence of God works as though they             God is maintained.          We certainly subscribe to the
       were unprofitable; but we teach that we must apply our-        statement that the Lord is not the author of sin and
       selves unto them, so far as they are commended unto            that the guilt of evil cannot be imputed to Him. Never-
       us in the Word of God. Wherefore we dislike the rash
       speeches of such as say that if all things are governed        theless, the Lord makes wonderful use of all devils
       by the providence of God, then all our studies and en-         and sinners.
       deavors are unprofitable; it shall be sufficient if we         WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1647)
       leave or permit all things to be governed by the provi-        CHAPTER V.
       dence of God; and we shall not need hereafter to behave
       or act with carefulness in any matter. For though Paul               God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold,
       did confess that he did sail by the providence of God,            direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and
       who had said to him, "Thou must testify of me also at             things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most
       Rome" (Acts 23:ll);  who, moreover, promised and said,           wise and holy providence, according to his infallible
       "There shall not so much as one soul perish, neither             foreknowledge and the free and immutable counsel of
       shall a hair fall from their heads" (Acts  27:22,24);  yet,       his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom,
       the mariners devising how they might find a way to es-           power, justice, goodness and mercy.
       cape, the same Paul says to the centurion and to the                 II. Although in relation to the foreknowledge and
       soldiers, "Unless these remain in the ship, ye can not           decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass
       be safe" (Acts 27:31).  For God, who has appointed every          immutably and infallibly, yet by the same providence
       thing his end, he also has ordained the beginning and the        he ordereth them to fall out, according to the nature of
       means by which we must attain unto the end. The                   second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contin-
       heathens ascribe things to blind fortune and uncertain           gently.
       chance; but St. James would not have us say, "Today                  III. God, in his ordinary providence, maketh use of
       or to-morrow we will go into such acity, and there buy           means, yet is free to work without, above, and against
       and sell;" but he adds, "For that which ye should say,           them, at his pleasure.
       If the Lord will, and if we live, we will do this or that"          IV. The, almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and         i
       (James  4:13,  15). And Augustine says, "All those things        infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves
       which seem to vain men to be done advisedly in the               in his providence that it extendeth itself even to the
       world, they do but accomplish his word because they              first fall, and all other sins of angels and men, and
       are not done by his commandment." And, in his ex-                 that not by a bare permission, but such as hath joined
       position of the 148th Psalm, "It seemed to be done by            with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and other-
       chance that Saul, seeking his father's asses, should             wise ordering and governing of them, in a manifold
       light on the prophet Samuel;" but the Lord had before            dispensation, to his own holy ends; yet so as the sin-
       said to the prophet, "To-morrow I will send unto thee            fulness therefore proceedeth only from the creature,


                                                 THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                       357

   and not from God; who, being must holy and righteous,             taketh care of his Church, and disposeth all things to
   neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.              the good thereof.
      V. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God
   doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to            We call attention to the fact that these articles of
   manifold temptations and the corruption of their own           the Westminster Confession of Faith stressed the  all-
   hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to          comprehensive character of the providence of God.
   discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption           And we should also note that the. providence of the
   and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be            Lord is presented here as centering particularly in
   humbled; and to raise them to a more close and con-            the salvation of His Church. This, incidentally, also
   stant dependence for their support unto himself, and           applies to the other confessions from which we quoted
   to make them more watchful against all future oc-              thus far.     The providence of God does not merely set
   casions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends.       forth the Lord's almighty and omnipresent control of
      VI. As for those wicked and ungodly menwhom  God,           all things, but all  things  are governed by Him for the
   as a righteous Judge, for former sins, doth blind and          salvation of His church which He has lovedfrom before
   harden, from them he not only withholdeth his grace,           the foundations of the world. This is also and most
   whereby they might have been enlightened in their un-          certainly true of the Reformed Confessions, such as
   derstandings and wrought upon in their hearts, but             our Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession of
   sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had,           Faith from which we will quote, the Lord willing, in
   and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption          our following article.      In these confessions, too, all
   makes occasion of sin; and withal, gives them over to          emphasis is laid upon the truth that the providence of
   their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the         God affords the people of the Lord a most wonderful
   power of Satan; whereby it comes to pass that they
   harden themselves, even under those means which God            comfort, the assurance that all things always work to-
   useth for the softening of others.                             gether for good for them, that also all the powers of
                                                                  sin and darkness serve no other purpose, as far as
       VII. As the providence of God doth, in general, reach      they are concerned, than their ultimate and everlasting
   to all creatures, so, after a most special manner, it          salvation.


AM AROUND  US-

          Trouble Among the Liberated

                 Tax Exemption For The Churches

                    Schism in the Church of South India

                        Criticism of Billy Graham

                              Ecumenical Meeting in Rome

                                 The National Council of Churches Again

                                         A Fixed Day For Easter

                                                                                            by  Pvof. H. Hank0

TROUBLE AMONG THE LIBERATED                                          committed a schismatic action and opposes the legal
   It appears as if the Liberated Churches in the                    gathering -of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ;
Netherlands are still having their troubles.               Our           that therefore, ministers who exercise fellowship
readers will recall that these troubles revolve around               with this schismatic group by leading them in their
whether or not the Liberated Churches should seek                    services have supported the minister Van der Ziel,
closer contact with the "Gereformeerde  Kerken" from                 those who have joined him, in his sin, and have fur-
                                                                     thered the schismatic action;
which they broke away in the early. 1940s. We quote                      that this practice of fellowship with this schismatic
the following announcement from  Church  and Nation:                 group in fact signifies that they have broken the ec-
(The translation is ours.)                                           clesiastical fellowship with the Church of Groningen-
                                                                    South and also with their sister churches in the
      Liberated Reformed Churches In the Netherlands                 Classis  Groningen;
      "The Canadian Reformed Magazine" reports the                      The  Classis  Groningen decides:
   following:                                                           to advise the Consistory of the Church of Groningen-
      Classis  Groningen - Schismatic Group Vander Ziel.             South to do everything which lies in her power to make
      On the ground of a number of facts, the  Classis               clear to the sister churches in the land the true  char-
   Groningen expresses that the Van der Ziel Group                   acter of this schismatic action.


358                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

TAX EXEMPTION FOR THE CHURCHES                                but remained only about three months.
       The courts have upheld tax exemption status for the       The University refused to help sponsor the crusade
churches.      In 1963 Madalyn Murray brought a case to       and, in fact, forbad its students from attending crusade
the courts involving devotions in the public schools.         meetings upon penalty of expulsion from the school.
Eventually this atheist succeeded in getting devotions        Already a year' ago Bob Jones Jr. had criticized the
banned in the classrooms. Late in 1964 she brought            Billy Graham type of evangelism charging him espe-
another case to the courts seeking to outlaw tax ex-          cially with associating with Roman Catholics and leaders
emption for churches and church property. This case           of the National Council of Churches and the World
was brought to a Maryland circuit court where it was          Council of Churches; hence also cooperating with
dismissed. From there the case was appealed to the            churches which deny the fundamental truths of Scrip-
State Court of Appeals. Also this court rules that tax        ture -- especially the truth of the infallibility of God's
exemption for churches does not violate either the            Word, and referring converts to these liberal churches.
Maryland Constitution or the Constitution of the United          The criticism this time was much the same. It
States, but that this tax exempt status is recognition of     centered about the fact that there is nothing distinctive
the contributions of the Churches to the public welfare.      about Billy Graham's evangelism when he associates
       It is interesting that the issue has apparently not    with any type of churchman including Bishop Pike from
died, for here and there individual churches have, of         the Episcopal Church and Bishop Kennedy from the
themselves, contributed a certain amount of money to          Methodist Church.          Bob Jones Jr. charged Billy
public coffers for payment of such public services as         Graham, according to Christianity  Today with "doing
fire and police protection. Further, among the churches       more harm to the cause of Jesus Christ than any living
themselves there remains a question whether tax ex-           m a n . "
emption is justifiable. We shall, no doubt, hear more            While the objections against Billy Graham were
about this issue.                                             indeed to the point and sufficient reason todisassociate
                                                              one's self from the crusades, the spokesmen of the
SCHISM IN THE CHURCH OF SOUTH INDL4                           University did not mention the fact that Billy Graham
       The Church of South India has recently suffered a      is also thoroughly Arminian in his presentation of the
split. This denomination, numbering about a million           gospel.      This still remains the chief objection of all
people (of whom about one-third are full members)             Reformed people although it is not the chief objection
was formed originally in 1947 of churches founded by          of Bob Jones University.
the Anglican Missionary Society and from Congrega-            ECUMENICAL MEETING IN ROME
tional, Presbyterian, and Methodist missionary efforts.
The schism involves some 269 churches with about                 An historic meeting took place on March 23 of this
80,000 members. These churches have severed their             year in Rome betwee.n Pope Paul VI and Bishop Arthur
ties with the Church of South India in protest over           Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury.
theological liberalism, various ritual observances,              The meeting was  .only the second between the
membership in the World Council of Churches and               leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the leader
caste discrimination. They have decided to seek affil-        of the Church of England since the time of the Calvin-
iation with the International Council of Christian            istic Reformation in England. Both men, in their in-
Churches of which Rev. Carl McIntire is the president.        itial greetings to each other acknowledged many diffi-
The formal convocation of these churches as aseparate         culties in, but expressed the firm hope for greater
denomination is scheduled for May 5. But in the mean-         unity.     In, the joint statement which was issued after
time leaders from the Church of South India and em-           the meeting, they spoke of increased efforts that ought
issaries from Dr. Arthur Ramsey, Archbishop of                to be made to heal the wounds of division which had so
Canterbury are hearing grievances and trying to effect        long separated them.
a settlement.                                                           They affirm their desire that all those Christians
   These churches stand mainly in the Anglican tradi-            who belong to these two Communions may be animated
tion. They are in that part of India where famine has            by these same sentiments of respect, esteem and
so viciously struck in recent months.                            fraternal love, and in order to help these develop to
                                                                 the full, they intend to inaugurate between the Roman
                                                                 Cathoiic  Church and the An&can  Communion a serious
CRITICISM OF BILL Y GRAHAM                                     dialogue which, founded on the Gospels and on the
       Billy Graham received some real criticism `re-            ancient common traditions, may lead to that unity in
cently from an unexpected source.          The criticism         truth, for which Christ prayed.
came from Bob Jones `University in Greenville, South                    The dialogue should include not only theological
Carolina where this year's only American crusade by              -matters such as scriptuxe, tradition, and liturgy, but
Billy Graham was held.                                            also matters of practical difficulty felt on either side.
       Bob Jones University is an evangelical and funda-                His Holiness the Pope and His Grace the Arch-
mentalist University which was founded by the well-              bishop of Canterbury are, indeed, aware that serious
                                                                 obstacles stand in the way of a restoration of complete
known evangelist Bob Jones Sr. who is now 80 years               communion of faith and sacramental life; nevertheless,
old.      The school is being directed by. Bob Jones Jr.         they are of one mind in their determination to promote
and, in his periodic absences, by Bob Jones III. Billy           responsible contacts between their communions in all
Graham attended this University in his college days,             those spheres of church life where collaboration is


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          359

     likely to lead to a greater understanding and a deeper    and the Presbyterian Church US (Southern) ) can pos-
     charity, and to strive in common to find solutions for    sibly affiliate with such a group as the National Coun-
     all the great problems that face those who believe in     cil.      The decisions of this body are so far removed
     Christ in the world today.                                from the calling of the Church and from the truth of
     Thus a giant step has been taken in the direction of      the Reformed faith that they stand flatly opposed to this
 unity of Protestants and Roman Catholics. The Ref-            confession.
 ormation (and all subsequent history) is conveniently                 Usually the excuse is made that these decisions
 set aside. The Calvinism of the Anglican Church has,          are by the General Board and therefore do not speak
 for the most part, disappeared long ago. (Think of            for the member denominations. But this excuse will
 Bishop Robinson's denial of the trinity and the deity         not do; for it cannot shelter member denominations
 of Christ within the Anglican fold.) And so the pos-          from their responsibilities for these decisions. The
 sibility of ecclesiastical unity becomes stronger.            fact of the matter is that the Council has got to speak
                                                               for all its members when it speaks through its General
                                                               Board.
 THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES AGAIN
    At a recent meeting of the General Board of the            A  FIXED DAY FOR EASTER
 National Council of Churches decisions were made on                   There is increased agitation to fix a definite day
 the following matters:                                        for Easter. At present (and this has been the case in
    i) The desire of the Board to see Red China seated         the Church since a controversy on this point was
 in the United Nations.                                        settled in the third century) the date is the first Sunday
    2). The desire of the Council to see the government        after the first full moon following the Spring Equinox
 apply greater firmness towards South Africa corres-           (March 20 or 21). The date of Easter varies there-
 ponding to the pressures being applied to Rhodesia in         fore, from year to year. The Church of England has
 the hopes of changing this government's apartheid             recently gone on record as favoring the Sunday follow-
 policies.                                                     ing the second Saturday in April as the definite date.
    3) The desire of the Council to see increases made         This action followed upon a request of the World
 in unemployment compensations so that the unemployed          Council of Churches asking its member churches to
 receive benefits "adequate in amount to sustain human         express their position on the matter. Also the Second
 dignity."                                                     Vatican Council stated that it would endorse a fixed
    4) "The right of dissent" especially in times of           date provided other Christians concurred.
 military involvement; which presumably includes the                   This would be a step in the right direction; al-
 right to burn draft cards.                                    though one often wonders whether the Church of Christ
    It is difficult to imagine how any church which            ought to commemorate Easter in conjunction with the
 wishes to maintain a Calvinistic and Reformed em-             apostate church which literally denies the resurrection
- phasis (such as, e.g., the Reformed Church in America        of Christ anyway.



                                        NEWS  FROM  OUR  CHURCHES-
                                                                                                            1

                                            April 15, 1966                                 *     *     *
     Rev. J. A. Heys, South Holland's minister, has re-                Rev. M. Schipper, of Southeast Church, and Rev.
 ceived a call from the congregation at Edgerton, Minn.        R.C. Harbach; of Kalamazoo, plan to leave, D.V., for
     Rev. D. Engelsma of Loveland, declined the call           a two-week investigative trip through the East for the
 which came to him from the church at Randolph, Wis.           Mission Board.         They intend to visit Cincinnati and
    Hudsonville's con&story has named a Duo from which         Hamilton, Ohio; Boyertown and Swengle, Pa., and
 one will be called at a congregational meeting to be          several places in New Jersey.                     Rev. Harbach has
 held April 25.      The duo: Revs. M. Schipper and H.         several contacts in New Jersey through his tract
 Veldman.                                                      ministry and correspondence over a period of time.
                            * *  *                             There are - several people in Bound Brook, N.J. who
     Some' of the Spring activities in the Grand Rapids        avidly read our Standuvd  Beaver  and who proudly own
 area .were:    Eastern Ladies League, April 14 at Hope        back numbers of our magazine, which are read and
 Church with Rev.  6. Van  Baren speaking on, "The             re-read many times, which have been supplied them
 Signs of the Times"; Mr. and Mrs. League held at              by Mr. Tom Elzinga of our Holland Church. This
 Southeast Church, which featured a panel discussion;          reminds one of the "you in your small corner, and I in
 League of Mens' Societies meeting at First Church             mine" sort of witnessing.
 with Rev. Van  Baren as speaker; Office Bearer's                                          ***
 League at Southwest Church with a speech on a                         The Radio Comm. has tapes of the lecture series
 Deacon's work as Elder in a small congregation, also          by Prof. H.C. Hoeksema. For particulars, write to
 by Rev. Van Baren; and, Hope's Choral Society Easter          The Reformed Witness Hour, Box 1230, Grand Rapids,
 Program in their church, giving an Easter Cantata,            Mich.
 "Life Eternal."                                                       . . . . see you in church.                          J.M.F.


360                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER

       REPORT OF CLASSIS  EAST                                     requested to be continued. Classis  granted this request.
  April 6, 1966 At Southwest Church                                   After adjournment, elder W. Gr i e s s closed with
          Rev. G. J. Van  Baren  led in the opening devotions.     prayer.
  And after he declared the  classis  properly constituted,                                  ***
  he recorded minutes while Rev. R. C. Harbach pre-                   At 9:00 A.M., March 16, 1966,  Classis West con-
  sided.        All the churches were fully represented.           vened at our church in South Holland, Illinois. All the
          This very brief session of  classis treated mostly       churches were represented by two delegates, except for
  routine matters.                                                 three churches which had only one delegate present.
          The Classical Committee was instructed to prepare           Rev. J. A. Heys served as chairman of the  Classis.
  a constitution governing its work, and present it to             Rev. C. Hanko functioned as clerk. Rev. Heys gave a
  the next classical meeting for approval.                         special word of welcome to Rev. R. Decker, who was
          Requests for classical supply for Randolph and           at  Classis  as a delegate for the first time.
  Hudsonville were received. The committee: Rev.                      The congregations of Randolph, Forbes, Isabel,
  G. Lanting, T. Miedema and D. Langeland prepared                 Edgerton  and  Pella requested classical appointments.
  the schedule of appointments, later adopted as follows:          Classis  decided to ask Classis  East to supply Randolph
          Hudsonville:    Apr. 17 - Van Baren  May 8 - Lanting     and drew up the following schedule for the other four
  May 1.5 - Harbach May 22 -- Schipper June 5 - Lubbers            churches: EDGERTON: April 17, 24  -  3. Kortering;
  June 19 -- Lanting July 3 -- Van Baren.                          May 8, 15 -- D. Engelsma; June 5, 12 -C. Hanko; July
          Randolph: Apr. 17 -- Lubbers Apr. 24 -- Veldman          3 - R. Decker; July 24, 31 - J. Kortering; Aug. 21,28 -
  May 15 -- Van Baren  May 22 -- Veldman May 29 -- Lan-            G. Vanden  Berg; Sept. 18,25  -- B. Woudenberg. PELLA:
  ting June 12 -- Veldman? June 19 -- Harbach June 26 --           April - G. Vanden  Berg; May - G. Vanden  Berg; June -
  Schipper July 10 -- Lubbers.                                     J. Kortering; July - J. Heys; Aug. - R. Decker; Sept. --
         Peter Zandstra and Herman Ophoff served on the            D. Engelsma. ISABEL-FORBES: April 17, 24,  May1   -
  finance committee.                                               R. Decker; May 8, 15, 22-J. Heys; Sept. 18,  25-
          Revs. H. Veldman and G. Lubbers were chosen              C. Hanko.     Isabel and Forbes received few appoint-
  Church Visitors, with Rev. M. Schipper as alternate.             ments since they expect Student D. Kuiper to "speak
          Mr. T. Elzinga was asked to thank the ladies of          a word of edification" for them, this summer.
  Southwest Church for their catering.                                Classis  granted the subsidy requests of  Doon,
          Questions of Article 41 of the Church Order were         Edgerton, Forbes, Isabel, Loveland, Lynden, Oak Lawn
  asked and answered satisfactorily.                               and Randolph and sent the requests to Synod for final
          Classis  decided to meet next time on July 6th at        approval.
  Hudsonville.
          The chairman thanked the  classis  for its coopera-         The delegates discussed at some length an overture
                                                                   from the Oak Lawn consistory dealing with "Memorials
  tion, and the meeting adjourned with Rev. G. Lanting             to Man in our Churches." Oak Lawn urges the re-
  leading in the closing prayer of thanksgiving.                   jection of "the idea and  practise of establishing me-
                                            M. Schipper, S.C.      morials in the name of man, within the sphere of our
  REPORT OF CLASSIS  WEST                                          churches."     Classis  sent the overture to Synod but
  (Continued session of March 15, 1966 and the regular,            voted down a motion to approve the overture.
  spring session of March 16 and 17, 1966)                            Lynden's request for permission to ask collections
          The continued session of the September, 1965 meet-       in our churches was granted and sent on to Synod.
  ing of  Classis  West was held on March 15, 1966 at                 Classis closed its activities on Wednesday with the
  South Holland, Illinois.        Of the twelve churches re-       electing of various functionaries. Results of the vot-
  siding in  Classis  West, eight churches were repre-             ing were the following: 1) Stated Clerk  - Rev .       D.
  sented by two delegates, three churches were repre-              Engelsma.      2) Assistant Stated Clerk- Rev. J.  Kor-
  sented by one delegate and one church was not repre-             tering. 3) Third member of the Classical Committee -
  sented.                                                          elder E. Van Egdom.         4) Church Visitors-Rev. J.
          Rev. C. Hanko, having conducted the opening devo-        Heys and Rev. C. Hanko. 5) Delegates ad  examina-
  tions, continued to serve as chairman of this session            Rev. C. Hanko,  primus for three years; Rev. R.
  of  Classis. Rev. D. Engelsma functioned as clerk.               Decker, secundus for three years; Rev. J. Kortering,
          A letter from the Stated Clerk revealed that all the     secundus for two years (to fill out the term of Rev. G.
  appeals which had necessitated this continued session            Van  Baren).  6) Delegates to Synod -Ministers  Primi:
  had been withdrawn temporarily so that the committee             D. Engelsma, C. Hanko, J. Kortering and G.  Vanden
       appointed by  Classis  might continue to work with the      Berg.      Ministers Secundi: R. Decker, J. Heys and
  parties involved.                                                B. Woudenberg. Elders  Primi: T. Feenstra, W. Griess,
          Classis  then approved the action of the Classical       T. Kooima and E. Van Egdom. Elders Secundi: J.
  Committee- of rescheduling the continued  Classis  (or-          Blankespoor, G. Hoekstra, H. Miersma and C. Vander
  iginally scheduled for January 2, 1966) for March 15,            Molen.
       1966.    Also,  Classis  decided to follow the advise of       At 8:00 Thursday morning,  Classis  resumed its
  the Classical Committee' to hold the regular, March,             work. Classis  heard an oral report from the committee
       1966  Classis  in South Holland, Illinois, instead of       appointed to work with the parties of the eight appeals
       Edgerton, Minnesota.                                        directed to the September, 1965  Classis  and continued
          A letter from the committee appointed to study the       this committee, mandating them to report at the Sep-
  eight appeals brought to the September, 1965  Classis            tember, 1966  Classis.
       and to work with the parties involved was read. In             Classis adjourned before noon on Thursday, March
  this letter, the committee informed  Classis  that they          17, and Rev. D. Engelsma closed with prayer.
  had worked as committee from January 11 through                     The September, 1966 session of  Classis  West is to
  January 19, that reconciliation had been attained on             be held in Edgerton, Minnesota.
  one important point in, the case, and that the committee                                   D. J. Engelsma, Stated Clerk


