                                        e


                             tandard


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



`NV THIS ISS(I E:


         Meditation: The Still Small Voice

        Editorial: An O.P.C.X.R.C.  Merger?

                Tensions In "The Teaching."

               Study Committee Recommendations in the Dekker Case

        I. c. c. `c. (3)

        The Rejection of Saul


                                               Vdume   XLII/  Number   17/  June 1, 1966


386                                                                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                           C O N T E N T S
Meditation  -
   The Still Small Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
          Rev. J. Kortering
Editorials  -                                                                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
   An O.P.C.-C.R.C. Merger? . . . . .' . . . ..<.L.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .- .- . . . . . 389
          Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                    Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
   Tensions In "The Teaching" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390                                                   Editor- Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
          Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
   Study Committee Recommendations in the Dekker Case . . . 393                                                                               Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
          Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1842 Plymouth Terrace,  SE., Grand
Examining Ecumenicalism  -                                                                                                                    Rapids,  Mich.       49506. Contributions will be limited to 300.
   I. c. c. c. (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394    words and must be neatly written or typewritten. Copy dead-
          Rev. G. Van Baren                                                                                                                   lines are the first and fifteenth of the month.
A Cloud of Witnesses  -
   The Rejection of Saul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*....... 396                           All church news items should be addressed toMr. J. M. Faber,
          Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                                                                                        1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
In His Fear -
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          Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                                                     be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below;
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          Rev. G. Lubbers                                                                                                                                        Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
Contending For The Faith -
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          Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                     received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
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   Missionary Principles                                                                                                                                              ANNOUNCEMENT
   Bible Study Course on the Book of Ephesians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
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          Mr. John M. Faber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408                 only once during the months of June, July, and August.



            MEDIlATION-

                                                                            The Still Small Voice

                                                                                                                       by Rev. J.  Kovteving

                                                        "It is  enqh;  now, 0  Lovd  take away my life,  for I am not  better than
                                               my  fathers  . . .aftev  the  five  a still small voice and it was so when Elijah
                                               heavd it that he wrapped his face in his mantel and went out and stood in
                                               the  entering  in  of  the cave. . .and the  Lovd said, unto him, Go,  yeturn."
                                                                                                                                                   IKings   19:4b, 12, 14, and  15a

       The juniper tree1                                                                                                                      He suffers long with their doubts and fears. He con-
       What a lonely place.                                                                                                                   descends in mercy and heals the broken-hearted. We
       It was there that Elijah sighed, "It is enough; now,                                                                                   so aptly sing,
0 Lord, take awaymylife." Despondency, as a treach-                                                                                                   "The Lord upholds the falt'ring feet
erous viper infected his soul with the venom of                                                                                                        He makes the weak securely stand.
doubt.           It was no use to go on. The cause of God was                                                                                          The burdened ones bowed down with grief
lost.                                                                                                                                                  Are helped by His most gracious hand."
       0 Lord, take away my life! :                                                                                                              Here too, Jehovah mercifully preached to the
    Jehovah, however is not affected by the vacillating                                                                                       preacher.
faith of a pilgrim. In His steadfastness to His people                                                                                            Let's join Elijah at Horeb. Jehovah dwelt in His


                                             THESTANDARDBEABER                                                    387

Sanctuary. The mountain was His pulpit. The valley              We cringe in fear as we face the modern Jezebels.
the pew. The sermon was the still small voice. It is         The world of sin flaunts in arrogant display their
profitable to spend a moment there, for a dejected           weapons of destruction and we shrink back in holy
servant entered this sanctuary, but an invigorated man       horror.      What does the true church amount to today?
of God departed.                                             It seems as if all the power is on the side of our mortal
   The vestibule to that sanctuary was the wilderness.       enemy.       Place the Church of Jesus Christ on one side
   It was there that a lonely juniper tree sheltered a       of the balance with  theworld on the other, then judge
pitiful servant of God. Elijah had decided to run away       them according to huma.nstandards,  and the scales will
from God. He asked God to kill him.                          tip in favor of the world every time. Numbers-the
   What brought this on?                                     world has the edge by far, money- the church can't
   This question takes on an added measure of pre-           compare, learning- the schools of our land indoc-
ponderance when we recall that this Elijah was the           trinate thousands of students to be enemies of the
servant of God who only days before arose to the             church, prestige  - it was once popular to be Christian,
pinnacle of power at  Carmel.  What a thrill it is to re-    but not today, influence-the moral fibre of society
call this moment of faith. He brazenly announced to          gets worse, not better.       The forces of  Anti,christ
Ahab there would be no rain, but by the word that he         manifested in both government and false church  are',
would bring. For over three years the barren waste           determined either by persuasion or persecution to
of Canaan groaned for water.         Fearlessly, Elijah      undermine the faithful church of Christ. The cause of
called fuming Ahab to Mount  Carmel to witness his           Christ appears ridiculously naive. We often ask, what
challenge to the prophets of Baal. They had agreed           is the use, is there yet faith on the earth?
that the God who would answer by fire and consume the           We feel this constricting influence within our own
.offering  on the altar would be heralded as the true        churches.      We are not immune to the attack; we are
God. Derisively he jeered at the futility of the prophets    called of God to bear the brunt of it. We are small;
of Baal, "Cry louder!" Feverishly they danced about          that often occasions discouragement. We have many
the altar, lancing themselves with knives. All this was      ambitious programs, but feel our hands are tied over
to no avail, heaven remained stonily silent.     How we      and over. We love our truth and desire the witness to
tingle in ecstacy as Elijah unwaveringly called them to      go forth, yet we have no missionary. Our Seminary,
surround the drenched altar. With words of simple            so vital to the well-being of our churches is small; we
faith, he addressed the God of Abraham, Isaac, and           often, ask, why are there not more young men that
Jacob. The God of fire consumed not only the offering,       desire the ministry? Is the influence of this world so
but the altar as well. How awesome to hear  Carmel's         great upon our youth that they almost forget this need?
heights reverberate with the chant, "Jehovah, He is the      Our vacant churches spend a great deal of time beneath
God."     Without favor the people slew the priests of       the juniper tree. They wrestle with the question, will
Baal.                                                        we ever get a minister of our own; can we go on this
   The rains descended.                                      way? Government is fingering its way into education;
   It was all so beautiful. Faith in full blossom.           we begin to question, can our schools exist? We can
   Here beneath the juniper tree, the hot blast of the       hardly supply the needs of the existing schools; why
desert wind wilted that faith. The arid soul of the same     talk about beginning more grade schools and high
Elijah cried out, "It is enough, take away my life."         schools.     The darkness of doubt soon closes in around
   Yes, it was Jezebel who occasioned this change.           us and we throw ourselves down beneath the juniper
Fickle Ahab had tattled to this adulterous woman. In         and say, "It is enough". We might just as well give
fiery breath, baited with hellish anger she shrieks,         up. The future is dark, the cause appears hopeless.
"So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make             When we talk that way, our feet are faltering.
not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow             The Lord upholds such feet. He called Elijah to
about this time." That was too much for Elijah who           His holy mountain. It is  good)  to spend some time in
had just come out of his three years of banishment.          God's dwelling place; then we get the proper per-
It was more than he could take. He yielded to his sin-       spective once again and go on encouraged.
ful nature and decided to run.                                  Nourished by the food that the angel provided,
   His problem was spiritual. What good did it do to         Elijah traveled to Mt. Horeb.         As soon as he had
preach7 He had hoped that a change would take place,         arrived, Jehovah began to prepare him for the sermon
that Israel as a nation would now recognize their            that He was about to preach. That was necessary, for
historic relationship with God. He must have fondly          the transition from the juniper tree to the still small
imagined that even Ahab would put Jezebel in her             voice on themountain is not easily made. We know that
place.    He aspired to see a national revival. All this     when we enter the  .church  for divine worship. Here
to no apparent avail. Again his life was at stake, no        too, a despondent, grumbling, stubborn Elijah had to
one offered to come to his rescue. He concluded that         be made ready for such, a glorious gospel. As he was,
there weren't any children of God in Israel anyway.          he could never be receptive to such sublime truths.
He might just as well quit. "I, only I am left, and they     So God asked him a personal question. He called him
seek my life to take it away".                               from the cave and said, "What doest thou here Elijah?"
   Sounds familiar doesn't it  7 We too are often under      As the perfect Psycho-analyst, God posited a leading
that juniper tree.     Life seems not worth living, we       question that required Elijah to do some introspection.
feel like giving up. God's cause appears so weak.               Elijah was quick to answer. It sounded pretty good


388                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

tool I. am jealous for the Lord God, I have preached             governments to  becom,e Christian, we can't expect
and maintained the truth, but all to `no avail. Israel           worldly organizations to be persuaded to adopt  chris-
has forsaken the covenant, thrown down the altars of             tian principles.           God's cause is small and distinct.
God, killed His prophets, and I'm the only one left.             It is always a remnant in the midst of a wicked world.
you get the point?         Elijah said, it was because of            Secondly, Elijah as a servant of God had to be a
jealousy   for God that he left. He could no longer as-          servant of destruction to the  Baa1 worshippers and to
sociate with such a people; he was alone anyway: he              all who continued in sin. We easily forget this too.
might just as well die in the desert; for God's sake he          The calling of the church is to testify against all evil
couldn't stand it any more.                                      and bring God's judgment upon all workers of iniquity.  _'
       There' was something basically wrong with his             Elijah had to anoint three men who would be instru-
reasoning.      Jehovah now  proceded to show what was           ments in God's hand to inflict His judgment upon the
wrong.                                                           enemies of the church. It is also through the preach-
       God caused three powerful displays to pass before         ing, the still small voice, and the daily testimony of
Elijah: wind, earthquake, and fire.         Each time God        the believer in the midst of a wicked and perverse
was not in them, These three were followed by the                generation, that  God. leaves them without excuse and
still small voice.       Elijah recognized this voice as         the measure of iniquity is filled.           Through contact
God and therefore went forth and stood upon the cleft            with the believer, the world rises in greater enmity
with head covered. by his mantle. It was then that God           and thus hastens its own destruction.
applied this sermon to Elijah.         "Go return, I have            Thirdly, the true power of the church is found not
work for you; anoint Jehu, Hazael, and Elisha as in-             in outward things, but in the Word of God, the still
struments for the destruction of all the worshippers             small  v0ic.e.          God speaks and the fruits of His word
of Baal, and above all I have 7000 that have not bowed           must not be determined by mere men, but God will
the knee to Baal; go preach to them, they need you."             use it to fulfill His will. He has His covenant people,
       Let's notice three things that God will tell us when      the 7000, seven times 10, times 10, times 10 or the
we become weary and would think the cause of the                 complete number of the covenant children in the
church to be hopeless.                                           world.       The power for gathering and preserving this
       First, by outward appearance God's cause is always        remnant is not determined by men, but by God Him-
small.       That is the first idea of the three powerful        self.             _'
displays contrasted to the still small voice. God was                Remember Pentecost  I           We have just celebrated
not in the wind, fire, and earthquake. They did not              this glorious day in the church. This is a reflection
represent His cause.         This is not to say they were        upon that wonder. Elijah had to be reminded in type
not brought about by God's control;, they obviously              and shadow, .we have to be reminded of the fulfillment.
were, for "the Lord passed by", but he was not  in               If we take our eye off God and His Spirit, things
them.       Similarly, the cause of the world is always          sometimes looks very dark and hopeless.              When in
great.     Antichrist that reigned throughout history and        faith we see the 7000 who struggle in this world of
will personally reign in the end will possess a grand            sin, know that through the Spirit of our living Lord
display of power and splendor. The cause of God in               not one shall be lost, -but all shall surely be gathered
contrast from an outward point of view doesn't amount            into the fold and retained in safety, we have every
to much.       Elijah thought the  nation  of Israel would       reason to continue. Even the Jezebels can not destroy
turn, he expected big things, but God now wanted to              us but are under God's almighty direction to fulfill
remind him, no, there is a small  remnant,  and that             His will.
from human standards isn't much. So for us today,                    Elijah had work to do, he had to return! He did.
we must not think God's cause is in grand world re-                  We have work to do, we must press  on1 We will.
vival and national conversion. God's cause today is                  Remember the still small voice; remember the
not in the redemption of society; we must not expect             Holy Spirit of God. God is our refuge and strength.




                                              RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
                                  The Consistory and congregation of the Lynden Pro-
                                  testant Reformed Church wish to express our sympathy
                                  to our fellow member, Mr. Andrew Van Den Top, in
                                  the death of his father,
                                                MR. JAKE VAN DEN TOP
                                  "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his
                                  saints". Psalm  116:15
                                                               Pastor, B. Woudenberg
                                                               Clerk, H. Vander Veen, Jr.


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      389

           :

        EDITORIAL- * f

                                    .


                             An.  0.P.GCRX.  ,Merger?                                                                        -

                                         "
                                          ,                 by  Pyof.  Ii. C. Hoeksema


        Coming before the Thirty-third General, Assembly                    C O M M E N T   -'
     of the Orthodox  .Presbyterian  `Church, which con-
     vened April  26  at Oostburg, Wisconsin, was a brief                    -At this  .writing, I do not -know what action was
     report which proposed working toward organic union                    taken by the General Assembly; nor  doI'know whether
     with the Christian Reformed Church. From an inter-                     a similar proposal will come before the Christian
     ested friend I received a copy of this report, which                  Reformed Synod at Pella.               As far as mergers go in
     reads as follows:                                                     this  .day of ecumenicity, this  is- not a large one, of
                                                                            course; nor would it be counted very significant. Never-
                                                                           theless, I believe it is worthy of comment because of
        REPORT OF THE CCMMITTEE  TO- CONFER WITH.
        REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CHRISTIAN REFORMED                           its significance for the Reformed community.  Mycom-
                                 CHURCH                                    m e n t s   are,as  f o l l o w s :
                                                                               1) This is probably one of the most significant
           The Committee to Confer with Representatives. of                 reports. coming before the OPC. General Assembly;
        the Christian Reformed Church held a meeting with'
        the  corre,sponding  committee of the Christian Re-                 yet it- is  extiremely  brief, and it appears entirely
        formed Church in Princeton, New Jersey on January                   without grounds. It seems  to me that it would be ex-
        24, 1966.      All of the members of the Christian Re-              tremely difficult to discuss such a proposal, either
        formed committee and all but one of the Orthodox.                  ~YO' or  con,  for the simple reason that it fails to
        Presbyterian committee were present.                                state grounds and assumes what ought to be proved.
           Your committee recommends:                                          2) The main assumption appears to'be that there is
           1. That the General Assembly call attention to the               a sufficient degree of doctrinal and confessional agree-
        advantages of supporting the -Back to God Hour and of              ment  to warrant organic union between these two
        using Back to God Hour materials in the families;                  denominations.          This is not discussed in the report.
           2. That the General Assembly encourage, wherever                 Surely, however, it is exactly such doctrinal and con-
        practicable, (a) pulpit exchanges, (b) joint youth activi-
        ties, (c) joint home missionary activities, (d) cooper-            fessional agreement which is basic to organic union.
        ative publishing, (e) mutual exchange of publications               In this respect I can see no obstacle to merger. Both
        and the holding of common conferences, (f) represen-                denominations are officially- Reformed in their con-
                                                                           fession.        Moreover, on matters such as common
I       tation at existing conferences and meetings;
           3. That the General Assembly urge the reporting                  grace and the well-meant offer of salvation there is
        to church courts of successful activities of the above              also no significant difference between the two churches.
        mentioned categories;                                               From this point of view, therefore, I can understand
           4. That the .General Assembly request the Corn-                 the recommendation that `the General Assembly de-
        mittee on Revisions to the Form of Government and
I                                                                           clare its opinion that the committee should work to-
        Book of Discipline to invite. to a joint meeting the
        Church Order Revision Committee of the Christian                   ward the definite -goal of organic union. It ought to be
        Reformed Church, the Committee on Closer Relation-                 noted, however, that a decision to this. effect would
        ship with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church of the                  virtually commit the  CPC to union, provided the CRC
        Christian Reformed Church, and the present committee                also favors it.
        to determine whether progress CaMOt   be made in the                   3) Whether the church political issues, which have
        immediate future toward agreement between the two                  proved rather troublesome in past discussions, can be
        Churches on principles of church government;                        resolved remains to be seen. It is, I think, note-
           5.. That the General Assembly declare its opinion               worthy that point 4' speaks of agreement on "principles
        that the present committee should work toward the                   of church. government" rather than on full agreement
        definite goal of organic union between the Orthodox                in practice. Perhaps this. will be the way out of this
        Presbyterian and the Christian Reformed Churches.
           6. That the committee be continued.                             problem.
                            Respectfully submitted,                            4) I find it rather strange that the report recom-
                                         Calvin A. Busch                   mends a virtual practice of organic union and a kind of
                                         Edmund P. Clowney                 trial union before the definite goal of organic union is
        . . .                            Bert L. Reber                     achieved.       Yet this is practically. recommended in
                : .
                ..                  Paul Woolley, Chairman                 points  1 and  .2.         If these recommendations are  fol-


390                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

lowed, then it seems to me that the Orthodox Presby-             union?        The OPC is by far the smaller of the two
terian Churches will commit themselves to such a                 denominations.       Will this proposed merger actually
degree before the union is consummated that it will be           be a merger? Or will it mean that the OPC will simply
very difficult to retreat at a future date. Very strange,        be swallowed up in the larger CRC and completely
too, I think, is the recommendation that "successful             lose its historic Presbyterian character in the proc-
activities of the above mentioned categories" be re-             ess? This question certainly should be considered;
ported. Why not also possible unsuccessful activities?           and the advisability of organic union is closely con-
Surely, these would also be pertinent to any final               nected with it.. Nor should any such merely practical
decision.                                                        consideration as a possible hope that the conservative
   5) The entire proposal leaves some significant                OPC will buoy up the conservative element of the CRC
questions that ought to be answered.            The first of     be permitted to obscure this question. A third con-
these, -and it should weigh heavily with the OPC, --             sideration involves Westminster Seminary. I am well
is this: is the Christian Reformed Church actually               aware of the fact that Westminster is not a denomina-
faithful to its own official confessional and doctrinal          tional school. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the
position?     As much as I know of the OPC, they cannot          ministers of the OPC for -the most part have been
be in agreement with some of the liberal tendencies              trained at Westminster.       Should a merger be con-
evidenced in Christian Reformed circles. I refer to              summated, what will become of Westminster7 Calvin
matters like the inspiration-infallibility question, the         Seminary is, of course, the denominational school for
Dekker Case, the World Council matter, etc. I know,              the training of CRC ministers. Will Westminster be
too, that there must be some concern about these                 given equal status with Calvin, even though the former
matters in the OPC, judging from the fact that the               is not a church school? Or will Westminster become
CRC's fraternal delegate to last year's General As-              a kind of orphan through this proposed union?
sembly tried to quiet some of the fears about these                 In the light of the above considerations, I would
issues.      A second consideration is this: what will be-       suggest that a word of warning is inorder  for the OPC.
come of the identity of the OPC in such an organic               It is this: CAUTION1



            EDITORIAL-


                              Tensioqs  In "The Teaching"


                                                  by  PYof.  H. C. Hoeksema


   The second category of issues which the  Reformed                world, and as the Covenant God of Abraham, Isaac,
Journal  (March, 1966) predicts will have to be faced               and Jacob, and of all their seed. Is He, for example,
in the Reformed community in the future is entitled                 unchangeable in the way in which unchangeableness
"The Teaching."         In this category Dr. Henry Stob             has often been thought of -mainly under pagan Greek
calls attention to four issues, all of which are indeed             auspices? Are we to think of Him, as owe have some-
very important.                                                     times done under Tho;n!stic influences, as Pure Act,
                                                                    devoid of all passivity and potentiality? Are we to
   The first of these issues is concerned with theology             regard the quite human speech about Him, which is
proper, i.e., the doctrine of God's Being and Nature.               found in such abundance in the Old Testament, as
Dr. Stob describes this issue as follows:                           merely figurative and anthropomorphic language es-
       Nothing is so important as the proper understand-            sentially inappropriate to God, or are we to regard
   ing of who and what God is. On the other hand, there             such language as a veritable revelation concerning
   is hardly a doctrine that is more in the melting within          God? Questions such as these, and others besides,
   the larger theological community than the doctrine of            we shall have to be asking ourselves in the coming
 G o d .     His individuality is denied, His personality is        months and years.
   denied, His transcendence is denied, and His death is
   proclaimed. These denials andmorbidpronouncements             Corn m ent
   concern us mainly in a negative way; they fix the posi-
   tions that we are called upon to expose and discredit.           The last part of this paragraph is the most im-
   Yet they also provide us with the occasion to review          portant.      As for the first part of this paragraph, I
   in the light of. Scripture what He is really like who         cannot become excited about the doctrinal pronounce-
   presents Himself as the Creator and Redeemer of the           ments of the modernist church; nor do I consider it


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       391

the chief calling of the true church to expose and                the subject; it is only a "gravamen" that the situation
discredit all the modern day mouthings of the modern-              allows.     Others think that though the language of the
ist, as, for example, the "God is dead" theology. I do            creeds is ambiguous the intent of the creeds is plain;
not share the excitement about this latest modernistic            that, however, this intent has not been adequately ex-
denial of the truth. In fact, I am very much inclined             pressed in our theology; and that therefore discussion
to say concerning it, "Let the dead bury their dead."             is both permissible and desirable, such discussion
                                                                  being nothing more than discussion in the open field
It is much rather the chief calling of the church today           of theology. Under the circumstances it would seem
to maintain and defend the Reformed faith o'uey against           that we should continue to discuss, at least until the
attacks and attackevs from within, perhaps Over against           issues are further clarified.
some who have themselves become enamored of the
modernist and  neo-mbdernist  theology, than to con-
cern itself with these "far out" and far-fetched the-          Corn m ent
ological fads which have captured such a large part of            Again, there is not the desired degree of clarity on
the attention of the religious press.                          the part of Dr. Stob with respect to the various posi-
   In the second place, I can certainly agree with             tions and suggestions about reprobation which he men-
Stob's statement that "nothing is so important as the          tions.    He does not identify the holders of these opin-
proper understanding of who and what God is." The-             ions.       I suspect that much of the ferment which he
ology in the  narirower sense, doctrine of God, is of          mentions is current in the Netherlands among theolo-
prime importance in  all dogmatics. Fail  to have a            gians of the Gereformeerde  Kerken,  even to the ex-
proper understanding of who and what God is, and               tent that the orthodoxy of some of the leading theolo-
you will necessarily fail to understand all the rest of        gians is being questioned openly. I suspect, too, that
theology. That is axiomatic.                                   what ferment there is in the Reformed community in
   However, Dr. Stob will have to be more specific             this country has been "imported" from the Nether-
with his questions than he is in this paragraph. Where,        lands. I suspect, too, that the influence of Barth's
for example,. is the pagan Greek influence in the Re-          theology is to be discovered somewhere in this fer-
formed presentation of God's unchangeability? Where            ment.       Time will tell whether these suspicions are
is the Thomistic influence, and what is it? What does          correct.       I have no `doubt, however, judging from the
Stob mean by the suggestion of a -possible passivity           past writings of  nien like Dr. Stob, Dr. Boer, and Dr.
and potentiality in God? Is he suggesting a contrast,          Daane, that the  Journal  is, to put it mildly, not en-
or even a contradiction, between anthropomorphisms             tirely satisfied with the "traditional Reformed under-
and veritable revelation concerning God? Moreover,             standing of reprobation." I am thinking of Dr. Stob's
in all this I cannot down the question within my soul:         conception of God's hatred, of Dr. Boer's articles
is Dr. Stob hinting that we must begin to re-think and         about reprobation, and of Dr. Daane's continual harp-
perhaps re-formulate the very basic truths of Reformed         ing on the "equal ultimacy" theme.
theology? I am afraid of all these questions, not be-             Without engaging in a detailed discussion of this
cause I fear questions or because I feel Reformed              issue, I want to make a few suggestions:
theology has no answers to them, but because I fear                1. It is high time that those who refer to "equal
the questioning and doubt-creating attitude that these         ultimacy" furnish a  clear.definition  of what they mean
questions seem to betray. It is to be hoped, and ex-           by it. This also is, after all, a  rather philosophical
pected, that the  Joumal  will make itself clear on these      expression; perhaps its propriety may as well be ques-
matters.                                                       tioned as the other terms which Stob characterizes as
   The second issue raised by Stob in this category is         philosophical categories.       But precisely what does it
probably the most important of all. It concerns the            mean? Do those who use this term mean equal sov-
doctrine of the eternal  de.crees, the very heart of the       ereignty? Do they mean to denote the idea that election
Reformed faith. I quote:                                       and reprobation are equally grounded in God's  saver;
                                                               eign good pleasure?         Or do they mean to denote the
      As almost' everyone has observed, the doctrine           conception that in the order of the decrees the decree
   of the eternal decrees, particularly of the decree of
   reprobation is currently under review.         Different    of election and that of reprobation are coordinate? And
   theologians lay the accent differently on election and      when they use "equal ultimacy" as a charge against
   reprobation, some affirming and some denying their          one's view of predestination, are they trying to suggest
   equal ultimacy. Others find the creeds ambiguous in         that reprobation must, at least, be conceived of as
   their teaching on the subject.     Others, thirough  the    conditional  7 If the Jouvnal intends to discuss this issue,
   careful study of the classical Scripture passages bear-     I suggest the need of some precision,
   ing on the matter, are beginning to entertain doubts           2. If there is to be discussion of this issue, it must
   about the reality of the supposed Biblical basis for the    indeed be  responsible   discussion.        This is a most
   traditional Reformed understanding of reprobation.          serious matter in itself.       Besides, the history of the
   Still others question the propriety of employing phil-
   osophical categories like "Cause" and "Necessity"           dogma of predestination has been such that it was the
   for the purpose of construing the Biblical  give&.          decree of reprobation which was  parti'cularly disliked
   There is some  uncertainity in our circles how one          and attacked. In fact, it is a rather safe test of one's
   should proceed amidst all this ferment. Some, per-          orthodoxy with respect to the doctrine of election to
   haps most, think matters of this sort should not be         inquire how he stands with respect to the decree of
   openly discussed, since the creeds speak plainly on         reprobation.       That is due, of course, to the fact that


392                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

the truth of sovereign election cannot possibly be main-          reached- through the correlation. of the data supplied
tained where the truth of sovereign reprobation is                both by believing exegesis and by faith-directed in-
denied. Predestinationis indeed p~aedestina.tio  gemina,          quiry into the empirical state of affairs," then I begin
double predestination.                                            to have serious doubts as to his emphasis on "re-
       3. Certainly, for Reformed men it must be a  pyiovi        sponsible exegesis," and I begin to fear that he after
established that all discussion must take place strictly          all means exegesis dictated by the alleged evidences
within the confines of the confessions, particularly              and claimed data of natural science. And the true
the Canons of Dordrecht, unless there is a willingness            character of such "exegesis" is not exegesis at all,
to file a gravamen against the confessions. For my                but eisegesis, or what the Dutchcall  "inlegkunde."
part, the confessions are quite sufficient on this score,         Nor have previous deliverances of the  Jou~n.al   given
even though their language is infralapsarian. It would            evidence of a different tendency in this regard.
seem to me that it should be recognized  that'one'who                The fourth issue which Dr. Stob mentions is that of
has such serious questionings of the confession that              what is commonly called the "Dekker Case." Stob
the possibility of a gravamen arises as to this doc-              makes mention of various viewpoints in this connection,
trine, is in the nature of the case rendering himself             including that of "writers from the Protestant Re-
suspect.      Par the truth of sovereign reprobation, ever        formed Church" (correctly: "Churches").             He also
since the pronouncements of Dordrecht, belongs to the             makes mention of Synod's study committee, whose
things which are most surely believed among us. But               report at the  time  when Dr. Stob  was writing was  not
let the  Jozwnal   speak out; the  Standard  Beaver  will         yet published.    Significantly, he makes the following
listen and react,  - on the basis of Scripture and the            statement in this regard: "There is no warrant for
confessions.                                                      prejudging the Committee's conclusions, but it is per-
   4. It seems to me that 1924 and its supposed grace             haps legitimate to express the hope that open theologi-
for the reprobate, as well as Prof. Dekker's redemp-              cal reflection will not be prematurely arrested by
tive love of God for all men, inclusive of the reprobate,         ad hoc  decisions made in reference to a matter of con-
must needs have a place in the discussion proposed                siderable complexity.      The issue needs ongoing ex-
by the Jouvnal.                                                   ploration within a framework of mutual trust and
   The third issue raised `by Dr. Stob is the question            respect."
of evolution. I .will not. quote all that he writes about           Since Dr. Stob penned the above words, the Study
this, but call attention to the following items:                  Committee Report, some seventy pages long, has be-
       1. Stob calls in question Prof. L. Berkhof's calling       come public.      Its conclusions are not favorable to
"theistic evolution a contradiction in terms. He sug-             Prof. Dekker's views, but rather  `to the old, traditional,
gests that it is possible to think of evolution theistic-         and altogether inconsistent position of 1924. But if I
ally, "in a way compatible with God's creative ac-                read Dr. Stob correctly, he does not want any  binding
tivity."     I invite a debate on that proposition. For I         decisions. on this matter, especially not if those de-
certainly hold that "theistic evolution" is, in the light         cisions are contrary to the position of Prof. Dekker.
of Scripture, a contradiction in terms. I believe in-             In other words, Stob wants  rtleevvvijheid,"   freedom of
deed that "theistic evolution" is an unthinkable idea,            doctrine. How that is possible under Reformed church
and that in the name of theism it nevertheless rules              polity and on fundamental issues is a conundrum to
God, the Creator, the God -of the Scriptures out, and             me; nor does Stob explain it.
that there ought to be no room under a Reformed ec-
clesiastical roof for the theistic: evolutionist. I am               But I have the feeling that here at last the "cat
afraid, however, that for the most part the Reformed              comes out of the bag." If the Joumzal has its way on
community has moved so far away from that strict                  all these important issues,  - and that way has always
position that to maintain it would result in ecclesias-           tended. to be the  "iiberal  way," -then they will for-
tical upheaval,       The theologian and the church that          evermore be pleading for "ongoing exploration within
dare to maintain  strict1y.a literal and realistic,creation       a framework of mutual trust and respect." The result
                                                                  will be that with respect to issues on which the church
in six days have become increasingly rare.
   2. That the issue of theistic evolution is a matter            has long ago taken a stand and on issues on which the
of "responsible exegesis" must surely be maintained,              Reformed faith has for years and centuries been
even as Stob suggests. In the abstract, that this re-             "settled and binding" they will discuss and discuss
sponsible exegesis must be carried on, "not in isola-             and discuss, until the last vestiges of the Reformed
tion from, but in maximum awareness of the deliver-               faith in the Christian Reformed Church have been re-
ances of science," I also subscribe to.             But when      moved.
Stob begins to explain this as meaning a "verdict                    The  Joumzal  bears careful watching, therefore.


                   Quite properly, it (the- truth of sovereign election) has been called the  COY  ecclesiae,
              the heart  -of  ,the Church.. The whole system of the doctrine of salvation  by,grace is built
              on it as its  .foundation,  stands or falls with this truth. If  -you deny or distort this basic
              truth, you may, perhaps, inconsistently continue to speak of salvation by grace for a time,
              but ultimately you will surely lose all the great doctrines of salvation..
                                                           - H. Hoeksema, "The  .Wonder of. Grace," p. 23


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER,                                                       393

EDITORIAL-

              Study Committee Recommendations
                                    in the Dekker Case

                                                by  Pmf.  H.  C. Hoeksema

   The long awaited report of the Study Committee               sion, the doctrine of definite atonement is an incentive
appointed two years ago with respect to the doctrinal           for rather than a hindrance to mission enthusiasm
position of Prof. Harold Dekker appears in the  Synodi-         and endeavor."  Comment:  The grounds again fail to
cal Agenda of the Christian Reformed Church for 1966.           refer to Scripture and the Confessions; instead they
This report is some seventy pages long; and it is, of           try to show the other face of the Janus-head and main-
course, impossible to present' a detailed summary and           tain the general offer of 1924 in juxtaposition to the
critique in this issue of our  Standard  Beaver.                gospel of definite atonement.
   Because, however, this is a matter of great inter-               A few concluding remarks must suffice for the
est, I will, even though my editorial space is more             present:
than used up, present the bare conclusions of this re-              1. It will be interesting indeed to see whether the
port, so that our readers may be informed of what is            Synod adopts these points, and to see whether or not
happening.    Those conclusions, with the grounds omit-         they will also follow these points by what would seem
ted, are as follows:                                            logically to follow, namely, discipline of Professor
   "I. That, in the light of Scripture and the Confes-          Dekker, unless he recants his position.
sion, there is a qualitative distinction between the                2.. It' will be interesting to observe the reaction of
general love of God for all His creatures and His               the  Reformed Journal to the above recommendations,-
special love for the elect."' Comni  ent:           This, of    particularly of Daane, Boer, Stob, and, not the least,
course, is the traditional common-and-special grace             Prof. Dekker himself.
distinction of 1924; and it stands opposed to Dekker's              3. It is significant that it required seventy pages
conception of one redemptive love of God to all men.            of theological meanderings,.- I call it  hocus  pocus,   -
   "II. That, in the light of Scripture and the Confes-         to try' to maintain the position of Dordrecht and at
sion, the doctrine of a definite or particular (limited)        the same time to maintain 1924.            The committee
atonement must be maintained."  Comment:  This, as              speaks in its conclusions of avoiding the Scylla of
it stands here, is Reformed; and again, it stands op-           undue universalism and the Charybdis of an undue
posed to Dekker's general atonement. There is, how-             particularism, -whatever that may mean. Frankly,
ever, some significant maneuvering in the alleged               the whole report leaves the impression of the old
grounds of this second point, which nevertheless com-           Janus-head.    When Dekker must be condemned, then
promises, or attempts to compromise, this  particular-          the committee reveals Janus's Reformed face.              But
ism. Treatment of this must come later.                         when it appears that they might be too purely Reformed
   "III. That, in the light of Scripture and the Confes-        and that 1924 is being forgotten, they quickly expose
sion, it is unwarranted to posit a universal atonement          Janus's Arminian, universalistic, face. Quite a game,
and a particular redemption." Comment:  This is over            if it were not so serious.
against Dekker's doctrine of a universal atonement
that is efficacious only in the elect.                              4. If I were Christian Reformed, and if I were
   "IV. That in the light of Scripture and the Confes-          bound to stand on the fundamental position of 1924, I
sion, it is unwarranted to say to each and every man            would surely plead Prof. Dekker's cause.          Granted
without distinction, `Christ died for                           the premise of the First Point, Dekker is much more
                                          you.' " Comment:
Again, some rather strange grounds are adduced for              consistent than the committee.
this point; and oddly enough, there is no single refer-             However, I am not Christian Reformed. Nor do I
ence to Scripture and the Confession in these grounds.          stand on the basis of 1924. I stand on the basis of
Of course, this fourth point stands directly opposed to         Dordrecht.     And on that basis, I  .repeat  what I have
Dekker's claim.                                                 said before: Dekker, Daane, Stob, and Boer, cum
   "V. That, in the light of Scripture and the Confes-          sociis, are right, but dead wrong.                   I


                 Moreover, when we look about us in the world, full of confusion and madness, of cor-
              ruption and apostasy, is there any assurance anywhere except in the truth of God's
              sovereign election, that His work shall not fail, that His Church shall surely be gathered,
              and His kingdom shall be established and manifested in glory?  S'alvation  is of the Lord:
              it shall surely be accomplished even unto the end!
                                                           - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p. 25


394                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

EXAMINING 
                       ECUMENICALISM-

                                                1.  e.  c .   c .
                                                                   I 3
                                                                      I

                                                       by Rev. G. Van  Baven

   The International Council of Christian Churches                           but as .given requiring special interpretation for our
(1.C.C.C)  has met a total of six times in its "Plenary                      time. . . .
Congresses".         One of the aims of these congresses is                     In obedience to what .the Scriptures themselves
to express together what the member churches believe                         teach, we confess and maintain that the Bible first
need emphasis at that particular time. These resolutions                     becomes the Word of God for us in and through the
show rather definitelywhat the I.C.C.C. and its members                      proclamation.    All that the Bible contains, just as it
believe.                                                                     is written for us, is held by us to be the only and ever
              Therefore, in this concluding article on the                   remaining Word of God. The Bible in its written form
organization, I would like to make brief quotes from                         is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm
those, resolutions adopted by the last Congress held in                      119:105).
Geneva on August 5-11, 1965. The quotations which                               On the other hand, we reject at the same time the
follow  ha= been taken from the  Lutheran News, Vol. 3,                      false  accusation that we make an idol of the Bible, as
No. 17,. published on August 23, 1965.                                       a book, and that we believe in the Bible of God instead
                                                                             of in the God of the Bible.
THE RESOL UTIONS  OF 1965
                                                                             In its "Call to Reformation" the Congress adopted:
   There were some ten resolutions approved at the
Sixth Plenary Congress of the  1.C  C.C. These dealt                             Such denominations, by tolerating false doctrine'
with diverse but important topics. The more significant                      and by promoting false unity, are causing divisions
resolutions treated the subjects of the Bible, Christian                     (Romans  16:17); we, the I.C.C.C., as believers ear-
education' the ecumenical movement, the new morality,                        nestly beseech every Christian, every congregation,
and Communism.            As far as amount of material is                    and every association of Bible-believing Christians' to
                                                                             be mindful of our common calling to obey God more
concerned, one of the ten resolutions, "Resolution on                        than men, and to notify their denominations that they
World Communism and the Christian Church," com-                              can no longer be responsible for false doctrine and
prised more than one fourth of the total material                            unbiblical affiliations. We urge upon these believers
adopted.                                                                     to petition their denominations for withdrawal from
   One can appreciate much of what was adopted at                            the Ecumenical Movement and for a return to the
that last Congress and respond with a hearty "Amen."                         historic Christian faith, in accordance with the Word
There is, for instance, resolutions on the Bible:                            of God.
          We. . -express  our great sorrow at the declension                 Another resolution I appreciated was one "On
       from belief in the verbal inspiration of God's Word                Christian Education:"
       which is now becoming increasingly apparent in so
       many denominations. During the past few years the                        Many institutions of learning are either "neutral"
       anti-Christian character of some of the leaders of                    regarding the Christ of the Scriptures or positively
       these denominations has become more and more clear,                   infected with the anti-Biblical spirit of rationalism'
       as they have become more and more brazen and out-                     scientism  and humanism; this I.C.C.C., meeting in
       spoken in their denial of Biblical truth, and in their                Geneva. . . J urges all Bible-believers everywhere to
       open declarations that God's Word contains errors. . . .              establish such institutions of training for our children
          Finally, we declare our complete confidence in the                 and youth as will bring glory to God, be in accordance
       Bible, our uncompromising loyalty to its teachings, and               with the full counsel of God, and bring all thoughts
                                                                             also in the classroom into captivity to Christ, of whom,
       our determination to hazard our lives, our fortunes                   through whom, and unto whom are all things.
       and our sacred honor in the proclamation and the de-
       fense of this treasure that God has givento  His church.              Another resolution condemns the World Council of
                                                                          Churches and the present-day ecumenical movement.
       Again, there is the encouraging statement concern-                 Five points are briefly emphasized. First, the ecu-
ing the Bible as the Word of God:                                         menical movement and the W.C.C. represent a  false
                                                                          concept of Christian unity. Secondly, the W .C.C. has
          In our days many make a principal distinction be-
       tween the Bible and the Word of God. According to                  no Biblical basis. Thirdly, the leadership of the W.C.C.
       them the Bible, as a book, is not the Word of God, but             includes men who have apostatized from the faith.
       only a purely human thing. As such the Bible contains              Fourthly, The W.C.C. betrays the glorious heritage Of
       errors and mistakes.      It is only in and through the            the 16th century reformation.         Finally, The W.C.C.
       proclamation of the Bible that it can become for us the            acts as an instrument for building of a super-church.
       Word of God.     Therefore' the facts which the Bible                 There is also a resolution condemning the "New
       describes are not to be viewed as historical realities,            Morality."


                                                    THESTANDARDBEARER

          The "new morality" is in reality immorality, a            God may "liberate" various nations of their present
    blatant disregard of God's Word and commandments.               governments.         Possibly  e I read too much into the
    In holding that a man who really loves God does not             adopted statement. Yet it seems that there would be
    need any laws, it takes a stand opposite to the words           two basic ways in which these lands could be "liber-
    of Christ and the Bible in general. . . .                       ated": by revolution or by invasion of a foreign
          The churches of our time need a sincere return to
    teach the absolute authority of the Bible, to proclaim          power.      Must I pray that men may rise up in revolt
    without compromise the holy law of God for conviction           against instituted government?  Did the apostle Paul
    and repentance, but then also to a biblical preaching           pray that  this might happen to that evil ruler Nero?
    and teaching of free justification and salvation by the         Did he not rather advise: "Let every soul be subject
    blood of Christ and by the Holy Spirit for the conver-          unto the higher powers"? He did not advise submission
    sion and new birth of sinners. . . .                            to their godlessness; for refusing such submission
                                                                    both he and others were imprisoned and even put to
R E S O L U T I O N O N W O R L D   C~MMU~VISMAND   T H E           death.     But there is no evidence that Paul sought the
CHRISTLANCHURCH                                                     "liberation" of Rome. Or must I pray that the United
    This resolution, the longest of the ten adopted,                States (or another foreign power) engage in warfare to
shows, as far as I am concerned, two of the objections              overthrow of the governments in Russia, China, etc.?
which could be raised to the joining with the I.C.C.C.                 Yes, we must be concerned with the church in
In the first place, it seems to involve itself far too              persecution.       We must likewise point out that any
much in matters political.            Secondly, the question        government which uses its God-given authority in
arises in my mind: what is the conception of the 1.C .C .C.         suppressing the church and destroying its members,
regarding the Kingdom of God which shall be es-                     is  mis-using this authority and must stand condemned
tablished?                                                          before God.        And if this government would imprison
     I hasten to state that I can subscribe to much of              me for condemning these evil actions, then so be it.
the statement against communism.                 I have no doubt    But I will not rise in rebellion against instituted
in my mind concerning its evil character  today--par-               authority nor seek the "liberation" of nations. Paul
ticularly in its opposition to the church.               But the    did not either.
question remains: is it the' calling of the church to                  Related to the above is the question of the Kingdom
expend a major portion of its effort in opposition to               of God which the I.C.C.C. actively seeks. I do not
one form of government which is manifestly atheistic?               find much written on this particular question. There
Did the apostle Paul, who lived during the days of                  is the  statement, set in contrast to the views of
that most wicked dictator Nero, show any opposition                 Communism, that "the Glorious Hope of the Church
to that atheistic government? But allow me to quote                 (is) in the personal return of Christ to set up His
a bit from the document.                                            Kingdom, and the final destiny of all men in either
          By Communism we mean:                                     Heaven or Hell." The statement is carefully phrased,
          The philosophy, economic doctrine, politics, pro-         but seems to lend itself to a pre-millennial interpre-
    gram and military adventures of the Communist par-              tation.
    ties of the world. These doctrines were first stated               But much of the approach of the I.C.C.C. appears
    by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels  in the Communist             to be almost post-millennial. The idea seems to be
    Manifesto of 1848, developed by Lenin and Stalin, and           that if we work hard enough, pray long enough, con-
    thereafter believed and practiced by the Communist              tribute faithfully enough, we can roll back the tide of
    parties of the world under the leadership of the Soviet         Communism and establish governments more in har-
    Union.                                                          mony with the Word of the Lord, that is, "government
    Then follows a list of ten aspects of the Communist             by law based on the consent of the governed, main-
movement which the I.C.C.C. finds particularly ob-                  tained by free men for the glory of God."
jectionable.       I have no reason to question or  dispute            We can be encouraged that there are those who
the ten points.                                                     would yet combat the modernism, immorality, atheism
    Among the eight points under a "Call to Christian               of the day.        But- they must understand, and we must
Action," that is, action against Communism, is stated               also remember, that the tide of wickedness will not
this :                                                              be stopped-till Christ returns in judgment on the
          6. Pray for the liberation of North Korea, the            clouds of glory. One must continue to raise testimony
    Chinese Mainland, Viet Nam, Eastern Europe, Cuba                against wickedness, but not with the idea that finally
    and the Soviet homeland itself, to reopen all Com-              we will make of this world a better place. Certainly,
    munist-dominated lands to Christian evangelism, fel-            the purpose of God will be fulfilled.          Neither an
    lowship and liberty.                                            atheistic Communism nor a non-theistic Democracy
    It is this idea in the battle against Communism                 can defeat the purpose of God.         But His purpose is
which troubles one.         For what does one here pray?            that, through even intense persecution at the end-time,
It is far more than a prayer that God may keep His                  He will gather unto Himself His elect people and
people in the midst of fearful persecution. It is more              bring them into heaven with all its glory. There will
than praying that God may direct this persecution for               they enjoy government as this world can not know.
the benefit of the church. It is more than praying that             It will not be communism, nor dictatorship, nor
God, may direct the actions of even evil rulers that                democracy  - but Christ Himself will be King forever-
His purpose may be served; Here is a prayer that                    more.


396                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


 A CLOUD OF MiITNESSES-

                                  The                            on of  Sad
                                  :
                                                   by Rev. B. Woudenbevg

                             Teen  came the  wovd   of  the LORD unto Samuel,  say&,
                             It yepenteth me  that  I have set up Saul to be king:  fov  he is  turned
                         back  from following me,  and hath not  pevfovmed   my commandments.
                         And it grieved  Samuel; and  her cried  unto the LORD all night.
                                                                                    I  Samuel  15:10,  11

       The battle of Michmash was a great turning point            a large army and went out to war against all of Israel's
for the nation of Israel. Ending in the overwhelming               enemies; he began to develop and set forth the kind of
victory which it did, it broke the strangle-hold which             pomp and circumstance which the people love to see
the Philistines had  upon.their  land. So completely had           in a king. The golden period of Saul's reign had begun.
the Philistines dominated their land that every weapon                     We do not know just how long this lasted. It must
of war, except for those of Saul and Jonathan,. had been           have been fairly long, for the accomplishments were
taken from them, and every smith capable of producing              considerable. Feeling the strength of Israel's victory
weapons too.       In the eyes of the nations, Israel had          over the Philistines behind him, Saul gathered together
been rendered entirely incapable of waging battle, But             a large army and sallied forth to do battle with the
their God was with them, and with one sweeping blow                enemies of Israel on every side. It was a wonderful
all of this was changed. A great victory was won, and              experience for: Israel as one by one the heathen ene-
from the plunder of the battle more than sufficient                mies, before whom they had trembled so long, were
weapons- were gathered to supply a sizable army.                   found to be helpless against the strength of Israel and
Once again Israel was a force to be reckoned with in               the power of Israel's God. We  arenot given the details
Canaan.                                                            of this period; but we may well presume that Jonathan,
       Neither was it only in the extent of their armament         his courage and his strength, played a large part in it
that the change was to be found. In Jonathan, the people           all.      But also Saul, apparently, was able to overcome
saw the faith of God working and accomplishing things              his natural tendency toward cowardice so as to stand
which by any other measure was utterly impossible.                 at the head of his army and reflect a certain valiant-
To it they responded, A. new courage and confidence                ness in battle: Being king, these exploits of Saul re-
began to spread through the land such as had not been              ceived the greatest attention; and for every new victory
known for many years. The people began to recognize                Saul received the greater part of the credit. For the
the heathen nations to be their enemies, and they were             children of Israel, it was a new experience and almost
ready in the name of the Lord to go into battle against            unbelievable that their small nation could be so in-
them.                                                              vincible.        Day by day the adulation of Saul by the
       In fact, even in Saul a certain change seemed to            people grew; and, when the booty of battle began to
take place. It was true that he had not conducted him-             pour in and the nation became wealthy besides, it went
self particularly well at Michmash, even to the point              almost beyond measure. Stories were circulated of
of having to  ,be countermanded by the people. But the             his every deed, Songs were sung to his praise. His
feelings of the people were favorable, and they were               name was honored by the lips of everyone.
quick to forget and forgive. With their new confidence                     It was this that Saul loved more than anything else.
over against the enemy, the people began to rally be-              Although he never would have admitted it, it formed
hind their king as never before; and it was to this                the real and basic reason for his wanting to be king.
kind of an attitude that Saul responded with his best.             He  was. concerned about Israel as a nation, but only
He was not a man of great discernment, he was not a                because he found in Israel the means for obtaining his
man of courage, and he certainly was not a man of                  own praise. He was ready to give religious recogni-
humility; but there was a certain graciousness of                  tion to Jehovah God, but only because he felt that
character about him which could come out when the                  somehow the ceremonial recognition of God held the
circumstances were right.              Feeling  the. surge of      key to his own glory. For Saul, his own glorification
popular support behind him, Saul began to act almost               was the primary purpose of all life; and once he had
as a king should. He recognized the religious nature of            actually tasted of its addicting sweetness,  it'drove him
Israel and gave acknowledgment to Jehovah in words                 with compulsion to want more and more and more.
and ceremonial observances; he gathered behind him                 He never tired of  .the praises of the people and their


                                             THESTANDARDBEARER                                                1397
shouts of adulation. To obtain more and more of it,         something visible, something tangible for them to see
he moved from campaign to campaign and from battle          and feel and know what he had done. For example,
to battle, always determined that each time his own         there was  Agag the king of the Amalekites bound and
reputation would  .surely soar to ever new heights of       humbled before him. If he would slay him out here on
recognition.      And it worked--until, that is, he came    the battle field, that would be the end of the matter
to the battle with the Amalekites.                          and no one would think any more of it. But if he
   Even this campaign began well enough. In fact,           could parade him bound and fettered before the people,
Samuel came to him with a special commission from           0 how the people loved to see  amonarch  captured alive
God.       He said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint     and humbled by Israel. Afterward he could still kill
thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now           him, and what would be the difference?            And then
therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the word of        there were all the fattened cattle for which the
the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember          Amalekites were famous.            Already he had received
that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for       several requests from' the men to allow them to keep
him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go          at least some.      He realized that they had to be sac-
and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they         rificed for God; but why couldn't he take them home
have, and spare them not; but slay both man and wo-         and make of them a great sacrificial feast in which all
man, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel, and          of the people could participate? Already Saul could
ass."                                                       feel the excitement of such a great festival as all of
   To Saul's way of thinking, this commission in itself     Israel gathered about him in praise and adoration,
was flattering enough. Traditionally the Amalekites         feasting and gazing upon the mighty Agag whom he had
had been among the most bitter and most repulsive of        humbled.      Could even Jehovah fail to be pleased with
Israel's enemies. Not only were they descendants of         that? With sudden resolve, Saul determined to do it,
Esau the antagonist brother of their father Jacob, but      although underneath he knew full well that he might
when Israel was passing through the wilderness, they        hope never to have to explain his decision to Samuel.
had made themselves abhorrent by attacking and prac-           But even as  S,aul made his way back to Israel,
ticing atrocities upon the weak and defenseless Israel-     God was  preharing Samuel for just such a meeting.
ites who straggled behind in the wilderness march.          At eventide, He came and said to Samuel, "It  repent-
That he should be given the task of making reprisal         eth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is
for this and so justifying both Jehovah and His people      turned back from following me, and hath not performed
over them, was a singular distinction and honor.            my commandments ." It was a devastating blow. Oh,
    With enthusiasm `and zeal, Saul gave himself to the     Samuel had felt all along that there `was something
preparing of the campaign against the Amalekites. He        terribly superficial about Saul, something insincere.
sent a special call throughout the land and brought         But still he had come rather to like that man; and in
together the largest army he had had for any cam-           fact he had not felt himself unmoved with the en-
paign, two hundred thousand men plus ten thousand           thusiasm he inspired among the people. And he had
more from Judah. It was a wonderfully large army            really hoped that given a bit more experience Saul
and a wonderful feeling to lead it out into the field of    would come to understand his duty and responsibility
battle.                                                     to Jehovah more seriously. And even if he couldn't,
   The battle itself was nothing spectacular. There         there was still Jonathan next in line for the throne.
was never any doubt but that Israel was in complete         Surely he was a young man beyond compare. Could
control of it from the very start. In fact, Saul even       not the Lord wait for him to be king? It grieved
held up the battle for a time to allow the Kenites, a       Samuel no end, and all night long he spent in anguished
people traditionally friendly to Israel, time to escape.    petition for, Saul and Jonathan. But the word of the
Once Saul gave the command to attack, the Amalekites        Lord was unchanging, and with the morning all Samuel
were helpless before them- and their armies were            could do was go to find Saul.
slaughtered at will. The difficulty came when Saul and         It took some hunting for Samuel.            At times it
his men returned from the battle to the task of an-         seemed that Saul had purposely tried to avoid him; but
nihilating what remained of the nation, both people         at last he found him at Gilgal.
and possessions.       It was not particularly that Saul       For Saul, the trip home had been a wonderful, ex-
wanted the booty for himself. In the last few years         hilarating experience. Before his chariot walked  Agag
he had gathered enough of that  .to be sufficiently         humbly dragging his heavy fetters; behind him came
wealthy, and besides, his ambitions, did not run es-        his men driving the best and most beautiful cattle of
pecially along those lines. Moreover, Saul realized         the Amalekites; about him flocked the people of Israel
that the Amalekites were cursed in a special way by         wildly shouting their praise and adoration, it seemed
Jehovah and their annihilation was required just as         to Saul, as never before. This was for Saul sheer joy,
Jericho's had been in the days of Joshua. It was just       SO  much so that his inward uneasiness at going
that somehow it didn't seem right to have' to return        against Samuel's command at times almost seemed to
home to his people with nothing but a verbal report of      disappear.      Of this much Saul was sure, it was well
what had happened.        How could they be expected to     worth it.     Especially was  this, so when he arrived at
feel what a wonderful victory he had won? How would         Gilgal  and began to make `plans for that `great  .day of
they be. able to understand, what a great thing he had      sacrifice and feasting when all Israel would be gath-
done in Jehovah's behalf? If only he could bring back       ered about him to sing his praises. With heady  excite-


398                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

ment, Saul worked at making preparations, until, that             LORD."
is, he lifted his eyes and saw Samuel approaching.                    Hut Samuel was no one to be feigned from the
       At the moment he saw him, Saul knew that there             point.     His answer was a cold, cutting, rhetorical
was trouble in the old prophet's eyes.          And yet, for      question, "What meaneth then this bleating of the
lack of anything better to do, he had to try to forestall         sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which
it; and with a bold pretended innocence, he hurried to            I hear?" The sheep themselves were beyond the range
meet the prophet and said, "Blessed be thou of the                of, human hearing; but Saul knew what Samuel meant.
LORD:        I have performed the commandment of the              He had been discovered in his sin.



                    IN HIS FEAR-

                                          Handle With Care

                                                      by Rev.  J. A. Heys


       Isaiah saw God upon His throne and seraphim before        many circles. It is not handled with the care demanded
that throne.                                                      and revealed in Holy Writ. And the tragedy of it all is
       With one pair of wings they covered their faces.          that the ears of the believers in God's church become
With another pair they covered their feet. And with              calloused so that the daily hearing of it does not pierce
one pair they flew through the heavens. But what in-             our souls as it once did and always ought to do.
terests us more particularly at the moment is that                   Yet the third commandment is plain: Thou shalt
they cry, "Holy, holy,. holy is the Lord of hosts: the           not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain. The
whole earth is full of His glory." ,Isaiah  6:1-3.               commandment deals with God's name and the vain,
       What a beautiful picture! What a God-glorifying           empty use of that name. It warns us that using the name
picture !       What an example of humility!         What an     of God for any other reason than those for which He
indictment upon so much that is actually practiced by            gave it, that lifting it up and taking it upon our lips for
men  upon the "whole earth"!                                     our own carnal. benefit is an act of hating Him and that
       Do you agree with the seraphim?                           He, the jealous God will most assuredly visit this act
       Listen to the conversation of men round about you.        of hatred with the everlasting punishment of hell! In
Listen carefully to your own speech. Observe whether             His fear we will handle His name with care, yea with
you cover your face and figuratively stop your ears or           tender loving care1
absorb and remain untouched by the blasphemy, the                    When you mention a person's name you touch him.
cursing, the swearing wherein  ,God's  name is taken in          You can mention sin after sin, heap ridicule upon
vain, before you answer the question as to whether or            ridicule upon an action and present a deed as utterly
not you agree with the seraphim that holy, holy, holy            foolish without hurting anyone. But the moment you
is the Lord God of hosts1                                        mention one's name in connection with such actions,
       It is rather difficult to say and prove the point that    you have touched that person and hurt him. David
we live in a day and age when God's name is taken in             could allow Nathan, the prophet, to present the case
vain more wideiy and boldly than ever before. We                 of a selfish and thieving rich man who took the one
have lived only in this age, and the writings of men,            little lamb from his neighbour, which was this  neigh-
their published works, do not necessarily reflect with           bour's sole possession, to feast a guest that had come
accuracy what the common man spoke on the street,                to- his house.    David could become furious at such in-
in private and in his conversation with others. One              justice.    But when Nathan said to David, "Thou art the
thing has become evident in the life span of the gener-          man", he touched him; and all that evil came to rest
ation to which the undersigned belongs: whereas for-             on David's head. The same, of course, is true from
merly an evil word, a word that then was considered              the other point of view. By the mentioning of a name,
objectionable and liable to be branded as cursing and            a person is designated to a place of honor, and you
swearing was present only by its first letter to be              have touched him pleasantly. The seraphim do that
followed with a blank space, today it is spelled out in          when they cry, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts:
full. and appears in what formerly were considered               the whole earth is full of His glory." May that be the
refined and cultured writings. Radio and television              way in which we use His name!
still have their restraints so as not to offend the public.          The name identifies the person. And whereas our
Hut God's name is not lifted with reverence today in             names say nothing about us and may be attached to the


                                             THESTANDARDBEARER                                                    399

neighbour as appropriately as to us, there is an element    faces before Him with one pair of their wings. They
of confusion and misunderstanding at times as to who        handle His name with reverent care.           They lift it
is meant and to whom this good or this evil is to be        delicately and in effect in their cry express that His
attached.     But there is one God. And there is one Je-    name is holy.
hovah. Whenever we say, "My God", we have touched              Now that which is holy is set aside, cut off from
Jehovah.       We have called upon Him; we have asked       and separated for a special purpose. That we are holy
Him to listen to us. We have handled His name with or       means that we are `cut off from sin, are a separate
without care. We have lifted it from its holy position      people.    The temple of God was holy in that it was set
either with holy or unholy tongues. The idol is nothing.    aside as the house in which He dwelt symbolically.
It is a nonentity, and therefore every time we say God,     This was not true of any other building. Even this
whether we say it and write it with a capital letter or     temple had a holy place and a most holy place. These
a lower case letter, He is touched. He knows that there     were set off from the rest by veils, the one in        the
is no God besides Him. He knows that He is God alone.       inner part of the temple, cut off more completely than
And when you say "God'.`, He without exception con-         the other and might be entered only by one man one
siders it a reference to Himself. As the jealous God        day in a year.       And that God's name is holy means
that He is, He cannot and will not consider that anyone     that we are not to use it whenever we please and in
else is implied when that name God in any form is           whatever way we please, but that it must be used with
used.                                                       great discretion and reverence before God.
   He is jealous of His position as God alone. He is           We live in a day of cursing, swearing and blas-
jealous of His glory as God. And exactly because He         phemy, and these are acts of hatred against God. Let
is the sovereign God of heaven and earth, the Creator       us see that once.       Consider that to curse is to call
of each and every creature, He has a perfect right to       upon God to damn, to put in hell, to punish. It makes
be jealous and to punish all those who show hatred          no difference then whether we actually use the name of
against Him by their vain use of His name. He               God literally or simply use the word damn, and consign
"exacts exclusive devotion" and "is intolerant of           to hell, it is God alone Who can and does damn and
rivalry." This He may be because He is  God'alone.,         punish with hell fire. Let us remember that, if we are
And whether we like it or not, we cannot change that        given to damn this and that and the other thing. Let us
fact. Man has tried to do so for well nigh six thousand     remember that we are calling upon God to do some-
years.       Man has tried to become His equal. He has      thing for us and that we want God to curse, to pour out
tried to reach up and drag God down to his level. He        hell's torments upon someone or something. It is at
has tried to climb up to sit next to Him. But he has        the same time an awful thing to call for, and often
failed utterly and will always fail, for he has been        also utterly ridiculous.      In our carelessness we hit
made by God and depends upon Him for all things.            our finger with the hammer and damn the hammer!
   Let us beware then lest we provoke Him by our            We dare for such a triviality to call upon the great
evil use `of His name. What is evil use of that name?       and glorious God in heaven to seek vengeance upon the
The third commandment speaks of vain use, and the           hammer.        And we are calling for a ridiculous thing
word vain means empty, idle, purposeless. Of course,        for hell fire is for persons and not for inanimate
a man does not always use that name purposelessly.          things.    God's wrath in hell is against sin and sinners.
There are times when he need not mention that name          Indeed, God hates the sinner as well as the sin. He
at all and when he does so nevertheless. That is a          puts  sin?zevs in hell and not sin. There will be no sin
purposeless, vain, idle use of the  name. So often His      in hell, but there will be sinners. And unless we want
name falls off the lips of men (and women) when they        to take the impossible and unscriptural position that
do not have Him in their thoughts at all. That is vain      there is change in the unchangeable I AM, Who can never
use.      That is purposeless use. But the idea of vain     say I was or I will be, we must insist that His attitude
use means much more. It means each and every use            towards the sinner today is the same as it will be in
of that name for any other purpose than that for            that day when He has brought the sinner into hell. He
which God has given it.                                     does not have a temporary love, mercy and grace but
   He has given us the name of God, with all its            an eternal love and mercy and grace.
variations, in order that we may speak to Him and              But what an awful thing then for a mother to damn
of Him with reverence.        Without knowing His name      her  child1    For a brother to call upon God to place his
we could not pray to Him. Without that name we could        brother according to the flesh or spiritual brother into
not teach our children concerning Him. We could not         the torment of hell! Yet that is  done1  A little anger,
sing His praises.       Without that name we could not      a little provoking, and men will dare tocall down hell's
comfort one another by reviewing His promises and           torment upon their fellow men and to "bother" the al-
work.      And if we use His name for any other reason      mighty God to ask Him to do this. Think it over ! It is
than to speak to Him and of Him with reverence, we          sin against the neighbour as well as sin against the
have taken that name in vain. Whenever we use His           living God. How awful when we curse ourselves! This
name without having Him in our thoughts and without         Peter did as we read, when he cursed and swore than
consciously referring to Him, we have misused His           he did not know Christ.       And it makes no difference
name and sinned against  Him1 The seraphim use it to        then whether we are squeamish and lack the courage
praise Him, to speak to Him of His glory. And they do       to use the word  damn  and resort to other words be-
SO  with the fear of reverence.      For they hide their    ginning with the same letter such as darn, dang and


400                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

the like, it is calling upon  God.to  punish the creature       run for protection in our sin and lust? We have said
for our benefit.                                                it before: all sin is a violation of the first command-
       Think of it 1 Little specks of dust that are utterly     ment.    No matter in what form the sin may appear, it
dependent upon this great and glorious God before               is always an act of going against Jehovah and His holy
whom the seraphim wisely in utter humility (and we             will.     It is pushing Him aside, denying Him, setting
were created a little lower than these seraphim) cover          ourselves up in His place, deciding for ourselves what
their faces, guard their tongues, handle His name               is good and what is evil.      If we live in the faith and
with care and use His name only to praise Him. Who             consciousness that He is a  sovereignzand  jealous God,
are we anyway that we dare to call this .sovereign and         we will live in His fear and lift His-name with due
great God to come. down and do. something for our               respect and reverence.
sinful flesh? We. have no right to bother Him with our             And does it bother you at all to hear the world round
sinful lusts and : ambitions.     We have no right to treat     about you take God's name in vain with cursing? Do these
the living God as a servant, and surely no right to             words ring in your ears so often that they stick there,
treat Him  as. one  whom, we can ask to further us in           and although not uttered yet silently present themselves
our sinful ambitions and carnal aspirations. Do we             when you are provoked and irritated, for your own
forget that He is God? Are `we --for indeed we are --          giving vent of displeasure? In  Hiis fear cleanse your
walking in violation of the first commandment and of           hearts and minds and keep your tongue clean. Handle
the second by a god of our own imagination to whom we          His name with loving care.            /

       FROM' HOLY WRIT-                                                                              //

              The Good Shepherd  of  lirakl
                                                       John  lO:l-39

                                                                                                      II
                                                   by Rev. G. Lubbevs


                                                                                                      ,
THE  `fMYSTERY"  OF CHRIST'S KNOWLEDGE OF                      shepherd, and, incidentally, we also see why all others
HIS SHEEP (John  10:14,  15)                                   who came before him must be either hirelings or thieves
       Great is the  mystery  of godliness. The Christian      and robbers by comparison.                  ,
lives by the revelation of the "mysteries" of God, the             It should be carefully noticed that the reasoning
mysteries of his will in Christ Jesus. And mystery,            here is Theological and Christological. The reasoning
according to the Bible, is not that which is shrouded          is from the relationship of God to Christ, and the re-
in darkness by human cults and superstitions, but              lationship of Christ to the sheep1  ~This thought is, sad
refers to the plan of God in salvation, the secret             to say, somewhat lost in the King James Version.
counsel of our redemption, which Christ came to                The  comparison  between the  TheGlogical  and between
reveal to us as the chief prophet. Wherefore we in-            the Christological is not stated.  I The translation in
tentionally write above this little exposition the "mys-       the KJV makes of "As the Father knoweth me" an
tery" of Christ's knowledge of his sheep. The  knowl-          independent sentence, a -new sentence, while in the
edge which Christ has of his own, and which his own            Greek it is quite evident that the translation should
have of him, we only know because it is revealed to            read "I  an-~ the good shepherd, and I know the mine,
us!      And we understand these mysteries by a faith          and the mine know me,  even as  (kathoos)   the Father
which is the gift of God. Wherefore the Scriptures             knows me and I know the Father.`\ In other words the
speak of the mystery of faith.                                 KJV does not allow for the comparison between the
       Jesus unfolds for us the mystery of what is implied     Father's knowledge of the Shepherd and the Shepherd's
in his being the good shepherd. Although he had spoken         knowledge of the sheep, nor for the comparison of the
of his being the good shepherd in the former verses            Shepherd's knowledge of the Father and the knowledge
he nonetheless speaks of this once more here in the            which the sheep have of the Shepherd. That element of
verses 14, 15. This is no more repetition; it is rather        the comparison is lost in the  I<JV translation. Never-
a picking up of the chief subject once more to tell us         theless such a comparison is clearly taught by Christ
some more of -the implication of this Divine mystery           in the text. It constitutes the very heart of the "mys-
of redemption. The subject deepens as it progresses            tery" earlier referred  to,by  us1               I
in the mouth of Jesus. In our verses we see the very               Christ takes his stand and starting-point amongst
heart of what constitutes Christ as being the good             the sheep as the good shepherd. He stands on earth


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

among the sheep when he thus speaks; he stands in his        That is the mystery of this knowledge. It is out of the
relationship to his sheep. From out of that position         Father for the Shepherd and thus for the sheep. And
he speaks here in the text, and shows the relationship       the knowledge of the sheep is toward the Shepherd and
between what we see  Andy experience by faith concern-       thus knowledge of the Father. And thus we have the
ing his relationship to us and  the,original pattern be-     truth of which Jesus spoke in John  17:21 "That they
tween him and the Father.. Were there no relation-           may all be one; as thou; Father, art in me, and I in
ship of original knowledge between the Father and the        thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world
Shepherd; the Mediator, there could be no correspond-        may believe that thou hast sent me".
ing relationship between: him and us  1                         This knowledge of which the text speaks here is
 The question may be raised in connection with the           indeed knowledge; only it is no mere intellectual knowl-
text: what must we understand by this knowledge of           edge.    It is indeed the knowledge that a subject has of
the Father to the Shepherd? And the answer to this           an object, only the object is a living object, a personal
question depends in  good'measure on what, according         object. It is the knowledge of a moral-rational being,
to the text, must be understood by the concept "Father."     either of God to man in Christ, or of the believer in
There are those who would here speak of the relation-        Christ of God.      It is a knowledge of experience and
ship within the Trinity. They hold that Christ speaks        love.    Hence, it is always a knowledge which has its
here according to his divine nature as the Son and           starting-point in God through Christ, and a knowledge
that the Father is the first person in the Trinity. But      in which the believer knows God by virtue of being
this view is evidently not according to the text nor ac-     known of Him.
cording to the common teaching of Scripture in like             Wherefore when the Father knows the Shepherd
passages.                                                    He knows him in infinite love and understanding, and
   For Christ is here speaking as the Shepherd, that         the Shepherd knows him, being loved with a perfectly
is, as the Son in our human nature, who will suffer          reciprocal knowledge of communion and fellowship.
and die on the Cross and be raised up again on the third     And when the Shepherd knows the sheep he knows the
day, from the dead.       And as the Son in our human        sheep in a unique way. He knows the sheep perfectly
nature, really man, he stands under the law, and there       in all their sin and guilt, in all their sorrows and pain,
says of the triune God: My God and my Father! John           in all their joys and sorrows. It is the most under-
20:17. Thus we read in Ephesians  1:3 "Blessed be the        standing knowledge of a priest who can sympathize
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. .  .". It is        with all  .the weaknesses of the sheep. And the sheep
evident that the Father is God, the triune God. The          know the Shepherd in His shepherd's care, his watch-
same is also the truth of the matter in Matthew  11:27       fulness, his caring for them even in death's dark
where, we read "All things are delivered to me of my         hour.     For this is the knowledge of which Jesus
Father:  .and no  -,man knoweth the Son- but the Father;     speaks in John  17:3 "This is life `eternal, that they
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and        might  know  thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." In all            whom Thou hast sent." Such is the knowledge of God's
these passages it is the Son in our human nature who         eternal covenant of grace and mercy.
is speaking, standing in our midst as the Mediator.             Such is the mystery which Christ here unfolds con-
Here in our passage, under consideration, it is the Son      cerning the good shepherd.       Cnly such a Shepherd,
in our. human nature who is the Shepherd. He is God          who is known of God and who knows God on that higher
in the flesh. Such is the mystery'that is great.             level, is able to know the sheep and be known of them
   Concerning the good shepherd's position to the            on the lower level. But even though each  knows on his
Father it should be noticed, that, in that  relatipnship,    own level, the knowledge becomes the same knowledge
he is also standing in a unique relationship to his own      which spells eternal life for the sheep.
sheep, the church of his choosing. Christ knows both
the Father and the sheep. But Christ is  know.n by the       THE SHEPHERD'S AUTHORITY TO LAY  DOWN HIS
Father and also known by the sheep. Only the knowl-          LIFE FOR THE SHEEP (John  1O:l  Lib-1  8)
edge which God has of the Shepherd and the knowledge            It belongs to the good Shepherd's place among  the
which the sheep have of the Shepherd are not on the          sheep by the Father's appointment that he lays down,
same level.    God's knowledge is first and is original      places his life for the sheep. There is something about
with God. Our knowledge is derivative and is a gift of       the Greek structure in the text whichmakes the sheep to
the grace of God..                                           differentiate from those which are not Christ's sheep.
   What does it mean that the Father  knows the Son?         The  sheep is almost tantamount to "my" sheep. Christ
We should notice that the text speaks four times of          does not lay down his life for those who are not his
knowing, and each time in the  present   tense. The          sheep. This is evident from the fact that Christ tells
"Father  knows",  "I  know",  "My sheep  knowt'  and         the unbelieving Jews that they do not hear his voice
"I  know"!  The tense is expressive of a present situa-      because they are not his sheep. Were they his sheep
tion which ever prevails and continues. Each  knows          they would surely  hear-  as those for whom Christ laid
in his  -own way and in his own place and relationship.      down his life.
The knowledge of the Father for the Son is the pattern           Before we `enter into the matter of Christ having
of the: knowledge of the Son (Shepherd) for the sheep.       authority  to lay down his life for the sheep, we ought
And the knowledge of the Shepherd of the Father is the       to notice  .that there is a very close connection in the
basis ~for the knowledge of the sheep for the Shepherd.      text between Christ being the good Shepherd who knows


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER

his sheep and. his laying his life down for them. He              of God. (Ezekiel 37)
knows his sheep not because certain people were will-                By virtue of this commandment Christ had "power
ing to use their free-will for B salvation which allegedly        to lay down my life" This term power is not the trans-
is made  possible  for them. His sheep are those who              lation of the Greek noun  "dunamis" which means
were given him from the Father from before the                    "ability" but it is the translation of the Greek noun
foundation of the world in the counsel of peace. That             "exousia" which really means: right, authority. He
constitutes them to be his sheep. This is denied by               is the appointed Shepherd.
till Arminianism and Pelagianism; but it is the  gospel-             As the appointed Shepherd he has the "authority"
truth.                                                            to lay down his life in order that he might take it
   Christ has received a "commandment," a mandate                 again. And in this he merits the Father's love as the
from the Father to lay down his life for the sheep. He            Shepherd of Israel and fulfils all righteousness. In
did not take this glory for himself by his own will. It           any other event he would have been an imposter, a
was thus appointed him to do. He is appointed of the              usurper of power, another Satan. But now he- is greeted
Father to become the good Shepherd.  Heis the "David,             of God to be his good Shepherd to whom all the sheep
the king" of prophecy, who shall rule over all the flock          belong, both of the Old and of the New Testament.


CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-

                                 The Providence- of God

                                       According to the Confessions


                                                       by Rev. H. Veldman

                                                                     and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years,
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM  (Lovd's Days 1,  9,  10)                   meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and
          Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and           poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but
    death?                                                           by his fatherly hand.
          Answer 1: That I with my body and soul, both in life          Q. 28. What advantage is it to us to know that God
    and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful            has created, and by his providence doth still uphold all
    Savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, hath          things ?
    fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from              A. That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in
    all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that             prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter
    without the will. of my heavenly Father, not a hair can          befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God
    fall from my head; yea, that all things must be sub-             and Father, that nothing shall separate us from his
    servient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy             love: since all creatures are so in his hand, that with-
    Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes            out his will they cannot so much as move."
    me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto         In connection with these quotations from our Heidel-
    him.                                                          berg Catechism, we note the following. The Heidelberg
          Q. 26. What believest thou when thou sayest,  "I        Catechism, a wonderful book of instruction, certainly
    believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven          contains several beautiful answers.         And these are
    and earth?"
          A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ     surely some of those beautiful  answerg.         Already in
    (who of nothing made heaven and earth, with all that is       Lord's Day 1 the providence of God is set forth. The
    in them; who likewise upholds and governs the same by         Catechism begins its instruction by calling attention to
    his eternal counsel and providence) is for the sake of        this providence of God, comforting us with the thought
    Christ his Son, my God and my Father; on whom I rely          that we are so preserved in the midst of the world that
    so entirely, that I have no doubt, but he will provide        not a hair can fall from our head with the will of our
    me with all things necessary for soul and bddy: and           heavenly Father, and that all things must worktogether
   further, that he will make whatever evils  hesends  upon       for our good. And the same truth is held before us in
    me, in this valley of tears turn out to my advantage;         Lord's Days 9 and 10. Answer 26 reiterates what we
   fpr he is able to do it, being Almighty God, and willing,
    being a faithful Father.                                      read in Lord's Day 1, declaring that the Lord will not
          Q. 27 What dost thou mean by the providence of          only provide us with all things necessary for soul and
    God?                                                          body, but also that He will make all evils, which are
          A. The `almighty and everywhere present power of        sent me of the Father, turn out to my advantage. And
    God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and          in Lord's Day 10 the Catechism asks  tind answers the
    governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs       question: What dost thou mean by the providence of


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER

God? Attention is directed to the fact that nothing              LRENAE US
comes by chance, that all things happen unto us as sent             Irenaeus is generally supposed to have been a native
by His Fatherly hand. And we do well to notice the               of Smyrna. He was bishop of Lyons in France during
fact that the Heidelberg Catechism, when discussing the          the latter quarter of the second century. He is sup-
providence of God, emphasizes this truthfrom the view-           posed to have died about A.D. 202. Whether he died a
point of the Church of God and the salvation of that             martyr's death cannot be definitely determined. We
Church. This applies to Lord's Day 1 and also to Lord's          now quote a few excerpts from his writings as they are
Days  9  and 10. The Lord  preserves all things and all          recorded in Vol. I of the The Ante-Nicene Fathers.
things take place for the sake of His Church. Nothing            In this writing Irenaeus sets forth the truth that the
happens by chance or fate, but all things are constantly         world is ruled by the providence of one God, Who is
controlled, including all the evils that become our lot,         both good and just:
by our heavenly Father, Who causes all things to work
together for our good.                                                  God does, however, exercise a providence over all
THE BEL GIC CONFESSION (Adicle  XIII)                               things, and therefore He also gives counsel....Again,
                                                                    that they might remove the rebuking and judicial power
                                                                    from the Father, reckoning that as unworthy of God,
           We believe that the same God, after He had created        and thinking that they had found out a God both without
    all things, did not forsake them, or give them up to             anger and merely good, they have alleged that one God
   fortune or chance, but that He rules and governs them             judges, but that another saves, unconsciously taking
    according to his holy will, so that nothing happens in           away the intelligence and justice of both deities. For
   this world without His appointment: nevertheless, God             if the judicial one is not also good, to bestow favours
   neither is the author of, nor can be charged with, the           upon the deserving, and to direct reproofs against
    sins which are committed. For His power and good-                those requiring them, he will appear neither a just nor
   ness are  SO  great and incomprehensible, that He                 a wise judge. On the other hand, the good God, if he is
   orders and executes His work in the most excellent               merely good, and not one who tests whose upon whom
    and just manner, even then, when devils and wicked              he shall send his goodness, will be out of the range of
   men act unjustly. And, as to what He doth surpassing              justice and goodness; and his goodness will seem
   human understanding, we will not curiously inquire into,         imperfect, as not saving all; for it should do so, if it
   farther than our capacity will admit of; but with the            be not accompanied with judgment.
    greatest humility and reverence adore the righteous
    judgments of God, which are hid from us, contenting
    ourselves that we are disciples of Christ, to learn only        And then Irenaeus proceeds to refute the heresy of
    those things which He has revealed to us in His Word,        Marcion  who divides God into two, maintaining one to be
    without transgressing these limits.        This doctrine     good and the other judicial, which, so Irenaeus main-
    affords us unspeakable consolation, since we are             tains, puts an end to deity.
    taught thereby, that nothing can befall us by chance,
    but by the direction of our most gracious and heavenly       EXCERPTS FROM VOL. VII OF THE ANTE-NICENE
    Father; who watches over us with a paternal care,            FATHERS
    keeping all creatures so under His power, that not a
    hair of our head (for they are all numbered), nor a                 Afterwards  Epicurus said that there was indeed a
    sparrow, can fall to the ground, without the will of our         God, because it was necessary that there should be in
    Father, in whom we do entirely trust; being persuaded,           the world some being of surpassing excellence, dis-
    that He so restrains the devil and all our enemies,              tinction, and blessedness; yet that there was no provi-
    that without His will and permission, they cannot hurt           dence, and thus that the world itself was ordered by
    us.      And therefore we reject that damnable error of          no plan, nor art, nor workmanship, but that the universe
    the Epicureans, who say that God regards nothing, but            was made up of certain minute and indivisible seeds.
    leaves all things to chance.                                     But I do not see what can be said more repugnant to
                                                                     the truth. For if there is a God, as God He is mani-
   Also in this article emphasis `is laid upon the truth             festly provident; nor can divinity be attributed to Him
that nothing happens by fortune or chance. The article               in any other way than if He retains the past, and knows
rejects this damnable error of the Epicureans. And it                the present, and foresees the future. Therefore, in
is emphasized, too, that nothing happens in this world               taking away providence, he also denied the existence of
without the Lord's appointment. And the truth is also                God.Let the commencement of our work therefore be
set forth that our heavenly Father controls all things,              that inquiry which closely follows and is connected
SO  that all things work together for the good of His                with the first: Whether the universe is. governed by the
Church.                                                              power of one God or of many. There is no one, who
   We cannot quote profusely from the writings of the                possesses intelligence and uses reflection, who does
early Church fathers in connection with the providence               not understand that it is one Being who both created
of God.        Neither is this necessary. The late Dr. H.            all things and governs them with the same energy by
Bavinck, from whom we quoted in a preceding article,                 which He created them. For what need is there of many
wrote that the heathen's conception of the control of all            to sustain the government of the universe? unless we
things in the midst of the world is such that they                   should happen to think that, if there were more than
                                                                     one, each would possess less might and strength. And
ascribed it to chance or fate. This is also stated in                they who hold that there are many gods, do indeed
the confessions we have quoted. Just a few excerpts                  effect this; for those gods must of necessity be weak,
from the writings of these early Church fathers should               since individually, without the aid of the others, they
be sufficient.                                                       would be unable to sustain the government of so vast a


404                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER

       mass. But God, who is the EternalMind,  is undoubted-                 this commonwealth of the world, unless there were one.
       ly of excellence, complete and perfect in every part.                 ruler, who was also its founder, either thismass would
       And if this is true, He must of necessity be one.                     be dissolved, or it could not have been put together at,
            Another question follows: Whether there be one God               all.
       or more? And this indeed contains much ambiguity.                     These excerpts should be sufficient. We need not
       For not only do individuals differ among themselves,               doubt but that the early Church fathers certainly
       but also peoples and nations. But he who shall follow
       the guidance of reason will understand tha t there                 maintained the truth that the providence of God is the
       cannot be a Lord except one, nor a Father except one.              Lord's almighty and omnipresent power whereby He,
       For if God, who made all things, is also Lord and                  having created the universe, also continues to uphold
       Father, He must be one only, so that the same may be               and govern it even according to His will. However,
       the head and source of all things. Nor is it possible              there are several important details to which our at-
       for the world to exist unless all things be referred to            tention ought to be directed. Interesting, of course, is
       one  persqn, unless one hold the rudder, unless one                the providence of God when viewed as government.
       guide the reins, and, as' it were, one mind direct all             And one cannot deny the importance of the relation
       the members of the body. If there are many kings in                between God's providence and sin. Fact is, sin and
       a swarm of bees; they will perish or be scattered
       abroad, while, "Discord attacks the kings with great               misery constitute a terrible reality. What must the
       commotion." If there are several leaders in a herd,                Church confess and believe  with.respect  to the Lord's
       they will contend until one gains the mastery. If there           providence in connection with them? To these matters
 -' are many commanders in an army, the soldiers cannot                   we certainly expect to call attention in subsequent
       obey; since different commands are given; nor can                  articles.     We do not expect to solve the problem of
       unity be maintained by themselves, since each consults             God's sovereignty and sin. But we certainly believe
       his own interests according to his humours. Thus, in               that the Scriptures do throw light upon this question.


HEEDING THE D~OCTRINE

                                Barth's Doctrine of  ScriptWe
                                                                    I8  I
                                      The Reformers on Scripture (Continued)


                                                           by Rev. D.  J.  Engelsma

   The Reformers did, as Barth contends, maintain                            though the majesty of God is displayed in it, yet none
that Scripture cannot be  .believed  or understood with-                     but those who have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit
out the activity of the Holy Spirit. In his  The  Bondage                    have eyes to perceive what ought, indeed, to have been
of  the  Will,  Luther hammers on this point with ve-                        visible to all, and yet is visible to the elect alone"
hemence:                                                                     (Commetitary on II Timothy 3:16). "without the illu-
                                                                             mination of the Spirit the word has no effect" (In-
            "nobody who has not the Spirit of God sees a jot of              stitutes, III, II; 33). "the word cannot penetrate our
       what is in the Scriptures" (p. 73. These quotations                   mind unless the Spirit, that internal teacher, by his
       are taken from the translation of Packer and John-                    enlightening power make an entrance for it" (Institutes,
       ston - D.E.).            "The Spirit is needed for the under-         III, II, 34).
       standing of all Scripture and every part of Scripture"
       (    p    .         7     4    )    .                              In harmony with .the Reformers, Dr. A.  Kujlper wrote:
                                                                          "The Holy Scripture without the accompanying activity
Calvin is in full agreement:                                              of the Holy Spirit is for us a dead book" (E  Vote,  Vol.
                                                                          II, p. 402. my translation-D.E.). The Rev. H.  Hoek-
       "For as God alone can properly bear witness to his                 sema expressed the same thing when, in  The  Lord  of
       own words, so these words will not' obtain full credit             Glory; he wrote: "without the Spirit the Scriptures
       in the hearts of men, until they are sealed by the in-
       ward testimony of the Spirit" (Institutes, I, VII, 4).             are dead" (p. 175).     And. all Reformed believers con-
   "`Then only, therefore, does Scripture suffice to give                fess their dependence upon the Holy Spirit not  only for
       a saving knowledge of God when its certainty is founded            their belief of the content of Scripture but  also  for
       on the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit" (Institutes,          their reception of the  66 books as canonical when they
       I, VIII, 13). ."we need not wonder if there are-many               say, with the Belgic Confession:. "We receive all
       who doubt as to the Author of the Scripture; for; al-'             these books, and these only, as holy and canonical . . .


                                              THE  ScTANDARD  BEARER

believing. .  .all things contained in them. .  .because       phasizes that "nobody who has not the Spirit of God
the Holy Ghost witnesseth in our hearts, that they             sees a jot of  .what is in the Scriptures" (p. 73). But
are from God. .  ." (Art. V). There can be no quarrel          immediately he adds, "All men have their hearts
with Barth over the fact itself. The teaching of the           darkened, so that, even when they can discuss and
necessity of the Spirit for one's acknowledgment and           quote all that is in Scripture, they do not understand
belief of Scripture occupies a rightful and important          or really know any of it"  (p. 73). Calvin's view is
place in the Reformed doctrine of Holy Scripture.              precisely the same as Luther's. He states: "without
For this teaching is Scripture's own testimony. The            the illumination of the Spirit the word has no effect"
thrust of the second chapter of I Corinthians is that          (In&it&es, III, II, 33). Why is this?  ". .  such is the
man cannot know God and the things of God except God           proneness of our mind to vanity, that it can never ad-
reveal Himself to a man by His Spirit. Neither could           here to the truth of God, and such its dulness, that it
Paul himself know God's wisdom nor can any man                 is always blind even in his light" (ibid.) As far as
know the words Paul speaks and writes except the               the Word itself is concerned, "A simple external
Holy Spirit teach that wisdom and those words in               manifestation of the word ought to be amply sufficient
their hearts.  ". . .the natural man receiveth not the         to produce faith. .  ." The reason it does not is "our
things of the Spirit of God. .  .neither  can he know          blindness and perverseness"  (ibid.).  The Word is the
them. .  ." (I Cor.  2:14). Jesus, in John 14:26, promises     gloriously bright sun that shines on us; "we are all
the disciples that the Holy Spirit "shall teach you all        naturally blind.,.  ." (ibid., 34).
things."     And Paul gives the Church to understand              It is the same with Scripture and us as it was with
"that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by            Jesus and His audiences. Jesus taught and preached
the Holy Ghost" (I Cor.  12:3).                                God's Word, infallibly.       Yet, many of His hearers
    But Barth's use and application of the truth that the      remained ignorant of Jesus' words, while those who
Scriptures avail nothing apart from the internal work          did come to know them did so only because the Spirit
of the Spirit involve a serious error. For he appeals          was their internal Teacher. This may not be explained.
to this truth, especially, as expressed in the writings        in terms of the weakness of Jesus' words but rather
of. Luther and Calvin, as an evidence of the weakness          must be explained in terms of the spiritual impotence
of the Bible, that is, the Bible's fallibility and "human-     of  all men by nature. And even when men, lacking the
ity." The Bible, according to Barth, can only be un-           illuminating Spirit, remain deaf to the words of Jesus
derstood by a man when the Spirit's internal, work ac-         or blind to the Scriptures, the words of Jesus and the
companies the reading or preaching of the Bible be-            words of Scripture have power and effect, through the
cause the Bible is the fallible, erring and weak word          same Holy Spirit - to harden in unbelief.
of man. That this is the application Barth makes of               Having noted the illegitimacy of Barth's appeal to
the "internal testimony of the Holy Spirit" comes. out         the Reformers in support of his doctrine of Scripture,
clearly when he quotes approvingly Luther's statement,         we must still come to grips with Barth's conception of
"Thus Scripture is a book, to which there belongeth            the work of the Spirit in bringing the Word of God to
not only reading but also the right Expositor and Re-          men through the Scriptures. Barth denies that the in-
vealer, to wit, the Holy Spirit. Where He openeth not          ternal testimony of the Spirit consists of the Spirit's
Scripture, it is not understood," and goes on to speak         binding the Scriptures upon our hearts. The Spirit
of Scripture's "human imperfection," of Scripture's            does bind upon our hearts the "Word of God" and He
*`capacity for error," which extends also- "to its             binds this "Word" upon our hearts in connection with
religious or theological content," and of the Bible's          the Scriptures but that which is bound upon our hearts
being "the vulnerable word of man" (CD, I, 2, p.               is not the Scripture itself. It is a "Word of God" that
508ff.).    This explanation of the Bible's dependence         stands somewhere behind the Scriptures and a "Word
upon the internal work of the Spirit in imparting the          of God" that may very well say the direct opposite of
knowledge of God to men is the exact opposite of the           that which the Scriptures say in a given passage. In-
explanation of the Reformers. That the Bible cannot            deed, not only does not the Spirit's internal testimony
be understood without the Spirit is not due to the weak-       consist exclusively of convincing us of that which is
ness of the Bible but is due, rather, to the weakness          written in the Scripture but the Spirit often is a  critic
of men.      Because all men by nature are spiritually         of the Bible. The Spirit tells us, with regard to this or
blind and ignorant, that is, totally depraved, the Bible       that passage of the. Bible, that the Scripture is in
alone does not suffice. When Luther, in The Bonduge            error, also theologically, and then, presumably, in-
of  the Will,  defends the perspicuity of Scripture over       structs us, with regard to that same erroneous passage,
against Erasmus, he admits that "to many people a              what the truth of the matter really is.
great deal remains obscure" but he explains this to be            This activity of the Holy Spirit, we emphatically
due "not to any lack of clarity in Scripture, but to           deny. The Holy Spirit is no critic of the Scriptures.
their own blindness and dullness, in that they make no         If He were, He would be a critic of Himself, for He
effort to see truth which, in itself, could not be plainer"    gave the Scriptures. The Spirit testifies  to  the Scrip-
(p. 72). Men who do not know Scripture, in the preg-           tures, not "through" them, and He gives us under-
nant sense, are "like men who cover their eyes, or             standing  of  them, not in spite of them. It is obvious
go from daylight into darkness, and hide there, and            that such a view of Scripture and the Spirit as Barth's
then blame the sun, or the darkness of the day, for            opens the way for any and every conceivable "ex-
their inability to see" (p. 72). Again, Luther em-             planation" of the words of the Bible. The criterion of.


       406                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

       exegesis (interpretation of Scripture) is not Scripture            say what he thinks it should say or what he wants it
       itself but this strange "Spirit" in the individual in-             to say.
       terpreter's heart.      In the end, the measure of the                 Ultimately, Barth's view of the Scriptures and the
       Scriptures is the mind of man.                                     Spirit does not differ from the view of the "fanatics"
              An example may serve to make plain the dread                in Luther's day who discarded the written Word in
       error  to which Barth's view exposes the Church.                   favor of "Spirit," Both discard an objective written
       Several years ago,  Markus Barth, son of Karl, de-                 Word of God and bring in a Holy Spirit to replace that
       bated a Christian Reformed theologian on the question              written Word. The Reformed reaction to this doctrine
       of the infallibility of the Bible. It became plain that            should not differ from Luther's reaction to "the
       Markus' doctrine of Scripture was similar to his                   heavenly prophets." Said Luther to them: I flatten
       father's.     In the course of the discussion, the subject         your Spirit with the Scripture.         l'lhven  Geist  haue  ey
       of the imprecatory Psalms was brought up, especially,              ubev  die  Schmuze"  ("I slap your spirit on the snout").
       P s a l m   137:9: "Happy shall he be, that taketh and                 Footnote
       dtisheth  thy little ones against the stones."  Markus
       was asked whether this passage was infallibly in-                             *Compare  with this "exegesis" of Psalm  137:9 the
                                                                              remarks of Calvin on the same passage: "It may seem
       spired.      He replied that it was indeed God's will that             to savour of cruelty, that he should wish the tender
       this text be in the Bible but only as an indication that               and innocent infants to be dashed and mangled upon
       the secondary authors were sinful men who let their                    the stones, but he does not speak under the impulse of
       cruel and bloodthirsty natures get the best of them,                   personal feeling, and only employs words which God
       from time to time.         In other words, the Holy Spirit             had himself authorized. . ." Calvin, who supposedly
       testifies to our hearts that Psalm  137:9  is the product              holds the low view of Scripture that permits such
       of the Psalmist's corrupt nature, to be explained in                   exegetical outrages to be perpetrated upon the Bible,
       the congregation as an evidence that the Psalmist was                  recognizes full well the offensiveness of the passage
       a wretch, no better than any one of us.* What havoc                    to every human mind but does not on that account
                                                                              reject it.      He does not reject it because for Calvin
       does not such a notion of the Scriptures and the Spirit                the Bible is not the word of man but the Word of God.
       wreak with Scripture? Such a theory gives to every                     Therefore, Calvin bows, even when the Word of God
       interpreter of the Bible the right to make the Bible                   offends him.


       BOOK REVIEWS-

                           Inasmuch, Christian Social Responsibility In 20th Century America

                           The Theology of Augustine

                           The Register of the Company of  Pa,stors of Geneva in the Time of Calvin

                           Missionary Principles

       INASMUCH, Christian Social Respon-          repudiates outright liberalism and re-         command to love one's neighbor; in the
       sibility In 20th Century America; by        jects a social gospel. But he alsocalls        example of Jesus who fed the hungry,
       David 0. Moberg; Wm. B. Eerdmans            the church to greater participation in         healed the sick, etc.; in the parable of
       Publishing Company, 1965; 216 pp.;          the social problems of the day and rep-        the sheep and the goats recorded in
       $2.45 (paper).                              rimands the church for being slothful          Matt. 25:31-46;  and in other parts of
_ .                                                in this regard.                                Scripture.    He finds the theological
 _x       The subject defined in the sub-title        The first part of the book is the           basis in God's universal love for men,
       of this book, a Christian's social re-      most important since in it the author          in the universal brotherhood of man,
       sponsibility, is a burning issue at         discusses the principles upon which he         in the general atonement of Christ and
       present in the Church.      There are       bases his position. The last part deals        in man's free will.     He ties social
       liberal churchmen who see no end at         with an elaborate program for social           action in closely with missionary work
       all to social activity and. who turn the    action.                                        insisting that social action is a form
       gospel into a social gospel. There are         Insisting that, while the Christian         of missionary work; or, at least, a
       others who strenuously protest this in-     must work for the regeneration of the          means to open the door to missionary
       volvement in social issues and insist       individual he must also labor towards          labor.
       that  this is not the calling of the        social renewal, he establishes what in             Inasmuch as we must reject the
       Church. The author of this book claims      his opinion is the Scriptural and theo-        doctrinal basis, presumably we must
       to occupy an evangelical position half-     logical basis for social action. He finds       also reject the social program founded
       way between these two extremes. He          the calling for social involvement in the      upon it, since, as he himself contends,


                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER                                                                    407

action comes forth from principles.          those who are interested in the Calvin              for the book draws too much of its
But the question which still needs           Reformation.        It contains the minutes         material from outside of the Scriptures
answering is the question of Scriptural      of the Consistory in a period from                  to be truly inspiring towards Scrip-
bases for social action. In spite of the     1541, ten years after Calvin's first                turally directed missionary work.
attempt to prove this calling from           arrival in Geneva, to 1564, the year of
Scripture, the question still persists.      Calvin's death.          While the minutes
Scripture does not call the believer to      are not complete (for they were ir-                 BIBLE STUDY COURSE ON THE Bd`OK
an elaborate social program but rather       regularly kept), they give consider-                OF EPHESIANS, by John H. Schaal.
insists that the Church's business is        able insight into the affairs of the
to preach the gospel in order that the       Church during this important period                    This small book of 48 pages is put
full number of the elect may be gath-        of the Reformation. Their value is to               out by the Reformed Bible Institute
ered. The efforts of the world (with         be found especially in the light they               in Grand Rapids. It is accompanied
which the author admonishes us to            shed upon the relations betweenchurch               by another small supplement book of
cooperate) are always doomed to fail-        and state in Geneva- a relationship                 24 pages, both of which together are
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Augustine, by Prof. Dr. A. D. R. Pol-        In the case of the latter, the question             R.B.I. The price of this book is $1.00;
man, 411 pages, f 19..75; Published by       of whether the ecclesiastical author-               the enrollm,ent  fee for the correspond-
J. H. Kok N.V.                               ities or the civil authorities had jur-             ence course is $5.00. No doubt the
                                             isdiction in the important matter of                book itself may be purchased separ-
    Prof. Dr. A. D. R. Polman is apro-       excommunication came to a head. This                ately from the course, The introduc-
fessor at the Theological School of          case dragged on for years while the                 tion suggests that the material can
Kampen, Netherlands. His other book          council refused to recognize Berthe-                also be used in societies.
on the theology of Augustine is: "The        Her's excommunication to the anger                     I have often pondered the advantages
Word of God as According to Augus-           and annoyance of the ministers. Fi-                 of correspondence courses as a means
tine.       In this volume, Part II, the     nally, in January of 1555 it was conced-            of witnessing to the truth. In fact, a
professor discusses this subject under       ed that "the Consistory should retain               few years ago a few of our ministers
the following h e ad i n g s: Preliminary    its status and exercise its accustomed              discussed this type of program at some
Orientation, the Existence and Knowl-        authority, in accordance with  the-Word             length and one suggested lesson was
edge of God, God Triune, God in the          of God and the Ordinances previously                even drawn up.      It was intended to
Riches of His Virtues, Resume of Some        passed."                                            supplement a pamphlet program. I
Results.      The book is written in the         The. book contains a valuable in-               think there is room-for such a pro-
Holland language.                            troduction by the editor in which the
    This book is not a book for laymen.                                                          gram as this.
                                             minutes are put in their proper his-                    Whether this particular textbook
It contains several foreign quotations.      torical perspective. There is also a
Although the question whether Dr. Pol-                                                           fills the need is another question. It
                                             translation of the ecclesiastical or-
man presents an objectively true pres-                                                           seems to me that a correspondence
                                             dinances by which the Church of Gen-
entation of Augustine's conception can                                                           course should meet at least the mini-
                                             eva was governed  - ordinances which,
be answered only when comparing it                                                               mum requirement of treating some
                                             in many respects, contain the roots of
with the writings of the eminent church                                                          aspect of the truth in a complete, clear
                                             our own Church order. The transla-
father, I would assume that theprofes-                                                           and easily understandable way - es-
                                             tion is eminently readable.
sor is accurate in what he sets forth                                                            pecially inasmuch as such a course
                                                 The book is highly recommended
 as the doctrine of this renowned church                                                         would beliitended  primarily for those
                                             to all who are interested in a study of
father.       In His opening chapter on                                                          who are unaquainted with the truth. I
                                             Calvin and his life and ministry in
 Preliminary Orientation, he empha-                                                              find this textbook deficient in this im-
                                             Geneva; but especially to students of
 sizes the difference between Augus-                                                             portant respect.     But soaring truths
                                             the Reformation, to whom it is essen-
tine's conception and doctrine of God                                                            of predestination, redemption, salva-
 and that as set forth by heathen phi-       tial.       A word of commendation ought             tion by grace alone, the elect church
 losopers. ,The value of the book is,        to be given to Prof. Hughes and to the               as the body of Christ, as well as the
 of course, that it sets forth this doc-     publishers for making this book avail-               sobering truth of total depravity as
 trine of God as taught and proclaimed        able.                                               taught in Ephesians are only  ver$'
 by Augustine. Considering the fact that                                                          superficially and briefly treated. The
 we should value highly the works of          MISSIONARY PRINCIPLES, by Roland                    same is true of the profound practical
 Augustine, we surely can recommend           Allen; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing                   implications Paul draws from these
 this book of Dr. Polman to all those         Company, 1964; 168 pp.; $1.45 (paper).              truths in the last three chapters of
 who are able to read it.                                                                         the book with emphatic emphasis on
                              H. Veldman              If one, reading the title of this book,     the antithesis. The treatment is dis-
                                              expects a discussion of the fundamental             appointing.
 THE REGISTER OF THE COMPANY                  principles underlying the. missionary                  Perhaps the course (only 10 short
 OF PASTORS OF GENEVA IN THE                  calling of the Church, he will be dis-              lessons) is much too brief to do justice
 TIME OF CALVIN, Edited by Philip E.          -appointed. The book is not this. It is             to this glorious book of Scripture. It
 Hughes; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing           rather intended to be inspirational                 might be of some help to those who are
 Co., Grand Rapids; 380 pp.; $12.50.          material to arouse the. Church to her               studying Ephesians in society; but a
                                              calling to preach the gospel to all                 couple of good commentaries are a
    This is a very valuable book for all      creatures.         But even in this it-fails,       must.                   Prof. H. Hanko


                                                 .-~-~---._  ___---~ ~~  -__-~~   .-~  ~-.  _~--_

408                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

                                       NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES-
                                           May 15, 1966      corporated as a non-profit society in the State; lots
       Rev. J.A. Heys, of South Holland, has declined the    have been purchased in  Doon on Highway 167; a building
call which came to him from our church at Edgerton,          has been approved at the estimated cost of  $20,245.00;
Minn.                                                        $13,000.00 of this has been received in cash and pledges;
                           *e**                              another drive for $4,000.00 is planned for late summer;
       This week, beginning June 1, the 1966 Synod will      and, D.V. they hope to open the doors of their new
make decisions affecting our denomination, meaning           school in the Fall of 1967.
each one  of-us.     One of the items of business, of in-                                 * * *
terest to would-be-ministers, is a proposal to offer a           From Doon's bulletin we learn that Edgerton,. Minn.
pre-seminary course in our Theological School. The           had been designated as' the place for the rendering of
Mission Board is planning greater activities, under          the Choral Society's program schedule for May 1.
the Lord's guidance and. favor, and is asking. for a                                      *  * *
larger committee to carry out this work. You may                 Rev. G. Vos,  etievitus,  has tendered his resigna-
expect to read of some of these resolutions on your          tion as Moderator to Hudsonville's church and Rev.
church bulletins when they have been decided. In all         H. Veldman has been appointed in his stead.
these matters that deal with our denominational life                                      * * *
let us remember that Synod is not  `?hey" but "we"               Revs. M.  Schipper  and R.C. Harbach had a reward-
who make decisions and carry them out. Let us re-            ing trip "out east". They met with a congregation in
member this broadest gathering of our churches be-           New Jersey and preached and discussed our doctrine.
fore the Throne of Grace.                                    They rejoice that many contacts were made for future
                           * * *                             correspondence.
       A Report of the Western Ladies' League held April                           '      ***
15. at  Doon Church was received over the signature of           The Young People of First Church have elected to
Mrs.' C. Klein, secretary of the League.         Mrs. R.     work for some of the donations they are expecting
Decker was Chairman of the day; Rev. J. Kortering            from their congregation towards the expenses of the
was the speaker, his theme: "Enduring Friendship",           coming Y.P. Convention. They are announcing a Car-
based on Prov.  17:17. The societies of Hull and  Ed-        wash in Adams St. School parking lot on Saturday,
gerton provided special musical numbers. Rev. R.             May 28.     Folks who do not have cars or who cannot
Decker answered questions on one of the articles in          bring  them,out  to the car-wash will be given opportu-
the Canons, on the necessity of society life, and on         nity to donate' to the cause by envelope in the church
the Protestant Reformed stand -on divorce and re-            collection plate, May 29.
marriage in comparison. with that of the Christian                                        * * *
Reformed Church.        This was an afternoon meeting           .The Kindergarten Roundup was held in Adams St.
and was concluded with a lunch wherein the theme,            School gym Thursday, May 12. This is usually con-
"Christian Fellowship," was graphically portrayed.           ducted by the teacher expecting to have the class next
                           *  *  *                           season, but Adams' new teacher, Miss Hilda Meelker,
    One of Lovelands' young men, Aaron  Schwarz,  is         is still in California and could not therefore be present.
stationed near Da Nang in Viet Nam, partaking in the         Adams' Principal, Mrs. H.C. Hoeksema, conducted the
` `skirmish" which dare not be named a war. In a             roundup and introduced the pre-kindergarteners (and
letter to his pastor, Rev. D. Engelsma, he writes that       new mothers) to school life, picturing this with the aid
he is "confident of God's care for him so that  he.need      of a life-size doll who was made to learn all that the
not be afraid" even though he expects to be sent to an       youngsters are supposed to know, and how to dress
area where heavy  .casualties  have been reported. That,     for different occasions.       After this combined session,
young people is faith, an abiding trust that "God is         the mothers were taken into a room to discuss school
ever mindful of His own!`.                                   life with a representative of the Mothers' Club, while
                           * * *                             the children were alone with the teacher. This little
   Are you within easy driving distance from  Hudson-        taste of school seems to whet the appetite of the chil-
vilie?    Then plan-to attend the Singspiration scheduled    dren so that they are anxious for September and are
for June 19, sponsored by the Beacon Lights Staff.           more than willing to leave their mothers on that First
                           * *  *                            Day of school !
   The Spring Banquet of the Young People in the                                          * * *
Grand Rapids Area was held May 10. Prof. H.  Hanko              Quote  from  South Holland:  "If thou art not born
was the speaker. His topic was "The New Morality".           again, all `thy outward reformation is naught. Thou
                           * * *                             .hast shut the door, but the thief is still in the house."
   The Board of the Northwest Iowa  Prot.. Ref. Chris-
tian School Society recently printed a Newsletter giv-
ing the statistics to date. The Society has been  in-            . . . . see you in church.                      J.M.F.


