                                        IIe



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     A   REl?ORMED  S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E



~    ml  THIS  ISSUE:


           Meditation: A- Saint Recounting His life

            Editorials: The Nature of the Atonement

                         Ecumenical To The Extreme

            That Period Theory Again (see All Around Us)

            World Congress on Evangelism



I                                          Volume  XLIII/ Number  6/December  15, 1966


122                                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                         C O N T E N T S                                                                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

Meditation  -                                                                                                                                                       Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
   A Saint Recounting His Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
         Rev. M. Schipper                                                                                                                                               Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
Editorials  -
   The Nature of the Atonement                                                                                                                                                       Editor- Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
                                                               . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
         Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                       Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
   Ecumenical To The Extreme  I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127                                      Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1842 Plymouth Terrace, S.E., Grand
         Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                       Rapids, Mich.       49506. Contributions will be limited to 300
From Holy Writ -
   The Book of Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129                          words and must be neatly written or typewritten. Copy dead-
         Rev. G. Lubbers                                                                                                                                            lines are the first and'fifteenth of the month.
A Cloud of Witnesses -
   The Evil Spirit Returns                                                                                                                                          All church news items should be addressed toMr.  J. M. Faber,
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         Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                                                                                                                1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
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         Rev. G. Vanden  Berg                                                                                                                                       be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below;
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Contending For The Faith  -                                                                                                                                                           Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
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         Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                                            received it  is. assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
All Around Us  -
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                                                                                                                                                                    especially fitting for Christmas.




        MEDllATION-

                                             A Saint Recounting His life

                                                                                                                                     by Rev. M.  Sc@ppev

                                                       `And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old  art thou? And Jacob said unto
                                             Pharaoh, The days of the  years of my  pilgrimage   aYe an  hawked  and  thirty
                                              years: few and evil  have the days of the  years   of my life been, and have not
                                             attained unto the days of the  years of the life of my fathers in the  days  of
                                              their pilgrimage.  "
                                                                                                                                                                                            Genesis  47:8, 9

       How old are you?                                                                                                                                                 Such was the question wherewith Pharaoh, king of
       Embarrassing question, you say!                                                                                                                              Egypt, confronted Jacob. This third of a triumvirate'
       Perhaps it is for some! Maybe you prefer not to                                                                                                              of saints had lately come to Egypt at the invitation of
answer it!                                                                                                                                                          his son Joseph, whom God had exalted so highly that
       But such a question can prove to be very salutary!                                                                                                           he sat next to Pharaoh. And at the behest of Joseph,
Especially is this .so when one considers it wisely. It                                                                                                             Jacob is brought before the monarch who is greeted by
suggests, among other things, the fleetness of life;                                                                                                                the venerable old saint with the salutation such dig-
and it calls for retrospection, the careful taking of                                                                                                               nitaries deserve; and where the grey-haired old gen-
inventory of one's life-.                                                                                                                                           tleman is immediately asked the question: How old


                                               THESTANDARDBEARER                                                     123

art thou?                                                      abode, looking for the city which has foundations! Such
   That question evoked not only the answer as to the          had been the life of this child of God !
number of the years the saint had lived; but it caused
all the years to pass in retrospect before his con-               The saint seeks not the earthly! His abode is not
sciousness, so that he could properly assess them!             the domicile deeply dug, and a house for aye; but it is
   As this year draws to its close, another year of            the tent which may be carried on his back as he moves
our lives is ended. Not only has the plan of God for           from place to place. Earthly values are to him not
                                                               intrinsic but transitory. Earthly things have no other
the history of the world reached another milepost in           significance than to be servants assisting him in the
its approach to its culmination, a fact in itself serious      progress of his pilgrimage. His sole objective is the
enough for earnest consideration. For though a thousand        heavenly! Heaven is his home. His citizenship, with
years with God are as one day, andvice versa, we know          all that it implies, is in heaven. All that he is and does
that the world's history is reckoned by years. Each            is motivated by the heavenly principle !
successive year brings that history to its consummation.
And from that point of view the end of this year is in-           The days of the years of my pilgrimage . . . !
dicative of the fact that God is realizing His counsel            This is not a sad complaint!
for the ages. But our lives alsohave  made an approach            Rather, it expresses a joyous prospect!
to their end! The foolish, of course, will fail to take           Another year, another milepost in the pilgrim way is
this into consideration. He thinks he shall live for-          also not a sad aspect! Suchitmight be were we citizens
ever.     And with eating and drinking, with merry-            from below. But not so for the pilgrim! Another year
making, the blowing of whistles and the ringing of             brings him a little closer to his home and eternal
bells, he will attempt to drown out the thought concern-       happiness ! The days of my pilgrimage have been so
ing the fastly approaching end. But the saint, the child       many, and that means there are so many left according
of God, will very seriously consider the passing of his
years! Not so much to complain of their rapid pass-            to the plan and purpose of God, when my pilgrimage
                                                               will be finished, and my destination reached!
ing, but to consider his calling as it must be,fitted into        Few and evil have the days of the years of my life
a space of life which compared with that of others may
appear to be very short, but which when considered             been!
in the line of duty may recall the trials and the testings,       They have not attained unto the days of the years of
the joys and the evils to be experienced as one treads         the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage!
out the path on which his pilgrimage takes him!                   The saint observes the brevity of his life!
                                                                  Also this is not a complaint!
   How old art thou?                                              So some would explain! Jacob, they say, was placed
   The answer to that question should cause the saint          before the question: How old are you? And his answer
to pass judgment on the span of life already lived, and        includes a comparison with the patriarchs before him.
to assess his calling as it yet must be realized1              And when he considered that they had outlived him, he
   And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years          remorsefully asserts that his days by comparisonwere
of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years . . . !       few.
   He observed that the years of his life is a pil-               However, we know from the subsequent history of
grimage!                                                       Jacob that this cannot be the case. Though it is true
   And that means that all those years he was a pil-           that he did not live as long as his fathers Abraham.
grim !                                                         and Isaac; and though it is also true that he had yet to
   And the pilgrim is one who is an alien in a strange         live seventeen years after he appeared before Pharaoh,
land! He is one who is on his way to his homeland, and         his fathers lived considerably longer than he. It is
is only temporarily passing through another. And the           also true that in verse 29 of our chapter where we
pilgrimage is the trek of the pilgrim as he wanders in         read:     "And the time drew nigh that Israel must
this foreign land, not without purpose, but with the           die . . .  " This implies that his years were full, that
guide-map of the Word of God, which also serves him            he had according to the plan of God lived out his years.
as a lamp for his feet and a light upon his pathway.           And in Genesis 49:33 we read: "And when Jacob had
On this way, as he travels with other pilgrims, he             made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up
sings it out with the sweet Psalmist of old -                  his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and
             "I am a stranger here,                            was gathered unto his people." This implies that he
                Dependent on Thy grace,                        knew his time had come, and he was willing and ready
             A Pilgrim, as my fathers were,                    to go.    And though this was some seventeen years
                With no abiding place."                        later, there is no reason to believe that Jacob would
   Such was the experience of Jacob!                           complain now and be satisfied then.
   All his life was literally and emphatically a pil-             Rather, here is a saint speaking, who is truly
grimage! It began in Canaan. Thence to Padanaram,              wise! He faces the fact of life's span by comparisons.
and back to Canaan again. And there always he moved            He takes notice of the life span of others, of his pred-
from place to place, first to Succoth, and then to             ecessors, and comes to the conclusion that life is very
Shechem, and then to Hebron.           And now to Egypt 1      brief! He observes, too, that his life had been packed
   Like his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, who also               with activity, and that much earlier than his fathers
were pilgrims, dwelling in tents, with no permanent            he was worn out. And so, while he had still seventeen


                                                THE  STANDARD  BEARER

years to live, he was already living in anticination
                                                  A      of      not wait for God to give it him. When he is confronted
his death.                                                       with Esau and his host at the Jabbok, how he would
    This brevity of life!                                        have strategically out-foxed his brother to spare the
    How often the Scriptures call our attention to it!           best of his possessions, and God had to teach him
    "Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure             that it was not Esau but God with Whom he must wres-
of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I              tle.
am.      Behold, thou hast made my days as an hand-                      0, indeed, he remembered his wicked sins!
breath, and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily                   But the other aspect of the evil which had been
every man at his best state is altogether vanity."               packed into his brief life was the tribulation he en-
Psalm 39:4, 5.                                                   dured! A fugitive he had been for twenty years, while
    "For all our days are passed away in thy wrath,              all that time his avaricous uncle persecuted him as he
we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of           labored for his wives and substance.           How he was
our years are threescore years and ten; and if by                troubled by the conduct of his sons when with his
reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is               family he returned to Shechem! How his very heart
their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut             seemed to be torn from him when he laid his beloved
off, and we fly away." Psalm 90: 9, 10.                          wife Rachel to rest at Bethlehem!           How with grey
    "For he knoweth our frame;           he remembereth          hairs he appeared ready to descend into the grave
that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass:             when the news reached him that his favorite son had
as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the             lost his life, being torn to pieces by some wild beast!
wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place                      All this he recounted now!
thereof shall know it no more." Psalm 103:14-16.                         How old are you ?
    This is the tone of all the Scriptures !                             Indeed, my life is so short that I am not only able
    And it seems that the packed life is the shortest!           to recall all that took place in it, but especially the
To one who never seems to have anything to do, life              evil !
must seem long and dull. But to him who is never idle,                   That evil I readily confess!
life seems all too short. The day does not seem to                       And I have sensed more than ever how that I have
hold in it enough hours; the year, enough days; and              only a small beginning of the new obedience !
the life, enough years.                                                  Nevertheless, I have walked by the grace of my
    So it must have appeared also to Jacob, the saint!           God in the way He ordained for me, even as it led
    And evil have the days of the years of my life               through many trials and tribulations!
been!                                                                    And now, though the span of the years of my life
    Also this is not a complaint!                                seemed so short, especially when I compared it with
    It is a confession!                                          that of my fathers, when you ask me how old I am,
    The evil of which he speaks may be considered                I am not only able to tell you, but I am also able to
-twofold.     Not only is the saint here recounting his          see the end of my pilgrimage!
manifold sins; how he had deceived his brother Esau                      Soon I will be in the city that hath foundations !
and his aged father Isaac; how he had outmaneuvered              Fatherland, the land where Father dwells, and where
his miserly uncle  Laban; how on several occasions               the whole family of God shall forever dwell, there I
in his own strength he even attempted to outmaneuver             shall soon enter!
God.     When the thing he sought most, namely, the                      When you ask me: how old are you? that is what
patriarchal blessing, the birthright, when this did not          I am reminded ofl
come to him as quickly as he wished, when he could                       How old are you?




                  . .By grace are ye saved also means that by grace ye are called. This, too, may well
              bg emphasized in our day. On the one hand, he that preaches the gospel must constantly
              bear this in mind, in order that he may be humble. He must not leave the impression
              by the way he preaches, as if he were the whole show, as if he were really the one that
              calls and saves souls, while the Holy Spirit is a sort of assistant evangelist that is
              called in at the right moment to finish the preacher's work. He is only an instrument.
              But on the other hand, the audience, too, must understand that the important point of the
              sermon is not that it pleases them, that it is a "nice sermon," by which they were
              probably entertained for forty-five minutes; but the great question is whether through
              the preaching they heard the calling of Christ the Lord, the voice of Jesus saying:
               "Come unto me and rest." The calling is through the preaching, but it is of God through
              Christ. By grace are ye called!
                                                               H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p-55


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    125




  EDITORIALS-

                         The Nature of the Atonement
                                      Limited or General?
                                                  by  P~of. H. C. Hoeksema

THE  CONF&XONS  ON THE DEFINITE
AND PERSONAL ELEMENT OF THE ATONEMENT
   One of our confessions of a minor order, The                    that we might be freed from our sins; that he after-
Form for the Administration of the Lord's Supper,                  wards suffered innumerable reproaches, that we might
also speaks of Christ's atonement as being both def-               never be confounded; that he was innocently condem-
inite and personal.         It is true, of course, that this       ned to death, that we might be acquitted at the judg-
Form does not use any language which expressly, in                 ment-seat of God, yea, that he suffered his blessed
so many words, excludes some from this death of                    body to be nailed on the cross - that he might fix
                                                                   thereon the handwriting of 
Christ;         and in this sense it does not speak of a                                          our sins; and hath also
                                                                   taken upon himself the curse due to us, that he might
limitation of the atonement. Nevertheless, the lan-                fill us with his blessings: and hath humbled himself
guage is such that it makes the atonement very def-                unto the deepest reproach and pains of hell, both in
inite and very personal; and it would be impossible                body and soul, on the tree of the cross, when he cried
to read this language in any other way than referring              out with a loud voice, "My God, my God1 why hast
to the elect, and to them only. We find the same "we"              thou forsaken me?" that we might be accepted of
and "us" and "our" in this Form that is found in the               God and never be forsaken of him......"
Heidelberg Catechism and in the Belgic Confession.                 In this same Form we find the truth that the atone-
This is simply due to the fact that faith is speaking           ment is in the most specific sense of the word per-
here. This should warn us already that the language             sonal. But again, this assurance of one's personal
is not general, but definite. For faith proceeds from           part is not general. It is not thus, that the gospel or
the fountain of election. The believers are the elect.          the preacher of the gospel can say to every individ-
And when believers give expression to their faith,              ual personally, "Christ died for you." Nor is the
therefore, they are always speaking in a very exclusive         Supper of the Lord designed to give that personal
(limited) communion, i.e., the communion of the saints          assurance of a personal part in the atoning death of
in Christ Jesus. Together they express in that com-             Christ generally.     The very opposite is true. This
munion that Christ died for them personally. From               personal assurance of a personal stake in the atoning
this point of view, the Form for the Lord's Supper              death of Christ is for those who eat and drink by
contains a very beautiful passage emphasizing in detail         faith, that is, "in remembrance of me," that is, for
how Christ very definitely substituted for His people           the elect. This follows, of course, from the objective
in such a way that what He objectively accomplished             truth of a definite and personal atonement which is
through that substitution His people never would have           specifically taught in the words of Christ quoted in
to  endu,re.      He did it all for  them.  And if in this      this part of the Form: .'. ..Drink ye all of it; this cup
passage the "we" is generalized, then this simply               is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for
would have to mean that all the benefits spoken of              you, and  for  many, for the remissionof sins...." (em-
accrue objectively to all men.         Take note of the fol-    phasis mind, H.C.H.) The question is: of what objective
lowing pass age; and as you do so, in order to see the          fact does he who eats and drinks the supper of the
absurdity of general atonement, try substituting "all           Lord receive a sure remembrance and pledge? The
men" for "we" and "our" and "us."                               answer is: that Christ died for you personally. Let
           . . . ..Now after this manner are we to remember     us understand this clearly. It is not only thus that in
    him by it: First. That we are confidently persuaded         the Lord's Supper the believer receives a personal
    in our hearts, that our Lord Jesus Christ.....bore for      assurance;    but he receives the personal assurance
    us the wrath of God (under which we should have per-        that Christ acted as  his personal substitute. He re-
    ished everlastingly) from the beginning of his in-          ceives the assurance that he was there, personally
    carnation, to the end of his life upon earth; and that      represented, when Christ laid down His life. Notice:
    he hath fulfilled, for us, all obedience to the divine
    law, and righteousness; especially, when the weight                . . ..that is, as often as ye eat of this bread and
    of our sins and the wrath of God pressed out of him             drink of. this cup, you shall thereby as by a sure re-
    the bloody sweat in the garden, where he was bound              membrance and pledge, be admonished. and assured


126                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

       of this my hearty love and faithfulness towards you;                                     *  *  *
       that, whereas you should otherwise have suffered eter-         We are now ready to turn to the Canons of Dor-
       nal death, I have given my body to the death of the         drecht.        But a few introductory remarks are in
       cross, and shed my blood for you; and as certainly          order, first of all.
       feed and nourish your hungry and thirsty souls with            My first remark is that the Canons must `cer-
       my crucified body and shed blood, to everlasting life,
       as this bread is broken before your eyes, and this cup      tainly be viewed in the light of their historical back-
       is given to you, and you eat and drink the same with        ground.       As far as the atonement is concerned, the
       your mouth, in remembrance of me.                           chief concern has, of course, been with the Second
                                                                   Head of Doctrine. And when I consider the historical
   Hence, there is a very strong guarantee in the                  background of the Second Head of Doctrine, I find it
Lord's Supper of a personal part in the atonement                  rather strange, to say the least, that anyone should
of Christ and all its benefits. But that guarantee of              have the audacity to deny that Canons 11 teaches lim-
such a personal stake is a guarantee to faith only,                ited, or definite atonement.            Yet this is exactly
that is, to the elect. The atonement is definite and               what has taken place in this controversy in the Chris-
personal, never general.                                           tian Reformed Church. To me it is conceivable that
   Finally, the same is true of the next paragraph                 someone might try to maintain that the Catechism or
of the Form.          It should be perfectly obvious, in the       the Belgic Confession does not teach particular atone-
first place, that this paragraph speaks of the redemp-             ment; but it is utterly inconceivable that one should
tive and meritorious work of Christ that was accom-                posit this of the Second Head of the Canons. Just
plished nineteen hundred years ago at the cross. And,              exactly what do they think our fathers were fighting
in the second place, it should be perfectly obvious that           about at the Synod of Dordrecht? As far as the atone-
if that redemptive and meritorious work of Christ                  ment is concerned, they were fighting exactly the
accomplished through His atoning death is general,                 doctrine which Prof. Dekker defended in his articles
that is, for all men, then this paragraph says far too             in the 
much, unless one is willing to be a thorough-going                             Reformed  Jouvnal.    Prof. Dekker wants to say
                                                                   to all men: "Christ died for you." This is precisely
universalist, - something which everyone in the                    the Arminian doctrine in Article II of the Remon-
Dekker controversy seems to abhor. Take note of                    strance:      "That, agreeably thereto, Jesus Christ, the
this paragraph:                                                    Saviour of the world, died for all men and for every
          From this institution of the Holy Supper of our          man, so that. he has obtained for them all, by his
       Lord Jesus Christ, we see that he directs our faith         death on the cross, redemption and the forgiveness of
       and trust to his perfect sacrifice (once offered on         sins; yet that no one actually enjoys this forgiveness
       the cross) aa to the only ground and foundation of our      of sins except the believer, according to the word of
       salvation, wherein he is become to our hungry and           the Gospel of John 3:16. . ..And in the First Epistle of
       thirsty souls, the true meat and drink of life eternal.
       (And now notice the objective accomplishments of the        John 2:2....."
       death of Christ, accomplishments which cannot pos-             If our Reformed fathers, therefore, had agreed
       sibly be general, H.C.H.) For by his death he hath          with this second article of the Remonstrance and with
       taken away the cause of our eternal death and misery,       the doctrine of Prof. Dekker, there would have been
       namely sin, and obtained for us the quickening Spirit,.     no Second Head of the Canons written, for the simple
       that we by the same (who dwelleth in Christ as in the       reason that there would have been no controversy
       head, and in us as his members), might have true            about the atonement.
       communion with him, and be made -partakers of all              My second remark concerns the complete absence
       his blessings, of life eternal, righteousness and glory.    of the term  atonement  from the Canons.            In fact,
       Especially the last element here, namely, that              this term does not occur in any of our confessions.
Christ by His atoning death obtained for us the quick-             But it is claimed by some that Canons II does not
ening Spirit, is something which the generalist cannot             speak of the atonement, but speaks only of redemp-
explain. For it is that quickening Spirit Who applies              tion.      On this basis the attempt is made to establish
unto us that which we have in Christ, puts us in liv-              a disjunction between atonement and redemption, as
ing, personal communion with Christ through .faith,                though, for example, the atonement (not mentioned
and thus makes us conscious partakers of all the bless-            in the Canons) could be unlimited, while redemption
ings which accrued to us in that atoning death of                  could be limited.         In regard to this suggestion, I
Christ, namely, life eternal, righteousness, and glory.            have the following to say:
Anyone can see, therefore, that if the atoning death                   1) It seems to me that this kind of argumentation
of Christ is general, for all men, then all men must               reveals both desperation and ignorance. It reveals
needs have the quickening Spirit, and, with that quick-            desperation because it is a kind of grasping at straws.
ening Spirit all the blessings of salvation. Much as               Who does not know that in common theological par-
Dr. Daane repudiated the reasoning from limited                    lance the doctrine set forth in Canons II is called
salvation to limited atonement,. that reasoning is per-            the doctrine of the atonement? In Reformed theology
fectly valid.       And the reason why it is valid is that         this term atonement has been used for many,~ many
the, ground, the sure ground, of salvation is in the               years in the English language to denote the Reformed
atonement of Christ. Universal atonement necessarily               conception of the death of Christ. The mere fact that
means universal salvation; and limited salvation can               this particular term  .does not occur in our English
only be grounded in limited atonement.                             translation of the Canons does not mean that the


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 127

Canons do not set forth the doctrine of what we all            But all this means nothing, except that those who
have become accustomed to call "the atonement."            appeal to this absence of the word  atonement  in
One may have objections to the term; but there is          Canons II have failed to do their homework, before
no doubt in anyone's mind as to the usage. The same        coming out with arguments.         In dogmatic usage in
is true    of a term like "limited" as applied to the      the English language we all know the meaning of the
atonement. Many have expressed themselves as pre-          term, and we all know that the atonement is treated
ferring the term  definite  or  pavticulav.  But we all    in Canons II.
know what the term  limited  is meant to express,
namely: that Christ died for the elect, and for them
only. To base a theological argument on a point like           2)    The attempt to establish separation between
this is a genuine case of reducing theology to seman-      atonement and redemption also points up a sore lack
tics.                                                      in the entire Dekker case, namely, the lack of precise
    But it also betrays ignorance. Our Canons were         definition of terms. Terms like  atonement  and  em-
composed in the Latin language; and they were first        cacious atonement  and Yedemption   and  eff&acious  ye-
translated into the Dutch language. Neither the Latin      demption  are tossed around without giving precise
nor the Dutch has a term that is exactly equivalent        and Scriptural content to them. But I submit that if the
to the term atonement, that is, in its root meaning.       term  redemption  is given its correct dogmatic content
Atonement is derived from the two English words at         in the light of Scripture, it will become plain that
one; it is literally  at-one-ment.  Thus, it originally    redemption can be no more limited or unlimited than
was used to denote the state of being at one, concord,     atonement; they are co-extensive.
agreement, friendship;       hence, the state of being
reconciled. Then it came to denote the idea of satis-          Finally, I want to remark that proper attention
faction for an injury or offense; and thus it was ap-      must be paid to the relation between Canons I and
plied to the work of Christ whereby He made satis-         Canons II.       After all, the root of the entire Dekker
faction for our sins to the justice of God and achieved    controversy lies in the area of predestination. And
our reconciliation. In the Latin there are many re-        one cannot properly consider and understand the Re-
lated terms, such as the term for  satisfaction,  ye-      formed doctrine of the atonement set forth in Canons
demption, redeem,  expiate, etc. But there is no exact     II except in the light of and upon the basis of the truth
equivalent of the word atonement. The same is true         of predestination as set forth in Canons I. To.this  I
of the Dutch.       There are terms like vevlossen  and    shall call attention in my next installment. In con-
vevlossing and loskoopen and vvijkoopen  to denote the     cluding this article, however, let me point out that
idea of redemption, that is, the purchasing free, the      the same is true of Arminianism.          The Arminian
ransoming, of the guilty sinner. And there is a term       view of the atonement follows logically upon the Ar-
like vewoening  to denote the idea of reconciliation.      minian view of election, as set forth in Article I of
Moreover, also the Scriptural terms, both in Hebrew        the Remonstrance.        Hence, they begin their second
and in Greek, do not find their exact equivalent in our    article with the words, "That, agreeably thereto....."
English word  atonement.      In the Old Testament the     Over against this view, the Reformed fathers estab-
word atonement is used in our English Bible to denote      lished the Reformed truth of predestination in Canons I;
a term which means "covering," and in the New              and agreeably  theveto  they established the Reformed
Testament the term  atonement  is once used where          doctrine of the atonement in Canons  II.        There is,
the word  reconciliation  would be the proper trans-       strictest harmony, never disjunction, between pre-
lation.                                                    destination and atonement.





                            Ecumenical TO The Extreme!

                                             by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

   The reader of Saturday's religious page in  The            The largest of two pictures in this story carried
Grand Rapids  Press.  learns to expect almost  any-        the caption, "Visitors Pray," and was accompanied
thing of a shocking nature in its columns, and he be-      by the following explanation:       "Participating in the
comes somewhat immune to shock. But an item on             special Thanksgiving services ,Thursday at St. Paul
page 6 of the issue of Saturday, November 26,  -           the Apostle Catholic Church were, left to right, Dr.
complete with pictures,  - certainly was too much          John Kromminga, president of Calvin Theological  Sem-
for my immunity.                                           inary;        Very Rev. Don Carey, pastor of Grace


128                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

Episcopal Church;         Rev. Doug Evett, assistant at              Imagine! Christian Reformed, Episcopalian, Jew,
Grace; Rabbi Frederick Eisenberg of Temple Eman-                 Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Modernist (Fountain Street
uel, offering the prayer at the pulpit; Rev. Eugene              Church), Orthodox, and Methodist, - all participating
Krieger, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church, be-               in a Thanksgiving service and unitedly offering a pray-
hind Msgr. Powers at the altar; Rev. Duncan Little-              er of thanksgiving!
fair, pastor of Fountain Street Church;           Rt. Rev.           To whose God was this offered?         Judging from
Msgr. Ellis Khouri, pastor of St. Nicholas Orthodox              the fact that one would have to find the lowest common
Church, and Rev. John Myette, pastor of St. Paul's               denominator in such a situation, one would conclude
Methodist Church."                                               that it would have to be the God of the Rev. Duncan
   The news item headed by this picture is entitled,             Littlefair, who is notorious in our fair city for his
"Interfaith Thanks Given at St. Paul's," and the first           outspoken modernism.
paragraph reads as follows:           "The true spirit of            In the name of whose Christ was this prayer
Thanksgiving - Brotherhood - prevailed Thursday                  offered? Was it perhaps in the name of Rabbi Eisen-
morning at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church when             berg's Christ? Ah, but he has none!
eight local clergymen participated in a special ser-                 The Grand Rapids  Press      judged correctly that
vice."                                                           this service has to be expressive of some kind of
   Needless to say, the shocking part of this story              brotherhood, some kind of communion.            But what
is the  ,fact that the Christian Reformed Church's               communion, brotherhood, was this? Was it the com-
seminary president could and did participate in such             munion of saints? That could not possibly be. For
a service, thereby inevitably involving the name of              the communion of saints is in Christ Jesus exclu-
Calvin Theological Seminary and the Christian Re-                sively.       And outside of that communion of saints,
formed Church in the affair, and bringing ill repute             remember, true prayer is impossible and thanksgiving
upon that name. This is not being written in a spirit            becomes an abomination to the Lord.
of finger-pointing and gloating, much less of pride                  But perhaps the solution lies herein, that each
and a holier-than-thou attitude.        There can only be        one,  - the Christian Reformed, the Episcopalian,
cause for grief in such a thing as this. But if it be            the Jew, the Lutheran, the Roman Catholic, the Mod-
possible to alert the conservatives in the Christian             ernist, the Orthodox, and the Methodist, - each one
Reformed Church and to stir them to reformatory                  prayed his own prayer, offering his own thanks, to
action, and if there be those serious-minded children            his own God, in the name of his own Christ (if he had
of God who love the Reformed faith earnestly, but                one).       Ah, but that has its problems also. Then the
who are not yet convinced that there is something                prayer should have been silent. Then, in fact, the entire
sorely amiss in the Christian Reformed Church  -                 service should have been silent. But then there would
then let them now take notice and take warning!                  be no service!         Then they all could have remained
   For there are some dreadfully serious and in-                 home.        But then, at least, a Reformed man, if he
escapable questions at stake here.                               truly wanted to be Reformed, could offer the only
   This is an instance of ecumenicism in practice.               truly ecumenical prayer of thanksgiving,  - in the
   And it is an extreme instance !                               communion of saints, in the unity and the catholicity
   If Dr. Kromminga can practice ecumenicism in                  of the church of all ages, which is characterized by
this degree, then he can also use his position  ,of              purest holiness!
leadership to urge the Christian Reformed Church to                  Indeed, this thing called ecumenicism involves
join the World Council and any other ecumenical                  one in some dreadfully serious and inescapable ques-
movement.      He can also use his influence in the sem-         tions !
inary to teach the future ministers of the Christian                 And one of the questions for our Christian Reformed
Reformed Church the principles and the practice of               brethren is: how can you allow your seminary presi-
such ecumenicism.                                                dent to continue in office in good standing?




             .  .  . .It must be strongly emphasized that this calling unto salvation is indeed a divine
             calling, and that, therefore, it comes to us with authority and power. It is not a weak
             human plea, nor a mere invitation which one may either accept or reject, nor a generous
             offer one may receive or decline: it is the Word of God that comes to the sinner when
             Christ calls through the preaching. And "the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and
             sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and
             spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents `of
             the heart." Heb.  4:12.      And again: "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my
             mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and
             it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isa. 55:l.
                                                              H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p.56


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  129




               FROM HOLY WRIT-


                            The Book of Hebrews

                                                   by Rev.  G. Lubbers


THE UNIQUENESS OF GOD'S SPEAKING                               Being what he is he bears the world by the word of his
IN HIS SON UNDERSCORED (vss 28-4)                             power.        This inner connection is brought out very
(continued)                                                    strongly by the Greek text which' has really a word
                                                              which gives us the duty to paraphrase "Since he is
   This uniqueness of God's speaking in his Sonis also        the one being the expressed image of God's being,
set forth in bold relief in the exalted place which the       there he also is the one upholding all things by the
Son has been appointed, and which he has received             word of his power." What Christ does in creation
through his death and resurrection and his glorious           and in recreation is due to his being the expressed
exaltation at the right hand of God.                          image of God's being.        He is very God in the flesh.
    Perhaps it can be helpful for a correct understand-           This all points up the uniqueness of God's speaking
ing of this mystery of godliness to call attention to the     in the Son. For we are here taught that the Son is not
grammatical construction in Greek text. It is quite            simply the effulgence of God's glory in the inner-Trin-
evident from the text that the sitting down at the right       itarian life, as the One begotten of the Father, but that
hand of the Majesty of God is dependent upon Christ's         this Christ in the flesh is also this same effulgence of
work on the Cross. God did not simply exalt His Son           God's glory, the expressed image of his being. He
at His right hand by His might apart from history,. apart     who denies this is anti-Christ. He has no mighty God,
from the Fall, the history of sin and grace in the            the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. -He has
world.      Cross and crown are connected; Christ is          a mere man on the Cross, and such a mere man never
perfected through suffering of death. He is exalted in         arose from the dead and went and sat down on the right
no other way. This is made abundantly clear in the            hand of God. Yes, this Son is the effulgence of God's
Greek text. The tenses in the Greek participle having         power, revealed in the word of his power, in all of
purged (kathavismon  . . . poieesamenos)  and the aorist      creation. He is such as the Logos not in the flesh but
tense of the verb to sit down  (ekathisen)  indicate that     in creation and in the guidance and control of history.
this is looked at as one act of the Son; the one is not       He is this equally in the work in redemption. It is the
apart from the other. The use of the participle here           effulgence of God's glory which we see in Christ when
also indicates that the purging away of sin is basic to       he by himself purges sins, and in consequence of this
the sitting down at God's right hand. In Ephesians,           sits down on the right hand of God. In him all the lines
Chapter 1, Paul also presents the death, resurrection         meet because from him they proceed. All things were
and ascension of Christ as one act of God.                    made by him and unto him. (Colossians 1:16b) Thus he
   Furthermore, we ought to notice that there is an           is the Firstborn of all creatures as the Firstborn out
inner connection between such purging away of sin by          of the dead.
Christ himself and his exaltation, and what the writer            Such is the greatness of the Son of God in the flesh.
says about the person and identity of the Son. This           And in these last days the Son has been exalted and
purging on the Cross is performed by him who is "up-          glorified with the glory which he had with the Father
holding all things by the word of his power." Here too        before the. foundation of the world in God's counsel.
the grammar .is important. The verb form for "up-             His is the Name above every name. The "name" of
holding" is present active, masculine, nominative par-        Christ here refers to his place in all of creaturehood
ticiple.    He is constantly upholding all things by the      in heaven and on earth. And todemonstrate this great:
word of his power. All things were made by him, and           ness the Son is not compared with a worm or an ant,
nothing was made that was not made by Him. And thus           but he is compared with the greatest of the celestial
too there is nothing now existing in heaven or on earth       beings: the angels, who do always behold the face of
but what exists by his word of power; his is the prov-        God.        He has received a Name greater than all, far
idential power that upholds all things.       He holds the     above all principality, powers and might. He is given
entire world in his hand. Such is this Son. And this he       as Head over all things and creatures to the church.
can do because he is the one "being" the expressed                In this Son in creation and recreation the God and
image of God's being, the effulgence of God's glory.           Father of us has spoken in these last days. For this
This is evident from the relationship of the two               Son is one who has "inherited" a name. He is the
participles "being"  (eon) and "bearing"  (pheroon).           Heir-Son.      In him history finds its consummation and


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

close. Until he comes all things are open-ended. But          they are not a collation of unrelated sayings rather
now the fulfilment has come. Such is the grand theme          haphazardly thrown together. On the contrary when we
of the book of Hebrews. For this Heir is the King-Priest      study these passages we see that the writer, under the
after the Order of Melchisedec.                               direction of the Holy Spirit, shows three rather dis-
                                                              tinctive view-points of the exaltedness of Christ at God's
Hebvews  1:5-14                                               right hand.
    "For unto which of the angels said he at any time,
Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? And           CHRIST'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD AND TO
again, I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me        ALL THINGS PROVEN FROM THE PSALMS
a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten
into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God           The Psalms in question here are Psalm 2~7 and
worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh           Psalm  89~26,  27. (II Samuel 7:14). When the writer
his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.        quotes there two Psalms he will show that he is solely
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, 0 God, is for-         interested in the Word of God as we have this in the
ever and ever:       a sceptre of righteousness is the        sacred Old Testament Canon. And the starting-point
sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou has loved righteous-             of the proof is what God "ever" said. He refers, of
ness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God,        course, to what God ever said in the Scriptures through
hath anointed thee with oil of gladness above thy fellows.    the prophets to the fathers of old time. Psalmists
And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the founda-       too are prophets; they utter the prophetic word which
tion of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thine      is most sure. Outside of this word of prophecy God
hands :    they shall perish; but thou remainest; and         has never spoken. Well, then, where has He in all the
they all shall wax old as doth agarment; and as a ves-        Scriptures spoken to angels as he speaks to His Son in
ture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed;      the Scriptures 0
but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.              He begins with Psalm 2:7 which is aclassic passage
But unto which of the angels said he at any time, Sit         in the Scriptures. This passage is quoted in the New
on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy foot-        Testament by Paul in Acts 13:33 and againby the writer
stool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth       in Hebrews  5:s.       The remarkable thing is that the
to minister for them, who shall be heirs of salvation?"       Psalmist here stands in the midst of the nations and of
                                                              the heathen who imagine a vain thing; they imagine
THE WRITER'S PROOF FROM THE                                   that they can cast off the dominion of the God of heav-
OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES                                      en. They take counsel against the LORD and against
                                                              his Anointed one. Then the Lord laughs with Divine
   Except for one passage quoted from II Samuel 7:14          laughter;      He will have them in derision. For God's
all the proof for the greatness of the Son at God's right     counsel will stand and He will perform His  good-
hand is taken from the Psalms. The writer quotes              pleasure.      God has a Decree; His eternal Counsel
passages that serve his purpose from no less than six         according to which He works all things. And in that
different Psalms. Even the quotation from II Samuel           Decree the Son is destined in the way of suffering,
7.~14 may be found in Psalm 89~26,  27. Therefore we          through his death and resurrection, to be exalted at
may confidently affirm that all the proof of Christ's         God's right hand. History is the theatre in which God
exaltation and of having a name than which there is           is bringing His Son to glory, and this is the "begetting"
none greater is derived from the Psalms.                      of the Son from the womb of God's counsel. That is all
   A remarkable understanding of the Psalms is taught         that is born from that Counsel; and all the imagination
us here by the writer to the Hebrews. Here we have            of the nations are birthpangs which do not bring forth
some good examples and case studies of the Biblical           anything like a Son; such alone is the prerogative of
rules for exegesis, that is, for the science of inter-        the Most High God !
pretation as applied to the Scriptures. No Philo need             Such a place is not destined for the angels in God's
be our guide;       we need not compare the writings of       Testament. When God writes the book of the Old Testa-
Philo, the Alexandrian Jew, with the book of Hebrews          ment he only speaks of one Heir. The angels may look
to understand the latter. We need simply to under-            down in rapt attention upon this work, but they are
stand that all the Old Testament Scriptures speak of this     never sons;. they are always the high and exalted at-
Son of God;        we need to see the Christ in the Old       tendants of the throne. But God never says: history
Testament Scriptures.      Did not Jesus, after his res-      and all things revolved about and are centered in you,
urrection, teach his disciples concerning Moses, the          the angels.. Take the angels, great and mighty,`Cher-
Psalms and all the prophets? And did he not show              ubims and Seraphims, Gabriel or Michael; there is
from them how the Christ must suffer, and rise the            none found in heaven and on earth to whom God speaks
third day out of the dead, and that upon his name re-         as He does in Psalm 2:7. The Son inherits a Name
pentance unto the forgiveness of sins must be preached        above every name in the Scriptures everywhere. Thus
to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem? (Luke 24:44,          we read in Psalm  2:7.       Vainly would one engage in
45) And when he by his Spirit had opened their minds,         tiresome and fruitless labor to search the Scriptures
did they not thus understand these Scriptures?                for a contradiction of this Word of God; a Word in
   These various quotations from the Psalms do not            which He so confidently laughs in holy and Divine de-
constitute a mere hodge-podge of religious sentiments;        light.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


 A CLOUD OF  WITNESSES-

                                  The Evil Spirit Returns

                                                  by Rev. B.  Woudenbevg

                     And it came to pass on the morrow,  that the evil  spirit   from  God  came  ufion
                      Saul....                                                          I Samuel  l&10
   Suddenly in a moment, as though struck by a fiery             outbursts of angry curses and prophecies of black
bolt of judgment, Saul's life was cast into the depths           foreboding.      The servants of the king and all of the
of dark depression. For a time things had looked so              royal household trembled within themselves in terrified
much better. His problems had appeared solved, his               fear.       For them there was only one consolation.
fear had abated, it had seemed that the light again              Once before David had proved himself to be the solution
shone upon him. Saul had nearly come to believe that             to this same problem, and now he was right there in
Samuel was completely wrong, that the God of Israel              the court. Surely now again he would be able to drive
had not left him forsaken, `that His blessing did rest           out this evil spirit to bring peace again to the palace
upon his life.      That blessing he had thought to find         and the kingdom.
personified in David. David had slain the giant, David                  Little did anyone besides Saul himself realize how
had come to fill the royal court with gaiety and life,           completely things had changed since the first time
David had gone with them unto victory after victory in           David had appeared with his harp at the palace to play
battle, David had seemed to bring to him everything              for the king.       Then he had been to the king only a
good in life. But then all had changed, suddenly and             stranger, a mere shepherd boy called from the field
without notice. It was those shallow and farcical songs          because he was able to make such sweet music. As
of the women which they were always singing when they            such Saul had received him and listened to his music
came out with their dances to greet the returning                and enjoyed it and even allowed it to carry his fears
army.        Those songs weren't normally anything that          away. But now it was different. He knew David. He
anyone should take very seriously, but somehow that              recognized David for what he was even if no one else
song that day cut him to the quick. "Saul hath slain             did - the challenger to this throne. To Saul it must
his thousands, and David his ten thousands." That                have been like a cruel joke to have David of all people
was it.        All at once he saw it. David was not his          set before him to try to cure this depression. 0 yes,
blessing.       David was actually favored above him.            Saul could understand it. He may have even anticipated
David was really his curse, that neighbor of whom                it.      He had not lost his mind, although sometimes it
Samuel spoke who was destined to take from him his               felt like it. It was but natural that David's harp should
throne and the kingdom.                                          be brought in to see if it couldn't do again what it had
   It was all that Saul could do to get home without             done so ably before. But now the sound of that harp
giving sudden vent to those waves of fury and blinding           was to him like a taunting refrain, designed to remind>
rage and fear and hatred and anguish that came one               him of his misery. Every tune that was played seemed
after another to engulf his soul. But no one was paying          but another one made to fit the words of the women,
any attention to him and no one noticed. They were all           "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten
too preoccupied with David; and that in itself only drove        thousands."       For a time the king sat silently and
that dart in deeper and aggravated the more his inner            sullenly trying with all that was in him to endure the
pain and anger.                                                  sound of that music, so that no one would know how he
   But it was not long before the truth was no longer            really felt about David; but at last his feelings became
hidden. By morning the whole palace was aware of it.             so pent up within him that he could withhold it no
All through the night the king had not slept, but had            longer. With one sudden lunge he swept up the javelin
alternated between furious pacing and wild demands               that was always lying ready beside him and flung it
hurled at his servants, as though they were to blame             with all of his might at the unsuspecting musician.
for all of his troubles.          It was as though one great            To those who were present there in the court,
shudder went throughout the palace, shaking it down              it was little short of miraculous that David should
to its very foundation - an evil spirit from the Lord            have escaped the thrust of that javelin. Saul's ability
had settled again upon their sovereign. No one knew              with the javelin had a reputation which was not to be
better than those who lived in the royal residence what          despised. He was a tall man with arms that were long
dreadful implications this held. They had been through           and powerful, and his aim was true when he chose to
it once before. But this time it was different and even          use it. And yet David, although he had been completely
more terrible, if that were possible, than the time be-          relaxed and absorbed in his music, started to spring
fore.    Then he had merely sat for hours and days in            from his seat almost before Saul had lifted his javelin
dark, moody fits of deep depression. Now he did that             from its position beside him. It was as though some-
too, but they were periodically broken up by sudden              thing within him had sounded a warning so that, by the


132                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

time that javelin arrived at the place where he had sat,         Now it was evident to everyone, the anger and hatred
it only dulled its sharp point against the stones of the      of Saul had centered itself upon David. It was strange.
palace wall and clattered harmlessly to the floor.            Before this Saul had wanted David with him wherever
       No one, however, was more astonished at the es-        he went.        David had revived him and added a gaiety
cape of David than Saul himself. He found it almost           to his life that he had never known. There had been no
impossible to believe his eyes. He could hardly have          end to the gestures of favor which he had shown to
been more amazed if the javelin had passed straight           this young man. And now it had suddenly become the
through David's body without drawing blood. For a long        exact opposite. He could not stand the sight of David
hard moment he stood staring at that empty seat as            and did all he could to drive him away. In the presence
though he had seen a ghost, while waves of amazement          of David his ready tempter burst forthinuncontrollable
and anguish and hatred and fear and terror swept one          fury. He seemed to hate David with a passion which he
after the other across his face. And then he slumped          had never shown toward anyone else. It was hard for
down into his throne and sat in deep, moody silence,          anyone to understand and most of all for David. To
unmoving, while hour after hour passed by. Now he             him hatred was completely foreign. In all of his life,
knew, that power of God which once had strengthened           he had never really come to hate anyone personally,
him had passed on to David and was keeping him                except perhaps for Goliath and that was but for a few
from harm.                                                    short hours there in the valley of Elah. That now
       Meanwhile, David was perhaps less affected by          Saul should hate him was completely incomprehensible.
the whole incident than anyone else. In a sense it was        It bothered him, it made him sad, but he couldn't
his youthful innocence. He had grown up in the quiet          really grasp it and felt every moment quite sure that
of the open field alone with his sheep and his faith in       something was sure to happen that would make every-
God. As yet he had not come to the maturity of having         thing right once again.
experienced the subtle complexities and sorrows of                For himself, Saul also knew that things couldn't
life. He knew only one kind of enemy - those heathen          continue to go on this way. It was not that his hatred
nations which were openly hostile to Israel. To the           was in any way abated. He still hated David, every
simplicity of his young mind, all who belonged to Israel      day a little more it seemed, and he knew with a
were basical1.y  good, and especially was this true of        certainty that David had to be killed. It was just that
Israel's king who had been appointed to his office by         his own sword and his own javelin ought not do it.
God. To David it was really impossible to be afraid           David's reputation was too great in the kingdom, and
of the king; he couldn't bring himself to distrust him,       if his own hand would kill him, the people would never
and fear for him was unknown. As he looked upon the           forgive.
king sitting silently in his fit of dark depression, his         He had to get David out of his sight so that those
heart went out toward him in sympathy so that, even if        sudden bursts of uncontrollable anger could be re-
he couldn't understand this strange malady, his concern       strained; and maybe it would be best if he could find
was only with what he could dofor the king to cure him.       some place where someone else would be apt to end
       Thus it was that, before many days were past,          David's life.
David had taken up his harp again to enter the royal              Something had happened to king Saul, something
court and to try once more to sooth the king with his         which in its own way gave him a certain relief. It
music;       He would perhaps have come earlier if the        wasn't that his depression was really cured or taken
other servants had not tried to prevent him. For him-         away;        it was just that it didn't hold him paralyzed
self, he could not feel that there was anything to fear,      anymore.         At last he had been able to localize his'
he could not imagine that the king should see in him          trouble, to center it in David. And so it gave to him a
anything but a faithful servant who only sought the king's    certain sense of satisfaction just to sit and think and
good.      As for that javelin thrust, that he could only     plan what he could do to destroy this enemy, it gave
understand as the accidental quirk of a troubled mind         a certain sweetness in the midst of his bitter hatred,
and he could not believe that there was any reason why        it gave a hope in the midst of his fear. From now on
it should soon be repeated.        Calmly and with hope,      Saul's life, was to be preoccupied with that one thing,
David again sat down before the king to make for him          how to get rid of David. If only he could do that, then
sweet music upon the harp.                                    the curse of Samuel would be overcome.
       This time, however, it did not take long at all for       Thus it was that Saul devised his first great plan
everyone to realize that David's music was giving king        affecting the whole military structure of his kingdom.
Saul no pleasure. Before it, the kings face reflected         Before this he had always gone himself out into the
only distaste and disgust. Sooner than anyone might           field to meet the enemy, a practice he had never really
have expected, his hand reached out for the javelin           liked because of his natural fear for his own safety.
and heaved it toward David's seat.         Only this time     Now he promoted David to a position of captain over
there was none of the speed and strength and deter-           a prize-fighting force of one thousand men and sent
mination there had been the first time. It was almost         them out to wage the battles of the kingdom while he
as though the king knew that his javelin would never be       remained safely at home in his palace. It gave him a
able to strike home, but still he had to throw it any-        sense of satisfaction to order David's force from one
way. And so it was not quite so quickly, almost sadly,        battle to another while he waited at home for the day
but well in time that David leaped aside and retreated        when the enemy would finally overcome David and take
from the presence of the king.                                his life.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    133


THE CHURCH AT WORSHIP-

            Ordination To The Ministry Of The Word
                                              Introduction

                                               by Rev. G.  Vanden Berg

   At some time or another you have undoubtedly heard         hope to consider in connection with our brief dis-
the expression: "Ministers are born, not made." The           cussion of the Form for the Ordination of the Minis-
expression has been used with more than a singular            ters of God's Word.
application. It is subject to diverse interpretations, but       The Form that is used for this purpose in Reformed
the one main thought which it conveys is very clear.          Churches dates from the year 1586. Before this time
The point is that ministers of the Word are the product       there was no generally used form in the churches.
of God's making, not man's. In the latter sense of the        The Synod of Hague in 1586 furnished forms for the
word, ministers cannot be made. Without minimizing            exercise of Christian discipline, and at the same time
the importance of a sound theological training for those      forms for the installation of the office bearers. Hence,
who aspire to the ministry of the Word, we assert that        also this form for the ordination, or installation, of
the most skilled professor of theology is unable to           the minister of the Word dates from that same year
produce a single minister of the Word. Years of study         and from that synod.
and training are in themselves inadequate to fit a man           As to its content we may note that it is to be divided
for the task of the ministry of the Word. Professional        into three main parts. The first part contains a brief
training may produce an orator, a social worker, a            description and explanation of the office of the ministers
politician, or a man skilled in promotional work in any       of the Word. The second part prescribes the questions
number of areas in the community, but it fails to             that must be asked of him who is to be ordained or in-
produce the minister of the Word, even though that            stalled, and it also contains various liturgical acts.
title is improperly given to all of the above. Years of       The last part of the form contains various admonitions
study may serve to develop aman's intellectual acumen,        and exhortations to the ordained minister as well as
but it does not fit him for the ministry.                     to the congregation, and then the form is concluded
   The minister of the Word is one through whom God           with appropriate thanksgivings. Following this division
is pleased to speak His own Word. He, like the prophets       we will discuss the content of this liturgical form of
and apostles of old, is chosen and called by God Him-         the churches.
self. This essential ingredient in the composition of
the minister of the Word is so important that without            The Office Of The  Mini&-y  Of The  Wovd Of  God
it every human effort to make a minister is doomed
to futility. A minister is one through whom God speaks,          By far the largest part of the Form for Ordination
and God is pleased to speak His Word only through             is devoted to describing and explaining the'office of the
vessels whom He has chosen and appointed unto that            ministry of the Word. This is also proper. It is very
end.    Conceivably God could today, as He did in the         important, not only for the person who is to be ordained
past, call His ministers personally and immediately,          in that office, but also for the entire congregation, that
without the aid of men. The independent and sovereign         the office is clearly understood. We must know what we
God does not need seminaries and professors to pre-           are doing. The minister to be must realize the nature
pare His ministers.      We, that is the church, do not       of the work unto which he is called and the congrega-
prepare men for the Lord, but the Lord calls and              tion must understand what is expected of him. Es-
prepares men for His Church. Without this Divine              pecially is this important in our day, when ministers
preparation there is no ministry of the Word. We              of the Word are more and more expected to function in
are always dependent upon God; never is He depen-             every conceivable task except that which pertains to
dent upon us.                                                 their office.     This, being utterly wrong, is a great
  All of this does not preclude the fact that God does        contributing factor to the spiritual decline and ruination
call and prepare men for the ministry of the Word             of the church.      From this point of view it might be
mediately since the time of the apostles. Not that            well that this Form for Ordination of Ministers be
God is bound to the church, but for reasons of His own        held before the congregation more often. It should
pleasure He sees fit to call men through men and              be reviewed and studied in the societies. Its content
through the church, and when this takes place it is           should be brought to the attention of the church in the
only proper that this calling should be publicly con-         preaching of the Word now and then. After all, the
firmed and sealed in the midst of the church. The             Form for Ordination of Elders and Deacons is read at
ceremonies and declarations attendant to this we              least once a year, but this one is used only when a


134                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

congregation receives a new minister. Even then, if          these sheep into other pastures where there is no
this happens every four or five years, it is not often       spiritual food, for the sheep cannot live there. In
enough to keep the congregation aware of the nature          their very nature as sheep they need and can thrive
and function of the office. Other means .of instruction      only on the spiritual food of the Word, and so it is the
must be used to hold the content of this Form before         task of the shepherd to bring them continuously into
the mind of the church, and it is important that this        the green pastures of the Word.
be done.
       Before the Form for Ordination speaks of the in-         The sheep, as they often do, may clamor for other
stitution of the office of the ministry, there is an an-     pasture. They express dissatisfaction with the food of
nouncement made that must not be overlooked. The             the Word. Doctrinal preaching is too deep and practical
announcement is to the effect that the, consistory has       preaching is too personal, they will say. The shepherd
announced on three different occasions the name of           will be subject to much criticism by the sheep, and
him who is to be ordained, and since no one has ap-          although he must certainly give consideration to that
peared to register lawful objections against his or-         criticism and weigh its constructive possibilities, it
dination, the church will proceed, in the name of the        may never deter him in the execution of his God given
Lord, to carry out that ordination. The importance           task to feed the sheep in the pasture of the Word. He
of this stems from the fact that it is imperative for        must also remember that, as shepherd, he holds the
the church that unworthy and unqualified men be kept         shepherd's staff, and he must also use that staff to
out of the office of the ministry. Every possible safe-      smite the sheep. That staff, according to the Form,
guard to this end must be taken. Every opportunity           is "the same Word of God" and the shepherd must
must be given to any and all in the congregation to          not hesitate to use that Word to  guide  and to  rmle
attain this end for the welfare of the whole church.         the sheep. Here, too, the shepherd must take every
Although it may not become apparent immediarely,             precaution that he does not rule or attempt to rule the
the church will surely suffer when the office of pastor      sheep with a rod of the flesh. There is always a natural
and teacher is occupied by a profane and unworthy            danger and tendency that this is done. The minister
person. The sheep will be led astray, and undiscip-          wants certain things done in the congregation and he
lined evil will be allowed to take root and develop in       gets them, not because these things are always right
the church. The time to prevent this is not after, but       according to the Word of God, but because he wants
before the ordination. In some instances, of course,         them. He wields a big stick and has a strong influence
this is not possible because the evil-doing of the person    in the church. He has the consistory on his side and
ordained does not come to view, and then it is man-          the sheep acquiesce, not because they are convinced
datory to take other measures to have that kind of           that things are right, but because they fear to attempt
shepherd suspended and deposed from the office. But          to do anything about it. Then the church is ruled by
where there are lawful reasons to prevent the ordina-        the rod of flesh and not by the staff of the Word of God.
tion of a certain person, these must be brought to the       This is all wrong and, when it happens, the inevitable
consistory before and, if none are, it may be rightly        consequence is that the church suffers under the
assumed that no one has anything against his ordination.     tyranny of man.
In that case, the congregation may certainly proceed in         Let us remember then that the general task of the
the faith that God, Who uses the ministry of men to          ministry of the Word is to shepherdize the flock of
call and gather a Church from amongst the corrupt            Christ in the truth of the Word of God. The minister's
race of men unto life -eternal, will also follow this or-    task is a spiritual labor throughout. As a shepherd he
dination with His favor and blessing in the Church.          must enter upon that labor with the avowed determination
    The first part of the ordination form is devoted to      to seek the sheep of Christ, to feed them, to love them,
showing that the ministry of the Word is instituted by       to protect them, to guide them, to counsel them and
God. It is not another job which men create in a cer-        in every possible way promote their spiritual well-
tain society.     Christ Himself, as the Son of God and      being. To accomplish this task he has only one source
the Head of the church, has instituted this office.          of material, only one piece of equipment to work with,
This is proved by Ephesians 4:ll and 12 where the            and that is the Word of God. Oh, his task is not an
apostle writes: "And He (Christ) gave some, apos-            easy one, and frequently, as he faithfully cares for
tles;     and some, prophets;    and some, evangelists;      the sheep, his own life and position become endangered,
and some, pastors (shepherds) and teachers; for the          for the enemies are strong and many who attempt
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the minis-         to dispose of him so that they may get at the sheep.
try, for the edifying of the body of Christ."                But a good shepherd will lay down his life for the
    From this the general task of the ministry of the        sheep.      He is ordained in his office, not as an hire-
Word may be gathered. Ministers are "`shepherds"             ling who works for wages, but as one who loves the
of the church. They must, to quote the Form, "feed,          sheep because he loves Christ, and by that love he is
guide, protect and rule the flock committed to their         constrained in all his labor.
charge."      These pastors are to explicitly observe           More specifically the labor of the shepherd of the
that the pasture in which they are to feed and lead the      church is spelled out under four separate headings in
flock is nothing else but "the preaching of the gospel,      this Form for Ordination. Our consideration of these
accompanied with prayer, and the administration of the       details, however, must wait, D.V., until our next
holy sacraments." They must be careful not to lead           article.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   135

 IN. HIS FEAR-

                      Honour To Whom Honour
                                                    Continued

                                                  by Rev. J. A. Heys

                        "Let as  many  servants `as  ave  under the yoke  count  their  own masters
                    worthy   of  all honour, that the  name of  God and His  doctrine be not blas-
                    phemed."
                                                                                    I Timothy  6:l
   The text above is one among many that demand of            master. A man may hire himself out and so become a
the servant that he honour his master. We shall refer         willing servant.     Shall we quibble about the words
to the others presently. This. one uses literally the         servant and slave? Scripture has one word which is
word honouv  and is an amplification of the teaching of       correctly translated both ways. The doulos or slave
Paul that we are to render honour to whom honour is           of the text above, who is under the yoke, is designated
due. The Paul who by divine inspiration declared that         no differently from the doulos who speaks in Luke
truth to the church at Rome also amplifies his teaching       2:29 (None other than just and devout Simeon, who was
to Timothy and points out that servants are to honour         waiting for the consolation of Israel) and declares,
their masters in order that the name of God and the           "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace..."
truth concerning Him be not blasphemed.                       And Paul, who speaks of servants under the yoke to
   That the text speaks of those who are in the very          Timothy also calls himself such a doulos or servant.
literal sense of the word slaves cannot be denied. Men        Let the servant who has hired himself out to his em-
under the yoke were men who had nochoice as to whom           ployer count his master worthy of all honour. That is
they would work for and whose good they were obliged          the point.
to seek. Scripture does not condemn slavery but unjust            The other passages which we mentioned a moment
treatment of slaves. Paul writes a letter to Philemon         ago, Ephesians  6:5, Colossians  3:22, Titus  2:9 and
whose slave had run away. He neither encourages nor           I Peter  2:18 simply speak of servants without the
upholds the flight for freedom; nor does he demand of         addition of "who are under the yoke." And therefore
Philemon that he set this slave free, especially since        every man employed by another today is under this
he is now a fellow believer. Many who would preach a          obligation of rendering honour to his employer. How
"social gospel" today are concerned with an earthly           he got under the authority of another is not the question.
freedom and equality that ignores and does violence to        He is under it. He is as surely under it when he willing-
spiritual freedom and advocates dishonouring the su-          ly gives himself out for hire and agrees to work for
periors and authorities, in order to get a social free-       the employer as he is when he is a servant bought with
dom that does bring blasphemy to the name of God and          money or born of one bought with money. As one who
His doctrine. Rendering honour to whom honour is due          hires himself out, he has agreed to place himself under
is still our calling today in our day of emancipation         the authority of another, and he is obliged to honour
and abolishment of slavery in that literal sense. We          this man as his master in the sphere of the work which
are not, of course, advocating a return to the days before    he has agreed to perform.
the Civil War, and of buying and selling of the bodies            And it is not difficult to determine what that honour
and souls of men. We are interested at the moment             is which we must render to the man whose employees
with honour to those in authority over us also in the         we are. We must count them worthy of the honour of
sphere of our present day working conditions, and the         being our masters. We dishonor them the moment we
social structure that speaks of employer and employee         take things in our hands and assume their position.
rather than master and slave, and even of capital              Peter warns us not only to be subject to the gentle em-
and labor.                                                    ployer but also to the froward, and that with all rever-
   There is only one difference between the slave of           ence and respect before him as the master who has the
yesterday and the employee of today and the honour             right to demand what he will of us. And he adds in
which he must. render to his master or employer. And           I Peter 2:19, "For this is thankworthy, if a man for
that difference is that the employee of today has the          conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrong-
privilege of choosing who it is for whom he will work,        fully. ' '    The sweat shops of a few years ago that
and whom he will so honour, and he can quit at any             spawned the organized labor movement were not unknown
time he wishes; or he is in a position to draw up a           to Peter. He knew of the cruel bondage of Egypt upon
contract for any specific period of time he and the            Israel. He knew of brutal, arrogant and froward, that
employer choose and agree to mutually. The matter of           is crooked, perverse (as the word is used in Philip-
obligation to honour the employer is not one whit              pians 2:15), unfair, surly masters, for whom one would
different or less than it is between the slave and his         not like to work, if he could only escape.


136                                          THESTANDARDBEARER

   And there exactly is the point today. We have not         "successful" strike, the manufacturer raises his
this slavery according to which we are bound to work         prices;       and the cost of living soars and inflation
for a certain employer. Let a man not satisfied with         threatens the whole economy.
his wages, let a man who has been refused a raise by            Holding a stick over the head of the employer is
a  surly, unfair, crooked, greedy employer give notice
of quitting his job and of leaving when his contract has     not honouring him as the employer. It is not walking
                                                             in love with him.
been filled.      But let him not take things in his own                            It is not walking in His fear and is
hands. Let him not take to himself the honour of the         utterly devoid of the love of God. And the name of
employer and insist on holding his job but refusing to       God is blasphemed thereby.         It is God Who put that
work and forbidding the employer to hire someone in          man in the position where he could hire you. It is God
his place.      Let him not go on strike and boycott the     Whogives him the right to decide how much he will pay
establishment.      Then he takes to himself the honour      you.       We did not say that God gives him the right to
that is to be rendered to the employer. Then he gets         underpay you. But God did give him the right to have
up in the driver's seat and tells the employer what to       the determination of that pay. If he is wise - and not
do. That is the evil of today's labor unions. And they       foolish as Rehoboam - he will listen to you and weigh
cause the name of God and His doctrine to be blas-           your cause, whether you come as an individual and
phemed when these strikers, these rioters, these             explain your family needs, or whether you come through
revolutionists, these revolters carry the name of            the representatives of a group, so that he sees that
Christ and the name of member-of-His-Church into             yours is not an isolated and personally prejudiced
the battle!                                                  case, and he will, if he is a regenerated child of God
   Unionism itself is not evil. Let men unite and or-        who walks in his fear, give you what he can. If he does
ganize. God is a God of order and of organization. God       not, and you cannot support your family on that wage,
is One, and He loves unity. But one must be organized        you are free to leave his employment and seek it where
on a good, spiritual, righteous foundation. And men          you can. But you have no right to hold a stick over his
must unite in the truth and in the love of God. Men          head, threaten to cause him financial damage by shutting
must unite in order to do righteousness. Laboring men        up his factory, destroy his property and the like. You
may unite, but then they must unite in order to honour       dishonour him, and you blaspheme the name of God1
their employers and never to dishonor them. Men may             God is The Authority. And when you dishonour one
be organized as a group of employees, but then it must       whom He has invested with authority, you dishonour
not be in order to try to make might be right. It never      the God Who gave that authority. Paul says in Romans
is and it can never be made to be right. The right is        13:2, "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, re-
God-given, and all the employees in the world pitted         sisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall
against one employer cannot take from him the right          receive to themselves damnation." We live in a day
that God has given him. Let men unite and organize           and age when we do not like to have things stated so
and then with a united front let their desires (not          sharply.      We want to be like God as much, and even
demands) be made known to their employer. If then,           more so, than Eve did, when she took the forbidden
in the light of the fact that so many have this same         fruit to be able to be in the position where she could
grievance or desire, the employer sees the justice of        decide for herself what is good and what is evil. 0,
the claim or request, they have gained their point in an     yes, that is the case with us as well as with the world.
honest and righteous way.        And the evil of the ten     The church-world is not a sphere where one is iso-
tribes was not that they asked unitedly for lighter taxes    lated from the passions of the flesh. We need but re-
and a load more easy to bear. They were even willing         mind you again of ten tribes in Israel, the sphere of
to give Rehoboam time to consider and weigh their            the church, the church world of that day. Before that
arguments. Their evil was that they wouldnot  continue       time it was Korah,  Dathan and Abiram. And is not
to honour the foolish and churlish king. They took           every sin that we commit simply an admission on our
themselves from under his rule. They refused to honour       part that we want to be in God's place, yea that we have
him as their king. And theybeganto slide rapidly down        in that very sin assumed the position where we do
to ruin and extinction as a nation. God is not mocked.       decide for ourselves what we are going tocall good and
He is not mocked today either in all the dishonouring        evil?
and coercion and strikes and boycotts of today. We,             It is so'extremely difficult for us - and by the flesh
as a nation are suffering for it and will suffer even        impossible for us - to abide by the authority of those
more in the. future. Lawlessness, riot, revolt, rebel-       God placed over us and thus to render them the honour
lion, revolution are spreading to every department of        due unto them. If there is any way that we can manage
life in our country. And now thereis no hope of putting      to get our way and to circumvent their way, we are
on the brakes. We have priced ourselves out of many          going to take it. We will let them keep the title and
markets;       and American manufacturers are forced to      still go under the name of employer, but we will hold
have their goods made in Japan to be sold here, because      them in line with threats and harassments until in
the Labor Unions have brought the manufacturers to           weariness they give in to our way. Our honour we
the point where they cannot continue to pay and give         will not lay in the dust for another upon whom God has
paid vacations and benefits and turn out a product           bestowed an honour above us. Although we do not say
that will compete in price and even quality of imported      it, and would perhaps be surprised if one would call
goods.      Not only that, but with every raise due to a     our attention to it, we sound so often so very much like


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     137

blasphemous Pharaoh who said, "Who is the Lord,                the verses above, "Who art Thou, that I should obey
that I should obey His voice?" Just a minute now.              Thy voice?" To honour the employer, the master who
Calm down and consider, you who are ready to go on             stands above us with God's authority, is to receive him
strike against the man upon whom God has vested the            as master, to leave him in thepositionof being master.
honour of being your master, you who have your em-             Fail to do that and you blaspheme God's name as surely
ployer "over the barrel" and now can and intend to             as Pharaoh. He was open enough to come out with it
"pour it on," you who have managed to get your                 in words to Moses. The rebel, the revolutionists, the
employer in a corner so that by force, by coercion,            rioters, the strikers, the boycotters, the users of
you threaten him with financial ruin, you who are will-        force and threat over their superiors say it just as
ing to bring him much loss because you think that he           surely by their deeds. Unless we render all honour to
has made you endure much loss, you who think your              those in authority over us we dishonour God and tell
ideas are so far superior to his and intend to put pres-       Him that we do not think that He is One Whose voice we
sure on him to get your way. Does or does not the              have to obey.
Word of God say? "Let every soul be subject to the                What a society it really is then, in which we live!
higher powers." Does or does not the Word of God               How little of His fear there is to be found anymore.
say? "Servants, be subject to your masters with all            How bold men have become. How sin has developed so
fear; not only to the gentle, but also to the froward."        that the branches of the tree hang low with all the evil
And when you intend to lord it over your employer and          fruit. It is almost ready for the harvest and the fire!
master him and bend and turn him to conform to your            But, the Lord willing, we will continue this element of
way of thinking, have you not said to God Who speaks in        honour to the employer next time.


CONTENDING FOR  THE  FAITH-


                               The Providence of God
                                                   Miracles

                                                   by Rev. H.  Veldman

   Speaking of miracles in .connection with the provi-            second causes in their ordinary operation. Says Mc-
dence of God, the subject is surely of sufficient im-             Pherson: "A miracle is something done without re-
portance to merit special attention and consideration.            course to the ordinary means of production, a result
On the one hand, the miracles of Holy Writ are usually            called forth directly by the first cause without the
treated in connection with the providence of the Lord.            mediation, at least in the usual way, of second causes."
And, on the other hand, the subject itself is surely of           The distinctive thing in the miraculous deed is that it
sufficient significance. The Scriptures record many               results from the exercise of the supernatural power of
miracles, especially in the New Testament. Miracles               God. And this means, of course, that it is not brought
                                                                  about by secondary causes that operate according to
are recorded, of course, also in the Old Testament,               the laws of nature. If it were, it would not be supev-
especially during the ministry of Elisha. But they                natural   (above nature), that is, it would not be a
abound in the New Testament.            And this is easily        miracle. If God in the performance of a`miracle did
understandable and exactly what we would expect. The              sometimes utilize forces that were present in nature,
New Dispensation marks the appearance of Immanuel,                He used them in a way that was out of the ordinary, to
our Lord Jesus Christ, in the midst of the world. He              produce unexpected results, and it was exactly this
Himself is centrally the Wonder of the Lord,the Wonder            that constituted the miracle. Every miracle is above
of Grace. And it lies in the very nature of the case that         the established order of nature, but we may distinguish
His appearance should be accompanied by a tremendous              different kinds, though not degrees, of miracles. There
                                                                  are miracles which are altogether above nature, so
display of miracles.                                              that they are in no way connected with any means. But
   Calling attention to the nature of miracles, Prof.             there are also miracles which are contra media, in
L. Berkhof, in his Reformed. Dogmatics, writes on                 which means are employed, but in such a way that
page 176 as follows:                                              something  results which is quite different from the
       A distinction is usually made between firovi&ntia          usual result of those means.
   ordinavia  and providentia  extvaovdinavia.  In the for-
   mer  God works through second causes in strict accord-         It is evident from this quotation of the late pro-
   ance  with the laws of nature, though He may vary the       fessor that he views the nature of a miracle as a
   results by different combinations. But in the latter        supernatural work or operation of the Lord. And I
   He works immediately or without the mediation of            believe that we may say that miracles are generally


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER

  regarded as such supernatural works of God, which                         tion of second causes was impossible. To the same
       are therefore not brought about by secondary causes                  class belong all events truly miraculous. A miracle,
       that operate according to the laws of nature.                        therefore, may be defined to be an event, in the exter-
          -Then,  after writing on the possibility of miracles,             nal world, brought about by the immediate efficiency,
                                                                            or simple volition of Cod.
       the same author, writing on the purpose of the miracles                 An examination of any of the great miracles re-
       of Scripture, writes as follows, page 177:                           corded in Scripture will establish the correctness of
             Itmay be assumed that the miracles of Scripture                this definition. The raising of Lazarus from the dead
          were not performed arbitrarily, but with a definite               may- be taken as an example. This was an event which
          purpose. They are not mere wonders, exhibitions of                occurred in the outward world; one which could be
          power, destined to excite amazement, but have reve-               seen and verified by the testimony of the senses. It
         lational  significance.    The entrance .of sin into the           was not brought about either in whole or in part by the
          world makes the supernatural intervention of Cod in               efficiency of natural causes. It was due to the simple
          the course of events necessary for the destruction of             word, or volition, or immediate agency of Cod. The
          sin and for the renewal of creation. It was by a miracle          same may be said of the restoration to life of the
          that Cod gave us both, His special verbal revelation              daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, on Christ's
          in Scripture, and His supreme factual revelation in               pronouncing the words,  Talitha  cumi;        and of his
          Jesus Christ. The miracles are connected with the                 healing of the lepers by a word. So when Christ walked
          economy of redemption, a redemption which they often              upon the sea, when He multiplied the loaves and
          prefigure and symbolize. They do not aim at a viola-              fishes, when He calmed the winds and the waves by a
          tion, but rather at a restoration of Cod's creative               command; any cooperation of physical causes is not
          work.    Hence we find cycles of miracles connected               only ignored, but, by clearest intimation, denied.
          with special periods in the history of redemption, and
          especially during the time of Christ's public ministry            So, according to Hodge, a miracle is an event, in
          and of the founding of the Church. These miracles did          the external world, brought about by the immediate
          not yet result in the restoration of the physical universe.    efficiency, or simple will of God.
          But at the end of time another series of miracles will            Objections, so Hodge continues, have been raised
          follow, which will result in the renewal of nature to          against this definition of the miracle. Hodge sets forth
          the glory of Cod, - the final establishment of the King-       this objection in the following words:
          dom of Cod in a new heaven and on a new earth.                       It is objected to this definition of a miracle that it
          From this quotation it appears that the late profes-              assumed that the `laws of nature may be violated or
       sor certainly realized that the miracles of Scripture                set aside. To this many theologians and men of science
       are not mere wonders, exhibitions of power, but that                 object, and declare that it is impossible.. If the law
       they have revelational significance. In this quotation               of nature be the will of God, that of course cannot be
  he connects the wonders of the Word of God with the                       set aside, much less directly violated. This is Augus-
       economy of  redemption, connects them with the re-                   tine's objection.    Baden Powell, in behalf of men of
                                                                            science, protests against being called upon to believe
  demptive grace of God. However, this does not re-                         in anything "at variance with nature and law." "The
  move the fact that he views the essence and nature of                     enlarged critical and inductive study of the natural
  the miracle as a supernatural work of the Lord.                           world," he says, "cannot but tend powerfully to evince
          As stated above, Prof. L. Berkhof also speaks of                  the inconceivableness of imagined interruptions of
  the  possibility of miracles. In this connection, how-                    natural order or supposed suspensions of the laws of
  ever, we. wish to call attention to what Hodge writes                     matter, and of that vast series of dependent causation
  concerning miracles in his Systematic Theology, Vol.                      which constitutes the legitimate field for the investiga-
  I, beginning on page 617. Writing on "Definition of a                     tion of science, whose constancy is the sole warrant
  Miracle," he expresses himself as follows:                                for its generalizations, while it forms the substantial
                                                                            basis for the grand conclusions of natural theology."
             According to the Westminster Confession, "Cod, in              The question of miracles, he says, is not one "which
          ordinary providence making use of means, yet is free              can be decided by a few trite and commonplace gen-
          to work without, above, or against them at pleasure."             eralities as to the moral government of the world and
          In the first place, there are events therefore due to the         the belief in the Divine Omnipotence, or as to the valid-
          ordinary operations of second  causes, as  upheld and             ity of human testimony or the limits of human experi-
          guided by Cod. To this class belong the common proc-              ence. It involves, and is essentially built upon, those
          esses of nature; the growth of plants and animals,                grander conceptions of the order of nature, those
          the orderly movements of the heavenly bodies; and the             comprehensive primary elements of all physical knowl-
_._       more unusual occurrences, earthquakes, volcanic erup-             edge, those ultimate ideas of universal causation, which
          tions, and violent agitations and revolutions in human            can only be familiar to those versed in cosmic al philos-
          societies. In the second place, there are events due to           ophy in its widest sense." "It is for the most part
          the influence of the Holy Spirit upon the hearts of men,          hazardous ground for any general moral reasoner to
          such as regeneration, sanctification, spiritual illumina-         take, to discuss subjects of evidence which essentially
          tion, etc. Thirdly, there are events which belong to              involve that higher appreciation of  Physical truth which
          neither of these classes, and whose distinguishing                can be attained only from an accurate and compre-
          characteristics are, First,. that they take place in the          hensive acquaintance with the connected series of the
          external world, i.e., in the sphere of the observation of         physical and mathematical sciences. Thus, for example,
          the senses; and. Secondly, that they are produced or              the simple but grand truth of the law of conservation,
          caused by the simple volition of Cod, without the in-             and the stability of the heavenly motions, now well
          tervention of any subordinate cause. To this class be-            understood by all sound cosmical philosophers, is but
         longs the original act of creation, in which all coopera-          a type of the universal self-sustaining and self-evolv-


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            139

   ing powers which pervade all nature." Professor                   objection.        This objection is answered by Hodge by
   Powell's conclusion is, "if miracles were, in the es-             saying "that nature is not the will of God in any other
   timation of a former age, among the chief supports of             sense than that He ordained the sequence of natural
   Christianity, they are at present among the main                  events, and established the laws or physical causes by
   diQkulties  and hindrances to its acceptance.
      His whole argument is this, miracles, as usually               which that regular sequence is secured. This relation
   defined, involve a suspension, or alteration, or violation        between God and the world, assumed that nature and its
   of the laws of nature; but those laws are absolute-              laws are subject to Him, and therefore liable at any
   ly immutable, therefore that definition must be in-              time to be suspended or counteracted, at his good
   correct, or, in other words, miracles in that sense               pleasure.         The other form of the objection against
   must be impossible.                                               miracles, assuming that miracles are events, in the
                                                                     external world, brought about by the immediate effi-
   The above objection to miracles is, therefore, two-               ciency, or simple volition of .God, is that the laws of
fold. First, it is objected, that if the law of nature be           nature are in themselves immutable, and that therefore
the will of God, that of course cannot be set aside,                 they cannot be suspended. To this, the Lord willing,
much less directly violated." This was Augustine's                  we will call attention in our following article.




         ALL AROUND  US-


                                That Period  Theory Again

                                                       by  Pvof.  I-I.  Hank0


   In the October issue of the  lRefovmed   Journal,                     We have no intention of answering all Van Baalen's
J. K. Van Baalen writes an article entitled "Evolution               arguments, arguments which have been adequately
and the Bible." The purpose of this article is to                    answered before. But there are some remarks which
show that evolutionism (not in its mechanical sense,                 we shall make as we quote parts of the article.
but in its theistic sense) is perfectly compatible with                          The first chapter of Genesis informs us that God
Scripture.      The article mocks the literal interpre-                  created "the heavens and the earth, and all the host
tation of Genesis 1 and the idea of a universal flood.                   of them" in six days (Gen. 1:31 and 2:l); and then
The author scoffingly speaks of the defenders of these                   calls the six days one day (Gen. 2:4).
views as "some old-time literalist theologians" and                              The Bible tells us that on the fourth day God made
claims that those who hold to these views "meet with                     the sun, moon, and stars to "rule over the day and
the most disastrous difficulties and find it impossible                  over the night" (Gen. 1,17, 18), so that the duration of
to adhere to the, sacred Scriptures."                                    the first three "days" with their "evening and mom-
,- I am not an admirer of the light-handed way in                        ing" most certainly could not have been determined
which the                                                                by the setting and risicg of the sun.
              Refovmed Jownal  has recently written about
items of current doctrinal interest. It seems to me                      In connection with the creation of animals, Van-
that (although this may be a literary style to give                  Baalen finds it impossible to believe that "800,000
articles readability) the issues  .discussed are too                 different animals and 250,000 plaits appeared within,
serious to be treated in this fashion. But, be that as               24 hours, whereas nowadays it takes the earth a greaf
it may, Van  Baalen's argument here is a switch to                   many years to `bring forth' a tree out of a seed." To
say the least. Usually the, argument made in support                 my knowledge, no responsible defender of the creation
of the period theory is that those who maintain a                    narrative has ever maintained this;               although why
literal interpretation of Genesis 1 cannot find an ade-              this is impossible, I cannot see. Whatever the number
quate explanation for the facts of science. But Van-                 of different plants and animals is, God surely could
Baalen go& another step. He insists that these people                (and did) do this by His crearive  Word which called
cannot explain the Sck-iptures.         It is .his contention        the things that were not as though they were. The
that anything else but an evoluti,onistic  interpretation            number makes absolutely no difference.
of Genesis, 1 makes it impossible to interpret rightly                   In writing about the. creation of man, Van Baalen
the Word of God. One must commit himself to evo-                     mocks the Scriptural narrative and puts words in the
lutionism if one is to be in a position to exegete Scrip-            mouths of those who believe God's Word which they
ture properly.                                                       have never spoken.


                                                   THESTANDARDBEARER

      On that same day (that is, the sixth) Cod also               read: "Through faith we understand that long periods
   made the body of Adam "of the dust of the earth."               of  time were controlled by the Word of God, so that
   According to a popular representation He did this               things which are seen were not made from things which
   by making a .mud doll and breathing into it thousands           do appear?" This doesn't make very much sense.
   of nerves, sinews, and the circulatory system; there-.             But be that as it may, it is true that Hebrews 11
   upon He "breathed into its nostrils the breath of
   life," and, lo, there was the first man, created in             uses the word aeons;             and this word is different
   the image of Cod,                                               from  cos'w~os. No doubt there is also good reasonwhy
                                                                   the Holy Spirit chose this word in this connection in
   I have no idea at all where Van  Baalen got his                 distinction from cosmos. But obviously the reference
popular' representation of man's creation;               no one    is nevertheless to the creation which God formed.
that I know maintains such a view.               But the whole     The author explains that this work of creation took
presentation borders on the blasphemous in describing              place "by the Word of God" and in such a way that
this glorious work of God which He performed when                  "things which are seen were not made from things
He formed man in His own image.                                    which do appear." A brief session with a concordance
   In further support of the period theory, he points              will show that the word ueons means far more than
to the fact that Scripture uses the expression " `the              "long periods of time" and that the use of it in con-
last days' to denote the entire period from Christ's               nection with creation is not foreign to Scripture.
first advent to His second coming, and that `the last                 Further, the verb  &ztartizo  is used to describe
hour' to which St. John refers has already encompassed             the work of creation. Now Van Baalen knows that this
nineteen centuries  !" Precisely what this has to do               verb comes from the adjective  avtios which means
with the argument, Van Baalen does not make clear.                 complete or  perfect. The verb therefore means "to
Does he mean to say that the expression "the last                  render complete."           And this is the meaning here.
days" is erroneous?          Does he want to imply that if         God made complete the worlds by His Word. And He
nineteen centuries can be called "the last hour" in                did this in such a way that the things which we see were
Scripture, that this is proof that a day in Genesis 1              not made from things which do appear. In fact, this
limited by morning and evening can refer to some 2                 last negative expression is precisely the bane of
billion years? What kind of exegesis is this?                      evolutionism;        for the evolutionists teach that things
   He insists that "our anti-evolution literalists have            which are seen do come from things which do appear.
hard going in reading Genesis 1 and  21 Is it not                     In a similar fashion, the author speaks of the
easier to believe that the many species have slowly                flood.      He is certain that it is only "stark literalism"
developed within each separate genus?"                             which prompts anyone to believe in a universal flood.
   He is sure that because the Bible is not a textbook             For one thing, when Scripture says that the waters
on science, it is also not a textbook on arithmetic.               covered all the mountains, this must surely not be
And this somehow means that the days of Genesis 1                  taken literally, but only "from the viewpoint of the
cannot be taken literally. I have some difficulty fol-             beholder."         In proof of this, Van Baalen points out
lowing this rather strange argumentation. Surely the               that many times the word "all" is used in Scripture
question is not one of arithmetic. It is a question of the         when "all" is not meant. E;g., the "all have sinned"
origin of this creation. And the question is not even              in Rom. 5 excludes Jesus.
one of literal. days or figurative days; but one of the               And so he goes on, finding other reasons why we
miracle of creation vs. evolution. Did God create all              cannot believe in a universal flood; and finding in this
things? or not? Scripture tells us He did. Van Baalen              reason why we cannot believe somehow in a Iiteral
is quite insistent He did not.                                     interpretation of Genesis 1. Here again his argument
   But there are more arguments. He finds a very                   is a bit obscure, for it is not clear how his arguments
strong argument for evolution in Hebrews 11:3: "Through            against a universal flood support the period theory.
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the             Unless his  point is that this same method of exegesis
word of God, so that things which are seen were not                which he follows must be applied to many other pas-
made of things which do appear." Hebrews 11:3?                     sages of Scripture. But if this is the point, then this
Proof of evolution? Yes, that is what Van  Baalen                  is also the evil of the whole view. Already many
says. Once again the argument gets a little fuzzy, but             are  finding it impossible to believe in the literal
it goes like this:                                                 interpretation of Genesis 3 which records the nar-
       . .- . No  mention is made at all in the text of            rative of  the fall of man. This also must fall under
    "worlds," but of ages, rather,  `of aeons. Now aeons           the hammer blows of unbelief.              But with this, the
    are not days of 24 hours, but very long periods of             whole truth of Scripture collapses.
: time.     Eternity is the aeons of aeons!       And Cod is          But one further paragraph strikes our attention:
   the  Aeonios,  the Everlasting One. And those aeons
    are not said to have been                                                Next.    It is our duty not only to read the Bible
                                  made,. far less, created, but
   directed, controlled by the Creator, so that the results           correctly, which can be done only by comparing Scrip-
   of these aeons are                                                 ture with Scripture;       we must also read aright  nat-,
                          not worlds that have been there
   from eternity, as the eternal body of the eternal                  ural and physical facts. Surely, Cod does miracles.
    soul  - no pantheism, and no matter from eternity.                But miracles are supernatural, i.e., they go beyond
                                                                      the laws of nature known to us.           They are never
   Just exactly what Van Baalen's point is, is diffi-                 counter natural.      When Cod does a miracle He brings
cult to say. Does he mean that Hebrews 11:3 should                    into work forces unknown to  us, but never  forces that


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     141

   are contrary to His own laws of nature. A miracle            unknown to us, but nevertheless, forces of nature,
   is excluded in driving back by a wind waters from one        operate in the `miracles of raising the dead? In the
   part of the globe if all the globe is covered with a         miracle of Jonah alive in the whale for three days?
   sheet of water six miles high.                               And what about the virgin birth of Christ? Were natural
   One has the distinct impression that here we really          forces unknown to us operative here? Something be-
come to the heart of the matter, for here a fundamental         yond the laws of nature known to us? Or the resur-
rule is laid down. This rule is that a miracle never            rection? Are not these miracles "contrary to nature?"
goes counter to nature, never uses forces contrary                 This is, to me, extremely serious business. And
to natural laws; but always only goes beyond nature             it is precisely at this point that we find the insidious
and uses forces in nature unknown to us. This is                evil of the period theory. If one denies the miracle of
evidently a fundamental point upon which the whole              creation and falls back upon evolutionism, then one
argument swings.                                                is inevitably led to deny all the miracles of Scripture
   But, apart now from the question of whether this             and find a natural and "scientific" explanation for
is an accurate description of a miracle (which, most            them.
emphatically,  `it is not), I find it extremely difficult          But the question is finally one of the authority of
to understand `what Van  Baalen has in mind by this             Scripture itself. We may come again and again with
distinction.    Especially when he insists that a wind          all sorts of "scientific" reasons why Scripture must
blowing waters off the earth if the whole earth were            be interpreted differently from its obvious meaning.
covered at the time of the flood is something counter           But in doing so, we deny Scripture. And this denial is
to nature.                                                      only a refusal to bow before Scripture's supreme
   This, it seems to me, brings up the inevitable               authority. This is the only issue.
question of the other miracles.          Is it not true that       I have not always agreed with what has been
the sun standing still upon  Gibeon and the moon in             written in the  Reformed  Journal,   but I have enjoyed
the valley of Ajalon at Joshua's command is, by Van             reading it because the articles were well written and
Baalen's definition, also "contrary to nature?" Hence,          worth reading. But such an article as this makes one
not a miracle? Hence, not literal history? Did forces           wonder if the quality of the articles will remain high.



  EXAMINING  ECUMENICALIS&L


                World Congress  Qn Evangelism

                                                    by Rev. G. Van Baven

   In the Nov. 1,  1966  issue of the  Standaavd   Beavev,         lated into English, French, German, and Spanish. A
page  69,  the Rev. H. Hanko called our attention to               few special-interest sub-sections will be conducted only
a striking gathering in the city of Berlin. For back-              in Japanese.
ground information, re-read that article.                                Many of the delegates consider the gathering the
   Christianity  Today,   sponsor of this "World Con-              most significant opportunity `for evangelistic planning
gress on Evangelism" has a further explanation of                  in the modern era, and they fervently hope it will light
                                                                   the fuse for a worldwide evangelistic explosion....
this gathering in its Oct. 28, 1966 issue:                               . ..The World Congress on Evangelism has one over-
       To refocus the twentieth-century Church's sight on           arching aim: to see the fragmented .world  in relation
    the great commission of Jesus Christ, more than a              to the universal need for the New Testament Gospel
    thousand Christian leaders will be meeting in Berlin            and Christ's  unresqinded  command to evangelize the
    for prayer, panels, and planning sessions in thefamous          earth. The congress is not orientated to any one ec-
    Congress Hall October 26 to November 4. Delegates               clesiastical agency;    participants have been invited
    to the World Congress on Evangelism include evan-              without regard for ecumenical position. The congress
    gelistically concerned clergy and laymen from all               does not claim to speak for any grouping of contem-
    races and from around the globe, from modernfrontier           porary churches; rather, it is a platform that makes
    tribes and from Christendom's most ancient churches.            visible the devout determination of multitudes of evan-
    The  Auca Indians of Ecuador, whose tiny band of               gelical Christians to proclaim the Gospel to their
    believers sprang from the blood of recent missionary            contemporaries.
    martyrs, are represented, as is the Mar Thoma Church                 The theme of Christian witness to God's saving
    in India, which ascribes its origin to the first-century        grace will be uppermost in the minds of the par-
    apostle Thomas.                                                 ticipants....
       The congress theme is  "One Race, One Gospel;                     As background for discussion, involving all the
    One Task." Proceedings will be simultaneously  trans-           delegates, distinguished evangelical spokesmen are


142                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER

       presenting panel position papers....                           of the Trinity bears an important role in evangelism."
         These six papers will prepare the way for thirty-            From this point on Ockenga goes astray, setting forth
       six panels (each with four participants) on special            that old Arminian position as the only proper position
       facets of interest.    An hour of open discussion will         for evangelization in our day. And if Ockenga's po-
       follow each panel. (p.3)                                       sition will be the position of the Congress on Evange-
       That will give you a bit of an idea of what is the             lization at Berlin, then no Reformed man could ever
purpose of this World Congress of Evangelism. And                     have any part in this endeavor.
worthy though the cause of missions itself -is, one                      In the first place, Ockenga points to the work of
cannot help remembering that it was a similar mis-                    the Father in evangelism.
sionary conference of some 50 years ago which was
the beginning of the present-day World Council of                           In speaking of the role attributed to God the
Churches. The way man's reasoning appears to run                         Father in evangelism, we emphasize the decrees
is this: First, since unity appears impossible on the                    of God, the election of God, and predestination by
local level, there is this one area in which we can                      God.    The divine decrees constitute the plan of saI-
                                                                         vation....
work together  - in sending forth the gospel to the                          . ..The decrees of God...established  the end from
heathen.        Secondly, when we do go to the heathen,                  the beginning and the steps along the way. These
we are rather hard-put to explain how it is that so                      embrace the fall of man, the atonement made for sin-
many denominations exist  - all supposedly proclaim-                     ful man through the incarnation and crucifixionof Jesus
ing the one Christ and the one church. Thirdly, we                       Christ..., the offer of salvation through universal
had better then seek to mend our own fences at home                      preaching, and the salvation of those who believe or
before we go to the heathen and tell them the way they                   respond affirmatively to this preaching.
must live. Though greatly over-simplified, this ap-                         God's part in redemption is called election. Here
pears to be how the World Council of Churches came                       there are competing theories.        The five points of
into being. Will the present-day World Congress on                       Calvinism speak of the sovereignty of God, the de-
                                                                         pravity of man, a limited atonement, irresistible grace,
evangelism herald the beginning of another  union-                       and the perseverance of the believer. Not all Christians
movement? This is not the avowed intent of the meet-                     share this formulation;       but those who do hold it
ing  - but one wonders what its final fruit will be.                     believe that God elected some and passed by others.
THE BASIC'THEOL OGY OF EVANGELISM                                        Calvinism declares that the Gospel must be preached
                                                                         in all the world and that those who are elected will
       In the  Christianity  Toduy   of Oct. 28,  l966 there             accept the Gospel, believe in Jesus Christ, and per-
were presented six "position papers" for the Congress                    severe in good works unto the end. It also teaches
on Evangelism. Each paper represents the author's                        that no one can know who is elect except by the fact
own individual opinion and will serve as basis for                       that he continues in good works and `perseveres unto
discussion.         Each paper sets forth guidelines for                 the end....
                                                                            The second view is that named after Arminius,
proper evangelization of the world. These are in-                        who taught in the University of Leyden from 1604
teresting  - particularly one entitled:                "The Basic        till his death. Arminius returned to the pre-Augustin-
Theology of Evangelism." This one was written by                         ian view of conditional election. God, by his eternal
Dr. Harold John Ockenga, pastor of the Park Street                       and immutable decree, ordained in Jesus Christ to
Congregational Church in Boston. His paper sets forth                    save those who by the grace of the Holy Spirit believe
only his own ideas, yet I suspect that it represents the                 in Jesus Christ and persevere in that faith and obe-
general opinion of all those attending this congress.                    dience of faith. Christ died for a.Il and each, so that
What, according to Ockenga, is the "basic theology"                      he gained reconciliation and remission of sins on the
of evangelism?          He rightly emphasizes first of all               condition that believers remain faithful.... God  fore-
                                                                         knew this faith and elected believers unto salvation.
the authority of Scripture.                                                 The view one adopts is of great importance to his
          The Bible is our authority.          A Bible that is the       evangelistic fervor.     The matter of election is no
       infallible rule of faith and practice is the reason for           mere question of semantics. The resolution of the
       the existence of Protestantism.          The Reformation          matter rests in giving proper place to each biblical
       rediscovered three major truths that established  Prot-           emphasis. We must not neglect either emphasis. For
       estantism as a return to New Testament Christianity.              my part, I approve a practical synergism of affirming
       The first truth,  called the formal cause of the Refor-           prevenient grace, the responsibility of each individ-
       mation, is that the Bible is the final and infallible             ual, and election in Christ of all who believe. Thus I
       authority in matters of faith and practice. This is               say that salvation is all of God, reprobation is all of
       the principle of  soZa  scviptura. The second truth               man.     I cannot throw the responsibility of man's
       is justification by faith, called the material cause of           reprobation upon God.
       the Reformation. This is the principle of. SOZa fide.                This raises the question of predestination by God
       The third truth is the priesthood of the believer....             and the invitation to accept Christ. The Bible makes
          . ..The necessity for a return to biblical authority           it plain that the Holy Spirit attends the preaching of
       is the reason for our gathering. We are under the                 the Word and enables a sinner to accept Jesus Christ
       Word. Let us therefore give proper place to the Word              as Saviour.    The offer of salvation is real, and God
       of God in all our deliberations.                                  does not mock us.        It is the Spirit's work to attend
       So far, so good.        And on the basis of this infal-           that offer with life-giving power. (pp. 9-12)
lible Scripture, Ockenga maintains that the. theology                    Ockenga wants to combine the "best" of the ideas
of evangelism. must be trinitarian "for each person                   of Calvinism and  Arminianism.            He ends up with a


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 143

creature that bears no resemblence  to Calvinism at            Reformed church may participate.         I fear that this
all  - and its Arminianism shows forth. all over the           theology is what the vast majority  atthe Berlin meeting
place. If this is his basis for evangelism - the theology      will want.       Its participants and the denominations
which must govern it - and if this is adopted by the           they represent intend to go forth and "evangelize the
Congress on Evangelism, then their evangelism is               world in this generation."
doomed. Then it assumes the form of that performed                 Dr. Ockenga also explains the work of the Son and
by Billy Graham (who is serving as honorary chairman           of the Spirit in evangelization. To these I will call
at this congress)  - and with such evangelism no               your attention next time, D.V.


  HEEDING THE DOCTRINE-


                       Barth's Doctrine of Scripture
                                    The Scriptural Basis (cont.)

                                                 by Rev.  D. J.  Engelsma

  With this article, we conclude our study of Barth's          but rather pours into the passage his own erroneous
doctrine of Scripture. In the August 1, 1966, issue of         notions. This distortion of Scripture's words and im-
the Stundavd  Beaver, we took note of Barth's explana-         position upon Scripture of notions alien to the text
tion of the classical, Biblical passages on inspiration,       is nothing other than a consequence and a manifes-
an' explanation that centered on the phrase in II Timo-        tation of Barth's low view of Scripture as the word of
thy 3:16: `fAl1 scripture is God-breathed." We saw             men.      If Scripture is the word of fallible men, one
that the main elements of Barth's explanation of this          may handle Scripture as Barth handles, it here. Only
crucial phrase include:                                        a lively regard for Scripture as the Word of God will
   1) The suggestion that the word  God-breathed               keep the interpreter from such wresting of Scripture's
        (in the Greek: Theopneustos)  should be trans-         words.        Nor is this an isolated instance. Barth's
       lated "God-breathing" so that the passage               treatment of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,
       does not state what Scripture is but what Scrip-        from creation to the last things, is characterized by
        ture does, namely, breathe forth.God.                  the same deliberate ognoring or twisting of the plain
   2) The insistence that the meaning of the state-            words of Scripture in order to "interpret" the text
       ment, "Scripture is inspired," is that the              as he pleases. Seldom does Barth come out with the
        Spirit made the writers of Scripture especially        blunt declaration that Scripture errs, on this or that
        obedient to God's revelation so that they wrote        point.    This fact, combined with the equally obvious
        down a fairly reliable account of spiritual            fact that Barth demands that the Church be Biblical
        things.    That Scripture is inspired does not         and constantly appeals to and works with the Bible
        mean that Scripture, a book, has the quality           himself, could be deceiving. For someone might say
        or attribute of "inspiredness." In other words,        that Barth's un-Reformed doctrine of Scripture, that
        inspiration refers to what once happened to the        is, his teaching of a fallible Bible, makes no practical
        writers and not to the product of their writing.       difference - Barth still esteems Scripture highly,
   3) The claim that the truth of inspiration has two          works with the text of Scripture in his preaching and
      parts: a) The inspiring of the writers to pen            in his theological study and seldom if ever criticizes
        the Scriptures. b) The inspiring of readers            a passage. In fact, some of Barth's liberal colleagues
        to believe and understand Scripture.                   in Germany have accused him of orthodox tendencies
   This interpretation of II Timothy 3:16, and of II           in his view of Scripture (a devastating accusation in
Peter 1:19-21, which Barth explains similarly, gives           German, scholarly circles!) because he refrains from
full support to Barth's view of Scripture as a fallible,       outrightly criticizing any passage in Scripture. Es-
human book that can be called the Word of God, .not            pecially, they have assailed him, for not condemning
because of what it is but because of what God can and          and dissociating himself from the doctrine of repro-
does accomplish through it.                                    bation taught in Romans 9. The fact is, however, that
   When the elements of this explanation are examined,         Barth's heretical conception of Scripture bears bitter
however, it becomes clear not only that the inter-             fruit in all of his study of Scripture. The fruit is not,.
pretation is wrong but also that the interpretation            to be sure, that Barth scoffs at Scripture nor that he
does not take seriously the words of Scripture in the          frequently criticizes definite, Scriptural passages but
passage at issue. Barth is controlled in his explain-          rather that he wilfully ignores the teaching of Scrip-
ing. of the passage by his dogmatic presuppositions so         ture in a given passage and imposes upon the text his
that he does not set forth what II Timothy 3:16 says           own notions.                            (to be continued)


142                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

                                       NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES-
                                             Dec. 1, 1966      appreciative of this stretching of their food budget
       Rev. G. Laming, of Holland, Mich., has accepted         for weeks to come.
the call which came to him from our church at Edger-                                         * * *
ton, Minn. Installation service will be conducted                 Oak Lawn's Young People's Society invited the
Dec. 9, by Rev. R. Decker' of Doon, Iowa.                      adults of the congregation to their Nov. 29th meeting
       Holland's new trio consists of the Revs. D. Engel-      to help them discuss Psalm 1, and to hear a debate
sma, C. Hanko and M.  Schipper.          Rev. J. A. Heys       by the young folks.
declined Randolph's call, and Rev. Engelsma Hull's                                           * *  I
call.                                                             After 25 years in the ministry Rev. J. A. Heys, of
                            * * *                              South Holland, enjoyed the privilege of baptizing an
                                                               infant whose mother he had baptized when she was an
       Jamacia  News.    The Correspondence Course fur-        infant.     The former was the second baptism of his
nished by our Mission Board is enjoying full co-               26th year and the latter was the second baptism of
operation by the ministers in the Prot. Ref. Churches          his first year. This reminds one of the faithfulness
of Jamaica.       Rev. J. A. Heys, of South Holland, Ill.      of our Covenant God Who calls his people in the line
continues to conduct this class via the mails. Here            of continued generations.
are excerpts from some of the letters received from                                          * * *
that island recently. One of them wrote: "I want to               The November issue of "Highlights" a monthly
continue as .a saint by persevering to the end by              publication of Hope's School was an outstanding one.
irresistible grace. And the reason is this, I am being         It contained editorials by Miss A. Lubbers, Mrs. I.
unconditionally elected. And although I was born de-           Quenga, D. Huisken and J. Huisken.          Two Chapel
praved, through the instigation of the Devil, yet I am         Talks were also included; one by Rev. H. Veldman,
being saved on the basis of limited atonement....."no-         a Reformation Day speech, and one by Rev. G. Lub-
tice the that `being unconditionally elected' shows            bers. Rev. Lubbers' speech was written and scheduled
heed of further instruction, but one cannot help but           to be given some years ago in the High School in
smell the sweet odor of God-glorifying praise of the           Pella,  Iowa, but the engagement was cancelled by
correspondence course truths given him)." Another              someone in authority in that place. The speech was
wrote: "The people accept the Reformed faith. Oh,              on "The Ten Commandments" and Rev. Lubbers was
yes, there is no shadow of doubt about this. It is en-         happy to give the talk after having kept it in mind
joyed by the people when I visit these congregations.          (and. in his files) for such a long time. The very
When I put forth the Reformed Faith, explain the               last paragraph of the issue was a farewell to the
Five Points of Calvinism as best I can, then our               children of Rev. and Mrs. Lanting who were moving
Covenant God gathers His elect sons and daughters."            to Edgerton, Minn. their father's new charge.
Still another wrote: "I. . . ..your faithful servant, am                                     ***
so glad and happy for the lessons you are sending me.             The November issue of South Holland's school
`When I preach and teach the Five Points of Calvin-            publication "The Reflector" featured the work of the
ism in the congregations they say, `Amen.' They                Junior High students. The Student Editor, Margaret
never heard such truth before."           And their in-        Wories, wrote an editorial on "Praying Hands" a
structor, Rev. Heys writes: "I cannot begin to tell            masterpiece painted by Albrect Durer, in  the 16th
you how thankful I am to our covenant God for the              century.     The subject of the painting served as the
opportunity to teach these brethren of another color           theme of her Thanksgiving Day editorial which concluded
and race on an island of the sea...." And may we               with a quotation from I Cor. 5:18. A news item in the
write to Rev. Heys and all those who preach the glo-           magazine told of the plan to purchase a new flag from
rious Gospel of Jesus Christ:           Ye  aye the salt of    the State which has flown over the State Capitol one
the earth.                                                     time for historicity sake.
                            ***                                                              ***
   The work accomplished last year by Mr. Zwak                    Loveland's     school       magazine, "The Loveland
and Mr. Meulenberg in Jamaica is still being re-               Ledger" for November was headed by an editorial by
membered at sundry times. Holland's Ladies Society,            Rev. D. Engelsma. The theme of that Thanksgiving
Nov. 18,, scheduled Mr. Zwak to show their film of             Day message was their own school. He wrote in part, .
Jamaica accompanied by a narration of their ex-                "Our Protestant Reformed Ghurch School is thanks-
periences in the Island.                                       giving. Both the origin and the continued existence are
                            8  *  d                            due to thankfulness.... The school stands as a visible,
   The Deacons of First Church sponsored a "gro-               tangible expression of thankfulness to God."
cery shower" for the benefit of our Seminary students                                        ***
the three evenings preceding Thanksgiving Day. The                 Thought fobr  today: "The king's heart is in the hand
notice read, "All non-perishable food items and/or             of the Lord, as the rivers of water;- he turneth it
money will be greatly appreciated." The results were           whithersoever he will." Prov. 213.
highly gratifying and the families involved are deeply            . . ..see you in church                        J.M.F.


