                                          e

                                tandard

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





    IN THIS ISSUE:

                      Meditation: Ascending the Hill of the Lord

                      Editorials: The Story of an Ass and a Bridge

                                 "Report of the Doctrinal, Committee"
                                            -A Critical Study            "

                      Liberalism in the Netherlands (sed All Around Us)


                      The--RES - and the Union Question



                                                 .Volume  XLIII/  Number   15/  May  1, 1967


338                                                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

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      Ascending the Hill of the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..-b.............. 338                                                                Editor-  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
            Rev. .J. Kortering                                                                                                   Communications relative to contents should be addressed  .to
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                              Ascending the Hill of the Lord
                             .-                                                                        by Rev. J.  Kovteving

                                         who shall ascend into the hill  of  the  Lovd?  OY who shall stand in his holy place?
                                   He that  bath clean hands, and a  puve  heavt; who  h&h not lifted up his soul unto
                                   vanity nou)y sworn deceitficlly. He shall  Yeceive  the blessing  of  the  Lord, and  Tight-
                                   eousness  from the God  of  his salvation.
                                                                                                                                                                   Psalm  24:3-5

      The hill of the Lord !                                                                                                      Within the walls of Jerusalem there arose still
      On that hill heaven and earth embrace each other.                                                                        another hill. Part of the city was elevated above the
      What a joy it is to climb the hill of the Lord.                                                                          rest.      On this summit stood a tabernacle. It wasn't
      From an outward point of view there isn't much                                                                           much to the eyes; even David bemoaned that the Lord
that seems to make this hill. any different from the                                                                           should dwell in such a humble abode. Not until the
others. This was true in David's day, Jerusalem was                                                                            reign of Solomon was it replaced with the splendor of the
the city set upon a hill. There is no question, but that                                                                       temple. Nevertheless, David's joy in this psalm centers
Jerusalem was                            a splendid city.                             Her walls were                           in this tabernacle. It is this structure that is the focal
fortified, her gates were well fixed, majestically she                                                                         point of Psalm 24, for it alone made the hill of Je-
crowned the naked rock and sheer cliffs. There were                                                                            rusalem the hill of the Lord!
however, other cities that possessed as great and even                                                                            Jehovah dwelt in this tabernacle on top of this hill.
greater splendor from this point of view. Nineveh and                                                                          Not that He was confined or limited to this one place;
Rameses could well outdo Jerusalem in such a contest.                                                                          that would be impossible for He is the omnipresent God.


                                             THESTANDARDBkJRER                                                      339

Rather, it was in the dwelling place on the hill that God    of the depths of sin and leads us to the hill of the Lord
had fellowship with His people.       This' was a great      to be strengthened. Frequently we fret beneath a load
wonder.       The whole earth was cursed, and mankind        of care, being burdened with sicknesses and sufferings
was under the sentence of death.        This death is an     and wonder whether the face of the Lord is against us.
expression of judgment and wrath of .almighty  God           We sorrow in our loneliness, and often question the
against the sinner. Yet, in the midst of the blackness       mind of the Most High. All this changes when we pause
of death, while the whole earth was enshrouded in the        on the crest of the hill and gaze upon the face -of the
black veil.of God's wrath, there was one place that was      Almighty. The righteousness of the Lord and blessing
excluded, and that was behind the veil in the holy of        from the God of our salvation bring a deeply rooted
holies, within the tabernacle on top of this hill in the     peace in our soul.
heart of Jerusalem, in Judah of the land of Canaan.             It is good to spend much time on the hill. For
This was Jehovah's hill, His dwelling place, His home        David that involved going to the tabernacle; for. us it
in the midst of death.                                       involves gathering in His house of worship, pausing a
   This hill radiated the glory of His presence. Since       moment to pray, meditating either alone  .or with other
God is the, holy God, His dwelling place is holy. We         children of God upon the Word of God. The hill of the
need but recall that Moses after he dwelt forty days in      Lord is any place and any time you stand consciously
the mount of the Lord returned to the people, and they       face to face with God. It is a foretaste of heaven.
could not gaze upon him, for his countenance was as a           And who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
bright light. Similarly, Peter, James, and John beheld          .Only those who are perfect, the holy ones.
the exalted Christ in His glory on the Mount of Trans-          David describes this perfection as, "He that hath
figuration. There, too, He appeared in glistening white      clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his
and sinful man could not look upon Him. So, too, in          soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." With this
the temple, the most holy place was filled with the          description the Psalmist touches upon all the aspects
glory ,of the Lord, the Shekinah. God is light, and in       of human life. The heart of man must be pure. This
Him there is no darkness at all. His dwelling place          means that the spiritual core of man must be perfectly
reflects His own character. He alone is the highest          conformed unto the will of God; it must beat in harmony
good and perfectly consecrated unto Himself;                 with the love of God. What's more, man's soul must
   To climb the hill of the Lord indicates that we enter     not be lifted up in vain, that is it must not be focused
into'.the presence of the Lord, we join Him in His           upon that which is empty and common; it is to be
sanctuary.                                                   concentrated upon Jehovah alone with all its thoughts
   That is a good place to be, for, according to this        and desires. Still more, his hands must be clean and
text, it is on this hill that God dispenses righteousness    his tongue may not swear deceitfully. Taken together
and blessing. In these two words we have summarized          the hands and tongue represent our life as we stand in
all that God gives to us in His favor. In righteousness      relationship with our neighbor, and that, too, before
we have the necessary foundation for the friendship of       God. With our hands we work and with our tongue we
God. God's friendship is not extended to the sinner in       speak to and about God and the neighbor. We must
his sins, rather to the opposite, the sinner who be-         cease from sin and love God from the depth of our
comes righteous. Righteousness is the .legal aspect of       heart and show this in all the work of our mind,.soul,
our salvation. By it God declares that we have no sin        and strength.
before His holy law, and that as Judge He views our             You ask, who then can ever ascend the hill of the
whole life as perfectly conformed to His sovereign will      Lord?
and purpose. Once we are righteous, God continues to            No mere man can ever do such a thing.
pour out His blessings upon us. He frees us from the            This psalm of David focuses our attention upon our
corrupting dominion of sin, and writes His law upon the      Lord Jesus Christ. It seems quite apparent that David
tables of our heart. Under the blessing of God we are        wrote this psalm in connection with the return of the
converted from sinner to saint, and thus responsive to       ark to Jerusalem. The ark had been at the home of
the fellowship of God upon His holy hill.                    dbededom for three months and David perceived that
   What does all this really mean to us from the             the blessing of the Lord was upon his house. He took
view-point of our daily life? It means that the burden       courage, and with the priests and Levites brought the
of sin is lifted from us on the hill of the Lord. Our        ark to Jerusalem and placed it upon the hill of the
transgressions bring us very low, for our conscience         Lord. Triumphantly he and the congregation followed
accuses us. The `damning evidence burns its way into         the ark, singing, "Lift up your heads o ye gates, even
-our inmost self, and we cannot -find peace with our-        lift them up, ye everlasting doors and the King of glory
selves. We ascend the hill of the--Lord, and He.takes        shall come in; who is this King of glory? The Lord
from us that terrible burden and assures us of the           of hosts;he is the King of glory."
joy of forgiveness.. As we learn to hate our sins, the         Typically - this portrayed the ascension of Christ
power of sin becomes increasingly wearisome.          We     into heaven. In its deepest sense the hill of the Lord is
struggle day after day with the weaknesses of our            heaven, the place where God dwelis.  in all His splendor.
flesh, and desire to be more zealous in faith. Yet, we       Ascending that. hill requires absolute perfection. This
find the forces of evil gnawing their.way into the fibre     Christ did for us after He finished- His work on the
of our life,-and .our spiritual vertebrae-weaken, and.we     cross.    David saw the significance typically; we can
collapse into the ravine of death. Grace draws us out        see it in reality.


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340                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


       Christ ascended the hill of the Lord. He did that as       Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Mediator. As the natural Son of God He was begotten               Jesus Christ has already ascended. Havingfinished
eternally of the Father and therefore abode on that            His work of redemption He ascended before the eyes of
hill. But, as Mediator He left that hill to descend into       His disciples and was taken from them by the cloud, by
the lower parts of the earth. He had to lead captivity         Jehovah the Lord of the hill.
captive. Typically this was portrayed in that ark; the            We have therefore principally ascended the hill.
blood sprinkled upon the mercy seat once a year spoke          We are inseparably united with Him. Before God we
of the atonement. The gates of Jerusalem could well            are pure and clean, counted worthy to ascend the hill
lift up their heads and welcome the King of glory, for         and dwell with Him forevermore.
Israel was typically holy in the blood of the Lamb. All           How do we know this? After His ascension into
Israel followed and David the king with them, shouting         heaven, God crowned Christ's perfect work with the
and dancing, for Christ was ascending the hill of the          gif.t of the Holy Spirit, by Whom He sanctifies us and
Lord and Israel with Him.                                      cleanses us from all our sins. By this Spirit we know
                                                               the friendship of God and dwell with Him on the hill.
       How much more glorious this becomes at. the                Our life is a constant struggle to climb higher and
moment of reality. Jesus who had come into the world           higher. It involves a daily denial of the flesh, a putting
for the sake of His own, assumed their guilt and became        away of former things and seeking more and more the
sinful in their place. Because God who dwells in the           fellowship of the living God. Principally our whole life
hill is a holy God, He is a consuming fire against all         is an expression of dwelling in the presence of the living
iniquity. Yet, Almighty God knew that His own could            God. No longer is there a secret room where God and
never bear the burden of their guilt and throw it off          His people meet; the veil of the temple was rent, the
and climb the hill of themselves. It was in love that He       tabernacle of God is now with men. Our life must be so
sent His Son to bear our guilt and the punishment due          conducted that our heart, soul, hands', and mouth express
to us for them. This Jesus did on the cross. The holy          our consecration to God. Following our High Priest
God of the hill poured upon Jesus the terrible punish-         Jesus Christ we have the calling to live the consecrated
ment due to us for our sins. His raw wrath unleashed           life within the hill of the Lord.
upon Him, forced from His lips the lonely cry, forsaken!          This requires one thing, divine grace, sovereign
Jesus did more than we could ever do. He bore this             and free.
judgment in perfect love and paid the price of sin once           There is one place wherein we lay hold of this grace,
for all. He merited perfection for all His own. The            that is the house of worship where God meets His people
proof is in the open tomb; there God sealed the work of        in Jesus Christ. That is the greatest expression of
Jesus Christ and labelled it, perfect!                         God's friendship with His people on this side of the
   Since Christ and His people are inseparably united          grave.
before God, so much that they are as one body, Christ             Let us ascend the hill of the Lord, following our
the head and His church the members, the work of               Lord Jesus Christ. May God give us grace to do this
Christ is imputed to us. In Christ we are righteous            daily, till we shall ascend it in death and dwell in the
and holy. In Christ we are made worthy to receive the          New Jerusalem, in the city four-square.
blessings of Almighty God.                                        Our life is hid with Christ in God.



         EDITQRIALS-



                         The Story of an Ass and A Bridge


                                                by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema


       The editor of  De  Wachtev   (who does not relish       "ass's bridge." The editor points out that this Dutch
unsolicited advice, but who nevertheless receives it           term derives its significance from the fact that an ass
occasionally) does a rather clever take-off on a Dutch         is proverbially a stupid and a lazy beast, the idea being
word for which there is no exact English equivalent,           that when these same attributes are found in a human
but which is a picturesque term for our word  mnemonic,        being, then a mnemonic  (ezelsbrug,   ass's bridge) is
A mnemonic is a device to assist the memory. And               necessary to get across the memory gap.
the Dutch term referred to is  ezelsbvug,   -literally,           The esteemed editor of the De Wachter then goes


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    341

on to inform his readers that ,he has in mind a Re-               Nevertheless, there is something amiss, first of all,
formed ass's bridge, or mnemonic. This Reformed                in Editor Haverkamp's reasoning.
mnemonic is the well-known T-U-L-I-P, which is, of                In the first place, it must be remembered that the
course, peculiar to the English language in the very           terms particular and definite also do not occur in the
nature of the case, and which is designed to assist one        Canons, -no more than the term  limited.  For that
in remembering the Five Points of Calvinism. How-              matter, not even the term atonement occurs. Hence,
ever, the editor of De Wachtev tells his readers that          the absence of the term limited from the Canons is no
they need not bemoan the absence of this mnemonic in           indication that it is less accurate.
the Holland language because it would be better if we             In the second place, it simply is not true that the
would do away with it in the English language also.            term limited-has any negative tendency and emphasizes
   Do not misunderstand.                                       the idea of not fok all, in distinction from the terms
   The objection of the editor is not to the Five Points       pavticulav and definite as being positive. Limited is a
of Calvinism, but it is to the letter L. Moreover, he          positive term; unEimited  would be a negative term. The
objects not to the doctrine  of limited atonement, but         truth of the matter is that the term limited expresses
to that word limited. And his objectionis that the term        the idea of "those, and those only" as well as the
limited is really a less fortunate term to express the         terms  pavticulav  and  definite.  This is precisely the
truth that it is intended to express, and that the pref-       good side of the term limited. All three terms mean
erence should be given to pavticulav or definite. This,        to express the idea that the atonement is exclusive,
of course, is a point which has frequently been made           that is, for the elect only. From this point of view the
in the current discussion about Christ's atonement. As         term limited is a perfectly good term. In fact, there
I see it, the editor cf De Wachtev has especially two          actually is very little misunderstanding of the term,
reasons in this connection for discarding this letter L,       especially not in Reformed circles. We all know that it
and thus discarding the entire mnemonic(ezeZsbw,               means to express that the atonement is for the elect
ass's bridge). The fact is that the term limited is not        exclusively, not for all men.
used by the Canons.          Hence, he says, we would do          What then is the flaw in this term? The flaw lies
better to avoid this word and to employ the more               in the possibility that it might be interpreted as saying
accurate terms definite and pavticulav. And he sug-            something about the  value  of Christ's atoning death,
gests that it would be too bad to hold fast to a word          which is infinite, and therefore, unlimited. Or the term
which gives a less accurate expression to the doctrine         limited might possibly be interpreted, -but not among
we wish to confess merely for the sake of memory.              those who know the T-U-L-I-P, - as meaning that
The second is that the terms pavticulav and definite           Christ did not atone fuZZy, but only partially, for our
are positive, while the word  limited  is negative in          sins.
tendency and emphasizes the idea not fov all.          The        Hence, it would have been far more proper that
Canons, according to the esteemed editor, are positive,        Editor Haverkamp had emphasized that the term
and speak of "those and those only."                           limited is basically a good term, especially in these
   And thus the editor concludes with the admonition           days when the tendency to forget the doctrine of
to discard this little mnemonic  (ezelsb~geitje)   be-         particular atonement is very strong, and when ap-
cause "even if we give it the more exalted (Latin)             parently even more than an ezelsbzqg,  or mnemonic,
name of pans assinomcm,  it remains only a means to            is necessary.
assist the memory.       The doctrinal thinking of the            In the third place, volens nolens the editor of De
church must employ language which gives expression             Wachtev  tends to leave the impression, especially upon
to the truth of Scripture in the most clear manner.            one less fully acquainted with the current situation,
Discarding of that mnemonic has nothing, but then              that the entire controversy centers upon such an
nothing to do with letting loose of a doctrine."               insignificant thing as a "precious little mnemonic"
                         *  * *                                (dat  geliefhoosde   ezelsbrmggetje)   and the mere term
   Now when I read this little article in the April 4          limited.  And this surely is not the case.
issue of  De Wachtev,  I was first inclined to think              Besides, I rather like that TULIP. True, it is not
within myself, "Editor Haverkamp can write a rather            particularly a Scriptural figure; nor is it a confes-
`cute' editorial and make a rather clever application of       sional term. But mnemonics have their advantages,
a picturesque Dutch term and a definition from Van             especially when they are correctly used, and espe-cially
Dale's Woordenboek."          In fact, my first reaction, I    for children and youths, and more especially in this
must confess, was to say, "Fully agreed!"                      day when the tendency to forget the Five Points of
   But then I began to think into this little story of the     Calvinism is very strong. There is more than one
ass and the bridge; and I came to the conclusion that          advantage to this mnemonic, - call it an ass's bridge,
the editor of  De Wachtev  is in need of some advice           if you will.     For one thing, the flower-idea is very
after all, - even though he does not solicit it. And           useful: pull off one of the petals, represented in these
after all, is it not rather proverbial that advice is to       letters, and you spoil the flower. For another thing,
be given, but not received7                                    seeing that the TULIP is especially associated with the
   Do not misunderstand.                                       Netherlands, this mnemonic serves to remind us that
   As far as the proposition as such is concerned, that        the Five Points of Calvinism are our heritage from
the terms  pavticulav  and  definite  are more accurate, I     our Dutch Reformed forefathers at the Synod of Dord-
am, indeed, fully agreed.                                      recht.    But for another,       in spite of the minor flaw


342                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


 connected with the letter L, this is basically a good            Wachtev.       He might far better sound the alarm and
device to aid one in remembering the Five Points. And             answer his inquirer in that next editorial that Prof.
 after all, as Koenen's Woovdenboek has it: "een ezels-           Dekker should have been called to account under the
 bw  wovdt   vooval  n i e t   vevsmaad   door  e e n   mindev    Formula of Subscription long ago on the ground, not
 snuggeven knaap." That is: a mnemonic (ass's bridge)             that he attacked the late Prof. Berkhof's view of
is .especially not disdained by a less intelligent youth.         limited atonement, nor on the ground that he literally
       Hence, the editor might have done better than to           came right out and said he did not agree with the
 advise the discarding of this polzs assinormm.                   confessions (who ever does that?), but on the ground
       And that brings me to my main advice.                      that he in truth and in fact denied in his writings about
       That is that the editor of De Wachtev could do far         the love of God and the atonement what the confessions
better than to write editorials about ezelsbruggetjes.            teach.
       In fact, even if he wished to write a parable about           And if he still wished to write a story about an ass,
 an ass, he could write about the proverbial halsstav-            he might in all seriousness have applied the proverb
 vigheid, stubbornness, of this creature, and apply it to         about the ass which he himself quotes in his editorial:
i those who stubbornly refuse (and that includes both             "Een ezel  stotit   zich in  `t gemeen geen twee  keev  aan
Dekker and his associates and the Doctrinal Committee)            dezelfde  Steen."       That is: "An ass does not usually
to accept the doctrine of particular atonement.                   stumble twice over the same stone." And he might
                                                                  warn the Christian Reformed Church that they have
       He    might    also stop forevermore saying,               already in principle stumbled once, - in 1924, - over
 "Voovzichtig.I"  - something which in effect means,              the doctrine of particular atonement, and that they
 "Don't rock the boat," and something which he does               must by all means not do so again, -lest they be
in his very next editorial in the same issue of  De               worse than that dumb beast, the ass.




                "Report  of  the  Doctrinal  Committee"

                                                  A  Critical  Study


                       The  Committee  and  the  c~Offer"

                                                  by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema



       The Committee Strives To Avoid The Issue                   in connection with the matters touched upon by ProA ,
       We have seen previously that the Doctrinal Commit-         Dekker "we meet with great difficulties." And here
tee apparently discerned rather clearly that the First            we have the perennial appeal to the mystery and the
Point of 1924 and especially its well-meant offer of              paradox, on the basis of which appeal they assert that
salvation to all are at stake in the so-called Dekker             "no one is able to give, a completely satisfactory
Case. Does not 1924 lead inevitably to a doctrine of              solution of the problems which they raise."                Yet,
general atonement if its consequences are traced to the           according to the committee, extremes on both sides
end? The Doctrinal Committee apparently,  - but only              must be avoided; and so there will have to be some
apparently,  - does not want to accept this consequence           affirmations made.          No one will quarrel with the
of 1924. Prof. Dekker, cum sociis, critical of 1924 to            committee's assertion that we cannot fully comprehend
an extent, but agreed with its fundamental principle,             the relation between God's eternal counsel and man's
insist upon it that the general, well-meant offer of the          moral responsibility.        But the committee thoroughly
gospel demands that God loves all men withone and the             misrepresents matters when it writes as follows:
same love (redemptively) and that Christ died for all                       And so, too, we should recognize that it is not easy
men.                                                                 to harmonize the doctrine of a definite atonement with
    This issue the committee strives to avoid.                       the equally important truth, enunciated in the Canons
    The first hint that the committee wants to avoid the             of Dort, namely, that "as many as are called by the
issue is by the preliminary observation (p. 440) that                gospel are unfeignedly called," (III & IV, 8) and that


                                                THE  STANDARD  BEARER                                                     343


   "the promise of the gospel is that whosoever believes        the point that is calling forth shades of 1924 in their
   in Christ crucified shall not perish, but have eternal       present  controversy, they write as follows:
   life;" and furthermore, that "this promise, together
   with the command to repent and believe, ought to be                Needless to say that the debate which followed on
   declared and published to all nations, and to all persons       this matter was characterized by much misunder-
   promiscuously and without distinction, to whom God              standing (hardly true, HCH) and confusion (very
   out of His good pleasure sends the gospel."`(II, 5)             much so, because men were trying to be Arminian and
                                                                   Reformed at the same time, HCH). This confusion
   It should be noted, first of all, that the committee            was compounded by `the use of the term "offer of grace"
does not really mean that there is difficulty in har-              ("aanbod der genade")  which became the bone of con-
monizing the doctrine of definite atonement and the                tention to both sides in the dispute. The question was
doctrines stated in the `above statements quoted from              poised: in the preaching of the gospel what kind of grace
the Canons. There is absolutely no lack of harmony                 is supposed to be offered to the non-elect? Rev.
between these doctrines, nor any seeming lack of                   Hoeksema vehemently contended that God's grace (and
harmony, nor any difficulty in seeing the harmony.                 by this he meant, of course, the onegrace  of God which
But the committee already has in mind the well-meant               is always particular) can never be common, or some-
                                                                   thing that is offered to all men indiscriminately. And
offer and the First Point.         And the general, well-          certainly he was on solid ground, when he argued that
meant offer of salvation flagrantly contradicts the                the confessions, and particularly the Canons of Dort,
doctrine of definite atonement: it demands the doctrine            never did speak of a grace of God that is offered to all
of general atonement. But in order to cover this up,               men, except when they referred to the so-called
and in its zeal to defend the First Point at all costs             "common grace" of Arminian vintage. (And at this
and yet not to go over into Dekker's camp completely,              point the committee makes references to the Canons
the committee begins to make things vague and hazy by              but does not refer to the one place, Canons III & IV, B
first acting as though it is a question of harmony be-             5, which literally speaks of common grace, HCH).
tweeen the doctrine of definite atonement (Canons II, 8)           In connection with the above, the committee notes
and the doctrines of the seriousness of the gospel call         the following in a footnote: "It is noteworthy that neither
and of the general proclamation of a particular promise         the advisory committee of the Synod of 1924, nor the
(Canons II, 5; Canons III & IV, S), and then proceeding         Synod itself in its official declarations ever used this
to state that it "is not easy to harmonize" these               term. The committee spoke of a `well-meant offer of
doctrines. This is camouflage. But it is precisely              salvation' and the Synod referred to `the general offer
this camouflage that must serve as a general cover-             of the gospel.' Nevertheless, both sides began to argue
up for all the devious meanderings of the committee as          about the meaning of the phrase `offer of grace.' "
it desperately tries to prolong the First Point's con-             Then the committee goes on, as follows:
tradiction of the Reformed faith and at the same time                 From the side of our church, however, there were
tries to avoid the consequence which Prof. Dekker                  also those who, in spite of contrary evidence from the
insists must be drawn  from a general offer of salva-              confessions, did try to maintain that God offers grace
tion, namely, general atonement.                                   to all men indiscriminately. (At this point the commit-
   Next, the committee tries desperately to rescue the             tee inserts a footnote in which they put Dr. Daane in
First Point and its general offer by divorcing it from             this class. They almost sound Reformed, in fact, when
the whole context of questions concerning saving grace,            they upbraid Dr. Daane for holding it "as axiomatic
concerning general salvation, and concerning Armin-                that grace is offeved in the preaching of the gospel."
ianism. Mind you, they are troubled by Dr. Daane's                 And to refute Daane they-appeal to.Dr.  Roger Nicole,
                                                                   who, if we judge from the quotations the committee
question, "How can such a non-saving grace come to                 makes from him, has no understanding of the whole
expression in the preaching of the gospel that preaches            issue of the "well-meant offer." HCH) By doing this
only saving grace?" To avoid this question, the com-               they allowed Rev. Hoeksema to put them in the uncom-
mittee strives to take the general, well-meant offer of            fortable position of having to explain what kind of
salvation out of the realm of saving grace altogether              grace then was supposed to be offered in the so-called
and to put it in the context of common, non-saving                 offer of grace. Was it common grace, as some thought
grace. They can do this with a semblance of validity,              was implied by the Synod of 19247 Or was it special
of course, because the well-meant offer was supposed               grace that was offered to all men? Or again, was it
to be proof of a common, non-saving grace. But it is               some kind of grace in between? This was the problem
only a                                                             that plagued all those who tried to defend the doctrinal
           semblance.    Fact is, that everyone who ever           declarations of 1924 on the basis of some kind of grace
brought his preaching into line with the First Point of            which was supposed to be offered by God to all in the
1924 fell into the error of Arminianism and forgot all             preaching of the gospel. Unfortunately, however, none
about so-called common, non-saving grace as soon as                seemed to realize that Synod had never spoken of an
he began to talk about the well-meant offer element of             "offer of grace;" but rather of "the offer of salvation,"
the First Point. But this we shall see presently.                  or "the offer of the gospel." If this had only been
   The question is now: how does the committee try to              realized, much misunderstanding and needless debate
get away from this problem? They do this by attempt-               might have been avoided, and the controversy with
ing to deny that the First Point of 1924 teaches or                our Protestant Reformed brethren would have been
                                                                   much more pointed and profitable.        For, while the
intends to teach that the preaching of the gospel is a             Canons do not speak about an offer of grace, they do
general offer of grace to all who hear. For after con-             plainly state that in the preaching of the gospel there
ceding that the "little point of the first point" is again         is a sincere and well-meant offer of salvation made to


     344                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

            all men indiscriminately. More than that, the Canons        for the reprobate in the preaching of the gospel? How
            do not hesitate to aver that Christ Himself is offered      is the preaching of the gospel grace for the reprobate?
            in the gospel preaching.      Again, they state that the    In this same connection, it should be noted that the
            gospel contains a promise of "salvation, rest of soul,      fundamental objection is not to the idea that the so-
            and eternal life" to all men who are called by that
            gospel to come to Christ and to believe in Him. (II, 5;     called offer is general and well-meant, but to the very
            III & IV, 8, 9).                                            idea of an offev. Neither grace, nor salvation, nor the
                                                                        gospel is an offev! But it is exactly when one begins
            All of the above is one grand piece of falsification.       to speak of an offer, the contents of which is salvation,
     It is false on the following counts:                               or of an offer of the gospel, that one is already sailing
            1.  It utterly falsifies the Canons.    I challenge the     in the Arminian waters of free-willism. Certainly,
     committee, or anyone else for that matter, to show that            also the committee can see, -1 dare say, in fact, that
     the Canons "plainly state that in the preaching of the             they saw, but chose to ignore, -that it is not the so-
     gospel there is a sincere and well-meant offer of                  called natural blessings of a so-called common grace
     salvation made to all men indiscriminately." The                   that are offered in a supposed offer of the gospel or
     Canons nowhere state this; to say that they do is                  offer of salvation. It is salvation itself that is offered,
     blatant falsification of the Canons. I challenge anyone            - offered not merely by the human preacher, but
     to show that "the Canons do not hesitate to aver that              offered graciously, well-meaningly, to all who hear
     Christ Himself is offered in the gospel preaching."                the gospel preached b God Himself! This is the mean-
     The Canons nowhere make this statement. And most                   ing of the First Point6
                                                                                               ' "little point." This is what all
     of all, I challenge anyone to show where the Canons                who write and preach according to that First Point
     "state that the gospel contains a promise of `salvation,           always teach.     This is what the fathers of. the First
     rest of soul, and eternal life' to all men who are called          Point always taught in connection with passages like
     by that gospel to come to Christ and to believe in                 Ezekiel 33:ll and Romans 2:4. This is what involved
     Him."         The Canons surely never state this; in fact,         the Christian Reformed Church in 1924 and thereafter
     they attribute this heresy to the Arminians.                       in all the hairy problems of Arminianism while they
            2. It is utterly  false historically. Did the committee     were supposed to be a confessionally Reformed denom-
     never consider the fact that it was the very fathers of            ination. This is what has led inevitably to the support
     the First Point who themselves spoke of an "offer of               of the Billy Graham crusades by so many in the
     grace" (aanbod  dev genade)?           Do they not know that a     Christian Reformed Church. And this is what has led
     man like Prof. Heyns, who instructed a whole genera-               inevitably to Prof. Dekker's universal atonement.
     tion of Christian Reformed ministers, uses and explains               4. It is false in the light  of  official decisions.    The
     and defends this expression repeatedly, and always in              committee refers only to the language of Synod of 1924
     the Arminian sense? Do they not know that the late                 and its committee. We should remember that in 1926,
     Prof. Berkhof followed this same line? Do they not                 in answer to the Consistory of Middelburg, the Synod
     know that the Rev. Keegstra in  De Wachtev  desperately            of the Christian Reformed Church made some signif-
     tried to defend the First Point and fell into the same             icant declarations about the First Point. (Incidentally,
_    error? What historical right does the committee have               the committee will find that in 1926 the Synod itself
     to say that the issue was not one of an "offer of grace?"          used the terminology "well-meant offer of salvation"
     Does the committee think itself more capable of                    as well as "lovely invitation of the gospel." The com-
     explaining the First Point of 1924 than the men of 1924            mittee, which does not like the term  gyuce in "common
     themselves? Does the committee think that the polemics             grace," but prefers to speak of benevolence or good-
     of that period was about a totally imaginary issue?                ness or long-suffering, would also discover in the
     Such nonsense!                                                     same decisions of 1926 that the Synod does not hesitate
        3. It is  mateviully false.        Essentially it .makes no     at all to speak of "genade" or "grace.") But the main
     difference whether one speaks of an offer of grace or              point I want to make is that thesynod of 1926 went even
     of an offer of salvation. For salvation is but the im-             more openly in the Arminian direction than did the
     plication of all the blessings of grace. To say, there-            Synod of 1924. The Consistory of Middelburg com-
     fore, that salvation is offered is equivalent to saying            plained that the Synod of 1924 did not do justice to the
     that grace is offered. The committee, therefore, does              distinction between "Common Grace(Gemeene  Gratie)"
     not get away from the problem by trying to eliminate               and "Particular or Covenant Grace  l(Bijzondeve  of
     the expression "offer of grace." And, as will become               Verbondsgenade)"  but confused the two. The Synod of
     plain later in this study, the committee also literally            1926 denied this, and in so doing distinguished very
     contradicts itself on this point. In this connection it            clearly between the "little point of the First Point"
     should be observed that the fundamental question which             and the main proposition of the First Point. For, in the
     the late Rev. Hoeksema posed and which the Protestant              first place, they declared:
     Reformed Churches still pose over against the First
     Point is not: what                                                        (b) That the Synod did not confuse the goodness of
                                kind. of grace is offered in the so-       God toward all men (Common Grace) and the goodness
     called offer? Our question is: what grace, - of what-                 or grace of God in the causing to go forth of a well-
     ever kind, -is there for the reprobate? What grace                    meant offer of salvation to all to whom the preaching
     is there for the reprobate in the things of this present              of the Gospel comes. This appears clearly, among
     time, in rain and sunshine7 How are rain and sun-                     other things, from the fact that of the eight Scripture
     shine grace for the reprobate7 Or what grace is there                 passages quoted (under Point I) there are six that con-


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                              345


   tern the goodness of God toward all creatures, while         the Synod used for the General Grace theory of the
   the other two refer to the goodness of God which             well-meant offer.
   appears from the well-meaning character of the offer
   of the Gospel for everyone to whom that offer comes.
   These two kinds of texts are also clearly distinguished           The Committee Fails To Avoid The Issue
   by the Synod and even separated by the transition
   sentence (Acts, 1924, p. 126): "Also texts which point          At this point the committee almost seems to have
   out that God comes to all with a well-meant offer of         thought it has gone too far in its emphasis upon the
    salvation prove this." (Acts, 1926, p. 116)                 common grace aspect of the First Point; and it very
                                                                ineptly tries to return to the idea of the well-meant
   Then in point "c" of the same decision the Synod of          offer by referring to Hebrews 6, the passage which
1926 concedes that they cited the Canons solely with            Arminians so often use to teach a falling away from
reference to the goodness of God manifested in the              grace. They even speak of "special tokens of God's
well-meant offer of the Gospel to everyone to whom the          mercy which they receive who are privileged to hear
call of the Gospel comes; and they assert that the Synod        the gospel, and to receive in that gospel the command
proved that "besides the saving grace which is for the          to repent and believe, accompanied with a promise,
elect alone, there is also a certain grace, goodness,           sincere and well-meant, that, if they do repent and
or favorable attitude of God which is revealed toward           believe, they will receive `rest of soul and eternal
a circle of men which is broader than the group of the          life,' yea, all the blessings of salvation which Christ
elect, and that this appears clearly, among more things,        has merited on the cross." Note that here the com-
from the fact that God well-meaningly calls everyone            mittee uses the very strong term mevcy, the virtue of
to whom the lovely invitation of the Gospel comes."             God according to which God wills to deliver those who
   And then in point "d" the Synod tries to distinguish         are in misery and to make them blessed with Himself!
this grace of God in the "lovely invitation of the              They also try to distinguish these "tokens of mercy"
Gospel" which comes to thousands who are not saved              from the "common favors which come to all men
and who thus appear to be not elect, from God's par-            alike." But what they fail to do utterly is to show how
ticular grace, which is irresistible and saving. They           this has nothing to do with salvation and to show that
assert that the former is nevertheless undeserved               this is nothing but a so-called common grace. In fact,
favor and thus rightly called "grace (genude)."  And            they fail to show how this grace differs from the grace
by implication they assert that this grace is resistible        of which the Arminians speak in this connection. And
and, of course, not actually saving. But, mind you,             they fail to show how Hebrews 6 speaks of grace at all,
they are speaking of a grace in the preaching of the            in view of the fact that the men who are the supposed
gospel !     They are speaking of a grace which they            the recipients of this grace nevertheless fall away and
earlier said is clearly distinguished from the goodness         cannot be renewed unto repentance, and, in fact, are
of God toward all men. They are not talking now about           compared to soil which brings forth thorns and thistles.
all men, but about a circle of men broader than the                At this point the committee  bethinks itself once
elect, namely, all those to whom the gospel is preached.        more, it seems, and gives utterance to this amazing
And they conclude:                                              piece of wisdom: "But there is one thing that is not
                                                                common to all men, nor even to all who hear the
          "Be it true that the saving or particular grace is    gospel.       And that is the special grace of God, that
    only the portion of those who are internally and            grace which the Canons of Dort refer to under various
    effectually called, the outward calling, which extends      names....."       The committee seems to have some
    to a broader circle, is nevertheless also proof of a        Reformed pangs of conscience at this point. They are
    grace of God, that is, of a favorable attitude of God
    which comes to the sinner undeservedly." (Acts, 1926,       bent on eliminating Prof. Dekker's chances of appealing
    pp.116-117)                                                 to the First Point, of course!
                                                                   The mountain labored and brought forth a mouse, -
    From all this, it is abundantly clear that the              the mouse in this case being a truism! Mind you, one
Christian Reformed Church actually adopted two graces           thing is not common! That one thing that is not common
in 1924, supposedly in addition to God's particular             is the special grace of God!
grace.      They adopted in essence Abraham Kuyper's               But make no mistake! This statement of the com-
common grace theory. And in their desperate striving            mittee is not Reformed, even though they appeal to the
to prove the latter from the confessions, they adopted          Canons. The statement would have been Reformed if
the General Grace theory of the Arminians. It is from           they had eliminated the word "special". Then it would
this last that the committee tries to escape, at least in       read: "But one thing is not common to all men.. . . And
part of the Doctrinal Report, due to the fact that Prof.        that is the grace of God!"        That is our Protestant
Dekker can justly appeal to this part of the First Point        Reformed position, of course.
for his universal atonement theory also. Thus also                 But the Christian Reformed Church has a confused
the committee continues the paragraph quoted in part            position:
before, and tries to limit the whole matter to common              1) They teach common grace  (gemeene   gyatie),
grace.      They even quote three of the six texts which        which is a favor of God to all men in the things of this
Synod of 1924 adduced for the common grace theory of            present time and which results in so-called temporal
the First Point. But they do not so much as mention             blessings.
the two texts (from Ezekiel and from Romans 2) which               2) They teach general grace  (algemeene  genade),


346                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


which is the same as the Arminian position with              But never is reprobation represented in the report
respect to the preaching of the gospel: God wills that       as being sovereign. And never does the committee
all who hear the gospel be saved, and He offers this         in its report face up to this truth of sovereign repro-
salvation to all to whom the gospel is preached, well-       bation, though they seem at times to place a certain
meaningly, upon condition of faith and repentance. This      amount of emphasis on election.
is a saving grace which does not actually save and               3) Finally the committee must needs face up to it
which is resistible. And this is the part the committee      that the general, well-meant offer is after all an ofiev
is trying to get away from, but yet without denying the      of gvuce and that it is a genuinely well-meant offer of
well-meant offer.                                            grace to all who hear the gospel. Hence, the committee
   3) Confessionally they hold to particular grace (for      ends by contradicting itself and by maintaining an
the elect only), a grace which is irresistible and which     offer ofgvace though they warned that the First Point
actually saves the elect. This is what the Doctrinal         ,must never be understood this way and that this led to
Committee tries to say is special and is the one thing       confusion and to being placed in an uncomfortable
that is not common to all men. But this contradicts          position by Rev. Hoeksema and the Protestant Re-
the grace under "1" and "2" above. For it is sovey-          formed Churches.
eign  grace, grace for the elect only. And sovereign            You say: does the `committee actually do this?
election implies sovereign reprobation; sovereign love          My answer is: if words have any meaning at all,
implies sovereign hatred; sovereign grace implies            then the committee does this in the same paragraph
sovereign wrath.                                             in which they once more assert that grace is never
   Because of this confused, Janus-head position the         offered!
committee weasels with words and twists and turns               The proof is on page 494 of the Acts of Synod, 1966:
in every direction in order to escape the compelling                . . . ..As we said in our introduction, grace is never
reasoning of Dekker's position that the well-meant               offered, but always conferred or bestowed.  What the
offer demands a general atonement.          The careful         gospel does offer is not grace, but full redemption
reader of the Doct inal Report may discern several              from all sin and eternal life in Jesus Christ. Fact is,
elements in this process:                                       it is Christ Himself in all the fulness of His grace and
   1) The committee tries the sop of so-called non-             truth who is offered therein.
saving benefits of the death of Christ.       These are         Now if words have any meaning whatsoever, here is
supposedly involved in the general offer of the gospel.      a blatant contradiction. For, first of all, the committee
And several times in the course of the report these          says that full redemption from all sin and eternal life
so-called non-saving benefits are referred to both in        are offered. But what is full redemption from all sin
connection with the offer and in connection with the         and eternal life, except grace? But secondly, the com-
death of Christ. But here the committee faces more           mittee goes on to say that Christ Himself is offered in
than one problem. In the first place, really neither         the gospel.      But according to the committee's own
the committee nor its opponents are satisfied with this      words, Christ Himself in all the filness of His grace!
notion of non-saving benefits. Basically, of course,         Now it is certainly true that there is a fulness of grace
they are bothered by the problem that we have always         in Christ; He is the implication of all grace. But if this
raised in this connection: what grace, what blessing,        Christ is offered, then it can only mean that grace is
is there in these so-called benefits wherewith a man         offered.
nevertheless goes lost? In the second place, they are           The committee fails miserably and ends by con-
confronted by the problem that the well-meant offer          tradicting itself 1
to all men is supposed to be an offer of  salvation,
expressive of God's delight in the salvation of all who
hear the gospel preached and of His will that no man                                CONCLUSION
should perish! And, in the third place, they face the
problem how even so-called non-saving benefits can              This accounts, in the first place, for the nonsense,
accrue from the death of Christ while the atoning death      the cover-up statements, and the flat contradictions in
of Christ is nevertheless supposed to be, according to       the conclusions of the committee's report. These are
the committee, for the elect only. (To this third prob-      found not so much in the conclusions proper, but in the
lem we shall return when we study the committee's            grounds under these conclusions. Let me cite a couple
view of the atonement. For it is absolutely not true         examples.
that the committee maintains the doctrine of par-               First of all, under conclusion IV, where the com-
ticular atonement, though they try to leave the impres-      mittee states that it is not warranted to say to every
sion that they do. Let no one be deceived on this score!)    man, "Christ died for you," we find this in "C":
   2) The committee steadfastly avoids throughout its               Although this statement, "Christ died for you,"
report any facing up to the Reformed truthof sovereign          might be correctly understood as referring to themany
reprobation, and its corollary of a two-fold and sover-         universal and undeserved benefits which accrue to all
eign operation of God in connection with the gospel,            men from the death of Christ; yet in the kerygmatic
namely, that of saving and that of hardening. Very              situation this statement is usually understood by the
little does the term Yepyobation  appear in the report.         hearers in an Arminian, universalistic sense.
The committee prefers, - as do many in our day, -                Now apart from the repeated nonsense about the
only to speak of the non-elect, a purely negative term.      many universal benefits which accrue from the death


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   347


of Christ, will anyone make plain why this same state-              Now insert these elements in the above statement of
ment is not true about a general, well-meant offer of           the committee. You get a result something like this:
salvation and grace? Whether one says, "Christ died             "The universal gospel offer (that is, awell-meant  offer
for you," or whether one says, "God well-meaningly              of grace on the part of God to all who hear the preach-
offers you salvation and grace; and God delights in             ing) is grounded in the atoning work of Christ which
your salvation and wills to save you," to every man             was accomplished for the elect, and for them only,
makes absolutely no difference! But even if the com-            and which actually merited salvation for elect sinners,
mittee sees some difference, what then is the differ-           and for them only."
ence between the latter statement and any Arminian                  Will someone please explain how in the name of all
presentation of the gospel? How can anyone ever under-          that is true and sensible the latter can be the ground
stand that statement in anything but an Arminian,               for the former?
universalistic sense?                                               This is the question Dekker and Daane have faced.
   The committee wants the Arminian doctrine when it            They have answered: No, a universal offer must be
comes to the preaching of the gospel. Prof. Dekker              grounded in a universal atonement!
wants it both as to the preaching of the gospel and as to           And this makes sense, - that is, if you want to main-
the meaning of the atonement. Both are Arminian.                tain a universal offer.
When the committee criticizes Dekker, it is only a                  But the committee's position is utterly impossible!
case of the pot calling the kettle black!                           And this brings me to the conclusion of this part of
   Secondly, although one could agree that the doctrine         this study.    It is this: if the committee had really
of definite atonement (the true doctrine, not the com-          wanted to do the Christian Reformed Church a service,
mittee's twisted version of definite atonement) is an           they would have come with the simple advice that it is
incentive for mission enthusiasm and endeavor, rather           high time for the Christian Reformed Church to review
than a hindrance (Conclusion  V), yet we find this              and to repudiate the well-meant offer doctrine adopted
amazing statement in the grounds, without a scintilla           in 1924. And they would have come with the warning
of Scriptural proof or confessional backing:                    that the alternative is full-blown Arminianism.
      The universal gospel offer is grounded in the                 Editor  Vander Ploeg of the Bannev  and the Rev.
   atoning work of Christ which actually merited salvation      Adam Persenaire (April 7 issue) may assume the
   for sinners.                                                 ostrich attitude and claim that the difference between
   Is this not amazing?                                         the Christian Reformed Church and the Protestant
   Remember two things which the committee tries to             Reformed Churches is not one about limited atonement.
hide by vagueness. In the first place, the committee            But all the facts belie this.      Or else why is it that
has tried to maintain - however inconsistently - that           everyone who has written about the current atonement
the atoning work of Christ is pavticulav,  that is, for the     controversy has without fail been compelled to face
elect only.        In the second place, the committee has       the problem of the First Point of 1924?
therefore tried to maintain that the atoning work of                When, - oh, when, -will those Christian Reformed
Christ actually merited salvation, not merely for               brethren who genuinely wish to remain truly Reformed
sinners, nor, certainly, for all sinners, but only for          wake up to the fact that you cannot fight Arminianism
elect sinners.                                                  on the basis of 1924's First Point?


   All AROUND  US-


                    Liberalism in the Netherlands

                                                     by  Pyof. H. Hank0


   It has through recent years become increasingly                 But things are far worse than many of us imagine.
apparent that the Reformed Churches in the Nether-              This appears clearly from an article which was written
lands are straying far from the truth of the Reformed           in  Tot  Vvijheid  Gevoepen  (March, 1967) in which a
faith. Magazine articles and books have brought some            letter was quoted which was sent to all the Consistories
of these indications to the attention of those in our own       of the  Gevefovmeevde   Kevken  by a group which ap-
country. And reports from people who have travelled             parently is similar to various groups in denominations
to the Netherlands confirm these suspicions that all is         in our own country - groups of concerned members of
far from well.                                                  the church who bemoan the heresy rampant in their


348                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER

denomination.        The entire article we quote (The trans-           In  "Feestbundel VOOY  Prof. Be?ckouweY"   Prof. Pol-
lation was graciously provided by Prof. H. C.  Hoek-                man denies reprobation from eternity. According to
sema):                                                              Prof. Rothuizen in Centraal Weekblad (June 12, 1966),
                                                                    homosexuality is not sin. When the homosexual writer
UNRESTINTHE  GEREFORMEERDEKERKEN                                    Van het Reve compares God with a little donkey with
                                                                    which fornication is committed, then that is not railing
          The society of "Gereformeerde  Verontrusten  in           blasphemy, according to Rothuizen in  TYOUW  of October
       Nederland  (Reformed Alarmed Ones in the Nether-             15, 1966, but he finds Van het Reve to be in many
       lands)," whose seat is in Harderwijk, has addressed          respects a Christian writer. In the Groningev  Kerk-
       a letter to all the consistories of the Gereformeerde        bode of January 9, 1965 the Rev. Zwanenburg departs
       Kerken in the Netherlands, in which letter it mentions       from the doctrine of original sin.
       expressions of ministers and professors of the Gere-            According to Trouw of May 9, 1966, Prof. H. Rid-
       fovmeevde  Kerken  which give occasion for serious           derbos said: "The Bible has no authority when  it comes
       unrest and alarm concerning the maintenance of the           to the formulation of a definite  cosmogeny   (weveld-
       authority of Scripture and of the confession. The letter     beeld; literally: world-picture) or when it comes to a
       follows in its entirety.                                     particular style or when it comes to pronouncements
          To our great alarm the authority of Scripture and         on history." In the Nieuwe Haagse Courant of May 7,
       the confession are increasingly being attacked in our        1966 he wrote: "We are more and more understanding
       churches. According to II Peter 1:19-21 and II Timothy       that the real authority of the Bible lies in its content
       3:16 the basis of our faith is the infallibility of Holy     and is not a formal authority."          Apparently Prof.
       Scripture, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit. In that     Ridderbos means that this way: One may no more say
       Scripture there are words spoken by men. Neverthe-           that one must believe Scripture because it is God's
       less these words are God's Word in this sense, that          Word, but one must trace the content of the Bible in
       God caused them to be included in the Scriptures, so         order to make out what is credible (trustworthy) and
       that we are certain that these men indeed spoke them         what is not.
       even as Scripture records them. But when our new                Now Prof. Ridderbos understands that this brings
       theology speaks of a word of maninscripture,  it means       one into difficulties. For if A discards a part of the
       thereby that parts of Scripture are not inspired by the      Bible, and B twice as much, and C thrice as much,
       Holy Spirit, but are accounts of fallible men.               what is then credible? According to  TYOUW  (May 9,
          In  Gereformeerde Weekblad  of Sept. 16, 1966, Prof.      1966) Prof. Ridderbos gives the following solution for
       Koole writes that the Bible is ancient Western histori-      this problem, that the fallible church, which is under
       ography, of which one may not expect that it is abso-        the guidance of the Spirit, must determine what must
       lutely exact. In Opdracht  en tienat of January, 1966,       be believed.     Practically speaking, then, the Synod,
       Drs. T. M. Gilhuis mockingly calls the serpent,              i.e., the professors, decide.
       Balaam's ass, and the fish of Jonah the three saving            But if now a former synod declares that Genesis 3
       animals, about which we must not take the stories            must be taken literally and a following synod declares
       literally. But Christ and his apostles Paul and Peter        that Genesis 3 must be taken figuratively, which Synod
       in Matt. 12:40 and II Cor. 11:3 and11 Pet. 2:16 establish    is under the guidance of the Spirit? We, alarmed ones,
       those stories as historical facts. Then these witnesses,     say: the first, for the Synod is only under the guidance
   who are above suspicion, have adapted themselves to              of the Spirit if it obeys God's Word. But the new
       the mind  (mening:  opinion, meaning) of their contempo-     theology. says: the second, for one must take into
       raries or they said these things in their ignorance.         account modern science. The only safe guide which
       Prof. Bakker alleges the latter concerning Paul in           the Spirit uses is no club of fallible professors, but
       Geref. Weekblad of October 14, 1966, when he writes          God's infallible Word.
   that Paul in II Cor. 11:3 gazes against his own horizon             Now Prof. Kuitert and other theologians of the new
       (tegen zijn eigen horizon aankijkt).                         trend say that the facts of salvation must be believed.
          Dr. F. L. Bos ventures to declare in  TYOUW  of           Why? Because Scripture mentions these facts of salva-
       January 8, 1966 that Paul views the creation account         tion. But if Jesus teaches the doctrine of the atonement
       about the bi-unity  (twee-eenheid)  of man and wife          for our sins through his blood in Matthew 26:28 and if
   through colored glasses. What is left in this way of             Paul preaches the resurrection of Christ in I Cor. 15:4,
   the Biblical doctrine that all Scripture is given by             why must I believe that, if thesame  Jesus and the same
       inspiration of God?                                          Paul tell something in Matt. 12:40 and II Cor. 11:3 that
          Dr. Kuitert is a grave threat for our church. At          is not true?
       the convention of the society of Christian scientists           Professors and ministers have solemnly declared
       of April 20, 1963, he said that Genesis `1 is an account     at their entrance upon office that they believe that the
       borrowed from Babylonian myths, that God's creation,         doctrine contained in our confessions agrees in all
   from the beginning on, never was good, and that Genesis          respects with the Word of God. They have promised
       3 surely would not be an account of facts. According         not to teach or to write anything contrary thereto, that
       to a report of the meeting (assembly) of the  Chr.           they will bring any possible objections against this
       PaedQgogisch  Studiecentrum  `of Oct. 5, 1966, he ther.e     doctrine to the attentisn  of consistory, classis, or synod,
       made such terrible statements that the following con-        that they `will keep silence until the latter have made a
       clusion is allowed: According to Prof. Kuitert there         pronouncement and will submit to their judgment, under
       has been no Adam, no Eve, no paradise without sin and        the penalty of suspension in case they act contrary to
       death, no fall (Fyiese Kerkbodeiof Nov. 11, 1966). Ac-       this promise.
       cording to Trouw (May 13, 1966), Prof. Kuitert declared         We urgently beseech you, officebearers, to draw
       at Kampen's School Day that one cannot say: "Because         your conclusion from the above.
       it is in the Bible, it really took place." Therefore he         The World Council of Churches has in its midst
       could also say there: "I can very well agree with it,        officebearers who deny the Christ. The World Council
       that in the time of Joshua Jericho did not exist."           takes sides with the communist countries. In view of


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     349

   these facts we beseech you on the basis of the Word of         speaking is      therefore,     very    much historically
   God to oppose joining the World Council. We beseech            conditioned, and  far  more  than the Hebrew  langwlge
   you to do the same, just as much on the basis of God's         stands between the  modern reader and Genesis 1. Three
   Word, with respect to the ascribing of the special             thousand years of human history, including many cul-
   offices to women.                                              tural revolutions of which the last is but the most
      In view of all the preceding, we beseech you, office-       radical intervene.
   bearers of our  Geveformeerde  Kevken,  to maintain
   unabridged the authority of Scripture and the confes-          The whole point which these men are making is that
   sion. Moreover, we would point you yet to the admoni-       Scripture was written by men and for men who had
   tion of the elders in the Form for Ordination to be as      serious misconceptions and mistaken notions of many
   watchmen over the house and city of God and to take         subjects.    They greatly misunderstood the nature of
   heed to the maintenance of purity of doctrine. There-
   fore we also beseech you to drop all unnecessary            the work of creation and had no  acess to modern
   ornamentation in the services for public worship and        scientific discoveries. Their writings were influenced
   not to allow the preaching to degenerate into a chatty      by the times in which they lived, and the errors prev-
   little essay of twenty minutes.                             alent in their times pervaded their'writings - including
                            W. Van Veen,                       the writing of Scripture.          Scripture must therefore
                            Middenlaan 6, Harderwijk           be corrected by us who know so much better than they
                            R. Vrieling, Spieghelstraat 37     did what is right and what is wrong. But what does this
   This article demonstrates vividly how far things            do to Scripture's infallible inspiration?
have progressed in the Netherlands in the direction of            The letter quoted above speaks of the fact that
error. Yet, the Christian Reformed Church, a sister            reprobation is being openly denied in the Netherlands.
denomination of the  Gevefovmeevde  Kevken,  is prin-          But this is being done also in the Christian Reformed
cipally not so very far removed from the errors spoken         Church. H. Petersma  recently wrote a series of three
of in this article.     The only difference, perhaps, is       articles in the Reformed Jouvnal which were intended
that (as has been true over the years) the Christian           to be in support of the position of Prof. H. Dekker.
Reformed Church lags a few years behind her sister.            But in these articles on the subject of "Predestination"
But she is rapidly closing the gap.                            the truth of election is grossly corrupted and the truth
   The article quoted above speaks of the denial of the        of reprobation openly denied. A brief quote from these
infallible inspiration of Scripture. Apart from the fact       articles will illustrate this.
that the truth of creation and the flood has been con-
sistently denied in Christian Reformed circles, the                  What about God's reprobation or rejection? Does
                                                                  election not  logically  im#ly rejection? . . . Does not
truth of inspiration is also being attacked.                      election really mean selection? . . . Israel's election,
   In the Standard Beaver  of December 15, 1966 I                 though sometimes misunderstood by the people them-
called attention in this column to the denial of creation         selves, ultimately meant their being called for service
and a universal flood made by J. K. Van Baalen in the             to the other nations. Therefore it wasnot  a case of the
columns of the Reformed Journal.                                  other nations being forever excluded, but of God's
   In the      November,      1966  issue of the  Calvin          electing Israel  on his way to the others.    Election in
Theological  Journal  Prof. B. Van  Elderen writes an             the biblical sense does imply service, but apparently
article on "New Perspectives in Biblical Research".               it does not imply rejection.
After giving a very general testimony of what he believes         The same was true of an article in the Reformed
by the statement "The Bible is the Word of God" in             Jouvnal referred to in the December 15, 1966 issue
which he makes no reference to infallible inspiration,         of the Standard Beagev  in which Prof. L. Smedes all
he goes on to say:                                             but denied the existence of hell.
      The doctrine of organic inspiration maintains that          The letter of these concerned members of the
   God used these authors in their settings and environ-       Gerefovmeevde  Kevken speaks of the violation of the
   ment with their knowledge, culture, cosmology, view of      Formual of Subscription. This too is being done in
   reality. We must recover these elements in order to         this country. We called attention to an article in The
   understand their writings, and often archaeological and     Banner  some time ago in which a Christian Reformed
   historical research are the means of recovery.              Church minister spoke of how the Formula of Sub-
      In other words, it is essential. to define the Sitz      scription is being violated. And this violation of the
   im Leben of a given author. This Sitz im Leben should
   include the author's culture, education, understanding      Formula continues.
   of reality and also the purpose, intention, emphasis and       The article closes with a plea to fight the decision
   recipients of the document.                                 to join the World Council of Churches. Also in the
                                                               Christian Reformed Church there are many who ad-
   The same idea is set forth by Prof. John H. Stek            vocate membership in this antichristian organization.
in the same issue of the Calvin Theological Jouvnal~  in          I say again, the Reformed Churches here in this
a review of two books dealing with the subject of crea-        country are only a few steps behind their sister con-
tion. Stek writes:                                             gregations in the Netherlands. And surely the awful
       Undoubtedly Genesis 1 was written, not for a few,       errors exposed in the letter quoted will soon be prev-
   but for the many and, consequently for the "common          alent in the Christian Reformed Church unless they
   man." But it was written for the "common man" of            repent and return to the faith of Scripture and the
   Israel at a given time in Israel's history. Its mode of     Confessions.


 350                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


        QUESTION BOX-

                    More Questions on Dispensationalism

                                                         by Rev. R. C.  Havbach

   Once more Mr. L. W. of Spokane             Covenant of Mercy With the Elect,"             sationalism, "that a dispensation: `is
raises further questions and offers           which was published about one hundred          stewardship, administration (literally,
 criticisms the esteemed editor and           years before the death of Coccejus             economy) and signifies not an era."'
undersigned deem worthy of answer.            ("whom almost everyone concedes to             This is not correct, for it takes out of
But as Mr.  W.`s letter is rather             be its (covenant theology's) original          context.    The remark was not with
lengthy for the Question Box, brief           exponent..  ." (L.W.`s quote). So also         reference to "adispensation," as such,
excerpts will be taken from it with           Zacharius Ursinus, co-author of that           but referred to the word in the King
 answer made as concisely as possible.        catechism, and author of its  well-            James version incorrectly translated
It had been said (TSB, Mar. 15, 1967,         known commentary, was anearly  Ref-            dispensation, which more correctly
P.  287), "the historic creeds and theo-      ormation exponent of covenant truth            means economy, stewardship, adminis-
 logical systems contain nothing of"          (Ursinus' Commentary  2nd Amer. ed.,           tration, and not a period of time. The
 Dispensationalism.     Our western           xiii,  96ff;  Creeds   of  Christendom,  I,    article also stated, "Dispensationalists
 reader takes exception to this: "The         773f). Both the Heidelberg Catechism           need make no appeal for their con-
 Calvinist theology can be compared           and the Belgic Confession hold forth           tentions to the word translated dispen-
 to a tree with at least two large            the truth of the covenant, yet say             sation in the Bible. For there it does
branches.      One branch is the cove-        nothing of any covenant of works, and          not mean a period of time." And,
nant . ..theology.  the other is Dispensa-    that 84 years before the Westminster           "This brings us to the crux of the
tionalism."      Answer: What Calvinist       Confession. Therefore "great teachers          matter. For dispensational error lies
theology gives credence to Dispensa-          of the reformation period" made con-           not in holding that there are dispensa-
tionalism?  - certainly not Calvin's (nor     siderable mention of the covenant. But         tions of time in sacred history. The
 the Reformers'), nor Owen's (nor the         we hold the covenant doctrine and re-          Church has never denied that.       The
 Puritans'), nor Hodge's, nor Debney's,       ject Dispensationalism, not because            error lies in the fact that the Church
nor Vos', nor Hoeksema's.                     either has or has not confessional             is made a mere parenthesis in God's
   Quoting  Bibliotheca Sacva,  which we      support prior to 1561, but because the         scheme of things..." It is plain that
 assume is the theological journal of         former is according to Scripture, and,         L.W. has not read this article where
 Dallas Theological Seminary,  Jan.-          remember, also according to the Re-            these statements appear.
Mar., 1943, pp.  136f,  .L. W. writes,        formed Confessions, while the latter is           He then goes on, "From the title
 "The covenant theology `as a `constitu-      repugnant to both!                             of the article, `Dispensationalism; An
tive principle of theology'...was...not               We are also informed that in the       Ancient Heresy,' (sic) would it be the
mentioned even by any of the great            Bibliotheca Sacva,. July-Sept., 1966, a        opinion of the Protestant Reformed
teachers of the reformation period            review       appears of     The  Standard      Churches that Professor Pieters was a
itself.' " Answer: We would not expect        Beaver   article, April 1, 1966,  Dis-         heretic?" Reference to the latter is in
 a theological principle, as such, to be      pensationalism, in which the reviewer          connection with his "use of the word
mentioned before its existence or de-         wrote, "Reading the article makes it           `dispensation' to indicate a period of
 velopment . That, indeed, was "def-          plain that the author has read little or       time," to which usage there is no
 initely peculiar to the Reformed             nothing of the current and recent liter-       objection, as already shown. But where
 System of Doctrine" (ibid.). For it is,      ature bydispensationalists..." Answer:         is the above title found? Does it not
 admittedly, a historical fact that "It       L.W. has made quotes from this jour-           rather appear inlarge, bold type, "Dis-
 is a peculiarly Reformed heritage,           nal which go as far back as 1943 -not          pensationalism An Ancient Ewov"?
 even more distinctively so than the          very "current and recent." However,            There is quite a difference between
 doctrine of sovereign predestination.        copies of that journal in that period          heresy and error.      Nor have these
 For while the latter truth is held by        were consulted in doing the research           articles. conceived of Scofield himself
 other than the Reformed churches, the        on the StandavdBeavev's  Dispensation-         as a heretic. But as to how serious
 truth of the covenant was developed          alism series. Thousands in this coun-          an error this theory is, re-read the
 exclusively by them" (The  Heidelbevg        try carry almost everywhere with them          last sentence under the above, and
  atechism, An Exposition, VI, 130, by        a Scofield Reference Bible, so that            correct, title.
Eev. H. Hoeksema). There we agree.            there is still quite a current of  dis-          Attention is next called to  "The
-Yet the covenant receives consider-          pensationalism moving along, a rather          StandardBeavev   for Feb. 1, 1967, p.
 able mention in Calvin's writings            recent one, too, for that Bible in the         200, `Dispensationalism, then produces
 despite the fact that he did not treat       same 1917 edition is still very muchin         a view of history which is man-cen-
 or develop federal theology. For he          evidence.      With all its errors, it has     tered.' In seeming contrast, Dr.
 was a most covenant-minded man, as           never yet been withdrawn. True, by             Charles C. Ryrie..." wrote "that Dis-
 is evident from his very frequent use        the middle of April, 1967 a new edition        pensationalists believe that `Scripture
of the  ,term itself, being full of the       of this Bible is (expected! on the mar-        is not man-centered as though salva-
 covenant idea. (Inst., II, X; IV, XVI).      ket.      But will these errors and in-        tion were the main theme, but it is
 Besides, covenant doctrine in its in-        consistencies of dispensationalism be          God-centered because His glory is the
cipiency was taught by Caspar Olevi-          therefrom eliminated? That remains             center (Moody Monthly, Nov. 1965, p.
 anus (d. 1.587),  one of the authors of      to be seen.                                    lo).' " Answer: It is good that Dis-
the Heidelberg Catechism, in his                 The above reviewer is also said to          pensationalists lay claim to theocen-
popular tract, "The Nature of God's           have quoted from the article,  Dispen-         tricity, but then they ought to be con-


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             351


sistent with it, for their theory is        to mean dispensationalism teaches             cause he has been made righteous?"
still man-centered, as was demon-           there was no grace in any other age.          Why, further, does he say, "The Ser-
strated in the second paragraph of the      But the charge is not true. ..the positive    mon on the Mount is not grace (SRB,
above article, the general contents of      teaching of dispensational writers is         p.  989)?" See also what he wrote at
which, by the way, were not called          that salvation is always through God's        Ephes. 3:2 and Matt. 28:19.  This from
into question, as was neither the main      grace  (Moody Monthly, Nov.  1965, p.         literature still "current and recent"
point of the article itself.                60).' " Answer: Why then does Sco-            but nonetheless erroneous.        Then if
  Again: " `Were not all the other ages     field in his note on John  1:17 see           one agrees with the Ryrie-statement,
dispensations of grace? Of course, the      "legal obedience as the condition of          above, one ought also to agree with
Dispensationalist will answer, No  (TSB,    salvation" in the Old Testament day?          "Dispensationalism A Blind Legal-
Feb. 15, 1967, p. 235). `In seeming         Why then does he also say at I John           ism," (TSB, Feb. 15, 1967) if not for
contradiction, Dr. Ryrie writes: `The       3:7, "the righteous man under the law         its title, then for its content's sake.
labeling of the present dispensation as     became righteous by doing righteously;
that of grace has been taken by critics     under grace he does righteously be-


  EXAMINING  ECUMENICAUSM-


                   The  Reformed  Ecumenical  Synod
                                and  the  Union  Question
                                                   by Rev. G. Van  Baven


   The R.E.S., during its brief history, has treated a                     Conscious of both the scope and profundity of the
variety of subjects of interest to the churches in                     problems appertaining to separate social and political
common; it is in process of study on other subjects.                   organizations, your committee recommends that the
One subject of special concern also to us is its study                 Ecumenical Synod appoint an international study com-
on social and political organizations and the Biblical                 mittee instructing them to make a thorough investigation
principles governing these. Particularly there is the                  concerning the Biblical principles involved and regard-
question concerning the stand of the church.with respect               ing the application of these principles in practice, and
                                                                       to report to the following Ecumenical Synod.
to unionism. I wish to point out the stand of the R.E.S.                   Since it yet remains desirable to indicate some
on this subject in the present article. The quotations                 guiding principles, tentatively your committee also
which follow are from the "Acts of the Reformed                        recommends:
Ecumenical Synod  -  1963".                                                That this Ecumenical Synod declares that it is not
   The topic of "separate Christian organizations"                     at all imperative for Christians, and especially for
arose when the Gereformeerde Kerken in the Nether-                     emigrants, who in their Homeland were separately
lands presented an overture to the Fourth Reformed                     organized, but now live under entirely new and different
Ecumenical Synod of Potchefstroom (1958).                              circumstances, always to establish such organizations;
                                                         The
Gereformeerde Kerken presented the following to the                        That the obligation to organize in this manner lies
                                                                       interwoven with the prevailing state of society as a
R.E.S.:                                                                whole and/or local circumstances. In the event that
       (3) The eventual necessity to be organized in the               the antithesis between the Kingdom of Light and that of
   social sphere on our own. Regarding this problem                    darkness in any society or section of it is already
   Synod had in mind the members of the Reformed                       evident or in case the Christian is hampered by the
   Churches in the Netherlands emigrating to different                 so-called neutrality of Positivism, then he, for the
    countries and finding themselves in quite different                sake of the maintenance of the foundations of a Christian
    circumstances as they were used to as far as social                society as such and its development, is called to
   organizations are concerned. Synod does not in the                  organize separately.     This should, however, always
   least wish to convey the idea that she thinks that all              take place in a clear realization of the fact that isola-
   organizations must fall in line with those in the Nether-           tion is never an end in itself, but should be designed to
   lands. Synod thinks it fit to investigate this problem              serve God and one's neighbour. (pp. 94-95)
   now and rather from the view of principles concerned.               As a result of the above decision, a very length!
   (Pg. 93)                                                        report was presented to the R.E.S. of 1963 which met
   The Fourth Reformed Ecumenical Synod appointed a                in Grand Rapids. This report is included in the Acts
committee to study and suggest an answer to this                   of that Synod; pages  93-155. The report is a  summar)
overture.      The following was submitted and adopted by          of the labor movement in the Netherlands,  especiall!,
this R.E.S., and this forms the basis of a report pre-             the Christian labor movement, and the action of the
sented to the R.E.S. of Grand Rapids in 1963:                      Reformed Church with respect to that movement.


352                                                  THE  STMDARD  BEARER

There is also a similar summary of the labor move-                      In this resolution the R .E.S  o suggests the advisibility
ment of the United States and the basic decisions of                 of organizing separate Christian organizations in the
the Christian Reformed Church pertaining to that                     social and political fields. The R.E.S. is not ready to
movement. The report, finally, contains recommenda-                  say that this must always be done-though it appears
tions that the R.E.S. adopt certain "principles" which               rather inclined to say this nevertheless. This resolu-
govern membership in political and social organiza-                  tion is also worthy of our study and consideration. It
tions .      These recommendations were revised by the               is very brief and does not consider the problems which
R.E.S. itself and were then adopted as presentedbelow.               arise within certain particular areas.                  The next
                                                                     resolution further elaborates on the subject of separate
DECISIONS OF THE R.E.S. RE MEMBERSHIP IN                             organizations.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS
    The R.E.S. took action on severa 1 points, some of                          3. In the social and political fields Christians should
which were disputed and. questioned by a minority at                    promote the one true justice and righteousness, taught
the meeting.                                                            in the Word of God, and should be encouraged to
                                                                        organize to that end whatever and whenever it is
           Preamble:                                                    possible.
           As it is the calling of the church to let the light                  Grounds :
       of the prophetic Word, entrusted to her, shine upon all
       spheres of life, Synod deems it desirable to formulate                   a. It is God's will, as revealed in His Word and
       some directives. regarding separate Christian organiza-          testified by His Spirit in our hearts, that justice and
       tions in the social and political fields. Therefore              righteousness be established in society. (Cf. Jer. 22:3;
       Synod declares:                                                  Isa. 1:17; Ps. 15:1, 2; Isa. 32:`17; 33:15-17;  Phil. 1:ll;
           1. Believers should reflect individually, in groups,         I John 2:29; 3:7, 10).
       and in organizations on their responsibility in the
       political and social fields and on the manner in which                   b. Of all people, Christians should be the most
       this responsibility can be discharged.                           sensitive to injustice and unrighteousness. Although
           Ground:                                                      the individual Christian can and should witness against
           The church's confession and proclamation of the              these, in the increasingly complex and massive organi-
       Kingship of Christ in all phases of life demands that            zation of society, it would seem that the Christian
       believers reflect on the manner in which they are to             witness can be made more effective through Christian
       discharge their duties in the social and political fields.       organizations.       It should be noted that the possibility
       Such reflection is demanded more and more in this                of effective Christian social and political organizations
       age of constantly increasing organization of man in all          will depend to a considerable extent on the prevailing
    kinds of alliances. (p. 55)                                         state of society as a whole and/or of local circum-
                                                                        stances. (pp. 227-228)
    This particular point is very general and therefore,                From the minutes of the R.E.S. meeting, one con-
I suppose, would be acceptable to most people. No                    cludes that there was a measure of opposition to the
doubt but that believers ought to "reflect" upon their               strong insistence on establishing separate  Christian
responsibility on the political and social spheres. It               political and social organizations.               In the second
should have been emphasized that this "reflection"                   resolution above, an amendment was made and carried
must be in harmony with Scripture and the confessions                to elide the word "separate" from the original pro-
of the Reformed churches. Too often it is the case that              posal where it had been placed in the last part of the
even the believer, in his "reflections," considers that              second ground: ". . D and/or joining separate Christian
which can best serve himself. Yet the point is well-                 organizations..  .." In the third resolution above, there
made: the believer ought to consider and discuss the                 was an amendment to change ground b. to read: "...in
question of his calling in this evil world. It is a good             the increasingly complex and massive organization of
subject for consideration on Sunday-evening visits as                society, the Christian witness can be made more
well as in societies.                                                effective  through  organization,  and sometimes most
                                                                     effective through separate Christian social and political
           2. Although it is not possible for Synod to say that
    Christians must always organize on a separate basis in           organizations. It should be noted...." This amendment
    the social and political fields, there exists a need for         failed. But note the deliberate intent to water down the'
    greater stress on considering concerted Christian                original resolution. The amendment would have sug-
    action in the above-mentioned fields.                            gested that the Christian would be obliged to enter into
           Grounds:                                                  any  organization in order to make his Christian witness
           a. It is the duty of the church to preach the full.       "more effective." It would have not merely condoned
    counsel of God, including the principles of Christian            but even approved of membership within the worldly
    behavior in the social and political fields and not the          unions.       There is no indication which delegate from
    function of the church to prescribe the details of what
    is or what is not Christian' behavior in the social and          which denomination suggested such an amendment.
    political fields.                                                There is a note, however, that Prof. H. Stob of the
           b. Modern developments of unchristian activity in         Christian Reformed Church registered his dissent from
    the social, .economic and political fields in which              recommendations 3 and 4. (p- 58). He, evidently, did
    ruthless power often seems the only norm that reigns,            not consider this to be a proper resolution (as it was
    make the question of establishing and/or             joining     passed) to guide the churches. I expect to treat this
    Christian organizations a matter of great importance;            further in the next article, D.V.


                                            THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                    353



Tl?YlNG  WE  SPIRITS-


   Dispensationalism and  the  Two  lsraels

                                                 by Rev. R. C.  Havbach

   The Holy Scripture provides for a very clear and           Rom. lo:13 the apostle wrote, "For whosoever shall
plain interpretation of itself. Difficulty, however, will     call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," while
arise if we do not observe that there are words and           in Prov. 1:28 it is stated, "Then shall they call upon
terms employed in Scripture which have variant shades         Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early,
of meaning. It may not therefore be insisted that each        but they shall not find Me." "The pure in heart shall
word in every instance of its occurrence has the same         see God." (Mt. 5:8) How does this compare with "whom
single meaning. Such a method of interpretation could         no man hath seen nor can see"? (I Tim.  6:16) We
easily produce false doctrine. Error would obtain, for        point out these differences in order to emphasize the
example, if we invariably referred the word "flesh" to        need for a little careful distinguishing thought in inter-
the physical body. Objectionable it would be also to          preting Scripture.
translate the N.T. word "baptize" in every one of its            Now to further illustrate the biblical distinction of
instances in such a way as to express any mode of             the scriptural term "Israel," we have the injunction,
baptism. More than one false doctrine, but'especially         "Behold  Israel  after the flesh." (I Cor.  10:18) Is it
a false view of the atonement, will be the result of          not rather obvious, even without your checking on the
translating the word "world" in every place it is found       context of this passage, that to speak of "Israel after
as meaning the whole human race of all men without            the flesh" is to distinguish them from Israel after the
exception.      One must certainly see that the word          spirit, that is, the spiritual and regenerated Israel?
"repentance" does not always mean a true saving               The "Israel after the flesh" were "Jews by nature,"
repentance (cp. Mt. 27:3). Modern mass "evangelism"           (Gal.  2:15) the natural Israel, the natural seed of
is worse than superficial in not marking the difference       Abraham. They are in contrast to the spiritual Israel,
between the natural "believing" of John 12:42, 43 and         the Israel of God.. (Gal. 6:16) The latter are believers,
the spiritual believing of Rom. 1O:lO. It is therefore of     those born from above, whether from Jews or Gentiles,
the greatest importance to maintain the biblical dis-         and in this dispensation at least are Christians! There-
tinction between the carnal "seed" and the spiritual          fore "Israel" in Scripture will be identified by the
seed, between the natural or national "Israel" and the        context, so that it must be observed how Scripture
true Israel.                                                  qualifies the term. Then Scripture distinguishes the
   If a man insists that he interprets the Bible not only     spiritual Israel and a mere natural Israel, not a
strictly "literally," but always with the same uniform        "heavenly" as over against a mere "earthly" people.
meaning throughout for each oft-appearing word, he               The term Ismel then is not limited exclusively to
cannot possibly understand the seven terms noted              natural Jews, neither the phrase "the childrenof Abra-
above. The entire Bible will never make sense to him,         ham." Who are the latter? "Know ye therefore that
nor anything else he may read. Atheists, almost to a          they which are of faith, the same are the children of
man self-styled "intellectuals," have come up with            Abraham!" (Gal.  3:7) The children of a person re-
some of the most puerile allegations that the Bible           semble that person, so that "the children of God" are
contradicts itself.    Believing that the Bible is the        like God, the "children of the wicked one" are in the
infallible Word of God, inerrant, verbally inspired,          image of the devil in character and conduct, while
accurate and absolutely trustworthy, we unhesitatingly        "the children of Abraham" resemble him and imitate
maintain that there are no contradictions in the Bible,       his faith. Included under the designation "the children
real or apparent. Nor will the following references           of Abraham" are therefore all true Christians. Mere
give any trouble to anyone believing the self-consis-         Jews never were "Abraham's children," as Jesus
tency of Scripture. We do read that "Saul inquired of         firmly maintained. (Jn.  8:39) For true, spiritual
the Lord" (I Sam. 28:6) and we also read that Saul died       children of Abraham "walk in the steps of that faith
because "he inquired not of the Lord" (I Chron. 10:           of our father Abraham." (Rom. 4:12)         But the Jews
13, 14). But both statements are true! It is said that        Jesus reprimanded neither did the works of Abraham
"the Lord is far from the wicked" (Prov. 15:29) and           nor walked in the steps of his faith. According to
also that the Lord "is not far from every one of us."         Jesus, they only ipso facto proved themselves not the
(Acts 17:27) But if this causes the reader any difficulty,    children of Abraham.       But whether Jew or Gentile,
he, as to knowledge of Scripture, must be a novice. In        anyone belonging to Christ is "Abraham's seed."


354                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


(Gal. 3:29) The error that the Galatian church bad to         by John they had been strictly warned not to assume
resist was that of the Judaizers, false teachers, who         that.            Paul refutes this error.    Dispensationalism
taught that only Jews or proselyted, circumcized              reveals how Judaistic it is in putting it back into
Gentiles were "children of Abraham." These alone              circulation.
could expect to partake of his blessing. But "they
which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham,"                    What Paul teaches, in fact, all Scripture teaches,
(3:9) none else!                                              is that the promises of God were never made to mere
       The superficial and false distinction that the Jews    natural men, men in the flesh, but rather men in the
were an "earthly" people, while the church is a               spirit  - regenerated men. The distinction of the Word
"heavenly" people is supposed to be based on texts            of God is not that of two kinds of people, an earthly
like Gen. 13:16 and 15:5. Because it is said that Abra-       people and a heavenly people both of which shall be
ham's seed should be multiplied "as the dust of the           saved and share in the kingdom of Christ, but of two
earth," therefore the earthly seed of natural Jews is         kinds of Israelites, a carnal Israel, born after the
meant, whereas where it is said his seed should be in         flesh, and a spiritual Israel, born by promise, the latter
number as the stays of heaven, the church is meant.           alone "the children of the promise." (Rom. 9:8; Gal.
"Dust" denotes an earthly people, but "stars" denotes         4:23) Many mere Jews are not God's children at all,
a heavenly. The descriptions "dust" and "stars" are           (Jn. 8:42,44) whereas many Gentiles by nature have
said to connote quite a difference. What then would be        been made fellow-citizens with the saints - what saints?
the difference between "dust" and "sand"? For in              Old Testament saints! for  they  are "blessed  with
I Kings 4:20, "Judah and Israel were many as the sand         faithful Abraham." (Gal. 3~9)
which is by the sea in multitude." If the "stars"                        When Paul maintains "We are  the  Circumcision,
indicate a heavenly seed, especially denoting the church      which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ
in contradistinction to natural Jews, then why do the         Jesus." (Phil. 3:3) he means that mere natural Israel
"stars" refer to earthly Israel in Deut. 1:lO; 10:22;         was only a carnal circumcision, was not, never was
28:62? Why doesn't the writer of IChronicles maintain         the spiritual circumcision. Those of the mere natural
this "distinction"? For he says that "the Lord had            circumcision Paul warns against, in the words, "Be-
said He would increase Isvael (the nation of Israel)          ware of the concision." That is what they, mere
like to the S~LYS of the heavens," (27:23) which is here      natural Jews are, the concision, the Mutilation. The
said to have been accomplished in David's reign. From         contrast is between the carnal Israel, the Mutilation,
this it may be seen that the term "stars" does not            and the Circumcision, the Israel of God.
necessarily indicate a keavenly  seed. When we then                      Circumcision was the sign of the old covenant, the
read, "I will multiply thy seed as the  stuvs-of the          meaning of which was regeneration.                "Circumcise
.heaven,  and as the sand which is upon the seashore,"        therefore the foreskin of your heavt,  and be no more
(Gn. 22:17) two different seeds, a spiritual and a            stiffnecked." (Dt.  10:16) That is a  command,  but if
natural, are  not  in view. For "stars" denote Jews           the Lord will only promise,  He may command what He
as much as "dust" or "sand".                                  will and it shall be done! For every command there
       "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel."    is a promise.             "The Lord thy God will circumcise
(Rom. 9:6) What Paul is plainly saying here is that           thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord
they are not all spiritual   Israel who are of natural        thy God." (Dt. 30:6) The true meaning of circumcision
Israel. The apostle at this point is discussing God's         is the purifying of the heart, i.e., regeneration. It
sovereign rejection of the Jews and His calling of the        signifies a work accomplished objectively in the cruci-
Gentiles -this in keeping with His predetermination to        fixion of Christ, in which all Christians are involved
cast off  the- Jewish nation as such (so long before          and identified with Christ, and subjectively a work of
foretold, Isa. 65:lS; and again by Christ,Mt.  21:43) and     grace in the heart of the Christian in which he is given
to preserve a spiritual remnant, particularly from out        a new heart. (Col. 2:ll; Gal. 5:24; Ezek. 36:26)
of the Gentiles. This was a very sore spot with the
Jews, since they mistakenly supposed that God's prom-         NOTE: In the article in this department in the April 1
ises of the old covenant were made%  all the natural          issue, page 299, 13th line from the bottom in the first
seed of Israel, exclusively to those circumcized and          column, the words, "In contrast to `the new Jerusalem,'
made a visible part of the nation. Their attitude was,        . . . ." should read: "In contrast to `the now Jerusalem'
"We  have Abraham to our father," (Mt. 3:9) although                     ,P
                                                              . . . .




                     It is God that worketh in you to will and to do. And He does so in the behalf of
                 His own good pleasure, which in the ultimate sense means that the high and only
                 purpose of our salvation is the glory of His grace in the beloved, even as it has
                 its source in eternal election. Of Him, and through Him, and unto Him is all our
                 salvation!
                                                       - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p. 88
                                            -.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  355




                   FROM HOLY  WRIT-



                                 The Book of Hebrews

                                                      by Rev. G.  Lubbers



     CHRIST LLKEWISE TOOK PART OF THE FLESH AND                    God's good-pleasure is in him, that we have the geneal-
     BL OOD OF THE CHILDREN - He brews 2:14 (continued)            ogy in Luke  3:21-38.     Wherefore the line is traced
        For it ought to be noticed most carefully that in the      from Christ back to Adam, the son of God. Christ thus
     original Greek a distinction is made between our par-         came in the very center, the "navel" of humanity. It
     taking of the blood and flesh, and Christ's partaking of      is confusing to speak of Christ having a "general human
     the same. The emphasis falls here on Christ's par-            nature," and to say that Christ had a "central human
     taking of the same blood and flesh in which we are            nature" must not be misunderstood. The fact is that
     partakers.    The emphasis falls on his act, his willing      he had a Yeal human nature out of the line from the
     participation of our human nature. The Word became            first Adam to the last Adam. Thus he came and "took
     flesh and dwelt among us. Thus we read in John 1:14.          part" in the blood and flesh of the "children," the
     And that is here emphasized by the writer. This               children of adoption, the remnant according to election
.    emphasis is evident from the different verbs and the          of grace! Intrinsically the human nature of Christ was
     different tenses employed by the writer. With respect         no different from any other man, born from Adam.
     to our sharing in blood and flesh the writer employs          However, since he is the eternal Son of God, he came
     the verb  "kekoinooneeken.   `! The term here "marks          "into this world" and thus took part in the flesh and
     the common nature ever shared among men as long as            blood as this was shared by the children with all
     the race lasts (Westcott)." The perfect tense indicates       mankind.     But he came to stand at the head of the
     a completed state up to the present moment. Ever              children. He came to stand within the smaller circle
     since the time of our creation in Adam we are "all out        of the church, which was within the larger circle of
     of one blood!" Thus Paul says in his address on Mars          mankind.     Thus he occupies the central place in the
     Hill "And hath made of one blood allnations of men for        human race, and by death thus exalts man to the pin-
     to dwell on all the face of the earth, and bath determined    nacle of the glory of the heavenly!
     the times afore appointed, and the bounds of their               The emphasis seems to fall here on "blood" of the
     habitation." (Acts 17:26) However, in respect to the          children as is evident from the order "blood and flesh"
     Son of God the writer uses a verb which emphasizes            instead of "flesh and blood." No, he did not come
     "the unique fact of the Incarnation as a voluntary            merely to be a blood brother.          He came to be the
     acceptance of humanity." This is also crystal clear           First-born among many brethren, to be exalted at the
     from the fact tense which the writer here employs in          right hand of God in the way of suffering and death.
     reference to Christ's voluntary acceptance of our             Hence, he must die. His blood must be shed at Calvary.
     human nature. (1).                                            But he must, therefore, partake of the "blood" of the
        Our Savior took part in the blood and flesh which we       brethren.    Only thus can he bring the many sons to
     shared with the entire human race. He, therefore,             glory. He is not interested in the "blood and flesh"
     truly became real man. He became like unto us in all          except that the "brethren" who are called the "children"
     things, `sin excepted! Yet, he has a unique place in the      are sharers in the same. And thus he seals with his
     human race. He is of the seed of Abraham as far as            blood that he is not ashamed to call these "children"
     the flesh is concerned. (II Timothy 2:8) He was not           his brethren!
     born in any place. He is the end of the great Genea-
     logical line of the Old Testament Scriptures. (Matthew        CHRIST DESTROYS THE DEVIL THROUGH DEATH
     1:2-17) Thus was the birth (genesis) of Jesus Christ.         He brews 2:14b
     His is really the genealogy of the human race, the tree          The Devil is viewed in this passage by the writer as
     of mankind. The dead branches may be cut out or fall          having great power. There are four words which are
     off, but the human race is saved in him. Man is               translated "power" in the KJV of the Bible. There is
     remembered in Him in such a way that God sets His             the term "dunamis" which means really: ability, while
     glory above the heavens. It is from'the vantage point         the term exousia emphasizes the idea of authority.
     that the gospel will be preached by Christ, and all           Then there is the term which is translated power


356                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

which really means force. The last term is that of            the steps of the "children" as they are by nature, to
power which really means strength. This is the Greek          wit, as they are children of wrath even as the others.
term kvatos. It means that things are in the g&p of           Oh, sin and the Devil are such horrible realities. But
one who has such power. This is a power connected             the Cross of Christ is such that death is swallowed up
with death. It means to have the power of death. In           in victory, and the Devil has been made a harmless
                                                                                                                   -..-.--
this capacity the Devil, the accuser of the brethren,         foe! For the term "to deliver" in the Greek is a verb
must be destroyed. And to bring about this destruction        which refers to a being set free legally. (Luke 12:58)
Christ must become most closely associated with the           On the statute books of God and before the great white
blood and flesh of the children, and through death            throne we are set free by Christ's death, so that the
destroy the Devil, who has the power of death. Christ         Devil is destroyed. Justice has been satisfied, the just
must wrench this power from his hand, and claim the           demand of the law is fulfilled in us. (Romans  8:4)
keys of death and of hell, so that he can say fear not,       Hence, we cease to be debtors to the law to fulfil sin
I am he that was dead, and, behold, I am alive forever        and the lusts of the flesh. The children have a right
more! (Revelation  1:17, 18)                                  to life and glory! (Romans 5:19)
    That which gives the Devil this power of death is
exactly that the children, by nature, are guilty, dead in     A  MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST IN THE
trespasses and sins. The Devil is the DiaddOSj the            THINGS  PERTRTNING TO GOD  - Hebrews  2:17,  18
accuser, the calumniator. He is a formidable adver-              Here we see the Son in our human nature in all his
sary. He has many snares in which he captivates men.          official capacity set before USI He is a "High Priest."
(I Peter  5:8; I Timothy  3:7; II Timothy  2:26) He           He brings the sacrifice. He is the only one who can
accuses the saints day and night before our God.              enter into the holy of  holies before God. He is the
(Revelation 12:lO) And he has a good legal basis to           appointed one before men. He has all the qualifications
make his accusations. We are indeed guilty of death;          as the Mediator.        He is in all things "like unto the
Satan can claim us legally as we are fallen in Adam           brethren." No, he is not ashamed to acknowledge them
and as we are in our actual sins. Besides, by his             as brethren, not even in the deepest reproach and
hellish assaults he can and does terrify the guilty           suffering of hell. He "ought" to be made like unto the
sinner.       We have but to look at the fear of all men      brethren, as Mediator and High Priest he can be
outside of Christ, their superstition, their idolatry,        nothing less. "The requirement lay in the personal
which are all motivated by the fear of death and hell.        relationship itself." (Westcott)
It is ever an attempt to flee from the.wrath to come.            The first and chief requirement is that he be "a
And the "children" are by nature one with the mass of         merciful" High Priest. The Greek text really says
the damned, the  massa  damn&i.  They are not only            that he must "besome" such a one. In every step of
partakers, sharers in the blood andflesh of the damned,       the way of his suffering, his Via DoEoTossa,  the element
but they are equally sharers in the horrible wrath of         of mercy must become manifested. He is the manifes-
God, and open to the powerful hold which the Devil has        tation and author of the rich mercy of God. Mercy
in their life and accusing conscience. No man can             reaches each of the sons in their helplessness. It is the
shake off this power, this grip of the Devil!                 mercy-seat where the blood of sprinkling was sprinkled.
    Hence, the Devil must be destroyed. The term in           Yes, he is also "faithful." He is faithful in his calling
the Greek is kata  geeseei, and it means: to make of          to God, and he is trustworthy for all who place their
non effect.      When the Devil is destroyed he is not        trust in him. (2) Thus he brings the propitious sacrifice
thereby annihilated; he continues to exist, but his           for the sins of the people.           Yes, thus he is able to
power and his works are destroyed. They are loosed,           succour  us in our needs. He understands the tempta-
dissolved of their effectiveness. He must no longer           tions of the saints, of the children. He has met the
be able to terrify in our conscience before the law of        Tempter and, therefore, is able to understand. We
God, nor must he be able to bring a formal charge             need nothing more, and we need no one besides him.
any more against us in the Tribunal of God. The Lord          He is the perfect Savior, greater than all.
God Almighty must rebuke him, since the hand-writing
which was against us has been nailed to the Cross, and           (1) "kekoinooneeken...metescken.  are sharers in...He
thereby Satan has been made an open shame, and has               partook of...Vulg.: communicaverunt (puevi)...partici-
been publicly set forth as stripped of all his power when        pavit;  O.L.  participes  sunt...paticops  lfactus.  The Syr.
Christ said: it is finished! At that moment the Devil            makes no difference between the words which describe
                                                                 the participation in humanity on the part of man and of
was destroyed, and Christ preached peace to them that            the Son of man.       Yet they  present different ideas.
are near and far. The Devil had nothing in him.                  Kekoinooneeke  marks the common nature ever shared
(Colossians  2:14, 15; John  19:30; John  14:27, 30;             among men as long as the race lasts: metes&en
Ephesians 2:14, 17)                                              expresses the unique fact of the Incarnation as a
   Oh, what a deliverance it is to be no longer in the           voluntary acceptance of htimanity....." The Epistle
grip and power of this accuser, this murderer of man.            to the Hebrews, page 52, B. F. Westcott.
For, let it not be forgotten, the saints, the "children"
were all their lifetime subject to the fear of death. It         (2) "The verb gignesthai (become G.L.) suggests the
is the roof, the fear of fears, to be filled with the fear       notion of a result reached through the action of that
of .death.     The writer uses a phrase which expresses          which we regard as a law. Compare 1:4; 6:4, 12; 7:18,
that this fear is constant, it is something which dogs           26 etc.".(Idem,  page 57)


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



THE CHURCH AT  WORSHIP-


                               The Office  of the Elder

                                               by Rev. G.  Vanden   Berg

(Treating the Form for the Ordination of Elders)              This is attained only in the way of and through the means
   Of the various ordination forms used in our                which Christ has ordained and, therefore, it is most
churches, the form for the ordination of elders and           imperative that we give good heed to the things that
deacons is undoubtedly the most familiar to us. This          pertain to that ordination. With this then in mind we
stems from the fact that this form is read in the             purpose to discuss the Form for the Ordination of
assembly of public worship `at least once a year. Far         Elders and Deacons.
less frequently is the form for the ordination of minis-         There is only one Form for this double purpose,
ters read, and, in almost all of our churches, occasion       and the practical reason for this is to be found in the
has never arisen for the form for the ordination of           fact that in most cases elders anddeacons are ordained
missionaries to be read.                                      in their respective offices in the church at the same
   In spite of the frequency that the form for ordaining      time. By combining these two the necessity of reading
elders and deacons in the church is used, we dare to          two separate forms on the occasion is avoided, and, in
say that its content is not known well enough to most of      isolated instances where just one of the aforementioned
us, and, further, that for all of us a more intimate          offices is to be filled, the problem is readily solved by
acquaintance with this form is a thing to be desired.         reading only that,part of the Form that is applicable to
This is necessitated by several considerations:               the particular office.    This is easily done since the
   First, there is undeniable evidence that these offices     Form is divided into two distinct parts, the first dealing
in the church of Christ. have lost some of their rightful     with the office of elders and the second with that of
prestige and, by our present generation, are not              deacons.      This division we will also follow in our
esteemed as highly as they were in former times and           discussion of this Form, dealing first with the office
as they ought to be according to the Word of God.             of Elder and later that of Deacon.
Although several factors may be cited as contributing            Before we give attention to the description of the
to this sad reality, the fact is that in part at least it     office of the Elder as found in the form of ordination,
stems from a lack of understanding the spiritual              note is to be taken of that which some of our other
character and function of these offices as outlined in        Confessions have to say on this matter.
this liturgical form.                                            Article 16 of our Church Order, speaking of the
   Secondly, the understanding of these forms by the          office of the Ministry of the Word, states: "....with the
congregation has an inevitable effect upon the selection      Elders, to exercise church discipline and to see to it
of men by the church to fill these offices. If the mem-      that everything is done decently and in good order."
bers of the church are ignorant of the truth which is            A further description of this office is found in
set forth in the ordination form, it stands to reason         Article 23 of the Church Order which reads:
that such a church is going to be governed by ulterior            "The office of the Elders, in addition to what was
reasons in their selection of men to fill the offices.        said in Article 16 to be their duty in common with the
On the other hand however, if there is a real, intimate       Minister of the Word, is to take heed that the Ministers,
and conscious knowledge of the truth concerning the           together with their fellow-Elders and the Deacons,
offices of Christ's church, this knowledge will impel         faithfully discharge their office, and both before and
the church to seek men for the office who are best            after the Lord's Supper, as time and circumstances
qualified according to the demands of the office, whether     may demand, for the edification of the churches to visit
that be of elder or deacon.                                   the families of the Congregation, in order particularly
   Thirdly, a knowledge of the offices of Christ's            to comfort and instruct the members, and also to exhort
church is indispensable for the proper maintenance of         others in respect to the Christian Religion."
that important spiritual relationship that must prevail          Finally, Article 31 of the Belgic Confession, speaking
between members and office bearers for the spiritual          of the offices of the Ministry, of Elders and of Deacons
health and well being of the church itself. No church         together, contains the following as applied to the office
can prosper in the true sense of the word if this             we are discussing: ". . . -ought to be chosen to their
relationship is neglected, and this stems from the fact       respective offices by a lawful election by the Church....
that Christ Himself has ordained men in His church for        must take heed not to intrude themselves by indecent
"the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the            means.... and  .everyone ought to esteem them very
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we     highly for their work's sake and be at peace with them
all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge      without murmuring, strife or contention, as much as
of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure       possible."
of the stature of the fulness of Christ." (Eph. 4:12, 13)        In these various quotations both the function and


     358                                               THESTANDARDBEARER


     dignity. of this holy office in the Church of Christ is            must and who. does look after the souls of the sheep
     stressed. It is well that this be kept m-mind. The elder           of Christ. They must watch over the flock, for they,
who takes his calling seriously must realize that the                   as well as the ministers of the Word; are shepherds.
proper dignity of the off-ice can be preserved only in                  This is indeed a most serious phase `of their calling
the way of the faithful execution of the various man-                   that may not be left entirely to the minister but must
idates of .Christ that pertain to the function of the office.           be faithfully executed by the elders.
If the latter are permitted to fall into disuse or in                      As counselors in the church of Jesus Christ the
various ways neglected, the former is sure to go. It is                 elders must "be assistant with their good counsel and
not therefore the elder alone that must be zealously                    advice, to the ministers of the Word, yea, also to serve
     concerned. about his office, but the entire church must            all Christians with advice and consolation." The ruling
understand thoroughly her confession and the Form of                    elders are also ministers of the Word and ministers
Installation~and  through insistence upon maintaining all               of mercy. This function too is very essential to !`the
     that is contained therein preserve the dignity of the              welfare and good order of the Church" and if this
     office. This is sorely needed in the church today.                 aspect of the holy calling is negelected,  it can only be
            To  .the: various functions of. the office of elders        with dire consequences for the whole church. The
which are' enumerated in the quotations we have given,                  elders of Christ's Church are not lords and tyrants
we shall. refer again in connection with the description                who issue irrevocable decrees and make demanding
     of the office in the Form of Ordination. Space does                impositions upon the sheep of the flock, driving them
not permit us now to quote all that is said in that Form                into submission with strong coercion, but they must
     about this.. office. Neither is that necessary now since           be patient teachers who "in all occurrences which
`we hope to .discuss these various duties later. - It may               relate to the welfare and good order of the Church"
suffice for the present to but briefly present the skeleton             are ready and willing to demonstrate in the light of
     of the' Ordination Form as it concerns the office of               God's own Word the soundness of the Consistory's
elders D           The Form begins by making a-. distinction            judgment and the truth on which the counsel given is
between two types of elders as found in the Church of                   based. The significance of this aspect of the elder's
     Jesus Christ. Since the term "elder," according to                 calling may never be minimized.               The successful
the Form'signifies a-person who is placed in an honor-                  enactment of this function of the elders will contribute,
     able office of government over others, this means that             as much or more than any other work, to the welfare
in the Church some are placed in such an office in the                  and good order of the congregation. Obvious it should
     capacity.,of  teachers, while others are rulers. There             then also be that elders must be wellversed and skilled
     are teaching and ruling elders. Our concernat present              in the use of Scriptures.
is not with the former who are the ministers of the                        The Form of Ordination concludes the section dealing
.Word but with the latter. Even here, however, we must                  with the office of the elders with the observation that as
note that this distinction cannot be absolutely main-                   disciplinarians the elders must "have regard to the
tained, for even as we saw before, "it is the duty of the               doctrine and conversation of the ministers of the Word."
ministers of the Word, (with the elders) to keep the                    They must exercise supervision over the preaching of
Church in good discipline, and to govern it in such a                   the Word and the administration of the sacraments. In
.manner  as the Lord hath ordained.....", so likewise                   doing this they must prevent the infiltrationof "strange
musty the elders in their governing the Church exercise                 doctrines" and guard the Lord's heritage with all
themselves in the capacity of teachers. The Form                        diligence against `.`wolves." To do this necessitates
stresses the closeness of the two offices, the inter-                   that they "diligently search the Word of God, and con-
dependence of the one upon the other, and together the                  tinually be meditating on the mysteries of faith."
ministers and elders form a body or assembly, the                          This, in brief, we may expect from the elders of
council (oonsistory?) of the church.                                    the Church. What a glorious and dignified office this
                                                                        is! Further implications of these things we hope, D.V.,
*           In three separate paragraphs the Form of Ordination         to discuss in future articles, but let us keep in mind that
then describes the actual tasks of the elders of the                    we may never desire our elders to be, as elders, in
church; Three terms may be used here, and under                         any way other than designated in this Form of Ordina-
these headings we. will proceed to discuss this office                  tion. To this task alone they are appointed ,and called
later.           Elders are to be overseers, counselors and             in their ordination and we pray to God that He will
disciplinarians.            Under the first heading they are to         qualify them by His Spirit and grace unto the perfor-
"look .whether-  everyone properly deports himself in                   mance of this work. This then is good and conducive
confession and conversation." The elder is one who                      to the edification of His Church.        _

      :                 @ILL               TOSYNOb                      delegates are requested to gather with the consistory
By decision of the last Synod; the Consistory of the                    before the service.
Hope -`Protestant Reformed Church of. 1580. Ferndale                       Those in need of lodging are asked to contact
S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan notifies the ,churches                     Dewey Engelsma, 1310 Kenowa S.W., Grand Rapids,
that. the' 1967 S,ynod.`will  convene on Wednesday, June                Michigan -49504; telephone 453-2578.
7, 9:00 a.m. in the above mentioned. church, D.V.                                     Consistory of Hope Protestant
           _ The: -pre-synodical  .service will be, held on Tuesday,                      Reformed Church
June .,6, at 8:OO. p<m., at Hope Church. .Rev. G. Van                                 Rev. J. L. Kortering, President
Baren is scheduled to deliver the sermon. Synodical                                   Dewey Engelsma, Clerk


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     359


                          TEACHERS                               to one of its members, Mrs. Harry Zwak, in the loss of
Adams Street Christian School has need for six teachers          h e r   s i s t e r
for the 1967-68 school year. Four needed in lower                                 MRS. MARY BLIJMENSTEIN
grades, two in Junior High. Half day basis available
for some grades. If interested, or for further details,          May the Lord comfort her and grant her the assurance
call collect to:                                                 that the Lord, Who directs all our way, "causes all
                           Mr. Edward Ophoff                     things to work together for good to those who love Him
                              Phone CH 3-5874                    and are the called according to His purpose". Rom.
                           1107 Boston St., S.E.                 8:28.                                                            `,
                           Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507                                    Mrs. Gerald Vander Kooy, Sec'y.

                            NOTICE                                               RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY                    _
The Protestant Reformed Christian School of South                The Congregation of the Protestant Reformed Church
`Holland, Illinois, is in need of a teacher in the lower         of  Redlands wishes to express its most sincere and
room, to teach ,in grades 1 through 3. Please submit             heartfelt sympathy to Mrs. Cornelius Hanko and her
applications to:                                                 family in the loss of her father,
                           Mr. Gise Van Baren                                             ARIE GRIFFIOEN
                           16057 School Street
                           South Holland, Illinois 60473         May our Covenant God comfort the family by His
                                                                 Almighty Word and Spirit, knowing our loss is his gain
                                                                 in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Resurrec-
                                                                 tion and the Life.
                RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY                                                     Yours in the Lord,
The Ladies Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Re-                                        The Congregation of Redlands
formed Church herewith expresses its sincere sympathy                                       William Feenstra, Clerk





                                         NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES-


   Our South Holland Church has called Rev. D. Engel-               Report of the Meeting of Classis West
sma, of Loveland, to be their pastor. Hull's consistory             Held on March 15, 16, 1967 in
has named the following trio, from which the congre-                South Holland, Illinois
gation shall choose one: Revs. R. C. Harbach, D.
Engelsma, and `G. Lubbers.                                                All twelve churches in the West were represented
                                                                    at the meeting of Classis  West held in South Holland,
                                                                    Illinois on March 15 and 16. Rev. G.  Vanden Berg
                             *  *  *                                presided over this meeting.
                                                                          Classis made several decisions in regard to the
                                                                    vacancies in the West.
                                                                          1) Classis adopted a schedule of classical appoint-
    Do  you k.now that Bibles and Psalters are sorely               ments: ISABEL & FORBES: April 2, 9, 16 - R. Decker;
needed by the Protestant Reformed people in Jamaica?                April 23, 30 May 7 - D. Engelsma; July 2, 9, 16 - G.
If you have a used (or new) Bible or Psalter to spare,              Vanden Berg; August 6, 13, 20 - G. Lanting; September
the Mission Board would like you to send it to Rev. G.              10, 17 24 - B. Woudenberg. PELLA:May - G. Lanting;
Lubbers, who has been delegated to care for this need.              June - D. Engelsma; July - R. Decker; September -
His address: 2612 Central Ave., S.W., Wyoming, Mich.                G. Vanden Berg.
49509.                                                                    2) It requested Classis East to>assist  Classis West
                                                                    by supplying Randolph and South Holland, by supplying
                                                                    Hull with preaching, two SuBdays  a month, and by fi!ling
                             *  *  *                                the pulpits of Isabel and Forbes (in conjunction) three
                                                                    Sundays in June.
                                                                          3) On the condition that Classis East agree, Classis
    Because of the classical reports which follow below,            West decided to overture Synod to schedule appoint-
our regular news for this issue is severely abbrevia-               ments to the vacant churches from now on. The reasons
ted.                                                                for this decision are the large number of vacancies
        . . .see you in church.                        J.M.F.        and the small number of ministers in the West and the


     360                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



            fact that the present method of setting up appointments               Rev. Heys being present, Classis  expressed to him its
            has resulted in constant revising of adopted schedules.               appreciation for his work in the past twelve years and
                 4) It decided to begin a library of taped sermons               its prayer that God bless him also in his new sphere of
            for use in the vacant churches and in the other                      labor. Rev. Heys bade farewell to the Classis, as Rev.
             churches when their ministers are on classical ap-                  Kortering did also  - byletter.
             pointments.        We asked South Holland's consistory to               The next meeting of  Classis  West is scheduled to`
             take charge of this project.                                        be held in Loveland, Colorado.
                 5) Hull was given permission to call ministers                                      Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
             again whom they have called within the year.                                            Classis West of the Protestant
                     6) The ministers in the West again were given the                                   Reformed Churches
             task of composing reading sermons for use in the vacant
            churches.
                     7)  Classis  appointed Rev. Lanting counselor of             Report of  Classis  `East
             Forbes and Rev. Engelsma counselor of South Holland.                 April 5, 1967
                     Four appeals against decisions of the South Holland          at Southeast Church
             consistory and pertaining to' actions of the South Holland
             School Board and School Association were judged by                      Rev. M. Schipper, chairman of the last classical
             Classis to be illegally before the Classis because the               meeting, led in the opening devotions, and after the
             matters were not finished in the minor  assembly.                    credentials were accepted he declared the  classis
             Classis also noted that the error of treating a School               properly constituted.
             Board nd a School Association as if they were under                     Rev. G. Van Baren  then presided, while Rev. Schip-
                        f&c
             the juri ' tion of a consistory was made in three of                 per recorded the minutes.
             the appeals and in the treatment of the protests by                     All the churches were represented by two delegates
             the consistory.                                                      each, and classis finished its work shortly after the
                     Classis  gave a document from the Oak Lawn School            noon dinner.
             Board to a committee for study and for advice at the                   The routine reports of the Stated Clerk and the
             next meeting of Classis. This document contained an                  Classical Committee were filed for information. The
             objection to the accuracy of a report given Classis  in              Classical Committee was again mandated to come to
             September, 1966, by a former committee of Classis.                  the next classis with a Constitution.
                 Oak Lawn's consistory had a protest against de-                     The brethren H. Ophoff and G. Holstege were apr
             cisions of the past Synod on the Agenda. They asked                 pointed to serve on the Finance Committee.
             Classis  to forward the protest to Synod  - which                       Classis  West requested our classis to supply Ran-
             Classis  did - and to express agreement with the pro-               dolph, South Holland, Hull, and the Dakota churches with
             test.      Classis  expressed that it could not agree with           classical appointments. Classis  acceded to this re-
            Oak Lawn that memorials in the name of a man are                      quest, appointed the committee: Rev. J. Kortering, and
            principally wrong. But it did express that it agreed                 Elders H. Vander Kolk and R. Pastoor to make pro-
             with Oak Lawn in their contention that their overture               posed schedule, which was later adopted as follows:
             to Synod in 1966 was properly before that body and                      Randolph: Apr. 16 - H. Veldman, Apr. 23 - G. Van
             that Synod therefore erred in rejecting it.                         Baren,  May 7 - R. C. Harbach, May 21 - J. Kortering
                The voting done by Classis  resulted in the follow-              May 28 - M. Schipper, June 11 - R. C. Harbach, June
             ing:                                                                25 - G. Van Baren,  July 2 - J. Heys, July 9 - J. Kort-
                 1) Delegates to Synod:                                          ering.
                                        Ministers                                    South Holland: Apr. 30 - J. Kortering, May 7 - G.
                     Primi                                   Secundi             Lubbers, May 14 - G. Van Baren,  May 21 - R. C. Har-
                D. Engelsma                                  R. Decker           bath, June 4 - H. Veldman, June 18 - J. Kortering,
                 C. Hanko                                                        June 25 - M. Schipper, July 2 -R. C. Harbach, July 9 -
                G. Lanting                              B . Woudenberg           G. Van Baren.
                G. Vanden Berg                                                       Hull:. Apr. 30, May 7 - M. Schipper, May 28, June 4
                                              Elders                             - J. Heys, June 25, July 2 - H. Veldman.
                      Prim i                                 Secundi                 Isabel-Forbes: June 11, 18, 25 - G. Lubbers.
                J. Blankespoor                          G. Broekhouse                Classis  received notice of two appeals to synod by
               W. Feenstra                                 G. Gunnink            two protestants.
                E. Hauck                                  H. Miersma                 Classis  voted for Church Visitors, and Rev. H. Veld-
                C. Vander Molen                         A. Vanden  Top          man and Rev. M. Schipper were chosen, with Rev. G.
                2) Classical Committee: Rev. G. Lanting and Elder                Lubbers as alteinate for both.
     .  ,,  G.`Hoekstra.   -'         i  :                                          Mr. T. Elzinga was appointed to {hank the ladies
       .' "  3)"  Ass"t'Stated   Clerkci:Rev;  .R. Decker      '
       `                                                                         of Southeast Church for their excellent catering.
                .4)'  church Visitors: Ref.  C.  Ha&o  "and Rev.  G.                Classis  decided to meet next time in Hudsonville
            L a n t i n g .                                                      on the first Wednesday of July.
1               5) Delegates ad examina:. :Prim,us: Rev. D. Engelsma;               The Questions of Art. 41 of the Church Order were
I           Secundi:  Rev. G. Lanting and Rev. B. Woudenberg'.             -    asked and answered-satisfactorily.           7    -7 . .
                This meeting of Classis  witnessed the arrival in                   Classis  adjourned, with Rev. ,R; C.-Harbachoffering
       Classis West of Rev. G.' Lanting and. the departure to                    the prayer of thanksgiving.
I           ClaSSis]  East, of Rev: J. Kortering and, Rev. J. Beys.                                             `..     : .M. Schipper, S.C.


