                                        ; 2,
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                             tandard                                                 -
                                                      I
                                                earer


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



                a-.
                --*  `AAn


   IN PHIS ISSUE:


                Meditation: Abel's More Excellent Sacrifice


                Editorial: Seminary Graduation


                Graduation Address: The Importance of preaching


                Report of  the Synod of 1967 (All Around  Us)




                                                '  V&me   XLIlI/   Number 18  / July 1, 1967


410                                                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER

                                              CONTENTS                                                                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
Meditation -
   Abel's More Excellent Sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410                                               Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
         Rev. J. Kortering                                                                                                                         Published by the Reformed  Free  Publishing Association
Editorial  -                                                                                                                                                     Editor- Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
   Seminary Graduation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
         Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                  Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
Graduation Addresses  -                                                                                                                        Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1842 Plymouth Terrace, S.E.,!Grand
                                                                                                                                               Rapids,  Mich.      49506. Contributions will be limited to 300
   The Importance Of Preaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413                                           words and must be neatly written or typewritten. Copy dead-
         Prof. H. Hanko                                                                                                                        lines are the first and fifteenth of the month.
   The Present Day Relevancy Of Our Creeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416                                                                   All church news items should be addressed  toMr.  J. M. Faber,
         Candidate Dale H. Kuiper                                                                                                                     1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
Examining Ecumenicalism -                                                                                                                      Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 feeincludedmust
   The RES - and the Union Questions (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418                                                        he in by the 5th or the 20th of the month, previous to publication
         Rev. G. Van Baren                                                                                                                     on the 15th or-the 1st respectively,  sendto  Mr. James Dykstra
Contributions -                                                                                                                                see address below.
   Letter                                                                                                                                      All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
   Is Kosmos an Undifferentiated Totality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420                                                                     Mr. James Dykstra,  L326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
Question Box -                                                                                                                                                   Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
   Still More On Dispensationalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421                                                    Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
         Rev. R. C. Harbach                                                                                                                    received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
In His Fear -                                                                                                                                  scription to  condnue  without the formality of a renewal order.
   Virgins For Christ's Sake                                                                                                                                 Subscription price: $5.00 per year
                                                          . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422        If you plan to move please forward your new address  immgd-
         Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                                                       iately so we may correct our mailing list and avoid the  incon-
From Holy Writ -                                                                                                                               vienience of delayed delivery.
   The Book of Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424                                 Second Class  Postage paid  at Grand Rapids, Michigan
         Rev. G. Lubbers
Trying The Spirits  -                                                                                                                                   CANDIDATE FOR THE MINISTRY
   Dispensationalism and the Law Before Sinai . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426                                                                           OF THE WORD AND SACRAMENTS
         Rev. R. C. Harbach
Special Feature  -                                                                                                                         The  Synod of the  Protestant  Reformed Churches, having
   The Importance of Maintaining the                                                                                                       examined Seminarian Dale H. Kuiper, 1004 Temple
   Three Forms *of Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428                           Street, SE., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506, declares
         Rev. J. Kortering                                                                                                                 Mr. Kuiper to be a Candidate for the Ministry of the
All Around Us-
   Report of the Synod of 1967                                                                                                             Word and Sacraments in the Protestant Reformed
                                                           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
         Prof. H. Hanko                                                                                                                    Churches and eligible to receive a call on or after
News From Our Churches -                                                                                                                   July 7, 1967, one month after the completion of his
         Mr. J. M. Faber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432                   praeparatoir examination.
                                                                                                                                                                  Stated Clerk of the Synod of the
                                                                                                                                                                  Protestant Reformed Churches
                                                                                                                                                                  Rev. G. Vanden Berg

 MEDllAlION-


                         Abel's More Excellent Sacrifice                                                                                                                                                             '

                                                                                                                 by Rev. J.  Korteving

                                     By faith Abel offered unto God a  more   qxxellent   sacrifice  than Gain, by which he
                               obtainedwitness  that he was righteous, God testifying  of  his gifts: and by it he being
                               dead yet speaketh.                                                                                                                             Hebrews  11:4

    Righteousness !                                                                                                                        Almighty has plucked from your home a loved one, has
    The key that unlocks the gates of heaven.                                                                                              cast you into a bed of affliction, has stripped you of
    What blessedness to obtain witness that we are                                                                                         your material wealth, are these evidences of wrath?
righteous.                                                                                                                                 Without the witness that we are righteous there can be
    Without this witness the pains of guilt. bring us down                                                                                 only one answer, they are!
to hopeless despair. It is a terrible thing for sinners                                                                                       With the witness that we are righteous, things are
to be in the hands of the living God. Our God is a.con-                                                                                    so different. It is then that we gaze upon the thrice-
suming fire against the workers of iniquity. We have                                                                                       holy God and beholding Him in our Lord Jesus Christ
sinned and deserve the fire-brand of His wrath. So the                                                                                     we cry by faith, "Our Father which art in heaven."


                                             THESTXiVDA.RDBEARER                                                    411

The billows of life may burst all around us, but we           a sacrifice. He must have picked the nicest fruits and
know that we are never alone in the storm. Being              the best herbs. He reasoned that God would surely be
righteous we behold the smile of God reflected in the         pleased with such an offering.
balmy sunshine, but no less in the brooding storm. We            By this deed He rejected the need for the atonement
walk by faith through the valley of the shadow of death       and trusted in his own works. He tried to pray to God
with our eye fixed upon the eternal city, where we            apart from the cross.       This "prayer" God did not
shall abide with Father forever.                              hear. God was not deceived. He had no respect unto
    Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice          such an offering and he communicated this to Cain. By
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was           this act, God literally ripped the mask of hypocrisy
righteous.                                                    from Cain and exposed him for what he really was.
    Well may we pray that our offering be such `a sacri-      This brought the true spiritual character of Cain to the
fice.                                                         light. When Abel came to speak with his brother con-
    Cain was a hypocrite!       Oh, to be sure, he was        cerning his spiritual weakness, Cain rose up and slew
"religious."       After all he had received the same         him. The blood of Abel cried unto the God of heaven.
covenant instruction that Abel had received. According        Proud rejection of the cross led to murder. Sin always
to Gen. 4 he joined Abel in bringing an offering unto         bears a terrible fruit.
Jehovah.       He beiieved there was a God; he couldn't          Cain represents the masses of nominal Christianity
be classified as an infidel, one who rejected the idea of     throughout the history of the world. He does not stand
a supreme being. On the contrary, he participated in          at the front of the heathen masses; he represents those
one of the most intimate forms of worship, that of            who pretend to be Christians, but are not. The Cains of
offering a sacrifice, the Old Testament counterpart           our day are not found in darkened heathendom far re-
for prayer.                                                   moved from the influence of the gospel; they are found
    Nevertheless we must not be deceived by outward           in the midst of that which calls itself church. The
appear ante . Cain was brought up within the sphere           modern Cain believes that man is basically good; he
of the covenant, but despis.ed the very essence of the        denies total depravity. According to them the very idea
covenant. We read that he took of the fruit of the ground     of the atonement of Christ is "butcher theology" not
and brought it as an offering unto the Lord. By this he       worthy of the name of Christianity. If there is any
denied Jesus Christ. He trusted in the works of His           punishment for sin, it is in this world as the price for
hands.                                                        sin is marked in broken homes, a war-torn country, or
    Cain could not plead ingnorance for this atrocious        a ravished society. Man must grow up and learn that
deed. Some would interpret this as if there was nothing       love of our fellowmen is the key to real living, not the
wrong in Cain coming with the fruit of the ground as a        love of God in Jesus Christ, only the love of man to man
sacrifice to the Lord. He was, after all, a tiller of the     under a vague fatherhood of God. The way of salvation
soil, and quite naturally he brought that which came to       according to such is not a cross as a payment for sin,
his hand. Abel-was a keeper of sheep and therefore he         but rather human reformation.
brought a firstling of the flock. Following this line of         When God comes to such in the preaching of the
reasoning, the sin of Cain was not in the sacrifice           gospel and rips from them their mask of hypocrisy
which he brought, but rather in the attitude of his heart.    as He did to Cain, their reaction is the same today.
    This however, is not true. According to the words         The bitterest enemies of the truth are not the heathen;
of Heb.  11:4, the respect which Jehovah had over             they are those who apostatize within the nominal church.
against these two brothers rested in the sacrifice it-        After all, antichrist himself will not come out of
self, "God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being        heathendom; he will sit in the church usurping unto
dead yet speaketh." This refers to Abel's gift upon           himself the authority of Christ, but denying Him. It is
the altar. This made the difference.                          this modern Cain as he comes to his own that will bring
    Already in Paradise, God had given instruction            about the great tribulation in the last days.
concerning the-only hope for re.demption.  Immediately           Present day denial of the atonement as the covering
after the fall, God came to Adam and Eve and prom-            for the sins of the elect is in the "spirit': of Cain. Let
ised Christ in the words spoken to the serpent, but           us beware!
in their hearing, "And I will put enmity between thee            The more excellent sacrifice was quite different.
and the woman,_and-between thy seed and her seed; it            Abel slew a lamb. He laid it upon the altar and bowed
shall bruises&y head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."        as the fire consumed it. Gazing upon the burning lamb,
He demonstrated the truth of this by taking an animal         his pride was crushed beneath the righteous demands
and killing it and using the hide as a garment. Before        of the sovereign God. His hope rested in the blood of
their eyes they saw blood shed for the first time and         the Lamb Who would one day come and expiate his sins
they were given to understand that through the shedding       before the face of the Almighty.
of blood their nakedness (guilt) would be covered.               Abel had a proper understanding of who God is. He
    It seems but. natural that the idea of sacrifice and      knew that it was not a matter of his trying his best to
its importance was understood from this point on. In          appease, some supreme being and do what was commonly
this tradition Abel came with a lamb as his parents           expected of him.      God is holy and is jealous in His
must often have done. But Cain disdained the l.amb. He        holiness.     For this reason He is a consuming fire
needed not the covering of blood. He was about to take        against the workers of iniquity.       His fellowship is
the fruits produced by his own"care and offer them as         rooted in Himself, being the highest good. He expects


412                                         THE  STANDARD  BEARER


that all His creatures will recognize Him as the highest    for salvation: the satisfaction of His perfect righteous-
and only good. Hence the holy God is also righteous         ness ! By it Abel was righteous in the righteousness of
and lays a boundary within which His face smiles with       Christ.
holy approval and outside of which He burns in holy             You see, if you have the wrong view of God you will
wrath. That boundary is His love, love for Him as God       have the wrong view of yourself, and this in turn will
and love of the neighbor for His sake.                      lead you to a wrong view of salvation. The practical
    Abel understood that all he did or could or would       outcome is a false religion. On the contrary, if we
ever do was out of bounds with God. He looked at his        have the right view of God we will have the right view of
life and saw that there was nothing in his works that       ourselves and understand the only true way of salvation
could possibly serve as grounds for winning God's           which God established. This, too, will lead to a prop-
approval.    In this he was the opposite of Cain who        er form of religion, which brings us near to the heart
came with his fruits. You see, the difference in their      of God.
practical religion stemmed from a theological differ-          Our theology makes all the difference for a more
ence.    Abel had a different concept of God than Cain      excellent sacrifice.
did. And Cain's theological concept was not something           Abel was biessed, Cain was cursed.
to be respected as far as their dealings with each              God testified of Abel's sacrifice that it was pleas-
other was concerned; Abel's was right and Cain's was        ing in His sight. Notice, God testified not of Abel, but
wrong and had to be condemned. Abel's concept of            of "his gifts," that is, He took note of Christ on the
God was rooted in the revelation that God had given         altar and upon the basis of Christ's atonement informed
them; he `bowed humbly before the God Who had spoken        Abel that He was pleased. What objectiveevidence God
to his parents and given instruction concerning proper      gave him we do not .know, whether of the smoke, of
worship. Cain was proud and had exalted himself over        fire, or even a direct communication by voice. It
and above this God.        Basically, Cain hated God and    makes no difference.      Abel understood it and Cain
Abel loved Him. This became so `evident in the view         resented it.
that they had of themselves; Abel bowed in confession          Abel was slain. At the dawn of history the keynote
of sin before the righteous God, but Cain lifted up his     was already sounded. Those who reject the atonement
head proudly and boasted in his fruits.                     of Christ will not tolerate those who preach the true
                                                            gospel. . Through this enmity Abel was redeemed fully
    This quite naturally led them to a different "way of    and taken into the heavenly glory.
salvation." Abel now saw that God's way out was the            Cain was cursed in the most horrible way. He even
only way out. God had in mercy and love promised the        had to bear a mark that would extend his earthly life, in
Christ upon whom He would lay his iniquities. Abel          order that God's purpose for him might be accomplished
laid hold of the Christ; he took thelamb and slew it and    and his own measure of iniquity, filled. He was destined
beheld it consumed by the fire, a sure type of Christ       to be a fugitive and a vagabond to dwell outside of God's
enduring the wrath of God against the sins of His own.      covenant and dwell in His curse, a foretaste of his
How humiliating it was to stand before Abel's altar.        eternal abode.
That lamb was a substitute for our being burned in the         Abel yet speaks1 Even though he is dead.
fire.    How Abel looked to the future in .hope for the        How clear that language is. May God give us ears
perfect Lamb! How thankful he was to God for promis-        to hear it.
ing such redemption and establishing a sure foundation         Only the way of the cross leads home!


         EDITORIAL-


                                 Seminary Graduation

                                              by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


    As reported elsewhere in these columns, our             is a comparatively rare event. In recent years it has
churches now have another candidate for the ministry,       not even `been an annual event. Moreover, when such
brother Dale H. Kuiper.                                     graduation does occur, the graduating class more often
   Ordinarily, I suppose, and for most denominations,       than not consists of but one graduate, as it did also,
this would hardly be the occasion for as much attention     this year. In the second place, as already suggested 1
as the  Standard Bearer  gives to it. For us, however,      above, this graduation is worthy of note because it
it is worthy of special note, and that for several rea-     means that our churches have available a candidate for
sons. In the first place, graduation from our seminary      the ministry.. In view of theexistingshortage of minis-


                                              THE  STANDARD  BEARER                                                    413

ters in our churches, this alone would be sufficient            for all of our churches who jointly operate the Sem-
reason to pay special attention to this event. And not          inary.     In the fourth place, I believe, as I intimated
only is it reason for special attention, but it is reason       when I was privileged to present Mr. Kuiper his
for special rejoicing and thanksgiving because theLord          diploma, that this is worthy of special note because
has provided our churches with another of the so                our new candidate for the ministry graduated from a
sorely needed and so often prayed for laborers in His           rare seminary, -rare especially because it is a
                                                                seminary where our Reformed heritage, according to
                                                                Scripture and the confessions, is faithfully transmitted
                                                                to the students, and where all the instruction has a
                                                                specifically Reformed orientation. Let us never forget
                                                                in this connection that our churches, -by sovereign
                                                                grace alone, - occupy a rare position today and are the
                                                                trustees of a rare and high and serious calling.
                                                                    Moreover, as I also stressed in my remarks at the
                                                                presentation of the diploma, Candidate Kuiper must be
                                                                viewed as a gift of God  -to our churches. For our
                                                                churches this means that we must receive him with
                                                                thanksgiving.    For him this means that he must never
                                                                forget that his is, in the first place, a highly privileged
                                                                position, attributable to grace only; and, in the second
                                                                place, that his is a highly serious calling, in which he
                                                                is answerable'to Christ, the King of His church, and to
                                                                God through;zHim.
                  Candidate Dale H. Kuiper                          May the Lord bless our new candidate, soon point
                                                                out to him -his particular place in our churches, and
vineyard.      In the third place, it is worthy of special      then cause him to be a-blessing in the ministry which
note, and again, reason for special joy and thanksgiving,       He gives him.
because this graduation, by the grace of God, repre-                The rest of the editorial space in this issue we
sents achievement,  - achievement for the graduate, for         devote to the graduation address of my esteemed
the faculty, for our School Committee and Synod, and            colleague, Prof. H. Hanko, and that of Candidate Kuiper.



 GRADUATION  ADDRESS-



                  The Importance Of Preaching

                                                   by  Pyof.  H.  Hank0


Candidate Kuiper, beloved brethren and sisters in the           life of the church of Christ here upon earth. That is,
Lord, fathers of Synod:                                         while we are sometimes inclined to take the preaching
   I desire to speak to you tonight on the subject of           with which we have been blessed for granted, to be
the importance of the,preaching of the gospel.'                 without it is an unbearable lack. And (and this is the
   There are various reasons why this subject is of             point I wish to stress tonight) the strength of our
particular interest to us. In the first place, the occa-        churches is in the preaching -faithful preaching of the
sion for this gathering readily lends `itself to a subject      Word of God.
of this nature. It is, after all, the exclusive business            In the third place, there is yet a broader interest
of the Seminary to train men to be preachers of the             in this subject. The subject is of importance as far
gospel.      And graduation means that one such student         as the very meaning of preaching is concerned. The
has attained this goal of graduation and is prepared to         essential character of preaching is being systematically
take his place in our churches as a preacher.                   altered in our day. No doubt, the gradual demise of
   But, in the second place, this subject is of broader         the spiritual life of the church can be traced directly
interest to our churches. To have been in a vacant              to this alteration. The church is only as strong as
congregation for any length of time is to have experi-          her preaching. It is not therefore superfluous to re-
enced personally the importance of preaching for the            emphasize the importance of preaching in the institu-


414                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


tional life of the church of Christ.                             Whom the angels cover their faces and cry all the day
       I call your attention therefore to the following three    long, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Hosts." His
questions:                                                       Word is the Word of power by which the heavens and
       I. What Is Preaching From a Formal Point of View?         the. earth were called into being. His speech upholds
   II. What is the Content Of Preaching?                         and governs all things. His voice is heard throughout
  III. What Is Its Importance?                                   all the creation working all that God Himself has
I. WHAT IS PREACHING FROM                                        determined to do. In Christ, this same voice of God is
   A FORMAL POINT OF VIEW?                                       heard in the preaching speaking peace to His people and
   The division which I have proposed for this speech            addressing them in tenderest love and compassion. The
suggests already that I intend to make a distinction             voice of God which reverberates throughout heaven and
between what we may call "the form or character of               earth is the voice of God which comes to us when the
preaching" and "the content of preaching". I am well             gospel is preached. And this voice of God is spoken to
aware of the fact that this distinction is of only relative      a people whom He has chosen - a people who are, in
significance.      The two tend to merge. In fact, they          themselves, wholly unworthy of the blessings of God
cannot possibly be separated from each other. We                 because of their sin. But this miracle of the preach-
shall take more particular note of this presently; I             ing is not even here exhausted; for this Word of God
want to say now only that the distinction is made for            comes through the instrumentality of men whom God
purposes of clarification.                                       appoints and calls to the high office of minister of the
   Further, it is not my purpose tonight to engage in            gospel. This fact that men are used by God does not
a dogmatic dissertation on the subject of preaching-             alter the miracle and lessen its power; it makes the
even from a formal point of view. There is altogether            miracle all the greater. Through a man God speaks;
insufficient time for this; and the material on this point       and He speaks in such a way that through this preaching
is readily available in the writings of our own ministers        the covenant of God, someday to be realized in perfec-
to those who are interested.                                     tion in heaven, is actually brought into being. It is this
   Rather, first of all, I want to emphasize the point           tremendous wonder that should never escape our notice
that when the gospel is preached in the midst of the             as we gather together in church on the Lord's Day in
church of Christ, a profound miracle takes place. This           the company of God's people.       &
needs emphasis lest .we fall into the error of making               All of this implies that the preachzof the gospel
light of the preaching-and considering it of only relative       is powerful.
value to us.                                                        The scriptures use many figures to demonstrate
   At the very heart of this miracle of preaching lies           this power. In some places the preaching of the gospel
the truth that through the preaching God. comes to               is described in terms of food and drink. The preached
meet with His people in covenant fellowship.                     Word is called bread-the bread of life, meat, water
   This was typically true already in the Old Dispen-            of life or milk. And the point is that the preaching is
sation. The preaching came then to Israel through the            food (spiritual food) to nourish the souls of God's people
types and ceremonies of the law which were concen-               with that which alone can give eternal life. Not the life
trated in the service of the temple. It was there that           which is mere existence in the world; but heavenly
Israel meet with her God. God was present in that                life which shall endure forever.        Then again, the
temple in the shining cloud of the Shekinah, for God             preaching is described as a sword.          It is a sword
had chosen Mount Zion above all the nations of the               which cuts and divides in the souls of those who hear
earth to make His dwelling place. In the Most Holy               it. But it is also a sword with which the battle of faith
Place, behind the veil,, between the outstretched arms           is fought in the midst of the world. It is a sword able
of the cherubim God came to His chosen people. And               to defeat all the hosts of darkness and bring victory to
Israel met to worship in covenant fellowship with God.           God's elect church.      Then again the preaching is
   But the New Dispensation is far richer. The essence           described as a seed, planted in the hearts of God's
is still present, while the outward trappings have been          people which grows and matures and brings forth fruit
stripped away since they were fulfilled in Christ. And           of righteousness pleasing in the sight of God. Or still
the essence of it all has become infinitely richer. God          more: the preaching is said to be a light which shines
comes to His people in the preaching of the Word to              in this dark world and which is able to lead through the
dwell with them in covenant fellowship. He speaks to             devious paths of sin on to the path of righteousness
His people through Christ and by the Spirit of Christ            which goes to glory.
within their hearts. And, in this speech of God to His              All these figures emphasize the tremendous power
people, there is the fulness of the unity of the covenant.       of the preaching.
God's people listen; and listening, they bow in worship             In general, this unbelievable power of the preaching
and. respond in praise and in prayer confessing their            of the gospel is so great that it is able to accomplish
God as the God of their salvation. The covenant comes.           all the purpose of God. Through it God accomplishes
to realization in these worship services where God's             what He has determined to do in His eternal counsel.
Word is preached.                                                It is'the power by which the kingdom of God is realized
   Nor ought it to be forgotten that this is a most won-         in the `day of the coming of Christ. It is the power by
derful reality. It is God Who speaks to His people and           which God is vindicated in the just judgment which He
enters, into covenant fellowship-with them; God is the.,         brings upon the ungodly. It is the power by which God
living God of heaven and earth,,.lf.he adorable God befo$        is exalted as God in all the works of His hands.
                                  ~. ,..- -. :


                                            THE  STAiVDARD BEARER                                                  415


   Specifically, this means that the power of the preach-    cross Christ died for all men.
ing is two-fold. It is a positive power which accom-            There is no substantial difference between this
plishes all the decree of eternal election. God from all     presentation of the preaching and the view held by
eternity chose to Himself a people and wrote their           Arminian (sometimes called "evangelical") churches.
names on the pages of the Book of Life. This people is       The character of the preaching is defined in terms of
redeemed in the blood of the cross where the decree of       an invitation to all men to accept the gospel. It contains
election was realized. But it is thegospel of the cross,     indeed some statements of warning to those who refuse
the preaching of the blood of Christ which is the power      to accept the gospel. But its essential character, from
by which these elect are saved. By the preaching elec-       a formal point of view, is this idea of an invitation.
tion is realized in such a way that the people of God        The content necessarily must fit this.        And so the
are called out of darkness into light, are called into       gospel contains an announcement of God's willingness
conscious fellowship with God, are preserved in the          to save every  man- indeed, His earnest desire to
midst of the world, and are brought to their final           save every man.      And it contains the additional an-
destination  - their Father's house.                         nouncement that man must exercise his own free will
   This same preaching though, has negative power as         in accepting this invitation to be saved.
well. It is the power by which God accomplishes the             Yet all of this is but the first step towards what has
eternal decree of reprobation. For it is the preaching       become known as the "social gospel". Evangelicalism
by which the reprobate are hardened in their unbelief;       is usually defined today as being theological conserva-
and it is through the power of the preaching that            tism; and is therefore supposedly the answer of the
judgment is brought upon the wicked for their wicked-        church to the liberalism of the modernists. But we
ness.                                                        must not be misled at this point. There is no principle
   All God's purpose is accomplished. We can only            difference between the two; no antithetical difference
stand amazed at what takes place when the gospel of          which sharply defines the two camps. It is merely a
Jesus Christ is proclaimed.                                  matter of degree of modernism. Arminianism is but
                                                             a step (and a large one at that) in the direction of
II. WHAT IS THE CONTENT OF THE PREACHING?                    modernism.
   All of this brings us to the question of the content         But modernism has its own interpretation of the
of the preaching.                                            gospel. As far as the formal character of the preaching
   It ought to be clear in our minds that there is the       is concerned, it is difficult to call it preaching at all.
closest possible connection between the character of         The preaching has become a matter of lectures, dis-
preaching from a formal point of view and the content        courses, discussions, consultations, dialogues. For the
of the preaching. The two go hand in hand. Where the         content of the preaching deals with social issues of
content of the preaching is altered, so also is the          the day. The subjects of the preaching are subjects
character of the preaching changed in fundamental and        of social concern, political interest, international and
important respects. And the opposite is equally true:        national problems; all justified by the battle-cry: "We
where the character of the preaching is altered, the         must be relevant to our age." Hence, the avowed aim
content is also substantially changed. In other words,       of the preaching is the righting of social wrong and the
to change the character of preaching is to bring into the    correction of political foolishness. Hence the ministers
preaching heresy instead of the truth. Faithfulness is       move from the pulpits of the churches into the streets,
required in both respects.                                   the marketplaces, the dives, the cabarets - places
   The evidence of this abounds.                             where the action is. And the goal is the realization of
   The Christian Reformed Church is in the throes of         the kingdom of heaven here upon earth.
a controversy at present concerning the content of the          It is essential therefore that we take a sharp and
preaching. But this controversy has a long and sad           uncompromising stand against all this to preserve our
history which began in 1924. Then the Christian Re-          heritage.
formed Church spoke rather emphatically of the char-            Indeed the character of the preaching determines
acter of the preaching, and insisted that the preaching      the content. In the preaching God comes to His elect
was (as far as its formal aspect was concerned) an           people through Christ and by the operation of the
offer. It was described as a general and well-meant          Spirit. He comes to work salvation through the preach-
offer to all who came under it. This is a key modifica-      ing - a salvation which He has determined for them
tion of the true essence of preaching; and it is not         from all eternity and which is accomplished on the
surprising that over the years the content has also          cross. Sovereignly He works accomplishing His pur-
been altered culminating in the controversy raging           pose so that He faithfully gathers, defends and pre-
today, The content has become (completely in keeping         serves His church unto the end of time.
with the idea of "offer") a statement on the part of            The content is in keeping with this. Fundamentally,
God in which God expresses His desire to save all men.       the content of the preaching is God's own Word. Even
This is implied necessarily in an offer. And it ought        as He is the One speaking to His people, so He speaks
not to surprise us a great deal that the swirling debate     His Word.      This Word is given to us in the Holy
which goes on today in that church has its roots in 1924.    Scriptures. These Scriptures are the infallibly inspired
The content of the preaching is an expression of God in      record of the Word of God fulfilled `in Christ. So the
which He speaks of His love for all men, a love which        Word of God is the revelation of God in the face of
is revealed in a universal cross of Christ upon which        Jesus Christ. It is the Word of God which I-ie speaks


416                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


through Christ by which God saves His elect. It is the        given place in these times of ecclesiastical turmoil
gospel of the cross. And even as the cross has effi-          and theological hysteria.
cacious power to save, so also does the preaching .of             I say then to our ministers who are gathered here:
the cross convey that efficacious power to save to the        Continue to stand in reverence before your exalted
hearts of the elect.       Thus the preaching is always       calling.    Be touched with awe at the sacredness of
characterized by exegesis - exegesis of God's Word.           your noble task.
It is not preaching unless it is exposition, explanation
of Scripture.                                                     To our graduate I say: When the Lord gives you a
                   Only then does God speak through the
preaching. The full revelation of God in Holy Writ is         place in the church by which you have been instructed,
the contents of the preaching. Nothing else may ever          remember the,se  words. Never be swerved from your
be substituted.                                               calling to preach. Never be tempted to forsake it and
                                                              to trade it for another calling. Endure stedfastly in
III. WHAT IS ITS IMPORTANCE?                                  this task set upon you.
       It ought to be evident from all this how important         And finally, to our people: Never ask for anything
it is for us to preserve our heritage. The strength of        else from your pulpits but this preaching. Do not be
our churches is the preaching; and the strength of the        impatient with it as if it does not work swiftly enough
preaching is in exegesis. Nothing must ever be sub-           to satisfy you. Never be inclined to criticize it as if
stituted for this. To lose the preaching is to lose our       it should be doing greater things' in the world than you
strength and our heritage in the church of all ages. To       think it is doing. Be content that it shall accomplish
maintain stedfastly this preaching is to keep our God-        all the purpose of God.


GRADUAilON  ADDRESS-


               The Present Day Relevancy of Our Creeds

                                             by  Candklate  Daze  H. Kuipev

   If anyone should wonder why we busy ourselves with             To young and old alike, it is undoubtedly clear that
such matters as our creeds and their relevancy, we            we speak here of our Three Forms of Unity. There is,
would begin by calling several items to your attention.       first of all, the Belgic Confession of 1.561, written by.
First, two quotes from a well known theological               Guido de Bres during the fierce persecution of the
journal: "What our modern world needs is not theology         faithful in the low countries by Philip II and his
or doctrine, which have failed and proven divisive, but       instrument of cruelty, the Spanish Inquisition. Secondly,
a demonstration of the power of Christ", and, "We             the Heidelberg Catechism, written by Ursinus and
have to let the Spirit lead us, and have to dare to set       Olevianus in 1563 at the request of Frederick III, who
aside our traditions and man made theologies, and             saw the need among his subjects for a book of in-
listen to the Spirit, Who will lead us to Christ in true      struction in the Reformed faith.       And thirdly, the
unity." You will recognize this as the old Fundamental-       Canons of Dordt, 1618-19, the product of the Great
ist cry, "No creed but Christ", in a new suit of              Synod that struggled against the Arminianism then
clothes; that new suit has been occasioned by the mad         rampant in the Netherlands. With these three you are
clamor for unity at any price !                               all well acquainted, I am sure.
       Also, if you have been doing any reading in church
literature,    you will have noticed that the United              But what we would have you notice now is that they
Presbyterian Church has put her old, time-tested              are OUY creeds. They are not just some old documents
creeds on the shelf, and has written and adopted a new        that have been handed down to us through several
creed, the Creed of 1967; a document so toothless and         centuries` of history. Oh, no! Ever since the Synod of
bland that the widest assortment of ministers can sign        Dordt, these three were the confessions of the Re-
it without reservations. Finally, you will recall dis-        formed Churches, the churches from which we de-
cussions in various church circles concerning the             scended.    These creeds belong to our heritage, and
Formula of Subscription.        The question that always      they are part of our heritage exactly because they grew
comes up it seems is: should office-bearers be required       out of the life of the church, out of her struggles and
to sign the Formula or not? From all this, we can see         battles.    Further, to understand that these are OUY
that the signs are unmistakable: we live in an age that       creeds, we must remember that we stand in close,
hates and ignores the creeds ! And the deepest reason         organic relationship to that early church.       We are
for this is always hatred for the Word of God itself.         members together of the same Body; we share together
So my assigned topic is vital and timely, indeed.             the same Spirit of Truth, that Spirit which led our


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   417

fathers into the truth, and which preserved that truth       confessions caused the divisions instead of giving ex-
even until now.                                              pression to already existing division. Besides, it is
   These confessions have also become known as               argued, the creeds are so old! We must not look back
stundavds!      They are a flag under which and about        to all that sordid Reformation history, but we must
which those who are truly Reformed may. gather. If           look ahead to what the Spirit will accomplish in the
this idea of standard makes the church appear to be an       future.     This is the twentieth century!    Don't try to
army, it certainly is not a coincidence. The Church of       bind us with old dusty creeds. The result is that the
Christ is indeed a battling host! She must do battle         work of the Spirit in the history of the church is
against the world and against that part of the church        despised and ignored; and these would-be unifiers cut
world which has apostatized and which masquerades as         themselves off from the fathers, many of whom gave
Church. That triple standard has functioned admirably        their lives in the defense of the very truths which
for 350 years ! It has called into fellowship others of      these now would so willingly abandon.  Soin conclusion,
the same faith, and it has been a warning sign, a            we may certainly say that this age is characterized by
repulsive warning sign, to those who are enemies of          an ignorance of the creeds and their history, by a
the truth. Moreover, if there were those in the fellow-      despising of them, and by a denial of their present day
ship of the church who did not belong there, the creeds,     relevancy.
taught and preached, made it impossible for them to             Now to demonstrate the pertinence and applicability
remain.                                                      of our creeds three points should be made. In the first
    As was suggested in the introduction, the present        place, creeds are necessary.        In fact, creeds are
day, the day in which the church finds herself in pos-       more necessary today and in the future than ever be-
session of her creeds, may be and must be briefly            fore!      In these days of apostasy and aberration, we
characterized. First, it must be remembered that we          need confessions to preserve the truth of the Scriptures
stand very near the end. It will not be so very long         for our children, for the seed of the covenant. In this
anymore, and the Antichrist, the son of perdition, shall     age of spiritual ignorance, we need the confessions as
be revealed. Very important it is for our consider-          a means of instruction.      Taken together, the Three
ation of the present day to remember that this Anti-         Forms are a wonderful and systematic body of doctrinal
christ shall not arise out of Russia or Red China or         and practical instruction. And as the "super-church"
some such nation, but undoubtedly it shall arise out of      emerges and Christ's Church becomes smaller and
the sphere of the nominal church. With that in mind,         more persecuted, we will need the confessions as a
we can understand how that increasingly the basic            rallying point for the saints, and as a means of witness-
truths of Scripture are called into question and denied.     ing and testifying of God's grace, come what may.
The first doctrine to go, of course, is the infallibility    Make no mistake, our creeds will always fill a vital
of the Word. Once this truth is questioned, disparaged,      place in the life of the church.
denied, the authority of the Word is destroyed. When            Secondly, our confessions are relevant because the
that is accomplished (or thought to have been accom-         battle of the church is always the same. The battle
plished) there is no end to the destructive process.         is always truth versus error, the Word of God over
Everything goes ! For creation as Genesis presents it        against the word of man. In this incessant struggle,
to us there is substituted the period theory and evolu-      strange as it may seem, both sides claim to possess
tion.      That miracle of miracles, the virgin birth, is    and stand firmly upon the Word of God. Therefore, it
explained away naturally. The necessity of the atone-        ought to be clear that the Word of God in that fovm is
ment and its actual atoning power are denied. Man            not enough.      Oh, the Word of God is sufficient! The
gags when he hears of a sovereign, unconditional             sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God is our
election and reprobation. It was even reportedin Time        only defense . We must always and only come with the
a few weeks ago that many U.S. seminaries were               Word. But the enemy also claims to come with God's
denying the reality of hell, and some, the future state      Word.       And that enemy is so adept at twisting that
altogether.                                                  Word. They can make it say what they want it to say,
   In close connection with the coming of Antichrist         or so they think. But the confessions cannot be twisted.
and the few examples of doctrinal apostasy that we have      They were purposely written so that they systematize
noted, there is also an obsession in the church world        the truths of Scripture in such a way that no one can
today with unity, with ecumenism. And as has been            distort them!      So the truth of the matter is that the
faithfully pointed out to us by our leaders, this unity      confessions are relevant because they are Scriptural!
that is being demanded is not a unity of doctrine, of        Oh, that does not mean they are infallible. But at the
faith, of the knowledge `of the Son of God (Eph. 4:13),      same time it must be pointed out that in almost 400
but is a pseudo-unity that ignores the obvious truths        years no one has proved that they are not firmly based
of Scripture and uses for a basis the flimsiest, vaguest     on the Word of God. Hence, to deny that the confes-
expressions imaginable; expressions which anyone can         sions are pertinent is tantamount to saying that Scrip-
embrace, and which let down all the bars, so that the        ture is not pertinent!
enemies and errors which the church has in the past
expelled are now most welcome to come in. Of course,            Finally, the Three Forms are relevant because
to those who want this kind of unity, the creeds are         they were written by the church in her heated battle
anathema1 Creeds, they say, are divisive and a hin-          against Pelagianism and Arminianism. Those heresies
drance to unity - the hidden assumption being that the
                -                                            still fill the world today; our battle is against the same


418                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


foe that our fathers met ages ago. When we notice                  God's grace we still have today!
God-dishonoring and man-elevating tendencies seeking                  Let us continue to hold them fast, and to study them.
to make inroads into our churches and schools, what                And let us by all means continue to require our office-
are we going to do? Sit down and write a new creed?                bearers to subscribe to them, so that they not only
Forge a new weapon a minute? We must not try that.                 reject all errors which militate against the creeds, but
Rather, let us use the weapons which the Spirit gave to            also refute and contradict them, and exert themselves
the church shortly after the Reformation: the creeds               in keeping the church free from such errors. For our
which have proved so effective in stemming the tide                safety is not in numbers, nor in some kind of outward
of the enemy; the creeds which have endured the on-                unity, but our safety is in the pure truth of God's Word,
slaught of scoffers for 400 years; the creeds which by             as expressed in our confessions !

 EXAMINING  ECUMENICALISM-


           The RES  - and the Union Question

                                                              2

                                                 by Rev. G. Van  Baven

   In the last issue we considered the stand of the                   The fourth resolution reads as follows:
Reformed Ecumenical Synod (RES) on the question of                       4. Since the contrast between the kingdom of light
the union. Seven resolutions were adopted expressing                  and that of darkness is becoming more sharply defined
the Synod's mind on the subject. The three resolutions                in the sphere of political and social relations, and it
which we have already considered are briefly, (1) that                therefore becomes increasingly difficult for Christians
it is the calling of the believer to reflect upon his                 who have united with so-called general or neutral
responsibility in political and social fields and the                 organizations, to give due heed to their Evangelical
manner in which this responsibility can be discharged.                mandate, there is a growing need for separate organi-
(2) Synod expresses that there is need for greater                    zations of believers.
stress on considering concerted Christian action in                      Grounds :
these fields.      (3) In the social and political fields,               a. Since in many countries and many situations there
                                                                      exists an increasing unchristian activity, appealing to
Christians are encouraged to organize whenever pos-                   ruthless power only, and not seeking a justice and.
sible to promote the one true justice and righteousness.              fellowship that is in accord with Scriptures, a separate
                                                                      Christian organization (in the social field of employers
       It was pointed out that there were attempts made to            as well as of employees), will provide believers with
introduce into the third resolution the idea that the                 the opportunity to exhibit their concept of society and
Christian can be more effective through organization                  to appeal to biblical norms.
(any organization), though sometimes most effective                      b. Experiences with separate Christian political and
through Christian organization. Such an amendment                     social organizations in which the employee as well as
would have been an encouragement to the Christian to                  the employer are viewed as God's creation, and in
join worldly organizations. This the Synod refused to                 which harmonious cooperation between employers and
                                                                      employees, especially in trade unions, plays a central
do - commendably so. Another similar amendment was                    role, indicate that in this way the believer is enabled
made to add the words "and effective" to the resolu-                  to make a fruitful contribution to the promotion of
tion. With that amendment the resolution would have                   better social relations.
encouraged separate Christian organizations          when
possible and effective.      That is, the Christian must              To this resolution also Prof. H. Stob took exception
judge (subjectively, I imagine) if a separate Christian            and recorded his dissent. The resolution itself con-
organization will be effective - and if so, that then he           tains rather strong arguments against membership in
should promote it. The result would be that there could            worldly unions.      The RES, though, was not ready to
seldom, if ever, be any Christian organizations in                 condemn membership in such worldly organizations. If
social and political fields, since the Christian in this           what they state concerning worldly organizations,
world can not expect to be "effective," at least not               particularly unions is true (and it is), there is then no
according to any earthly standards. But Synod also                 place at all in them for the Christian. There are
rejected this amendment.                                           questions which ought to be answered here too: what
                                                                   does the RES consider to be our "Evangelical mandate?"
REMAlNING  RESOLUTIONS                                             There is the implication that in the past it was possible


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


to carry out this "Evangelical mandate" within worldly             exercise their calling in this world." We have main-
organizations; specifically, in what ways was this done            tained as churches, at least with respect to labor
in the past? I would deny that it was possible to carry            organizations, that their basis, aims, and practices are
out this "Evangelical mandate" in worldly organiza:                contrary to Christian principles - hence membership
tions.                                                             within them is impossible. The basis of any worldly
   The fifth resolution is concerned specifically with             union surely will not allow the believer "at all times
separate Christian organizations:                                  to live by and advance Christian principles within the
          The purpose of separate Christian organizations          organization." Nor would it be difficult to show that
    must always be the service of God and fellow-men and           the "aims" of these organizations are contrary to that
    never a matter of seeking isolation.                           which any Christian may hold. And that their practices
          Ground:                                                  are contrary to Christian principles can be seen in
          Christians are the salt of the earth and the light of    every daily newspaper which reports on the activities
  the world and are admonished to function as such (cf.            of various unions. If the emphasis wereupon  the above
    Matt. 5:13-16).                                                line, the RES could not even suggest that the believer
   One could discuss many questions which arise                    must decide on the basis of Scripture...whether he
respecting this resolution. That Christian organizations           "may or may not unite with such organizations...."
must seek always the service of God is true. But what              The ground given for this resolution is very good, and
is the implication of this phrase: "never a matter of              if it is maintained, the believer  will  not  unite with
seeking isolation?" It is correct to maintain that we              these "general or neutral political and social organiza-
as Christians can not live in isolation as some sects              tions."
have tried. Yet the opposite of this negative statement,              The final resolution is very much to the point. One
together with the ground offered, appears to suggest a             could desire that this be more consistently maintained
working together with the world through our separate               by the believer wherever he might be.
organizations toward a common goal, The passage from                     Christians may not be members of or give aid to
Matt.  5:13-16 is quoted to suggest, I feel, that the                 social and political organizations whose principles and/
Christian and his separate organizations must affect                  or  .whose common and regular practices conflict with
and improve the world about us - that the Christian                   biblical norms.
will make this unsavory world yet savory before God.                     Ground:
The resolution appears to be based on post-millenial-                    To live in a manner inconsistent with biblical norms
ism. Yes, we have a calling on the earth to "labor in                 is sin, and this sin is aggravated when a Christian is
the service of God"; but this must not be done under                  aware of the contradiction and continues to ignore it
the impression that this old wicked world is going to                 (cf. James 4:12; I Thess. 5:22).
become better under the influence of our "salt." The                  The above represents the position of the RES on
contrary is true. The more faithfully one maintains                social and political organizations. The resolutions, of
the "justice and righteousness" of God in the earth,               course, can be interpreted in different ways by different
the more he will be hated and despised. And though                 denominations.        From the above one could conclude
we are called to maintain this "justice and righteous-             that membership in worldly unions is impossible. Yet
ness," the result will be that the wicked world will be            many could argue that such membership is compatible
hardened and will oppose such righteousness. Let us                with church membership - in light of .the decisions
faithfully maintain that righteousness, but let us not             which were taken. RES ought to be more definite in
deceive ourselves concerning its effect upon the world.            harmonizing these contradictory conclusions which
   The sixth resolution is the most lengthy:                       can be drawn.
                                                                      It is interesting also to note how one of the member
          With respect to the so-called general or neutral
   political and social organizations, believers in con-           denominations of RES acted on these resolutions. The
   sultation with fellow believers who are in the same             matter came before the Christian Reformed Synod in
   situation, must decide in the light of Holy Writ, taking        1964 and was placed in the hands of a committee to
   into consideration .the circumstances of time and               come with advice the next year. In 1965 the committee
   place, whether they may or may not unite with such              proposed: "That the Synod of 1965 adopt these resolu-
   organizations, provided that the basis, aims and prac-          tions as its own." Several grounds were proposed for
   tice of such organizations allow them to exercise their         this recommendation. Though Synod adopted virtually
   calling in this world. It is understood, of course, that        the same grounds offered by the committee, it did not
   if a Christian joins such a non-Christian organization,         adopt the recommendation itself, but revised it in such
   he alone and unitedly with other Christians in the              a way that it appeared on the one hand that Synod
   organization is in duty bound at all times to live by
   and advance Christian principles within the organiza-           supported the resolutions of the RES, yet actually did
   tion.                                                           not commit itself at all. This was decided:
          Ground:                                                        Synod receive these yesolutions as furnishing im-
          The Christian is called upon to be obedient to Chris?       portant guidelines for Christian thought and action in
   in every activity (cf. I Cor. 10:31).  He must therefore          our day.
   live consistently with his confession.                                Grounds :
                                                                         a. They reflect in their main thrust the teaching of
   The emphasis in this resolution ought to rest upon                 the Word of God as it bears onchristian  organizations.
the statement: ". ..provided that the basis, aims and                    b. They are ,in` harmony with the historic stand of
practice of such organizations allow (believers) to                   the Christian Reformed Church in these matters.


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


CONTRIBUrIONS-                              ~
                                   Letter  from a Reader
Dear Editor:                                     articles on movie attendance, with the          and on other evil  practides  we hear
  I write to you regardingtwomatters.            mode of the editorial "In Support of            nothing. I have in mind, for example,
First of all, we find greater and                Movies"       (March 15 issue of the            the lack of self-control over cigarettes
greater diversification of liturgical            Stanclard  Bearer) more specifically in         by many members in our churches
forms in our churches today. To me a             mind.      It is my understanding that          who must. turn to them for the relief
similarity in the form of worship has            our      churches have not made an              of tension to the destruction of their
resulted in a display of unity which             ecclesiastical      decision       regarding    own bodies.
our churches hold in common. We find             `movie attendance, but that, therefore,           I do not write in defense of the
that each church is free to choose its           this article is an opinion.           I was     corrupt .movies which are, I believe,
own form of worship whether they do              taught in my youth that Reformed                gaining in immorality and sin.
or do not have the knowledge of Re-              people cannot make hard rules pertain-          Especially the youth who more greatly
formed practice that has led to our              ing to matters not explicitly forbidden         face this temptation must be warned
forms of worship.                                in Scripture; for such imposes an               that because of the corruption found in
  I believe that generally our liturgy           illegitimate restriction on the liberty         most movies they do not belong in
can be improved, - such as more oral             of a Christian.      An excellent past          attendance.
participation by the congregation. It            article dealing with our liberty and              I have always noted a lack of textual
seems to me that Synod, through a                unlawful restrictions is "Christian             proof of no movie attendance, but
Liturgy Committee, could recommend               Liberty vs. Judging and Despising," by          rather logic. By a reasoning of what
a form of worship and inform each con-           Rev. Harbach in the May, 1963 issue             is considered sound sense almost
sistory of their proposal, to guard the          of Beacon Lights. I am persuaded that           anything       can be condemned, ie.,
worship practice in our churches.                certain travel and adventure movies             sports, customs, etc.
Could there not be an article written            are instructive and are not the spirit            This warning against carnal movies
on. the history of Reformed liturgy,             of antichrist,     It seems to me that          must not be directed to others too
dealing with Reformed and non-Re-                there is an inconsistency when all              quickly, but must be directed to our
formed practices? Perhaps these re-              movies are condemned rather than the            Protestant Reformed people who can-
marks will generate a discussion by              far majority, which are to be con-              not control their private screen.
other concerned individuals regarding            demned, and for this reason the Chris-                         Fraternally,
this matter.                                     tian does  not. belong in a theater.                                Frank Van Baren,
  Secondly, I write in regard to recent          Here our churches speak out strongly,                               Loveland, Colorado


                   Is  Kosmos An Undifferentiated Totality?
                                                                                                                       J

                                                           by Rev. R. C.  Havbach

  In Prof. H. C. Hoeksema's very                 The Standard Beaver,:May  15, 1967, p.          reason that Scripture is definitive  - of
illuminating and adroit editorial series         367:                                            its own ierms. The word "undiffer-
on the " `Report  of the Doctrinal Com-            C. The word "world" in John 3:16              entiated" means, according to Funk and
mittee'- A Critical Study - The Com-             and related passages is to be inter-            Wagnalls,       "not differentiated; not
mittee on the Atonement" the reader              preted not distributively, but as refer-        clearly distinguished or distinguish-
is provided with the most competent              ring  toan undifferentiated  totality.Ako       able, or having parts that cannot be
leadership and commentary relative to            the words "all'.' and "all men" used            distinguished; not exhibiting distinctive
the so called `!Dekker Case," the                in such passages as II Cor. 5:14, 15;           characters." The term, then, cannot
Christian Reformed Three Points of               1. Tim.  2:4~6;  4:lO; Tit.  2:ll; Heb.         apply to the word "world", for the
Common Grace and the  ."atonement                2:9; II Pe. 3:9; should be interpreted          word is one which in Scripture is as
issue." In these editorial pieces the            in the light of the delimitations evident       differentiated as `possible.            The
best and safest guidelines are indicated         in the context." (Ital. added).                 careful examination of every context
and the Reformed truth is expressed                It ought to be obvious to the above           where  hosmos  appears will prove this.
and expounded in the clearest and                committee and to every Reformed mind            In Acts 17:24, the word "Godthatmade
most unambiguous terms. Certainly,               that the above "ground" cannot be a             the world" means the totality of the
for the security and the well-being of           ground for maintaining limited atone-           universe. In John 13:l; 16:21,  28, the
the church founded on the Reformed               ment. For to take the word "world"              word means the earth: "I am come into
truth, it behoves all concerned to ben-          as "referring to an undifferentiated            the world: again I leave the world and
efit from the friendly warnings and              totality" is to think in terms of uni-          go to the Father." In Rom.  3:19 it
wise counsel so capably delineated in            versalism.        The word "world" in           means the whole human race without
these articles.                                  Scripture does indeed refer to a totality.      exception: "all the world  - guilty I" In
  What this writer is particularlycon- _ In II Pe.  2:5 it refers to the totality                John  15:18 it means the human race,
cerned  with at this time is the -above          of the reprobate. In John 1:29 it refers        beiievers  expected:/  "the world hates
committee's alleged grounds for main-            to the totality. of the elect. The word         you (and) hated Me." In Rom. 11:12,
taining the doctrine of limited atone-           as used in Scripture never:,refers  toan        it means the world of `Gentiles, for
ment, especially Ground C as quotedin            undifferentiated totality, for the simple       "the riches of the world" is  disti.uc-


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            421


tive, being explained by "the riches            In the same editorial, on the next         Churches in America, pp. 343ff shows,
of the Gentiles," and so excludes the        page (p. 368, second column, 8th line         the very texts `all the Reformed ex-
Jews! In John  1:29;  3:16;  6:33;  12:47    from bottom) our editor writes,  I`...        plain as maintaining Limited Atone-
it means the totality of believers only!     this is a new doctrine for the Christian      ment, and so explain in refutation of
In John 3:17 it means that world which       Reformed Church. In no official deci-         its antithesis - Arminianism, the CR
never is, never to be condemned. In          sion heretofore has the Christian Re-         advocates of common grace and of a
12:31 and I Cor.  11:32 it means the         formed Church ever connected common           general  offer of salvation also try to
world which is and shall be condemned.       grace with Christ's atoning death..."         explain as teaching common grace.
Ground C, above, by the employ of the        We agree with this. No official deci-         But it. should be plain to all that the
word "undifferentiated" has emptied          sion in the CRC has connected common          same  texts cannot possibly teach
itself of meaning. For world in the          grace with limited atonement.          But    particulav     atonement and icommon
NT is as distinguished anddistinguish-       practically this is so. For as Part II,       grace.      That would mean that these
able -as possibly can be!                    Chapter V, of !The ProtestantReformed         texts do and do not teach particular
                                                                                           atonement. And that is nonsense!

 QUESTION  BOX-

                    Still More On Dispensationalism
                                                      by Rev. R. C.  Havbach
   Again L. W. of Spokane writes, and        is evident in his quote from Chafer:          come up with discoveries the result
informs us that it was aslipofmemory         "the very fact that I did not study a         of its own "independent research"
which resulted in the Dec. 1, 1966 title     prescribed course in theology made it         (ibid.).    Let every one study Scripture
 "Dispensationalism an Ancient Error"        possible for me to approach the sub-          for himself, but let the study be done
being misquoted. He then questions a         ject with an unprejudiced mind and be         in connection with the moorings of the
statement in the May 1, 1967 article,        concerned only with what the Bible            history of doctrine and the foundation
which had read, "What Calvinistic            actually teaches j (Sys. Theol., Vol. 8,      of the faith of our fathers.
theology gives credence to Dispensa-         pp. 5,  6)." If this implies - and to           We  .had criticized Scofield for re-
tionalism?" and calls attention to Lewis     this writer it is obvious that it does -      marks which implied two ways of sal-
Sperry Chafer's SjstematiclTheology  as      that holding and coming to the Bible          vation (May 1, Question Box). L. W.
being "Calvinistic, premillennial `and       with a prescribed theology is to ap-          feels this out of place since C. Hodge
dispensational."        Perhaps our own      proach same with a prejudiced mind,           and 0. T. Allis, Reformed men, also
theological library at the Protestant        we can only agree, for we are admit-          make unfortunate statements and come
Reformed Seminary contains this work.        tedly prejudiced in favor of the Re-          out with conditional theology. He
If  SO, then our own editor and pro-         formed theology, which we believe to          writes "that Dispensationalists believe
fessor of theology would be in a posi-       be the systematic setting forth of the        that salvation is only through `the
tion to say, as this writer is not,          teaching of the Bible. But we cannot          power of God...through the sacrifice of
whether the work referred to is in-          agree with the further implication that       Christ,"' and not, as regrettably,
deed "Calvinistic  "
                    .  But almost without    a prescribed theology, as Reformed            Scofield implied at one time through
exception, dispensational spheres are        theology, so prejudices the mind that         "doing righteously." Now conditional
not Calvinistic.        A quote, from, of    it ill fits one for being concerned with,     theology is no more consistent than
all people, Herbert Lockyer  1 (All the      or able to reach, what the Biblei actually    dispensationalism. But Scofield once
Doctrines  qf  the Bible,  \ Zondervan,      teaches! For this hints that theology         had these words in a footnote at I John
1964, p. 223) hardly proves dispensa-        in general and Reformed theology in           3:7, " `Righteousness' here, and in the
tionalists to be Calvinist.      From of     particular are far afield from "what          passages having marginal references to
.old, Fundamentalists have laid claim to     the Bible actually teaches." But let          this, means the righteous life which is
Calvinism merely because they hold to        it be proved where Reformed theology          the result of salvation through Christ."
what they call "the doctrine of eternal      differs from "what the Bible actually         The implication of these words seems
security," and because the antithesis        teaches."                                     to be that there is a righteous life
to that doctrine is so glaringly Armin-        AsI Christians we are not inventors,        which is not the result of salvation in
ianistic. Many feel they have the right      but disciples, learners. We do not try        Christ, but rather the result of man's
to call themselves Calvinist because         to think, as God does, univocally. We         doing righteously. For Scofield's next
they hold "the perseverance of the           think    analogically,    patterning our      sentence is, `*The righteous man under
saints." But no one really holds the         thought after His. Nor  are we pio-           law became righteous (ct. Gal. 2:16,
perseverance of the saints who does          neers in the field of the truth of Scrip-     RCH) by doing righteously; under grace
not understand the preservation of the       ture and its development. That is, we         he does righteously because he has been
Isaints,  or who rejects the other four      do not by-pass a prescribed and               made righteous...", Now, in theiNew
points of Calvinism. He is acalvinist,       scripturally based theology to take up
                                                      _..                                  Scofield Reference Edition, p. 1344, the
e.g., who believes the perseverance of       the study of Holy Writ from scratch.          note reads, " `Righteousness' here,
the saints, but not limited atonement?       That is not the method of the best            and in' the passages having marginal
Nonsense  I                                  defenders of the faith.      That is too      reference to this verse, means the
  We had said in our first answer to         much like the modern "instant the-            righteous life which is the result of'
L.W. that "it is rather well known that      ology" which insults the Holy Spirit          salvation through Christ.       By God's
they (dispensationalists) have...mani.-,     by ignoring what He  has. given the           grace the Christian does righteously'
fested a contempt for theology..." This      church in' ages past, and presumes to         because he has beenmade  righteous..."


422                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


At first glance, this seems an improve-    Did the believer in that day do right-       latter, we as dispensationalists were
ment over the former unfortunate re-       eously because he had been made              taught and as many of our dispensa-
mark of Scofield's. But yet the note       righteous, had been viewed as righteous      tionalist friends mistakenly believed.
still seems to imply that under the        in Christ? Or was it that then he (as.       The note ought to read something like
dispensation of law, the last quoted       per the old  Scofield Bible) "became         this : "In every age the child of God
sentence could not have been made.         righteous by doing righteously?" The         does  righteously only because he is
                                                                                        righteous in Christ!"

       IN HIS  FEAR-

                                Virgins For Christ's Sake

                                                     (Continued)

                                                    by Rev. J. A. Heys

   Rhythm is a creature of God. And man can praise              square dancing. We are reminded of Israel and wish to
Him in the dance. David danced before the Lord when             make a few remarks, before we go on with this subject,
he succeeded in bringing the  ark of the covenant to            in  regard to this spirit which also touches our children
Jerusalem after that first frightening experience, when         and our adults as well. Other churches allow this and
God smote Uzzah for touching the ark. And in Psalm              that.     They have lost their doctrine; and therefore
3O:ll David declares, "Thou hast turned for me my               there is nothing to practice. For a practical sermon
mourning into dancing: Thou hast put off my sackcloth           should be nothing more than a guide for putting doctrine
and girded me with gladness." The Psalmist in Psalm             into practice.        And therefore a practical sermon, a
149:3 exhorts his listeners with the words, "Let them           truly practical sermon, is doctrinal. And a practical
praise His name in the dance: let them sing praises             sermon is not and may not be one in which the doctrine
to Him with the timbre1 and harp." So also does the             of our Great God and His Almighty Sovereign Son is
Psalmist in Psalm 150:4, "Praise Him with the  tim-             put on the shelf, in order to tell man what he has to do,
brel and dance: praise Him with the stringed instru-            and how God cannot save him until he gives God the
ments and organs."                                              permission. But it is so easy and according to human
   Three-quarter time is no more sinful than four-              nature to point to others who arelaxand have lost their
four time.    And to feel the smooth flowing rhythm of          spiritual sensitivity and then to say, "They can do it,
the dance is no more sinful than to be inclined to tap          why cannot we?" Other churches allow their young
one's toe at the definite and steady beat of the march          people to attend supervised dances; and some have
and the marching band.         In three-quarter time we         introduced square dancing. Why cannot we? Will we
sing," Wholehearted thanksgiving to Thee will I bring,          not keep our young men and young women off the worldly
In praise of Thy marvelous deeds I will sing. In Thee           dance floor this way? As we said, we are reminded of
will I joy and exultingly cry. Thy name I will praise,          the words of Israel to Samuel when he was old, and his
0 Jehovah Most High." It is in three-quarter time that          sons showed themselves to be far inferior to their
the Church sings of Christ's agony on His cross with            father in spirituality and leadership. They wanted a
the words, "My God, My God, I cry to Thee; 0 why hast           king, and their reason, among other reasons was, "That
Thou forsaken Me? Afar from Me, Thou dost not heed,             we may be like all the nations..." Let us not desire to
Though day and night for help I plead." In  three-              be like the other churches except in as far as they
quarter rhythm the Church makes mention of its own              reveal the Spirit of Christ, love pure doctrine, have
prayer to God with the words, "I' love the Lord Who             zeal for righteousness and look eagerly for the day of
heard my cry and granted my. request; In Him Who                Christ! But that spirit is there in our flesh. We, too,
hears and answers prayer My trust through life shall            would be like others in their walk of life. We do not
rest."     In the very first chorus of that majestic            like to "stick out like a sore thumb!" We do not relish
"Messiah" that flowed forth from Handel's pen, the              distinctiveness, that is, our flesh does not. Beware of
saints sing in three-quarter time, "And the glory, the          an ecumenical movement that aims at removing all
glory of the Lord shall be revealed." Shall we re-              distinctiveness, to be one organization not only, but to
write all these songs? Shall we ignore the fact that            have one watered-down, general doctrine that allows
God Himself is the Great Three in One? What is wrong            every practice that is not outwardly  barbarian, uncouth,
with three beats in a measure? Nothing! Absolutely              uncultured and uncivilized.
nothing!                                                            But, as we wrote last time, it is the bodily contact
   This does not mean that we approve of all dancing.           of the dance between those of opposite sexes in con-
It must not even be misconstrued as looking the other           nection with that rhythm that contains the danger, and
way in the present day clamor of our young people for           the sin. The danger and the sin are inseparable. For


                                              THESTANDARDBEARER                                                      423

that bodily contact, with dress that the dance calls for       them to park in the park after dark. And they use the
 (but not three-quarter time as such) incites andexcites       time for restful sleep and hiding from the enemy. But
to that which either one may not have or may not yet           young people who resort to the park after dark to park
have. The danger is inplayingwithfire, tempting one's          must remember that The Enemy not only leads to such
 self -and inviting more intimacy and satisfaction of the      places but works very hard at his trade in these
 flesh. Even the square dance, when the contact is not         environs. We are reminded of the hymn. "Yield not to
 a close embrace and with clothing that reflects spirit-       temptation, For yielding is sin."        Sin is so often
 uality, rather than willingness to go part way, is a          pictured in Scripture as the works of darkness. And
 step towards the sensual dance and therefore a step in        the sinner usually waits till darkness has fallen to
 the WRONG direction. True, one is not as easily and           perform his evil in the foolish idea that he will not be
 fully excited by the touch of the hand in the square          seen and be apprehended. He wants to sin and does not
 dance as the other. But there must be a reason why it         want to be stopped in his sin. How awful! And dark-
 is enjoyed only when conducted between the opposite           ness serves to hide his sins from the eyes of men,
 sexes, and it loses its attraction and we have yet to         although he often leaves clues which the daylight will
 hear our young people clamor for segregated square            reveal; but in his folly the worker of iniquity fails to
 dances; and when we do, we want to be sure that this is       take into account the all-seeing eye of God. And you
 not requested as a step towards such dances between           young people who seek darkness for your moments of
 the opposite sexes when performed by the same sex.            companionship with a friend of the opposite sex had
 Our view of these matters is not a prudish pessimistic        better look at the whole matter in broad daylight. The
 approach but a cautious, sanctified approach to the           amazing thing - and yet not so amazing when you con-
 whole problem of our young people.                            sider the power of sin - is that today there are so many
    They have a problem and a very, very real problem.         more places to go on an evening than in grandfather's
 Not only has the world advanced in this sin and the           and grandmother's day. You could not get very far in
 allurements thereof; not only do we live in an adul-          the old sulky; and a program in the next town was off
 terous age; not only do we ,live in the days predicted in     limits for the horse. Besides it just took too long to get
 God's Word, that it would be like in the days of Noah         there. But with the modern automobile that makes it
 when "every imagination of the heart was only evil,           possible to go more than a hundred miles for an
_ continually," also with this sin forbidden in the seventh    evening's fellowship and friendship and a sanctified
 commandment; but the whole social structure is  sodif-        and edifying program, the nearest park is sought
 ferent and dangerous. So often a young couple sincerely       instead, and young people are conspicuous by their
 in love and eager to be married in the Lord have to           absence at wholesome entertainment provided for
 wait to finish a college education, get established in a      them 1    This holds true of convention activities as
 profession, are called away from home, are drafted            well as other banquets, singspirations and programs.
 into the army and confronted with many, many tempta-          If we seek the literal darkness for our activities, it
 tions of which their grandparents could never have            may be that it is because we want to perform -the works
 dreamed.       Their ability physically to get away from      of spiritual darkness. And we feel that we can have all
 the eye of their parents and from the public also is so       the lustful bodily contact in this privacy of the cover of
 much greater today.        And a long engagement under        darkness and keep control of ourselves as virgins for
 control is for the flesh difficult. Body chemistry is         Christ's sake?
 there by the ordinance of God. The flesh responds as             But seeking darkness for such activity means that
 it does by a biological urge; and it becomes the duty of      inside already we have ceased to be a virgin for Christ's
 the young man and woman to control it by a spiritual          sake.     We must be virgins from the heart. Our
 dedication to Christ, and, by all means, by avoiding          thoughts must be pure.        Our will must be to serve
 that bodily contact which incites it, feeds it and drives     Christ. We must live for Him and for Him alone. With
 it. Their calling is not to play with fire nor to tempt       all our inner man as well as the external organs we
 themselves.      Their calling is to remain virgins for       must be dedicated to Christ. The seventh command-
 Christ's sake.       Their calling is to consider their       ment exactly declares that we must live and move all
 bodies temples of the Holy Spirit and to live as God's        of our being to the glory of Him in Whom we live and
 royal priesthood.                                             move and have all our being.        We may only live to
    For that reason what is true of the bodily contact of      please Him.       When Psalm 45:lO speaks to Christ's
 the dance is even more true of the closer contact in          bride and counsels her to be His virgin in the words,
 the dark and shady places and privacy of the automobile.      "Hearken, 0 daughter, and consider, and incline thine
 For many, if not most, double dating is not only wise         ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's
 but mandatory.       And then again the problem arises.       house", it means that any young man and/or young
 After some companionship and even double dating and           woman, whose companion stands in the way of service
 the bond of love becomes increasingly strong the inner        to Christ and demands making out instead of waiting
 drive to show affection and the longing to be with and        out, must forsake this detriment to his or her spiritual
 as close as possible must exactly remain a show of            life. We must love God more than father and mother,
 affection and not a yielding to lustful contact and           brother and sister, and surely more than those who
 prolonged emotional excitement.                               would carry us along with them in doing deeds that
    Parking in the dark is both literally and figuratively,    deny love to the living God. Love to God and to the
 "For the birds." It is quite natural and proper for           neighbour in such circumstances is not to yield to the


424                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


sin suggested or being pressed but in correcting with        tempt the Lord Thy God." That means surely that we
the Word of God and reminding of the solemn obliga-          do not tempt ourselves either, nor do we tempt others.
tion to walk in His fear and therefore to remain virgins     Those who are virgins for Christ's sake will enjoy the
for Christ's sake.                                           blessedness of the wedding feast of The Lamb. The
   Fellowship with this Christ in prayer will strengthen     love of God and its enjoyment are so incomparably
one to resist fellowship and intimacy with man that is       great that the pleasures of the flesh that we may
sinful and tempts to further sin.        And let us also     experience for a moment in sin are foolish to seek
remember Jesus' words to the devil, "Thou shalt not          as well as evil to perform.


 FROM HOLY  WRIT-


                            The Book of Hebrews

                                                 by Rev. G. Lubbers


THE SPECIFIC CONSIDERATION: JESUS AND MOSES                  Then they will also see Moses in the true light, since
(vs. 3- 6 continued)                                         Moses has meaning only in relationship to Jesus, who
   Yes, Moses is indeed glorious as a servant. We            alone will save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:
have the expressed testimony of Scripture that God           21)
spake with Moses face to face. Thus did God speak                   It is exactly in that Jesus saves his people from
upon more than one ocassion during the forty years           their sins as the Apostle and High Priest of our pro-
of wandering of Israel in the desert, particularly at        fession, that He excels in glory over Moses. Moses
Horeb, when God places the lively oracles in Moses'          was merely the Law giver. However, he did not give a
hands. Here Moses is so near to God that God spake           Law which could make alive. It could therefore, as
with him as with a friend. And, to exhibit this great-       law, only work death; it could only be the power of sin.
ness of Moses to all the people, God came and talked         (Galatians 3:21; Romans 7:7-11; I Corinthians 1556b)
with Moses in the door of the tabernacle when Israel         Such a servant, a  Thevapoon,   was Moses in God's
had sinned by contriving a golden calf. Thus we read         house. But not so Jesus ! He is a builder of the house!
"And it came to pass, as Moses enteredinto the taber-        The builder has greater honor than the house which he
nacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door    builds. The house is his workmanship. Thus also is
of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And       Christ the Builder of Moses! For Christ has greater
all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the taber-     honor than Moses, as a builder has than the building.
nacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped,       This we get: Moses-building and Jesus-Builder! For
every man in his tent door. And the LORD spake unto          Moses is indeed part of the building which Christ
Moses face to face, as man speaketh unto his friend...."     builds ! Indeed, Jesus is greater in glory in the temple
(Exodus 33:9-11) It was only with Moses that the Lord        than is Moses. God spake face to face with Moses in
communed from above the mercy seat, from between             the temple before all the people, but God speaks in
the two  cherubims,  which are upon the ark of the           Jesus Himself, in such a way that this Jesus is Jehovah,
testimony. And as representative of the LORD of the          God Himself, speaking to Israel. He spake as one having
mercy seat Moses could give commandment unto the             authority, the very Son of God.
children of Israel. (Exodus 25:21-22)                               Yes, both Moses and Jesus were faithful. But they
       Such glory had been accorded to none other among      are really standing on two different levels of honor.
the children of men. However, the veryplace of Moses         Moses could only speak of the things which were to
was such that the oracles of God which he brought to         come. Writes the text here "for a testimony of those
the people were connected with the mercy seat, and with      things which were to be spoken later." Moses could
the blood of sprinkling. Moses, was still a servant.         only be faithful in the types and shadows. The reality
The .glory upon Moses' face was indeed great. It was,        would come later. Then they would be spoken clearly
however, Yejlected  glory. It ,was the glory of Jehovah      and it would be heralded: the kingdom of heaven is
God, which would be revealed in the reality of grace         come! In the divine arrangement of salvation Moses
and truth in Jesus Christ.       This is perfectly clear     stands on the level of servant, while Jesus stands on
from II Corinthians 3:7-18. Moses' face shines with          the higher level of being a Son! Thus Jesus stands on
the same glory of grace of Christ, by which (glory) we       the level with God as Builder and Architect. For the
are changed by the Spirit of the Lord from glory unto        writer tells us that every house is built of someone.
glory, made after the image of God. Moses' glory is          But God is the Builder of all. And such is Christ:
therefore inferior!     And this is one point which the      Builder of all. (Hebrews 1:3) He is indeed equal with
Hebrew Christians must clearly see and consider!             God. (John 517-31)


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   425


   Well may we then take heed to this Apostle and High       hands. Does he not say: Heaven is my throne, and the
Priest of our profession. As we enter into the temple        earth is my footstool?       Where is the house that ye
of God we see Jesus standing in all His greatness and        shall build me? And where is the place of my rest?
overshadowing glory. He is the Son who outshines the         Not in temples made with hands! But the answer is:
servant, Moses. Yea, He alone gives meaning to Moses !       but to this man will I look, even he that is poor and of a
                                                             contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. (Isaiah 66:
THE TRUE HOUSE OF GOD: WE THE BELIEVERS.
(vs. 6)                                                      1>2)Let us then give heed to this word, and taste the
    And, pray, what is this house of God? It is very         infallible fruit of elective grace in our hearts, to wit,
interesting and profitable to notice the teaching of the     that we are the house of God.
Bible concerning the concept "house of God." It is
really the place where God makes his abode; where he         THE INFALLIBLE EARMARK
has come to dwell; where He has realized His covenant        OF BEING GOD'S HOUSE (vs. 6b)
mercies.     Of course, these mercies are the benefits          Yes; that too is a very important point to consider.
of the Mercy seat in the holiest of all. Jacob speaks of     The writer to the Hebrews touches upon this matter
the "house of God" at Bethel. Writes Moses of Jacob          too in our text under consideration. It is a question
in Genesis 28:16 "And Jacob awaked out of his sleep,         which is really one of the certainty of faith. The ques-
and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew    tion is: how do I know that myfaith is real and genuine!
it not.     And he was afraid and said, How dreadful is         The answer given here in the text might sound
this place! this is none other but the house of God, and     rather Arminian. For the.writer  says "if we hold fast
this is the gate of heaven.... And he called the name of     the confidence and rejoicing of hope firm to the end."
that place Bethel."                                          The Arminian says here "....and that Jesus Christ
    According to all the Old Testament Scriptures the        assists them through his Spirit in all temptations,
house of God' is ever associated with the tabernacle of      extends to them his hand, and if only they are ready
the congregation. Moreover, the tabernacle needed two        for the conflict, and desire his help, and are not in-
parts, two inhabitants. They are God and His people.         active, keeps them from falling, so that they, by no
Really it was: God dwelling with His people. It meant        craft of power of Satan, can be misled or plucked out
that the tabernacle symbolized exactly that truth: God       of Christ's hands...."       The being house of God is
with us!      This is expressed especially in the name       contingent upon the holding fast to the confidence!
Immanuel. Now Moses could never be this Immanuel.            However, that is not the teaching here. The condi-
He could only point toward this Immanuel. But Jesus          tional sentence here expresses: objective possibility.
is this Immanuel, born from a virgin. (Isaiah 7:14;          There is implied here a threat and admoniation against
Matthew% 1:23) This means that the house of God was          falling away from the faith.       However, here is not
really never the tabernacle itself. Bethel is before         teaching concerning salvation being dependent upon our
Sinai's awful glory. Bethel, too, was dreadful in the        perseverance.     Rather our perseverance is proof and
dream of Jacob. It was the gateway of heaven! It was         guarantee that our faith is real, and that we are in-
that which we have in the new and living way through         grafted into Christ, and that our life is, indeed, hid
the blood of sprinkling in Jesus.                            with Christ in God. Our holding fast and rejoicing in
    The writer to the Hebrews therefore teaches ac-          hope is evidence of the unrepentant grace and mercy
cording to the O.T. Scriptures when he writes "and           of God to us, and is a sure earmark that we are sons
this house are we!" We the believers, the sons of            of God, the house of God.
whom the Son is not ashamed are this house of God.              Meanwhile more must be said. Often he who says
God dwelling with His people. The tabernacle of God          too little says too much. We must not forget the truth
with man! (Revelation 21:3) This is what John sees           that God .wov& grace through admonitions.           It is,
in the vision on the isle of Patmos, when he says "Be-       indeed, understood that God works in us both to will
hold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will         and to do according to His good pleasure. But what is
dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God       often not underscored is the mannev in which God does
himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God        this. The Medus G~utia which He employs are oftennot
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there         pointed out. That is in itself not so serious. However,
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,          what is serious is that these admonitions would not
neither shall there be any more pain: for the former         be preached in the church in their proper place and
things are passed away."                                     context. That is tempting God in the church by separ-
    Here is the fulfilment of Jacob's dream!                 ating what He in his wisdom has most intimately
    Centrally this was fulfilled in Christ's ascension       joined together, viz., means  and the saving  fyUit
and in His outpouring of the Holy Spirit.                    wrought thereby. Thus we read literally in the Canons
    Now Paul can write the heart-searching question:         of Dort "Wherefore as the apostles, and teachers who
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the      succeeded them, piously instructed the people concern-
Spirit of God dwelleth in you? And we also see the full      ing the grace of God, to his glory, and the abasement
implication of this word: If any man defile the temple       of all pride, and in the meantime, however, neglected
of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is      not to keep them by the sacred precepts of the gospel
holy, which temple are ye! (I Corinthians 3:16, 17)          in the exercise of the Word, Sacraments and discip-
    For the Lord does not dwell in temples made with         line, so even to this day be it far from either instruc-


 4 2 6                                         THE STANDARD BEARER

                       .  .
tars or instructed to. presume to tempt God in the             see that only those who continue in the faith are the
:church  by separating what he of his good pleasure            house of God, without jeopardizing the need of the
 hath most intimately joined together. For grace is            admonitions, that we continue to walk in the faith.
confevved   by means of admonitions; and the more              For should we do this we will make it impossible for
 readily we perform our duty, the more eminent usually         ourselves to interpret the many admonitions, warnings
 is this blessing of God working in us,' and the more          and threatenings with which the letter to the Hebrews
directly' is' his .work advanced; to whom alone all the        is interspersed.
 glory both of the means,,. and the saving efficacy is             Hence: eavmavk   and  warning  in one conditional
forever due." Canons of Dort, III, IV, 17                      sentence which expresses objective possibility, that is,
    When we keep this in mind we will also be able to          from the viewpoint of the writer to the Hebrews !

  TRYING THE SPIRITS-

             Dispensationalism and
                                                  The Law Before Sinai
                                                  by Rev. R. C.  Havbach

    Just as Dispensationalism teaches that the Church          this distinction (i.e., that the law is condemnatory, but
 never existed before Pentecost, so it maintains that the      not when Christ is found in it - rch), rashly explode
 law never was given until Sinai. As taught in the foot-       Moses altogether, and discard the two tables of the
 note of the Scofield Reference Bible at Exodus 19:3 and       law; because they consider it improper for Christians
 Genesis _12:1, the dispensational theory has it that          to adhere to a doctrine which contains the administra-
 prior to Sinai the people of Jehovah were under free          tion of death.      Far from us be this profane opinion;
 grace, but when the law was proposed  forthe first time       for Moses has abundantly taught us, that the law, which
 at Sinai, Israel rashly accepted it, and so passed up         in sinners can only produce death, ought- to have a
 grace for law.                                                better and more excellent use in the saints. For just
   But. what really was the O.T. attitude toward the           before his death he thus addressed thepeople: `Set your
law, and how does that attitude compare to the N.T.            hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this
.one? Take David's words, "I delight to do Thy will, 0         day, which ye shall command your children to observe,
.`my God; yea, Thy law is within my heart (Ps. 40:8)."         to do all the words of this law. For it is not a vain
Much farther went David: "The law of Thy mouth is              thing for you; because it is your life (Deut. 32:46f).'
 better unto me than thousands of gold and silver...0          But if no one can deny that the law exhibits a perfect
 how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day...        model of righteousness, either we ought to haveno rule
 Great peace have they which love Thy law, and nothing         for an upright and just life, or it is criminal for us to
 shall offend them (119:72, 97, 165)." That is the O.T.        deviate from it. For there are not many rules of life,
 attitude to the law. What is the N.T. view of it? one of      but one, which is perpetually and immutably the same.
 opposition? Let the N.T. David, Paul, answer: "The            Wherefore, when David represents the life of a righteous
law is: holy, .and the commandment holy, and just and          man as spent in continual meditations on the law (Ps.
good.;;Thelaw  is' spiritual...1 delight in the law of God     1:2), we must not refer it to one period of time only,
after the inward man (Rom. 7:12, 14, 22)."                     because it is very suitable for all ages, even to the end
`. `Dispensationalism has a wrong view of the law be-          of the world (Calvin's  Institutes,  Vol. I, 390, Allen
 cau.se it holds `four basic errors in regard to it. First,    Transla., 1936);"
it teaches `that. the law was never given until revealed          In a thoroughly Scriptural theological symbol we
at Sinai. Second, the law was given exclusively to the         read: "Q. 92. What did God at first reveal unto men as
.ear&ly  nation of Israel. Third, believers are dead to        the rule of his .obedience?  A. The rule of obedience
.the law in every sense and not under it in any sense.         revealed to Adam in the estate of innocence, and to all
Giving any place to the law is tolose the liberty where-       mankind in him, beside a special command, not to eat
-with Christ hath made us free. Fourth, there is antith-       of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and
esis of law to grace, so that the two are in opposi-           evil, was the moral law. Qq 93. What is the moral law?
tion to one another.- These errors of Dispensationalism        A. The moral law is the declaration of the will of God
are. widely held as evidences of the soundest -biblical        to mankind, directing and binding every one to pes-
doctrine, but actually they cannot possibly stand the test     sonal, perfect and perpetual conformity and obedience
o f   S c r i p t u r e .                                      thereunto, in the frame and disposition of the whole
    John Calvin exposed certain of these errors. He            man, soul and body, and in performance of all those
said, "Some unskilful men, being unable to discern             duties of holiness and righteousness which he oweth to


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                                                                                                   _'


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                 327


God and man, promising life upon the fulfilling, and         had transgression (Rom. 5:14; I Tim. 2:14).
threatening death upon the breach of it. Q. 94. Is              We are further informed that "sin is not imputed
there any use of the moral law to man since the fall?        where there is no law (Rom. 5:13)." This, too, is as
A. Although no man since the fall can attain to right-       plain as possible. Still, the eminent N.T. exegete, R.
eousness and life by the moral law, yet there is great       C. H. Lenski, takes the position that from Adam to
use thereof, as well common to all men, as peculiar          Moses there was no law, nor anything in the nature of
either to the unregenerate, or the regenerate. Q. 95.        law. It was only with Moses that there was anything
Of what use is the moral law to all men? A. The moral        that had the quality of law. Prior to his day, history
law is of use to all men, to inform them of the holy         was devoid of law; nothing like law thenexisted. There
nature and will of God, and their duty, binding them to      simply was no law between Adam and Moses. (Inter-
walk accordingly; to convince them of their disability       pretation of Romans, Wartburg Press, p. 362f). As you
to keep it, and of the sinful pollution of their nature,     see, Lenski is very firm and insistent in maintaining
hearts and lives, to humble them in the sense of their       this contention, which is very acceptable to Dispen-
sin and misery, and thereby help them to a clearer           sationalists. W. R. Newell, who is very dispensational,
sight of the need they have of Christ, and of the per-       in his  Romans  Verse  by  Verse,  holds the same idea.
fection of his obedience." (Westminster Larger Cat-          Just the opposite to this thinking is themore preferable
echism)                                                      view of Robert Haldane  in his Exposition of the Epistle
   We believe that Adam had the law of God as his            to the Remans.      He writes, "Admitting, in the last
model, was himself a model of righteousness (cf.             clause of the verse (5:13), that sin couldnot be imputed
Eccl. 7:29 with Eph. 4:24), and that therefore the law       without law, he proves that sin was in the world by the
existed before man sinned. This may be deduced from          undeniable fact that there was death; and if this proves
Scripture. "Cursed is every one that continueth not in       that there was sin, then it inevitably follows that there
all things which are written in the book of the law to do    must have been law!" He goes on, "Many are greatly
them (Gal.  3:10)."    The law mentioned is certainly        in error in the interpretation of this expression... It
prior to the curse. That law must have been in effect        means that sin does not exist where there is no law.
before man sinned, when he could and did continue, in        The conclusion, therefore, is that as sin is not reckoned
his state of perfect rectitude, to do all required by it.    where there is no law, and as sin was reckoned, or as
If in his original righteousness he was not under the        it existed, before the law of Moses, therefore there
law (yet how can one speak of righteousness without a        was law before the law of Moses. The passage may
standard of law?), where would be the sense or point in      thus be paraphrased: `For sin existed among men from
this requirement to continue, or in the threatened           Adam to Moses, as well as afterwards. Yet there is
penalty, the curse, when man had already violated the        no sin where there is no law. There were, then,`.both.
law, and so made it impossible to do all the things in       sin and law before the giving of the law of Moses.!-::.,"
the law? Man, then, from the beginning was under the         Haldane  added, "the human race have always beenunder,
law in his original righteousness, and the curse was         law, and have universally'been transgressors." -;  : '
denounced against all failure to render perfect obedi-          If those of the pre-Mosaic dispensation were not
ence.                                                        under the law of God, then God could not have imputed
   Another text referring to man in his primitive state      sin to Adam and Eve, as He did (Gen. 3:16-20, 21, 24).
we have in Rom. 7:10, where we are told that the law         Nor could He have charged Cain with murder, if there
was ordained "unto life." That is the only period in         were no law prohibiting murder. Nor could Noah have
history when the law was given unto life and man             had any patriarchal authority to curse Canaan, if there
actually lived in the life adapted to the law and accord-    were no law requiring honor to parents. Neither. could
ing to the law adapted to his nature. Since the fall of      Abimelech have been warned against adultery if there
man, and his incurring a sinful nature, thelaw is "unto      were no command prohibiting it. (Gen. 20:6). In the
death" until he is justified by faith in Christ. In Adam     time of Moses the law read, "And the daughter of .any:`{..
the first, the law was unto life only in the original        priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she'~:`~~
state of rectitude.    Now since the fall, in Adam the       profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire (Levi `.
first, the law is no longer unto life, but unto death.       21:9)."    But back in the time of Judah the same law
Only the Last Adam is the life-giving Spirit. If the law     must have been known, for he blindly suggested its
was not given to Adam, then his sin immediately upon         enforcement in a case involving himself (Gen. 38:24).
committing it would have been a dead issue. "For             If Noah was a preacher of righteousness (II Pet. 2:5),
without the law sin is dead (7:8)." But sin certainly        then he must have been under the law. For righteous-
was not dead in connection with fallen Adam and the          ness is an element of the law. The flood itself was
history of his children as outlined in the Book of           proof positive that God imputed the sins of' the ante-
Genesis. They therefore had and knew the law of God.         diluvians to them, and executed.th.e  penalty of the law
This is implied in the declaration, "Where no law is,        against them.      Nothing is clearer. than the fact that
there is no transgression (Rom. 5:4)." If those living       Israel, before Sinai was reached~had God's command-
in the patriarchal period were not under. the law, as        ments and laws. Abraham kept'-the  :commandments,
Dispensationalism contends, then there was no rule of        statutes and laws of. Jeh,ovah,(6~~;,.-26:5);:.  Before,  Sinai
`conduct to guide their lives. If there was such a rule,     there  was-.f,`%ne law'! for all  .men  (E&  12:49).  It'was
but no law of God as yet, what was that rule? But we         "the. Lord%$law (13:9)j" which ,included the S.abbatic
 read, "Where no law is, there is no transgression."         law before%&  fourth commandment was given (16:4,


428                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


SPECIAL FEATURE-

                   The Importance of Maintaining

                           the Three Forms of Unity

                                                  (Continued)

                                                  by Rev.  J.  Kovteving

   Today these Three Forms of Unity and the Formula               This attack involves three definite stages.
of Subscription are the object of a subtle and persistent          The first stage may simply be described as ignoring
attack.                                                        the Reformed confessions. As some of you know, this
   You realize that throughout the years there have            has been going on already for decades. There have
been arguments brought against the Reformed churches           been those in the Reformed church world who have
because of these confessions. There always has been            neglected to preach on the Heidelberg Catechism each
an attack upon our confessions from the outside, from          Lord's Day, and  .this is spreading.      For years the
churches that rally under the time-worn slogan, "No            Netherlands Confession and the Canons of Dordt have
creed but Christ." These have been designated as               been shelved and ignored. Office bearers and members
"fundamentalist," "evangelical," or even today as              of the church did not even study them and through
"neo-evangelical." You are undoubtedly familiar with           ignoring them, office bearers and members of the
their "arguments" against any confession or creed.             church have become ignorant!        I submit this is an
They like to assume a pious stance and declare that            attack  upon the confessions. This is not mere negli-
they have the Bible and surely that infallible Word of         gence, this is a blatant assault upon that which the
God is quite adequate for the church! They would even          Spirit has given to the churches and which office
undermine all confessions as products of men, .and             bearers have vowed to  teach.  The motive for such
therefore insinuate that they are in competition with the      ignoring can only be to rid the church of that which is
Bible, which can only detract from the Bible. With             considered of little value.
long arguments they warn the church that holds to con-            The second stage is more volatile; it reveals itself
fessions that she is falling into the inevitable abyss of      as more bold and its aggressiveness becomes more
dead orthodoxy. If a church is going to express her            apparent. In this stage arguments can be heard why
faith in a man-written confession, she will assume that        the confessions should no longer be considered of value,
now she has arrived at the summit of truth, and brag-          arguments for the discarding of the Formula of Sub-
ging of her creedal  position will forthwith neglect the       scription.      This is happening all around us in the
study of the Word of God and fall into fatal slumber.          Reformed church world. Brothers who have the same
Besides these things the  evangelicals  bemoan any             Reformed heritage as we have are now clamoring for a
confession as a sure obstacle to effective mission             wholesale removal of the binding force of the Reformed
work. In the sphere of Protestantism there are enough          confessions.     Those of you who read the Standard
squabbles over the Bible and what the Bible teaches            Bearer regularly surely are aware of this fact. It's
without introducing more fuel for the fire in the form         interesting, yet sad, that what formerly were argu-
of human confessions.      Confessions can only excite         ments from the fundamentalistic circles are now being
greater differences among Christians and thus impede           sounded within Reformed circles. We hear the cry that
effective evangelism.     So we have heard plenty of           the Bible is sufficient, we don't need human statements
arguments against confessions for years and years.             along side the Bible. We take note that learned men
   But, this isn't what we have in mind when we say            brashly brand those Three Forms of Unity as archaic
that our Reformed confessions are under attack today.          and out of date.      Even missionaries to foreign
Surely this attack is still in force, but today there is a     countries, e.g. Japan, claim that the Reformed con-
unique element in the form of this attack, and that is         fessions are of no use, in fact hindrances, because
that there is also an attack upon the Three Forms of           they are provincial, they are Dutch, and how can a
Unity from within, from those who have historically            Japanese be expected to' subscribe or understand a
stood together for three and four centuries under the          Dutch confession.
same banner. That is what is happening today. There               The cry of opposition is becoming louder andlouder
is an increasing number of Reformed professors,                each year.      Today men are teaching and preaching
ministers, elders, deacons, and church members that            views that . . are directly in conflict with our Reformed
are clamoring for a rethinking on the matter of the            Confessions. The hardening process has already taken
Three Forms of Unity and the Formula of Subscription.          hold.
Their goal is obviously to get rid of them.                       The third stage follows this open confession and


                                             THE  STXiVDARD  BEARER


conflict.      As soon as the church and members are         must be replaced with "theistic evolution." Adam was
aroused to doubt, the final stage is that of writing a       not a historical person, rather the center of a mythical
new confession. The devil is sly enough to know that         saga. Miracles are cast aside one at a time and with
men cannot set aside their historic position or openly       eager tentacles the liar himself reaches ultimately for
refute it. This delicate situation is nicely eliminated      the central miracle, to suffocate belief in the virgin
when someone suggests that an updated confession be          birth. With this attitude toward Scripture and doctrine,
written. We see this in the Presbyterian church with         the confessions are nothing more than baggage that
their "Confession of `67." With this stage the old is        hinders the "church" in her development. This is the
cast aside and promptly forgotten. The lie is openly         basic reason for a removal of and clamor against the
introduced.       At this point the change has become        Three Forms of Unity and the Formula of Subscription.
complete, the truth is forsaken and the lie exonerated       One may be able to twist the Bible around and make it
and taught. So men are beginning to clamor for a new         say whatever you want it to say, but one cannot do that
confession in the Reformed churches also. We stand           with the bold and uncompromising language of the Re-
at this point in our history as Reformed churches.           formed Confessions. Hence they must be discarded.
   Undoubtedly you are concerned with the provoking             There is a second cause for the present day dis-
question, why has this happened and why is it happening      carding of the confessions and it is closely related to
today? Why are believers who have their same roots           the first. With this view of Scripture one is inevitably
in the Calvinistic Reformation as we have forsaking          committed to the modern ecumenical movement. The
their traditional Reformed view and casting these con-       craze to be so called relevant is motivated by the
fessions to the wind?                                        spirit of false ecumenism. I cannot warn you enough
   I submit that there are basically two reasons.            that the National Council of Churches and the World
   The first is this: a subtle and deadly error has          Council of Churches is motivated by  a-false ecumenism,
begun to creep into the Reformed church world. This          namely that of modernism and antichrist. Why should
error is an improper view of Scripture. Our confes-          Reformed scholars drive themselves so intently on
sions are based upon the Bible. They have no authority       finding ways to- discard traditional Reformed views?
except the authority of the Word of God itself. Today        The reason is obvious, they are an offense to the modern
men are persistently picking away at the foundation          church. The clamor is heard already, if we are going
upon which our Three Forms of Unity are built; This          to survive in our day and really witness effectively, we
erroneous view of Scripture causes the whole structure       have to get into these organizations so that we can
of our Reformed confessions to collapse. If you destroy      have opportunity to speak and influence them in a good
the foundation, the building that is built upon that         direction.    One of the subtle motivations for all this
foundation crumbles with it. This is happening today         modernism within the sphere of the Reformedchurches
in the Reformed churches,                                    is just this thirst for recognition. We have to be big,
   This attack upon Scripture is brought about by the        we have to get in the inner circle. We mustn't have
influence of two German theologians, Barth and Brun-         such out of date notions as creation, limited atonement,
ner. I cannot go into detailhere; it's not the purpose of    election and all the traditional Reformed views; no,
this lecture, except to see its relationship to the total    these are an offense to antichrist.       We have to be
attack upon the confessions. According to this German        universal' in our outlook. There are good points to:aZZ
school of thought, there is no objective revelation in       the religions of the world. God is a benevolent Father
creation, nor any objective revelation in the Bible. All     over all men and so we must love each other as
revelation of God is in Christ. This was true when           brothers.     This is antichristian. Let the Reformed
Christ was personally upon earth, this is true when one      churches brand these movements for what they are and
enters into the "crisis" of the encounter with Christ        take the only positive Scriptural position, and that is
under the preaching of the gospel. The Bible is not the      to stand upon the infallible Word of God and confess
Word of God, rather it is the testimony of certain men       these truths as expounded in our Reformed confessions.
to  the word of God. Consequently the Bible contains         Synthesis will not preserve the church, it will destroy
personal opinions as they were understood by the             it. We must take an antithetical position over against
authors in their generations. In the written word men        the world, including the false church.
expressed their reaction to the revelation of God. This         There is an urgency to maintain the Three Forms
includes many myths and stories. What the Christian          of Unity and the Formula of Subscription.
church must do today is demythologize the Bible; we             In clear and uncompromising language we must
have to apply it to the life's situation in which we find    maintain the correct attitude toward the Bible. The
ourselves. The Bible is not without errors; it has to        Bible is the Word of God.        Even as our Reformed
be explained in light of all knowledge, especially as        fathers championed the Word and based all the doc-
the body of truth has accumulated. throughout the            trines of the -church upon that Word, so we must remain
world's history. With this view of Scripturethe church       Biblical in all our theology. What is of man is sin; only
must change her doctrinal position from time to time.        that which is of God is true and must be maintained.
Tmdition  doesn't mean a snap, one's position is the            Because our Reformed confessions are based upon
keyword. (This by the way is Prof. Dekker's language         that Word of God, they are correct in all that they
in a recent article in the Banner.) The church has to        teach. They are relevant to our day. What nonsense
be relevant to her generation. She has to reinterpret        to imagine that the God of revelation who is also the
her position from time to time. The truth of creation        God of inspiration would produce in the midst of the


430                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


church a book, a record that is full of errors. Is the        clear statement of what she believes to be the truth
Spirit a liar? Is He a deceiver? God forbid. Because          of the Word of God. Let all who love the Word of God
our Reformed confessions are based upon the Bible,            stand in one confession, making great the name of our
they are the truth.                                           God, the God who has preserved His church throughout
   Let's maintain them. Let every office bearer in the        the generations.
Reformed churches that has subscribed to the formula              Doing this we can be sure that God's purpose will
of Subscription- do exactly as he has vowed before God.       be accomplished. We often fear that our young people
We need this today as in no other generation. The lie         will become deceived and winnowed away from the
is more subtle now, for the devil crouches at the door        faith.     God is faithful; never forget that. Let us use
as a wolf-in sheep's clothing. Anti-Christ' is at hand        our Reformed confessions, teat h them, defend them,
posing as an angel of light, but being a devil at heart.      expose error, and thus God will use them to instill the
The line of demarcation is no longer drawn by cer-            faith of the church of all ages in the hearts and minds
tain denominations; the call comes to the faithful of all     of our youth. They too will confess with us Jesus who
churches that love. the truth of the Word of God to join      is the same yesterday today and forever.
hands against the evil influence that lies within. For            The same Spirit that has so dwelt in the church to
this reason we must hold high the banner of the Re-           produce these confessions and preserved them through
formed confessions! We must. hold it higher and with          all the ages will surely cause them to be effective unto
less fear than ever before. It will mean persecution;         the end. There is no doubt but that there will be faith
the higher we hold it, the more it will come. Yet,            upon the earth when our Lord Jesus Christ will return.
true ecumenism can be accomplished only as the faithful       There will be those that confess the truth of God's
gather beneath that banner. In the face of confusion and      Word as it is embodied in our Reformed Confessions.
doubts, lying, and deceit, let the church hold high the           Our God is faithful.

ALL AROUND US-

            -  Repo-rt of the Synod of 1967

                                                   by Prof.  H. Hanko

   This report of our Synod held this year in the Hope        our Synod had no such pressing issues facing it. Yet
Protestant Reformed Church will have to be somewhat           this is reason for deep thankfulness. It is abundant
general and incomplete. It will have to be incomplete         testimony that the Lord has mercifully preserved us in
because the Synod is still in session at the time this        the way of His truth and given us unity in the faith of
article is being written. It will have to be general be-      the church of all ages. We have a goodly heritage; and
cause it is not the intention of this survey to inform our    we must pause to give thanks for this great blessing.
people in detail of all the decisions taken. Rather the
purpose of this article is to give a general picture of          In a sense, this was almost the theme of this Synod.
the work .of Synod with a~ few comments so that our           This was apparent already in the pre-synodical prayer
people have some preliminary idea of what Synod did           service in which Rev.  G. Van  Baren called Synod's
before they purchase and peruse their own copy of the         attention to this fact as he preached on the text: "And
printed  Acts.                                                take . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
   It could not escape the attention of the delegates to      God." Ephesians 6:17.
Synod that. there was one striking difference between           But there were more ways in which this truth be-
our Synodical meeting this year and so many Synods            came apparent in Synod's work.
or, General Assembly Meetings of other denominations             This was the Synod in which Student Dale I<uiper
meeting at approximately this same time.          Almost      became Candidate Dale I<uiper. The examination was
without exception, other Synods are forced this year to       conducted on Thursday and Friday of the first week of
deal with u-rgent  and fundamental doctrinal issues which     Synod.      At the end of a successful examination, Mr.
have risen within their respective denominations. The         Kuiper was unanimously declared to be a candidate for
winds of error, or doctrinal change, of false ecumenism       the ministry in the Protestant Reformed- Churches.
are blowing strongly through the ecclesiastical world.        This announcement, made to the candidate in the pres-
And much of the attention of other churches will have         ence of Synod, was followed by the singing of the
to be focused on the resolution of important theological      doxology `"May the Grace of Christ the Savior", prayer
controversies over various fundamental truths of Scrip-       by Rev. Van  Baren, and congratulations from the
ture and the Confessions. But such. was not the case          delegates  0 For myself, this was particularly a moving
with the Synod of the -Protestant Reformed Churches.          moment, for Mr. Kuiper is the first graduate from the
With the issues facing the church world`today - issues        Theological School. during my labors in the Seminary.
which threaten to tear present denominational align-          But, much more, this is reason for thanksgiving from
ments to pieces, it seemed almost anti climactic that         our people, for the Lord has added another sorely


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       431


needed laborer in His vineyard.                                Committee, will give attention to another aspect of the
      The graduation exercises were held in Southeast          need of the people there. Some of the church buildings
Church on June 12. This graduation was the center of           are very dilapidated, so much so that it is almost
a beautiful and inspiring program.                             impossible to meet in them. Synod is going to ask the
      As a footnote, Synod decided that Candidate Kuiper       churches to take collections to help put these church
will be eligible for a call from our churches after July       buildings in somewhat better shape.
7.                                                                We, with our great abundance, can scarcelyimagine
      This same sense of unity in the truth of the Word of     how greatly the people suffer even physical want. They
God became evident in Synod's deliberation concerning          have shown themselves to be our brethren and sisters
missions. It is not an exaggeration to say that Synod          in one faith.     And the words of Christ surely apply:
spent proportionately more time on the subject of              "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of
missions than on any other report of committees                these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
coming before it. The work of missions which Synod                Rev: Heys also spoke to Synod of his work which
performed was in several areas. In the first place,            he has performed over the past year-work of instruct-
Synod took cognizance of the lecture series which has          ing the ministers via mailed lessons and tapes. Rev.
been given in the Grand Rapids area. In fact, Synod            C. Hanko will carry on this work in the coming year.
believed that this work had progressed far enough to           These lessons are appreciated and used extensively by
give the matter of future lectures to the Consistories         the ministers with whom this "correspondence course"
in that area as their responsibility. This will relieve        is being carried out.
the Mission Committee of the work of continuing this              Two remarks by way of conclusion on this matter.
program and will give to our hard working and busy             First of all, those of our men who are laboring in this
committee more time to concentrate their labors in             work are doing excellent work and need our continual
other areas in the country.                                    prayers.     Secondly, Synod felt keenly the need of a
      Synod was also informed of the many contacts made        man who can labor full time on the island - a need
outside of our churches and of the broad distribution          which can be filled only as our shortage of ministers
of literature through these lecture series  - all an           is gradually alleviated.
indication of the unrest which prevails in the church             It was at last year's Synod that major steps were
world and of the calling which is ours in these troubled       taken to advance the work of the Theological School.
times.                                                         Then it was that Synod made preliminary preparations
      In the second place, Synod also took additional steps    for a pre-seminary course and for new facilities for
in the direction of implementing the new policy which          the School.      The result was that this year Synod
was adopted three years ago, i.e., to coordinate more          instituted no new programs, but rather continued the
closely our various pamphlet programs, our radio               work begun last year. These programs are both long
ministry and our church periodicals with the mission           range; and the work on them will, hopefully, go on.
program.      Final work has not yet been done on this,           Our people may expect additional information  onthe
but a sub-committee of the Mission Committee is being          work of the Mission Committee and the work of the
set up to perform this work.                                   Theological School Committee. The newsletters will
      In the third place, (and by no means least impor-        surely be continued.        But the Standard Beaver  Staff
tant) Synod took considerable action with respect to the       decided to include in the next volume of our paper four
work in Jamaica. Synod approved of the intention of            articles on the mission work being done by the Mission
the Mission Committee to send Rev. J. Heys and Elder           Committee and two articles concerning the work being
H. Zwak for a two month visit to the island this sum-          done by the Theological School Committee.
mer. Rev. Heys presented Synod with a brief sketch of             There was other work performed. In a sense it can
his plans for work on the island-plans which are               be called "routine"; yet this is only true in the sense
especially concentrated on teaching the ministers there        that it is work regularly appearing on Synod's agenda.
how to be more effective and expository in their               From another vantage point, they are far from routine,
preaching of God's Word.                                       for they are all matters of the church of Jesus Christ
      Synod also paid close attention to the critical needs    and the cause of His kingdom.
of the people in Jamaica. For one thing, Hudsonville              It is in this faith that Synod labored diligently and
Protestant Reformed Church's Diaconate has been                faithfully all the while in a spirit of unity and fraternity.
appointed by the Mission Committee to contact the              A word of appreciation must be spoken publicly for the
various diaconates of our churches to raise benevo-            wise leadership of the president of Synod, Rev. C.
lence money to care for the needs of the people. Rev.          Hanko.      And our people ought to be thankful that the
Heys told Synod of the need for clothing, for food at          Lord has provided our churches with officebearers at
certain times of the year, and for medical attention           Synod and in our congregations to work in God's
among the. sick. For example, these people have so             kingdom.
few clothes that it is sometimes necessary for a                  Inasmuch as we are given graciously and mercifully
mother and daughter to come separately to church               such a glorious heritage, we have also a noble and
because they have only one dress to share between              exalted calling which is, at the same time, an urgent
them. There are also people who are very ill and do            calling. May our churches be faithful in this calling,
not recover because there is no money to secure the            supporting it with their time, their several abilities,
services of a doctor'. Synod itself, through the Mission       their gifts, and their prayers.


432                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


                                      NEWS FROM OUR  CHURCHEi-

                                            June 15, 1967    were -of their usual character: words from the Scrip-
       Rev. D. Engelsma, of Loveland, Colo., has declined    tures and often direct quotations therefrom, and there-
the call from Hull, Iowa.                                    fore all to the Glory of God. The last number the choir
       South Holland has named a new trio consisting of      sang was that familiar rendition of the first three ver-
the Revs. C. Hanko, M. Schipper  and G. Lubbers.             ses of Genesis One.      As village band concerts are
                             * * *                           expected to conclude with Sousa's "Stars and Stripes
       The Annual Standard Beaver staff meeting was held     Forever", so this listener would like to hear every
during the June 14 noon recess of Synod. The results         Radio Choir concert conclude with this grand Creation
of this meeting will bring little changes in the format,     Hymn which comes to a soul-stirring climax with the
with all of the editors re-appointed to their present        choir in full voice singing, "and there was LIGHT!"
rubrics.      The magazine will, the Lord willing, go                                 ***
forward with Prof. H. C. Hoeksema capably handling              Rev. Harbach had a "very enjoyable experience"
the reins as Editor-in-Chief.         In addition to the     before the school year ended by being invited by the
regular contributions, we may look forward to regular        instructor of Reformed Doctrine in the Kalamazoo
reports from the Mission Committee and from the              Christian High School to take over the morning and
Theological School Committee, as well as some trans-         afternoon classes in order to present the Protestant
lated reprints from yesteryear which are lost to this        Reformed position of the Doctrine of Grace. This he
generation because of their original language. May it        did, as was expected of him, antithetically to the three
please our God to continue to privilege us clearly to set    points of "Common Grace", and was handled in dis-
forth the Truth of His Revelation on the pages of our        cussion-and-debate; style, answering questions and
magazine !                                                   arguments from the members of the classes. Rev.
                             **ic*                           Harbach says it was again revealed to him that God's
       The Graduation Exercises of our Seminary were         answer to man is not philosophy, no matter how
held in Southeast Church June 14 under the supervision       cleverly set forth' in a Reformed framework, but plain
of the Synod and the Theological School Committee.           Scripture  - as laid down both in Holy Writ and in our
Rev. G. Van Baren, president of the school committee         Reformed Confessions.
led in the opening devotions. The Radio Choir, under                                  ***
the direction of Roland Petersen gave three numbers             Rev. C. Hanko, while in Grand Rapids as a Synodical
with Mrs. C. Lubbers. accompanying them at the piano.        delegate, was privileged to preach in First Church
Candidate Dale Kuiper was the lone graduate and his          Sunday morning, and he preached a sermon before
speech was on,         ".Present  Day Relevancy of Our       delivered to the Jamaicans while in their Island. The
Creeds". Prof. Hd Hanko followed with a speech on,           text: "Come unto me all ye that labor. . ..". which
"The Importance of Preaching."                               served admirably as the basis for a "preparatory
       The Rector, Prof. H. C. Hoeksema presented the        sermon," for which it was intended.        The evening
graduate with his diploma which the Rector called a          service, in which Rev. Hanko was scheduled to preach,
rare document; rare because relatively few receive           was cancelled because of a "tornado warning", one of
one, rare because it represents the assimilation of          many that are on the increase as the Day of the Lord
rare instruction in a school which is rare now days          draws nigh.
because it is based four-squarely on the Infallible Word                              ***
of God; that the document also opens the door to a rare         A joint committee from Hull, Edgerton and Doon
calling-rare in the sense that it is precious: that of       are co-operating in' a venture to sponsor a lecture
being Christ's ambassador to bring His Word to His           series in their community next Fall and Winter under
Church.                                                      the supervision of the Mission Board of our churches.
   It was indeed a memorable evening for Seminarian                                   * *  *
Kuiper and his family, but also to the well-wishers             Oak Lawn's congregation is celebrating their 40th
gathered with him in that auditorium, as well as to our      anniversary June 19 and has secured Rev. C. Hanko,
whole denomination.       It was an answer to the many       one of their former ministers, to give a speech on the
prayers that went up asking to send workers into the         program which has been planned to commemorate the
harvest. Conflicting dates prevented many of the area        event. Rev. and Mrs. Hanko will then be in Qak Lawn
people from attending, but to those in attendance it was     on their way home after having visited their children
a moving experience to welcome another minister into         in Grand Rapids while Rev. Hanko attended Synod.
the ranks, to be sent into one of our vacant churches -                               * * *
those little flocks so sorely in need of a shepherd.            Commencement `Exercises of the Loveland Protest-
                             ***                             ant Reformed Christian School featured Rev. D. Engel-
   The June Beacon Lights :Hymnsing  was held inFirst        sma as speaker whose address was titled, "Faithful
Church, and drew a large number of young people and          to His Covenant," Rev. Engelsma was also the Com-


