                                         i 5.-".  g-

                          tand+rd

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A   R E F O R M E D   SEMiMONTHLY  M A G A Z I N E




IN THIS ISSUE

      Meditation:
        The First Resurrection Gospel

      Editorial:
        By Their Speech Ye Shall Know Them

      News Feature: ,'
        Joy in Pella

      All Around Us:
        The A.A.C.S. and Its Educational Creed



                                                        Volume XL VI/Number 13 /April  1,197O


290                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


                           CONTENTS:                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.

Meditation  -                                                                    Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                      Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
   The First Resurrection Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . .290 Editor-in-Chief: Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
                                                                           lhvrtment  Editors::.  Mr. Donald Doezema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof.
Editorial  -                                                               Herman Hanko, Rev.  Bobert  C. Harbach,  Bev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay
   By'Their  Speech Ye Shall Know Them . . . . . . . .292 Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus Schipper, Rev. Gise J.
                                                                           Van  Baren, Rev. Herman  Veldman.  Rev. Bernard Woudenberg

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Meditation

                                 The First Resurrection Gospel
                                                              Rev. M. Schipper

             "And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them,
             Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake
            unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the
            hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again, And remembered his
             words. "
                                                                                                                       Luke 24: 5-8.


   Perplexed and afraid!                                                   which was first to hear the glorious gospel of the
   These are the words Scripture chooses to describe resurrection.
the frame of mind and the emotions of the audience                             It pleased the Lord that the very first to hear the


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 291


 good. tidings should be those women who had followed the risen Lord is the Living One. The question is: Why
 Jesus throughout His earthly ministry, some of whom seek ye the Living One among the dead? The One Who
 are mentioned by name, such as  .Mary Magdalene, repeatedly had testified during His earthly ministry
 Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and Salome.               that He was the Prince of Life. Did He not plainly
 Women they were who had ministered unto Jesus' declare at the resurrection of Lazarus: "I am the resur-
 earthly needs; and who had been with Him to the last, rection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though
 even witnessing afar off His crucifixion and death, and he were dead, yet shall he live?" Had He not clearly
 who followed after when His body was taken from the testified that "in Him was life; and the life was the
 cross and brought to the tomb of Joseph where they light of men?" Had they. not heard Him say: "For as
 observed how His body was laid. And now after the the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the
 Sabbath was ended, and very early in the morning of Son to have life in Himself?" Had they forgotten that
 the first day of the week, they had returned to the He said: "I am the Bread of life" and I am the Water of
 sepulchre intentionally to finish the task of embalming life?" Cannot they remember how He spoke unto
the body of Jesus.                                          Thomas in the presence of all His disciples: "I am the
   Perplexed they .were when they discovered that the way, the truth, and the life: no man  cometh unto the
`stone was rolled away from the door of the tomb, and Father, but by me?" And why did they not remember
 still more when they found that the body of Jesus was how He spake unto them shortly before His decease:
 no longer there. Afraid they became when two men "Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more;
 suddenly appeared to them in shining garments, who but ye see me; because I live, ye shall live also?"
 were about to deliver to them the first resurrection          0, indeed, He is the Living One!
 gospel.                                                       Who has life in Himself. Who is the Author, the
   Heavenly messengers sent of the Lord to deliver the Creator of life. Apart from whom there is no life. Who
 good tidings of the resurrection!                          so possessed the power of life that He could lay it
   The church, whose calling it is to preach the gospel down and take it up again.
 in all nations, was apparently not yet ready for this         The Lord is risen indeed, as He said unto them. His
 glorious task. She must wait for the day of Pentecost word to them had not failed. Precisely as He had
 and the outpouring of the Spirit of the resurrected informed them, so it came to pass - He would suffer
 Lord before this calling could be realized. In the mean- and die, and after three days would rise again. But they
 time God sees to it that the good news concerning the understood not His words. They seemed as idle tales to
 resurrection is proclaimed by these ministering spirits them, simply because of their earthly conception of
 sent forth to minister unto His elect. And they begin Him. 0, they believed in the resurrection at the last
 their message with a penetrating question.                 day, for they were no  Sadducees.  And therefore they
   Why seek ye the living among the dead?                   would prepare His body with a view to that resurrec-
  Humiliating question!                                     tion. But as the Living One they had not perceived
   Humiliating it was because it intended to make plain Him. It is this truth that the question of the heavenly
 to the women that what they contemplated doing was messengers suggests to them. And looking at it in this
 most absurd.                                               light, isn't it absurd for them to be seeking the Living
   Farthest from their thoughts was the truth that their One among the dead?
 Lord was alive. They had come seeking a dead Christ,          Indeed, an humiliating question!
 and with only one purpose in mind  - to keep Him              Only when they are prepared by this question to see
 permanently in death. What they had witnessed on the absurdity of their proposed endeavor, are they also
 Friday afternoon concerning the crucifixion, death, prepared to hear the rest of the heavenly message.
 and burial of Jesus signaled for them the end of all          Hence follows a glorious explanation!
 earthly relationships with Him.. There was only one           He is not here!                             ,
 thing left for them to  ,do and that was the task for         But is risen!
 devoted hands - namely, to finish that which had been         The grave could no longer hold Him. Witness the
 left undone because the Sabbath drew nigh, the task of empty tomb. Behold the grave clothes lying exactly in
 preparing the body of Jesus for permanent  .burial. the position of last Friday afternoon when they had
 Indeed, they were not seeking the living among the wrapped about the body the linen cloths. And the
 dead, but only the dead.                                   napkin, that was about His head, not lying with the
  .But the question suggests that He Who was dead is linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
 alive. Seen in that light, is it not absurd that they should All this indicating that the burial clothes had not been
 be looking for Him among the dead?                         disturbed or unwrapped and thrown together in a heap
   Why seek ye the living among the dead?                   as whenone w'ould undress and put on other clothes.
   Significant question!                                    Also indicating that the resurrection had taken place
   Not only because it reveals that the resurrection of which knows.no bonds.
 the Lord had taken place, but more significantly that         He is not here! For death hath no dominion over            `-'


     292                                            THESTANDARDBEARER



     Him!                                                       "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man
        0, indeed, He truly died! They saw correctly shall  beg betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the
     when He commended His spirit to the Father, bowed scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall
     His head and yielded up the ghost. They witnessed deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge,
     without mistake when His limp. body was carried to and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise
     the garden of Joseph, and with'tender care was depos- again."
     ited in Joseph's tomb. No one could say He was only          0, to be sure, at the time when the Lord told them
     in a swoon, that He merely entered into a coma from these things they understood not, and the saying was
     which He later would arouse. No - all the evidences hid from them to the point that the seriousness of it
     pointed t6 the truth that He had laid down His life.       did not register with them.
        But now He is risen! Transcendent He is above             But now it is imperative that they recall this saying
     death!                                                     for more than one reason.
      He, the Living One, had broken the bands of death.          First of all, from the point of view of the messengers
     As with the mighty Samson, the green withes became as of the resurrection gospel. Their message must not be
     a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire; so branded by the audience as an idle tale. It must be seen
     the mighty Defender of the cause of God's covenant and clearly understood that what they have to say
     broke the shackles of death as tender threads and concerning the risen Lord rests entirely on the Word of
     emerged victoriously as the Prince of life.                the Lord. It is the truth and no lie!
        Nor was it so that He Who died returned from death        But in the second place, it is imperative that they
     as a Lazarus emerging from the tomb. But as the Living recall from their own point of view. That Word some1
     One He went through death and the grave, destroying how lies deeply buried in their sub-conscious minds. It
     its power,. and standing on. the other side, proclaiming must come forth now into their consciousness. Thus all
     to us His victory, and showing unto us the pathway of unbelief concerning the resurrection will be aban-
     life.                                                      doned, and the faith in them will be strengthened.
        Remember how He spake unto you when He was                And thanks be unto God, the message of the gospel
     yet in Galilee?                                            had this effect!
        It is imperative that you recollect!                      And they remembered His words!
        That you recall that He told you; the Son of man          The truth of the resurrection cannot rest on the
     must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be basis of mere human reason, nor on mere human
     crucified, and the third day rise again.                   perception. Nor can this truth be embraced by faith on
        How could they ever forget that memorable occa- these bases.
     sion in Caesarea Philippi  when Peter, speaking for all      Shall the comfort of faith in the resurrection send us
     the disciples, declared that Jesus was the Christ, the on our way `rejoicing, it must rest on His infallible
     Son of the living God; how the Lord had declared that Word which faith is able to remember and which the
     `on that confession He would build His church; and gospel is able to stir up in us mightily.
     that from that time forth Jesus began to shew unto His       When that first Easter sermon was ended, the con-
     disciples "how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and gregation went home rejoicing!
     suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and       The gospel of the risen Lord had shown unto them
     scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third that their sins had.been blotted out in the blood of His
     day." And a little later as they were coming from cross, and their-justification had been sealed unto them
     Galilee to Jerusalem the Lord had said unto them: in the power of His resurrection life.


     Editorial                                          d

                        By-.Their Speech Ye Shall Know Them
                                                    PVOJ: H. C Hoeksema


        Our March 15 issue carried an analysis .of the World that there is a close similarity between the language of
     Council of Churches' report entitled "Worship" under the W.C.C. and the language of men in the Reformed
     Rev. Van Baren's Examining Ecumenicalism. It struck community who have been clamoring for change and
i    me as I was reading some of the'quotations which Rev. even leading the way in proposing and making. changes
     Van  Baren made from this production of the W.C.C. in liturgy and worship. And it occurred to me that a


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         293



     literal comparison of the language of the latter and                 former to audience." Even though the new liturgy
     that of the W.C.C. might prove to be rather  enhght-               proposed by Synod in 1968 is a "great stride"
     ening.                                                               toward participation, he observed that it is still
       From Rev. Van Baren's article of March 15 I have                   highly structured.
     lifted two quotations which rather clearly exemplify                   Relevance is the second demand of the "new-wor-
     the language of the W.C.C.                                           ship people" cited by Mr. Wolterstorff. "Life in the
       Here is the first:                                                 church and life in the world should be integrated,"
                                                                          he said. "This is a radical plea for integrity, not just
               We are bound to ask the churches: whether there            for  churchiness." According to Wolterstorff,.this de-
         should not be changes in language, music, vestments,             mand means that modes of worship should be con-
         ceremonies, to make worship more intelligible;
         whether fresh categories of people (industrial work-             temporary. "There is no law," he said, "that all
         ers, students, scientists, journalists, etc.) should not         church music has to be written before 1900, that
         find a place in the churches' prayers; whether lay               church architecture cannot be great architecture, or
         people should not be encouraged to take a greater                that the church has to be the only major institution
         share in public worship; whether our forms of wor-               using Ring James English."
         ship should -not avoid unnecessary repitition, and             A little later in Chimes' report we find these ideas on
         leave room for silence; whether biblical and liturgical      a new worship service:
         texts should not be so chosen that people are helped               He described a "not untypical" new worship serv-
         to worship with understanding; whether meetings of               ice by saying that there would be no pews, no formal
         Christians for prayer in the Eucharist (Holy Com-                lecture hall arrangement. "The people would proba-
         munion, the `Lord's Supper) should be confined to                bly begin by practicing new and unfamiliar songs.
         church buildings or to traditional hours. In the same            Then the worshippers would welcome one another
         way in personal prayer should we not learn to "pray            ' with a Christian greeting such as `The Lord be with
         our lives" in a realistic way?                                   you,' followed by singing accompanied by guitar,
       And here is the second:                                            brass, drums, and rhythm instruments, not organ,"
                                                                          he continued. "Next, there would be a free, unstruc-
               The churches have traditionally known and still            tured expression of thanks, sorrows, confessions,
         know the power of the preached word to convince                  signs of God's love and praise, followed by more
         men of the call of God to them in their situation.               singing. Then individuals would read Scripture again
         Yet, in our day, the sermon as prepared and preached             to begin discussion. After offering free intercessory
         by one man comes increasingly under question. In
         these circumstances the traditional sermon ought to              prayers for the world and each other, the people
         be supplemented by new means of proclamation.                    would all come to the front bringing their gifts and
               As possibilities for consideration in the churches,        close the service with singing."
         we suggest: (a) that through team work the congrega-           And here is a glimpse of Wolterstorff's ideas about
         tion be engaged in the preparation and follow-up of          preaching:
         the sermon (this would also help to relate the sermon              When asked if a change in preaching were needed,
         more closely to daily life); (b) that other forms of             Wolterstorff asserted, "Proclamation is necessary, but
       a presentation be used, such as dialogue, drama, and               I'm not convinced that is done only by one man
         visual arts. More careful use should be made of new              preaching. Perhaps it can take place through film or
         church architecture, decoration, music, etc., to help            drama or merely admonishing one another."
         modern men to understand the Christian message.                Incidentally,  tom prevent any false impression, I
       Compare with the above the following. I quote from should add that this seminar was not under the aus-
     a report carried by  Calvin College Chimes  (Feb.27, pices of either college or seminary. It was the third of
     1970) concerning a seminar on "The Worship Service: six Woodlawn Christian Reformed.Church seminars on
     A Dialogue," in which Dr. Carl Kromminga (of Calvin "The Church in a Time of Change."
     Seminary) and Prof. Nicholas Wolterstorff (of Calvin               In  The Reformed Journal  (February, 1970) in an
     College) participated. The Chime% reporter has liberally article entitled "Underground Journey," Dr. Eugene
     sprinkled her report of Dr. Wolterstorff's part in sai,d Rubingh, Secretary of Recruitment and Orientation
     seminary with direct quotations.                                 for the Board of Foreign Missions of the Christian
                                                                      Reformed Church,, also speaks language which reminds
\              Mr. Wolterstorff, professor of philosophy at Calvin    one strongly of the language of the World Council of
         replied to Kromminga by stating the new worship is           Churches.
         not "a result of falling away from the faith or lack of
         desire to hear the Word, but rather a demand for a             Compare, for example, the following statements.
         greater intensity in worship." He asserted that the          The first is from the World Council and the second
         "new-worship people" are seeking spontaneous par-            from Rubingh.
         ticipation in worship. "The Christian Reformed serv-           Statement No. 1:
         ice," he  lamented,  "is a performance up `front. Most             Since the Church should make clear its solidarity
         of it could go on without a congregation. Even the               with the world, corporate worship and personal
         terminology, such as `audience,' `guest speaker,' and            prayer alike should draw into themselves, with
         `special music,' denotes the relationship of the  per-           thanksgiving and faith, all the joys and sorrows, the


294                                                     THE STANDARD  BEARE-R



        achievements, doubts and frustrations of mankind                have an untrammeled desire to find the  strength  of
        today.                                                           the church of the New Testament.
  Statement No. 2:                                                     And here is one more enlightening passage from the
          High on the list of their concerns, I found, was the      same article by Dr. .Rubingh  about the so-called under-
       conviction that the church is mission. Mission is not        ground, or unstructured, church:
       an addendum to this church, but the task that per-                  My children like the services of the unstructured
       meates all they do. In order to be  .God's  embassy at            church. I don't believe this is mere childish whim, or
       the pulsebeat of the world, these Christians want no              simply a delight in novelty. My daughter happens to
       stupendous assets frozen in magnificent buildings or             have a rhythmic-soul and likes to tap her feet and
       costly organs. They desire a minimum of the esoteric             keep time with a castanet. She grew up in Africa and
       languhge of theology and hope for the demise of the              learned early to kneel at prayer with other mission-
       edifice complex. They want the world to be welcome                ary children and African, Christians. It comes natu-
       here. They are pledged to an apostolate where in the             rally to her to do so in church, though we don't insist
       words of Emil Brunner, "The church exists by mis-                 on it. I think it is  fine for  hei to stand up and read a
       sion as fire exists by burning."                                 verse from Scripture in the service and then to hear a
  Or consider this language about worship as con-                        sermon she can understand. I have come away with
ducted by the "unstructured church," from the pen of                    the conviction that here we are a family  at  worship,
Rubingh:                                                                glad to be joined in a covenantal relationship to our
          . _ . But  all have gifts, and these may well be used          God. Seeing  childr,en  want  to worship is a joy to
       in  the reading of the Scriptures, the liturgy, the              cherish.
       music. The people  must  take part, and they  will  take            I believe that the infectious joy of this movement
       part. In these new groups they already do; it is the             stems from the sense of being driven by the Spirit to
       hallmark of their liturgical life. They feel that if they        this mission. These Christians are sure that this is the
       form a group where this is done, they may be a                   way the church will soon be moving, and that already
       blessing to churches still reluctant to put into prac-           they have found the freedom that Christ promised.
       tice these growing convictions. Tbis too, they say, is            The hope and spontaneity of the early church is
       part of their mission.                                           riding high in people who sense already the wave of
  And is not the following very similar to the jargon                   the future, the direction of the Spirit's leading. They
of the World Council also?                                              know  that someday soon  the building of huge
          It is undeniable that our society exists in the               churches will stop, that the people will all share in
       matrix of profound changes that the church dare not              the church's worship, that the children will be eager
       ignore. The church is no island retieat; it must go out          for church, that esoteric language will be reserved for
       to man in his multiform needs. Where the rigidity of             other occasions. They have, found it so already and SO
       traditional institutions is in danger of stifling the            have found a mission.
       vibrancy of the Word and the breath of. the Spirit,            In the Netherlands, as might be expected, there are
       there the church ignores the call to reformation at          many who speak this kind of language. The  Gerefor-
       her peril. This is not to say that the traditional           meerde Kerken  are already fully committed to the
       structures are `devoid of value; indeed, for some            World Council. But let no one dream that it is the
       Christians -they may provide the most viable avenues         purpose of the  Gereformeerde Kerken  to  `reform  the
       of communion with God and the most challenging               World  Cduncil,  to purge it of its evil and heretical
       source of inspiration to meet the world on Monday.           tendencies. Such would indeed be a dream! It is totally
          That is, I think, a point that has often been             unrealistic. The Gereformeerdti  Kerken havd joined the
       missed. The people of the unstructured church                W.C.C. because they are already in agreement with it
       simply plead that there be more than one allowable           and its `philosophy. This is the way these things
       pattern of worship. Society is complex, more than
       ever before, and hence the considerations and forms          happen. The order of events is not that a denomination
       that loom large for these believers may not grab             first joins the W.C.C. and then becomes corrupted by
       other Christians with the same intensity. Naturally          the W.C.C. On the contrary, a denomination first be-
       not! This is the very  +iversity  that makes the church      comes corrupted by imbiding the false philosophy of
       a haven for men of many stripes and colors. So may           the W.C.C., and then, being in basic agreement with it,
       blessings abound for those who cherish the ways in           joins the organization. The first phase of this process is
       which they have worshipped through the years! They           already taking place in the Christian~Reformed  Church
       are a precious dimension of the total picture. This is       in our  country. But I wanted to point out that in the
       the affirmation that sometimes, I fear, gets lost in the     Gereformeerde Kerken this language of the W.C.C. is
  heat of  th!: debate.                                             also spoken very openly. In various reports The Stan-
          Indeed, the Spirit is leading the believers to iealize
       that the whole people of God is the church, that they        dard Bearer hascalled  attention to the liberal trends in
       -must participate, that they must move away from             the Netherlands from time to time, as our regular
       formalism and inflexibility to recapture the sponta-         readers will  bow. But here is a quotation from the
       neity and joy of  ,the early church. There is a naivete      Dutch paper Voorlopig,  (the name means: "Provision-
       in this, no doubt, but it is the naivete of those who        ally" or "Tentatively") an avant garde type of journal,


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         295


which also cou+-Dr. Kuitert among its staff members.                   iyork-groups, on counselling week-ends, in boards, in
A certain Mr. Pruim is quoted by Waavheid en Eenheid                   the family.
(Jan. 13, 1970) as having written the following in that                      Many suggest that these  are secondary forms of
paper (I translate):                                                   piety. The traditional Sunday morning service is the
        A growing group of Christians no longer have a.ny              primary, basis-form, they say. We shall have to stand
     pleasure in Sunday church attendance. What happens                more strongly for the multiformity of the church of
     there frequently does not strike them at all.  [l'he              Christ. And thus we can stay home on Sunday morn-
     idea is that they clo not find that it concerns them, is          ing without guilt feelings. A church service is but one
     relevant to them. HCH] Church services are no                     of the many forms of worship. If only, then, we
     work-gatherings, they find. And they stay home, for               indeed are actively present at those other forms. Or
     the rest often with a crumb of a guilt-feeling. It is             better: exactly there develop initiatives.
     good therefore for us to realize that attending church          You see, in all these quotations there is the same
     services is but one"form  of worihip.                         basic language.
        Perhaps, indeed, the least sticcessful.  Worship takes       And the argument of this article is not that of guilt
     place also and especially elsewhere and in other ways         by association. It is rather that of guilt by similarity,
     in  hotise-congregations, in action-groups, in  Bible-        by homogeneity.
     circles, through the  means of literature, in (political)       And: by their speech ye shall know them!


 All Around Us

                   The A.A.C.S. and Its. Educational Creed
                                                            PYO~ H. Hanko

THE A.A.C.S. AND ITS EDUCATIONAL CREED 1                           which lies at the bottom of the writing of an educational
   The initials A.A.C.S. stand for "Association for the creed. This philosophy concerning the Church goes
Advancement of Christian Studies." It is the name for something like this. Rooted in A. Kuyper's idea of
an organization which is found in this- country and in sphere sovereignty and borrowing heavily from the
Canada which formerly went under the name "Associa- philosophy of H. Dooyeweerd, the A.A.C.S. considers
tion for Reformed Scientific Studies" (A.R.S.S.). It is the "church" to be one of several societal structures.
not our purpose in this article to discuss all aspects of As such it is on the same level as other societal struc-
this movement. It is sufficient for our present purposes tures such as the school, the university, the state and
to state that it is deeply interested in "Reforma.tional" the shpp.  The word "church" can be used either with a
education (among other endeavors); that it is laboring capital "C" or a small "c" and, depending on whether
towards the realization of a Christian University in the initial letter is in the upper or lower case, the
Toronto; and that it works closely with Trinity College meaning is different. Church with a capital "C" refers
in Palos Heights, Illinois.                                        to the Church as the body of Christ. This body of
   What we are concerned about in this present article Christ however, is supra-temporal and embraces the
is its so-called "Educational Creed." It has drawn up full number of those who believe. With it we have very
and adopted sucli a creed as a particular confession for little to do except that it is a theological concept. But
Christian education. It has done this because of a church with a small "c" is the manifestation of the
definite philosophy which it has and upon which it "Church" with a capital "C". This  ea@hly manifesta-
bases all its activities.                                          tion of the Church is not limited however to the
  In a recent series of articles (which series is still church  - with a small "c". The latter is the church
continuing) the editbr of .the Canadian Reformed Mag- institute which is concerned with the preaching of the
azine discusses this matter of, the educational creed of gosp6, the administration of the sacraments and the
the A.A.C.S. These articles are excellent articles which exercise of Christian discipline within its own sphere.
deal in detail with this aspect of the goals and work of But the church (as institute) is not by any means to be
this organization. We do not have the space to discuss identified with or said to be the Church (as the body
at length these articles nor to quote from them in any of Christ). As `a matter of fact, the Church is revealed
detail; but they are recommended reading for all who in all societal -structures all of which stand on a par
are interested in this matter.                                     with the church. Dr. A. De Graaff is quoted as saying:
  These articles call attention to the unique concept "Thus the people of God are bound to institutes and
of the Church which characterizes the A.A.C.S. and .maintain a church wherever possible and to let it


296                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



function through the offices Christ has ordained."                        richness of the Creeds. We remind the reader of art.
    All of this means that the body of Christ is also                      12 about man's mandate in God's creation; the arti-
manifested in the home, in the school, in the univer-                     cles  pn Scripture as binding us in the whole of life;
sity, in a Christian labor organization, in a Christian                   art. 36 on the magistrate and our life as citizens; the
political party, etc. And these manifestations of the                     Catechism about the only comfort in life and death
body of Christ are all on a par with the church and                       (only within the societal structure of the church);
                                                                          L.D. 27 about the "separateness" of our children, the
assume the appearance' of the Church. In all  of these                    main foundation of Christian schools; L.D. 45-54
"societal structures" there are  snecial officebearers                    about Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done; our
who stand on a par with the ministers, elders and                         daily bread, etc., etc. What a non-sense to say that
deacons within the church; all of them must have a                        these Creeds refer only to the life within the institu-
creed; all of them must exercise, in some sense, the                      tional church. Has then the history of the Reforma-
keys of the  kingdom. In fact, the church (as institute)                  tion been written in vain? What a non-sense to say
is not really even essential to the life of the Christian in              that  .in building truly Christian, i.e., "reformational"
the  world. It occupies .a place; it is of some impor-                    schools (this philosophy employs the word "reforma-
tance; it can be of some use;.but it is not by any means                  tional" in every other sentence),  - that we must
essential.                                                                leave our Reformed Creeds behind. . . .
   The editor of the  Canadian Reformed Magazine                        The article is correct when it points out that our
points out correctly that the A.A.C.S. has allowed Creeds are not simply some documents which have to
philosophy and not Scripture to determine its defini- do with the church as institute, but that they are living
tion of the Church. While we concur completely with                   confessions of the people of Go,d which they confess in
this judgment, we are now interested in the fact that the whole of their life. They belong in the hearts and
this particular conception of the Church (or church)                  lives of God's people; they belong in the hearts and
requires a particular conception of the creeds.                       lives of God's people when these people go to their
   The position of the A.A.C.S. is that the Three places of work in the morning, when they bring up
Forms of Unity, upon the basis of which the Reformed their children in the home to fear the Lord, when they
Churches function as Church, are creeds which belong sacrifice their time and energies to establish Christian
to the church alone. In the words of the magazine schools, when, in short, they live according to God's
                                                                      truth in the whole of life.
mentioned above:                                                        But the A.A.C.S. denies all this because of an incor-
             In this strange process the Reformed Creeds be-          rect conception of the Church. Hence we must have a
         come something for the "societal church structure'?
           only. You are bound to them only within the church.        special creed for the school (as well as for the sphere of
         walls. Therefore: no Three Forms of Unity in the             labor, politics, etc.). A creed for the school has been
           school! They don't belong there,. they have no             drawn up. We quote it here. (Quoted from the Appen-
         meaning, no effect there. You would turn the school          dix to a pamphlet containing .a speech by Dr. Paul
           (and  labour association, etc) into a church by doing      Schrotenboer entitled: "Integral Christian Scholar-
         that. No, as soon as you enter some other "societal          ship.")
         structure" you simply  must  write and adopt another                    Believing that Scripture reveals certain basic princi-
cree~d.                                                                   ples intensely relevant to education, we confess:
   In criticizing this position, the magazine goes on to                         1. LIFE. THAT human life in its entirety is reli-
say :                                                                     gion. Consequently, scholarly study unfolds itself as
             What a strange thing to say, yea what a nonsense.            service either of the one true God or of an idol.
             In the fnst place, whose are the Reformed Creeds?           2. SCRIPTURE. THAT Scripture, the Word of
         Of the clergy maybe, the special officebearers in that           God written, in instructing us of God, ourselves and
         particular structure? Or are they of the believers, the          the structure of creation, is that integral and active
         people of God, the membership of the Church? Who,                divine Word or Power by which God, through His
         I ask, are the "We" who speak in the 37. Articles of             Spirit, attaches us to and enlightens us in the Truth,
         the Confession? And what did it mean when they                   which is Christ.
         promised, in the Church (!) "by the grace of God                        3. CHRIST. THAT the Christ of the Scriptures,
         stedfastly to continue in this confession in life and            the Word of God incarnate, is the Redeemer and
           death?" "In life," the whole of life that is, every-           Renewer of our life in its entirety and therefore also
         where, always  %onfessing" and surely not only                   of our theoretical thought.
         within the "institutional church." `tin death," not on                  4. REALITY. THAT the essence or heart of all
         a peaceful deathbed but in the death of the martyr               created reality is the convenantal communion of man
         for the truth: on the streets of the great city!                 with God in Christ.
             In the second place, do the Reformed Creeds                         5. KNOWLEDGE. THAT true knowledge is made
         indeed only busy themselves with "ecclesiastical                 possible by true religion and arises from the knowing
         items" in the narrow sense in which this philosophy              activity of the human heart enlightened through the
         uses the word "ecclesiastical?" Again, what a non-               Word of God by the Holy Spirit. Thus religion plays
         sense! We cannot be complete in mentioning the                   its decisive ordering role in the understanding  of.our


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  297



    everyday experience and our theoretical pursuits.              quoted, either directly or indirectly. `This immediately
       6. SCHOLARSHIP. (a) THAT the diligent pursuit               raises the suspicion that after all, the "creed" is some-
    of theoretical thought in a community of scholarsis            thing not produced after an intensive study of Scrip-
    essential to the obedient and thankful response of             ture, but is a product of philosophy - specifically, the
    God's people to the cultural mandate. The task of              philosophy of Dooyeweerd.
    the scholar is to give a scientific account of the
    structure of creation and thereby to promote a more              Secondly, there are many extremely vague state-
    effective ordering of the everyday experience of the           ments in the "creed" which one is hard put to under-
    entire community. (b) THAT because of God's gra-               stand. I refer to such statements as: "That human life
    cious preservation of creation after the fall, men w.ho        in its entirety is religion"; "That Christ . . . is the Re-
    reject the Word of God as the ordering principle of            deemer and Renewer of our life in its entirety"; "That
    life provide many valuable insights into the  c.ommon          the essence or heart of all created reality is the  cov-
    structure of reality; nevertheless, the central religious      enantal communion. . . ."; That religion plays its de-
    antithesis of direction in life remains. We therefore          cisive ordering role in the understanding of our every-
    reject the possibility of the synthesis of scripturally        day experience"; etc. I confess that I do not know
    directed thought with any other system of thought.             what many of these statements mean. If there is one
       7. ACADEMIC FREEDOM. THAT scholarly pur-
    suits are to be undertaken in the God-given freedom            thing a creed ought to be, it is that it ought to be an
    of a complete and voluntary submission to the Word             explicit  and clearly understandable statement of the
    of God and the divine laws that govern human life.             Christian's faith. This document is anything but that
    The responsible freedom of the scholar must be pro-              In the third place, there are statements which are
    tected against any constraint or domination of                 simply incorrect; i.e., not the teaching of Scripture at
    church, state, industry or other societal structure.           all. The second article on Scripture, e.g., is totally
       8. SUMMARY. THAT all scholarship pursued in                 silent on the question of its infallible character and is
    faithful obedience to the divine mandate will heed             wrong when it defines Scripture as being "that integral
    the normative direction of God's Word, will acknow-
    ledge His Law to which creation in all its spheres is          and active divine Word or Power by which God,
    subject, and will bow before Christ's Kingship over            through His spirit, attaches us to . . . the Truth." It is
    all scientific work.                                           wrong and out of harmony  -with the creeds of the
  We have not the space left in this article to enter Church when it speaks of a gracious preservation of
into a detailed criticism of this "educational creed." creation after the fall. It is wrong when it defines the
But it seems to us that, on the surface, three criticisms freedom of the scholar in terms of protection "against
are immediately apparent.                                          any constraint or domination of church, state, industry
  In the first place, while the "creed" insists that or other societal structure." And there is more.
"Scripture reveals certain basic principles intensely rel-           The whole creed gives the distinct impression that it
evant to education," there is not a single reference to a is a deliberate attempt to disassociate our educational
Scriptural passage in the entire document. This is a institutions from the truth of the Word of God as
most serious lack. There is no proof offered from defined in our Three Forms of Unity and to root the
Scripture. Remember, this is a creed  - something education of the covenant seed in philosophy. This is
which the believer confesses to be the truth of the the destruction of all Christian, convenantal education.
Word of God. Yet there is no part of the Word of God



                                Come Ye  Apcapt... And Rest A While

                                                            Rev. C. Hanko

                            "`And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. "
                                                                                           Acts 4:13.

  This was written shortly after Christ's resurrection cent, were being tried before this highest juridical and
and His ascension into heaven:In  fact, it was very soon ecclesiastical assembly of the Jews in the great city of
after Pentecost.                                                   Jerusalem. Though they stood before the high priest in
  Peter  .and John stood before the same  .Sanhedrin his official robes and before an august assembly of
that had condemned Jesus to the death of the cross.                seventy men, scribes and chief priests, they showed no
These two fishermen, who spoke with a Galilean  ac- fear, but even spoke with a ring of power and author-


298                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


ity in their voices. They were confident that they roll by and petty differences fade away, they almost
represented a righteous cause.                                begin to think and look alike. They can read each
  It was evident to everyone in that room that these other's thoughts from a distance. Increasingly they live
men had never attained a degree in the great school of only for each- other.
Gamaliel, the great doctor of the law who taught in                      _                ****
that same city. They had no class distinction, but were          This is only a picture of a far richer spiritual reality.
of the common folk who were considered to be quite               That spiritual reality is that we become imitators of
ignorant of all that pertained to such matters as were        God as beloved children.
dealt with by this court. And yet, without as much as a          No one, of course, must take this in, the modernistic
quiver in their voices, they spoke with an  .authority        sense, as if we have an example of Christ drawn out for
that could only be envied by the scribes. The entire us -on the pages of Scripture, and now it is up to us to
assembly was impressed. These two ordinary men re-            pattern our lives after His. In that case, it would be
minded them of someone else. And that someone had             tragic that we do not have a Ibiography,  or better still,
stood in this very assembly. Jesus had cut deeply into        an autobiography of Christ, a "Leben, Jesu" to follow.
their souls, even by His awesome silence. Yes, these          Then we could pattern all our actions after His. But
men had been with Jesus. O'ne could recognize that at         God was wise in not giving us anything like that. He
once.                                                         does not want us to ask: What would Jesus do in this
  The Sanhedrin was so right; these men had been particular situation.
with Jesus. Jesus had certainly made an indelible im-            For we have much more. We have the example of
pression upon them during those three years of their Christ, but also His revealed Word. We have the teach-
companionship. His teaching, His actions  .had not ings of our Lord preserved for. us from Genesis to
merely made an impression, but had actually changed           Revelation. For all Scripture is inspired of God. All
their whole lives. And now, what the Sanhedrin did            Scripture is the Word, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
not realize, but what the Book of Acts fills in for us:       Therefore, in passing, I would make the remark that I
"They were filled with the Holy Ghost.". He being do not like a red letter Bible. Why should the words of
dead still lives; lives in them by His.Spirit, even testi-    Jesus be `put in red letters when all Scripture is His
fying through them.       a***                                Word to us?
                                                                 But we have even more than that. We have the Spirit
  People do make an impression on us.                         of Christ in our hearts. He Who dwelt among us has.
  Even unawares, parents make impressions on their passed through death into life. He .died, and is risen,
children by their very mannerisms, speech and actions.        and is gone into glory. Although the disciples had
Children are adapted to receive and absorb impres- known Christ in the flesh, it meant much more to
sions., They  .like to imitate; Bobby walks around in them that they had Christ by His Spirit in their hearts.
Daddy's shoes, and mimics his father in many ways. A For by His Spirit He regenerates us, makes us new
newlywed housewife holds her broom and mops her creatures, and daily instructs us, so that we are trans-
floors exactly as her observant eye has caught her formed into His likeness.
mother do it years before. Ministers who stay in a                                        ****
congregation for some time leave a definite stamp on             Paul speaks of that.in his epistle to the Galatians. He
the members of the flock. True, some are influenced makes that beautiful  cbnfession: "I am crucified with
more than others. But very often you can recognize Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ Ziveth  in
their "spiritual fathers" when people are expressing me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
their convictions. In some cases that can even be bad. the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave
As the late Rev. Ophoff tended to say: "A man's Himself for me." (2:20) And later in that same epistle
virtues are his weaknesses." I suppose it all depends on' he `boldly declares: "I bear in my body the marks of
whether a man is led by the Spirit or by the flesh. But the Lord Jesus." (6: 17) All the scars of his whippings-
parents and ministers can leave impressions that be- and scourgings  are so many brandmarks of ownership,
come weaknesses in others. But the point I want to which. he proudly bears as evidence that he "belongs to
make is, that we never come in contact with each other his faithful Savior Jesus Christ," to be His "slave"
without making impressions on each other.                     f o r e v e r .
  In fact, a strong bond of affinity can develop be-             Peter speaks of "tasting that the Lord is gracious
tween friends. That bond can become so strong be- (attractive, beautiful, freely bestowing gifts of His
tween boy friend and girl friend that they become life favor upon us)." (I Peter 2:3).
inates. They are drawn to each other, so that they are           And then he adds:  `~To Whom coming, as unto a
always in each other's thoughts.- A husband sees only living stone, . . . ye also, as lively stones, are built into
his wife where a whole group is gathered together. A a spiritual house, `an holy priesthood,  to. offer up
wife casts casual glances at her husband because of her spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."
concern about his happiness and welfare. As the years (4, 5). Here again we see the unity with Christ, living


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                              299



out of Him, even as stones of the temple, branches of you?
the vine, or members of His Body.                            Is Easter but a memorial day, be it a pleasant.memo-
  Or let the apostle John tell us of his experience:       rial day? Or does it thrill you with the thought: He
"Behold what manner of love the Father hath be-            lives! I have a living Savior! He lives just as I live. No,
stowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of       He lives in a far higher sense than I do. But I know He
God. Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth      lives; for He lives within my heart?
not appear what, we shall be; but we know that, when         Then we experience His power even in the preaching
He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see    of the Word and say with Paul: "But we all, with open
Him as He is." (I John 3 : 1,2).                           face beholding in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
                             ****                          changed into the same image from glory to glory, even
  Is that what the resurrection of Christ means to         as by the Spirit of the Lord." (II Cor. 3: 18).


Neuys Feature





               Church on East Franklin Street                            Parsonage on North Main Street

                                          Joyr  I n   P e l l a
A Brief History                                            ices, so that it became necessary to change the place of
   The Protestant Reformed Church in Pella, Iowa, was meeting from one of our homes to the local American
organized in 1928 with seven families. Under the suc- Legion Hall. This indication of interest also led the
cessive ministries of the Revs. Ver Meer, H. Veldman, Mission Committee to send several of our ministers to
Lubbers, Ver Meer, and Gritters, the congregation lecture here in the fall of this year. By May of 1968
prospered until in 1952 it numbered twenty-eight fam- enough families had joined that a permanent place of
ilies. However, here too, the conditional-theology con- worship was purchased. With slight remodeling the
troversy took its toll; only three families stood with us former medical center proved to fill our requirements.
in the year 1955. From that time until 1967, as few as       More families showed their interest so that the Mis-
three individuals constituted the flock. Yet  oftice- sion Committee, at the request of our Consistory,
bearers continued to function, pulpit supply was decided to request various ministers to labor in our
granted us by the Classes, and many taped sermons and midst during the first half of 1969. Four ministers-each
reading sermons were employed. Through these hard spent six weeks with us, and during this time two more
years the Lord preserved and encouraged us so that we families joined our fellowship, with eleven children!
never "despised the day of small things" (Zech. 4: 10). About this time also Pella received permission from
That we may continue to write of better days is due
only to His faithfulness!                                  Classis West to call their own minister. Since we knew
                                                           the Lord would send us a servant in His time, we also
Recent Growth                                              purchased a parsonage during this summer. Disappoint-
   During 1967 various families began to visit our serv- ment followed the first six calls we sent out, but in


300                                           THE STANDARD  BEARER



response to the seventh call we received the glad news become members? We hope so. We are even in-
that Rev. Kuiper- felt constrained to take up his labors clined to think so. Yet this is not our primary con-
in our midst. The joy that was already ours due to the cern. More and more we want to grow into the knowl-
Truth we possessed was greatly increased when we edge of the Lord Jesus Christ! Faithfully we desire to
learned that God was sending us our own pastor and proclaim to a  .nominally Reformed community the
teacher!                                                      distinctive Reformed Truth! In this way the Lord will
  We are still a tiny congregation; we number but add unto us in accordance with His holy will. We are
thirty souls. But we have the Reformed Truth of the convinced He has preserved us here for that purpose.
Scriptures: And we have systematic catechetical in-             Pella, a busy city of seven thousand, is located forty
struction. And we have a wonderful Adult Bible Study miles southeast of Des Moines and a few miles south of
society! Also, we are greatly encouraged by the fact Interstate 80. We cordially invite readers of the Stun-
that eighteen or twenty families have visited with us at durd Bearer to spend a weekend with us this summer as
our worship services during the past two years. At you journey to or from your vacations. Or better yet,
present, no Sunday evening passes without five, or ten, spend some time in this historic area. Either way, you
or even fifteen visitors in attendance.                       will be able to share in our joy, the joy that is in Christ
                                                              Jesus!
The Future
  We will not venture to predict what will happen in                                               THE CONSISTORY
this year or in the next. Will we grow? Will some visitors              PELLA PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCH


In His Fear

                               The Knowledge Gap
                                                 Rev. John A. Heys

  It is amazing in this day and age to see what a             legible document to have in possession and for ready
knowledge gap there is in spite of all the better meth- reference. In the matter of seconds a clear copy of
ods of obtaining knowledge.                                   anything can be produced by photostatic process. And
  The old method of transmitting knowledge by word there can be no doubt about it that seeing while
of mouth has not been replaced, nor ever will it be.          hearing makes a far stronger impression upon the mind
But that power has been multiplied today a hundred than hearing alone. That is also why the "now genera-
fold. By means of the phone, the radio, and television tion" finds television such a power and desirable ob-
the area in which knowledge can be dispensed by word ject. We are too lazy so often to try to visualize; and to
of mouth has been increased more than a hundred               read a book is too hard. It is easier to let someone do
fold. More swiftly today news goes out from the scene         the talking and act it out for us. But it is also true
of the event; but also to a far wider area of this globe besides this, that we do experience the fact more fully
does the knowledge of events issue forth with that            when it is seen as well as heard. Who is satisfied just to
speed.                                                        hear of some beauty spot in our country or elsewhere?
  Our mail service, bogged down and poor though it            We want to go and see it. We want firsthand knowl-
may be in comparison with more.recent years, still is         edge. We want that beauty to enter our souls through
swift and widespread in spreading the written word in         our eyes and directly so, not from a picture or by word
comparison with what was the case in the days of              description.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What with airmail and                  Added to all this is the amazing electronic wonder of
special delivery today, the whole world can quite the tape recorder, which serves so wonderfully in im-
quickly be contacted to make known what is desired.           parting knowledge and of reproducing with such fidel-
  Then, too, consider how much easier it is to impart ity the words that have been stated. Add also to this all
knowledge today and to receive it. The ballpoint pen is       the books and magazines that flood the market, cheap
certainly a long step of progress over the old quill for-a    paper backs and superbly bound volumes that will
pen, dipped into ink of an uncertain consistency. The         endure the wear of years of use.
typewriter makes a far more legible copy to read than            But can we say that the "now generation" and the
the hand scrawl of most of us. Add to this the amazing        generation that has brought forth this "now gener-
means for duplicating copy and of supplying all with a        ation" and these amazing means of dispensing knowl-


                                             THESTANDARD BEARER                                               301



edge and instruction, really has so much more know.l- man's writings. And what knowledge is given to the
edge and understanding? Indeed, time marches on, new generation is not the word of the cross but the
and every generation has new historical facts to learn word of fallen, sinful man who knows not the power
about, and to a degree remember.                           of that cross.
  But does the generation of our children, and do we         Why, we ask, in the midst of all these wonderful
who have brought them forth really know anything means of imparting knowledge and of giving instruc-
more about life? Do we have any better solution to our tion in the mysteries of the Kingdom of God is there
problems than our forefathers? Is there any less pov- such a knowledge gap in our children, and even in our
erty, social inequality among men? Are we really  - own generation in comparison with that of our fore-
just forget all the wishful thinking and propaganda - fathers? You find today not only that men do not
one step closer to the peace for which all men cry want to "talk religion"; and on Monday there is no
today? We are willing to try the  hippie,  yippee ap- exchange of thought between labourers from different
proach of shouting and of displaying cards that cry:       churches about what dainty meat and drink they re-
"LOVE." But does man, and I am talking about the ceived the day before in God's house. There is no eager
natural man who will not seek his knowledge from the sharing with the member of another church the rich-
Word of the CYOSS, have any solution to our pro'blems? ness of the truth that was proclaimed the day before,
The social gospel will fail. The social gospel has failed. and no thankful sharing with each other the heart and
Open your eyes and remove the cotton from your ears. kernel of the truth in the sermon. 0, no! A few laughs
The same men who were proponents of "the social about last night's television program or movie will have
gospel" in the past cry now that the church and the to be repeated amongst the workers. But to talk about
preaching of the Word are not relevant. Take a hard what was preached yesterday! It was enough to be
look at the freedom marches and protest demonstra- there, was it not? Do we have to go BACK to it on
tions of those who do this in the name of Christianity Monday! We began to say, not only do you find that
and even of Calvinism. Is there EVER in these a word situation, but you find that people know so little
about the CROSS and of the Christ of the cross?            about the Word of God. It reminds us of an incident
Indeed, there is the- "Christ" of the sermon  Ion the that happened some thirty years ago when we were in
mount. The Christ of "love." But when Scripture so the home of a member of the congregation after the
plainly reveals that the love of God finds its most service. His knowledge of Scripture was very meager.
glorious manifestation in that God gave His Son to that And he could sum up the whole section of Old Testa-
cross, should this not be the very center and basis for ment history from the time of the flood to the days of
any truly social gospel and for the solution of all of David by saying, "Jacob and those men." Jacob he
our problems?                                              knew, and after all that is a modern name. But he was
  Consider, too, that when this essential truth of the hard put to mention any more individuals in that
Christian religion is sidetracked, and so denied, then all whole period of history.
these wonderful means of ball-point pens, typewriters,       And our children today? In spite of all these means
radio, television, books and magazines and the like are which we have to impart knowledge to them with
going to further the cause of the lie rather than of attractive books of instruction and the like, it is dis-
knowledge which God gives in His Word.                     heartening to  find how little they know about the
  And does this -explain the present knowledge gap. Scriptures and about the doctrine of their own
that there is in the church world? Go to your local churches. What must it be like in these churches that
library and see once how many books there are there give no special instruction to their youth? The creeds
on religious subjects compared with the writings of of their churches the youth of today do not know, as a
unbelievers about all kinds of subjects. Now go to the rule. They are not trained and drilled in them. No,
library of a Seminary or to what is called a Ch.ristian    these creeds have to go, because they stand in the way
book store where there are shelves upon  shel.ves of of mergers for the sake of numerical strength and
books written on subjects pertaining to the knowledge financial power. Doctrinal purity is despised rather
which God gives in His Word. Now, in spite of your than coveted. Men are tolerated who depart from the
doctrinal persuasion, whether you be Reformed, Bap- confessional standards. And some may wring their
tists, Methodist, Presbyterian - and certainly if you be hands and decry the whole business. But nothing is
what is called undenominational with "no creed but         done, even though we have all these means to write
Christ" - how many of those hundreds and thousands and expose the lie as well as means to set forth and to
of books on those shelves do you believe actually hold before the eyes of the serious and concerned what
inpart truth, and how many propagate and preserve the is the truth.
lie? Indeed, there are books, and there are marvellous       But listen to what that Word of God has to say
means of preserving men's ideas and writings and of about the matter. In  Hosea  4:6 we read, "My people
supplying us with copies. But so often what is preserved are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast
and propagated is just exactly that: man's ideas and rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou


302                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the         If we want a knowledge gap between us and the
law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." Let generations of our children, then we had better let
that be a solemn warning to us, all of us. If we do not them avoid the truth and its instruction as often and as
provide for and insist on our children learning the much as they desire it. But if we want to be faithful to
Word of God, first of all, and learning it in detail and God, and if we do not want to see His church de-
well, and also of learning the doctrinal truths for which stroyed, we had better get busy with disciplining the
our churches stand, we too will be destroyed and false teacher in our midst, that is, the propogandist of
depart into apostasy, until our candlestick is removed!        the knowledge of the lie, and we had better provide
God is never mocked. This knowledge gap that is from the cradle and kindergarten through high school
becoming wider, this emphasis upon worldly, mater@ at least for their increase in the  .knowledge  of what
knowledge that crowds out and leaves no room for God says in His Word about life, this earth and all that
instruction in the Word of God and its truths, will in         which it contains, their calling before Him in this
time reveal the gap between the true and the false world, and, by all means, the salvation which we have
church, between the kingdom of darkness and the in Christ.
`kingdom of light. Let us double our efforts, for you            Without knowledge there is going to be no wisdom.
may be sure that Satan and his kingdom is doubling Without knowledge there is going to be no faith. With-
and trebling its efforts to destroy and delude.                out knowledge there is going to be no walking in His
  These lines are not to be misconstrued as. a reflec- fear. Without knowledge, God says Himself, we will be
tion upon the youth of our own churches as though              destroyed. And how awful, if we and our children are
they were so grossly ignorant. The opposite is true. In not priests of God! Then we are priests of the devil and
humble thanks to our covenant God we want to ac-               will dedicate ourselves and all that which we have to
knowledge the fact that our youth are well trained in our flesh and to a life of sin. Then we will also be
the truths of. Scripture and of the confessions. If this is    destroyed in the torment of hell. How awful, if God
not true in a locality, then it is a reflection not upon       will forget our children! John says, "I have no greater
them, but upon us the parents and office bearers in the joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."
church. Our duty it is to hand down knowledge and to There can be-no more awful woe than to see that our
insist upon it that our children not only be taught but        children walk in the lie. Let us share with our children
also themselves learn. the truth and apply themselves the knowledge and possession of the truth which is
diligently and faithfully to what is provided for their ours. Let there be no knowledge gap in our midst, but
knowledge and spiritual training. There will be a instead let us hand down to our children what we
knowledge gap, if we as parents and office-bearers in know, that by God's grace they may develop in that
the church do not hand down the truth to the gener-            truth further than we have. For the coming days will
ations that follow us.                                         need that.


From Holy Writ                                                                                   I,
                               The Book of Hebrews
                                                   Rev. G. Lubbers

CHRIST FINISHED THE WORK IN ONE SACRIFICE holy place was sprinkled, the high priest brought a
FOREVER (Hebrews 10: 11 -I 4)                                  sacrifice, for himself, the people were sprinkled, and
  There is a deep pathos in the description which the the sins were ceremonially placed upon the head of the
writer to the Hebrews gives of the hopelessness of scape goat, who was a picture of Him who bore our
many centuries .of sacrifices, as these culminated in the sins without the camp.
great day of atonement annually. The verb used here              But nothing was effected!
by the writer is such that it pictures us these Old              It was ever a repetition of the same sacrifices, end-
Testament high priests as ever standing to minister. less repetition from generation to generation and from
They are standing in their assigned place at the altar of age to age.
blood and altar of incense without ever coming to a:             But Christ comes in the .end of the ages; He dies on
conclusion. The very best attempt of the law fails on: the Cross and  cries  out:  it is finished!  (John  19:30).
the great day of atonement in the seventh month, the' That is what Jesus does through one sacrifice on the
tenth day. The purification and cleansing effected was Cross. It is a sacrifice which has power forever; its
such that it did not cleanse from sins.. Yes, the most. .efficacy is ever undiminished now and.in the endless


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  303



  ages to come. It has the power to cleanse from si:n.             the cleansing power of Christ's blood and Spirit. They
    The evidence that Christ paid for our sins, once for           form a definite class in distinction from those who are
  all, is in this, that after he finished the work of the          not sanctified. They are the  holy.  church, the com-
  Cross, he gave up the ghost, bowed his head and went             munion of those who are being sanctified.. They are
  to  ,Paradise. He arose the third day from the dead              not yet wholly pure; are daily in need of cleansing by
  because we were justified by God in Christ's work on             the blood and Spirit of Christ. That is indicated in the
  the Cross. And after three days he was raised from the           present tense. And they are not at all able to.purify
  dead, and, forty days later, he ascended to heaven in            themselves. This is indicated in the passive voice. Even
  the sight of His disciples from the mount of Olives, and         these must be cleansed in their conscience from the
  passed through the heavens and sat down on the right             guilt  of sin. They must be forgiven, justified. That is
  hand of God according to the prophetic word of God               included in the book of Hebrews in "being sanctified."
  in Psalm 110: 1. He no longer stands at the altar to             The book of Hebrews does not distinguish justification
  serve; He will never again need to be crucified. The             from sanctification, except that it speaks of the for-
  next thing on the agenda of God as it is written of Him          giveness of sins. And we must not overlook that to be
  in the volume of the book is: to place all his enemies           sanctified implies to be cleansed from the filth and
  under His feet. Fact is, that that is what Christ is doing       corruption of our evil nature and to be clothed with
  now. From the time of his crucifixion we see the Son             the holiness and purity of Christ.
  of man coming with the clouds of heaven, as this is                Since the Cross  of, Calvary and the finished work
shown to John on Patmos in the apocalyptic visions.                such is the new status of those who are sanctified: God
1 From that point on, the church stands with her face              will. perfect them presently in endless glory. They will
  expecting till He comes.                                         behold the glory of Christ which he had before the
    Here the text in Hebrews 10 says of this Christ:               world was!
  expecting in joyful hope to place the enemies under
  His feet, and to perfect the saints. He will perfectly           THE TESTIMONY OF THE HOLY GHOST IN
  crush and destroy the head of the Serpent and the                JEREMIAH 31: 33, 34 CONCL USI VE E VID ENCE.
  Serpent's seed as promised in the Protevangel!  (Genesis                                               (Hebrews IO:15-18)
  3: 15). When that point is attained then the work is               It is a remarkable fact that the writer of the He-
  perfected!                                                       brews, to reinforce his arguments, more than once
    The writer singles out the perfection of those who             appeals directly to the primary author of Scripture, the
  are being sanctified. The concept and idea of perfec-            Holy Ghost! Would that the advocates of the nefarious
  tion in the book of Hebrews is very singular. Perfection         "Sitz Im Leben" theory would take these passages in
  is mentioned quite often. Ever the term and concept              Hebrews seriously, and cease corrupting the Scriptures
  refer to the  consummation of God's work in Christ               to their own destruction. Meanwhile we shall give heed
  through His death and ascension and sitting at God's             to the implication of the writer in pointing to the Holy
  right hand. When.the many sons are brought to glory -            Ghost as speaking to us in Jeremiah 3 1: 33, 34 etc. We
  then the work is perfected; and when Christ sits down; notice, first of all, such a passage as Hebrews 2:4. Here
  on the right hand of God, crowned with- honor and                the author is ascribing the works which accompanied
  glory, then He is perfected. He is perfected when He             the preaching of the Word to the personal Holy Spirit,
  takes His rightful throne, far above all principality and        who apportioned to each as He willed when he
  power and might, and every name that is named not                wrought divers signs and miracles. The same Spirit is
  only in this world, but also  in, the world to come              the primary Author of Psalm 95: 7-l 1 where we are
  (Hebrews 2: 10; 5:9; 7: 19; 9:9.; 10.: 14; 11.:40). In all of    warned to "hear His voice," while it is "Today!" And
  these passages the idea of perfection is not that of             thus also here in this passage. It was not Jeremiah
  holiness, but the end attained in Christ-which God               himself who spoke these .words concerning the LORD's
  purposed in the Son before all worlds. And the entire making a New Covenant afterwards with Israel, but it
  church shall be perfected, set in a new heaven and in a          was the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Christ which in
  new earth in glory, at the time when the enemies are             Jeremiah did testify. (I Peter 1: 11, 12). And thus
  fully subjected to the feet of the Mediator who.sitteth Jeremiah belongs to `the holy men, who were carried
  on the throne at God's right hand:                               by the Holy Ghost to speak the Word. They are infal-
    When this point arrives all is finished, perfected in          lible  s inspired. That was their basic earmark; their
  glory; then shall the tabernacle of God be. with men.            words and predictions must come to pass. Only then
  The many beautiful eschatological glimpses are here              did they bring the oracles of God. (Deuteronomy
  multiplied by one more by the writer. This perfection            18: 19-22). That Jeremiah is such a prophet is indicated
  of the work of Christ pertains to those who are being when the Spirit in the writer to Hebrews explains His
  sanctified.  The Greek text uses the present passive own word and work as spoken by the Spirit in the
  participle: tous hagiazomenous. These. sanctified ones prophecy of Jeremiah!                    *
  are here indicated as those well-known, who are under              And then, too, we ought to notice the point of


304                                           THE  STANDAR,D BEARER



exegetical exactness. This, too, is a point we ought to       "remember" sins by a sacrificial remembrance as was
notice and take to heart for our very comfort and             done in the Old Testament day of atonement (Verse
salvation's sake. The point that the writer here. makes       3). Where there is forgiveness of sins there is no more
is that the Holy Ghost first spoke of  the, Covenant          need of a sacrifice!
which God would make. That was the general revela-              This is the only warranted conclusion!
tion concerning the Lord's faithfulness to fulfill His          It is not a merely subjective conclusion of a Jere-
promise  `in Christ. But the Holy Ghost adds a few            miah in his "Sitz in Beben. " But it is a canonical rule
particulars which are said "afterwards." This is implied      of faith for all those who are being sanctified. It is the
in the curious wording of the text! Every word of God         gospel of God proclaimed in the Old Testament proph-
is written with exactness and purpose!                        ecy as to its own proper exegetical message. The Bibli-
  Then we ought to notice that what is said afterwards        cal message is: no more concerning sins is there sacri-
is rather climactic. In the prophecy of Jeremiah the          fice to be brought ever again! Hallelujah! Hosanna in
matter of God's not remembering our sins any more is the highest heavens and glory!
expressly stated at the end: It is the finishing touch. It      Thus we come to the end of the main argument of
is the ultimate in salvation; clinching the "finality" of the better sacrifice which Christ brought as the greater
the covenant in Christ's blood. And this must be seen high priest !
with exegetical exactness so that we ascertain the              Such a high priest we have!
meaning of the primary Author, the Holy Ghost. Only             The writer has come to the end of his unfolding of
thus shall we detect that exact argument here of the          the many hard things to be uttered concerning Him
writer to the Hebrews.                                        who is called of God a high priest according to the
   And what is said afterwards is very meaningful for a       order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5: 11). We trust that
poor sinner. Instead of being under law, the Holy             those who have had their senses exercised and become
Spirit will put the law in our hearts, and write it in our more skillful in handling the word have benefited by
deepest aspirations and mind  (dianoian)  and on the these studies on this section.
other hand he will no longer remember our sins and              Having such an high priest let draw near with a true
iniquities. Why? Did God change in his righteousness heart in the full assurance of faith, and let us hold fast
and just demand? Not at all. Rather the just demand the profession of our faith, and let us consider one
will be satisfied once and for all. No more need to           another to provoke to love and to good works.


Contending  for the  Faith

                                   THE DOCTRINE OF SIN
                                          PROTESTANT DOCTRINE OF SIN
                                            THE REFORMED SYMBOLS
                                                  Rev. H. Veldman


       In our preceding article, calling attention to Article tion. This was the heresy of the Arminians. 0, they
III of Heads III and IV of the Canons of Dordrecht, we would declare themselves as maintaining that God
noted that, according to this article, man is not only must do it all, but man must also be willing that God
born in sin but also conceived in sin. And we also should do it. How often this is proclaimed today! God
called attention to how and what man actually has can do nothing for man unless man does something
become because of his having been conceived and born .tirst. Man can even pray for his own regeneration!
in sin. We now conclude our brief discussion of this             Finally, this article also declares that man can be
article.                                                      delivered only by the regenerating grace of the Holy
       According to this article, all men, without the re- spirit.
generating grace of the Holy Spirit, are neither able nor       Article IV reads as follows:
willing to return to God,, to reform the depravity of
 their nature, nor to dispose themselves to reformation.              There remain, however, in man since the fall, the
                                                                   glimmerings of natural light, whereby he retains some
He cannot change or improve, reform himself. He                    knowledge of God, of hatural things, and of the
 cannot and will not and cannot will to return to God.             difference between good and evil, and discovers
And he is neither able nor willing to reform his nature.           some regard for virtue, good order in society, and for
He can do nothing in his own behalf.                               maintaining and orderly external deportment. But so
       Moreover, man cannot. dispose himself to reforma-           far is this light of nature from being sufficient to


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                              305


      bring him to a saving knowledge of God, and to true         the difference between good and evil, between what is
      conversion, that he is incapable of using it aright even    proper and improper. Generally speaking, he knows
      in `things natural and civil. Nay further, this light,      the difference between the good and  ..the evil. He
      such as it is, man in various ways renders wholly           knows that it is wrong to disobey traffic rules and
      polluted, and holds it in unrighteousness, by doing         regulations, to commit robbery and murder, to have
      which he becomes inexcusable before God.
    This is the article which the Christian Reformed more than one wife, etc. It is true that many of these
 Synod of 1924 quoted only in part. And it is certainly laws are being violated openly and publicly today.
 worthwhile to call attention to this article a little in Today the rule governing the chastity of a virgin is
 detail.                                                          openly and publicly ridiculed. But the fact remains
                                                                  that man has some knowledge  sf the difference be-
    In Art. 14 of our  Belgic Confession we read that tween good and evil. And, fourthly, man also dis-
 man lost all his excellent gifts, which he had received covers some regard for virtue, good order in society,
 from God, and only retained a few remains thereof. In and for maintaining an orderly external deportment.
 this article the word "remains" is used, and- this word He knows, .for example, that it is wrong for him, that it
 must be understood in the sense of "tracks," as in- has bad consequences for him, and for society if he
  dicating' that whit he once had is now lost and gone.           does evil things. From this foUows his "regard." 0, it is
 The tracks of a vehicle, for example indicate that the true in our present day and age that this regard is sadly
 vehicle had been there but had passed on. In this third on the decrease. We live today in a day and age of
 article of the Third and Fourth Heads of the Canons, terrible lawlessness and recklessness. Respect for law,
 however, we read of glimmerings.                 "               and order are decreasingly in evidence today. People
    This article speaks of natural light which sinful man today do not hesitate to make of courtrooms, of law
 has retained after the fall and of the consequences and order a caricature and a mockery. Lawlessness and
 thereof. He retained some glimmerings or remnants of disregard for all virtue are much in evidence in our
 this natural light. By natural light we understand that present day. Yet, he does succeed partially, to some
 man also after the fall is a rational,  moral creature, extent, in walking in this orderly external deportment,
 who can think and will. His. natural gifts did not although it must be emphasized that it is only par-
 remain undamaged. Man, also from a natural point of tially; and even then, when he does walk orderly, there
 view, surely did not remain the creature after the fall is, of course, absolutely no good in this before fhe face
that he was before the fall. Sin certainly affected his           of the living God. Man `is and remains a hater of God
 liatural life. Physically he was made subject to the and of his neighbour; he is not subject to the law of
 power of disease and death. His soul was also affected.          God, neither can-he be.
 His original'brilliant ability to see and think and will           In the- second place, this article emphasizes that by
 was certainly unaffected by the entrance of sin into his natural light man can never bring himself to conver-
 the world. Also his knowledge was seriously affected.            sion or to a saving knowledge of the living God. This is
 He retained only glimmerings of his original natural emphatically stated in this article. This, we may say,
 light. However, although his natural gifts did not re- was the main issue at the Synod of Dordt. The Armin-
 main undamaged, neither were they lost. He retained ians maintained that the natural man was able to do
 some of them. He did not become an irrational animal. this. Conversion and attainment unto a saving knowl-
    And  what  dbes man today have because of these               edge lay within the capability of the natural sinner.
 glimmerings of ,natural light? First, he has some knowl- But the Reformed fathers opposed this. Over against
 edge of God. Every man  has an- awareness  .of God. this they maintained that it was not so. There is in the
 Because of this knowledge of God, under the influence natural man no point of contact for the saving knowl-
 of God's revelation, man can to a certain extent know edge of God and for true conversion. We read in this
 who and what God is, so that he also knows that God              article: "But so far is this light of nature from being
 is to be served and thanked. This is held before us in sufficient to bring him to a saving knowledge of God,
  Romans 1: 19-20. Secondly, he has some knbwledge of and to `true conversion, that he is incapable of using it
 natural things. He knows many things. One does not aright even in things natural and civil."
 need the Spirit of regeneration to know how to build a             However, there is another matter which is stated in
 house, how to bake wholesome bread, .how to operate this article. In the third place, and this is,.surely a fact
  as a mechanic, how to build ships,  -airplanes, sub- for which we may be very thankful, our fathers also
  marines, or even how to travel to the moon and land maintain -here that the natural man can also do no
  men upon the moon. All  the human discoveries and good in things natural and civil .with his natural light.
 inventions are evidences of this fact. And we are seeing And this was surely the issue in Point III of 1924. The
  wonderful things taking place before our very` eyes in          Christian Reformed Synod of 1924 maintained that
  the days and times in which we live. All this the sinner the natural man was able in things natural and civil to
  is able to do because he has some knowledge of natural do good in the sight  of the Lord. The .Arminian
  things. In the third place, man has some knowledge of claimed that the natural man can come through his


     306                                            THE STANDARD BEARER
I

     natural light to a saving knowledge of God and to true animal, devoid of natural light, then he would have no
     conversion. Now the Christian Reformed Church,                 sin. But now he has retained some glimmerings of his
     when drawing up its Three Points in 1,924, quoted              original light, and he has no excuse for his sin.
     from this fourth article of these Canons. This synod             This, we understand, is in complete harmony with
     did not quote the entire article, only the first part of it the Scriptures. Romans 14: 23 teaches us that whatever
     which reads: "There remain, however, in man since the          is not of faith is sin. In Hebrews  11:6 we read that
     fall, the glimmerings of natural light, whereby he  re- withdut faith it is impossible to please Him. And in
     tains some knowledge of God, of natural things, and of Romani 8:6-8 we read: "For to be carnally minded
     the difference between good and evil, and discovers            death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
     some regard- for virtue, good order in society, and for Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is
     maintaining an orderly external deportment." As Prot- not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
     estant Reformed Churches we reject both positions,             So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
     and maintain that the sinner, as apart from the regener- And this truth is substantiated by all of Scripture and
     ating grace of God in Christ Jesus, can never please the surely experienced by every child of God.
     Lord, can never do anything good in the sight of the             This concludes our treatment of the doctrine of sin.
     Lord, and that this also applies to things civil and The denial of the absolute character of sin is character-
     natural.                                                       istic of Pelagianism and Arminianism. The former
        It is, of course, understandable that- the Christian denies the Scriptural dpctrine of original sin, guilt and
     Reformed Synod of 1924 should quote only the first pollution, and the Arminian  wouid maintain that the
     half of this article.' It would be impossible for them to      natural man, through the natural light that is in him,
     quote'the rest of the article in support of a contention can come to a saving knowledge of God and to true
     that the natural man is able, in things civil and natural, conversion. The Christian Reformed Church, in its
     to please the Lord. Of course, the fathers surely con- Three Points of 1924, has also departed from the
     demn this good that sinners are able to do already in          Scriptural doctrine of man's utter and complete de-
     the articles that precede Art. 4 in this fourth head of pravity. We maintain that the natural man is wholly
     the Canons. But in this fourth article they declare,           dead in  @is sins and miseries, can never do anything
     with great decisiveness that also in things natural and good in the sight of the Lord, and this is surely in
     civil man is incapable of using his natural light aright.      harmony with the Word of God and the Reformed
     In fact,  the fathers also declare, in addition to his cpnfessions.  This truth of the Scriptures is surely being
     incapability of using it aright even in things natural and confirmed more and more by all of life around us in
     civil, that this light, such as it is, man in variqus ways     our `present day. May our Protestant Reformed
     renders wholly polluted, and holds it in unrighteous- Churches ever  remain faithful in the proclamation of
     ness, by doing which he becomes inexcusable before this testimony of the Word of God and continue to set
     God. -And the purpose of all this is that he should be forth the truth that all salvation is wholly of the Lord.
     made to stand guilty before the Lord. If man were an


     P a g e s   from the   &zs,t

                                    Believers and Their  `Seed
                                                          C h a p t e r   V I I I
                                                      A Two - Fold Seed

                                                    Rev. Herman Hoeksema             '

       We have now reached the point at which we can                ments of Holy Scripture. We have also seen that there-
     fruitfully discuss `the question how we ought to view          fore  -it is God's will- that the children of believers
     the seed of believers. Or, to put the question in  an-         receive the sign of His covenant, even as it is plain that
     other form: are, then, all children who are born in the        this sign in the new dispensation is the sign'of baptism,
     generations of the covenant also essentially in  God's         which has come in the place of circumcision. About
     covenant? Are all elect?. We `have seen that God estab-        this there can be no doubt. But now the question is in
     lishes His covenant in the line of continued  gener-           order how, then, we are to view that baptized sked of
     ations. This is perfectly cletir from the entire history of    believers; whether, then, all who are baptized, being
     that covenant as it is portrayed for us in Holy Writ.          born of godly parents, must also be considered as,
     And besides, this truth is clear from many pronounce-          spiritual seed; and, if not, how we  ,are to harmonize


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                307



this with our covenant conception. This is the question       testimony, -that we have an eternal covenant of grace
which also repeatedly arises with respect to children         with God."
who die in infancy. It is the question with which this          In the Form all of this is `applied to infants of
treatise began. And only after we have dealt with the         believers. For, thus the Form has it, infants are to be
subject of God's covenant and its revelation in history       baptized "as heirs of the kingdom of God, and of his
can we fruitfully deal with this question.                    covenant." Further, in the first question addressed to
  When it comes to this question, various answers are         the parents they are asked: "Whether you acknow-
given. And it is at this point that the real character of ledge, that although our children are conceived and
the various views of God's covenant which are held in         born in sin, and therefore are subject to all miseries,
Reformed circles first comes to light. Naturally, all are yea, to condemnation itself; yet that they are sancti-
quite in agreement about the fact that not all who            fied in Christ, and therefore, as members of his Church
receive the sign of baptism are also saved. To hold such      ought to be baptized?" And in the Thanksgiving after
a view would be contrary not only to the plain ex- baptism the same idea is set forth in the following
perience of God's Word, but also contrary to all ex-          language : "Almighty God and merciful Father, we
perience. Great is the multitude of those who are             thank and praise thee, that Thou hast forgiven us, and
baptized in- the Christian world but who trample God's our children, all our sins, through the blood of thy
covenant under foot and who certainly are not saved.          beloved Son Jesus Christ, and received us through thy
But when, in the light of this fact the question of Holy Spirit as members of  thtie only begotten Son,
God's covenant is pondered, the result is all kinds of and adopted us to be thy children, and sealed and
covenant views. And frequently the end of the matter confirmed the same unto us by holy baptism." It is
is the admission that the whole problem is really im-         plain, therefore, that we and.our  children possess the
possible of solution; and especially the very clear and benefits of that  cpvenant, sealed by the Triune Cov-
strong language of the Baptism Form then becomes the          enant God; that we and our children therefore also are
target of objections. That language is indeed very ndt to doubt the grace of God, that our children are
strong, and it is so clear that it is really not capable of sanctified in Christ and are members of His church,
a two-fold explanation.                                       heirs  of the kingdom of God; and that we and our
  We read there:                                              children may bow our knees before the God of the
  "Secondly. Holy baptism witnesseth and  seal&h              covenant, thanking Him that He has forgiven our sins
unto us the washing away of our sins through Jesus and adopted us as His children and heirs, - all of this
Christ. Therefore we are baptized in the name of the according to the language of our Baptism Form.
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. For              Men have tried in every way possible to escape the
when we are baptized in the name of the Father, God force of this language.
the Fathei- witnesseth and sealeth unto us, that he doth        Some have proposed that it is satisfactorily ex-
make an eternal covenant of grace with us, and adopts plained if it is only understood in the sense of a
us for his children and heirs, and therefore will provide presupposition. What the Baptism Form says of our
us with every good thing, and avert all evil or turn it to    children must be  presupposed  concerning them. But
our profit. And when we are baptized in the name of one senses immediately. that this is not the case. One
the Son; the Son sealeth unto us, that he doth wash us does ndt confess and vow and pray and give thanks on
.in his blood froin all our sins, incorporating us into the the ground of a presupposition. The Baptism Form
fellowship of his death and resurrection, so that we are speaks the language of faith, positive language; and it
freed from all our sins, and accounted righteous before speaks with certainty. Others, therefore, have held that
God. In like manner, when we are baptized in the what the Baptism,Form  says must be understood in a
name of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost assures us, by purely objective sense. Baptism signifies and seals all
this holy sacrament, that he will dwell in us, and this, indeed; objectively, holy baptism indeed has such
sanctify us to be members of Christ, applying unto us a rich significance. But whether now all this shall also
that which we have  in, Christ, namely, the washing be applicable to us depends upon our consent to and
away of our sins, and' the daily renewing of our lives, acceptance of God's covenant. To be sure, following
till we shall finally be presented without spot .or this course one comes into Arminian waters, as we
wrinkle among the assembly of the elect in life eter- have already pointed out earlier. But it should also be
n a l . "                                                     noted that such an explanation is not in harmony with
  In the above paragraph it is stated in the clearest the language of the  Baljtism  Form. According to the
language that in baptism God assures us of His cov- latter, our children are sanctified in Christ, and there-
enant and of all the benefits of the covenant. Thus it is fore are members of His church. They are very really in
also in the following passage from our Baptism Form: God's covenant and are heirs of the kingdom of God.
  "And if we sometimes through weakness fall into The cfiurch  gives thanks that they have forgiveness and
sin, we must not therefore despair of God's mercy, nqr that they are ingrafted into Christ, that they are chil-
continue in sin, since baptism is a seal and undoubted dren  .and heirs. And so, finally, it is. no wonder that


308                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



still others did not know what to do with the Baptism generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God
Form, and at last refused to use it.                          unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."
  Hence, it is certainly of importance that we place             The question arises, therefore: how do you explain
ourselves before the question how the church can all this? You answer that those who fell away rejected
maintain that Form, and how it can repeatedly pray God's covenant and trampled it under foot, and that
and give thanks and utter its confession and speak its        therefore the Lord their God rejected them? This is, of
vows before the face of the Lord in the language of course, true in itself. The ground of their condemna-
that Form. In what sense can the church speak of its tion certainly lies in their own sin. Scripture never
children as the Form speaks? Does it mean all the detracts from this a jot or a tittle. God is righteous
children, head for head? Are all who are presented for when He judges. But you cannot stop at this point: for
baptism sanctified in Christ? Are the  sins'of all for-       this does not  .finish the matter. God had given His
given? Are all ingrafted into Christ? And if that is not promise to and established His covenant with Abra-
the case, would it then not have been better and more         ham's seed. Yet many of that seed perished. There
Scriptural if the Form had immediately informed us ~were children of the kingdom who were cast out. Is,
that it distinguishes between spiritual and carnal seed? then, the promise of God of none effect? Is the Word
All of this must again be understood if we are to             of God fallen out? Did then the fulfillment of the
appropriate the language of the Baptism Form as our promise and the realization of God's covenant depend
own, not out of custom or superstition, but in glad and upon the choice of man's will? Did the matter stand
hearty faith.                                                 thus,' then, that some by a free choice chose against
  It lies in the very ,nature of the case that also in our God's covenant, while others with equal freedom and
search for an answer to these questions Holy Scripture        sovereignty had chosen for the Lord God? But then
alone may be our guide. And then our attention is you maintain the sovereignty of man! And then you
immediately drawn to what the apostle Paul says in            lose your God! Then God is dependent upon a sov-
Romans 9. In that chapter these very matters are dis-         ereign man; and then the realization of His covenant is
cussed. The subject there is not merely election and .dependent  upon an insignificant creature. Then God's
reprobation in general, but these truths with reference       counsel is frustrated by the choice of the sinful crea-
to the church as it exists organically in the world. The      ture. No, says the apostle, thus you  may not speak.
chapter speaks of the people "to whompertaineth . . .         Whatever may betide, God's counsel stands, and He
the covenants, and the giving of the law, . . . and of        does all His good pleasure. Neither do I say this,
whom as concerning the flesh Christ came. It speaks           therefore,  - thus Paul  - as though the Word of God
about Israel and Israel, about Jacob and Esau, about          were fallen out, but only to call attention to the fact
Isaac and Ishmael. The apostle proceeds from an his-          that they are not all Israel who are of Israel. The Word
torical fact in this chapter. The situation was thus, that    of God's promise did not pertain to all, head for head;
many of Israel had falled away. In whatever way~you and not one of those for whom that Word was meant
might want to explain this, that fact as such remains         f e l l   a w a y .
and is not changed by your explanation. There were               Now this fact, that the Word of God has not fallen
many who fell away already at Horeb, when for the             out, not even when many of the children according to
first the covenant of God was established with Israel as the flesh perished, but that God accomplishes His good
a people. Again, thousands upon thousands fell in the         pleasure, according to the counsel of His sovereign
terrible wilderness, even so that in the majority of election and reprobation, the apostle proves from the
them who were under the cloud and who were bap-               Old Testament Scriptures. He points, first of all, to
tized into Moses the Lord was not well pleased. When,         Isaac, who was chosen as the  child of the promise.
presently, Israel has entered into the promised land, it      Although Abraham had more sons, the Word of God's
becomes evident throughout their history that many            promise was, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." It was
are the objects of God's wrath. The ten tribes are sent       plain that not the children of the flesh, but the chil-
into captivity in order never to return. Presently also       dren of the promise were counted for the seed. No
Judah goes to Babylon, and only a remnant according           man is able of himself to beget.children of the promise,
to the election of grace returns. And at the moment           spiritual children of the covenant. For we are by na-
when the apostle penned that ninth chapter of                 ture children of wrath. We lie in the midst of death and
Romans, Israel as a nation had even been rejected. The        are impure and corrupt. That which is born of the flesh
glory and .the covenants were theirs no longer. Also ifi      is flesh, and remains flesh. And who shall ever bring
the new dispensation only a'remnant is saved when             forth a clean thing out of an unclean? Also Abraham
they are again ingrafted into their own olive tree. And       could not beget spiritual children of God. In himself he
it was also a fact that those who fell away belonged to       only begat children of the,flesh. Only the grace of God
the people whose were the covenants. To that people           could regenerate those children of the flesh and call
the Word  tias given, "I will establish my covenant           them to become children of God. And therefore also
between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their          the Lord God chose His own children out of those


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                             309



fleshly children of Abraham.  He- formed them and             sand had fallen. But all this grieved Moses and made
called them to be living children of God. And now the         him downcast. He did not understand things. Was not
Word of promise did not pertain to all the children of Israel then the chosen people whom the Lord has
Abraham, but only to the seed of election. .The Lord          separated to Himself out of all the peoples of the
maintained His sovereign good pleasure also within the world, in order to redeem ,them. and presently to bless
sphere of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh.         them as His own peculiar people in the land flowing
"In Isaac shall thy seed be called," (vss. 7-9).              with milk and.honey? Did not all this, then, stand fast?
   In the second place, the apostle  .points  us to the W&e not God's promises Yea and Amen? Could the
example of Rebecca and her two sons, Jacob and Esau.          Word of God, then, also fall- out? Could God's cov-
Rebecca conceived by Isaac, the son of the promise.           enant also fail? And did it actually depend upon the
And there was something that was strange to her; she          free will of the perverse and stiffnecked people? Would
did not understand- herself. There seemed to be a it .then  actually be possible that this people, who had
struggle taking place in her womb. And she went to the        been led out by the hand of Moses and Aaron, pres-
Lord and laid her condition before Him. And the Word          ently would perish in the terrible wilderness? All this
of the Lord explained to her the struggle which she           made the man  of God very despondent, as is plain
experienced within herself. Presently she would bring from what he  says to the Lord.. Especially does it
forth twins. Both were out of Abraham according to            weigh heavily upon his soul when the Lord also says
the flesh. Both were under the promise. But only one that He will send an angel before the people, `but that
of those children was chosen. And although, then,             He Himself will not go up  in their midst, lest He
according to the rule of the flesh, it would be thus,         consume them in the way.
`that  th_e second would serve the first, also here the         Was then all this possible? Could God also consume
divine good pleasure intervened; and in this instance His people? Would the terrible history of Horeb pres-
the greater according to the flesh would serve the ently repeat itself, then, until under the wrath of God
lesser. Thus it was that there was a struggle in her the nation was consumed in the wilderness? No, the
womb between the greater according to the flesh and man of God feels that thus he cannot go up from.
the greater according to the Spirit. And the purpose of Horeb. The Lord Himself must go with them. The
God according to election, which must stand eternally,        presence of the Lord must lead them. "Wherein," thus
made separation between flesh and Spirit and pro- he asks, "shall it be known here that I and thy people
duced strife, as it is writtep, "Jacob have I loved, but have found grace in thy sight? is  it.not in that thou
Esau have I hated." Here, too, it  ap,peared, therefore, goest with us? so  shall, we be separated, I and thy
that not all the children of the flesh are also children people, from  all.the people that are upon the face of
of the promise, but that the Lord God executes His the earth," (Exodus 33 : 16). And the Lord hears this
sovereign good pleasure also within the sphere of the prayer and promises him that His presence shall go
historical' manifestation of His covenant in the world. with them.
   Finally, the apostle also points to a Word of God            But even thus the man of God is not satisfied. Had
whidh He spoke to His servant Moses and which has not the Lord spoken of it that He would indeed
reference to all Israel as it already had been delivered consume theni in the way? Could not that presence of
and had gone up out of Egypt. "For he saith to Moses, the Lord also be a presence of consuming anger? Also
I will have' mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I that, thkrefore, would not yet give him the .assurance
will have compassion on whom I will have compas- and the courage to go up. No, the presence of the Lord
sion." This is a word from Exodus 33: 19. And to must accompany them in the glory of His grace and
understand it in its full significance we must recall the mercy. Then only is there the expectation of blessing
setting for a moment. The people of Israel had sinned and glory. Then' only is there the certainty that God's
greatly `at Mt. Sinai. Almost at the very moment when covenant shall. stand firm an.d that the people will be
God established His covenant with that people and partakers of the promises of God. Therefore the man
announced His law from the mount, the people had of God desires to see that face and that glory of the
broken that covenant and trampled it under foot. In Lord. He prays for this. "I beseech thee, shew me thy
the  gblden  calf' they had chosen to themselves their glory," thus he prays. And also that prayer will be
own gods, in order to worship and glorify them. The heard. The Lord will make all His goodness pass before
honor and glory which were due  Jehovah alone and Moses' face, and he shall see His mercy (vs. 19). The
which He had so remarkably shown when with a                  Lord will proclaim His name in the ears of &loses. But
mighty arm He delivered the people out of the house when the man of God presently learns to know that
of the bondage of sin they had ascribed  to. another presence of the Lord, full of grace and mercy, then he
god. And the Lord had broken forth in wrath, as had must understand at the same time that thus that face is
also His servant Moses, the mediator of the old cov- not for all, also not for all of Israel as it lies there in
enant. Upon Moses' word the-avengers had passed the wilderness. Surely, out of that people God will
through the- camp `of Israel, and that day three thou-        certainly'save and glbrify the people of His'fiercy.,  His


310                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



face shall shine upon that people in .everlasting mercy. least to speak of an external and an internal covenant
The man of God can therefore rest assured that God's of grace. If only the organic idea is maintained, and if
covenant shall stand fast forever. But he must  `not only it is maintained that the whole of God's church
labor under the  .illusion that there is not among that upon earth, the church of the believers and their seed,
people also a reprobate element, that there are no may not be named and may not be treated according
branches which shall be cut off. He must not expect to the nature of the reprobate shell, but must be called
that the presence of the Lord which shall go up with by the name of Israel. And they also seriously err,
that historical Israel can never be a presence of great therefore, who are not willing to address the church as
indignation. No, also in the future that presence shall beloved in the Lord Jesus  Christ and who think that
reveal itself in wrath for many among Israel. For God the congregation must be treated as a mixed multitude
will be gracious to whom He will be gracious, and will because the promises of God are not for all, head for
show mercy on whom He will show mercy. Also here,             head. But they also err who hold that we may presup-
therefore, Scripture again teaches the very same truth.       pose of all that they are regenerated children of the
God's sovereign good pleasure makes separation also in covenant. No more than a husbandman may presup-
the historical people of God's covenant in the world; pose of all the branches which grow on a vine that they
and among them also He executes the counsel of His are fruitful branches, no more may anyone presuppose
election and reprobation.                                     of all who are baptized that they are spiritual children
  Summarizing all this now, we come to the following of the covenant. But let it be emphasized once more
conclusion. God has a people in this world which is           that it is according to Holy Scripture to call the whole
called Israel, which bears the name of the children of of the organism of the congregation according to the
God. That people exists organically and develops in the name of the elect kernel, the r'emnant according to the
line of the generations of believers. It must be called       election of grace. And since then it is also a certainty
by the name of God's people. They with their children for the church on earth that some branches will never
are called the church, the congregation of Jesus Christ,      bear fruit,. therefore the pruning-knife of discipline
God's covenant people, Israel. They are called saints in must be used in order to cut out such branches.
Christ Jesus, beloved in the Lord. As such they must            Apply this now to the Baptism Form, and every
also be treated, according to the will of the Lord. They difficulty simply falls away. The Baptism Form is one
must be circumcised in the old dispensation, baptized         of the most beautiful documents transmitted to us by
in the new covenant. As the people of the covenant            our.fathers. Only, keep  in.mind that in this Form the
they must be treated in preaching and in instruction.         congregation is conceived of organically, and that the
Such is the teaching of Scripture. Thus God Himself whole is called. by the name of the elect kernel. This is
always addresses the people of Israel; Thus the apostles the reason why that Form is so definite and so clear.
write to the congregation of the New Testament day;           This is the reason why the believing congregation, if
No one has the right, therefore, to call that people as it    she again understands that Form correctly, can so
exists visibly by  another name, or to treat them dif-        heartily confess her faith, speak her vows, and send up
ferently. That people may not be called by the name           her thanksgiving to the throne of grace according to
of the branches which are broken off; neither may it the language of that Form for the Administration of
be treated as a mixed multitude. You do nqt act thus          Baptism. Also  our fathers understood very well that
in nature. If you have a vine, then there are in that vine there is always in the congregation an elect kernel and
also branches which never bear fruit, which are pruned. a `reprobate shell, and that not all is Israel which is of
out of the vine and presently burned. Thus you find it Israel. Buf they understood also, 0 so well, that there-
with many plants. But no one would even think of' fore the congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ may not
calling the organism of such a plant by the name of be called according to the name of that reprobate shell,
such unfruitful branches. .No, the whole of the `vine-        but must, bear the name of the elect kernel. Therefore
yard is called by the name of the vine. Thus the whole        they did not hesitate to lay it upon the lips of the
of. the congregation of Israel is also called. They are       csngregation that God establishes an eternal covenant
called saints in Christ Jesus. But now let no one draw        of grace with us  And our children, and that He seals
the conclusion from this that all who are in the sphere       and confirms the same unto us by holy baptism. There-
of this church as it exists historically are also actually    fore they did not hesitate to require of godly parents
spiritual children of the promise. There  .is an Israel       the confession that although our children are con-
according to the flesh and an Israel according to the         ceived and born in sin, yet that they are sanctified in
Spirit. And they are not all Israel who are of Israel.        Christ. Therefore they did not doubt but that the
There is an elect kernel, and there is a reprobate shell.     believing congregation ought to give thanks to the God
And God will be merciful to whom He will be merciful          of the covenant that He has forgiven us and our chil-
also within the sphere of the historical covenant in the      dren all our sins and has ingrafted us into Christ and
world. -                                                      adopted us as children and heirs. And therefore they
  Understood-in this sense,  we<.do  not object in thk        also laid upon the lips of that same, congregation the


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     311



     confession that we are now also bound to cleave unto: qrganic  existence of God's church in the world must be
     that covenant God with all our heart and will all  qu.r  i named and tneated in harmony with the character of
     strength, and bound to fight the good fight  of faith  1  -the  k&t  f&%1. And he who does differently does
     even. unto the end, as the covenant people. Always             injustice to the church and does not act according to
     according to the Scriptural rule that the whole of the         the Word of God.                (To Be Continued)


            B O O K - R E V I E W                                             ATTENTION ALL SECRETARIES?
                                                                      Secretaries of all Synodical Committees are re-
     THREE LETTERS FROM PRISON, by John' H.                         minded that all  matetial  for the  Synodical Agenda
     Schaal; Baker Book House, 1970; 151 pp., $2.95                 must be submitted to the undersigned on or before
     (paper).                                                       April 15 if it is to appear in the Agenda.
        Baker Book House is preparing a set of books called                                              Rev. D.H. Kuiper, S.C.
     "Layman's Bible Study Series." This volume, treating                                                  1314 North Main St.
     the Epistles of Ephesians, Philippians and Philemon, is                                                 Pella, Iowa, 502 19
     the first of the series. According to the back cover, the
     series is to be used in the college and  Bib16 school                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPA THY
     classroom, in the church Bible study group, in corre-            The Mr. and Mrs. Society of the Southeast Prot-
     spondence courses, and-for individual study of the             estant Reformed Church wishes to express its sym-
     Bible. The chapters give a brief outline of the book and       pathy to two of its inembers, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard L.
     are followed by series of questions to be discussed and        Somers, in the passing of Mrs. Somers' father,
     answered.                                                                    MR. H
        The format of the book and the general purpose of                                  ENRY VAN  PUTTEN
     preparing a series of this nature is admirable. It could         "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
     be a very beneficial series of books and be a great aid        saints." (Psalm 116: 15)
     to Bible study. But the present  volume  is  somewhat                                          Reir. M.  Schipper,  Pres.
     disappointing.. We suggest that these books be written                                              Mrs. H. Kuiper, Sec'y.
     so that the epistles treated are not forced into rigid and
     artifical outlines; that they be somewhat more detailed                    RESOLUTION tiF SYMPATHY
     - especially at key doctripal Ijoints  in the epistles; and      The Consistory and congregation of the Randolph
     that they be made more doctrinally sound than the              Protestant Reformed Church, Randolph, Wis., extend
     present book.                                                  their Christian sympathy to Mrs. Frank Fisher and
                                                           H.H.     family in the loss of their husband and father,
I                                                                                       FRANK J. FISHER
                         ANNIVERSARY                                  May  the Lord comfort her. and her family by His
        The Lord willing, on April 12, 1970, our dear               grace which is always  stifficient unto all things, and
     parents,                                                       grant them the  assiirance  that, when their  eartuy
                  MR. and MRS. GERARD E. BYLSMA                     house of this tabernacle is dissolved, they will have a
     will celebrate their 30th.  Wedding Anniversary. It is our     building of /?Zd, not made with hands, but eternal in
     prayer that the Lord, our Father, will continue to bless       the heavens. (II Cor. 5: 1).    -
     and sustain them in the coming years as.He has done in                                                Jake Regnerus, Pres.
     the past.                                                                                           Donald DeVries, Clerk
                                 Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Kuiper
                               Mr. and Mrs. Donald Doezema                       A WORTHWHILE LECTURE!
                                Mr. &d-I&s. Duane &nnink
                                            Miss Linda Bylsma       Subject: The Return of the Glorified Lord
                                                Grandchildren       Speaker: Rev. G. Van Baren
                                                                    Time: Thursday, April 9,  ,8  p.m.
                                                                    Place: First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand
                            NOTICE!!!                               Rapids
        Covenant Christian High School will need a mathe-
     matics teacher for the 1970-l 971 school year. For Audience? You and the friends you invite to attend
information contact Mr. Roland Petersen,  c/o Cove-                 with you! Mark this date on your calendar of impor-
     nant Christian High. School, 1401 Femdale S.W.,                tant events, and make it a point to spread the news and
     Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49504.                                 invite others to attend.


THE STANDARD BEARER
             P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49606         ..L.L--.-  -  _.--_.~`-  ..~-  ~-    ~.  .-  ----1-  -    -    -





                                                                                         _~~  ___  I'
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312                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          L


                                  News From Our Churches
   If  YOU live in the Grand, Rapids area, you won't short introduction is `given, along with pertinent ques-
want to miss the next lecture. It's next week Tuesday, tions for discussion, such as: "How do the USA, Israel,
April' 9, at 8 P.M. in First Church. Rev. G. Van Baren and other nations fit into this picture?" It seems to us
plans to speak on "The Return of the Glorified Lord." that that ought to provide a pretty strong incentive to
                              ***                                    make that meeting.                  ***
   Rev. C. Hanko spent a few days in Grand Rapids                         We have a little news from Rev. Heys. He writes that
recently.. He was scheduled, by classical appointment, in February he "preached 17 times, held 5 sessions of
to. preach in Randolph on March 8. Through the co- doctrinal instruction, and travelled over 1500 miles on
operation of a couple of other ministers, however, the an island 150 by 50 miles. There is much work to do
schedule was revised a little, with Rev. Decker ending and so little time - and travelling  consumes so much
up in Randolph, Rev. Van Baren in South Holland, and of that little time." Busy as he is, it's no wonder that
Rev. Hanko with his former congregation in First he adds that his first month of labor there "has flown
Church of Grand Rapids, By his own testimony, he by very swiftly." The Meulenbergs were expected on
counted it a .happy privilege; and, needless to say, the March 4, for a 21-day stay in Jamaica.
pleasure was by no means one-sided.                                                                      ***
                              ***                                         "You're invited out to breakfast!" So read bulletins
   After Rev. C. Hanko and Rev. H. Veldman declined in Grand Rapids. The Adams School Mother's Club
the calls they had  recieved  from Hull and  Doon, re-               sponsored a delicious breakfast in First Church parlors
spectively, both of those congregations formed new on March 18. An added attraction was a speech
trios. And both extended the call to Rev. G. VanBaren. ("Loving-kindness and our Children") by Mrs.
Rev. Kortering has declined the call from our church in Hoeksema, teacher of First Grade at Adams School.
Randolph Wisconsin.                                                                                      ***
                              ***                                         And, speaking of-schools, we could quote from the
  The monthly discussion group at First Church in Winter Newsletter of our Northwest Iowa Protestant
Grand Rapids was postponed, in favor of an important Reformed Christian School. Mr. John .Kalsbeek, succes-
program held in that church's auditorium on March 8.                 sor of  ,Mr. Fred Hanko as principal, writes "Yes, we
No less than four choral groups convened to render a have a school that may at times be burdensome, but let
combined choir program, sponsored by the Young us never forget that it is a gift from God Almighty. He
People's Federation. One of these groups was the choir has divinely entrusted it to our care. It demands our
of our Covenant Christian High School, under the constant support and attention. Fearing God we must
direction of Mr. Roland Petersen. The other three actively support the school, both morally and  tinan-
groups (Hope Heralds, Hope Choral, and Hudsonville cially because we know God has given it to us for the
Choral), all under the direction of Mr. Gerald Kuiper,               well-being of His covenant seed. This fear is the begin-
performed separately and together  -in one mass choir ning of wisdom for us as parents and teachers, but also
for a large and appreciative audience.                               for our children."                  ***
                              ***  *                                      Two quotes, yet, from bulletins of our Kalamazoo
  Plans are being made for the Young People's Spring Church :
Retreat. This one is scheduled for April 10 and 11 at                     "The only way to enlarge our sphere is to fill to
Camp Roger. We understand that the combination of overflowing the sphere we are in."
recreation and discussion groups makes for an enjoy-                      And this one, especially appropriate at this time of
able two days of Christian fellowship.
       .'                                                            year -
                              ***  ~                                             "Jehovah lifted up His rod -
   Our Kalamazoo Church has a mid-week Bible Class,                             0 Christ, it fell on.thee!
presently studying "The Revelation:" Their bulletin                             Thou wast sore stricken of thy God;.       ...
gives a little preview of the topic to be discussed. -A                         There's not one stroke for me."       D.R.D.


