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



           IN THIS ISSUE


              Meditation
                Our Heavenly Citizenship

              Editorial
                Is It True? Is It Equitable?

              Graduation Address
                Exegesis And Preaching

              Critique
 .. . .         SIN-Berkhouwer





                                                Volume XLIX, Number 19, August 1, 1973


434                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



                           CONTENTS:                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                Semt-monthly,   except  monthly  during June, July,  and August.
                                                                                published   by  the  Reformed   Free  Publlshin~   ASsOCiatiOn.  Inc.
                                                                                   Second   Class  Postage  Paid  at  Grand  Rap  ds,  Mich.
Meditation  -                                                                Editor-in-Chief: Prof. H&ner C Hoeksema
   Our Heavenly Citizenship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .434           Department Editors:  Rev.   Robert  D.  Decker,  Mr.  Donald  Doezema,  Rev.
                                                                             David  J.  Englsma.  Rev.   Cornelius  Hanko,   Prof.  Herman  Hanko,   Rev.
                                                                             Robert  C.  Harbach.  Rev.  John  A.  Heys,  Rev.  Jay  Kortering,   Rev.  Dale  H.
Editorials  -                                                                Kuiper.   Rev.  George   C.  Lubbers.  Rev.  Marlnus  Schipper,  Rev.  Gise  J.
                                                                             Van  Baren,  Rev.  Herman  Veldman.   Rev.  Bernard  Woudenberg
                                                                             Editorial Office: 
   Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . -437                           Prof.  H.  C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                  1642   Plymouth   Terrace,   SE.
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   Is-It True? Is It Equitable? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .437        Church New Editor:           Mr.  Donald  Doezema
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Meditation
                             Our Heavenly Citizenship
                                                                Rev. M. Schipper


             `<For our conversation is in heaven; porn whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
            Christ. "                                                                                                       Philippians 3 : 20


   For our conversation is in heaven . . . !                                 writes in the context: "For many walk . . . who are
   Literally, according to the original text, we read:                       enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is
"For our commonwealth exists in the heavens . .  ."                          destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory
   Now, if our commonwealth is in the heavens, it                            is in their shame, who mind earthly things." They give
must follow that we are citizens of that heavenly form                       evidence that they are merely world citizens.
of government. It must mean that the laws by which                                Not so, however, do the redeemed members of
we are governed are dictated from heaven.                                    Christ's church live and walk! Their walk is wholly
   That the translation has "conversation," is due                            different. They seek and set their hearts not on the
undoubtedly to the fact that  ,the apostle is contrasting                     earthly things, but the heavenly. They do not idolize
the life and walk of the church of Christ with that of                       their belly, but they live in the Spirit. They hate not
the  .children of this world. Of the latter the apostle                      the cross of Christ, but they are crucified with Him,


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      435



yea, they are identified with Him in His death and             all our thinking, willing, and acting. And therefore we
burial, in His resurrection and ascension, and                 cannot form another conception of the heavenly than
exaltation at God's right hand. Their end is not               is revealed to us in the mirror of the earthly.
destruction, but blessed eternal life. All of this blessed        In spite of all this, however, there is nevertheless
estate the apostle with one sweep of the pen describes         much that can be said of the heavenly. We can know of
in the text as our commonwealth which is in the                and speak about it with confidence, that there is a
heavens. There is our citizenship, even though                 commonwealth, a fatherland, a heavenly kingdom,
temporarily we are required to sojourn here on the             where God , the Lord Himself is King, where His will is
earth. Here is not our real citizenship,  - our walk is in     law, but where He is the Sovereign Friend of His
heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the          people, and where He purposes to spread out His
Lord Jesus Christ. While we are still on the earth, we         tabernacle over them in eternal love, wherein He is
are governed by the laws of heaven, and possess all the        feared and worshipped with awe, where the bond of
rights of the citizens of that heavenly kingdom.               His covenant friendship encircles all His own, where
   Indeed, we have the rights of citizens in the heavens!      they behold Him in the beauty of holiness, and serve
   What this means can perhaps best be understood by           Him in love forever. This constitutes the very heart and
the illustration of an  imigrant who migrates, let us say,     essence of that which is heavenly. Further, we know
from the Netherlands to these United States of that in the heavenly commonwealth all the above
America. Such an one leaves his fatherland and seeks a         mentioned relationships find their concentration in
better country in this western hemisphere. As a                and realization through our Lord Jesus Christ.
stranger in a strange land, he enters through the port of         He is the Mediator through Whom all the glory of
entry to make this land his home. That such an one is a        the heavenly shines in all the members of His body. He
complete stranger is immediately in evidence. You can is the First-born among many brethren. For it pleased
see it in his face, you can hear it when he speaks. In the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell, and
fact, his whole appearance gives him away as being a unto Him is given power to renew all things, and to
stranger in our country. What is still more severe, is the     destroy all that is of the earth, earthy. In the heavens
fact that he is also a stranger in the juridical sense. His    and earth- made perfect there shall be no more death
citizenship is on the other side of the ocean, in the          and curse, but complete deliverance from the material
land of his birth. In the new land he has no citizen           bonds that tie us to the earth. In the new creation
rights. Under certain circumstances it is possible that        which shall be dominated by the heavens there is no
such a migrant may be forcibly returned to the land            corruption, no death, no struggle, no sighing, and all
whence he came. However, if he is determined to                tears are forever wiped away. There is perfect peace!
remain in the new land, in time he may take out                  In that heavenly kingdom we have received citizen's
naturalization papers. Accordingly, he will then be            rights, and are declared to be the lawful citizens!
pronounced by a court in the land to have now                    These rights we have obtained through our Lord
become a citizen of these United States after he has           Jesus Christ! He obtained them for us by His perfect
promised to abide by the laws and regulations of the           obedience, through His suffering and death. Because
new land of his choice, and he swears his allegiance to        He so deeply humbled Himself, God has highly exalted
the flag of his new country. When this happens, he             Him and given Him a name above every name.
obtains all the rights and privileges of those who are         Therefore also God has given unto Him the Spirit
regular and native citizens of our country, namely, the        without measure, in order that He might sanctify us,
right to live here, to be protected by the law of the          and write on the table of our hearts the laws of the
land, etc. Juridically he is pronounced to be an heavenly kingdom. And because we are in Him, both
American citizen.                                              by sovereign election and by faith, we are principally.
  So our citizenship in the kingdom of heaven is               already with Him in heaven. This is the tone of all the
determined juridically.                                        Scriptures. Listen to what the apostle writes in  Ephe-
  0, indeed, it may be difficult for us who still dwell        sians  2:5,6: "Even when we were dead in sins, hath
on the earth to form a clear and perfect conception of         quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up
the heavenly. Not only are we as children of God still         together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in
so imperfect and does the darkness of our sinful               Christ Jesus." Or again, in Colossians 3: 1: "If ye,be risen
understanding hinder us from perceiving the things of with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
the kingdom of heaven; but also, even apart from the           Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." But note, too
fact' that we still have a sinful and corrupt nature, we       what we read in Hebrews 12: 22,23 : "But ye are come un-
are earthly, not heavenly. We are earthly from the             to mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the
point of view of our creation; we are bound to the             heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company
earth, to the material, earthly, tangible, and temporal        of angels, to the general assembly and church of the
things. All our senses whereby we take cognizance of           firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the
things, are earthly. We are simply bound to the earth in       judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made


436                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


perfect." Such, indeed, is the rich meaning of our                                           with His precious blood, Who possesses us in body and
heavenly citizenship !                                                                       soul, Who defends us against all our enemies, and
    But even so, there is much more that must be said!                                       preserves us in the salvation He has merited for us. He
Particuiar notice should be given to the fact that the                                       is Jesus, Who saves His people from their sins, Who
a p o s t l e   n e i t h e r   i n   t h e   t e x t   n o r   i n   a n y   o f   t h e    saves unto the uttermost all who were given Him from
texts mentioned above is exhorting us to become such                                         the Father. He is Christ, the Anointed of the Father,
heavenly citizens. Nor does he inform us that we shall                                       and qualified to make us the partakers of His anointing
become such in some future time. Rather, he makes                                            by His Holy Spirit.
the positive statement that our citizenship is now in                                           So our heavenly citizenship becomes a present
heaven. Our present walk as citizens is now in heaven.                                       reality !
    That is what is so remarkable about our present                                             And so also it follows that we look for Him out of
status! Calling attention once more to the illustration                                      the heavens!
we used above concerning the immigrant who becomes a                                            You see, because we are heavenly citizens, we of
citizen of our country, you will observe that there is a                                     necessity become strangers in the world!
marked difference between that earthly example and                                              Not only do we become estranged to the world, lose
the spiritual reality of our present citizenship which is                                    all our attraction to the world, and seek those things
heavenly. Though the migrant is eventually juridically                                       which are above. But we actually become strangers to
declared to be a citizen of his new country, and after                                       the world, and in the world. At least, so it ought to be!
many years residing in his new land he may assume the                                        0, indeed, we readily confess that we have but a small
customs of that new country, learn to speak the new                                          beginning of new obedience. We freely admit that
language quite fluently, adopt the modes of dress, and                                       often the line of demarcation between us and the
habits of living, etc., so that in many respects it would                                    world is hardly discernible. And in the measure this is
be difficult to distinguish him from the natural citizen;                                    so, we cannot boast that our citizenship is in heaven,
yet with all this change, you will still detect that he is a                                 nor can we say with the apostle that we look for the
foreigner, with different blood in him. You will                                             Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this fact that
observe, and he will admit that he came from another                                         deeply humbles us into the dust, so that with the
nation. Even if he has learned to speak the American                                         publican we must cry out: "0, God, be merciful unto
tongue fluently, he has a brogue, or there are certain                                       me, the sinner!" But when by God's grace we live as
words which he cannot pronounce as the native. He                                            strangers, we are marked by the world and treated as
reveals certain habits which plainly indicate that he has                                    such. Then we are  hated,`maligned,  persecuted, and
not perfectly coincided with our manner of living.                                           required to suffer for His Name's sake.
   But how different it is with the citizen of heaven!                                          It is this, that moves us to look to the heavens, from
   While he is in the world, he is estranged to it. He                                       which we expect our Saviour!
lives the life of heaven. Not only is he declared                                              Our heavenly citizenship then brings with it this
juridically to be the proper citizen of heaven, but he is salutary effect. On the one hand, we are made to
made such a citizen spiritually by pure and sovereign become strangers in the present evil world. On the
grace.                                                                                       ,other, to look in holy anticipation for the Saviour,
   All this is accomplished for God's people by the Who shall change our vile body, the body of our
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ!                                                              humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto His
   He is our. Saviour! Who delivers us from the greatest glorious body, according to the working whereby He is
possible evil, unto the greatest possible good. Who able even to subdue all things unto Himself. When we
delivers  us from the sin and corruption, from the curse are delivered finally from the body that must be
and destruction of the present evil world, and makes us returned to the dust whence it came, and this body is
to be partakers of the very life and glory of heavenly c o n f o r m e d   t o   C h r i s t 's   g l o r i o u s   b o d y   i n   t h e
citizens.                                                                                    resurrection, then our citizenship will be perfected in
   He is the perfect Saviour, while He is the complete EWY.
Mediator! This is beautifully indicated in all the names                                       This is our blessed hope!
ascribed to Him. He is the Lord, Who purchased us



                             According to our summer schedule, there will
                                be only one issue in the month of August.


                                                               THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                                                437


Editorials                                            Editof's. N:o&es

   We take this means of expressing, in behalf of the                              Michigan 49506. If you have already  ,written earlier,
Staff, our sympathy to our Business Manager, Mr.                                   you need not repeat the request. Our Business Manager
Henry Vander Wal, in the recent death of his aged                                  will fill'all back orders.
mother, Mrs.  Dena Vander Wal, a charter member of                                                                       * * * *
the First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand                                      We must apologize for the tardy appearance of the
Rapids. May the Lord grant comfort according to                                    reprint of  Reformed Dogmatics.  We had expected it
need, and give the joy of resurrection-hope.                                       from the bindery in June; at this writing we dare not
                                     ***                                           set a new date. We  hope  it will be ready by the time
Key .`73: What Must We Say About It? will be ready in                              t h i s   a p p e a r s   i n   p r i n t .   T o   t h o s e   o f   y o u   w i t h
p a m p h l e t   f o r m   b y   t h e   t i m e   y o u   r e a d   t h i s      back-orders: Don't worry. Our business manager is
announcement. Single copies or quantity supplies may                               keeping careful  record of all orders; you will receive
be had for the asking. Write to our business office: The                           your copy as soon as possible.
Standard Bearer, P.O. Box 6064, Grand Rapids,


                                            Is It True? Is It Equitable?

                                                                 Pro5 H. C Hoeksema


              [And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in
              the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth  .faileth: and he that departeth from. evil
              maketh himself  a- prey:  axd the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no
              judgrnen  t.- - Isaiah 5 9: 14,15 ]

   In a commencement address to this year's graduates                              Reformed Church Judge Feikens is qualified to speak
of Calvin Seminary, the Hon. John Feikens, Judge for on things ecclesiastical.
the U.S. District Court, Detroit, spoke on the subject,                                H o w e v e r ,   M r .   F e i k e n s   w a s   c r i t i c a l   o f   h i s
"`Is It Fair? Is It Just?" (cf.  The Banner,  June 29,                             denomination. He made the claim that a few years ago
1973, pp. 14-16) Though Mr. Feikens is considered  ati                             the Synod turned down an opportunity to bring about
expert in the realm of civil justice and jurisprudence, good order and proper rules of procedure and due
he was not, however, giving of his expertise in this                               process. And he made the claim that "this problem has
area; he purposed to admonish the graduates to seek                                been with our church for a long time."
and to practice ecclesiastical justice and to bring about                             To bolster this claim, Judge Feikens makes reference
improvement in their denomination's ecclesiastical                                 to two cases of fifty years ago: that of Dr. Ralph
assemblies as far as rules for good order, and thus as far                         Janssen and that of the Rev. Herman Hoeksema. And
as fairness and justice, are concerned.                                            this is the point at which Mr. Feikens begins to err, and
   This is in itself a good goal. And, I suppose, the                              to err very seriously.
occasion of graduation could be considered a proper                                    In connection with the Janssen Case, Judge Feikens
occasion for thus  admonighing a class of future                                   writes as follows:
ministers. With this we have no quarrel. We will not                                         Fifty years ago the case of Dr. Ralph Janssen, a
even quarrel with the fact that one who sits on the                                      professor of this seminary, rocked the denomination.
f e d e r a l   b e n c h   w a s   c h o s e n   t o   s p e a k   t o   t h e          In an excellent series of articles in the Reformed
graduates-although, as my experience has taught me, a                                    Journal, Harry R. Boer has written about this case.
civil judge does by no means necessarily have the                                        Issues regarding Dr. Janssen's teachings, his view of
                                                                                         Scripture, inspiration and miracles, had twice been
knowledge and qualifications which enable him to                                         brought before Calvin's Board of Trustees, and each
render -advice in things pertaining to Reformed church                                   time the complaints against him had been denied. But
polity and ecclesiastical justice. We will pass that by: it                              in 1922 it again took up the matter when further
is entirely possible that as a son of the Christian                                      complaints against Janssen were made. When the case


        438                                                                    .THE  STANDARD BEARER



               reached the Board, a motion was made to hear Dr.                                     The ecclesiastical records themselves, including: Acts
               Janssen, so that he would have an opportunity to                                     of Synod, 1920; the Majority and Minority Reports
               defend himself. This motion was defeated.                                            and the Acts of Synod, 1922; and the Acts of Synod,
                  The Board of Trustees then proceeded to judge his                                 1924, with its detailed treatment of the protest of the
               case even though Dr. Janssen was not present and                                     Rev. Q. Breen concerning the Janssen Case, in which
               even though he had not been given an opportunity to                                  many procedural objections were (again) raised and
               be heard; Dr. Boer suggests that the argument made
               against inviting Dr. Janssen to the Board was that he                                answered. 2) The testimony of the participants
               would not come anyway. In a split decision, the                                      themselves, as recorded in many brochures and articles
               majority of the Board then recommended to the                                        in religious periodicals of the day.
               Synod that Dr. Janssen's teachings were not                                            Incidentally, I have the distinct impression that Dr.
               satisfactory and that he should be dismissed.                                        Harry Boer in his articles  in  the  Reformed  Journal  aims
                  It is not inappropriate to say to you at this                                     in  part at a  post mortem  rehabilitation, or restoration
               juncture that in a civil proceeding or in a criminal  _                              to honor  (eerherstelling),   of Dr. Janssen  - somewhat
      ,_,proceeding  in a United States Court, no judgment
.-                                                                                                  in the fashion of the rehabilitation of Dr. Geelkerken
               may be made against a defendant who is -not present                                  in the Netherlands a few years ago. We have not yet
               in court and who has not been given an opportunity                                   commented on Dr. Boer's presentation because we
               to present his case personally or to defend himself.
                   The Janssen case then `went from the Board of                                    wished to wait until he finished his series; a third and
               Trustees to the Synod of 1922. When Dr. Janssen was                                  final article has not yet appeared though the second
               invited by an advisory committee of the Synod to                                     article of the series was published in January. Perhaps
               meet with it, he did so. At the committee meeting, he                                it may be added that such  post mortem  restoration to
               stated in writing that the only circumstances under                                  honor is at least consistent, both in the light of the
               which he would appear would be if Synod took up his                                  decisions on the Nature and Extent of the Authority
               case in a proper ecclesiastical manner. He wanted                                    of Scripture and in the light of the fact that today
               Synod to vacate the ruling of the Board of Trustees                                  errors such as Janssen's are tolerated in the Christian
               and then to hear his case in its entirety. He took this                              Reformed Church.
               p o s i t i o n   b e c a u s e   h e   h a d   n o t   b e e n   g i v e n   a n      In the second place, the misrepresentation of the
               opportunity to appear and to defend himself before                                   Janssen case by Feikens-Boer is merely their opinion,
               the Board. In that way the refusal of the Board of                                   as it was the opinion of Janssen himself and of many
               Trustees to permit Janssen to come before it and to                                  of his supporters in by-gone years. And it should not
               defend himself in person became a threshold issue at
               Synod.                                                                               be overlooked that the various elements of alleged
                   But Synod did not face and decide this issue. It                                 unfair and unjust treatment of Janssen were all
               did not criticize the Board of Trustees for its denial                               considered at the time the case was before the
               of this basic right. On the contrary, it took up the                                 churches; these allegations were considered by the
               Majority Report of the Board of Trustees and found                                   Board of Trustees and by the Synods of 1920 and
               against Dr. Janssen by adopting it. In so doing, Synod                               1922, and they were found by ecclesiastical decision to
               condoned and ratified the action of the Board of                                     be without validity. Yet Janssen and his supporters,
               Trustees, and thus an individual Christian's basic right                             even after 1922, refused to accept these decisions as
               to be treated justly was ignored.                                                    settled and binding, but kept on bringing up the same
                   This was not good order. This was not basic
               fairness. Justice and the appearance of justice demand                               old arguments, even as Dr. Boer has in his articles. Now
               that decisions and judgments made in this manner be                                  it is entirely possible, of course, that those synods were
               declared invalid; they are not sound judgments at all.                               wrong; but as a jurist, Mr. Feikens should have much
               The right to face one's accusers and to be present in                                better grounds than he here adduces before he makes
               person and with counsel before the tribunal which                                    bold to say (fifty years later) that the ecclesiastical
               makes a judgment is an unalienable right. It is a right                              courts were guilty of unjust and unfair treatment.
               which the church no less than the state must                                            In the third place, without going into all the
               guarantee to an individual who is under investigation                                ramifications of the case, I believe it can be shown
               and attack.                                                                          from the record:
           Now, in the first place, I would suggest that  Judge                                     1) That in 1920 Dr. Janssen was given ample hearing
         Feikens is himself guilty of a procedural error here. He by Synod. If my memory of the record serves me
         apparently accepts hearsay evidence, or, at least, not correctly, he was allowed more than an afternoon
         the best evidence. When I read this version of the session to speak. Would it not be strange if the same
         Janssen Case, I can only come to the conclusion that it Dr. Janssen would be refused the opportunity two
         is a much oversimplified and twisted version which is years later?
         itself based on the twisted version of Dr. Harry Boer in
         the  Reformed Journal.  As a  civil judge and as a lawyer, 2) That when the Board of Trustees appointed an
         Mr. Feikens certainly knows something about rules of investigative committee in the interim between the two
         evidence. And the best evidence would certainly be: 1)                                     synods, Dr. Janssen refused to cooperate with this


                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         439


committee. He wrote that he did not "care to be                                          rules of procedure which Feikens cites is the failure of
responsible in any way for what may involve the                                          the Synod of 1924 to give Hoeksema the full right to
violation of our Reformed Church polity." In other                                       defend himself before the advisory committee and
words, he would not even'submit under protest.                                           before the Synod.
3) That it was both in the light of the preceding refusal                                   And on the fact of this failure as such Mr. Feikens
of Janssen and in the light of the fact that the sole                                    is, of course, correct.
subject before the Board of Trustees at the time of                                         However, in the first place, if Judge Feikens
their alleged refusal to give him a hearing was  Janssen's                               imagines that some rules would have prevented even
teachings as reflected in the Student Notes  (not                                        that single injustice, he is utterly mistaken. I ask: did
Janssen's person or words or personal notes, which he                                    not the Synod know? Had they not given Rev.
refused to submit) that the Board did not hear him.                                      Bultema a hearing in 19  18? Had they not given Janssen
4) That Dr. Janssen was not interested in discussing or                                  a hearing in 1920, and the opportunity for a hearing in
d e f e n d i n g   h i s   t e a c h i n g s   o r   i n   s u b m i t t i n g   t o    1922?  Did not the very Synod of 1924 give to the Rev.
investigation. Whenever he `had the opportunity, he                                      Q. Breen  - who was a protestant, not a defendant  -
tried to bring up alleged violations of church polity                                    full opportunity to shed light on his protest before
and alleged un-Christian conduct and heretical                                           Synod? Did they not  know  that a defendant should
teachings on the part of his opponents. Let it be                                        have a hearing, should have the full right of
pointed out that Janssen had the perfect right, of                                       self-defense? In such a situation rules would make no
course, to register protests against the conduct or the                                  difference.
teachings of his colleagues; what he did not have the                                       That my last statement is correct, in the second
right to do was to try to confuse his case by making                                     place, is evident from the fact that the rules which
these counter-charges. This is a favorite device of                                      Synod did have were trampled ruthlessly; An example
defendants, of course: "the best defense is a strong                                     of this is the fact that all the materials of the case
offense." And certainly, what Janssen did not have the                                   which came from  Classis Grand Rapids East were
right to do was publicly to accuse his colleagues                                        admitted for Synod's consideration  contrary to the
without preferring charges against them; and the latter                                  rule  which set the deadline for the  Synodical Agenda
Janssen did not do. Moreover, even after 1920, when                                      at May 1. I ask again : did they not know?
this matter had been  .synodically decided, Janssen                                        In the third place, let me remind Mr. Feikens that
continued to claim that in the beginning of the case the                                 there were more important "rules" at stake in the case
four professors should have gone the way of Matthew                                      of 1924 than mere rules of good procedure and of fair
18.                                                                                      treatment. There were rules of long standing at stake,
5) That at the Synod of 1922 Dr. Janssen had the                                         rules which belonged to the heritage of Reformed
opportunity to appear before the advisory committee                                      churches ever since the Great Synod of Dordrecht. I
.and to defend himself, but he refused to do so. Now it                                  refer to the "rules" of the `Church Order of Dordrecht
is fine for Judge Feikens to write that in the civil court                               - such rules especially as Articles 36 and 84 of the
no judgment may be made against a defendant who is                                       (old) Church Order. And these fundamental principles
not present in court and who has not been given an                                       of right order in the churches were ruthlessly trampled
opportunity to present his case personally or to defend                                  by the churches. It was in 1924 that the collegialistic and
himself. But let him not forget: 1) That Janssen had                                     hierarchical misinterpretation of the Church Order
such opportunity. 2) That an ecclesiastical  ' court                                     gained the field; and it has held the field in the
cannot bring  a. man before it in irons as can a civil                                   Christian Reformed Church ever since,  - let alone the
court. In the church, if a man refuses to appear,                                        fact that all the terrible injustices of that black page in
nothing can be done about it.                                                            the history of the Christian Reformed Church have
   In the fourth place, Judge Feikens overlooks a major                                  never been undone!
point. In 1922 the Reformed truth of our confessions                                       "And judgment is turned away backward, and
triumphed.. Truth did not fall in the street. This,                                      justice standeth afar off . . . and equity cannot enter."
surely, is "fair" and "just." And I believe  - and the                                     No, Mr. Feikens, do not engage in building the
assemblies of Mr. Feikens' church believed  - that truth                                 tombs of the prophets and garnishing the sepulchres of
did not triumph at the expense of equitable procedure the righteous!
and personal justice.                                                                      And what is more important, in the fourth place, in
    But then Judge Feikens turns to "another instance,                                   1924 in the case of Herman Hoeksema and Henry
the Hoeksema case."                                                                      Danhof  - in distinction from the Janssen case  - there
    I will not quote the several paragraphs which Mr. was no denial on the part of the defendants of the
 Feikens devotes to this case. His material is drawn doctrines of Scripture and the confessions. There was
 from the Rev. Herman Hoeksema's book,  The no "doctrine" of common grace for them to deny,
Protestant Reformed Churches in America.  The chief only a theory and a current opinion. The very
 example of injustice and of the necessity of better opponents of Herman Hoeksema at one time said


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440                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



among themselves that they wanted him put out of the            identity as Christians and we are happy for the places
church, but that this could not be accomplished with            where we can  m&t on common ground."
the confessions. And the Synod of 1924 itself gave
these men the testimony that they were Reformed in                 I wish to point out two items:
the fundamentals.                                                   1. The Christian Reformed Church has never
  CL . . .truth is fallen in the street."                       manifested this sweet spirit of ecumenicity toward the
  "and equity cannot enter."                                    Protestant Reformed Churches. Officially it has twice
  "Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil          r e f u s e d   e v e n   t o   d i s c u s s   w h a t   h o l d s   t h e   t w o
maketh himself a prey."                                         denominations apart.
  Such is the situation today in the Christian                     2. Recently I have heard testimony from our home
Reformed denomination. Witness, for example, the                missions laborers that the attitude of the Christian
Dekker Case, when again truth and justice were                  Reformed Church is quite different than is described
trampled; or the  Sweetman Case, in which no justice            above. People may be absent from the services for
was done; or the case of Willis De Boer, in which it was        weeks; they may attend no church at all or churches of
impossible to get justice done.                                 other denominations. In some cases they are even
  "And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that              advised, in case of dissatisfaction, to attend another
there was no judgment."                                         church. Admonition or discipline for neglect of the
  To all of the above, this is probably in the nature of means of grace are absent. But let there be an inkling
a footnote. In the course of his address Mr. Feikens            that they are attending or thinking of attending
says in reference to the case of 1924: "Today perhaps Protestant Reformed services! Then there are warnings
we would view such division between believers differ-           and hints of  dicipline. Then there is slander of the
ently than  our fathers did. We live today in an age of Protestant Reformed Churches as schismatic and as
ecumenicity. We seek today for the areas in which               troublemakers. All spirit of ecumenicity vanishes as the
Christians can agree. Hopefully, as individuals, while          morning mist! "And the Lord saw it, and it displeased
not denying our doctrinal standards, we stress more our         him that there was no judgment."



Graduation Address
                            Exegesis And Preaching

                                                    Pro5 H. Hanko


introduction.                                                   the relation between Scripture and preaching has
  It is to be hoped that this subject will be, first of all,    always been obvious. This is no longer true today.
of benefit to our graduates. I refer to the general There are many pulpits, perhaps the majority, where
decline in preaching in our day. I refer not so much to preaching no longer has much to do  .with  t h e
the fact that there is a drift away from the preaching as       Scriptures. This has to do with the question of what
the center of worship services. I refer rather to a preaching is all about, and of what, in the mind of the
radical change in the  content  and the  form  of preacher, preaching ought to accomplish. Is preaching
preaching. The two are related to each other. And it is an offer of salvation? Is preaching a moral discourse
my intention to defend expository preaching. This               intended to uplift men's minds? Is it a commentary on
.defense requires a stress upon exegesis as being at the        present day social and political problems? Or is
bottom of all sound preaching.                                  preaching the power of God unto salvation? One's
  But it is to be hoped that some consideration of this         attitude towards the preaching will determine the
matter will also be of benefit to all you who are in            relation between preaching and Scripture.
attendance this evening. This is not a `subject of little          To get at the point that needs to be made, I can
or no concern to you; you are the people of God; it is          make use of an illustration. I recall that as a small boy I
for you that preaching is done.                                 was. aware of the fact that the minister in preaching
                                                                concentrated his attention on all the details of the
The Scriptures                                                  text: the individual words, the order of the words, the
  Expository preaching  Is `preaching which is                  meaning of the words, etc. I had accepted this as being
exposition of the Scriptures. In the Reformed tradition         proper for preaching without ever giving much thought


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   44i


to the matter. But one day I read a parody written by its power in the life of the Church? This can  only be
an unbeliever in which he mocked expository understood by understanding that Scripture is a
preaching. He had, constructed a "sermon" by means miraculous book.
of exegesis of a nursery rhyme  - I think it was "Old                         Scripture is a book divinely inspired. There are those
Mother Hubbard." He prepared a rather lengthy who maintain this doctrine, but insist that there is
"sermon" with a theme and three points in which he                         what they like to call "a human element" in the
went carefully into the meaning of each word and the                       Scriptures. The trouble is that they raise this human
relation between the words, expounding with diligence element to such a level of importance that the divine
the meaning of the whole. I can recall that I was element is all but neglected. Divine inspiration means
deeply shaken by this for a long time. It planted seeds verbal inspiration. And, as far as exegesis is concerned,
of doubt in my mind that the careful attention to                          this means two things. It means that the very words
details which characterized a minister's sermon was and expressions of Scripture are of divine choice, the
really a kind of "playing church."                                         precise way in which the Holy Spirit chose to express
   But there was one point I had forgotten or, at least, Himself concerning the truths of revelation. The Holy
did not yet understand. In a sense., it is possible to                     Spirit is never arbitrary. He chose what He did with
apply exegesis to any written work whether it be a good reason. It is the work of the exegete to discover
nursery rhyme of childhood days or a philosophical that reason. Divine inspiration means also that the
treatise of some learned man. The term "exegesis" exegete is always dealing with a book which carries the
means "to lead out"; and, as applied to any writing, it authority of God Himself in it. This instills in him a
means "to lead out of a writing the meaning." In a proper sense of reverence and awe as he approaches a
broad sense of the word, this is not peculiar to the book which is so completely of God.
Scriptures.                                                                   We confess also that Scripture is perspicuous. It is
                                                                           often said that one can hear many sermons on a given
   What then sets the exegesis of Scripture apart from text  - even by many different ministers; and all these
the exegesis of any other book? The difference is in sermons are different. This is not because a minister
the nature of the book  - the Bible as overagainst all can make a given text teach anything he wants. Not if
other books in the whole world. The Bible is unique. It
stands in a class by itself. If any book is relatively                     he is honest with his text. But it does mean that no
well-written, its meaning lies on the surface and it can one hundred sermons will exhaust the riches of any
                                                                           given text. This, in itself, has always been to me one of
be readily determined by anyone who reads it but                           Scriptures' most wonderful characteristics. A child of
once. But Scripture is not this way. This does not                         three or four years old can hear his father at the table
mean, as the Roman Catholics maintain, that Scripture read: "In the beginning God created the heavens and
is obscure, difficult to understand, a book only for the earth"; or: "And she brought forth her firstborn
trained theologians. Scripture is also clear. It is so clear son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him
that a small child can read it with understanding. But in a manger." Such a small child `will have no trouble
Scripture is like one of these pools in Yellowstone understanding such a text. He knows what it means. It
National Park. It is so clear that one can see very is child-like language. A preacher of thirty years
deeply into it. The longer one looks, the farther one                      experience can preach his tenth sermon on this text and
can see into its depths. But yet, it is impossible ever to firmly believe that he has not pulled from its well of
see the bottom. It is so deep that the bottom lies                         living water the last bucket. There are depths there too
forever beyond our penetrating gaze.                                       profound for his understanding.
   The point is that the character of Scripture                               We confess that the Scriptures are a unity. They
determines exegesis.                                                      have as their underlying theme: Christ, the full
   There are therefore certain elements concerning revelation of Jehovah the God of the salvation of His
Scripture which are important to recall to mind. I do people. Or, as a Bible teacher of mine once expressed
not propose to offer an exhaustive list of the attributes it, wherever Scripture is cut it flows with the blood of
of Scripture tonight; it is my purpose to concentrate the Lamb. But, and this is a remarkable fact that I
particularly upon those points which have direct cannot fully explain, the whole of the Scriptures
bearing on our subject.                                                   comes into focus in every single passage; Truly,
   Scripture is truly a miraculous book. From whatever Scripture in every passage moves from Paradise to
point of view one looks at the Scriptures, the truth Paradise. Every truth of the whole of Scripture is
stands out in sharp focus that Scripture belongs to the i m p l i c i t   i n   e v e r y   t e x t .   T h e   t r i n i t y ,   s o v e r e i g n
.whole realm of miracles. Do you wish to examine its predestination, total depravity, divine providence,
origin? Its  odgin cannot be explained except in terms particular atonement  - these and all the rest are to be
of a miracle. Do you wish to know its character? Its found implicit in every passage of the Word of God.
character throughout is truly miraculous. Do you wish                        We confess that Scripture is a spiritual book. It is
to investigate its preservation throughout the ages? and not an interesting collection of ancient writings; it is


442                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



not a textbook for a literature course. It is a                             And, from this it follows, that he is a servant of the
profoundly spiritual book. Beware when you come to                      Church. This must not be misconstrued. He is not a
it. You walk on holy ground. In a very real sense                       servant of the Church in the sense that the pew
Scripture is a closed book to the unbeliever. And it is                 determines the pulpit, that the man in the pew
open only to the man of faith.                                          determines what he must preach. He is a servant of the
                                                                        King of the Church, the Lord Christ. He owes
The Exegete                                                             obedience to no one but Christ. But, as a servant of
   With this book the minister has to do. This is                       Christ, He is a servant of the Church, for the Church is
the heart of his calling. Many other tasks may be                       the body of Christ.
placed upon him  - important tasks indeed. He may be
called upon to give lectures and speeches. He may                          Thus he may never be isolated from the pew.
assume responsibility to write for the  Standard Bearer.                   There is danger of this. I warn you of it. It is
He may have to take part in the work of various possible for a minister to assume that he is a learned
committees. He may be called upon to print the man who enjoys studying abstruse and esoteric
bulletin for his congregation. But he is above all an subjects for the mere pleasure of study. The knowledge
exegete, whose work it is to exegete the Holy Scrip- of the truth is then for its own sake. He engages in
tures. He is a preacher of the Word. And to be a learned and wise discussion with his fellow theologians
preacher he must be an expositor of Holy Writ.                          of like faith or differing faith and finds his delight in
   It is not my intention tonight to give a brief and the mere knowledge of difficult problems and the
condensed course in exegesis. But there are a few intellectual stimulation which comes from studying
remarks which seem to be essential to the subject. and discussing them. The danger of this is readily
These have to do especially with the fact that an apparent. It leads to the idea that there is a certain area
exegete works as a son of the Church. I want to stress of the knowledge of the Scriptures which belongs to
this fact tonight because I consider it to be of singular the learned, and another area which is the province of
importance.                                                             the unlearned.
   What does this mean?!                                                   I engaged in a discussion with another professor
   It means surely that a minister of the gospel is a concerning this matter but a few weeks ago. He was
product of the Church. He was, as a general rule, born deeply steeped in the area of New Testament criticism.
and raised in a covenant family where from childhood And he kept wanting to engage me in debate over very
on he was instructed in the Scriptures. Paul makes involved and difficult textual problems. Finally I asked
quite. a point of this, e.g., in his letter to Timothy. He h i m   c o n c e r n i n g   a   q u e s t i o n   h e   b r o u g h t   u p   i n
was spiritually nourished in the Church for there he connection with the Scriptural narrative of Jesus'
received all his instruction. He was taught the conversation with the Syro-Phonecian woman, how he
Scriptures not only in his home, but also in his school, would discuss these problems of textual criticism on
in catechism, and under the preaching of the Word. the pulpit. Oh, he assured me, he would never think of
And particularly, he was prepared for his task in the bringing these problems on the pulpit. I asked him why
Seminary.                                                               not. His answer was that these were areas of Scripture
  Now all of this implies that the exegete is a man reserved for the theologian; they were of no concern to
who comes to Scripture with basic presuppositions.                      the man in the pew. But they are matters of Scripture.
Before he ever begins to preach he has received the Is Scripture then to be divided into two categories?
whole system of the truth. He has received a system of that which belongs to the trained theologian and that
the truth which was not the invention of his parents                    which belongs to the man in the pew?
and his pastor, but a truth structure which has come                       This same idea has even led so far that it is claimed
down to him from the earliest history of the truth. He that there are different meanings in Scripture  - one
has received a truth structure which is the fruit of the                for the theologian and one for the laymen. For the theo-
guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Church throughout                    logian, e.g., it is obvious that Christ did not really rise
the ages. He has been instructed in this in such a way                  bodily from the dead. But we must nevertheless teach
that  .it has become his own peculiar heritage and                      this to the layman. For he can only understand picture
confession. To him is committed what Jude calls "the                    truths. As one man so aptly observed: "I'm sure if I had
faith once for all delivered unto the saints." He has                   to produce picture-turths to a parishioner in great an-
received this of grace, by the operation of the Spirit                  guish or under fierce temptation, and produce them
within his own heart. And particularly he has received' with that seriousness and fervour which his condition
this through the confessions of the Church. It is with                  demanded, while knowing all the time that I didn't ex-
this truth structure that he comes to the Scriptures as                 actly believe them-myself, I'd find my forehead getting
exegete. It is very important that he should do this. He                red and damp and my collar getting tight."
must not be, as some are today, embarrassed by this.                       This whole idea must be reprobated. And yet it is,
This is his life and safety.                                            e.g., the  velry issue in the so-called Report 44 of the


                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   443


Christian Reformed Church which deals with the                                               Preaching, because it is expository preaching, is
question of Biblical authority. Only a trained                                             always explaining. Scripture with Scripture. It lies in
theologian can understand that report. And there are                                       the nature of Scripture that he must do this, for
serious differences of interpretation even among them.                                     Scripture is a unity, an organic whole. But it is
    The exegete is a servant of Christ for the sake of precisely in this way that he does not come with his
God's people in everything he does. All his labors are                                     own word, but lets the Scriptures themselves speak.
to that end. You may take it as a rule of thumb that if This is most important. It is exactly why heretics
you stumble on an idea which enamors you but which always fail. They come always with isolated texts. In
you would be hard pressed to explain to any single                                         this way it is possible to prove anything from
child of God, you have stumbled on an idea which is                                        Scripture; but the very character of Scripture is denied.
false.                                                                                     The true preacher preaches in such a way that the
   As a servant of the Church the exegete does his                                         whole Word of God shines through and must be made
work, for he is a preacher.                                                                to shine upon every text.
The Preaching                                                                                Secondly, preaching brings out the truth as it lives
    There is a problem which remains and to which I within the consciousness of the Church. There is the
call your attention in conclusion.                                                         operation of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the people
    We are agreed that true preaching is preaching of the of God. This operation of the Spirit brings the whole
Word. Only in this way can a minister be a servant of Word of God to God's people. That is, the very truth
Christ. Only in this way will the sheep of God hear the                                    of the Scriptures itself is the work of grace wrought
voice of their Shepherd when they hear the preaching.                                      within the hearts and lives of God's people. Do the
    But expository preaching means preaching which Scriptures teach the forgiveness of sins through the
explains the text. Does not then a preacher, in his blood of the cross? But this same truth is a work  of.
explanation of the text, interject into the Word of grace wrought within the  consciousness'of the people
Scripture his own word. Or, to put it another way, is it of God. The very truth of the Scriptures is the
not better simply to read Scripture from the pulpit to objective testimony of what God has given to His
be sure that only the words of Scripture itself are people in Christ. That truth is therefore the confession
heard? Is not exegesis, exposition, always man's work?                                     of the Church  - a confession in all life's experiences.
    It is my concluding thesis that true preaching is And so the believers of God find themselves and the
indeed expository preaching. It would not be true                                          work of grace in their hearts in the preaching. This is
preaching for a minister to read selected passages of the great wonder of preaching the Holy Scriptures.
Scripture in place of a sermon. The Reformers were                                           And so God has given to us this calling to preach the
correct when they divided in the liturgy the reading of Scriptures. The very authority of that calling lies in the
Scripture itself and the sermon which was based upon authority of the Word itself. This has been and is today
Scripture. Both are important.                                                             more than ever the strength of our Churches. May God
    There are especially two reasons for this.                                             give grace that that preaching is preserved among us.



Critique
                                         SIN, by Dr. G.C. Berkhsuwer
                                                                             ProJ H. Hanko


SIN, by G. C. Berkhouwer, translated from the Dutch Zonde. " That is, Part I: The Origin and Knowledge of
by Philip C. Holtrop; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Sin and Part II: The Essence and Spread of Sin.
1971'; 599 pp., $9.95.                                                                       Berkhouwer is always difficult reading, and this
   Prof. G. C. Berkhouwer continues to produce book is not a book which can be read and enjoyed by
a d d i t i o n a l   v o l u m e s   i n   h i s   s e r i e s   " S t u d i e s   i n    everyone. There is something ironic about this. In a
Dogmatics." This volume, appearing along with the review in  The Banner  on this book by James Daane,
others in an English translation, includes two separate Daane praises the book highly. One of the reasons for
volumes on the general subject of sin which were                                           such high praise is given as:
entitled  "`De Zonde I; Oorsrpong en Kennis der                                                   Stated positively, Berkhouwer's theology contends
Zonde"  and  "De Zonde II:  Wezen  en Verb&ding der                                            that  all  theologizing  and every legitimate  theology,


444                                           - -         THE STANDARD BEARER


       must be an articulation of the Christian faith, and                  themselves leave doubts in the mind of the reader
       therefore a help to the pulpit and, accordingly, that                coqcerning these points of the truth. This may be, in
       every theology that arises outside of the Christian                  Berkhouwer's mind, a mere pedagogical device to force
       faith and Church pulpit is speculative, something that               the reader to "think through" theological problems;
       unsettles the Christian faith and muffles the voice of               but there is always serious danger in framing questions
       the pulpit.                                                          in such a way that the small seeds of doubt and
           There. is considerable and convincing evidence for
       the truth of Berkhouwer's contention. Every one of                   suspicion are sewn. This becomes especially important
       the above mentioned Berkhouwer affirmations                          i n   B e r k h o u w e r 's   w r i t i n g   b e c a u s e   o f t e n t i m e s
       (affirmations which Berkhouwer sets forth in this                    Berkhouwer, as we shall see below, takes a position at
       book, H.H.) `can be preached and believed unto                       odds with the historic Christian faith. The following
       salvation, and every position which these affirmations               quote will illustrate what I mean. It is taken from p.
       reject are positions that can neither be preached, nor               425, where the subject of original sin is introduced. It
       believed unto satiation. . .                                         reads:
           Authentic Christian theology is the point where                            The question, then, is this:  In confessing the
       theologians and babes meet, for the former only                            doctrine of original sin are we really obliged to adopt
       scientifically reflects on what is revealed to babes..                     a view of "arbitrariness" or a concept in which the
       And this point of meeting is a reflection of the                           guilt of one man is merely "imputed" to another?
       Christian pulpit in which the man of the pulpit, the                       (Notice that the use of the word "arbitrariness" and
       preacher of the gospel, must speak, and can speak,                         "merely" suggest already that  there is something
       the gospel powerfully and effectively to the greatest                      "arbitrary" and "simplistic" about the traditional
       theologian and to the youngest occupant of the pew.                        view of original guilt. H.H.)  Is it the meaning or the
                                                                                  thrust of this doctrine to give us a causal explanation
   If what Daane writes is true, then one would surely                            for the existential plight of the human race by
expect that Berkhouwer's writings would be so clear                               pointing to the guilt of "someone else"? Are the
and simple that any child of God, young or old, could                             results of that guilt with us today in a very uncanny
sit down with a volume and read it for his edification.                           manner, and to such an extent that they are really
Anyone will admit that this is far from the truth. Even                           considered our  guilt?  All the objections to this
trained theologians have difficulties understanding                               doctrine center in this "great presupposition" which
what Berkhouwer means. This is evident even from the                              its critics say must under lie its confession: the
reviews of this book which have come out. Not all are                            concept of an alien guilt or a peccatum alienum
by any means agreed concerning the position which                              Reformed theologians have never been afraid of
Berkhouwer holds. To read the  book-is~justp1ai.n hard discussing openly and frankly views which were at
work, and even a trained theologian finds the whole odds with the Scriptures. Nor have they shied away
thing rough going. If it is true as Daane writes, that from treating in their writings all the objections which
"authentic Christian theology is the point where have, over  the ages, been brought against the truth
theologians and babes meet," then this book is which the Church maintains. But  they have never dealt
anything but authentic Christian theology.                                 with these objections by asking questions in such a
   This is not to disparage Berkhouwer's vast learning. w a y   t h a t   t h e   v e r y   f o r m u l a t i o n   o f   t h e m   l e a d s   t o
One stands amazed at his knowledge of theology in the suspicion and  doubt'concerning  these matters in the
past and present and his familiarity with the thinking n&d  o f   t h e   reader.:Berkh?uwer   o f t e n   d o e s   tliis-
of all the theologians of the centuries. One cannot help not only in this volume, but in all of them.
also but be impressed with Berkhouwer's penetrating                            In the  second place, it is often difficult to glean
insights into difficult theological problems and his from Berkhouwer's writings what his own views are on
ability to jump to the heart of an argument. For these a   m a t t e r   -  a t   l e a s t   h i s   p o s i t i v e   v i e w s .   H e   o f t e n
and other reasons, Berkhouwer's books are always discusses a particular problem of theology at length
stimulating and provocative.                                                and from every conceivable point of view, sometimes
   Before I proceed, however, to some comments on in chapter after chapter. He discusses objections
the book itself, there are a couple of points which against the traditional view; he discusses other views;
ought to be gotten out of the way at the outset. They he brings in the writings of many other theologians; he
are, to me, troubling points; indeed, points which all                      faces difficulties of every imaginable sort. All the while
but make Berkhouwer's theology suspect from the                             or&is wondering what Berkhouwer  himseif is  gomg to
outset.                                                                     say as his position. You have to be alert to find it
 .In the first place, Berkhouwer has a knack for asking sometimes. It can happen that, after a discussion of
a long series of questions concerning some particular                       some fifty or sixty pages, Berkhouwer's own position
point of a truth long held by the Church. Now, of is found in a sentence or two in a paragraph. That is
course, it is not in itself wrong to ask questions                          all. One can almost read over it without realizing that
concerning these  points even. But Berkhouwer has a                         he has now had Berhouwer's own statement about the
knack for asking them  insuch a way that the questions                      matter.


                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                               445



    This is disconcerting. Theology has been, above all,                                 Berkhouwer is beating straw' men over the head.
positive development of the truth.  While Berkhouwer Already our Canons of Dordt specifically reject this
may have many  fine things to say about various                                          position: "The cause or guilt of this unbelief as well as
theological questions, there is a paucity of positive                                    of all other sins, is no wise in God, but in man himself
development.                                                                             . .  ." (I, 5). "And this is the decree of reprobation
    In the third place, Berkhouwer is a representative of which by no means makes God the author of sin (the
the "New Theology" in the Netherlands. Daane, in the very thought of which is blasphemy) . .  ." (I, 15).
review mentioned above, recognizes this and, in his                                      Berkhouwer's preoccupation with this idea seems to
enthusiastic endorsement of the book, points out that                                    stem from the notion that anyone who holds that God
the book is so soundly orthodox that we here in this                                     is sovereign over sin falls into the error of making God
country need not fear the "New Theology"; it is                                          the cause of sin. And it is in this way that Berkhouwer
obviously and genuinely Reformed.                                                        prepares the way for a rejection of this view.
    It is true that Berkhouwer is not nearly as                                             In the second place, he points out that to make God
outspoken as, e.g., Kuitert. It is also probably true that                               the author of sin is rooted in man's attempt to excuse
Berkhouwer is not nearly as radical as Kuitert and does                                  himself for his sin. This is, no doubt, true. And this
not reject as many of the historic Christian doctrines as                                t h e m e   o f "self-excuse" is a theme which runs
Kuitert does. Nevertheless, Berkhouwer is all the more throughout Berkhouwer's entire book. In fact, he
dangerous just for this reason. It never ceases to amaze returns to it again in his discussion of original sin, and
.me that, in the reviews on Berkhouwer's book, there                                     uses it as a jumping off point to reject the historically
have been, for the most part, songs of praise sung to                                    Reformed position in this matter. But once again, the
Berkhouwer and his theology. This is by men  .who                                        S c r i p t u r e s   s e e   n o   p r o b l e m   h e r e   -  a l t h o u g h ,
claim to be Reformed. It is true that they have some                                     admittedly, Scripture is not interested in solving all our
minor criticisms here and there on certain points. But theological difficulties. Nevertheless, to cite but one
on the whole, the reviews have consistently endorsed example, we read in II Samuel 24: 1: "And again the
Berkhouwer's position. The fact remains that anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he
Berkhouwer, in  aii his books, and in this one as well,                                  moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel
has made fundamental departures from the Reformed a n d   J u d a h . " While this surely indicates beyond
faith. Our survey of the contents will bear this out.                                    contradiction God's sovereign control over sin, we read
    We are not able, in this review, to give a complete in vs. 10 of the same chapter: "And David's heart
analysis of all Berkhouwer's thoughts. The book itself smote him after that he had numbered the people. And
is nearly 600 pages long. We can but skim over the David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that
most important points which Berkhouwer makes and I have done: and now, I beseech thee, 0 Lord, take
briefly treat them.                                                                      away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very
   Nor can we discuss in this review the all-important foolishly." Scripture does not see the problem which
question of Berkhouwer's theological method. If any Berkhouwer sees.
of our readers are interested in this subject, Prof. H. C.
Hoeksema has made some comments on this subject in                                          In the third place, in discussing the origin of sin,
Volume I,  No. 2  of  The Protestant Reformed                                            Berkhouwer insists that there cannot be an explanation
Theological Journal.  Unfortunately, this issue is out of for sin. He insists that sin, in its very nature, is
print, but it can be obtained-on-a-loan basis from the                                   irrational and unintelligible. Sin is therefore, its own
Seminary Library.                                                                        cause. Any attempt to explain the origin of sin is
   To turn now to the contents of Berkhouwer's book,                                     Biblically wrong.
it seems to me that the principle departure which                                           The problem of the origin of sin is, of course, a
Berkhouwer makes (and which determines the course                                        difficult one. Nevertheless, through Berkhouwer's
of the entire book) is his refusal to recognize the                                      process of reasoning  he.succeeds in putting sin outside
sovereignty of God over sin. There are several points                                    the will of God entirely. This is an involved question,
which Berkhouwer makes in this connection, for this                                      and one into which we cannot enter in detail in this
subject is the main subject of the first section of the                                  review. Berkhouwer's chief point is, however, that sin
book.                                                                                    cannot be included in the  will of God's decree; and,
   In the first place, Berkhouwer emphatically insists                                   although it can perhaps be said that sin belongs to the
that God is not, in any sense, the cause or author of                                    revealed will of God, even in the latter it is revealed
either sin or the fall. He spends a great deal of time on
                                                                            ---7 --      only in such a way that the law of God opposes sin and
t h i s   s u b j e c t   a n d ,   i n   f a c t ,   b e l a b o r s   -the  p o m t    Christ triumphs over sin by His cross. In other words,
unnecessarily. I say that he belabors the point                                          Berkhouwer steadfastly resists the idea that God has
unnecessarily because, to my knowledge, there has                                        determined the entrance of sin into the world and that
never been a genuine. Reformed theologian who has                                        He controls sovereignly sin.
taken this position; and one gets the feeling that                                          This is a critical and extremely important part of


446                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


Berkhouwer's book. There are several objections                                               The preaching of the Gospel will'show us that only
against this which we ought briefly to mention. 1)                                        in the rejection of God's good invitation can we
Although in his book Berkhouwer resists adopting the                                      possibly see that "border" from which we are
position of dualism (the position which holds to sin                                      constantly called forth, no matter what our offense,
being a separate and independent power in the world                                       back into the promised land. (p. 345).
a p a r t   f r o m   G o d ) ,   w e   c a n n o t   u n d e r s t a n d   h o w       While these ideas are not, of course, discussed in
Berkhouwer escapes this position. Sin is either under                                detail in this volume, they describe the preaching in
God's control, or it is not. If it is not, it is a force and                         Arminian terms and within an Arminian framework.
power independent from God. This is dualism. 2)                                         Also eternal forgiveness of the sins of the elect is
Berkhouwer `takes. a position which is contrary to all                               denied:
Reformed and Calvinistic theologians. While the
difficulties in the problem have been freely admitted,                                        This "`forgiveness of sins" is not a declaratory
our Reformed fathers have always insisted nonetheless,                                    pronouncement from the depths of eternity but a real
                                                                                          actuality in the midst of history. For that reason it is
that Scripture teaches God's sovereignty over sin. 3)                                     totally impossible to cast awary eye on the apostles
And it is indeed true that this is precisely the teaching                                 and to say that they "complicate" the message of
of Scripture. We refer to the following passages among                                    forgiven sins. (p. 394).
many others: II Sam. 16: 10, Prov. 2 1: 1, Is. 6: 10, Acts
2:23,  Acts  4:27, 28.                                                                  This position is entirely in keeping with another idea
   There is some indication in the book that after all,                              of Berkhouwer which is discussed more in detail This
Berkhouwer would like to maintain some idea of                                       i d e a   c o n c e r n s   t h e   w h o l e   q u e s t i o n   o f   G o d 's
sovereignty in this matter. I refer, e.g., to a passage                              immutability. Berkhouwer denies this immutability of
such as appears on p. 30:                                                            God in the sense that God cannot show real wrath and
          Various confessions refer to God's power in and                            then withdraw that wrath in order to show His love
       over man's sin. But this sovereign utilization of sin (or                     and mercy. He argues that God's wrath is not an
       this divine reversal of evil for good) in no way                              attribute. It is a  response  to men's conduct. Hence, it is
       threatens the Deus non causa  peccati (God is not the                         conditional. Nor, says Berkhouwer, is grace an
       cause of sin.)                                                                attribute. It, too, is a response to what man does with
   But it is clear that Berkhouwer means something                                   the gospel. Man's response to the gospel changes the
quite different in this statement than that God is the                               situation and this involves a very real change in God's
sovereign of sin.                                                                    response.
   It is, I am convinced, this that leads Berkhouwer                                    Daane, in his review referred to above, claims that
astray in other important areas of the truth.                                        this is not Arminianism, but a rejection of God as the
   Although Berkhouwer rejects the Reformed view of                                  cause of sin and a rejection of a philosophical view of
predestination and discusses his position in detail in his                           absolute sovereignty. That is, it is a rejection. of a
book on "Election," there are  ' passing references to                               sovereignty defined in terms of itself, not in terms of a
this subject in this book. In his chapter on "Sin and                                response. This is, of course, a hobby horse of Dr.
the Law," Berkhouwer writes:                                                         Daane.
           In opposition to this law, with this content, the sin                        What is striking in this discussion of Berkhouwer,
       of man is now "Exceeding sinful." For sin misleads a                          however, is the fact that he nowhere properly
       man by radically reversing and confounding the                                distinguishes between wrath and hatred. In fact, he
       meaning of that law which God has now "added."                                rarely, if ever, speaks of hatred. It is certainly true that
       The issue here is not the general "deteriora" of Ovid                         God is wrathful towards His people. We even sing in
       but only the  deteriora of  a central and total                               our Psalter: "In thy wrath and hot displeasure, chasten
       transgression of God's most holy law. Therefore we                            not thy servant Lord." But this is something quite
       see that sin, in fact, did increase. Sin completed itself                     different from saying that God hates His people. He
       within the realm of history and within the circle of
       God's activity  in and over Israel. This increase                             hates the wicked with an eternal hatred. He hated
       resulted from Israel's antagonism to God's gracious                           Esau. Cf. Rom 9: 1 O-13. But He loves His people with
       election. For election was manifest in that command                           an eternal love. This love for His people does not
       of God which was raised up for his own people.                                preclude His anger with them for their sins. Indeed,
                                                                                     when His people walk in the way of sin, they
   No Reformed man would speak of the doctrine of experience that wrath of God which fills them with
election in this way.                                                                fear and brings them to the sorrow of repentance. This
. It is not surprising that there appears in this book an                            was certainly true of Christ Himself. Never could it be
Arminian conception of the gospel. The gospel                                        said that Christ was anything but God's beloved Son in
"compels man to make a choice." (p. 176). The cross Whom God was well-pleased. But on the cross Christ
is "the  invitation  - God's final  .invitation   - to be experienced the full depths of God's wrath; so much so
saved. " (p. 417). And:                                                              that He anxiously cried out to ask why He was


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               447


forsaken. We have an earthly picture of this. A godly                             It is not by chance that we never find in Calvin the
parent certainly loves his children. But this does not                        later rigid distinction of "inherited guilt" and
preclude the possibility that he becomes angry with                           "hereditary corruption." Certainly there is a more
them. Indeed, his anger is a manifestation of his love;                       adequate  reason for this than that Calvin did not
for he desires to see his children walk in the ways of                        reflect "deeply enough." That reason can be found in
the Lord.                                                                     his consistent repudiation of every appeal to the
                                                                               alienum peccatum. (p. 483).
   Berkhouwer has a changeable God. This God is not                         While it is true that Calvin, in the same way and for
the God of the Scriptures: "I am the Lord, I change the same reason as our Confessions, does not speak
not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." explicitly of a federal union between Adam and
(Malachi 3 : 6).                                                         mankind, nevertheless, Calvin does write, e.g., in his
   There is one other important matter that needs
discussion in this review. This is the matter of original Institutes: "And his guilt being the origin of that curse
                                                                         which extends to every part of the world, it is
sin  - a subject which Berkhouwer treats at length in reasonable to conclude its propagation to all his
the second part of the book. In fact, his discussion of offspring." (II, 1, 5).
this subject covers no less than five chapters.
   The discussion ranges freely over the entire problem.                    The emphasis in our Confessions falls upon original
                                                                         pollution. But even here Berkhouwer has reservations.
It discusses not only original sin in the sense of original In more than one place, although he seems to accept
guilt, but also in the sense of original pollution. It                   the doctrine as such, he derides any attempts to
discusses in detail the key passage of Rom. 5 :  12-l 4. It              explain the pollution of the human race in biological
discusses the views of the Reformers on this subject as
well as the position of our Reformed creeds. And all of terms. In fact, he concludes that we really can never
this is once again within the general context of know just how it came about that all men partake of
                                                                         the corruption of Adam's nature.
Berkhouwer's fear that we shall fall into the error of
using the doctrine of original sin to excuse ourselves.                     It is significant in this connection that nowhere in
   There are several aspects of this question which this book does Berkhouwer give any attention to the
deserve some brief attention.                                            doctrine of  total  depravity. One would think that a
   In the first place, Berkhouwer rejects both the man who claims to be a Calvinist and to be Reformed
position of "Realism" and of "Federalism." The would devote some time to the second point of
former is the view that all men are  " `co-sinners' with Calvinism in a book on sin. But apart from passing
                                                                         references to the doctrine, there is no explicit
Adam in the fullest meaning of that word." The latter discussion of the subject.
teaches that all men are guilty for Adam's sin because                      However that may be, the question is, precisely
Adam  represented  all men and sinned as federal head. what does Berkhouwer mean by a biological
We shall return to this in a moment.                                     conception of sin? If he means that the propagation of
   In the second place, Berkhouwer rejects the idea of the sinful nature cannot be adequately explained by
original guilt, in part because, in his opinion, the creeds the science of genetics 
of the Reformed Churches do not adopt this position.                                                     alone,  no doubt this is true.
                                                                         After all, sin infects the soul and heart as well as the
His argument is therefore, that the Reformed Churches body. But if he means that there are no biological
have never dared to assume this position. This is implications at all in the doctrine of original pollution,
incorrect. In the first place, while it is true that our he is flying in the face of Scripture and the
Reformed Confessions do not speak specifically about
original guilt, it is also true that the idea is nevertheless Confessions. David writes in Psalm 5  1:5: "Behold, I
suggested strongly. E.g., in the Heidelberg Catechism, was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
Q. and A. 56, the Church confesses that she believes conceive me." Nor does one need to worry about this
that the truth of forgiveness of sins means, among Scriptural teaching leading to self-excuse. For this very
other things, "that God, for the sake of Christ's verse in  Psalm 51 is part of a confession of sin on the
satisfaction,  will no more remember . . . my corrupt part of David. He is pleading that it is his fault, that he
nature." This surely implies personal responsibility and is to blame for being shaped in inquity and conceived
guilt for the nature which I possess from the moment in sin. Furthermore, our Belgic Confession defines the
of birth. In the second place, the reason why our "original sin" which is "extended to all mankind" as
creeds which deal with this subject are silent on the "an hereditary disease, wherewith  ,infants themselves
matter is because the whole federal conception of the are infected even in their mother's womb, and which
legal union of Christ and  His people as well as of Adam produceth in man all sorts of sin, being in him as a root
and the human race was not developed in the theology thereof." In fact, that corruption of the-nature, the
of the Church till later. This is especially true of the creed says, "is sufficient to condemn all mankind"
B e l g i c   C o n f e s s i o n   a n d   t h e   C a n o n s   o f   D o r d t . apart from any of their own personal sins.
Berkhouwer claims that Calvin denied that we are                            And so Berkhouwer inadequately treats both
guilty for Adam's sin. He writes:                                        original guilt and original pollution. It is especially his


448                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



inadequate and apparent denial of original guilt which the first, and the relation in which we stand to the first
is particularly troublesome. Not only is this truth Adam as being analogous to the relation in which we
taught in vss. 12-14 of Romans 5, but it is the entire stand to the Lord from heaven. Cf. I Cor. 15 : 2  1,22.
thrust of Paul's argument throughout this chapter. Cf.           And so it is not true that we need not fear the "New
especially vss. 15-19 where Paul speaks of many being Theology" as Daane avers. It is probably true that
dead through the  offence of one; of judgment to Berkhouwer does not go nearly as far as his colleagues
condemnation coming by one; of death reigning by in the Gereformeerde Kerken who are popularizing and
one man's  offence; of many being made sinners               developing this new theology. But the foundation is
because of one man's disobedience.                           laid in Berkhouwer. It is all there as a basis for the
   This is a very serious matter. A denial of these          views of Kuitert  C.S. If Reformed men condemn  this
fundamental doctrines concerning sin in relation to new theology (as it ought to be condemned), they
Adam  -and total corruption is an undermining of the must also assert that Berkhouwer is not biblical and is
whole truth concerning salvation and the relation in not Reformed in his theology, for Kuitert and his
which the elect stand to Christ both federally and ecclesiastical companions are the spiritual children of
organically. This is Paul's whole point also in Rom. 5, Dr. G. C. Berkhouwer.
for he is constantly comparing the Second Adam with



Mission News
                              News From Jamaica
                                                 Rev. G. Lubbers



  There was a time when the apostle Paul wrote his           believe. And such there are in the churches of Jamaica,
famous "nevertheless" in II Timothy 2: 19. He had had        e v e n   t h o u g h   t h e r e   a r e   m a n y   d i f f i c u l t i e s   a n d
to contend with Hymenaus and Philetus, who had               frustrations. Satan, too, is working very industriously
erred concerning the truth and were overthrowing the         with his prophets of the Pentecostal-Holiness lies. Yet
faith of some. It was at this point that the great           the power of the Gospel and of the Holy Spirit working
apostle, a man tried in fiery afflictions, uttered the       through this means of grace is mightier than all. As many
well-known words, "The foundation of God standeth            as are ordained to eternal life believe. That is the "never-
sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are       theless" of the above quoted passage from II Timothy.
his. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ           There is also evidence of such power of God in the
depart from iniquity."                                       Gospel on the island.
  It is not our purpose to write an exposition of this          The first evidence of this power is the fact that the
rich and meaningful text at this time. We only wish to       congregations have not all left the Protestant
write in this news-item concerning the work in Jamaica Reformed Churches in Jamaica. There has come a
that it is in good and purposeful hands. It is not at all    distinction between those who are "for" and who are
in the hands of the Mission Committee, nor is it in the      "against." Even when we preach, the word is received
hands of undersigned as missionary. It is firmly and         by those in whose heart God works through the
securely in the hands of our almighty God and Father         preaching. Not to see this makes any activity of
in whom we believe.                                          mission work impossible, and it also would be a denial
  We have written very realistically concerning the          of the sure promise of God "that the Lord knows who
work and the conditions in the island of Jamaica. And        are his own," A preacher of the Gospel lives by faith
we would add that every word of it stands as reflecting      and not by sight, even though often a preacher has the
certain objective facets of the work. However, it was        fainting spells that all seems hopeless. A mighty
not meant to be a complete picture of what is going on prophet such as was Elijah would rather die than  .live
in the field, Our work there is not for nought. We are       when he sees the seeming victory of the powers of hell
always more than conquerors both in those. which             exhibited in the adulteress Jezebel. The broken reed
perish and in those who are saved.                           must not be broken, and the smoldering flax must not
  Preaching the Word is not faith in the field in the        be extinguished. We must not deny the evidence of the
first instance, but faith in God and in the power of the     presence of the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Gospel, a power of God unto salvation in those who              The second evidence is that the Lord is preparing


                                              T6lE STANDARD  BEARER                                               449


young men there for the ministry of the Word. Fact  is;    the name of Christ depart from iniquity.  ,It may be
that, during the summer months, four students are sent well to point out that these young people who are
out by our school to supplement the preaching power seeking marriage are those who were under the
of the ministers,- Revs. Frame and Elliott. Rev. Heys concentrated teaching of our island Seminary. One of
gave some very basic and thorough instruction in the leading elders called these weddings:
Hermeneutics and  Homeletics in the classes for a pattern-weddings for the churches.
period of five months. Although these students need          We have passed through a year of crises the past
more practice in sermonizing  - which candidate for year. What the future holds we do not know. But we do
the ministry doesn't? - they are now at a point where know who holds the future. The Lord knows them
they are fledgelings in sermonizing, and with approved  .that are his! And so we may boldly say that we will
sermons can go out and preach a word of edification. not fear, but pray to the Lord of harvests for
Undersigned was also present at the classes when the faithfulness which is required in stewards. More people
sermons were heard and criticized in class and may still leave us, others may revile us and hate us and
suggestions of improvements in form and content were corrupt the truth, nevertheless we press on, keeping
made. At any rate this, too, is an evidence of the work our eye and hope upon the living God.
of the Spirit, we do believe. And even though many           Let this "nevertheless" also motivate us in our
have left us, nevertheless there is ground for hope prayers for the work of God in general and for the
resting solely in the work of God..                        work in Jamaica in particular. We must not easily stop
  The third evidence is that during the past three praying; we must not allow the despondency of
months we might witness three weddings in the littleness of faith to cause us to cease to acknowledge
churches, and two more are yet to come in the next in prayer that God is for us! Do pray for us and also
two months. No one can live in adultery and for Candidate Mark Hoeksema and his help-meet who
concubinage in the churches and be members in good will accompany us for six months. May the Lord bless
standing. During a past year an elder in one of the these united efforts in the field. Brother Hoeksema will
churches was put out of office and barred from the preach and teach. He will teach in our school both
Lord's supper for leaving his wife and living in adultery English and New Testament History, while the
with another woman. That, too, is fruit of the Holy undersigned will teach Old Testament History,
Spirit in the Gospel on the island. And it is an Doctrine (Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort) and
approximation of the goal set before us to seek to Church History.
establish the true church which may be recognized by         Hopefully after one more year of instruction the
the threefold earmarks: Pure preaching of the Word, students can be graduated. What the Lord then has in
proper administration of the Sacraments, and the store for our churches in laboring in these indigenous
exercise of Christian discipline. With this framework churches we will need to seek to ascertain then. But
we also greet the weddings and Christian marriages as whatever the Lord has in store, He has it in store. May
evidence that God's work is pressing on; the Lord we ever seek to do His bidding.
knows who are His own, and let every one who nameth



Contribution

          Rhymed Version of the Ten Commandments

                                  (from the book, The Church of our Fathers,
                                                   by Bainton)



     1. Thou shalt have no more gods than Me.                     6. Take heed that thou no murder do.
     2. Before no idol bow thy knee.                              7. Abstain from words and deeds unclean;
     3. Take  notthe  name of God in vain;                        8. Nor steal, though thou art poor and mean;
     4. Nor dare the Sabbath day profane.                         9. Nor make a wilful lie nor love it.
     5. Give both thy parents honour due.                      10. What is thy neighbor's dare not covet.


450                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


The Strength of Youth
                                 Divorce and Remarriage (7)
                                                   Rev. L Kovtering                . . .

  We now bring to a conclusion our discussion on the          marriage: can we be married in the Lord, or not? This
subject of marriage and divorce. In summary form we           must be settled early in courtship in order that when
would remind each other of the duties we have within          you become engaged, which is a promise to become
the marriage relationship in order that we may serve          married, you can do that without any reservations.
God properly.                                                   If Christian young people take this to heart, they
MARRY IN THE LORD                                             have the God provided deterrent for problems of
                                                              separation and divorce. Marriage without the love of
  What we consider here is the positive aspect of the         God in Jesus Christ has no foundation. With that love
problem of separation and divorce. There are many             of Christ, nothing can possibly shake it or separate the
heartbreaking problems that are involved in marital           ones who love each other in the Lord.
difficulties. Let's begin on a positive note.
  Christian young people should realize that they have        HANDLING DIFFkENCES
the only power by which marriage can truly succeed              It would be humanly impossible for two individuals
and this is love. Paul explains it this way, "The wife is     such as a husband and wife not to have differences. A
bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if young couple beginning their marriage must expect
her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to       them. Every now and then we come into contact with
whom she will;  only  in the Lord,"  I Cor.  7:39.            a tender young bride whose imaginary balloon has
Marriage in the Lord means marriage in the sphere of          burst because her husband said something harsh to her.
Jesus Christ. This Paul further explains in Eph. 5' where     Suddenly her "idol" has appeared human, and that's
he describes our relationship with Christ as that of          more than she can take. Or you have the same thing
marriage. When we are united to Christ by faith, we are       with a husband: he has built such a mental image of  his
married to Him. This constitutes the proper sphere for        future wife that there cannot possibly be anything but
human marriage. By this union with Christ, a Christian        utopian bliss as he sees it. Then she sits across the table
husband and Christian wife have the power of love,            at breakfast, sullen and bedecked with curlers, and the
God's love, which enables them to consummate their            poor fellow realizes that his wife is like any other
own marriage to the full extent which God intended            woman. Young lovers soon come to earth and begin to
by creation.                                                  face the realities of married life together. More and
  We suggest that young people consider this seriously        more differences appear, and sometimes little
during courtship. At the wedding you stand before             annoyances become great chasms of separation.
God and vow before many witnesses that you take to              How must we handle these differences?
yourself your lawful husband or wife for  life. You             First, one's attitude is of paramount importance. A
promise to live together within the bonds of marriage         Christian may not enter marriage with the attitude of
faithfully and understand that only God has the right         trial and error. The unbeliever marries a person and
to terminate this marriage by death. How can you vow          says beforehand: we will try to make a go of it, we can
to live your whole life with someone who is a virtual         always get a divorce if worst comes to worst. This
stranger to you? Even though you may have dated               attitude is forbidden a child of God. Little wonder that
each other for years, you still are strangers in many         many marriages fail with, such a weak approach. We,
ways. The answer  is.this: you both are one in Christ,        rather, begin marriage with the assertion before God
and this union with Christ will enable both of you to         that we will work out differences. Christian young
keep your vow. I `would shudder if I had to vow before        people must realize that forsaking one's spouse is not
God to marry someone for life, if that someone were           an alternative for them. They promise to work out
not one with me in the faith of Jesus Christ. How trustful    differences with God's blessing. Both must resolve that
and confident we can be when we are one in the Lord           differences may not separate them; they have to learn
and therefore have the basis upon which to pledge our         to deal with them in love and resolve them.
love to someone for the rest of our earthly lives.              Secondly, the resolution of differences is only in the
  This should have primary consideration in your              way of facing them. All too often a young husband or
marriage plans. It happens all too often that young           wife does the "slow burn" and tries to put up with
people become engaged to be married and have not              something the spouse does which makes them angry.
even resolved this most important question for their          This is sure to lead to trouble. Such avoidance of issues


                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       451



builds pressure until the escape valve blows; and that                                 is repented of and forgiven.
often has dire consequence, whether in verbal or                                         In our day of easy divorce, the guilty spouse often
physical violence. It is amazing how `little differences                               times breaks the marriage bond permanently by
have ways of contributing to such a crucial breakdown.                                 remarrying another person. Even this does not free the
   Little differences have to be talked out on a daily                                 obedient child of God. Such an one continues to pray
b a s i s .   I f   a   c o u p l e   l e a r n s   t o   e x p r e s s   t h e i r    for the one who is walking in sin and waits upon the
disappointments with each other, they help each other                                  Lord to lead him to see the error of his way and, if
overcome them. This is the basic principle of love; it                                 possible, that they can be forgiven and received back
seeks to remove anything that -divides and encourages                                  within the marriage relationship. While waiting, which
all that which unites. In a Christian marriage there has                               is agonizingly lonely and a trying time, the faithful
to be much confessing and forgiving of one another.                                    child of God has this assurance that being a eunuch for
Young married couples do well to learn this early in                                   the sake of the kingdom of heaven, Matt. 19: 12, he is
marriage.                                                                              in the will of God, and God will give grace to sustain in
   One other thing, if this sort of communication is                                   every need. What is impossible with men is possible
difficult, and a young couple realizes that they are not                               with God.
doing this properly, it is best to get help through                                      The problem of separation is not limited however to
counseling. As a minister, one of the greatest                                         adultery alone. What happens if a married couple have
frustrations in dealing with marriage problems, is that                                difficulties which seem to make living together
the minister is contacted as a last resort, out of a spirit of                         impossible. There is constant fighting, tension, and
desperation. By then communication is often so maybe even threatening of life. Should they separate?
broken down that picking up the pieces is terribly                                       The answer is that such a separation is in place
difficult. If a young couple feel that they are drifting                               provided that it is used as a means to heal the breech.
apart because of differences, and they are not able to                                 It is not right for one to run away from his or her
handle them, it is best to seek counsel from one's                                     husband or wife because living with them is difficult.
minister immediately.                                                                  Parents should not encourage children to come home
   Often times differences present themselves as                                       and live with daddy and mommy once again. The only
opportunities for a couple really to get to know each                                  reason someone may leave his spouse temporarily, is
other better. If the spirit is that of love and the guide is                           that it will help them resolve differences and clear the
that of Christ and His Word, such differences provide                                  air so that they can communicate without fear for life
an opportunity for a husband and wife to do some soul                                  and safety.
searching and praying for God's guidance. All                                            This, too, must be brief if at all possible. Paul's
marriages cannot be on the same spiritual plane. There                                 warning concerning  incontinency of a husband or wife
are some children of God who are thoroughly content                                    who refrain from sexual relationship in order to pray
in the blessings God gives them through their marriage.                                and meditate, I Cor.  75, would certainly apply here as
There are other children of God who seem to have a                                     well. Satan would like to use such a situation to lead
difficult time of it. The reasons may be as varied as the                              such marriage partners into greater sin and perhaps
people involved. One thing we must avoid is being                                      even adultery. Separation should never be taken
satisfied with the status quo, when a little more effort                               lightly, but only with a deep conviction that this is the
might bring the marriage to a higher plane. According                                  only way to heal a marriage. It places a great deal of
to Ephesians 5, we are to make our marriage more                                       responsiblity on the part of the husband or wife  who.
Christ-like every day. By doing this, divorce will be out                              leaves the home to live somewhere else.
of the question.                                                                       MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN
SEPARATION                                                                               From an earthly point of view, marriages last only
   Sometimes, all the effort in the world cannot save a                                while we live here. Death terminates the legal aspect of
marriage. It may be because of one of the marriage                                     marriage, so that one is freed to marry another upon
partners, most often it is because of both. What then?                                 the death of one's spouse. This is proper, for such a
   As we have pointed out in former articles, divorce,                                 relationship serves the purpose of God while His
as it is legally understood in our land, is out of the                                 people still live on the earth. There is no need of
question for a Christian. Marriage is a lifelong union,                                marriage in heaven; we will be like the angels in glory
ended only by death. Adultery is the only ground for a                                 who neither marry nor are given in marriage, Matt.
separation granted by law. The Scriptural reason for                                   22:30. Our fellowship in heaven will not be of the
this is love. If a husband or wife is sinned against by  his                           earth earthy, but will consist of the-glorious fellowship
or her spouse, love seeks repentance and forgiveness.                                  we have with God in Jesus Christ.
Divorce closes the door to such forgiveness. Separation                                  From this point of view the future of the child of
impresses upon the guilty one that adultery is a serious                               God is most blessed. Our marriage to Christ makes our
sin  a.nd makes love within  m,arriage impossible unless it                            earthly marriage to a husband or wife most precious.


.4!i2                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



Yet, when this earthly life is over, that relationship      glory of heaven as the perfect bride of Christ, adorned
ceases to exist. It vanishes away with all the things of with our white marriage dress, made ready as the bride
the earth. That is not disappointment. In its place, we     for her husband, Revelation 19.
will have the privilege to enjoy the perfect marriage of      God grant that our marriages prepare us for this
Christ and His church. We will then enter into the eternal marriage.



Studies in Isaiah
                                    Introduction, II
         1
                                                 Rev. R. C. Harbach


   Most Christians are not disturbed by the attacks of backwards, or shuffling the chapters like a pack of
radical critics upon the Book of Isaiah, nor are they cards." For there is "the reader who knows better,"
particularly interested in the so called critical problem the believer in the God of revelation. Therefore, with
relative to this prophecy. When you walk through an regard to these "learned" attacks on Isaiah, he will
orchard there is really more to it than the admiring of "certainly pronounce them `trifles light as air.'  "
the beautiful out-of-doors and enjoying the fragrance Unbelieving Bible study does not begin with the
of the trees and the benefit of their fruits. There is also assumption or presupposition that the Bible is true,
the realization of all the labors the farmer must have because its basic presupposition is that there is no such
expended in his constant battle against destructive thing as truth, at least, not to begin with. We begin
insects. There must be an appreciation of that labor, with what we have at the outset, which may be the
for without it there could be no orchard and no fruit. worst, the false, and we proceed, as a result of our
And as it is profitable to know something about tree "scientific findings," to the less false. Then we reason
and fruit pests, so it will be profitable to know onward to "possibly," upward to "probably" and,
something of the position of the "higher critics."          maybe, through a cloudy, muddy morass, eventually of
   German destructive higher critics  assume that this sifting the "facts" to "certainly." The difference
book is the product of numerous authors and editors between the believer's and the higher critic's approach
who have actually added to and subtracted from the to the Bible is that of the principle of old English law,
facts, transposed, combined and garbled them so badly that the accused is accounted innocent until proved
by their own inventions that only these self-styled guilty, and the method in the criminal proceedings of a
critics can re-arrange the whole mess in any kind of dictatorship, where the accused is held guilty until he
order understandable to the ordinary reader. As to his proves himself inn0 cent.
evaluations of these critics, we agree with Dr. J. A.         A bit of the history of this hypothesis is in order.
Alexander, himself a scholar equal to, and actually far Although it is called German destructive higher
above, any of them. He calls their tamperings, "idle criticism, its origin is not, strictly, German or
guess-work or fantastic child's play . . . the morbid Teutonic, but rabbinical and Talmudical. The German
subjectivity and capricious mania of German unbelief and, later, English liberal scholars, such as Eichom,
. . . the reveries of Teutonic criticism . . . conceited and Hitzig, Ewald, S. R. Driver and George Adam Smith, as
multifarious curiosities." He reproves  this modernistic well as the neo-orthodox in the Netherlands today, got
school "for the boldness of its ultra-rationalistic their critical ideas from the Talmudists and certain
doctrines, and the juvenile flippancy with which they rabbis turned skeptics, such as  Aben Ezra and Moses
are expressed." The more familiar we become with this Maimonedes (of the 12th century), Levi ben Gerson
school, the more we will agree that "the modern and a heretic who shocked Judaism, Hasdai Crescas.
German mode of dealing with the text of Isaiah, and of None of these German, Dutch, English (and later,
settling the antiquity and genuineness of its several American) modern scholars have developed or
p a r t s , is wholly untenable, because capricious,        produced anything as to their critical position on
arbitrary, inconsistent with itself, and at variance with Scripture that is uniquely or originally their own. Their
analogy, good taste and common sense." Rationalistic        thinking was already pretty well thought out in the
scholars have mutilated and misplaced the parts of the above mentioned apostate rabbinical school. This goes
book so badly that, "We need look for no invention for anything of S. Parkes  Cadman, Harry Emerson
beyond this, unless it be that of reading the book          Fosdick, Henry Sloane Coffin, Reinhold Niebuhr, E.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                        453



Stanley Jones, men like Prof. R. Janssen and Kuitert.              direct quotations. Only seven of the twenty-seven New
Also to the same school of freethinkers belong those               Testament  books seem to have no reference. The New
named on the back flap of the RSV Bible's  cover                   Testament recognizes only Isaiah as the writer.
jacket, which see. They are all in the line of such radicals       Matthew (12:  17-18)  and Paul (Rom. 10: 20) declare
and rationalists as Dacosta, Spinoza,  Bergson, Freud              him the writer of Isaiah 42. Luke (Acts  8:28, 32)
and Marx. Spinoza was a product of the Talmud,  Aben               declares the writer of Isaiah 53 to be Isaiah. Luke also
Ezra, Plato, Aristotle and Descartes, with his thinking            (Luke 4: 17, 18) declares he is the writer of Isaiah 6 1.
pointing to Rousseau, the French Revolution and the                Paul also (Rom. 10: 16, 20, 21) calls him the author of
theology of  Renan. Jetting  .out of this treacherous              chapter 65. The Lord Jesus named Isaiah as the writer
channel are all the neologians, neo-modernists and                 of the first part of the book (Matt. 13: 14;  15:7; Mark
social-gospelists of today.                                        7:6), and as the author of the second part of the book
                                                                   (Matt. 12: 17, 18).
  At the heart of rationalistic textual criticism is the
denial of the infallibility and inspiration of Scripture.            The following outline, we believe, will allow the
There you have its congenital disease. Divine                      Bible student to take in and trace the substance of the
inspiration is that which characterizes the prophets.              book at a glance.
They were directed and carried along by the very
breath of God, so that their writings, as to the nature                           Outline of the Book of Isaiah
of their inspiration, were of a divine, verbal, plenary,           I. DENUNCIATORY: The Holy One of Israel Provoking,
infallible and  inerrant  inspiration. All Scripture is               Rebuking and Judging, l-39
God-breathed. That means all Scripture is equally                     A. Jehovah's Case Against Judah and Jerusalem, 1-12
inspired. Not all Scripture is of equal importance, but                    1. First prophetic discourse: arraignment before
all is plenarily inspired. We cannot say Moses' writings                        God's judgment bar (1)
are most inspired, the prophets less inspired and the                     2. Second Prophetic discourse: glory and blessing
poetical books least inspired. Different degrees of                            promised through chastening (2-4)
inspiration is an idea of skeptical rabbinicalism, foreign                 3. Third prophetic discourse: the parable of
to Scripture, dangerous to the biblical position and                           Jehovah's vineyard (5)
inimical to the claims of Scripture itself. It is safe to                 Parenthesis: Isaiah's Vision, His Call, Cleansing &
say that the Bible is either not inspired at all or that it               Commission (6) (Jotham)
is so inspired as to be infallible. It does not require                   4. Fourth prophetic discourse:  Immanuel and the
very much reading of the Bible itself to see that its                          Assyrian power (7: l-9:7) (Ahaz)
                                                                          5. Fifth prophetic discourse:  Immanuel?s  comfort
own claim is the latter alone.                                                 under Assyrian oppression (9:8-12:6)
  Both Jesus and  His apostles recognized the infallible              B. Jehovah's Case Against Surrounding Nations, 13-23
inspiration and authority of the Book of Isaiah as well                   1. Babylon  (13:1-14:27),  2.  Philistia  (14:28-32),  3.
as its  Isaiarzic au thorship.  The critical school rejects all                Moab (15-16), 4. Damascus & Ethiopia (17), 5.
this, especially the Isaianic authorship of the second                         Egypt  (lS-20),  6. Edom  & Arabia  (21), 7.
section of the book, 40-66, but also of certain parts of                       Jerusalem (22), 8. Tyre (23).
the first section,  13:1-14:23;  21:1-10; 23; 24-27;                  C. Judgment of the World and the Last Things, 24-27
34-35. They assign the second section to a much later                      1. Judgment upon the whole earth (24)
but unknown writer. But the Scripture itself, the Holy                    2. Salvation of the Nations After the  Fall of the
Spirit himself, nowhere records any other name than                            Wicked (25)
Isaiah's as the instrument He used in the writing of the                  3 .   S o n g   o f   p r a i s e   a n d   t h a n k s g i v i n g   for.
book. The New Testament writers recognize Isaiah as                            deliverance(26)
having the authority of a prophet (Matt.  3:3; 4: 14;                     4. Proud oppressors of the Church (Satan's kingdom)
8: 17). They expressly name him twenty-one times in                            overcome (27)
their writings. They appeal to his writings as inspired,              D. Book of Woes - Warnings to Judah Against Unholy
settled and binding (Mark  7:6; Rom.  9:29); teach that                   Alliance  - Encouragements to Faith, 28-35
his words are the words of the Holy Spirit (Acts                          1. First Woe: Judgment  & consolation for both
29:25);  that his prophecies were fulfilled in Christ                          Ephraim  & Jerusalem (28)
(Matt. 8:  17), and that Isaiah saw Christ and spoke of                   2. Second Woe: Oppression  & deliverance of Zion
His glory (John  12:41).  Isaiah is quoted or referred to                      (29)
more than 200 times in the New Testament, and in                          3. Third & Fourth Woes: Warning against Egyptian
                                                                               alliance against  Sennacherib (30,3 1)
Chapters 40-66, more than 100 times. These                                4. `Fifth Woe: Against Assyria - Glory & deliverance
quotations are drawn from the first, sixth, eighth,                            of Jerusalem (32, 33) The Coming of Messiah &
ninth, tenth, eleventh, twenty-ninth, fortieth,                                His Righteous Reign
forty-second, fifty-third, sixty-first and sixty-fifth                    5. Final Judgment on the World & Final Redemption
chapters. In twelve New Testament books there are six                          of God's People (34,35)


454                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



  E . The Holy One of Israel Delivering from Assyria, 36-39                        (The character and destiny of the two Israel's
           1. Assyrian invasions & threatenings (36: l-37:7)                       defined)
           2.    Assyrian force & Zion's deliverance (37:8-38)              3.     The Bursting Forth of Salvation  & Turning Away
           3. Hezekiah's illness &recovery (38)                                    of the Cup of Wrath (51)
           4. Hezekiah's folly leads to Babylonian captivity of             4.     From Prison & Slavery to Liberty. Messiah Marred
                 Judah (39)                                                        & Exalted (52)'
II. CONSOLATORY: The Holy One of Israel Comforting,                         5. The Servant of Jehovah in Humiliation  &
       Redeeming, Enriching, 40-66                                                 Exaltation (53)
       A. Contrasts Between Jehovah  & Substitutes for Him,                 6.     The Flourishing Covenant Life of the Church (54)
           with Release from Captivity Foretold (Cyrus the                  7.     The Call to the Sure Salvation of Jehovah (55)
           Servant) COMFORT, 40-48                                          8. The Sabbath Rest of Gospel Grace Promised
           1.    Assuring the true church that judgments on the                    Strangers (56)
                 reprobate shall not destroy it. Jehovah's power,           9. The carnal Israel in idolatrous apostasy and the
                 willingness  & determinate counsel to protect  &                  true Israel promised salvation (57)
                 save the elect (40)                                     C. Contrasts Between Wicked  & Righteous. Messiah's
           2.    Contrast between God's control of the world  & of          Kingdom of Grace  & Glory (Israel the Servant) Eternal
                 the church (41)                                            GLORY. 58-66
           3.    The Mediator of Israel (the Servant of the Lord) &          1.    False worship and true, with the promise going to
                 Savior of the Gentiles (42)                                       the latter (58)
           4.    Israel's election according to the sovereign will of       2.     Rejection of the wicked and the fruit of their sin;
                 God alone (43)                                                    the salvation of the righteous of God's power and
           5.    Contrast between the ridiculous gods of the                       grace (59)
                 nations &the God of Israel (44)                            3.     The Glory of the Church in the New Testament
                 The Promise of the Spirit                                         Dispensation (60)
           6.    Contrast between God  & His attributes  & the              4. The Messiah the Divine Agent in the Work of
                 senselessness of idols (45)                                       Salvation (61)
           7.    TRILOGY CONCERNING BABYLON (46-48).                        5.     The Spiritual Zion Married to Jehovah (62)
                 The false gods of Babylon utterly unable to deliver        6.     Vengeance on the reprobate  & preservation of the
                 either their worshipers or themselves(46)                         elect (63)
           8.    Babylon wholly powerless in opposition to                  7.     Prayer of the Elect Church in Captivity (64)
                 Jehovah's deliverance of His people (47)                          The adoption of the Gentiles  & the rejection of
           9.    The fall of and deliverance from Babylon (48)                     the carnal Israel
       B. Contrasts Between Messiah's Suffering & Future Glory                     Contrast between the doom of the apostate Israel
           (Jesus the Servant) REDEMPTION, 49-57                                   &the destiny of the true Israel (66)
           1.    The true Israel  & their despondency reproved (49)         8.     Jehovah's Answer to the Elect Remnant (65)
           2. Zion's children delivered from despondency thru               9.     The Nations Gathered to the New Jerusalem. Israel
                 the humiliation of Messiah (50)  -           -                    according to the flesh excluded (66)





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                                            -2     1
                                                   ,THE  STAND&   BEAPER                                                              455



            RESOLUTION OFSYMPATHY                                                WEDDING ANNIVERSAR Y
   The Ladies Aid Society of the First Protestant                  We, the children and grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs.
Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, mourns Dewey Engelsma, are grateful to Jehovah that on July
the loss of a faithful member,                                   30, our parents celebrated their thirty-fifth wedding
                                                                 anniversary.
             MRS. DENA VANDER WAL                                  We are reminded on this happy occasion of one of
                                                                 their favorite Scripture passages found in Psalm  16:5
whom the Lord took home on the 9th of July, and
hereby express our sympathy to the bereaved family.                "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of
  "Thanks be  to-our God which giveth us the victory               my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
through our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Cor. 15 : 55).                  The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I
                               e       Mrs. T. Newhof, Pres.       have a goodly heritage."
                                    Mrs. Chas. Pastoor, Sec'y      It is our prayer that Jehovah will continue to care
                                                                 for them as He hath done so graciously in the past.

                                                                                                Their children,
                 TAKEN TO GLORY                                                       Rev. David and Ruth Engelsma
  On Monday, July 9, 1973, it pleased our Heavenly                                      Mr. Lammert and Mary Beth Lubbers
Father to take to Eternal Glory our dear mother,                                        Mr. Donald and  Lenore Cook
grandmother and great-grandmother                                                       Mr. Michael and Brenda Engelsma
                                                                                        Mr. Timothy and Lois Pipe
                                                                                        Ruthanne
             MRS. DENA  VANDER WAL                                                      Jonathan
                                                                                        Mark
at the age of 83 years.                                                                 Elizabeth
  Through many days of sickness and affliction her                                      Kenneth
hope steadfastly grew in the sure promise of her                                        Sara
Covenant God and expressed the prayer of the                                            J o r d a n
righteous as found in Psalm 17:                                                         And seventeen grandchildren
        "When I in righteousness at last                         Grand Rapids,  Mich.
          Thy glorious face shall see,
        When all the weary night is past,
          And I awake with Thee
        To view the glories that abide,                                                         NOTICE
        Then, then I shall be satisfied."                          Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches
                           Henry and Dorothy Vander Wal          will meet in Loveland, Colorado on Wednesday,
                           Dick and  Angeline Vander Wal         September 5, 1973 at  8:30 A.M., the Lord willing.
                           William and Lois Versluys             Material for the agenda of  Classis must be in the hands
                           14 grandchildren                      of the Stated Clerk thirty days before  Classis convenes.
                           19 great-grandchildren                Delegates in need of lodging should notify the clerk of
                                                                 the Loveland consistory of their need.
Grand Rapids,  Mich.                                                                       Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk




                                    News From Our Churches'

            REPORT OF CLASSIS  EAST                              were represented by two delegates. Rev.  G. Lubbers,
                    June  27,1973                                on furlough from his work in Jamaica, was  r.!so present
               First Prot. Ref. Church                           and was given advisory vote.
  Classis East met in regular session on June  27th,               R e v .   G .   V a n   Baren  led  t h e   classis  i n   o p e n i n g
1973 in the First Prot. Ref. Church. All the churches            devotions and Rev. R. Van  Overloop  was given the


 THE STANDARD BEARER
          P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                .-_



456                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



privilege of chairing  Classis East for the first time.                              offered a prayer of thanksgiving to close this session of
   Most of the business of  classis was considered                                   classis.  Classis East stands adjourned until the 3rd of
"routine" but there were two notable exceptions. The                                 October when the next regular session will be
first was a report of a study committee appointed in                                 convened in Hudsonville.
the January 1973  Classis.  After considerable discussion                                                             Respectfully submitted,
of this report and the attendant church political                                                                                 Jon Huisken
questions, the  classis decided to refer this report to the                                                                       Stated Clerk
consistories for study and response by the January                                                                                Classis East
1974  Classis. The other non-routine business was an
overture from the consistory of Hope requesting  classis                                                     ****x
to declare itself on the propriety of membership in the
C o n s o l i d a t e d   I n d e p e n d e n t   U n i o n ,   L o c a l   9 5 1      Rev. Woudenberg has declined the call he received
(commonly known as the Meijer Union).  Classis,                                      from Faith, Jenison, congregation. Rev. Decker declined
however, declared this overture to be out of order                                   the call which he received to serve as home missionary.
since it violated Article 30 of the Church Order.                                    Rev. Decker is considering the call to serve as third
   The reports of the Stated Clerk and the Classical                                 professor in the seminary, as that call was declined by
Committee were heard, but the anticipated report of                                  Rev. Engelsma.
the church visitors was not to be heard since the
church visitors had all been active either in Jamaica or                                                      *****
home mission work in the eastern states. An exten-
sion of time was given the church visitors and they                                    Good news  from- Rev. Bekkering, pastor of our
are to report at the October  Classis.                                               Randolph congregation: "We are finished with the
   The Finance Committee, composed of Elders D.                                      foundation and basement and are beginning with the
Meulenberg and P. Lotterman, reported expenses of                                    superstructure." He was referring, of course, to the
$18.28 for this session. Faith Church and Kalamazoo                                  construction of Randolph's new church building. This
Church both requested classical appointments  - Faith                                summer will no doubt be a memorable one for that
for the obvious reason of having no minister and                                     congregation.
Kalamazoo because they will be releasing Rev. Harbach
from July  2ZSeptember 23 to work in the Phila-                                                              ***Bh
delphia area. Rev. J.A. Heys and Elders D. Dykstra
and R. Pastoor served on the Classical Appoint-                                        And we have a little radio news this month. A
ment Committee and the following schedule, after                                     member of the Radio Committee of our Reformed
much date-swapping, was adopted: KALAMAZOO:                                          Witness Hour has submitted the following:
July 29  - R. Van Overloop; August 12  - G. Van                                        "The Lord willing, Rev. R. Decker, pastor of our
Baren;  A u g u s t   1 9   - H. Veldman; September 9  - South Holland Prot. Ref. Church, will occupy our
C. Hanko; September 23  - M. Schipper. FAITH: July                                   `radio pulpit' for  a. while. His series of radio sermons,
15  - M. Schipper; August 5  - C. Hanko; August 19  - R.                             entitled `JESUS, REJECTED BY HIS OWN IN
Van Overloop; September 2  - H. Veldman; September                                   NAZARETH,' begin on Sunday, August 12. The first
16  - J. A. Heys; September 30  - G. Van  Baren.                                     three have already been taped  - and what powerful
   There was an interesting sidelight to this session of                             and inspiring messages they are! One Sunday, August
classis. Elder John Van  Baren was appointed to thank                                19, his topic will be, `WILL YOU ALSO GO AWAY
the ladies for their catering services; but in trying to                             FROM JESUS?' (Don't miss this one!) Then on August
fulfill his mandate he could find no ladies, for it so                               26th,  Rev. Decker's theme is, `GOD'S PEOPLE
happened that  classis had the distinct privilege of being                           DESTROYED FOR  LACK,OF  KNOWLEDGE.' -
catered to by a waiter, Mr. Art Bult. Mr. Bult very                                    "We remind our readers that printed copies of these
,capably handled his duties and did indeed merit the                                 messages are available (free  ,of charge), and also that
thanks of the  classis.                                                              the sermons can be obtained on taped recordings at a
   The questions of Article 41 of the Church Order                                   small charge. Address your requests to  - THE
were asked and satisfactorily answered, the chairman                                 REFORMED WITNESS HOUR, P.O. BOX 1.230,
in his closing remarks asked God's blessing upon the                                 GRAND RAPIDS, MI. 49501."
decisions taken in this session, and Rev. Lubbers                                                                                         D.D.


