     ,STAAlDARD
' BEARER
c         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





        There seems to be little reason why the majority of
      denominations, denominations which have the largest
      membership rolls, should not get together. Member-
      ship in many denominations is a social matter.
      Doctrinal differences and church political differences
      mean little if anything in a time of doctrinal indiffer-
      ence. Liturgical differences are no longer barriers
      when most denominations are engaging in some form
      of liturgical renewal, and when all the emphasis is on
      social work.  LIZ would seem that only a certain tradi-
      tionalism still keeps most denominations apart.
        Nevertheless,  .the pressures are so strong that the
      leaders will some day have their way. We may be sure
      that there will be no room, not only in the new
      ecclesiastical structures being erected, but in the
      world as a whole, for the Church of Christ. Ecclesias-
      tical union, in most of its forms, is opposition to
      God. That is its deepest spiritual principle. And
      opposition to God  always manifests itself in opposi-
      tion to those who represent God's cause in the world.
      [See page  181]



b                                                                            Volume LI, Number 8, January 15, 1975 -


     170                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



     MEDITA TIO N

                            Looking for the Blessed Hope

                                                        Rev. M. Schipper
                      "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our
                   Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us porn all iniquity, and
                   purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. "
                                                                                                                  Titus  2:13, 14

            With these words the  .apostle completes the            mind two different objects we are to look for. It must
     thought he began to develop in the verses 11 and 12,           be understood that the blessed hope and the
     which are joined to our text by a semicolon. We                appearance are the same. Also that the great God and
     called attention to those verses in our previous               our Saviour Jesus Christ are the same. Secondly, we
     `Meditation under the theme "The Saving Grace of               call attention to the translation in the text which we
     God."                                                          b e l i e v e   t o   b e   f a u l t y ,   n a m e l y ,   " t h e   g l o r i o u s
            Because our text is so closely connected to the         appearing." The apostle does not have in mind the
     preceding, it is well that we briefly review what was          glorious appearance of God and of Christ, wonderful
     `written concerning it. First of all,, we pointed out          as that may be; but he has in mind the glory of God
     what that saving grace of God is: it is the grace that         and of Christ which He will give us when He appears.
     `saves. It is the grace which God richly bestows. It is        You feel immediately that these two ideas are quite
     the grace of God which has appeared. Secondly, we              different; and not the first, but the latter receives the
     called attention to what that saving grace of God              emphasis in the text. Thirdly, it must be remarked
     does. First of all, it teaches us to say: No! No  - to        that verse 14 of the text reveals to us the ground, not
     ungodliness. No  - to worldly lusts. In one word, it           only for the grace which has already appeared, but
     teaches us to live antithetically in this present evil         also for the glory that must be revealed with the final
     world, which is  .fast developing under sin and                appearance of Christ. So understood, we are ready to
     darkness. Positively, that grace of God teaches us to          consider the main thrust of the text: namely, that the
     say: Yes! Yes  - to God. Yes  - to all that is good and        grace of God teaches us also to look for the blessed
     beautiful, as it is related to the saving grace of God        hope.
     which is realized in us as a gift of grace. And this              Glorious object!
     entails that we live soberly, righteously, and godly in
     this present age. Thirdly, we pointed out in whom                 As was said, not two objects are we to look for:
     this saving grace of God works. It is not in all men          first, the blessed hope, and then the appearance of
     individually, for the grace of God is never common;           the glory. No, rather, it is one object that is twofold.
     but it is in all classes of men. Thus the wonderful           It is the blessed hope which consists in the
     !grace of God that saves shall be richly distinguished        appearance of the glory which God in Christ will
:and distributed in the church which is being formed               bring with Him for us. In other words, it is the
,out of every nation, tribe, and tongue, and from all              appearance of the glory of God which is the object of
classes of people.                                                 our blessed hope.
: Now, in our text, the apostle continues the                          That it is our blessed hope means not only that it is
     ~ thought and completes it. It must become plain that         cause for happiness and joy, which it surely is. That
     `the saving grace of God not only teaches us how to           which is blessed is certainly cause for rejoicing and
`live in the present world, but it also teaches us to              fulness of joy. But the term "blessed" implies much
~ look for the blessed hope.                                       more. It signifies that which fills up, complements,
                                                                   and completely satisfies what is still lacking in us.
I       With regard to the text itself, three remarks should
be made, shall we clearly understand what the apostle                  0, indeed, by the grace that saves we have already
,is saying. First of all, it should be noted that when             received much, very much! Words cannot adequately
     the apostle tells us that the saving grace of God which       express the greatness, and beauty of the grace of God
has appeared also teaches us to look for the blessed               we already possess:. how He  ,made us dead sinners
     hope  and the glorious appearing of the great God             alive, how He justified us in the atoning sacrifice of
     and our Saviour Jesus Christ, he does not have in             Christ on Calvary, how He wrought with His saving


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  171


grace in us, sanctifying us by His Word and, Spirit and        and power. These and many more are the virtues of
leading us in the way everlasting, causing us in hope          God which reflect His glory. But when the apostle
to look to the heavens, from whence our  final                 speaks of His glory, he does not have in mind the
salvation shall appear. 0, wondrous grace it is, that          appearance of God Himself; rather, he has in mind
teaches us how to live in this present evil age which is       the glory which God has prepared and purposes to
fast developing in sin until the cup of iniquity is full,      give unto His people in Christ, and on the basis of
and which cries for the final display of God's wrath in        Christ's merits. This glory, which is but a reflection of
the judgment that shall dispose of all the wicked.             His own, He purposes to give unto us. In principle we
  Even so, the half has not been said! Like the Queen          already have it through the sanctifying grace of
of Sheba, when she saw the glory of Solomon,                   salvation, but it is not yet manifest what we shall be.
exclaimed, "The half has not been told me!" so it will         When He shall appear then we shall be like Him, for
be said when we see the final perfection of our                we shall see Him as He is. And when He will see us in
salvation, which is the object of our hope, when we            that epiphany, He will see in us the fulness of His
shall see the fulfillment of the work of grace in us in        beauty, and be glorified.
the glory our God has prepared for all His own.                   And this glory is all bound up in our Saviour Jesus
  Such is the significance of the blessedness.                 Christ !
  Blessed hope!                                                   The One Who gave Himself for us as a ransom!
  And when the apostle speaks of hope, beloved                    The One Who delivered us from all iniquity!
readers, he is not speaking of something that is                  The One Who cleanses to Himself a select people,
anticipatory, but uncertain. That is the way we use            zealous of good works!
the term "hope," but the Word of God never does.                  0, indeed, the glory which is the object of our
When, we use the term, we usually mean that we are             hope is not that which comes to us because of our
not sure. Usually we say, "I hope so," and invariably          worth; but it has its sole ground in the meritorious
we shrug our shoulder as a sign of doubt. We say,              and saving work of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Of Jesus,
"Tomorrow I hope to do this or that." But it is very           Who saves His people from their sins. Of Christ, Who
well possible that we will not do what we hoped for,           was appointed and anointed, and qualified to save
because so much may happen that will make it                   them; Who officially represents them in the matter of
impossible. But the Bible never speaks of hope this            their redemption before the face of God. Of Christ,
way. According to Scripture  - and thus it is used also        Who in His redemptive work prepares a people which
in the text  - hope is the anticipation of that which          is the lot of Jehovah's inheritance, a people that is
is objectively real, of what is absolutely certain,            formed for Jehovah's praise.
Whatever the blessed hope is, it is that which cannot
fail to materialize. We shall surely have it.                     Looking for the blessed hope!
  And what is that blessed hope?                                  Looking is hope in action. Looking is hope in
  It is the glory of the great God and our Saviour             anticipation. Looking implies especially three things.
Jesus `Christ!                                                 First, that we know that the object we hope for is
                                                               real. Second, that we expect to receive that object.
  Also here, as we already suggested, there are not            Third, that we are longing for it while we.wait.
two objects: the great God, and then the Saviour
Jesus  ,Christ. Rather, the apostle tells us that the great       The blessed hope causes us to be in tension. As
God is our Saviour Jesus Christ. Incidentally, we              with magnetic power it pulls us heavenward, whence
believe, here is Scriptural proof for the deity of Christ.     we look for the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Saviour is identical with the great God.                   It has an attraction to the work of grace in our
                                                               regenerated hearts. This regenerated heart knows that
  The glory of which the apostle speaks is, therefore,         the life of glory we now have is but in principle; and
the glory which God in Christ, the Saviour, prepares           therefore it stretches out for the perfection of glory
and will grant unto us when He appears.                        in a life that is everlasting, to be attained in the day
  The epiphany, the appearance of the glory!                   of Christ. This looking for the blessed hope is a
  That is the object of our hope which the grace of            constant activity, whereby we keep on longing and
God teaches us to look for!                                    expecting the glory our Saviour prepares for us.
  The glory of God Who is great! Of God Who is                    And the cause of this activity is the appearance of
great and glorious in Himself. Who is full of infinite         the grace of God which teaches us. As it teaches us
perfections, and Whose Self-glory is the radiation of          how to live  holily in this present evil world, so it also
these perfections. Great is He in love, mercy, and             teaches us to look for the blessed hope, for the glory
grace; in righteousness and truth, in wisdom and               which is to be brought unto us when God our Saviour
honor, in immutability and independence, in might              in Jesus Christ appears.


172                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                -



   When He shall appear, every eye shall see Him. The       expectation for that glory, and therefore for that
wicked shall then seek to hide themselves from the          appearing.
face, of Him with Whom they have to do. They shall             Keep looking, then, ye children of hope!
even call to the mountains in the  fals'e hope that they
shall annihilate them. For our great God shall be              You  have not long to wait!
fierce in the day of His wrath, and the wicked shall be        The grace of God which teaches us always does so
consumed.                                                   through the Word and Spirit of God. And that Word
   But the righteous, who have been taught by the           informs  us  in no uncertain terms: "Behold, I come
grace of God that bringeth  salvtition, who live            quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world;      according as his work shall be."
`are taught by that same grace to look for the blessed         And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!"
hope, the glory that God in Christ shall bring, with           Even so, come Lord Jesus!
Him in His appearing. And they  iong with great                Amen !


EDITORIAL
                                          After Fifty Years
                                             Pro8 H.  C.  Hoeksema
                    (The test of an address dehered  at Calvin Seminary, December 19, 1974)

Members of the Faculty, Students, and Guests:               true son of the Christian Reformed Church  - not, of
   First of all, I express my sincere thanks for the        course, as the Christian Reformed Church is today. In
invitation to lecture to you today. I am thankful, too,     that regard I am a son of the Protestant Reformed
for the subject which was suggested to me by Dr.            Churches. But I believe that I am a true son of the
Stob, "After Fifty Years." I believe it represents          Christian Reformed Church according to its true
something of a milestone in itself that a Protestant        genius prior to 1924. This makes the occasion and the
Reformed minister is afforded an opportunity to             material of my lecture all the more momentous to me
speak on this subject at a Christian Reformed               - and, I hope, to you.
Seminary. Needless to say, I am quite willing and             Finally, by way of introduction, I must point out
happy to speak to you on this subject.                      that my lecture this morning must needs be in the
  That subject is and will be much in the hearts and        nature of a summary. If I were to review the history
minds of  us who are Protestant Reformed. In the year       i n   d e t a i l , to analyze the doctrinal issues and
1975 we hope to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of       implications in detail, and to document and prove
our denomination, which was  provisibnally  organized       from Scripture and the Confessions all that I say in
bn March 6, 1925. The reaching of  such a milestone         summary form this morning, you would have to
for our denomination, for which at one time many            afford me the opportunity for several lectures of this
predicted an early death, gives reason' to pause and to     length. And so I ask you to bear this in mind; and I
reflect on our origin and our  history,and to evaluate      believe that this was the intention of the invitation
our present position in the ecclesiastical wdrld at         that was extended to me. Parenthetically, let me say
large, and especially in the  Reformied community.          that if you have questions, I suggest that you write
And I believe that since our denomination had its           them down. Then, if time does not permit me to
painful birth from yours, it should  also give reason       answer them here this morning, I offer to answer
for reflection and evaluation on your part. It is my        them in writing in the  Standard Bearer,  in which a
sincere hope that this lecture will contribute to the       transcript of my lecture will also appear.
achievement of that end.                                      As I speak to you on the subject, "After Fifty
Although I represent the second generation of the           Y e a r s , " I will arrange my material under the
Protestant Reformed Churches and their ministry, I          following three questions:
may nevertheless say that I stand before you as a son            I. What Happened Fifty Years Ago?
6f the Christian Reformed Church.  .This is literally
true: for I was born and baptized a member of the               II. What Took Place During the Intervening Fifty
Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church one year                     Years?
before the crisis of 1924. I believe,  too? that I am a        III.  What Is the Situation Today?


                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      173


 I. What Took Place Fifty Years Ago?                                                    It is a matter of simple historical fact, therefore,
                                                                                      that we are the continuation of the churches which
    Fifty years ago the Protestant Reformed Churches                                  we were before 1924. We are not fundamentally
 had their origin in the events connected with the                                    something new. We are not a departure. We are a
 common grace controversy, and specifically in the                                    continuation: in the true  sense< of the word, a
 events connected with the adoption of the Three                                      continuing church. And we stand in the line of the
 Points of Common Grace by the synod of the                                           church historically.
 Christian Reformed Church of 1924. At, that time                                       The second, and by far the most important answer
 three pastors, the Rev. Henry Danhof (of Kalamazoo                                   to my first question is: the Three Points of Common
 I), the Rev. George M. Ophoff (of Hope, Riverbend  -                                 Grace were adopted by the Synod of 1924. It is this,
 now Walker, Michigan), and the Rev. Herman                                           from a doctrinal poirit of view, which led to the
 Hoeksema (of the Eastern Avenue Christian                                            origin of the Protestant Reformed Churches. And let
 Reformed Church of Grand Rapids) along with their                                    me add that although there are related matters which
 consistories, were deposed from office,  following the                               are important, it is this  doctrinal  matter which is by
 Synod of 1924, by  Classis Grand Rapids East and                                     far the most important. If you ask what was the
 Classis Grand Rapids West of the Christian Reformed                                  origin of the Protestant Reformed Churches as far as
 Churches. These consistories and their pastors, along                                principles were concerned, then the negative answer
 with the greater portions of their `respective                                       to that question is: the raising to the status of official
 congregations, felt both for reasons of doctrine and                                 church doctrine of the Three Points of Common
 reasons of church government and ecclesiastical                                      Grace in 1924.
 justice that they might not recognize this deposition,
 but considered themselves called of God to continue                                    I cannot take the time  t'his morning to enter into
 in the duties and functions of their offices, and                                    the history of the common grace controversy. Suffice
 t h e r e f o r e , w e r e   c o m p e l l e d   t o   o r g a n i z e   a          it to say that the Three Points did not drop out of the
 s e 1 f-c o n t a i n e d church organization. Pending the                           sky in 1924, but that their adoption was the climax  -
 disposition of their appeal by the synod of. 1926, this                              in some respects, the premature climax  - of several
 organization was at first provisional; and they called                               years of ferment and debate. And if "common grace"
 themselves Protesting Christian  R&formed  Churches.                                 had been left a matter of theological opinion and a
 After, the final disposition of the case in  1926, they                              subject for free discussion, there would have been no
 organized permanently under the name  ,Protestant                                    1924. But that was not to be.
 Reformed Churches in America. I call attention to                                      Permit me briefly to summarize the doctrinal issues
 this for three reasons. In the first place, because it is a                          involved in the Three Points. In this connection, let
. matter of fact that the two Classes mentioned                                       me emphasize, however, that we do not live as
 proceeded to do what the Synod of 1924 specifically                                  churches by denials. This was and is sometimes
 refused to do, namely, to demand subscription to the                                 alleged. But no church can exist by mere denials. And
 Three Points and to discipline the  ministefs  involved,                             we certainly do not so exist. Moreover, the very fact
 and that, too, in the name of the Formula of                                         that we have been in existence for fifty years should
 Subscription. Besides, it must be kept in mind that                                  give the lie to that suggestion. And therefore, as I
 the synod had declared Revs. Danhof and Hoeksema                                     summarize, I will also set forth our  positive position.
to be Reformed in the fundamentals. I mention it, in                                    The First Point speaks of a favorable attitude of
 the second place, because it was in 1924 that the                                    God towards all creatures, and not only to the elect.
 C h r i s t i a n   R e f o r m e d   C h u r c h e s   t u r n e d   t o   t h e    It is the teaching of the First Point that there is in
 hierarchical, or collegialistic view of church                                       God a gracious attitude toward all men, among whom
 goverfiment,  according to which  Classis and Synod                                  also the reprobate ungodly are included. Apart from
 are higher (rather than broader) assemblies, and                                     the saving grace of God shown only to the elect, there
 according to which they can assume the power to                                      is also allegedly a non-saving grace of God in which
 discipline  - something which resides only in the local                              also the reprobate share. This non-saving grace of God
 consistory and the local offices. And I mention it, in                               is supposedly manifest in the good gifts which God
 the third place, because I must point out that it is a                               bestows also upon the wicked, such as rain and
 matter of fact that we did not secede, did not leave,                                sunshine, food and gladness, gifts and talents, name
 did not separate. But we were expelled. Our mother                                   and position and might, houses and goods. Over
 church denied us a place, declared officially that                                   against this idea, we maintain that God's grace is
 there was no room for us in the denomination, and                                    always particular, directed to His elect people alone.
 thus made it necessary for the  Protestant'Reformed                                  Indeed, we do not deny that God bestows good gifts
 Churches to come into existence. Moreover, these                                     upon men, including the reprobate. But we cannot
 actions received the  synodical stamp of approval in                                 accept the idea that there is a gracious attitude of
  1926 at the Synod of  Englewood.                                                    God and an operation of grace toward the reprobate


174                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


wicked. We maintain that the grace of God goes out                                    of the day, and to call God's people back to the
to the whole creation, the organic whole of His                                       Reformed truth of the gospel of Christ crucified, Who
creatures, with His elect in Christ at  .the center. And                              is "to them which are called, both Jews and Greeks,
we hold that at the same time there is an operation of                                the  power of God and the wisdom of God." (I Cor.
God's hatred and wrath proceeding toward the                                          1:24)
reprobate ungodly in and through all things which He
bestows on them. "The curse of Jehovah is in the                                         The Second Point of Common Grace teaches a
house of the wicked, but he blesseth the habitation of                                restraint of sin. It speaks of a general operation of the
the just." (Prov. 3  :33)                                                             Holy Spirit  - not saving, and therefore apart from
                                                                                      regeneration  - whereby sin is restrained in `the
    But we hold that there is another serious departure                               individual man and in the community.  Jt implies that
from the Reformed truth involved in the First Point.                                  there is a spiritual, ethical operation of the Holy
For the preaching was included in this alleged                                        Spirit upon the natural man which, without renewing
gracious attitude of God and this operation of God's                                  his heart, is for his good, with the result that he is
grace toward men in common. The First Point                                           not as  sinful and corrupt in his actual life as he
teaches that God is gracious in the preaching of the                                  would be without this working of the. Spirit. By this
gospel not only toward the elect, but toward all men,                                 g e n e r a l   o p e r a t i o n   o f   g r a c e t h e n a t u r a l m a n i s
toward all to whom the gospel is proclaimed. This is                                  improved, except for his heart; his mind and will and
the error of the general, well-meant offer of grace and                               all his inclinations can be changed or inclined for
salvation to all men  - essentially, the error of                                     good. Now we understand full well and believe, along
Arminianism. And that this is, indeed, one of the                                     with our Confession of Faith in Article 13, that God
errors of the First Point is literally plain from a                                   "so restrains the devil and all our enemies that
decision of a later Christian Reformed Synod, that of                                 without His will and permission they cannot hurt us."
1926, which spoke of a "goodness or grace of God in                                   Actually the Confession here speaks of God's
causing to go forth a well-meaning offer of salvation                                 "bridling" of the devil and wicked men; that is, God
to all to whom the preaching of the gospel comes," as                                 controls and governs them. And He certainly does so
well as of a "certain grace. or goodness or favorable                                 unto the realization of His own counsel and the
inclination of God" which "is revealed toward a                                       salvation of His own people in Christ. But we deny
group of men broader than the group of the elect,                                     that there is any operation of grace toward the
and that is, among other things, also evident from the                                reprobate  ungodlSj taught here or anywhere in our
fact that God well-meaningly calls  each,one to whom                                  confessions. And we deny that there is an operation
fhe lovely invitation  of the Gospel comes." The                                      of grace by the Spirit, outside of regeneration,
Protestant Reformed Churches believe that this                                        whereby the natural man is improved to any degree
presentation of the grace of God and of the preaching                                 whatsoever.
of the gospel is contrary to Scripture and the
Reformed Confessions. Over against this error of the                                     We have many objections against this view. But our
general, well-meant offer we maintain that the                                        chief objection is that it constitutes- a denial of the
preaching of the gospel is grace only for the elect, and                              Reformed truth of the total depravity of man. It is
it the same time a savor of death unto death for the                                  Reformed according to our confessions to say that
r e p r o b a t e .   W e   m a i n t a i n ,   i n d e e d ,   -  w i t h   o u r    man is by nature so corrupt that he is incapable of
confessions  - that the preaching of the gospel is                                    doing any good,. and inclined to all evil. But in the
general, or promiscuous, in that it is sent to  alI, both                             light of the second point, this totally depraved man is
elect and reprobate, to whom God out of His good                                      a mere abstraction: due to common grace, there is
pleasure sends the gospel. But we believe  - again,                                   nowhere in this world a man who actually is totally
with our confessions  - that the contents of the                                      depraved. As the natural `man appears, he is not
pr  caching is always particular. In the preaching                                    wholly corrupt, but greatly improved and capable of
salvation is promised (not offered) only to those who                                 good. However, Scripture and our Confessions teach
believe and repent, that is, to the -elect. It can never                              the very opposite. Scripture teaches us  (Ram. 1: 18,
be said that the preaching of the gospel is an evidence                               ff.) that there is an operation of God's wrath revealed
of grace to all who hear it, including the reprobate.                                 from heaven, whereby He so operates upon the
Principally, the position of the well-meant offer of                                  wicked who forsakes His way that he is given over
salvation is Arminian. And only too many Reformed                                     more and more to his own sinful lusts and desires, to
churches and church members have, as a result of this                                 do things that are unseemly, so that he proceeds from
view of the preaching been victimized by outright                                     sin to more sin, goes from bad to worse. Hence, while
A r m i n i a n i s m   a n d   h a v e   b e c o m e   e n t h u s i a s t i c       we readily admit that the sinner is restrained and
supporters of many a wild, God-dishonoring                                            controlled by the all-controlling providence of God
evangelistic movement. We consider it our calling to                                  and according to His all-wise counsel, we maintain
warn unequivocally against the rampant Arminianism                                    that the process of sin is bound to the development


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                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                            175



     of the human race, so that every man does not                                      must needs affect not only the doctrinal stance of a
     commit every possible sin, but each man, according                                 church, but the very heartbeat of the church's life  -
     to his own place and time, character and talents, gifts                            the preaching  - as well as the actual walk of God's
     and means, develops the one root-sin of Adam until                                 people in the midst of the world. And I believe that
     the completed fruit of sin is wholly revealed and the                              fifty years of history will bear this out.
     sinfulness of sin is exposed to the full. This, and not                               There are two more items which I deem important
     the idea of any improvement of the natural man, is                                 to mention in this connection.
     also a realistic view of natural man and of the world
     in the midst of which we, as the people of God, live                                  The first goes back more than fifty years, namely,
     today.                                                                             the so-called  Janssen  Case. I mention this because
                                                                                        that case, which concerned, if you will, what is today
        The Third Point of Common Grace teaches that                                    referred to as the nature and extent of the authority
     the natural man, by virtue of the influences of                                    of Scripture,  tias connected with 1924. Not only was
     common grace, although incapable of performing any                                 there a historical relationship, but there was an
     saving good, can perform what is called civil good. By                             intrinsic relationship. I believe that Dr. Janssen's
     this is meant the doing of good in civil  iife. In the                             erroneous position with respect to Scripture was
     sphere of the first table of the Law, man is unable to                             rooted in the principle of common grace. And I
     do any good. This, after all, is "spiritual" good. But                             believe that in the light of recent  de+elopments in
     in the sphere of the second table of the Law, the                                  your denomination as well as in the Netherlands, the
     natural man can perform good. He is able to live a                                 importance of that intrinsic relationship between
     relatively good life in this world. We may point out in                            common grace and the errors of Dr. Janssen looms
     this connection that proof from the Confessions was                                ever larger, even as the importance of the relation
     sought for the Third Point in Canons III, `IV, Art. 4,                             between a correct view of Scripture and the
     where we read: "There remain, however, in man since                                maintenance of sovereign, particular grace looms ever
     the fall, the glimmerings of natural `light, whereby he                            larger.
     retains some knowledge of God, of natural things,                                     The second item which I must mention is that of
     and of the differences between good and evil, and                                  the doctrine of the covenant. In a way, that also goes
     discovers some regard for virtue, good order in                                    back more than fifty years. For the view which was
     society, and for maintaining an orderly external                                   for many years taught and maintained in your
     deportment." This, however, is only the first part of                              denomination  tiith respect to the covenant of grace
     Article 4. And if we read the rest of this article, we                             was that of Prof. W. Heyns. Without going into detail,
     learn that our Canons here maintain the Reformed                                   let me point out that his view was principally that of
     doctrine of man's total depravity: "But so far is this                             a   g e n e r a l , conditional promise and common
     light of nature from being sufficient to bring him to a                            covenantal grace to all the children of believers head
     saving knowledge of God, and to true conversion,                                   for head. Principally, that is the First Point of 1924
     that he is incapable of using it  aright even in things                            applied to the doctrine of the covenant. I mention
     natural and civil. Nay, further, this light, such as it is,                        this, because it was that view which became the
     man in various ways renders wholly polluted, and                                   occasion for the development of our position with
     holds it in unrighteousness,. by doing which he                                    respect to the covenant  .of grace. And I mention this
     becomes inexcusable before God." This quotation                                    because, I believe that here is an area of rich positive
     very succinctly expresses our Protestant Reformed                                  development in our Protestant Reformed theology,
     position. In all his nature, the natural man is totally                            preaching, and world and life view. Again, I cannot go
     depraved; and in all his existence he always sins, and                             into detail. But let me briefly characterize that view
     does so in every area of his life. Good works,                                     as the organic conception of God's covenant,
     according to our confessions, are those works which                                understood as the relation of friendship between God
     are in harmony with the Law of God, are performed                                  and His elect people in Christ, which is realized
     to the glory of God, and proceed from a true faith.                                organically with believers and their seed, in the line of
     Good works, therefore, are performed only by the                                   generations, and which embraces the entire cosmos.
     Christian. And the natural man, the man outside of
     ,Christ, being by nature totally depraved, always sins.                               That brings us to the second main question.
        It will be readily seen, whether you agree with our                             II. What Has Taken Place In the Intervening Fifty
     Protestant Reformed position or not, that the matters                              Years?
     touched on in the preceding go to the very heart of                                   Our Protestant Reformed Churches are about to
     the Reformed position. They are not insignificant,                                 reach a milestone. Fifty years of history have been
     but crucial. They are vital. And the differences of                                made by us  - full and busy and eventful years. No
     p o s i t i o n   w h i c h   w e   h a v e   s e t   f o r t h   ,above  a r e    one, you see, stands still. Individuals and also
     fundamental. And let me add: they are issues which                                 c h u r c h e s   d e v e l o p .   A n d   t h e y   d e v e l o p   i n   t h e


176                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


fundamental direction which they h&e chosen. That                               classes, and a synod; an organization under the
is true for  us  of the Protestant Reformed Churches; it                        Church Order of Dordrecht and in which we are
`is also true for you of the Christian Reformed                                 averse to every form of ecclesiastical hierarchy.
Church.                                                                            And so we grew slowly numerically also; we have
       And let me insert one thing right `here. We are not                      never enjoyed a rapid growth. This growth continued
perfect, and have not claimed and do not claim                                  until at one point about 22 years ago we numbered
,perfection as a church. We have been characterized by                          24 churches, had 28 active ministers, and numbered
:many weaknesses, faults, sins, shortcomings  - as is                           about 1400 families from Ontario, Canada to the
,always the case with the church in the world. But of                           West Coast.
.one  f a c t   w e   a r e   c o n v i n c e d :   iYe  b e g a n   o n   a
fundamentally Reformed basis, and all our history                                 And then came a crisis in our denomination, a
and development has proceeded from that basis in a                              crisis precipitated in part by our contact with the
Reformed direction. We started out Reformed; we                                 so-called Liberated Churches of the Netherlands and
very definitely want to  .be recognizably Reformed;                             with immigrants in Canada from those churches. I
and we are Reformed today. I believe that no one can                            cannot take the time to recount that history this
successfully deny that:                                                         morning. I only want to point out, first of all, that
                                                                                fundamentally the issue was principally the same as in
       Let me very briefly recount  soinething of our                           1924; only this time it involved the matter of the
historical and ecclesiastical development.                                      covenant of grace. The issue was whether the promise
       1. From the outset we engaged in mission activity.                       of the covenant is a general, conditional promise for
That mission activity has been chiefly at home: we                              all who are baptized. In other words, the issue was
considered it our calling specifically to proclaim and                          whether, in the sphere of the covenant, grace is
to develop the Reformed truth in opposition to the                              general or particular. The De Wolf group held the
evident departure in the direction  jof Arminianism                             former. And that the issue  was  indeed the same as in
and liberalism here in our home land. And we                                    1924 is, I believe, confirmed by history: the De Wolf
engaged and still engage in that home missions                                  group could not and did not maintain a separate
activity always in response to  Macedonian calls to                             existence, but readily found their way back into your
"come over and help us." We have! also engaged in                               denomination, without any essential change being
mission activity  ,beyond  our national borders  -                              made on your part as to the Three Points. That is a
notably, in Jamaica and in Indonesia.,                                          fact of record.
/ 2. We have a radio broadcast,. the Reformed                                     The second aspect of that crisis which I would
Witness Hour, which is almost as old  ,as your Back To                          mention is the fact that numerically we were
God Hour.                                                                       decimated, of course. But the Lord preserved us as a
   3. From the outset we have maintained our own                                denomination. He also strengthened us through this
theological school, something without which no                                  struggle. And also outwardly we have revived. Today
communion of churches can  successfi.llly exist. From                           we are 20 congregations, from New Jersey to the
that school all our ministers have  gyaduated.  In our                          West Coast. We number some 800 families. We are
school we have provided training for the ministry in                            active in home missions. We have some 20 active
harmony with the stand of our  churdhes.  And in that                           ministers. We have a vibrant theological school. We
training we use as much as possible our own                                     have a press which receives world-wide attention. Our
instructional materials, in the form of textbooks and                           original leaders, Revs. Hoeksema and Ophoff, have
syllabi.                                                                        gone to glory. Most of our corps of ministers is of the
   4. Over the years we have developed a distinct                               second and third generation, though there are still
Protestant Reformed literature: our `periodicals, our                           among us several of our veterans, active since our
Standard Bearer,  our Beacon Lights (for young                                  early years. And from all our pulpits are sounded the
people), our Sunday School Guide; our catechism                                 same clear notes of the pure and lively preaching of
books. But also many books of a theological and                                 the Word, Reformed according to the confessions.
expository nature have been published and have                                    But there is another question concerning those
emanated from the circle of our churches.                                       fifty years. How have our two denominations stood
       5. As a matter of our Reformed principles, we have                       in relation to one another during that period? Was
developed as far as possible, and wlierever possible,                           there any contact? Were there any efforts to heal the
our own educational system  - parental schools in                               breach? In answer to this question, I call your
which we strive to apply Reformed principles to                                 attention to the following facts:
education.                                                                        1. Officially, there were two approaches made by
' 6. By 1940 we had also attained a full-orbed                                  our synods to the synod of the Christian Reformed
e ccl esiastical organization, with consistories, two                           Church. One was by our synod of 1940. The second


                                                              `THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   177



was by our synods of 1957-1959.  Both'times we                                      But there is a second aspect to this question. That
called attention to the wrongs of 1924, and we urged                             is this: where do we stand as Protestant Reformed
that steps be taken to remove what separated us as                               Churclies with respect to the Christian Reformed
churches, and declared ourselves ready for full                                  Church today?
discussion of our differences. Both times our                                       To answer that question, I must briefly call
overtures for reconciliation were rejected.                                      attention to the fact that the Christian Reformed
   2. Unofficially, in 1939 there was an abortive                                Church has also passed through fifty years of history
conference at the Pantlind Hotel between our                                     since 1924.  Fundamentally, you  have not changed.
minis$ers and several ministers of the Christian                                 Your stance with respect to the crucial issues involved
Reformed Church, Dr. K. Schilder of the Nktherlands                              in the Three Points is basically the same. But you
being present. Conspicuous by their absence were the                             have developed. And you have developed, I am
Christian Reformed leaders who had played a leading                              convinced, in the fundamental line of 1924.
part in 1924. The Rev. Herman Hoeksema came                                         For the most part, I believe, that development has
prepared with a position paper at that conference.                               taken place in the past 20 years, roughly since the
Thereafter, however, there was no progress because of                            time when the generation of 1924 passed from the
a refusal on the part of the Christian Reformed                                  scene. They did not develop much along the common
participants to engage in discussion. Nothing further                            grace line. Partly, I believe, this was due to the fact
developed.                                                                       that they were too traditionally Reformed to accept
   3. At various times throughout these `years our                               all the consequences involved in `24. But as James
Standard  Bearer  has called for steps to be taken to                            Daane put it, the winds of change began to blow
remove whatever obstacles exist by way of thorough                               through your denomination. And although there were
and open discussion. None of these calls has ever been                           other influences at work also, chiefly those winds of
h e e d e d .                                                                    change blew from the direction of 1924. In some
   That brings me to my final question, which I must                             cases, the changes were directly related to the Three
needs answer very briefly.                                                       Points; in other instances, the relationship is less
                                                                                 direct.
III. What Is Our Stance Today?                                                     Permit me to mention a few items.
                                                                                   First of all, with respect to world-and-life-view, I
   Where do we stand as Protestant Reformed                                      mention:
Churches?                                                                        1. Your tolerance of membership in worldly labor
   In the first place, it should be evident from the                             unions.
preceding that we have not changed fundamentally
since 1924. We have developed. Our theology has                                  2. Your change of stance with regard to the Film
been refined and enriched. We have matured. But we                               Arts, the decision on which appealed directly to the
stand  ,fifidamentally  where we stood 50 years ago,                             Second Point of 1924.
and our development has been in that line. We stand                              3. The increasing marriage of Jerusalem and Athens
unabashedly and unequivocally on the basis of the                                in the area of education.
i n f a l l i b l e   W o r d   o f   G o d   a n d   o u r   R e f o r m e d
Confessions.                                                                       Secondly, with respect to doctrine, I mention:
   In the second place, I call your attention to the                             1. The general atonement theory put forth by Prof.
fact that our denomination is unique in this respect,                            Dekker in the 1960s. This was directly related to the
that we are not internally troubled by any of the                                First Point of 1924  - so much so, that no one on
numerous heresies and other departures and                                       either side could discuss the matter without reference
innovations which are troubling churches throughout                              to 1924 and the well-meant offer.
the world'and throughout the Reformed community                                  2. In close  conpection  therewith was also Dr. Stob's
today. Why? Not because we live in isolation; that is                            claim at that time that God hates no one.
impossible. Not because we pay no attention to these                             3. There is the open denial of sovereign reprobation,
developments: for we follow them closely, in your                                and, in fact, of all  "de&eta1 theology" by Dr. James
denon$nation and in others, at home and abroad. We                               Daane in The Freedom of God.
are theologically aware. But because the Lord
preserves His church in the way of  faithftilness,  love                         4. There is the as yet uncondemned universalism put
of, and adherence to the truth of His Word. I say that                           forth by Dr. J. Harold Ellens.
not in pride, but in utmost humility. As churches we                             5. There are the various departures in the area of
have nothing to boast of in ourselves; what we are, we                           Scripture, including Report 36-44, the increasing
are by the grace of God only.                                                    incidence of some form of evolutionism, the denial of


178                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



the literal and historical character of the events          ills are all related  - doctrinally, practically, church
recorded in Genesis 1-3, etc. These we see as the           politically, and ethically  - to 1924. I have stated this
ultimate development of 1924 in connection with the         publicly many times.
views put forth by Dr. Janssen prior to 1922.                 And therefore, in conclusion, my answer to the
  There are more items which can be mentioned. I            question concerning our stance in relation to your
have not mentioned such things as Key 73 and                denomination is: it is basically the same now as in
Evangelism .-Thrust, nor the effort to relax the            1924.  We.call you to return from those errors to the
Formula of Subscription and the admitted signing of         old paths of the Reformed faith and to stand where
that Formula with mental reservations, nor the              we stand. Only, today that call is more urgent than
movement for liturgical revisionism.                        ever before. If you look back only about 20 years,
  Now admittedly you are seeing your denomination           you yourselves can observe that you no longer stand
through the eyes of another. And I want you to know         where you stood then as a denomination. You are
that I mention these things not with pride and              fast losing your Reformed character. Return!
boasting and joy, but with sadness and pain of heart.         Thank-you for your attention.
But I will defend the proposition that your present



FROM HOLY WRIT

                         Exposition of Hebrews 12: l-3 (cont.)
                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers

THE GREAT INCENTIVE TO RUN THE RACE                         nothing in all of our running which is not the work of
(Hebrews  12:2)                                             this Jesus of Nazareth, who is greater than Moses.
                                                            And, therefore, we look away from all other things
       It would seem that the great incentive to run the    unto Him.
race with patience would be the fact that we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses; the              It is indeed interesting and profitable to discern
                                                            that, in the book of Hebrews, the name "Jesus" has a
testimony of all the Old Testament should inspire us        peculiar significance wherever it is employed by the
to run. And, indeed, their witness, when heard by           writer. Such is the case in all of the nine (9) instances
faith from the sacred record, does spur us on to            in which it occurs. When the writer would underscore
greater effort and heights of faith! However, that          that all things shall be subjected unto Christ we are
which the writer cites as the impelling consideration       informed that we do not yet see that all things are
of faith is that we look away from everything else to       subjected unto Christ, but what we do see gives every
Jesus.                                                      reason to believe that this will one day come to pass.
       What distinguishes Jesus from all others in the      The reason? We see  Jesus,  for the suffering of death,
"cloud of witnesses" is that He is the Author and           crowned with glory and honor! (Hebrews  2:9). When
Finisher of our faith. The term  Author  means "the         the greatness of Christ in relationship to Moses in his
first leader, the beginner." The term is translated         office must be shown then we are told "to consider
"leader" in Acts 3: 15, in Acts  5:31 it is translated      the Apostle and High priest of our confession, even
"Prince" in the phrase "Prince of life." Here it is         Jesus,  who was faithful to Him that appointed him."
translated in the KJV "author." This translation            He is the Builder of the house of God. And this house
underscores that he is the  originator  of faith. He        is the church, even we the believers who remain
brings about faith by his mediatorial labors. He is the     faithful. Small wonder that we are told that to run
builder of the house. That is why Jesus is greater than     the race we must "look to Jesus." When all the
Moses. The law was given by Moses, but grace and            assurance of the blessed hope which is ours is
truth  became  through Jesus Christ. Christ brought         underscored by the writer and the immutability of
this about as a new creation. Old things are passed away    God's decree must  cornfor?: us, then we are told that
and all things are become new in Him. And because           this is attained in this Jesus, who has gone as the
he is the one who works faith, he is also the one who       forerunner within the vail of the sanctuary in the
finishes, perfects faith. He is the  (teleiooteen)          heavens. He has become a priest for us forever after
Finisher.  All that lies between that beginning and that    the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 3 : 1;  6:20)  And
perfection is the work of Jesus. There is, therefore,       when the certainty of salvation must be underscored


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  179



in the Mediator of the better covenant, the writer          this "shame" of being the accursed of God with a
speaks of Jesus as the surety of a better covenant in       certain holy and joyous and victorious contempt.
His blood. (Hebrews  7:22)  If we need boldness to          That there was a terrible "shame" connected with
enter into the sanctuary of the Lord then we are            this Cross could not tempt Him to come down from
pointed to the "blood of Jesus" who is the great high       the Cross when mocked and jeered by the mob about
priest `in the house of God. (Hebrews 10: 19) All the       Him. He stedfastly  endured  the Cross and accepted
church of the firstborn in glory are there only             the shame. His was the great manifestation of a
because of the blood of Jesus which speaks better           patience which is rooted in infinite trust in God,
things than that of Abel.  His blood does not call for      which waits patiently until the end and then receives
God's  ,vengeance,  but for pardoning mercy! (Hebrews       the crown of joy from the Father's hand and is
12:24)  This is the Jesus, who suffered, without the        received as the Firstborn Son in glory, a priest forever
gate of the city of Jerusalem at the place of the skull,    after the order of Melchizedek.
in order that we might go outside of Judaism to be            For after Christ had thus suffered he went and "sat
partaker of his reproach. (Hebrews 13 : 12) This is the     down on the right hand of the throne of God". Thus
Jesus, who is the great shepherd of the sheep; His is       Psalm 110: 1 was fulfilled. He is now the Lord of
the blood of the covenant. He is the Lord Jesus, King       lords and the King of kings. He sits on David's throne
over all. (Hebrews 13 : 20)                                 forever. He is the Lord of glory. That is the fulfilment
  Bearing this grand use of the name "Jesus" in mind        of the "joy which was set before Him". One day we
we no longer need to ask: why look away to Jesus?           shall sit with Him in glory judging the world and the
He is Jehovah saves, or Jehovah is salvation. And,          angels. (I Cor.  6:3)
therefore, we do not merely look to Jesus, but we
look away from all else to Jesus, the author and            THE SPIRITUAL CONSIDERATION IN OUR
finisher of our faith!                                      PATIENCE IN THIS RACE (Hebrews 12: 3)
  And then what must we notice in this Jesus as the           Faith does a bit of considering, weighing, and
author and finisher of our faith? We notice that this       reckoning. It does this by the rules of the new man in
Jesus,  itoo, did run His race with patience; he is the     Christ according to the  vegulu  fidei,  the rule of faith.
forerunner. (Hebrews  6:20) He ran before us as the         This is a consideration which is not possible of the
sacrificial priest who brings the sacrifice for the sins    natural man who has not the Spirit of Christ. He
of the' people. He is the anchor of our hope within         cannot even see the Kingdom of God; He is not born
the most holy place. And to be such a Savior for all        again out of God. Hence, faith has its own spiritual
His own was the purpose of His running. There was a         consideration.
"joy set before Him" to be perfected one day in all           The writer here admonished the saints unto such a
His people, even as he once said, "my joy in you that       consideration in regard to Christ's suffering. The
your joy may be full". (John 15 : 11) As Christ Jesus       Hebrews were enduring "contradiction" from the
did run, thus must we run too. We have the same goal        unbelieving countrymen, the Jews, and perhaps also
in mind in our running as he; we as those who are           from unbelieving Gentiles. But it was especially from
saved, and He as the Saviour of us, His people. And         the source of the unbelieving Jews that they suffered
this joy which was set before Christ He never left out      contradiction. It was alleged by these contradictors
of view in His Messianic consciousness: He even             that Jesus was not the Christ, the Messiah foretold in
looked beyond the Cross to the crown.  ,When He             the Scriptures, and that His blood had not taken
spoke of the suffering to come upon Him, spoke of           away all the blood of the goats and bulls of the Old
this to His disciples, it is ever as the way for the        Testament sacrifices, and that Aaron's priesthood still
triumphant glory of "being raised the third day".           stood as the God-appointed priesthood in the earthly
(Matt.  16:21; Luke  13:33) We must suffer with Him         temple of shadows and types. And so the Christians
to be glorified with Him.                                   were "contradicted", even to the point of being
  Hence, we must notice that Christ "endured the            beaten and put in prison for the faith in Christ. In
cross"., This cross which he endured was all the            such a situation faith must do a bit of "considering."
suffering of the wrath of God against the sins of the       It must see that this is, therefore, the order of the day
"whole human race", all the elect out of all nations.       for the Christians. In the world they must expect
He bore this wrath from the beginning of His life to        tribulation. They must expect that it will be at a very
the moment when, on the Cross, he cried out with a          great cost that they will need to continue in the faith.
loud voice, "It is finished". But notice, that He could     They will ever, too, be contradicted by the synagogue
bear the Cross because he ever saw the joy set before       of Satan, who is the great antagonist in this battle of
Him. And He weighed the shame of the Cross against          contradiction. Now they will never see their own
this joy, and then He bore this shame of the Cross          suffering, frustration and pain in proper perspective
because He really despised it. He looked down upon          until they see that they are sharing the sufferings of


180                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



Christ and suffering the same contradictions which                    matchless fury. There is nothing quite so enervating
Christ endured! Then they will see more and more                      as the lack of full assurance that the enemy is really
that it is contradiction of "sinners" that they endure.               an enemy. But to be convinced that we are really
These sinners must be seen and evaluated for what                     dealing with an enemy we must see that we are
they really are! They are not weak saints, sinful saints              dealing, not with our personal enemy, but that we are
who have much sin yet in their members and who                        dealing with the very gates of hell which would
often stumble in many ways, especially in words, and,                 prevail with its lying slanders, and even with its hot
,who are, therefore, not yet perfect, in holiness; nay                ovens, and infinite forms of cruel torture against the
these are sinners who love sin, and who reject the                    church. Look to Jesus and see what they did to him.
ways of the Most High, and who slander the saints                     That will clear the issue once and for all!
,and pervert the gospel' of truth with their lie of                      Notice that Christ endured such contradiction of
works. They would place man in the stead of God;                      sinners "a g a i n s t   H i m s e l f ! " T r u l y ,   t h i s   w a s
:they love the praise of men more than the praise and                 contradiction without a cause. It was the undiluted
the approval of God. Haters and enemies of the Cross                  hatred of hell in the hearts of hardened unbelievers,
of Christ they are, and of the blessed hope of the                    whose very destruction is nigh. These will be cast
resurrection.                                                         with the Dragon and with the false prophet into hell.
Christ endured the contradiction of such sinners..                    They have no joy set before them and they cannot
And always the believers too must endure such                         tolerate that God's children rejoice in the living hope
`contradiction and must see it for what it really is.                 with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
And then they will not be lured into believing the                       This is what we must consider concerning these
lfalse talk and siren songs of Satan which the false                  sinners, lest we become weary and faint in our minds.
teachers and confessors spew and vomit forth in their



ALL  ARQUND US

                                 What `Progress Ecumenism?
                                                             Prof: H. Hanko

       Since the ecumenical ventures of the sixties,                       communion service Christ is physically present in the
progress towards church union has seemingly slowed.                       bread and wine, came to the conclusion that what
                                                                           counts is the real presence of Christ in the hearts of
The efforts which churches were making to merge                           the participants.
into ever larger denominations seemed to be put on
the back burner of ecclesiastical concerns. But if the                         Two more momentous developments could not be
impressions were being left that ecumenism was no                         imagined in the wave of religious tolerance set off by
                                                                          the late Pope John XXIII's decision to convene the
longer of concern to the church, a recent article in                      Second Vatican Council. . . .
Reader's Digest  served to correct that impression.
Although ecumenical ventures may be taking on                            After discussing briefly the stymied efforts of
different forms, the pressures in that direction                      COCU (Consultation on Church Union) to form a
remain. We include some summary quotes from the                       denomination of 24 million members out of nine
article to demonstrate this.                                          different denominations, the article goes on to say:
       The article starts out by  saying:                                      Yet  even those churches that would not join
                                                                          COCU in the beginning increasingly talk of some
           Not long ago, a commission of U.S. Lutheran and                ultimate form of reunion growing out of gradual
        Roman Catholic theologians wound up a three-year                  convergences in belief and practice.
        study of Papal authority with a startling conclusion.
        Catholics, they reported in substance, over-claimed                    If reunion comes,          the result  will bear
        when they said that Christ appointed Peter as the first           little resemblance to the old-style  military-
        Pope, but Protestants have failed to acknowledge that             chain-of-command          kind of         church polity.
        a chief overseer is needed. . . .                                 Even recent Vatican statements on ecumenism have
                                                                          begun to sound the cautionary note that any new
           A little earlier, a commission of Anglican and                 association of churches must  allow each religious
        Catholic theologians, after reviewing the great                   community to preserve its "spiritual patrimony". . . .
        Reformation debate over whether during the
                               . ..-.-_I_                                 Yet, 49 of the 169 Roman Catholic dioceses in this


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                         181


    country now are full members of local councils of                 marriages." Entitled "Living the Faith You Share,"
    churches (up from one just five years ago), and there             the guidelines urge these couples to worship together
    is serious speculation that before too long the                   from time to time, to educate their children
    National Conference of Catholic Bishops will affniate             ecumenically and to conduct home worship. The
    with the National Council of Churches of Christ in                Episcopal diocese advised its clergy: "We must not
    America.                                                          make the couple feel guilty of falling in love, when in
  The efforts towards union are evidently becoming                    fact the churches are guilty of the sin of separation."
increasingly broad:                                                  Asking the question: "What would it take to get
      In a few places, the church councils now include          the churches really back together again?" the article
    Jews. In Connecticut, Stamford, Darien, Greenwich           discusses a few views of some ecumenical leaders.
    and New Canaan are served by a Council of Churches                    Some ecumenists think that it will take a terrible
    and Synagogues. . . .                                             scourge, a cataclysm of some sort. Others hope that
  A few quotes will demonstrate the different forms                   the difficulties the churches seem to be having in
ecumenism is taking:                                                  holding their members and clergy, the deterioration in
                                                                      the quality of society around them, will increasingly
      Many churches, particularly in the inner cities, are            make Christians more conscious of their likenesses
    finding that they can survive only if they join forces.           than of their differences.
   In Kansas City, MO., one Presbyterian church was
   down to 50 congregants, mostly elderly women. A                  The hope is for a stronger church.
   nearby congregation of the United Church of Christ                    They look on membership losses as resulting in
   had a similar problem. . . . Once the decision was                fewer but more dedicated Christians who will be
   made to combine forces, nearby Catholics and                      more effective.
   Episcopalians asked for and received' permission to
   hold their services with the other two congregations.            One theologian remarked:
   Tsday there is a new $400,000 building offering Mass                  that "growing secularity of our time" was driving
   at 9 a.m. and a combined Protestant service at 11. . . .          Southern Baptists . . . and Catholics . . . toward each
      To meet religious needs, Columbia formed a                     other. . . . " `To save the world' by Christian
   Religious Facilities Corporation, which built a $1                defmitions is a large order, and even God may need
   million multiple-denomination church  build:mg. Its               both of us to get the job done."
   23,000 square feet of usable space includes                     The general impression left by the article is that
   conference rooms often used for Sunday-school                ecumenism is by no means a thing of the past. It is
   classes and nursery, pastors' studies, worship halls and    alive and well. The emphasis is however, quite
   lounges now used by four Christian and three. Jewish        different. While, during the sixties, the emphasis fell
   congregations. . . .                                        on denominational merger, this movement gradually
       Reston, Va., another "new town", took a slightly        slowed partly because the denominational leaders
    different tack. When United Redeemer Methodist             were far ahead of the people in the pew. And when
    became  fumly rooted there, the Christian Church           the people in the pew voiced their objections loudly
    (Disciples of Christ), United Church of Christ, the        enough, the leaders were forced to pause in their
    United Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian
    Church of the United States . . . joined it to form the    headlong rush. They could not carry the people
    United Christian Parish of Reston, which now has           along. Now however, merger is more of a local
   two centers of worship and plans four eventually. The       matter. Within various cities churches are cooperating
    ministers rotate between the two worship centers,          in various tasks  - if they are not actually merging. In
    one of which is characterized by an informal style to      various Councils there is increased cooperation not
   appeal to younger members. As a prototype for               only bet  ween denominations, but also between
   future, wider reunion, each parish member is regarded       religions;
   as a member in full standing of all five of the
   sponsoring denominations.                                       Nevertheless, the leaders have not given up their
                                                               dreams of nation-wide churches, if not world-wide
  In an attempt to analyze somewhat the movement,              churches. And they are still busy meeting, discussing
the article makes some observations.                           their differences, finding where they can agree and
      A distinct "plus" in the movement toward church          how they can put their agreements into effect. They
   reunion is an increase in good manners and a decrease       are busy plotting the next steps to be taken and they
   in petty inter-church quarrels. One area where              are considering how best to deal with a lagging laity
   common courtesy was long overdue was in what used           which repeatedly slows their efforts.
   to be called "mixed marriage". In Massachusetts, a
   statewide Commission on Christian Unity,                       There seems to be little reason why the majority of
   representing, among others, four Catholic dioceses and      denominations, denominations which have the largest
   also Baptists, Episcopalians, United Methodists,            m e m b e r s h i p   r o l l s , s h o u l d   n o t   g e t   t o g e t h e r .
   Lutherans and United Church of Christ, has published        Membership in many denominations is a social
   new guidelines for what are now called "ecumenical          matter. Doctrinal differences and church political


182                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



differences mean little if anything in a time of                                       leaders will some day have their way. We may be sure
doctrinal indifference. Liturgical differences are no                                  that there will be no room, not only in the new
longer barriers when most denominations are                                            ecclesiastical structures being erected, but in the
engaging in some form of liturgical renewal, and                                       world as a whole, for the Church of Christ.
when all the emphasis is on social work. It would                                      Ecclesiastical union, in most of its forms, is
seem that only a certain traditionalism still keeps                                    opposition to God. That is its deepest spiritual
most denominations apart.                                                              principle. And opposition to God always manifests
                                                                                       itself in opposition to those who represent God's
   Nevertheless, the pressures are so strong that the                                  cause in the world.



THE VOICE OF OUR  FA,THERS

                       The Inspiration of the Written Word of God
                                                                    ProJ: Robert D. Decker
                   We confess that this Word of God was not sent, nor delivered by the will of man, but that holy men of
               God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, as the apostle saith. And that afterwards God, from a
               special care, which he has for us and our salvation, commanded his servants, the prophets and apostles, to
               commit his revealed word to writing; and he himself wrote with his own finger, the two tables of the law.
               Therefore we call such writings holy and divine Scriptures.
                                                                                                                  Article III, Belgic Confession


   Article 2 speaks of the two means by which God is                                   written Word. The Bible, after all, is of rather recent
made known to us; creation and providence and His                                      origin. For the first two thousand years of the history
h o l y   a n d   d i v i n e   W o r d .   I n   t h e   A r t i c l e   u n d e r    of the world there was no written copy of the Word
consideration now the fathers say something about                                      of God. Still more, the writing of the Old Testament
that "holy and divine Word", something we do well                                      books took another two thousand years. The last of
to understand in our times. The church has always                                      the New Testament books must have been written
had to do battle at this point against those who                                       somewhere between the years A.D. 90 to 95. But
would deny or undermine the absolute authority of                                      even then the church as a whole did not really have
the Word of God. But in our times we witness                                           the written Word of God, for it was written on scrolls
something different about this age-old battle. Whereas                                 and in the hands of only a few scholars and monks
in the past the opponents of the faith were generally                                  for centuries. In fact, it was not until the invention of
found outside of the sphere of the church, today the                                   the printing press around the time of the great
church must fight its battle against those within who                                  Reformation some 450 years ago that it became
,would deny the absolute authority of God's Word.                                      possible for every believer to have possession of the
The church's own theologians discuss and debate the                                    Bible. But the believers were never without the Word
"nature and extent of Biblical authority." We ought                                    of God in all those years before the inspired Bible was
to understand at the outset that there can be no                                       completed and in the hands of God's people. God
debate over what the Belgic Confession says on this                                    caused Himself to be known from the very beginning
subject in this and succeeding articles. The creed                                     when He spoke to our first parents in Paradise.
maintains without equivocation that God's Word is                                         This revelation took on a variety of forms. God
,mspired, from God Himself, and therefore "holy and                                    made Himself and/or His will known by direct
divine" and authoritative for our faith and life. Those                                speech. He spoke to Adam,  Enoch, Noah, Abraham,
within the pale of the Reformed churches who hedge                                     and many other of His servants and saints. God also
on this key issue and who persist in speaking of the                                   spoke by angels to Abraham,  Manoah,  Zacharias,
"human element" in the Bible cannot honestly appeal                                    Mary, the Shepherds, and the women at the tomb of
to the Belgic Confession in support of their views nor                                 Jesus. Dreams were another means of revelation. God
may they claim to be in agreement with the points of                                   s p o k e   t o   J a c o b   i n   a   d r e a m   a n d   t o   P h a r o a h ,
doctrine set forth in this creed.                                                      Nebuchadnezzar, and Pilate's wife. God revealed
       When speaking of this Word of, God the article                                  Himself in visions to Daniel, Zechariah, Ezekiel, and
distinguishes between the spoken, Word and the                                         Peter. By mighty signs and wonders God made


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   183



Himself known to Israel through Moses, Elijah, and           place as instruments of revelation. They were not
Elisha and other of His servants. God made Himself           afraid to regard their writings as authoritative. The
known by direct revelation. He spoke His Word to the         great Apostle Paul confesses to the Corinthians: "And
prophets who in turn said, "Thus saith the Lord" to          I brethren, when I came to you, came not with
God's people, or, "The Word of the Lord came unto            excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto
me saying. .  ." An unmistakably clear instance of this      you the testimony of God . . . And my speech and
we have in the case of Moses, to whom the Lord said:
"                                                            my preaching was not with enticing words of man's
     . . . see, I have made thee a god to Pharoah: and       wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of
Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt           power: that your faith should not stand in the
speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy                 wisdom of men, but in the power of God." (I Cor.
brother shall speak unto Pharoah, that he send the           2:1-5)  A bit later in this same chapter the Apostle
children of Israel out of his land." (Exodus 7: 1, 2) In     states concerning the "things which God hath
the New Testament Christ promised the apostles the           prepared for them that love him" (vs. 9):. "For God
Spirit of truth Who would lead them into all the truth       hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the
and cause them to recall all that Christ had spoken to       Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of
them. (John 16: 13) So we find the book of Acts              God." (vs. 10) Other references to this same truth
repeatedly emphasizing that the Apostles spoke as            are: I Cor.  7:lO; II Cor.  13:2; I Cor.  14:37. The
they were filled with the Holy Spirit. (cf. Acts  2:4;       Apostle Peter regards the writings of Paul as of equal
4:8; 6: 10) This Word of God the Heidelberg                  value and authority with the Old Testament
Catechism calls:  ". . . the holy gospel, which God          Scriptures when he writes:  ". . . even as our beloved
himself first revealed in Paradise; and afterwards           brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto
published by the patriarchs and prophets, and                him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles,
represented by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of        speaking in them of these things; in which are some
the law; and lastly, has fulfilled it by his only            things hard to be understood, which they that are
begotten Son." (Question 19)                                 unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the
     For proof of this truth the creed appeals to the        other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (II
classic text out of II Peter  1:21 which reads: "For the     Peter 3: 15, 16) The two classic passages in this regard
prophecy came not in old time by the will of man:            are the one we cited above from II Peter  1:20, 21 and
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by              II Timothy 3: 16, which reads: "All scripture is given
the Holy Ghost." The Apostle's argument in this              by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
passage is that the Church does well to take heed to         f o r   r e p r o o f , for correction, for instruction in
the more sure word of prophecy, as unto a light that         righteousness." There can be no doubt about the
shines in a dark place, because no prophecy of               Bible's claim in this regard. On the basis of Scripture's
Scripture is of any private interpretation. (vss. 19, 20)    own testimony the Bible is the very Word of God,
The men of God did not offer their private opinions          given  ". . . from a special care, which God has for us
or their own interpretations, but they spoke only            and our salvation." It is in this connection, too, that
under, the power and direction of the Holy Spirit!           the article appeals to the fact that God Himself wrote
The Word of God must be obeyed; indeed, we do well           with His own finger the two tables of the law. (Deut.
to take heed to it!                                          29:29)
     The confession goes on to affirm that,  ". . . God,       In spite of the clear teaching of the Word of God
from a special care, which he has for us and our             we find many false views concerning this truth of
salvation, commanded his servants the prophets and           inspiration. Among these are two which ought to be
apostles, to commit his revealed word to writing. .  ."      mentioned: the Mechanical Theory and the Dynamic
The Scriptures abound with proof of this. "And               Theory. According to the former, the writers of the
Jehovah said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in        Bible were no more than machines, typewriters,
a book. .  ." (Ex. 17: 14) Others under orders to write      which God used to write His Word. This we may
include: Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel and               dismiss  .at once, for it does not tit the character of the
Habakkuk. Several prophecies were intended for               Bible at all. Why, if this be true, is John's writing so
writing rather than for speaking, in order that the          different from Paul's Epistles? The Dynamic Theory
people might give to them more careful attention. (cf.       teaches that the Holy Spirit did not inspire the words
Jeremiah 29;  36:4;  Ezekiel 26; 27, 28) To John on          but only the thoughts and ideas of the Bible. This is
the isle of Patmos the exalted Savior said: "What            sheer nonsense: for how else can thoughts be
thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven         expressed than in words? Besides these two erroneous
churches." (Rev. 1: 11) In addition to these passages        views, there is the outright denial of the truth of
the Bible repeatedly refers to its divine authority. The     inspiration which teaches that the books of the Bible
Apostles were keenly conscious of their calling and          are purely the product of the human authors.


184                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



: Over against all these views we maintain with our                                         revelation to God! God prepared from eternity the
creed the truth concerning inspiration. The Scriptures                                      character, personality, ability, talent, and all the
are inspired in every part. Their whole contents are                                        other natural and spiritual gifts of each individual
the result of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We                                        author of Holy Writ. And God also prepared in time
believe on the basis of the Word of God itself in                                           each man for that particular work. God prepared
p l e n a r y   i n s p i r a t i o n .   E v e r y ,   S c r i p t u r e   i s             their birth, nationality, and time of birth. For
"God-breathed". (II Tim. 3: 16) Moreover,  .those                                           example, God prepared Moses by forty years of
Scriptures are verbally inspired. Every word is from                                        instruction in Pharaoh's court and by another forty
the Holy Spirit, for "holy men of God spake as they                                         years of instruction caring for Jethro's sheep. God
were moved by the Holy Spirit." (II Peter  1:21)  This                                      prepared David on the hillsides of  Judea caring for
means that every "a," "and," and "the" is from God                                          the sheep, in his fleeing from Saul, and in his fighting
Himself. Even the use of a plural instead of a singular                                     of the Lord's battles. Thus it was that David could
is significant, for the Holy Spirit makes these                                             pen so many of the Psalms. So it was with each
distinctions. Every word is just the word intended by                                       human instrument, God eternally prepared them and
the Holy Spirit. In sum it may be said that inspiration                                     in time called each one for the particular work of
is the work of the Holy. Spirit of Jesus Christ by                                          writing a specific portion of His Word. Then, too, the
which He moved, guided, and directed certain authors                                        Holy Spirit inspired each author in harmony with his
to record the words of the revelation of God.                                               God-given nature, personality, character, and talents.
                                                                                            This is why Jeremiah differs from Isaiah or Paul from
What about the "human element" you ask? It is                                               Peter. But, taken together, the Word of God from
only in the light of the above that we can speak of a                                       Genesis to Revelation forms one complete whole.
"human element" in inspiration. Of course, God used                                         Each book contributes another facet, another aspect
human authors. But what we must never forget is that                                        of the riches of the revelation of God. In all sixty-six
these were "holy men of God, who spake as they                                              books which came over the course of more than two
were moved by the Holy Spirit".  :(I1 Peter  1:21)                                          thousand years there is no contradiction. Thus it is
These were holy men especially with a view to their                                         that: "We have also a more sure word of prophecy:
task as human instruments of God's revelation; God                                          whereunto ye do well to take heed, as unto a light
set them apart for this very work. And these holy                                           that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and
men were "of God"; literally, "from God". This                                              the day star arise in your hearts." (II Peter 1: 19)
means that these holy men had their origin in and                                           And, therefore "we call such writings holy and divine
owed their existence as human instruments of                                                Scriptures."


&JEST ARTICLE

                          The God-Ordained Authority In The Church

                                                                         Rev. Wayne Bekkering

       We have been reminded of the solemn calling and                                      We consider this emphasis on the authority in the
responsibilities of the office-bearer of the church of                                      church beneficial and proper because of the erosion
Christ as we have only a short time ago witnessed the                                       of the idea of authority in all the spheres of life. In
installation of the elders and deacons.                                                     just about every institution and area of life the idea
       This is a good time, in the  first place, further to                                 of an objective authority is scoffed at and ridiculed as
reflect upon their position in the church as those who                                      " o l d - f a s h i o n e d ". To have an objective set of
are lawfully called of God's church and consequently                                        principles as the basis of order will no longer do. The
of God Himself and, secondly, to consider our calling                                       attitude today is that man is come of age and,
and responsibility with respect to them.                                                    therefore, able to make decisions for himself, with
                                                                                            respect to the rule of things. The authoritarian system
       I n   t h e   f i r s t   p a r t   w e   w a n t   t o   c o n s i d e r   t h e    impedes development and stifles the self-expression
office-bearers as they represent the authority of                                           of man. At bottom what we observe in these
Christ in His church. Our reference is, therefore,                                          arguments is sheer lawlessness. Sad to say, this
primarily to the elders as they have been particularly                                      lawlessness has spilled over into the church and has
entrusted with the oversight and rule of the church.                                        had its devastating effects. It is over against this


                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     185


influence of lawlessness that we must guard ourselves,                                   but Scripture makes no distinction between the
lest we be found resisting the ordinances of God and,                                    authority of the Word of God preached or the Word
therefore, God Himself.                                                                  of God brought by a lawful elder. In fact, the
    God in His Word lays down the basis of all                                           minister is an elder, a teaching elder, who rules with
authority in Romans 13 : 1 and 2, "Let every soul be                                     the other elders or ruling elders. The officerbearer
subject to the higher powers. For there is'no power                                      who functions in his office in harmony with Christ's
but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.                                      Word cannot be separated from Christ as far as
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the                                   authority is concerned. Christ Himself says in Matt.
ordinance of God: and they that resist  shall.receive  to                                10:40,  "He that receiveth you receiveth me. . .  ."
themselves damnation". It is true that the context in                                    This fact ought never to puff up an officebearer, but
Romans 13 deals primarily with the sword power;                                          ought always to bow him down. The officebearer
nevertheless, we can gain from this passage a very                                       ought always to rule in the consciousness that his
clear statement concerning authority which applies to                                    authority rests in his conformity with the Word. If he
the church also. In this connection we ought to                                          ceases to rule in harmony with Christ's Word, he
o b s e r v e   f r o m   S c r i p t u r e   t h a t   i n   t h i s   p r e s e n t    ceases to rule in Christ's stead. By the very fact of
dispensation all power and authority has been given                                      taking a position contrary to the Scripture the
to Christ, through Whom God is pleased to rule. In                                       officebearer cuts himself off from the authority of
turn, Christ is pleased to rule through men, as can be                                   Christ.
seen from Eph. 4: 11 and 12, "And he gave some,                                             All this presents the offices of Christ's church as
apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists;                                     positions of awesome responsibility, which they are.
and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of                                    The  Form of the Ordination of  the Ministers of GodS
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the                                        Word  confesses that "Since no man is of himself fit
edifying of the body of Christ." This does not mean                                      for any of these things, let us call upon God with
that there are three authorities in the church, nor                                      thanksgiving." This certainly points officebearers in
even two, but one  - the authority of God in Christ.                                     the only direction that they can go to find help.
This  .one authority can be spoken of as either God's                                    Officebearers ought not to faint nor fall in the face of
o r   C h r i s t 's   i n t e r c h a n g e a b l y   w i t h o u t   f e a r   o f     their heavy responsibility, but ought to be assured
contradiction, since Scripture does so. The point is                                     that whom Christ calls He also qualifies. God will give
that in the church there is one objective authority,                                     to officebearers His grace and Holy Spirit as to all
that is, the Word of God in the Scripture. This is                                       those who continually ask them of Him and are
something that cannot be passed over lightly, because                                    thankful for them. Officebearers must understand
here hinges the whole rule of the church.                                                that a faithful rule does not come automatically nor
   Officebearers stand or fall in relationship to the                                    by nature, but in the way of imploring God's grace
Word. Implied in the calling of the officebearer is that                                 and Holy Spirit both for himself and for those over
he rules in Christ's stead, and he can only do that                                      whom he rules.
when he rules according to the Word of Christ in the                                        In this second part we must consider our calling
Scripture. That makes knowledge of and conformity                                        and responsibility with respect to the officebearers.
to the Word of Christ an indispensable requirement                                       On the basis of the first part it may seem unnecessary
for the officebearers. In and of himself the                                             to spell out our responsibility with respect to
officebearer is nothing, but .in connection, with the                                    submission to the authority of Christ in His church.
lawful calling and the Word of God he functions in                                       But we must remember that everyone of us is by
the place of Christ.                                                                     nature a rebel and dislikes the idea of authority. All
   It must be granted that this is an awesome concept                                    authority and, therefore, all submission to it is
- man ruling in the place of God; but this is                                            presented in the Scripture as directly connected with
nevertheless the teaching of Scripture. In II Cor.  5:20                                 God. We need not dwell on the fact that God is The
we read, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as                                     Authority and that He rightfully demands obedience.
though, God did beseech you by us: we pray you in                                        For it is written in the Scriptures, "Thou shalt
Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." And in I                                       worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou
Thess. 2: 13 we have, "For this cause also thank we                                      serve." (Matt. 4:  lob) The fact that "God hath set
God without ceasing, because, when ye received the                                       some in the church . .  ." (I Cor.  12:28)  and that
word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not                                     Christ "gave some, apostles . .  ." (Eph. 4: 11) implies
as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of                                   that the proper officebearers be obeyed even as we
God, which effectually worketh also in you that                                          must obey God. This can be very clearly seen from
believe." In both of these passages it must be                                           Heb. 13 : 17 where we read, "Obey them that have the
acknowledged that the  first reference is to the Word                                    rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch
preached and, therefore, to the office of the ministry,                                  for your souls, as they that must give account, that


1     8     6                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that                                  another authority into the church of Christ. Always
is unprofitable for you." This verse shows plainly that                                our judging of the rule of the authorities must be on
o f f i c e b e a r e r s   m u s t   b e   o b e y e d   n o t   i n   a n d   o f    the basis of God's Word. We must not merely posit on
themselves, but in that they rule in the stead of Him                                  our "say so" what is right or wrong but that must be
to Whom they must give account. Ruling in the place                                    shown in the light of the Scripture.
of Christ, remember, means ruling according to His                                       Officebearers who rule well, that is, in harmony
Word. There is only one authority in the church that                                   with the Word of God are to be counted worthy of
we may obey and only One that we must obey. In                                         double honor according to I Tim. 5 : 17. This certainly
other words, we can be bound by nothing but the                                        shows us that faithfulness to the Word is a thing to be
Word of God. You will certainly recognize the                                          looked for in the officebearers and something to be
p r e v i o u s   s e n t e n c e   a s   e m b o d y i n g   a   p r e c i o u s      highly esteemed for God's sake.
reformational principle. Not only must we be bound
by the Word of God, but that is also our chief desire                                    Let us pray for our officebearers that they be
as regenerated children of God. Being bound by                                         found to be faithful to the Word of God. Prayer for
God's Word, then, is not something that is grievous,                                   the officebearers is commanded in the Scripture. The
but rather something that we willingly seek.                                           Apostle Paul pleads in I thes.  5:25, "Brethren, pray
                                                                                       for us." With Paul every officebearer desiring to rule
     It follows, then, that only when officebearers rule                               well pleads "pray for us". Pray for the officebearer in
according to the Word do they rule authoritatively;                                    your homes, so that your children may understand
and only then must they be obeyed: We must be very                                     how important the offices of the church are to you
careful at this point that we do not set ourselves up as,                              and that they may early learn that to obey the
authorities in our own right and, therefore, introduce                                 officebearers is to obey God.



T H E S T R E N G T H O F Y O U T H

                                       Spiritual Growth - The Means (2)
                                                                         Rev. J. Korten'ng

     Youth leaders, parents, teachers, ministers rejoice                                  To stand strong does not just happen. You young
when they witness spiritual growth in a young person.                                  people perhaps know other young people who in
It makes all their effort worthwhile when they see                                     your mind are more spiritual than you are. As you
some fruit in the life of a young person, especially                                   look at them and see them in action, you may even
when it comes spontaneously and not forced. Such                                       be a little envious. Perhaps you just brush it off and
moments are golden.                                                                    say, "Well, so and so is just different; I'm not that
     It happens sometimes in a young people's society.                                 way; I've got to have my fun; I just can't stand up
 Suddenly the members become alive and interested in                                   and be different as he or she is." All right, so
the subject. Each one puts forth effort to contribute                                  someone else can contribute more to a discussion
to the discussion. Some even open up their hearts to                                   than you can. Big deal, you've probably got other
share some meaningful experience and how they                                          good points. You think that way some time?
learned through it. All go home inspired. Then again                                      In this article I'd like to suggest that spiritual
it may come from the lips of a young person in                                         maturity is not only controlled by the things we
prayer, not just another prayer, but one that shows                                    discussed in our previous article. We mentioned the
real spiritual. communion with God and that breathes                                   basics, we need the Word of God, that Word must be
a sincere desire that God will show His mercy upon                                     applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit who gives us
them. You see this occasionally in school when a                                       grace. It helps us to go to church faithfully and read
young person will go out of his way to show kindness                                   our Bibles at home regularly. Without these things we
to someone who obviously has a problem and needs                                       would not have any life, much less any growth!
to bend someone's ear. Then again, it may mean                                            There is more, however.
willingness to stand up and be different and not
complain, even though the "crowd" go their merry                                          Spiritual growth comes also from the experience of
way.                                                                                   Christian living itself. The more we practice our
                                                                                       Christian faith in our daily life, the easier it will
      Youth are also put to the test.                                                  become for us to continue living as a Christian. The


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        187


opposite is also sadly true, if we neglect our Christian            Our Reformed fathers considered such daily
practide,  we become spiritually weak and never                 growth in sanctification in Lord's Day 32 and 33 of
amount to much.                                                 our Heidelberg Catechism.
                                                                     Q. 86. Since then we are delivered from our misery,
PERSONAL DISCIPLINE                                                  merely of grace, through Christ, without any merit of
                                                                     ours, why must we still do good works?
   Surely the Bible speaks often of spiritual exercise,              A. Because that Christ, having redeemed and
                                                                     delivered us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy
training, as essential to well-toned spiritual muscles. If           Spirit, after His own image, that so we may testify by
our hands are going to be busy serving the Lord,. our                the whole of our conduct our gratitude to God for
heart must be exercised in love. I like the way Jay E.               His blessings, and that He may be praised by us: also
Adams expresses it in his little booklet,  Godliness                 that every one may be assured in himself of his faith
Through Discipline, page 3 :                                         by the fruits thereof; and that by our godly
       "How can I discipline myself?" you ask                        conversation, others may be gained to Christ.
    insistently. It is time to begin to consider the answer          Q. 87. Cannot they then be saved, who, continuing
    to that question. First, you must recognize that the             in their wicked and ungrateful lives, are not converted
    very word disciplzne makes it clear that godliness               to God?
    canhot be zapped. It cannot be whipped up like                   A. By no means; for the Holy Scripture declares, that
    instant pudding. Godliness doesn't come that way.                no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer,  thief,
    Discipline means work: it means mstaz'?zed  daily                covetous man, drunkard, slanderer, `robber, or any
    effort. The word Paul used is the one from which the             such like, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
    English words "gymnastics" and "gymnasium" have
    been derived. It is a term clearly related to athletics.         Q. 88. In how many parts doth the true conversion
    An athlete betiomes  an expert only by years of hard             of man consist?
    practice. There are no instant athletes. Do you think            A. In two parts, in the mortification of the old and
    that Brooks Robinson became one of the world's                   the quickening of the new man.
    greatest third basemen simply by appearing at the
    stadium in Baltimore one afternoon after he had
    decided that morniqg that he was going to play ball?        SAY NO!.
    Do you think that it is only when there is a game that         Mortification of the old  inan simply means saying
    he plays? You know otherwise. You know that he has          No when you should say  No.. I'm afraid that this is
    spent countless hours practicing. When you watch            one area  that is being  niglected by us, and such
    him,in action, it is hard not to conclude that he was       neglect contributes to spiritual lethargy and
    born with a glove in his hand. He must have teethed         subsequent spiritual flab.
    on a bat! It takes years of regular practice to achieve
    such skill.                                                    The immediate danger of riches, luxury, affluence,
      `No weight lifter, fo; example, says, "Here is a very     call it what you will, is that we  ar'e conditioned to  get
   heavy weight, I never lifted weights before, but that        what we  want. Sometimes it is so bad that parents
  looks like the largest one, 1'11 try to press it." He is      and young people cannot even think of things they
   likely to break his back. He can't do it that way. He        would like to receive as gifts. A little child says,
   must start out with a small weight. the first week,          "Mommy, I want a gum ball,." Well, reach for a
   then gradually over the months and years add heavier         penny; it's  the best way to get Johnny to quit
   and ,heavier ones. He must work up to the heaviest           nagging. Soon the gum ball is replaced with a bat and
   one; Nor does he decide, "This week I'll lift weights        ball and probably some grand assortment of trucks.
   for five hours on Friday and then I'll forget about it       Then it's got to be a trike,  ,eventually a lo-speed. By
   for the next six weeks." Athletes must practice              some amazing wonder it isn't long and it's "four on
   regularly, usually every day for at least a short period     the floor."
   of time. They work daily, day after day, until what
   they are doing is "natural" (i.e. second nature) to             Carry this through a little more. Soon Johnny gets
   them.                                                        himself a gal that he wants to call his own. They
       That is what an athlete does. And that is exactly        decide on marriage. Young couples don't start out
   what is involved in the word that Paul used here.            today with a minimum; no, they have to have a
   Continued daily effort is an essential element of            beautiful house, and, of course, filled with all kinds
   Christian  discipline.                                       of furniture, including the color television set. They
  His reference to Paul's writing is found in I Tim.            need  it.
4:7, 8,  ". . . exercise  thyself rather unto godliness.           To add insult to injury, we are constantly
For bodily exercise profiteth little; but godliness is          harangued with commercials; we're told we need this
profitable unto all things, having promise of the life          or that. And evidently if we're told often enough, we
that now is and of that which is to come."                      will decide that we do indeed need it, or I don't see


188                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



how such expensive advertising would ever pay. We're           having acted out. of principle (belief), and not out of
brainwashed to say, "Yes, it's true."                          the way of least resistance.
  It is in that kind of setting that  it! becomes so hard        The more that you do this, the more you show
to say No to anything. To say No  is,like trying to get        that you are maturing. This is what your parents are
your gear into reverse while you are going 50 miles an         looking for when they are about to decide whether
hour forward. It presents problems. This we find out           you are old enough to take on more responsibilities.
in our Christian life.                                         You want to get a job? You want to take the family
  What is the solution? We must learn to say no to             car out for an evening? You want to begin dating?
certain things from childhood on. You must expect              You want to go on a trip? You want to get married?
this and practice this. You will then get used to using          The answers to these important questions will not
that reverse gear. You don't have' to go out every             be found in attaining the magical age of 18 years. The
night something is going on. Say No sometimes. You             government may say that you are old enough to
don't have to dress like every one else; say No                accept adult responsibilities at that age. What else can
sometimes. You don't have to use the same old jargon           the government do but set the age as it is determined
everyone      e l s e   m a y   d e e m   s o"neat"; say No    by the majority of people? And since the  60s were
sometimes. If your friends want to do something you            years of uprisings, especially on college campuses by
don't, say No! Say No to the television set at certain         militant youth, the government set that age.
times. Say No to the sports-craze if it is getting out of        Maturity is not determined by the number of times
hand.                                                          you have changed the calendar. Rather, it is
                                                               determined by the way you conduct yourself, the
SAY YES                                                        way you show that you can obey and be trustworthy,
  James reminds us that it is not only important for           the way your word is good and you do what you
us not to do evil, he also tells us that if we know what       promise, the way that you say Yes when you should
is good, but fail to do that good, we sin by not doing         and No when you shouldn't.
it, James 4: 17.                                                 Indeed, you need the Bible to know when God
       Don't become over burdened with saying no.              requires of you the Yes and the No; you need the
Remember that every time you say No, there is a                instruction of catechism and church to help you; you
golden opportunity next to it to say Yes! We do not            need the Holy Spirit to work grace in your heart. You
live in a vacuum; we are active  every moment. And if          also need practice.
we refuse to do evil, we have that opportunity to get            Your ability to implement this in your life
busy and do something good.                                    improves with such practice.
  Instead of wasting your time with television, get              This is what God requires of us, "I beseech you
your school work done the way it. should be done;              therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
this is good. Instead of trying to be popular because          present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
you are a push over and everyone takes advantage of            unto God, which is your reasonable service," Rom.
you, try standing up for what you really believe, and          12:l.
don't be afraid to tell others. You may not be so
popular, but you will have the inner satisfaction of             May God provide you the grace to do this.



CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH

                               Eschatology - The First Period

                                                    Rev. H. Veldman

       In our preceding article we concluded our               New Testament that even at the time of the apostles
discussion of the doctrine of the resurrection of the          there was a rather general expectation of an early
body as set forth by the fathers during this early or          second coming of the Lord. The expectation was kept
first period of the church in the New Dispensation,            alive and  ,continued in the early church during the
during the years, 80-250 A.D. We have called                   period now under discussion. This was especially true
attention to the return or second advent of our Lord           in the first part of this period and under the pressure
Jesus Christ. It. is evident from certain passages of the      of more or less severe persecutions which the church


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        189


was compelled to endure. It may also be, said that                whatever. The Gnostics rejected the belief in Hades,
there was a strong tendency toward a chiliastic                   together with that of the resurrection of the body,
conception of Christ's coming, although it cannot be              and imagined that the spiritually minded (the
maintained that millenialism was generally' accepted              pneumatic) would, immediately after death, be
by the'church. Some of the fathers do not speak of a              delivered from the kingdom of the demiurge, and
millenium at all; others oppose the idea. Nevertheless            elevated to the pleerooma. The ancient oriental and
the chiliastic conception was found not only by some             Parsic idea of a purifying fire already occurs during
Judaizing sects but also by such fathers as Justin                this period in the writings of Clement of Alexandria
Martyr, Irenaeus and Tertullian.                                  and Origen. This purifying fire, however, is not yet
                                                                  transferred to this intermediate state, but is either
   We also called attention to the doctrine of the                taken in a very general sense, or supposed to be
Intermediate State during this early period of the                connected with the general conflagration of the
church. The answer of the Apostolic Fathers to this              world.
question was rather vague. About the place of the souls
between death and resurrection they speak very little.                          GENERALJUDGMENT
Justin Martyr speaks of a better place for believers            Concerning the doctrine of the general judgment
and a worse place for the ungodly. As to their                as held by the fathers during this early period of the
conditipn, they do not teach definitely that the souls        church, we would quote from Justin Martyr, Vol. I of
of believers immediately after death go to heaven.            the  Ante-Nicene Fathers.  Some ascribed the office of
They do have indeed a certain foretaste. of their             Judge to the Son, others to the Father. On page 165,
eternal, destination and wait for the resurrection of         chapter VIII, we read:
the body. Only the martyrs are received' up into                    And reckon ye that it is for your sakes we have
Paradise immediately upon death, but even this                   been saying these things; for it is in our power, when
Paradise must be distinguished from Heayen. The                  we are examined, to deny that we are Christians; but
place of the dead is conceived as being in the heart of          we would not live by telling a lie. For, impelled by
the earth. It was divided into two apartments                    the desire of the eternal and pure life, we seek the
separated from each other by a deep ravine. On the               abode that is with God, the Father and Creator of all,
one side of the ravine was the place for the believing           and hasten to confess our faith, persuaded and
souls. On the other side was the fire which cannot be            convinced as we are that they who have proved to
quenched. Far above both these parts of the Sheol is             God by their works that they followed Him, and
Paradise. Thither went Christ after His death. There             loved to abide with Him where there is no sin to
are  Enoch and Elijah and there are also the martyrs             cause disturbance, can obtain these things. This, then,
until the resurrection.                                          to speak shortly, is what we expect and have learned
                                                                 from Christ, and teach. And Plato, in like manner,
  We now begin our discussion of the General                     used to say that Rhadamanthus and  Mines would
Judgment and Related Subjects. When we speak of                  punish the wicked who came before them; and we say
"related subjects" we refer to such subjects as Hades,           that the same thing will be gone, but at the hand of
Purgatory and the Conflagration of the World. Before             Christ, and upon the wicked in the same bodies
entering into these subjects, however, we would first            united again to their spirits which are now to undergo
quote Hagenback as he introduces these subjects in               everlasting punishment; and not only, as Plato said,
Vol. I of his History of Doctrines, 22 1:                        for a period of a thousand years. And if any one say
                                                                 that this is incredible or impossible, this error of ours
      The transactions of the general judgment, which            is one which concerns ourselves only, and no other
   was thought to be connected with the general                  person, so long as you cannot convict us of doing any
   resurrection, were depicted in various ways. Some             harm.
   ascribe the office of Judge to the Son, others to the
   Father, both in opposition to the Hellenistic myth of        You will notice, in the above quotation, that Justin
   the judges in the under-world. The idea of a Hades        Martyr calls attention to what Plato used to say, but
  (Sheol), known to both the Hebrews and the Greeks,         that the fathers say that the same thing will be done,
   was transferred to Christianity, and the assumption,      namely to-punish the  wick&l, at the hand of Christ and
   that, the real happiness, or the final misery, of the     upon the wicked in the same bodies united  again to
   departed did not commence till after the general          their spirits which are now to undergo, everlasting
   judgment and the resurrection of the body, appeared       punishment.
   to necessitate the belief in an intermediate state, in
   which the soul was supposed to remain from the               And, in chapter IX of his  Second Apology,  Justin
   moment of its separation from the body to this last       Martyr writes :
   catastrophe.  Tertulliun,   however, held that the               And that no one may say what is said by those
   martyrs went at once to paradise, the abode of the            who are deemed philosophers, that our assertions that
   blessed, and thought that in this they enjoyed an             the wicked are punished in eternal fire are big words
   advantage over other Christians; while Cyprian' does          and bugbears, and that we wish men to live virtuously
   not seem to know about any intermediate state                 through fear, and not because such a life is good and


     190                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


            pleasant; I will briefly reply to this, that if this be not                             the dead, of all the dead, the godly as well as the
             so, God does not exist; or, if He exists, He cares not                                 ungodly.
             for men, and neither virtue nor vice is anything, and,                                     In his dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, Justin Martyr
            as we said before, lawgivers unjustly punish those
            who transgress good commandments. But since these                                       gives elaborate reasons for regarding Christ as the
             are not unjust, and their Father teaches them by the                                   Messiah of the Old Testament, and this dialogue is
            word to do the same things as Himself, they who                                         regarded as the first  systematic.attempt  to exhibit the
             agree with them are not unjust.                                                         false position of the Jews in regard to Christianity. In
       In the above quotation, Justin Martyr writes that                                             this dialogue with Trypho, chapter 5, Justin Martyr
     eternal punishment is not a mere threat. He writes                                             has something to say about the soul and what
: that the assertions of the fathers to the effect that the                                         happens to it at death, and we quote:
     wicked are punished in eternal fire are not simply big                                                    But I do not say, indeed, that all souls die; for that
     words or bugbears, intended to frighten men to live                                                    were truly a piece of good fortune to the evil. What
' virtuously through fear, and not because such a life                                                      then? The souls of the pious remain in a better place,
     itself is good and pleasant. The Scriptures surely                                                     while those of the unjust and wicked are in a worse,
     speak of such a punishment in everlasting fire.                                                        waiting for the time of judgment. Thus some which
                                                                                                            have appeared worthy of God never die; but others
:      We need not say anymore as far as the doctrine of                                                    are punished so long as God wills them to exist and to
     the general judgment is concerned as set forth in this                                                 be punished.
     early period of the church. That the Lord would
     judge the quick and the dead was generally accepted.                                                In this quotation Justin Martyr certainly has
     The Scriptures are clear on this.                                                               something to say about Hades, the state or abode of
                                                                                                     the dead. He declares in this answer to Trypho that
                                                                                                     the souls of the people of God do not die but that
                                          HADES                                                      they remain in a better place while the souls of the
       Hades and hell are not synonymous. There are                                                  wicked are in a worse place, waiting for the time of
     Scriptural passages in which the word  hell  appears                                           judgment.
     and  .it would be proper should the word  hades  appear                                             In a later chapter, chapter 80, Justin Martyr even
     in the translation. One such passage is Ps. 16: 10 and                                          stigmatizes as heretical the doctrine that souls are
     Acts  2:27. The passage is familiar: "Because Thou                                              received into heaven immediately after death. In this
wilt not leave My soul in hell, neither wilt Thou                                                    quotation it is clear that this church father also
     suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption." This text,                                            believed in a millenium, but he adds that many who
     we understand, is a quotation of Ps. 16: 10. They who                                           belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true
     deny eternal punishment, that  hell is everlasting, are                                         Christians, think otherwise. So, this church father
     fond of referring to a passage such as this. However,                                           concedes that many Christians did not believe in the
     the Scriptures surely maintain that hell is everlasting.                                        millenium. However, we will reserve this quotation
     Pertinent is a passage such as Matt.  25:46: "And                                               fi-om Justin Martyr for our following article. In that
     these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but                                            article we will quote this eightieth chapter of his
     the righteous into life eternal." This passage certainly                                        dialogue with the Jew, Trypho. The writings of Justin
     teaches that the one is just as eternal as the other. We                                        are deficient in charms of style. But his writings are
     must bear in mind, however, that the word that is                                               characterized by a manly and heroic pleading for a
     translated' "hell" in the above named passages is                                               despised people with whom he had boldly identified
     literally "hades." Hades and Sheol are  syn&ymous.                                              himself, and for the intrepidity with which he
     And these words simply refer to the state or abode of                                           defends the Christian faith.

                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                                  ANNOUNCEMENT
            The  Ladies  Society  "Ruth"   of  the  Hope  Protestant  Reformed                           Those   who  have   ordered  a  bound  copy  of  Volume  50  will  soon
     Church  extends  its  sympathy   to  one  of  our  members,  Mrs.  D.                           receive  their  copies.  Due  to  circumstances   beyond  our  control,   all
     Meulenberg,  in  the  recent  loss  of  her  husband,   DAVID  MEULENBERG.                      bound  volumes   this  year  will  be  black  -  not  blue  or  maroon.  We  are
                                                                                                     very  sorry  that  for  some  this  will  break  the  continuity  of  their  sets,   but
            "And  we  know   that  all  things   work  together  for  good  to  them   that          this  is  unavoidable.  Seeing  this  change  has  now  been  made,  hereafter   all
     love  God."   (Remans  8:28).                                                                   bound  volumes   will  be  bound  in  black  only.
                                    Rev.  R.  Van  Overloop,   Pres.                                                              -R.F.P.A.  Business   Office
                                    Mrs.  Peter  Zandstra,  Sec'y.


                                                                                         NOTICE!!!
                                                                                       Change  of Address
                                                                        The  new  address  of  Rev.  George   Lubbers   is:
                                                                                     Rev.  George   Lubbers
                                                                                     1314   North   Main  Street
                                                                                     Pella,  Iowa  50219


                                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                              191


                                           News From Our Churches
                                                                           December 3  1, 1974
   Rev. Woudenberg declined the call from our                                           carols, a Capella, under the direction of Mr. Roland
Kalamazoo Church. Rev. Lubbers, who accepted the                                        Petersen.
call from Pella, was to be installed in the ministry                                        Sunday School Christmas Programs were also
there on Friday, January 3.                                                             presented in most of our churches. The one in Hull,
   Rev. Heys, `who has not been feeling at all well                                     however, was the only one I noticed that was held on
lately, submitted to surgery for the removal of his gall                                Christmas Eve.
bladder, during the week of December 16. According                                          One final Christmas Program yet  - this one held in
to Southwest's bulletin, the prognosis was for                                          Loveland on the 15th of December. It featured the
"complete recovery, D.V."                                                               Loveland Protestant Reformed Choral Society. In
                                    *****                                               addition to numbers by the Choir, the program
   In the stack of bulletins I've received during the                                   included also a tenor solo, and a men's quartet, as
past two weeks, there are, understandably, numerous                                     well as some singing of carols by the audience. At the
references to Christmas programs of -various kinds.                                     top of the printed program, incidentally, was a pair of
There  ,was, for example, a Christmas Mass Meeting,                                     names which has long been familiar to those who
for the young people of the Grand Rapids' area, held                                    have attended musical programs in our churches in
in Southeast Church on Sunday afternoon, December                                       Grand Rapids. The Loveland Choral Society performs
22. Rev. Van  Overloop  was the speaker. That evening                                   under the direction of Mr. Gerald Kuiper (now the
there was a Christmas  Hymnsing in First Church.                                        teaching principal in our Loveland School) and is
According to Southeast's bulletin, an interesting                                       accompanied by Mrs. Kuiper.
program was planned' for the occasion. "Selected                                                                             *****
passages will introduce the songs shared by the                                             The December 29 bulletin of Southwest included a
audience, and the Radio Choir. A brass quartette will                                   paragraph which looked at 1974 in retrospect. In it
also contribute music to celebrate the advent of our                                    were presented statistics through which, the writer
Lord." That was  after  the evening church service. A                                   said, "we can see the Hand of our Faithful Father in
" S p e c i a l   I n v i t a t i o n " w a s   e x t e n d e d   t o   t h e           Heaven in His many blessings to our congregation."
congregation of First Church, via the bulletin, to                                      Among  a the statistics from this relatively small
come to church early and enjoy a "very pleasant                                         congregation, w e r e   t h e   f o l l o w i n g :   e i g h t e e n
surprise" before  the evening service. And a pleasant                                   confessions of faith, the addition of twelve young
surprise it surely was, for, from the rear balcony of                                   people and five families through transfers, five
the auditorium came the strains of beautiful music, as                                  marriages, and seven baptisms. The Lord's blessing on
members of the Radio Choir sang various Christmas                                                                                               ( continued on back page)


                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    The  Pella  (Iowa)   Protestant  Reformed   Congregation   mourns   the  loss           The  members   of  The  Junior  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Society   of  the  Hope
of  one  of  its  esteemed   and  dearly  beloved   members,  MR.  CECIL                Protestant  Reformed   Church  of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  express  their
VANDER  MOLEN,   whom  the  Lord  took   home  at  the  age  of  83  years,             sincere  sympathy   to  its  members,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  David  Moelker   and  Mr.
7  months   and  22  days.  We  express  our  sympathy   to  the  Vander   Molen        and  Mrs.  Larry  Meulenberg  in  the  passing   to  glory  of  their  father,   MR.
and  Stuursma  families.                                                                DAVID  MEULENBERG.
    "Now  lettest  Thou   Thy  servant   depart  in  peace,  according   to  Thy            "Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow   of  death,  I
Word,  for  mine  eyes  have   seen  Thy  salvation.  .  ."  (Luke   2:29,  30).        will  fear  no  evil:  for  Thou  art  with  me;  Thy  rod  and  Thy  staff  they
                                                                                        comfort  me."  (Psalm  23:4).
                             Rev.  G.  Lubbers,  Pres.
                             Elder  B.  Menninga,  Clerk.                                                                                     Rev.  R.  Van  Overloop,   Pres.
                                                                                                                                               Dort   Kalsbeek,  Vice-Sec'y.
                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    The  Men's  Society  of  Hope,  Grand  Rapids,   herewith   extends  its
heartfelt   sympathy   to  its  fellow  members,  Wm.  Kamps,   C.  Kamps,   L.             We  wish  to  express  our  sympathy   to  two  of  our  members,  Mr.  and
Kamps,   and  G.  Schimmel,   brothers-in-law,   and  to  the  husband,   Mr.           Mrs.  Jack  Feenstra,  in  the  loss  of  their  brother,   MR.  DAVID
Marinus   Kamps,   in  the  passing   away  of  MRS.   MARINUS  KAMPS,                  MEULENBERG.
December  28,  1974.  It  is  our  united  prayer  that  the  family,  husband,             At  the same time, we rejoice with  them in  the sure knowledge of the
and  children   receive  and  find  their  comfort   and  strength   in  God's  Holy    large  measure  of  glory  given  to  the  saints  of  God  for:
Word.
                                                                                            "Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord."  (Rev.  14:13)
    "Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord,  and  he  shall  sustain  thee.  He  shall
never  suffer   the  righteous   to  be  moved."  (Ps.  55:22)                                                                          The  Junior   Mr.  and  Mrs.  Society
                                                                                                                                      First  Protestant  Reformed   Church
                             Joe  King,  Pres.                                                                                                        Grand  Rapids,  Mich.
                             P.  Koole,  Sec'y                                                                                                 C.  Reitsma,  Vice-President

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





     192


     a particular congregation is not  Tao be measured in
     terms of numerical growth, of course, but we rightly
     rejoice when our Covenant God sees fit to give us
     that, too.                       * * * * a
        The Council of Southeast Church has inaugurated
     several changes in that congregation's order of
     worship. They include silent prayer in unison at the
     beginning of the service, Scripture Reading
     i m m e d i a t e l y   b e f o r e   t h e   S e r m o n ,   a n d   t h e ,
     congregation's audible recitation of the Apostles'
     Creed in unison with the presiding minister.
                                      *****                :
        Mr. Vander Wal has again slipped me a couple of
     samples of many interesting pieces of correspondence
     he continues to receive. One came from a reader in
     Johannesburg, South Africa. In payment for the
     Standard Beaver  subscription, he made out a check
     payable to . . Mr. Vander Wal personally. In the
     accompanying letter, he offered this explanation: "I
     have done this to facilitate matters, as I can send
     money out to individuals without any questions
     asked, but to send out money to church organizations
     takes over three months to get permission granted,
     etc. The government has put these strictures on
     money sent to church organizations because of the
     World Council of Churches' support of terrorists."
        The writer concludes with the gratifying statement
/ that he continues "to appreciate the excellent
' material found in the  Standard Bearer,  and to follow
     with keen interest the news of the Protestant
     Reformed Churches. May the Lord continue to bless
     t h e   w o r k   a n d   w i t n e s s   i n   y o u r   c h u r c h e s   a n d
     missionary labors."
        Perhaps there's room to squeeze in one more.
     From Oregon, this: "I have purchased locally, and
     have been reading Herman Hoeksema's  Reformed
     Dogmatics,  and his exposition of the book of
     Revelation,  Behold He Cometh.  I find them to be a
     refreshing and delightful  - if that term is not too
     undignifying  - exposition of Reformed faith and
     thought. I would appreciate any information which is
     available concerning other publications you may
     have, or design to have for sale."
;        Needless to say, we are thankful for such evidence
: that God uses our witness, not only as it extends to
     the far reaches of the country, but also of the globe.
                                                                               D.O.


