      The
STANDARD
     BEARER
4-A REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE                                         I




       But Scripture can only be the, object of faith. It
   will not be -amenable to the manipulations of the
   rationalists. Scripture is a unique book, also in this
   sense. For if one comes to Scripture in faith, then one
   bows before the sole authority of Scripture and sub-
   jects himself to what the Scriptures speak. Then this
   wonderful book -opens itself to him who comes in
   faith. It speaks. It speaks in all its power and beauty,
   in all its saving glory and blessed truth. But when one
   takes the Scriptures in his hands to manipulate them
   according to the standards of his own reason, then
   Scripture becomes a terrible book. It slams its door
   shut in the face of the one who comes in this way. It
   speaks nothing any more  - except  words of wrath
   and the curse. It is, to use Luther's expression, a
   closed book.

      See "My Sheep Hear My Voice" page  713.


                                        Volume LII, Number 9, February 1, 1976 2


   698                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER




                              CONTENTS:                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                  Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
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      Contending for the Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .698            Editor-inXhief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                               Department  Editdrs:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J.  Engelsma,
   Editorials -                                                                Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
                                                                               Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. Dale H.  Kuiper,. Rev.
      Our Australasian Tour (8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .701             George C. Lubbers, Rev. Meindert Joostens, Rev. Marinus  Schrpper,
                                                                               Rev.  Gise  J. Van  Baren,  Rev..Herman   Veldman,  Mr. Kenneth G.  Vink.
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          in Tribulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .702    Church News Editor:        Mr.  Kennet3.G.   Vink
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M E D I T A T I O N



                                    Contending for the Faith
                                                                   Rev. M. Schipper
                     "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was
                 needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the
                faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
                    For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this
                 condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying
                 the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. "
                                                                                                                                      Jude 3, 4.


     Moved, the apostle was, to write on the theme                               namely, Of The Common Salvation; but necessity was
  which constitutes the heading of this Meditation. He                           brought upon him to change the subject. Jude, who is
  has given all diligence to write under another theme,                          the secondary author of the epistle he wrote, was


                                                                                                                            1
                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   699


subject to the Primary Author of all the Scriptures,           By "faith" the apostle refers to the substance of
the Holy Spirit of God. He therefore could not write         what believers believe. This embraces and includes all
as he had planned, but he writes as he is enlightened        the doctrine of Scripture as the church has elab-
and infallibly guided by the Holy Spirit. No doubt,          orately and concisely expressed it in her Confessions.
also here there is evidence, as the Scriptures do so         Faith, then, is what the church believes to be the
abundantly make clear, that the Word of God is given         truth of God's Word.
by inspiration of God.                                         That faith was once delivered unto the saints.
   Other of the apostles also had been directed to             The saints are those who partake of the common
write on this sublime subject. Jude makes mention of         salvation, concerning which Jude had first planned to
this fact in verse 17 of his epistle. And you need not       write. And, lest there' be a misunderstanding about
search long to discover that he refers especially to the     that expression, it must be observed that it is quite
writings of Paul and Peter. The latter, no doubt, at         different from the hue and cry of modern evangelism
this time were already deceased; and their writings          which is always prating about a universal salvation. Of
had become available to the church and therefore to          the latter there is no mention in Scripture. It is a
Jude. Fact of the matter is that some have accused           philosophy concocted in the evil mind of corrupt
Jude of copying from the letter of Peter, (II Peter 3).      hawkers of the gospel, who are bent on destroying
Though there can be no question that there is great          the truth and at the same time the church of Christ.
similarity, you discover there is also a great differ-       Though God realizes salvation in all nations, tribes,
ence. When Peter wrote concerning the mockers who            and tongues, and though the gospel must be preached
would be coming into the church, walking after their         universally, salvation is never common. It is always
own ungodly lusts, he wrote prophetically. Jude, on          particular.
the other hand, informs his readers that this prophecy         When Jude speaks nevertheless of the common
was already being fulfilled. Ungodly men were al-            salvation, he refers to the fact that those who are
ready creeping into the church, whose purpose was to         saved possess that salvation in common. They receive
turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and to        that salvation by grace along with others who also
deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.            possess it. No one among them that are saved has an
   Striking it is how soon the church was invaded by         edge on that salvation. The grace of salvation is
these inroaders. The bodies of the above mentioned           common only to the saints. And the saints are the
apostles, who had so earnestly set forth the truth in        beloved of God, the "beloved" addressed in the text.
its clearest manifestation and forewarned of their             Beloved saints!
coming, had hardly become cold in death, when the
very wicked against whom they had so strenuously               Loved they were by God eternally, when He chose
written were already making their appearance.                them to be  saints1 in Christ Jesus our Lord. Loved
                                                             they were in time, when God so loved them that He
  Jude, who was still alive and appearing as the             gave His only begotten Son for  the? redemption.
watchmen on Zion's walls, sounds forth the alarm.            Loved they were by Christ, when the .Son of God in
  Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto        the flesh gave Himself a ransom on the cross of Cal-
the saints!                                                  vary to redeem them from the wrath of God which
                                                             rested upon them because of their sin and guilt, when
  But what does this mean? What is that faith for            He redeemed them from the world of sin and dark-
which there must be contention? And what is implied          ness, from the power of the devil. They were beloved
when the church of Christ contends for that faith?           when the Spirit of Christ called them efficaciously
  It must be clearly understood that the faith of            out of darkness into God's marvelous light, and shed
which the text speaks is the objective truth of the          abroad in their hearts His everlasting love. And make
Word of God. Jude is not urging the believers to be-         no mistake about it, Jude is not writing only to the
lieve. He is not thinking of the act of faith, of the act    saints to whom the epistle is immediately directed. As
of believing. He is not speaking of faith in the subjec-     all the gospel writers, he writes for the ages, to the
tive sense. He certainly presumes that his readers are       saints as they are gathered in all the ages of time.
believers who act according to their faith. Does he            These are they to whom the faith is once delivered.
not set them on one. line with the believing saints of       And that means not by man, but by God. Not only
the past? Indeed, he reckons them on a par with all          does He give them the grace to believe on the God of
those who in their hearts embraced the Lord Jesus            their salvation, but He entrusts the faith to them as a
Christ as their Saviour. And though it is true that          precious heritage, to be kept by them with extreme
believers often are weak in their faith and need often       carefulness. The doctrines of Scripture as expressed in
to be encouraged to exercise their faith; this is not        the church's Confession are indeed most precious.
what Jude is urging them to do in our text.                  That faith is the only light the saints have `in this


700                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


world of darkness. As the psalmist also expressed it:        only in sovereign grace created saints, destined to
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light upon           eternal glory, but also created the antithesis  .of the
my pathway."                                                 saints, the wicked, whom God purposes to destroy in
   That we are exhorted to contend for that faith            the way of their ungodliness. But also were they
presupposes that that faith is challenged, or rather         written. down in the epistles of the apostles, who
that the church is challenged for her faith. One does        prophesied not only of their making inroads into the
not contend for something unless that something is           church, but also of their final destruction, (II Peter
seriously threatened. The same is true also with             3). Scoffers, walking after their own lusts, denying
respect to the faith of the church and our contending        the Lord and all that is holy.
for it. What that is, which challenges and threatens            Evidently these wicked were libertines who, with
those who possess that faith, we shall see in a mo-          their antinominian doctrine, insist that our salvation
ment. But first, we should clearly understand what is        does not require holy living, encouraging  self-
implied in our contending. Our contention must               indulgence, and saying: "Let us sin that grace may
always assume a two-fold form. On the one hand, it           abound." 0, they may appear to be pious, speaking
implies a defensive battle. When the faith is threat-        of grace that is sovereign as freely as the saints, but
ened, or the saints are threatened for their faith, they     turning that grace, that spiritual virtue of beauty, into
rise up to defend it. No guard must be let down so           a most hideous monstrosity. Their doctrine is: "Let
that the enemy of the faith may sneak in to destroy          us sin that grace may abound." An insidious, evil
it. This cannot mean that the faith itself is defense-       doctrine that will destroy the church if it is allowed
less, and that the only way that it can continue is for      to continue. It was the error of Balaam, who, when
the saints to come to its rescue. God forbid! God's          he failed to curse the people of God whom God
Word stands as an impregnable fortress which none,           blesses, nevertheless advised the king of Moab to send
the devil included, can destroy. The fact of the             his young men and women into the camp of Israel to
matter is, God's Word is the saint's defense. Let it be      entice them to fornication, by which many of the
clearly understood, Jude is not saying here that the         Israelites were destroyed.
faith is something so frail and helpless that unless the       That these wicked crept in, does not necessarily
saints fight the enemy it may be destroyed. No, the          mean that they were total strangers who crawl under
faith, like the immovable rock in the ocean, will be         the walls of Zion unawares, but it most probably
still standing after all the storms of the sea have          means that they  were within the gates all the time,
passed over it. But the apostle is reflecting on the         but now suddenly revealed themselves. These wicked
calling of the saints. They must contend. They must          are found in the carnal seed born to believers. We
contend. They must take their stand over gainst the          know from the pages of sacred history the reality of
enemy that threatens them who stand by their faith.          this. The church's great opposition is generally not
  Contending for the faith also implies an offensive         from the wicked world, but from the carnal seed that
warfare. Wars are not won simply by hiding behind            never desires to walk in the grace of salvation, but to
our defenses. Wars are won when the battle is taken          turn that grace into an ungodly walk.
to the enemy in a great offensive. 0, indeed, it is true,      Over against them the saints are exhorted to rise up
when the enemy attacks, you rise up immediately to           as one man and contend for the faith.
defend; but shall the enemy be vanquished, he must             Would you like a good illustration of this conten-
be attacked. And all the arts of warfare must be em-         tion, then you must look at Jesus when He was con-
ployed and deployed until there is no more enemy to          fronted by the devil in the wilderness. When He was
conquer.                                                     tempted of the devil three times, how did He answer?
  The contention of the enemies of the truth is very         "It is written!" The devil had no weapons that could
real. It may never be taken lightly or for granted. The      pierce that armor. Nor can evil men succeed to
weakness of the saints and the spiritual lethargy they       destroy the saints when they contend earnestly for
often evince are also very real. That is why they must       the faith.
be stirred up, exhorted in no uncertain terms, to              But contention is `of paramount importance. God
contend earnestly for the faith.                             gives us the faith which describes in detail how we are
  For there are certain men crept in, (not: will be          saved by grace and how we are to live out of that grace
creeping in) !                                               of salvation. He also `gives it that the saints may with-
                                                             stand all the evil onslaughts of the wicked.
  Ungodly, impious men.1 Men who are bent on
perverting the grace of God into lasciviousness. Men           What must the saints hear today?
who  are denying the only Master, our Lord Jesus               0, if there ever was a time when conditions in the
Christ. Wicked men, who were of old written down,            church described by Jude were in evidence, it is
assigned to judgment. First of ,al.l, by God, who not        today. 0, it is true, that the world in which the saints


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                701


reside develops in sin and corruption; but, as we            there ought to be another Reformation.
suggested above, our first battle is not against the
world. Worldly wickedness has crept into the church.           Our calling as churches and as &-its of God is to
And that wickedness reveals itself in a concerted            rise up, and earnestly contend for the faith. Fearlessly
effort to deny all the cardinal doctrines of our faith.      we must say with Jesus: "It is written!"
And still more insidiously that wickedness reveals             If we fail to do this we must not ask: What will
itself in all manner of loose living, carnality, sensual-    become of the church? We know the answer. By the
ness, which has developed so fast that the discipline        grace of God, therefore, ye saints, stand fast! And
of God's Word hardly takes effect. Many churches             fight the battle of faith! Do it by your word, and by
have already thrown up their hands in hopeless               your walk!
despair. Many saints in these churches also are in
despair, even wondering how all-this wicked situation          Only so will God preserve unto Himself a people
came about, and with very weak voices complain that          that is ready for the coming of the Lord!


EDITORIALS



                           Our Australasian Tour  (8)
                                                ProJ H.C. Hoeksema


  We had a hectic experience at the airport in Hobart          First of all, one  finds all the mainline Protestant
on the morning of our departure, July 8. All along we        denominations in this country, even as in our own.
had blissfully been planning on an 11: 50 A.M. depar-        There are the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the
ture, and we had planned accordingly during our brief        Anglicans, the  Congregationals, etc. And just as in
sightseeing tour of the penal colony at Port Arthur.         New-Zealand, these mainline denominations are in the
Imagine our surprise when we arrived in the terminal         process of consummating a gigantic union. This, in
building and were being paged! Our plane was sched-          turn, has finally given some the impetus to separate -
uled for 11: 15, not 11:50! And we still had to make         something which, for the most part, they should have
some ticket changes! The TAA plane was held up a             done long ago on account of the liberalism in those
few minutes for us, and we were virtually shoved             churches.
toward the waiting airliner. We did not have a decent          As far as Reformed denominations are concerned,
opportunity to say farewell to Pastor Rodman.                there are two of these. One is the Free Reformed
  But that was our last hectic experience for that           Church of Australia, the so-called  Liberated Church.
day. We arrived at Melbourne in time for a late lunch,       Numerically they are very small. We had no contact
and we spent that day by ourselves at the Tulamarine         with this denomination, although we did meet one of
Travelodge, close to the airport. Either  bone-              the ministers after the Saturday evening lecture in
weariness    from the whirlwind pace in our                  Launceston, Tasmania. The Reformed Churches of
Tasmania tour or the cistern water in Tararma, or a          Australia is a denomination of Dutch Reformed back-
combination of the two, made us quite miserable that         ground which was established through immigration
day'; and we were content to try to rest up and not to       after World War II. This is a denomination of some
make any contacts. Even then we  cpuld  not escape           8600 members. Also with this group we had no con-
contact by telephone, however. Nevertheless, we got          tact. At various of our public meetings there were a
some much needed rest, had an opportunity to take            few Reformed people present who had responded to
care of our laundry, and enjoyed the quietness of            the advertisements of these meetings.
simply being by ourselves for the remainder of that            It is rather striking - but, I think, not unexpected
day. The next day we began our labors on the                 - that our contacts for the most part are not with
Australian mainland.                                         Reformed people of Dutch background, but with
  A little background on the ecclesiastical scene in         Presbyterians of English and Scotch and Irish back-
Australia is in order at this point.                         ground.


702                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



  ,First of all, there is, of course, the Evangelical         bit later.
Presbyterian Church, which also has various centers on
the mainland, especially in Queensland, far up north            Finally, there is the denomination` known as the
along the east coast of Australia. One of the churches,      Presbyterian Reformed Churches. This is a group of
in Brisbane, we visited. But there are also centers in       relatively recent origin who separated from the
Rockhampton and Townsville, still farther north,             mainline Presbyterian Church of. Australia. Our Com-
which our schedule did not permit us to visit. Sec-          mittee for Contact for a few years has been in corre-
ondly, there is the small denomination known as the          spondence with a similar committee of this denom-
Free Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia. I have        ination.  OriginalIy, one of the purposes of our' tour
no statistics at hand, and I will not bank on my mem-        was to have a face-to-face and official conference
ory; but although this church has been in Australia          with representatives of these churches and to discuss
already for many years, it is relatively small From          various doctrinal matters (among them, common
what we learned from various congregations, it is, on        grace and the "free offer") about which we had corre-
the whole, also rather weakly Presbyterian. It has           sponded. Shortly before our tour began, however, we
been one of the supporting churches of the Reformed          received notice from the moderator of their
Theological College at Geelong, though this support          Presbytery, Rev. G. Kastelein, that the proposed
was decided upon by a very narrow margin. This is            meetings with some of the sessions and with a Com-
also the denomination with which the Evangelical             mission of their Presbytery - meetings which had in
Presbyterian Church in its earlier years tried to coop-      part already been scheduled - were being cancelled.
erate in the training of theological students, but with      Apparently the occasion of this notice was the fact
which they came to the parting of the ways over the          that the Rev. Stafford, who had formerly been in that
issue of the "free offer." In the third place, there is a    denomination, and who is persona non grata to them,
very small group of the  .Reformed  Presbyterian             was acting as the coordinator of our Australian tour.
Church of Ireland. I mention them because we came            Our Contact Committee and our Synod must still re-
into contact with a couple of their men in the               solve various matters connected with this unexpected
Melbourne-Geelong area.                                      cancellation and with regard to our future attitude
                                                             toward these churches; hence, I will not comment
  In the fourth place, there is an independent
Reformed Presbyterian congregation in the Sydney             further at this time. We had held open the possibility
area, some 500 miles up the coast from Melbourne.            of meetings even after the cancellation-notice was re-
With these people, especially with their pastor, the         ceived; but we had no contact whatsoever with these
Rev. John Stafford, we have been in contact by cor-          churches.
respondence for several years. Mr. Stafford graciously         The above will furnish some orientation with re-
assisted with many of the arrangements for the Austra-       gard to the various churches which we will mention in
lian portion of our tour. I shall tell more about this       the subsequent part of our report about this segment
congregation and their wonderful reception of us a           of our tour.



                                           The Story of
                 a Young Christian in Tribulation

  This is a true story about a real girl suffering tribu-    contact with those who must thus suffer  - at least,
lation in heathen surroundings in the country of             not with those who must endure this particular kind
Malaysia. I can write about this without  embarrass-         of suffering, in heathen surroundings.
ment to this young Christian because she will not               For you to understand this story and how we came
even be able to read what I write. At present we are         to be acquainted.with  this young lady, I must tell you
unable to reach her by the Standard Bearer or even           some of her personal history.
by letter. Besides, I feel certain she would want you
to know her circumstances, so that you may remem-             Her name is Cecelia Lun Yong. She is of Malaysian
ber her in your prayers. We often pray for God's             nationality. We met her last year in Christchurch,
people who must endure tribulation and suffering for         New Zealand, when we had `fellowship with the little
Christ's sake; but we do not often come into direct          Orthodox Presbyterian congregation in that city. At


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               703



that time we learned to know her and to love her as a       And now all this has become reality. Her education
sweet, somewhat reticent, but very serious-minded         was completed in December. She has returned home.
young Christian.                                          And recently we received a poignant letter from her,
                                                          but without a return address: for she is not permitted
  Her background is heathen.                              to receive mail. I want to share this letter with you. I
  We who live in nominally Christian countries do         have omitted some brief personal references. Here is
not know by experience, and for that reason do not        the edited version:
realize, what the reality of heathendom and of  idol-
worship is. But in the Far East in our travels we came    "Dear Prof. and Mrs. Hoeksema,
to a very abrupt and graphic realization of the truth        "Warmest greetings in the name of our Saviour.
of which we sing in Psalm 115:                            Oh, how I yearn and long for the earthly fellowship
                                                          of the saints. It is so spiritually lonely here while I am
The idol gods of heathen lands                            at home. I am sure that the bond between saints in
Are but the work of human hands;                          Jesus Christ is much more close and warm than even
They cannot see, they cannot speak,                       familial bonds. At least this is what I am experiencing
Their ears are deaf, their hands are weak;                now.
Like them shall be all those who hold                        "At the moment I am at home (my true home)
To gods of silver and of gold.                            awaiting my employment. At the moment the period
This was true in Singapore,, when we visited a Chinese    of interval before employment is indefinite, but I
temple in that city. At that time we were accom-          trust there's a purpose (now yet unseen) in all things,
panied by young Ong Keng Ho, whose family was still       even this one. Apparently there is very little hope of
in the depth of heathendom and who felt badly when        employment in the country, even for scholarship
he was reminded of this fact when he accompanied us       students. Yet because of the new iaw there is no limit
on a sightseeing tour to that temple. Again in Bang-      to the time of unemployment before I become
kok, when we went on a sightseeing tour to several        debonded. So that's how I stand now. While I am at
Buddhist temples, we were reminded of the reality of      home, I am truly suppressed in many ways. I do
heathendom: to the Buddhist monks, to those who           appreciate and thank God for the freedom of worship
burned incense, and to our guide who worshipped           and all things while I was in New Zealand.
when he entered and left the temples to which he            "When I first arrived here, I was going to be
took us - to all these, the temples were not objects      offered to their gods; and so I explained why I didn't
of sightseeing but real places of worship! Even a         want to. My mother assured me that the offerings did
country like Indonesia - in spite of the many years       not include me, but just them alone. But as she made
of Dutch and Reformed influence  - is largely             the offerings, I had a suspicion that she was cheat-
heathen.                                                  ing me. So I reminded her again of my stand, and
                                                          again I was assured. But again I was grieved in the
  From such a background Cecelia came. Her parents        spirit and could not rest. In the midst of confusion I
and her relatives and neighbors are still heathen. She    managed to slip away with my Bible. I remember
was converted and became a Reformed Christian in          reading a passage - I cannot remember where now -
New Zealand; in our brief contact with her  .we           and I remember how I was truly strengthened. It was
learned to know her as one who took her Christian         a good passage in that it reminded me of the jealousy
calling very seriously. And while we were there, we       of God to those that worship other gods. I well
also learned to know what the future held for her.        remember myself in tears pleading for strength to
You see, she was in New-Zealand only temporarily to       stand humbly. I was not keen to `oppose, lest I put
obtain an education. Her educationexpenses were           my father in shame. A little while later, when the
paid for by the Malaysian government. And this            ceremony took place, sure enough they wanted to
meant that when her education was completed, she          offer me to idols. I was called to stand in public to be
was under obligation (bond) to return home and            consecrated to their gods, and I refused. And to avoid
work for 5 years. Thereafter she would be  "de-           causing any shame to my parents, I called my father
bonded" and be free to go elsewhere. Already when         into the room and told him again of my stand. He
we talked with her in Christchurch,, she was con-         was not happy, but there wasn't anything he could do
cerned about the future: she would `be alone as a         to force me to sit down  befor,e every other witness.
Christian in altogether heathen surroundings. When        Prior to this I had already had' a disagreement - the
she returned, they would attempt to consecrate her        celebration was held on Sunday; and I was told that I
to their idols; her parents would attempt to marry her    could not hold up everyone else in the longhouse. So
off to some heathen young man; there would be no          I could not do anything else. In the evening I
fellow Christians; there would be no sabbath, etc.        managed to have a little time by myself, but I was


704                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


called out to join in with the "fun," drinking. My             am truly thankful to be able to write this letter to
heart was truly lonely spiritually. Now I don't even           you, especially when considering all my other sup-
have any quiet place or opportunity to have.a quiet            pressions. I cannot receive any news from anyone
time. I long to have one, but I don't have any privacy.        else, for I cannot guarantee that I'll get it. My father
   "As to my relationship with N. (her fiance, HCH),           throws away my letters for fear that I correspond
I haven't yet had enough courage to tell my parents -          with boys. Thus I don't include my address here. I
no privacy and no opportunity. There's amazingly               must close now and trust that I may have another
little communication between parents and children,             opportunity to communicate with the rest of the
and my father is a very hard man. Consequently, I              saints in Christ Jesus. Till then, my greetings extend
cannot receive nor send any news to him. Anyway by             to the rest of the family and also Rev. Hanko.
the grace of God we will be patient with the situa-                                       "Yours in Christ,
tion. Again my trust is in Him Who is able to work all                                    Cecelia"
things after the counsel of His will . . .                       When you remember God's people in tribulation,
   "People here are very cold spiritually. However I           think of a girl like Cecelia, won't you?


STUDIES IN ISAIAH

                               Hooked on Fashion  (21)
                                                   Isaiah 3 : 16-23

                                              Rev. Robert C. Harbach

            "Now Jehovah says, because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched out
           throat, and with ogling eyes they go, walking and tripping, and with their feet they make a
           tinkling, there-fore Adonai will make the crown 
                   --                                          (of the head) of the daughters of Zion bald,
           and Jehovah will uncover their nakedness"
                                                                                       (Isa. 3: 16-17, Heb.).


  1. Addiction of the Worldly. Here is feminine pride          may not be so in Egypt or Sodom. Isaiah was not a
showing itself in body language, stretched out neck,           philosopher of relativism. He reported what "Jehovah
flirtatious eyes, sensuous walk, together with the             says," showing that the Lord does notice what is to
cosmetics, make-up art and tinkling jewelry of the             some such an insignificant thing as dress. In our
coquette. When also the older women in Jerusalem,              country we see enough of immodest dress to know it
experienced in sin, tried to look young with the               can only be immodest anywhere it may appear in the
employment of these feminine frills and wiles, they            world. We cannot imagine, with all these fripperies,
appeared more childish than fetching. They, the men            figure display and body movement, that still their
also, had little more aim than `the development of a           minds were pure and upright. They were full of
sound mind in a beautiful body. They had forgotten             voluptuous lust and shameless pride. This was evident
that true beauty is to have the beauty of the Lord our         from their too revealing attire. ("the transparent
God upon us so that we reflect the glories of the              garments," v. 23), and their roving eye. The eyes of a
Lord.                                                          modest woman are not wandering, nor adept at
  Works of art are seen in the' highest quality jewelry.       dalliance.
There is nothing inherently sinful in such'things. It is         Hauteur, and any dress or action, such as flirting,
wrong, however, when luxury develops `a feminine               which emphasizes and advances it, is immodesty.
motif and dominance, and dress and finery evidence             Isaiah is talking about women who are concerned
greed for ambition, one-upism and what is really.              with drawing attention to themselves. They are not
effeminate pride in men as well' as women. Isaiah is           concerned with the church losing its distinctive
certainly not suggesting or saying that dress !is. all a       separateness from the world, nor with its being in-
matter of taste, opinion, of climate and cultural back:        filtrated  with the carnal seed, nor with the awful
ground, so that what is regarded as immodest in Israel         apostasy and falling,away from the faith so prevalent.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                705


 Women are taking a much more active part in the             about in sheepskins and goatskins" (Heb.  11:35).
 work of the Lord. But these women in the Jerusalem          Comparatively, then, we are not so bad off. We do
 church were like Solomon's wives, Jezebel and               not deserve anything for covering and warmth. We
 Athaliah, leading the people away from God. This is         deserve no more clothing than our Lord had to cover
 true of the women of the world. They lead the nation        himself on the cross. Dives, the ungodly rich man
 away from God. Where the women of the nation do             "was clothed in purple and tine linen, and fared
 not follow the Lord, the men have long since ceased         sumptuously every day" (Lk. 16: 19). His love of
 to do so, and the greatness of that nation has come to      finery was one of his crimes, along with his gluttony
 an end.                                                     and despising of the poor. Often these evils go together.
   The judgment the Lord denounced on the                      This "mad eagerness for tine clothes" will catch
 daughters of Zion was that their beautiful hair, a          the guilty complaining that we rob them of their
 woman's crowning glory, would go to baldness, and           Christian liberty when we condemn their addiction to
 that they who delighted in flaunting their charms           the goddess of fashion. Proper dress is a good gift of
 would experience shameful exposure and inhuman              God, and should not be perverted to degrade sex.
 treatment in the rough hands of heathen conquerors          That is why the Word of God requires that "the
 thirsting for plunder and rape. (ver. 17).                  woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to a
   "In that day, Adonai shall remove the ornaments           man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment;
 of the anklets, and the hair-nets, and the crescents (v.    for all that do so are abomination to the Lord thy
 18), the ear-pendants, and the bracelets, and. the          God" (Dt. 22:5). The kadeshim in Israel dressed like
 (fluttering) veils (19), the turbans and the step-chains    women, and in the feasts of Bacchus men disguised
 (attached to ankles to make women walk mincingly,           themselves as women. For these abominations the
 in short steps), and the houses (boxes) of the soul         Canaanites were to be annihilated.
 (breath), (perfume?), and the amulet-jewelries (v. 20),       Why should Christians swallow, as the world does,
 the signet rings, and the rings of the nose (v. 21), the    the fashion dictates of that harlot city, Paris? The
 festive garments (party dress), and the mantels             Lord warns, "I will punish the princes, the kings sons,
 (cloaks), and the veils (Ruth 3:  15), and the purses       and all who are dressed in foreign apparel" (Zeph.
 (money bags; v.  22), and the transparent garments,         1:8). This underscores what God had commanded
 and the linen shifts, and the tiaras and the veils (v.      through Moses. If the Lord will punish pride in dress
 23)" Calvin says that women "while they are charge-         and the perverted use of dress on the part of nobles,
 able with many vices, they are most of all inflamed         princes, kings and their children, then He most cer-
 with mad eagerness to have fine clothes. Covetous as        tainly will in the case of ordinary people. What then?
 they naturally are, still they spare no expense for         - if we are not to follow fashion, what shall be the
 dressing in a showy manner, and even use spare diet         pattern of our dress? To answer: it is neither neces-
 to deprive themselves of what nature requires, that         sity nor caution which snaps up every new fashion or
 their clothes may be the more costly and elegant. So        wears the styles of the giddy and freaky. Nor are the
 grievously are they corrupted by this vice that it goes     so-called sophisticated to be imitated. "Be not con-
 beyond every other." Nevertheless, the Lord's gra-          formed to this world" (Rom. 12:2).
 cious counsel to them is, "the women should dress             Then there is the matter of long hair. The priests of
 themselves modestly and prudently in attire that is         Israel were not to have long hair. In hair-style they
 becoming, not adorned with braided hair and gold or         were to avoid extreme. "Neither shall they shave their
 pearls or expensive clothes, as is appropriate for          heads (like heathen priests or Romish monks), nor
 women who profess reverence for God" (1 Tim. 2:9,           suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll
 10, NBV). Clothing was divinely given to cover              (trim the hair of) their heads" (Ezek.  44:20). They
 nakedness and the deformity caused by sin. There-           must not pose as Nazarites, nor get themselves up like
 fore, the leaving the breasts naked, in whole or in         a hippy, lounge-lizard, fop or carpet-knight. It is
 part, is departure from Christian modesty. Shameless        ruftian-like and unnatural for a man to go with long
 impudence it is for women scantily arrayed to intrude       hair. "Doth not nature itself teach you that if a man
 into the presence of God in the congregation. The           have long hair it is a shame to him? . . . But if any
 motivation in so doing is pride and lust, not the fear      man seem to be contentious (in favor of this rebel-
 of God, and where there is not the fear of God, one         lious practice), we have no such custom, neither the
 cannot be kept from unclean thoughts and filthy             churches of God" (1 Cor. 11: 14, 16). Then where
 desires.                                                    women will come with their nakedness into the con-
   2. Standard in the Churches. Our first parents were       gregation, and men will wear long hair, and then to
satisfied with the apparel God himself provided,             argue that here we enter the sphere of adiophora,
 which was plain coats of skins. Many of God's people,       things indifferent, where we have liberty in these
 of whom the world was not worthy, "wandered                 things, the answer of God's Word is short. "We have


706                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


no such custom, neither the churches of God." What-          God gradually and continually changes our  ' facial
ever is general and received custom in the churches of       lineaments. This alteration is God's work. Do we dis-
God ought to be law to us. It is not the world which         like His workmanship? Do we consult with the
sets us precedent and provides example, but the cus-         Sidonian beautician to improve on it? The natural is
tom of the churches and the practice of godly Chris-         from God; the artificial from the devil. That is all he
tians and their moderation.                                  has to work with. What face will  we  bring  coram
                                                             Dee? Will the Lord own the disguised face? Or will
   Moderate use of facial cosmetics may not be alto-         He say, "That is not the face I made?" No matter
gether out of place. But the extreme of false eye-           how old and wrinkled the face, the Lord beautifies
lashes, face-lifting, gobs of mascara and paint "an          the meek with salvation  (Ps.  149:4). Coveting that
inch thick" are disguisings of or attempts to improve        true beauty, let us become not fashion-addicts, but as
on nature or to mend the work of God. Jezebel was            those "who have addicted themselves to the ministry
infamous for face-painting. As age creeps up on us,          of the saints" (1 Cor. 16: 15).

IN HIS FEAR


                            Christian Stewardship  (2)
                                        The Question of Tithing

                                                   Rev. D.H. Kuiper


  Thoughts on Christian giving offered last month in         priesthood of Christ compared to the Levitical priest-
this column lead one naturally to the subject of             hood. Clearly, the passage can never be used to teach
tithing and the place of tithing in the service of the       tithing at the present time! In fact, it can be used
New Dispensation saint. There are denominations in           convincingly to show that tithing is no more, since
which this practice is enforced assiduously, and there       the priesthood which had "a commandment to take
are individuals in many other denominations (ours?)          tithes of the people according to the law" is no more.
who carefully lay aside precisely a tenth on the               We read in Genesis 14 and 28 of the tithing of
Lord's Day. To this question the answer must be              Abraham and Jacob:Although  this tithing is basically
given, not simply that tithing is unnecessary, but that      the same as the later tithing of Israel, it had a special
tithing is wrong. For the New Dispensation saint to          significance for these patriarchs. For this reason we
give a tenth of all his substance or of his income, be it    will pass it by and consider the tithe as it belongs to
ever so conscientiously, is wrong. To show this in the       Mosaic Law. At point are the following passages:
light of Scripture is the burden of this article. But the
purpose is not merely negative; God has provided                       And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed
some better thing for us, and thus we will also be led          of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it
into an understanding of the glorious liberty of the            is holy unto the Lord. And if a man will at all redeem
children of God!                                                ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part
                                                                thereof. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of
TITHING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT                                    the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod,
                                                                the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. He shall not
  The first indication Scripture gives that tithing is           search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he
strictly an Old Dispensation requirement is found in            change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and
the fact that the word occurs in only four New                   the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service
Testament passages. Three of these occurrences are in           deemed. These `are the commandments, which the
the Gospels. Since the period that the Gospels cover            Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in
belongs properly to the Old Dispensation,  only,one             mount Sinai. (Lev. 27: 30-34)
passage actually belongs to the present era; this is                   And behold, I have given the children of Levi all
Hebrews  7:5-g. The use of the word here is to                  the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service.
demonstrate very strikingly the excellency of the               which they serve, even the service.of the tabernacle of


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                               707


    the- congregation . . . . . . . Thus he (the Levite) also    standing of his relationship to God as steward. He
   . shall offer an heave offering unto the Lord of all your     sinned in that he was not rich toward God.
    tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and
    ye shall give thereof the Lord's heave offering to
    Aaron the priest. (Num.  18:21,  28. Cf. entire              NEW DISPENSATION GIVING
    p a s s a g e ) '                                               This careful, legal prescription for giving obtained
       And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings,          from Sinai until Pentecost. Does not the "selling of
    and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offer-       possessions and goods, and parting them to all men as
    ings of your hands, and your vows, and your freewill         every man had need" by the early church members
    offerings, and the  fnstlings  of your herds and of your     (Acts  2:45;  4:34) signal a tremendous change right
    flocks: and there shah ye eat before the  Lord your          after Pentecost? The trouble with those who maintain
    God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand       tithing today is that they grasp at a few texts, but do
    unto, ye and your households, wherein the  Lord thy          not have a well worked-out Biblical doctrine. All of
    God hath blessed thee. (Deut. 12:6,7)                        Scripture is true, but all of Scripture does not speak
                                                                 to us in the same way! The church must do theology
   From these passages we may gather: 1.) that one               by comparing Scripture with Scripture so that the
tenth of the produce of the soil and of the flocks and           Word of God yields its riches! The result, then, is that
herds was to be given to the Lord by way of main-                present-day tithers see no advance in the work of
taining the Levites; 2.) that out of the tithes that the
Levites received, the Levites were to give a tenth for           salvation through the ages. They do not give a large
                                                                 enough place to the presence of the Spirit in the
the use of the high priest; 3.) that a second tithe was          church and her members, by which presence the be-
to be given periodically for festival occasions; and 4.)
that every third year a tithe was to be given for the            liever shares in the anointing of Christ as prophet,
poor, which the people ate with the poor and the                 priest, and king. The church is one, but God is
Levites. Whether this last mentioned tithe was a third           pleased to deal with the church under different dis-
                                                                 pensations: the timi that distinguishes the dispensa-
tithe or took the place of the second tithe is difficult
to determine, nor is it germane to our subject.2 The             tions is the  fast advent of Christ or the  fumess of
point is that the giving of the Israelites was very care-        time; the key difference between the dispensations is
fully delineated by the law of God given through                 that the old did not have the Spirit of Christ and the
Moses at Sinai and modified somewhat according to                new does! God dealt with the church before Christ as
Deuteronomy.                                                     with a little child. God carefully revealed to this little
                                                                 child, through the law, just what he might and might
  The significance of the one-tenth must not be over-            not do. Every possible aspect of life was cir-
looked. The fact that the ten occurs in the denomina-            cumscribed by a code. Although the law was holy,
tor of the fraction does not mean that the number                just, and good, it must not have been very pleasant
ten hasa meaning here different from the number ten              for the Israelite to have his every action and relation-
elsewhere in Scripture. The steady emphasis of Scrip             ship so strictly defined. The revelation which God
ture in regard to the number ten is that of fuhress or           sent Israel was consistent with this childhood. He
completeness, and that according to the will of God.             taught them through types, figures, symbols, and
The Ten Commandments reveal the  whole  will of                  ceremonies. But what a radical change came about
God for the moral life of man. The keeping of the law            when the Spirit was given. Just as Peter and the
is the  whole  duty of man. This completeness and                apostles suddenly had their eyes opened, so it is
perfectness of the law was further indicated by the              with all the church. In Galatians 4, Paul likens Israel
fact that the two tables of stone were written full on           to a child in bondage to all those laws, but then he
both sides. Again, the Ten Plagues express the @Zness            says that in the  fuhress of time the child suddenly
of the wrath of God against a people ripe for judg-              grows up and matures. And it is nothing less than the
ment. When the Israelites, therefore, were instructed            Spirit of Christ that gives this maturity. It is true that
to bring a tenth unto the Lord, as He was represented            Paul speaks primarily against the practice of circum-
in the priesthood, that tenth was a confession on                cision, but his argument has weight in respect to all
their part that all they had and were belonged to the            the practices of the Mosaic Law. The child has come
Lord  the,ir God! The earth and its  fumess is the               of age. The child is no longer in bondage to fear. He
Lord's! The nine-tenths that were not brought forth              has all the rights of sonship, and that implies knowE
as well as the tenth that was, it was all the Lord's.            edgeable   sonship.
Thus it was through tithing that Israel was holiness                Because the Spirit now fills the church, God deals
unto the Lord; through the tithe they dedicated their            with us as those who have the mind of Christ in us,
all unto Him. If a man did not bring forth his tithe, as         who know the truth, who have the law engraved in
happened often in later history, he robbed God (Mal.             our hearts, who have wisdom that is from above. In a
3:8) and showed that he did not have a right under-              word, we are free! In the proper, spiritual sense, our


708                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



liberty is that we may do as we will! We do not have              works of the law are under the curse! We may cer-
the tithe-law looking over our shoulder. That simply              tainly expand upon his statement: if a man insists on
does not fit with maturity and freedom. Besides, that             holding to any of the Old Testament ceremonial laws,
is far too easy for the grownup church. God does not              he is a debtor to do the whole law. He places himself
want us to exercise our sonship  by dividing our salary           back in those times when Christ had not come, and
by ten and giving that to Him. The moving of the                  thus he places himself under the curse. And then
decimal point one place to the left (and then some                Christ, Who has come, profits him nothing!
quibble as to gross or net income) is not the exercise
of freedom nor of the mind of Christ. With thankful-
ness in respect to the past, with faith in respect to the         CONCLUSIONS
future, we are to determine with the involvement of                  We can only conclude that tithing is not binding on
our heart, mind, and will what our giving shall be.               us in any sense. More, tithing is not even a nice guide
How beautifully this fits with all of Christian liberty!          for our giving, for to use it as a guide smacks of
This liberty is exercised when we exercise ourselves              bondage.
according to the indwelling Spirit. And that Spirit                   It belongs to the freedom of sons that each one
provides for a seeking of the things which are above              may decide for himself what part of his substance he
where Christ is at the right hand of God, and for the             offers to the cause of God's Kingdom. And our only
making of sanctified judgments concerning temporal
matters.                                                          guide for this giving is cheerfulness, liberality, and
                                                                  according. as the Lord has prospered us. "Stand forth,
  Writing to the Galatian churches, Paul is surprised,            therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made
even dumbfounded, that anyone would wish to re-                   us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of
turn to the weak and beggarly elements which can                  bondage." (Gal. 5 : 1)
only lead to bondage. His language becomes strong
because he sees this matter of cleaving to old rituals,
ceremonies, and laws, as a fundamental error.
"Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be  cir-                 ICommenting on this passage, Calvin refers to Paul's argument in  l
cumcised,~  Christ shall profit you nothing. For I                Cor.  9:14, " . . . es Paul correctly infers that a subsistence is now no lass
                                                                  due the ministers of the Gospel than of old to the priests who waited at
testify again to every man that is circumcised that he            the altar." Significantly, no mention is made of the tithe by Paul or
is a debtor to do the whole law." (Gal. 5:2, 3) And he            Calvin. Calvin's Commentaries, in loco.
has already explained that as many as are of the                  2Merrill F. Unger, Unger's Bible Dictionary, (Chicago,  1957), p. 1103



ALL AROUND US


                                       Reformation Church
                                        or Modern Method
                                                        Rev. H. Veldman


  In an editorial in the Banner of Oct.. 3 1, 1975 the                   various places if salvation can be "given" and "ac-
editor  <wrote on the subject: REFORMATION                               cepted" in but a few moments. Compare the require-
CHURCH OR MODERN METHOD? We .quote the                                   ments laid upon would-be believers by Moses, the
concluding remarks of this editorial, page 7:                            Prophets, the Gospels, and the Epistles with the easy
                                                                         one-step,, two-step, or four-step techniques for
         Well, especially now that it's Reformation Day                  "church growth" now being substituted for those
       once again, why not pursue this subject further for               requirements.
       yourself? Explore the tension between the concep-
       tion of the Church as Mother of Believers and a good                 And then, in the spirit of the Reformers, ask your-
       deal of what is now  calle'd  "evangelism." Compare,              self; which way is my way? Do I stand, and intend to
       say, the sermons reported in the Acts with the tech-              stand, in the footsteps of those who lived and died to
       niques recommended by popular "methods." Ask                      proclaim the Church as Mother of Believers? Or will
       why Paul lingered so long, "reasoned" so much, in                 I choose, or have I already chosen, another way?


                                                     THE  STANDAdD  BEARER                                                   709


        &e there, indeed, for true children of the Ref-          pursued by Billy Graham? Does your church really
    ormation, two ways? Both leading to eternal life?            reject these methods? Do you not believe in the well-
                                                                 meaning and general offer of the gospel? Have your
   The undersigned would surely like to ask the editor           churches not taken a stand in favor of universal
of the Banner the question: are there, indeed, for true          atonement, in the permanent appointment of a
children of the Reformation, two ways? We surely                 seminary professor who believes in universal `atone-
agree with the above sentiments. But, editor of the              ment and who publicly has spoken and written that
Banner, are you not measuring with two measure? Do               he is in disagreement with the Canons of Dordt?
you really reject all that which is now called "evan-            Indeed, in the light of the Reformation, I urge you to
gelism"? Do you really reject the methods that are               consider these matters very seriously.



                               Comments on Report 44
  Dr. Leonard Greenway is in charge of OUR QUES-                        Let me add this postscript: Is it not significant
TION BOX in THE OUTLOOK. In the November,                            that within the decade or two during which we had
1975, issue of this magazine, page 18, we read the                   the discussions that eventually produced Report 44,
following:                                                           the Christian Reformed Church appears to have
                                                                     passed its peak and to have gone into spiritual and
      QUESTION: What, in your opinion, is the crucial                ecclesiastical decline?
   issue facing the Christian Reformed Church today?                I am sure that this article merits our consideration.
      ANSWER: Since some readers of THE OUTLOOK                  Dr. Greenway expresses fear. We too, have our serious
   are not members of the Christian Reformed denomi-             misgivings. When does it happen that a church, having
   nation, this question may not immediately interest            passed its peak and having gone into spiritual and
   them. Yet, I feel I should answer it here because of          ecclesiastical decline, recovers from such a decline?
   the nature of the issues involved.                            That church continues in its departure from the Word
      As I now view the matter, the crucial issue is  the        of God.
   nature and extent of Biblical authority in the light  of.       Dr. Greenway confesses that when Report 44 was
   Report  44 that was adopted by the Synod of 1972.             initially under discussion he was not alarmed by it as
   Notice, I have italicized the word "now" and that             he is now. How strange! He acknowledges that there
   carries a confession on my part. The confession is            were brother ministers and others who flashed the red
   this: When Report 44 initially was under discussion in        light. How true! And, yet, he was not alarmed at the
   our Church, I was not alarmed by it as I am now.              time as he is now. I suppose it is true that, loving a
   Perhaps I was not as alert and discerning as some             child, a parent is hesitant to notice anything that may
   brother ministers and others who flashed the red light        be wrong with the child. On the other hand, it is also
   soon after the Report appeared. Or perhaps, I was too         true that, loving that child, a parent will be very sensi-
  deferential to the distinguished members of the com-           tive and responsive to any symptom which may
   mittee who prepared the Report with obvious pains-
   taking efforts to be thorough.                                indicate that all is not well. This is also true spiri-
                                                                 tually. How strange that Dr.  Greenway should not
      I have a different stance now. Belatedly I am com-         have been sufficiently alarmed about Report 44,
   ing to see Report 44 as a dangerous framework within          especially because Report 44 concerns the infallibility
   which liberties can be taken with the Bible which             and authority of the divine Scriptures!
   formerly were not tolerated by us. I fear that the              Finally, Dr. Greenway refers to one or two decades
   Report fosters an attitude which allows one to say            during which discussions were held which eventually
   that the authors of the books of the Bible con-
   ceivably on occasion could have been under in-                produced Report 44. It might be interesting if that
   fluences that were in successful competition with the         brother would pinpoint those things that led to this
   supervision of the Holy Spirit.                               report. What does he have in mind? As far as the
                                                                 undersigned is concerned, we would call Dr. Green-
      I, want to do more thinking about, the matter
   before I become more specific; but, as of now, my             way's attention to the Three Points of 1924 and
   fear is  that if we don't watch out, we are going to          emphasize the fact that it was no later than 1924 that
   have a split in the Christian Reformed Church, and            the Christian Reformed Church passed its peak and
   the split will be occasioned by current trends in the         went into spiritual and ecclesiastical decline. We only
   discussion of Biblical authority. The crack is already        wish that the Christian Reformed Church would take
   visible!                                                      this into serious consideration.


   710                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


                                        The Banner and Report 44
         In the Banner recently have appeared editorials in              do her homework for her, prodding you to pull the
  which children of the Christian  Reformed Church,                      chestnuts out of the fire? (Our librarian tells us that
  living, so to speak, in the "Dispersion," -have written                up to the date of this writing she has herself done
  letters to the Mother Christian Reformed Church in                     nothing to solve her problem  - which, if true, does
_ this country. We now quote from the Banner of Nov.                     not speak well of her, neither of her seriousness nor
  7, 1975, pages 10-l 1. This quotation speaks for itself.               of her diligence). Did not she say, and that quite
  It                                                                     openly, that what had been said previously by those
         would be interesting to hear the  Banner's  editor's            of our tribe, that "Scripture speaks with divine
  comments on it:                                                        authority and trustworthiness on all things on which
             By this time (if so be that the bearer has not had          it chooses to speak. . .  ." was no longer adequate and
          the ill fortune of falling afoul of highwaymen) you,           that a "new and elucidative confession of the inspira-
          our Mother, are in receipt of one or two missives              tion and authority of Scripture" was needed?
          from our hand. In both of these we make inquiry                   Didn't it occur to you at the time, Mother, whom
          concerning the persistent reports that reach us to the         we love, that if indeed your older sister felt she
          effect that you are not as clear in your thinking as we        needed a "new" (and therefore  different)  confession
          would fain have it . . . .                                     touching the authority of Scripture she should work
             We have before us a pamphlet which you had  SO              out her problem, with you offering, at the very most,
          kindly sent us earlier. It bears the title: The Nature         to give your opinion on that "new" formulation, if
          and the Extent of Biblical Author@.  It is a booklet           and when it was forthcoming?
         that must have cost much midnight oil to prepare as            This quotation is only a part of this letter as it
          well as considerable expense to produce and dis-            appears  .m this editorial. The entire letter is very
          tribute.                                                    interesting. But we have not the space to quote it in
         Then, after expressing that which made them glad             its entirety. Besides, we need not quote it in its en-
   when reading the pamphlet, namely, that it wishes to               tirety. The above quotation speaks for itself. How
  continue in the Reformed tradition, the letter con-                 true it is that Report 44 has been drawn up in such a
  tinues:                                                             way that the brdinary member has difficulty reading
             But Mother (permit us to be free and open with           it. And, let us understand,  synodical decisions and
          you; as free and open as we were when we still ate at       reports should be written in such a way that the
          your board),  if.all that you say in the pamphlet is        ordinary member can read and understand it. A
          clear to you, then we are far apart  - for much is          report, drawn up in such a way that it lacks clarity,
          everything but clear to us. We must conclude that one       has been intentionally composed that way. And,
          of us suffers from confusion, the malady that has           secondly, how true is the letter's description of the
          given your city the unhappy name of "Babylon," the          "older lady," the sister church in the Netherlands, the
          mixed-up city. We  find that, in the pamphlet, ideas        Gereformeerde Kerken,  the Reformed Churches in
          have been "mixed or blended in such a way that              the Netherlands!
          things  cannot  be distinguished," the very thing which
          our barber-surgeon tells us is the definitive feature of
          the malady we fear, its distinguishing symptom . . . .
             Travelers from abroad tell us that the language ypu
          use in the pamphlet reminds them strongly of the
          way your older sister (the one who stayed behind               Know the standard
          when you as a girl went to the New World) has begun
          to talk. The thought troubles us that perhaps your
          thinking is being affected by hers (this "older sister"            and follow it:
          refers to the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands
          - H.V.).
            Before you frown at us for even suggesting this,
         may we ask you to recall how it was that you got
         started on this whole thing about "the nature and
         extent of biblical authority"? You will recall that it
         was this  Old,World,  lowland sister of yours that put
         you up to it. This older lady, according to reports                                  Read the
         that reach us, is not in the best of health these days
         (reports persist that her church buildings are only half             STANDARD BEARER!
         full). Was it not because she didn't know anymore
         what she thought of the Bible that she coaxed you to


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                711



THESTRENGTHOFYOUTH


                                  The Old and the New
                                                      Rev. J. Korterirzg



   The old and the new.                                           every sort of convenience. People's incomes in-
  We are at the end of one year and .taking our first             creased, the purchasing power of the average con-
steps in a new year. Looking back, the past year has              sumer grew by leaps and bounds. A maddening spiral
been special for us. This is true in many ways, but               of getting "things", success in business, finding one's
especially with respect to our anniversary as churches,           place on the totem pole of economic wealth has pro-
the highlight of our convention this past summer.                 duced a spirit of materialism. How this has changed
Looking back makes one nostalgic, but looking ahead               our lives. The hard working days of manual work,
makes one apprehensive. It always seems easier look-              walking behind the plow, have been replaced with the
ing back than ahead. There were great difficulties,               roar of the diesel and the electronic calculator. Physi-
hardships, testings of faith then, but we look. back              tally we work less but worry more. Mothers have
and see them as completed victories. Who looks back               all sorts of push-button conveniences in the kitchen,
at the history of the church and says, there, at such a           but now we hear that most women are bored with
time, the church suffered                                         being at home and need fulfillment in the market
                              defeat? It's a little harder to
look to the future and say with conviction, the                   place. It becomes rather blase to fill one's day. with
church of tomorrow will not suffer defeat! The per-               watching soap operas on television. Our progress has
spective is different.                                            created a whole set of new problems in today's living.
  The fear of the future is aggravated by the fantastic             Would we want to go back? No way! We have to
speed of change. The wind-up Victrola has evolved                 learn how to live in today's world. In this world there
into the hi-fi, stereo, and quadraphonic sound of                 seems to be little if anything that has not undergone
today. The old Ford has become the super-charged                  change in some way.
turbo. The first daring surgical procedures performed               That brings me to my main point.
on patients restrained with ropes have now become
the highly skilled "operations" of transplanting                    What about religion? What about spiritual values?
organs and repairing others  - something never                    What about faith?
dreamed possible. The  B-2/9's have become the                      Little wonder that most religious leaders today
I.C.B.M.`s. All this is measured in decades not cen-             insist that we need a new faith that fits our changing
turies.                                                          world. We need a faith that tits the changed person of
   One could go on and on.                                       today! We just finished mentioning how we have
                                                                 changed. Don't we need a new faith to meet the
  This change has affected our lives. As kids we used            needs of modern man? Just think, we are now living
to go to the local dump to shoot rats. Many a time we            at a faster pace; speed, speed, speed! Ours is the
would discover some "treasure" and haul it home.                 instant society; rip open a frozen dinner, toss it into
Even the dump would reflect the times. During good               the micro-wave oven, eat it on the run. We have to be
times there were all kinds of. cast-offs still usable;           on the links for a game of golf or at the courts for
during bad times there was only junk. Our refuse                 tennis. Timmy is in the little leagues; Dave is on the
today reflects our times; we live in the throw away              church softball team. Seldom is a meal eaten quietly.
generation: use it once and discard it. Much of what is          Television begs our attention almost every moment
thrown away today would be considered a real "find"              we are not away from home. Who quietly sits down
in days gone by. But, alas, today it is compacted in             to read and study? Who enjoys evenings home with
the kitchen or at least compressed in the packer only            families today? Perhaps dad even has a job that either
to be buried in some landfill. We don't even have                requires long hours, or change in shifts. More disrup-
dumps today.                                                     tion. Sometimes the whole family has to move from
   With the industrial revolution we shifted from a              one city to another because of job demands. Our
rural America to an urban society. Industry produced             society is shifting-and mobile to the extreme. People


  712                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


  don't sit very long, don't think very deep, don't pay           It all sounds so logical that we might even stand
  too much attention to long discussions, don't read            back and say, when do we start!!
  very much before falling asleep.                                There is one thing wrong with all this reasoning.
    Don't such people need a different emphasis in              These people put faith and the preaching of the
 religion and instructional methods to fit the change?          gospel in the same category as scientific knowledge,
                                                                historical facts, salesmanship, teaching, etc.
    Some say yes.                                                 And it isn't.
    We can discard the far-outs who come begging for
  support and are growing in numbers. There are more              The gospel is entirely unique.
  and more new cults, taking advantage of our dis-                Its message and method are divinely appointed,
  oriented society. The occult,  satan worshippers,             and woe be to us if we think we are wiser than God.
  T.M.s, and what have you are always ready to move
  in and sooth a nerve-racked people with promises of             Listen to God tell us this Himself. "Stand ye in the
  peace on earth. The devil knows when to move.                 ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the
                                                                good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for
    Closer to home, however, the devil uses a more              your souls." Jeremiah 6: 16. God isn't saying to us
  sophisticated approach, at least in terms of us. He           "Be old fashioned." Just having the old is not in itself
  reasons this way: we are more educated today than             good. Change is part of our life and we'must accept
  ever before. Spiritual truths that fit grandparents in        it. One thing does not and must not change and this is
  their generation do not necessarily satisfy today.            our faith. Jeremiah was concerned about that. Judah
  After all, we all change. Science has come up with new        had forsaken the God of their fathers and replaced
  ideas, man has within his grasp heaven on earth.              Him with idols. They had gone after a new life-style
  What must we say and do to people like this. Here's           which included abominable immorality. Jeremiah
  what we need. We need a new Bible (King James is              preached to them and warned them that they had to
  out of date; we need a paraphrased Bible in today's           go back to their God, for God walked with them only
  language); we need a new method of interpreting this          on the old paths, those which He appointed for them
  Bible (we must not draw out the meaning of the                according to the prophets.
  message by studying the words and ideas presented in
  the context; these are culturally and linguistically            My youthful readers, we need to be reminded of
  conditioned by different times, we must read into             this today. Everything may change, but God never
  these words meanings that tit our generation). We             changes. He'is the same yesterday, today, and forever,
  need a new theology; ideas of a personal God,                 Mal. 3:6. His Word never changes, I Peter 1:23, 25.
  sovereign and holy, predestinating people to heaven           This is the truth written upon the pages of Holy Writ
  and hell may have been all right for our Dutch fore-          and preached by faithful ministers throughout the
fathers, but today we need to emphasize a God of                ages of the world.
  love that fits into the needs of a society that has to          The old paths that the believers walk upon are old
  learn to love; Finally, we also need a new morality:          because they are God's paths and He is as old as
  old teachings about laws and commandments, simply             eternity. They are old because the church of all ages
  don't speak to people today; it's too much                    walked upon those paths. Isn't this a fantastic
  "authority." We need to speak of lovingly obeying             thought. The figure is plain. The paths mentioned in
  God's will; that is easier to take. Of course, all that is    Jeremiah have direction. They lead somewhere; they
  done lovingly is approved, whether it breaks the com-         lead home! On those paths Adam and Eve walked;
  mandments or not.                                             and  Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob trod to glory on
    There is one more thing. The method which must              them. Our blessed Lord Jesus walked upon those
  be used in getting this message across must not con-          paths. So did the holy apostles and faithful martyrs in
  form to that of our previous generation. Long-winded          the history of the church. Our Reformed forefathers
  sermons, careful exegetical preaching making up the           loved those paths and gave us three beautiful con-
  heartbeat of dignified worship adorned with solemn            fessions that express the faith of all truly Reformed
  singing and reverent praying, is out! No, most agree          believers. So our grandfathers and grandmothers
  this was all right for a quiet, sober thinking, slower        walked before us upon those paths. They are old and
  acting generation of years gone by. Today we need             well worn by the faithful believers of all ages. Each
  instant messages, short and to the point, perhaps even        generation in the-church could well say they lived in a
 adorned with a blast of rock music from the built in           "new generation," and many could have clamored for
  speakers, or blinking lights, or visual aids to punc-         a "new faith." What we see today is not really new; it
  tuate the "sermon" and give it an additional dimen-           is just that it is now being popularly accepted by
  sion. Better yet, we should experiment with our serv-         those who we would think should know better and
  ices by allowing membership participation.                    understand what is taking place.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                               713


   Yes, sometimes it gets lonely on that path. Some-            It is sad to read in Jeremiah 6: 12, "But they said,
times the conflict becomes bitter. On the old paths,         we will not walk therein." History tells us that the
however, we always have our God in blessed friend-           majority in Judah never changed, and God had to
ship with Jesus Christ our Lord.                             take them to Babylon. The ungodly were destroyed,
  The preaching of the gospel has distinguished the          and the faithful had to be purified in the way of
church from all sects and vain philosophies. The             affliction.
power of preaching is Christ Who calls by His grace             We look to the future with confidence. The church
and Spirit. The Bible has been the citadel of truth for      will always be preserved and God will never allow the
believers of all ages. Doctrine and morality have been       enemy to destroy the path or keep those whom He
determined by the pages of Holy Writ and not by              loves from walking on it.
the changing whims of fallible man.                             Our duty is to heed His Word,  " Stand ye in the
   Young people, don't be influenced by the clamor           ways, see, and  ask  for the old paths and  walk  on
for change in the realm of the church. The enemy of          them. Stand in them, see them, ask for them, and
God's people likes to come disguised with  silver-           walk in them. "
tongued oratory and convincing logic. They want to
take from you the Bible, the faithful interpretation of         They are the good way, and on that way one finds
its pages, sound doctrine, and godly living.                 rest for.his soul.
   All is done under the guise of necessary change.             Rest in this life and in that to come.
   Supposedly it is for the better.                             That way leads home.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE



                                 Letter to Timothy

                                       February  1,1975      texts? And when we have our oral exams before the
Dear Timothy,                                                Synod, do not our interrogators bear down on proof
                                                             texts with a great deal of zeal? And even more than
   I think we can probably wind up our discussion of         this, is there not some sense of the word in which we
the New Hermeneutics in this letter. We have a num-          even speak of the importance of "proof' for the
ber of loose ends to tie up and I want to make some          truth that Scripture is the Word of God? In his first
comments yet about the relationship between the              epistle, chapter 3: 15, Peter speaks of the necessity for
New Hermeneutics and the preaching.                          the believer of always  .being ready to give an
   We were talking last time about the relationship          "apology" to the one asking him a reason for the
between faith and proof - especially as this is related      hope that is within him. Does not this imply that his
to our fundamental belief in the Bible as the infallibly     answer must be intelligent, reasonably constructed,
inspired Word of God. And there is one more point            laid out carefully as a defense of the faith? And does
which, I think, ought to be made in this connection.         not all this imply that he makes an effort to "prove"
You brought the matter up yourself, and it gives me          his position?
the occasion to write a little bit about it.                   This is an important point, and we ought to
  I made the point that faith needs no proof. This           examine the matter for a few moments.
lies in the nature of faith as the means which puts the        The whole question, I think, comes down to the
believer `in living contact with Christ and with             matter of  ,what one means by "proof." Proof cer-
spiritual truths. The question which you, with some          tainly has an important place in our defense of the
justification, raise, is: Is there not a time when proof,    faith. We must use proof when  we. are teaching in
however, is important andnecessary? Do not we, e.g.,         Catechism or even preaching from the pulpit. We
make an effort to prove the truths which we confess          must be very sure that all that we say is carefully
from the Scriptures? Are not we required, in Dog-            proved ,by the Scriptures. .We- must be very sure that
matics; e.g., to memorize a large number of "proof"          those who Bre being instructed. are shown clearly. that
                                                                                            .


 714                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


 the truth is indeed set forth in the Word of God. We          God as God's record of His own revelation. If a man
 "prove" what we say by an appeal to the Scriptures.           has faith, he will accept the Scriptures as God's Word.
    This is even true of our apologetics when we               If he does not have faith he will repudiate the Scrip-
 debate the truth with those who differ from us on             tures. And no amount of "proof" will ever bring faith
 what they believe. The final court of appeal is the           into his heart. All the arguments in the world will
 Scriptures. And we must always appeal to the Scrip-           never suffice. "They have, Moses and the prophets; let
 tures in support of our argument. This is so obvious it       them hear them. And if they hear not Moses and the
 hardly needs stating. But what I mean to say is that          prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one
 here we have a legitimate use of proof. We must               rose from the dead."
 believe only that which the Scriptures teach, and we            It is here where we must part ways with the New
 must defend our position exclusively on the basis of          Hermeneutics. The New Hermeneutics takes a
 the Word of God.                                              rationalistic approach to the Scriptures. It may all
    This same thing holds true in our conversation with        have started out "innocently" enough. Perhaps one
 unbelievers. We are called to witness to the truth in         only wanted to demonstrate in some kind of rational
 the whole of our walk. When Petei writes in I Peter           way that the Scriptures are the Word of God. But if
 3: 15: "Be ready always to give an answer to every            that rational proof carries one away from the testi-
 man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in           mony of the Scriptures itself, then it will amount to
 you with meekness and fear," he certainly is pre-             nothing. But this approach is exactly filled with all
 supposing that unbelievers, who observe our walk and          kinds of dangers. If one's approach is, in this way,
 notice that it is principally different from the walk of      rationalistic, then one's approach to the whole of
 wicked men, ask us the reason for this. They inquire          Scripture is rationalistic.  But Scripture can only be
 concerning this. And we must be ready to give an              the object of faith. It will not be amenable to the
intelligent and careful defense of our hope. This              manipulations of the rationalists. Scripture is a
 means that we must be ready to justify our conduct            unique book, also in this sense. For if one comes to
 with proof that this is the way one ought always to           Scripture in faith, then one bows before the sole
 walk.                                                         authority of Scripture'and subjects himself to what
                                                               the Scriptures speak. Then this wonderful book opens
    But here we come to the real crux of the matter.           itself to him who comes .m faith. It speaks. It speaks
 The only proof we have is, once again, the Scriptures.        in all its power and beauty, in all its saving glory and
 When we give a defense of our hope to the unbeliever,         blessed truth. But when one takes the Scriptures in
 we must do this by pointing him to the Scriptures as          his hands to manipulate them according to the
 the only authority of our faith and our life. We have         standards of his own reason, then Scripture becomes
 no other proof than the Word of God. But we always            a terrible book. It slams its door shut in the face of
 face the possibility that our questioner will not             the one who comes in this way. It speaks nothing any
 accept the Scriptures as the Word of God. He might            more - except words of wrath and the curse. It is, to
 say to us that while he acknowledges that what we             use Luther's expression, a closed book.
 say is indeed what the Bible says, nevertheless he does
 not believe that the Bible is what we claim it to be.            So it is that, in the hands of those who profess the
 What are we to do then? Again, the only thing we can          New Hermeneutics, Scripture can be made to say
 do is show him from the Bible itself that the Bible is        whatever they wish it to say. It becomes only an
 what it claims to be. Our proof is once more limited          instrument to assist them in propagating their own
 to Scripture. Again, we have no other "proof' than            pet ideas. It is manipulated, twisted, turned, forced
 that.                                                         out of shape, a useless book of no value to anyone.
   Hence, most basically, there is no possibility of           But Peter speaks of the fact that unlearned and
 debate with anyone on any question of the truth               unstable men wrest the Scriptures unto their' own
                                                               destruction. (II Peter 3: 16)
 apart from the Scriptures. If one will not accept the
 Scriptures as the basis for debating questions concern-          So we come to the matter of preaching. And this is
 ing the truth, that is the end of argumentation. There        what concerns you chiefly. I do not now refer to the
 is no other appeal and no more point in prolonging            preaching only as you climb the pulpit on Sunday;
 the debate.                                                   but I refer to your whole calling to preach the Word
                                                               in all your work as shepherd under Christ in the con-
   Proof within that framework is valid and indeed             gregation. You bring that Word as you so well know,
 necessary. Proof beyond the Scriptures is impossible.         in Catechism classes, when you visit new parents, at
 The only proof is appeal to the Scriptures. Outside           the side of sick beds, in the cemetery, when wander-
 the Scriptures there is no proof.                             ing sheep must be brought back to the fold. In all
   And all this implies the presence or absence of             these circumstances, you must remember that you
 faith. And that faith is, above all,, faith in the Word of    must speak with authority. That is, you can never
                                                 *


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              715


say: "I am of this opinion"; or, "I think this is          denies the miraculous altogether or, more strangely,
probably the wise thing to do"; or, "I suggest that        after swallowing the camel of the Resurrection strains
you remember this as something which may be of             at such gnats as the feeding of the multitudes  - if
help to you."' All you can say is, "Thus saith the          offered to the uneducated man can produce only one
Lord."                                                     or other of two affects. It will make him a Roman
   You must speak with authority. You know, of             Catholic or an atheist. What you offer him he will not
course, that the very fact that you are an officebearer    recognize as Christianity. If he holds to what he
in the church of Christ gives you authority. It is in      called Christianity he will leave a Church in which it
the nature of an office to possess authority. You          is no longer taught and look for one where it is. If he
come to your sheep with the authority of the office        agrees with your version he will no longer call himself
you hold. But the simple fact is that you have             a Christian and no longer come to church. In his
authority as an officebearer only when you come            crude, coarse way, he would respect you much more
with the Word. Your authority, even as an  offlce-         if you did the same. An experienced clergyman told
bearer, is the authority of the Word. It is the            me that most liberal priests, faced with this problem,
authority of  _ Christ and of God because it is the        have recalled from its grave the late medieval concep-
authority of God's Word through Christ. Leave that         tion of two truths: a picture-truth which can be
Word behind you in your study, let it sit on your          preached to the people, and an esoteric truth for use
shelf, and assume the role of advisor, psychologist,       among the clergy. I shouldn't think you will enjoy
marriage counselor, probation officer, or whatever,        this conception much when you have to put it into
and you can no longer speak with authority.                practice. I'm sure if I have to produce picture-truths
                                                           to a parishioner in great anguish or under fierce
  But you come with the authority of the Word only         temptation, and produce them with that seriousness
when that Word is authoritative. And that Word is          and fervour which his condition demanded, while
authoritative only when it is the infallibly inspired      knowing all the time that I didn't exactly - only in
Word of God written in the Scriptures.                     some Pickwickian sense  - believe them myself, I'd
  I am reminded of what C.S. Lewis once said to a          find my forehead getting red and damp and my collar
group of higher critics: "A theology which denies the      getting tight. But that is your headache, not mine.
historicity of nearly everything in the Gospels to         You have, after all, a different sort of collar."
which Christian life and affections and thought have                                  With Christian love,
been fastened for nearly two millenia - which either                                  H. Hanko

Guest Article




                   The -Communion of the Saints

                                                Rev. A. Den Hartog

  In the Apostles' Creed we confess to believe that        fellowship with God, and because of this common
the .Holy Catholic Church is the "Communion of the         fellowship have fellowship with one another.
Saints". Both from a doctrinal and practical point of        The truth of the communion of the saints is indeed
view this is a wonderful and blessed aspect of the         blessed for the saints of God who are pilgrims and
doctrine of the church as it is taught us in the scrip-    strangers in the world, who have no friendship and
tures. This truth views the church from the aspect of      fellowship with the world, who stand at enmity with
the spiritual fellowship the church as a whole has         the world and those who are of the world. In the
with God in Christ Jesus and the. mutual fello'wship       world there is no fellowship possible, at least not in
that lives among the members. That the church is t,he      the sense of the communion of the saints. The world`
communion of the saints means that the saints within       in which God has placed His church is a world charac-
the communion together have blessed. covenant              terized by darkness where there is no knowledge and


716                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


love of God. In the midst of that world man can                 eternity ordained and chose His church He ordained
have no true fellowship. He may and in fact does have           it as the communion of the saints. This can only be
external association for certain common ends and for            understood if we understand the doctrine of the
the satisfaction of his, lusts and pleasures. Among the         church in the truly Reformed sense, namely, that the
men of the world there is however always the hatred             church is the body of the elect of God. When God
of God and the hatred of fellow men that causes man             chose His church He did not merely choose so many
to live only unto himself and unto the satisfaction of          individuals scattered through time and through the
his own lust and pleasure. Men are prone to hate God            nations. Rather He chose the church as one organism
and their neighbor, and thus there is strife, division,         with all of the individual members as integral parts of
and hatred, and men are estranged from one another.             that organism together making up the one glorious
I especially think of that in the great metropolis in           whole. This living organism is the communion of the
which we live, where it becomes so very evident that            saints as God has ordained her and called her into
everyone lives for himself and unto himself and                 being. The communion of the saints in the broadest
millions of people living in close physical proximity           sense of the word includes the whole company of the
live as absolute strangers to one another. In the midst         elect from all ages and all nations as they are all mem-
of a world of darkness, despair, hatred, and division           bers of one glorious body. The apostle John was given
among men the almighty and wonderful God of our                 to see a vision of the communion of the saints as it
salvation was pleased to gather and establish His               shall be in perfect glory forever in the new heavens
church. That church, God calls by His sovereign Word            and earth. Not only, however, is it true that the
out of darkness into the marvelous fellowship of His            church will forever in glory be revealed as the com-
covenant, causing that church and her members to                munion of the saints. It pleases God also to reveal the
know and love Him and causing the members of that               communion of the saints in principle here on earth.
church to walk in that same fellowship, knowledge,              He gathers His saints together through the preaching
and love with one another. What a comfort, a blessed            of the Word and calls them out of the world and
dwelling place, is the communion of the saints for all          draws them into the fellowship of the communion of
of God's people!                                                the saints. The communion of the saints exists there-
      In two articles I would like to direct your attention     fore, wherever the true church is manifest even as God
for a few moments to this blessed truth of the                  is pleased to manifest it. Thus when we speak of the
church. This subject can be easily and properly                 communion of the saints we must certainly speak of
divided into two main points: the discussion of the             that communion of the saints that God has created in
communion of the saints as God has ordained and                 our own local congregation. In each of the passages
created it, and the calling of the individual saint of          listed above, the apostle Paul speaks of the com-
God toward that communion. The  first subject we                munion of the saints as it existed first of all in the
shall deal with in this installment and the second in           local congregations which he is directly addressing.
the next installment.                                             We have already said that the communion of the
      The Scriptures have much to say concerning the            saints is the gathering of all of the many saints of God
truth of the communion of the saints. Perhaps the               into one. The center of the unity of the communion
most beautiful and detailed passages on the subject             of the saints is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a truth
are I Corinthians 12, Romans 12:3-8, and Ephesians              that is beautifully described by several figures in the
4.                                                              Scriptures. The most common figure used is that of
      The meaning of the phrase "communion of the               the head which is the Lord Jesus Christ and the body
saints" is literally the coming together of many saints         which consists of the true spiritual members of the
of God into one. God calls His people out of sin and            church of Christ. Scripture also speaks of the church
darkness, delivers them from the bondage and corrup-            under the figure of the vine and the branches in
tion of sin, causes them to be a new and holy people,           which Christ is the vine and the members are the
and brings these saints into one spiritual fellowship.          branches; and also under the figure of the comer
He separates them from the wicked world and calls               stone Jesus Christ and the members of the church as
them into the fellowship of His own covenant life and           the building blocks of the temple of God. All of these
into the fellowship of life with one another. This is           figures set forth the truth that Christ is the life%enter
the communion of the saints.                                    of the church and the saints draw all their life and
                                                                existence out of Him There is therefore a com-
      We must understand, in the first place, that this is.a    munion of the life of Christ among the members, and
work of God and not first of all of man. The com-               this is the whole reason of their unity. In the com-
munion of the saints is not an external society or              munion of the saints pulsates the resurrection life of
organization formed by men for some sort of human-              the Lord Jesus Christ. The saints are united to one
istic end, such as perhaps social action. When God in           another on the basis of righteousness of the cross of


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                717


 Christ that they possess in common. In the hearts of           In the third place Paul speaks of diversities in the
 the saints together lives the one, same, faith that         communion because of the different measure of grace
unites them to Christ. They are motivated by the             given to each one. Of this he speaks especially in
 same mind, will, and love of the Lord Jesus Christ.         Romans 12:6-8: "Having gifts differing according to
They look for the same hope of glory, to dwell with          the grace that is given us, whether prophecy, let us
the Lord Jesus Christ forever in perfect blessedness.        prophesy according to the measure of faith; or
They live for one and the same purpose, the glory of         ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that
God in Christ Jesus in the perfection of His covenant        teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhor-
and kingdom. Christ by His Word calls the saints of          tation; he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he
God together. He gives them a desire to live together        that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness."
in communion and He shall unite them forever in
.glory. The blessedness of the fellowship that the              All these differences are used by God through the
saints of God have with one another centers around           Holy Spirit to make up the one glorious whole of the
their common life in Christ.                                 body of Christ. There are none that are superfluous.
                                                             No member may say, because I am not an elder or a
   The communion of the saints involves the co.ming          deacon therefore, I am not an important member of
together of many saints. Communion of the saints is          the body. "If the foot shall say, because I am not the
not possible with one saint by himself. God brings           hand, I am not of the body; is it, therefore, not of the
together the many saints who are personally distinct         body? And if the ear shall say because I am not the
and diverse from one another. The apostle Paul               eye, I am not of the body; is it, therefore, not of the
emphasizes this in I Corinthians 12: 12: "For as the         body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the
body is one, and hath many members, and all the              hearing; if the whole were hearing where were the
members of that one body, being many, are one                smelling? But now hath God set the members, every
body: so also is Christ." God calls His saints into the      one of them, in the body, as it hath pleased him." I
fellowship of the communion of the saints who are all        Corinthians 12:  1518. Every saint of God has re-
different from one another according to their natural        ceived an essential place within the body of the com-
endowments. They all have different personalities and        munion of the saints so that without only one of
,characteristics; they have different talents and abili-     them the communion of the saints would be incom-
ties; they come from many different walks of life. All       plete.
these natural distinctions are preserved in the gather-
ing together of the communion! of the saints.                   God has set the various members in the body so
                                                             that each individual member serves the whole of the
  In the second place the saints are diverse according       communion of the saints. One does not receive the
to the gifts of the Spirit that each saint possesses. The    gifts and calling of the Spirit by himself to serve for
apostle Paul gives us a beautiful description of this        his own selfish ends, but always for the sake of the
truth in I Corinthians  12:8-10: "For to one is given        whole of the communion of the saints of which he is
by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to another, the           a member. And each of the members are in need of
word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another,            all of the other members. If one of the members is
faith by the same Spirit; to another, the gifts of heal-     missing or does not exercise his gifts and calling it will
ing by the same Spirit; to another the working of            cause the whole of the communion of the saints to
miracles; to another prophecy; to another, discerning        suffer lack. The members mutually satisfy one
of spirits; to another, various kinds of tongues; to         another's spiritual necessities. In I Corinthians
another, the interpretation of tongues." This does           12:21-24 the apostle states: "And the eye cannot say
not, however, divide the communion of the saints, for        unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the
Paul emphasizes that all these diversities of gifts and      head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay much
differences of administration and diversities of opera-      more those members of the body, which seem to be
tion are all of the one and same Spirit, of the one          more feeble are necessary; and those members of the
Lord and one God who worketh "all in all."                   body, which we think to be less honorable, upon
                                                             these we bestow more abundant honor; and our
  Because of the varying gifts of the Spirit God gives       uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For
to each of the members a different place within the          our comely parts have no need; but God hath
communion. "He gave some apostles; some prophets;            tempered the body together, having given more
and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers."        abundant honor to that which lacked." So God will
Ephesians 4: 11. Paul mentions here especially the           care for all of the spiritual needs of all the members
special offices in the churches. This does not mean          of the body so that no part shall lack. He has so
that only these, however, receive a particular place in      wonderfully united the members of the body to-
the communion. Each saint of God receives of God a           gether that each serves the other as members of one
place according to his gifts and calling.                    another, so much so that when "one member suffers,


  718                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


  all the members suffer with it; or one member be           cludes all that are of the world of darkness and cor-
  honored, all the members rejoice with it." Thus all of     ruption. What a blessed fellowship is then the com-
  the needs of the communion of the saints are  ftiled       munion of the saints. In that fellowship we enjoy the
  and satisfied. And God gives the various gifts and         blessedness of the. knowledge and love of God to-
 . members to the communion so that the whole church         gether with all of the saints. In that fellowship we are
  together may grow unto the measure of the stature of       blessed with all of the spiritual blessings from the
  the fullness of Christ.                                    head of the body, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that
                                                             body the saints dwell together for their mutual editi-
     Finally, it is important to emphasize that the com-     cation, to befriend one another in the midst of the
  munion of the saints is a spiritual communion. This        world, to comfort, exhort and admonish one another
  surely follows from all that we have said. The church      in the fellowship of love. All of God's saints have a
  is not a social club or society. It is a communion of      place in that fellowship;. it is their spiritual home in
  saints.  They have communion with one another be           the house of God as it is manifest in the midst of this
  cause they are saints and live in their capacity as        earth.
  saints. Their communion is an exclusive fellowship. It       There are many practical applications that follow
  includes only those who have been made to be saints        from this Scriptural truth of the communion of the
  by the calling and work of God's grace in Christ           saints. These we shall consider in the next install-
  Jesus; they are redeemed out of the world. It ex-          ment.





                                           Book Review

  THE CHRISTIAN LOOKS AT HIMSELF,  by                          This emphasis leads to many incorrect assertions
 Anthony A. Hoekema; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing              in the book. First of all, it leads to an incorrect
 Co., 1975; 152 pp., $1.95 (paper).                          exegesis of many different passages. (By the way, the
                                                             exegesis of these passages is skimpy and superficial,
    The main theme .of this book is an idea that is          something one would not expect from a professor of
 being bandied about a great deal nowadays: it is the        theology in a Reformed seminary.) He interprets
 calling of the Christian to get rid of  a' "`negative       Romans 7: 13-25. as referring to Paul in his unre-
 self-image."                                                generate state, though written after Paul's conversion.
    The first part of the book,  ,in which the author        This is the same interpretation given this passage by
 develops this idea, is the important part. The thoughts     Arminius while minister in Amsterdam; an exegesis
 running through this part have been presented by the        which got him into trouble with his colleague
 author in a series of articles in The Reformed Journal      Plancius. It is an  Arminian interpretation because
 which I criticized in our own  Theological Journal          there is no way in which one can escape the fact that
 some time ago.                                              then this passage teaches the ability of the unre-
    In this first part of the book, the author attempts      generate man to will the good. Hoekema also inter-
 to encourage the redeemed saint of God to change his        prets II Cor. 5: 17 in such a way that the term "new
 self-image so that he no longer looks at himself as a       creature" refers to a "new era", although it also refers
 guilty sinner, but as a redeemed saint. Now this            to the new saint. He interprets the references in
 thesis, in itself, is perhaps not so bad. And the author    Scripture to the "old man" and the  *"new man" as
i admits that the redeemed child of God is still capable     referring to "old and new life-styles."
 of committing sin. Nevertheless, he carries his thesis        In the second place, by such exegesis  .Hoekema
 to an incorrect conclusion, for he insists that the         comes to the conclusion that the redeemed saint no
 child `of God ought no longer to have any feelings of       longer has an old nature with which he must contend.
 guilt, ought no longer to abhor himself, and ought no       He is only a new man in Christ who sins occasionally.
 longer to look upon himself as a guilt-ridden man.          This brings him perilously close to perfectionism -


                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  719


although he expressly repudiates this doctrine.                            humble himself before God." Or the statement in our
    In the third place, this line of argumentation leads                   Heidelberg -Catechism: "That God, for the sake of
him to the Pelagian notion that sin is only in the act.                    Christ's satisfaction, will no more remember my sins,
There is little discussion of the nature of man, while a                   neither my corrupt nature, against which I have to
great deal of emphasis is placed upon the act. This is                      struggle all my life long." Or: "Even the holiest men,
not Reformed. All these ideas are really and essen-                         while in this life, have only a small beginning of this
tially Arminian. And it is surprising that they are                        obedience." Or the continuous testimony of Scrip-
found so openly espoused in a book by a professor of                       ture that the saints did abhor themselves, of which
Reformed theology.                                                         Job's confession is only one example: "Wherefore I
    One wonders what the author would do with a                            abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
statement such as is found in our "Form for the                                The second part of the book contains all sorts of
Administration of the Lord's Supper": "That every                          practical' advice on how we may advance a positive
one consider by himself, his sins and the curse due-to                     self-image in ourselves and others [Reviewed by Prof.
him for them, to the end that he may abhor and                             H. Hanko]




                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    On January 29, 1976, the Lord willing, our parents, MR.  & MRS.           The Adult Bible Class of Faith Protestant Reformed Church ex-
HENRY J. SCHUT commemorated their 50th wedding anniversary. We,            presses its condolences to their members, Mr.  & Mrs. David Ondersma,
their children, are thankful to our covenant God for sparing them these    in the recent loss of her mother, AGNES HEEMSTRA.
many years for each other and for us. It is our prayer that God will          May they experience God's comfort in this time of trouble,  ". . . Let
bless them in the future years together.                                   not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John  14:27).
                                   Mr. and Mrs.  LaVerne  Schut                                               The Adult Bible Class of
                                   Mr. and Mrs. Perlin Schut                                                   Faith Church.
                                   Mr. and Mrs.  Bryce Ripley
                                   Mr. and Mrs. Louis Schut
                                   Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Hibma
Jenison, Michigan.                 and their 10 grandchildren.                                          NOTICE!!!
                                                                              Covenant Christian High School is in need of an Administrator for
                                                                           the coming 197677 school year. Please send applications and qualifica-
                                                                           tions to: Mr. Gordon Van Overloop, 3711 Hillcrest, Hudsonville, Michi-
                                                                           gan, 49426.
                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   The Consistory of the Hope (Grand Rapids, MI) Protestant
Reformed Church expresses its sympathy to their brother Elder, Peter                                      NOTICE
Knott, in the recent passing of his father, MR. HENRY KNOTT.                  Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet on
   "The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting      March 3, 1976, in Edgerton, Minnesota at  8:30 AM. Delegates in need
arms."  (Deut.   33:27).                                                   of lodging or transportation should notify the clerk of the  Edgerton
                                                                           consistory.
                                   Rev. R. Van Overloop, Pres.
                                   John Kalsbeek, Clerk                                         Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk.





                                    News  From  Our Churches

   Sunday, February 8, will bring `another milestone                       Hoeksema. Rev. Mark Hoeksema is the third genera-
in the history of the Reformed Witness Hour. We                            tion of Hoeksemas to speak on the broadcast. The
have already witnessed two generations of program                          late Rev. Herman Hoeksema spoke on the broadcast
announcers and two generations of Radio Committee                          when it first began in the early 1940's. The second
presidents. The 1727th broadcast of our radio  pro-                        generation is represented by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
gram will begin a series of eight messages on the                          who has also been the speaker on many Reformed
general theme of the Covenant Home, by Rev. Mark                           Witness Hour radio broadcasts. Printed copies of the


                                      ___-
 THE STANDARD BEARER
       P-0.  Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506



                                                                              -





720

radio messages and a station log can be obtained by        Lubbers testifies that "Our eyes are upon the LORD
writing: The Reformed Witness Hour, P.O. Box 1230,         who will be with us in our going out `and in our
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501.                              coming in from this time forth even forever more!"
  The 1975 Synod of our churches decided to send           The expected mailing address for the emissaries while
emissaries to Jamaica for a period of two months or        in Jamaica is: Rev. George C. Lubbers, General De-
so before the 1976 Synod convenes this June. In            livery, Montego Bay, Jamaica, W.I.
harmony with this decision, the Mission Committee            During the busy holiday season just passed, some
of our churches asked the consistory of our Pella,         of our ministers did a bit of traveling and pulpit ex-
Iowa, Church to release their pastor, Rev. George          changing. On Sunday, December 28, Rev. Engelsma
Lubbers, for nine Sundays in order that Rev. Lubbers       of South Holland exchanged pulpits with Rev. Van
might visit the island once again.                         Baren in First, Grand Rapids. Rev. Miersma from
  Rev. Lubbers kindly outlined some of the plans for       Isabel, South Dakota, preached in Hull, Iowa, and
that visit in a letter to me on January 7. Rev. and        Rev. H. Feldman of Southwest, Wyoming, Michigan,
Mrs. Lubbers plan to leave Pella on Thursday               preached in Redlands, California, where he had
morning, January 29. They plan to fly from Des             traveled to visit his children over  the holidays.
Moines to Chicago and then to Montego Bay, Jamaica         Seminarian Ken Koole traveled to Edmonton, Al-
by early evening. Elder John M. Faber of 1st Church        berta, Canada to deliver a "word of edification" to
and his wife expect to follow the Lubbers to Jamaica       the congregation there during the Seminary Christmas
about a week later.                                        vacation.
  While in Jamaica, the emissaries plan .to visit, en-       In their December Newsletter, the South Holland
courage, and instruct the people in the small group of     Church Evangelism Committee announced that they
native churches with whom our churches have                had arranged a series of radio programs on the topic,
labored for over a decade. Plans include giving a          "Fundamentals of the Reformed Faith." This broad-
mini-course to the native ministers, some mid-week         cast is to cover primarily the area of De Motte,
teaching in the congregations, preaching, and teaching     Indiana. It is hoped that the cost of this program will
Sunday School on Sunday. Some used clothing col-           be paid for from the funds that our Mission Com-
lected here in the states needs to be distributed          mittee received when the assets of the Oak Lawn
among the people and the building of a little church       congregation were disbursed. The program will be
supervised in Belmont, Jamaica. Rev. Lubbers says he       broadcast on Sunday mornings between 8: 15 and
would like to visit the beautiful beach at Nigril,         8:30 A.M. over the Crown Point station, WFLM-FM,
Jamaica, a place he was able to see only twice during      103.9mh. The first broadcast was scheduled' on
the four years he spent as missionary on the island.       December 7.
  The task which the emissaries face is a strenuous          The South Holland church is no stranger to radio
one which is not made any easier by the primitive          broadcasting. Their Sunday -morning service has been
living conditions, the warm climate, and the difficult     broadcast on the air for some time already. It is
traveling conditions experienced in the interior of the    presently heard on WLNR-FM at 2 P.M. on Sunday.
island where most of the churches are located.               Rev. Kortering declined his call from Kalamazoo,
  Rev. Lubbers asks that we remember him and his           Michigan.
wife along with the Fabers in our prayers. Rev.                                                          K. G. V.


