STANDARD.
 BEAREf? .'
   A REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE





    It is indeed possible to delay too long in the
 work of reformation, One can bemoan the
 presence of false doctrines and false teachers in
 the church. One can bemoan apostasy `in doc-
 trine and life. One can protest such evils offi-
 cially. and unofficially. One .can profess that the
 calling to fight and to work `for the enlighten-
 ment of others and for  refor'mation from within
 is his duty. One can continue to live in the vain
 hope that somehow and from some quarter a
 change for the better is  going,to come. But there
 comes a time when one must also act, and act
 decisively. And there also comes a time when it
 is too late to act and when the opportunity for
 and the hope of a genuine and pure and sound
 movement of reformation'become a thing of the
 past. Be warned!
    See Editorial  - "Symptomatic" page 7 50.





                                    Volume LII, No. 11, March I,1976    .-


746                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER




                         CONTENTS:                                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER
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MEDITA TIO N

                       Exhorted to Walk Circumspectly

                                                           Rev. M. Schipper


             "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time,
             because the days are evil. ?'
                                                                                                                                        Ephesians 5: 15,16.



   Remarkable it is how often the apostle speaks in                         air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
this epistle of the walk of the children of God.                            disobedience. But in the chapters 4 and 5,  .no less
  Already in the first part of the epistle  (2:2) he                        than five times he calls attention to what their walk
reminds them of what their walk was in times past,                          should be. Listen to him! Writes he: "I therefore, the
when they walked according. to the course of this                           prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk
world, according to the prince of the power of the                          worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called . . ."


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  747



(4: lff); "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord,    do not fall into the error of departmentalizing
that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in       our religious life. This is done so frequently
the vanity of their mind . . ." (4: 17ff); "Be ye there-     when we, for example, assume on the Sabbath an
fore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in         almost Pharisaic piety, but on the rest of the days of
love, as Christ also hath  lo.ved us, and hath given         the week the mask comes off, and we live as does the
himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a      world; when we are in the company of God's people
sweet smelling savour." (5: 1,2ff); "For ye were some-       we talk and act like them, but as soon as we must rub
times darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord:            elbows with the children of this world, we talk and
walk as children of light." (5: 8) And then in our text:     act as they do. No! Our walk that is circumspect is
"See then that ye walk circumspectly. . . ."                 what it ought to be on all the days of the week - in
   All these exhortations are obviously based on the         the church, but also in the world.
doctrinal truth the apostle had so clearly expressed in         See that ye walk circumspectly!
this epistle. The apostle evidently assumes the in-             As wise, not as unwise!
violable principle, that doctrine and life belong
together, and that the latter must flow out of the             Wise they are when they reckon with the reality of
former.                                                      their spiritual status and calling. Unwise they would
                                                             be should they--fail to reckon with this reality.
   Had not the apostle succinctly but beautifully set
forth the truths that the saints had been chosen in             Circumspectly, means exactly, accurately; with the
Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, that        implication of diligence. In no sense are they to
they should be holy and without blame before Him?            deviate from the law of duty. Their calling has been
(1:4) Had he not shown unto them the truth of their          marked out for them with great care in the Word of
redemption through His blood . . . ? (1:7) Had he not        God. In line with that calling they are to walk. This
declared with great finality the fact that they had          surely implies severe spiritual discipline, allowing no
been saved by pure and sovereign grace through faith,.       occasion for loose living.
not of works, lest any should boast?  (2:8,9) Did he           Such is the contents of the exhortation.
not show them that they were entirely God's work-              And the apostle also shows the way in which this
manship, created unto good works, which God had              exhortation shall be carried out.
prepared in order that they should walk in them`?
(2: 10) And did he not show finally that all of this,          Redeeming the time!
their being predestinated in love, their, being saved by       Time here must not be conceived of chronolog-
grace through faith, their creation unto good works,         ically. The apostle is not thinking of time in terms of
was all unto the glory of God by Christ  Jesus?              moments, hours, days, years, etc. Rather, he is speak-
Indeed, he did!                                              ing of time in the sense of opportunity, the occasion
                                                             for doing or not doing something. This cannot mean
   Hence, it is urgent that these saving truths be           however that time, chronologically speaking, is
exemplified in their lives; that their walk be circum-       totally' absent. For all our opportunities surely come
spect. And it is all the more urgent, because the days       to us in moments of time. Fact of the matter is that
are evil.                                                    all of life as we live it here in the present world is
                                                             caught up with the brackets of time. As Moses so
   See then that ye walk circumspectly!                      pertly put it in Psalm 90, our days are seventy years,
  As always in Scripture, so also here, one's walk           and, if really strong, maybe eighty years; but then
embraces his whole life; that life as it is lived in all     cometh the end. The Infinite does not reckon with
departments of life in the outward sense of the word;        time, for with Him one day is as a thousand years,
but that life as it is motivated from within by              and a thousand years as one day. But we are children
spiritual principles.                                        of time, and for us time has a beginning and an end.
  Our life is indeed realized in many departments:             In, the midst of all the years of our life, oppor-
the home, the church, the world. It is realized within       tunities come to us. As Solomon. expresses it in
different brackets of time: the age of childhood, the        Ecclesiastes: "A time for every purpose under the
age of adolescence, the age of manhood, and old age,         heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; .a time
  Our walk then is our life as we live it in all these       to plant, and a time  .to pluck up that which is
changes of time, in all these departments of life; and       planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to
that, too, in the midst  ,of this present evil world in      break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep,
which we are called to be lights.                            and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to
                                                             dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to
  However, when we speak of our walk in all- the             gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time
departments of life, we must be careful that we              to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time


748                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a          to feed and clothe the children He so graciously gave
time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep              you? 0, indeed, you missed the opportunity if you
silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a          did not take the time to talk with them by the way,
time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."           or as you lay down, of the wonderful works of God.
   As another before me so beautifully described it,           Brotherhood, that is the time to edify one another.
"Time is like a train, it takes you past many beautiful      0, indeed, there is time also for coffee and cake, but
landscapes which you see for the moment, and never           even that is time wasted if we have not shown to one
see again. It takes you past ,the lovely stage of child-     another the good graces of our God which He has
hood, through the-dreamy days of youth, through the          shown to us.
struggling days of manhood, and-then through the               Temptation, that is the time to apply the Word of
days&en eye grows dim and powers abate, - always             God. You remember that, when Jesus went out into
fleeing on until it drops you off in the stillness of the    the wilderness to be tempted of Satan, He said: It is
grave."                                                      written! This is what He expects you and me to do
   And the writer continues: "Time is the divinely           when the tempter comes to entice us.
allotted opportunity to accomplish those works which           And so we could go on and on. So many are the
God has before prepared in order that we should walk         opportunities that come to us: the time of the
in them. On the wings of time were your parents              preaching of the gospel, the time of the Means of
brought to you in your tender years in order that you        Grace, the time when we should be hungry and
might love and honor them, and be in subjection to           thirsty after righteousness that we may be filled; the
them. Then in time you became parents, and treated           time for sickness and health, the time for prosperity
so your children, On the wings of time the naked, the        and adversity, the time for courtmg and marriage, the
hungry, the thirsty, the imprisoned were placed on           time of truth and the philosophy of man, the time for
your door step in order that you could clothe, feed,         work and recreation; all these and many more are the
give drink, and visit them. In time you meet your            opportunities that come to us between the cradle and
`brother in Christ, and the enemy of God; you have           the grave. These we must use to their very best
the communion of saints, and experience the tempta-          advantage in the fear of God, or we are not walking
tion of the world; you come under the preaching of           circumspectly, redeeming the time.
the gospel, and you take notice of the philosophy
that is false."                                                And the motivating reason which the apostle adds
                                                             to the exhortation is:
   These are the occasions, the opportunities that
come to us as we walk circumspectly in the present             Because the days are evil!
world.                                                         To be noticed here is the fact that already in the
   When we redeem the time, we actually take                 day when the apostle wrote this epistle he observed
advantage of the opportunities. Literally, the apostle       that the days were evil. One wonders what the apostle
says: Buy up the time, i.e., buy them up for your-           would say if he were to write the epistle in our time.
selves. And that means, as we said, to take advantage          Evil the days are in more senses than one. When
of them. Don't let those opportunities pass by with-         Jacob appeared before Pharoah  (Gen.47), and the
out using them, and reacting to them.                        king asked the patriarch how old he was, he replied:
   How necessary that is! And wonderful at the same          "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an
time !                                                       hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days
                                                             of the years of my life been, and have not attained
   Childhood, that is the time for learning. How             unto the days of the life of my fathers in the days of
foolish to let it pass without using it to its fullest       their pilgrimage." Undoubtedly the old man was
advantage! One learns, you understand, not merely to         quite cognizant that the evil of his days was not the
get a head full of knowledge, but to see all things in       evil brought upon him by the wicked in the world in
their proper perspective, in the light of the revelation     which he was a stranger, but also the evils of his own
and purpose of God. Many are the learned atheistic           sinful nature, and the evil actions which proceed from
fools who sit in the seat of instruction, who have           that nature. Solomon, looking at the world in the day
ruled God out of His universe. Most blessed is the           in which he lived, exclaimed: "Vanity of vanities . . .
knowledge of him who has learned to say: My God,             all is vanity"; and again, "I have seen all the works
`how great Thou arti                                         that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity
   Parenthood, that is the time for instructing. Most        and vexation of spirit."
blessed opportunity it is, and often lost because we
are too busy making our dollars and a place in the             Contrary to the modern philosophy that there is a
sun. Why did God make you parents anyway? Simply             certain restraint of evil, due to a certain "common


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 749



grace" of God, the world of darkness in which we             as the world, even though you become accustomed to
dwell develops in sin and corruption. The days, that         its foul play. The very evil of our days should serve as
is, the time of our sojourn, the days in which we live       an incentive to walk holily, to watch and to pray. To
in the present world, are becoming increasingly evil.        have on the whole  armour of God, and to do battle
And the end is not yet. According to Scripture,              against the evil, within us and around us. It certainly
iniquity shall abound until it reaches its acme in the       behooves the children of light to keep their garments
man of sin who must presently be revealed. We need           clean, and to walk as children of light, even when that
not describe the evil days in which we live; you all         calling shall evoke the wrath of the evil one, bring
know how evil the days are. It is screamed at you            sorrow and loss to ourselves.
through all the news media, and you see it with your           It surely behooves us to look by faith to our
own eyes.                                                    Guide, and Captain of our salvation, Who has
  That is all the more reason why we should be               promised never to leave nor forsake us. And Who,
exhorted to walk circumspectly, redeeming the time.          when He shall appear in His glory, shall be able to
This is not the time to walk carelessly and in-              say: Well done, ye good and faithful servants, enter
differently. Surely this is not the time to talk and act     ye into the joy of the Lord.



EDITORIALS

                                     Right On Course!
                                                Prof. H. C. Hoeksema



   Somewhat inexplicably there appears in the                  Nor will I depart from that policy at this time. I
"NEWS" department of The Banner (Jan. 30, 1976,              have previously stated that I will debate with Dr.
pp. 24, 25) an article from the pen of James Daane           Daane concerning Protestant Reformed versus
under the title, "The 50th Birthday of the Protestant        Daane-ish theology under the provision that our
Reformed Churches."                                          articles be carried in both The Reformed Journal and
                                                             The Standard Bearer.  And then, of course, there
  I say "somewhat inexplicably" for more than one            would be some back accounts to be reviewed.
reason. In the first place, our 50th birthday was no
longer news at the time of this article: our year of           But a few comments are in order, nevertheless.
celebration was almost past. In the second place, the          Somehow or other when James Daane writes, I
article is not actually a news article at all, but a kind    find it difficult to resist reading him. In attempting to
of book review of God's Covenant Faithfulness, our           assess the reasons for this, I came to the following
anniversary book. And, in the third place, it is hardly      conclusions.
news  when James Daane writes articles which are               In the first place, Dr. Daane writes interestingly, I
sharply critical of what he alleges to be Protestant         think, because he almost always writes  abrasively.
Reformed theology. Dr. Daane has been busy for a             And that kind of writing results in making readers
good many years already constructing straw men,              pay attention. True, he does not always employ the
dubbing those straw men "Protestant Reformed The-            proper abrasives. But he gets results. In this instance
ology," and then knocking down those straw men               he probably gained a few readers for God's Covenant
with mighty karate strokes  - meanwhile flattering           Faithfulness, for which we will be thankful. I could
himself, I imagine, that he has done a masterful job         well imagine that if Dr. Daane would be allowed to
of demolishing Protestant Reformed theology. That            substitute his abrasive literary productions for some
is, of course, a very interesting but self-deceptive         of the bland pablum that frequently appears in The           ,
pastime.                                                     Banner's  editorial department, he could have the
  It is a matter of policy with me not to debate in          whole Christian Reformed Church in a dither with a
response to book reviews. After all, when we send out        few editorials.
books for review, we do not expect all the reviews to
be favorable; we expect to "win a few, lose a few."            In the second place, Dr. Daane's writings are diffi-


 750                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 cult to lay aside because he has a propensity for tell-          Dr. Daane is invariably right on one count. He has
 ing fairy tales. Did you ever hear the fairy tale that        an almost uncanny ability to recognize Protestant
 Prof. Hanko writes ambiguously? In fact, so ambig-            Reformed theology when he sees it.
 uously that his entire chapter  in God's Covenant                But he is also invariably wrong on two counts. In
 Faithfulness  should be passed by? Or did you ever            the first place, he always creates a caricature of that
 hear the fairy tale - and Daane has various versions          Protestant Reformed theology instead of representing
 of this one  - that we deny the "historical fabric of         it accurately and truly. In fact, his caricature is so
 the covenant" or that for us God's covenant is an             remote that one would almost say that any similarity
 "idea, not a historical reality"? Or again, did you ever      between it and the real product is strictly coinci-
 hear the fairy tale which imputes both ontological            dental. As a result, he is wrong on a second count: his
 theology and existential theology to one and the              criticisms are never accurate and pertinent, because
 same theologian? You see, Daane occasionally  be-             they are criticisms of the caricature, not of the
 takes himself to a theological never-never land; and          genuine product.
 when he does so, he truly produces some "whoppers"
 - all of which is interesting, provided the reader does         And this is of special interest to me.
 not allow himself to be misled into confusing fact and          Why? Because it is an evident token to me that my
 fiction. In fact, I became so carried away by Dr.             theology is  right  OIZ  course.  When I read Daane's
 Daane's caricature of our covenant theology that I            fulminations against what he  alleges  is Protestant
 had to pull  God's Covenant Faithfulness  from my             Reformed theology, then I come to the conclusion
 library shelf and bring myself back to reality.               that he, must have read some truly Protestant Re-
   But there is, I believe, one more reason why Dr.            formed theology and that he must have recognized it
- Daane's writings are interesting, especially to a Protes-    as the genuine product, and that this, in turn, must
 tant Reformed reader.                                         have sent Dr. Daane off into never-never land. For it
                                                               has become axiomatic for Daane with respect to
   That reason is that Dr. Daane invariably proves to          Protestant Reformed (Reformed!) theology to be . . .
 be right, but dead wrong.                                     right, but dead wrong!


                                             Symptomatic

                                                    Pro5  H. C Hoeksema

   In Waarheid 4 Eenheid, December 20, 1975, there             months ago to a church full of young people in a
 appears a brief report and commentary which, in my             Youth for Christ gathering. God bless you, brother!"
opinion, is symptomatic of the weakness of the move-
ment of the                                                       In the same youth section of the same issue, by the
                Verontrusten (Concerned) in the Nether-         way, there appears an article encouraging participa-
lands. The article reads as follows (I translate):              tion in Youth for Christ which quotes its principles,
    "Alas, Dr. C. van der Zanden, of Middelburg, be-            principles which are plainly far short of being Re-
 lieved that he could no more baptize children. . . . He        formed, but only Fundamentalists.
 saw that his conception did not agree with the Re-               But to return to the matter first mentioned, this I
 formed confession. The matter was decided in a good            call symptomatic of the weakness of the movement
 four weeks. Too bad, because now our churches will             of the Verontrusten in the Netherlands. It may
 miss a Scriptural preacher, who departs from the               indeed be true that in the Netherlands they measure
 Reformed Confession in regard to a little section.             with two measures, so that the so-called big heretics,
 There are still many around who deviate with respect           such as Kuitert, Wiersinga, C.S. go free, while a man
 to many more and much more weighty sections. And               like Rev. van der Zanden cannot be tolerated because
 who might do that already for years. An honorable              of his denial of infant baptism. It may also be true
 Christian such as Rev. van der Zanden resigns. I have          that the churches acted with dispatch in the above
 not yet heard of consistories and Classes which deal'          mentioned case, while such cases as those of Kuitert
 so swiftly with the greater dissenters. Nor have I             and Wiersinga have been delayed for years. One can
 heard that these themselves request honorable  dis-            even understand, and even sympathize with the feel-
 missal. Too bad, and astounding. `I am not ashamed             ing of injustice which comes to the fore in the above
 of the Gospel,' said Rev. van der Zanden only a few            report. But to refer to the matter of infant baptism as


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                751



a little section of the Reformed Confession is never-        nothing distinctively Reformed about such a move-
theless symptomatic of a grave weakness and of a             ment! How a Reformed man can get it in his head to
serious lack of understanding and appreciation of the        promote such things and to present such a movement
Reformed Confession. For along with infant baptism           as a viable option for Reformed young people is a
goes that most important truth of our Reformed               conundrum to me.
heritage, namely, the truth of God's eternal covenant           But what is worse, if my diagnosis of this symptom
of grace. And so to belittle this truth as to classify it    is correct, there is very little hope from the quarter of
as a little sub-section of the Reformed confession is        the Concerned as far as a truly Reformed movement
to betray a lack of appreciation for that which consti-      of reformation in the GKN is concerned. I can foresee
tutes the very genius of the Reformed faith.                 continued fragmentation of the same kind that has
  When it comes to choosing sides between the Con-           already become manifest to a considerable degree in
cerned and the Liberals in the Gereformeerde Kerken          the GKN, but little if any possibility of a genuinely
in the Netherlands, I cannot hesitate: my sympathies         Reformed movement of reformation through separa-
are without question with the Concerned and against          t i o n .
the Liberals.
  But how can a Reformed man bemoan the loss to                 And there is a lesson and a warning here. It is
his churches of a minister who denies infant baptism         indeed possible to delay too long in the work of ref-
- and, with it, the truth of God's covenant? Is this         ormation. One can bemoan the presence of false
not symptomatic? I fear it. I fear that it is sympto-        doctrines and false teachers in the church. One can
matic of a very serious weakness in the movement of          bemoan apostasy in doctrine and life. One can protest
the Concerned. I fear that this is symptomatic of the        such evils officially and unofficially. One can profess
fact that while the movement of the Concerned is             that the calling to fight and to work for the enlighten-
indeed conservative, as over against the blatant             ment of others and-for reformation from within is his
liberalism of such men as Kuitert and others, never-         duty. One can continue to live in the vainhope  that
theless it is not conservative in the sense of being         somehow and from some quarter a change for the
`strongly and distinctively Reformed, but sometimes          better is going to come. But there comes a time when
manifests itself as being conservative in the sense of       one must also act, and act decisively. And there also
being "evangelical" and "fundamentalist." How                comes a time when it is too late to act and when the
otherwise is it to be explained that such a movement         opportunity for and the hope of a genuine and pure
as "Youth for Christ" can also be justified and              and sound movement of reformation become a thing
promoted  in Waarheid + Eenheid?  Surely, there is           of the past. Be warned!

      South Africa Church Breaks With GKN
                                                 Pro5 H. C Hoeksema

  For some time now there have been growing                  doctrinal aberrations in the GKN constituted the
tensions between the increasingly liberal  Gerefor-          chief irritant. Personally, I tend to think that the two
meerde Kerken of the Netherlands (GKN) and a sister          issues are not unrelated, both being facets of the
denomination in South Africa, the  Gereformeerde             growing liberalism in the GKN.
Kerk  of South Africa, sometimes referred to as the            And now these tensions have ended in an official
"Dopper" church. The latter is the smallest of the           break, a break initiated by the South Africa Church.
three Afrikaans churches. These tensions have had              A  Standard Bearer  subscriber in Johannesburg,
their occasion partly in the fact that the  Gerefor-         South Africa kindly sent me two clippings about this
meerde Kerken  of the Netherlands supported the              subject from The Star, a daily newspaper in that city.
World Council of Churches' special fund to combat
racism, and partly in the heresies in the GKN which            The first, dated January 24, reports as follows:
have been tolerated and allowed to go unrestrained             "The Gereformeerde Kerk, smallest of the three
and undisciplined. Depending on whose news reports           Afrikaans churches, has decided to sever all ties with
one read, sometimes it seemed that the former item           its sister church in Holland.
was the chief reason for the tension (in connection,           "The' decision to break off relations was made in
of course, with the whole controversy about apartheid        Pdtchefstroom  last night by the general synod of the
in South Africa); and sometimes it seemed that the           Kerk.


752                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  "The severing of bonds will have far-reaching impli-      gians.
cations, and brings to an end a relationship between          "As head of the department of New Testament at
the Afrikaans church and the Gereformeerde Kerk in          the theological seminary at Potchefstroom and at
the Netherlands which started in 1859. (Note: if this       Potchefstroom University, Professor Van der Walt has
data is correct, it would mean that the original bond       his finger on the pulse of developments in the annals
was established even before there were any Gerefor-         of the Afrikaans churches.
meerde Kerken. The latter were established in 1892
through a merger of the secession movements of                "He was an adviser to the synod, and was also
183 4, the Afscheiding, and the secession under             chairman of the commission which recommended
Kuyper in 1886, the Doleantie. HCH)                         that the Gereformeerde Kerk in South Africa should
                                                            sever its relationship, with the Gereformeerde Kerk in
  "The synod took the decision after considering a          the Netherlands.
report by a committee which recommended the
break.                                                        "For the Gereformeerdes at Potchefstroom it was a
                                                            tough decision to make and, as Professor van der Walt
  "The decision is to be conveyed to the synods of          says, any split which severs ties of more than a
the African and Coloured churches of the Gerefor-           century is serious.
meerde Kerk, as well as the Reformed churches in
New Zealand, Australia and USA.                               "But even more serious, he says, are the reasons
                                                            behind the decision to break bonds with the  Dutch<
  "These last are also considering breaking ties with       church.
the `mother' church in Holland.                               "Behind the split is the fact that the Gerefor-
  "The decision to break off relations was made             meerdes -here became deeply unhappy about the
because of `heresies' by some church members in             `radical and unreformed views and heresies' of some
Holland because the Dutch church supported the              ministers, theologians and professors of the church in
World Council of Churches' special fund to combat           Holland;
racism.                                                        "One such man was Dr. Herman Wiersinga, a
  "Last night's break threatens to worsen the already       minister in Amsterdam who said that Christ did not
yawning split between Afrikaner and Dutch intellec-         die on the cross for our sins, but that it was more a
tual establishments. The rifts contain serious political    shock tactic.
implications and accusations from both sides."                 "This, says Professor van der Walt, touches on the
  The second report carries the by-line  "Lambert           deep significance of the Cross and the Crucifixion -
Pringle, Religion Reporter" and is dated February 3.        the very core of Christianity.
It furnishes further details:                                  "Another reason was the fact that the Dutch
  "The acceptance by the Gereformeerde Kerk at its          c'hurch decided to support the World Council of
synod recently that according to Holy. Scripture            Churches' special fund to combat racism.
racially mixed marriages cannot be regarded as unlaw-
ful or forbidden is highly significant.                        "The Gereformeerdes in South Africa felt this was
                                                            supporting `violence' of liberation movements in
  "So too is the decision on common worship that            Southern Africa.
no person should be excluded from participating in
the life of the church on grounds of race or  colour.          "Another matter which played an important part
(Note: These decisions, of course, must be under-           in the decision to split was the report on homo-
stood against the background of the South African           sexuality by some Dutch ministers. This report
apartheid policy and controversy. HCH)                      suggested that not only should homosexuality be
                                                            considered,, but that congregations would also have to
  "And while these decisions might have been long           accept a homosexual minister who was living with a
overdue for some, they might also have put other            man in the rectory.
noses out of joint.                                            "Professor van der Walt believes any attempts to
  "For while the more powerful Ned. Geref. Kerk is          reconcile the two churches will be difficult.
not opposed to mixed worship, it remains firmly
against mixed marriages.                                       "He does not regard the decision to split as moving
                                                            towards isolation. Instead, he is happy with the
   "The Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk, second                 Gereformeerde Kerk's international relations with
largest of the three Afrikaans churches, is opposed to      other churches - especially other reformed churches
both mixed marriages and mixed worship.                     overseas.
  "One man who is delighted about many of the
decisions his church took is Professor Tjaart van der          "He says too that the church's missionary work in
Walt, one of South Africa's most eminent  theolo-           South Africa is a manifestation of Christian unity.


                                                : THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  753



    "He is also happy with the decisions which the                  We can only applaud the decision to sever relations
 s y n o d   t o o k   - particularly those about mixed           with the GKN. It was long overdue. And this holds
 marriages and common worship.                                    true not only for the  Gereformeerde Kerk  of South
    "He believes that his church is moving in the right           Africa, but also for all Reformed denominations
 direction in other areas. One of these was his church's          which have maintained ties with the GKN. It also
 critical stand on the issue of migratory labour.                 holds true for the Reformed Ecumenical Synod,
                                                                  which until now has not shown the courage to
    "And while he believes his church is beginning to             enforce its own constitution and its own anti-World
 face up to socio-political issues, he would like to see          Council advice. From the point of view of the
 the church become radical and outspoken.                         principle, the GKN has long ago and in many ways
    "He prays for the day when his church and all                 forsaken the doctrine and discipline which constitute
 other churches in South Africa will meet on a com-               the very basis of unity for Reformed churches. It was,
 mon platform.                                                    therefore, wrong  - principally wrong  - for other
    "Professor van der Walt also regards the yawning              Reformed churches to continue in any kind of unity
 split between Dutch and Afrikaner establishments as              with the GKN. And from the point of view of prac-
 grave.                                                           tice, the fact that others continued to maintain ties
                                                                  with the GKN has only afforded the latter the oppor-
    "But however satisfied Professor van der Walt may             tunity to introduce its corrupt leaven into other
: be about the mood and direction of the synod, some              Reformed communions. Frankly, I have no expecta-
 of its own ,members believe the Gereformeerde Kerk               tion that the GKN will be moved to return from its
 will have to alter many more of, its attitudes if it             evil ways; but perhaps the breaking of ecclesiastical
 hopes to be reconciled with organizations like the               ties will contribute to stemming the tide of liberalism
 South Africa Council of Churches and other churches              somewhat in other Reformed churches.
 overseas.
    "The Gereformeerde Kerk still has strong reserva-               Meanwhile, in my opinion there are ominous signs
 tions about mixed marriages in South Africa, and                 that already all is not well in the South Africa church.
 churches overseas, including its former `sister' church          The talk of being radical and outspoken and of facing
 in Holland, still accuse it of supporting the Govem-             up to sociopolitical issues has the all-too-familiar ring
 ment's policy of apartheid and separate develop-                 of the liberalism which has already infested other
 ment."                                                           Reformed denominations. .



 TAKING HEED TO THEDOCTRINE

                   "Hyper-Calvinism" and the Call
                                     of the Gospel (16)

                                                   Rev. David Engelsma

    Those who teach a sincere desire of God to save all           who explain the text to mean that God sincerely
 always appeal to I Timothy  2:4: "Who (God) will                 desires every human to be saved, Turretin argues, "if
 have all men to be saved . .  ."  Turretin will have             God wills this, how happens it that it is not done,
 no thing of such an interpretation of this text.                 since his will properly so called is always efficacious,
 " . . . the particle, all, is `here taken not distributively,    and accomplishes what he wills, and which nothing
 for the individuals of classes, but collectively, for            can resist? Again, God wills them all to come to the
 classes of individuals, that is, as Beza renders it, for all     knowledge of the truth either absolutely, and so all
 sorts from every nation, condition, age and sex, in              would come to it, which is false, or under a condi-
 this sense, God' wills, not that all men individually,           tion: But what can that be? If they hear it? But he
 but some from every class, or order of men, should be            does not have it preached to many; If they believe?
 saved, and as Augustine explains it . . ." Against those         But to believe is to have arrived already.at the knowl-


 754                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



  edge of the truth."                                         e.g., that He will harden Pharoah unto damnation; the
     The truth of the matter, writes Turretin, is this:       latter is God's command to a man, setting forth his
  "God wills all those to be saved, for whom Christ           duty, e.g., that Pharoah must let God's people go.
gave himself as a ransom, so that this is immediately         From God's command, one may not infer God's
 added by the Apostle, v. 6, viz.; as their Mediator, by      intention (sincere desire), for the command, "Let My
 substituting himself in their place, and suffering in        people go! ," only indicates `Pharoah's duty and that
 their stead the punishment due to them. Now this             freeing God's people,,not keeping them in slavery, is
 cannot be said of all and every man in particular,           pleasing to God. "Nor immediately does he (God)
 without by that very thing all and every man being           intend what is commanded, since many things are
 actually saved, which no one would say" (pp. 122,            commanded, which are by no means intended. Thus
  123).                                                       God commanded Pharoah to let the people go, and
                                                              yet he cannot be said to have actually intended,
    As for II Peter 3 :9, "The Lord . . . is longsuffering    either absolutely, or conditionally, their dismission,
 to  usward, not willing that any should perish, but          since he intended on the contrary the hardening of
 that all should come to repentance," the will of God         Pharoah and the retention of the people" (p. 126).
 here spoken of "should not be extended further than
 to the elect and believers, for whose sake God puts             To explain God's universal demands of repentance
 off the consummation of ages, until their number             and faith as indicative of a mercy of God for all and
 shall be completed." This is evident from "the pro-          of a will of God to save all is to be guilty of ascribing
 noun, us, which precedes, with sufficient clearness          to God two wills that "butt against each other and
 designating the elect and believers, as elsewhere more       destroy themselves" and is to be guilty of adopting
 than once, and to explain which he adds, not willing         the Arminian denial of sovereign grace. "So from the
 that any, that is, of us, should perish" (p. 125).           command to believe and repent, you would notwith-
                                                              standing falsely infer  .that God by that very thing
    Our Reformed theologian of this very flourishing          intended the faith and repentance and so the salva-
 period of Reformed theology then takes up the                tion of all those, to whom such an external command
 crucial issue of God's commanding all men, including         is promulgated" (p. 126). "The precept, therefore,
 the reprobate, to repent and believe. It is obvious that     signifies that God really wills to enjoin that upon us,
 God does, in the gospel, command the reprobate to            but not forthwith that he really wills or intends, that
 believe on Christ. Those who departed from Re-               what is commanded should take place" (p. 127):
 formed orthodoxy in Turretin's day argued that this
 command indicated a gracious attitude on God's part            It is evident from Turretin's theology that those in
 towards the reprobate, a real desire of God that they        the Reformed camp today who defend the offer's
 be saved. Exactly this is the position of the defenders      teaching of a sincere, merciful desire in God to save
 of the offer in our day. On the universal command to         everyone in terms of two, contradictory wills in God
 believe, they base a sincere desire of God to save all       have not a leg to stand on, as far as historic Reformed
 men. They call this desire "God's revealed will," in         theology is concerned. Reformed theology knows
distinction from "God's hidden will" (of predestina-          only of a distinction between the will of God's decree
 tion). These two, diametrically opposed wills of God         (election) and the will of God's command ("Repent
 are then supposed to exist side by side in Reformed          and believe!"). Reformed theology has expressly
 theology in paradoxical tension: God wills to save           denied that the latter implies God's mercy or will to
 everybody and God wills to save only some.                   save everyone to whom the command comes. It has
                                                              condemned those who taught that the command to
    To this position, Hoeksema referred, when he              believe necessarily indicates a gracious purpose of
 spoke of the "double-track theology" of Reformed             saving in God. Reformed theology has always held
 churches that championed the well-meant offer and            that there is but one gracious will in God which
 when he spoke of the "Janus head"* of such                   intends salvation for men: election. Therefore, there
 churches. The advocates of the offer, on their part,         is not, for Reformed theology, any contradiction in
 denounce the rejection of the offer, i.e., the rejection     the two-fold will of God. God's command to
 of a sincere desire of God to save all, made in the          Pharoah, "Let My people go!," does not contradict
`name of predestination, as a too-rigorous exercise of        God's decree, "I will harden Pharoah's heart, so that
 logic.                                                       he will not let My people go." For the command does
    Turretin holds that Scripture does indeed teach a         not indicate God's purpose, but Pharoah's calling.
 distinction in the will of God. The proper, Biblical
 distinction is that between God's  decretive  will and         Indeed, although it is true here too that God's
 God's  preceptive will (the will of God's decree and         ways are higher than our ways and past finding out,
 the will of God's precept, or command). The former           there is harmony in God's two-fold will. First, the
 is God's eternal decree, determining a man's destiny,        command realizes and maintains that essential charac-


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                       755



teristic of God's decree that consists of the decree's                that he can be accused of any injustice? We deny" (p.
being fulfilled only in the way of the full main-                     384).
tenance of the complete responsibility of man.                           Immediately, he draws the lines of battle: "This
Secondly, the command serves the effecting of the                    question lies between us and the Lutherans, the
decree: By the Word of Jehovah, "Let My people                       Arminians, and the Patrons of Universal Grace; who,
go," the heart of Pharoah is hardened by God, so that                to support the universality of vocation, at least as to
God can make His power known in that proud                           the preaching of the Gospel in the visible Church,
monarch.                                                             hold that as many as are called by the Word are called
  So far ,Turretin  has been touching on the truth of                by God with the intention of their salvation; because
God's call to men in the gospel from the viewpoint of                 otherwise God would trifle with men and deal not
God's decree. He deals with the doctrine of the call                  seriously but hypocritically, offering them grace,
directly in the section on "Vocation and Faith" (pp.                  which,' nevertheless, he is unwilling to bestow' (p.
382ff.). He defines vocation (the calling) as "an act of              384).
the grace of God in Christ, by which he calls men                        He then clarifies the position of Reformed ortho-
dead in sin and lost in Adam, by the preaching of the                 doxy: "Now although we do not deny that the repro-
Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, to union                    bate, who live in external communion with the
with Christ and to the salvation to be obtained in                   Church, are called by God through the Gospel; still
him" (p. 382). It is apparent that Turretin views the                we do deny. that they are called with the intention
call of the gospel as God's gracious, efficacious draw-               that they should be made actual partakers of salvation,
ing of the elect. He states this explicitiy: "all the elect,         which God knew would never be the case, because in
and they alone are called" (p. 383). Yet,  Turretin                  his decree he had ordained otherwise concerning
recognizes that Scripture teaches a calling by God in                them. Nor ought we on this account to think that
the preaching of the gospel of all who corn,,, under the             God can be charged with hypocrisy or dissimulation,
preaching. Therefore, he distinguishes "a twofold                    but that he always acts most seriously and sincerely"
vocation . . . viz., an external and internal. The                   (pp. 384,385).
former takes place only by the ministry of the word                      Thus. does the ,Reformed faith cry down a plague
and sacrament . . . The latter, however, with the addi-              on the houses both of hyper-Calvinism and the well-
tional internal and omnipotent power of the Holy                     meant offer. Against hyper-Calvinism, it maintains
Spirit" (p. 383). With the external calling, God calls               that God calls the reprobate through the preaching of
also the reprobate; "knocks only at  the ears of the                 the gospel and that He does so "most seriously and
body"; and "acts imperatively only, exacting from                   sincerely." Against the offer, the Reformed faith
man duty, but giving no strength to perform  it': (p.                denies that this call is made to the reprobate in mercy
383).                                                                and with any design or intention of their salvation,
  Then,  Turretin addresses himself to- the truth of                 and it denies this in view of predestination: "because
the "Vocation of Reprobates." In keeping with his                    in  .his decree he had ordained otherwise concerning
method of doing theology, he begins with a question,                 them." Repudiation of the offer as the innovation of
in which he both sets forth the issue and indicates the              "Patrons of Universal Grace" is not hyper-Calvinism;
direction in which he will go: "Are the Reprobate,                   it is historic Reformed orthodoxy.
who are made partakers of external vocation, called
with the design and intention on God's part, that
they should become partakers of salvation? And, this                    *Janus was the Roman god with two faces. Reformed churches
being denied, does it follow that God does not deal                  that hold the offer, charged Hoeksema, have two faces, an Arminian
seriously with them, but hypocritically and falsely; or              face of universal grace and a Caivinistic face of particular grace.





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                                 contact Mr. Theodore Engelsma, 2333 Clyde Park, S.W., Grand Rapids,
                                 MI 49509, Telephone CH 54706, or, Mr. Gerrit Pipe, 1463 Ardmore,
                                 SE., Grand Rapids, MI 49507, Telephone CH 56145.


 756                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



 FROM HOLY WRIT


                    Exposition of Hebrews (13 : 15)
                                                   Rev. G. Lubbers                                          .



 BRINGING CONTINUAL SACRIFICE OF PRAISE                      spiritual sacrifices,  acceptable to God by Jesus
 TO GOD (Heb. 13: 15)                                        Christ. " (italics added) And, again, we read in I Peter
    That we bring the sacrifice of praise to God             4:11, ". . . if any man minister, let him do it as of the
 through Jesus Christ follows of necessity from the          ability that God giveth: that God in all things may be
 great sacrifice of Christ which He brought without          glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the praise
 the gate at Jerusalem. That is the God-intended             and the dominion forever and ever. Amen." (italics
 intent, purpose, and design of salvation itself. The        added) Confer further' Rom. 1:8; 16:27; Col. 3: 17.
 highest and chief end of salvation is the glory of God,     From all this it is abundantly clear what the Scrip-
 the glory of His grace. (Eph. 1: 6) That is the end of      tures teach concerning our sacrifices of praise through
 the work of God's sovereign grace and election in all       Christ Jesus and through Him alone.
 His redeemed people. Such is the force of the particle         It should the meanwhile not be overlooked that
 "wherefore" in the text. For in the context the writer      this sacrifice is to be brought continually. There is a
 made it abundantly clear and lucid that, if we are not      reason for this admonition to-incessant thankfulness
 to be carried away, we must cling to Christ Jesus Who       and praise. In the Old Testament economy of the
 is yesterday, today, and forever the same. All of sal-      shadows this sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise had
 vation culminates in the great day of atonement when        to follow the sacrifice of the sin offering brought for
 all is purified in the sacrifice, which is brought at       sin by the priest and highpriest. In Lev. 7: 11-15
 Calvary without the city-gate of Jerusalem!                 Moses speaks of the ordinance of the thank offering.
   Were it not for this Jesus, there would be neither        (tseebhach-todah) Writes Westcott on page 443 of his
 praise to bring nor any avenue and way unto the             The Epistle to the Hebrews: "In this connection dia
 Father to bring it. The text places this very emphati-      tantos  (continually) has a peculiar force. That which
 cally on the foreground.  He--is the highpriest Who         was an exceptional service' under the Old Dispensa-
must place our prayers and praise upon the altar of          tion is the normal service under the New." Even the
incense in the holy place before the throne, the ark of      Jewish teachers, says Westcott, gave expression to the
 the covenant. Hence, it is through (dia) Him. No one        thought: R. Pichas, R. Levi, and R. Jochanan said in
 can come to the Father except through Me. (John             the name of R. Menachem of Galilee: One day all
 14:6) Repeatedly the Scriptures emphasize this              offerings will cease, only the thankoffering will not
 point, and we do well to take notice of this. Is this       cease; all prayers will cease, only the thanksgiving
 not the Christ Who ever lives. to pray for us as the        prayer will not cease. This is, indeed, according to
 Highpriest Whose office has no end? His is a priest-        what Jeremiah the prophet says in Chapter  33:11,
hood with unbroken continuance. (Heb.  7:3) After            "The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice
He has died for our sins His office before God in the        of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the
most holy place of heaven has not ended. Shall there         voice of them'that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts:
be any praise  that can come to God and be accept-           for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for-
able, holy, free from all sin, then Christ must purify       ever; and of them that shall bring the  sticrifice of
our praise and place it upon the altar of incense with       praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause"
the prayers of all saints! (Rev. 5: 8; 8:3, 4) Hence by      to return the captivity of the land, as at the first,
Him, and by no one else, can we bring our-praise to          saith the LORD."
God! The Holy Spirit would have us see this when He            ,It is, therefore,  .quite clear that the only sacrifice
takes it all out of Christ and gives it to us, leading us    which still remains in the New Testament is the
into all the truth of the gospel. Wherefore we read in       sacrifice of praise of those who are ingrafted into
I Peter  2:5: "Ye also as lively stones are built up a       Christ with a true faith. This is the sacrifice of believ-
spiritual house,  -an holy priesthood, to offer up           ing hearts which confess with the mouth. (Rom.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   757



  10: 8-l 0) The word has in Jesus' sacrifice, and by His     Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. It is that which
 glorification and outpouring of the Spirit, been             is accompanied by perfect joy, a full cup of bliss. (I
 brought very nigh unto us,  .even in our mouth and           John 1: 14)
 heart. This is the fruit of the lips. It is "fruit" which      It is not difficult to understand that the writer
 is the beginning of the full harvest. We now have            underscores this doing good and communicating with
 Pentecostal grace. It is the firstfruits of the eternal      the sacrifices of praise. This is the very essence of
 song, in heaven. That is why it is called "confessing"       redemption from sin and the house of bondage. We
 in the Greek. It is saying the same thing concerning         must remember the widow, the orphan, and the
  God, Christ, God's people, the sanctuary in the             stranger, that they may eat from the altar of the
 temple,.  .as God does. We recall His goodness, His          LORD'S mercies. (Ex. 22:21; 23:9) When we have a
 mercy, and His greatness forever. It is the beginning        collection in the church for the poor, this is placing
  of the eternal confession of heaven before the great        first ourselves, and then also our gifts as dedicated to
  white throne of His grace and majesty.                      the LORD and to His loving care for the poor, the
                                                              weak, and the indigent. Every church service should
 DOING WELL AND COMMUNICATING (Heb.                           have such a collection. That is part of our Sabbath
  13:16)                                                      Day keeping. (Lord's Day XXXVIII)  ". . . and con-
    It is true that the chief part of thankfulness is         tribute to the relief of the poor as becomes a  chris-
  prayer and song and the extolling of the Lord's great-      tian." The Hebrews must enter into the rest of the
 ness and mercy. This is beautifully expressed in the         completed work of Christ, and not harden their heart.
 Heidelberg Catechism's answer as to what constitutes         (Heb.  3:3) And they must enter into the rest
 true prayer. However, there is another part of thank-        "today." And so we must also in this very present
  fulness. This is that we keep the commandments of           time communicate and walk in what we confess to
  God, particularly that we love our neighbor as  our-        believe concerning the communion of saints and the
  self. This is what the writer here refers to when he        life everlasting.
  writes to the Hebrew believers that they must not             The writer underscores that God must be  well-
  "forget" to do well. They must not be Christians who        pleased with our "sacrifices." That, too, we must not
 like to go to church and pray and sing, but they must        forget. All things are naked and opened before the
 have a living faith which reveals itself in good works.      eyes of Him with Whom we have to do. Think of
  (James 2: 14-26; I John 3: 18) And of this the Hebrew       God's rejecting the sacrifice of Cain and His accepting
  Christians and we also must not be "forgetful." Often       the sacrifice of Abel. The Lord abhors the sacrifice of
  this is not intentional forgetfulness. The writer uses      the wicked also in Israel. (Gen. 4:5a; Ps. 50:8; Prov.
  the term "to forget" also in Hebrews 13:2 concerning        15:8; 21:3; Isaiah 1:ll) To do justice and righteous-
  the love which `must be shown to -strangers. For these      ness is better than sacrifice and is more acceptable to
  strangers are perhaps angels, and they may even be          the Lord. When the writer here says "with such
more: saints in Christ.                                       sacrifices" God is well-pleased, we should heed and
    The term  to do good  seems to be of a wider              take notice. For such sacrifices are the manifestation
 implication than is the term "communicate." The              of the Lord's love toward His saints as a revelation of
 term seems to look at all kinds of beautiful deeds.          His own self-love in perfect holiness in the ontological
 (eupoias) We must do unto others as we would have            Trinity., This is the love manifested in the cross to us
 them do unto us. That is the implication of our part         in our poverty and worthlessness, when God loved us
 of the covenant which is written in our hearts by the        even when we were yet sinners. And now we ought
 Holy Spirit. If we say that we love God, and do not          thus to love each other if God so loved us. (I John
  love the brother, we lie, and the truth is not in us.       4:20,21)
 And, therefore, this admonition is so very serious.
 The genuineness of our doing good to our neighbor               We must not forget also to bring these sacrifices of
 manifests itself in whether we "co.mmunicate." There         doing good and to communicate "through Him," that
 is much giving and adieu in this world which is not          is, because of His suffering for us without the gate.
  "communicating." Many millions of dollars are doled         We do -this good, first of all, to the household of faith
  out by government agencies, insurance policies which        and also to those who are without. This is the out-
  are not "sacrifices" which are well-pleasing to the         reaching love of Christ in His saints, so that with all
  Lord. They are not placed upon the altar of consecra-       the saints we may know the length and breadth, the
 tion. This communicating to the necessities of the           height and depth of the love of God. The. saints in
  saints is on a very high spiritual plane. It is much        heathen lands contributed to the poor in Jerusalem
  more than good business with high interest. It is           by a great collection. (II Cor. 8:1-24; 9: 1-15; Acts
  walking in the light as God is light, in Whom there is      11:29,30)
  no darkness at all. It is covenant fellowship with the         Too much ritual in the divine services is not good.


 758                                        THE  STANDARD BEARER



However, it might be well that when collections are         should give in the knowledge that one day we shall
taken for the poor, more attention be focused on the        hear from the lips of Christ, "For I was an hungered,
great meaning and implication on the offerings for          and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty and ye gave me
the poor, and that we be deeply mindful that when           drink, I was a stranger and ye took me in: naked and
once any money or gifts are placed on the altar of          ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me: I was in
consecration, these are mingled with the prayers of all     prison and ye came unto me. . . . And the king shall
saints. Such money is no longer ours, but it is the         answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you,
Lord's; and the widows, orphans, and the stranger           Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of
should feel that when the deacons come to visit them,       these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matt.
they have had a visit from Christ Himself. And we           25 : 34-40)



STUDIES IN ISAIAH

                        Glory Made Wretched (22
                                                 Isaiah 3:24 - 4:l

                                              Rev. Robt. C. Harbach



   1. The Loathsome Replacing Finery. "And it shall        of their jewehy, their wardrobes, cosmetics and
come to pass (that) instead of spicy odor there shall      toiletries, but worst of all, their men. Jeremiah
be rottenness; and instead of a girdle (apron, Gen.        laments this terrible calamity: "the young and the old
3:7), a rope; and instead of the work of turned work       lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my
(artificial curls?), baldness; and instead of an           young men are fallen by the sword. Thou hast slain
embroidered tuxedo, a girdle of sacking, a branding        them in the day of Thine anger; Thou hast killed and
instead of (female) beauty" (3:24, Heb.). "It is evi-      not pitied" (Lam. 2:21). "Thy might shall fall in the
dent that the country here described abounds in            war." This idea of a nation's might being destroyed is
aromatic herbs; and there is no reason to doubt that       brought out also by Jeremiah at the time of the
in pleasant smells, as well as in other matters, they      beginning of ,Zedekiah's reign: "Thus says the Lord of
were luxurious. We see that those nations which are        hosts, `Look! I will break the bow of Elam, the main
farthest removed from the east are not prevented           element of their strength (might)' " (Jer.  49:35,
either by distance or by expense from indulging in         Berkeley). The Lord would disable and wreck their
that kind of luxury. What may be expected to happen        "atomic bomb."
in those places where they are abundant? That they            "And her gates shall groan and mourn, and she
will excite lust and promote luxury is beyond all          shall sit desolate on the ground" (v. 26). The Lord
doubt. He means, therefore, that ointments and sweet       had warned that the heathen destroyer would level
smells were abused by them in a variety of ways; for       them desolate to the ground. "0 daughter of My
the sinful desires of men are ingenious in their con-      people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes;
trivances, and can never be satisfied." So wrote John      make thee mourning as for an only son, most bitter
Calvin on this text. All the luxurious feminine finery     lamentation; for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon
the women of Zion loved so much would be tom               us" (Jer.  6:26). When it happened, Jeremiah
from their-bodies, stripping them naked. Instead of        lamented it. "The elders of the daughter of Zion sit
their gold, silver and spangled pectoral and pelvic        on the ground and are silent (dumb with grief); they
girdles, they would have nothing but a rope; instead       have thrown dust upon their heads; they have girded
of simulated curls, baldness; instead of silk formal       themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Israel hang
wear, sackcloth.                                           their heads to the ground" (Lam., 2: 10).
  2. Charmers With  No Men to Charm.  "Thy men               "And in that day, seven women shall fasten upon
shall fall by the sword, and thy might in the war"'        one man, saying, `Our bread we will eat, and our
(~25, Heb.). Not only would the women be robbed            raiment we will wear; only let thy name be called


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                759



upon us. Take away our reproach.' " (4: 1, Heb.). The       light, and thy God thy glory" (Isa. 60: 19). How this
daughters of Zion thought themselves the greatest of        shall  be' Jeremiah beautifully explains in his  thirty-
wives because they were married to men of Judah.            third chapter (w. 6-9, 11-12). He especially became
But now so devastating will be the destruction that         glory when He arose from the dead, ascended to
there will be but one man for every seven women.            heaven and sat exalted at the right hand of God. He
According to the Word of God the husband must               will be glorious when He appears to come the second
provide for and support his wife, "her food, her            time in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him to
clothing `and her marriage rights" (Ex. 21: 10). But        sit upon the throne of His glory (Mt. 25: 3 1).
the women, too, would agree to support themselves             "And to be beauty for the escaped of Israel," "not
with food and clothing  - their own living  - to            beautiful and glorious, excellent and comely in the
possess the married name and state.                         view of all men; only them that believe, who have
                                                            seen His glory (Jn. 12:41, RCH), and have tasted that
PROMISE OF THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST                            He is gracious. These are the remnant according to
Isaiah 4 : 2-6                                              the election of grace, the preserved of Israel, the
                                                            chosen of God and precious, who were saved from
   1.  The Future Messiah  "In that day the Branch          that untoward generation, the Jews, and escaped the
(Offspring) of Jehovah shall be for beauty and for          destruction of Jerusalem, and were saved in the Lord
glory, and the fruit of the earth for majestic grandeur,    with an everlasting salvation." - John Gill. Of them
and be beauty for the escaped of Israel" (4:2, Heb.).       the Lord further says, "Whereas thou hast been for-
After the prediction of such terrible judgments and         saken and hated . . . I will make thee an eternal
calamities just described, the Lord comforts the faith-     excellency, a joy of many generations" (Isa. 60: 15).
ful of His people with the covenant promise that the
tabernacle of God shall be with men. A new Church             2. The Future Church.  "And it shall be (that) the
and its Head shall arise and be kept safe. This promise     one left in Zion and the one left in Jerusalem shall be
is not made to all, but to the remnant, the escaped of      called holy to Him (Rev. 2 1: 27), all the ones written
Israel. "In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a       to the life (lives) in (the New) Jerusalem" (4:3, Heb.),
crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the        or, "and it shall occur," and when it does, it will be
residue of His people" (28: 5). "In that day" is a day      pure grace that the remnant of grace in Jerusalem
which occurs in the beginning of "the last days"            shall be  called  holy. Also they shall  become  holy:
(2:2), starting with the birth of Christ, and con-          "and to make thee high above all nations which He
tinuing to the destruction of Jerusalem and on down         hath made, in praise and in name, and in honor; and
to this day, this dispensation to its end. This day then    that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord
points to a person, the Messiah, as the following           thy God, as He hath spoken" (Dt. 26: 19). For "shall
passages prove beyond all doubt. "Behold, the days          be called" is not the same as "shall  ,be." But it is
come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a        sinners, who in themselves are not, are by sovereign
righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper,       grace called holy, and rightly so because they are
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth"        viewed in the Holy One, the Messiah, and are His
(Jer.  23:5). "In those days, and at that time, will I      saints; and where there  are saints  this prophecy is
cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto           fulfilled. In Him they are not only  called  holy, not
David; and He shall execute judgment and righteous-         only called sons of God, but they  are  (I Jn. 3: 1,
ness in the land" (33: 15). "Behold, I will bring forth     ASV). In Him they are predestinated to eternal life,
My Servant the BRANCH"  (Zech.  3:8). "Thus                 their names being written in the Book of Life before
speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man          the foundation of the world. This book of life is not
whose name is The BRANCH; and He shall grow up              that in which are written those destined to earthly
out of His place, and He shall build the temple of, the     life (Ex., 32:32f; Ps. 69:29), but that which contains
Lord" (6: 12). He comes from Jehovah, so is of divine       the names of those ordained to eternal life (Ps. 87:46;
origin, but also is the fruit of the earth, since He was    Dn.  12:l; Lk. 10:20; Phil.  4:3; Rev. 3:5; 13:8;  17:8;
born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2), to grow up as a tender        20: 12, 15, 21:27). It is evident from at least two of
plant and as a root out of a dry ground  (53:2), a          these texts that there are some whose names are not
fulfilment of "Let the earth open and . . . bring forth     written in this Book (cp. also Ezek.  13:9). But the
salvation" (Isa.  45:8). So here is both His deity, in      elect  are written there, and that unalterably, for this
the Branch of Jehovah, and His humanity through the         writing is God's writing, and He may say better than
virgin birth, in "the fruit of the earth." He  shall be     anyone, "What I have written, I have written." These
the Beauty, the Glory, and the majestic grandeur of         elect are chosen to salvation, including sanctification
Zion. "The sun shall be no more thy light by day:           (2 Thes.  .2: 13; Eph.  1:4). Then they are chosen
neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto       unconditionally, particularly and personally, for this
thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting        is not a writing of nations, races or churches, but of


760                                          THE STANDARD BEA.RER



individual persons. Holiness, the eternal security of        especially bloodshed and murder. These evils defiled
the saints, their final preservation and perseverance        the land almost more than any other. The defilement
are the fruits of the'tree and original root of election.    of these sins in our own land is just as rife. The
                                                             murder rate in the city of Houston is increasing fear-
  "0 that Adonai shall have washed away the filth            fully. The reforming of a city can only be in the
(drunkard's vomit,  28:8; human excrement, 36: 12)           cleansing of it, and that effected by the restraining,
of the daughters of Zion (the women just mentioned           punishment, and eradication of violence and wicked-
in 3: 16), and shall have washed away the bloods of          ness. But where is this being done to the extent that
Jerusalem from her midst, with a spirit of judgment          an atmosphere of safety is once more restored? How-
and a spirit of destroying"  (4:4, Heb.). The elect          ever, this failure and laxity in the state must
remnant shall be called holy and shall be actually           definitely not be tolerated in the church. In the true
holy, for "the Lord shall have washed away the filth         church it shall not be, for "the Lord shall" do it. The
of the daughters of Zion." Zion, the Church, shall be        church shall be reformed "not by might nor by power
cleansed from the corruption of the people and               but by My Spirit, saith the Lord" (Zech. 4:6). By His
especially of those women who loved luxury and               power and grace the church shall be purged of false
flirty finery. The church's cleansing of its filth is        worship, of corruption in the sacraments, of worship
attained by the cutting off of the wicked within. The        forms not of God, of all immorality and worldliness,
church will not be kept from corruption unless it is         of all workers of iniquity. They shall be taken out of
cleansed of the wicked thing. Wickedness is. filthiness,     Christ's kingdom and churches. (Matt. 8: 12).




FEATURE ARTICLE



                            Our -School in Redlands

                                                 Rev. Marvin Kamps


  The establishment of our own school and its open-          fruit of God's irresistible grace. What we did, we did
ing on September 16, 1975 in Redlands is well known          solely because it was the only way of obedience for
to most of you, our brothers and sisters in our be-          covenant parents who seek God's blessing. Therefore,
loved Protestant Reformed Churches. You have heard           a few questions are presented and answered to make
before of our struggles and our aborted attempt of           transparent to all what our deepest motivations were
1973, when at the last moment the way to the open-           in this endeavor.
ing of our own school was unceremoniously closed.              Why would 20 or 30 men band together to form a
Many of you have undoubtedly brought before God's            Christian School Society? Why would this Society
throne of grace the needs of our small congregation          labor year after year to the establishment of a Chris-
with regard to truly Reformed covenantal day school
instruction. Now we want to announce that our                tian day school in which they might educate their few
prayers have been answered and our labors abun-              children? Why would this Society in a day of infla-
                                                             tion, rising costs, and economic instability 
dantly rewarded according to the infinite depths of                                                           unan-
the love and grace of our covenant God.                      imously  vote to buy school property and to build a
                                                             school building with a total expenditure of nearly
  But before we tell you about the school building as        $60,000, which figure represents only the beginning
such, we want to make clear to all that our prayers,         of a financially arduous journey? Why would these
labor, and the evidence of our labors is solely the          men in an age of spiritual apathy, indifference, and


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                              761



                                                              and mercy of Him, Who hath called us and our chil-
                                                              dren into the blessed fellowship of Jesus, `His Son.
                                                              Our salvation, our place in His Church, and all our
                                                              activity of faith in the re-establishment of a Christian
                                                              school of truly covenantal education for our covenant
                                                              children are all the fruits of His sovereign irresistible
                                                              grace. "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory
                                                              through our Lord Jesus Christ."
                                                                One  .must not overlook the fact that we speak of
                                                              the re-establishment of our own school in Redlands,
                                                              California. Our fathers here founded the first  chris-
                                                              tian school in our Protestant Reformed circles. The
                                                              first school was built in 1934; but we lost our school
                                                              in 1953, when for conscience sake before God it was
                                                              necessary to separate from the majority which opted
                                                              for the Arminianism of the DeWolf group. Thus many
                                                              of the fathers who in awareness of their covenantal
compromise decide unanimously to "go it alone"?               calling established the first school were those who
Why would this Society do this when the future is             labor with us, their children, to build our new school.
sure to present its tensions and hardships in the main-         What did we build? Our school building is a very
taining of this Christian School? Why? Our flesh con-         beautiful masonry building of two classrooms, two
fronted us with these questions and more.                     bathrooms, and kitchen area, which doubles as
  There is principally only one answer to the ques-           storage area and as a possible third class room. An
tions above. No, the answer is not that we are                attractive rust colored tile roof extending six feet
ignorant, or that we are foolish fanatics. Certainly, in      beyond the width of the 32' by 77' building provides
such a manner many will slander us. But they, of              a shield preventing the glare of the bright sun upon
course, who so misrepresent our cause do not know             the classroom windows on the north side of the build-
of all the soul searching that went on within us, and         ing. Our air conditioned building affords rather com-
they, of course, ignore the fact that we sought our           fortable accommodations to our 36 children and our
way prayerfully, laboring as before God's face. But           faculty.
the answer to the above questions is to be found in             Our school was built with all volunteer `labor!
the faith of God's people who constitute the mem-             Fifteen to eighteen of the society members and
bers of our Hope Christian School Society and in the          young people faithfully labored each Saturday from
faith of our supporters. A living faith it is that has        early in January till September enduring all things in
laid hold of the covenant promises of our God, who is         patience as we labored in hope! It was a pleasure!
our Father for Christ's Name's sake. It is the activity of    And we trust that God used this cooperative effort as
a living faith that baffles the keen, analytical minds of     a means to further unite us as a body of believers who
unbelieving persons who when they have counted the            labor to aid and assist one another to fulfill our
costs of discipleship conclude that it isn't worth it.
The answer, the only answer, to all the questions
above is that the believer's faith is a living faith that
thankfully appropriates the thrilling testimony of
God's Word: "For the -promise is unto you, and to
your children, and to all that are afar off, even as
many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acts 2:39) A
covenant theology of the blessed friendship of
Jehovah God in Christ Jesus our Lord and our calling
to instruct His children entrusted to our care as God's
friend-servants by the power of God's grace and
according to His purpose of election; this truth in
faith thankfully received is the only answer to all the
questions of unbelieving and carnal souls. And it is
this truth in Christ that will be the fountain head of
our desire to press on in the future in faith.
  Thankful to God are we as parents and supporters
of our Society for our school. Thankful for the grace


762                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



mutual covenantal obligations. Nor must we forget to             hardships in the future. But we labor in faith resting
mention the labor of our good wives and mothers                  in the. sovereign goodness of our covenant God, Who
who whole-heartedly supported us in this endeavor.               hath begun also this good work in us. We trust that
They prepared baked goods and coffee for their hus-              the covenant keeping God will continue to provide
bands and sons who eagerly looked forward to the                 for all our needs both material and spiritual in the
9:30 morning coffee break. It was our good wives, as             future even as He hath provided abundantly in the
beloved sisters in Christ, who sanded, painted, and              past.
scrubbed, making our new building as pleasant and                   With an eye to the future we are confident that
presentable as it was designed to be. Not only did               God will use this means of truly Reformed covenant
they work hard but they also had to cope with many               instruction in our school to equip our covenant chil-
inconveniences and with exhausted and disgruntled                dren to know how to walk in the midst of a wicked
husbands from time to time.                                      world as representatives of His covenant of friend-
  We take this opportunity to thank all of our                   ship. We are confident of this blessing according to
readers for their prayers and financial support, which           the testimony of Scripture that our Father in heaven
was  mo_st graciously given us by you, our brothers              is just and righteous to bless the feeble efforts of
and sisters who understand and cherish the rich bless-           covenant parents who endeavor in the strength of
ings which. God ,bestows  upon truly Reformed Chris-             God's grace to fulfill obediently their covenantal
tian day school instruction. Please, remember us                 obligations, and privileges! All this God performs for
before God's throne of grace in the future as you                Christ's name's sake in Whose blessed Name we have
have in the past, for our spiritual needs are many. We           prayed and will pray as we look forward to the hope
will undoubtedly experience many difficulties and                of glory.



ALL AROUND US


              GKN Synod Spends  Much'Time With Kuitert

                                                        Rev. H. Veldman


  The following is a quotation from the RES News                     disappointment was also expressed at the committee's
Exchange Letter of Jan. 6, 1976, Vol. XIII, No. 1,                   failure to conduct further discussions with Kuitert on
page 1136:                                                           the contents of its report. Finally, the matter of
                                                                     Kuitert was referred back to committee so that such
       (Grand Rapids) Kuitert's theology was a central               discussion could take place.
   topic in the  synodical meetings of the Reformed
   Churches of the Netherlands (GKN) during the latter                     A full day was devoted to the discussion of Prof.
   part of November of the past year. A  synodical com-              Kuitert's latest book Zonder Geloof Vaart Niemand
   mittee presented a rather lengthy analysis of the                 WeZ  - None Fares Well Without Faith, H.V,(reviewed
   thought of Prof. Kuitert. The report concluded  that              in RES NE 10/g/74).  Reactions ranged from praise to,
   Prof. Kuitert favored the suspension of all ties to the           strong critique. The purpose of the book, Kuitert
   confessions as practiced in the Reformed churches,                explained, was to try to approach and explain the
   for he regards this as a dead-end, a way of defending             attractiveness of the Christian faith from the view-
   the truth which is in conflict with the "in part" of              point of secular man. He  prished  to show that Chris-
   man's knowledge of God. It also raised questions                  tianity is a faith and not a superstition. To do this, he
   regarding Kuitert's emphasis on the human form of                 asserted, he could not very well argue from the basis
   Scripture. The committee proposed that synod ask                  of the authority of Scripture for this is to argue out
   Prof. Kuitert to answer questions on five different               of the world of faith. "My book" he claimed, "stands
   points of his theology. The synod, however, shied                 in the Reformed tradition." And he compared his
   away from this course in the fear that it resembled               effort to explain faith with that of  Herman'Bavinck.
   the  beginning of a disciplinary process. It wished to                  Several letters objecting to Kuitert's role as a  pre-
   continue the theological discussions without hanging              advisor to Synod were dismissed by the synod since
   the Damoclean.  sword over Dr. Kuitert's head. Strong
                        - -                                          the grounds were inextricably associated with the4


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    763



    whole issue of  Kuitert's theology. To exclude him       regard to the creation and fall of man as set forth in
    would be to prejudice him. Moreover, at the be-          Genesis 2 and 3. And how can a man with the beliefs
    ginning of synod, it was pointed out, Prof. Kuitert      of Prof. Kuitert serve as an advisor to a reformed
    &d indicated his agreement with the confessions.         synod? Finally, we must never allow a heretic to tell
       In order to continue the theological debate on a      us what he believes. Prof. Kuitert assured the synod
    non-disciplinary level, the GKN Synod also planned a     that he was in agreement with the reformed con-
    conference for the beginning of 1976 in which the        fessions. Of course! A heretic will never tell you that
    diverse viewpoints would be expounded by various         he is not a heretic. A synod will never be able to cope
    spokesmen.                                               with him along these lines. How weak of a synod to
       Envisioned is not so much a polemical skirmish as     refuse to begin disciplinary action!
    a positive exposition of their central concerns. Pre-
    viously such debate occurred only at the instance of,       Secondly, the GKN Synod also planned a con-
    an official protest and then under the aura of a dis-    ference for the beginning of 1976 in which the
    ciplinary investigation. The format of a conference      diverse viewpoints would be expounded by various
   hopes to avoid such an atmosphere. (RES NE                spokesmen. To me, this is hopeless. Prof. Kuitert will
    l/6/76).                                                 also attend this conference? He will attend as one of
  In connection with the above quotation, we have            several reformed spokesmen?
the following comments. In the first place, we read             One more thing. Prof. Kuitert asserted that he
that Prof. Kuitert had indicated at the beginning of         .could not very well argue from the basis of the
synod that he was in agreement with the confessions.         authority of Scripture for this is to argue out of the
However, this report states that Prof. Kuitert favored       world of faith. So, there you have it. My question is
the suspension of all ties to the confessions as prac-       this: if Prof. Kuitert argue not out of the world of
ticed in the Reformed churches, for he regards this a        faith, upon what basis will he argue? There is no such
deadend,  a way of defending the truth which is in           thing  a,s neutrality. The only alternative to faith is
conflict with the "in part" of man's knowledge of            unbelief. The only alternative to the acceptance of
God. Besides, Prof. Kuitert is simply not in agreement       the authority of Scripture is the denial of the
with our reformed confessions. He is certainly not in        authority of the written Word of God. There is no
`,agre&ment with what our confessions set forth in           position between them.





  We pass on to our readers the following news item            those they face in common and promoting coopera-
as it appeared in the same RES News Exchange Letter            tion wherever possible.
of Jan. 6,1976, page 1138:                                        Also present were representatives from the
   FIVE CHURCHES FINALIZE  NAPARC                              Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church  (ARJ?)
      (Grand Rapids) Representatives from the Christian        which had hoped to be one of the founding churches
   Reformed Church (CRC), the Orthodox Presbyterian            of  NAPARC.  But because members have to be
   Church (OPC), the Presbyterian Church in America            approved separately by each of the Synods/
   (PCA),  the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evan-             Assemblies of the member churches, the ARP  applica-
   gelical Synod (RPCES), and the Reformed Pres-               tion cannot be finalized for at least two years.
   byterian Church of North  America  (WNA), met in               A suggestion of the RPCES to strengthen the
   Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, to formally constitute the     NAPARC  statement on biblical infallibility was re-
   North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council            ferred to  a study committee.  NAPARC  took note of
   (NAPARC).                                                   and encouraged the work of the National Presby-
      The constitution and by-laws had earlier been           terian and Reformed Fellowship (see story on page
   approved by the Synod/Assembly of each of the               1135).
  tchurches. The council is an organization of                    Chairman of the council is Rev. John P. Galbraith
   Calvinistic/Reformed  churches for the prupose of          (OPC), secretary in Rev. J. Baron Payne (RIVES),
   facilitating discussion and consultation on those          and treasurer is Albert A.  Be1 (CRC).  (RES  NE
   issues and problems that divide them as well as on          l/6/76)


764                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



                            Local Conferences Planned By NPRF
  To the above we may add the following, appearing                        localities on a wide range of topics. At present con-
in the same RES News Exchange Letter, page 1135:                          ferences have already been projected for Pittsburgh,
                                                                          Philadelphia, St. Louis, Atlanta, and Miami.
       LOCAL CONFERENCES PLANNED BY NPRF                                      The Board also elected a new president. Rev.
          (Grand Rapids) Meeting in Beaver Falls, Pennsyl-                Edward Heerema, a pastor in the Christian Reformed
       vania, the Board of the National Presbyterian and                  Church, replaces Rev. G. Aiken Taylor, the editor of
       Reformed Fellowship planned a series of con-                       The Presbyterian Journal. (RES NE l/6/76)
       ferences on the Reformed faith for the  Bicentemiial
       year. The conferences will be built around a nucleus              It will be interesting to follow developments of this
       of recognized authorities in various aspects of               movement. Incidentally, as far as these conferences
       Reformed faith and life. A list of these speakers  wilI       are concerned, may I suggest that our churches could
       be made available to local committees in order that           supply speakers who can give some truly reformed
       two-day meetings may be arranged in different                 speeches.


                                       Lower and Higher Criticism
       In the Reformed Journal, Harry R. Boer writes on                  So, the church has two tasks: lower and higher
the subject: The humanity of the Bible. In the issue                 criticism. We concede the task of lower criticism. The
of December, 1975, page 23, he writes:                               church surely has the task of attempting to determine
                                                                     which text is more in harmony with the original,
          There is a hiatus to be bridged between the                inspired manuscript. But higher criticism means that
       original manuscripts of the Bible and the copied              we sit in judgment upon the Word of God and then
       manuscripts which we at present have. The bridging            determine which parts of the Bible are to be accepted
       of that gap is the task of lower or textual criticism.        as authoritative for our doctrine and life and which
       But there is an equally significant gap between the           parts are to be rejected. And this is surely not the
       way the writers' contemporaries were expected to              task of the church of God.
       read these writings and the manner in which we, after
       more than nineteen centuries, can understand them.
       The bridging of  @s cultural, literary, historical,             Due to our decision to add a fourth teacher to our Staff, the
       social, religious, and other kind of gap is the task of      SOUTH HOLLAND PROTESTANT REFORMED CHRISTIAN
       higher criticism.                                            should  write or phone Mr. Menno Poortenga, 18425 Oakwood Ave.,
                                                                    Lansing, Illinois 60438. Phone: (312) 474-0675.





                            Is the  Bible the Word of  God?(l)
                                                            Rev. M. Kamps


  The theme of this article expresses the earnest                    entirety the Word of God. We hold that the Bible is
inquiry of many concerning the nature of Scripture.                  the authoritative, infallibly inspired Word of God.
But the theme has a tremendous weakness, for it
implies something about one's approach to Scripture.                    Thus we present a two-fold proposition or thesis:
The theme would leave the impression that one is in                  l), If one takes the position that the Bible is either in
doubt concerning who it might be that was the                       its entirety or in part the word of men, he will
author of Scripture. But be assured that for us the                 inevitably discover that the Bible is for him an
matter is settled. We believe that the Bible is in its              obscure, closed book; and the consequence will be


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      765



  that the individual believer will not be able to inter-     Protestant denominations in this country, numbering
  pret this obscure book and will be cast upon the            2.8 million members. Dr. Jacob A. 0. Preus, president
  mercies of the intellectuals of the ecclesiastical          of Synod, led a conservative majority in this Lutheran
  community, the priests of interpretation. 2) Only if        church in the fight for an infallibly inspired Bible. Dr.
  we receive the Bible in faith as the Word of God can        John Tietjen, president of Concordia seminary
 we hold to an authoritative, perspicuous Bible, which        (L.C.M.S.), and a liberal minority have been cast out
  can be read and understood by the individual believer       for having depicted the Bible as a manmade, fallible
  without the aid of  t,he self-appointed priests of the      book. The decisive vote in this confrontation was
  academic world.                                             taken this past July, 1975 at Anaheim, California.
    We want to show you that priestcraft is not dead.            Nearer to home, there has been a great deal of
  We want to show that  priestcraft and an obscure            debate in the Christian Reformed Church about the
  Bible are inseparably joined together; a Bible              question of the infallibility, authority, and nature of
  authored by men is inevitably an obscure, un-               Scripture. As evidence of this debate we call your
  intelligible Bible, which the "layman" cannot under-        attention to the fact that already in 1961 there was a
  stand. In fact he will not dare attempt to interpret it.    report and decision on the "Infallibility of Scrip-
  Having been intimidated by the priests of priestcraft,      ture"; in 197 1 a report on the "Nature and Extent of
  he will forfeit his right to interpret the Scriptures.      Biblical Authority"; and again in 1972 we had Report
    Priestcraft is an intolerable evil. The expression        44 on the same subject. There were close to fifteen
  "priestcraft" is meant to characterize the position         years of constant debate, wrangling, compromise,
  that teaches that only some in the church; either by        scholarly reports and decisions. What is the con-
  education or by special divine illumination, are able       sequence of these debates and  synodical edicts?
  properly to interpret the Scriptures. No one else! The      Essentially nothing! The debate goes on within our
  ordinary layman is led-to believe that he is not able to    mother `church with more and more evidence each
  interpret the Bible. Thus the "man in the pew" is           day of a polarization on this matter among her
  wholly dependent upon the mercies and caprices of           leaders. Our mother is deeply troubled about this
  the "priests" on the pulpit and the "priests" in the        most fundamental issue. She, with many others, is
  seminary. Priestcraft!                                      gradualli succumbing to the tenacious attacks of
    We must fight this horrible evil with all our             rationalism. The Church of Christ in her midst needs
  spiritual strength. We must not yield to it even            our prayers. We do not now want  to criticize these
  though it appeals to the flesh in the sense that by it      decisions, but we simply mention them as evidence
  we might be able to make ourselves believe that the         `that the debate about Scripture is a real thing near at
  responsibility to interpret the Scriptures is not ours.     home.
  Priestcraft affords a "cop out," but we must not               What is the real issue today in this debate about
  accept this "cop out" nor the evil which offers it to       the nature of the Bible? Is the Bible a book by man
us. The only way to maintain that the Bible can be            about  God?  Or an infallibly inspired book by God
. read, interpreted and understood by the ordinary            about Himself as revealed in Jesus Christ to men?
  believer is to preach, teach and confess that the Bible     How are we to know? The real issue confronting the
  is the infallible, inspired record of the revelation of     Church today is, "Will, the Bible be allowed to tell us
  God. Unless this is of iaith, we will lose the perspic-     what kind of book it is or not?" That is the issue.
  uous, intelligible Scriptures and with it the gospel of     Listen to the late Dr. Edward J. Young, who was
  Christ for us and our children! Unless the words of         since 1936 till his recent death professor of Old
  the Bible are God's Words, then you and I can never         Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary:
  again read, study, interpret, and believe God's Word!
  Unless the very words of Scripture are God's Words,                  When we have once grasped the idea that we must
                                                                    derive our doctrine of inspiration from the Bible we
  we do not possess His Word! Then we only possess                  may begin to understand what the real issue before
  man's fallible, obscure word. If the Bible is man's               the Church is. The real issue is not whether we are to
  word, then of necessity it must be an obscure, un-                substitute one doctrine of inspiration for another.
  intelligible word and of no benefit to us. For man of             That is at the most a somewhat secondary question.
  himself cannot speak of spiritual, heavenly realities.            The real issue before the Church today, and for that
  God alone can speak of Himself, His Son, His Work,               matter before eve@ individual Christian, is whether
  His love.                                                         the Bible is any longer to be regarded and accepted as
    The question, "Is the Bible the Word of God or the              a trustworthy teacher of doctrine. In other words,
                                                                    when the Bible testifies as to its own nature, are we
  word of men?" is a hotly- debated subject in the                 to pay heed to what it has to say? When the Bible
  church today. Most striking are the developments of              tells us clearly what kind of a Book it is, are we to
  the past years in the Lutheran Church Missouri                    reject its testimony as unworthy of belief? That is the
  Synod. This Lutheran church is one of the largest                 real issue which faces us today.1


766                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  Secondly, the church ought to consider the con-            obscure, unintelligible Word. Rome flatly denied the
sequences of this issue by asking itself the question,       perspicuity of Scripture, i.e., that it is the clear, trans-
"What is there to be lost by denying the inerrancy of        parent Word of God, which can be understood by the
Scripture?" We do not want to worship a book and             simplest child of God. By implication Rome was
become guilty of a so-called "Bibliolatry," an               denying that the Scriptures were the infallible record
aspersion which the liberal theologians cast upon            of the revelation of God. For revelation is that which
those who maintain that the Bible is the infallible          reveals what was at one time hidden; it  .shows and
Word of God. But we do want to keep the gospel of            makes visible to those who have eyes to see. The
Christ, for us and our children. If we deny that  the        Bible as the Book of God's revelation and the truth of
Bible, in its entirety, is the infallible Word of God, we    perspicuity are inseparably joined. Though Rome's
lose Christ. For without the infallible Word there is        position was not crystallized in the 15th century, it
no Christ!                                                   implicitly taught that the murky character of the
  The issue debated by the Church today is a matter,         Bible was, in part at least, due to the fact that it was
ultimately, of obedience or disobedience, life or            the word of man. This is the only conclusion, for
death, heaven or hell.                                       revelation is by definition clear and easily under-
                          *****                              stood, as it makes visible that which God wills to
                                                             make known to man.
  In considering our subject, let us do so in the light
of history. Let us journey back to the years prior to           Luther in 1509-l 1 began unconsciously a struggle
1517 and the early life of Martin Luther. Luther's           for freedom from priestcraft. Luther had been fet-
early opinions of Scripture had been taught him by           tered spiritually by the mighty chains of priestcraft.
the church of Rome. Luther, especially in his youth          He had been denied spiritual freedom and peace
was a  "child of his times." He was trained by the           before the face of the holy God by the church's
Roman Catholic church to. believe certain things             teaching (priestcraft) of righteousness by works.
about the Bible and about himself. Rome taught,              Luther was chained by the decisions of councils and
among other things about Scripture, that the Bible           popes to their exegesis of the obscure Scriptures.
was an obscure book of dark sayings. Thus Rome               Tradition established by the priests of priestcraft
taught that the laity could not read and understand          enslaved Luther and his contemporaries. Thus Luther,
these obscure Scriptures. Rome feared that, if the           as a spiritually sensitive young man, felt fettered,
laity were told that they  were able to interpret            encumbered, and threatened by priestcraft i.e., the
Scripture and that if they were placed in the respon-        teachings of those who claimed to have the sole right,
sible position to do so, then all kinds of heresies and      ability and responsibility to interpret the Bible.
endless wrangling would be fostered. Rome taught,              Luther gradually escaped from the fetters and
secondly, however, that there was no real need for           spiritual prison of priestcraft. It was a gradual process
the laity to read and interpret Scripture. For God in        under the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. As
Christ's vicar, the Pope, had provided the infallible        Luther read and studied Scripture as a professor at
interpreter of Scripture. The Church, i.e., the Pope         Wittenberg university (beginning in 15 1 l), the chains
and the clergy inclusive of the bishops, cardinals, and      of priestcraft, which chained him to the theology of
priests, had by virtue of the sacrament of ordination        the middle ages, began to break under the. heavy
and apostolic succession the right, the ability, and the     hammer blows of the Word of God. By the time of
sole responsibility to interpret Scripture. They alone!      his debate with Dr. John Eck at Leipzig (July, 15 19),
This position has been dubbed "priestcraft." Con-            Luther had broken principally with the authority of
sequently, what the Church (that is the Pope, car-           Rome and its priestcraft. Note how Luther un-
dinals, bishops, priests) taught was divine truth. The       equivocally and fearlessly addresses Dr. Eck on this
individual believer, the layman, was not able, need          point:
not and did not have the right to interpret the                        Let it be understood that. when I say the authority
obscure Bible. The laity (technically the laity were            of the Rome pontiff rests on a human decree I am
the non-clergy and thus non-Church) was simply                  not counseling disobedience. But we cannot admit
obligated to submit and accept uncritically the teach-          that all the sheep of Christ were committed to Peter.
ing of the Romish Church. No one was allowed, upon              What, then, was given to Paul? When Christ said to
the penalty of death, to declare that what the church           Peter, "Feed my sheep." he did not mean, did he,
taught was indeed contrary to the Word of God. John             that no one else can feed them without Peter's per-
Huss tried to do that, and for his courageous attempt           mission? Nor can I agree that the Roman pontiffs
was burned at the stake in 1415. Martin Luther                  cannot err or that they alone can Interpret Scripture.
himself had to be "imprisoned" by friends for his               The papal decretal by a new grammar turns the words
own safe keeping.                                               of Christ., "Thou art Peter," into "Thou art the
                                                                primate." By the decretals the gospel is extinguished.
  Rome for centuries taught that the Bible was the              I can hardly restrain myself against, the most impious


                                                              -j-HE  STANDARD BEARER                                                                   767


      and perverse blasphemy of this decretal.2                                      Word  and not another part of Scripture was, for
This break with Rome and priestcraft grew month by                                   Luther, the same. as pulling God apart . . . limb by
month and year by year till Luther had matured in                                    limb. To mutilate the Word was to mutilate God!
his faith as the Reformer of'the church of Christ. The                               Note what Skevington Wood tells us about Luther's
 Reformation took place first in Luther's heart and                                  teaching:
then inevitably in the Church..                                                                When Luther thus spoke of Scripture as the medi-
                                                                                         um of revelation, he included its totality. He allowed
    Luther was delivered from the chains of priestcraft.                                 no licence to select or reject.. To dispute any one item
Luther. began to understand more and more clearly                                        is to impugn the whole. "My friend,?' Luther said,
that the Bible was God's Word, God's clear speech                                        "God's Word is God's Word - this point does not
which the simplest child of God can understand.                                          require much haggling! When one blasphemously
Allow me to quote Luther about his view of the                                           gives the lie to God in a single Word, or says it is of
Bible; "When you read the words of Holy Scripture                                        minor importance if God is blasphemed, or called a
you must understand that God is speaking . .  ."3                                        liar, one blasphemes the entire God and makes light
`Concerning the important truth of perspicuity of                                        of blasphemy. There is only one God who does not
 Scriiture, which truth is vital in the fight to escape                                  permit Himself to be divided, praised at one place and
priestcraft, Luther had this to say when he rebuked                                      chided at another, glorified in one word and scorned
 the humanist Erasmus for inclining to:                                                  hi another . . . Why is it any wonder, then, if fickle
                                                                                         fanatics juggle and play and clown with the word. . .
          . . . that impudent and blasphemous saying, "the                               Just as if God must yield to men, and let the
     .Scriptures are obscure." They . . . who deny the all-                              authority of the Word depend on whether men are at
      clearness and all-plainness of the Scriptures leave us                             one or at odds over if."6
      nothing else but darkness . . . Moreover I declare
      agai;lst                                                                          God had delivered Luther from the deadly hold of
               you concerning the whole of Scripture that I
      will have no one part .of it obscure, . . . and to                             priestcraft fastened upon him by the church of
                                                                  sup-
      port'me st&nds that which I have brought forth                                 Rome. God has delivered his people from priestcraft
                                                                out of
      Peter, that the Word of God is to us a "lamp shining                           through Luther. Protestants have long enjoyed. the
      in a dark place." (II Peter 1: 19) But if any pati of                          truth that the Bible is the perspicuous Word of Go.d
      this lamp does not' shine, it is rather a part of&e da&                        in its entirety arid that it is the right and pdvilege  of
      place than the lamp itself.4                                                   every believer to read and interpret, Scripture under
    In answer'to our question, "Is the Bible the Word                                the leading of the Holy Spirit - a precious truth and
 of God or the word of men?" Luther taught: "As the                                  one too dear to relinquish.
 .Holy spirit is the divine author of Scripture, so also
 He is the divine interpreter. The Bible is the Holy                                 1 Young, Edwaid J. Thy Word Is Truth, P. 28, W.B. Eerdmans
 Spirit's  book."5 Strong, unambiguous language                                         Publisl&g Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan (1957)
 Luther chose to express his faith. How weak and                                     2 Bainton, Roland Here I Stand, p. 108, Abington  Press,
                                                                                        Nashville
 insecure by comparison sounds the voice and lan-                                    3 Wood, A. Skevington Captive To The Word, p. 140, Wm. B.
 guage of many preachers today when they speak on                                       Eerdmans, (1969)
 tl@ subject. Luther accepted the whole of Scripture.                                4 Ibid, p. 135
 Every part and word of the Bible is God's Word of                                   5 Ibid, p. 137
 revelation. To accept one part of Scripture as God's                                6 Ibid, p. 136


                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                    IN MEMORIAM
    The Young People's Society of the Hull (Iowa) Protestant Reformed                   The Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Hol-
 Church expresses its sincere sympathy to its President, Rev. J. Korter-             land, Michigan, expresses its sincere sympathy to its Clerk and fellow
 ing, and his family in the passing of his sister, ERMA KORTERING.                   officebearer, Elder Ervin Kortering, in the bereavement of. his sister,
 "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Ps. 16.16: 15).    ERMA KORTERING.
                                 Gerben L. De Jong, Vice-Pres.                          May our Covenant God give grace and comfort in the assurance that
                                 Rachel Jansma, Sec'y.                               all things work together for good to those that love God. (Remans
                                                                                     8:28).
                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                         The Consistory of the
     On March 11, 1976, the Lord willing, our parents, hR. AND MRS.                                            First Protestant Reformed Church
  JOHN FABER will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We, their                                           Holland, Michigan.
 children, are grateful to God for their covenant instruction throughout                                        Pres. - Rev. John A. Heys
  the past years. It is our prayer that' tie may continue to bless and                                          Vice Pres. - H. Vander Kolk
  strengthen them in the days that lie ahead.
                                  Their children,                                                                LECTURE
                                  Mr. and Mrs. John W. Faber
                                  Mr. and Mrs. William Faber                            Reserve April 1 for another lecture in Kalamazoo! Rev. David
                                  Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Faber                          Engelsma will speak on the topic "A REFORMED LOOK AT PENTE-
  Grand Rapids, Michigan          and seven grandchildren.                           COSTALISM." Plan now to attend!


 THE STANDARD BEARER
        P.O. Box 6064                                                                        SECOND CLASS
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49566                                                                POSTAGE PAID AT
                                                                                         GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





768


                                N e w s Fro m Our Churches

  From week to week a steady stream of church                path of life: in thy presence is  fuhress of joy; at thy
bulletins arrive on Linwood Street. This continuing          right hand there are pleasures for evermore.' " I
supply of news is appreciated. News editors who              believe that Rev. Schipper is the senior minister
invent their copy in the absence of news to report           serving. the Protestant Reformed churches  - in age
find themselves in a not too enviable position. Occa-        that is. Rev. C. Hanko is the senior minister in terms
sionally something just a little bit different arrives in    of years of service in the ministry.
the mail. This week such an item arrived - a church
directory. You say, what could be interesting about a          The consistory of Pella has asked various ministers
church directory? The 1976 directory of our                  to supply their pulpit while their pastor, Rev. G.
Randolph, Wisconsin, congregation is unlike any              Lubbers, is in Jamaica for nine weeks. Rev. C. Hanko
directory I have ever seen. In addition to the list of       was requested to fill the Pella pulpit on February 1
church members with names, addresses, and phone              and 8. In addition to preaching in Pella, Rev. Hanko-
numbers, this directory contains a two page history          plans to show slides of the New Zealand-Australian
of the congregation, a picture of their new church           trip he took with Prof. Hoeksema last summer, in
building, congregational statistics, times and days of       Pella and also in the Hull, Iowa, area if the weather
public worship, catechism and societies, church com-         permits travel to northwest Iowa.
mittees and officers, information about the Reformed
Witness Hour, birthdays and anniversaries of all               During the last two Sundays of 1975, Rev. Dale
church members arranged by month and day, the                Kuiper, Hudsonville's missionary pastor, occupied
1975 church financial report, special collection             Rev. Hanko's regular place on the pulpit three times.
schedule for 1976, church building use. rules, a             Upon his return to his home in Skowhegan, Maine,
memoriam listing and even a page for `new listings,          Rev. Kuiper reported that he enjoyed his stay in
additional information, et cetera.' With so much             Hudsonville and also the opportunity to break the
information already in the directory it would be diffi-      bread of life.
cult to find much additional `et cetera' to include!           Hudsonville, as you may recall, .has plans to build a
  The council of our South Holland congregation              new church building. In fact they have sold their
recently announced that the church building debt had         church building and are meeting at Hudsonville Public
been retired - for which they are thankful. The new          High School. The land which the congregation had
project in South Holland is the purchase of a new            purchased for their new church home was subse-
church organ. A special collection for the new organ         quently included as part of a new industrial park. Not
was taken on December 14. The goal of this collec-           wishing to have their new church hidden behind a
tion was $5,000 or $50 per family.                           warehouse, the congregation decided to sell their land
  Our Southeast congregation celebrated a rather             and purchase another plot in what they hope will be a
special anniversary with their pastor on February 8.         more desirable location.
The following notice appeared in the Southeast bulle-
tin: "The Council, along with the congregation takes            A Quiet Thought from the Southeast bulletin:
this opportunity to extend our sincerest congratula-           "Most of us are a bit fearful of what men may say
tions to Rev. Schipper on this his 70th birthday. May        of our actions, but doesn't the thought trouble us
God bless him in the remainder of his life upon the          more when we think of how God judges our actions?
earth, even. as He has done in the past, giving him the      After all, man's judgment is of a passing nature, but
peace and joy of Psalm 16: 11 `Thou wilt shew me the         God's judgment is perfect and final."
                                                                                                             K.G.V.


