        The ,
STANDARD
           BEARER -
/ - A   R E F O R M E D   S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E                                        -4





             When God instructs us in His
    word that His  grace  is  eternal,
    sovereign, particular, and  free, but
    we  conceive of it as being  common,
    temporal, dependent on our will  -
    then we  have not the God of the
    holy Scriptures, but  an idol-god.

                      See "Meditation" - page 962


                                                                       Volume LII, No. 20, September 1,1976 I
                                                                                 IWN 03624592


962                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



                           CONTENTS:                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
Meditation -                                                                      Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
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                                                                               Editor-in-Chief:   Prof.  Homer   C.  Hoeksema
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                                                                               George C. Lubbers, Rev. Meindert  Joqstens,  Rev. Marinus  Schrpper.
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MEDITA TIO N



                                    No Idols, Little Children!

                                                                  Rev. M. Schipper
                                        "Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen."
                                                                                                     I John 5:21

   Amen!                                                                        means that all the apostle had written in the text, as
   That is the last word in the text, and the last word                         well as in the epistle, he conceives to be the truth.
of the epistle.                                                                    The truth is the Word of God.
   But we would like to begin with it.                                             What does not conform to God's Word is of the lie.
   You know, of course, that with the use of this                                  And God's Word, as it addresses itself to the people
little word the apostle does not mean to signify that                           of God in the world, is centrally the Son of God
he now concludes the sentence, or the epistle; so that                          come in the flesh, revealing to them the true God. He is
the word serves as a period, a punctuation mark, in-                            the revelation of the true God, and eternal life. (I
dicating the end of a thought. Rather, you know it                              John 5:20) "This is eternal life, that they may know


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  963



thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou              An idol is anyone or anything one may contrive or
hast sent." (John  17:3) "And the Word was made              make, literally or in his imagination, which he con-
flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory,         ceives to be his god, in distinction from and in
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of     opposition to the true God Whom he is commanded
grace and truth." (John 1: 14)                               in His Word to serve. An idol does not necessarily
   God's Word is the Holy Scriptures, the infallibly         have to be an object  which he can make with his
inspired and written Word of God, revealing to us the        hands. Whenever one departs from revelation, which
Christ of God from Genesisto Revelation. This is the         tells him in no uncertain terms Who and What God is,
truth. It is not a word of man in any sense of the           he forms in his mind an idol.
word - of man who always speaks the lie. It is God's            This sin of idolatry, therefore, is not only peculiar to
Word from beginning to end. Though God was                   the heathen then who know not God. It is the sin also
pleased to use fallible, sinful men to write the Scrip-      which God's people are liable to commit, and always
tures, He does so in such a way that what they wrote         do commit when they ignore or depart from God's
was only His Word. That is the truth. And that is why        Word and revelation.
John adds at the conclusion of our text, and, for that          It must not escape your attention that the words
matter, the entire epistle, the "amen." It signifies that    of our text are addressed to the church, not to the
what is written is the truth.                                heathen. The apostle is speaking to the people of God
  God's Word is the thesis!                                  who by nature are always inclined.to depart from the
  The truth is the thesis!                                   true revelation of God. These idols we form in our
                                                             mind when we worship God, not as He would have
  What opposes God's Word and the truth, is the              us, but as we would serve Him
antithesis!
  The children of God are of the thesis, while the             The warning is very real, and has serious practical
whole world which lieth in darkness is the antithesis.       implications. The sin of idolatry on the part of God's
(I John 5: 19) "And we know that the Son of God is           people can also be clearly demonstrated. When God,
come, and hath given us an understanding, that we            for example, says in His Work, "Keep-my sabbath day
may know him that is true, and we are in him that is         holy," and we on that day  `do as we please and
true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true         corrupt it, then we have not only transgressed His
God, and eternal life." (I John 5:20) So we are of the       commandment but have made for ourselves an idol.
thesis, the children of God, the children of light.          When God informs us in His Word that He is
                                                             omniscient, that He sees and hears and knows all, but
  The thesis is that which is set forth, is fixed, estab-    we in our thoughts imagine that He is far from us
lished as positive truth.                                    and knows not our secrets - we have made for our-
  The acknowledgment of this is the "amen!"                  selves an idol. When God instructs us in His Word that
  Scripture always approaches the church of God as           His grace is eternal, sovereign, particular, and free,
living in the world of darkness, and the children of         but we conceive of it as being common, temporal,
God as living in the flesh. And therefore when it            dependent on our will - then we have not the God of
exhorts us, as it does in the text, that exhortation is      the Holy Scriptures, but an idol-god. If I love money
often molded in a negative form. Hence -                     and seek it with all my heart so that I am distracted
                                                             from the service of God, then I seek after an idol. If I
   Little children, keep yourselves from idols!              form in my mind a conception of God that is not
   The positive expression of this would be, love and        according to His Word, I have made an idol. If, for
serve the only true God, Who has been made known             example, I conceive a God Who is so loving and
unto you through the revelation of Jesus Christ.             merciful that He neglects to deal with my sins, then I
   The world in which we live and the flesh in which         have an idol. If, when I pray to God, my mind and
we dwell assumes the position of the antithesis. It          heart are far from Him, I pray to an idol. If I farniliar-
does not want God. It always chooses the idol. It            ize, and by my familiarization, bring God down to the
does not want the truth, but the lie.                        level of my next door neighbor, I have made an idol.
                                                             If I read and study Scripture as I would read a novel,
   Keep yourselves from the idol, little children!           or if I study God's Word in a mere academic way (the
  The idol, in Scripture, has a twofold significance. It     idolatry, by the way, of many ministers) then I have
signifies the image or likeness of a heathen god, an         made myself guilty of serving the idol. No doubt you
image which the heathen worship, which they con-             can add to this list of examples.
ceive of as their god. It also signifies that this image
or likeness is a false god: a god, which on the very           Keep yourselves from idols!
surface is a lie. It is undoubtedly this conception that       And "to keep" here has its own significant mean-
is intended in the text.                                     ing. Literally it signifies: to guard, to watch over, to


964                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


keep in safety. Two words appear in the New Testa-           how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living
ment which are translated: "to keep." Both words are         and true God." (I Thess. 1:9)
used together in the gospel of John (17: 12) where             We have been saved to serve. That salvation we
Jesus said, "While I was with them in the world, I           experience when we know Him and are in Him that is
I kept them in thy Name: those that thou gave& me I          true. And when we are in Him that is true, even in His
have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of          Son Jesus Christ, as the apostle says in the verse
perdition. . .~." A study of these two words as they are     preceding our text, then we are of Him. Then welive
used' here and elsewhere would reveal that, though           the life of the thesis. That is positive living! That is
basically they refer to the same thing, there is never-      walking in the light! That is revealing the life of Him
theless a difference. The one means simply to keep in        in Whom we live!
safety; while the other carries with it the added
notion that there is an assault from without that              `This life of the thesis will of necessity reveal itself
threatens the safety of the keeping. It is this latter       in opposition to the idol, the god of the world of
word that is used in our text. And that implies that in      darkness. And this is what is meant by living anti-
the matter of keeping we have a battle on our hands.         thetically in the midst of this present age.
The battle, of course, is not with or against the idol.        .Keep yourselves . . .
The idol is a dead object, which can do nothing for
you or against you. The modern philosophy which                Little children!
prates about God's being dead, applies not to the true         Such are the addresses to whom this exhortation is
and living God, but to the idol. No! Our battle is not       directed. When  ,you study this epistle you discover
with the idol. If you leave the idol alone, it will not      this is the apostle's favorite term to describe those to
hurt you; and if you serve the idol, it will do nothing      whom the epistle is written. No fewer than seven
for you. The battle which ensues when you keep               times does the apostle use it. And there must be a
yourselves from idols is with ourselves, particularly        reason.
against your and my flesh. Against our flesh, our old
man, we-are to take our stand when it is inclined to           Several explanations have been offered to explain
seek and serve the idol, which it is always inclined to      the apostle's use of this term. Some think the apostle
do. We are to guard and keep in safety our true self,        uses the term only to have his readers reflect on the
the new man in Christ, which is enticed by the old           apostle's age. At the time the apostle wrote this
man of our flesh to go after the idol.                       epislle  he was quite old, and because of his age con-
                                                             ceives of himself as a father, in distinction from his
   This explains why the apostle sounds the warning,         readers as little children. Others, along this same line
the alarm, in the text: Little children, keep yourselves     of reasoning, conclude that the apostle indicates by
from idols!                                                  the use of this term "his long attachment to his
   As we said, the positive implication of this is: Serve    readers, to whom he has ever been a kindly father."
the true God, and Him only!                                  Though there may be elements of truth in these
   Him you know, not only because He has revealed            explanations, we believe they fail to interpret the real
Himself unto you, but also because He has given unto         meaning of the expression.
you an understanding. He has not only revealed Him-            When the apostle addresses his readers in this en-
self to you, but also in you.                                dearing term, he considers himself to be their spiritual
   This, God has done through His Son, Jesus Christ.         father. Like the apostle Paul writing to Timothy, he
                                                             conceives of the church as composed of children
   He is the true God and eternal life!                      begotten through the Word, that is, that through the
   The apostle John could say this because, as he            gospel which the apostle was privileged to bring to
declares in the first part of this epistle (1: l), he had    them, his readers have been born again from above. In
seen Him with his eyes and handled Him with his              this sense he was, under the providence of God, their
hands. And that which he had seen and heard de-              spiritual father, and the readers are become spiritual
clared he unto us, that we might have fellowship with        children.
him and with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ
(1,:3).                                                        But make no mistake about it, the addresses are
                                                             not merely children begotten by the apostle through
   Him we are to love and serve, not only because He         the gospel  - they are also, and in the first place,
commands it; but also because He has saved us there-         children of God.
unto.                                                          They are distinguished in every way from the
   The apostle Paul puts it this way, as he writes to        children of the world. The latter are the children of
the Thessalonians: "For they themselves shew of us           their father, the devil. And therefore they continue to
what manner of entering in we had unto you, and              serve the idol. But God's children reflect the image of


                                                                                                                       1

                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               965


 Him Who has begotten them No matter how old you            that in your deepest consciousness you know that
 get, or how far you have come on the way of sanctifi-      you are in Him that is true, Who is the true God and
 cation, you remain little children of your great           eternal life - keep yourselves from idols!
 Father-God.                                                   Never allow, not even for a moment, the old man
    Also it is the prerogative of Father to command,        of your sinful and corrupt nature to dictate in your
 and the duty of children to obey. Never in this re-        life and walk. Never give way to the enticement of
 lationship is it ever true that the children of God        your flesh to go a whoring after the false god, but
 mature to the point where this relationship is in          bring the old man of your sinful nature into sub-
 reverse. Never is it true that the children of `God        jection. Point out to that old man the truth of revela-
 mature to the point where they are no longer chil-         tion, which has made known to you the true and
 dren. Unto all eternity it will be true that we con-       living God in Jesus Christ. Say to it, as Jesus said to
 tinue to be the children of God.                           Satan, "`It is written, Thou shalt worship God, and
    Little children, you who have been begotten again       Him only shalt thou serve."
 by the Spirit of the crucified and resurrected Re-            And you will reveal yourselves as children of the
 deemer, who have been translated from the children of      Most High!
 darkness into the children of light, who have been            That when He shall appear, as He surely will in
 recreated to conform to the image of God, in whose         Jesus Christ in the last day, He may say to you and
 hearts the love of God abounds  - keep yourselves          to me: "Come, ye children, enter into My heavenly
. from idols!                                               and eternal tabernacle, where ye shall serve Me with-
    Little children, you who have been begotten again       out opposition for ever and for ever.
 by the Holy Spirit of Christ through the gospel, so           Amen !


 EDITORIAL



          In the Right Direction--Where God Calls


                                               Pro-f H. C Hoeksema


    Elsewhere in this issue you will find a contribution    of legitimate questions on the basis of accurate in-
 which critically questions the direction in which our      formation is, of course, always proper and helpful.
 churches decided to go with respect to New Zealand         But I do not find such an approach in this contribu-
 at our last Synod, Lest anyone  - either among our         tion. Let me itemize a few matters. In the first place,
 own churches or among the brethren and sisters in          if the brother wished to be helpful in the  decision-
 New Zealand - should get any false impressions or          making process of our churches, it seems to me he
 misconceptions about these matters, I wish to reflect      might have raised some questions long before our
 editorially on certain matters raised in that contribu-    Synod convened. I wrote about the request of Christ-
 tion and to set the record straight.                       church and stated what the confessional basis of the
   Before dealing with the substantive matters              Orthodox Presbyterian Churches is (the Westminster
 touched upon by the contribution, I wish to make a         creeds) as long ago as December, 1975! How does it
 few remarks about the method and approach of it. I         help  the churches to wait with possible objections
 do not find the latter to be very helpful, either with     until after decisions have been taken? This reminds
 respect to the decision-making process in our own          me of the Dutch saying,  "met zout  komen  als het ei
 churches or with respect to promoting and cementing        op is  (coming with salt after the egg is eaten)".
 relationships with other Reformed believers and            Secondly, it is not even true that Synod's decisions in
 churches in other parts of the world. Calm discussion      this matter were unanimous. The original decision


 966                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


 was. by a bare majority; and this original decision was     raised which did not receive a reply, and there were
 later confirmed by an overwhelmingly favorable vote.        no contrary arguments which were not answered. Let
 This is an instance of inaccurate information; in this      our churches rest assured on that score,
 instance, it is relatively innocent, I suppose. But it
 typifies inaccurate information which has tended to            But now let me address myself to some of the
 undermine Synod's decisions among those who are             more substantive arguments which this contribution
                                                             raises in question-form.
 uninformed. And let me say right here that it is my
 understanding of the duty of delegates to Synod, also         THENATUREANDORIGINOFTHEREQUEST
 of those who vote negatively - unless, of course, they
 give notice of protest - that they should not go about         It is of the utmost importance that we understand
 saying things which tend to undermine decisions of          how and why this request for a minister-on-loan came
 Synod which are settled and binding. In the third           before our Synod. The facts about this were all
 place, I do not appreciate the innuendo of that             reported in the Standard Bearer. But let me refresh
unfounded word "dismay" in the opening sentence of           your memory.
 this contribution. I submit that there has never in            For some years, as you know, we have been in
the history of our churches been any work or project         correspondence with various individuals and groups in
about which a more complete account has been given,          New Zealand. Besides, we became known to many in
`both in the official Tour Report to all our  office-        that country through our Standard Bearer, our pam-
bearers and in the unofficial story of the tour in my        phlets, and our books. And we became known,
editorials. Is that reason for dismay? This was not the      remember, for our Reformed testimony. During this
work of two men. It was not the work of the Contact          period the little group `of Orthodox Presbyterian
Committee. It was not even the work merely of                Churches was born - among them the Christchurch
Synod. It was the work of our  churches.  And. our           O.P.C., which was organized in June, 1974. What is
churches had the right to know what was accom-               the avowed purpose of these churches? To quote
plished and what were the fruits. That the churches          from the letter of Christchurch, it is "to stand
have been fully informed is, it seems to me, reason          uncompromisingly upon Scripture and the con-
for rejoicing, not dismay. And I have been happy to          fessions." Or again, to establish "a testimony faithful
hear from many individuals of their interest in and          to the Word of God and the Reformed Confessions"
gratitude for the editorials about the tour. And as to       in New Zealand. Bear in mind, too, that many of
preparing Synod to take a favorable decision? I point        these brethren and sisters have separated from the
out: 1) My editorials, were totally unnecessary for          Presbyterian Church of New Zealand at great sac-
this. All our officebearers received a detailed and          rifice; and others could no longer be at home in the
official report (more detailed. than my editorials) of       Reformed Church of New Zealand, and that, too, for
the tour from the Contact, Committee. 2) If you will         doctrinal reasons.                                  \
take the trouble to look it up, I specifically refrained       Then came our visit of last year. And I believe - if
from any comment on the Christchurch request. I              anyone has doubts on this score - that the people in
wrote that I would let the request speak for itself;         New Zealand (as did our friends in Australia) will
and I reported that the Contact Committee was                bear us witness that in the busy days we were among
unanimously in favor of the request. 3) But if my            them we surely did not hide from them who we were
editorials did indeed help to prepare the churches           and what we stood for as representatives of the
(not merely the Synod!) for this decision (which, I          Protestant Reformed Churches. In sermons, lectures,
think, gives too much credit to my editorials), then I       and cottage meetings what we believed and what we
can only rejoice. For I am of the deep conviction that       did not believe as to the antithesis, the covenant,
this is a right decision, that we are going in the right,    sovereign predestination, and sovereign, particular
direction, and that we are doing so in obedience to          grace - all this came to the fore as much as possible
our Lord!                                                    during the short span of our .tour.
   Finally, I must take pains to contradict the over-all       Out of all this came this testimony (and I quote
impression which this contribution gives, as though          snatches of the letter from Christchurch):  ". . .
Synod took a very hasty and reckless decision, did           except to express our deepest gratitude to your
not know the implications of the decision, and even          committee and all who were used of God to make
possibly was prepared to ignore or to sacrifice some         this tour possible. Its memories remain as an unfor-
of our cherished doctrinal and confessional positions.       gettably and unspeakably blessed expression of the
Nothing could be farther from the facts. I make bold         mercy of our covenant God." Or again, they testify
to say that there was no single item on the Agenda of        "that as our knowledge and understanding of the
Synod which received more detailed attention and             Reformed Faith has grown, bonds of unity and like-
more careful and lengthy consideration than the re-          mindedness with the Protestant Reformed Churches
quest of Christchurch., There were no questions              in America have developed. The reality and degree of


                                                                                                                                1


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                967


  that unity will, we trust, be witnessed to you by Prof.          some of the Westminster divines were also present at
  Hoeksema and Rev. Hanko." And as they wrote in                   Dordrecht.
      the same letter, even before our arrival in New                In the second place, our own churches are on
Zealand, the congregation in Christchurch had de-                  record as accepting the Westminster creeds as a basis
      cided to discuss with us the possibility of one of
      our ministers coming "to help in establishing a              for ecclesiastical fellowship. Several years ago we
      Church in Christc-hurch faithful to the Word of God          declared that we had no objection to fellowship on
                                                                   the basis of creeds mentioned in the "Basis" of the
  and the Reformed Confessions."
 I                                                                 Reformed Ecumenical Synod, though we did object
        Then their request came to Rev. Hanko and me               to a certain statement in that constitution. Besides,
  during our visit, and later came to our Contact                  this is also in accord with the constitution of Synod's
  Committee by official letter.                                    Committee for Contact. Surely, we must not have the
        This request is for a minister, not a missionary. It       idea that only those who subscribe to our Three
  would be an insult to send them a missionary. They               Forms of Unity, the creeds of the Dutch branch of
. represent the true church in New Zealand. They no                the Reformation, are Reformed.
 longer have to be gathered and organized as a con-
  gregation. On the contrary, they desire a pastor and               In the third place, what happens if there are certain
  also one who may perform church extension and                    points of difference between our Three Forms of
 home mission work in their behalf. Moreover, by                   Unity and the Westminster Confession and Cate-
 their own testimony - and under the Lord's gracious               chisms? Or what happens if there are items in the
 leading - they have been attracted to us. Further, as             Westminster creeds which are not even mentioned in
  a congregation and as a group of churches they are               our creeds, but with which we cannot fully agree?
  small and of little strength; they desperately need                The answer, it seems to me, is obvious. It would be
  help and leadership and instruction and enrichment in            a matter of simple honesty to make such reservations
  the Reformed faith. In fact, in recent months their              known at the time one subscribes to the Westminster
  strength has even been diminished, due to the fact               creeds. We certainly do not believe in `subscribing to
  that two of their ministers have been on the sick list.          the creeds "tongue-in-cheek" or with mental reserva-
        As I stated at Synod  - and  others said similar           tions. That would be dishonest. Moreover, I do not
 things: "The congregation at Christchurch is saying               know of any minister in our churches  - thank God
  to us, in effect, `In all the world you of the Protestant        for that! - who would be guilty of such dishonesty.
  Reformed Churches are the only ones to whom we                   Furthermore, I am certain that the  O.PC. of Christ-
  can look for help. Please come over and help us.'                church would not even want a minister who would be
 How, before the face of God, if the Lord makes it                 less than honest about these matters. In their own
 possible for us to help them, can we in good con-                 past they have seen too much grief from such dis-
 science say No to them?" I make bold to say that if,              honesty in the church.
 when it is possible for us to help them, we would                   I hasten to add, in the first place, that this does not
 refuse to do so, this would be sectarian and would be             mean that a minister would immediately `attempt to
  downright sinful!                                                thrust his views on the O.P.C. in New Zealand: for
                                                                   this would be a matter of discussion and instruction
                    THE CFtEEI)AL  BASIS                           in mutual obedience to the Word of God. And, in the
                                                                   second place, from my present knowledge of the situ-
        But what is the creedal basis of the O..P.C. of Christ-    ation in New Zealand, I would not expect any great
 church? Their confessions are `the Westminster Con-               difficulty with regard to the two areas of reservations.
 .fession and the Shorter and Larger Catechisms. This
 was plainly stated already in. our Tour Report to the               My final remark in this connection is that we must
  churches, as well as in the'standard Bearer.                     by all means not allow the presence of these two
                                                                   limited areas in which we have certain reservations
        Let me point out the following in this connection.         with respect to the  W.estminster creeds to diminish
        In the first place, such differences in creeds have        our deep respect and esteem for these creeds. We
 never been an obstacle to ecclesiastical fellowship               must not have the impression that churches who sub-
 among Reformed churches. The Reformed faith has                   scribe to the Westminster creeds. are somehow
 come to expression in various creeds, according as it             "second rate" among Reformed churches. Nothing
 was confessed in  various countries.  Thus, for ex-               could be less true. I suppose there. are not many
 ample, at the Synod of Dordrecht the various foreign              among us who are thoroughly acquainted with these
 delegates subscribed to several different Reformed                creeds. But those who have studied them will have a
 confessions; but they all  recognised-  one another as            deep appreciation for them, and will even have to
 Reformed, It is true that the Westminster creeds had              admit that in certain `areas the Westminster docu-
 not yet been composed at that time; nevertheless                  ments excel our Three Forms of Unity.


968                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


   But let us briefly look at each of those areas in         and I have some reasons to think it will not be. But I
which we have reservations: that of remarriage and           would expect a minister who goes to New Zealand to
that of the "covenant of works." (On both of these           be at least as patient in dealing with such a situation
 subjects, by the way, our Committee for Contact has         in those churches,  w&h are in their infancy and
 already informed the Session of Christchurch con-           which have not had the bel?efit of the instruction and
cerning  our reservations.)                                  experience which we have had, as we were in past
                                                             years in our own Protestant Reformed Churches. And
       REMARRIAGE OF DIVORCED PERSONS                        in case there should be disagreement on this subject
   First of all, let us remember that the area of pos-       initially, I submit that a Protestant Reformed
sible disagreement on this subject is very limited. It is    minister in Christchurch would free his conscience
simply not fair either to the Westminster Confession         and his record from responsibility in this matter by
or to Presbyterians to speak in general of an  "un-          making known to all concerned that he does not be-
biblical declaration on the right of the divorced to         lieve that Scripture allows such remarriage. Moreover,
remarry." The Westminster Confession teaches only            let me call attention to the fact that this would not
that the innocent party who obtains a divorce on the         affect our own churches and the stand of our
ground of adultery may remarry. Here is the state-           churches in the least.
ment, Chapter XXIV, pgph. 5: "In the case of adul-              But let me say again: this is "jumping the gun." We
tery after marriage, it is lawful for the innocent party     know of no problem in this area. And we do know -
to sue out a divorce: and, after the divorce, to marry       because our pamphlets and books have been dis-
another, as if the offending party were dead."               tributed in New Zealand - that they are aware of our
Especially in our day of wholesale divorce, when it is       stand. In fact, just about the time that the  contribu-
well-nigh impossible and almost unheard of to obtain         tiop under discussion arrived in my mail the quarterly
a divorce on the ground of adultery, this is a very          magazine of the O.P.C. of New Zealand, The Gospel
limited area of disagreement. It is even very unlikely       Witness, also arrived. And in that issue there appeared
that a concrete case of this kind would ever arise.          the most glowing recommendation  - without nega-
  In the second place, let us remember that this posi-       tive criticism - of the Rev. Engelsma's recent book
tion of the Westminster Confession is the position           on  Marriage that I have read thus far. And it came
which Reformed churches took for hundreds of                 fro'm the pen of one of the O.P.C. ministers, the Rev.
years. True, they did not all make creedal statements        Ivo Bishop. If space permits, I will reprint the review
on this subject; but this was nevertheless the historic      in this issue.
Reformed position. In fact, it was also the position                      THE "COVENANT OF WORKS"
taken by our own Protestant Reformed Churches
until, through the instruction of the late Rev. Herman          Also on this matter we should keep things in
Hoeksema, we came to a clearer insight into Scripture        perspective.
on this subject.                                                In the first place, it is surely true that the  West-
   In the third place, let us not be so self-righteous as    minister Confession speaks of a "covenant of works."
to insist that everyone in another denomination must            In the second place, however, it is not true that the
immediately see this point, must change his stand,           Westminster Confession  - even though we would
and must refuse communion to such a remarried                have reservations about what it says  - teaches the
person. I call your attention to the fact that this is       covenant of works in the traditional sense in which
not the way things were done in our own denomina-            Charles Hodge or L. Berkhof teach it. When you read
tion. When the late Rev. Hoeksema came to this               all that the Westminster says on this subject, and read
position on remarriage, the majority of First Church's       it in the context of the entire confession and in the
consistory disagreed at first and clung to the tradi-        light of the history of doctrine, you will discover that
tional. position. Did he fight the issue by way of           this is the case.
protest and appeal? Not at all, but,.he  left the matter       In the third place, it is surely not true that there is
to the process of instruction, expecting, correctly,         any more room in the Westminster creeds, than in our
that eventually the Word of God would have its way.          own creeds, for the miserably Arminian conditional
And so, over a period of years, in more than one of          view of the covenant of grace and the promise which
our churches  .many of us have administered to and           we all repudiated in the struggle of  1950-`53. The
celebrated the sacraments with persons whom we               Westminster creeds are thoroughly Reformed when it
later say were not properly remarried, though at the         comes to the doctrine of sovereign, particular grace.
time the consistory itself might have approved the           Those who want a general, conditional offer have to
remarriage.                                                  tamper with these creeds or add a Declaratory State-
  Now I do not even know that this will be a burning         ment, as, for example, the Bible Presbyterian Church
issue in New Zealand. I have no reason to think so;          has done.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               969



  In the fourth place, I will very frankly state that      be it in question form. That kind of thing hurts. It is
there is as yet no well developed view of the cove-        not edifying. And it is altogether uncalled for. I must
nant in the Orthodox Presbyterian Churches of New          ask the `brother to retract his suggestion that "this
Zealand. How could  there be? These churches are in        matter of a conditional or unconditional view of the
their infancy. Besides, they have not had the same         covenant (is) now non-essential." - unless, of course,
struggle we have had. They are waiting to be enriched      he can show on the basis of objective evidence that to
on this subject.                                           Rev. Hanko and me as emissaries, or to the Committee
  In the fifth place, I know these three facts: 1) We      for  Coptact, or to the Synod this matter has indeed
did not hide from the New Zealand friends our              become non-essential.
beautiful idea of God's covenant of friendship as it is
sovereignly and unconditionally established and real-      CONCLUSION
ized with His elect people in Christ. In fact, I recall      In what direction are we going? .
distinctly that I personally more than once spoke
of it in approximately the above words. It is, `after        In the right direction!
all, of the bone and marrow of my theological con-           Is what we are now about to do in New Zealand
victions! 2) That the O.P.C. of New Zealand and            proper?
specifically of Christchurch are, and showed them-           Yes, by all means!
selves to be, averse to Armini&ism, even as we are.
And they take this very seriously. 3) That they know         God wills it. To refuse would be flagrant disobedi-
who we are and what we stand for, have found them-         ence.
selves to be like-minded with us, and for that reason        Let us pray for grace to obey gladly, to be thankful
have asked for our help. What more can anyone ask?         for an `open door; and let us pray fervently for the
  But there is one thing that grieves me deeply in         church "down under" and that God will send to
Brother Feenstra's article. That is those suggestions.,    Christchurch the man of His' choosing.

      -

CONTRIBUTION



                           In What Direction are We Going?
                                        :
                                      More on Compromise


  I have been reading and studying the recent edito-       are we.in good conscience going to send (or allow one
rials in the Standard Bearer with interest and dismay.     to leave) to labor in the Presbyterian congregation at
We understand, of course, that these editorials were       Christchurch?
to inform our people of the events and various cir-          Did Synod inquire into the creedal basis which will
cumstances that were part and parcel of the Austra-        serve as' the foundation of our minister's labors tnere?
lasian Tour. We also believe that these articles served    We rightly understand, of course, that our minister
in no small way to prepare our Syndd of `76 to unan-       will not be a missionary there but in very fact a
imously decide to grant the request of the con-            Presbyterian minister of another denomination and
gregation at Christchurch, New Zealand that one of         particular chwch. If our minister was being sent there
our ministers labor in their midst as an Orthodox          as a missionary many of, if not all, the questions and
Presbyterian minister.                                     problems which I see would not be occasioned by
  But I have some questions about this matter. Let         such an endeavor.
me make it clear, I am not opposed as such to sending        1 now present my questions. I believe that my
a man to New Zealand. But how and on what basis            questions are alSo shared by others in our churches.


970                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


  What is the creedal basis for one of our ministers,       have also condemned rightly as the work of the devil
who will remain an officebearer in our churches, to         such sinful misuses of God-ordained government
serve another denomination and congregation? Is-it so       taxing powers as social security payments, govern-
that the session of Christchurch has or will accept         ment paid doctor and hospital expenses, handouts to
the Three Forms of Unity of the Protestant Re-              farmers, government college scholarships and hun-
formed Churches? Or will it be necessary for our            dreds of other similar present day misuses of the
minister there to labor under the Westminster Creed         power of government. These are not the duty and
with its binding declarations concerning a conditional      responsibility of government.
Covenant of Works and its unbiblical declaration of           Government is ordained by God to execute justice
the right of the divorced to remarry? What about the        and judgment, to punish evil doers and to praise them
demands of the Formula of Subscription upon our             that do well. But sad to say, very few know what is
minister on loan in this regard?                            true justice and what are God's and Christ's com-
  Is this matter of Divorce and Remarriage a matter         mandments for individuals, families, society and
of non-essentials of which Article 85 of our Church         church; so we witness in our land the reign of con-
Order speaks? Article 85 speaks of usages not matters       fusion under the rule of Satan, the father of disorder,
of faith. Article 85 is not minimizing doctrinal differ-    confusion and disobedience of divine command-
ences or matters of a proper Christian walk. Would it       ments.
be necessary that our minister on loan, who is sup-           The Lord Jesus in His days on earth lived under
ported both financially and spiritually by our P.R.         corrupt and evil government. Think of the slaughter
people,. to administer the Sacrament of the Lord's          of many children at Bethlehem, of the beheading of
Supper to a person whom we believe lives in a state         innocent John the Baptist, and then later the crucify-
of adultery? This is a very real possibility, isn't it?     ing and putting to death the-innocent Lord Jesus.
Would not such a minister fall subject to discipline by     Nevertheless Jesus taught by word and example the
the P.R. consistory which has loaned him to this O.P.       paying of taxes to corrupt and evil government,
Church at Christchurch, New Zealand? How about              confer Matt. 17: 27.
the matter of the baptism of the children of divorced
and remarried persons?                                        So the compromise is not that we pay taxes for all
                                                            sinful misuses of government, but the compromise is-
  Further, to what covenant view does the Church of         that the church officially fails to witness to  govem-
Christchurch subscribe? Do they have  an.  Arminian'        ment against its evils, John 7:7. Citizens in the glori-
view of the covenant which is so common in our day?         ous kingdom of Christ also sinfully compromise when
It seems logical that if one holds to the conditional       they apply for some of the many handout programs.
notion of the Covenant of Works that he would also          These are very serious days for God's people,, Jesus
hold to a conditional view of the Covenant of Grace.        warns His Church with great concern. He said if it
Or is this matter of a conditional or unconditional         were possible, even the elect would be deceived. What
view of the covenant now non-essential? It was not          a responsibility have those of Christ's ministers who
non-essential in 1950-53 when many Dutch immi-              claim to be Christ's mouthpieces in the proclamation
grants wanted to be served by our ministers and form        of the Gospel of His kingdom! Brethren, pray for
P.R. congregations. Do we remember the "Declara-            them!
tion of Principles?" It is not pertinent in this case?                                                 Harold Tilma
  I ask: In what direction are we going? Is what we
are now about to do in New Zealand proper?                  Editorial comment:
                                      Mr. Thys Feenstra       Brother Tilma makes a severe indictment when he
                                    Redlands, California    writes that the "church officially" compromises when
                                                            it "fails to witness to the government against its
(editor$s  note: for a reply to this article, see the       evils." John 7: 7 (the reader can look it up) says
Editorial Department.)                                      nothing whatsoever as to the duty of the "church of-
                                                            ficially." If the brother means that it is the duty of our
                                                            consistories, classes, and synods to make and forward
              MOREONCOMPROMISE                              to the government pronouncements on the various
  The writer, N.D., is justly and rightly burdened          social, economic, and political ills for which our
with the injustice and wrongdoing of government             governments (local, state, and federal) are responsible,
compelling Christians to pay taxes for God-less,            then I demur. The marks of the church are the
Christ-less government-owned and operated school            preaching of the Word, the administration of the
systems. (see S.B., March 15, p. 781). He also con-         sacraments, and the exercise of Christian discipline.
demns the government take-over of the deacons'              To this three-fold task the church must be faithful.
work to provide relief for Christ's needy. He might                                                            -HCH


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       971



THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS




                         Election and Reprobation (IV)
                                       (Predestination According To The Reformed Creeds)



                                                    ProJ Robert D. Decker

            "We believe that all the posterity of Adam being thus fallen into perdition and rum, by the sin of our first
            parents, God did then manifest himself such as he is: Merciful, since he delivers and preserves from this
            perdition all, whom he, in his eternal and  unchangeable counsel of pure goodness, hath elected in Christ
            Jesus our Lord, without any respect to their works: Just, in leaving others in the fall and  perdition  wherein
            they have involved themselves."
                                                                                          The Belgic Confession,  Art.  XVI

   The first two articles were devoted to an exposi-                  God's leaving of the rest (reprobation from the
tion of the doctrine of election and reprobation as                   infralapsarian point of view) in corruption and con-
taught in this chapter of the Belgic Confession. We                   demnation is a manifestation of His justice. We find
saw that  this truth permeates all of Scripture. The                  this same emphasis in Article XVI of the Belgic Con-
third article was concerned with John Calvin's views                  fession. Notice too that all this takes place "according
on this precious truth. In this our fourth and final                  to God's eternal and immutable counsel" and "his
installment on Article XVI it is our purpose to ex-                   immutable purpose which he has determined in Jesus
amine the doctrine of predestination as it appears in                 Christ before the creation of the world."
the creeds of the Reformed Churches.*                                    The  Heidelberg Catechism,  which presents the
  We find this truth set forth very clearly in the Gal-               truth of God's Word from the point of view of the
lican or French Con.fession of Faith. This creed was                  life's experience and confession of the child of God,
prepared by Calvin and one of his pupils in 1559 and                  has only one explicit reference to this great truth.
was adopted by a Synod of the French Reformed                         This is found in the profoundly beautiful answer to
Churches in Paris that same year. There can be little                 the fifty-fourth question. Here, the Catechism speaks
doubt that Guido de Bres was markedly influenced by                   of  the. "holy catholic church of Christ" as being a
this Confession in his writing of the  Belgic Con-                    "church chosen to everlasting life" and "`gathered,
fession. In its twelfth article this Creed says:                      defended and preserved by the Son of God through
       "We believe that from this corruption and general              His Word and Spirit from the beginning to the end of
    condemnation in which all men are plunged, God,                   the world." No one can deny, however, that the truth
    according to his eternal and immutable counsel,  call-            of election and reprobation is implied throughout the
    eth those whom he hath chosen by his goodness and                 Heidelberger. This is especially evident in those ques-
    mercy alone in our Lord Jesus Christ, without con-                tions and answers which speak of the atonement of
    sideration of their works, to display in them the                 Christ as satisfaction of the justice of God for the sins
    riches of his mercy; leaving the rest in this same cor-           of God's people. (Cf. Questions 37 - 44)
    ruption and condemnation to show in them his
    justice. For the ones are no better than the others,                 As one would expect, the Canons of the Synod of
    until God discerns them according to his immutable                Qordrech  t, 16 18, 16 19, have much to say concerning
    purpose which he has determined in Jesus Christ                   this truth. In its first head of doctrine entitled: "Of
    before the creation of the world. Neither can any                 Divine Predestination", the  C&zons  declare: "That
    man gain such reward by his own virtue, as by nature              some receive the gift of faith from God, and others
    we can not have a single good feeling, affection, or              do not receive it proceeds from God's eternal decree
    thought, except God has first put it into our hearts."            . . . ." (Article 6) After citing Scriptural proof for this
  Notice that this creed teaches that God's calling of                statement the Clznons continue: "According to which
those whom He has chosen in our Lord Jesus Christ                     decree, he graciously softens the hearts of the elect
is a manifestation of the riches of His mercy, while                  .*. while he leaves the non-elect in his just judgment


I                                                                                                                             1


     972                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


     to their own wickedness and obduracy. And herein is         tion, and just severity of reprobation, we answer with
     especially displayed the profound, the merciful, and        the apostle: `Nay, but 0 man, who art thou that
     at the same time the righteous discrimination               repliest against God?' Rom.  9:30, and quote the
     between men, equally involved in ruin; or that decree       language of our Savior: `Is it not lawful for me to do
     of election and reprobation, revealed in the Word of        what I will with mine own?' Matt. 20: 15. And there-
     God, which though men of perverse, impure and               fore with `holy adoration of these mysteries, we
     unstable minds wrest to their own destruction, yet to       exclaim in the words of the apostle: `0 the depth of
     holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consola-           the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
     tion." (Article 6). Note the strong language employed       God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his
     in this article in reference to the opponents of the        ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind
     doctrine of election and reprobation. The fathers of        of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor?  Or who
     Dordt did not hesitate to label such: "men of per-          hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed
     verse, impure and unstable minds" who "wrest the            unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to
     decree of election and reprobation to their own             him are all things: to whom be glory for ever.
     destruction." What is so tragic in our times is that one    -Amen.' " (Article 18)
     finds the most bitter opponents of election and               No less emphatic in its teaching on election and
     especially reprobation not outside of but within the        reprobation is the great  Westminster Confession of
     sphere of the Reformed Churches. But what is even           Faith, 1647. In fact Chapter III of this Confession is a
     more tragic is the fact that some of the denomina-          detailed, thorough, and very precise statement of the
     tions belonging to the Reformed family of churches          truth concerning God's eternal decree. After setting
     do nothing to expel these opponents of the truth.           forth the truth concerning God's decreeing of all
     They make a "fuss" over these deep theological              things the Westminster states: "By the decree of God,
     issues, pass all kinds of Synodical decisions, appoint      for the manifestation of his glory, some men and
     all kinds of prestigious study committees which             angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and
     produce involved and lengthy reports couched in             others foreordained to everlasting death." (Article
     lofty, theological language and at the same time allow      III) In the succeeding articles of its third chapter this
     the opponents to continue teaching and preaching in         beautiful creed describes the decree of election.
     the churches. This obviously is not in the tradition of     Speaking of the elect, both men and angels, the West-
     Dordt!                                                      minster declares: "These . . . thus predestinated and
        These Canons describe the doctrine of election as:       foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably
     ". . . the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, be-        designed; and their number is so certain and definite
     fore the foundation of the world, he hath out of mere       that it can not be either increased or diminished."
     grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of his      (Article IV) Furthermore according to this Con-
     own will; chosen, from the whole human race, which          fession ,election  is unconditional and not on the basis
     had fallen through their own fault, from their              of foreseen faith (Article V). Election includes also
     primitive state of rectitude, into sin and destruction,     the means to salvation (faith, conversion, justifica-
     a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ,        tion, etc.) (Article VI). Concerning reprobation the
     whom he from eternity appointed the Mediator and            Westminster states forthrightly: "The rest of mankind
     Head of the elect, and the foundation of Salvation."        God was pleased, according to the unsearchable
     (Article 7) Article 15 of Head I describes reprobation      counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth or
     in these terms: "What peculiarly tends to illustrate        withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth, for the glory of his
     and recommend to us the eternal and unmerited grace         sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by, and to
     of election, is the express testimony of sacred Scrip-      ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to
     ture, that not all, but some only are elected, while        the praise of his glorious justice." (Article VII) This
     others are passed by in the eternal decree; whom            third chapter is concluded with a word of caution to
     God, out of his sovereign, most just, h-reprehensible       which we do well to take heed: "The doctrine of this
     and unchangeable good pleasure, hath decreed to             high mystery of predestination is to be handled with
     leave in the common misery into which they have             special prudence and care, that men attending the will
     wilfully plunged themselves, and not to bestow upon         of God revealed in his Word, and yielding obedience
     them saving faith and the grace of conversion . . . .       thereunto,  may, from the certainty of their effectual
     And this is the decree of reprobation which by no           vocation, be assured of their eternal election. So shall
     means makes God the author of sin (the very thought         this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, an
     of which is blasphemy), but declares him to be  ,an         admiration of God; and of humility, diligence, and
     awful, irreprehensible, and righteous judge and avenger     abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the
     thereof." Finally the  Canons  concludes this first         gospel." (Article VIII)
     Head of doctrine with both a warning and a  doxol-            Very simply, what this means is this: Article XVI
     . ogy: "To those who murmer at the free grace of elec-      of our  Belgic Confession  is not merely an isolated


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          973


instance of the teaching of election and reprobation.         tion and reprobation belong to the  essence  or  heart  of
At this point the  Belgic Confession  reflects the cur-       the Reformed faith as this faith is taught by Scripture
rent and clear teaching of the Reformed Creeds and            and expounded by the Creeds. All who are Reformed
the conviction of the historic Reformed Churches.             according to the Word of God as summed and set
These were the convictions of our fathers, faith              forth in the Confessions believe this precious truth in
for which they lived  and, in many instances,  for            their hearts and boldly and humbly confess it with
which they even died! It ought to be perfectly evi-           their mouths to the praise of God's great glory.
dent, therefore, that no one who denies either elec-          *All references to and quotations from the creeds are
tion or reprobation (and remember, the two stand              taken from Philip Schaff's  The Creeds of Christen-
together) can  honestly  claim to be Reformed. Elec-          dom,  volume III.


ALL AROUND US



                          Lutherans Debate Biblical AuthoritY
                              The Church's Abortion Business
                            The Basic Issue at the CRC Synod
                   Rev. Peter De Jong's Answer to E. Wierenga

                                                     Rev. H Veldman

 LUTHERANS DEBATE BIBLICAL AUTHORITY                         And, this is also a clear indication that "Seminex" has
  Also this article appears in the Banner of May 7,           departed from the inspired scriptures.
1976, and we quote:
      The faculty of controversial "Seminex" (seminary              THE CHURCH'S ABORTION BUSINESS
   in exile) has recently authorized the ordination of          This article appears in the PRESBYTERIAN
   woman to the ministry. Faculty members of
   "Seminex" use as the basis for their argument the         JOURNAL' of April 14, 1976, page 12. We quote the
   contention that the Bible is time-and-culture ori-         following:
   ented. Therefore, it is possible to reinterpret  the                4 little item in the report of the treasurer to the
   passages in the Bible which the Lutheran Church-              General Executive Board of the Presbyterian Church
   Missouri Synod has repeatedly used to forbid the              US lcaught our eye and revived memories.
   ordination of woman to the ministry. . . .                          The item: $10,000 received for COTA.
      Dr. Martin Scharlemann of Concordia Seminary,                    Another contribution to  the  Committee  on
   St. Louis, said the following at a 1972 convention:           Therapeutic Abortions (COTA)  to keep the Church in
   "The major problem in this divergence between the             the wholesale business.
   two church bodies is not so much the matter of or-
   daining women as that of the nature of  Biblical                    That word "Therapeutic" represents an all too
   authority. That is where the real division is between         familar type of hypocrisy. The hundreds upon hun-
   them and us. . . ."                                           dreds of abortions paid for by the Presbyterian
                                                                 Church US, for the most part are "therapeutic"
  Yes, we, too, are of the conviction that the major             only in the sense that it is therapeutic to a teen-
problem concerns the nature of Biblical authority. To            ager or a college girl that her parents not know
maintain that the Bible is time-and-culture oriented             the result of her indiscretion.
must lead to and implies the destruction of the Word                   Just how much money has been spent by the
of God. People refuse to listen to what the Lord has             Church for abortions, just how many have been per-
to say unto them. Man would place himself above                  formed under the Church's benevolence and who has
these divine scriptures, determine what must be em-              "benefited" is one of the most closely guarded secrets
braced and what must be rejected. This is hopeless.              in the denomination's program.


974                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


          Nobody is talking and no figures are ever released.             I@V. PETER DE JONG'S ANSWER TO
  How sad! we agree with the concluding paragraph:                                     E. WIERENGA.
"This program is one of the sadder aspects of the life
of the PCUS (Presbyterian Church, U.S.). It is a
business for which no Christian in the PCUS has an                    This, too, appears in The Outlook of June, 1976,
excuse before God.                                                  hages  30-31. A certain E. Wierenga of Neerlandia,
                                                                    Albert& TOG IRD, had commented on an article "Call-
                                                                    ing, and Reprobation", written by Dr. M. J. Amtzen
                                                                    and translated by Rev. Peter De Jong. In his answer
                       THE BASIC ISSUE                              Wierenga comments on the exegesis  given of the
                     AT THE CRC SYNOD                               texts, I Timothy  2:4 and 2 Peter  3:9. The brother
                                                                    writes that, in his opinion, these texts refer ex-
                                                                    clusively to the people of God and not to everybody.
  The editor of The Outlook refers to this basic issue              He also refers to what we read in Rtimans 9: 1 l-l 3,
in the June, 1976, issue of that magazine. He writes,               and then he also calls attention to Calvin's Institutes.
page 2, and we quote:                                               Of Calvin he writes that the reformer is very plain on
                                                                    these texts in his Institutes, and that he (Calvin) does
          The 1976 Agenda for Synod (CRC Synod meeting              not see any indication in the Bible that God wants all
       June 8 to 18) is a volume of 541 pages. It may seem
       presumptuous of me to attempt to say what the basic          men, that is head for head, to be saved. And now the
       issue at this Synod will be  - but I feel  conscience-       Rev. Peter De Jong replies to this article of E.
       bound to take that risk and to attempt to do so. The         Wierenga.
       basic issue at this Synod will be the issue of the Bible.      In his reply, first of all, Rev. De Jong maintains
          Bey&d  a doubt, it is becoming increasingly ap-           that 2 Peter 3:9 refers, not to the elect, but to every-
       parent among us that the matter of the inspiration,          body, head for head, and he also declares that Calvin,
       the infallibility, the inerrancy, and the authority of       in his explanation of Ezekiel 33: 11, applies this to all
       the Bible remains a piece of unfinished business. Not-       men, head for head. How sad that Rev. De Jong
       withstanding the adoption of Report 44 in 1972, it is        should interpret 2 Peter 3:9 as referring to all men!
       or should be obvious that we are not of one mind.            Rev. De Jong is a conservative, maintains that the
          Let no one doubt the seriousness of this.                 Bible  isi infallible and without error in its entirety.
                                                                    How sad that he should offer this interpretaion of a
  With this we can certainly agree. It is certainly true            text such as 2 Peter  3:9, which so obviously and
that the Christian Reformed Church is faced with this               cletirly refers exclusively to the elect. How sad that he
problem.                                                            explains this text in such a way as to make impossible
  And is it not appalling that a reformed synod must                the coming of the Lord. 0, I do not say that De Jong
debate this issue! How wonderful it would be if the                 does not believe in the coming of the Lord; but his
CRC synod would maintain the infallibility and  in-                 interpretation of the text makes that coming im-
errancy of the divine scriptures, that they are the                 possible. Fact is, Peter is speaking of the coming of
infallible and unerring Word of God from Genesis to                 the Lord, and that He can come only when all men
Revelation! Is it not appalling that the matter of the              shall have been brought to repentance. So, if Christ
inspiration, the infallibility, the inerrancy, and the              can return only if all men have been brought to
authority of the Bible remains a piece of unfinished                repentance, He will never come, because all men will
business, that they are not of one mind in that                     never repent. Unless Rev. De Jong believes that Christ
church. The difficulty is that it is not merely a matter            will finally come in spite of the fact that all men did
of unfinished business. The tragedy is that the CRC                 not repent, inasmuch as God at least tried to bring
has erred in the past, has made some very bad de-                   them to repentance. Scripture knows nothing of such
cisions, is tolerating among its leaders men who have               a God. E. Wierenga is surely correct in his interpreta-
erred as far as these divine scriptures are concerned.              tion of I Timothy  2:4 and 2 Peter  3:9.
That church must not only maintain that the Scrip-
tures are, in their entirety, the Word of God, but it                 As far as De Jong's reference to Calvin is concerned,
must repent of these evils, repudiate these bad de-                 for that reformer's explanation of Ezekiel 33: 11, I
cisions, and return to the living God and His infallible            advise this E. Wierenga to obtain Calvin's Calvinism,
Word. And when has a church ever returned from an                   published on January 1, 1552 (Calvin was born in
evil course? This is the appalling situation in the                 i509). In this book Calvin writes on two subjects:
Christian Reformed Church  today. Of course, we                     Eternal Predestination of God and The Secret Provi-
would rejoice were this to happen. But we are afraid                dence of God. This book is full of the reformer's repu-
that the situation is hopeless.                                     diation of a general, well meaning offer of the gospel.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                975


In this `book Calvin also calls attention to Ezekiel              represented us deliberately. You are a well-informed
33:ll.                                                            man, and you certainly know that you have drawn a
  There is one more matter in this reply of Rev. De               caricature of us. Rev. De Jong, we believe in the
Jong to which I would call attention. On page 30,                 general proclamation of a particular gospel. This has
middle column, he writes, and we quote:                          been stated by us countless times, and this is also
       We too encounter people who fear that they are             proclaimed in all our pulpits every Lord's Day. We
    not elect and that therefore the gospel call and              deny Acts  17:30? We deny that the Lord sincerely
    promise are not really intended for them. Such mis-           calls all kinds of people to repent and turn to Him? If
    understandings are not helped when some who are              you, Rev. De Jong, referred to us, shame on you.
    deeply concerned about maintaining the biblical              What you should do is apologize in The Outlook and
    doctrine of election, because of that concern, hesitate      inform your readers that you have misrepresented us.
   to say that God through His gospel sincerely calls all        This would be yo~rr Christian duty. Yes, our churches
   kinds of people (whether elect or not) to repent and          maintain the biblical doctrine of election, and we also
   turn to Him. Yet we find the Bible again and again            maintain the biblical doctrine of reprobation. You
   extending such a call and commanding us to do the             know that we do this. Do your churches today main-
   same. The Apostle Paul, for example, when speaking
   to the Athenian philosophers, some of whom turn               tain the biblical doctrine of double predestination?
   away mocking, told them that God "commandeth                  The Rev. Tuinenga does not believe that the doctrine
   men that they should all everywhere repent" (Acts             of reprobation need be preached.' And now you
    17:30).                                                      inform your readers and also E. Wierenga that our
   Rev. De Jong, are you referring in these words to             churches hesitate to say that God through His gospel'
our Protestant Reformed Churches? If so, you have                sincerely calls all kinds of people to repent and turn
not written the truth. Then you have misrepresented              to Him? I assure brother E. Wierenga that this is not
our churches, and I dare say that you have  mis-                 true of our Protestant Reformed Churches.


GUEST ARTICLE



               Desiring the Sincere Milk of the Word

                                                     Rev. Richard G. Moore


  Do you hunger and thirst for the Word of God? Do               preaching "wordy" milk. The apostle, in using this
you long for things spiritual? The apostle Peter points          figure, does not have in mind the distinction that the
out that, for the child of God born again by the Word            apostle Paul used when he made a comparison
of God which liveth and abideth for ever, it is neces-           between the "milk" and the "meat" of the Word. But
sary that the new life within us be nourished and fed.           rather,  ,this Scripture speaks of the preaching as the
Therefore, the Word of God exhorts the church in I               perfect food for the elect, regenerated child of God.
Peter 2:2-that,  "as newborn babes, desire the sincere           It is essential to their very life and well-being, and is
milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby." This is             perfectly adapted for this purpose.
not a popular exhortation in our day. The Word of                   The reason that the apostle is able to picture the
God becomes more and more something secondary in                 preaching of the gospel,.of Christ as the perfect and
the "sphere of the church." And yet, according to
Scripture, there is nothing more essential to the life           essential food for the church is the fact that the Word
of God's children.                                               preached is the Word of Christ! It is the Word which
                                                                 Christ expounds to nourish and build up His Body.
  The apostle uses the figurative expression, "the               This is evident when we consider the gospel of Christ
sincere milk of the Word," to refer to the preaching             in the inspired Word of Paul, as recorded in Romans
of the gospel of Christ. This is evident from the con-           10: 13-l 5, "For whosoever shall call upon the name
nection of this text with the context, specifically the          of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
twenty-fifth verse of chapter one. Peter calls the               on him in whom they have not believed? and how


976                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


shall they believe in him (of) whom they have not             same, the child becomes weak, frail, and finally dies.
heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?            Even so must the children of God have preaching that
And how shall they preach, except they be sent?"              is pure, if they shall be built up and sustained in faith.
The point of this passage that is important for us with       If the preacher brings in his preaching that which is
respect to our topic is that, though it is through the        contrary to the Scriptures, he poisons the congrega-
agency or means of a man, Christ through His chosen           tion! It is no less than this. And be mindful that all
and ordained ambassadors preaches to His flock. And           which is not founded in the Scriptures is the word of
when He calls them, they hear and follow Him. The             man, and is deadly! And we may not say, "We hear
true preaching of Christ is essential to the faith of His     mostly  ,truth." It only takes a bit of arsenic to kill!
children. Truly the preaching of Christ is "milk" for         God's church needs nothing less than the true and
the soul of the child of God.                                 pure gospel proclaimed from Sabbath to Sabbath and
   Further, the preaching of the Word of Christ to His        from house to house.
Body is "milk" because Christ Himself is expounded               But also detrimental, and most often destructive to
unto the church as the content of the preaching. The          the flock of Christ, is watered down preaching. Just
Heidelberg Catechism asks the question: "What is thy          as it is true of the infant, preaching with little content
only comfort in life and death?" To this question the         will not feed and nourish the soul. The congregation
Christian responds: That I with body and soul, both           has the right to expect and ought to receive the truth
in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto             in all its fulness. The preaching must be distinctive,
my faithful savior Jesus Christ." The child of God            fully expounding the Scriptures. Anything less is
who is lost in himself, dead in sins and trespasses, has      diluted milk and weakens, eventually leading to the
an absolute need of the testimony of Christ that He           demise of a local manifestation of the Body of Christ.
has fully satisfied for all of his sins. The believer, who    The full doctrine of Christ, of salvation by grace, of
knows himself incapable of any good, needs to hear            sin, of judgment, is milk that strengthens and nour-
the testimony that the God of all grace through               ishes unto life eternal.
Christ and by His Spirit delivers from darkness, from           Do you desire such preaching of the Word? God's
the depth of the miry clay of sin, to lead us into His        children do, just as much as the infant desires milk
eternal fellowship, love; and covenant communion.             from his mother's breast. The infant has an insatiable
And from day to day the true believer needs the               desire for milk. It is almost his only desire; he craves
gracious and efficacious exhortation and instruction          milk and literally howls until he gets it. The baby
of the Lord to be sustained in the battle of faith, as'a      cannot get to the nipple fast enough, swinging his
pilgrim and stranger in the midst of the world. The           little head back and forth until he finds his mother's
preaching of the gospel of Christ is the milk for our         breast. Then he gulps down the milk till he be satis-
souls! That milk we must and we do desire as the seed         fied. And that lasts but a short while and he cries for
of the covenant!                                              more. But each day he grows, is nourished, and
  By using the "Homey" figure of milk, the apostle            strengthened, and lives.
emphasizes the importance and the essential character            God's people are new-born babes, "begotten again
of the pure preaching of the Word for the strangers           by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
and pilgrims, elect, redeemed in Christ. Milk is essen-       Thus we are become the opposite of what we were.
tial to the life of a baby. The milk of the mother is         We were dead in sin, but now are alive in Christ. We
wholly able to sustain an infant's life. And as the           were alienated from God by our transgressions, but
infant drinks in the milk he grows and is strengthened        now in Christ's blood we are made worthy heirs of
and develops in his new life. The preaching of the            the everlasting fellowship of God. We were in dark-
gospel of Christ is likewise food to God's people             ness, but are now called into the marvelous light of
which nourishes the child of God, causing him to              God. Principally, by grace, the child of God is made a
grow in grace and knowledge. And the pure proclama-           new creature in Christ! Yet we are always babes. Even
tion of the gospel is just as essential (even more so) to     the aged saint is a babe in this life, for in this life we
his new life in Christ, as the milk is to the infant. For     have but the beginning of new obedience. Always the
it is alone under the preaching of the Word of Truth          old `man of sin is present, so that we have a battle to
that the believer grows in faith to be strong, holding        fight - the battle of faith. Thus we need the "wordy"
fast to the hope unto which they are begotten.                milk. And we ought to desire it even as the baby the
  Unto this end it is important that the milk be              milk of his mother. Surely God's children do! It is the
"sincere." Sincere milk is unadulterated milk. Milk, if       spontaneous longing of the new man begotten unto a
it is to nourish and strengthen, must be pure. If it has      lively hope through regeneration and called by the
poison in it, the infant nursing shall die. But also if       Word and Spirit.
that milk be diluted  - watered down  - it will not             But often this desire is not on the foreground in
sustain health and strength. The result will be the  _  _ the lives of the people of God. And this is because of


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   977


our sin. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and    desire ,the. sincere milk of the Word. It requires con-
the pride of life do not desire the pure preaching of        scious activity. We have a calling by grace to cultivate
the Word. For the Word proclaimed is deadly to our           an appetite for the true preaching of the Word. This
old life of sin. The old man, in us, violently opposes       means, that as God's children we must root out the
that preaching. For our sins deaden the spiritual taste      desires of the old man of sin. It is our calling to flee
buds for the sincere milk of the Word.                       our natural inclinations and put all sin away.
  This becomes evident when we do not take on the              As Christ applies by His Spirit this Word to His
appearance of thirsty babes when attending the wor-          Body, they fall down to their knees before God in
ship services. Often our appearance becomes the very         prayer. It is the prayer for grace to see their sins. It is
opposite. Because of the lack of preparation on Satur-       the prayer that they may learn to see how they
day evening our eyes become heavy, and while the             deaden all desire for the Word. It is the prayer for
very Word of Life is proclaimed it falls upon heavy          grace to be filled with godly sorrow for that sin, and a
ears that do not hear. Or many times one's thoughts          prayer for grace to repent. The believer prays that,
are so filled with secular things and thoughts that he       for Christ's sake and on the basis of His precious
finds it impossible to concentrate upon the Bread of         atonement, he may be forgiven, and given grace to
Life being broken. And how many times do we not              flee from all sin. And positively it is a prayer for the
become so filled with pride and covetousness that it         sanctifying work of the Spirit of Christ in our hearts
becomes impossible to worship God with the                   that we might be prepared to receive the sincere milk
brethren and sisters of the congregation. And how            of the: Word as babes. Such prayer on the part of
many are there who, when going to church, know               God's true children shall always be accompanied by a
that the "milk" they receive is diluted to the point         turning from sin, and a thirsting after the only "milk"
that it no longer can feed, yet have not the spiritual       that strengthens and gives life.
hungering and thirsting of babes to seek out the pure
sincere milk of the Word? Often, rather than living            This is the promise of God! Those by grace desiring
for the Sabbath Day with hungering to be fed by              the sincere milk of the Word shall grow in truth and
Christ, we so fill our weeks with activity, pleasures,       grace. The more we taste the preciousness of the Word
and business that we do not have time to digest the          of Christ the more we shall desire it. And tasting that
Word of God. The last thought of the sermon                  "milk" we taste that the Lord is gracious. Nothing is
preached by the minister on Sunday was  .when he             more precious to the elect sinner. Christ, and Him
said, "Amen." Indeed, we have but the principle of           crucified, is food for the soul of the penitent sinner.
new life!                                                    It alone satisfies! May we desire that Word unto
                                                             eternal life.
  Therefore, the Scripture admonishes the church to


TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE



    "Hyper-Calvinism" and the Call of the Gospel

                                                       (20)


                                                Rev. David Engelsrna

  As the next step in his "apology for particular            how He has intended His grace, neither His operations
grace," Kuyper goes through the entire Bible, show-          of grace nor His gracious promises (as far as the Old
ing "that the Holy Scripture indeed teaches particular       Testament is concerned, at any rate) give us even the
grace" (Dat De Genade  Particuliev Is,  p. 162). He          least right to speak of a grace which, according to the
covers the Old Testament in three stages, the period         counsel and according to the provisions and according
from Adam to Noah, the period from the patriarchs            to the revealed will of God, would be intended for
to Moses, and the period of the prophets. His con-           the salvation of the entirety of all human individuals"
clusion is this: "Plainly, exceedingly plainly, it           (p. 191, my emphasis  - DE). In the Old Testament
appears that if we put the question to God Himself,          Scriptures, "without any ambiguity, there is the very


978                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


definite testimony of a grace which is not universal,       Kuyper finds it necessary to add that he does not
but particular" (p. 192).                                   mean "that we recognize as gospel-preaching, every-
   But what does the New Testament say "about the           thing that claims to be gospel-preaching; nor that we
common or particular character of grace?" "What is          acknowlege  as  gospel-preachers  everyone that sets
revealed to us concerning this in and through Jesus?"       himself up as a gospel-preacher; nor that we approve
(p. 193) Kuyper limits himself at this point to the         every method  by which men think they have to
gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke teach that "Jesus              preach the gospel. On the contrary, we understand by
preached that salvation proceeds according to elec-         gospel-preaching only `the proclamation of the whole
tion and . . , repeatedly and expressly distinguished       counsel of God,' by persons lawfully qualified thereto
the elect from the non-elect (p. 194). The synoptics        and in the manner prescribed by the Word of God" -
also teach "that the blood of Jesus will be shed, not       a description of gospel-preaching that warms the
for all, but for  many": and "that those who obtain         cockles of a Reformed heart (p. 293)" Nevertheless,
salvation do not obtain it according to an uncertain        "of such a gospel-preaching now we say, that it may
result, but according to the holy predestination of         not aim only at the elect, but that the preaching of
God"  (p. 195). God's grace in Christ is not even           reconciliation must direct itself towards everything
intended for every Israelite. Kuyper makes a dis-           that is sinner (tot aE wat zondaav is)" (p. 293).
tinction between an elect kernel and a reprobate               But why? Why must the gospel be preached to all,
husk: "Jesus, like the prophets, very sharply dis-          when God's grace, in that very gospel, is not for all,
tinguishes the spiritual kernel in Isreal from the un-      but for some, the elect, only? The answer that many
holy mass. Not to all Israel was He sent, but only to       give to this question undermines everything else that
the `lost sheep of the house of Israel' " (p. 199). The     they might say about a decree of election; particular
gospel of John teaches the same truth, so that the          redemption; total depravity; and the like. Their
conclusion must be' "that the doctrine of `common           answer is: "because God loves them all, reprobate as
grace' can in no way or manner be harmonized with           well as elect; because God sincerely desires the salva-
that which was spoken by Jesus. On the other hand,          tion of all, the non-elect as well as the elect; and
particular grace was taught by Jesus in the plainest        because God's love moves Him to make a well-meant
words" (p. 214).                                            offer to all." In other words, their answer is: "be-
   Inevitably, defense of the truth that God is             cause God, after all, is gracious to all." Thus, the
gracious only to the elect raises the question, whether     dike of particular grace, no matter how laboriously'
the gospel is to be preached to all men without dis-        strengthened at other points, is breached,  and. the
tinction and, if so, why. This question arises from         waters of universal (ineffectual) grace inundate  the
two quarters. On the one hand, those who hold that          Reformed land.
God is gracious to all men raise the question as an           This, however, is not Kuyper's answer!
argument against the truth of particular grace. By this       That the gospel must be preached to all "stands
question, they mean to say, "If grace is particular, the    fast on a three-fold basis," no aspect of which is a
Church cannot preach the gospel to all men, as she is       grace of jGod to all or a desire of God to save all.
called to do." On the other hand, there are those, the        The first reason for preaching to all is this, that
hyper-Calvinists, who deduce from the doctrine of           "God's Word nowhere contains a limitation under the
particular grace that the Church should preach only         New Covenant; rather it lays emphasis on the falling
to the regenerated elect. Kuyper confronts this             away of every limitation; and actually shows us the
crucial question, in a chapter entitled, "To Whom           preaching of the gospel to all sinners . . ." (p. 295).
(Must the Gospel Be) Preached?": "Now we have               "Both John the Baptist and the apostles preached the
come to the question, whether the gospel of Christ          gospel to all without distinction who came before
must be preached to every soul, or only to the elect?"      them or whom they found in the synagogue, without
(P.  292)                                                   the least limitation," Especially the preaching of
  Kuyper's answer is: "to every soul without dis-           Jesus is proof, for, although He was the one preacher
tinction; God does  not  will any limitation of the         Who knew who were elect and who were reprobate,
preaching to the elect." This is not an unimportant         He preached to all (p. 295).
matter to Kuyper; he roundly condemns every effort            The second reason is that we "cannot distinguish
to restrict the gospel: "And so entirely foreign to us      the sheep from the goats"  (p. 295). Preaching is
is the limiting of gospel-preaching, that we rather         intended by God to gather the elect, but we do not
condemn as unlawful and un-Biblical every attempt           know who the elect are. Therefore, we must preach
somehow to fence in the preaching of the gospel" (p         to all. An implication, says Kuyper, is that "the doc-
292,293).                                                   trine of election, rather than restricting the extent of
   As if he lived in 1976, with its corruptions of          the preaching, offers the strongest incentive to bring
preaching  - all under the name of evangelism,              the preaching to all" (p. 297).


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                979


  There is a third reason. This has to do with the fact       This was Abraham Kuyper's clear exposition and
that God has a purpose in bringing the Word to the          powerful defense of the Reformed faith at a crucial
reprobate. "It is . . . altogether misconceived, if one     moment in the history of that faith in the Nether-
says: God lets His gospel be preached to all sinners        lands. With this ringing testimony to particular,
with the exclusive purpose, that it come to His elect       sovereign grace, he began his labor to restore the
.*.. Rather, even if all the elect stood on one side        Reformed character of the Church in the Nether-
and all the lost stood on the other side, the high,         lands. He did this in the face of great opposition. For
serious obligation would still rest on the Church of        140 years, the theologians at home and abroad had
Jesus to cause both to hear the gospel." For "to these      exerted all their powers to obliterate the truth of
(elect) we are indeed a savor of life unto life, but we     particular grace, with the result that almost all pastors
are also a savor of death unto death unto the others;       had forgotten the doctrine, and public opinion in the
and the preacher of the gospel, also when he brings         Church held it for foolishness. Kuyper's colleagues
death, is a good savor unto God. This is what Paul          cursed him from their pulpits: "Whoever preaches
expressly says in II Cor. 2: 15: `We are unto God a         another gospel, than that Christ died for all men, let
sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in      him be accursed." Even his friends urged him not to
them that perish  ' " (pp. 298, 299  - emphasis             write a defense of particular grace, at least not so
Kuyper's) .                                                 early in the movement. It would alienate the "weaker
   God intends to convict the lost sinner of the extent     brethren," hurt the cause of the newly created De
of his depravity. The sinner likes to contradict God's      Hera& (The Herald, the magazine in which Kuyper
judgment on him, that he is totally depraved. But the       and his cohorts spread their views and in which the
awful depths of his depravity are made undeniably           articles on particular grace originally appeared), and
plain exactly when he laughs at and rejects the             jeopardize the plans for the Free University.
redemption presented to him in the gospel. "It is for         Nevertheless, he wrote. The reason? Kuyper tells us
this reason,, so that He may appear righteous, that         the reason. He was concerned "for the favor and the
God now has the ransom presented  iaanbieden,               grace of the Lord our God, more than for the favor of
`offer, present' - DE) to every creature without dis-       men" (p. 448). "Exactly through the confession of
tinction" (p. 300). ". . . the preaching of the cross of    particular grace, the worth of His glory and the in-
Jesus must indeed properly be brought to the lost, as       finite fulness of His Divine favor reveals itself to our
welI as to the  elect,  so that the sinner may be con-      soul's eye . . ." (p. 451). "It would have been beneath
victed of guilt and God may be justified in His ways"       God's dignity and a disparagement of His honor, and
(P. 301).                                                   would be found altogether; loveless and powerless in
  Although the gospel must be preached to all, the          our God, to offer to poor creatures, who lay cast
content of preaching may not be an announcement             away in their need, nothing more than a chance at an
that the grace of the gospel is for all. Kuyper will not    uncertdin  salvation; to allow His beloved Son to die at
permit a preacher to say to everyone in his audience,       the risk that, perhaps, His holy blood would be shed
"The ransom has been obtained for you," i.e., Christ        for nothing; and to keep His dear children on earth in
died for you (or, by implication, God loves you).           anguish and fear, right up to the last gasp, that,
"Whenever you stand as a teacher before a Christian         perhaps, all will still be lost - no, brothers, that you
congregation,  then you may and must say that               cannot; that you may not believe any longer, and if
(namely, the ransom has been obtained for you  -            you do believe that, Oh, how you grieve and how you
DE), as often as you address the congregation .as a         belittle the honor of the love and the mercy of the'
whole . , . , But, on the contrary, when you do not         Lord our God!" (p. 452)
speak in a congregation . . a and thus simply address         We hear much of Kuyper today. The Kuyper of
sinners, then you may .and must say, `Salvation has         commo.n grace and the Kuyper of a "Reformed
appeared for every one who believes . . . ' " (p. 302).     world-and-life-view" is proclaimed and acclaimed in
"The presentation (aanbiedefij of this ransom in such       the Reformed sphere. But from all the disciples of
a way that you say, `It is destined for you personally,'    Kuyper and from the "neo-Kuyperians," very little is
can only be preached to the congregation of Christ or       heard  of. the Kuyper of particular grace. Indeed, of
to one who shows himself to you as converted in his         this Kuyper, the essential Kuyper, we hear nothing.
heart. Whereas the preaching of the ransom of Christ
also to those who go lost must abide by the explicit          Strange.
rule which is described' by the holy apostle Paul in
this manner: `to the one a savour of life unto life, to        *Similar is Kuyper's description of the motive for
the other a savour of death unto death': but the            our preaching to all: "The gospel must be preached,
preacher is `unto God a sweet savour of Christ both in      not out of ambition, in order to be able to say, `I
them that are saved, and in them that perish!" (pp.         have been able to save souls,' but out of obedience to
305,306).                                                   God" (p. 298).


980                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE




                                       Letter to



Dear Timothy,                      September  1, 1976           While there is no need in this connection to go into
   Since it is quite some time since last I wrote to         this point in detail, it is necessary that you make it
you, I think it best that I try to pick up the tread of      very clear to the people of God that this is true in their
our conversation a bit so that it will become clear          lives. It is so important that you do this because else
how this letter is intended to follow upon my last           you may conceivably give the people of God occasion
letter to you.                                               to excuse their sin by some kind of antinomian self-
  You had written me about practical preaching and           justification so that they condone sin in their lives
its importance in the preaching of the Word.on the           on the grounds that they are terrible sinners, unable
Sabbath. The general thrust of your letter was to the        to'~do  any good and in no spiritual condition to heed
effect that preaching ought to address itself forcibly to    the admonitions which Scripture holds before them.
the problems which the people of God face in their              But Scripture tells us that we are delivered from
walk in the world. It ought not to be far removed            sin's dominion. This is presupposed in every admoni-
from the daily life and experience of God's people.          tion and it is implied in all Scripture's description of
And,  further,::;you asked about the need to preach          the work of salvation; but this is specifically taught
about'the  holy life of the people of God, not as an         especially in the book of Romans. In Romans 7 Paul
unattainable ideal, but as something for which God's         speaks of the fact that we are dead to sin (vs. 2), that
people must daily strive.                                    our old man is crucified with Christ (vs. 6), and that
                                                             therefore the "body of sin is destroyed that hence-
  Some aspects of this matter we have already dis-           forth we should not serve sin." (vs. 6) He then speaks
cussed, and, in general, I agreed that indeed the            specifically of this matter when he writes that death
preaching must be practical  - if that word "prac-           hath no more dominion over us (vs. 9), that sin ought
tical" is correctly understood. But now, there are           no more to reign in our mortal bodies (vs. 12), that
some particular dangers to which you must be alerted         sin shall no longer have dominion over us (vs.  14),
as you strive to make your preaching practical in that       that God ought to be thanked that we are no longer
good sense of the word.                                      the servants of sin, but are the servants of righteous-
  I think I already mentioned in a former letter that        ness (vss. 17, 18).
you must be careful not to fall into the error of per-         The question is, of course, what particularly does
fectionism; i.e., that you leave God's people with the       this mean? While I do `not intend to go into a lengthy
impression that they are able to attain perfection on        exegesis of these verses, perhaps an illustration can
this side of the grave, or even that they can approach
perfection. The teaching of Scripture is very clear on       best clarify, at least in part, what the apostle has in
this matter, and our confessions confirm this when.,         mind. The matter is at least partly comparable to the
                                                             freedom granted to a slave after many years of
they say that we have only a small beginning'.of  the        slavery. You must think of a slave who was born into
new obedience.                                               slavery under a very cruel and merciless master. His
  But in this connection I want briefly to bring up          slavery was so complete that every action of his was
another point. Although it is true that perfection           determined by his master so that he was, in all
comes to. the people of God only when they are               respects, the cowering and obedient dog of the tyrant
brought into glory, nevertheless, Scripture is quite         who controlled the whole of his life. He was never
clear also on the point that the  dominion  of sin is        given even the slightest opportunity to think for him-
destroyed in us.                                             self, to determine  his own conduct, to do anything


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  981


else but what was told him. He was given only suf-                   Shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid.
ficient to keep him alive and reasonably healthy so           How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer in
that he could do what was commanded him. He was a             it?
man who habitually wore rags, was totally unkempt                    That is one truth which must be driven home.
in appearance, abject and servile in all his conduct,
used to subsisting on a watery gruel made from the                   But there is another matter which we must con-
slop that came from the master's kitchen, with no             sider yet in connection with practical preaching. This
opportunity to know or become acquainted with the             has to do with the fact that it is entirely possible for
outside world. If this man were suddenly set free, you        the minister to address  himself in his preaching to
can imagine that it would be difficult, to say the            problems of life and conduct which are not directly
least, for him to live a reasonably normal life in the        connected with his sermon. Let me illustrate once
world of free men. Never having worn decent clothes,          again. In some church circles where there are differ-
he would not know how to dress as other people did.           ent views of the covenant held than in our own it is
Having never eaten anything which constitutes the             customary for the minister to consider a large portion
normal diet of free men, his whole system would be            of his congregation as unconverted. This is not the
unaccustomed to our food. Never having bathed or              place to enter into the doctrinal questions involved;
shaved, he would be hardly in a position to pay               but you know that in these circles it is customary for
attention to the needs of his personal hygiene, But;          and expected of the minister that he end each sermon
more importantly, never having lived in the society of        which he preaches with some kind of call to the un-
other people, never having had to make his own way            converted and some kind of "toepassing" which con-
in the world, he would be utterly at a loss to know           fronts the unconverted with the need of conversion.
how to live, how to earn his daily bread, how to              Now, apart from the eroneous doctrine  which is
conduct himself in the proper way in contacts with            involved in this matter, you must understand, of
his fellow men. The habits of a lifetime of slavery           course, that God's people must be constantly called
would be so strong that he would constantly revert to         to repentance and conversion. There is no dispute
them, and would only finally overcome them through            about this. But the fact of the matter is that when
the greatest effort, and over a long period of time.          this kind of preaching comes from the pulpit, the
Nevertheless, he would be a free man, And, although           minister tacks on his little call to the unconverted no
he would need the constant help of someone stronger           matter what text he may be preaching on. He may,
than he, he would be forever out of the clutches of           e.g., be preaching on Eph.  1:3, 4: "Blessed be the
his former master and would not any longer be under           God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
the dominion of the cruel tyrant who so long deter-           blessed- us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
mined his life.                                               places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in
                                                              him before the foundation of the world, that we
  This is roughly analogous to what Paul means when           should ,be holy and without blame before him." How
he speaks of the fact that sin has no more dominion           totally inappropriate it would be to end a sermon on
over us. Sin is no longer our ma.ster. The habits and         this text with a call to the unconverted when the text
actions of sin are still strong in us, for they are deeply    is a personal confession of faith put in the mouths of
imbedded in our depraved nature. But, by grace, we            people of God.
are delivered and stand in the freedom of the children
of God. We are given a new life which is, as it were, a              Or, to use another example: suppose a minister
life in the palace of the King where all the blessedness      hears that his young people are increasingly guilty of
                                                              the sin of movie attendance. He decides, and cor-
and joy of life in the King's court is ours. But we           rectly so, that he ought to mention this from the
need the constant instruction of the Word of God,             pulpit and discuss this sin in the preaching. But if he
the constant assistance of divine grace, the constant         would do that in connection with a text such as is
attention of Him Who has delivered us if we are to            found, e.g., in the last verses of Ephesians 1 ("And
learn to throw off all the habits of our past life of         hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be
slavery to sin.                                               the head over all things to the church, Which is his
   It is this glorious truth which must be taught the         body, the fulness of him that  filleth all in all.")
people of God. Sin has no more dominion over them.            everyone would immediately sense how totally
The habits of sin are strong, and there are innumer-          inappropriate that would be.
able relapses into the old ways. For these we must                   But the error is not only one of inappropriateness.
daily seek forgiveness. But the greater we can be             The fact of the matter is, (and this needs the greatest
made to see the joys of life in the King's palace, the        emphasis), that if God's people are to hear admoni-
more we will strive towards that goal of living a life        tions of a practical nature which point them to their
compatible with the principles of the kingdom of              calling in life in connection with very specific sins,
heaven,                                                       then they must hear the Word of God. They must not


982                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


hear a minister telling them about life, They must              And finally, and in connection with this, beware of
hear God Himself speak to them through the Word.             being harsh on the pulpit. You must be authoritative.
The commands to live spiritually must be firmly              You must be able to say: "Thus saith the Lord." But
rooted in the Scriptures. Only then will these com-          you will not attain that if you harshly rant and rave
mands come with the very authority of God Himself.           against God's people and castigate them for their sins.
   I cannot emphasize this strongly enough. It hap-          The Dutch have an expression which warns against
pens too often. The minister must be on his guard            making the "preekstoel een steekstoel." Roughly
against the evil of dragging something into his sermon       translated, I suppose this would mean that one makes
which has nothing to do with his text. If he wants to        the pulpit a whipping post. Jesus deals with his
warn the people of God against a particular sin, let         people as a shepherd deals with his sheep - tenderly,
him choose a text appropriate to that and show in a          carefully, lovingly. You can do no differently - even
very careful way that God's Word opposes that sin. If        when they stray. And the best way to avoid this
he ever hears his parishioners say, after a sermon:          danger is to see yourself as one of those wandering
"The minister can easily talk. He really does not            sheep. When you preach to yourself, understanding
know what life is all about, and what its difficulties       your own sins and weaknesses, you will not deal
are", then he had better ask himself first of all            roughly with those for whom Christ died.
whether he has carefully shown from God's Word
that this sin is condemned by God. Practical applica-                                          Fraternally in Christ,
tions which do not flow naturally from the text do                                                         H. Hanko
more harm than good. Avoid them as you would the
plague.





                                           Book Review

(Note: this review of Rev. D. Engelsma's book, Mar-             "MARRIAGE", by D. Engelsma; published by
riage: The Mystery of Christ and the Church, is re-          R.F.P.A., Grand Rapids, Michigan.
printed from The Gospel Witness of June, 1976.)                Ours is a decadent, sex-obsessed society. Porno-
  There is only one book for review this Quarter. We         graphic literature is freely available: censorship of
have purposely excluded others because we deem               books, films and art-forms is being relaxed to the
THIS  book so important that we do not want its              point where it is a farce to say we have censorship:
value overlooked or forgotten by the mention of              traditional (and Biblical) standards of morality are
others. The book is timely. We would wish it could be        sneered at and tossed aside: loose and temporary
made "required reading" for  EVERY  adult New                associations of the sexes is rapidly becoming the
Zealander; that EVERY adult read it - marked it -            norm among a great many of our young people:,
learnt it - and inwardly digested it. If this were so; if    marriage itself is under heavy attack. Books on the
the contents of this book were put into practice,            subject of sex are flooding off the presses and becom-:
society would become more stable and broken homes            ing more and more explicit - and so we could go on,'
would be few and far between.                                ad nauseum.
  The book may be ordered through the O.P.C.                   Well, THIS is a book on marriage (every aspect of
Bookshop P.O. Box 2289, Christchurch. There may              it) but, it is different. It is written from an entirely
be some delay in copies arriving from the publishers,        different standpoint from the spate of books on the
but it is a book worth waiting for. (P.S. The book is        subject that are available. It is a very able exposition
not held in stock, but orders may be placed with the         of the theology of marriage. But don't let that mis-
confidence that supplies will be obtained with the           lead you. It is no "dry-as-dust" abstract study which
minimum of delay. The American price is $3.50).              only scholars and theologians can appreciate. On the


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                983


contrary! It is simple  - direct  - and practical; and        Althoughrthe  student of Scripture will find con-
the fact that it is written to teach the meaning of        siderable wealth sof exegesis in it, the book is not a
marriage from the only authoritative standard we           mere academic study of selected Biblical passages. Far
have (the Word of God) makes it all the more valu-         from it. It is a book that has grown out of a busy
able. To quote from the jacket: "The Word of God           pastor's care for the people of his congregation. All
requires us to view marriage as the mystery of Christ      the material in the book was preached as a series of
and the Church. This is the light which illumines          sermons "with the practical purpose that the married
every aspect of marriage, which makes clear the call-      and youth alike might know and honour God's
ing of husbands and wives in marriage, which dis-          institution of marriage".
tinguishes CHRISTIAN marriage from the dark per-              The sermons proved so helpful to the whole con-
versions of marriage in the world." From THIS point        gregation that urgent pressure was brought to bear
of view, the book does not disappoint.                     upon the pastor to publish the series so that a very
  In 9 chapters the author ably expounds the teach-        much wider circle of people might benefit from the
ing of Scripture on marriage; and to show the com-         teaching so ably given. Every point that arises from
prehensive nature of the book, we list the chapter         the exposition of the Bible texts is applied to life
headings. "The Mystery of Marriage"; "The Institu-         situations: in this way we are shown the practical
tion of Marriage"; "The Christian Man as Husband";         bearing of the Word of God on every aspect of
"The Christian Woman as Wife"; "Sex in Marriage";          married life.
"Children in Marriage"; "The Forbidding of                    This is one of those books that you wish could be
Divorce"; "The Marriage of Believer and Unbeliever";       put into the hands of every married couple and those
"The Unbreakable Marriage Bond".
  In each chapter the author takes a relevant passage      contemplating marriage. It is  FULL  of practical
                                                           instruction. For those wise enough to buy it - read it
of Scripture, and in a careful and thorough analysis of    - and apply it, it will prove a most enriching posses-
the words and syntax, he unfolds the meaning so            sion as husbands and wives discover the purpose of
clearly, and applies it so directly, that no one could     marriage and what it means to be "heirs together of
possibly be left in doubt as to what marriage is           the grace of life".
intended to be and what God requires of those who                                                                           I.G.B.
marry.





                                                                                           NOTICE
                                                              Classis East will meet in regular session on October 6, 1976 in the
                                                           First Prot. Ref. Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Material to be
                                                           treated in this session must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk at least
                                                           ten days prior to the convening of the session.

                                                                                                   Jon Huisken
  Know the standard  y-~                                                                           Stated Clerk

          and follow it.                                                         ELIGIBLE FOR CALL
                                                              The Mission Committee hereby informs the churches that  Hudson-
                                                           ville's Consistory has declared our Missionary, Rev. Dale H. Kuiper,
                                                           eligible for a call in our churches.

                                                                                                   Mission Committee
                                                                                                   J.M. Faber, sec'y.


                                                                                   ANNUAL MEETING
                      Read the                                The annual meetjng of the Reformed Free Publishing Association
                                                           will be held Thursday evening, September 23, at the Southwest Prot.
                                                           Ref. Church at 8 PM.
           STANDARD BEARER!                                   Nominees for the board, (three to be chosen) are George Hoekstra
                                                           Gerrit Holstege, Fred Huizenga,  Glare Kuiper, Tom Reitsma and Hank
                                                           Velthouse. Rev. C. Hanko will speak to us on "The Standard Bearer on
                                                           the Mission field." Mark your calendar now and plan to attend this
                                                           meeting.


 THE STANDARD BEARER             --  ~  -  -  -  -  -.-u
       P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49606


                                                                   .:,;:

                                                            /       +.s      ~..     I





984                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


                                News From Our Churches

  At this writing, two of our churches are without                of August 1 in Prospect Park. We received a warm
pastors. They are Kalamazoo, Michigan and Redlands                welcome from the congregation. They are presently
California. Rev. Marvin Kamps accepted a call to                  meeting in the Legion Hall on North 8th Street, but
Doon, Iowa and was scheduled to preach his farewell               they have some rather firm plans to change that. Rev.
sermon in  Redlands on August 22. From a trio of                  den Hartog has moved into the new parsonage. Plans
Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. G. Van  Baren,. and Rev. R.               have been drawn for the new church building. In view
Van Overloop, Redlands has extended a call to Rev.                of the fact that the church will no longer be located
K o r t e r i n g .                                               in Prospect Park, the congregation has changed the
  The Hudsonville consistory and the Mission Com-                 name to Covenant Protestant Reformed Church. Rev.
mittee, in harmony with the decision of the last                  den Hartog's new address is 283 Squawbrook Road,
Synod, has declared Rev. Dale Kuiper eligible for call            Wyckoff, New Jersey 07481. His phone number is
in one of our churches. Rev. Kuiper labored as home               201-891-0902. Our people in Prospect Park are most
missionary in Maine until this spring.                            pleased to receive vistprs from other of our churches.
                                                                  Because they are hundreds of miles from any of our
  Rev. Arie den Hartog, pastor of our church in                   other churches they really appreciate fellowship with
Prospect Park, New Jersey sent in the following news              other saints. It has been our experience that this is
item. "Prospect Park has purchased property for the               also the case in our other churches, a fact you might
future building of a church. The property is located              bear in mind when you plan your family vacation.
in a residential area of Wykcoff, New Jersey, which is
near to Prospect Park. The property includes five                     Rev. Moore has also written to extend a warm
acres of land, since this is the requirement for church           invitation to our people to visit him and his con-
property in the Boro of Wykoff. Also, the property                gregation in Edmonton. His new address is: Rev.
has a house on it that will be used for the parsonage.            Ritihard G. Moore, 12324 -134th St., Edmonton,
According to present plans, Rev. den Hartog and his               Alberta, Canada  TSLlVl. His phone number is
family will be moving into the house some time in the             4559803.
month of July. If some of you in the denomination                     Edmonton Church bulletins are a real pleasure to
have heard rumors for quite some time already con-                read. They seem to exude joy and thankfulness. This
cerning this great development, these rumors were                 `was especially true -of the special bulletin on the
indeed correct. Our delay in announcing this to the               occasion of Rev. Moore's installation service held last
denomination has been due to the fact that we                     May 27. All the `dedicated nominees' who preached
desired to obtain a building permit for the church                for and labored with the congregation in Edmonton
building before we announced it, since this would                 are thanked by name.
make our future plans more definite.  We. are still                  As mentioned last month, a series of messages by
presently working on obtaining a permit and since it              Rev. Engelsma is being carried on the Family Radio
seems that it might take some time yet, we thought it             Net work on the program "Conference Echoes."
best to announce this great news to the denomination              These programs are being broadcast on Monday and
now. We hope in the near future to give you more                  Tuesday evenings in the New Jersey area during
information and perhaps to include some pictures.                 August and September. The stations include: KEAR
This is a great step of faith for us as a congregation,           FM San Francisco, CA, KEBR FM Sacramento, CA,
especially because of our small size and because of               KECR FM El Cajon, CA WFME FM Newark, NJ,
the high cost of property in this metropolitan area.              WKDN FM Camden, NJ, WFSI FM Annapolis, MD,
We have made this great step with much prayer and                 WYFR  Scituate, MA. Efforts are being made to
with earnest desire to firmly establish our congrega-             provide this network with more programming from our
tion of the Protestant Reformed Church in this area."             churches, including Rev. Van Baren's series on crea-
  Subsequent to receiving ,Rev. den Hartog's letter,              tion.
our family traveled to the East and spent the Sunday                                                             K.G.V.


