STANDARD
   BEARER
     A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





   The  all-out emphasis on the Almighty
 sovereignty of Jehovah God is the truth
 and beauty of Calvinism. . . . The em-
 phatic proclamation of sovereign grace is  )
 the power and comfort of Calvinism.
Touch this, and you are not guarding
 against hyper-Calvinism, but rather are
 creating  Pelagianism and Arminianism.
                    See "Hyper-Calvinism" and
            the Call of the Gospel - Page 81





                                  Volume  LIII, No. 4, November 15;  1976-
                                             ISSN 0362-4692


74                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                 Semi-monthly. except monthly  @ring June, July, and August.
                                  CONTENTS:                                                      Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                    Second Class Postage Paid at Grand  Raputs.   Mich.
                                                                                             Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
Meditation  -                                                                                Department Editors:  Rof.  Robert  D. Decker. Rev. David J.  Engelsma.
                                                                                             Rev. Cornelius Hanko. Prof. Herman Hanko. Rev. Robert C.  liarbach.
      Lazarus: One Whom God Helps . . . . . . . . . . . . .74                                R e v .   John  A.  Hey%  Rev.  Jay  Kortering,   Rev.  M.  Hoeksema.  R e v .
                                                                                             George C. Lubbers, Rev.  Meindert   Joostens.  Rev.  Marmus   Schipper,
                                                                                             Rev.  Glx J. Van  Baren.  Rev. Herman  Veldman.  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink.
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MEDITA TIO N



                          Lazarus: One Whom God Helps
                                                                                  Rev. C. Hanko


                       `But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things,
                  and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. " Luke
                   16:25.


PATIENTWAITING                                                                                 name, a most beautiful name. "One Whom God
                                                                                               Helps."
The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus con-                                                       To all appearances the rich man should have had
fronts us with an amazing paradox.                                                             that name. Of him we are told, that "he was clothed
      The rich man, esteemed by men, remains nameless                                          in purple, and fared sumptuously every day." As with
even in hell. The poor, despised beggar is given a                                             a brush-stroke of a master artist, Jesus pictures to us a


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 75


man who occupies a  palatial dwelling, who is sur-            which ran their healing tongues over his painful,
rounded by a host of servants waiting upon his whims          festering sores. Even his name seems like a contradic-
and wants. The rich man appears in public in costly           tion. To all outward appearances the rich man re-
attire as a man of means who knows how to use his             ceived all the help from God, and Lazarus none. If
resources to his best advantage. His well-supplied            there were such a thing as "common grace" in this
table is rarely lacking of guests of the highest rank of     world, the rich man had a goodly share, of it, and
society. In one word, the rich man lives a flamboyant         Lazarus was left out. Yet man judges by outward
life, in an attitude of "let us eat, drink, and be merry,     appearance; God knows the heart. (Verse 15).
for tomorrow it is all over." Seemingly he had not a            The real difference between the rich man and
care in the world; he was well cared for.                     Lazarus is centered in the heart. The rich man had
  There was also "a certain beggar named Lazarus,            one cardinal sin that became evident through the
which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring      presence of the beggar at his gate. One might say that
to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich           his sin was Lazarus. The rich man was a proud, self-
man's table; moreover, the dogs came and licked his          ish, cruel, mammon worshipper. God used Lazarus to
sores." Someone, whoever that may have been, tossed          expose that evil heart. The rich man was forced to
this thin, weak, ugly, festering, reeking beggar, like an    turn his head every time he stepped over that sorry,
unwanted dog, at the gate of the rich man in the hope        hungry spectacle. He was compelled to banish the
that the poor fellow might find some help and sym-           sight of that emaciated face from his mind, lest it
pathy there. His very presence in the gutter of the          spoil his appetite for the delicious abundance of
streets of Jerusalem was a sad commentary on the             bread and wine that weighed down his table. Why
spiritual condition of the church of that day. The           spoil his dinner with unpleasant thoughts?
laws of Moses prohibited having beggars in the land,
since it was the duty of those who loved Jehovah to             Lazarus knew how to put his trust in God. At the
manifest that love to the neighbor, either directly or       portal of the affluent, with the fragrant odor of
through the priesthood. Yet at the time of Jesus there       steaming hot dishes wafting past his nostrils, he might
seems to have been an exceptionally large number of          well have felt like Asaph of Psalm 73, when Asaph
lepers haunting the hills and caves outside of the           saw the prosperity of the wicked and keenly felt his
cities; and even in the Holy City one beggar sat for         own oppression renewed every morning. His feet
some time at the very gate of the temple. The rich           might well have slipped from the way of quiet trust,
man likely shrugged off his obligation to the miser-         had he allowed himself to be needled to envy by all
able wretch at his threshold with the thought that it        that extravagance. But like Asaph, Lazarus went into
was a crying shame that the proper authorities cared         the sanctuary, that is, out there in the gutter he
so little about the imposition placed upon him, one          turned to God in prayer, seeking the answer to his
of their esteemed citizens. It never occurred to him         many questions in the inscrutable wisdom, the al-
that God had laid the beggar there. Nor did he give it       mighty power, and boundless goodness of his God.
any thought that some people had entertained angels          Lazarus had far more reason than we to ask, as we so
unawares. Lazarus was only an undesirable, who was           often do at the slightest provocation, Has God for-
better off dead than alive.                                  gotten to be kind? Will He withhold His mercies for-
                                                             ever? The beggar had nothing; yet he would have
  The paradox is intensified by the fact that both the       been content with very little. All he desired was a
rich man and Lazarus were descendants of Abraham,            crumb of bread from the rich man's table to ease his
and members, as it were, of the same church. The rich        hunger pangs for a moment. He knew that the little
man was very proud to be able to claim Abraham as            that the righteous hold is better far than all the
his father. He was born of Jewish parents, had been          wealth of wicked men. His humble prayer was but for
circumcised on the eighth day according to the law of        bread, bread enough  for. the day, until God would
Moses, possibly belonged to the highly respected sect        take his weary soul into the Rest. He had his treasure
of the Pharisees, and was esteemed among the elite of        stowed away in heaven, for with an eye of faith he
society as one who knew and scrupulously kept the            saw the better things that God had prepared for him,
letter of the law. Even after he is dead he still            with eager hands he reached out for that perfect com-
addresses Abraham as "Father," and Abraham refers            munion with God that now in a small way eased his
to him as "son." Lazarus was also born of Jewish             loneliness and suffering. Lazarus was rich, far richer
parents, was circumcised, and was brought up in the          than the rich man, even though "evil things" were his
instruction of the Scriptures. Whatever may have             lot in this life. He was rich in faith, faith in his God
befallen him, his lot on earth was that he had become        Who loved him so intensely that in His longsuffering
desperately helpless, dependent, and miserable, until        He was willing to suffer along with Lazarus, measur-
he had no friend in the world. The only companion-           ing out each day's afflictions to work an eternal
ship and compassion he knew came from the dogs               glory. Lazarus was rich in his God, with Whom he


76                                              THE STANDARD: BEARER


tasted intimate fellowship, in Whom he trusted,               that  He  Who spared not His own Son from the
knowing that God made his every need His care.                accursed death of the cross to save us from our sins,
                                                              also grants us with Him all things.
BLESSEDCOMFORT
      Death is often an enemy. Death can also be a wel-       IiIS GLORIOUS REWARD
come friend.                                                    When the rich man opens his eyes he sees Lazarus.
      The rich man died. In spite of his own plans for the    The man whose name appears nowhere in the Book
[uture, and in spite of every effort of the doctors to        of Life sees him whose name is so plainly written
keep him alive, he died. Succinctly Jesus adds, "And          there. He whom the rich man did not deign to help,
was buried." Relatives and friends bemoaned the loss          was and always will be helped of God. He who was so
for them and the church. The officiating "minister"           highly esteemed among men is rejected of God, for
at his funeral spoke long and tender eulogies of the          God sees the heart. He who despised God and His
departed, assuring the family that he was now entered         Word, because he preferred to have mammon supply
into his reward. A large entourage followed .his casket       his needs, is despised of God. He who showed no
to the costly tomb carved out of a hill, where he was         mercy receives no mercy. Yet this rich man ventures
gently laid to rest. Yet the rich man knew nothing            to make a small request, a very small one. He asks
about this. He could not even enjoy it, for, being "in        father Abraham to remember that the rich man was
hell he lifted up his eyes in torment." The expression        born of a Jewish family, was circumcised on the
"lifted up his eyes to heaven" is a figure of speech in       eighth day according to the law of Moses, and had
harmony with the parable, but the place of hell and           scrupulously kept that law with his tithes and sacri-
the torment with its hot fire, its gnawing of the             fices and prayers. Is not that sufficient reason to send
tongue and gnashing of teeth is a very real and bitter        Lazarus, who knew so well what misery was, to carry
experience. Immediately after death the wicked go to          a drop of water, no more than a mere drop, on the tip
their appointed place under the righteous judgment            of his finger,.to lay it soothingly on the tongue, even
of the living God, Who judges every man according to          the tip of the tongue of the rich man, that for a split
the deeds done in the body, whether good or evil.             second he might experience a bit of relief, ever so
      Lazarus, on the other hand, "was carried by the         small, from his bitter agony. Lazarus knew what it
angels into Abraham's bosom." Some consider this a            was to want a crumb of bread; the rich man wants
bit of gloss that he was carried by angels to heaven, I       but a drop of water from Lazarus.
am inclined to think that this is very real, that the          Even that small respite is refused him. Why? Be-
angels do accompany the souls of the departed into            cause he was in the natural sense of the word a son of
their mansion in Father's House, just as an entire            Abraham, a member of the church. He spoke to his
angel host accompanied Jesus at His exaltation into           own condemnation, for he showed plainly that he
heaven. Lazarus' resting in Abraham's bosom is, of            had known the way and had not walked in it. He
course, a figurative expression, but it does express a        knew that God demanded mercy, and not sacrifice,
blessed reality. God has carried out His promise to           love, and not pretense, love to God manifested in
Abraham, "I will establish my covenant between me             caring for one of these little ones. Through the cor-
and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations         ridors of hell rang and still rings that terrible in-
for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee,           dictment: "Son, remember!" If only the clock would
and to thy seed after thee." The father of believers          stop its monotonous ticking; if only the voice of con-
sees his real spiritual children gathered round about         science would keep silence; if only that constant
him in the intimate fellowship of the saints about the        remembrance of Lazarus could be blotted out! But
throne. He receives poor Lazarus, who suffered so             there is an impassable gulf between heaven and hell;
much here below, into his bosom, that Lazarus may             both heaven and hell are so final.
lay his weary head on his shoulder to have the last
vestige of his tears wiped from his eyes. Now he                Lazarus also has his reward as the reward of grace.
realizes that every hunger pang, every tear, every            He who was faithful to his God even unto death en-
cringe of pain, even every cold and sleepless night was       joys the crown of life. He who put his trust in God
measured out to him as a proper dosage of medicine            was not put to shame. He who fixed his hope on
in the exact amount that was necessary for him by             treasures that have real and lasting value has gone into
the concerned Pharmacist, Who cares as a Father for           the Rest. He is and remains a lasting testimony that
His children. The man whom God helps is not given a           Lazarus, the man whom `God, helps, is always blessed,
few trinkets that may appeal to the eye, but receives         for the poor in spirit inherit the Kingdom.
               :                                     _.
treasures of eternal value. Lazarus now fully realizes          Blessed Lazarus!

                         Know the standard and follow it! Read THE STANDARD BEARER.                                  I


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                77



EDITORIALS



                           About Books and Parchments
                           Baptism On the Mission Field

                                                Prof: H.C. Hoeksema



  Do you read?                                               each week - whether that be on a Sunday afternoon,
  Do you read worthwhile books?                              or whether it be some evening during the week  -
                                                             which you devote to worthwhile reading. Steadfastly
  Do  you read our Protestant Reformed literature,           refuse to turn on your TV during that time; apart
published by the Reformed Free Publishing Associa-           from any other considerations, television is far too
tion?                                                        much of a time-robber in far too many homes any-
  Do you train your children, as they grow up into           way. And make up your mind that you are going to
young.people, to read?                                       devote that set time to reading. And put first on your
                                                             list our R.F.P.A. publications.
  Is the complete list of our R.F.P.A. publications
found on your home library shelf? And are those                But there are other, more practical considerations
books more than mere decorations on your shelf? Do           for the advisability of your adding our Protestant
they show the signs of being used?                           Reformed literature to your library.
                                                               How often have I not heard the question: where
  The fear is not unwarranted that in too many of            can I find some dependable study materials on this or
our Protestant Reformed homes the answers to the             that? Where can I find a good guide on the Parables?
above questions are negative. The statistics concern-        Where can I find answers to my questions about the
ing inventory and sales of our Publications Com-             Book of Revelation? Our minister gave us  study-
mittee prove that as many as almost 50% of our               questions or a written assignment in connection with
Protestant Reformed families do not have some of             the Heidelberg Catechism or for our Essentials of
our recently published books in their homes, much            Reformed Doctrine class; where can I look up the
less read them and study them. This is not good! We          answers to these questions? Where can I find an
live in a day when it is necessary for our very survival     explanation of this or that text? Where can I find a
as a communion of Reformed believers that we be              good exposition of the covenant and of the place of
thoroughly founded in the truth of the Word of God           children in the covenant?
according to our Reformed creeds. Everything round
about us and from within us militates against our              Over the past ten years or so the R.F.P.A. has
profession. To maintain that profession we must be           made available in our various ,publications a veritable
well-equipped. We must understand and grow in the            gold-mine of such study materials. Do you own
truth. We must understand and be equipped to with-           them? Do you use them?
stand the lie. This is true with respect to the doctrines      You young people who are courting and contem-
of our Reformed faith as such; it is also true with          plating marriage, have you considered that you ought
respect to the application of those truths to our life       to read and study that gem of a book, Marriage, The
in the midst of the world. And one of the best and           Mystery of Christ and the Church? You parents with
most trustworthy means of growing in the knowledge           little children, are you concerned to train your chil-
of the truth and of becoming well-equipped for the           dren in the fear of the Lord? Have you studied to-
battle of faith is the good reading material offered by      gether Placeable  Fruit (For the Nurture of Covenant
our R.F.P.A.                                                 Youth)?
  Hence, if you are not a spontaneous reader, I                And so I could offer more such suggestions.
strongly urge that you set up a reading program for            But there is another consideration. Our R.F.P.A.
yourself, and then stick to it. Set aside a certain time     Publications Committee (Its official name is Perma-


78                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


nent Committee For The Publication of Protestant           churches; otherwise it is not more than a dead letter.
Reformed Literature.) is dependent chiefly on you,         For that reason also, our consistories should express
our Protestant Reformed readers, for its financial         themselves, if necessary, by way of overture to
ability to publish more books. We are a non-profit         Synod. I do not mean that consistories should merely
organization; and we operate in such a way that our        inform synod that they are in favor of the Study
income from the sales of earlier publications is sup-      Report or that they are against it. This is meaningless;
posed to provide the money to publish new books.           it helps no one; and Synod should pay no attention
Thus, for example, if we sell 1000 copies of Behold,       whatsoever to such communications. If overtures are
He Cometh! for $9.95 each, this will provide us with       to be helpful, they must suggest changes, better
$9,950.00 to publish our next book. Ever since pub-        formulations, clarifications, reasons for disagreement,
lication of Reformed Dogmatics this has worked out         etc.
well. In most instances the sale of each new book to
our own people was each time sufficient to recover           As suggested before, all of us should read and
our original investment and to finance our next pub-       study carefully the Report of the Study Committee
lication. But at present we are in somewhat of a bind.     and the attached documents. These are found in the
Due to various circumstances, we have so much of           1976 Acts of Synod, pages 103, ff. They will not be
our money tied up in inventory (of previous publica-       repeated  in  the  Standard Bearer,  except that from
tions and reprints) that we do not have sufficient         time to time in the course of these editorials specific
assets for new publications.                               portions will be quoted.
      And one of the chief reasons for this is the fact
that a large percentage of our own people simply have      A Bit Of History
not purchased some of our recent publications. Our           One of the items committed for study in this con-
records prove this.                                        nection was our Form for Ordination of Missionaries
  We believe that this publishing project is a good        (The Psalter, pp. 74-76). It is, of course, proper that
work and that it ought to continue.                        this Form be consulted: for our Liturgical Forms are
                                                           "confessions of a secondary order," and as such are
  We are not asking for gifts.                             binding in the churches.
  We only ask that you, our primary market, buy our          It is important, I believe, that this Form for Ordi-
publications. By doing so you will kill two birds with     nation of Missionaries be studied in the light of his-
one stone: you will help yourself to good literature,      tory. As I hope to point out later, this history will
and you will make possible the continuation of our         help us understand certain things contained in the
publishing work.                                           Form which are pertinent to this question of baptism.
  To give you an incentive and to hold this work             As far as that history is concerned, it proved
before you, we intend to advertise our books in these      almost impossible to obtain any specific information
pages on a regular basis. And we also intend from          about this Form. One looked in vain for.any informa-
time to time to offer you some special bargains. Look      tion in some of the better known works on Reformed
for these ads, beginning with this issue.                  Liturgies.  Kuyper's  Onze Eeredienst,  Biesterveld's
  And remember, too, that Christmas is coming. And         Gereformeerde Kerkboek, and Heyns's Liturgiek do
a good book makes a good gift!                             not mention it. We finally found some information in
                                                           a syllabus on Liturgies  written by Dr. H. Beuker, one
A Word Of Introduction                                     of the early professors at Calvin Seminary. This syl-
  As we promised some time ago, we intend to re-           labus is a very interesting piece of work, by the way:
flect editorially on this question and, in connection      it: was reproduced by means of handwritten mimeo-
therewith, on the material presented by the Synodical      graph stencils (and in a beautiful and clear hand-
Study Committee. Our last Synod referred the report        writing, too!). From this syllabus we learn that this is
of the Study Committee to the churches for study.          not a Form which came down to us from the early
And these editorial comments have as their purpose         years of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands
to assist that study. Meanwhile, we trust that our         and is not a Form which, as do many of our forms,
people, and especially our consistories, will indeed       has the stamp of approval of the Synod of Dordrecht.
study this matter. If and when our Synod makes a           Here is the story of this Form as quoted from H.
declaration on this matter, that  synodical decision       Beuker, pp. 47,48 (we translate):
must not be a mere declaration "from the top down"           "This form is undeniably the youngest of all our
and it must not merely be based on the fact that a         ecclesiastical forms. The Christian Reformed church
small -study committee did, or did not, present plau-      in the Netherlands had taken in hand the mission
sible and convincing argumentation. The ultimate           work among the Mohammedans and the Heathen. She
decision must be the expression of the mind of the         had also learned to see that the sending out to the


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 79



 Heathen of so-called `missionaries' who were not           mained in use in the Netherlands until now, and was
 ordained as ministers of the Word in the homeland,         taken over in the Christian Reformed Church in
 but who were appointed and sent out to minister the        America. One can find it in the back of the new
 Word and Sacrament among the heathen, apart from           edition of the Church Order and the Synodical Regu-
 the church, by societies and individuals, was not          lations which was published in 1897 by J.B. H&t."
 according to the Word of God. The Christian Re-              Bear in mind, however, that this Form was origi-
 formed church realized that he who would be min-           nally only a Form for Ordination of Missionaries to
 ister of the Word of God in a foreign country also had     the Heathen. If you want to see this Form as it was
 to be a lawful minister in the homeland and in his         originally, you must omit the entire section entitled
 own church. They felt indeed that the field of labor       "To The Dispersed." The latter was added by the
 differed from that in the home church, but that  the       Christian Reformed Church in America at a later
 office had to be one and the same. They felt that the      date. The earliest reference to this addition which I
 ordinary Form for Ordination did not wholly fit this       could find was in a 1905 edition of the Church Order,
 entirely special work. When in 1873 brother  Enno          where it appears with the footnote: "The above Form
 Haan (later a Christian Reformed minister in Amer-         came from the late Prof. Dr. H. Beuker. Since there
 ica, HCH) was to be sent in behalf of the afore-           was great need, we took the liberty to change it and
 mentioned church to Java (Quitang near Batavia), he        to expand it in so far as was necessary in order that it
 fast had to be ordained as minister of the Word and        can be used also for the ordination of Ministers of the
 Sacraments. They instructed Rev. H. Beuker (the            Word for Home Missions. - The Committee."
 same man who wrote this Liturgies  and who came to
 America and was professor at Calvin Seminary, HCH),           And thus we inherited the Form in our Protestant
 at that time minister at Haarlingen and vice-president     Reformed Churches.
 of the Mission Committee to prepare a concept-form           This is the story, therefore. This was a Form for
 for that purpose. He fulfilled this mandate. In pre-       Ordination of Missionaries to the Heathen. To this
 paring this form he adhered, in so far as the nature of    Form was added a section to adapt it for use in the
 the case permitted, to the existing form for the           Ordination of Home Missionaries. Apart from a few
 ordination of the minister of the Word who was             words in the beginning of the Form, the only change
 called to labor in the home churches. Where the par-       that was made was the addition of that section en-
 ticular field of labor required something different, he    titled "To The Dispersed." For the rest, we are using
 tried to hold as strictly as possible to God's Word.       a Form originally designed for Missionaries to the
 The concept-form was first approved by the Mission         Heathen.
 Committee and later also by the General Synod of
 the Christian Reformed Church. With the use of this           How this affects the Form and what it has to do
form Rev. E. Haan was ordained that same year in the        with the question under discussion we shall point out
 congregation of Kampen by the author. It has re-           next time, the Lord willing.


  QUESTION BOX


                 About Retirement of Ministers

                                               ProJ: H.C. Hoeksema



    From a Michigan reader I received the following         Reply
 questions: "How can we determine when a minister             That's quite an order! To answer fully and to ex-
 should retire? Who should take the initiative when         plore all the possibilities would surely require more
 such a case does arise? Should our churches develop a      than one article. But I will try to make a few  sug-
 policy that would deal uniformly and impartially           gestions.
 with all retiring ministers?"                                Perhaps the first thing we ought to do is to get


80                                             THE  STANDARD'BEARER


before us the data of our Church Order on this sub-          instances the rule has been adopted in order to meet
ject. Article 13 of our Church Order lays down the           some problem. In some instances the problem has
governing principles: "Ministers, who by reason of           been a surplus of candidates, and mandatory retire-
age, sickness, or otherwise, are rendered incapable of       ment served to clear the old men out of congregations
performing the duties of their office, shall never-          and to provide places for the young. This problem we
theless retain the honor and title of a minister, and        have never had as yet. In some instances a rule is
the church which they have served shall provide              adopted in order to prevent the abuse of early retire-
honorably for them in their need (likewise for the           ment: ministers who are not truly dedicated and who
orphans and widows of ministers) out of the common           look for a life of ease may be tempted to retire when
fund of the churches, according to the general               they are still fully capable of working. In such  in-
ecclesiastical ordinances in this matter." Article 14 is     st,ances churches found it necessary to say: you may
also pertinent in part: "If any minister, for the afore-     not retire (if you are healthy) until you reach the age
said or any other reason, is compelled to discontinue        of 65. Also this problem we have not as yet had in
his service for a time, which shall not take place with-     our churches. A third possibility is, of course, that a
out the advice of the consistory, he shall nevertheless      rule like this is adopted in order to relieve all con-
at all times be and remain subject to the call of the        cerned (minister, consistory, and congregation) of the
congregation." Finally, there is the Constitution of         necessity of making a decision in this matter. It can
the Emeritus Committee (a misnomer, by the way!),            readily-be understood, I think, that the matter of
which regulates much more than the work of a com-            retirement can be rather traumatic and even em-
mittee. It does two things: 1) It regulates the pro-         barrassing. This is possible for a minister, especially
cedure to be followed in retiring (Articles 3 and 4). !2)    for a minister who is thoroughly dedicated to the
It regulates the procedure to be followed by all con-        service of God and who has worked and battled hard
cerned in the granting of retirement support. As to          for many years. On the one hand, it may look good
procedure in retiring, it is worth noting that Article 3     to him to lay down his labors and to enjoy some.
of the Constitution seems to be more restrictive than        leisure; but perhaps his sense of dedication (rightly or
the Church Order itself: "The minister shall present         wrongly) holds him back. On the other hand, it may
his request for emeritation to his consistory who shall      not look attractive to him suddenly to be "put out to
decide upon his request with approbation of  classis         pasture." He may also be of the opinion - even when
and synod. .  ." (Incidentally,  emeritation  is not a       others have a different opinion  - that he is quite
word; neither is  emeritate.)  For the rest, the Con-        capable of doing his work very efficiently, perhaps
stitution deals mostly with various regulations and          even better than "those young whippersnappers." He
restrictions which are not pertinent to this discussion.     may even reach the stage that he boasts a bit that he
      Let me begin with the last question of my ques-        feels well enough to go on for a few more years, and
tioner. I take it for granted that we all understand         fail to note that his boast is not met with enthusiastic
that to an extent we already have a uniform and              agreement from those to whom he speaks. And it is
impartial policy; that is, all cases of retirement must      also possible that a man simply reaches the stage that
be dealt with in the same way under the Church               he does not know enough to retire when it is per-
Order and the Constitution of the Emeritus Com-              fectly obvious to everyone else. And thus, of course,
mittee. Besides, it may be expected that our churches        it can ultimately become very embarrassing for a con-
will also deal even-handedly, under these rules, from a      sistory and congregation,  %hen there is no fixed
financial point of view:  ". . .the church which they        retirement age, to feel that it is getting to be time for
have served shall provide honorably for them in their        their minister to retire, when he does not seem to
need. . ." There is one aspect of retirement, however,       realize it or does not want to admit it, and to be very
in which we have no policy: retirement on account of         reluctant to talk to him about it or to ask him to
age. Our churches have set no age at which retirement        retire. From this point of view, I can see merit in
becomes permissible; neither have they set an age at         adopting a fixed retirement age. This will avoid prob-
which retirement becomes mandatory. The question             lems, and it will avoid any possible charge of partial-
is: should we have a uniform policy in this regard?          ity.
And if so, what should the policy be? Should we, for
example, adopt a rule that any minister  may  retire            The other side of the coin, of course, is the fact
when he is 65 years old, and that he must retire when        that a rule of this kind holds for  all; and it is a fact
he reaches the age of  70? Or should we, perhaps,            that there are also men who are very capable of doing
simply have a flat rule requiring retirement at the age      fruitful work even well after they have reached the
of 65?                                                       age of 70. The solution to that, however, might be in
                                                             the fact that retirement does not mean that a minister
  Most denominations, I think, have some kind of             may not be called upon to do  sonze work, either in
rule about this matter. And I believe that in most           his congregation or for the churches at large.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            81


  Nevertheless, we have no such rule at this time; and              for the status of emeritus when he is rendered in-
the only way in which we can get such a rule is by                  capable of performing the duties of his office by
overture to synod. Perhaps our churches should con-                 reason of age, sickness, or otherwise. We may note in
sider this. Personally, I have mixed feelings about it.             this connection that our rules (Constitution of the
  There is .one area, however, in which I feel strongly             Emeritus Committee) are more restrictive than the
that we should have a fixed retirement age, namely:                 Church Order. The Church Order itself saysnothing
in the seminary. Why there? My reason is, in the first              about the question who initiates the procedure. Our
place, that in a school there must be continuity, and               rules state: "The minister shall present his request for
therefore advance planning and provision. This is                   emeritation to his consistory. . ." I call your attention
especially true when the faculty is small. If suddenly              to the fact that this rule as it stands is too restrictive.
a faculty member is incapacitated -in our seminary,                 For example, it does not allow for a case of a minister
this means that one-third of the curriculum cannot be               who is in an auto accident and who becomes an un-
taught. Now this can happen, of course, in case of                  conscious invalid, -or for a case of a minister who has
illness or accident; but it need not happen because of              a stroke and is left senseless and speechless, or for
old age  if  there is mandatory retirement. Then the                someone who becomes insane, or for someone who
Theological School Committee and Synod can plan in                  becomes senile. It is perfectly obvious in all such
advance. that in such and such a year Professor X will              instances that another party must take the initiative;
retire and must be replaced. If in such a case Pro-                 and the proper party is undoubtedly the consistory.
fessor X is still quite capable of teaching well and                And this leads me to point out that after all it is the
vigorously, then he can be engaged on a year by year                consistory  (with the judgment of  classis and synod)
basis to teach a limited amount; and this will also give            which has the deciding voice in this matter. The con-
the new professor time to break in. My reason is, in                sistory is the governing body in the congregation; and
the second place, that twice in our history the  ini,               the minister is also subject to the rule of the  con-
struction of our school was seriously disrupted by the              sistory. ,And this implies, too, it seems to me, that if
infirmities of age, so that twice emergency provision               instance arises in which a minister ought to retire
had to be made, and twice professors had to be called               (whether because of age or other reason) but does not
pell-mell. This can be avoided, and it ought to be                  apply for retirement, then it becomes incumbent
                                                                    upon the consistory to act. Of course, such action
avoided. Moreover, the time to make this rule is now,               must be with the necessary discretion and sympa-
when it cannot be said that the making of any such
rule is aimed at getting rid of any man, because all                thetic understanding. But a consistory must also
our professors are either young or comfortably                      remember that the all-important thing is the good of
middle-aged.                                                        the congregation. The congregation may not be
                                                                    allowed to suffer damage by reason of the fact that
  The next question is: who should take the initia-                 the work of the ministry is not being properly and
tive in the matter of retirement? The answer, under                 adequately and fully done.
our rules, is that as long as we have no fixed retire-                The last question - about the how - will have to
ment age, it is the minister himself who must apply                 wait until the next issue.


TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE


                          `+Hyper-Calvinsim" and
                            the Call of the Gospel
                                                            (22)



                                               Rev. David Engelsma

  The reality of the threat of hyper-Calvinism is also              teaching that man saves himself by his own working
indicated by the Scriptures. Scripture warns that the               or willing, and the teaching that salvation by grace
gospel of grace has two outstanding enemies: the                    alone implies carelessness of life or even licentious-


     82                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


     ness. As Toplady wrote somewhere, in his character-          denial, of man's responsibility and that applies the
     istically vivid manner: "Christ is always crucified          truth of sovereign grace in such a way as to minimize,
     between two thieves. Antinomianism and  Phar-                or deny, the calling of the church and of the saved
     isaism. " Those who know and love the truth must             sinner. It is this that constitutes the error of hyper-
     beware of the former error, as well as the latter.           Calvinism. Many would-be critics of hyper-Calvinism
           Strictly speaking, antinomianism is the heresy that    fail to see this. They think to find hyper-Calvinism's
     denies that the believer ought to obey the law of            essential error in an over-emphasis on the sovereignty
     God. The word itself is composed of two Greek                of God, especially in the work of salvation. Accord-
     words:  anti,  which means "against," and  nomos,            ingly, one alleges that it is supralapsarianism that
     which means "law." It refers to a teaching that is           constitutes hyper-Calvinism; another puts the finger
     opposed to the law of God. Specifically, the teaching        on eternal justification; and still another identifies the
     is opposed to the law of God as the rule of the thank-       culprit as the doctrine of an unconditional covenant.
     ful life of the redeemed child of God. Since God's           The effect of these critics' going to war against "an
     people are saved by grace alone, the antinomian              over&emphasis on the sovereignty of God" is that they
     argues, they need not obey the law; indeed, it is            become foes, not of hyper-Calvinism, but of Calvin-
     treason to the gospel to command God's people to             ism itself.
     keep the commandments. Although the antinomian                  For one cannot emphasize the sovereignty of God
     would allow for the law's function of teaching men           strongly enough! The all-out emphasis on the al-
     their misery, he opposes that use of the law which           mighty sovereignty of Jehovah God is the truth and
     consists of its being a positive standard for holy liv-      beauty of Calvinism. Nor can one stress sufficiently
     ing. When he appears in the Reformed tradition - as          that the salvation of God's elect is, from beginning to
     he does!, he is very strong on the first part of the         end, a matter of sovereign, free grace! The emphatic
     Heidelberg Catechism and very weak on the third              proclamation of sovereign grace is the power and
     part. Essential to this false doctrine is its opposition     comfort of Calvinism. Touch this, and you are not
     to the law in  the  name of the gospel.  It does not         guarding against hyper-Calvinism, but rather are creat-
     simply reject the law, as the ungodly world also re-         ing Pelagianism and Arminianism. Not in an emphasis
     jects the law, but it rejects the law because the people     on God's sovereignty, but in a denial of man's
     of God are saved by grace without the works of the           responsibility must the characteristic flaw of hyper-
     law. Thus, the gospel of grace itself is made the            Calvinism be located.
     ground of laxity and immorality.                               `It must be quickly added that the mere fact that a
           Scripture both warns that this error will always       man, or a church, is charged with hyper-Calvinism
     harass the gospel and passes judgment upon it as false       does not prove that the man, or the church, is, indeed
     doctrine. Already in the `Old Testament, the prophet         guilty of the heresy. Hyper-Calvinism, we have said, is
     Jeremiah had to contend with Israelites who declared,        a form of antinomianism, and Scripture teaches that
     "We are delivered to do all these abominations,"' i.e.,      every defender of the sovereignty of God's grace in
     steal, murder, commit adultery, and practise idolatry        salvation will be falsely accused of antinomianism. Of
     (Jer. 7:9, 10). The Word of the Lord condemned this          Paul himself, it was reported, though slanderously,
     doctrine as "lying words, that cannot profit" (Jer.          that he taught the doctrine, "Let us do evil, that good
     7: 8).                                                       may come" (Rom. 3:  8), the sheer falsity of which
           Antinomianism is explicitly repudiated by Paul. In     slander is shown in Romans 6, 8, and 12-16. Such has
     Romans 3: 3 1, he asks, "Do we then make void the            ever been one of Rome's main attacks on the
     law through faith?" His reply is a vehement "God             Reformed faith: the preaching of  sola  gratis   makes
     forbid: yea, we establish the law." Having proclaimed        men careless and profane. Again and again, the
     a righteousness by faith only, altogether apart from         Reformed creeds refer to this charge in order to
     man's works, he asks, in Romans 6: 1, whether this           repudiate it. Question 64 of the Heidelberg Catechism
     doctrine implies wickedness of life: "What shall we          is `an instance. Regarding the truth of justification by
     say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may           faith alone, the Catechism asks: "But doth not this
     abound?" Again, his answer is a ringing renunciation         doctrine make men careless and profane?" The
     of the antinomian error: "God forbid. How shall we           answer: "By no means: for it is impossible that those,
     that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (vs. 2)      who are implanted into Christ by a true faith, should
     He admonishes the Galatian saints not to use the             not bring forth fruits of thankfulness."
     liberty of grace for an occasion to the flesh, but to           In a way, the label, "Antinomian  -  Hyper-
     exercise liberty in the only appropriate way, namely,        Calvinist," tagged on the staunch Calvinist by Calvin-
     by the keeping of God's law (Gal. 5: 13, 14).                ism's open'or secret enemies, is a badge of honor -
           In a broader sense, antinomianism is the error that    much as the Calvinist repudiates the charge. So
     interprets God's sovereignty as the weakening, or            labelled  (libelled, really!), he stands in good  com-



L


                                             THE.STANDARD  BEARE.R                                                                                   83



pany, the company of all those who have even con-           Over against this, we would now allow ourselves this
sistently and uncompromisingly stood for the                question: If you are not able to harmonize the
sovereignty of God and salvation by pure grace.             activity of men and the activity of God in the work
  We cannot ignore, in this connection, the allegation      of salvation, and for this reason you suppose that you
that a denial of human responsibility appeared in the       have to take away something either from man or
theology of Herman Hoeksema. A.C. De Jong sup-              from God, would it then not be more humble for
posed that he saw this in a well-known and  much-           man, more appropriate, and safer, rather to give him-
reported statement by Hoeksema: "I always say,              self up than in the slightest to detract anything from
beloved: Give me God, if I must make a choice. If I         the inviolability of the Being and the attributes of
must make a choice to lose God or man, give me God.         God? And if this would appear advisable to you in
Let me lose man. It's all right to me: no danger there.     general, does this not become a yet much stronger
Give me God! That's Reformed! And that's especially         obligation, when there is mention no longer of man's
Protestant Reformed!"l                                      inviolability, but of the activity of a sinner, i.e., of a
                                                            human being, which is  no  longer sound and un-
   But this dramatic "here I stand" in no way repre-        damaged? This leads to the conclusion that if some-
sented a denial, or even a weakening, of the Biblical       thing must be abandoned, either from our side or
truth of man's responsibility. The statement occurred       from God's side, the man who fears God is always
in an address given in June, 1953, in the heat of the       inclined rather to give up everything of himself than
battle of the Protestant Reformed Churches against          to take away even one thing from the full and in-
the doctrine of a conditional covenant and a condi-         violate Majesty of his God."3
tional promise. The doctrine with which Hoeksema                 This sounds familiar  -  ", . .the modernistic
was contending was not an affirmation of man's              Pelagian always emphasizes man rather than God. I
responsibility, not even a strong affirmation of man's      always say, beloved: Give me God, if I must make a
responsibility, but a denial of sovereign grace. How-       choice. If I must make a choice to lose God or man,
ever, the denial of God's sovereignty was being in-         give me God . . . Give me God: there is no salvation in
troduced in the guise of a defense of man's responsi-       man ! "
bility. In that context and in the heat of that battle,          This  ,is Reformed language. It is the language, as
when not only the Protestant Reformed Churches,             Kuyper says, of the man who fears God. To interpret
but also the truth of sovereign grace were at stake,        this language, now, as a denial of man's responsibility
Hoeksema cried out, "Give me God, if I must make a          is enough to make one who knows Abraham Kuyper
choice. If I must make a choice to lose God or man,         and Herman Hoeksema, smile.
give me God." The man who does not recognize in                  Nevertheless, a denial of man's responsibility has
this trumpet-blast the call to give glory to God in the     appeared, again and again, in the Calvinistic camp;
face of another assault on that glory by man, and           antinomianism's dirty head has protruded, again and
thrill to it, is to be pitied.                              again, to strike at the heel of the gospel of grace. And
   The sentence that immediately precedes  - not            hyper-Calvinism is antinomianism with reference to
quoted by De Jong - refers to "the Pelagian, the very       the preaching of the gospel, especially to the impera-
superficial, the individualistic, the modernistic           tive of the gospel, and with reference to the duty of
-Pelagian,  that always emphasizes  man rather than         men so addressed.
God"  (my emphasis  -  D.E.).2 In contrast to the                (patience, gentle reader: the end is in sight - to be
Pelagian, Hoeksema will emphasize God rather than           concluded)
man. In no way is the statement a denial of human
responsibility. The entire address is exactly the                IQuoted   by  A.C.  De  Jong,   The Well-Meant Gospel-Offer,  p.  81.
presentation, in clear, strong terms, of the historic            2The` Standard Bearer,  Vol.  29, "Man's  Freedom  and  Responsibil-
                                                            ity,"  p.  415.
Reformed teaching of the full responsibility of both             3Uit Het Woord,  Vol.  I (Dat de genade particolier  is),  pp.  326,327.
fallen and saved men - and is well worth reading on
this account.

   Fact is, Reformed theologians have made the very
same point, in almost the very same language, down
through the ages. Abraham Kuyper is an example. In
the course of his defense of particular grace, he writes                                      Professor   H.  Hanko
that "those who reject particular grace, on their part,                                                  $5.95
give  marz his due, but only so that they may detract                          Can be obtained from the Business  Manager of the Standard Bearer:
                                                                                              Mr. H. "anderbval
from that which is God's due . . . In order to maintain                                       P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                              Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
the moral attributes of man inviolate, they abandon
part of the attributes of the Being of the living God.      L


84                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


ALL AROUND US



                            Union Church--A First for RCA-CRC
                      A New Exploration of the Doctrine of Election
                                                Sunday Labor
                                  Victory for a Christian School

                                                 Rev. G. Van Baren

      The Banner of Oct. 8, 1976, reports on a "first"       currently taught. One of his proposals suggests a re-
for the Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed           examination of the doctrine of election. Of course, if
Church in America. A church of each of these two             churches deny the truth of reprobation, then neces-
denominations was located in Nardin Park in Detroit.         sarily the truth of election also must be re-evaluated.
When the Nardin Park Community Church (Christian             Wolterstorff writes:
Reformed) lost its building to an urban renewal                     I think the doctrine of election needs to be  ex-
project in that area, it made arrangements to `unite           : plored anew. (When didn't it?) As I see it, Reformed
with the Nardin Park Reformed Church, located a                  theologians have thought of election as God's making
short distance away. The Reformed Church was                     persons be and do something. God's producing con-
"really too small to afford a pastor's salary." But            version in a person, say. That conception of election
these had the facilities. So these two churches united         accounts for vast stretches of Reformed thought. But
on April 4. The union was unique within these two                in the Scriptures there is another - and I would guess
denominations in that the church retains ties with               by far the dominant - way of thinking of election.
both denominations. It is a "union" church. In the               Election consists of God's choosing a person (or a
                                                                 people) to do or become something. It consists of
past, union churches arose when two denominations                God's calling a person (or a people) to do or become
failed in their attempts to unite  - while individual            something. And to such a choice, such a call, there
local churches wanted that union anyway. Union                   are many biblical examples of the called person's say-
churches often also precede renewed or beginning                 ing "No." I don't know where a doctrine of election
attempts toward denominational unity. Such union                 thus conceived.would go. But it seems to me to bear
churches exist in spite of denominational differences.         the promise both of being more faithful to the Scrip-
The report does suggest that "many ecclesiastical                tures than the concept of election as God's making
questions will have to be answered." One does                  someone do or be something, and of delivering us
wonder, though, what such a union church confesses             : from a morass of traditional impasses.
concerning lodge membership or what is its con-                `One wonders what Wolterstorff would recommend
fession on necessity of Christian School education. It       doing with the Reformed creeds. One could be con-
also seems very strange that such a union can take           cerned also about the kind of theologians that will be
place without  synod&l approval  - at least there is         arising within -the church - if `Wolterstorff's  advice is
no indication in the report that such approval had           foilowed.
been gained. One can well wonder to what such an                                 SUNDAY LABOR
attempt will ultimately lead for these two denomina-           The following report is presented  jn  the  Presby-
tions.                                                       terian Journal of Sept. 22, 1976:
      A NEW EXPLORATION OF THE DOCTRINE
                      OF ELECTION                                   In a potentially significant variation upon a grow-
                                                                 ing theme, a store employee who claims she was fired
      Dr. Nicholas Wolterstorff, professor at Calvin Col-        because she refused to work on Sundays has fned a
lege, gives advice in "A Letter to a Young Theolo-               suit in U.S. District Court here against the store that
gian" `in the  Reformed Journal  of Sept. 1976.  `He             fired her.
suggests seven areas where a young theologian might                 Most such suits in recent years have been fned
work. Some of his suggestions are rather frightening
-                                                                against firms demanding their employees work on
      as he himself admits at one point. Following his          Saturdays. And most such contests, when filed on
suggestions would result in a system of doctrine bear-           religious grounds of cgnscience, have been won by
`mg little or no resemblance to Reformed doctrine as             the discharged employees.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              85


       Carolyn Dalrymple of Winston-Salem alleges that                parents." The report continued:
   her employment with a K-Mart store in High Point,                         Brother Levi's flock created their own school in
   N.C. was terminated after the store began staying                      1973 to meet their religious needs. The question of
    open on Sunday afternoons and she informed the                        accreditation immediately arose. Without a state
   management she would not be able to work on the                        charter, `the school could not continue; but in order
    grounds of religious convictions she held.                            to obtain a state charter, the school would have to
       The suit, which seeks damages totalling $32,250,                   meet "all" requirements of the state's Minimum
   was ffied against the S.S. Kresge Co., as owners of                    Standards for Ohio Elementary Schools. The Rev.
   K-Mart.                                                                Wiz read these standards and balked. He thus got him-
       The plaintiff alleges that in March of last year the               self arrested on Criminal charges.
   High Point City Council amended the city code to                          Justice Celebrezze (of the state supreme court)
   permit retail stores to open for business on Sundays.                  found the Minimum Standards "pervasive and all-
    She says she and other employees were told they                       encompassing." The regulations allocated instruc-
   would have to work from 1 to 6 p.m. on Sundays.                        tional time "almost to .the minute," with the result
       She says that when she told store officials she                    that no time could be set aside for religious in-
    could not work because of her religious beliefs, they                 struction. The rules demanded that "all" school
   told her there could be no exceptions and sub-                         activities must conform "to policies adopted by the
    sequently they fired her.                                             board of education." Under the Minimum Standards,
                                                                          the Christian Tabernacle School would be compelled
      VICTORY FOR A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL                                      to submit constant written evidence of its "coopera-
                                                                          tion and interaction" with the community.
  Increasingly, it becomes difficult for parental                            Within this little school house, the state decreed,
Christian Schools to operate. In some states particu-                     "`organized group life of all types must act in.accord-
larly, state regulations are so strict as to make con-                    `ante with established rules of social relationships
tinued operation difficult. A report of such an in-                       and a system of social controls."
stance was printed in the  Christian Beacon of Sept. 2,                  The supreme court of Ohio dismissed the case,
1976. The report was a reprint from the Orlando                       supporting the contention of the school. In its de-
Sentinel Star.  This account spoke of a certain Rev,                  cision,, the court stated that the comprehensive
Levi  Whisner and co-defendants in a court case for                   Minimum Standards could result in "the absolute
the Tabernacle Christian School vs. the State of Ohio.                suffocation of independent thought and educational
The  report stated: "The State of Ohio marshalled its                 policy.? The effect of the standards is "to obliterate
power not through a civil proceeding, but through                     the philosophy of the school and to impose that of
criminal prosecution, in an effort to punish a handful                the state."
of parents for a dreadful crime against the state. The
parents  had dared  to send their  children to an un-                    So one can see how a state will seek to impose such
chartered private school!"                                            restrictive standards upon a Christian School that it
                                                                      can not continue to function in harmony with its
  The case began some three years ago. The school                     avowed purpose. In this case, the state lost - and the,
was small but modern. It had about 60 students. The                   school won. But doubtlessly,. these sorts of pressures
education given the children was very adequate. But                   will be placed against Christian education till finally
in addition, the "children. were receiving something                  such might not be permitted at all anymore. Let us be
else also  - a pervasive indoctrination in the Bible and              faithful, then, while we have the opportunity, to in-
in the simple, unsophisticated religious faith of their               struct our children in the fear of God's Name.

FROM  HOZY WRIT

  Exposition of the Epistle, to the Galatians
                                                               (1)
                                                        Rev. G. Lubbers


EtiOSITION OF THE EPISTLE TO THE GALA-                                It is not our desire to excel these worthies in the
TIANs (1)                                                             breadth of their vision, the acuteness of their insights;
  Many excellent commentaries have been written on                    rather it is our purpose to offer a simple exposition of
this .great polemic of Paul to the churches in Galatia.               this letter so that the readers of the STANDARD


86                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


BEARER  may see the standard of faith and life for               student. It is derived from the name  "Galli" (Gaul)
the Christian in the world held aloft, that the proper           and "Celtic." According to historians, cited by both
course of the Gospel may be pursued in our battle of             Lightfoot and Meyer in their respective Com-
faith.                                                           mentaries on Galatians, these peoples came about
      Let it be well understood that Paul, in this letter, is    three centuries before Christ to these regions in Asia
waging a mighty polemic for the truth of the Gospel.             from the West, from France and Spain, as a mighty
He is not interested in his own person, his fleshy and           warlike people, which subdued the nations, and dwelt
worldly pride and self-exaltation, but he is interested          in the land. They were an independent people till
in the well-being of the church of God. (Gal. 2:6) His           they were conquered by -the power of the Romans.
sole concern is that the "truth of the Gospel may                Historians speak of these Galatians as being  wor-
continue with you." When we now set ourselves to                 shippers of idols and that they were a very fickle
write on this exalted and instructive letter, our prayer         people. There are two views held by interpreters, as
is that this aim of Paul may also be ours, and that we           to which Galatians these were. Some hold that these
with Paul may finally say, "I have fought the good               were the churches in "Southern Galatia," the
fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith,        churches which Paul and Barnabas visited on Paul's
henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of                  first missionary journey. It would then refer. to the
righteousness. . ." (II Tim. 4:7, 8) That is our guiding         churches in Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and
consideration in this study; less we may not seek and            Derbe, in which journey Paul was stoned and must
more we cannot desire.                                           have received some of his "marks of the Lord Jesus in
  We ask only one thing from all the readers, for                his body." (Gal. 6: 17) Others hold that these
myself and for all who contribute to our various                 churches were in northern Galatia, which is really
rubrics: pray for us that we may have boldness to                Galatia proper. The arguments for this presupposition
write and teach the Word of God as we ought to do.               one can read in Lightfoot and Meyer, in their Com-
We live in days when each day a minister of the Gos-             mentaries. There is an excellent article in the  IS.
pel does well to read and heed the charge of Paul to             Bible Encyclopaedia,  by George G. Findlay. Vol. I. If
Timothy: "I charge thee in the sight of God, and                 this view of the churches of the Galatians is correct,
Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead,           then these churches were the ones visited by Paul on
and by his appearing and kingdom: preach the word;               his second Missionary journey, before he went into
be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,             Macedonia in obedience to the man in the vision, who
exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching, for the             said, "Come over and help us." It is of interest to
time will come when they will not endure sound                   notice that Peter calls Galatia a province next to
doctrine, but having itching ears will heap to them-             Pontus, Capadocia, Asia, and Bythynia. Most ancient
selves teachers after their own lusts. .  ." (II Tim.            interpreters believe that these churches were in
4:1-3) We must hold to the "pattern" of sound                    Northern Galatia, the territory invaded and con-
words.                                                           quered by the Galli some centuries before.
  One thing more. Sometimes the readers are kind
enough to write a word of real genuine appreciation                It should be remembered that the question as to
for what one writes. Your appraisal and criticism are            who these Galatians were becomes quite clear from
welcome, as is, of course, any positive criticism. Paul          this letter itself at various points in the argument and
                                                                 polemic of Paul. We will not take the time and effort
says, "and the spirits of the prophets are subject to
the prophets." (I Cor. 14: 32)                                   at this time to show this, but we will do so from time
                                                                 to time as opportunity is given. For our purpose they
  Let us then now turn our attention to this letter of           are "churches" of Christ Jesus, who had been called
Paul to the Galatians. The issue at stake is the very            by the Gospel into the freedom of grace. They are no
heart of the Gospel. It was whether Christianity, faith          longer heathen, but they have come to know God,
in Christ crucified and risen, was sufficient or                 yea, they are known of God. (Gal.  1:2;  4:9) They
whether it must be supplemented by Judaism, that is,             have not yet wholly fallen from grace; they are still
whether Jewish ceremonialism was to be added to the              called "brethren." That is the last word in this letter.
spiritual gospel of liberty as preached by Paul. The             (Gal. 6: 18) But their position is, from the viewpoint
alternatives are either God or man!                              of  th.e error which is being preached in their midst,
                                                                 very dangerous and precarious. This is a matter of
PAUL'S APOSTOLIC SALUTATION TO THE                               grave concern for the apostle. It is a "little leaven"
GALATIAN CHURCHES (Gal. 1: l-5)                                  which will leaven the whole lump. (Gal. 5:9) It is the
  The question should be asked: who are these                    principle of legalism, the weak and beggarly principles
churches in Galatia? In the letter itself Paul speaks of         of the Old Testament laws and shadows. And that
these Galatians twice, here in this text and in Gal.             must be rooted out, root and branch. These brethren
3: 1. The name "Galatians" is of interest to the Bible           are in danger of falling away from the living God.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   87


   Paul's salutation is geared according to this either-      which was given to the church. And this office we no
or call of the hour. It is either the Gospel or it is law;    longer have, except in the teaching of the apostles, as
it is works or it is grace. It cannot be both. Notice         given to us in the canonical Scriptures. But Paul
that Paul begins this letter with a veritable trumpet-        always writes as an "apostle," second to none. Every
sound. In this salutation we have virtually the entire        letter begins "Paul, an apostle. . .", except Philemon
positive message of the Gospel, as we trust will be-          where he writes, "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. . ."
come evident presently. It is the truth of the Gospel            It is, true that Paul did not follow Jesus in His
in a nutshell. It reminds us of what Paul said in             earthly labors as a disciple, and that he is not called
Antioch of Pisidia, "Be it known unto you, brethren,          one of the apostles by Jesus while the latter was on
that through this man is proclaimed unto you re-              earth. (Matt. 10: 2) Yet, he has all the credentials, as
mission of sins, and by him every one that believeth is       we said earlier. (a) One must have seen the Lord Him-
justified from all things, from which you could not be        self. Paul rises to the occasion in I Cor. 9: 1, saying
justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13:38, 39) Paul,        "Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen
even in this Salutation, is "set unto the defense             Jesus Christ our Lord?" (b) He had been an eye-
(apologias)  of the Gospel." (Phil. 1: 17)                    witness of the risen and glorified Lord on the way to
   As the particulars of this "salutation" we notice          Damascus, where he had been called to be an apostle
the following:                                                of Christ. And he speaks of the fact that he had been
   1. That Paul enunciates very clearly and emphati-          caught up into the third heaven, where he heard "un-
cally that he is an apostle of Christ. He does not say        speakable words." (I Cor. 12: 1) He was not a wit
that he is the apostle above all other apostles. He is ay1    behind `the chiefest of the apostles. Let then the
apostle. He has all the qualifications and credentials        ,Galatians take notice of this letter!
necessary for being an apostle. He mentions here the            To underscore the glory of his apostleship for the
chief and basic consideration. He is an apostle by            Galatians and for us, Paul emphasizes that the God
means of (diu) Jesus Christ himself, and that, too, very      and Father Who sent him to preach and teach is the
personally without the  intervefition of men. He              very God and Father Who raised Christ Jesus from
refutes most vigorously that his being an apostle is          the dead. This brings his apostleship in the closest
from (apo) men. Men as a class, in distinction from           connection with the heart of the gospel. The Bible
God, are meant. He has not an earthly calling but a           often says, "whom ye killed, God hath made him
heavenly. Nor has he been called to the apostleship           alive." (Act 2:24, 30, 32; 13:33, 34) This is the ful-
through a man. God did not use a man to put him in            filment of the` promise  made to the fathers, and
office, as he did with Elisha through the prophet             realization of what we read in Psalm 2:7, "Thou art
Elijah. (I Kings 19: 16) The enemies of Paul are              my Son, this day have I begotten thee." (Cf. Heb.
spreading the lie that Paul was not a real apostle, and       1: 5; 5: 5) And that is here inserted in this greeting fo;
that, therefore, his gospel was not that which Christ         great al-id weighty reasons, as we hope to see further
Himself had told him to preach. And now Paul as               in our exposition of this epistle. For Christ was de-
with a trumpet-blast insists that this salutation which       livered for our offences, and He was raised for our
he brings from God, he brings in the capacity and             justification. (Rom. 4:25) This is the very heart-beat
with the authority of a sent one from the throne of           oi` the justification by grace through faith. In this
God and of Christ.                                            gospel  iYe experience the peace of saying, "Abba,
   2. It should further be considered that the                Father." By this great God and His Christ, Paul was
apostolic office was of supreme and pivotal impor-            made an apostle, and in that deep consciousness of
tance in this entire apology for the Gospel of the            his calling he writes, as if in travail to have Christ
Cross! The office of apostle is connected with the            formed in them. (Gal. 4: 19)
"foundation of our faith, of which Jesus Christ is the
chief cornerstone. We live in a day when this office of       I hear Him say - my Gaul admires the truth -
the apostles is misunderstood if not outright denied.         I hear Him say,`with wisdom, love and grace,
The Bible teaches that God has appointed offices in           "All power in heaven and earth is mine.
the church, "first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly       Mine to subdue the foes that dare insult my Church:
teachers, then miracles." (I Cor.  12:28) The Bible           Mine to secure the kingdom God, my Father, gave:
tells us that Christ has given these offices as "gifts"       Mine to impart eternal life to all He gave to me:
for his church, as the One Who is exalted far above all       Mine to bestow the pardon sinners need:
the heavens, that He might fill all things. (Eph. 4: 10)      Mine to impart the love, the life, the peace for which
And these "gifts" are that "he gave some to be                   they.cry:
apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists,            Mine to bestow the crown of righteousness laid up in
and some shepherds and teachers." (Eph. 4: 11) Thus              heaven."
we speak of the first rank office of the apostles,


 88                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


 GUEST ARTICLE




                                  A Life-Long Lesson
                                            Re.v. Ronald J. Van Overloop

       Without a strong hand at the helm, a ship drifts,     apostle  Pa.ul speaks of contentment. "Not that I
and washes about in the sea, whether the sea is calm         speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in what-
or rough. When there is this strong hand, the wind,          soever state I am, therewith to be content." Paul has
though it be blowing almost directly against the ship,       learned to have enough, independently, without desir-
helps to push that ship forward.                             ing aid from others. This is not the objective, but the
                                                             subjective, state of need, i.e., the inward peace which
   Essentially, contentment is to be independent. It is      arises from the fact that he knows he can be satisfied
an `internal independence of external circumstances.         and happy, that he could rejoice always in the Lord,
Of course, it is not an independence in our relation-        that he could be careful for nothing. Paul is per-
ship to God, for we must learn in all of our life that       sonally conscious of a living power flowing through
we are DEPENDENT upon God.                                   him and making him fit for anything. The fortress
  It is an independence from the circumstances of            that has a deep well in the yard and plenty of pro-
life. It is an independence in all the relationships of      visions within, is the ody one that can hold out.
life: family, job, and the material things of this world.      There are three elements to contentment. First, it
It is an independence from what we possess and from          means that I know all is well. All is well  nd matter
the things that happen to us. To learn contentment,          what the circumstances of my life may be. This is
we must learn to separate ourselves from the external        where `the independency is necessary. Secondly, it
circumstances of life.                                       means that with the will of my soul I do not want the
  It is not a physical independence. That is an im-          circumstances of my life to be any different from
possibility, for it would mean forsaking one's family        what they are. And thirdly, it means that because of
and calling. Rather, it is an internal independence. My      the first two elements, I have peace in my heart: total
mental state and the condition of my soul must be            serenity and happiness.
independent of the circumstances about  me and not             Let us go over those three elements again.
determined by those circumstances. It means that the
circumstances of life do not create my feelings and            First we must recognize God's hand in all things. It
mental stability or lack thereof. On the one hand it is      is only when we see that all things come from His
obvious that I cannot control most of the things that        hand that we can know that all is well. This is based
happen to me. Most of them are beyond the scope of           ori the fact that the sovereign God, Who is Lord over
my control. On the other hand, circumstances can             all, is for Jesus sake my Father. When anything comes
control me; but thit I may not let happen. They              to a child from his heavenly Father, it can only
affect me, but the effect should not be such that it         come as a blessing.
throws me off balance.                                         The second element, very simply put, is sub-
  Simply put: I, from the viewpoint of my mind,              mission. We thank God for ALL things. This refers
                                                             not only to what we like, but also to the unpleasant.
must be above the circumstances of life and not let          Paul put it best. "I know both how to be abased, and
them be above me. I am not able to escape their              I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I
effect, but I am able to escape their control. I cannot      am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both
control them, but I never may let them control me.           to abound and to suffer need" (Phil. 4: 12).
In this sense I must be independent. That is the
independence of contentment.                                   The third element is to be glad and rejoice in all
                                                             things. This is not just an attitude of bowing to
  Then when the strong winds blow, the firm hand at          circumstances, but an inner joy of heart. "Rejoice in
the helm of my soul, directs my life and outlook on          the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice" (Phil. 4:4).
life forward.                                                Always rejoicing, at all times and in whatsoever state
  In Philippians 4: 11 the Holy Spirit through the           Iam.


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             89


   To be able to fulfill all three of these elements is             If we are not tempted by abundance to plunge our
humanly impossible. We always find ourselves want-                  desires  i$o it, nor tempted by sorrow to think our-
ing to say, "All these things are against me." Could we             selves hopelessly harmed by it, both will knit us more
be content with what the ravens brought Elijah every                closely to our time and changeless good: Jehovah.
morning and evening during his stay at the brook                       We attain and acquire this contentment in the
Cherith? Would we be content with preparing each                    school of life. We stay in that school and never stop
meal three times a day by scraping out the last of our              learning as long as we are upon this earth. The lesson
flour and pouring out the last drops of our oil as the              is God's. The textbook is the Bible. The teacher is
widow of Zarephath had to do for over a year?                       Christ. Sometimes the rod of discipline must be used
   Contentment must be a gift of grace. Therefore it                by our loving Father.
is possible only for God's children. We alone can say                  Paul bore the scars of Christ all over his body. The
with Paul, "I can do all things through Christ which                devil kept pounding on that thorn in his flesh so that
strengtheneth me" (Phil. 4: 13). If God be for us,                  he asked of God that it be removed three times. When
nothing can be against us. He paid for all our sins. He             he pens his epistle to the Philippians, he is waiting in
merited life and grace and glory for us. Therefore we               prison to die. Yet he writes about learning in God's
can be content. Neither prosperity nor sorrow is ever               school. Being persuaded that his and our affairs are
too overwhelming that we cannot be content, for we                  governed by God's providence and good pleasure,
know it comes from God, we submit to Him and                        Paul, and we with him, learn not to measure suffi-
rejoice in Him. All things work together for our good.              ciency by abundance, but by the will of God.
   Whatever happens to us comes to us out of a foun-
tain of love  - the cross of Christ. His love for us                   We are not always content. We are risen with
never wavers. It may be that sometimes we cannot see                Christ, but we yet have the old man and therefore it
that it is a demonstration of His love, but even the                is still hard for us to be content. We have our ups and
hurt is a manifestation of His love. "Blessed are ye,               downs as far as our learning is concerned. And some-
when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and                   times we wonder if we will ever learn.
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.               But %e have learned, principally. We do acknowl-
Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your                 edge Go-d's fatherly hand. By His grace we submit to
reward in heaven" (Matthew 5: 11, 12). "Count it all                His will, and can rejoice. Then we have happiness in
joy when ye fall into divers temptations" (James                    sorrows.
1:2). Our light affliction worketh for us a far more                   Also we know that one day all this sorrow and pain
exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (II Cor. 4: 17).             will be  Ipast. We know that one day we will not be
   While both prosperity and sorrow can control and                 tempted by earthly prosperity and material posses-
upset us, both also can minister to our growth. Sor-                sions. T&at day will be when God's tabernacle will be
row will drive us and joy will draw us nearer to God.               with men.

                              Reply to Correspondence
                                                          ProJ:  H.  Hank0


   I recently received a letter from a brother concern-                 ferent views of the covenant held than in our own it
ing one of my "letters to Timothy" which raises                         is customary for the minister to consider a large por-
important enough issues to be answered in a special                     tion of his congregation as unconverted. This is not
column of the  Standard Bearer.  The questions                          the place to enter into the doctrinal questions in-
concern what I wrote in the September 1 issue of the                    volved; but you know that in these circles it is cus-
                                                                        tomary for and expected of the minister that he end
Standard Bearer  and which it is probably best to                       each sermon which he preaches with some kind of
quote here:                                                             "toepassing" which confronts the unconverted with
       But -there is another matter which we must con-                  the need of conversion. Now, apart from the errone-
    sider yet in connection with practical preaching. This              ous doctrine which is involved in this matter, you
    has to do with the fact that it is entirely possible for            must understand, of course, that God's people must
    the minister to address himself in his preaching to                 `be constantly called to repentance and conversion.
    -problems of life and conduct which are not directly                There is no dispute about this. But the fact of the
    connected with his sermon. Let me illustrate once                   matter is that when this kind of preaching comes
    again. In some church circles where there are dif-                  from the pulpit, the minister tacks on his little call to


90                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER


       the unconverted no matter what text he may be                   What is the actual situation? In a certain sense of
       preaching on.                                                 the word it is true that every single person in the
      In connection with these remarks, my cor-                      congregation is in need of conversion, if by con-
respondent asks a number of questions, some of                       version is meant what the Heidelberg Catechism calls
which are of particular interest in this whole matter.               conversion in Lord's Day  XxX111: "Of how many
The first question has to do with the matter of un-                  parts doth the true conversion of man consist? Of
converted in the congregation. The brother writes:                   two parts; of the mortification of the old, and the
          There are two possibilities; a) either the whole           quickening of the new man." All God's people and
       congregation is converted or b) nobody is converted.          every member of the congregation are in need of this
       Which of the two, a or b, is Rev. H's position?               conversion. And this is not only true once in their
      In connection with this, he further writes:                    lifetime, or even frequently in their lifetime; this is
                                                                     true every single day of our life. We need always to
          If the unconverted are not to be addressed, how            kill the old man of sin and quicken the new man born
       can you preach the holy gospel which is according to
       question 84, Lord's Day 31 an opening and closing?            by the power of regeneration. And the preaching
                                                                     must always see to it that the people of God are
This Lord's Day is then quoted in part, especially that              brought face to face with this calling. There must
section which reads: "that the wrath of God and                      always be in our lives a sincere sorrow of heart that
eternal condemnation abides on them as long as they                  we have provoked God by our sins; we must always
are not converted."                                                  hate and flee from them; we must always with love
      The  correspondent also refers to a number of                  and delight live according to the will of God in all
writers who did preach to the unconverted, among                     good works.
whom are listed Brakel, Smytegeld, Comrie,  Lode-                      But the congregation addressed by the minister on
styn, and others. And the question is asked: Do they                 the Lord's Day is not made up of unconverted people
all err in the truth?                                                in the sense of "narrow conversion." It is also pos-
      Finally, the writer asks whether these differences             sible to speak of conversion in this narrow sense as
       are of such an extent that they have to be called an          referring to that first work of God in the heart of the
       "erroneous doctrine" so that according to the Second          elect sinner whereby he is delivered from his de-
       epistle of John, verse 10, he that brings another doc-        pravity and death and translated into the kingdom of
       trine is not to be received "into your house, neither         life. In this sense, conversion is identical to regenera-
       bid him God speed." Or is it a difference that covers         tion as the first implanting of the life of Jesus Christ.
       only non-essentials? But why then call it an erroneous          The congregation is the congregation of God's
       doctrine?                                                     people. It is the Church of God. When the apostles
      In answer to these questions, the following remarks            addressed their letters to the individual congregations,
seem to be particularly important.                                   they did not hesitate to address these congregations
      In the first place, it ought not to escape the                 as "saints"; "beloved of God"; "`sanctified in Christ
readers' notice that I was writing about misplaced                   Jesus"; "faithful brethren in Christ"; "elect according
applications of sermons. The example to which the                    to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
correspondent refers is only one example. In a further               sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and
paragraph I cited an additional example and pointed                  sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ"; "them that
out that the error is not only one of inappropriateness              have obtained like precious~faith with us through the
but also that one who misapplies a text does not let                 righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ."
the Word of God speak. The reader can consult that                   The congregation is composed of elect, called, sanc-
article if he wishes. I would not want this main point               tified, and converted people of God. It must be
to be obscured.                                                      addressed as such.
  In the second place, there is no question about it                  Does this mean that all in the congregation head
that the preaching of the gospel must certainly in-                  for head are indeed elect? Of course not. Paul himself
clude a warning to those who are unconverted that                    makes very clear in Romans 9 that not all those who
they stand exposed to the wrath of God and eternal                   are of Israel are really Israel. This was true not only in
condemnation. This is what Lord's Day XXX1 asserts                   the Old Dispensation; it is true throughout the his-
as part of the preaching, and this is the way in which               tory of the Church of Christ. But here we have an
the kingdom of heaven is opened and shut by the                      important point, a point which is, in my opinion, so
preaching of the holy gospel. At the same time it is                 important that without understanding it one does not
also true that neither of the options which the cor-                 really understand the truth of Scripture in this re-
respondent leaves for me (either the whole congrega-                 spect. Scripture looks at the Church as an organic
tion is converted or nobody is converted) is agreeable               whole. And it looks at every congregation from the
to me or is the truth of Scripture.                                  organic viewpoint. And every minister must do the


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                91


same. The example has often been used, and I can              their seed. I compared this in one of my articles to a
think of no better, of a wheat field. That wheat field        river flowing in a riverbed. There are new generations
is indeed a wheat field. It is called by that name. It is     entering, that "river" constantly; there is a certain
worked by the farmer with that in mind. It is tended          amount of water splashed out of that river. But the
and cared for, watched and examined as a wheat                whole river is God's covenant in the line of genera-
field. It is harvested finally as a wheat field. Does this    tions.
mean that every single plant in that field is a wheat
plant? By no means. Everyone, and especially the                 If the covenant is considered as an agreement
farmer who owns the field, knows that there are               between two parties, or if the covenant is divided into
many weeds in that field. It is even possible that there      an internal and an external covenant in such a way
is a majority of weeds in that field. But that does not       that children born of believers are first of all in the
alter the fact that that field is a wheat field and not a     covenant only externally, and are in the covenant
weed  field. It is precisely this point which Jesus is        internally only at such a time as they accept the pro-
making in the parable of the tares in the field. They         visions of the covenant by faith, then a situation is
do and must remain there until the harvest. The               present in the Church where children of the covenant
Church has, in her earthly manifestation, reprobate           must be considered as "unconverted" in the absolute
seed in her midst. It is always that way and cannot be        sense of the word. They are not yet regenerated; they
any different. But it is, organically considered, the         are  not'yet converted; they are not yet, in the true
Church of Christ and must be called by that name,             sense, members of the covenant. But this is wrong
must be treated as such, and must be addressed as             and leads to an Arminian conception of the covenant.
such by the minister on the Lord's Day.                          If the writers to whom my correspondent refers
  In the third place, this stands closely connected           held to this view (and some of those with whom I am
with the doctrine of the covenant. The covenant is            acquainted did) then they were wrong.
also to be considered organically. The very essence of           Finally, I do indeed consider this an erroneous
the covenant is that bond of friendship which God             doctrine. I do not consider these matters "non-
establishes with His people through Jesus Christ. That        essentials." But this does not mean that I apply to
covenant, according to God's own Word, is estab-              those who hold to this position the words of II John
lished in the line of continued generations. Children         10. That is a different matter. The apostle is talking
as well as adults are comprehended in the covenant of         in that passage about those who deny the truth that
grace. Hence, the Church of Christ is composed of             Jesus Christ is come into the flesh (See vs. 7). These
believers and their seed.                                     people we must not let into our homes nor bid them
  Nor does this mean that every child of believing            God speed. For the rest, I would not only welcome
parents is truly incorporated into that covenant.             those who have. a different covenant conception into
There are always Esaus in the covenant. But I never-          my home, but I would also find a particular joy in
theless, Scripture is clear on the point that the             discussing with them these precious truths of the
gracious covenant of God includes both believers and          Word of God.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES


                    The Signs of Christ's Coming
                                                  Rev. H. Veldman



  The signs of Christ's coming, also known as the                Scripture distinguishes between a two-fold coming
precursory signs, are defined by the late Rev. H.             of the Lord,, two aspects of His coming, and these
Hoeksema in his Reformed Dogmatics as relating to             two aspects are related as the way to the end. Of
all the events in the realm of nature as well as in the       course, we must not conceive of these "two" comings
history of the nations and in the church which more           of the Lord in the dispensational or premillenarian
or less clearly indicate that Jesus is coming and that        sense of,the word. The dispensationalists speak of two
the end of all things is near and approaching quickly.        separate comings of the Lord, and these comings are


 92                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


separated approximately by a period of seven years.          coming not participate in the Lord's coming? Would
These two comings are called the Rapture, occurring          this privilege be denied them? It is now to this prob-
at the beginning of the seven years, and the second         lem or concern of these believers that the apostle
coming of the Lord is called the Revelation, occurring      addresses himself.
at the end of these seven years. The Rapture occurs at
the end of the dispensation of the church. It will be a        Notice, now, the reasoning of the apostle. In the
secret coming of the Lord. At that time the faithful        first place, the apostle declares that they who are
will be translated, as was  Enoch,  and together with       alive at Christ's coming will not prevent, that is, go
the saints which will be raised from the dead they will     before those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. Fact is,
be taken up to be with the Lord in the air where the        writes the apostle, when Christ comes the dead in
marriage supper of the Lamb is supposed to take             Christ shall rise first, and then we which are alive and
place. This event can occur at any moment. The              remain shall be caught up together with them in the
church is then taken out of the world. This also            clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. It is obvious that
occurs before the great tribulation, so that they who       the distinction in this passage is not between the dead
participate in this great blessing escape this great        in Christ and the dead outside of Christ, but between
tribulation. During this period of seven years God will     the dead in Christ and the then living in Christ.
again begin to deal with Israel. His Old Testament          Hence, they who shall be living at the time of Christ's
people, who will be restored to their own land. It is in    return will not have any advantage above those who
this period that Antichrist shall be revealed, a tribu-     have fallen asleep in Jesus. Indeed, there shall not be
lation will occur of unprecedented severity, and Israel.    two groups of resurrected people, one at the rapture,
is converted and embraces the Christ. This period of        the resurrection of the righteous, and one at the end
seven years is followed by the second coming of the         of the millennium, the resurrection of the wicked.
Lord known as the Revelation. In this second coming         The Word of God teaches us that there will be only
the Lord is accompanied by His saints, and will             one resurrection of the dead. This is clearly set forth
execute judgment upon the earth. Antichrist is              in John 5:28, 29: "Marvel not at this: for the hour is
destroyed; the beast and the false prophet are taken;       coming, in the which all that are in the grave shall
Gog and Magog and their allies are smitten; Satan is        hear His voice. And shall come forth; they that have
bound; and the millenium and the glorious reign of          done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they
Christ upon earth for a thousand years is ushered in.       that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damna-
This theory we cannot accept because we believe it to       tion." Besides, the passage in I Thess. 4 does not
be contrary to the teachings of the Word of God.            teach us that these faithful will be with Jesus for only
  The so-called first coming of the Lord, known as          seven years. On the contrary, we read that they will
the Rapture, is based chiefly upon 1 Thess. 4: 17,          be with the Lord forever. And finally, the  dispensa-
which is supposed to speak of the first resurrection,       tionalists speak of this first coming of the Lord, the
that is, the resurrection of the saints in distinction      Rapture, as a secret event. The apostle, however,
from the resurrection of the wicked at the end of the       informs us in this passage that the Lord shall descend
period of the miller&m. However, this interpretation        from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
of the passage in 1 Thess. 4 cannot stand. Let us have      archangel, and with the trump of God. So, this will
the entire passage before us. We read in 1 Thess.           not be a secret coming of the Lord; it will be very
4: 14-l 8: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose      public. We would make one more observation. We
again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God      consider this view of the dispensationalists to be very
bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word        dangerous. They consider the Rapture to be such a
of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto        blessed event because the faithful will escape the
the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which         great tribulation. This, however, is surely not the
are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from         teaching of Holy Writ. The Word of God does not
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,       promise the people  .of God that they will escape
and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ           tribulation. The Scriptures always teach us that in the
shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain        world we shall have tribulation, and they assure us
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,        that we will be saved, not from tribulation but
to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be        through tribulation. What an eye-opener it will be for
with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with           the people of God who expected to be delivered from
these words." It is obvious from this passage that          tribulation and sorrow and then find themselves in
these people of God at Thessalonica had a problem.          the fire of affliction, the like of which had never been
They undoubtedly believed that Jesus was coming             experienced before by the church of the living God!
soon, probably in their day. But they were concerned          We have already remarked that Scripture dis-
about those believers who fell asleep in Jesus. Would       tinguishes between a two-fold coming of the Lord:
these children of the Lord who died before the Lord's       the coming of our Lord throughout the ages and His.


 final appearance upon the clouds of heaven. In addi-         without the former the latter would be impossible.
 tion to this, however, the Word of God also speaks of          The Word of God calls our attention to many
 a coming of the Lord upon the day of Pentecost in            precursory signs. These signs are as follows: the
 the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. We read in John          preaching of the gospel to all nations; Wars and
 14: 18-20: "I will not leave you comfortless: I will         rumours of wars; Social conflict and revolution;
 come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth         Death,. famines, pestilences and earthquakes;.
 Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall          Apostasy from the faith; The development and final
 live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in My         consummation of Antichrist; Great tribulation, also
 Father, and ye in Me, and I in you." That this out-          throughout the whole new dispensation, but espe-
 pouring of the Holy Spirit is actually a return of the       cially at the end of the ages; Signs in the heavens; The
 Lord to His church is evident from, the fact that the        sign of the Son of man.
 apostle Peter explains in his sermon of Acts 2 the
 outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the light of the              As far as these signs are concerned, they are
 passage from Joel as the day of the Lord. Besides this,      primarily signs of judgment. This is also true of the
 we can also speak of the Lord's coming as occurring          preaching of the gospel which, although the means
 for each child of God at the moment of his death.            whereby the Lord gathers His church, is surely a sign
 This is surely implied in the Saviour's words to His         of judgment as far as the world is concerned. That
 disciples as recorded in John 14: l-3.                       these precursory signs are principally signs of judg-
                                                              ment need not surprise us. The coming of our Lord
    In this rubric we are, of course, primarily inter-        Jesus Christ cannot be anything else than catastrophe
 ested in the coming of the Lord as it occurs through-        and judgment for the wicked world. His coming can
out the ages. The Word of God surely speaks of this           never be a coming of grace and mercy for them.
  coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. To this coming the         Christ's, coming and the judgment of the world are
 Saviour refers in Matt. 26:64: "Jesus saith unto him,        inseparable. We need, therefore, not be surprised that
 Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter       wars and rumors of wars, death and famines and
 (or: henceforth, from now on) ye shall see the Son of        pestilences and earthquakes, social conflict and revo-
 man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming           lutions accompany this coming of the Lord. Thus it
 in the clouds of heaven." Notice, please: henceforth,        will be at the end of the ages. Thus it is also through-
 from now on. This, includes the cross, inasmuch as           out the ages. And even as He gathers His church
 Jesus surely comes in the way of the cross. But this is      throughout the ages, calling His own out of darkness
  a coming from now on, throughout the New Dispen-            into His marvellous light, so He is also ever preparing.
  sation. And we also read in Rev. 22: 12: "And, be-          the wicked, God's eternally predestinated vessels of
 hold, I come (am coming) quickly; and My reward is           wrath, for their day of wrath at the final coming of
  with Me, to give every man according as his work            our Lord Jesus Christ.
  shall be." More passages need not be quoted in sup-
  port of this coming of the Lord as occurring                  The purpose of this rubric, we understand, is not
  throughout the ages. This is surely also the chief          simply to treat these several precursory signs of the
  thought in the Book of Revelation.                          coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is, however, the
                                                              purpose: of this department to look at these signs of
    We understand, of course, that the coming of the          Christ's coming as occurring in the world around us.
  Lord throughout the ages and His final appearance           It was in this vein that Rev. Van Baren ably acquitted
  upon the clouds of heaven are really one coming.            himself of this task while writing in this department.
  When Jesus declares to Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin           We expect to continue in this vein. One of these
  (Matt.  26:64) that from henceforth they would see          precursory signs, so common in our present day, and
  the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, He           .age, is held before us in Matt. 24: 12: "And because
  certainly refers to His coming as culminating in that       iniquity, shall abound, the love of many shall wax
  final day. That this coming throughout the ages and         cold." Of course, these precursory signs are always
  as culminating in the clouds of heaven are one is, first    being fulfilled. Do we see them? Do we have the
  of all, because Jesus is actually coming throughout         grace, as we see them, to view them as the signs of the
  the ages. Whatever must occur occurs through Him.           coming of our Lord Jesus Christ? The Lord willing, in
  And, secondly, they are one coming because all these        our following article we plan to call attention to this
  events in the realm of nature and in the history of the     passage ,of Matt. 24: 12. It is the sign of Christ's com-
  world and of the church lead to that final coming;          ing known as the Great Apostasy.


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94                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


                       R.F.P.A. PUBLICATIONS


          The Triple Knowledge,  the publication of which
        was completed in 1972, is already in its second
        printing. A three volume set, totaling more than
        2000 pages, it is the only extensive commentary on
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                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                               95


        BOOKREVIEW
                                                                                          R.F.P.A. PUBLICATIONS
PIONEER PREACHER, by  Gordon   J. Spykman;
Heritage Hall Publications, Calvin College and Semi-
nary Library, Grand Rapids, Mich. 49506; Paperback,
no price listed. (Reviewed by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema)
   This little book is about the Rev. A. C. Van Raalte,
the leader of the Dutch colonists at Holland, Mich-                                     Behold, He Cometh!                             $9.95
igan. Specifically, it is about Van Raalte as a                                           by Herman Hoeksema
.preacher. There are several chapters of background                                          (An exposition of the book of
and evaluation by Dr. Spykman; and these are fol-                                            Revelation)
lowed by a lengthy appendix containing samples of
Van Raalte's sermon notes.  Almost all of the latter                                    Believers and their Seed                       $2.95
were in the Dutch language, of course; but they                                           by Herman Hoeksema
appear in translation in this book.                                                          (An exposition of the truth of
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specifically the history of the Dutch Reformed move-                                    God's Covenant Faithfulness                    $5.95
ment in this country, and more specifically the his-                                      edited by Gertrude Hoeksema
tory of the Christian Reformed Church, this book                                             (Commemorative volume, 50th
will prove interesting. It is no great contribution in                                       anniversary of Protestant
the area of church history, even as Van Raalte,                                              Reformed Churches)
though an influential leader in the establishment of
the Holland Colony, was never a great light in the                                      In the, Beginning God                (paper) $1.00
Reformed firmament. But the book furnishes an                                             by Homer C, Hoeksema
insight into Van Raalte as preacher, and by the same                                         (An exposition of the truth
token it furnishes an insight into the history of the                                        of creation)
Holland Colony, of the Christian Reformed Church,
and into the life and times of the colonists who were                                   Marriage: The Mystery of Christ
in part our spiritual ancestors. While this is no earth-                                          and the Church                       $3.50
shaking publication, therefore, it is nevertheless an                                     by David Engelsma
interesting little book.                                                                Mysteries of the Kingdom                       $5.95
   Judging from the samples of sermon notes, Van                                          by Herman Hanko
Raalte was "no great shakes" as a homiletician,  ex-                                         (An exposition of the parables
egete, or preacher.                                                                          of Christ)
   One negative comment: the book is marred by                                          PeaceAble Fruit                                $5.95
several obvious spelling errors, something which care-                                    by `Gertrude Hoeksema
ful editing should avoid.                                                                    (Instruction concerning the nurture
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                                                                                        Reformed Dogmatics                             $9.95
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                                                                                        Therefore Have I Spoken                        $5.95
                                                                                          by ,Gertrude Hoeksema
                                 IN  MEMORIAM                                                (A biography of Herman Hoeksema)
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GRACE  NOBEL  whom   the  Lord  toqk  from  our  midst  on  October   10,                 by Herman Hoeksema
1976.   We  are  comforted   with   the  words  of  the  apostle,  "For   to  me  to         (An exposition of the Heidelberg
live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain."  (Phil.  1  :21).                                Catechism)
                                              Rev.  R.  Van  Overloop,   Pres.
                                              Mrs.  H.  Velthouse,   Sec'y.             "Whdsoever Will"                      (paper) $1.95
                                                                                          by Herman Hoeksema


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                                                                                                                      `3
 96                                           THE  S-iANDARD  BEARER



                                 News From Our Churches
       The consistory of our church in Lynden, Washing-        With the coming of the Fall season, most of our
 ton made a trio consisting of Revs. Wayne Bekkering,      church bulletins no longer carry the `filler' material
 Dale Kuiper, and Gise Van Baren. The Lynden con-          needed to `flesh out' the bulletin during the summer
 gregation elected to extend a call to Rev. Kuiper.        as there are so many meetings, lectures, outings,
 Lynden's present pastor was expected to arrive in         gatherings and the like to call attention to. Among
 Kalamazoo, Michigan to take up his labors in his new      the scheduled events this fall were the following: The
 charge early in November. The tentative date for Rev.     combined Mass Meeting of the Leagues of Ladies' and
Wopdenberg's installation in Kalamazoo is November         Men's Societies was held on October 13 in First
 11. Rev. Ronald Van. Overloop  has declined the call      Church. Rev. G. Van Baren spoke. on the topic, "Do
he received from Hull, Iowa.            (                  We Really Appreciate Being Protestant Reformed?"
   The First Church bulletin carried the following         The Mr. & Mrs. Societies' Fall League Meeting was
announcement on October 24: "We welcome to our             held in Southwest Church on October 19. Prof. H.
pulpit today Seminarian Wilbur Bruinsma and Prof.          Hanko spoke on "The Work of Angels", a topic
. H. Hanko. The consistory approved a request of the       which we too often view as being very mysterious,
Theological School Committee to allow the pro-             but a topic on which the Bible does have much to say
fessors and/or students to be given opportunities to       if only we take the time to seek it out. The Ladies
preach in our church once every eight weeks. The           Circle in our Loveland, Colorado church appears to
other churches in this area agreed to similar requests.    be a very active group. They scheduled a `Tasting Bee'
This gives the professors opportunities to preach          on October 20. What was to be tasted was not ex-
occasionally, something that they believe they need        plained, so I guess you had to be in Loveland to
to continue to do; and it gives to our students the        discover whether it was pastry, cheese, wine, or what
necessary opportunities to gain experience in the          have you. The same group is already planning their,
pulpit." Since the closest vacant church in our            Annual Ladies Circle Bazaar to be held on December:
denomination is about 800 miles from our Seminary          3 for the benefit of the Loveland Church and Chris-!
in Grand Rapids it is not too practical to send our        tian School. Loveland has also begun a Choral  So:
seminarians to these churches each Sunday. If the          ciety. Another (apparently there were more) church
recent movement of our ministers from one charge to        picnic was scheduled in Houston on September  25._
another continues, that situation could change.            Rev. Harbach noted in the announcement that this
                                                           date was the Jewish New `Year, but did not state that
   This new Theological School Committee plan              the picnic was in honor of this holiday.
would seem to be a good one for several reasons: it
provides needed experience in preaching for the              The event that all of us in' the Michigan area look
students; it exposes the students to our congregations     forward to each year toward the end of October is
- so that both might be strengthened and en-               our Reformation Day Lecture. This year the lecture
                                                           was scheduled on October 29 in First Church. Rev.
couraged; and it provides our ministers the rather rare    Meindert Joostens' topic is, "The Priesthood of All
experience of sitting in the pew rather than standing      Believers."
behind the pulpit - an experience which should be of
benefit to them also.                                        A quiet thought from  Spurgeon in the Houston
                                                           bulletin, "The doctrinal soon affects the practical. I
   Our seminarians have been active in other ways in       know many . . . living in different parts of this coun-
the churches beside `giving a word of edification.'        try to whom the Sabbath is very little of a day of
They have been teaching catechism classes in the           rest, for they hear no truth in which rest is to be
Grand Rapids area churches and addressing various
gatherings. Seminarian Richard Flikkema accepted           found, but they are worried and wearied with novel-
the request of the Southeast Church Sr. Mr. & Mrs.         ties which neither glorify God nor benefit the souls of
Society to serve as their Bible study leader.              men."                                       K.G.V.


