     The
STANDARD
BEARER
-A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                           \





    IS it possible to immerse one's self in the life
 of a local congregation while letting the denom-
 ination `as a whole. .g" its own way ? Especially if
 one is a member  of,a relatively conservative con-
 gregation with a relatively orthodox minister
 and a concerned and godly consistory, cannot
 one devote himself to the affairs of the congre-
 gation and let the denomination go its own evil
                            ..
 wav?

       See  "My  Sheep Hear My Voice" - Page  283




                                     Volume LIII, No. 12, March 15, 1977    1
                                                ISSN 0362-4692


266                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER
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       The Silent Sufferer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266          Rev.  .Cornelius   Hanko.   Prof.  Herman   Hanko.   Rev.   Robert   C.  Harbach.
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MEDITA TIQ N



                                                The  S.ilent Sufferer
                                                                     Rev. H. Veldman


               "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He ohened not His mouth: He is brought as a
                lamb to the slaughter, and ai a sheep before her Shearers is dumb, so He opened not His
                mouth. " Isaiah 53:7.


  How striking is the repeated use of the personal                                         What an amazing phenomenon we have here! .We
pronoun "we" and "us" in this fifty-third chapter of                                 read: "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,  yet
Isaiah! How emphatic, therefore, is the divinely  in-                                He : opened not His m.outh." In spite of all this, He
spired writer's setting forth of the truth that our Lord                             opened not His mouth. Is it any wonder that the
Jesus Christ suffered and died only for His own, His                                 Ethiopian eunuch expresses his amazement, according
elect given Him of the Father!                                                       to Acts 8:30-34? Is not silence under suffering a very


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                             267


strange thing? Is not His silence so much more amaz-      the power of the enemy. He was dumb as a sheep
ing, unbelievable? Yet we read: He never opened His       before her shearers.
mouth. All this evil He permitted to be inflicted upon      What an amazing phenomenon! We read literally:
.Him, even until the end. As a sheep before her           "He was oppressed; and while He was afflicted, yet
shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.             He opened not His mouth." Besides, the pronoun
                                                          "He" appears here with emphasis: while  He  was
                      AMAZING                             afflicted. And then we read: Yet He opened not His
  He was oppressed and He was afflicted. The first        mouth.
word means, "to be driven," as a rabbit or a hare is
driven, hunted and hounded, even unto death. The            He was so innocent. I refer now, of course, to the
second word means, "to be depressed or afflicted,"        relation in which He stood over.against His enemies.
even as grapes are pressed. Christ was hounded and        How innocent He was and how wicked they were
afflicted; no place was permitted Him in the midst of     . . . ! When did it ever happen that a judge declares a
the world. The birds of the air have nests, and the       defendant innocent and then proceeds to execute
foxes have holes, but the Son of Man had. no place        him?`! And when did a judge ever preside over an
where to lay His head. The birds and the foxes are        easier case than did Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin and
not begrudged these things; but they were denied          Pontius Pilate?! Besides, He could have destroyed His
Him!                                                      enemies, even by the breath of His mouth. This
                                                          power He surely had. . . . If ever a man had the
  How true this was of our Lord Jesus Christ              right to resist, and also the power, it was surely this
throughout His life! Already during His infancy He        Jesus of Nazareth. Hence, how utterly amazing is His
was driven into Egypt. And during His public min-         silence! Indeed, how true it is: Yet He opened not His
istry He was hounded and afflicted relentlessly. . . .    mouth. Why this perfect and complete submission?
  This, however, was true especially at the end of His
life while among us. Think of Gethsemane. How the                                 NECESSARY
devil tried to crush Him, when His disciples slept and      This Silent Sufferer is our Mediator. He did not
could not watch with Him even one hour! From              stand alone. He did not appear merely as another of
Gethsemane He was driven to Annas, ,a deposed high        the sheep; He stood in the place of all the sheep. He
priest, and by a motley multitude armed with lan-         was not merely another individual among individuals.
terns and staves and swords. From  Annas He was           He was the Head, the representative, Head of sinners,
driven to Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, and from there      of an entire congregation of elect sinners, an elect
to Pilate, to Herod, and then back to Pilate. How He      multitude which no man can count. He represented a
was maltreated before the Roman governor! And             congregation of lost sinners, lost sheep, who had for-
then they led Him to the accursed tree, crucified Him     feited all the grace of God, could never save them-
with two malefactors. And He was crucified in the         selves. He was not merely Jesus of Nazareth; He was
midst of them. How truly it applies to Him: All the
day long He was killed for our sake; He was led as a      the Christ, our Chief Prophet, Only High Priest, and
lamb to the slaughter; He was oppressed and He was        Eternal King.
afflicted, despised and rejected of men.                    Why did He come? He did not come simply to
  And He opened not His mouth. 0, this does not           show us the way home. He did not merely come to
mean that He never opened His mouth. Did He not           tell us how much God loved us and then beg us to
speak to His enemies in the garden of Gethsemane?         love God. He did not come merely as a great example,
Did He not open His mouth before Annas - see John         or teacher, to instruct us how we must conduct our-
18:20-23? He also spoke before Caiaphas and the           selves. He surely did not come to extend to us the
Sanhedrin. And of His appearance before Pontius           offer and possibility of salvation, and then leave it to
Pilate we read that He gave a good `testimony, wit-       us to accept Him and follow Him the best we can. He
nessing of the fact that He is the King of the Jews,      came to redeem us, hopelessly lost but eternally elect
and also reminding the Roman governor of the fact         sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was
that  ,he would have no power except it were given        lost. Unto Him was given a definite charge, mandate,
Him from above. Enroute to the cross He addressed         as recorded in John 6:39.
the women of Jerusalem. Upon the cross He also              This explains His silence. Salvation is exclusively
opened His mouth, speaking the seven cross words.         now a matter between God and Christ. Jesus assumes
The meaning, we understand, is that He did not open       our guilt, the guilt of sin. And so salvation is exclu-
His mouth in rebellion. He never opened His mouth         sively a matter between God and Him. This salvation
to ward off the enemy, to escape the cross. He suf-       is not conditional. It is not so that He dies for us if
fered in perfect submission and obedience; He never       only we believe on Him. We do not establish the
attempted to escape from the way of suffering and         efficacy of His work. Jesus' cross stands alone. God


  268                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


 laid upon Him the iniquities of us all. The elect are no       was hated, but never without a cause. His enemies
 longer on their own. Salvation is solely a matter              could always find some fault in him. But this Jesus
 between God and Christ; our salvation stands or falls          was hated without a cause. He never gave them a
 with Him.                                                      single reason to hate Him. And, He never opened His
    Hence, bearing our guilt He must also bear the              mouth. He,  ,permitted Himself to be led to the
 punishment. What He must bear is so much more                  slaughter, to allow Himself to be killed. He gave the
 than what all the reprobates in hell will ever bear.           world full opportunity to reveal themselves in all
 Indeed, each reprobate pays for his own sin. Jesus             their sin and wickedness.
 bears the punishment for the sins of all the elect.              Indeed, how terrible! Now the world has revealed
 And, He must suffer this infinite wrath of God in              itself in all its sin and iniquity. Now the world has
 perfect and conscious obedience. In that one awful             established its own condemnation, its own utter un-
 moment of eternity, upon the cross of Calvary, never           worthiness. 0, that world may laugh now. But
 to be understood by us, Christ must experience, in all         presently this Man of Sorrows will surely open His
its fulness, the awfulness of the wrath, of God upon            mouth, as the Lord of glory, and consign them to hell
 all our sins. It reminds us of a song:                         and ruin, unspeakable misery forever and ever.
 "None of the ransomed ever knew,                                 However, how wonderful and blessed this Silent
    How deep were the waters crossed;                           Sufferer is for the Church of the living God! On the
 Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed                one hand, how blessed for Christ Himself! Indeed, His
    thru,                                                       way was unutterably difficult.. Never will we be able
    Ere He found His sheep that was -lost."                     to understand or fathom His way of sorrows. For our
                                                                Lord Jesus Christ, however, it meant that He finished
    Now we understand His silence. A short while ago            the work which He came to do. He went all the way,
 we wrote that if ever a man had the right to open His          as :the Silent Sufferer, and for  Him the way of the
 mouth it was this Jesus of Nazareth. Let us change             cross led Him into glory, into the Father's right hand,
 this, shall we: If ever a man. had no right to open His        and there He saves His church, all His elect own, even
 mouth it was this Jesus of Nazareth., Hence, as a              unto the uttermost.
 sheep before her shearers is dumb, being led to the              And how blessed this suffering is for us! What does
 cross, so the Lamb of God stood before His divine              this mean for us, who love God because He loved us
 Executioner; and, as our Mediator, looking up, as it           first, who now believe in Him because He dies for us?
 were into the eyes of the living God Who sent Him,             What does this mean? It means that we are at peace
 He responds: Even so, Father, Thy law is written in            with God! It means that all our sins and debts are,
 My heart; I come Thy will to do; glorify Thyself and           paid; it means that all is well between us and God;
 reveal Thy righteousness through Me, even in deepest           it  :means that life and glory everlasting and heav-
 hell; save Me, not from this hour, but out of this             enly immortality are ours forever and ever: Philip
 hour.                                                          asked the Ethiopian eunuch: Understandest thou
                                                                what thou readest? Do we understand? 0, the beauty,
                        BLESSED                                 the comfort of this all! Indeed, He opened not His
    How terrible is this silent suffering of the Man of         mouth, suffered and died that we might live. To Him,
 Sorrows for the wicked! Imagine: He opened not His             the' God of our salvation in Jesus Christ,' our Lord, be
 mouth! They hated Him without a cause. David, too,             all. the praise and adoration, now and even forever.

 EDITORIALS

                                Baptism on the Mission Field
                                                      (7).        1
                             Reformed Thought on Baptism
                                                             (3)  I
                                               R0.f  H.C.  Hoeksema


    We now continue our discussion of the section of            At the conclusion of our last installment we pointed
 the Study Report which deals with the Church Order.            out that the Report's solution with respect to the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               269



Baptism Form (use of which is required by Article 58         nothing. And their parents are as yet members of
of the Church Order) does not `fit. The second ques-         nothing - unless, as has frequently been the case in
tion at infant baptism and the fourth question at            the past, they still technically retain their member-
adult baptism use the expression "here in this Chris-        ship in another denomination. Now I ask: how, then,
tian Church." This very language prohibits the               can the sending consistory or' any representative of
Report's solution of "making it plain to the baptized        that consistory hold the baptismal records of infants
persons, or their parents, that `this Christian Church'      who are, in fact, not members of the sending church or
refers to the institute that sends out the missionary."      of any other church? And do  not. forget: these
There is, of course, further language in these Baptism       baptismal records are not just a technicality. What is
Forms which conflicts with the position of the Study         involved in baptism and baptismal records is church
Report. The entire presupposition of these Forms is          membership. This is the importance of Article 60, And
that baptism belongs in the  church.  In the exhorta-        that I am correct in this is plain from Monsma and
tion to prayer in both of these forms, reference is          Van Dellen's The Church Order Commentary, p. 247:
made to "the edification of his Church." What sense          "In answer to the question why we keep baptismal
does this language make if the Church is not present         records the obvious reply is simply: In order that each
when this is read? And bear in mind:  the church is          Church may know who have been baptized. Or, to state
not present on the mission field. In Rev. Harbach's          it differently: In order that each Church may  know
document attached to the Study Report there is               which children and young people belong to it by
repeated reference to "the unorganized congrega-             virtue of their Baptism and so that each  Consistory
tion." But remember that this is simply a nonentity.         may know which children and young people fall
There is no such thing as an unorganized congrega-           under its special care and jurisdiction."
tion. This very expression is a contradictiorrin terms!
If there is a congregation, it is organized; if it is not      But there are other difficulties in the Church Order
organized, there is no congregation. And if there is no      on which the Study Report does not even touch.
congregation, it cannot possibly be said that the              Article 56 reads: "The covenant of God shall be
church is present. This means that the expression in         sealed unto the children of Christians by baptism, as
the first question at infant baptism, "members of his        soon as the administration thereof is feasible, in the
Church," also does not fit on the mission field. It          public assembly when the Word of God is preached.`?
means, further, that the expression used in the ex-          This article presents two difficulties for the position
hortation before the questions in adult baptism,             taken by the Study Report. The first is the expression
"thou art sincerely to give answer before God and his        "children of Christians." From the very outset in
Church," also does not fit. All of this language pre-        Reformed churches this expression has been under-
supposes and is based on the idea that the church is         stood  `as referring to members of the Reformed
present at baptism; but on the mission field it is not       churches. Again I quote from  The Church Order
yet present. And, therefore, it is impossible to baptize     Commentary, p. 23 1: "The general principle having
with the use of our adopted Forms.                           been established a number of practical questions soon
  Another facile solution of a conflict is offered by        presented themselves. From the very outset it became
the Study Report with respect to Article 60 of the           the rule to baptize only children of parents who be-
Church Order. This article reads: "The names of              longed to the Reformed Churches. But some parents,
those baptized, together with those of the parents,          who were in sympathy with the Reformation and at
and likewise the date of birth and baptism, shall be         heart at odds with the Roman Church, nevertheless
recorded." The Study Report simply says: "The bap-           failed to make a final break with Rome because they
tism records, therefore, can be held either by the           lacked the courage of faith and clarity of conviction.
missionary, on behalf of the sending church, or by           Officially they were still Roman Catholics. Some-
the sending church." The ground of this is supposed          times such parents requested a Reformed' Church to
to be the fact that the missionary and  hislabor are         baptize their child. The first Synod  (Emden, 1571)
"the arm of the congregation." Now let us under-             replied to a question regarding such cases by referring
stand this clearly. When there would be infant bap-          to the opinion of the theologians of Geneva, Ministers
tism- on the mission field, as proposed by the Study         and professors. The rule should be, so Beza (Calvin's
Report, those baptized infants would be members of           successor at Geneva, HCH) had written,  that only
no congregation. They w.ould not be members of the           children of Church members should receive baptism.
church `on the mission field: for there is no church as      But  inl  .abnormal  times, as when the Church was in
yet. Nor would they be members of the sending                process of being reorganized, or when severe persecu-
church, Hope Church of Grand Rapids: for no                  tions were raging, exceptions to this rule might be
"branch" of Hope is established on the mission field         made. Children of weak and fearful parents might be
under Article 39 of the Church Order.  `In other             baptized under these circumstances, though not with-
words, the infants are baptized as members of                out certain stipulations and promises. But as will be


270                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


realized, that ruling was by way of concession for the       used in Article 1. The expression `Church of Christ' is
period of transition." (italics added)                       used to indicate the body `of believers living in a cer-
   The second difficulty presented by this article of        tain region or country. It does not as a rule refer to
the Church Order lies in the words "in the public            these believers as they are organized into a Church or
assembly when the Word of God is preached." Now let          Churches. (See comments, Article 1) The term
it be understood: I am not denying that the Word of          `Christian Church' in the present article, however,
God is preached on the mission field. That is not the        refers to a specific congregation or organized Church.
difficulty. What we must see clearly is that on the          The opening provisions of Article 59, therefore, simply
mission field and in a mission station there is as yet       specifies that adults who stand outside of the organ-
no public assembly. For that term "public assembly"          ized Churches can only be incorporated into a local
- and every commentary on the Church Order will              or particular Church upon confession and Baptism,
confirm this - refers to a regular church service, i.e.,     and that thus they are admitted to full membership
to the official gathering of a local congregation for        rights in the Church which so receives them. A literal
public worship. Going all the way back to the Synod          translation of Article 59 on this score would make
of Dordrecht in 1574 this principle has been insisted        this interpretation very evident. Literally we read:
upon in Reformed churches. And the position of the           `Adults are to be incorporated into the Christian con-
Study Report conflicts with this principle. This is not      gregation by Baptism, and are thus to be accepted as
because the Church Order is not geared to the mission        members of the congregations.' He who has been
situation; it is because the Study Report wants to           granted adult Baptism thereby receives all the priv-
change what we have always practiced in the mission          ileges of Church membership. He stands on par with
situation.                                                   those who were baptized in infancy and who in later
  Finally, we call attention to Article 59 of the            years made profession of their faith."
Church Order: "Adults are through baptism incor-                This makes it very evident that in our churches
porated into the Christian church, and are accepted as       adult baptism cannot properly be administered on the
members of the church, and are therefore obliged aiso        mission field in the way proposed by the Study
to partake of the Lord's Supper, which they shall            Report. Why not? The reason is simple: there is no
promise to do at their baptism."                             church there into which they can be incorporated and
  We have already quoted from the Form for Adult             accepted as members. Under such circumstances,
Baptism, which also refers to promising to partake of        therefore, adult baptism would lose the significance
the Lord's Supper, even as does the above article. It        ascribed to it in the Church Order.
goes without saying, of course, that on the mission             But again, this is closely connected with the signifi-
field such a promise could be for a long time mean-          cance of baptism in relation to the church as the
ingless, for the simple reason that the Lord's Supper        body of Christ. This will be the subject of our next
is not celebrated except in the local, instituted con-       discussion, the Lord willing.
gregation.
  But we are especially interested in the first part ,of       A very interesting and informative little Dutch
this article: "Adults  .are through baptism incor-           book by H.J. Olthuis is entitled (I translate): The
porated into the Christian church, and are accepted as       Baptismal Practice of the Reformed Churches in the
members of the church." Do not make the mistake of           Netherlands, 1568-1816.  As the title indicates, this
thinking that this article is speaking  .of a kind of        book studies the actual practice of the Reformed
abstract incorporation into and membership in a  so-         Churches with respect to baptism; and as you might
called visible catholic church. This is not the case; and    expect, there is much data taken from  synodical
one would not expect a Church Order to. speak of this        records and decisions. There is strong emphasis on the
anyway. But what this article speaks of is being in-         idea that baptism belongs in the instituted church, in
corporated into the church as represented in the local       the gathering of the congregation for public worship,
congregation. And then it is also very significant with      and may not be administered elsewhere. Let me cite a
respect to the meaning of baptism. Van  Dellen and           few passages.
Monsma,  The Church Order Commentary,  p. 245,                 "Nevertheless they are not so absolutely necessary
have the following enlightening comments:                    unto salvation (the sacraments, HCH) that the lack of
  "The significance of this statement is that those          them would be the cause of someone's damnation.
who have come -to years of discretion and com-               Also, they may.not be administered by unlawful min-
parative independence can only be admitted to                isters and still less outside of the gathering of the
Church membership by profession of faith and Bap-            congregation, as, for example, with the Roman
tism administered upon this profession. The term             Catholics, who permit baptism by women out of fear
`Christian Church' as used in Article 59,. does not          that sick children may die unbaptized." (p. 10)
stand on par with the expression `Church of Christ' as         "In harmony with this (Articles 30, 34 of the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               271


Netherland Confession, HCH) those gathered at the            of 155 1 warned the church of the refugees at London
Convent of Wezel in 1568 declared: `Since the sac-           not to administer baptism, except after a worship ser-
raments are joined to the ministry of the Word by an         vice. Baptism; thus the liturgy says, may not be
unbreakable bond, let no one doubt that they belong          administered separate from the preaching `because
to the office of minister. We, therefore,  judge  that       Christ committed baptism and the preaching of the
baptism can be administered in the proper manner by          Gospel to his disciples at the same time.`. As much as
no one else than by the minister of the Word.' In the        possible, one must try to let the congregation par-
same manner, repeated mention is made in the Church          ticipate in that which happens at the worship service.
Order of Dordt of 1574 and in that of 16 19 of the           They must learn to understand in what way salvation
, `ministers' or `church ministers' to whom the admin-       in Christ becomes visible in baptism. The Articles of
istration of baptism is committed, `in the public            Wezel speak just as clearly: `Baptism shall be
gathering of the church along with the preaching of          administered nowhere else nor in any other manner
the divine Word.' " (pp. 25, 26)                             than in the gathering of the church, accompanied by
     "It would be difficult, however, to have a speedy       the preaching and the catechism.' Thus, also, the later
administration of baptism in the smaller villages,           synods strove for an administration of baptism in
where at the beginning of the Reformation they were          public, that is, in the presence of the congregation
no yet able to obtain their own minister. Religious          and accompanied by the preaching of the gospel.
services could not yet be held there at regular times.       `One shall not administer baptism except only in the
And since they might not administer baptism, as we           public gathering of the church when the divine Word
shall see later, except `only in the public gathering of     is preached.' (Church Order of Dordrecht 1574, Art.
the Church when the Word is preached,' many chil-            58; Acts of the National Synod of Dordrecht, 1578;
dren would remain unbaptized for a considerable              Church Order of Middleburg 1581, Article 39;
time. But also in this, provision was made by holding        Church Order of `s Gravenhage 1586, Art. 50;
baptismal services during the week. `In the places           Dordrecht 1618-19, Art. 56)."
where preaching seldom takes place and where, never--          In the next section of this same chapter the author
theless,  there are children to be baptized, a time shall    discusses the proper place for the administration of
be set at which they may present the children in the         baptism. He points out how repeatedly the Reformed
church for baptism, and they shall ring the bell, call       Churches in the Netherlands insisted that baptism
the people together, and have a brief sermon before          should be administered in the place where the gospel
baptism.' " (pp. 6 1, 62)                                    is preached to the congregation. Since in the begin-
     "The administration of baptism is a matter in           ning of the Reformation the gatherings of believers
which the entire congregation has an interest, at            could not take place in a church building, they were
which the entire congregation must participate. If the       automatically compelled to baptize in certain houses.
one baptized, the parents, the witnesses and relatives       This, however, took place only where believers
are in the first place interested therein, the congrega-     gathered for the preaching of the Word. As soon as
tion receives a new member. She must receive this            possible, they built their own churches, and in these
new member among the members of the' covenant                churches baptism was administered in the gatherings
openly, and bear it up in prayer. But at the same time,      of the church for public worship. Although from time
everyone is reminded of his own baptism and of the           to time, because of the superstitions which persisted
obligations which this brings with it, both for himself      with regard to baptism, various synods compromised
and  - if he has children  - for his family, in order        and allowed private baptisms, the overwhelming posi-
that he should bring them up in harmony with that            tion of the churches was as stated above, namely:
                                                             that baptism should take place in the local congrega-
baptism.                                                     tion, in the local church building, in the service for
     "Already Valerandus Pollanus  in his Liturgia Sacra     public worship, where the Word is preached.

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272                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS


                                      Faith  `in Jesus Christ
                                                       Prof Robert D. Decker


                "We believe that, to attain the true knowledge of this great. mystery, the Holy Ghost kindleth in our
                hearts an upright faith, which embraces Jesus Christ, with all his merits, appropriates him, and seeks
                nothing more besides  him. For it must needs follow, either that all things, which are requisite to our
                salvation, are not in Jesus Christ, or if all things are in him, that then those who possess Jesus Christ
                through faith, have complete salvation in him. Therefore5 for any to assert that Christ is not sufficient,
                but that something more is required besides him,  would;be  too gross a blasphemy: for hence it would
                `follow, that Christ was but half a Savior. Therefore we justly say with Paul, that we are justified by
                faith alone, or by faith without works. However, to speak more clearly, we do not mean, that faith
                itself justifies us, for it is only an instrument with which we embrace Christ our Righteousness. But
                Jesus Christ, imputing to us all his merits, and so many holy works which he has done for us, and in
                our stead, is our Righteousness. And faith is an instrument that keeps us in communion with him in all
                his benefits, which, when become ours, are more than sufficient to acquit us of our sins."
                                                                                     The  Belgic  Confession, Article XXII

  With this article,  and continuing through Article                   the' article emphasizes, are,in Christ. This truth the
XXVI, the  Confession  speaks of what is  generally                    fathers maintained overagainst the doctrine of Rome
called "Soteriology" or the  Doctrine of Salvation, or                 according to which one is saved by faith in Christ and
more specifically, the doctrine of the application of                  good works. The Confession will have none of this. It
the blessings of salvation. It should be ,noted in this                argues that all things requisite for our salvation are in
connection that the  Confession  follows a different                   Christ. Those- who possess Christ through faith, there-
order than we usually follow. We conceive of the                       fore,' have complete salvation in Him. The Confession
order of salvation (ordo salutis) in terms, of: regenera-              concludes: "Therefore, for any to assert that Christ is
tion, calling, faith (conversion), justification, sanctifi-            not sufficient, but something more is required besides
cation, preservation, and glorification. The  Con-                     Him, would be too gross a blasphemy; for hence it
fession,  however, speaks of: faith, justification,                    would follow that Christ was but half a Savior."
sanctification, and good works. Concerning any                            This language also effectively shuts the door to the
"order" we must remember that the order is logical'
and not temporal. Further, we must distinguish be-                     errors of  ~Arminianism: Arminianism really teaches
tween what Christ objectively merited for us and the                   that Christ is not sufficient, but that something more
order in which we consciously receive and appropri-                    is required besides Him. Arminianism would say that
ate these blessings of salvation. That the                             all of our salvation is in Christ. Arminianism would
                                                   Confession
follows the order which it does is due to the fact that                also say that we are justified by faith alone. The
it makes no distinction between faith as a power and                   trouble is that Arminianism would also insist that
faith as a conscious activity. The                                     man of himself must believe. Arminianism teaches
                                          Confession simply
speaks of faith as the "sole instrument'? whereby sal-                 free will. Every man has the ability, the freedom, to
vation is given and appropriated. Therefore it treats                  choose for Christ or against Him. Before a man can be
faith first.                                                           saved he must be willing to believe. According to this
                                                                       conception of things faith really becomes another
   We may also note by way of introduction that the                    work which man must perform in order to be saved.
Article really sums all the blessings of salvation under               Then, too, it could never be said that all of our salvaT>
one term, "righteousness." This is proper, for Christ,                 tion is in Christ. Let it also be clearly understood that
as the fulness  of all the blessings of salvation, is called           if the gospel be an offer of salvation, or if the promise
both in Scripture and in this article, Christ our                      of God be general, then the Arminian heresy of faith
Righteousness. Furthermore, the blessing of right-                      as  `a work of man cannot be escaped. But this the
eousness is the fundamental blessing of salvation. It is                article emphatically denies when it insists that Christ
that in the sense that all the other <blessings of sal-                is not half a Savior but that all of our salvation is in
vation are based upon it. Righteousness or justifica-                   l3p.
tion is logically before all else.                                        Positively the  Confession  asserts that all of our
   This righteousness, i.e. all the blessings of salvation,             salvation is in Jesus Christ. This means that Jesus


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                273


Christ  is a complete Savior. And because Jesus Christ           Faith consists of two elements: knowledge and
is a complete Savior, faith is the only means. by which        confidence. The knowledge of faith is not merely an
we may be saved. We are justified by faith alone, sola         intellectual apprehension of the truth of the gospel or
fide.  This means we are justified by faith alone and          the doctrine of Scripture. It is not mere "head knowl-
not by works. These two are mutually  .exclusive.              edge.": It is the spiritual knowledge of God, the
Scripture teaches us: "By grace are ye saved through           knowledge of love, the knowledge which according to
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:      the Word of Christ is Life eternal. (Cf. John 17:3) By
Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians           means of faith the child .of God lives in the fellowship
2:8,--g) Further, Scripture declares: "And if by grace,        of the God of his salvation. He knows God as His God
then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no             and Father for Jesus' sake.
more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more
grace: otherwise work is no more work.", (Romans                 But faith is also confidence. On the basis of the
11: 6) This faith cannot be the work of man but only           knowledge of faith and flowing out of that knowl-
the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit Who                      edge of faith is the confidence of faith. The con-
" . . . kindleth an upright faith in our hearts." Thus it      fidence of faith is trust. It is the assurance the be-
is that-we are justified not by faith and works, but by        liever has that his own sins are forgiven. In the con-
faith alone.                                                   fidence of faith the believer casts himself upon Christ.
                                                               Nowhere is this more beautifully stated than in
  This is not to say that faith itself justifies us. Never     Question and Answer twenty-one of the Heidelberg
may it be said that we are justified on the basis of our       Catechism: "What is true faith? True faith is not only
faith. Rather, faith is the "sole instrument," the             a certain knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that
means by which we are justified. This article teaches          God has revealed to us in his word, but also an
that all of our salvation is in Christ. Jesus Christ is our    assured confidence, which the Holy Ghost works by
complete Savior. The question becomes, how does                the gospel, in my heart; that not only to others, but
that salvation which is in Christ become ours? The             to me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness
answer is, only by means of God-given faith. Faith is          and salvation, are freely given by God, merely of
the sole instrument by which we are placed in living           grace,  .only for the sake of Christ's merits." That is
communion with Christ so that we embrace Him and               the true faith by which we are ingrafted into Christ
receive out of Him all the blessings of salvation. That        and receive out of Him all the benefits and blessings
faith is God's gift to us, it is not "of ourselves"! God       of salvation.
saves us completely and finally.
  But what is faith? How may faith be defined? What              That faith is active. The article briefly sums the
are its elements? Faith is the bond which unites us to         activity of faith in these words: it "embraces Jesus
Jesus Christ. Although this is not directly stated by          Christ and all his merits, appropriates him, and seeks
the article, it is implied when it states that faith "is an    nothing more beside him." By the power and gift of
instrument that keeps us in communion with him."               faith the believer actively embraces Christ and all his
Faith is the living connection between Christ and be-          merits. By faith the believer knows his great need, his
lievers. Or, it is the channel through which flow all the      sin and depravity. He knows that he has nothing in
blessings of salvation. Thus the Scriptures speak of           himself whereby he may be saved. By faith that be-
Christ as the vine and His people as branches which            liever also recognizes Christ as the only One Who can
live out of that vine. The Scriptures also speak of            supply His need. He knows Christ as the complete
Christ as the Head of the Body and of believers as the         Savior in whom is all his salvation. By faith the be-
members of that body who live out of the Head,                 liever longs for Christ. By faith the believer embraces
Jesus Christ. By means of faith we are made one with           Christ and appropriates all His merits. By faith the
Christ. We embrace Him by faith`and receive out of             believer seeks nothing more outside of Christ. He
Him all His benefits, life, and glory!                         knows, that all of the blessings of salvation are in
                                                               Christ.
  Faith is also a power or faculty. What we mean is
that God implants in the hearts of His people the                Thus by faith the saints are richly blessed. Faith is
ability to believe even before they consciously believe        the "instrument which keeps us in communion with
and before this faith becomes active. Just as a baby           him in all his benefits." In living communion with
has the power to speak before it ever exercises that           Christ we are assured of the forgiveness of our sins.
power, so also do the elect have the power of faith,           We know that we have been delivered from death's
the power to believe, even before they exercise that           terrible curse. We are assured that life everlasting is
power. And that power must be there if faith is ever           ours. And we know that all things are for us and
to be exercised! Without that gift of God no one will          nothing can be against us. We belong to Christ and in
believe, no matter how often the gospel is preached            Him we have the blessed fellowship with the God of
to him.                                                        our salvation.


274                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



FROM HOLY WRIT




               Exposition of the Book of Galatians
                                                   Rev. G. Lubbers




PAUL SEPARATED TO THE GOSPEL FROM HIS                        ing of the Gospel, he always emphasizes that it was
MOTHER'S WOMB - (Gal. 1: 15)                                 not he who did all this work, and suffered all this
                                                             reproach for the sake of the Gospel, but that it was
  The text here indicates that there were two defi-          the grace of God which was with him and which
nite steps which brought Paul into the grace of              strengthened him. (I Cor.  15:9,10) The sending
apostleship of Christ as a preacher to the Gentiles, in      church of Antioch in Syria had recommended Paul
both of which neither Paul nor man had anything to           and Barnabas to this grace of God. However, Paul in a
contribute.                                                  very special sense-refers to the "calling" by Christ to
                                                             the ministry and to his conversion to the grace of
  The first of these is that Paul was separated to the       God. Here he received his sight and was baptized and
Gospel-ministry from his mother's womb. He was               straightway he began to preach Jesus to be the Son of
preeminently a vessel of God's sovereign choice. Here,       God.  He had seen this Son of God in the brilliant
too, it was not of him that runneth, nor of him that         light above the glory of the midday sun. This Son of
willeth, but of God who giveth mercy. From eternity          God, Jesus, had called him. And the one thing which
Paul is the preordained man to be the apostle to the         made all things clear concerning the Scriptures and
Gentiles, to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ.       the promises was that Jesus is the Son of God. That
(Eph. 3: l-6) He is separated, he is already set in the      was also his central and all-pervasive message at all
service of Christ the King of Israel, when a wee child.      times. He preaches Christ, the Messiah of the Scrip-
God had His forming hand on him as a vessel which            tures, to be the Son of God. That is the heart of the
He was moulding perfectly for the task which he was          preaching. Apart from this Son of God there is no life
to perform. He was thus in a class with Moses, the           at all. His calling was a calling from darkness and the
man of God, who, too, was formed for eighty years            power of sin and death into the kingdom of God's
for the purpose of leading Israel out of Egypt land.         beloved Son. (Col. 1: 13)
Each step of the way is necessary for the forming of           Such are the two great facts in Paul's life. He is
the choice vessel, the only man who could perform a          appointed  and he is called,  in sovereign design and
certain task. Paul was born a Jew, a Hebrew out of the       boundless grace. Therefore, it is when it "pleased
Hebrews (Phil. 3:5). His father was a Roman citizen          God" to reveal His Son in me. Paul did not look for
living in no mean city, called Tarsus. Early he was          and find Christ, but God found him, and that, too, at
sent to school as a child from a good family and             His own time. It had to be exactly when Paul is at the
learned Greek and the philosophers; then he sat as a         height of his persecution of the church, and making
youth at the feet of Gamaliel. Here he learned to read       havoc of the church, even unto the gates of the city
the Scriptures in Hebrew and in the Septuagint. And          of Damascus. Paul must so walk the way of Judaism
thus he was separated from his mother's womb,                and attempt his justification by law, that he may see
knowing the Scriptures which are able to make us             the exceeding riches of Christ. Up to this point Paul
wise unto salvation by faith in Christ Jesus.                knows nothing about the riches of Christ. The
  But there is another element here. It is that Paul         "scales" had not yet fallen from his eyes, and the veil
was not only separated but that he was also called.          of unbelief was still over his heart. (Acts 9: 18; II Cor.
This %alled" was wholly a matter of grace. If there is       3: 13) He could not steadfastly look upon that glory
one word which Paul uses much, it is the term grace!         of Moses' face seeing that it led to Christ, the end of
All is of grace. Whenever he thinks of the abun-             the law for righteousness to everyone who, believes.
dance of work which he might perform in the preach-          He had no eye.for the real meaning of Moses' glory of


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                             275


the law until he saw the greater glory of the risen Son      He does not enlarge upon this at all. Not with a syl-
of God, Who is the effulgence of God's glory, the            lable!
expressed image of his Being. (Heb.  1:3) Then all             `There has been much question and debate concern-
became plain to him. Jesus is the very Son of God.           ing the place called Arabia.  It. would seem most
God had spoken of old time through the prophets, but         natural and compelling to believe that Arabia is the
this same God now is speaking through His Son,               place where Mt. Sinai is found. (Gal. 4:25) That is the
higher and greater than the angels. (Hebrews 1: 1 f.f.)      position of Dr. Lightfoot. Writes .he on page 88 of his
  That Paul emphasizes that God revealed "his Son            Epistle To The Galatians, "For if we suppose that the
in me" refers to both his subjective personal life (Phil.    apostle at this critical moment betook himself to the
3: 1-13) and to his knowledge of the meaning of the          Sinaitic  peninsula, the scene of the giving of the law,
prophets as they are all fulfilled in Christ, the Son of     then his visit to Arabia becomes full of meaning. He
God. Paul has it all by revelation, and he has nothing       was attracted thither by a spirit akin to that which
from men, the brethren, or the apostles, Peter or the        had driven Elijah to the same region. (I Kings
others!                                                      19:8-18) Standing on the threshold of the new
  The point is well established that Paul, although an       covenant, he was anxious to look upon the birthplace
apostle as one "born out of due time" (I Cor. 15:8),         of the old: that dwelling for a while in seclusion in
was nevertheless an apostle extraordinary. He was            the presence of `the mount that burned with fire' he
called in an extraordinary way, for he did not walk          might ponder over the transient glories of the
with Jesus in the land with the other disciples. (At         `ministration of death' and apprehend its real purpose
that time Paul was sitting at the feet of Gamaliel, a        in relation to the more glorious covenant which was
Pharisee, thinking that the ignorant people who knew         now to supplant it. Here surrounded by the children
not the law were accursed!) He was not with Jesus on         of the desert, the descendants of Hagar the  bond-
the mount of Olives when He ascended to heaven and           woman, he read the true meaning and power of the
angels came to explain and to comfort. (Acts 1: 11)          law. In the rugged and barren region, whence it
Paul was not concerned about his person in the first         issued, he saw a fit type of that bleak desolation
instance, but rather that as an apostle his work might       which'it created and intended to create in the soul of
stand as the work of Christ Himself in the preaching         man. . . ." The arguments of those who would have
of the Gospel.                                               Damascus itself Arabia, referring to the region
  The gospel of justification by faith must stand            immediately near to Damascus, are weak. For these
apart from the works of the law!                             see the quotations in Lange's Commentary on Gala-
                                                             tians. On pages 25 and 26 these can be found.
  The manner of Paul's former life and of his calling          There is a strong suggestion in the text itself that
by grace establishes the veracity of Paul's  Gospel-         Paul's going into Arabia was connected with "revela-
preaching beyond a doubt. He did not need to learn           tion" of the Gospel which he was to preach to the
from those in Jerusalem, the mother church, nor              Gentiles. Christ was revealed in him that he might
from those who were apostles before him! It was all          preach him as the "Son" to the Gentiles. If we bear in
of revelation, the divine disclosure to Paul.                mind that Paul had been instructed at the feet of
                                                             Gamaliel in the "tradition of the fathers" we may
PAUL WENT INTO ARABIA AFTER HIS CALLING                      assume that due to this veil of unbelief the Scriptures
BY CHRIST (Gal. 1: 17)                                       of the Old Testament had verily remained a closed
  Paul asserts that after being called in Damascus to        book to Paul. The brief time that Paul had in Damas-
the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles he did not       cus only one point is established: Jesus is the Son of
"confer with flesh and blood." This is the general           God. He is the Messiah. But there was much that Paul
statement. He could have conferred about this matter         needed to learn yet concerning the wide and  far-
to the brethren in Damascus and with Ananias, who            reaching implications of this all for the Gentiles as
baptized him. But all that Ananias knew about the            fellow-heirs, to be of the same body with the Old
Gospel Paul knew better. He did not seek any advice          Testament saints. And this is a point in which Paul
from them, and receive Gospel from them and in-              excels far above the other disciples or apostles. Does
struction. Nor did he, as would seem natural, return         he not write with great power to the Ephesian Chris-
to Jerusalem to see Peter. He went to the Lord Him-          tians how he excels in this knowledge by revelation?
self in Arabia. It is a very brief statement which we        He writes, "How that by revelation he made known
have concerning Paul's going to Arabia and his return-       unto me the mystery . . . which in other ages was not
ing to Damascus. We read, "but I went into Arabia            made known unto the sons of men, as it is now re-
and returned again unto Damascus." The reason for            vealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the
the brevity is evidently that Paul is simply telling the     Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of
Galatians that he did not confer with flesh and blood.       the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ


276                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


by the gospel: whereof I was made a minister,`accord-            The writer of Acts of the Apostles says nothing
ing to the gift of the grace given me by the effectual         about this. This going to Damascus must somehow be
working of his power." (Eph. 3 : 3-7) We could go into         placed between Acts 9: 22 and 23. Paul returns a
great detail here, but we feel that the point made by          stronger preacher than ever. Now he does not merely
Dr. Lightfoot is very well taken and established. Paul         assert that Christ is the Son of God, but he goes
had to go to the mountain of God (Ex. 3: 1) where              farther. We read, "he  confounded  the Jews which
Moses saw the burning bush; he went to the place               dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ."
where Moses spoke to God face to face and where                (Acts  9:22) Paul placed all the Scriptures together
Moses" face was shining because of the glory of that           (sunbibazon),  all the testimony was knitted together
first covenant. Here Elijah went to hear what God              in a convincing way. All things pointed to Christ as
would do when the still small voice came to him, and           the' end of the law for righteousness to every one that
here Paul will see "revelations and visions." Here he          believes. The effect: unbelief cannot see. The more
must have seen things which are unutterable. He saw            Paul preached (and he kept it up) the more the Jews
more visions of the glory of heaven than did Moses on          were confused in their unbelief. They had a veil upon
the Mount.                                                     their hearts - until it would be taken away in grace.
  Yet, he briefly states, "I went to Arabia and re-              But Paul had not yet seen any of the other
turned to Damascus."                                           Apostles up to this point.

GUEST ARTICLE




        The Canons of Dordrecht: An Historical Perspective
                                                           (1)  !
                                                     Rev. Marvin Kamps



Introduction:                                                  Boer, no Scriptural basis for the doctrine of reproba-
  With the contents of the Canons of Dordrecht,                tion as taught in the Canons.
readers of the Standard Bearer are undoubtedly in a              To this debate in our "mother church" we must
measure familiar. The truths of God's sovereign grace          give a listening ear. We must be alert and sensitive to
in Christ are boldly preached from the pulpits of our          every attempt to undermine the Reformed faith and
beloved Protestant Reformed Churches. .This truth is           its doctrine of God's sovereignty. Our own well-being
confessed by the "pew." This is as it ought to be. For         as churches must be sought by viewing "how" and
the Reformed faith must ever remain the content of             "why" others in another denomination attack truths
our worship. To confess the sovereign, particular and          which truly Reformed men hold dear.
irresistible grace of God in Christ is to lift towards           But our purpose in this article is not to discuss this
heaven an anthem of praise to God. Our praise in the           controversy in the C.R.C. We leave that to others.
pulpit must ever be our faithful preaching of God's            Our purpose is to give a historical perspective to the
sovereignty. The truth of God's glorious grace, freely         Canons. We want to show the significance of the his-
bestowed unto salvation unto some and not others, is           torical events that form the background for our
the thrust of the Canons. This truth we b,elieve.              fathers who wrote the Canons. It is important, I be-
  We should point out that the Canons of Dordrecht             lieve, to have some knowledge of the historical cir-
are currently the subject of heated debate in the              cumstances in which the Church wrote the Canons.
C.R.C. Dr. H. Boer in particular has expressed "ques-          These include not only the events immediately pre-
tions" and objections to the doctrine of sovereign             ceding 16 18-1619, but also the events and cir-
predestination. Especially the doctrine of reprobation         cumstances which lie many years before the con-
has fallen on hard times in the C.R.C. Dr. Boer, and           vocation of this great Synod. If we are to appreciate
others obviously, attack articles 6 and 15 of the first        fully the confession made by the fathers at Dordrecht
head of the Canons. There is, according to Dr. H.              then we must have some knowledge of the historical


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                             277


setting in which the Canons were produced.,                 God's people are of immeasurable significance.
  A brother who has little appreciation of history             By way of example, who can deny the tremendous
might object to the above and ask: "Is not a con-           impact and influence the events of 1924 had upon
viction that the Canons are biblical sufficient? Can an     our parents and grandparents? The ridicule and scorn
understanding of the historical framework in which          they endured for the truth's sake were trials which
the Canons were born be of any real value?"                 God used as His means, from the old foreordained, to
  Certainly, the fact that the Canons are based on          strengthen their faith in the Word. Who does not
God's Word is fundamental. On the Word our faith is         understand the influence the depression years had in
based. Surely! This is above all important. But this        teaching our fathers the lesson of faith that we are
fact does not make the historical events and cir-           but dependent children before God? If one suffers to
cumstances of little or no value. Certainly, the his-       obtain something, he will cherish that which he has
torical is subordinate and secondary in importance to       finally acquired. So also the Church of any period of
the scriptural basis for the confessions. But an under-     time which endures all trials and sufferings in obedi-
standing of the historical framework in which the           ence to God's Word is a Church which will not soon
Canons were written is of great value.                      lightly' regard its confession which in times past she
                                                            suffered to maintain.
  Let me point out why.
  The events of one's youth in a large measure form           The contrary is also true. The person which does
the man! One's adult attitudes and perspectives of life     not know how he came to own that which he pos-
are often expressions of what was deeply impressed          sesses, nor what is its use, soon accounts this posses-
upon him in the formative years of his youth. What a        sion as useless and expendable. In demonstration of
man is today can be explained in part by what he            this fact, consider many so-called Reformed believers
experienced in his youth. The joys, trials, and dis-        today who objectively possess the Canons as their
cipline of one's youth leave their mark on this person      confession. Many have no knowledge of how or why
                                                            the Canons were formed. They do not know what the
many years later. The same is true collectively of the
Church. The mature Church which at Dordrecht in             fathers from 1560-1619 had to go through to gain
faith gave birth to the Canons was a Church spiritual-      and maintain their proper confession. Besides, these
ly formed and prepared in its infancy to do just this       same Reformed believers today have ever taken the
work. It is often said that the Church which produced       way of compromise with the lie and amalgamation
the Canons was of the "most flourishing period of           with the world. Every time obedience would require
                                                            suffering hardship these "Reformed pilgrims" have
Reformed. Theology." Well, then, were not the               chosen the "easy way out" - habitually rationalizing
unique events prior to 1618 the fertile soil, in part at    an errant walk! How, I ask, can anyone expect these
least, which caused the beautiful flower of the Re-         Reformed believers today to maintain the unpopular
formed Theology to flourish?                                truth of unconditional predestination as stated by the
  Flesh and blood believers, brothers in Christ, in the     Canons? The fact is that an heritage, which one's
name of the Church of Christ and on behalf of the           father would not jealously defend and boldly declare,
Reformed Church of the Netherlands, formulated the          has fallen to those who are spiritually ill-prepared to
truths of God's Word as expressed in the Canons.            receive or defend it. If the first of any succeeding
Who were these men? What kind of men were they?             generations taught their children the way of com-
By what were they influenced? What shaped their             promise, how can they (or we) expect their children,
faith and conviction? You say: through God's grace          the second generation, to suffer for the truths which
and by the work of the Holy Spirit, Who applied             their elders principally compromised away. Children
God's Word to their hearts. Yes, but what were the          who have not been diligently taught the truth of
events of their youth through which God in grace            God's Word by word and example are spiritually ill-
formed them? Events and experiences are: means of           fitted to wage spiritual warfare for the truth. They, as
grace, too. We must not deny the significance of his-       their father, are "soft" re the truth. Historical events
torical events in the lives of God's people.                of the.past, in this instance, are God's means, which
  We must remember that God prepares His people             sweep today's children, according to God's severe
through historical events of the past to walk in faith      justice, swiftly down the smooth highway of
and obedience in the present. Here the emphasis must        apostasy.
be laid . . . on God's Work. God forms men through            We,!as all men, are children of our past.
events. The historical events of one's life are events
which God willed eternally, determined and brought            Our. fathers at Dordrecht were children of their
to realization as His means  in grace to form the be-       past. What was that past? What were the influences of
liever for his work and station in the cause of God's       their lives which shaped their faith and confession?
Kingdom. Thus, past historical events in the lives of         To this history we turn next time.


278                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


$IGNS OF THE TIMES





                    The Black Horse of Revelation
                                                   Rev. HI Veldman


  When we speak of the signs of the times we are              These riders cannot be identified with the Christ Who
immediately reminded of the four horsemen of the              sends them. So, the important question is not: who
Apocalypse as recorded in the sixth chapter of the            are'these  riders? The question, however, is important:
book of Revelation. It is not our intention, in these         what is signified by these riders? We must not sepa-
articles, to call attention to this passage in any detail.    rate these horses from their riders. We must interpret
We understand, I believe, that these horsemen ride            them together. There can be no doubt as to the signif-
their horses throughout the New Dispensation. They            icance of these riders. Rev. 6 emphasizes that these
do not refer to successive periods of history in a            horses do not run wildly, at random. They are
chronological order. Neither do they refer to a future        directed and controlled. They run toward, accomplish
period which still lies before us. If the latter were         a definite goal. The Lamb of God directs them. And
true, then this passage of the Word of God would not          that they have riders means that they are directed
speak particularly to us. It is surely true that these        intelligently; these irresistible and irrepressible forces,
horsemen ride their horses simultaneously throughout          strong and vehement in battle, do not run wildly;
the ages of the New Dispensation, although it is true         they are constantly controlled by the Lamb of God
that these phenomena become more intense as his-              Who appears as having been slain and is now risen and
tory goes on.                                                 glorified.
  The horse, according to the Word of God, is pre-              In this article we call attention to the black horse:
eminently an animal of war. Scriptural passages, such         We do this not because this horseman is the most
as Ps. 33: 17, Job 39: 19-25 (what an amazing passage         important of these horses. The most important of the
this is!) and Zechariah  1:8 ff. and 6: 1 ff., clearly        horsemen is undoubtedly the white horse. This horse-
indicate this. As these horses go forth into the earth,       man is first, must be first, and the other three horse-
they are irresistible, cannot be checked or frustrated;       men follow him and serve him. Besides, all these
as they leap forth out of the counsel and decree of           horses are running today. They are all of the greatest
the living God, nothing can stop their progress; they         importance and practical significance. It is surely
will certainly accomplish their mission. And we do            worthwhile to understand every one of these four
well to bear in mind that these horsemen are con-             horsemen. The reason why we call attention to the
trolled directly by our Lord Jesus Christ.                    black horse in this article is because of the peculiar
  We must also bear in mind that, as far as these             significance of this horseman. It is the social aspect of
horsemen of Rev. 6 are concerned, the personal                our present day and age which we would emphasize.
identity of each rider is not important. Each rider, of         Indeed, how true is the Word of God! How
course, is not to be identified with the Christ. To be        applicable it is to all the ages! The scriptures are sure-
sure, these horses are certainly directed and con-            ly not time-bound, true only of the day and age when
trolled by the Christ. He is the Lamb Who appears in          they were written but not necessarily true today. This
the midst of the throne and of the four beasts - see          black horse is held before us in Rev. 6:5-6. We read:
Rev.  5:6. It is the Lamb (Rev.  6:l) Who opens the           "And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the
seals; it is He, therefore, Who sends and directs these       third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a
horses forth into and upon the earth. Yet, it ought to        black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of
be plain that these riders must not be identified with        balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst
the Christ, as far as this vision of Rev. 6 is concerned.     of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a
The apostle sees the Lamb as He opens the first four          penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and
seals and, therefore, causes these four horses to dash        see thou hurt not the oil and the wine."
forth out of God's decree. These horses have riders.            The color of this horse is black. The rider is a


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                279


merchant man; he carries a pair of balances in his          have the constant struggle between those who have
hand, and we should notice what he cries. From this         and them that have not. How the capitalist and
we may establish his identity. Black is the color of        laborer are constantly at each other's throat! The rich
scarcity and want. This appears from Jer.  14:2 and         would maintain his riches and increase them; the poor
Lam. 5: 10. Black is naturally the color of want; white     seeks and would acquire them. All men are at heart
is the implication of all colors, whereas black is the      capitalists. How different conditions are today than
absence of color; it represents physical want. In           not too many years ago! The economic spiral is
harmony with this are the other details. On the one         climbing day by day. All are afraid today of the
hand, he has a pair of balances in his hand, and he         danger of inflation. Salaries and wages are constantly
cries: "A measure of wheat for a penny, and three           on the increase. Yet, this increase is also accompanied
measures of barley for a penny." But he also cries:         by a constant rise in the costs of consumer goods.
"See thou hurt not the oil and the wine." This means        People earn more and more; but the cost of life's
that this black horse symbolizes the ever present con-      necessities and also of life's luxuries climb day by
trast between the rich who live in abundance and the        day.
masses of poor who live by the day.                           How vividly this condition of today is set before in
  How Socialism and Communism hate this horse-              this Word of God! On the one hand, we read of a
man! They theorize that all men have an equal right         measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of
to all the goods and possessions of this world. They        barley for a penny. A penny was a day's wage. One
oppose all class distinctions, would wipe out all dif-      measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of
ferences between the various classes of people. The         barley. for a penny constituted a day's sustenance:
rich must share their wealth with the poor; the poor
have as much right to the wealth of this world as the       Yet, the same is also true today. A small percentage
rich; people must live together on an equal basis. Of       of the ,world's wealth (not more than 25%) is shared
course, today one may also witness wide disrespect          by the, masses of the people. It is true that the labor-
for all law and authority; students demand,a voice in       ing man of today makes more than a penny a day,
the determination of what they are to study; the            but his income today is matched by the rising cost of
laborer must determine working conditions with the          living. And, if and when a depression sets in, it does
employer. This philosophy, so prevalent today, is, we       not-take-very%r+before these masses of people are
must understand, dead wrong. Inequality is not              compelled to go on relief. The point is that his wage
necessarily injustice. Of course, there is inequality.      is always swallowed up by what he needs. On the
All men are not equal. Some are rich whereas many           other hand, "do not hurt the oil and the wine."
more are poor. And we maintain that inequality is           Governments and various agencies may combine their
not necessarily injustice. Socialism violates the Word      efforts and talents to fight poverty and destroy this
of God in two respects. First, it is not true that all      class distinction. But the Word of God declares: do
men have an equal right to all the goods and posses-        not hurt the oil and the wine. These represent the
sions of this world. All men would then have an equal       rich. The distinction between the few rich and the
right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.       poor masses of the populace must continue. This is
Fact is, however, man has the right to nothing. That I      taught by this Word of God.
have less than my neighbor is not injustice; and this         Do we understand this Word of God. Indeed, let us
for the simple reason that I have no right to anything.     be comforted by this particular scripture. Let us
I am a sinner under divine condemnation; the only           understand that the crucified and risen and glorified
thing to which I am entitled and which I deserve is         Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, sends forth this
the suffering of the wrath of God, temporally and           black horse with its rider to maintain the distinction
eternally in hell. Secondly, socialism also violates the    between the few rich and the many, many more poor.
scriptural truth that all men simply are not created        On the one hand, we may witness the riotous living of
equal. The only equality among men as set forth in          some, their revelling in wealth and abundance, in
the Word of God is that all men are sinners, under          feasting and merriment. On the other hand, we also
divine condemnation. Otherwise, however, some are           have among us a continuous cause for rebellion and
born rich' and others poor; besides, and this'is potent,    dissatisfaction, for the continuous rising up of the
the Lord did not give to all men equal powers of            many against the few. Always the black horse runs
body and soul, of mind and will. We can, therefore,         triumphantly through the earth, maintaining this dis-
readily understand that socialism and communism             tinction between the rich and the poor, being sent
hate this black horse.                                      out by the Lamb Who appears as having been `slain;
  Now we must notice that Christ, through this black        How important it is to know and to believe that all
horse with its rider, maintains the distinction between     these things are controlled directly by Him Who is the
the few rich and the masses'of the poor. Our present        King of kings and the Lord of lords, our Lord Jesus
day and age is characterized by the class struggle. We      Christ. He, Who loves His church, died for that


280                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER


church, is even now in supreme control of all things.                             throughout the world. The only exception to this era
                                                                                  of prosperity and peace will be the people of God,
   Why is this? The church of God's elect `must be                                the faithful followers of the Lamb. Not having the
gathered throughout the ages, even until the end of                               mark of the beast upon their foreheads they will not
the world. All must be saved, the entire wheat harvest                            be able to buy or sell. They will be subjected to a
must be harvested and gathered in. Class struggle                                 terrible persecution, so great that the days will be
must continue, also wars and rumours `of wars. The                                shortened for the sake of the elect. However, the
development of sin must be gradual. Matters may not                               Lamb of God stands upon the mount Sion. Then our
reach their climax before the time appointed by the                               redemption will be at hand. Let us attend to this sign
living God. This explains the social disturbances of                              of the coming of our Lord. May the Lord grant unto
our present day and age. The day is coming when this                              His. people that they may be faithful, if need be unto
class struggle, these wars and rumours of wars, will                              death. May they keep their garments unspotted in the
come to an end. This will mark the kingdom of the                                 midst of the world. God will save us even until the,
antichrist. Then all will be peace and prosperity                                 end.

TRANSLATED TREASURES


                       Acts of the Synod- of Dordrecht
                                                      Historical Foreword
                                                                           (7)

(Connection: In the preceding section we saw Gomarus, accompanied                 October 19, 1609. When the convening of a synod had been made
by several of his fellow ministers, debating against Arminius, accom-             impossible again, the Arminians became bolder in their attempts to
panied by several of his fellows. The subject was the various points of           undermine the Reformed faith. In 1610 they met secretly and without
doctrine about which they disagreed. The conference was held in the               authorization from their churches and drew up the Remonstrance,
presence of the States. At the conclusion of the conference, the States           which included their own doctrinal beliefs, the infamous Five Points of
promised to convene a Provincial Synod; but to this promise conditions            the Remonstrants. This Remonstrance was addressed to the States.
were attached with which the Reformed ministers could not comply.                 Until the time of the Hague Conference, however, no one was able to
They also ordered both parties to submit their views in writing.                  obtain a copy of this Remonstrance and to answer its slanders. Affairs
Arminius, however, died without having prepared his document,                     had reached a low point for the Reformed party.)


   Along with this trouble and misery of the                                      was called to the Theological Ministry in the place of
Churches, there came yet another, which increased                                 Arminius; and to that end Uitenbogaard was sent to
the anxiety and the difficulties above measure. For                               Steinfort. The Deputies of the Churches, under-
when they sought a person who might be called to                                  standing this, judged it to be their solemn duty to
the Theological Ministry in the place of  Jacobus                                 admonish the States that such a person would be like
Arminius, the Deputies of the Churches earnestly and                              a nail in the wound, especially seeing that the affairs
in the public name of the Churches petitioned and                                 of the Church were in a state of confusion, and that
begged the Curators of the Academy of Leiden that                                 he should not thoughtlessly be admitted to this min-
they would at least put in his place a person who was                             istry. In order to do this more fruitfully, they re-
free from all suspicion of wrong doctrine, in order                               quested through letters that the Theological Faculty
that through this means the differences of the                                    of Heidelberg, to whom this Vorstius was very well
Academy of Leiden might in due course end, and                                    known, would forthrightly declare whether they
peace might be returned to the Churches. To this end,                             judged that this Vorstius might, in this situation, be
they recommended certain excellent Theologians,                                   placed in charge of the youth in the Academy `of
both foreign and Dutch, but in vain. For the                                      Leiden, to instruct them, with fruit, peace, and edifi-
Remonstrants, who seemed to have won the hearts of                                cation of the Churches. They also answered, August
some beforehand, brought it about through their                                   26, that a certain book concerning God and concern-
recommendations that  Conradus Vorstius, Professor                                ing' the divine attributes had just been published by
at' Steinfort (a person who for years was justly sus-                             him, and that in this book he cast aside the doctrine
pected of Socinianism by the Reformed Churches)                                   of ancient and more recent Theologians and taught


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER          j                                   281


that God, according to His Being, had quantity, size,       States that they would not in this manner force these
and finiteness, and that He was composed of Being           unsound articles, which had never been ,properly in-
and incidental matters, that according to His will He       vestigated in any lawful assembly of these churches;
was changeable, that He was subject to a passive            upon the churches,, but that they rather  wou1.d con-
power, and other monstrous views. Further, they             vene a Provincial Synod, something which had so fre-
stated that ten ykars before this he had been sent to       quently been requested and for so long a time had
Heidelberg in order to purge himself of Socinianism,        been desired, in which the Articles, according to the
of which the Churches already at that time accused          rule of God's Word, might first be lawfully investi-
him, before the Theological Faculty, where Dr.              gated. They also pointed out with what great offense
Pezelius also was present. They stated, further, that       and damage to the churches the intended calling of
he had at last purged himself, leaving behind a manu-       Vorstius would be mixed, and on this account they
script; but that he had not confirmed that purging,         petitioned that this call might be prevented by the
but, on the contrary, often and in many ways had            authority of the States. When this matter was taken
made himself suspect; that he had a nest full of            under advisement, it was decided that at the next
monstrous ideas in his head, with which he had until        following fathering of the States in the Hague, before
now corrupted the school and the youth of Steinfort.        the gathering of the States themselves, a Conference
And they stated that if a person who was under such         would  ibe held concerning the Five Articles of the
suspicion as to doctrine would be called to the re-         Remonstrance between six Ministers chosen from
nowned Academy of Leiden, it would be nothing else          each side. The Remonstrants chose for themselves
than trying to put out the fire with oil. When both         Johan,nes Uitenbogaard, Minister in the Hague;
the Deputies of the Churches and the esteemed Magis-        Adriannus Borrius, and Johannes  Arnoldi Corvinus,
trates of the chief cities of Holland, namely, those of     of Leiden; Nicolaus Grevinchovius of Rotterdam;
Dordrecht and of Amsterdam, informed the Curators           Eduard Poppius, of Gouda; and Simon Episcopius of
and also the States of these things and petitioned          Bleiswijk. The Ministers on the other side had, through
them not to increase the difficulties of the Churches       the Deputies of every Classis, chosen Petrus Plancius,
and put them in danger of new and greater distur-           Minister at Amsterdam; Johannes Becius of Dordrecht;
bances by calling such a person, the Remonstrants,          Libertus Fraxinus, of den Briel; Roardus Acronius, of
October 18, clung with might and main to their posi-        Schiedam; Johannes Bogardus, of Haarlem; and Festus
tion, that they would not turn aside from this in-          Hommius, of Leiden.
tended call. Meanwhile, Vorstius came to Holland;             `When they came together, on March 11, 1611, the
and, after he had been heard in the assembly of the         Remonstrants refused to enter into conference with
States (no one else of the Ministers being present          the other six Ministers in the capacity of Deputiesof
except Uitenbogaard), he went back to Steinfort.            the Classes of Holland and West-Friesland, such as
  About this time, when some students of Sacred             they showed themselves to be by their credentials, in
Theology who had been called to the ministry of the         order that they should not seem to be parties of the
Word were to be examined in various Classes, August         Churches. Indeed, they. protested that they would
22, September 22, the Remonstrants brought it about         rather  ,leave with matters unfinished if they would
that the Classes were ordered by the Commissioned           not relinquish this capacity. When there had been a
Advisers of the States that, with respect to the Article    long debate about this, the other Ministers preferred
concerning predestination and what is connected with        to give way before this importunity, rather than to
it, they were to require of no one a further explana-       wrangle about this any longer. And those who had
tion beside that in the Five Articles of the Re-            been delegated from the Classes, before they entered
monstrance. At the same time the Five Articles of the       into Conference, requested of the States that the
Remonstrance were delivered to the Classes., Besides,       promise made to the Churches two years earlier at the
it was also forbidden that anyone should be barred          time of the Conference between Arminius and
from the service of the Church who declared himself         Gomarus (August 18, to wit, that the judgment of
in agreement with the Remonstrants with respect to          this case, when the Conference was finished, would
the aforesaid Articles. Because the Ministers, for          be left to the Provincial or National Synod, and that
many reasons, objected against consenting to.-this, the     the States would reserve judgment) might here also be
Deputies of the Churches at their request presented         renewed. As far as procedure was concerned, they
their objections concerning this at the next: gathering     would follow this order, that the parties on both sides
of the States of Holland and West-Friesland. At the         would put the proofs of their views in writing, and
same time they declared that they were ready to             thereafter would hold an oral Conference about
show in a lawful Synod that these Articles of the           them. Before they turned to the investigation of the
Remonstrance were in conflict with God's Word and           Articles, the Ministers who, as before stated, had been
also with the- Confession and the Catechism ,of the         delegated by the Classes furnished an answer against
Netherlands Churches. They further requested the            the Remonstrance of the Remonstrants, a copy of


282                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


which they `had at last obtained only a short time        the very purpose of leading the discussion off into
before the Conference. In this answer they demon-         tangents, away from the chief point of difference,
strated that the Remonstrants had presented the           therefore the Ministers by request demonstrated to
views of the Reformed Churches in a bad light and         the States this improper manner of dealing. They did
that they had slanderously fabricated many things         not request, however, that they should not reveal
against those views; they also showed that the            their views concerning reprobation (as the
Remonstrants had not forthrightly revealed their own      Remonstrants frequently falsely accused them); but
views, nor presented all the Articles concerning which    they clearly declared their views in so far as they held
there were differences. And since there were more         to be sufficient for the peace and edification of the
main points of disagreement than those declared in        Churches, not only orally but also in writing. They
the Five Articles, they humbly petitioned that by the     declared that, when they posited an eternal decree of
authority of the States the Remonstrants would be         election of particular persons, they also at once
ordered to reveal themselves clearly and forthrightly     posited an eternal decree of reprobation and passing
also concerning all the remaining points. Accordingly,    by of some particular persons, seeing that it cannot
when they were to investigate the first Article of the    be that there should be an election without there also
Remonstrance, in which it is set forth that God from      being at once a reprobation or passing by. They  de-:
eternity has decided to save the persevering believer     clared, further, that recklessly to investigate all  difi
(which no Christian denies), and when this Article        ficult questions concerning this Article would do
was presented as though it embodied the doctrine of       nothing else than fill the Church with useless disputes
God's eternal election, the Remonstrants were re-         and strivings which serve no good purpose, and would
quested that, for the clarification of their views        disturb the peace of the churches. Further, they
expressed in this Article, they should declare two        declared that this their explanation, expressed in thei
things more precisely: first, whether they held that      Petition, ought to be sufficient for every temperate
this Article comprehended the entire decree of Pre-       and peace loving mind, namely, that they believe and
destination; second, whether they believed that faith     teach that God condemns no one, yea, has also
and perseverance in faith are causes or conditions        decided to condemn no one, except justly on account
which precede election unto salvation, or whether         of his own sins. Accordingly, it pleased the States
they are fruits which come forth from election and        that, putting those thorny questions aside, they
follow upon the same. After they had for some time        should turn to the treatment of the Articles. The
sought excuses, they finally answered. To the first       Ministers delegated by the Churches presented by
question, they answered that they acknowledged no         document their reasons why they rejected each
other predestination to salvation than that which was     Article in particular. The Remonstrants also posited
expressed in the first Article. To the second, they       over against these and presented by document their
answered that faith, in the consideration and view of     proofs by which they intended to establish every
God, precedes election to salvation, and does not         Article. Concerning these reasons and arguments they
follow it as a fruit. Thereupon they presented in re-     debated orally in the gathering of the States. Festus
turn seven other questions, both about election and       Hommius spoke for the one side, in the name of the
about reprobation, to which they desired that the         Ministers delegated by the Churches; and on the other
Ministers delegated from the Classes should answer.       side, in the name of the RenBnstrants, first Adrianus
Since these questions did not belong to the point of      Borrius spoke, and thereafter by turn, Nicolaus
difference concerning the first Article, and since        Grevinchovius, Johannes  Arnoldi, and Simon
many of them were also unnecessary  ,and very  in-        Episcopius.
 olved, and were presented by the Remonstrants for




  The STANDARD BEAR ER
  makes a thoughtful gift
  for a shut-in.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 283


MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE





           Letter to the Members' of the Church at Philadelphia

                                                                                                 March 15,1977

To the Members of the Church at Philadelphia,                of the local congregation and not be responsible for
   We have neared the end of our discussion of the           what goes on either at a classical or synodical level? Is
wrongness of separating one's self from the Church.          it possible to immerse one's self in the life of a local
We shall, in fact, conclude our discussion of this           congregation while letting the denomination as a
matter with this letter. There is, however, one point        whole go its own way? Especially if one is a member
which still needs to be discussed. This point was            of a relatively conservative congregation with a rela-
brought to my attention by one of your fellowship,           tively orthodox minister and a concerned and godly
and it is important enough to discuss in a. separate         Consistory, cannot one devote himself to the affairs
letter.                                                      of the congregation, and let the denomination go its
                                                             own evil way?
   The occasion for this question was some remarks I         This question really has to be carried back one
made in an earlier letter concerning the reasons why
people separate themselves to form isolated Bible            additional step. Is it possible to be a member of a
                                                             congregation in which things are done, actions taken,
study groups. You will probably recall that I made
some remarks to the effect that people often do this         sermons preached which are not according to the
                                                             Scriptures by living one's own individual life with
because they are unhappy with their Church. They
are unhappy with the denomination of which they              one's family or with a group of like-minded believers
are a part because they see various evils which are          in the congregation, and let the congregation go its
                                                             own way without being unduly affected by the evils
present  in their denomination: support of false doc-        present. in that congregation?
trine, protection of heretics, tendencies to Boardism
on a classical or synodical level, clericism - a domina-       These questions are rather. important issues for
tion of ecclesiastical affairs by the clergy to the ex-      people, and we ought to s.ay something about them.
clusion of elders and deacons and believers, and such          We ought perhaps to start with the idea of denqmi-
like things. This sort of situation on a denominational      nationsl  and the relationship in which a local con-
level can spill over into congregational life so that the    gregation stands to a denomination.
preaching in a local congregation goes stale at best,          This has been a subject of no little discussion over
heretical at worst; and so that Christian life is lost       the years - especially among those who have made a
from the congregation, swallowed up in a tidal wave          study of Reformed Church polity. And the study has
of materialism, worldliness and carnal living.               not been merely an abstract study of principles in-
   When we were discussing these things, I mentioned         volved in this question; rather the study has had all
that people who are dissatisfied with this state of          sorts of consequences `for the life of the Church
affairs and who express their dissatisfaction by form-       throughout the ages. In practically every church con-
ing individual Bible-study groups sometimes sever            troversy this question has somehow.intruded. It,is not
their relationships with their congregation altogether       my intention to discuss this question from that point
to form an independent, quasi-ecclesiastical group.          of view.  I'hat would involve a lengthy discussion
But they do not always do this. Sometimes they form          which would carry us far afield. My purpose is dif-
such a group while at the same time maintaining their        ferent from this.
connection with the established Church.                        We have stressed, in past articles, the truth that the
   It is in connection with this latter statement that a     local.congregation is autonomous. That means, on the
question arose. And that question, came down to this:        one hand, that each local congregation is a complete
what is the relationship between a local congregation        manifestation of the body of Christ in its own right.
and a denomination? Is it possible, e.g., to be a part       That means, on the- other hand, that the authority of


284                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



Christ within His Church is an authority which is            worse than the error of free will. In fact, the doctrine
exercised within a local congregation  on&, through          of free will really stands or falls with the whole
her officebearers. This is one matter of importance. It      Pelagian conception of individualism. Arminianism
is a truth which the Church denies (either in theory         has no conception of the unity that prevails among
or in practice) to her own spiritual peril.                  men. Arminianism constructs a theology which
   On the other hand, it is also true that there is no       assumes that each man is an isolated individual to be
explicit injunction in Scripture which commands              treated as such in his relation to Adam, to his fellow
local congregations to form a denomination. No one           man, and to God. But.nothing could be farther from
can point to a specific command which makes it               the truth. Man lives as a part of a whole. In the broad-
obligatory for Churches to do this. Nevertheless, this       est sense of the word, man is a part of the whole
does not mean that the calling to form denominations         human race. He fell with the whole human race and
is a calling of which Scripture does not speak. Scrip-       stands guilty before God with the whole human race.
ture repeatedly emphasizes that the Church of Christ         The true human race of Godls  election is also one in
must express the unity which she has in Christ. And          Christ. The believer never stands alone either. He is
this unity; because it must be expressed, must result        one with Christ and therefore one with all the people
in denominations. .Local congregations form a denom-         of God in every age.
ination of congregations, with which this unity can be         .This unity of which man  .is a part is an organic
expressed in the midst of a world of confusion and           unity. If we -can think. in this connection of a human
disunity.                                                    bqdy, (a figure which Scripture uses, by the way, to
  This unity must be a unity of one faith, one doc-          describe the Church, cf. I Cor. 12) then the small
trine, one calling - according to. Paul in Ephesians         bone in the knuckle of my right hand is an organic
4: 1-13. And. that unity of one calling also implies that    part of my body as a whole; but it is also a part of my
local congregations labor together, within the bounds        right arm; and, further it is a part of my right hand;
of a denominational life, in the fulfillment of that         and more specifically yet, it is a part of the index
calling. Hence, local congregations join together to         finger on my right hand. To every part of the whole
solve mutual problems, to encourage and correct each         and to the whole it stands in a certain relation. If I
other, to establish Theological Schools, to do the           die, soon the knuckle of the index finger of my right
work of missions, etc. Denominations are important,          hand also changes back into dust. So it is with the
and denominations have their Scriptural place in the         believer. From the point of view of history he is a
life of the Church.                                          part of the ,whole human race. But through sovereign
                                                             election, he. is also a part of the body of Christ. But
  We are aware of the fact that denominational life,         within that body of Christ, he stands in all sorts of
however, must never intrude upon congregational life         other relationships. He stands in the organic unity of
in such a way that. the autonomy of the local congre-        a family, of a local congregation, of a denomination,
gation is lost. However, I do not intend to go into this     of a particular society, of a nation, of the number of
whole question now. The point which is of concern            employees in a given place of work, etc.
to us is: how are congregations related to denomina-
tions from the viewpoint of the individual responsi-           Now it is always true that whatever happens to a
bility of the believer?                                      man affects in some way the whole unity of which he
                                                             is a part. To go back to my figure, what happens to
  The  ,answer to  .tbis question. involves the truth of     the knuckle of my right index finger affects all of me.
what is called "corporate responsibility." Man is            Or, the other way around, what happens to my body
created by God in such a way that he never stands in         or to my arm or to my hand or to.my finger, affects
the midst of life as an individual. God created Adam         also that knuckle. This lies in the nature of an orga-
as the head of the whole human race  -. as both              nism. There is not anything which can change that.
organic head and legal head. The second Adam,,
Christ, is also the organic and legal Head of His              God sees us and deals with us, God saves us and
people. Man forms, therefore, a unity, an organism, a        judges us, God. fulfills, his counsel with us and accom-
                                                             plishes his purpose through us, only within the con-
single body. Paul says that God created all the nations
of men who dwell on all the face of the earth of one         text of all the relationships of life in which we stand.
blood. (Acts  17:26.) John Donne, the English poet,          What happens to the organism or the part of the
said that man is not an island - although this is true       organism to which. we belong affects us. And what
                                                             happens to us affects the organism; When one mem-
probably in a far deeper sense than Donne meant it.          ber of the body suffers, the whole body suffers. (I
 This is an important truth. It is the curse of              Cor.  12:26.) When the nation goes to war, I am
Arminianism that this, heresy denies it. I said once in      affected - whether I agree with the war or not. When
a sermon that, from a certain point of view; the error       a member of my family is ill, the whole family is
of individualism, so common in Arminianism, is               affected, Whatever I do as a father in the family has


                                                 Ti-lE STANDARD BEARER                                                          285


its effects upon and has repercussions for the whole               accodntabi$y  out in history. So true is it t&at what a
family.                                                            denomination does is my responsibility that I bear
  Further, as a part of such a corporate group, I am               all  th& consequences for. that path which my
responsible for what goes on in that group. The ex-                denomination has chosen to walk. I bear these con-
tent of, my .responsibility is determined by the posi-             sequences in my life and. in the lives of my family
tion I occtipy in that `group - that is true. It is more           members. If the denomination goes astray doc-
tolerable in  the day of judgment for Sodom and                    trinally, the terrible consequences .of this, come upon
Gomorrah than for Chorazin and Bethsaida. But                      me and my family. There is no escaping this. I may
nevertheless, the whole family of Achan was stqned                 try in my life to escape. these consequences and hold
and burned when Achan took the accursed things                     fast to the truth. I may even be partially or wholly
from Jericho. And God visits the iniquity of the                   successful in this for a time. But the consequences are
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth                mine to' bear. The congregation of which I am a part
generation of them that hate him.                                  goes gradually astray along with the denomination.
                                                                   And I  1  .and my family  - go alorig with  it,. even
  This makes the whole matter of membership in a                   sometimes without my being aw$e of it.`When decay
congregation and a denomination an important                       of the body sets in, it may take a while for the decay
matter. What happens in a denomination and a con-                  to affect the extremities, but sooner or later this will
gregation of which I am a part is my responsil#lity for            happen.:
which I am held accountable before God. I can never
escape this. I may not like it. I may attempt to deny                Well,, I must close this letter. I am really finished
it. I may ignore it. I may live as if it is not true. But          with this subject, although I have had to end it rather
the fact remains for all that.                                     abruptly. If you do desire to discuss this matter fur-
                                                                   ther, let me know.
  God does not await the day of judgment only to                                                Fraternally in Christ,
make this reckoning. God works this whole                                                       H. Hanko

ALL AROUND  US

                                  The ACL and the Athanasian Creed
                                  IRS and tax exemption for-churches
                                                Abortion  _-  Again
                                               Support for Scripture?
                                                             T i d b i t s
                                                    Rev. G. Van  Bark

           The ACL and the Athanasian Creed,                          questioning such `basic Christian doctrines as the
  Christian News, a conservative Lutheran periodical,                 physical resurrection of Christ and Christ's virgin
presents reports concerning the state of affairs within               birth.
the Lutheran community. In its issue of Feb. 7, 1977,                    None of the articles on Judaism in the Winter,
it presents evidence that the American Lutheran                       1977 DIALOG maintain that Christianity is the only
Church no longer defends the Athanasian Creed. It                     saving faith and Jesus Christ the only way to heaven.
presents the shocking fact that within major denom-                   DIALOG advances the anti-scriptural notion that
inations the basics of Christianity are being denied.                 Jews can be saved without confessing Christ ai ,&heir
The`report states:                                                    Savior from sin.
       While the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has in                   Piofessor Harold H. Ditmanson of St. Olaf College
    recent years repeatedly said that Jesus Christ is the             is the author of one of the articles in DIALOG titled
    only way .to heaven and that those who die without a              "Judaism and Christianity: A--Theology  of Co-
    saving knowledge of Christ are lost, the American                 Existence." Ditmanson, after describing the orthodox
    Lutheran Church no longer accepts this scriptural                 Christian approach to Judaism which maintains that
    position. It allows~ its clergymen to reject the                  "Jews should become Christians," writes: "It is a
    Athanasian Creed.                                                 matter of debate whether or not this traditional
                                                                      description of the relationship between Judaism and
       "Judaism" is the theme of the Winter; 1977                     Christianity can be found in the New Testament. But
    DIALOG, a Lutheran journal of theology.                           there can be.no doubt that it took shape in the very
       DIALOG has published articles and editorials                   early centuries of the church. By the end of the third


286                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


       `century, the Jew was seen by Christians in general as          mission and the Church alone is capable of determin-
       an unbeliever."                                                 ing those auxiliaries which are integral to and in-
          Professor Ditmanson, an American Lutheran                  ; tegrated into that mission."
       Church clergyman, says that "Christian attitudes                   In the Jan. 4 Federal Register, the IRS published a
       toward Jews are surely negative if Jews are seen as             final official ruling amending the Income Tax Regula-
       unbelievers, targets of conversion."                            tions of  theInternal Revenue Code, Section 6033, by
          Ditmanson maintains the. Jews believe in the same            defining an "integrated auxiliary of a Church." Items
       God Christians accept.  .He writes in. DIALOG:                  published  in the Federal Register,  such as this. new
       "Christians who take seriously the disavowal of.the             IRS rule and presidential executive orders, carry the
       curse have already begun to entertain the conviction,           authority of law, although not subject to approval by
       at least by implication, that Judaism lives not because         any legislative body.
       of stubbornness or demonic influences, but by God's                "An organization affiliated  with a Church will be
       design. The vitality of Judaism is a sign of faithful-          considered an integrated auxiliary if the principal
       ness, not blindness. The millions of Jews who have              activity of the organization is exclusively religious,"
       suffered and died for their faith have paid the price of        says the new IRS rule.  Many, Church leaders contend
       obedience, not disobedience.  N this is true, it follows        that the government lacks the competence to deter-
       that Judaism has a witness that God wants it to bear.           mine for .a Church or its agencies which activity is or
       Thus God does not want a world without Jews. If                 is not "exclusively religious."
       Jews have such a witness to bear, then Christians need
       Judaism and can learn from it something about their                Some observers feel that the new rule could affect
                                                                     tax exemptions of Christian Schools, day care
       own faith. Hostility, then, is impossible, as is any
       imperialism or condescension in approach. . . ."                centers, charitable agencies and other related church
                                                                       organizations. If it should not affect exemption, it
                                                                       could bring on excessive amounts of paper work.
            IRS and tax exemption for churches
  There has been repeated, and  often justified, com-                                   Abortion - Again
plaint against tax-exemption of church properties.
The arguments, pro and con, I will not now present.                   Increasingly, cries are raised against that horror in
                                                                   our land, abortion. It is murder on a grand scale  -
There are reports, however, that the government is
attempting to crack down on this area of tax loop-                 over a million a year. To spend money to find cures
holes. Perhaps one might be inclined to say that it is             for cancer, to pass laws to reduce, hopefully, the
about time. There are churches that hold extensive                 more than 50,000 deaths on our highways - appears
real estate properties which involve no function for               to be utter foolishness in light of the wanton destruc-
the church except to earn it tax-free monies. How-                 tion of over a million lives annually through abortion.
ever, as soon as the IRS or the government begins to               The Christian News, Jan. 3 1, 1977, reports on some
define, what is a church and what is proper church                 of the action taken against this terrible sin:
activities, the possibility is that the faithful church                   While President Carter was holding a reception in
will be affected. Can government  prpperly define                      the White House for the diplomatic corps, a  "pro-
what is legitimate church? Can it limit what it con-                   life" rally  - the first major all-day demonstration of
siders proper church activities? Will not such de-                     his administration  - was held on the Ellipse, across
                                                                       the street from the executive Mansion.
cisions on tax exemption, though apparently so nec-
essary because of widespread abuses, be used to                           It was the fourth annual March for Life, held Jan.
regulate and perhaps limit the proper work of the                      22 on the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court
church? Some of these concerns are expressed in the                    decision in 1973 which greatly liberalized state abor-
                                                                       tion laws proscribing abortions. The marchers came
Presbyterian Journal, Jan. 26, 1977:                                   from many states to register their protest.
          The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued              The official metropolitan police estimate of the
       a new order, which has the effect of law, defining              number of persons who marched down Pennsylvania
       which "auxiliaries" of a denomination are to be con-            Avenue from the Capitol to the Ellipse was  40,OOCl.
       sidered tax-exempt.                                           There are many, of course, who are "pro-life" for
          Religious leaders reacted immediately because the        reasons other than what God has given in His Word.
       new order could affect the tax-exempt status of some
       Church agencies. James E. Wood Jr., executive direc-        For that reason, too, one finds it difficult and usually
       tor of the Joint Baptist Committee on Public Affairs,       impossible to cooperate with "pro-life" movements.
       said: "If the Churches accept this new IRS rule, it         But the horror of this terrible crime ought to be im-
       would be tantamount to their acceptance of the              pressed on us. We condemn Germany for killing mil-
       authority of the government to define the role and          lions of Jews and others who opposed their regime
       mission of the Churches."                                   during and before the last World War. We condemn
          Mr. Wood continued, "Under the Constitution,             those in Germany who silently acquiesced to these
       each Church is the sole source of the definition of its     brutal murders. Yet, is there basically any difference


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  ,287


between what was done then  - and what is being                                put into the time framework  of traditional Scripture
done now? Then, the "worthy" purpose was to                                    structure.
eradicate the hated Jews  - now the "worthy" pur-                                 In regard to the tablet discovery, Dr. David Noel
pose is to eradicate unwanted babies and prevent                               Freedman of the Religious Studies Department,
overpopulation on this earth. The scenery is a bit                             University of Michigan, and editor of the Bulletin of
different (hospitals and clinics instead of gas cham-                          the American Schools of Oriental Research, said:
bers); the goals are a bit different (eradicate babies                            "This is the best information we have so far about
instead of  Jetis); but the method is the same: kill                           ancient civilization and there is an added point for
these human beings. God's law is being wilfully vio-                           those interested in the Bible. We're all in for a real
lated by those who know well what that law is.                                 shakeup in liberal scholarship."
                                                                             The article continues by pointing out how that this
                    Support for Scripturd?                                recent discovery identifies many of the historical
   The child of God believes the Word of God by                           names and places in the Bible. The Christian needs
faith. Yet one finds it to be of interest when worldly                    not this sort of evidence to convince him concerning
scholars discovei evidence that what. the Bible says is                   our Bible, but such discoveries are of interest because
true. A report in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner,                        they show how wrong great scholars `of the past were.
Nov. 6, 1976, as reported in Christian News, states                       The discoveries show not so much the truthfulness of
t h e   f o l l o w i n g :                                               Scripture, but the fallibility of man and his theories.
        The recent discovery of the ancient civilization at
    Tell Mardikh in Syria has rocked the scientific com-                                                 Tidbits
    munity  - penetrating deeply into biblical scholarship.                  When is a "dance" not a "dance"? When it is held
       Many scholars now agree that the data found at                     at Calvin College. Then  -it is a "party-with-&sic."
    this site explodes the waning view, popular in the                    One wonders: Are they ashamed of their "Calvin-
    19th and early 20th centuries, that Israel's religion                 ism"? qr are they embarrassed about their "worldli-
    was evolutionary in nature. Too, it shows that the                    ness"? Or is it an attempt to hide something from
    early books of the Bible were not mythological                        s o m e o n e ?
    "spiritual lessons"  - fabrications written at a later
    date and lacking historical accuracy.                                    A favorable review of Prof. H. Hanko's book The
        On the some 20,000 clay tablets discovered, dated                 Mysteries of the Kingdom is given in the Banner, Feb..
                                                                          11, 1977. It concludes: "We trust that the bodk will
    at 2,500 B.C., approximately 230 places and personal
    names have been identified. Up until now a good                       be given a wide circulation. May it be a useful in-
    many of the names hadn't turned up anywhere ex-                       strument as God's kingdom is extended in our world
    cept in the Bible, leading many scholars to believe                   through the power of His Word and Spirit." And it's
    them fictional. The consideration cannot now be                       an occasion to ask ourselves: "Have we added this
    ignored that these are "real" places and "real" names,                book to our libraries yet?"

                                                                                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                                                             On March 17, 1977, our parents, MR. AND MRS. GARRET
               Addition to Church Directory                               FLIKKEMA, will celebrate their 25th Wedding Anniversary. We are
                                                                          thankful to God for them and the covenant home which they have
               Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church                       given to us. It is our prayer that the Lord will continue to bless them
                                                                          and to guide them in the years ahead.'
              Clerk
              & Treas.: Mr. W.H. Clason                                                                     Their children,
                         1317 Pinehurst Blvd.                                                                 Mr. and Mrs. Richard Flikkema
                         Kalamazoo,  Mich. 49007                                                                    and  Tammy
                                                                                                              Mr. and Mrs. George De Jong
              Pastor:    Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                                   Patricia Ann
                         427 N. Fletcher                                                                      and,James  Robert
                         Kalamazoo,  Mich. 49007
                                                                                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                                                             On March 19, 1977, our parents, MR. AND MRS. DONALD
                                                                          LOTTERYAN,  will  celebiatk  their thirtieth wedding anniversary. We
                                                                          are thankful to God for their covenant instruction and guidance. We
                               NOTICE                                     would like to wish them God's continued blessing as they journey life's
                                                                          pathway together.
   The `Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School, Grand Rapids,                                        Their children,
Michigan, will be in need of a teacher in the lower elemeritary grades                                     Mr. and Mrs. Clare Kuiper
for the 1977-1978 school year. Application can be made by writing to:                                      Mr. and Mrs. Ed Lotterman
                          Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School                                        Mr. and Mrs. Harry Van' Den Berg
                          The Education Committee                                                          Michael
                          John Dykstra, Jr., chairman                                                      Marcia
                          1545 Wilson Avenue, S.W.                                                         Steve
                          Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504                                                       and 9 grandchildren


THE STANDAdD BliARER              _-_----- -               -                                     S E C O N D C L A S S   '
        P.O. Box 6064                                                                            POSTAGE PAID AT
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                   GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
                                                                                          I                             1





 288                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

                                New& From Ok Churches
   The following news about the organization of our             "Mr.  KENNEWS VINK" in the  "YOU.ESS.AYE".
newest congregation in Houston, Texas appeared in               That, of course, could only come from elder J.M.
the February 20 Hope (Walker, Michigan) bulletin:               Faber who has been deeply involved in what he calls
"On Tuesday and Wednesday, our pastor (Rev.                     "the Jamaican Labors 77" with Rev. John Heys and
Ronald Van Overloop) and elders King and Engelsma               their .wives. Mr. Faber says that a complete report on
assisted the group in Houston in their organization.            their work will be submitted by Rev. Heys and
Much of their time was spent with Rev. and Mrs.                 printed in the Standard Bearer. The following from
Harbach conducting family visitation and discussing             elder Faber's letter is of interest: "The work which
future mission work. At the organizational meeting              has given us much joy in the discoveries of progress
on Tuesday evening our pastor delivered the sermon              made in the teaching and in the growth of knowledge
and Rev..' Harbach chaired the meeting. Those                   of the Reformed Faith suffered a saddening blow.
organized totalled four families and twenty souls. The          Rev. Beckford was a victim of a `nervous breakdown'
excitement for the Church and the enthusiasm for the            before we arrived. His condition deteriorated very
truth was very great and something to  .witness. The            rapidly. Our first visit to his sick-room resulted in our
beauty of this'enthusiasm was that it was filled with           giving him  .some comfort from the Scriptures and
gratitude to God and trust that He `would care for              prayer, but in our second visit we could no longer
them in the future." Because of a rather busy week,             reach his consciousness. From that time he had been
Rev. Van  Overloop  and Rev. Veldman exchanged                  unconscious, and was hospitalized. There he lingered
pulpits for the Sunday evening service on February              in an unconscious state until February 15th when he
20.                                                             was taken into glory. His ministry was short, but
   Rev, Joostens noted in the Faith Church bulletin             complete according to the will of the King of His
on February 20 that the coming week was a kind of a             Church, who called him into the ministry. This loss
special week for the Faith congregation "in that Tues-          cuts the `work-force' by 25% in Jamaica, and accord-
day marks our 4th'birthday as a congregation., What             ing to purely .human  reasoning, does irreparable harm
can we say or do except to resound our doxology,                to the two churches he was serving, but according to
`Praise God from Whom all blessings Iflow.' " Hope              our sanctified reasoning, this, too, will work together
Church also marked this as a bit of a special time as           for good for Jamaica's `called according to His pur-
both the mortgage. on the church and, the parsonage             pose.' " The Fabers and the Heyses expected to leave
were liquidated. "We thank God for his faithfulness             Jamaica about February 23.
in supplying the means for us to make this possible."             The Randolph consistory has decided to begin the
   During the past week I received `77 church direc-            practice of singing a song, Psalter #425 stanza 5, right
tories from our churches in Randolph, Wisconsin, and            .after baptism. While the parents are still standing at
Southwest, Wyoming, Michigan. Both of these direc-              the baptism fount, the congregation will rise and sing.
tories are something quite above the `ordinary' direc-          The Hull, Iowa consistory decided to change the last
tories to which I have been accustomed to. In                   ,doxology  of the afternoon worship service to "May
addition to the membership roles, the Southwest                 .the grace of Christ the Savior. .  ." The Southwest
directory lists the birthdates of the children in the           Church council has decided to continue the Sunday
congregation (why not the older folks?) and consider-           evening services at 7:00 because not all of the South-
able additional information which would be especial-            west members are able. to attend services at 6:00 PM.
ly valuable to a new member of the congregation,
such as society membership and the policy- to be                   A Quiet Thought from the Southeast bulletin: "If
followed in the event of a tornado watch. Randolph's            godliness be evil, why is it so much professed? If it be
directory also contains a concise history of the con-           good, why is it so little practised?"
gregation, birthdays and anniversaries arranged by                 A last-minute bit of news, received just before this
day of the year, the church financial report for 1976,          column went to print: Rev. Arie den Hartog has de-
the 1977 collection. schedule, and church build-                clined the call extended to him from the Orthodox
ing use rules. In all, a fine piece of work.                    Presbyterian Church of Christchurch, New Zealand.
   Yesterday I received an air-mail letter addressed to                                                          K.G.V.


