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




       ,`As time marches on, the admonition of Paul speaks
     to us with every "tick" of the clock. There is no
     escape. And God is no respecter of persons or situa-
     tions. Whether we are young or old, housewife or
     factory  .worker, professional or student, rich or poor,
     title or no, our calling is one and the same: Redeem
     the time God has givenunto us. God keeps a log of
     every moment. of our life; and that log will be opened
     on that day of days when Christ returns in glory. Of
     this  *we must be conscious as we walk our pilgrim's
     trek here below. Then the real question that faces us
     each moment is, "Am I buying this moment to the
     glory of God?" We often compartmentalize our lives.
     We speak of study time, work time, play and leisure,
     recreation time. But God doesn't care about our neat
     little distinctions. He demands every moment.
                                   See "Time" - Page 332


c                                  Volume  L111, No. 14, April 15, 1977    A
                                              KEN 0362-4692


                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



                             CONTENTS:                                                                       ~HE'STANDARD   B E A R E R
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Meditation  -                                                                      Editiw-in-Chief:  Prof.  Homer   C. Hoeksema
                                                                                   h&%Wtment  Editon:   Prof. Robert  0. Decker, Rev. David  J.  Engalsma,
   An Easter Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..3 14             Rev. Cornelius  Hanko. Prof. Herman  Hanko.   .Rev.  Robert C.  WrbaCh,
                                                                                   Rev. John A.  Heys.  Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. M. Hoeksema
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                                                                                   Rev. Gix J. Van  Baren.  Rev. Herman  Veldman.
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MEDITATION


                                                     An Easter `Prayer
                                                                         Rev. M. Schipper


               "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great
              Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
              Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-
              pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. "
                                                                                                                 Hebrews 13 : 20,2 1.

   That the words of this text constitute a prayer,                                 body of the prayer. And it contains the doxology
there can be no doubt. It is not merely a wish which                                with which the prayer is concluded.
the writer expresses, being deeply concerned about
the spiritual well-being of his readers. Rather, all the                                That this is an Easter Prayer, we gather from the
ingredients of a legitimate prayer are clearly indicated                            fact that in the address of the prayer the writer of
in this text. It speaks of the One to Whom the prayer                               this epistle speaks to God as the God of the resurrec-
is addressed. It contains the petition which forms the                              tion, the God Who raised our Lord Jesus from the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 315



 dead. Because Christ Jesus our Lord was raised from           death by crucifixion. It must never be our conception
 the dead as proof of our justification before God, and        that as a last resort the death of the cross was con-
 because on this basis a peace relation has been estab-        ceived of to dispose of Him. For, while He was cruci-
 lished between God and us, the writer makes his               fied by wicked hands, it was God by His determinate
 petition, that we may be made perfect in every good           counsel and foreknowledge Who had delivered Christ
 work, that is, that the work of sanctification may            over into these wicked hands in order that they might
 follow, whereby we may be made wellpleasing in                do to Him whatsoever it pleased God should be done
 God's sight, unto Whom all the glory and praise is due        unto Him. (Acts 2:23)
 for ever.                                                       All the way from the bosom of the Father into the
    Having just celebrated the glorious fact of Christ's,      abyss of hell it was God leading His Son in the flesh
 resurrection, it is well that we also pay attention to        into the accursed death, where He. suffered the pains
 this prayer in all its beauteous expression and in all its    of hell as the forsaken and accursed of God. He had
 parts.                                                        made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, in order
    Significant address!                                       that we might be made the righteousness of God in
                                                               Him.
    The God of peace!                                            While the death of the cross was the accursed
    That God is the God of peace, describes Him as             death, it was at the same time the justifying death.
 living His own divine life in tranquility. It means,          And only after God had led Him into this justifying,
 negatively, that there is never any conflict, any dis-        atoning death, would He lead Him out again in His
 turbance within the life of the divine family of              glorious resurrection.
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And, postively, it means          Jesus, our Lord!
 that God lives within His perfect being the most
 harmonious covenant fellowship.                                 Jesus, Who saves His people from their sins, Who
                                                               being raised from the dead is crowned with power,
    More particularly, however, this address signifies         glory, and dominion - Lord is He over all things in
 that God is the source of peace. And this means that          heaven and earth; but especially is He Lord over His
 He not only makes peace but gives it. Peace is that           people who stand in relation to Him as servants who
 state or condition in which war and enmity and all            will serve Him in gratitude for the great redemption
 forms of opposition have been abolished. Positively, it       He has wrought.
 describes that state in which we stand in perfect
 reconciliation with God. And this means that if there           That great Shepherd of the sheep!
 is to be any amendment of our natural state in which            Many were the shepherds whom God raised up to
 we stand in enmity against God, if we are to be               lead and to feed His people Israel. All were only
 reconciled unto God, this reconciliation can never            shadows, pointing to the Shepherd to come. And the
 proceed from us, but from God alone, Who, in Christ,          writer of this epistle, repeatedly having drawn by
 was reconciling us unto Himself, and so making                comparison the portrait of the Christ overagainst
 peace. Not only does He realize this peace through            those who cast His shadow, again designates Him the
 the blood of Christ's cross, but He gives this peace to       great Shepherd of His people. No doubt mindful is he
 us in such a way that in our hearts all enmity is             of Jesus' own designation of Himself: "I am the good
 removed, and the peace which surpasseth all under-            Shepherd . . . I lay down my life for my sheep."
 standing comes over our hearts and into them `in such
 a way that we know we stand in perfect harmony                  In (not through) the blood of the everlasting
 with Him and He with us. And to this address the              covenant!
 writer adds:                                                    In the blood which the Shepherd laid down for His
    Who brought again from the dead our Lord                   sheep, God sealed and ratified His everlasting
 Jesus . . .                                                   covenant. Not only was God in Christ reconciling His
                                                               people unto Himself, so making peace; but He cer-
    Literally the text says, "Who led out of the dead          tifies forever the covenant of friendship and perfects
  again our Lord Jesus." This implies, so it would seem,       it. Now His people may dwell with Him in an un-
 that He first led Him into death.                             breakable bond of friendship, and serve Him in that
    The death of the cross!                                    relationship as His covenant friends.
    As we have` so many times written unto you, the              No wonder that the prayer of our text is directed
  death of Christ on the cross was no accident  -              to Him!
  though the enemies of Christ on many occasions and             He is the God of our salvation in Christ Jesus!
in several different ways sought to kill Him. And
  though at last they brought Him to Pilate in order             He is the God Who through Christ has laid the very
  that he might pronounce upon Him the sentence of             foundation of our eternal salvation!


316                                             THE STANDARD  BEARER


  He is the God Who through Christ must yet perfect             Small wonder then that the petitioner concludes
that salvation in us!                                        his prayer with a doxology.
  Based upon the atoning, justifying, peace-making             `To Whom be glory unto the ages of the ages!
sacrifice of the great Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ,
the perfection of which is attested to in His glorious          Quite naturally the question arises: To Whom do
resurrection, the prayer now makes its plea.                 the words "To Whom" refer? Is it to the God of
  A prayer for the Shepherd's sheep!                         peace Who brought again our Lord Jesus from the
                                                             de,ad? Or, is it Jesus Christ Whom the writer mentions
  Sheep they were which had been given to Him of             last as the Mediator through Whom the prayer will be
the Father in sovereign and eternal election, sheep for      realized?
whom He laid down His life and took it up again in
His resurrection when the God of peace led Him out             This is an exegetical question. When we consider
of death. His sheep, who died with Him and rose              that the prayer is directed to the God of peace, it
again in newness of life, and therefore are enabled to       would seem most fitting that the doxology should
hear His voice and follow Him whithersoever He leads         also be raised to Him. On the other hand, from an
them. For them is the prayer made, and not for the           exegetical point of view, since the doxology is most
world.                                                       closely affixed to Jesus Christ, it can also be ascribed
  A prayer for God's covenant people!                        to Him.
  Incorporated they were in an insoluble bond of               The question is solved when we consider that Jesus
friendship with the living God from all eternity.            Christ, Who is the Mediator of our salvation, is at the
Cleansed they were by the blood of the `covenant, and        same time the God of our salvation, Who in His
made fit in principle to dwell with God in the house         human nature is exalted with glory and honor, Whose
of His covenant.                                             is the glory unto endless ages; then our difficulty
  Concerning that people the writer presents in this         ceases. The glorious God, Who has all glory, to Whom
Easter prayer his petition.                                  no glory can be given that He does not already
                                                             possess, is pleased to receive glory and have all glory
  That He make you perfect in every good work to             ascribed to Him as He pleases to reveal Himself in
the end that you may do His will!                            Christ Jesus our Lord. 0, indeed, God-will be glori-
  Not so is it that God in Christ merely makes sal-          fied, world without end! For unto this end has He
vation possible for us, and then leaves it up to us to       created all things, and unto this end has He per-
be saved. If this were so, the sheep would again go          formed the work of recreation. Fact of the matter is,
astray, and be lost. No! He saves them unto the utter-       that He so works out the realization of His counsel
most! The expression in the translation, "make you           that not the creature, but God Himself receives all the
perfect . . ." means literally, "qualifying you fully."      glory and praise. No creature shall be able to glory in
That means that He must give us all the spiritual gifts      himself; but all creation, redeemed through the way
whereby we are enabled to respond to His will, and to        of sin and grace, shall ascribe all glory to God for
walk in all good works which the apostle Paul tells us       ever. And all this glory shall come to Him through the
were from everlasting prepared by God and given to           Mediator Christ Jesus, Who is the God of our salva-
us to perform. (Eph. 2: 10). The situation is not so,        tion.
that like good Boy Scouts we sit down and figure out           Amen!
what good deeds we may perform each day. The
truth is, that even our good works are prepared and            And you know that this little word which con-
given to us. The prayer is that these works may con-         cludes the prayer is not intended merely to place a
stantly come to us, and that we be given the qualify-        dot at the end of the sentence. As always in Scrip-
ing grace to perform them, to the end that in our lives      ture, so also here, it attests to the truth expressed in
God's will may be done.                                      the prayer, that it shall surely be fulfilled. The good
  This is borne out in the rest of the petition: "work-      work which God in Christ has begun, will be finished
ing in you what is wellpleasing in His sight through         in: everlasting glory. The people whom He in Christ
Jesus Christ."                                               has justified in the cross and resurrection, shall be led
                                                             through the way of sanctification into heavenly per-
  God is the subject of this work of grace, and Christ       fection and glory. The prayer which is uttered in
Jesus is the Mediator! So, and so only, is all of our        faith, shall surely be heard and answered.
salvation unto its final perfection of the Lord. It is in
no sense of us.                                                 Amen, and Amen!

                               Know the standard and follow it. Read THE STANDARD BEAR.


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    317


EDITORIALS
Pros H.C. Hoeksema



                                 Baptism on the Mission Field
                                                              (8)

  The last paragraph of Section III (The Church                      visible, catholic Body of Christ?" Do we simply
Order) of the Study Report we have not yet dis-                      assume such important items, and then adopt new
cussed. Actually, this paragraph is only partially con-              stands and new practices on the basis of assumptions?
cerned with the Church Order. The latter indeed has                  This, to me, is not proper church style. But for the
something to say on the subject: Article 59 states                   present I will pass this by: this is really not the
that "Adults are through Baptism incorporated into                   Scriptural section of the Study Report.
the Christian Church, and are accepted as members of                   What I want to point out is that this is the  only
the Church." And this in itself rules out the position               point in the entire Study Report where there is even a
of the Study Report, which in effect proposes a                      reference to the confessions. And then the subject
baptism which is not incorporation into the Christian                receives quick and `easy treatment.
Church and which does not  .involve acceptance as
members of the Church. As I said, this is important                    Now I am not blaming the Study Committee for
enough in itself: for it surely means that the Study                 this. The blame rests squarely upon the Synod of
Report is proposing a  new kind of baptism,  which                   1975, which made absolutely  no reference to the
Reformed churches have never before recognized and                   confessions in the mandate given to the committee.
practiced.                                                           To me, this is preposterous! One would think we had
  But more importantly, this part of the Study                       no confessions, or that the confessions have nothing
Report involves our                                                  to say about baptism and about the relation between
                             confessions.  Before I call
attention to this, let me quote the pertinent para-                  baptism and church membership. And yet this is not
                                                                     the case. Fact is that almost all Reformed con-
graph:                                                               fessions, because of their historical orientation, pay a
          Nor does baptism on the mission field weaken the           disproportionate amount of attention to the subject
    truth that baptism signifies incorporation into the              of the sacraments and the church. And surely, what-
    instituted church. It must be recognized, first, that            ever is decided on this issue of baptism on the mission
    one is baptized into Christ Himself, into His death
    (Rom. 6:3ff').. Secondly, one is baptized into the               field must be in full harmony with what our con-
    visible, catholic Body of Christ (I Cor. 12:12, 13;              fessions have to say about baptism and the church.
    Belgic Confession, Art. 34). But the missionary's                Let our Protestant Reformed Churches at their Synod
   instruction of those who present themselves for                   make certain about that!
    baptism  must include the teaching that, exactly for               What is wrong with the position set forth in this
    these reasons, the end of baptism is the formation of            paragraph of the Study Report? I  find the following
    and the individual's membership in an instituted                 items:
    congregation. If God does not bless the missionary's
   labors with the establishing of a congregation, the               1. The Report establishes no connection between
    baptized are bound to join a congregation that has               being baptized into Christ and being baptized into the
    the marks of the true church.                                    visible, catholic Body of Christ. It simply places the
  I will pass by, & least for the time being, the fact               two next to each other.
that the Study Report produces absolutely no                         2. The Report as it stands speaks of a "visible,
exegisis of Romans 6:3, ff. -and I Corinthians 12: 12,               catholic Body of Christ" which is an abstraction. One
13, but simply assumes a certain meaning and applica-                can indeed distinguish between the organic and the
tion of these passages. This is no way to use texts. My              institutional aspect of the visibility of the church. But
very first question would be: has the Report demon-                  surely, when we speak of the sacraments, according
strated that these texts are indeed speaking of the                  to all our confessions, we are squarely in the realm of
sacrament, rather than only of thi: reality of,baptism?              the  institutional  aspect' and manifestation of the
Understand, I am only raising the question at  this                  "visible, catholic Body of Christ." What is the im-
point. But it is an important question. A second im-                 portance of this? It means: a) That the only way in
portant question would be: has the Report demon-                     which this "visible, catholic Body of Christ" becomes
strated that I Cor. 12 is speaking indeed of "the                    manifest, i.e., visible, is through concrete, visible,


318                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


local, instituted congregations. And, b) That the only       the  Gzurch   of  God,  and separated from all other
way a person can be baptized into that "visible,             people and strange religions, that we may wholly
catholic Body of Christ" is through his, by baptism (a       belong to him, whose ensign and banner we
holy, visible sign and seal), being incorporated into the    bear. . . ."
institutionally visible congregation.                           Here, therefore, we find baptism described as the
   It is of the utmost importance that we understand         sacrament by which we are admitted into, received
this and maintain it. Otherwise we can no longer             into, incorporated into what the Study Report calls
maintain that the church as institutionally visible in       the "visible, catholic Body of Christ." This expres-
the local congregation is indispensably necessary. If I      sion, by the way, is found in the Westminster Con-
can be baptized somehow into a visible, catholic             fession in connection with baptism. We may note,
Body of Christ without being a member of any local           too, that there is general agreement among other
congregation and without becoming a member                   Reformed confessions on this significance of baptism.
through my very baptism, then I have no principal            Similar language can be found in the Westminster
need of that local congregation. After all, my mem-          creeds, the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of
bership in the Body of Christ is the important thing,        England, the Irish Articles of Religion, the Scotch
the all-important thing. If the latter can be separated      Confession of Faith, and the French Confession of
from my membership in the local church, then I can           Faith.
forget about that local church membership. Oh, per-            Now the very language of Article 34 as well as the
haps there are practical reasons for such membership,        context of the preceding articles (30 to  32), all of
but' there is no principal need. And remember: if this       which refer to the church as instituted, ought to warn
is true, it is as true at home as it is on the mission       us already that this so-called visible, catholic Body of
field.                                                       Christ is not a mere abstraction, existing "out there
3. Yet this is exactly what the Study Report pro-            somewhere" without concrete form in local con-
poses and allows. It forgets that we are incorporated        gregations.
into the church by baptism. And it proposes that the           But let us allow the Confession itself to tell us
missionary must instruct people that they  must              what is meant.
become members in an instituted congregation. And
if a congregation is not established on the mission            First of all, go back with me to Article 27, "Of the
field, then the baptized persons must go elsewhere.          Catholic Christian Church." There you read: "We
But remember: all this time (whether 3 months, 6             believe and profess, one catholic or universal Church,
months, a year, two years) they are already members          which is an holy congregation of true Christian be-
of the VISIBLE, catholic Body of Christ! And I ask:          lievers, all expecting their salvation in Jesus Christ,
if this is possible for six months or a year, then what      being washed by his blood, sanctified and sealed by
principal reason is there why it should not be possible      the Holy Ghost." But when you read on in this
for ten years or a lifetime? To put it bluntly, such a       article, you discover that this article is speaking of
person, once he has been baptized, doesn't need the          this holy catholic church as it exists in and is visible
institutetl  church; he "has it made."                       in this present world. This is very plain from the fol-
                                                             lowing: "And this holy Church is preserved or sup-
   I warn you: follow this line to its logical and ul-       ported by God, against the rage of the whole world;
timate conclusion, and there will not even be an             though she sometimes (for a while)  appears very
instituted church left to do any baptizing!                  small, and  in the eyes  of  men,  to be reduced to
   But now let us turn to our confessions.                   nothing: as during the perilous reign of Ahab, the
                                                             Lord reserved unto him seven thousand men, who
   There are two places in our confessions which             had not bowed the knees to Baal. Furthermore, this
speak of baptism in terms of church membership. One          holy Church is not confined, bound, or limited to a
is the Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer             certain place or to certain persons, but is spread and
74, which speaks of infant baptism. Speaking of in-          dispersed over the whole world. . . ." (italics added)
fants of believers, it says that "since they, as well as
the adult, are included in the covenant and church of          This is the church (visible and catholic) to which
God . . . they must therefore by baptism, as a sign of       Article 34 refers.
the covenant,  be also admitted into the Christian             But now read on in Article 28, where the subject is
church. . . ." (italics added) The other was referred to     this same church; under the title, "That every one is
by the Study Report, but not quoted. In Article 34 of        bound to join himself to the true Church," this article
the Belgic Confession we read: "We believe and con-          statesi
fess that Jesus Christ . . . having abolished cir-
cumcision . . . hath instituted the sacrament of bap-          "We believe, since this holy congregation (notice:
tism instead thereof; by which we are received into          the same church as in Art. 27, HCH) is an assembly of


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      319



those who are saved, and that out of it there is no               And it is this church, the visible, catholic church as
salvation, that no person of whatsoever state or con-           manifested in the local congregation, into which you
dition he may be, ought to withdraw himself, to live            are admitted, received, incorporated by baptism,
in a separate state from it; but that all men are in            according to Article 34 of the Confession and Qu. &
duty bound to join and unite themselves with it;                A. 74 of the Heidelberg Catechism, as well as many.
maintaining the unity of the Church; submitting                 other Reformed creeds. Mind you, you do not by
themselves to the doctrine and discipline thereof;              baptism become obligated to join it. Your member-
bowing their necks under the yoke of Jesus  .Christ;            ship in it is not merely "the end of baptism" - some-
and as mutual members of the same body, serving to              time in the future, if and when a congregation is
the edification of the brethren, according to the               established. No, baptism IS your incorporation into
talents God has given them." We interrupt our quota-            the church.  By baptism you  ARE ADMITTED,
tion at this point to ask the question: how is this to          RECEIVED into that church.
be done, this joining one's self to this holy con-                This is the teaching of our confessions. By this we
gregation, this "visible, catholic Body of Christ?"             must abide.
Here is the answer of Art. 28: "And that this may be
the more effectually observed, it is the duty of all              Let me conclude this part of my critique by quot-
believers, according to the word of God, to separate            ing from some old catechism notes on Article 28 by
themselves from all those who do not belong to the              Rev. H. Hoeksema. They are notes for.his  `fwednes-
Church, and to join themselves to this congregation,            day Evening Class" of some 30 to 40 years ago. My
wheresoever God hath established it, even though the            eye happened to fall on them when, I was studying
magistrates and edicts of princes were against it, yea,         another subject, and I noticed the mention of bap-
though they should suffer death or any other                    tism  2 though not, of course, in the context of our
corporal punishment. Therefore all those, who separ-            current discussion whatsoever. But notice:
ate themselves from the same, or do not join them-              "1. The subject of this article: a. Everyone is bound
selves to it, act contrary to the ordinance of God."            to join himself to the true church: 1) What is meant
(italics added)                                                 is not that one makes himself a member of the true
     It is very plain that when our Confession speaks of        spiritual body of Christ. 2) But that one is in duty
joining the visible, catholic Body of Christ, therefore,        bound to unite himself with the manifestation of that
it does so in terms of joining it as manifested in the          body in the church in the world. b. This takes place:
locally constituted congregation. No prince or magis-           1) Through the outward sign of baptism, whether of
trate will ever punish you and kill you for joining an          children or of adults. 2) Through confession of faith.
abstract visible, catholic Body of Christ. But if you           3) Through the union in public worship, celebration
joined this church  concretely,  as manifested in a             of the Lord's Supper, and in general, participation in
Reformed congregation, in the days when our Con-                the organic life of the church."
fession was written, Philip II would have you killed!

#          F           r       i      e       n          d o          r             F      o             e        ?        ?

     If a man stabbed your beloved bride in the heart,          one can understand this. It  `seems strange, however,
what would your reaction be? What would your                    that when it comes to Reformed theology and the
evaluation of that man be?                                      Reformed faith, men cannot seem to engage in the
     Would you classify him as a friend? Or as a foe?           same kind of consistent thinking and clear evaluation.
     Or would you classify him as partly friend and               Before I proceed, however, let me make it plain
partly foe?                                                     that my criticism is not directed primarily at the
                                                                author of the article under discussion, a Dr. Alvin L.
     Of questions like these I was reminded by the              Baker; but it is directed at 
feature article in                                                                               The .OtitZook,  which highly
                       The Outlook of March, 1977. In the
example above, the answers are perfectly obvious. If            recommends the article to its readers as "very timely
you classified such a man as a friend, it could only            and informative."
mean that you were at heart a foe of your bride. If               The article about which I am concerned is entitled
you attempted to evaluate such a man as partly friend           "Berkouwer on Election." Actually the article is the
and partly foe, you yourself could only be classified           final chapter of a doctoral dissertation on A Critical
as a blundering fool. If you classified him as a foe,           Evaluation of G. C Berkouwer's Doctrine of Election.
only then could you be commended for right think-
ing and for having your heart in the right place. Any-            The article itself is a mixture of favorable and un-


320                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


favorable comments. It may even be said that the            4., Criticizing Berkouwer's view of the relation
points of negative criticism outnumber the favorable        between the will of God and sin, the writer states:
comments. Let me list a few of the important com-           "Berkouwer has oversimplified the will of God." At
ments on each side of the ledger without, however,          the end of this section he writes: "Berkouwer's
expressing my agreement or disagreement with the            theology falls short of this total testimony of the
comments.                                                   Word. Berkouwer dislikes equal ultimacy. He en-
       On the positive side one finds such comments as:     visions absolute sovereignty as being the sixteenth
                                                            century's rationalistic deduction. However, election
1. "Berkouwer challenges the lazy pastor or theolo-         and reprobation are equally ultimate in the sense that
gian to think through propositions which have  `pre-        God has willed the final destiny of all men. This is
viously been repeated in parrot-like fashion. He drives     not a naked deduction made from some `starting
the serious student to the Word to discover or re-          point' arrived at from outside of Scripture. On the
discover the teaching of revelation in connection with      contrary, this is a conclusion made from within all of
election."                                                  Scripture's teaching concerning God, man, and salva-
2. "Berkouwer is also to be praised for injecting           tion."
sound thoughts and opinions from historical theology           It is evident, therefore, that some heavy criticism is
into the contemporary discussion of election."              aimed at Berkouwer here. And I surely have no
3. "The Dutch doctor is to be applaused for his in-         quarrel with this. For the most part I agree with it,
sistence that election should be preached and used          though there are things which I would probably state
pastorally."                                                differently.
4. "Berkouwer is always the sworn enemy of arid                But what do we get at the end of this article? For-
theological abstractions, and this is probably more         the most part, a favorable conclusion:
evident in his treatment of election than in any other         {`It is not easy to criticize a man of Berkouwer's
area of theology."                                          theological acumen. He has produced much that will
 On the negative side one finds such serious charges        enrich the church until the Lord returns. His treat-
as:                                                         ment of. the issues connected with election are (sic)
1. "In Berkouwer, historical reality seems to have          usually thoroughly and fairly done."
swallowed up the eternal. True, he speaks consistent-         Then, after a word of criticism about Berkouwer's
iy of God's love being the a priori of election, but he     tendency toward the subjective, the praise continues:
is usually silent about the eternal aspect of election."       ?Still, there is much to commend in Berkouwer.
2. "Berkouwer has led in the rebellion among con-           Theologians and preachers should be thankful that
servative Reformed thinkers against the traditional         Berkouwer has shown such an interest in demonstrat-
concept of the all-comprehensive decree of God.             ing the fallacies of those caricatures which have made
Berkouwer can no longer accept reprobation, and he          election such a foreboding doctrine to some  men.:,
believes that the church should no longer preach that       Beikouwer continually exhibits a pastor's heart while
the reason for men having different spiritual con-          dealing with the difficult questions related to elec-
ditions is due to God's good pleasure.?' And again:         tion. For example, his insistence that the gospel offer
"However, Berkouwer is wrong, for the message of            is serious . . . remains as a needed corrective for any
the church must include both God's absolute sover-          men who would follow their logic beyond Scripture."
eignty and the gospel of grace. In fact, if God's             And what is the last word?
absolute sovereignty is not strictly maintained, then
grace will invariably be perverted by attributing too         "In many ways, such as this, G.C. Berkouwer has
much to the activity of men." Further: "Again, it           done a work, in connection with election, that will
must be said that Berkouwer's greatest failure is his       strengthen the ever deteriorating marrow of
reluctance to set forth consistently the biblical and       theology."
Reformed view of the absolute sovereignty of God."            Now I am not interested at this time in analysing
3. "Berkouwer, unfortunately, has criticized the            the motives behind this kind of criticism. I suppose
orthodox doctrine of absolute sovereignty, as set           there are various possibilities.
forth in such symbols as the Canons of Dort and               And I repeat: my primary concern is not with the
the Westminster Confession." And after stating that         author of this article, but rather with those who
Berkouwer has followed Barth and  Woelderink,  the          enthusiastically recommend it, namely,  The Outlook.
writer states: "His rejection of `causality' as a means       Consider, in the first place, that the truth of
of .explaining unbelief, and. his neglect of the eternal    sovereign election (and with it, sovereign reprobation)
and fixed aspect of God's decree make his view of           has rightly been called the car ecclesiae,  the heart of
, election a deviant from the Reformed tradition."          the church.


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          321



   Consider, in the second place, that it is not only                                foe!  Yes, yes, there are points to be criticized; even
true that discussion of election and reprobation is not                              points subject to rather heavy criticism. He is a foe of
only very much alive, as The Outlook states, but that                                the Reformed doctrine of predestination. .He stabs
in the churches to the constituency of which The                                     at the very heart of the church. But at the same t&ne,
Outlook is chiefly addressed the doctrine of sovereign                               he is a friend! For he "has produced much that will
predestination is being openly denied by men like                                    enrich the church until the Lord returns." Besides,
Harry Boer and James Daane. In fact, I dare say these                                "there is much to commend in Berkouwer." And
men are disciples of Berkouwer and follow and agree                                  though he stabs at the heart of the church, neverthe-
with him in this regard.                                                             less "in many ways . . . Berkouwer has done a work,
                                                                                     in connection with election, that will strengthen the
   Consider, in the third place, that Dr. Berkouwer in                               ever deteriorating marrow of theology."
his work on  Divine Election,  with all his erudition                                  I like to believe that there are still men in Re-
and theological acumen, stabs at this  car  ecclesiae,                               formed Fellowship and in the Christian Reformed
this heart of the church. For remember: this is pre-                                 Church - however inconsistent they may be because
cisely what Berkouwer and his disciples do! Their                                    of the First Point of 1924 - who do not want to see
doctrine of election and reprobation is not the doc-                                 their church follow the teachings of Berkouwer and
trine taught in our Reformed creeds and in Scripture.                                his disciples.
And even the criticism offered in Dr. Baker's article
makes this plain.                                                                       But .then I want to warn against the bland kind of
                                                                                     criticism described above. You must recognize the foe
   And then consider, finally, that  The Outlook  can                                for what he is, and sound an alarm in Zion. For with
after all say, in effect: Berkouwer is both friend and                               friends like Dr. Berkouwer, you don't need enemies!

TRANSLATED  TREASURES



                        Acts of the Synod of .Dordrecht
                                                                              (8)


(Connection: In the previous  installment we learned: 1) That the                    of Vorstius would be very damaging and offensive to
kemonstrants  were pushing for the appointment of Vorstius as the                    the Holland Churches. They pointed out his chief
replacement for Arminius at Leiden. 2) That the Remonstrants gained
a certain legal standing for their Five Points, so that candidates for the           errors, -both from the book of Socinus concerning the
ministry could not be questioned about these. 3) That in this process                authority of Holy Scripture, which Vorstius had pub-
the document called the Remonstrance finally came into the possession                lished, and also from the book concerning God and
of the Reformed party. 4) That all of this led to the Conference at the
Hague in 1611. At this Conference the two parties are in the process of              concerning the Divine Attributes which Vorstius had
debating the doctrinal issues when the Conference is interrupted by the              recently written and published. Concerning this they
issue concerning the appointment of Conrad Vorstius.)                                held Conference for some days between the Remon-
   While the Ministers were occupied in this Con-                                    strants and Festus Hommius, in the gathering of the
ference,, Conradus Vorstius returned from Westphalia                                 States and in the presence of the Conferees. When
to Holland; and the States saw fit that he should be                                 this was finished, May 6, the Ministers from both
heard in the presence of all the Conferees. When he                                  sides were ordered  .by the States to declare forth-
appeared on April 27, he made a long speech in which                                 rightly whether Vorstius had satisfied them with his
he tried to purge himself of the alleged errors. There-                              answers. The Remonstrants answered that they were
upon the Conferees were asked by the States whether                                  fully satisfied, and therefore judged that it would be
they had any objections on account of which they                                     highly profitable for the Churches and the Academy
judged that the calling of Vorstius to the Theological                               if his call went through. The other Ministers declared
Ministry in the Academy of Leiden should not take                                    in writing that the answers of Vorstius were so far
place. The Remonstrants plainly  d@ared that they                                    from changing their first opinions that, on the con-
had nothing against Vorstius, also that they found                                   trary, they were more and more convinced by his
nothing in his writings which was in conflict with the                               answers that his call would work great harm both to
truth or with godliness. The other Ministers furnished                               the Churches and to the Academy and would be
their reasons in writing why they judged that this call                              accompanied -by marked danger of more disturbance


 322                                          THE  S T A N D A R D   &ARER'


if it went through. And on this account they sub-             complete answers, then his Royal Majesty nevertheless
missively petitioned the States `that the Churches            did not neglect, through repeated admonitions, yea
should not be placed in that danger by this call.             also with earnest protestation, to insist that they should
   After Vorstius had departed again, they returned           1et:him depart.
to the Conference concerning the Five `Articles. This            While these things were going on, certain students
was continued for some days and then brought to an            of. Sacred Theology, who, having come from the
end. Thereupon the States ordered the Conferees               home and school of Vorstius, did their best to  be-
from both sides that that which had been treated              smudge the Academy of Franeker with Socinian
orally and that which they judged was still necessary         errors, published in print a certain little book (of
for a complete answer should be put in writing by             Faustus Socinus, "About The Office Of A Christian,"
both sides and turned over to the States by  Uiten-           in which it was advised that all who seek the salvation
bogaard and Festus Hommius. And they ordered that             of their souls should forsake the teachings and gather-
meanwhile the Ministers should not boast over against         ings of the Reformed Churches and accept the views
one another concerning the victory that they had              of the Photinians and the Ebionites) along with a fore-
gained, but that they should modestly teach concern-          word in which this little book was strongly recom-
ing the various Articles with edification, and should         mended to the Churches. The States of  Fries-
live in peace and love with one another. They also            land were made aware of this, and also obtained
ordained that these Articles should continue in the           certain familiar letters of these students in which they
same position (or standing) as before the Conference.         declared with what practices the common cause of
In the case of Vorstius nothing was decided at that           Socinianism (which, `so these letters plainly stated,
time. But when, not long thereafter, the esteemed             was also promulgated by Vorstius, Uitenbogaard, and
Magistracy of the city of Dordrecht through their             others in Holland) was to be secretly advanced. After
Deputies (the honorable Hugo Muys van Holy,                   they had burned many copies of those little books
Knight, Jakob de Witt, Adriaan Repelaar, and                  and had forced these students to leave their bound-
Johannes Berk, Pensionaris) requested the States, that        aries, admonished and petitioned the States them-
his call might either be dropped or at least postponed,       selves, first through missives of the Magistrates of the
seeing that the rumors and errors and heresy of               chief cities of Holland, but thereafter through the
Vorstius were becoming stronger and stronger, the             honorable Lord Kemp of Donia, that, seeing that
States ordered the Curators of the Academy that they          upright agreement in the Reformed doctrine was the
should not proceed with his call.                             chief  .bond and the foundation of unity and union
   When the report of this call reached his Majesty,          between the United Provinces, they would not toler-
the King of Great Britain, James I, protector of the          ate having this agreement weakened through the call-
faith, September 2 1, who according to his great and,         ing of a person who was thus suspected of public
especially in a king, wonderful experience in Theo-           heresy, and would not allow themselves to be misled
logical matters, and according to his special zeal for        by  ,such deceptions by which -they knew that these
the Reformed Religion, had himself read the book of           people were trying to bring about this call. Besides,
Vorstius, "Concerning God," and with his hand had             the, Ministers of Leeuwaarden, publishing the afore-
indicated the chief errors, he had thought it good to         mentioned letters of the students along with neces-
.admonish the States-General both by letters and an           sary n,otes, earnestly admonished all the churches to
Embassador (the honorable Lord Rodolf Winwood).               beware of such deceitful attempts of heretics, and
                                                              especially of Vorstius. The States of the Principality
He admonished them that they should not admit to              of Gelderland and of the Duchy of Zutfen also
public office a person besmirched with so many                warned the States of Holland about this. And the
serious errors and reproaches and allow him to teach          latter answered them that there was nothing of more
the youth in the Academy, but should. rather make             concern to them than to preserve unbroken the unity
him leave their boundaries, so that the youth would           with the other United Provinces in the common cause
not be corrupted by him with his evil and accursed            of Religion. They requested, November 15, that their
errors, and so that the state of the country also             neighboring comrades would hold themselves assured
should, not be weakened, seeing that also the welfare         of this, their firm intention, declaring that meanwhile
of the Republic was dependent on the uprightness of           they would give their attention to this admonition
the Reformed doctrine and on the preservation there-          and would order Vorstius to leave the City of Leiden
of, in which the Netherlands Churches had until now           and to take'up residence at Gouda, and to purge him-
maintained a lovely unity with the English Churches.          self of the errors laid to his charge by public writings.
And when there was postponement by reason of the
<fact that the Remonstrants worked against this, and             The States- of Holland and West-Friesland there-
 especially because Vortius excused his errors with var-      after ordered that the participants  ,i.n the Hague
ious explanations, responses, provisions, modest and          Conference from both sides should hand over in


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                323



writing the differences of position, and should add to      approved the advice of the Remonstrants, and others
this their advice as to the manner in which they            approved the advice of the other Ministers. The result
thought that these differences could be ironed out in       was that in the whole matter nothing was decided
the best way for the peace of the churches and the          with a view to bringing about an end to these differ-
profit of the Republic. The Remonstrants, assuming          ences.
the standpoint of the Hague Conference, judged that           When, further, the States had understood that,
they could apply no more certain means of unity             besides these Five Articles, there were many other
than that of mutual tolerance, namely, that both            disputes which were of no small importance and
parties be permitted freely to teach and to promul-         which were the cause of upheaval, then they decreed
gate their views concerning these Articles. The other       that in order to preserve the purity of doctrine, and
Ministers declared that they could point to no more         in order at the same time to prevent innovations, the
proper way than that a National Synod would be              doctrine of the Holy Gospel in its purest form should
prescribed by the authority of the States-General, and      be presented both in the Churches and in the public
that at this National Synod these and all other differ-     schools of this land. Accordingly they decreed that in
ences would be declared and investigated, and judg-         the Churches and public schools of Holland and
ment would be rendered as to which view was in              West-Friesland nothing else should be taught concern-
harmony with God's Word and with the common                 ing the perfect salvation of our Savior Jesus Christ for
opinion of the Reformed Churches, and consequently          our sins, concerning the justification of men before
ought to be taught openly, in order that the cause of       God, concerning saving faith, concerning original sin,
the truth should not be injured by the maintenance          concerning the certainty of salvation, and concerning
of various views, and in order that the peace of the        the perfection of man`in this life than that which was
churches should not be disturbed. With regard to this       always taught in the Reformed Churches and had been
advice, the, votes of the States were divergent: some       taught in these Provinces until now.

FROM  HOLY  WRIT



             Exposition of the Boqk of Galatians
                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers

PAUL LEAVES DAMASCUS FOR JERUSALEM                          governor under Aretas the King to apprehend Paul
(Gal. 1: 18-20)                                             with soldiers (II Cor.  11:32). And his -friends out-
  Paul is not giving us merely a history of his itin-       witted these soldiers by letting Paul down by the wall,
eraries, `a sort of catalogue of his travel-experiences,    in a basket. Thus he escaped their hands and went to
but he is clinching an argument with historical evi-        Jerusalem.
dence. He lets the facts speak for his holy, affirmation      He went there as a very active and actual preacher
that he did not receive the gospel of Christ from man,      of the Gospel. He is called to be a minister to the
neither by men, but from God by revelation.                 Gentiles. And he must- pass through Jerusalem to
                                                            make the acquaintance of Peter and James, the Lord's
  `That we must constantly keep in mind!                    brother. He goes merely to make an acquaintance,
  He will now relate his experiences in Jerusalem. He       and not at all to receive knowledge of the Gospel or
returns to Jerusalem "three years" after he has left        to receive preaching-credentials. The latter he had
Jerusalem. That he leaves Damascus at this time is          received directly from Christ. He had received in
due to the persecution of the Jews. Paul had returned       Arabia revelations concerning his preaching to the
from Arabia to Damascus and had stayed in Damas-            Gentiles on the infinite riches of Christ. He did not
cus for quite some time. He had gone forth from             meet the churches here in Judea, churches where he
strength to strength in the Lord as a preacher. He had      had actually killed and brought to court the saints of
spoken to the Jews there confounding them, and              God. They only heard ("were hearing from time to
proving that this Jesus is the very Christ! (Acts ,9:22)    time")' that the one who had formerly persecuted
He was a preacher for quite a while before he even          them now was preaching the faith in Christ. He was
met one of-the apostles in Jerusalem. The Jews would        actually preaching this way of salvation and finding
waylay  .Paul and kill him. They had influenced the         peace of conscience in this Christ.


324                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


   These churches in Judea received this "news con-         salem, who had come down to Antioch, insisting that
cerning Paul each time with great joy and thankful-         except "ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses
ness. They were glorifying  God  in Paul. Each new          ye' cannot be saved." (Acts 15: 1) They went on the
mformation concerning what God had done to Paul             pulpit in Antioch and taught these things and there
was received with humble acknowledgement that God           was a crisis in the church, a doctrinal issue pure and
had done it and no one else.                                simple. And prior to the meeting and the decision,
   That Paul stresses that he was only fifteen days with    spoken of in Acts 15:6-29, there was a private meet-
Peter is perhaps to underscore that surely Peter could      ing of Paul with the apostles Peter and John and with
not have given him a training for the ministry during       James. (Gal. 2:2) Paul met privately with those who
that short visit. He also met James, the brother of the     were of reputation. And the pressure was on. Paul
Lord.                                                       stood gallantly in that fight. The Galatian Christians
                                                            must know that the battle was decisive for the truth
  While Paul was in Jerusalem he did try to preach.
He did not attempt to preach to the churches there,         of the Gospel, justification by faith. Paul would have
                                                            the Gospel truth stand for all the Gentiles, including
but he tried to convince the leaders of the Jews that
Jesus is the Christ. His preaching fell upon deaf and       the Galatians. (Gal. 2:2b) The Gospel-truth in Christ
                                                            Jesus had won the day in court.
hateful ears. The Lord Jesus himself intervenes by
coming to Paul in the temple while he is praying. Paul        The test-case was what to do with Titus, whom
falls into a trance and the Lord tells him that these       Paul had taken with him to Jerusalem. Must he be
Jews will never listen to him. Paul is trying to con-       circumcised to be saved, or not? If the latter, then it
vince people whom Christ never knew as His own.             would be decided that the Gentiles need not submit
Paul's motive is that he would have them be saved. He       to circumcision ever again, in all the world and in all
recalls his cooperation with the Jews in the murder-        ages! The very sentence construction here testifies of
ing, the stoning of Stephen. He held the coats of the       a great struggle which was held here before Peter,
.murderers. (Acts 22: 17-20)      But the Lord says,        James, and John. Paul must have stood in the battle,
"Depart, for I will send thee far hence to the              as a great advocate. The men who were pillars in the
Gentiles." Paul's leaving Jerusalem for Syria and           church stood firm. Titus was not "compelled to be
Cilicia was not by private initiative, but by the Lord's    circumcised." Yes, he was Greek, a pure case of being
command and direction. Christ himself ended Paul's          one of the Gentiles who are blessed with faithful
stay with Peter, limiting it to fifteen days! He leaves     Abraham. And the matter is forever established in the
somewhat feared by the churches, and hated by the           church!
enemies! Barnabas needed to intervene for Paul to             Incidentally, it became evident at this confrontation
Peter!                                                      and adjudication that .these who were held in esteem
                                                            by  1 all the churches, men with good and solid cre-
PAUL'S RETURN TO JERUSALEM AFTER FOUR-                      dentials from the Lord, that they really meant
TEEN YEARS (Gal. 2:1-10)                                    nothing in the battle. They did not contribute to the
  Paul is still defending his case as an independent        argumentation. God does not accept the persons of
apostle next to the brethren who were apostles before       anyone. He establishes his own work by whomsoever
him. What a grand and convincing apology! Paul is           He' chooses. In this case it was through Paul, the
not here relating every visit to Jerusalem. He omits        apostle to the Gentiles.
the visit recorded inActs 27-30. This latter visit was        It is equally evident that we do not have here a
merely to bring relief to the brethren which dwelt in       fundamental difference in teaching. The Jews as well
Jerusalem. But Paul is here selecting this visit because    as the Greeks are basically free from the law of cir-
of the things which happened there in connection            cumcision. The Jewish  christians still circumcised
with "the truth of the Gospel". (Gal.  2:5) The             their children until God removed the temple-worship
Judaizers in the church, false brethren, would take         in the next generation. Even Paul will participate' in
away the liberty in Christ, and-they denied that the        the Nazarite vow of the brethren in the temple at
Gentiles were free in Christ Jesus from the laws and        Jerusalem many years later. (Acts  21:2-27) He will
ordinances of the Old Testament. They would put the         circumcise Timothy lest the Jewish people be
Gentiles under the law of circumcision. He mentions         offended. (Acts -16: l-3) But if it is a matter for the
this visit because here had been the show-down case         truth of the Gospel then he will not yield an inch, no
of Titus, who was a Greek. The Judaizers had insisted       not for a moment! ! (Gal. 2:5)
that this Greek Christian, believer in Christ, be sub-
mitted to circumcision.                                       This is powerful apology for the truth of the
  The situation ,was as follows. This is the meeting of     Gospel, and that Paul is an apostle in his own right,
Paul with Peter, John; and James in Jerusalem in con-       yea, second to none. And this was tacitly admitted
nection with the teaching of certain men from, Jeru-        and confirmed at this private meeting in Jerusalem.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    325


 Two things became clear at this meeting, both con-           all men, and by their prayer for you which long after
 cerning the ministry of Paul and of Peter. It was how.       you for the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be
 the mighty God was using Peter and using Paul. God           unto God for His unspeakable gift." (II Cor. 9 : 15)
 was making the ministry of both effectual, only in             Small wonder that at the meeting in Jerusalem
 different parts of his Church. Peter is the Apostle to       proper, after Paul has rehearsed what God has done,
 the circumcision; God chose him to work effectually          and Peter has rehearsed what God did through him
 in them. And Paul is the Apostle to the  uncircum-           among:the Gentiles, that James unfolds the prophecy
 cision; God works effectually in them even though            of Amos 9: 11,12,  and interprets that prophecy con-
they be not circumcised. Each has his place in the            cerning the rebuilding of the temple of David as refer-
 church as a steward of the mysteries of Christ.              ring to the bringing of the Gentiles into the church,
    This was seen and acknowledged by the brethren            so that they are one church and one people, both in
 Peter, James, and John. And they saw how God was             the Old and New Testament. (Acts 15: 16-l 8) And
 working powerfully through the preaching of Paul             the sentence of this gathering at Jerusalem is that
 among the Gentiles. They have nothing else to do             they place no other burden on the church, the
 now but to give Paul the right hand of fellowship. It        Gentiles who have turned to God, but "that they
 is here definitely decided that each has his own             abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornica-
 sphere of work. They both preach the same Gospel -           tion, and from things strangled, and from blood."
 the liberty which  .is for both Jews and Greeks in           (Acts 15:20,28,29)  See also Rev. 2: 14,20.
 Christ Jesus. The Gospel is a power of God unto sal-           Thus the freedom which we have in Christ Jesus
 vation for both. Both are under grace and not under          remains; the truth of the Gospel continues with the
 law. They are of the same body and are fellow-heirs          church of all ages.
 in Christ Jesus.                                               Stand in the liberty wherewith Christ has made
    In the providence of God the saints in Jerusalem          you free!
 are poor. Paul is requested to remember the poor.
 The mercy of Christ will become evident in these               Thus the truth of the Gospel remains with the
 saints. And so there will be a great benefit in Christ,      church forever. When certain men came to spy out
 proving that they are saints in one body, and Paul will      the liberty which is ours in Christ Jesus they were
 write rejoicingly: "For the ministration of this service     weighed in God's balances and were found wanting.
 not only supplieth the saints, but is abundant also by       The gates of hell would not prevail against the
 many thanksgivings unto God. Whiles by the  ex-              church, but Christ will build His church upon the
periment of this ministration they glorify God for            solid rock of the righteousness of the Cross of Christ
 your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ,         in Whom all promises are yea, and Amen, to the glory
 and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto         of God, the Father.

  THE DAY OF SHAD0 WS



         Human  .Defection and Divine Protection
                                                    Rev. John A. Heys


    In the Form for the Confirmation of Marriage used         Canaan shortly after Abraham and his wife, Sarah,
 in our churches there is a clause that states that our       came there from  Haran, he urged her to tell all the
  Lord Jesus Christ "will aid and protect married per-        people' that she was his sister, and thus to hide the
  sons even when they are least deserving of it." And         fact that she was his wife. God saved him, and her,
  this truth comes to mind when one reads the                 from the hand of Pharaoh, and Abraham returned to
  twentieth chapter of the book of Genesis  .where we         Canaan wealthier than he was when he left. For
 have the account of Abraham and Sarah in the land            Pharaoh gave him gifts before he sent him away to his
  of Gerar.                                                   own land. But there is a verse in this chapter, verse
    We might be tempted to state that Abraham fell            13, which declares that even before that famine, and
  back again into a sin from which God had saved him          when Abraham left his father's house, he and Sarah
  once before. When there was a famine in the land of         had agreed to tell this half-truth wherever they went.


326                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


It was a trick devised to protect Abraham among                each other, and there was no thought of divorce or
those who did not fear God. It was falling back into           desire for it. But, as the incident unfolds, it becomes
the same sin, in the sense that another occasion arose         clear that they - not simply Abraham - were walk-
for them to practice this deception. But actually all          ing in a way that could and did separate them as
during the intervening years between these two in-             husband and wife. In our sinfulness we may make
cidents they could be said to be walking in that sin.          careful plans which deceive men, but the God in
The point is that Abraham and Sarah did not con-               heaven cannot be tricked into miscalculations, or for
demn and root out of their souls that sin after God            that matter be caused to be unfaithful to His covenant
saved them from the hand of Pharaoh; and they are              promises, as we shall see. Sarah is taken into
therefore ready to resort to that lie again because the        Abimelech's house. Husband and wife are not living
occasion has risen. It all goes to show that we do not         together any more. Husband and wife are not confess-
get rid of our corrupt nature in this life. It also clearly    ing each other to be one flesh till death parts them.
indicates that we have a constant fight to put down            They are denying that God has joined them together
the sin that resides in our flesh. We have a daily battle      so that no man may put them asunder and treat them
to fight. We have not one moment of lull in the                as brother and sister.
battle. And when we think that there is a lull, the              Things have gotten out of hand. Abraham and
moment we think that it is safe to rest and take off           Sarah have lost control of the situation. Th.eir "help"
that heavy, cumbersome armour of God that cramps               devised for God has brought them where they now
our style and takes the pleasantness out of life for us,       are desperately in need of help fiovn God. It must not
we are in our most dangerous moment. For that lull-            be. assumed that, when they through the years had
ing into complacency and that sense of absence of              planned this little trick of `deception, they would ever
danger is also a tool of the enemy.                            allow anything to come between them as husband
  Admittedly, Sarah was still a beautiful woman.               and wife. Abraham would'not idly stand by and let
Abraham saw that. Abimelech, king of Gerar, saw                someone else take his wife away. Sarah would not
that. And. we may be sure that Sarah herself was               agree to any man's taking Abraham's place in her life
aware of it. Without our- modern, highly polished,             as her husband. No, when the men of a city or land
flawless mirrors she had seen her own reflection in            would show their interest in Sarah, "the sister of
the still waters of a pool. And hers was not a beauty          Abraham," he would demand so great a dowry that
that comes out of a jar and comes in various hues and          no one could afford to -take her from him to be his
shades that must be applied regularly. Hers was a true         wife. Or Sarah herself would make such demands that
beauty given to her of God. And having a wife like             all would be discouraged from seeking to take her as
that, Abraham knows also the dangers in a society              wife. And then soon enough they, Abraham and
such as the one in the world at that time. Abraham             Sarah, would, when matters got too hot, move away
himself describes it' as being a society wherein there is      again. They did not  - though they had experiences
no fear of God.                                                along this line in Egypt - reckon with the king, who
  Even as his grandson, Jacob, some years later was            simply took Sarah after hearing their half-truth lie.
constantly seeking to "help" God - was this trait in             Now the help of God is needed; and it is furnished
Jacob inherited from his grandfather, and do we see            without a prayer on the part of Sarah or of Abraham.
sins of the fathers carried down through to the grand-         When least deserving of this interference, and even
children? - and this by a lie. Jacob's lie to his father       without a prayer for it yet being presented to Him,
that he was Esau is a more glaring lie, a blatant lie;         God reaches down and touches the whole house of
and Abraham's is what man would call a half-truth.             Abimelech and appeared to him in a dream. He who
But to speak correctly we must call both of them sin           is our help in ages past and hope for years to come,
before the face of God. Both were a bearing of false           Who needs no help from us, nor even requests for
witness against the neighbour. Sarah was his sister.           help from us, in covenant faithfulness rescued
Abraham was her brother. But very plainly the mean-            Abraham and Sarah,  and the whole church,  out of
ing in both instances was the implied lie: He is not           this bad situation into which sinners got themselves.
my husband but my brother, and, she is not my wife             We said, the whole church because we must not so
but only my sister. Abraham admits this when later             quickly forget that God had just informed Abraham
on he told Abimelech that he was afraid that "they             and Sarah that the covenant seed would come in the
will slay me for my wife's sake." Genesis 20: 11. "He          line of Abraham's and Sarah's seed. And not simply
is my brother" means, "Do not kill him as though he            Isaac's existence is at stake here (Was he already con-
were my husband. He is only my brother, and                    ceived and, in that house of Abimelech; and was
nothing more."                              I'                 Abimelech holding the covenant line captive in his
   Quite plainly they were not being loyal to each             house? And is that why God intervenes so quickly
other in their marriage relationship. 0, they still loved      and- releases Sarah from his house?) and the  well-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 327


being of Sarah and Abraham. Yea, there is more at          confessed. And they meet at church gatherings. Yes,
stake here than Isaac as the covenant seed which had       it is made plain that they are "brothers and sisters in
been promised. Christ, Who "took on Him the seed of        Christ."' But that is only half of the story; and the
Abraham (Hebrews 2: 16) is represented; there in           important part of the story is not made known until
Sarah, and for His birth she must be gotten out of         it is too late. There are wide doctrinal differences in
Abimelech's house and be reunited with Abraham             the two churches involved. The same God actually is
with whom God had established His covenant. For            not confessed. In the one He is an almighty, sover-
your and my sake and for the whole church of God           eign, unchangeable God Who hates both sin and the
divine help is given to Abraham and Sarah. They lied       sinner and eternally chose His people in Christ. He is
and got into trouble: God never lies; and He keeps His     the God of the Scriptures. In the other He is a being
covenant promises no matter how undeserving we             who in time, depending on circumstances, makes his
are of them. Indeed, we are saved by grace and not by      way through this world, has enemies who can  fi-us-
works. It does not depend on our covenant faith-           trate him, delay his actions; He is one who cannot
fulness, even though we have a calling to be faithful      save until man gives the "green light," and can love
in that covenant. It does depend  - and safely so  -       Himself as an holy one, and at the same time love
upon God's covenant faithfulness.                          sinners whom he may ultimately put in hell if he
  Were this not the case we could have no hope in          cannot get them to accept his kind offers. He is not
the midst of our own sins. We do not duplicate the         almighty but the mightiest, and therefore ultimately
sin of Abraham and Sarah, because we have little or        wins, but only after a long struggle - mind you, with
no occasion to do it that way. But how often is it not     the creature.  -And when these young people are so
that we by word and deed get ourselves into danger-        wrapped up emotionally (not spiritually) with each
ous situations because we resort to similar deeds? We      other, and the young man is ready to take the young
refer to the fact that we hide our relationship to         woman into his house  - or maybe he has already
Christ as His bride before the world in which there is     done so as Abimelech  - the differences become
no fear of God. We go Abraham and Sarah a step             manifest. Then it takes the grace of God, and divine
further and even- deny that He is our brother! By          help to salvage such a marriage and a life of faithful
word not always, but so often by deed we say with          and peaceful training of the covenant seed in the way
Peter, "I know not the man!"                               of the one true and only God.
  At work we do that. We can work in a shop or                It does please God at times to unite spiritually a
office, a store or in the field, and months  - and         family that `is so divided on the most important
perhaps years - go by wherein those who do not fear        aspect of life as husband and wife. But we ought to
God judge us to be one of them. We reveal no `prin-        be aware of the dangers of such silence on matters
ciples. We, as Queen Esther, hide our religion because     spiritual, and  `not expect God to do that in every
it would cause us monetary loss. We join in the acts       instance. He has given no such promise to us. If He
of rebellion of the worldly organizations, or silently     does, it, is sovereign, unchangeable mercy and grace in
condone their evil business practices and for another      Christ. And we are saved by grace, not by works.
dollar stay in or join their organizations. Our young         Abraham. and Sarah defected. They did not walk
people do that and suddenly' find themselves married       by faith. Their trust in God they failed to exercise.
to an unbeliever who is amazed to find that they were      Their married life suffered a defect. Sarah, the wife of
being courted by, or had courted, a member of the          Abraham, was in the house of Abimelech, the king of
Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the whirlwind          Gerar. But Abraham and Sarah were elect, covenant
romance the things spiritual were not mentioned.           children of God; and he protected them even when
Future mates were picked up and first met'in places        they least deserved it, after a similar sin and ex-
where the fear of God is not to be found. "I am a          perience in Egypt. For God never defects and never
citizen of this world or of this nation" is confessed,     fails to protect His Church; and the bride of Christ
but the fact that one is a member of the Church of         will be kept for Christ, even when she fails to keep
Christ, though not denied, is not mentioned or made        herself for Him. It is divine grace and faithfulness that
evident.                                                   explains and assures us of the wedding feast of the
  This same thing tragically happens even within the       Lamb that soon will be realized, dark as the days may
church world. 0, membership in such a church is            be that'are. before us.


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER
                                       makes an ideal gift for any occasion.


328                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


GUEST ARTICLE



                              Canons of Dordrecht :
                          An Historical Perspective
                                                 Rev. M. Kamps


  Politically, a measure of peace and stability had       Arminius every step of the way till Dordrecht could
come to the Netherlands in 158 1 and it grew until the    have her say.
end of the Eighty Years War in 1648. The seven
northern provinces had declared independence from            Jacobus Arminius was the enemy within the
Spain by the Act of Abjuration in 1581 and were           Reformed church. There were others such as Herman
united to defend themselves as an independent             Herbertz, Taco Sybrantz, Cornelius Wiggerts, and the
republic. Religiously, the Reformed Church became         layman Dir-k Volkertszoon Coornhert. All these men
the official state religion in the Netherlands. How-      were `forerunners of Arminianism and who only out-
ever, not even in the seven provinces, to which           wardly and not principally had broken with the
Reformed believers from the southern provinces had        S  emi-Pelagianism  of Roman Catholicism.  Jacobus
fled, was the majority of the populace Reformed. But      Arminius was especially influenced by Coornhert.
the truth of God's Word was publicly preached, be-           In 1560 Jacobus was born and soon lost his father.
lieved, and even supported by the State. The Re-          Consequently he was reared by two stepfathers. He
formed church prospered, at least outwardly.              was educated at the Academy of Leiden. Later, he
  As usual, however, there were enemies within the        studied under Theodore Beza, the successor of Calvin,
church. These enemies of the truth would again            in Geneva, where Arminius became very well
occasion a bitter struggle for the faith. The second      acquainted with Calvin's teachings. On August 11,
generation of Reformed believers would be called          1588, Arminius was ordained as pastor of the
upon to defend their heritage for which their fathers     Reformed congregation of Amsterdam. At first things
had died. The struggle  to maintain  the Reformed         went well. But in 159 1 after Arminius had preached
faith, which is the truth of the gospel of Christ, was    on Rom. 7:  14ff, Petrus Plancius, a fellow pastor of
long, bitter, and agonizing. For the church was being     the congregation, brought charges of heresy to the
corrupted by the lie, and the truth denied by col-        consistory against Arminius.  Jacobus Arminius had
leagues and fellow ministers . . . by the "brethren."     taught that Paul in this passage (". . . to will is present
What would the faithful do? They did only what            with me; but how to perform that which is good I
those who love the truth of God's Word could do?          find not") was not speaking of himself as regenerated
The battle for the faith had to be waged. If one loves    but of himself while yet unregenerate and apart from
the truth he will not allow anyone, not even the          God's grace in Christ. Plancius rightly recognized in
"brother," to suppress it and corrupt-it. The love of     Arminius' teaching Pelagianism and  free-willism.
God's Word captivates a man and makes him a slave         Arminius later, when preaching on Romans 13, ex-
of Christ!' Psychologically and spiritually the man       pressed his opposition to the Reformed view of
who loves the Reformed faith is helpless to do any-       church government and implicitly taught Erastianism,
thing but proclaim and defend it. In times of special     i.e., he gave to the State government more authority in
crisis in the Church God raises up leaders to defend      ecclesiastical matters than the Reformed would
and teach the truth. Among the thousands of foot          grant.l
soldiers in that army of saints who love the truth of       In 1603 Arminius was called to serve as professor
God's Word are found, by God's grace, outstanding         by the curators of the University of Leiden. Johannes
leaders like Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin,       Uitenbogaart, former fellow student and friend of
Franciscus Gomarus, Abraham Kuiper, and, if you           Arminius and ardent supporter, had gained this call to
will forgive me, Herman Hoeksema. Franciscus              professorship for Arminius. The Deputies of the
Gomarus, professor at Leiden and later at the Univer-     church opposed-, this nomination of Arminius but
sity of Groningen, opposed the teachings of Jacobus       were helpless to stop the appointment, since the State


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               329


and the curators ruled the University. But Arminius          are his spiritual children. Jacobus Arminius would not
was not appointed until after he promised to teach           come clean. As often as he was begged to be forth-
nothing but what was in harmony with the Con-                right in the expression of his views, he resorted to
fession and Catechism of the Church. Franciscus              deceit.
Gomarus, who at this time was the lone professor at            After Arminius died in 1609 at the age of  forty-
Leiden because of the untimely death of the other            nine, forty-two of his followers secretly held a con-
two professors, also opposed Arminius' appointment,          ference: at Gouda on January 14, 1610. Here was
for Gomarus was well aware of the appointee's  un-           drawn up the five Articles of the Remonstrance. In
biblical teachings and .had often in the past opposed        these five articles is to be found, under a lot of
Arminius and his teachings. However,  Jacobus                Reformed-sounding expressions, the Arminian ideas
Arminius was not going to allow anyone to deny him           of conditional predestination, the free-will of man,
this golden opportunity to teach aspiring ministers his      universal atonement, man's ability to resist the
views  and. thereby rapidly spread them throughout           operation of God's grace, and the notion that one can
the Reformed church of the Netherlands. Thus,                fall from the state of grace and perish. These articles
through subtlety, deceit, and a worthless promise to         were through Uitenbogaart, brought to the attention
teach nothing but what was in harmony with the               of the States of Holland for its approval and support.
creeds, Arminius was installed as professor at Leiden.       The States of Holland comprised two of the seven
   It was not long before Arminius revealed his              provinces of the Republic, these were South and
rebellious attitude toward the authority of the              -North Holland. Jan Van `Oldenbamevelt, who was the
Creeds. He was a subjectivist. Or rather, he was a law       leading statesman of the States of Holland, accepted
unto himself. When publicly interpreting God's Word          these Articles of the Remonstrants (Arminians) and
he refused to be bound by what the church confessed          gave his considerable support to the Arminian party.
in her Creeds. Instead of quietly bringing his differ-       In March of  1611' the Reformed leaders countered
ences with the Creeds to the proper authorities in the       with the Articles of the Counter-Remonstrants. These
church as was his right and duty, he publicly contra-        were drawn up by Petrus Plancius, F. Hommius, and
dicted and opposed the Reformed faith. At first, Ar-         others.
minius secretly taught his heretical views to an inner
circle of students in his home. Later, he publicly at-          The Church as a whole longed to put an end to this
tacked the doctrine of predestination. On February 7,        controversy by calling a National Synod and allowing
 1604, Arminius taught his students that "Predestina-        the Church to speak. But the Arminians did not want
                                                             a Synod to meet; nor did Oldenbamevelt.
tion is a decree of the good pleasure of God in Christ,
through which God of himself from eternity had de-              The .Reformed church had a problem. It was this.
cided that, believers, whom he intended to endow with        Each province had its own separate.government; but
faith, he would justify and take to himself as children,     the seven provinces of the Republic met in a States-
and would grant to them eternal life to the praise of his    General to decide matters that pertained to the
grace. " "The rejection or reprobation is a decision of      Republic as a whole. No National Synod could be
God's wrath, of the severe will of God, through which        convened without the permission and cooperation of
God from eternity had intended that, the unbeliever,         each province in the States-General. Every time the
who through his own guilt and the righteous judg-            church would attempt to convene a National Synod
ment of God would -not believe; as one who stands            to deal with this controversy in a decisive way,
outside the fellowship of Christ, to refer them to           Oldenbarnevelt would lead the States Holland to
eternal death, in order to reveal His wrath and              reject the request.
power."2 (translation from the Holland by M.K.)                 By 1611 the controversy was raging throughout
Gomarus and others saw in these carefully and subtly         the Netherlands. The church was no longer united. At
worded statements conditional election and reproba-          least two hundred ministers were addicted to
tion. God elects those who would believe and God             Arminianism. The precious truth of the Reformed
reprobates those who would not believe was the               faith was corrupted and denied. The battle raged on.
teaching of 4rminius. Predestination in its effect           Provincial Synods spoke out but with little or no
would then come after the fact of faith or unbelief.         effect.
The decisive decision in salvation is not God's, then,
but man's. Gomarus wrote against these unbiblical               Especially in the States Holland was the struggle
views of his colleague. Many conferences had been            for the truth bitter. The Arminians were ardently
held between Arminius and his followers and repre-           supported by Oldenbamevelt, political leader of these
sentatives of the Reformed Church. New conferences           provinces. Reformed ministers. were suspended from
were held; but nothing conclusive could be `gained,          office' by order of the provincial government.
because of the subtleties and deceit of the enemy of         Reformed believers, however, remained faithful to
the truth, Jacobus Arminius. The Devil is wily, and so       these oppressed ministers and consequently separate


330                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


churches over against Arminian congregations were            government was broken. A National Synod was called
organized. These small and despised congregations of         and convened on November 13, 16 18.
Reformed believers met in one another's houses or in            No National Synod had met for thirty-two years
barns and called themselves the "Gereformeerde               prior to the Synod of Dordrecht in 1618 and no
Kerken in doleantie." Many of these "doleerende              National Synod would meet again for another two
kerken" were organized in the States of Holland. In          hundred years. This great Synod which met in the
Rotterdam laws were passed forbidding the assem-             city of Dordrecht was God's instrument through
bling of these doleerende congregations. Those persons       which the Reformed church of the Netherlands gave
who opened their homes to hold these Reformed                to us the confession of her heart, which she had been
worship services were heavily fined, lost right of citi-     taught by the Spirit of Christ. In the love of the truth
zenship, and were sometimes deported. The houses,            she composed the beautiful Canons wherein is set
barns, ships wherein the Reformed had gathered were          forth clearly and faithfully doctrines of Scripture
confiscated. At a conference these doleerende                concerning sovereign irresistible grace, particular
churches in 1617 adopted an "Act of Separation"              atonement, the depravity of the fallen sinner, un-
wherein was set forth their separation from the              conditional predestination, and the perseverance of
Remonstrant or Arminian churches.                            the saints. At Dordrecht Arminianism was con-
  Oldenbarnevelt attempted to force submission to            demned and the Word of God confessed by the
the "sharp resolutions" of the States Holland and to         Church which had gained and maintained the truth
the States supposed authority in these  ecclesiastical-      only through suffering, bloodshed, and death.
matters. The threat of civil war lingered in the land as        The Canons of Dordrecht are a beautiful heritage
Franciscus Gomarus had warned it would. Olden-               and they occasion for us a weighty responsibility, for
barnevelt inquired of the Stadhouder, Prince Maurice,        they embody what the Spirit of God testified to our
if the military would support him in this struggle           believing fathers concerning the Christ, Who has
against the Reformed doleerende congregations. But           redeemed His own and infallibly draws them unto
Maurice had already in 1615 openly thrown his                salvation.
support with these hated doleerende congregations by
openly worshipping with them.                                   Let us by God's grace hold fast to the faith which
                                                             was once delivered unto the saints.
  After Prince Maurice, son of William of Orange,
had openly supported the doleerende congregations               Remember brethren: no generation can expect its
of Reformed believers, the majority of the cities of         children to stand for the truth of God's Word, for
the States Holland withdrew their support from               which they themselves were not willing to suffer
Oldenbarnevelt and gave to Prince Maurice on Aug.            whatever may be required of them.
28, 1618, the power to do what he thought best to               "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ
attain the rest and well-being of the provinces.4 Well-      not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his
nigh dictatorial power was given to Prince Maurice.          sake." Philippians 1: 29
  The next day the Prince imprisoned Olden-                     ~Bouwma~,   br.  H.;  De  Dordtsche   Synode   Van  16~8-1619,  Published
barnevelt and others who had opposed the calling of a        by'the Gereformeerde Traktaatgenootschap, 1918;  p. 11
National Synod. The power of the union of the                   zlbid., p. 13
                                                                SIbid.,  p. 23
Remonstrants (Arminians) and the Oldenbarnevelt                 41bid., p. 31

SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES


                               Form Without Power
                                                Rev. Mark Hoeksema


  The words of this title are taken from II Timothy          last times, saying in verse 5 that the wicked will have
3:5, where the apostle Paul speaks of men who shall          a form of godliness but will deny the power thereof.
manifest themselves in the last times. In the first verse    In brief the meaning is that there will be a certain
of the chapter he warns the church that "in the last         outward, formal godliness, service of God; but the
days perilous times shall come." He goes on to               content, the power, the ability of God through the
describe various characteristics of the world in those       Word of Christ to save His people, will be denied. The


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              331


wicked in the last days will attempt to realize and         matter  ,of death, resurrection, and appearance for
establish and maintain a kingdom which is outwardly         judgment. There are several aspects to this experience
and formally the kingdom of God; it will bear a re-         of "death" and resuscitation, most or all of which are
semblance to the kingdom of God as it is pictured in        present in the accounts of all with whom Dr. Moody
the Scriptures. Certainly the devil and the powers of       talked. For one thing, immediately at the time of
evil will use this form of godliness to deceive many,       clinical death, there was a loud ringing or buzzing
to gain the support of the world for the kingdom of         sound heard by those who died. Immediately they
antichrist. That this is true is evident from a study of    entered a sort of long, dark tunnel or valley; as one
the prophecies of Daniel and of John in the book of         man expressed it:
Revelation. But this kingdom will not be the true                  Suddenly I was in a very dark, very deep valley. It
kingdom of God which is heavenly, the kingdom                   was as though there was a pathway, almost a  rosa,
which is  characteriz.ed  by the power of godliness-            through the valley, and I was going down the path.
Those who belong to the kingdom of Christ have a                Later, after I was well, the thought came to me:
godliness which has power to make them the citizens             "Well, now I know what the Bible means by the
of that kingdom. But the wicked who shall become                `valley of the shadow of death.' "
manifested in the last days will have but a form of it,        Many of those who have had these experiences
an empty and powerless godliness, which is no real          could also describe what it was like to be dead, out-
godliness at all, but mere deception and fakery.            side of their physical bodies. They were detached
   But the church must not be lulled into thinking          from their physical bodies, and seemed to float freely
that all of this shall take place only immediately          as objective observers of attempts to revive their
before the end of all things. It is true that this form     physical bodies, attempts which later they were able
without power shall reach its clearest mainfestation        to describe with astounding accuracy. The author
shortly before the final end in the kingdom of anti-        terms these "spiritual bodies." In these spiritual
christ. But Paul is speaking here of the last days,         bodies they are unable to communicate with others,
according to the first verse of the chapter. This must      are invisible, and not bound by physical barriers,
mean the days of the new dispensation, which                being able to move rapidly from one place to another.
according to Scripture are the last days. This means        Those in this state do not hear in the usual sense, but
therefore that those who have this form without             were able to understand the thoughts of others even
power are always present in the world, and are in-          before they were spoken.
creasingly manifested as the end approaches. There-           But perhaps the most striking element of all in this
fore, the teaching of Scripture is that this form with-     life after life is the "being of light" which those who
out power is already present in the world in which we       have died encountered. Says the author: "Typically,
live, and that we are to recognize this as a sign of the    at its first appearance this light is dim, but it rapidly
coming of Christ's kingdom.                                 gets brighter until it reaches an unearthly brilliance.
   This phenomenon described in Scripture is strik-         Not one person has expressed any doubt whatsoever
ingly evident in an article entitled "Life After Life,"     that it was a being. It has, moreover, a very definite
which appeared in the January issue of  Reader's            "personality," which the author goes on to describe
Digest magazine. In this condensation of his book the       in terms of love and warmth. This being immediately
author, Dr. Raymond Moody, claims to be objective           begins to question those involved, asking what they
in his investigations of the experiences of people who      have done with their lives. "All insist," writes Moody
have "died" in the medical sense of the word, but           (p.  204), "that this question is not asked in con-
who have been revived and brought back to this life         demnation, to accuse or threaten them. They still feel
to tell of their experiences during the period of time      total love and acceptance coming from the light, no
in which they were "dead." He is careful to empha-          matter what their answer may be." Then follows
size that the experiences that he has chronicled do         what is described as a panoramic review of the per-
not constitute proof in the scientific sense for life       son's life, though not for the information of the
after death, but that they have left him with "feel-        being. "`It is obvious that the being can see the in-
ings, questions, analogies, puzzling facts to be ex-        dividual's whole life displayed, and that he himself
plained" (p. 215). It is to our benefit to examine          doesn't' need information. His only intention is to
some of his findings and to attempt to draw con-            provoke reflection," p. 204. A further description of
clusions from them, bearing in mind what Paul says          this being of light is given:
about the form of godliness without the power                      "It was beautiful and so bright, so radiant, but it
thereof.                                                        didn't hurt my eyes. It's not any kind of light you
                                                                can describe on earth. I didn't actually see a person in
   The form of godliness evident in the experiences             this light, and yet it has a special identity, it  deftite-
recounted in this article is amazingly parallel to the          ly does. It is a light of perfect understanding and
testimony of the Scriptures regarding the whole                 perfect love." (p. 204)


  332                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



       Though there is certainly more detail that could be           light," or by Jews to "an angel." Never is there a
  given and is given in this article, the above is suf-              correlation drawn between the testimony of Scripture
  ficient indication of the form of godliness which                  and these experiences, so that the latter are properly
  characterizes the accounts of this life after life. But            interpreted in terms of the former. But perhaps the
  what must we say about all of this? Surely there is                clearest evidence of the lack of the power of godliness
  here a form of godliness. In fact, the resemblance                 is the following:
  between the accounts given of such experiences and                            In most cases, the reward-punishment model of
  the expressions of Scripture is startlingly close.                         the afterlife is abandoned and disavowed, even by
  Think, as did one person who had such an experience,                       many who had been accustomed to thinking in those
  of the valley of the shadow of death of Psalm 23.                        terms. They found, much to their amazement, that
  Think, in connection with the descriptions of the                          even when their most apparently sinful deeds were
  kind of body possessed by these persons after                              made manifest before the being of light, that being
  physical death, of the spiritual nature of the resurrec-                   responded not with anger and rage but rather with
  tion body of I Corinthians 15. In connection with the                      understanding and even humor. (These sins, of
  "being of light," consider the descriptions of God and                     course, were not of a particularly grievous nature). (p.
  Christ given in Revelation 1 and 4. In connection                          207)
  with the "light of perfect understanding and love,"                       Add to this that there were no really negative
  call to mind the Scriptural picture of perfect.                    experiences in the afterlife, and the result is a denial
  covenant fellowship and communion in the life here-                of election and reprobation, of eternal reward and
  after. And, although Scripture does not specifically               punishment according to the works done in the flesh.
  tell us how the judgment according to works will be                       From those who have this form without power,
carried out from a very practical point of view, is it               Timothy admonishes, we are to "turn away." We
  not possible that the experiences of these persons                 must not be partaker in their sins, for then our end is
  shed some light on this question? In this light, we as             the same as theirs. But we must remain faithful to the
  Christians can and may learn something from such                   Scriptures and their testimony concerning the things
  experiences and accounts, in the right sense of the                which take place after this life. And we must recog-
  word; not as proof of what Scripture says, for Scrip-              nize these things for what they are: signs of the end
  ture needs no proof, but requires faith; but in the                times, indicating that our Lord is soon coming back.
  sense of added light and understanding. We need not                When he does, those who have disavowed the idea of
  totally reject all that is said in this article.                   reward and punishment will surely be surprised, for
       But yet the truth of the matter is that there is              God is not mocked. But God's people, believing the
  evidenced here form without substance and power.                        Scriptures, can look forward without fear to the life
  Instead of acknowledging the sovereign God of                      hereafter in the confidence that we belong to our
 heaven and earth, there are references to a "being of               faithful Savior Jesus Christ, both in life and in death.
  i                                                             j
  IN HIS. FEAR,



                                                          Time
                                                        Rev. ilk ioobens


       "I've gdt to run now; I'll close and you` can finish          find themselves in smoky meeting rooms `instead of
  without me." This is altogether too common a state-                safely tucking their children in bed after `a favorite'
  ment in the day and age in which we live. It is a                  Bible story. Sunday afternoon has a closer  resem-'
 statement indicative of the manner of our life.                     blance to rush hour than the day of rest. As a last'
  Families are increasingly becoming aware of the fact
  that they are enveloped in the race against the clock.             resort, after desperately trying to work out a suitable'
 And I know that many parents have become alarmed                    schedule, we begin to eliminate on the basis of priori
  with this situation. There are serious attempts  to;               ity. It becomes clear to us that we cannot overextend:
 rectify this common problem. Yet it seems that the                  ourselves, for in doing so we inflict injury and
                                                                     ,
 more- we battle against it, the more our schedule be-               detriment `in another aspect of our life. We desire in
  comes compounded. Fathers as heads pf households ' this little essay to evaluate that little driving force we'


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                333


call time and to come to some agreement as to our            that we began our discussion and subsequently
calling regarding it.                                        became a little sidetracked with the issue of the
  Time is not new. It is as old and basic as creation        motion' of the hands of the clock. The original prob-
itself. `In fact, God Himself set time in motion at the      lem had to do with spending time or, maybe better,
very beginning of creation. This very idea is com-           with that which transpires as the clock moves aiong.
prehended in the words, "In the beginning . . ." Time        Time has a dimension which goes far beyond the
is an integral part of creation. It is part and parcel of    mere characteristic that one moment gives way to the
the creation of God. This is easily understood. God is       next, never to return. We mean, time has content!
the eternal One. He is always the same, having no            Our daily life is a constant witness of this fact. When
beginning or ending of days. This God has purposed           we have a certain appointment, the subsequent ques-
and determined in His own timeless conception to             tion is not, "Did it go?" Of course it went, for time
glorify Himself in and through a people in heavenly          marches on. The question rather is, "How did it go?"
glory forever. And this eternal purpose He has chosen        The question is never, "Did you spend the day or
to fulfill along the lines of sin and grace within the       week on whatever it might be?" for this is  self-
realm of time. Time, therefore, is subservient to His        evident. Rather we ask, "What did we accomplish in a
eternal purpose and plan. Time is never an end in it-        certain allotted time?" What we did at this or that
self. This means that time cannot be endless but has         moment, you see, gives time content. It is precisely
to come to its completion. Thus when God created a           here that our interests lie. We do not care simply to
beginning and formed out of the dust of the ground           peruse time from an abstract viewpoint, but we desire
Adam, He implied in that beginning the end when. the         to delve into it from a practical, purposeful point of
last member of the church of  His good  ,pleasure            view. We want to consider time as it is a particular
would be gathered in. In other words., the only              vehicle of activity and function.
purpose of history is to bring forth and gather the            There is a particular text in the Scriptures that
church of Jesus Christ, that has been eternally pre-         comes to mind. Fact is, the study of this text in
destinated toward the glory of God. When this is             society inspired the subject we are presently treating.
completed, Christ will make His appearance.                  We read in Ephesians 5: 15 & 16, "See then that ye
  Understanding this, there is added a new dimension         walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Re-
to the relentless ticking of the clock. For time and its     deeming the time, because the days are evil.". In this
effects so often seem so futile to us. Many a time we        passage Paul makes clear to us our calling with regard
harbor the secret desire to be able to stop the world        to time. Specifically, Paul admonishes us as to what
on its axis so that the end of the day does not draw         we must do with our time. That is, as we live each
nigh. We see our children grow up; and all'too quickly       day and moment we are responsible for our time. For
they try the strength in their own wings and fly from        God gives unto each of us an allotted period, a certain
the nest. Each time we face ourselves in the mirror          number of years in which we must live to the glory
another. wrinkle appears. Children can't wait to             and honor of His name. Now when we speak of our
become teenagers, and when they get there they soon          lifetime, the question at hand seems somewhat remote
realize that these years have slipped away and thrust        and distant. And this is true because we often set for
upon them the responsibilities of job, marriage, and         ourselves distant goals and accomplishments that are
covenant families. The Psalmist has often since of old       in the realm of the future. But we desire to accen-
told us about it: "Time like an ever rolling stream          tuate our responsibility, as far as time is concerned, by
bears all her sons away!" We become aware that there         reducing years to days, hours, even minutes. Then
is a time and season for all things, a time to be born       generalities turn into specifics and the admonition of
and a time to die. Then we know that the passing of          Paul seems more pointed.
time has the higher purpose of fulfilling the will of          Now? our specific calling is, that we must always be
God in us and in all of His creation. That's why the         "redeeming the time." Though the language seems at
hands of the clock continue in seemingly perpetual           fist glance somewhat obscure, let us be assured that
motion. They are hastening towards the end and final         it isnot  only very clear but also powerful. This verb
purpose of God.                                              "redeem" is the same word that the N.T. Scriptures
  But this revelation prods us on in our quest of            use for the redemption of the people of God through
time! We can, as we have done, speak about time as           Christ. We read of this redemption, for example, in
the passing of moments. We have come to an under-            Gal. 3: 13: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
standing as to why we ourselves and the entire crea-         of the law, being made a curse for us." We can use the
tion are continually in motion and progress. But all         latter to illustrate the former. We know what our
we have done so far is to address ourselves to time          redemption by Christ involved. Christ ransomed us
from the angle of its being a succession of moments.         from the curse of the law. This redemption required
But there is more. It was with this additional element       the ultimate sacrifice of Himself. It is through the


334                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


blood of the Lamb of God that we are set free from             man in Jesus Christ, this is but a small beginning. My
the power of sin which is death. We are bought with            carnal flesh also seeks to utilize each moment to the
Christ's blood! Exactly this idea Paul wants to bring          fullest. However, my flesh seeks to have for itself the
across to us in this admonition regarding time. Time           pleasures, excitements, and sins of this world rather
must be redeemed even as we are redeemed by Christ.            than the glory of God. And to complicate this, in the
This means, then, that we must buy time. But- this             second place, we must realize that Satan, through the
does not make sense, for time is already ours! Oh, but         instrumentality of the world, entices and tempts us.
let us get back to time from the aspect of its content.        He knows that his avenue of approach cannot be
This is the point. With regard to every moment, we             through the heart, and he therefore appeals to the
have the choice to let it slip by, never to return again,      flesh. He makes indulgence in sin, immorality, world-
or to utilize it toward a certain purpose. Now it has          ly pleasures, everything but the Kingdom of Christ,
become clear! To buy out the time means that we                look so very good to us. All the wickedness and
take hold of time and purchase it unto ourselves for a         corruption that abounds round about  us is, in the
particular usage and purpose.                                  hands of Satan, a powerful weapon for the destruc-
  We are touching upon a very serious question in              tion of a godly life and walk. How easy it is for us to
our lives. This seriousness lies in the fact that this is a    neglect this command of Paul, yea, of God! For, it
recurring question that requires a continual strain of         seems more appealing to labor for earthly things than
decisive answers. As time marches on, the admonition           for the treasures of heaven. It seems, for example,
of Paul speaks to us with every "tick" of the clock.           more appealing to rest the flesh on Sunday morning
There is no escape. And God is no respecter of                 than to walk unto God's house. More appealing, it
persons or situations. Whether we are young or old,            seems, to read a "good" novel than to study the Bible
housewife or factory worker, professional or student,          and prepare. for society or catechism. Need we go on?
rich or poor, title or no, our calling is one and the          How do you and I spend our time?
same: Redeem the time God has given unto us. God                 Let us then walk in the fear of God, not as fools
keeps a log of every moment of our life; and that log          but as those who are wise! A fool is out of touch with
will be opened on that day of days when Christ re-             reality. If a man plans to throw himself from the
turns in glory. Of this we must be conscious as we             precipice of the Grand Canyon and says he will live,
walk our pilgrim's trek here below. Then the real              we call him a fool, for he is not in touch with the
question that faces us each moment is, "Am I buying            facts. He will dash himself to pieces on the canyon
this moment to  ,the glory of God?" We often com-              floor. So are those who are spiritual fools. They dis-
partmentalize our lives. We speak of study time, work          regard reality as God has revealed it in His Word. They
time, play and leisure, recreation time. But God               gainsay the Word of the Almighty. They eat, drink,
doesn't care about our neat little distinctions. He            and are merry for, so they say, tomorrow we die. But
demands every moment. How much idle time that is               we are wise through the enlightenment of the Spirit.
merely a passing of moments do we let slip by? How             We have been shown the reality of heaven and earth,
much time do we spend on ourselves, seeking our                this life and the one to come. We know that time
own glory and material advancement?                            must give way to eternity. More, that time must serve
  And let us not be ignorant, there are many things            God's eternal purpose, Let us buy out, utilize our
that vie for our time, while God alone is entitled to it.      every moment given by God to the furtherance of
First of all, we have to struggle against our own flesh,       God's glory and the coming of the kingdom of Christ
because, even though we seek after God with sincer-            in which we have a part for aye. Then we walk in His
ity each moment of our life, according to the new              fear.


                                            Book Review

GOSPEL CHARACTERS,  The Personalities Around                   whose lives were connected. with the life -of Christ
Jesus; by Leonard Griffith; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publish-           while on earth. The book is sometimes interesting
ing Company, 1976; 192 pp., $3.95 (paper).                     reading, sometimes incorrect, sometimes speculative,
                                                               sometimes theologically unsound. It is always a
  The author, a member of the clergy staff at St.              danger when writing character sketches of Biblical
Paul's Church in Toronto, originally published this            people to engage in speculation and to go beyond
book in England in 1920. The book gives character              what Scripture has chosen to reveal to us. This book
sketches of sixteen of the most important people               has not avoided that danger.


                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                 335





                                                  R.F.P.iL PUBLICATIONS
                                                                                           .-
Mysteries of the Kingdom                                                      $5.95     Behold, He Cometh!                                        $9.95
  by Herman Jianko                                                                        by Herman Hoeksema
     (An exposition of the parables                                                              (An exposition of the book of
     of Christ)                                                                                  Revelation)

Peaceable Fruit                                                           $ 5 . 9 5     Believers and their Seed                                  $2.95
  by Gertrude Hoeksema                                                                    by Herman Hoeksema
     (Instruction concerning the nurture                                                         (An exposition of the truth of
     of covenant youth)                                                                          God's covenant of grace)

Reformed Dogmatics                                                            $9.95     God's Covenant Faithfulness                               $5.95
  by Herman Hoeksema                                                                      edited by Gertrude Hoeksema
     (A systematic study of theology)                                                            (Commemorative volume, 50th
                                                                                                 anniversary of Protestant
Therefore Have I Spoken                                                       $5.95              Reformed Churches)
  by Gertrude Hoeksema
     (A biography of Herman Hoeksema)                                                   In the Beginning God                            (paper) $1.00
                                                                                          by Hqmer C. Hoeksema
Triple Knowledge                                   (3 vol.)                $24.95                (An exposition of the truth
  by Herman Hoeksema                                                                             of creation)
     (An exposition of the Heidelberg
     Catechism)                                                                         Marriage: The Mystery of Christ
                                                                                                      and the Church,                             $3.50
"Whosoever Will"                                          (paper) $1.95                   by David Engelsma
  by Herman Hoeksema





                                                                                                                       NOTICE
                                                                                           The Hull Protestant Reformed Christian School, Hull, Iowa, will be
                                                                                        in need of a teacher for the third, fourth and fifth grades, for the
                                                                                        1977-78 school year. Application can be made by calling Mr. Alvin
                                                                                        Kooiker  - 712-725-2491, or writing to the Hull Protestant Reformed
                                                                                        Christian School, 218  - 2nd Street, Hull, Iowa 51239.

                     Professor H. Hanko                                                                  ATTENTION TEACHERS!!!
                                si.95                                                      The Loveland Protestant Reformed Christian School is in need of
                  Can  be obtained from the  Busherr Manager of the Standard Bearer:    two teachers for the 1977-78 school year. Those interested should
                                Mr. H. "anderwal                                        contact the Loveland School Board,  c/o Mr. Leon Griess, 2281 North
                                                                                        Garfield, Loveland, Colo. 80537.
                                Grand Rapids. Michigan  49506

                                                                                                            NOTICE  OF  LECT URE
                                                                                           On April 21, 1977 at 8:00 in Hudsonville Church, our Annual
                                                                                        Spring Lecture will be given. Rev. David Engelsma will speak on
                                                                                        "Reprobation  -. Is It  Reformed7"Plan  to attend and urge others also
                                                                                        to hear this interesting and timely lecture.





            Note: In the April 1 issue there appeared an R.F.P.A.  Publicatims Special Offer, the expiration date of
       .
     whch was January 1, 1977. The date was correct; it's the whole ad (an  016  offer) which should not have
     .appeared.  If, however, you would like to take advantage of the offer, please do so by May 15,1977.


 THE STANDARD BEARER
        P.O. Box 6964
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49596





3i36                                          THE STANDARD BEARER
                                News From Our Churches
   Our newly organized congregation in Houston,
Texas has published the following trio: Rev. George         and the day of glory draweth near. Blessed be the
Lubbers, Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, and Rev. David           name of our God."
Engelsma.                                                     Various organizations in our South Holland church
   The Synodical Committee for Contact with other           have been quite active of late. The Ladies' Auxiliary
Churches has submitted a slate of nominees to the           sponsored a Beef Stew Supper on March 18th. The
congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church of         Men's Society sponsored a public lecture on March
Christchurch, New Zealand. They will call a minister        21st. Rev. Bernard Woudenberg, pastor of our church
on loan from the slate of Rev. Engelsma, Rev. Van           in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was scheduled to speak on
Baren, Rev. Van Overloop, Rev. Bekkering, and Rev.          the topic, "The Missionary Calling of the Local
Joostens. The basis for this action can be found in the     Church." The Choral Society planned a Singspiration
decisions taken in the 1976 Synod of the Protestant         for Sunday evening, April 3rd, after the worship ser-
Reformed Churches.                                          vice. Special numbers were scheduled by the quartet
                                                            and the school choir.
  Most of the information found on this page con-
cerns events which have already taken place. Once in          Judging from the amount of information in the
a while enough advance notice is received to give in-       February 20th and 27th bulletins of our newly
formation about a worthwhile event which is still to        organized congregation in Houston, the new church
happen. So, with the co-operation of the editor, the        has enjoyed a rather busy schedule. Three children
typesetter, the printer, the mailing crew, and your         were baptized on the  27th, the consistory was
postman, you may receive this issue before April 21.        organized on the 16th, delegates to the  Classis West
The evening of  .Thursday, April 21, is the day             meeting on March 2 were selected, and the consistory
scheduled by our West Michigan churches for our             was scheduled to hear the confession of faith of two
Annual Spring Lecture. Rev. David Engelsma, pastor          young people of the congregation on March 8. Sun-
of our church in South Holland, Illinois is scheduled       day services are scheduled at  lo:30 A.M. and  3:30
to speak on "Reprobation  - Is It Reformed?" The            P.M. Sunday School is at 9:30 A.M. Catechism classes
lecture will be held in the new church building re-         meet on Monday afternoon and a mid-week Bible
cently occupied by our Hudsonville congregation. A          study meeting is scheduled for Thursday evenings.
                                                            The book, of I Timothy is being considered.
new church building is not exactly a common thing.
In recognition of this, many denominational events            Our people in Hull, Iowa enjoyed a Hostess Supper
have been scheduled in Hudsonville this spring, in-         on February 7th. Rev. Hoeksema spoke on  "The
cluding League meetings,  Classis East, lectures, and       Authority-Relation of the Home and the School."
the 1977 Synod of our Churches.                               Hull `made' the Isabel bulletin. Rev. Miersma con-
  In a recent issue of the little  .paper published by      cluded an account of the recent Classis West meeting
our church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Rev.               with this note, "On the lighter side we can say that.
Moore writes "By now many of you have heard that            Hull did it again. It somehow managed to arrange
the undersigned and his .wife have been blessed by our      Classis to be held in the middle of a snowstorm
faithful covenant God in the birth of twin girls. Stacie    keeping all the delegates in town for the night. In-
and Stephanie are healthy and growing and Mom is            stead of automobile travel many of the delegates had
doing well. For the Church what a blessed event is the      their first snowmobile ride. Lodging was doubled up
birth of children in her midst! `Lo, children are an        and some of the delegates came the next day a little
heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his      rumpled and unshaven. I guess these are the things
reward.' Ps.  127:3. This is the Word of God that           that' make such meetings live in our memories for
sounds forth in a day when the birth of children is         years." It seems this is not the first time that Classis
frowned upon. God through His people brings forth           West and a terrific snowstorm have met in Hull on
His heritage, the church of Christ. With each of His        the same day.
covenant seed born Christ makes complete His body,                                                          K.G.V.


