     The
 STANDARD
c BEARER -
       A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





  "Christ's burden does not oppress, but
makes light, and itself bears, rather than
is borne." (Martin Luther)
   See "Assuming Christ's Yoke" - page I.70





                                           Volume LIV, No. 8, January 15,1978  -
                                                     ISSN  0362-4692


170                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                Semi-monthly,  except  monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                     Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
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                           CONTENTS:                                                    Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer c.  Hoeksemn
                                                                                        Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma
                                                                                         R e v .   Cornelius   H a n k o ,   P r o f .   H e r m a n   H a n k o ,   R e v .   R o b e r t   C. Harbach '
Meditation -                                                                             R e v .   J o h n   A .   Heys,  R e v .   Ma.rk   H .   H o e k s e m a ,   R e v .   M e i n d e r t   Joostens:
                                                                                         R e v .   J a y   K o r t e r i n g ,   R e v .   G e o r g e   C .   L u b b e r s ,   R e v .   R o d n e y   M i e r s m a
   Assuming Christ's Yoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., . .170                        R e v .   Marlnus   Schipper,   R e v .   J a m e s   Slopsema,   R e v .   Gise   J .   V a n   Baren:
                                                                                         R e v .   R o n a l d   V a n   OVerlOoP,   R e v .   H e r m a n   Veldman,   M r .   K e n n e t h   G .
Editorial -                                                                             V i n k .
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   Dancing - Full Circle! (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173                                                        4975  lvanrest  Ave. S.W.
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MEDITA TIO N




                                   Assuming Christ's Yoke
                 "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye
             shall find vest unto your souls.
                 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. " Matthew 11~29, 30



   This exhortation of the Lord Jesus is most closely                                     explained. But it is a calling or exhortation directed
attached to another that immediately precedes it.                                         to those and to those only who are burdened by the
   "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy                                        spiritual knowledge of their sin and guilt, and who
laden, and I will give you rest."                                                         desire from a regenerated heart to be relieved of that
   Not a general offer of salvation to all men is this                                    burden. To them the Lord presents the promise, "and
word of the Saviour, as it has so generally been                                          I will give you rest."


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 171



  In our text these same addresses are given the             "What can be lighter than a burden which unburdens
added exhortation to assume Christ's yoke. "Take my          us, and a yoke which bears its bearer?"
yoke upon you, and learn of me, . .  ."  - so would
they find rest unto their souls.                               It is particularly this truth that makes the exchange
  Significant and urgent calling!                            of yokes to be most appealing. 0, indeed, if Christ
                                                             meant that it is a matter of merely exchanging
   There is great urgency here that the heavy laden          burdens, be it that the one was lighter than the other,
assume Christ's yoke.                                        there might be little or no appeal. But the case is
  For the called, you see, are under a yoke that is          quite different. In the one you are yoked to a burden
too grievous to be borne.                                    that becomes increasingly heavier and at last im-
                                                             possible to bear. But in the other, when you are
  A yoke is  .a figure of speech taken from the              yoked to Christ, He takes the burden from you, and
agricultural scene where a pair of draught animals,          you are united with Him Who is the burden-bearer.
such as oxen, had `a wooden or leather frame fitted
over their  shoulde,rs and attached to a load they are         Now the urgency of assuming Christ's yoke rests,
to pull. Or, perhaps the figure referred to a cross-bar      first of all, in the hearts and minds of those whom
or frame fitted to the shoulders of humans whereby           Christ addresses here. They have labored and toiled
they were enabled to carry heavy burdens, such as            with the knowledge of their sin and guilt. They have
water or other objects. Metaphorically the Scriptures        been brought to see the immensity of their burden.
speak of the yoke when they refer to a certain servile       They know that by their own endeavors they can
condition. Jeremiah speaks of breaking the yoke in           never unburden themselves, but only increase their
connection with those who refuse to bow under the            guilt and misery. And they have a spiritual longing to
judgment of God. (5:5). Peter would impose no yoke           .get rid of it. They have sensed with Augustine, who
on the disciples too heavy to bear, such as the              also wrestled with his sense of guilt, "Thou God, hast
Pharisees insisted upon in the keeping of the cere-          created us unto Thyself, hence our heart is restless,
monial law. (Acts 15: 10). Paul speaks of servants           .until it rests in Thee." They sense ever more deeply
being under the yoke who are to count their masters          the need of being made right with God. And that
worthy of all honor.,(I Tim. 6: 1).                          means that they desire the removal of their burden of
                                                             sin and guilt, and desire the perfect righteousness of
  Such is also the implication in the text. The              Christ to be their eternal possession.
addressees are burdened under the yoke of sin and
guilt. They labor and are heavy laden. They labor, toil        But, in the second place, this urging rests and is
hard for righteousness and seek for rest. Yet under          implied in the calling to come to Christ, the Burden-
the law, which aggravates their burden, making their         Bearer and Rest-Giver. Also here, as in the previous
burden all the heavier, they find no relief. For             verse, the calling is efficacious. So efficacious is
through the law is the knowledge of sin. So they are         Christ's calling that they who are called come to Him.
weary and heavy ladened with the knowledge of guilt,         Here is not an impotent invitation on the part of
while all their fruitless striving for peace and rest is     Christ which may be accepted or rejected at will.
vain. Certainly their yoke was heavy whom the Lord           Christ does not stand on the outside of the sinners
addresses here.                                              heart pleading with him to let Him in. But the call is
                                                             with power, just as when He stood at the grave of
  And the Lord now exhorts them to exchange their            Lazarus and called the dead out of the grave back to
yoke for the yoke Christ will give.                          life. So also here the called must respond. Christ does
                                                             not say: I offer to give you My yoke if only you will
  In the deep sense of the word the yoke they are to         take it. But He says emphatically and powerfully:
assume is Christ Himself. The Lord is not referring to       Take it! And that word, that calling, moves you,
the commands of the gospel in distinction from the           draws you, to come to Him and assume His yoke.
demands of the law; nor does He refer to the
suffering and persecution which the becoming                   Implicit in our coming to Christ and assuming His
Christ's disciples would entail; though to be sure           yoke is an act of faith. This explains, in the first
there are certain requirements of the gospel to be           place, the manner in which we assume Christ's yoke.
heeded, and reproaches to be borne, when we are              This is not something additional to our coming to
associated with Christ. Rather, we stand in an entirely      Him. The idea is not that we come to Him and then
new relation when we assume the yoke of Christ. In the       believe on Him. Nor is the relation such that our
old relation we bear the burden. In the new, Christ          believing is an act before we come to Christ. But our
bears the burden for us and in our stead. Luther, writ-      believing, our act of faith, is implicit in both our
ing on this subject, correctly observes, "Christ's burden    coming to Him and in our assuming His yoke.
does not oppress, but makes light, and itself bears,           Here we must not forget what we suggested earlier
rather than is borne." Or, as another pertly put it,         that conscious faith is awakened, aroused by the call


172                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



of Christ. That call is efficacious! Faith, of course, as       Yet that same Lord in our text stands before us
a seed is implanted in our hearts at the moment of           exhorting us by faith to assume His yoke, and learn
our regeneration. The calling arouses and brings to          of Him that He is meek and lowly in heart. That
conscious activity that faith, whether that calling          means that in respect to His heart, that is, in the
comes directly, as here, by the word of Christ, or           deepest part of His Being, He is gentle, benevolent,
whether it comes to us by the preaching of the               humble. He has humbled Himself to stand with you
gospel. The powerful calling works on the faith within,      on your level, and become the sinner in your stead.
making it to respond. So we consciously and spiritually      Your Saviour, beloved reader, though He is Lord of
come to Christ, the Rest-Giver. And so we consciously        heaven and earth, God of God, and the very second
and spiritually appropriate the yoke of Christ  -            Person of the Holy Trinity, came down to visit you in
Christ Himself.                                              your bondage, and to assume your nature and your
                                                             guilt so as to remove it from you forever. He it is Who
   But, in the second place, the manner in which we          addresses you and calls you to Himself, standing as it
assume Christ's yoke is through His spiritual peda-          were ,next to you in your misery, and saying to you,
gogy. Christ says: You must learn of Me!                     See, I am come to deliver you from your misery. I am
   If Christ is the yoke we are to assume, it stands to      not an austere Judge who is going to condemn you,
reason that we must know Him. And we come to                 but a lowly Saviour Who came to redeem you. I am
know Him only when He teaches us, and by that                not a cruel, despotic Master Who is going to exact my
teaching shows us Who He is. This makes us disciples         pound, but I am coming to  .you as the meek and
who are taught and have learned. Literally a disciple        lowly Jesus. So you need not flee from His august
is one who has been taught, and who follows,                 presence, but you may freely come to Him, and by
responds to that instruction. And that means that we         faith appropriate Him as your sin-bearer.
are to listen to what He has to say.                            And what will you discover when you so come to
  And what does Christ have to say. of Himself?              Him?
   Certainly not that He is another Moses, who with             First of all, that His yoke is easy, and His burden
the dispensation of the law imposes burdens upon             light! His yoke is therefore  *pleasant and desirable.
you that make you cry out in your bondage for peace          John Bunyon in his "Pilgrim's Progress" sensed the
and rest. Nor is He as the teachers of the law, as the       wonder of this when he described Christian with his
Scribes and Pharisees, who added to the law burdens          pack of sin and guilt taken from him and rolled away
which they themselves were unwilling to bear.                at the cross. And perhaps this bit of verse will clearly
  But this is what we must learn of Him, namely,             express what you will find when you come to Jesus.
that He is meek and lowly in respect to the heart.             Jesus, Saviour, Lord Divine,
  And again, the idea is not that we are to learn                 Burden-bearer, from above,
meekness and lowliness from Him, or, that we are to            Thou hast removed all guilt, `twas mine,
learn to take up His cross which we are to bear with              This Thou didst in sovereign love.
meekness and lowliness of heart.                               Meek and lowly in Thy heart,
  Rather, we are to learn from Him that He is meek                Thou didst call me unto Thee;
and lowly in heart. He is not a proud, haughty,                All my guilt to Thee impart,
vindictive task-master who can only aggravate your                From my burden I am free.
burden with fear. But because He is meek and lowly
in heart, you may freely be encouraged to come to              Blessed Jesus, Freedom Giver,
Him, Who condescends to bear your burden, and give                Blest Remover of my shame,
Himself to you as the Remover of your guilt.                   From my burden Thou didst deliver,
                                                                  Blessed be Thy Holy Name.
  0, indeed, He is Lord and Master, and as such He
would also be acknowledged! (John 13: 13). As a                Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light,
reward of merit He has been highly exalted, after He         because you have no burden any longer. He has taken
had first deeply humbled Himself. (Phil.  2:8-l 0)           it completely from you.
Surely, therefore, every knee must bow, and every              Moreover, ye shall also find rest for your souls!
tongue confess that He is Lord! And the  ,seer of              Eternal rest!
Patmos, in prophetic vision beheld Him seated on the           And eternal rest is that glorious experience that
throne and every creature in heaven, on earth, and           beholds all the work of the God of your salvation,
under the earth exclaiming, "Blessing and honour,            and forever to rejoice in it.
and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever."             This is the eternal Sabbath!
(Rev. 5 : 13)                                                  Blessed boon!


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     173



EDITORIALS
Prof H.C. Hoeksema





                                     Dancing  - Full Circle!
                                                               (3)


  In this installment `we continue, first of all, with                        taste for theater-going. Total abstinence is
our sketch of the Report on Worldly Amusements                                therefore also the safest.
which was before the Christian Reformed Synod in                      B. The Movie:
1928. That Report, because.its principle was that of
common grace, contained the seeds of the, 1966 and                       1. There is no essential difference between the
1977 decisions to open the door to the so-called                      playhouse and the movie theater.
"film arts" and to dancing and to bring these corrup-                   2. No intelligent person would condemn the movie
tions right on the campus of the denomination's                       on the sole ground that it presents moving pictures.
Calvin College. We remind you that both in this                       The cinematograph is after all a wonderful invention,
sketch of the 1928 Report and in our comments we                      and there is no essential difference between a moving
are leaning heavily on an article of warning written by               picture and a still picture.
the late Herman Hoeksema in Volume 4 or the                             3. But the movie theater as it actually exists, that
Standard Bearer. We now continue the outline of the                   is something else. That is evil and is in the same
Report:                                                               category as the playhouse.
II. Application of these principles to the three forms                C. Dancing:
of worldly amusements:                                                   1. Dancing as such is, of course, not to be con-
A. Theater attendance: (Note: in the Report theater                   demned.
and movie attendance are treated under one heading.
cf. pp. 31, ff.)                                                        2. But  the  dance as it comes to manifestation in
                                                                      the world is immoral.
   1. The theater is in itself not evil. The committee
is not prepared, at least, to condemn the theater as                  D. Card-playing and games of chance are to be con-
such.                                                                 demned for well-known reasons.
  2. But the theater as it exists in reality is certainly               At this point Rev. Hoeksema inserts another rather
evil and wrong:                                                       prophetic note "I would say that the only conclusion
                                                                      to which all this can lead is that we must take care
         a. There are still good dramatic performances                that we get Christian theaters and Christian movie
           that can be presented.                                     houses and dance-halls, which are established accord-
         b. But the committee advises believers neverthe-             ing to the demand of faith, where God's children can
           less not to attend these: (1) Because it can               play and dance to the honor of God. But the
           give offense to the brother. (2) Because one               committee thinks differently about .this." Somewhere
           cannot always have the assurance before                    along the line, of course, the powers that be in the
           seeing a play that it is not only clean through-           Christian Reformed Church drew the same con-
           out but beneficial. (3) Because some of the                clusion. They brought the theater and the movie and
           so-called good plays are more dangerous than               the dance right to the campus of Calvin College - in
           the bad, because of false conceptions of                   the name of Christianity. Now we continue again
           religion and morality which they set forth.                with the sketch:
           (4) Because theater attendance will develop a              III. What must the Church do with regard to those


174                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


members who nevertheless participate in such amuse-          love, yet also in view of the strong tide of worldliness
ments?                                                       which is threatening our churches, very firmly with
A. The Church must combat the spirit of worldliness          all cases of misdemeanor and offensive conduct in the
and in particular the growing participation in these         matter of worldly amusements; and where repeated
worldly amusements.                                          admonitions by the consistory are left unheeded, to.
   1. By instruction in the doctrinal and ethical            apply discipline as a last resort.
principles which lie at the basis of this amusements-          6. "To instruct consistories to inquire of those
question.                                                    who ask to be examined previous to making public
   2. By doing all it can to develop a stronger type of      profession of their faith and partaking of the Lord's
spirituality among its members.                              Supper as to their stand and conduct in the matter of
   3. By unceasing warning against the prevailing            worldly amusements, and if it appears that they are
spirit of worldliness and worldly amusement.                 not minded to lead the life of Christian separation and
                                                             consecration,, to refuse their confession."
   4. By censuring those who have been admonished
and who nevertheless continue to live in the sin of          B. The Committee does not consider it to be its task
visiting such worldly places.                                to suggest ways and means whereby our young people
                                                             may be provided with wholesome amusements.
   In order to carry out the above, the Committee
advises the Synod:                                             In his criticism, Rev. Hoeksema strikes at the basic
                                                             error of the entire report as follows (I translate):
   1. "To urge all of our hrofessors, ministers, elders
and Bible teachers to emphasize in this age of prevail-        "And then our chief observation is that the Com-
ing worldiness especially those doctrinal and ethical        mittee indeed has not correctly described the real
principles which our people must clearly understand          place of the Christian in the world,. and because of
and firmly adhere to in order not to be swept away           this it also has not grasped and correctly presented his
by this mighty tide. Strong emphasis should be placed        calling and task. The basic view of the Committee is
on the covenant-position of Christians and their             not antithetical but dualistic; it is really Anabaptistic.
children, on the call to spiritual separation, and on        Let the reader judge for himself. According to the
those ethical principles which have been explained in        presentation of the Committee, the highest purpose
the second part of this report.                              of the Christian is to glorify God. For that purpose
                                                             man was originally created. In order again to attain to
   2. "To urge all our leaders and all our people to         that purpose God has also redeemed His people.
pray and labor for the  awakening and deepening of           Through redemption the Christian can again achieve
`spiritual life in general, and to be keenly aware of the    his original purpose, namely, to praise and magnify
absolute indispensability of keeping our religious life      God. That, then, is also his calling in the world.
vital and powerful, through daily prayer, the earnest
searching of the Scriptures, and through engaging in           "In this description of the highest principle of the
those practical Christian works which are the best           Christian's life and calling there is no antithesis. Yet,
antidote against worldliness.                                for a right view of .things, it was just exactly necessary
                                                             that the Committee should from the very beginning
   3. "To exhort all our leaders to  warn unceasingzy        grasp the antithetical idea. They should have ex-
against the prevailing spirit and forms of worldliness       pressed this thus, that it is God's purpose with His
in order that our Reformed principles in these mat-
ters may be reemphasized; to insist that these warn-         people in the world that they should glorify Him over
ings shall be given not only in the preaching, but also      against a world that lies in evil, and thereby condemn
in our Catechism and Sunday School classes, in               the world. His people are called to serve, to glorify,
                                                             and to love Him antithetically. To cling to God and
family-visitation and in personal contact; and to urge
that these warnings shall be given also in our school-       to reject the world; to love God and to hate  Mam-
                                                             mon. By walking in the light and testifying of the
rooms.                                                       light he condemns the world. If the Committee had
  4. "To remind consistories and other bodies; such          clearly grasped this and expressed it, it would have
as boards of Christian schools, city missions, etc., that    given another direction to the development of the
in the nomination or appointment of those who                main line of its report.
occupy positions of responsibility in our circles,             "Now the Committee gets dualism. For according
careful attention shall be paid to their conduct in the      to  thea presentation pf the Committee, the Christian
matter of amusements, and that  no one shall  be             must glorify God  in  the world. And in that world,
placed in a position of trust and influence  whose           according to  ,the view of the Committee, there is
conduct in this as well as in all other matters is not       much good through God's common grace, but also
beyond reproach.                                             much evil. And now it is the calling of the Christian
   5. "To urge consistories to deal in the spirit of         to avoid that evil, but to cooperate with and go along


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 175


with the good. The ungodly also still does the good.          the movie. The actually existing theater and movie, as
That happens through Common Grace. And now the                we know them,  - yes, that is wrong. But the
Christian lives a double life. On the basis of this           presentation of a drama cannot be condemned in
common grace he lives along with the ungodly, he has          itself. We find this to be a dangerous piece of advice
fellowship with him, he does many things in common            to the churches, especially in the time in which we
with him, he amuses himself with him and plays ball           live. For it is not only so that many children of God
with him. But according to his regenerated life and ac-       go along with the world, play with and amuse
cording to the ungodliness of the unbeliever, he keeps        themselves with the ungodly, but they also haul the
himself far from the ungodly and he must avoid the evil       world into the church. They not only visit the theater
in the world. In the latter respect the Committee is in-      and movie, but they bring the theater and many other
deed Anabaptistic, for avoidance (flight) is exactly          things into the sphere of the Church. That is much
Anabaptistic."                                                worse still than theater attendance. Spiritual earnest-
  Is it not ironic, by the way, that the very men who         ness of life -is missing. Young people can no longer
accused the deniers of common grace of Anabaptistic           have a banquet or party, or there has to be a drama,
views here fall into that error of world-flight rather        which is Christian in name, but in which nevertheless
than world-fight themselves?                                  prayer and commandment are mocked. That is
                                                              reality. And about this the Committee gives no
  Hoeksema continues:                                         advice. The Committee only concedes that the
  "This entire view is false.                                 theater, taken in the abstract, can indeed be good.
  "The correct view is that of the antithesis. It             Well, then, what is more logical than that our young'
proceeds from the basic principle that the Christian is       people should draw the conclusion from such advice
called so to serve and to glorify God, so to please Him       that we are then called to present Christian dramas
and to confess Him, to walk in the light and in               and to set up a God-glorifying theater! Of course,
sanctification of life that, so doing, he condemns the        that is nonsense; but the nonsense is from the
world. The light must judge and rebuke the darkness,          Committee."
must fight against and overcome it. The sphere for              It is at this point in his article that Rev. Hoeksema
this manifestation of the light over against the dark-        makes the prophecy  .which  I quoted in my first
ness is all, of the life of this world, with all means and    editorial on this subject: "The report of the Com-
gifts and powers and talents. It is the sphere of state       mittee is ambivalent, irresolute, and therefore very
and society, of business and industry, of science and         dangerous. And we predict that, if the Synod adopts
art, of music and song, of joy and pleasure, of               this report in this form, it absolutely will not help the
amusement and relaxation. In all these areas the child        churches in the battle against world-conformity. It is
of God lives according to this calling as a child of the      an attempt to point the drowning Church to a few
light, showing forth the virtues of Him that called           blades of grass on the bank of the stream, advising her
him. But the ungodly also lives his life always out of        to cling fast to them, rather than pulling her out of the
the principle of enmity against God, and he reveals           stream and saving her."
himself also very really as an enemy of God. And now
God's child does not want Anabaptistic avoidance, or            That prediction has come true today - in full.
world-flight. If he understands his calling, then he            We say again: the seeds of the 1966-1977 stand on
does not withdraw out of the world. Neither does he           the movie and on dancing were present in the 1928
merely want to avoid the evil., But he wants to               Report and Decisions. In a very real sense, those seeds
condemn it and do battle for his God in every area of         were the Three Points of Common Grace and  th"eir
life. Such is the correct line of the truth according to      consequent denial of the antithesis.
God's Word. And if this principle is maintained, then           The battle to stem the tide of worldly amusements
there is no possibility of playing with and amusing           in the Christian Reformed Church was hopeless from
one's self with those who are the enemies of God.             the outset. It was only a matter of time before the
Who the composer was of that portion of the report            whole church would be overwhelmed by that tide.
in which the remark abouf ball-playing appears, I do
not know; but whoever of the Committee members                  Such is the sad history of the amusements-problem
penned it, it is certain that he might well first follow      in the CRC.
his own advice and earnestly pray for a deepening and           For the church as such, it is too late, far too late,
enrichment of. his spiritual life, before he lives on         to do anything about it.
such a footing with the ungodly that he with them               For those who ruefully and sorrowfully view the
and they with him can very well play a friendly game          spectacle of this debacle there is but one solution:
of ball!                            '                         Back to the principle of the absolute antithesis! But
   "From this principle it also arises that the Com-          that is only possible when you repudiate the insidious
mittee does not absolutely condemn the theater and            doctrine of common grace!


176                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


TRANSLATED TREASURES





                                     A Pamphlet on the
                         Reformation of the Church


  3. The fourfold way in which the church of Christ         flesh, a moment when He suffered and died, a
can be understood.                                          moment when He arose; and therefore there was also
  On the ground of the authority of Holy Scripture,         a time when these wonders of mercy had not yet
the essence of the church must be considered as             happened. The forgiveness and justification which are
distinguished under four aspects. One can refer to the      eternal in God's counsel  thps enter history with
church as it is determined in the counsel of God; the       Christ. Ransom becomes a fact for the church when
church as her life is hidden in Christ; the church as it    He died. Justification first belonged to the church
is realized on earth among men; and tinallyj the' church    when He arose. And likewise, the relation of the
as it shall finally rejoice before the throne in glory.     church which is still upon earth to the Mediator
                                                            differs from the relation in which the church in
   Confusion of these four makes clear insight dif-         heaven stands to Him. While she is here the bride calls
ficult.                                                     to her Bridegroom. There she is already entered into a
  Not as if there are four churches. It is the same         holy marriage. This difference is so radical that here
church which is ordained in God's counsel, which is         she still has need of reconciliation, but there no
given to Christ by the Father, which is created on          longer. Nevertheless the church is by no means
earth, and which one day rejoices in glory. But this        divided by this distinction because the elect of
fourfold viewpoint must be distinguished because,           ancient times as well as those who now live upon
according as one considers her as in God's counsel, in      earth or are already entered into salvation, yes even
Christ, in the world, or in the glory of heaven,            the seed of the church which must still come forth,
entirely different relations exist which change the         are all given to the Son from eternity. It is in Him one
answers to all further questions.                           body with the Lord. When Christ died all the elect
                                                            died in Christ, and when He arose all the elect`rose
  In God's counsel the church of all ages exists with       with Him. Yes, all the elect, placed with Christ, sit
the full number of the elect and it is completed            with Him in heaven. "You are dead, and your life is
according to a perfect plan from the foundations of         hid with Christ in God." (Colossians  3:2) That is a
the world. In that counsel it is ordained, called,          holy, unfathomable mystery.
justified, and glorified before the face of the Triune        And again these relationships are entirely different
God.                                                        if the church is considered by us not as it is included
   If I speak, on the other hand, of the church in          in the counsel of God or even as it is hidden in Christ,
Christ, then that stately, majestic unity is imme-          but as it is revealed upon earth during this dispensa-
diately broken because the relation of the patriarchs       tion. Then indeed the unity which the church has in
and prophets under the Old Dispensation to the              the counsel of God is lost, as well as the holiness
Mediator is one thing, and the relation of the be-          which she possesses in Christ; and the church goes
lievers of. the New Dispensation to Christ is another.      through all these different conditions and has to
There was a moment in time when Christ became               move in all these separate relations which flow forth


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               177



from her contact with the world, from her con-              nature of the church and the national relationships
tamination by sin; as well as from those changes and        necessarily require.1 Yet broader bonds of churches
developments which are necessarily inseparable from         can never be anything else than temporal or ex-
her life in history.                                        tremely loose and elastic. Just as these churches (as
  Finally, this is true also for the church now already     visible manifestations of the invisible church) are not
in heaven when all these earthly relationships have         one, so they are not holy either. This is true because
fallen away and room is made for new relationships          they share the imperfection of all earthly life and are
of an entirely different kind. The church then is ruled     polluted by the might of sin which continually
by the distinction in glory between the preliminary         undermines from within and without the well-being
glory in which the saved now already rejoice, and the       of the church.
more perfect glory after the resurrection which awaits         It is true of the church of Christ on earth and
Christ's return.                                            indeed more so in her visible appearance, that the
  He who speaks concerning the church confuses              imperious demand for reformation concerns her as
himself and others if he does not continually and in        long as deformation is present.
all the discussion ask: in which of these four relation-
ships does he refer to the church?                             Strictly viewed, this demand for reformation is also
                                                            a continuous one because the church, in the strictest
  While treating concerning the reformation of the          sense, is always deformed. It is never seen in pure and
church, this writing has also to face the same ques-        sound form, and always unholy elements are present
tion. And the answer can be no different from that in       in it. Yet reformation in this pamphlet is not meant
connection with the reformation of the church. We           in that absolute sense. There is a deviation from the
are not speaking of the church in God's counsel, nor.       spiritual essence of the church which lies in the
the church as it is in Christ, nor even the church in       nature of her appearance in the world, and without
heaven, because the church in this threefold sense is       which the church cannot be manifested among men;
not deformed and thus cannot be reformed. But it is         and which therefore, as great as the deviation may be
our purpose to treat only and exclusively of the            from the spiritual ideal, yet with respect to the visible
church of Christ as she is manifested on earth.             manifestation of the church, is itself normal and
   4. Why one and the same church on earth is at the        continues present in her, at least as long as the
same time visible and invisible.                            mastery of the holy over the unholy and of the truth
  This church of Christ on earth is at the same time        over the lie remains unharmed and pure. This neces-
visible and invisible. In one and the same way as each      sary deviation from the ideal cannot be taken away
man is a partly perceptible and partly imperceptible        through any reformation. Re who tries this loses the
being without being two creatures, so also this dis-        church and founds a sect. In that respect the obliga-
tinction between visible and invisible does not in the      tion to  .reformation does not apply. That becomes
least abolish the unity of the essence of the church. It    Donatism! Perfectionism. He strives for a church
is one and the same church which resides in the             which possesses the holiness of angels upon earth!
spiritual according to her hidden, being and in this        This is a striving in which, alas, beastiality as plunder
way reveals herself only to the spiritual eye, but          is always brought in!
which according to her external form appears visibly           The church comes under the obligation of reforma-
to the natural perception of the believers as well as of    tion in .her visible manifestation only when deviation
the world.                                                  sinks beneath this normal standard, not only by
   According to her spiritual, invisible side, the          bringing the unholy into herself, but by tolerating it
church is one upon the whole earth; and that whole          through silence and failure to punish; or worse yet,
church on earth is also one with the church which is        through giving to the lie and to that which is unholy
already in heaven. In like manner, the invisible church     power and mastery over the truth and holiness.
is at the same time holy, not only because she is an           On this ground, the reformation of the church can
artistic masterpiece of God which depends entirely          be described as: "the discharge of the obligation
upon His divine influences and works, but also be-          which rests upon the church in her visible manifesta-
cause the spiritual defilements as well as the indwell-     tion, that is on the local churches of Christ; after
ing sin of the believers does not belong to her and,        Christ, both individually and mutually, as frequently
rather, wages a war against her.                            as lies and sin throw off the yoke of Christ and go
  -According to her perceptible side, on the other          unpunished, to secure a new truth and holiness by her
hand, the church appears piecemeal and is thus              mastery over lies and sin by returning to her original
always, local; i.e., divided indefinitely. And the          form which is commanded in God's Word."
national churches exist first because between these         IThis  reference to national churches must be understood in the light of
local churches a mutual bond is established as the          the State Church which existed in the Netherlands at that time.


178                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


THE VOICE OF OUR. FATHERS





                        One,  Holy, Catholic Church
                                                   Prof Robert D. Decker


          "We believe and profess, one catholic or universal Church, which is an holy congregation, of true Christian
          believers, all expecting their salvation in Jesus Christ, being washed by his blood, sanctified and sealed by
          the Holy Ghost. This Church bath been from the beginning of the world, and will be to the end thereof;
          which is evident from this, that Christ is an eternal Icing, which, without subjects, cannot be. And this holy
          Church is preserved or supported by God, against the rage of the whole world; though she sometimes (for a
          while) appears very small, and in the -eyes of men, to be reduced to nothing: as during the periious reign of
          Ahab, the Lord reserved unto him seven thousand who had not bowed their knees to Baal. Furthermore,
          this holy Church is not confined, bound, or limited to a certain place or to certain persons, but is spread
          and dispersed over the whole world; and yet is joined qd united with heart and wiIl, by the power of faith,
          in one and the same spirit."
                                                                                 Article XXVII, The Be&c Confession

  Even the secular world of late has been forced to                fession which so clearly and powerfully sets forth the
acknowledge a religious movement- in our land which                 Bible's teaching concerning the one, holy, catholic
is claiming  hundre`ds  of thousands among its ad-                  church of Jesus Christ.. With this article and con-
herents. The movement has come to be called Neo (or                 tinuing through Article XXXV our Confession treats
the New) Evangelicalism. Several "big  name.s" are                  the subject of Ecclesiology or the doctrine of the
associated with this movement, such as Billy Graham,                Church.
Oral Roberts, Bill Bright, Charles Colson, Eldridge                    It is essential to understand that the  Confession
Cleaver, Mark`Hatfield, et. al. This movement can be                considers the Church as an article of faith. The
faulted on several counts. It is thoroughly Arminian                Church is one and catholic, a holy congregation of
in its theology, and much of it is characterized by the             true Christian believers saved in Jesus  Christ and
excesses of Pentecostalism, to say nothing of  dis-                 sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit. This Church
pensationalism and millenarianism which also charac-                has been from the beginning of the world and will
terize its beliefs. All of these are serious departures             continue under its eternal King to the end of the
from the truth of the Word of God. But perhaps the                  world. Preserved and supported by God against the
most basic error is the New Evangelicalism's dis-                   rage of the whole wbrld is this Church. And finally
association from and indeed in many instances dis-                  this Church is not bound or limited but spread and
avowal of the institute of the Church of Jesus Christ.              dispersed over the whole world and yet is joined with
The Church is said to be an archaic relic of the past               heart and will by the power of faith in a common
which has long since served its purpose. What must be               spirit. All this we believe and profess! That we believe
stressed is a personal commitment to Christ. One                    and profess`one, holy, catholic Church of Jesus Christ
doesn't need the Church. He can pray and study the                  means that we cannot see the Church. Also Christ's
Bible and serve the Lord apart from the Church. One                 Church belongs to those things which eye hath not
doesn't need formal worship, the preaching of the                   seen nor ear heard neither hath it entered into the
Word, and all the rest which goes with the Church.                  heart of man to conceive. The Church too belongs to
Thus the movement is characterized by an in-                        the unseen realities which can only be apprehendsd
dividualism and a subjectivism which at best disparage              by faith. Essential it is to understand this for else we
the Church.                                                         shall be hopelessly confused in our study of the
  We ought to be profoundly thankful for the voice                  Church. We believe and profess, for example, the
of our fathers sounded in this article of our  Con-                 oneness or unity of the Church. The Church is one,


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              179



holy congregation of true believers in Christ, not          faith. Both the Old and New Testament Scriptures
many congregations. The Church is united in one             emphasize again and again the pastoral or shepherd-
Christ, one Spirit, and in one faith. And Christ is not     sheep relationship which God sustains to His chosen.
divided, neither are there many Spirits or many             Jesus Christ is the good Shepherd to whom the
faiths. But where do you see that? When one observes        Father gives the sheep. As the good Shepherd He
the Church in the world all one sees is brokenness and      knows His sheep and they know Him and they follow
discord. The attempts at unity (the ecumenical move-        Him. And, as the good Shepherd He lays down His
ment) of the recent past have only resulted in the          life for the sheep. (John 10) This same truth is
multiplication of denominations. In our day small           implied in the terms used to designate the Church in
remnants of conservatives have broken from several          the Bible. Repeatedly the New Testament calls the
large, mainline denominations to form new denom-            Church, `ecclesia, " the ones called out by God.
inations. Nevertheless we believe and profess one           Christ used this term in connection with Peter's
Church. That means we believe that God has chosen           confession. (Matthew 16: 18) It is used to designate a
and saved a Church in Christ and that He preserves          group of believers in a given locality. (Acts 5: 11;
that Church and gathers that Church out of every            11:26; I Cor.  11:18;  14:19;  14:28; Gal.  1:2;IThess.
nation by His Word and Spirit and will bring that           2: 14) In at least one instance it indicates a group of
Church to glory.                                            churches within a given area. (Acts 9: 3 1) In a more
  Therefore the Confession emphasizes the fact that         general sense it denotes the whole body of Christian
we must not discuss the Church from the point of            believers throughout the world. From this point of
view of its life and manifestation in the world. That       view the Apostle Paul discusses the doctrine of the
would lead to all kinds of erroneous conclusions.           Church in First Corinthians and Ephesiaris. Finally, in
Rather we must discuss the Church as it is described        its most comprehensive sense the "ecclesia"  embraces
for us in Scripture and, therefore, we must discuss the     all who are joined to Christ, whether on earth or in
Church as it is the object of our faith. We cannot see      heaven. (Eph. 1:22; 3:10, 21; Col. 1:18, 24)
the Church, but we do believe and profess on the              In addition Scripture uses many figurative descrip-
basis of the Word of God one, holy, catholic Church.        tions which illumine the nature of God's Church. The
  In harmony with this the Confession discusses the         Church is repeatedly called the body of Christ. (Eph.
Church from its ideal viewpoint, i.e., as it appears in     1: 23; Col. 1: 18; I Cor. 12: 27) Christ is the Head of
the counsel of God, as it is preserved in the world,        that body and the believers (elect) are the members.
and as it will be ultimately perfected in glory. Hence      Out of Christ the members receive all of their life.
in faith we are prepared to affirm what the Church is,      And Christ rules them. And in their Head, Christ,
just exactly what it is that we believe and profess.        believers are united and become one. Peter addressed
The Church is "one catholic or universal Church,            believers as "living stones" which are erected by God
which is a holy congregation of believers, all expect-      unto a "spiritual house." (I Peter  2:5) Several times
ing their salvation in Jesus Christ, being washed in His    the Church is spoken of in Old Testament terms as
blood, sanctified and sealed by the Holy Ghost. . . ."      the Jerusalem that is from above, the new Jerusalem,
Clearly  the  point here is that the Church is of God       or the heavenly Jerusalem. (Gal.  4:26; Heb.  12:22;
and not of man. Strongly that is stressed by the            Rev. 21:2) All of these figurative descriptions speak
Confession and that is an emphasis much needed in           of the close association which the Church sustains to
our day. The Church is not in any sense a human             the eternal God in Jesus Christ. The Church is God's!
institution. It neither has its origin nor does it            We are therefore constrained to speak of the
continue in men. The Church is not a voluntary              Church in the light always of the believers' relation to
association of those who have some religious interests      God. From Him alone comes all of our salvation. The
or profess to some religious experiences (a la Pente-       Church is the company of the redeemed. Christ is
costalism). The Church is chosen in Jesus Christ            both its Savior and its Head. The only confidence of
before the foundations of world (Eph. 1: 3 ff.), saved      the Church lies in the eternal and immutable promise
by God through the cross of Jesus Christ, and               of God in Christ.
sanctified and preserved by God through the Spirit of         This means that the chief characteristic of the life
Christ, and glorified by God in the New Heaven and          of the Church is its  faith.  The Church is saved by
Earth. Much of the Church's life appears to con-            grace through faith. That is ever the emphasis of the
tradict this. Yet in faith we witness to the victory of     Bible. The Church lives by faith and perseveres by
God's sovereign grace in Christ. God creates and            faith and by faith is brought into glory. From a
builds and preserves a Church unto Himself.                 practical point of view this means that because faith
  That Church is a holy congregation, a "gathered"          is God's gift and not man's response, we ought not
flock which belongs to God by right of purchase. This       speak of joining the Church but rather of being joined
gathered flock hears the voice of God and. responds in      to the Church. Our believing is never the product of


180                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


our will but always the response worked in our hearts        good pleasure." (Phil. 2: 13) Ours is the life of a
by the grace of the Holy Spirit of Christ. He plants         faith-fellowship with Christ. Without this, none can
the seed of regeneration in us, He quickens that seed        claim the privilege of church membership. Nor may
by the preaching of the Word, He gives us faith and          the Church tolerate within its fellowship those who
repentance. This in no way does violence to personal         refuse to live by faith.
responsibility. The Bible everywhere says we must              The Church, therefore, is the elect in Christ Jesus,
repent and believe. But those who repent and believe         the Body of our Lord who are united to Him by
must always and do always acknowledge that "it is            faith, and in Him they are God's precious possession.
God who worketh in us both to will and to do of his                                                to be continued

STUDIES IN ISAIAH





  1. The Command to Choose a Sign. "And further              "Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah hath given
Jehovah spoke to Ahaz, saying, `Ask for thee a sign          Me are for signs and wonders in Israel from Jehovah
from Jehovah thy God; deepen (thy petition), ask,            of hosts." That is, we are such by the names God gave
whether to a lofty place or the height.' " (7: 10-l  1,      us, all with spiritual and happy significance. For
Heb.). "And Jehovah added to speak to Ahaz" (v 10            example, Isaiah, the salvation of Jehovah; Immanuel,
and 8: 5, literally). The word of Isaiah is the word of      God with  us; Shear-jashub,  A remnant shall return;
Jehovah. For where the prophets speak, God speaks.           and  Maher-shalal-hashbaz,  Hasten! booty! Hasten,
(Cp. 2 Pet.  .1:21). The holy man of God speaks as           plunder! God has made us types, live, video
carried along by the Spirit of Jehovah. In doing so,         prophecies. From Heb. 2: 13 we know this is Christ,
Isaiah himself recedes into the background, that             the Moshiach, speaking of Himself and the Church
Jehovah may be seen to be the sole Author and                given Him by the Father from eternity.
speaker of the infallible Word. Isaiah, as a steward of        Ahaz may choose any sign in any place, from the
God's message, simply and -only reports the words            depths to the height of heaven. The prophet has the
Jehovah had directed him to proclaim.                        power to work miracles, to open heaven, or cause the
  "Ask it from thy God." The words "thy God" are             earth to open its mouth down.to the pit.
covenant language. Not that Ahaz was actually in the
covenant, but he was under the dispensation and                2. The Refusal in Pretended Piety. "But said Ahaz,
administration of the covenant. "Thy God" also               `I will not ask, and neither will I tempt Jehovah!' "
reminds him of his covenant office and position as           (v. 12). Pretended piety is frequently the "put on" of
king and his responsibility to acknowledge God as his        those who do not believe in the existence of a
God. But Ahaz did not do this, for he did not believe        personal God. Or it is a hypocritical ploy for not
(v. 9). However, Isaiah did so own God, as we see in         obeying God's command. For Ahaz does not intend
his "my God" (v. 13). Ahaz was commanded by the              to serve Jehovah, but do things without disturbance
Lord to ask a sign that he might be convinced that           his own way. The king at this point, humanly speak-
the promise about to be spoken would be fulfilled.           ing, lost his chance to become a truly great king with
Ask a sign, literally, "from with Him," that is, from        the utterance of these well-sounding but self-harden-
His mighty power, yet not without the very presence          ing words. His insult to God is heightened by the fact
of himself. God not only gives it, but is himself in the.    that he designated positive response to God's com-
sign! A sign is a  mark,  or a reminder of something         mand as tempting Him. Ahaz in his  pretence of
past, or a portent of something future. Through              seeking God makes sly attempts to escape Him.
Isaiah the Moshiach (Messiah, 8: 18) speaks, saying,           He pretends to faith in nothing more from God


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                               181.


than His bare Word. God both hates unbelief and                the trying hour, lest you should like [Ahaz] first of
delights in faith. It is so great a faith as not to be         all turn from confidence in God, and then, looking to
found even in Israel which relies on God's Word                an arm of flesh, should be tempted to use illegitimate
alone, to the exclusion of everything else. Ahaz has           means in order to induce the creature to let you rely
the gall to suggest that this is true of himself. But it is    upon it."
not tempting God to do, or say, what He orders. It is            3. The Reproof for Contempt of Prophecy.  "And
tempting God to attempt to do, or ask anything His             He said, `Hear ye now, House of David, (it is), a little
Word will not allow, and thus to go beyond His Word.           thing from you to weary out (tire out) men, because
It is therefore presumption and hypocritical piety, for        ye weary (tire out) also my God!' " (v. 13). "And he
example, to regard the sacraments as superfluous,              said. . . ." It's already been enough for Isaiah to shut
making baptism and the Lord's Supper purely mental             his mouth and never say another word in the hearing
and spiritual, not at all consisting in physical               of Ahaz. But he has been commissioned (chap. 6) to
elements, nor instituted in sacramental actions, so            speak, though the ministry of his word be a savor of
that all we need is "the Word . . . in the heart" (Rom.        death unto death. Jehovah had come to His people,
10:8). This is mystical, rationalistic  Quakerism. The         the Jews, and commanded them to "believe on Him"
same fallacious reasoning has been and is applied to           (Jn. 6:29). They had responded, "We should believe?
the preaching of the Word. We hear it said, "We don't          without seeing what it's all about? What sign showest
need preaching. We have the Bible in our hands, our            Thou, that we may see and believe?" When the Lord
homes, and in our hearts. We don't need it in church.          gave them many signs to see with the command,
The real church is in the home. We can be just as              "Look unto Me!", they shruggingly replied, "Look?
good Christians as any without going to church." This          who's looking?" and never bothered to look. Now,
is Ahazian pietism, a wicked, false, hypocritical, and         because of Ahaz's unbelief, it is not, "Ask  thee  a
pretended sanctimony. The Lord, because of the                 sign," but "hear ye, now, 0 House of David . . . the
weakness of our flesh, commands us to ask for and              Lord himself shall give you a sign!" So now the Lord,
use as directed in His Word, and along with His Word,          .against their will gives the whole organism of Judah a
the signs of water, bread, and wine. Together with the         sign of His choosing.
Scripture, the written Word, and the preaching of the
gospel, `the oral word, these divinely appointed signs            It was a small thing for Ahaz to tire out and insult
are the visible Word of God. It is wicked presump-             the prophet, and in general weary the entire nation,
tion, in thought, intention, or effect, to separate the        because he was in the habit of a much greater evil,
holy signs from His holy word. To refuse the means             exhausting the patience of God. In "thy God" we
of grace is to despise the grace of God itself, and to         have Ahaz's calling, to which he never responded, to
reject the whole gospel!                                       own God. But in "my God" Isaiah does own Him
                                                               with great pleasure. Also with "my God" Ahaz is
   But there is an opposite extreme to avoid. For              excluded from "thy God" and any right to any claim
although Ahaz should have asked for a sign, and                on God. With the change from "ask thee" to "hear
although Gideon, one of the great heroes of the faith,         ye," Ahaz is rebuked as not a true spiritual descen-
did ask, with God's approval, for a sign, we, never-           dant of David, since he lacks the faith of David. In
theless, are not to do as so many in the Roman                 fact, Ahaz insults and disgraces the house of David,
Catholic Church and in the trend back to Rome in               which with men like him, had sadly degenerated. The
the charismatic movement. For they are always                  insult and disgrace lay in contempt for God's revela-
asking innumerable signs from God for the most                 tion. He debased Judah in doing everything he could
childish reasons. The Lord has given to His church             to turn the nation from God. But then that was not,
two kinds of signs: (1) extraordinary, supernatural,           as you might think, the end. God did not react by
and temporary signs, and (2) ordinary, natural, and            wiping them off the map. Nor did He simply turn His
enduring signs, "until He come," and "even unto the            back on them to forget them and have nothing more
end of the world." We must be satisfied with the signs         to do with them. Not at all; there is rather
the Lord has provided and caused to remain with us.
                                                                  4.. The Conferring of the Sign.  "On that account,
   In this connection, C.H.  Spurgeon (on II Chron.            the Lord, He himself, will give you a sign - Behold!
16:9) is just too good to omit. He says, "Do not put           the virgin: pregnant and bringing forth a son! and she
forth your hand to iniquity. You may, in order to              calls His name Immanuel" (v. 14, Heb.). In this
help yourself, do in five minutes what you cannot              chapter is the prophecy of the Messiah about to be
undo in fifty years; and you may bring upon yourself           born; in chap. 9 He is actually born, and in chap. 11
a lifelong series of trials by one single unbelieving          He is reigning.
action. Beware of . . . sending for help to Assyria, for
these will distress you, but help you not. Cry, `Lord,            But why, at this point, is the Messiah mentioned at
increase our faith!' That is what you greatly need in          all? What is the reason for injecting Him into the


182                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


account? The reason is not hard to find. The scope of         But though men despise and refuse, yet God will
the passage embraces Israel's deliverance from                impose His own signs, promises, and prophecies. For
proximate enemies, `and Israel was always looking for         there are those (His chosen) who, will ask for and
Moshiach to bring them ultimate Deliverance and the           receive the entire prophetic package.
full realization of His covenant. It is, therefore,
perfectly natural, much in order and with good                  "On that account,?' that Ahaz refused revelation
reason that Moshiach is suddenly mentioned here in            from God, Adonai, He himself will give you a sign -
this connection. This is what the Bible is all about,         Behold! (indicating a future occurrence, a marvel at
that God would do as He already has, send the                 that), "the virgin: pregnant and bringing forth a
Messiah, the Deliverer, to redeem His people. In the          Son!" What does the word virgin (almah) mean? To
entire Scripture, Christ is no remote subject. He is the      go into the "almah" concept we must wait until the
very heart of divine revelation, which Ahaz despised.         next installment of these studies, D.V.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES




                                 Fast-Moving History
                                                 Rev. Mark Hoeksema


  Often in the routine of our daily lives we do not           Israel and Egypt. A great deal has been written and
notice many things that happen round about us. We             said about the events of recent weeks, far too much to
are so busy; there are so many places to go, so many          summarize here. The news magazines have been full
things. to do; there are church activities, school            of stories and pictures of the historic trip by the
functions, entertainment opportunities, obligations to        president of Egypt,  Anwar  Sadat, to visit his Israeli
friends and relatives, the press of work. Often we are        counterpart in Jerusalem, Menachem Begin. The
blithely ignorant of what is taking place in the world        events before, during, and after this visit have been
at large. As long as our own world is not disturbed or        headline material for the daily newspapers. Virtually
upset, we continue on our way with little or no               every radio broadcast contains some reference to the
thought of the events of history. If we notice them at        Middle East. And television, which itself played a part
all, it is but to pause a moment and then to resume           in bringing together the two leaders, has capitalized
the hectic pace of life.                                      on the situation on the nightly news almost  ad
                                                              nauseam.  All of this media coverage has made  it-
  But every now and then something happens to                 almost impossible for anyone  not  to know what is
make us sit up and take. notice. An event so startling        happening on the stage o-f history from moment to
and so unusual occurs that we cannot help but notice          moment. Also we as the people of God are touched,
it, especially if we are bombarded with accounts of           some more, some less, by these things, for we live also
that event in the newspapers, radio, magazines, and           in the world and are part of its history. And when
television. Then we come out of our own little world          something so completely unanticipated takes place,
and say in effect, "Something is happening!" But              then we, too, pause and take notice.
even then, do we really pause to consider what this
"something" means? Do we as the people of God                   But what is it that we notice? Does the full
relate the events of history to our lives as His saints in    significance of that to which we are witnesses strike
the midst of the world? Do we carefully evaluate this         us? While a case can surely be made for the necessity
event in the light of Scripture, and apply it to              of the passage of time for the correct perspective on
ourselves in the context of the end of the ages in            history, this does not preclude evaluation in the
which we live? Do we ask what God is saying to us in          present time. We must have clearly before our minds
the events of history?                                        what has happened in all its significance. With the
  Just such an event has recently taken place. I refer        events themselves we are (or should be) well ac-
to the course of history in the Middle East, particular-      quainted. What will come of all of this we do not
ly the prospects for peace between the nations of             know. The very suddenness of the current peace


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 183


initiative should tell us as much as that. Peace is         Egypt have I called  ,my son." Indeed, the history of
likely; peace is possible; peace is still remote; peace     Egypt and Israel goes back many centuries, and is of
will include only Israel and Egypt; peace will include      central significance for God's plan of redemption.
all the Arab nations and Israel; peace will come in           And then consider again the age-old enemies meet-
Cairo or Jerusalem; peace will come in Geneva; or           ing and greeting one another in the spirit of brother-
peace will not come at all. The choices are as varied as    hood. Watch the amicable embraces, hear the words
the situation is complicated. But what does .it mean?       of praise and congratulation spoken to each other by
  Pause and consider with me the impact of Sadat's          the two leaders. And then consider what it all nieans,
trip to Israel and its implications and connected           what it says to us, ,and what we must say about this.
events. This peace initiative has broken 30 years of         What must we say? Should we join in the praises of
uninterrupted hostility and hatred. The state of Israel     the world for these two men? Should we engage in
was born soon after World War II in the midst of war,       the adulation and exaltation of man, of his boldness,
bloodshed, and hatred, so much so that it required          of his cleverness,of his statesmanship? Should we in
the superpowers of the world just to carve out Israel       the spirit of humanistic brotherhood envision vistas
in the midst of Arab lands. Think of the fighting in        of peace over the Sinai desert? Should we enthrone
1956 in the Sinai. Recall the stunning victory of           the central figures in this drama of history upon the
Israel that electrified the world in 1967; in six short     pedestal of popular acclaim and reckon them to be.
days the beleaguered nation all but destroyed its           world saviors? You know better than that.
enemies. Think of the 1973 war, with heavy casual-
ties and losses on both sides, a war which nevertheless       Or ,should  we perhaps join with many who see all
strengthened Israel's position once more. Think about       of this as a fulfillment of the prophecies of Scripture,
the implacable hatred, the overblown rhetoric to            especially the book of Revelation? Must we take the
which we have perhaps become callous, the hardship,         stand of the pre-millennialists who expect the restora-
death, suffering, sorrow, and  loss that have been a        tion of the nation of Israel as an entity in the earthly
part of everyday life for the past 30 years. Think of       sense of the word as a necessary condition to the
black and white, of oil and water, of east and west.        second coming of Christ? Do we look for a restora-
                                                            tion of the throne of David in Jerusalem, a conversion
  And then remember, if you can, the pictures you           of the Jews, a coming of Christ followed by a one
saw and the descriptions you heard and read about           thousand year reign in the city of David, followed by
Sadat's mission to Israel. See the two leaders, in          the salvation of the church? If we have such an idea,
obvious friendship, shaking the hand of one another,        ai many do today, then surely the events of the past
embracing one another, eating and drinking and              weeks are very reassuring. They confirm the establish-
talking together. Think of the welcome given by the         ment and security of the state of Israel and imply the
people of Israel to the  teader of their bitterest          imminence of the return of our Lord. But from a
enemies. See the flags of Egypt flying in Jerusalem.        Biblical perspective this also cannot be our inter-
Hear the two leaders praising one another. And then         pretation of these events.
recall that all of this happened virtually overnight.
One day the situation was the same as it had been for         What then do we say? It is impossible here to
30 years. The next day the lines of communication           refute the theory of pre-millennialism, nor is that our
had been opened and peace appeared at last on the           purpose. Neither is it our purpose to try to fit these
horizon of history as a real possibility.                   events into the scheme of the book of Revelation and
                                                            therefore to make some predictions concerning the
   Or think back, as people of God, to your back-           coming of Christ and the time of His return. But if
ground of Biblical knowledge. If you do, then you           nothing else, surely we are taught that the events of
will recall that the enmity between Egypt and Israel        `history are fast-moving. They move so fast that we
goes back much further than the past 30 years of war        can hardly keep up with them; almost every day there
and bloodshed. It begins really at Babel with the           is a new development, so that the attention of the
division of the nations by the sovereign God. It            whole- world is focused on two tiny countries. When
continues with the oppression of the covenant people        we interpret this in the light of Scripture, then we see
in the land of Egypt for many long years. Even Begin        here a sign of the times. We are instructed in the book
himself alluded to this by saying that he wanted to         of Revelation that as the end of all things draws ever
see the pyramids of Egypt. "After all," he said, "we        closer, the world rushes with increasing speed towards
helped to build them." The history continues with           its destruction under the judgment of God, that
the record of God's mighty deliverance of His people        events take place more and more rapidly, until in the
from the land of bondage through the ten plagues.           course of development all things are ready for the
The history reaches its climax in Christ, Who with His      advent of the Savior the second time. The recent
parents  flGd to Egypt to escape the wrath of  Herod,       events are a perfect illustration of this truth. They tell
in order that the prophecy might be fulfilled, "Out of      .us, therefore, that we do indeed live in the end times,


184                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



for the signs of the end are all about us, so that           with such rapidity that we are startled by it all. And
anyone who has spiritual eyes can see.                       in this thought there is comfort for God's people, too.
                                                             Not just in the knowledge that our sovereign God
   But all of these things tell us also that our God is      controls all things, but also in the faith that he directs
sovereign. It is clear that the rulers of the world do       them in such a way that they must bring the coming
not really control the course of history, for even           of Christ, and bring it soon. In this consciousness we
world leaders were caught off their guard. But our           are encouraged to live as citizens of the kingdom
God,is working in history, causing all things to move        which is from above, redeeming the time` even unto
forward in His own way and  HIS own time, but yet            the end.
GUEST ARTICLE





                                       Christian Liberty  -
                            Its Place in Our Churches
                                                    Rev. C. Hanko


(This essay was prepared for the Officebearers' Con-         John  8:36, "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall
ference held in October, 1977 at Faith Church,               be free indeed."
Jenison, Mich. It was prepared for publication in the          This freedom of which  Christ speaks is twofold.
Standard Bearer at the request of those present at the       First of all, Christ delivers us from the 
conference. It will appear in the                                                                          curse  of the
                                       Standard Bearer in    law. I need only remind you that when our first
two successive installments.)                                parents fell into sin, they fell under the curse of God.
  I would define Christian liberty as the privilege and      God had said, "The day that thou eatest thereof (of
the ability to serve God in love with our whole life         the forbidden tree), thou shalt surely die." This death
and being.                                                   included the accursed death of hell. Therefore Christ
  This stands diametrically opposed to the theories          had to come to bear that curse under God's wrath in
of Christian liberty advanced in our day. Some years         torment of hell. He atoned for sins. He paid the debt.
ago, during World War II, I was invited to attend a          He merited for us righteousness and eternal life.
meeting in the University of Chicago where the               Christ also assures us of that righteousness by His
Queen of the Netherlands, then Princess Juliana, was         Word and Spirit. He forgives our sins, adopts us to
present. The spirit of the entire meeting was that God       sons, makes us heirs of salvation. In that sense the law
was on the side of Juliana and the Netherlands, and          can never touch us again. We can boldly say, "Law,
that He would undoubtedly liberate them from the             you cannot touch me, you cannot condemn me: for I
oppression of the Nazis. The meeting was concluded           am righteous in Christ eternally."
with the singing of Psalm 68, "The Lord shall arise            Moreover, Christ delivers us from the power of the
and by his might put all his enemies to flight in fear       law, which holds us in the bondage of sin. Sin, as you
and consternation."                                          and I know from experience, is a cruel tyrant who
  This seems to be the theory of McIntire and others,        makes us her slave. You know how miserable a
who speak of Christian liberty as a purely political         drunkard or fornicator can be. He knows that he is
matter.                                                      destroying himself, his business, his family, and  all
  The result of all this nonsense is that freedom of         that he holds precious. At times he suffers bitter
speech, freedom from want or from war, and all the           remorse, resolves to break his miserable habit; yet he
other freedoms are confused with Christian liberty,          cannot. A power stronger than any magnet draws him
which is solely a spiritual matter.                          irresistibly back into his sin, like a pig returning to his
                                                             wallowing in the mire. Still worse, sin is an octopus
  For  our present discussion, I refer, first of all, to,    that wraps its tentacles around us to crush us to


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               185


death. Sin breeds sin. One evil desire leads to another.    elsewhere. The word "schoolmaster" actually refers
Insatiable cravings silence the conscience and lead to      to a governor, one to whom the child is entrusted all
deeper passions. Proverbs speaks of the man who             the day long. This governor awakened the child in the
returns to his sin as a bull allows itself to be lead to    morning, laid out his clothes for him to wear, gave
the slaughter. There is the point of no return. No firm     him his breakfast, took him to school, taught him,
resolve, no human will power, nothing that we can do        hovered over him when he played, and finally, having
can  deliver us from the dominion of sin. God's law         fed him once more, stowed him away for the night.
stands -oGeius with its powerful testimony, "Cursed is        The law did that to Israel. It told them how to
everyone who does not abide in all that is written in       build their houses, what land they might possess,
the book of the law to do it."                              what seed they might use in their fields, what cloth-
  Christ delivers us from that power also. Paul writes,     ing they might wear, and even what they might eat
"Sin shall not have dominion, for grace abounds."           and drink. The law demanded that the Israelite love
When a slave is freed, he is generally left to shift for    the Lord his God with his whole being every moment
himself. Even though he is given his liberty, he is not     night and day. And if he failed in any given instant,
taken into the family. God delivers. us for the  veti       the law declared: "cursed art thou!" Every Friday
purpose of bringing us into His family. He even             afternoon, when the Jew washed himself and pre-
doubly frees us. He gives us a place in His family, and     pared for the Sabbath, he was forced to exclaim, "How
also changes us so completely that we are His sons          can such a sinner as I am keep Sabbath? I have not
and daughters, restored in the image of Christ to love      loved the Lord my God as I should. I have trans-
and serve Him forever.                                      gressed all God's commandments, and kept none of
                                                            them." He could only enter into the Sabbath rest in
  Thus our liberty means this: we MAY serve God,            faith, trusting in the merit of the promised Savior. In
we have the right to serve Him. The living God              anguish mixed with hope, he prayed. `"Rise, help and
banishes sinners out of His sight; He receives us as His    redeem us, Thy mercy we trust."
children. We CAN serve God. We are `restored in the
likeness of Christ to be friend-servant in His house,         The lesson of the old dispensation is that also we
using our gifts and talents to His glory. We WILL serve     are saved in no sense by the works of the law. All our
God. The psalmist sang, " `tis good to do His will." In     tears cannot atorie for a single sin. All our good deeds
the Dutch we used to sing, "Thy loving service has          merit nothing in the sight of God. Nor is this
never yet wearied me." From all this follows the            necessary. Christ fulfilled the law for us. It would be
MUST. We may, and we also must. There is no                 a denial of the perfect atonement of the cross to try
conflict here. This  must  is as much the inner im-         to work out our salvation by our works. We are
pelling of the Spirit as the outer command of God's         righteous in our Savior. Our Catechism teaches us
law. The desire lives in our heart to serve the Lord        that good works are the result, the fruit of our
our God, to hate sin, and to flee from it. This             righteousness. Good works are the evidence of God's
obligation we gladly assume.                                grace in us. We can, we may, we will, and therefore
  Paul admonishes us in Galatians 5: 1, "Stand fast         we must walk in all good works. We must beware that
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made         we do not become entangled in a host of do's and
us free." We are still by no means perfect. Sin still       don'ts, because that robs us of our Christian liberty.
wars in our members, drawing us back into our               One clear example of this is that while the Old
former bondage. Satan does all in his power to take         Testament gives numerous civil and ceremonial laws,
our liberty from us, to make the work of grace seem         we do not have all of that any more. In fact, we do
in vain. Therefore Scripture raises a warning finger        not even have a direct command to baptize infants.
against the dangers that threaten us. We are walking,       Nor are we told how often we should go to church on
as it were, on a narrow bridge without guardrails. On       Sunday, or how often we must celebrate the Lord's
the one side are the murky waters of antinomiapism;         Supper. Our Christian liberty prevents us from
.on the other side are the deep pools of legalism.          growing lax in these matters. We must beware that we
   Returning once more to Galatians 5: 1, we read:          do not bring ourselves back into bondage.
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ         On the other hand, there is also the danger of
hath made us free, and be not entangled again with          antinomianism, or libertinism. Paul warns the Galatians
the yoke of bondage." The Galatian church was in            (5:  13), "For  brethren, ye have been called unto
danger of being entangled in a yoke of.bondage. The         liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion for the
very fact that this is recorded in the Scriptures means     flesh." The word "occasion" in this passage means.
that this danger is not foreign to us. The Galatians,       literally "a base of operation." This implies warfare.
maybe unawares, were bringing themselves once more          In warfare the army has a base of operations where
under the bondage, of the law. The law in the old           the soldiers are trained, the ammunition is stored, or
dispensation was like a schoolmaster, as Paul tellgus       where the missiles are sent out against the enemy.


 186                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


Just. as `in World War II England was the base of                  a real conversion, and to know what that is all about.
operations  .for the attack against Hitler, so our war-            Young people can have their good times, can indulge
fare proceeds from a certain base of operations. You               in the pleasures of sin, in order to settle down and
get the.picture.  The devil, the world, and our flesh are          become better fathers and mothers in the church. It is
always at war with us to destory us. Because of the                the old theory of, "Let us sin, that grace may
sinfulness of our flesh, they use our Christianliberty             abound."
as the jumping off point, the base of operations, the                     Scripture has something to say about that in I
occasion to lure us into sin. This is done to you and              Peter 2: 16, where we read, "As free, and not using
me in many ways. For example, the argument is                      your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness." I shall
raised, "Where do you read in the Bible that dancing,              return to this passage later, but I want to refer to the
movies, or the labor unions are wrong? Where do you                "cloak of maliciousness" now. Just two remarks.
reid that we must attend church twice on Su'nday?"                 First, "cloak" is literally a veil, a cover-up. The word
You are placed before the question, "Understandest                 "maliciousness" should be translated as "baseness,
thou what thou readest?" - in order to convince you                wickedness." The context. speaks of  oppostig
that neither you nor. the church fathers ever under-               authorities. We refuse `to obey those in authority
stood the Scriptures. There are those who appeal to                because they are the world, they are  wicked men.
their sinful nature. They reason: no one is perfect.               Peter, let us not forget, wrote  this at the time when
Others do it, and get away with it. You cannot blame               the ungodly rulers of the Roman Empire were in
me, for that's the way I am. Chain smoking, drinking,              power and when Christians were persecuted ,far and
being a bit dishonest in business, living in hatred                wide for their faith. They were warned, even as we
against my neighbor, that's my affair and no one need              are, never to show defiance against the magistrate, or
criticize. It is my Christian liberty to do what I want            any other authority, no matter whether they are just
to do. I can go to church once on Sunday, I can                    or unjust, whether good or bad, whether we like them
watch TV, even the late late show; I can refuse to                 or not. There is only one reason why we can refuse to
attend societies, or to give up my hard-earned money               obey those in authority over us, and that is when
                                                                   they tell us to disobey our God. In that case we
for kingdom causes - all on the basis of my Christian              answer, "We must obey God rather than men," and
liberty. There are even those, like.the Jezebel Society            take the consequences, even if that means starvation,
in Thyatira (Revelation  2:24), who advocated that                 imprisonment, or death. In a word, Christian freedom
one must have tasted the depths of sin to experience               is never licentiousness, libertinism, antinomianism.

ALL AROUND US


                                           Strange Editorializing
                                                         Rev.  G. V a n          Baren

  In the  Banner  of December 16, 1977, a strange                            So it was, I trust, a worthwhile detour from our
editorial appears. In discussing the truth of "Word                       Advent reflections. Not really much of a detour at all,
Became Flesh," editor DeKoster inserts comments                           probably. `For we have seen, in this latest act of the
about the Sadat-Begin peace efforts. The words are, it                    on-going Middle East drama, determined efforts by
seems to me, strangely out of place even in the                           strong, religiously-motivated men to transform their
Banner. He writes:                                                        convictions into history, and thus to make word into
                                                                          deed. And this is, after all, the heart of the Advent
        Probably you noticed that, on international tele-                 itself: "And the Word became flesh . . ."
   vision, President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin both             DeKoster acknowledges "theological gulfs between
   affirmed, as casually as you please, that their political       them, and ourselves," but evidently not such a gulf as
   behavior roots in their conceptions of the will of
   God. Granted the theological gulfs between them,               is found between believer and unbeliever; between
   and ourselves, we yet rejoice in their frank witness to        godly and ungodly. He commends the "witness to a
   a religious mandate laid upon themselves. What a               religious mandate" from a Moslem and a Jew. Be-
   healthy note to be sounded around our secularized               cause a Moslem and a Jew speak of their "political
   world! ! And how refreshing, especially for us Cal-            behavior rootted) in their conceptions of the will of
   vinists, to have a Faith lifted out of the realm of the        God," he mentions the "healthy note" heard in our
   emotional and into that of the pol.i&l,  where our             secularized world. He speaks of all this as "refresh-
   own convictions and heritage have long been at home.           ing" that "Faith" is lifted out of the realm of the
                                                                     e


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        i87


emotional into that of the political. He even speaks of          Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover
"strong, religiously-motivated men'" who make "word              of this disease."
into deed," and he relates that to the wonder of                   I could almost imagine DeKoster to comment:
Christ's entrance into our flesh.                                "What a healthy note to be sounded around our
  How can one ever, and especially one who claims                secularized world! ! And how refreshing, especially for
to be Calvinistic, commend the "witness to a religious           us Calvinists, to have a Faith lifted out of the realm
mandate!'  - from idolaters? Or, the "refreshing"                of the emotional and into that of the medical, where
evidence of "Faith"  - from idolaters? It is not faith           our own convictions and heritage have long been at
but unbelief, not the "will of God" but the will of              home."
false gods` which motivates these men. Is DeKoster
glad- because of that ? Does all of this have any                  But what did God say? "Is it not because there is
semblance of a tie to the manger of Bethlehem? God               not a  >God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of
forbid.                                                          Baalzebub the god of Ekron?" I do not know what
  The incident of II Kings  1:2 came to mind:  "And              the result of the  Sadat-Begin  exchange will be. I do
Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper                 know that God can not be pleased when those who
chamber that was in  Samaria, and was sick: and he               deny Him and His Son Jesus Christ nevertheless speak
sent messengers, and said unto them, God, inquire of             of a "religious mandate" that comes from their gods.

                                             First Tango at Calvin
  Some interesting and pointed comments are made                    practice, the Synod of 1951 judged that "altbougb
in  thi  Banaev  of December 9, 1977 by Harry R. Boer               Synod (of 1928) did not pass judgment as to whether
concerning the proposals of the Board of Trustees on                or not theater attendance, card playing, and dancing
"social dancing in a Christian manner" at Calvin                    are always sinful in themselves it did urgently warn,
College. Though the article drips with sarcasm, a good              in no uncertain terms against theater attendance, card
point is made. Dr. Boer gives no evidence of  opposi-               playing and dancing, and did not condone participa-
                                                                    tion in them." Having placed this jewel of equivoca-
tioh to dancing or movie attendance itself  - only to               tion on  the record, along  with half a dozen other
the manner in which these have  been introduced into                resolutions all of which stopped short of condemning
the C.R.C. Listen to what he has to say:                            theater, card and dance, the synod, "grateful for the
           . . . Such an event took place at the recent `May        wonderful unanimity with which these decisions were
   -meeting of the Board of Trustees of Calvin College              reached. . . sings the doxology."
    and Seminary. Report of the meeting appeared in 27ze               From  .tbis point on, a correct reading of the
    Banner of July 29. The first half of it is humdrum,             message that was written between the lines led to the
    the second affected, nauseant, but for all that instruc-        not unwarranted conclusion that you could dance
    tive. It begins with "The area of concern for student           where you wished, go to movies as youpleased, and
    life most discussed and debated at this session of the          play cards with the shades wp so long as you were
    Board was the matter of social dancing."                        satisfied that you were not doing something that was
                                                                    "sinful in itself." `Ibis did not happen in a month or a
           Shades of 1928 these forty-nine years agone! In          year. But it happened so inexorably that in 1966 the
    that fateful year the Synod of the Christian                    Synod of  the C.R.C., without a by-your-leave,
    Reformed Church, with great righteousness and the               adopted an extensive report on "the Film Arts." . . .
    release of full ecclesiastical sanctions, promulgated              And that was that. The portals of hell had im-
    the blessed or the notorious, depending on your bent,           perceptibly become the gate of heaven.
    Report on Worldly Amusements. . . .                                Now, twenty-six years after the basic' destruction
           Even so, not in vain `did the Synod "instruct"           of 1928 and eleven years after the ultimate coup de
    consistories to "inquire" of those wanting to make              grace  of its most salient concern, our wise and
    profession of faith "as to their stand and conduct in           courageous Board of Trustees, having judged the time
    the matter of worldly amusements." Consistories                 to be felicitous, has undertaken to speak in different
    were further "reminded" that "careful attention"                accents and modulations about dancing than we have
    should be paid to this matter in making nominations             been wont to hear. . . .
    for office-bearers, and it "suggested" that "Boards of             At any rate, it has:      _
 .Cbristian Schools, City missions, etc., heed the same
    matter in their appointments." . . .                               a. Instructed Calvin's Art, Music, Drama, and
                                                                     Physical Education Departments to provide leadership
           The C,.R.c fought a losing battle against "worldly        and direction "in using the social dance in a Christian
    amusements" from the beginning. She caved in first              way."
    on the movies. This happened in two stages. When she               b. Warned against a tendency to adopt uncritically
    could no longer resist the pressure'to deal with the             "a dance style that ignores the richer dimensions of
    disparity between church law and church members'                 the social dance."


188                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



          c. Exhorted the Calvin community to work                   thanks and appreciation to Dr. H. Boer for his
       positively and constructively "to fulffi the cultural         striking analysis of events re "worldly amusements"
       mandate."                                                     in the C.R.C. He certainly has a point. Have there
          What must we think of this conversion and dedi-            been none in the past who were placed under censure,
       cated commitment on the part of the board to the              even excommunicated, because of their seeking of the
       cultural values of the social dance? How must we              "familiar trio"? Have not some in the past been
       assess its unqualified blessing on a form of recreation       suspended and expelled from Calvin College in con-
       that members' fathers unqualifiedly condemned? . . .          nection with their enjoyment of this "familiar trio"?
          The following observations seem to me to be                Yet now the same can be done in a Christian manner
       called for on the surface of things:                          in fulfillment of "the cultural mandate"? It certainly
          1. One would be less disposed to consider these            does not take a great deal of intelligence to recognize
       pious declarations as so much insincere eyewash if            the inconsistency. If now the C.R.C. is fulfilling its
       there were some show of repentance for all the                "Cultural mandate" in concentrating on the movie
       hypocrisy irk which the Christian Reformed Church             apd the dance, then in the past  it sinned terribly by
       involved its membership in the twenties, thirties,
       forties and well into the fifties by its attitudes to         condemning this very thing, yea, ecclesiastically
       "worldly amusements." Of this there is not a                  punishing those who were fulfilling their "cultural
       word. . . .                                                   mandate." Boer is correct: let the C.R.C. at least be
                                                                     "man" enough to stand up and confess, "We have
          2. The board's action must not surprise us: The
       Christian Reformed Church has long been and is not            grossly sinned in the past in condemning what God
       ceasing to be a thoroughly politicized ecclesiastical         approves and punishing saints of His who were, after
       community. Its synod&l and board decisions on                 all, walking in great godliness." Let them in all
       sensitive issdes are, more often than we like to think,       honesty before God remove what must surely be a
       not prophetic declarations for our time but rather            terrible blot on their past. Let them address all those
       careful calculations of what the current tolerances           whom formerly they condemned, and let them con-
       will bear or a new ground swell demands. . . .                fess that they sinned against God and them. Surely
          3. There is little reason to doubt that the church         before God they can not continue this radical shift in
       whose synods fathered the equivocation of 1951 and            direction without some sort of confession.
       the syrupy Film Arts theology of 1966 will in 1978              What Boer does ignore is that the decision on the
       place her benediction on the Trustees' application of
       1966 principles to this facet of the newly found              "Film Arts" and indirectly that on the "social dance
       cultural mandate in the area of 1928's "familiar trio."       in a Christian manner" was to a large extent based
       It may even be found appropriate to climax the long,          upon the idea of "Common Grace." That goes back to
       perplexing journey from 1928 to 1978 with  a ringing          1924. Perhaps the inconsistency was between 1924
       synodical doxology.                                           and 1928  - and now that inconsistency has been
  Perhaps the C.R.C. should express a word of deep                   removed.

FROM HOLY WRIT



                      Exposition of the Book of Galatians
THAT INTERESTING QUESTION OF THE                            Rev. G. Lubbers
"FOUR HUNDRED THIRTY YEARS'
(Galatians 3:17)
  Although we have touched upon this questiori                       takes in the Bible?" ought to be met with a little solid
already in our exposition of verse 17, we believe that               argumentation and refutation. By the critics of the
the matter calls for a little discussion and analysis in             Bible and all unbelievers, it is pointed out that Paul
depth. This dbes not mean that it will affect the
argument of Paul one iota. Yet, we ought to give a                   here made a rather serious error in his computation of
little reply to those who constantly stand on the alert              history, and in his quoting of the Law and the
to try to find some flaw in the Sacred Scriptures,                   Prophets.
inspired by God. Such ought to have their mouth                        Let us try to see whether Paul was really in error in
stopped. Their insidious question, "Are there  mis-                  Galatians 3: 17. Is the Bible here inerrant or not? Do


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                189


we really have here a serious error in Biblical chronol-    (kaix en gee Chanaan). These were Alexandrian Jews,
WY?                                                         after the time of Alexander the great, and some two
  Paul writes that the Law became "four hundred             hundred years before Christ. They lived centuries
and thirty years" after the  promises  (plural) were        after Moses. By what right did they insert this into
spoken to Abraham. This means that Paul is not              the text? Did they feel that Moses did not know what
thinking of any definite, single occasion in which God      he was writing so emphatically? Or was it that they
spoke to Abraham over a period of some thirty or            did not understand the very relationship of the
forty years. There were many of these "promises,"           Exodus to all the promises? Did they count the years
which ended in the great confirmation of the promise        in the account of the genealogies given in the Bible
by oath on Mt. Moriah. (Hebrews 6: 10, 11) The              concerning the people who lived in this period of the
Hebrew writer speaks of "those who through faith            Old Testament, and then make their own computa-
and patience inherited the promises." This includes         tions? And ergo: the period of four hundred thirty
Isaac and Jacob also. God is the God of Abraham,            years must include the time of Israel's living in
Isaac, and Jacob. (Hebrews 11: 9) They were heirs of        Canaan too. The trouble is that Israel as "a nation"
the same promise. And Hebrews 6: 17 says that the           did not live in Canaan. They were formed into a
oath was for "the heirs of the promise." When Paul,         nation in Egypt. (Gen. 46:3)
therefore, writes that the "promises" came to                  And, to compound the folly, various "interpreters"
Abraham four hundred and thirty years, this is a            of Galatians very learnedly assert that Paul was
general statement, it is of wide historical reference in    quoting the Septuagint here. Fact is, that Paul is not
the lives of the patriarchs and their patriarchical         quoting at all. He is asserting a fact from the record in
pilgrimage. That time of the pilgrimage of Abraham,         Exodus  12:14-17, in which Moses wrote in pure
Isaac, and Jacob lasted till the Lord himself allowed       Hebrew that it was four hundred and thirty years.
Jacob to go down into Egypt. At Beersheba the                  It is of interest, no doubt, to all who are further
LORD appeared to Jacob: "I am God, the God of thy           interested in this matter of the accuracy of the
father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will          Scriptures here in Galatians 3: 17, to notice what Keil
there make of thee a great nation." (Gen. 46:3) This        and Delitzsch write  in  the  Commentary On The
was the terminus ad quem, the parting of Jacob from         Pentateuch, Vol. II, Pages 30, 31. These learned and
the days of the Promises, to that of the fulfilment. It     highly regarded scholars of the Bible show rather
was the fulfilment of Gen. 15 : 13. Here God placed an      conclusively that we must believe the text in Exodus
historical period back of His own work of the               12: 14-17 where we are instructed that Israel dwelt in
patriarchal dwelling in the land of promise. The hour       Egypt four hundred and thirty years. We can sum-
on God's clock was striking the ushering in of a new        marize their arguments as follows:
era in the coming of the kingdom of God, and the
fulfilment of the promises. That period was                    a. The text in the Hebrew is authentic. It stands by
approximately two hundred thirty two years, when            good critical standards as the text written by Moses in
the promises are given.                                     Hebrew. And that is really the keystone in the entire
                                                            argument. Moses definitely states this. And it under-
  Now Moses writes something very great and signif-         girds the institution of the Passover to be observed in
icant in Exodus  12:40, 41; here is recorded for the        the generations.
church and all their posterity the solemn and great
work of God's fulfilling the promise to Abraham, in            b. The number (430) four hundred thirty years is
bringing Israel forth out of the land of Egypt, the         in harmony with the round number employed in
house of bondage. And then we read the solemn and           prophetic style in Genesis 15: 13, where God speaks
sure words of the inspired writer, "Now the sojourn-        of the four hundred years, after which the sin of the
ing of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred         Amorite will be full.
and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of            c. The interpolation of the Jewish translators is not
the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame        based on the text, nor is it corroborated by the
day, it came to pass, that all the house of the LORD        computation of the years given in genealogies. Fact
went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be        is, that in these chronologies and genealogies there are
much observed of all the children of Israel in their        no continuing links. The Bible does not give us mere
generations." Truly, this is a very great and               family-tree records, but gives us the development of
memorable occasion. It was remembered in each               the kingdom and priesthood of God in Israel. The
Passover feast, (Exodus 12: 14-17)                          tracing of genealogies is a vain endeavor. It has no
                                                            spiritual value. (I Tim. 1:4; 4:7)
  Now it is a fact that the Jewish translators of the
Old Testament Scriptures, which translation is called          d. To corroborate this Keil and Delitzsch write the
The Septaugirzt, had the brazen courage to interpolate      following noteworthy arguments from the Old Testa-
into the text the phrase, "and in the land of Canaan"       ment Scriptures. We quote the following:


190                                                      THE  STANDARd  BEARER


  "For example, the fact that there were more than                           to answer. The answer is forthcoming. It is crystal
the four generations mentioned in Chapter 6: 16 sqq.                         clear: "It is added for the transgressions." Yes, the
between Levi and Moses, is placed beyond all doubt,                          law was "added"; it never is part and parcel of the
not only by what has been adduced at Chapter                                 "promises." It is of a wholly different character and
6: 18-20, but by a comparison of other genealogies                           with an entirely other pedagogical purpose of God. It
also. Thus, in Num. 26:29 sqq. 27: 1, Josh. 17: 3, we                        was divine pedagogy. It was to glorify grace in the
find six generations from Joseph to Zelophehad; in                           Cross.
Ruth 4: 14 sqq., I Chron. 2: 5, 6, there are also six                             But we are anticipating on the text. The term
from Judah to Nahshon, the tribe prince in the time                          "added to the" promise is of interest to us. In the
of Moses; in I Chron. 2: 18 there are seven from Judah                       Greek it is "prosetethee."  It means: place, give next
to Bezaleel, the builder of the tabernacle; in I Chron.                      to. Sinai was placed next to the promises given to the
7:20 sqq. nine or ten are given from Joseph to                               fathers, particularly to Abraham, the father of all
Joshua. This last genealogy shows most clearly the                           believers. Since it was "added" in such a way that it
impossibility of the view founded upon the                                   could not change. the promises and their ratified
Alexandrian version, that the sojourn of the Israelites                      character  in Christ, they could disappear when the
in Egypt lasted only 21.5 years, for ten generations,                        time came that the promises would be fulfilled in
reckoned at 40 years each, harmonize very well with                          Christ, the Seed.
the 430 years, but certainly not with 215." (Page 30,
of work cited.)                                                                   What was the "function" of this law which. was
                                                                             added? Was it to make the people better, or to
  Thus we see that the Bible here is not in error, and                       provide a way to salvation? This, as Paul teaches in
Paul need not have quoted the Septuagint when he                             Gal. 3: 10 is impossible. The law puts each one under
refers to the period from the time of the promises,                          curse, ratified curse of Mt. Ebal. What then? It was
which concluded when Jacob is given revelation at                            "because of transgression." This means that the law
Beersheba, ere he goes down into Egypt. Had Paul                             simply makes greater and more pronounced sinners of
written that the exact time was 1430 years he would                          men. That is the clear teaching in Rom. 4: 15, "Be-
have been in error. Had he written that the exact time                       cause the law worketh wrath" and "where no law is,
from the  days of Abraham to the giving of the law                           there is no transgressidn.  " And in Rom. 5: 20 we read,
was 430 years he would have been in error. But now                           "Moreover the law entered (came in beside) that the
the time was 430 years. Only it was more. And so the                         offense might abound." Paul teaches in Rom. 7: 11,
argument stands. The mere citing of this figure gives                        "For sin taking occasion by the commandment,  .de-
the distance from the "promises" to the "law-giving"                         ceived me, and by it slew me." I Cor. 15: of the law
to show that the latter could not remove the former.                         as the "strength of sin." It is the very dynamo of sin
It was a later and subsequent act of the Lord by                             in us, this law which was added for the transgressions'
many years. The promises stand!                                              sake. The law, "written on tables of stone, killeth."
                                                                             (II Cor. 6) That is the "letter" and it is not the
THE IRREPRESSIBLE QUESTION:                                                  "Spirit," as the fulfilment of the promise of God.
WHY THEN THE LAW? (Galatians 3 : 19)                                              The apostle writes in the text in the plural: "the
  With sure hand, as a master interpreter of the                             transgressions." He has in mind all the transgressions
Scriptures, Paul leads us deeper into the profound                           of Israel under the law, as this law brought out the
implications of the law-giving in relationship to the                        very sinfulness of sin in God's people. The term used
promises. If the law could not change the "promises"                         here. in the Greek is  "parabasis."  This means to
ratified by God in Christ to Abraham, then why give                          overstep, neglect, violate, transgress. It points toward
the law on Sinai's heights through Moses, "the law-                          sin which is excessive, enormous. That is the implica-
giver." (John 1: 17) This question is not only of                            tion of the teaching of Paul in Rom. 4: 15. It is sin
interest, but it is of the utmost importance to ask and                      intensified in all its enormity!


                     RESOLUilON  OF SYMPATHY
          The Consistory of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church
       hereby expresses its sincere sympathy to two of its members, Mr. Gerrit
       Holstege and Mr. Arnold  Haveman, in the loss of their brother and
       brother-in-law, MR. BEN HOLSTEGE.

          May the God of all grace be their only comfort it-r their bereave-
       ment.
                                         Rev. G. Van  Baren, Pres.
                                         Harry Zwak,  Clerk.


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                              1.91


                                                Book Reviews

EERDMAN'S HANDBOOK TO THE HISTORY OF                                 We highly recommend this book. It has value for
CHRISTIANITY,  Tim Dowley, Organizing editor;
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977; 656                      every home and can easily be consulted for
pp., $19.95. (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                          information on the events and persons of Chruch
                                                                   History. It has, however,particular value for our
  I can best describe this book by quoting from the                schools. Each school should have a copy in its library.
blurb on the paper jacket.                                         It can easily be used on the Junior High level.
      (This book) presents a comprehensive, colorful,                Its weakness is, in this reviewer's opinion, that it is
   reliable account of this exciting story (of the                 insufficiently Biblically-oriented. By this I mean that
   Christian Church).          The bestselling  Eerdman's          the events, movements, and works of God in the
   Handbook to the Sible (to VJhich this is a companion            history of the Church are insufficiently discussed in
   volume, H.H.) has opened up the Bible in a new way
   for many people. This new Handbook, similar in                  the light of Scripture. Nevertheless, as a sourcebook
   design and format, opens up the dramatic events                 for much historical material, it is of great value. Buy
   which have helped make the Christian faith what it is           it and use it. Money spent on good books never goes
   today.                                                          to waste.
      The eight major sections introduce the history of
   Christianity, period-by-period, from its earliest days          UNION STRIKE, UNGODLY AND UjVCHRISTIAN,
   to the late twentieth century. Specially commissioned           by F.  Rottier; Published by Ecclesiastical  Press,
   main chapters by expert historians form the                     Portland, Oregon; 133 pp., $2.95 (paper). (Reviewed
   framework within which many shorter sections                    by Prof. H. Hanko.)
   appear: on people, movements, and subjects of                     This severe indictment of the entire labor
   particular interest. Over 450 photographs,  inany in            movement, including  the C.L.A., is written by  one
   full color, give the feel of each period. And useful            who played a role in labor activities for a number of
   maps, diagrams, and charts help the reader to                   years. He was a leader in the C.L.A. in Lansing,
   understand and interpret the story, giving a bird's-eye
   view of events.,                                                Illinois, but became a minister in his mid-forties and
                                                                   now labors independently of any denomination. His
      The emphasis of the Handbook is on growth and                criticism of the union is particularly centered in the
   vitality rather than on institutions, giving a broad            strike> which is also condoned by the C.L.A., but 
   understanding of each historical period, and then                                                                      his
   spotlighting                                                    book ranges over a number of subjects of an economic
                       key    Christian    movements      and
   outstanding personalities of the era.                           and political nature. His criticisms of the union are of-
                                                                   ten on target; but his book is weakened by a serious
      (The book) has been written by an international              lack of organization and by repeated references to
   team of 70 contributors drawn from 10 countries.
   They write both as professional historians and as               visions, dreams,' and appearances of angels which gave
   committed Christians eager to introduce every reader            him his "insights." How much better it would `have
   to  .the richness of the heritaee thev have themselves          been if the book were a carefully organized discussion
   discovered.                                                     of the teaching of Scripture on these points.


                                  SOUTHWESTPROTESTANT
                                           REFORMEDCHURCH
             Southwest Protestant Reformed Church of Wyoming, Michigan would like
      to borrow up to  $100,000.00  to finance the construction of their Phase I
      building project. Those interested in loaning $1,000.09  or more for periods
      of five years, ten years or fifteen years at interest rates of 7%, 71/% and 8%
      respectively are requested to contact Mr. John Vander Woude, 7085 Sunset
      Dr., Jenison, Michigan, 49428 (Phone 616-457-0553) for particulars.


 THE STANDARD  BEARER
        P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





 192                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


                                News From Our Churches

                                   December 14, 1977           Since the special Classis was held in Randolph, the
                                                            March 1; 1978 meeting of  Classis will be held in
                 Report of Classis West                     South Holland, Illinois, the Lord willing.
   On December 13, Classis West held a special meet-                              Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
ing in Randolph, Wisconsin, to examine Mr. Kenneth                                       Classis West
Koole, who had recently accepted the call to the
Randolph Protestant Reformed Church. Rev. G.                                        ******
Lanting presided over this meeting of Classis.                 The Consistory of Randolph had arranged that Mr.
   The examination was conducted by ten ministers           Koole be ordained in a special worship service of the
and ten elders of Classis West, in the presence of three    Randolph congregation, the evening of December 13.
delegates of Synod from Classis East: Rev. C. Hanko,        The delegates of Classis and the synodical delegates
Rev. G. Van  Baren, and Rev. R. Van Overloop. In            from the East attended as a body.
`keeping with Article 4 of the Church Order,  Classis          Rev. J. Kortering, a former pastor of Mr. Koole, led
examined Mr. Koole in Dogmatics; Practical qualifica-       the congregation in the opening parts of the service
tions; Knowledge of Scripture; Knowledge of the             and in the congregational prayer. The counselor of
confessions; and Controversy. Mr. Koole also                Randolph, Rev. D. Engelsma, preached the sermon -
preached a full sermon before Classis on Proverbs 3 : 5,    "Preach the Word," from II Timothy 4: 1-4. Rev. G.
6: "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean        Lubbers, also a former pastor of the ordinand, read
not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways           the form of ordination and ordained Mr. Koole. Rev.
acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."            G. Lanting, the young man's  untie, exhorted the
   With the concurrence of the synodical delegates          ordained minister and the congregation.
from  Classis East,  Classis unanimously approved the         This is always a moving service, particularly the
examination and advised Randolph- to proceed with           young man's answer to the questions concerning his
Mr. Koole's ordination.                                     calling, his belief of the Word, and his faithfulness in
   After he was informed of  Classis' decision and          his office, "Yes, truly, with all my heart;" the laying
congratulated by the president, Mr. Koole heard the         on of hands by several ministers; and the conclusion
Formula of Subscription read and signed it in the           of the service by the Rev. Koole's pronouncing the
presence of  Classis.  Classis then sang the doxology,      benediction upon the congregation.
"May the grace of Christ the Savior." Rev. Kortering          As the prayer in the form of ordination expresses,
led Classis in a prayer of thanksgiving, after which the    may God qualify Rev. Koole by the Holy Spirit; may
delegates and visitors congratulated the candidate and      the Randolph congregation becomingly deport them-
his wife individually.                                      selves towards their minister; and may we all bless our
   The Classis thanks God for this gift of a pastor for     merciful Father for providing the Church with a
His Church.                                                 faithful minister.
   Prior to adjournment, early Tuesday evening, Rev.                                                           D.E.
Lanting expressed to Rev. Van Overloop, soon to                                    *****a
leave. for New Zealand, that the  Classis prays for           Rev. David Engelsma of South Holland, Illinois,
God's blessing upon him, his family, and his work-m         declined the call extended to him by First Church in
New Zealand.                                                Grand Rapids to be their pastor.


