     STANDARD
          BEARER
f           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





       You know, as I do, that elders and
     deacons are not very highly esteemed in
     the church. . . . We stare ourselves blind
     at their faults, and ignore the fact that
     Christ deemed them worthy to serve in
     His office.

                            "See "Christian Liberty  -
         Its Place in Our Churches - page 203



                                         Volume LIV, No. 9, February  I,1978 A
                                                    ISSN 0362-4692


194                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                        Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August,
                           CONTENTS:                                                         Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                     Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
Meditation  -                                                                   Department Editors:  Prof. Robert  D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
                                                                                 R e v .   C o r n e l i u s   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 .   H a r b a c h ,
   The Shield of Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194              R e v .   J o h n   A .   Heys,   R e v .   M a r k   H .   H o e k s e m a ,   R e v .   M e i n d e r t   J o o s t e n s ,
                                                                                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 ,
Editorials  -                                                                    R e v .   Marinus   Schlpper,   R e v .   J a m e s   Slopsema,   R e v .   G i s e   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   V e l d m a n ,   M r .   K e n n e t h   G .
   Dancing-FFullCircle(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .:.19 6                   V i n k .
                                                                                Editorial  0ffic.e:   Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATION


                                            The Shield of Faith
                                                                    Rev. H. Veldman

                 "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery
             darts of the wicked. "

  Above all,  taking the shield of faith. That the                                 special emphasis upon this shield of faith, but he
apostle would lay special stress upon this shield of                               would simply mention now another part of the
faith is evident from the fact that he introduces this                             Christian's  armour in addition to what has already
text with an expression which does not appear in                                   been mentioned.
connection with the previous three parts of the                                          However, we choose the translation: "above all."
Christian's  armour: the girdle, the breastplate, and                              The shield of faith must certainly have a priority
the spiked sandals or shoes.                                                       rating  - without it the breastplate of righteousness
  A common interpretation of the expression,                                       and the spiked shoes of the gospel of peace would
"above all," would explain it merely as meaning: "in                               surely be impossible. Our righteousness before God in
.addition to." The apostle, therefore, would not lay                               Christ and our enjoyment of peace with God and


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   195



therefore with all things are ours only through faith.       God whereby he cleaves unto the Lord Jesus Christ,
Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. By            or, whereby he cleaves unto the living God as the God
faith we are able to quench all the fiery darts of the       of his salvation revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. This
wicked. Of course, this shield of faith does not             is always the  actvity of faith, also essentially. Faith is
emphasize what we are able to do, but it, too,               a living bond, always cleaves unto and lives out of
constitutes a part of the  armour of God by which we         God as the God of our salvation in Jesus Christ, our
are able to stand. Faith is that activity of the child of    Lord. This also and surely applies to the Christian
God, as the fruit of God's elective and irresistible         soldier in this text. It is always a cleaving unto Christ,
grace, whereby he trusts and relies solely upon the          a trusting and relying and confiding in the God of our
God of his salvation as revealed in Jesus Christ, God's      salvation. Faith never doubts or wavers. United with
Son, our Lord.                                               Christ Jesus, we seek Christ, live out of Christ,
                           * * * * *                         depend in all things upon Christ, trust in Him and
  We must take the shield of faith. Two kinds of             rely upon Him. And whereas this Christ has been
shields were used by the ancient soldier or warrior.         revealed to us in the Scriptures, therefore this activity
The one shield was a small hand shield, circular in          of faith always takes hold of those Scriptures, and the
shape, used by a soldier when he was lightly armed.          child of God places all his reliance upon the Word of
The other shield was a large, oblong type of shield,         God. And the reason why this faith is called a shield
measuring about four feet by two and a half feet and         is because by it we are able to quench all the fiery
rounded to the shape of the body. The large shield is        darts of the wicked. This is what a shield does. This is
meant in this text. It protected the soldier from his        what faith does. And therefore it is called a shield,
shoulders to his knees. Joined together, these large         which protects  theGhristian.warrior.completely..             ~_
shields formed a wall, behind which a body of troops                                * * * *  *
could be protected from the rain of the enemies'               The fiery darts of the wicked.
missiles, the fiery darts of this word of God. We also         Literally we read: "wherewith ye shall be able to
understand that the apostle in this scripture speaks of      quench all the darts of the wicked, the fiery ones."
faith as such a shield.                                      So, the apostle lays all emphasis upon the fact that
  Some would understand this faith objectively, as           these darts or arrows are fiery, burning. darts or
referring to the Holy Scriptures, the object or content      arrows.
of our faith, what we believe. Now it is true that we          These darts were "fire-tipped" darts, around which
often speak of our faith in this objective sense of the      combustible materials were bound or wrapped, which
word, as when we speak, for example, of the Twelve           were then set on fire and projected against the
Articles of Faith. This, however, cannot be the              enemy. During the old days of colonial America and
meaning in this text. Then there would be no differ-         the frontier days the American Indian resorted to
ence between this shield and the girdle of truth, and        these same tactics. These darts, now, would be
we must surely distinguish between these various             rendered harmless by this shield. These military
parts of this Christian  armour.                             shields, made of wood and covered with thick leather,
  This shield of faith surely refers to our conscious        would ward off these fiery arrows of the enemy.
believing. We must take this shield of faith, and this       These arrows, their fire extinguished, would fall
certainly implies that faith here must be understood         harmlessly at the foot of the warrior protected by
as our conscious act. As such it is one of the parts of      this shield.
a Christian's  armour with which we must fight. Now            The text speaks literally of the evil or wicked one.
Scripture surely emphasizes the conscious salvation of       Indeed, the devil is meant here. He is the supreme
the Christian. Indeed, "believe on the Lord Jesus            field commander of all the forces of sin and darkness.
Christ and ye shall be saved,' may well be called the        Of course, he operates also through men and through
keynote of the gospel.                                       our old nature. It is indeed the wicked men who
  What, then, is faith? We can and must distinguish          actually hurl these darts at us. But their murderous
between the faculty or power or potential of faith on        intention is under the direction and control of the
the one hand, and the activity of faith on the other         Evil One. He is the evil one because he is determined
hand. This is. naturally true. A child learns to walk        to corrupt and destroy us,. to destroy the Cause of
and talk only because he was created with these              God and of His Christ, and he is also a brilliant and
potential powers of walking and speaking. This is also       extremely capable commander-in-chief  ;' we must
spiritually true. Faith is indeed a gift of God, sover-      never take him lightly; he is well qualified to carry on
eignly bestowed only upon the elect. That we believe,        this murderous attack.
consciously, is only because of the faculty of faith           What are these fiery darts of the evil one? Now it
which we received at our regeneration. What, I ask           must surely be granted that they presuppose the
again, is faith? Faith is that activity of the child of      burning passions and inflamed ambitions which are


196                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



set on fire within us. How well aware of them we are!                 Wherein, I ask you, lies the power of this shield of
We know these passions, inflamed ambitions, also                    faith? Why is it that by it we are able, not in our own
sexual passion. and lust and desire, pride, discontent,             strength, but that by it we are able to quench all the
and vanity. And what a fire can rage within us                      fiery darts of-the wicked one?
because of these passions! The devil, being the superb                Why? To this there is but one answer: because of
commander that he- is, will surely avail. himself of                Christ Jesus. Faith is the bond that unites us with
these evil lusts and passions.                                      Christ Jesus; by faith we cling to Him; by faith we
  What are these fiery darts? 0, he will hurl at you                look away from ourselves, and our sole strength and
the fiery dart of' ridicule `and scorn with respect to              confidence are in the God of our salvation, in Jesus
your position in the midst of the world and in the                  Christ, our Lord.
midst of this conflict. He will remind you of the
strength and overpowering might of his own force, at                  This explains why this shield can extinguish every
                                                                    dart hurled by the wicked forces of darkness. Christ
the same time reminding you`of your hopeless small-                 suffered and died for us. He paid for all our sins and
ness  ,and insignificance. Besides, he will also accuse             trespasses. He merited for us everlasting life and
you. He will direct your attention to the sin that is               glory. Christ is risen from the dead and exalted at the
within you, to which you are so prone, even day after               right hand of God! He is risen! Hence, He died not in
day. And what shall we answer him? Shall we try to                  vain; He really paid for all our sins and trespasses; we
defend and, justify ourselves? God forbid! Fact is, we              aYe righteous in Christ before God; we do have peace
are more wicked than even he knows! He will also                    with God because in Christ God made peace. He is
hurl at us the fiery dart of ridicule and scorn as far as           exalted in the heavens above. He does control all the
our righteousness and peace with God are concerned.                 forces of hell and of darkness; He directs also their
We have the boldness to put on the breastplate of                   every movement and attack; He causes all things to
righteousness and shoe our feet with the preparedness               work together for our good. 0, it is true that we do
of the gospel  of,peace? We have the boldness to say                not see this. Is it true that all things appear to be
that we are righteous in Christ before God, that we                 against us. Yet, we believe this; we know this to be
have peace with God and therefore with all things?                  true, and therefore we can bear and endure every
We have boldness to believe that all things work                    attack and onslaught of the foe, because we are more
together for our good? How ridiculous and absurd                    than conquerors through Christ Who loves, us.
these claims appear to be! These darts are fiery, they
are dangerous, very destructive and explosive. They                   We are more than conquerors! And this shall
would surely destory you and separate you from'the                  certainly be revealed. Indeed, it shall not merely be
love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.                     revealed that we are conquerors as such, and finally.
  Indeed, how important is this shield! How im-                     But it shall be revealed that we are more than
portant that these fiery darts be extinguished! How                 conquerors; all the folly and stupidity of sin and also
important to know that all these darts are powerless,               of these fiery darts will be fully revealed and exposed
unable to effect what they desire, never able to pierce             in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
our  armour, never able to separate us from the love of               We may believe this, and we must believe this.
God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.                                        Let us, therefore, take up this shield of faith, and
                        * *  *  * *                                 believe even until the end.

EDITORIALS
ProJ: H.C. Hoeksenza


                                       Dancing-Full Circle!
                                                             (4)

  In our criticism both of the actions (of the past                 also something positive which  needs  saying and which
and of the present) of the Christian Reformed Church                needed saying already in 1928 and ever since.
with respect to worldly amusements  - especially the
most recent one, concerning dancing  - and of  The                    Already in  1928 The Standard Bearer sounded this
Outlook's  editorial which futilely bemoans those                   positive note at the conclusion of the article from
actions, we do not wish to end on a negative note.                  which I have already quoted large portions. It is
There is something positive to be said on this subject,             interesting to note, by the way, that already in 1928,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 197



though the old accusation of negativism was fre-            theater and the movie and the dance as such. Sin may
quently sounded in those days,  The Standard Bearer         not be played. That which is holy may not be played.
was not critical in a merely negative sense, but offered    And leaping for joy in the Lord is something alto-
positive advice and guidance for the benefit of all         gether different than artistic dancing.
Reformed believers. In this particular instance Rev.        B. With regard to the matter itself:
Hoeksema concluded his article about the amuse-
ment-problem in the form of advice to the Christian            1. That it is the calling of the Christian to live
Reformed Synod which would be considering the               antithetically in the midst of the world, to glorify
Report on Worldly Amusements. Some have thought             God over against a world which lies in the Evil One.
this advice was tongue-in-cheek, but this was not           This world is no playground, but a battlefield.
really true. The writer was quite aware, of course,           a. The Christian must not go out of the world.
that advice offering by  The Standard Beaver  would           b. But in the world he must live from the principle
have no legal standing at the Christian Reformed            of regeneration.
Synod and that it would not even be considered.
Nevertheless, he was in dead earnest as far as the            2. That therefore it is spiritually impossible for
contents  of that advice was concerned; and he used         him to amuse himself and to play with the children of
this particular literary device in order to focus the       darkness, against whose sin he must testify, for this
attention sharply and concisely on the issues. If only      presupposes a certain basis of friendship. The friend-
the Christian Reformed Synod had paid attention in          ship of the world is itself enmity against God. A child
those days, who knows what might have been the              of God has no need of theater, movie, and dance. He
course of events with respect to that problem of            vomits of such things.
worldly amusements? Here is what Rev. Hoeksema               3. It admonishes all leaders, preachers, professors,
wrote at that time (I translate):                           teachers:
   The Standard Bearer also advises the Synod, then           a. To be in this respect themselves an example of
(the presupposition in this advice is that our first        the flock and not to seek the things which are below,
advice was already heeded and that the insidious            but the things which are above.
doctrine of the Three Points was retracted) to de-            b. To instruct Christians, to the best of their
clare :                                                     ability, night and day (for the matter is very serious),
A. In regard to the report of the Committee:                in this spiritual, antithetical principle, especially also
   1. That it greatly appreciates the considerable          as it is applicable to so-called "amusements."
labor accomplished by its committee, although it              c. To -beseech the Lord earnestly, with confession
greatly regrets the fact that so much reasoning was         of our own guilt and unfaithfulness and laxity (for
necessary to make plain that to amuse one's self with       the leaders frequently give the people a bad example
the world in theater and movie, in games and dance,         in the seeking of the things below) that He will be
is sin; seeing that among serious-minded children of        merciful to His church, open the eyes of His people,
God this is a matter of complete certainty without          and banish from His church the influence of the
any reasoning-process.                                      ungodly.
   2. That although the points of advice at the end of        4. It admonishes the consistories:
the report are better than the report itself might lead       a. Diligently to instruct and to admonish the sheep
one to expect, it nevertheless cannot accept the            of the flock, in order that many may come to
report as a whole, but very decisively must reject it:      conversion and be delivered from the power of
   a. Because it cannot go along with the basic view        world-conformity which shall presently corrupt the
of the Committee, which is rooted in the unscriptural       church.
and unreformed doctrine of common grace. It                   b. To note those as being spiritually dead and
definitely condemns the following:                          alienated from the life of Christ who, after repeatedly
   (1) God in His grace still gives amusements to the       being instructed and admonished, nevertheless con-
ungodly on the way to hell.                                 tinue to show that they have their delight in the
   (2) And the ungodly can also enjoy himself in            things of the world, and to banish them from the
those amusements in a non-sinful manner.                    midst of the church, in order that they give no
                                                            offence.
   (3) The child of God can therefore also play with          5. It declares:
and amuse himself with the children of evil in this           a. That there is indeed a place in the life  oft the
world.                                                      child of God for true relaxation, spiritually and
   b. Because the Synod cannot go along with the            physically, although that place is very small and
Committee when it does not resolutely condemn the           limited.


198                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  b. But that it is fully assured that if only we act in     And I mean principle in which the church and the
harmony with the above principles and the church             people of God are -thoroughly and carefully in-
again strives to live purely in a spiritual-antithetical     structed!
manner, the place and the nature of these recreations          It was sound advice, in the second place, because it
can safely be left to everyone's conscience. The             avoided the pitfall of  legalism.  It avoided the tempta-
so-called "amusements-problem" will cease to be a            tion to attempt to solve any problems by synodical
problem.                                                     decree. After all, such synodical decrees never solve
  Thus Rev. Hoeksema concluded his editorial fifty           anything. A synod adjourns, and it is gone. Its decrees
years ago.                                                   end up in the dead file of the `Acts or in the archives
  That was sound advice.                                     of classes and consistories. But it placed the responsi-
                                                             bility squarely where it belonged: in the congrega-
  It was sound advice, in the first place, because it        tions, in the pulpit, in the catechism class, in the
was firmly rooted in the Reformed and Scriptural             hands of the elders. But notice, too, that there is no
principle of the antithesis. There is no conflict in this    mention of any troika of mortal sins, nor any attempt
advice between the principle advocated and the prac-         to lay down line upon line and precept upon precept.
tical measures advised. That, after all, was the trouble     Not at all! Let the principle of the spiritual antithesis
with the 1928 Report on Amusements adopted by                be taught, let the church learn to live from that
the CRC. And,  .as we have stated before, principles         principle vigorously and positively. Then the  ,place
work through. The practical measures advised, weak           and the nature of recreations and amusements can
as they were, could not possibly be maintained and           safely be left to the sanctified, Word-guided, con-
enforced from the outset  - simply because they had          science of the children of God. They will simply be
no foundation in principle. They never "took" in the         spiritually nauseated by the corrupt amusements and
churches. At first they were somewhat feared, but            entertainments of the world. You see, that is the
clandestinely ignored and violated. Gradually these          principle of Christian liberty!
violations because more common and open. After a               I said that this was sound advice fifty years ago.
while they were very bodly and brazenly flouted, and
the 1928 decisions were mocked `and sneered at. Still          I add: it is sound advice today!
later there came a movement to repeal them. And                To those who are genuinely concerned about these
most recently  - -mind you, in the name of the very          things in the Christian Reformed Church, I say: this is
principle of common grace set forth already in the           still the only sound course to follow with regard to
1928 Report  - the Synod of the Christian Reformed           the amusements problem. For the church as a whole,
Church has placed its imprimatur, its stamp of               I fear it is too late. Even the very language of the
approval, upon the very amusements it once con-              antithesis has become foreign for the most part.
demned and warned against. It is not my purpose              Nevertheless, there is no other way to face and to
now so much to emphasize the wrong and the evil of           solve the problem than that outlined above.
the principle of common grace. What I wish to                  And to our own Protestant Reformed Churches
emphasize strongly is that  prirzciples  work through.
Principle and practice are inseparable. Correct prac-        and people, I want to stress this with all possible
tices which are not firmly  ro0te.d in sound principles      emphasis. Let the spiritual antithesis be preached. Let
can never survive. Ministers may negativistically harp       it be drummed into our covenant seed day and night,
about practical evils from the pulpit, they may even         in home and church and school. This is our only
rant and rave against them; elders may do the same in        salvation with regard to worldly amusements and
                                                             with regard to the entire amusements question. Then,
family visitation or on disciplinary calls; all will be      as was stated at the conclusion of the quotation
ultimately of no avail  - unless there is sound,             above, the problem will cease to be a problem!
positive, Scriptural, Reformed principle at the basis.


                                    What About Ourselves?

  This question was suggested to me in connection            Christian Reformed Church, for you have enough
-with my editorials about the dancing-issue in the           dirty laundry of your own which needs attention.
Christian Reformed Church. Perhaps this same ques-
tion arose in the minds of some of our readers.                Now I deny, of course, that I intended to display
Perhaps when it arose, it even had the implication:          anyone's dirty washing. In that I have absolutely no
you don't have to hang up the dirty wash of the              interest, either editorially or otherwise. My interest is


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      199



in the truth and its maintenance, and in God's                       people who came to profess their faith shamefacedly
children walking according to truth.                                 had to admit indulgence< in worldly entertainments.
  But I am quite willing to face the question: what                  And the occasions were too frequent!
about ourselves?                                                       Neither is the seminary so much of an "ivory
  Then, in the first place, I wish to state that one                 tower" as to remove me from some of the stark
would have to be blind and deaf not to recognize the                 realities of life today. I know of them, and I hear of
fact that among our people and our churches there is,                .them. In a future editorial I hope to write of them.
in a sense, an' "amusements problem." There is a                        In the second place, I wish to point out this
problem in the sense that there is indulgence in illicit             important difference: our Protestant Reformed
amusements among our people. Perhaps, this is even                   Churches do not officially condone and even promote
more widespread than some know or would care to                      this indulgence in carnal entertainments. In fact  -
admit. Those who are not aware of it should wake up                  and I trust that our consistories actually practice this
and  - I was going to say "smell the coffee." I                      - we officially condemn it and oppose it and guard
probably should say "smell the smoke  - of hell-fire."               against the inroads of these practices in our churches.
And I am not being flippant.                                         Still more, we do so on the basis of sound principle,
  This is not a new problem, only perhaps more                       the principle of the absolute antithesis.
aggravated in our day.
  But the problem has been with us many years.                          But, in the third place, I wish to emphasize that,
Being a "preacher's kid" sometimes was a restraint on                the question is nevertheless a legitimate one, even a
the confidences shared with you by fellow young                      salutary one: what about ourselves? It is a question of
people. But it was not enough of a restraint to                      self-examination for us as churches and self-examina-
prevent me from knowing that movie attendance was                    tion for us as families and individuals.
too common already when I was a teenager.                               Such self-examination, properly conducted, can
  Further, I am almost nineteen years removed from                   only have a good effect.
the pastorate; but this does not mean I have forgotten                 We intend to help in this examination in the future
those occasions in the consistory room when young                    in these columns.

THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS



                      .One,  Holy, Catholic Church
                                                              (2)
                                                   Pro5 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 hath been from the beginning of the world, and will be to the end thereof;
          which is evident from this, that Christ is an eternal King, 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 perilous reign of
          Ahab, the Lord reserved unto him seven thousand men, 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 and united with heart and will, by the
          power of faith, in one and the same spirit."
                                                                                 The ielgic Confession, Article XXVII

  In the previous issue we emphasized that the                       Church is one, holy, and catholic. The content of that
Confession  speaks of the Church not as it appears in                faith is found  .only in the Holy Scriptures. In His
the world, but as it, is an article of the faith of the              Word God tells us what the Church is and what its
believer. We  b&eve  that the Church is and that the                 calling is. We also emphasized in that same  connec-


200                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



tion that the Church is emphatically God's Church. It         is the means of saving the human race. By this we do
is not an association of men who agree to unite and           not mean that all men are saved, but the Church is
form a church. It is not merely a social institution,         the true human race. The Church, therefore, is
but it is God's Church. The Church is conceived by            gathered and saved out of every nation, tribe, and
God, given life and existence by Him, and preserved           tongue. The catholicity of the Church is accom-
and saved and glorified by God.                               plished by means of the preaching of the Word. This
   God's Church according to Scripture has certain            is precisely why Christ commissioned the Apostles to
attributes or characteristics which are mentioned in          go into all the world baptizing and preaching the
the  Confession.  The Church is  one.  There are not          gospel in order to make disciples of all nations. This is
many churches, many faiths, many doctrines, but               why too on Pentecost the Spirit-filled Apostle Peter
only one Church united in one truth and doctrine.             preached and the Lord added three thousand souls to
Again, when one observes the Church as it appears in          His Church. Subsequently, as the Biblical record in
the world he cannot see that. What one sees of the            Acts clearly testifies, the Apostles went everywhere
church in the world is division and all kinds of              preaching and baptizing. By the mighty, divine,
.differences of doctrine and belief and practice. Al-         wonder-working power of preaching the Church grew
though the Church appears in the world as separated           and spread and became dispersed throughout the
by space, time, and barriers of nationality and lan-          entire world.
guage, and as divided by differences of creed and                  The third attribute of the Church is its holiness.
confession, yet the Church is actually one in Christ.         Once again it must be borne  in.mind that the Church
We confess:  ". . . She is joined and united with heart       is holy as it is conceived in the counsel of God and
and will, by the power of faith, in one and same              described in Scripture. We confess the holiness of the
Spirit." The deepest principle of this unity or oneness       Church by faith. As the Church appears in the world
of the Church is found in Jesus Christ its head. The          it is far from holy. There are at least two reasons for
Church is chosen  in Christ  (Ephesians  1:3 ff.) and         this. The first is that the saints themselves are not
made alive  with Christ  (Ephesians  2:5) and is thus         perfect. Much sin cleaves to them according to their
one  in Christ. For this reason Scripture often speaks        sinful natures. Against those sinful natures the saints
of the Church as the Body of which Christ is the              must wage constant warfare. Daily they must put off
Head. (Cf. Romans 12; I Corinthians 12; Ephesians             the old man which is corrupt according to the
1: 22, 23) Christ is, therefore, the principle of the life    deceitful lusts. (Ephesians  4:22)  The holiness of the
of the Church and He is the mind and the will of the          members of the Church is but a small beginning or
Church. Never may the Church be conceived of apart            principle. The other reason is that there is always
from Jesus Christ. Thus believers are exhorted to             present in the Church the carnal element. In plain
walk worthy of their calling, endeavoring to keep the         words the Church must ever contend with wicked
unity (oneness) of the Spirit in the bond of peace.           men in its own midst. That carnal element became
The ground of this exhortation is the fact that they          manifest almost immediately after the fall in Cain and
are "called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one        his seed. Against them  Enoch had to prophesy con-
faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who            cerning the Lord's coming in judgment (Jude). An
is above all, and through all, and in you all'  "             entire generation among Israel, the Old Dispensa-
(Ephesians 4: l-6)                                            tional Church, could not enter the promised land
                                                              because of unbelief and perished in the wilderness.
   "Furthermore, this holy Church is not confined,            And always in Israel there was but a small remnant
bound, or limited to a certain place or to certain            according to the election of grace who sincerely loved
persons, but is spread and dispersed over the whole           the Lord and looked for the fulfilment of the
world. . .  ." It is in these terms that the  Confession      promise. Because the carnal element had gamed the
affirms the  catholicity  of the Church. The Church is        ascendancy in the Church of the sixteenth century
universal. The Roman Catholic Church claims to be             the Protestant Reformation became a necessity and
alone the catholic church in the true sense of the            God raised up great men such as Luther and Calvin
word. But this is not the case. The Body of Christ,
united in true faith and in the truth of the Scriptures,      and others in order to reform the Church. Thus it has
is alone truly catholic. Although for a time the              been all through the Church's history. For this reason
Church was limited almost exclusively to the nation           the Church is called to exercise discipline especially
of the Jews, on Pentecost (Acts 2) it burst through           through the office of elder. The elders of the Church
these national boundaries and became catholic (uni-           must ever be vigilant and watch lest the people of
versal) in the true sense of the word.                        God be led astray either in doctrine or in life.
                                                              Nevertheless, as an object of faith, the Church is holy.
  The purpose of this catholicity is `twofold. On the         The Church expects all its salvation in Jesus Christ:
one hand it is the means of accomplishing the                 "      being washed by his blood, sanctified and sealed
pluriformity of the Church. And on the other hand, it         by-the Holy Ghost."


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                201



  We ought to note that various distinctions have             Abel, Seth;  Enoch, Noah,. Shem (With Japheth dwell-
been adopted to describe the one, holy, catholic              ing in his tents), Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and twelve
Church. The Church is spoken of as an organism and            tribes of Israel, Judah, the House of David, the
an institute. When the Church is spoken of as an              remnant according to the election of grace. Finally
organism, it is emphasized that the Church is the             that seed of the woman which becomes the seed of
living Body of which Christ is the Head. The Church           Abraham is Christ and all who are in Him by faith.
is governed by its Head, Christ, and receives all of its      (Galatians 3) That is the Church. It is true that in the
life out of Jesus Christ by faith. When we speak of           Old Dispensation (the age of the types and shadows)
the institute of the Church we mean the Church from           the Church was limited almost entirely to the Jews.
the viewpoint of the ministry of the Word and the             But even then there were exceptions (some of whom
administration of the sacraments together with the            one will find in the geneologies of Christ, cf. Matthew
special offices of the elder and deacon and the office        1 and Luke 3). And, all the prophets spoke of the
of all believers. It is as institute that the Church          "Day of the Lord" when the Church would be
somes to manifestation in its local congregations. The        universal. This is proved by the fact, the  Confession
Church may also be distinguished as militant, trium-          asserts, that Christ is an eternal King which without
phant, and the latent. The Church militant is the             subjects cannot be. Apparently the argument is that
Church on earth which has not attained to its final           Christ as the eternal King is the only King of His
victory, but is called to fight the battle of faith in the    people. Another King there is not. The people of
world marching as the army of Jesus Christ under the          God, therefore, are one Church under the sovereign
banner of His cross. But even in that battle the              rule of Jesus Christ. Especially as that rule becomes
militant Church is "more than conqueror" for the              manifest in time and history, there never was a
victory has been won at the cross and sealed in the           moment when Christ was without His subjects.
resurrection of its Lord. Besides, faith is the victory
which overcomes the world. The Church which is                   Finally let us understand and never forget that the
now in glory is the Church Triumphant. For this part          establishment of the Church in the world is a wonder
of the Church the battle is over, the noise and the           of grace. By His divine power of grace God has called
fury have ceased. These saints have exchanged their           the Church out of darkness into His marvelous light.
weapons for the crown of glory and they rest from             The foundations of the Church lie in divine election
their works and toil for they rest in the fellowship of       in Christ Jesus. The saints and faithful at Ephesus are
their God. But even for these the victory is `not             the ones whom God chose in Christ "before the
complete and will not be until the Church is com-             foundation of the world." (Ephesians  1:4) In Thessa-
pletely saved and their bodies are raised from the            lonica the believers knew their election. (I Thessa
grave and their blood has been avenged on their               lonians  1:4) The "strangers" to whom Peter wrote
enemies. (Cf. Rev.  6:9-l 1) The Church Latent is the         became that "according to the foreknowledge of God
Church not yet born. As history progresses the Church         the Father." (I Peter 1: 2) On the behalf of these elect
latent -grows smaller while the Church triumphant             God sent His only begotten Son into the world. The
grows steadily larger with the departing of each saint.       Good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep given
                                                              Him of the Father (John 10) and took it again in the
   Sometimes too the Church is distinguished as               resurrection. Upon His ascension Christ poured out
visible and invisible. The Church visible is the Church       His Spirit into that Church in order that it might be
from the point of view of the life of its members in          .filled with all the blessings of salvation and guided
the world as they manifest in their lives the kingdom         into all the truth.
of heaven to which they belong and as they live their
lives under the shadow of the cross. The Church                 In that faith we rejoice in the assurance that "this
invisible is the Church from the viewpoint of its inner       holy Church is preserved or supported by God,
spiritual life of grace and the blessings of Jesus Christ.    against the rage of the whole world." The Church
                                                              may appear very small at times, as during the perilous
   The  Confession  also makes the point that the             reign of Ahab when apparently. the Church had
Church has been from the very beginning of time and           perished. But even then the Lord preserved an elect
will continue to the end thereof. We must maintain            remnant, seven thousand, who had not bowed the
this precious truth over against all forms of  dispensa-      knee to Baal. The Church is always' just that, a
tionalism. The Church was born not on Pentecost,              remnant, a hut in a cucumber patch, a force not to be
but in Paradise. God gathers His Church is the line of        reckoned with compared with the millions of this
continued generations from the beginning to the end           world. The Church always has a hard battle. There is
of time so that there is only one Church. One can             the devil who goes about as a roaring lion seeking
easily follow that line as it is revealed in Scriptures.      whom he may devour; there is the world which rages
There is. the "seed of the woman" over against the            against the Church; and there is the sinful flesh of the
"seed of the serpent." That seed of the woman is              members of the Church. There is too the enemy from


202                                              THE STANDARD  BEARER


within. False teachers privily bring in damnable              good fight of faith. He must separate himself from
`heresies (II Peter 2) and scoffers taunt the Church          the evil world and live as a pilgrim and stranger who
concerning the coming of its Lord (II Peter 3).               seeks the city which has the foundations whose
Against these enemies the Church must wage  un-               builder and maker is God. In the battle he never
ceasing warfare. The Church must not dream of world           despairs for he remembers the word of the King of
conquest, for it is a beseiged city, and always will be.      the Church: "Be of good cheer, for I have overcome
   For the believer this means that he must fight the         t h e   w o r l d . "

`TRIUMPH THROUGH  TRIAL?




                             All Things Work For Good
                                                    Rev. J. Kortering


   What a blessed confession. Bold, to be sure, but           tion with God's people. We must look at the rich fool
m o s t   b l e s s e d .                                     who boasted of his luxury and ease but lost his own
   "And we know that all things work together for             soul, and tremble lest we be foolish. The kingdom of
good to them that love God, to them who are the               our Lord must be before our eyes constantly.
called according to his purpose," Rom.  8:28.                    Here we are assured that all things work for that
   Do you know this? Are you one of them who loves            great end, for good!
God?
   This is the knowledge of peace.                            ALLTHINGSWORKFORGOOD
                                                                 The inspired Paul beholds his life as a living
FORGOOD                                                       organism. Look at a flower. The blossom is the
   All things work together for good! What is good?           attractive part of the plant. Yet, there could never be
God is the only good. In His goodness to us, He has           such a blossom without roots, stems, leaves, photo-
willed our salvation. In the context here, Paul deals         synthesis, nutrition, and all the rest.- So it is with us:
with the reality of that salvation. "Ye have received         there cannot be the attractive expression of a living
the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,                 faith without all the experiences of life. Everything in
Father," Rom 8: 15. This salvation includes the re-           our lives' contributes to our salvation. Since that
demption of our body, verse 23. Through our salva-            salvation is active in the expression of a living faith,
tion, God is glorified as God.                                God is glorified through such activity.
   And that is good.                                             All things work together for that.
   That goodness however is not complete as yet. We              Are you healthy so that you can arise in the
are yet in the world of sin and death. We do not'             morning and work? Are you diseased, hospitalized,
always live out of that salvation with the fervor and         and limited in your activity?
zeal that we should. Our faith is often weak, we
doubt, we are attracted to the wrong things, we                  Do you have your husband or wife and are now
succumb to temptations. Sins still stain our con-             enjoying the riches of covenant home life with your
science. We know guilt and we fear judgment.                  children? Are you a widow or widower, entrusted
                                                              with the care of the family alone? Do you know
   We can understand that there must be a working             loneliness?
for that good. Constantly we must be brought to
repentance of sin. Daily we must get our thinking               Are you young and full of the zest of life; or have
straight. Rather than becoming too attracted to this          you perhaps lived a full life and know the frailties of
world and its treasures and pleasures, we must be             old age?
directed to the kingdom of heaven and its righteous-            Are you in command of your physical faculties,  -
ness. Instead of enjoying the pleasures of sin for a          that is, can you see, can you hear, can you eat with
season, we must count it greater joy to suffer afflic-.       relish, are you still alive and in contact with the earth


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        203



and its fulness? Or are you blind, deaf, lame, and in              precious Son, surely will work all things by His
some measure shut out of the earth?                                almighty providetie  -so that we may enjoy that
  Maybe you have a brilliant mind, can still read,                 salvation.
grasp thoughts, meditate upon the promises of God;                   Secondly, we know this on the basis of experience.
others may have lost their ability to reason, to                   Look at your life, your past, Doesn't it all testify to
recollect, to meditate.                                            this truth that every experience, whether to your
  Are you full of life or near to death?                           liking or burdensome, contributed to your spiritual
                                                                   good? The greatest moments of testing in your life
  "All things" covers a great deal.                                were so blessed by God that they made you more
  Thank God, all who love God and who know they                    spiritual, more concerned about living to God's glory.
are called according to His purpose can say in truth,                That's good, the highest good.
all things work together for good.                                   Finally, we know this on the basis of God's
                                                                   promises.  Not only may  we  look  back  and believe
WE KNOW THIS                                                       this,  we  may also look  ahead.  The blessedness of such
  You notice the apostle is very sure of himself.                  a passage is that these words were placed upon the
"And we know!"                                                     pages of Holy Writ as a declaration of faith for the
  How do we know this?                                             future. We know that all things work together for
                                                                   good, now, as they have in the past, and will continue
  First, on the basis of God's revelation. God tells us            to work in the future, for good. God's Word never
that this is true. The blessed truth of creation,                  fails. It also applies to our future.
providence, redemption, salvation, and the hope of
glory are all wrapped up in this, God is working for                 Do you know this, dear reader?
our good! The God who reached into hell with  His                    Let's say, "We know it!"

GUEST ARTICLE
Rev. C. Hanko
Rev. Arie den Hartog


              Christian Liberty-Its Place in Our Churches
                                                            (2)

  Christian liberty, therefore, is simply this, that we            about; yet that fish immediately begins to gasp and
willingly walk  in- the narrow confines of God's com-              struggle. If you keep it in that kind of freedom too
mandments and find our happiness there. To our                     long, it dies. Thus also a child of God must live in the
flesh this sounds like a paradox: a  Jiberty which                 atmosphere of God's Word and His church. A child of
subjects itself to the cruelest taskmaster possible. Our           God must breathe the spiritual air of the church. For
flesh often rebels, kicks the traces, breaks away from             to live apart from God is death. Or another example.
the narrow limits of the law. In fact, when the law                When you plan a long trip, you obtain a road map
says, "Do not touch!" we say, "I want to touch; who                which you study carefully. On your trip you refer to
says I can't?" There is always the urge to test the wet            the  .map constantly, in order to remain within the
paint sign, or deliberately to oppose the "Keep off                narrow confines of the map, no matter how appealing
the grass" sign by walking  811 the grass. Just as the             the side roads may be. For you know that you will
lion is prodded to anger when aroused, so also our                 never reach your destination unless you follow the
human nature reveals the lion in us when confronted                map closely. Thus the psalmist had learned to say,
with God's commandments.                                           "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light upon
  That is where our spiritual tension comes in: the                my path." The child of God walks at the hand of his
struggle to do the good, while our inclination is evil.            heavenly Father, and is safe, ever sure of his  destina-
Only by grace do we learn to say, "0 how love I Thy                3ion. He can confess, "And I will walk at liberty,
law; it is my meditation all the day." Let me give just            because Thy Word I keep." Or as Asaph expresses it,
two examples of what I have in mind. Consider, for                 "Thou hast  holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt
example, a fish that you draw out of the narrow                    guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me
confines of a fish tank. You take it from the tank;                to glory."
you give it the whole wide world in which to move                    To apply this to our churches and to our times, I


                                                                                                                         ~.
     204                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



     refer once more to I Peter 2: 16. The main thought in        another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of
     the context of this verse is that we must submit to          another. This  H say then, walk in the spirit, and ye
     those whom God has placed over us. Although Peter            shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." The figure used
     wrote in a time of religious persecution by the              here should not be slighted. Like cannibals, we tend
     magistrate, Peter still maintains that God set the           to eat, to devour each other. Scripture points out to
     magistrates over us; and we must submit to them.             us that, if we love God, we manifest that love by
     Moreover, those in authority must be esteemed by us          loving the neighbor. Loving the neighbor does not
     because  ,of their divinely entrusted authority. We may      begin in China or Singapore, but at home. Our closest
     never use our Christian liberty as a cloak of malicious-     neighbors are our own husband and wife, parents and
     ness, as an excuse to defy their authority. Office           children, brothers and sisters, as well as the next door
     bearers must consider this very seriously. You know,         neighbor. My chief concern is the  disintegration of
     as I do, that elders and deacons are not very highly         the home.  It takes a lot of money to pay for a  nice
     esteemed in the church. Members tend to call them            home, an automobile or two, an occasional vacation,
     by their first name, to regard them as their equals,         a few luxuries, and besides all that, our church budget
     and even to criticize them quite freely. We stare            and school tuition. The result is that father has to
     ourselves blind at their faults, and ignore the fact that    keep his nose to the grindstone to keep the wolf from
     Christ deemed them worthy to serve in His office.            the door, and often mother has to step in and earn an
     Christ calls them as His ambassadors, places them            extra income also. If we are honest with ourselves, we
     over us, vested with His authority to speak and act in       realize that this is all an excuse. We do not need all
     His name. Elders are ambassadors of the King, who            the luxuries we strive after. Just because everybody
     must be feared for the sake of their office. They open       else has those luxuries, it does not mean that we
     and close the kingdom of heaven. Even ministers are          really need them. Our parents never had all the
     under their authority. Deacons represent our merciful        conveniences we have. They worked often ten or
     High Priest. Through them Christ comes to us, bring-         twelve hours a day, six days a week. They walked to
     ing His gifts to  the poor and His compassion to the         work, to church, to buy groceries. They rarely, if
     afflicted. Therefore it is the duty of the office bearer     ever, needed a vacation. Yet they were happy. And
     to live an exemplary life, to rule his family well, and      they had time to spend with their families. The
     to be faithful in His  offi& always.                         winter evenings found the family happily gathered
       This authority of Christ must be maintained by             around the glowing coal stove. Today many families
     Christian discipline in the congregation. One of the         do not even have one daily meal together. We com-
     first evidences that Christ has withdrawn from a             plain, "It cannot be done!" We prefer not to ask,
     certain congregation is that Christian discipline is no      "Why not?" Even when the family is at home, where
     longer exercised. Elders sometimes tend  td be lax in        is the togetherness? One watches  TV, another sits in
     exercising the keys of the kingdom because they are          her room, another is busy elsewhere. I' know, we
     aware of their own `imperfections. Often a double            shrug our shoulders and say, "It's the times." But I
     standard is applied in the church. Children and young        assure you that the main ingredient for a happy home
     people are, as it were, free from discipline. They  are      is lacking: love, love for one another, so that we
     considered young, foolish maybe; but they have a             enjoy each other's company and want to be together.
     right to have their fun. They are allowed to speak           We seek the things that perish; and we neglect the one
     disrespectfully of the magistrate, the police, their         thing that is all-important, love reveaiing itself in
     teachers, the minister, and even of their parents.           companionship. What good does an expression of love
     The parents tend to overlook this by saying, "I was          do when it is not evident in reality?
     not so good either when I was young," as if to imply,          The day is not far off when we shall have to give
     "And I still turned out well." We have the solemn            up all these things we cherish most highly. Soon we
     duty to walk in love to the Lord our God, to live by         will not be able to buy or sell without denying our
     faith, and seek God's glory. That is the whole duty of       faith. Soon we will be confronted with the question:
     man. Children, young people,. are no exception to            do I stand for the cause of Christ, or do I join
     that rule. We  may be sound  ti, doctrine; but if we do      Antichrist? In that day we might find ourselves
_    not live our doctrine, we will certainly suffer disaster     already deeply involved in Antichrist. Disintegrated
     in our generations.                                          homes do not help us to prepare for that day. Yes,
       In conclusion, I want to refer once more to                God preserves His church. He is Abraham's God, and
     Galatians 5: 13. The entire section from vss. 13-16          the God of Abraham's seed. That is our comfort. But
     reads: "For, brethren, ye have been called unto              eternal vigilance is the price we pay in a covenant
     liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the         family. This begins with the office bearers in the
     flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is     church. We do well to take heed to ourselves and to
     fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love         the flock entrusted to us! Many first shall be last, and
     thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one       many last shall be first!


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 205


              -Corporate Responsibility in the Church

  The church is one. She is one in  Jesus Christ her         knowledge of the Son of God unto the perfect man,
Lord. This is one of her  most beautiful attributes.         unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
The unity of the church is from eternity. She is one         Christ." (Verse 13) In Philippians  1:27 Paul expresses
because she was chosen as one body in Christ Jesus           the desire unto the church that he may hear of their
from before the foundations of the world. She is one         affairs: "That ye stand fast in one mind and one
because she has her life and salvation out of the one        Spirit striving together for the faith of the gospel."
Jesus Christ. She is one because she is called and             The truth of corporate responsibility in the church
gathered by the one Word and Spirit of Christ. She is        implies that each member must guard and watch over
one because she is gathered as one organism centrally        his church that nothing is allowed to enter that
from the line of the generations of believers according      destroys the unity of the church or the one true
to the promise of God's covenant. She is one because         doctrine which is the foundation of that church. The
she is built upon the foundation of the doctrine of          chief means that God has given to `the church as a
the Lord Jesus Christ. The church has one calling in         corporation to do this is the exercise of the keys of
the midst of the world: to confess, to proclaim, and         the kingdom. Through the proper use of the keys of
to maintain that one true doctrine of Christ Jesus and       the kingdom, the preaching of the Word and the
by His grace to live according to that doctrine to His       exercise of Christian discipline, the church as a whole
.&v.                                                         must be kept pure and holy  and'the life and con-
  It is because the church is one that she is also a         fession of each member of the church must be
corporation. The church is not an aggregate of in-           guarded. The keys of the kingdom must be exercised
dividuals who have little or nothing to do with one          against all those whose confession and life is contrary
another. The church is- one body the members of              to the doctrine of Christ Jesus. This is the corporate
which are integrally related to one another and who          responsibility of all the members of the church. It is
are together responsible before God and to one               the obligation of each member of the church to see to
another to fulfill the great calling of the church. God      it that teachers of false doctrine, if they do not show
has made the church  such a corporate unity and He           repentance after the proper exercise of Christian
always deals with her as such.                               discipline, are expelled from the church. The member
  Corporate responsibility means that each member            of the church who does not fulfill his corporate
of the church has the responsibility to maintain and         responsibility toward the false doctrine that is main-
promote the essential unity of the church in Christ          tained in the church of which he is member neces-
Jesus and to strive as member of the church in the           sarily makes himself guilty of that false doctrine.
one calling of the church: to proclaim the gospel, to        When unconfessed public sin is openly tolerated in
defend the truth, and to walk worthy of the gospel of        the church without discipline the whole church and
Christ Jesus. The calling that the church has to preach      each member becomes guilty of that sin. No member
the gospel is dne that belongs not only to ministers         of the church may rest at ease in  his church while
and missionaries and officebearers but one which             there are those who openly promote false doctrine or
belongs to all the members. Each member of the               practice in his church. If we remain silent  under.such
church must see to it that the church to which he            circumstances we bring the judgment of God upon
belongs preaches the whole counsel of God, that she          ourselves and upon the church to which we belong.
is faithful to the  ~doctrine of scripture, and that in        Positively, corporate responsbility means that each
every regard the church fulfills her calling in faithful-    member of the church must strive to confess and to
ness unto Christ Jesus and that she maintains and            promote the truth of Christ Jesus in all of its fullness
promotes true Christian living.                              and purity and glory. We may indeed say that the
                                                             church does this chiefly through her officebearers and
  The apostle Paul speaks of this corporate  unity of        through those in particular who have the high calling
the church in two beautiful passages of scripture. In        to be leaders in the church, such as ministers and
Ephesians 4:3-6 he exhorts the church thus: "en-             professors in the seminary. However, this is also the
deavoring to keep the unity of the  Shit-it  in the bond     calling of each member of the church. He must
of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit even as ye       zealously study the truth of the Word of God and the
are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one        heritage of the understanding of that Word of God  &
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is         it was delivered to him of God in the church. He must
above all, and through all, and in you all." Again in        seek to grow in that truth and seek to stand together
the same passage Paul emphasizes that all the special        with His  fello\lr saints in the defense and proclama-
offices and gifts are given to the church unto the end:      tion of that truth in the world and to live according
"Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the       to that truth to the glory of God.


 206                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



   Corporate responsibility exists first of all of course    false doctrines. I hardly need mention examples. One
on the level of our own local congregation. We believe       need only consider the differences that exist in the
in the autonomy of the local congregation. We believe        same denominations on such fundamental questions
that each local church is the complete manifestation         as the doctrine of scripture, the doctrines of sovereign
of the body of Christ Jesus. When we make con-               grace, the doctrine of predestination, to name only a
fession of faith we confess also the truth of our            few. There are differences on questions of Christian
corporate responsibility in the church when we               practice such as on marriage, on homosexuality, and
answer. the questions: "Do you acknowledge the               on women in office in the church. There is public
doctrine contained in the Old and the New Tes-               disagreement with the confessions and the historic
taments and in the Articles of Christian faith and           faith of the church. In many of these churches there
taught here in this Christian Church to be the true          are professed conservatives who disagree with much
and complete doctrine of salvation? Have you re-             that their own church teaches. Yet they for the most
solved by the grace of God to adhere to this doctrine;       part remain silent. Through the years there is less and
to reject all heresies repugnant thereto and to lead a       less militancy against error in these churches. Thou-
new, godly life?" The calling of each member of the          sands seem to be able to justify themselves that they
dhurch is exercised particularly in that he  Is a living     can remain in churches that are very clearly tolerating
member of the local church, that he faithfully attends       very serious denials of the doctrine of Christ Jesus
the worship services and that he takes an active part        and refuse to exercise discipline. These seek to justify
in all of the rest of the life of the church. This is his    themselves by aying that they themselves do not
responsibility as member of the church of Jesus                                 H
                                                             hold to such alse doctrines or that the particular
Christ. He cannot exercise that responsibility by            local church they belong to does not maintain such
staying at home, much less by never becoming a               false doctrine.
member of a specific local church. One person is not            There is, furthermore, current in many churches
and cannot be the church of Jesus Christ  by himself.        that call themselves Reformed a rank individualism.
This is of course obvious. Yet there are many in our         Along with apostasy from many other doctrines of
day who profess to be Christian who have little or no        scripture has gone ap'ostasy from the doctrine of the
regard for membership in a  ldcal church of Jesus            nature of the church: Few today understand what the
Christ.                                                      church is and what it means to be member of the
  Corporate responsibility extends also to the level         church. The inroads of Arminiamism and Funda-
of our denomination. A denomination is a federation          mentalism are to a large extend responsible for this.
of churches that agree in-doctrine with one another.         Salvation is considered a wholely individualistic
Denominations are formed because various local               matter. There is really no Such thing as a church
churches have a common faith and desire to manifest          especially not a church that comes to manifestation
the broader unity of the church of Jesus Christ by           to the gathering of believers and in the God ordained
banding together in a federation where they can be of        offices. The church as an institution is regarded as
assistance to one another in fulfilling their common         having very little importance. Each individual is
calling. Although in the apostolic era there were as         responsible therefore only for himself and for his own
yet no denominations as such, there is in scripture          salvation.
indeed the mandate for churches to form into                   That God always deals with His church as a
denominations to manifest thereby the broader unity          corporation is very clear from the scriptures. The
of the church. The resultant denomination is then            history'of Israel testifies of this over and over. Think
also a corporation. Each church is responsible for  .the     of all the times when Israel was punished in the
other. Furthermore the fact that we are in such a            wilderness. Though almost always there were only a
denomination and profess to agree in doctrine means          certain number in Israel that sinned, yet God's wrath
that we all as members of that denomination are              came upon the whole congregation. Think of the sin
corporately responsible to one another in the same           of the golden calf, how Moses was called to separate
way as we are in our local church.                           out of the camp of Israel all those who were on the
                                                             Lord's side before judgment and executed.. Think of
  The truth of corporate responsibility is widely            the cursing mongrel in the camp of Israel, how all
neglected or denied in our day. There are in denom-          those who had had  he&d him blaspheme had to lay
inations and even local congregations widely  diver-         their hands on his head and then all the congregation
gentconfessions and different teachings on matters of        had to stone him. Perhaps one of the most striking
Christian living. These differences are not merely a         examples of corporate responsibility in the Old Testa-
matter of different perspectives on the same truths of       ment is the sin of Achan and the consequence of this
scripture. They are differences even of opposites with       sin for all Israel. Through the history of Israel in the
regard to the fundamental doctrines of scripture.            land of Canaan they were again and again punished as
They are differences that involve obvious heresies and       a whole nation for the sin of only part of the nation.


                                                 THESTANDARD BEARER                                                 207


 In the Old Testament it was impossible for anyone to           own family. This is nevertheless his calling if he is to
 separate himself from apostate Israel. The godly               escape  the judgment of God. This he must do for the
 remnant always had to suffer with the wicked.                  sake of the glory of God, for the maintaining of the
    In, the New Testament we have many evidences of             true church of Christ and for the sake of his  .own
 this same truth of corporate responsibility in the             covenant generations.
 church. Paul's letter to the church at Corinth is an             There are also many positive implications to this
 example of this. In this letter he severely admonishes         matter of corporate responsibility. We all have a
 the church, the whole church, because she tolerated            calling to confess, to maintain, and to develop the
 those who held false doctrine and one who was a                glorious truth of Christ Jesus which we as a church
 fornicator in her midst. In chapter 11 of the first            have received. There is a constant danger that we
 letter Paul shows the church how God's anger was               must guard against that we too deny the matter of
 kindled against the whole church because some were             corporate responsibility because we neglect our own
 desecrating the celebration of the Lord's supper. The          calling in the church. How well are we acquainted
 letters to the seven churches in the book of Revela-           with the Reformed heritage that is ours? How much
 tion exhort the churches to exercise their corporate           time do we spend in growing and developing in the
 responsibility and discipline wicked sinful members            truth of the word of God? How much zeal do we
 lest the wrath of God fall upon the whole church. In           have for the blessed Reformed truth that God has
 the letter to the church of Laodicea we read of Christ         given us? How much. do we know about what our
 standing at the door of the church and knocking to             denomination stands for? How much do we read in
 call out the faithful lest the wrath of God fall upon          the periodicals and publications of our church? How
 them with this apostate church.                                much of  .an interest do we take in what goes on at our
   This matter of corporate responsibility is indeed a          synodical gatherings? We have by `the grace of God
 very urgent matter. One cannot remain silent in a              not had any major doctrinal controversies in our
 church that maintains false doctrines or that fails to         midst for some years now. This in indeed a blessing.
 discipline members who continue in public sin with-            But there is a danger that because of this we become
 out becoming partaker of the guilt. The calling of the         complacent and careless. How much of a place does
 Christian is clear. He must protest against errors in          the  church have in our lives? How much do we love
 the church and if these protests are not heard or they         that church and feel our obligation toward her? How
 become impossible, he is under the solemn obligation           zealously do we speak of the faith that is ours as
 to leave that church to join with another and if that is       Protestant  .Reformed people to one another and to
 not possible to begin by the process of reformation            those outside of  our churches?
 another church. This is by no means an easy calling              May it be true of us what Paul as a servant of
 since it will sometimes mean he must leave the church          Christ Jesus desired of the church of Philippi, namely
 he was long member of and that he must do some-                that we strive together with one mind and one spirit
 thing that will inevitably cause division even in his          for the faith of the gospel.

MY SHEEP  HEAR MY VOICE

                                        February 1, 1978
Dear Timothy,
   There were especially two points which we made in              There is no need, I think, to discuss this subject in
the last letter: one was the fact that the offices of           any detail, for the whole office of prophet (especially
priest and king were kept rigidly separate from each            as far as the function of this office is concerned) has
 other in the Old Testament; the other was the fact             been developed by Rev. Hoeksema both in his Dog-
that the office of prophet was a separate office on the         matics  and his Triple Knowledge. And this is true not
`one hand and was, on the other hand, shared by both            only of the office of prophet, but of all the offices.
i kings  and priests. In this letter I want to look into the    We will limit our discussion only to such matters as
 duties of these officebearers a bit; and, if there is          relate directly to our subject and purpose.
time, I want to begin to apply this whole matter to               In keeping with  the  ma& idea `of the Hebrew word
the New Dispensational Church.                                  for prophet, the prophet was directly appointed by
                                                                God as the means through whom God brought His
   First of all then, what were the specific duties of          Word to His people. The office of prophet was the
the officebearers in Israel?                                    instrument of divine revelation. God made Himself
   It will probably be wise to start with the prophets.         known to His people through the prophets.


 208                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



   In the dispensation of types and shadows, God             Saul because David was far from the temple. But
revealed Himself directly through various events in          these exceptions were due to the fact that these
Israel's history such as the deliverance from the            offices were types and the lines were not always
bondage of Egypt, the miracles which took place in           clearly drawn.
 the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the           But the office of priest was itself clear. The priests
 defeat of the Canaanites, the establishment of the          represented Israel before the face of God. And they
throne of David and Solomon, etc. But the prophets           represented Israel especially by bringing Israel's sac-
interpreted these events for the people and explained        rifices to God and, by sacrifices, imploring God's
their meaning in connection with the promise of God.         mercy upon Israel. They  wery the office of mercy
But  the. prophets also spoke the Word  .of God more         therefore; and bringing Israel's sacrifices to God, they
generally. If you read the books of the prophets you         obtained mercy for the other people.
 cannot help but be struck by the fact that the
prophecies soared far beyond Israel's boundaries and           The same was true of the office of king. Israel did
history. What the prophets spoke concerned all the           not, as such, sin when the nation asked for a king.
nations which surrounded Israel, soared far into the         Already while Israel was east of the Jordan God had
future, even to the end of time to reveal what God           spoken of the time when Israel would be ruled by a
had in store for His people in all ages and entered          king. Israel's sin was asking for a king like the other
even into the final age which shall only be realized         nations; and in asking for such a king, rather than a
when the promise was to be fulfilled completely in           king of God's choice, they rejected God. See Duet.
the day of the Lord.                                         17: 14-20.
                                                               But when God gave Israel a king of His choice, He
   But in addition to all this, the prophets often           gave a king who could rule, in the strictest sense, over
functioned as pastors to God's people. The prophet           the theocracy. I.e., he was a king who would repre-
Elisha always strikes me as being an outstanding             sent God in the nation and God's rule among the
example of this. He followed upon Elijah, the                people. Such a king, therefore, was required to fight
prophet of judgment who spoke of God's wrath                 Israel's battles against all the enemies of the nation
against an apostate nation. But one of the closing           who threatened to destroy God's heritage. Such a
revelations of God to Elijah concerned the seven             king was to insure the boundaries of Palestine
thousand who had not bowed the knee to  Baal. And            promised to the old patriarch Abraham and his seed.
Elisha was sent to bring the Word of God in a very           Such a king had to represent right and justice in the
pastoral way to that remnant according to the elec-          nation in the relationships of the people among
tion of grace. There  .are no miracles in all the Old        themselves. He  ruled.  And he ruled in such a way that
Testament which more closely resemble the miracles           the life of the nation was governed by God's law and
of our Lord Himself than do the miracles of Elisha. And      God's truth.
such glimpses as we have of his life are usually glimpses
which reveal him as a man who lived in close and               These kings were also prophets. But they brought
intimate contact with the Godly people who re-               the Word of God, as a rule, in connection with the
mained in the apostate northern kingdom. He                  specific office which they held. And because this was
brought God's Word to God's people in their every-           the case, they themselves were also dependent upon
day life.                                                    the Word of the prophets. David consulted prophets
                                                             - as, e.g., when he determined to begin building the
   This office of prophet, however, was shared by the        temple. Hezekiah and Josiah consulted prophets at
kings and priests. They too brought the Word of God.         crucial times in their reign. And God Himself sent
While the prophets occupied a special office in dis-         prophets to them to bring specific Words of God
tinction from the other offices, their office was also,      from God's mouth to these kings in connection with
in a certain sense, shared. The fact is that the kings       their work.
and priests brought the Word of God to Israel (and
were thus prophets too) in connection with the                 It is, however, interesting that the prophecies of
specific functions of their offices. The priests were        David and Solomon (in Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
busy in the service of God in the tabernacle and             and the Song of Songs) sometimes soar beyond the
temple. All the ceremonies of the worship of God in          limitations of their offices as kings so that they are all
the tabernacle and temple were so many Words of              but prophets in their own right when they penned the
,,God to His people. It was especially in connection         Words of the revelation of God found in these books.
with these Words of God in the temple service that
the priests functioned as instruments of divine revela-        Now all of this has its New Testament counterpart.
tion. There were exceptions. David consulted                   And centrally all these offices were fulfilled in
Abiathar the priest concerning matters pertaining to         Christ. The Old Testament offices were only dim and
his own course of action when he was fleeing from            fleeting shadows of the one office which Christ held.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                209


  Centrally, and of basic significance is the fact that     Word. Or, to be more exact, as Priest and King, He is
Christ is God's prophet. He was eternally anointed to       God's Word; and as God's Word, He brings that Word
this office, and He was (and is) the One. through           to us by bringing Himself.
Whom alone God's Word could come to God's                     Thus Christ is the only Officebearer in the Church.
people. This is because of the fact that Christ does        This was according to God's purpose from the very
not merely bring God's Word to His Church. After all,       beginning of time  - even from eternity. God realizes
His earthly ministry was rather limited. He preached        all His purpose in Christ. God eternally intends to set
publicly for only about three and one-half years. He        Christ as the One great Representative in the house of
met only a limited number of people. And when all           God Himself. And Christ is God's Representative
His ministry was over there were really only about          because He is Himself God  - in our flesh, and realizes
one hundred twenty people in church. He is God's            all God's purpose in the new house of God in the
prophet because He  is  the Word- of God. He is, in His     everlasting glorified creation.
own person and natures, in His work which He
performed through His cross and resurrection and              But while the Church is still on earth it is also true
ascension, the Word of God. Thus there can be no            that Christ is God's only Officebearer. All the work
revelation of God apart from Christ.  All  revelation is    of the Church is done by Christ. This was sharply
centraliy through Him. This was not true only in the        brought home to me once again the other day when a
years of His earthly ministry; it was always true, is       colleague and I were `discussing the many things we
always true, and will be true into all eternity. Christ     would like to do but didn't seem to have the time to
was speaking through the types and shadows of the           accomplish. He remarked: "Isn't it always true that
Old Dispensation. Christ was speaking through the           we never finish our work really, but that the work of
prophets. Christ speaks through the Church. And             the kingdom nevertheless always gets done?" How
only Christ can speak because Christ  is  the one Word      true this is, Timothy. And there is a great deal of
of God.                                                     comfort in this, for in the consciousness that Christ
                                                            alone does the work which has to be done in the
  He is the Word of God also as King and Priest. He,        Church can we labor with the assurance of blessing.
in our place, brings the perfect sacrifice for sin and        All the work is done by Christ. Through us, no
implores God's mercy upon us. He gains that mercy           doubt. But by Christ, for all that. Whether we are
from God and brings it to us that we may, for His           ministers, elders, or deacons, Christ is doing the work
sake, be the objects of mercy. He fights against all the    that needs to be done. He is doing it all perfectly and
enemies of His people and secures for them the              completely so that it is all accomplished, all done
destruction of all those who oppose us. He gains for        without mistake, all perfectly executed so that God's
us the glory of His own everlasting kingdom. He rules       purpose is realized.
over His people with truth and justice. He makes His
kingdom the perfect kingdom of God's righteousness            And with this I must close for the time being. We
where God is all in all.                                    shall have to discuss how this relates to the offices in
                                                            the New Testament Church in our next letter.
  And in doing all these things, He remains our                                                Fraternally,
prophet. Both as Priest and King, He brings God's                                              H. Hanko

IN HIS FEAR


                                   Blindly Confident
                                                 Rev. M. Joostens

  I think it is often true, that the simplest lessons of      Such a recurring and simple lesson was called to
Scripture are hardest learned. It is only with the          mind"again just the other evening. I was busy cate-
largest of difficulty that we are able to put into          chizing the little children. The lesson concerned
practice such simple admonitions as: "Seek ye first         Elijsha the prophet who by God's divine intervention
the kingdom of heaven and all these things shall be         was able to reveal the plans of Benhadad king of Syria
added unto you"; "To obey is better than sacrifice,         to the king of Israel at  Samaria. The king of Syria was
to hearken than the fat of lambs"; "He that is last         very wroth with the servant of Jehovah and, after
shall be first"; and "Love God with all your heart and      having spied out that Elisha was at  Dothan, sent an
mind and soul and strength."                                host of horses and chariots to capture Elisha. When


210                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


this was discovered by the servant of Elisha who had        eyes circumspect the horizon around  Dothan. He saw
risen early and gone forth, he asked the prophet,           that which was naturally visible. It is the natural, the
"Alas my Master! How shall we do?" In response              carnal, that which belongs to this earth that readily
Elisha prayed the Lord that the eyes of the young           makes an impression upon our retina. Our carnal
man who was his servant might be `opened. And the           recognition and reasoning quickly tabulate the odds
Lord answering this prayer opened the eyes of the           against us. It was no great feat for Elisha's servant to
young man and he beheld "the mountain full of               calculate- the might of the host of the Syrians that
horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."            had come to capture him and his master. It takes
Having not seen these, yet believing by faith in their      little effort for us to recognize the dangers that often
presence, Elisha had said to his servant, "Fear not; for    encroach upon us here below, whatever they may be!
they that be with us are more than they that be with          It is a real spiritual ability to see what Elisha saw.
them." (II Kings 6: 16)                                     For this can be seen by faith alone! He saw an
  The church of our Lord Jesus Christ as manifested         innumberable host of horses and chariots of fire
here below is numerically small and seemingly insig-        round about him.  ". . . they that be with us are more
nificant. The forces of the world often loom large and      than they that be with them." We are not so much
treacherous round about the children of God. It             concerned with the actual physical representations
seems that we are continually as the small band of          that were seen on the hill surrounding  Dothan.
Christ ready to be devoured by the mighty forces of         Whether they were real or visionary, they no doubt
the antichrist. And who will deliver us? We are not         represent the host of Jehovah our God. It is an
the many, powerful, rich, influential, mighty men of        heavenly host of great power as indicated by the fact
the world. Rather, God's church is recruited by Christ      that they are chariots and horses of fire. They have
from the poor, insignificant, and meek.                     the power to consume and destory! I think we must
  It is the lot of the church of Christ collectively, as    take this in connection with passages such as Psalm
well as of the child of God individually, to live in the    34:7: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about
very bosom of this antichristian world. Our place is        them that fear him, and delivereth them." Or the
often precarious and insecure. The seed of the woman        passage Christ quotes when tempted by the Devil
is continually being pursued to be devoured. For us in      early in His earthly ministry. "For he shall give his
many differing ways the hills about  Dothan are spread      angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
with the mighty hosts of the Syrians. We often feel         They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash
besieged without an avenue of escape or a prayer of         thy foot against the stone." (Ps. 9 1: 11, 12) And mark
hope! Often the question silently rises in our soul,        the words of Christ to Peter after He rebuked him for
"Alas, my master! How shall we do?"                         smiting off the Malchean's ear, "Thinkest thou that I
                                                            cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently
  The simple little lesson of the Scriptures to which I     give me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matt.
refer, as you have no doubt gathered by now, is             26:53) To see such an innumerable host of angels
confidence in God! Trust in Him. The problems of            who continually watch over us takes an eye of faith.
care, worry, and anxiety which are the result of a
littleness in faith trouble many saints of God. The           When the eye of faith is keen, all doubts and fears
variety of the Syrian forces that God's children            are dispelled! Having seen the innumerable host of
encounter are as varied as the number of pews they          God's protesting fiery band, Elisha and his servant
occupy. Fear is struck in the hearts of God's children!     proceed toward the Syrians out of  Dothan's  gates.
I think of this especially after we have just stood in      And Elisha prayed the Lord that the visible, dreadful
the threshold of a new year. God has wisely spread a        host be struck with blindness. And Jehovah smote
veil over the future. Yet the uncertainty of it all         them with blindness according to the petition of
makes us fearful. Some of us are preoccupied with           Elisha. And Elisha led the blind band captive into the
the sufficient care of our families. Others fear the        walls of  Samaria, that the Syrians might know that
alarming percentage of sickness, such as cancer, that       God protects His people. "So the bands of Syria came
also spreads its tentacles into the Church. Many more       no more into the land of Israel." (II Kings 6: 23b)
are actually led by our God in deep ways of affliction        Too often our fear, worry, and anxiety is due to
and grief. All in all; the clouds of darkness con-          our spritual blindness. We are as Elisha's servant. We
tinually hover over God's children!                         need to pray the petition of Elisha, "Lord open our
  In all this, we have not learned the calm of Elisha,      eyes that we may see!" Oh, if we could only see
or, if we have, our memories are often so short. We         continually the innumerable hosts of angels that keep
react as did Elisha's servant! "Alas! How shall we          guard over us. For then our hearts would not fail
do?" We see the army of the Syrians, but we do not          when we encounter the enemy on every side. Whether
reckon with  the,face of God. Oh, it is no wonder that      it be in poverty, sickness, temptation, distress, yea
Elisha's servant rose early that morning letting his.       even death itself, we shall not fear. For, conscious of


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       211



such an heavenly host, we with Elisha and his servant               "When evildoers came To make my life their prey,
would bravely encounter the enemy, knowing that                     They stumbled in their shame and fell in sore
they that are with us are more than they with them.                    dismay;
Visible to the human eye? Oh no! But to the eye of                  Tho hosts make war on every side,
faith,                                                              Still fearless I in God confide."
  If God be for us who can be against us? We live in
the fear of the Lord! Blindly confident in faith.                                                           (Psalter 7 1)

,ALL AROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren


                                                 X-Rating Rock Radio

  Christianity Today,  Nov. 18, 1977, contains  sever-                and in stores and restaurants. He wakes to it every
al editorial warnings which are much to the point.                    morning, and goes to sleep to it at night. Second,
The first concerns some of the evil songs which are so                composers combine debased lyrics with catchy tunes
very popular today. The warning of danger is  appro-                  or rhythms. Third, repetition increases the problem.
priate  - also for us. Especially our youth face the                  The more popular a song becomes, the more often it
temptations of going along with current trends.                       is played. The biggest hits can be heard two, three, or
Young people all too easily are affected and  in-                     even four times an hour. . . .
fluenced by the "popular" things of the day. Nor do                 The editor continues to give some advice to  par-
they want to be left out or be different from their               ents, advice with which I would not wholly agree.
peers. It seems natural to want to talk about the                 Perhaps, though, parents ought to consider several
latest "hit." One hears, at times, worldly and corrupt            things. First, what are our children hearing? With
songs blaring from car radios of our youth; or hears              earphones (which only allow the listener to hear), and
this in the homes and even the outings of our youth.              at parties and outings where only young people
There is reason for real concern.                                 gather, or in the privacy of the auto  - what are our
  The editor of  Christianity Today  lists some of the            children hearing? Do we know?
titles of current popular songs  - titles too explicit              Secondly, there ought to be place for discussion of
even to print, I think. There is no doubt about the               the songs which are apparently so appealing even to
contents of their song when one reads the titles.                 children of the church. There is no useful purpose
These are largely concerned with sex and "love" in                served if parents merely "yell" at children to turn off
their most perverted forms. He writes:                            that awful noise. Parents do surely have the Scriptural
          Although concerned parents do what they can to          right and duty to demand (not simply request) that
    reduce the amount of sex and violence their children          their children in obedience to  .God and their parents
    see on television, few of them realize that what is           do not listen to these worldly songs. But also, there
    heard on the radio may do far more damage. (Then              ought to be room to consider these songs, especially
    follows a listing of the current "hits.")                     their words, in the light of the Word of God.` Can the
          . . . Sex on radio is nothing new. . . . But many of    Christian ever listen to or sing that which caters to
    the risque' lyrics of the sixties were either unintel-        our flesh? That which is contrary to God's Word? Can
    ligible to the listener or else drowned out by driving        one spiritually enjoy the music which is admittedly
    rhythms and twanging guitars. Today the lyrics are            adapted to the corrupt lyrics? Let our children face
    more prominent. This is unfortunate, because musical          the question: are we reflecting the life of Christ in
    groups are now expressing perverted views of love and         these things which we want to hear? Nor  is'it even a
    sex even more explicitly.                                     question of what we "like,"~ but of what God  de-
          Three factors contribute to the  miadnumbing            mands of us. Just let us remember: it is impossible to
    effect of radio. First, it can be everywhere - in the         sing or enjoy these worldly songs in "a Christian
    student's bedroom, in the car, in school study halls,         manner."

                                                       One out of Ten

  The same magazine presents a short editorial on                 that this is growing in popularity in our midst as well.
social drinking. There appears to be some indication              Though none of us would object to alcoholic  bev-


212                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



erages  per se,  the regular use of this, especially in              Nor is alcoholism an inconvenience, such as minor
social drinking, can lead to terrible sins and awful                 automobile accident from  which one quickly re-
consequences. Think of this:                                         covers, but it is chronically debilitating.
          How many people would fly if they knew  that                  Social pressures to drink are apparently increas-
       there was a one out of ten chance that  the plane             ing, and at younger and younger ages. Many Chris-
       would crash? Probably not many. `But flying is in fact        tians defend drinking in moderation. But in the light
       safer (on the basis of fatalities per passenger mile)         of the high incidence of alcoholism in many societies
       than riding in a car.                                         around the world, Christians and anyone else inter-
                                                                     ested in being a good steward of  the creation en-
          How many people would drink alcoholic beverages            trusted to us by God should seriously question the
       if they knew that there was a one out of ten chance           wisdom of drinking. Is it right to take such a needless
       that by doing so they would become alcoholics? Yet,           risk of becoming an alcoholic? Is it right to set an
       the number of people who drink is rising despite the          example for others that can lead to their becoming
       high incidence of alcoholism. And alcoholism affects          alcoholics? The chances are one out of ten  - for
       not only the sufferer himself, but those around him.          those who drink.


                                       The Church-A Political Machine

  Another warning, along a different vein, comes in                  was only one major objection to them.  When
the  Outlook  of December 1977, by Rev. Peter De                     oligarchy and monarchy become the accepted struc-
Jong. In his lucid style, Rev.  DeJong pinpoints a part              ture and order in the church that church organization
of the problem he observes in connection with                       had moved so far from  the Lord's direction and
synodical decisions in the Christian Reformed                       pattern.for His Church that our Reformed fathers had
Church. The problem actually comes done to that old                  to denounce the institution in the Belgic Confession
bugaboo, heirarchy. That danger ever exists in the                   as no true church at all (Articles 29-32). Anyone who
                                                                    is at all familiar with that Roman Catholic history
churches. We too must ever be on our guard against                   and structure will observe some remarkable parallels
this. He writes:                                                    between the way it developed and the way our
          But, aren't these procedures, letting the Clerk cut        church organization is increasingly developing. The
       the Agenda and letting five men assign committees            Roman Catholic development, however, took cen-
       and  their jobs, more efficient ways of getting  the         turies. Our movement in that direction is happening
       work done? Of course, they are. But if efficiency of         in a much shorter time, in mere decades and years.
       operation is to be our over-riding-criterion, an even       One can understand De Jong's concern. Perhaps he
       more sensible and efficient procedure is to skip          can now also better understand our own deep grief
       having the delegates meet at all. Why not elect the       and concern as churches when, high-handedly, two
       five men who increasingly control the procedure, by       classes took it upon themselves to suspend and
       mail and let them handle all of the business? Think of
       all the time and expense that we would save. And the      depose consistories and ministers in that long-age
       results might not be appreciably different. A further     time of 1924-25. When one once begins on the road
       improvement on that procedure in  the interest of         of heirarchy, it is understandable that there will be
       even greater efficiency is not inconceivable. Why not     developments and refinements. De Jong concludes:
       let one man take care of everything? Then we would        "Aroused people must seek reform and be willing to
       not even be burdening five men with it. Such sugges-      pray, work and fight for it." I wonder if De Jong in
       tions are not absurd fantasy. They have a long history    his heart does not believe that his denomination has
       of practice in the annals of the Christian Church. And    gone far too far down that road of heirarchy to have
       they were in many ways undeniably efficient. There        any sort of reform.

                                                   Dr. Tietjen Ousted

  The  Christian News, Nov. 7,  1977, reports the                      The Seminex faculty has urged the members of the
ouster of Dr. Rev. Tietjen from the Missouri Synod  -               Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod to ignore the
Lutheran Church. There is now a cry to mount open                   expulsion of Seminex President the Rev. Dr. John H.
rebellion against this action  - coming understandably              Tietjen from the Synod's clergy roster and to invite
from Seminex, the seminary which was formed when                    him into  their pulpits "to preach the Gospel  they
the majority of students and professors refused to                  confess with him." In a letter mailed to pastors in the
recognize the condemnation of Dr. Tietjen in  Con-                  church body,  the faculty encouraged those who
cordia Seminary in 1974. The report states:                         believe and teach like Dr. Tietjen to state so publicly.


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         213


    The faculty reminded the Synod's members that "to                          The faculty states that "if you share our confes-
    be silent now is to consent to and share in the unjust              sion and your ministry with us, you will experience
    action of the synod."                                               repression and opposition. There is always risk in
        Entitled "The Reformation: A Call for Confes-                   confessional action. But it is a risk that is tied to the
    sional Commitment," the faculty statement was                       cross."
    mailed October 31 on the anniversary of the day                   So, rebellion is being encouraged in the Lutheran
    when Martin Luther nailed his 9.5 theses to the door            Church  - Missouri Synod. The struggle there between
    of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Saxony in 1517.             "conservative" and "moderate" (or more properly:
        The faculty urges members of the Synod                      liberal) is not over. Many, perhaps most, of the
        " - to invite Dr. Tietjen into their pulpits;               "moderates" remain in the Missouri Synod. If these
        - to express their unity with all who share their           do not have the upper hand today, it appears they
    confession both in and outside the Missouri Synod;              will seek to create dissension and unrest until such
        - to share the exhilaration which comes from                time as they can regain control in the church
    knowing that God is creating new freedom of con-                machinery. Unless that church rids itself entirely of
    fession and new relationships of fellowship;                    this "moderate" element, the measure of reform
   -      to share in the jeopardy that often comes from            recently begun will not long continue.
    ecclesiastical structures."

                                                 Book Reviews

THE CASE FOR CREATIONISM, FALLACIES OF                              logical and scientific fallacies of evolutionism. It is
EVOLUTION;  by Arlie J. Hoover; Baker Book                          also important to point out that creationism can
House, 1977; 85 pp., $2.50 (paper). (Reviewed by                    indeed explain all the data which is uncovered by the
Prof. H. Hanko.)                                                    natural sciences. It is not correct to present creation-
  The author is dean of Columbia Christian College                  ism as a strictly scientific theory. Scripture makes this
in Portland, Oregon. He has succeeded in preparing an               a matter of faith: "Through faith we understand that
interesting and easy-to-read book on the fallacies of               the worlds were framed by the Word of God. . .  ."
the theory of evolutionism. The main point which the                (Heb.  11:3.)  3) It is true that this makes creationism a
book strives to make is that evolutionism is guilty of              matter of religion, and that the Supreme Court has
several serious logical errors. He points these errors              forbidden the teaching of religion in the public school
out in a witty and easily understood way. His con-                  system. But about this: a) As the author points out,
clusions are: 1) Evolutionism is not proved by the                  evolutionism is also a religion, though it be a religion
evidence. 2) Evolutionism is not capable of proof                   of  scientism  or naturalistic humanism. This kind of
because the whole matter of origins lies beyond the                 religion the Supreme Court condones. There is an
reach of empirical evidence. 3) Both creationism and                impossible contradiction here. b) This situation can
evolutionism are capable of interpreting the existing               never be changed as long as education in this land is
data. 4) Thus both are viable options and both ought                taken away from parents (to whom it belongs accord-
to be taught in the public school systems.                          ing to God's decree) and given to the state. There is
                                                                    no solution to this dilemma  - except our own
  These last two points are, of course, quite reveal-               Christian schools. 4) If creationism is a matter of
ing. The author is not discussing the question of                   faith, it is not and never can be a viable option. It is
creation vs. evolution from a religious viewpoint but               the only truth and God demands, upon pain of direst
from a purely scientific viewpoint. His main purpose                punishment, that it be believed. Those who support
is to persuade all concerned that creationism has as                creationism ought to have the courage to see these
much a place in the classroom as evolutionism and                   things.
that both should be presented with their strengths
.and weaknesses  `- from a scientific perspective. Here               Nevertheless, the book is recommended. Our chil-
is exactly the rub. There are a few remarks that need               dren both in Junior High and Senior  High can profit
to be made in this connection. 1) In a certain limited              from it.
way we can sympathize with those who agonize over                   STUDIES IN II TIMOTHY, STUDIES IN COLOS-
the fact that evolutionism is taught in the public                  SIANS AND PHILEMON, STUDIES IN HEBREWS,
schools as the only explanation of the origin of the                by H.C.G. Moule; Kregel Publications, 1977; II
universe. We can then sympathize too with the desire
to see both presented in the classroom. 2) It is not,               TIMOTHY, 180 pp., $2.95; COLOSSIANS AND
                                                                    PHILEMON, 195 pp., $2.95; HEBREWS, 120 pp.,
however, possible to teach creationism from a purely
scientific viewpoint. It is legitimate to point out the                              (Book Reviews can't. on page 215)


                                                                                                                                    T H E O L O G I C A L   S C H O O L
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 . . . O F - I - H E . . .
                                                                                                                                           PROTESTANi   R E F O R M E D   C H U R C H E S
                                                                                                                                                                                     4949  IVANREST AVENUE, S.W.
                                                                                                                                                                                     GRANDVILLE, MICHIGAN 49418



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  `February I,1978
                           Beloved people of God:
                                                            Another semester is over in the Seminary. Exams were written during the latter part
                          of January and the second semester is now under way. The first half of the school year has
                          gone by swiftly, and in it we have had many tokens of God's favor, not the least of which
                           is the progress of our students. Conscious of God's blessing, we are mindful of the many
                           prayers which you make for us.

                                                             The chief purpose of this letter, however, is to give you some news concerning work
                          which is being done for the expansion of our library.

                                                              If you have read the Acts of the last Synod, you probably noticed that Synod de-
                           cided to microfilm all  Synodicalarchives which are at present in the home of Sy od's Stated
                           Clerk. We have asked the Synodical Committee and the Theological School Corn/L ittee to
                           carry out this mandate of Synod for the benefit of our Seminary Library. We  hiope that two
                            microfilm copies can be made of the archives-one for the churches and one for the School
                            Library.

                                                               If these microfilmed archives are to have value for the students and faculty, however,
                            we need what is called a reader. We are presently investigating the purchase of such a )reader
                           which can also be used as a copier to copy anything on microfilm for personal or class use.
                            There are additional advantages to such a reader-copier.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       For one thing, there are many valuable
                            books which are out of print but which can be purchased on microfilm and which can be added
            #:::            to the Library in this way, For another thing, we are considering the possibility of expanding
           :::.:.x5.        this section of our Library to include anything which is of  h,istoricaI  interest to our Protestant
          s
          :5                 Reformed Churches. Exactly what this will include has not yet been determined. But such a
          5.
         :.::
         ;:;;               section in our Library will be valuable for historical research of many different kinds.
         ::::
        :::;
        .:..
        3::
        :;::                                                   All of this will require a considerable outlay of money-somewhere in the neighborhood
       .::::
       $$                    of $3000.00 to purchase the equipment. We are working with the T.S.C. to see if the money
      ::::::
     g$                      can be raised. We consider this to be a valuable addition to the Library and commend this
     ::::::
     ::::::
     ::::::                  cause to you.
     .-.:.:
    3;s
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    ::::::
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   :::::::                                                      In the meantime we are buying new and used books all the time. This is possible be
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   x.:.:                     cause of the generous gifts of the readers of the Standard Bearer; and we express our thanks
  :;:;:;:
  x::::                      to all of you who have contributed to this cause.
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 . . . . . . . .                                               As your prayers are for us, so our prayers are for you and for God's blessing upon
 :::::::::
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                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               215


                                                                                 ,_  :
                                                                                 ~.  .
$2.45; all paperback. (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko.)                          THE-MIND  OF-THE MASTER,  by Robert E. Cole-
   These commentaries are all part of the "Kregel                            man; Fleming H. Revell Company, 1977; 128 pp.,
Popular Commentary Series." They were written by                              $5.95 (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko.)
Moule who was Dean of Trinity College in Cam-                                    The author of this book, Professor of Evangelism
bridge, England and Principal of Ridley Hall in                               at  Asbury Theological Seminary, wrote out of the
Cambridge. He died in 1920 but left many writings                             conviction that we must know and share in the mind
on the New Testament. Some of these are printed in                            of Christ if' we are to be effective in the work of
this series by Kregel's.                                                      evangelism. This book, therefore, is intended to
   These commentaries have their chief value in giving                       acquaint us with the mind of Christ. Six different
a general meaning of every passage in the book                               aspects of "the inner thought life of Christ" are
treated. They particularly concentrate on individual                         discussed: Christ's unity with the Father and the
words and phrases. The format is in the nature of                            Holy Spirit, His prayer life, His knowledge of the
notes on the text, very similar to the format used by                         Scriptures,  His understanding of God's plan for deal-
"Barnes Notes." On the whole, they are sound and                             ing with mankind, His awareness of His own role
can be used with profit. They are too brief to be of                         within that plan, and His thoughts of the coming
help for a detailed study of the text, but can be                            glory. Apart from the question of whether the author
particularly useful for society study. They are suf-                         understands "the mind of Christ," there is too much
ficiently easy to read for our young people to profit                        emphasis in the book on Christ the Example and not
by them in their study for society and Catechism.                            sufficient emphasis on the Christ Who saves His own
                                                                             and empowers them by His Holy Spirit.
  What I have said above does not concern the
commentary on Hebrews. This book is composed of
thirteen short essays on the book of Hebrews which                                                Know the standard
sketch the book very generally and are not of great
valuein a study of the text. The book is useful only                                                   and follow it.
in helping to gain a general idea of the epistle as a
whole.                                                                                                  R e a d   t h e
   We recommend the books, however, as helpful and                                           STANDARD BEARER!
cheap additions to home libraries. The price is well
worth it.



                                               FAITH PROTESTANT
                                             REFORMEDCHURCH

                                                                   Jenison, Michigan
                                         Offering $50,000.00  in notes to finance the construction
                                                                   of our sanctuary.
                                                                     10 years - 8%
                                         (Issued in multiples of $500.00; interest semi-annually)

        For further information call (616) 669-5247 or (616) 457-3258, or write Andrew Brummel, 2381 Oak
        Hollow Drive, Jenison, Michigan 49428. We ask that you give this your prayerful consideration.


              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                     NOTICE!!!!
   The Ladies  Sociaty.of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church            Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet on
expresses sincere sympathy to our member, Mrs. Irene Holstege, in            March 1, 1978, at South Holland, Illinois, at  8:30 A.M. Material for the
the death of her father, MR. EDWARD J. VAN  FAROWE. May the                  agenda must be given to the stated Clerk thirty days before the  con-
Lord comfort her in her bereavement and may she know that He who             vening of  Classis.  Delegates in need of lodging should inform the Clerk
controls all things, doeth them well.                                        of the South Holland Council of their need.
                                   Rev. G. Van  Baren, Pres.                                                    Rev. David Engelsma
                                   Mrs.  ,Hib Kuiper, Sec'y.                                                   Stated Clerk


 THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                                       SECOND CLASS
           P.O. Box 6064          _ _ _ _    _~   ~-  __  ~.. _ _ -  --____~~   -          POSTAGE PAID AT
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506 I                                                          GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





216                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

                                  News From Our Churches
  A number of items of interest have arrived during           mittee recently sponsored a lecture in Sheldon, Iowa.
the past several weeks concerning our Southwest               Response to this lecture was unusually good with 50
Church in Wyoming, Michigan. On Saturday morning,             to 75 people from outside of our churches attending.
December 3 1, the Southwest Mr.  & Mrs. Society               Because of the response, a second lecture is planned
sponsored a pancake breakfast at Hope Protestant              for early February.
Reformed Christian School. Payment for this                     Our Church in Holland, Michigan, has recently
delicious breakfast was by way of donations which             made two changes in their order of worship. The
will be used to furnish the nursery in the new                reading of Scripture will now immediately precede
Southwest Church building now under construction.             the sermon. Also the Consistory will file out of the
And, speaking of the new building, the latest progress        auditorium after the service before the congregation.
report received (the middle of December) announced
that the walls of the new building were partially up.           The collection taken during the Old Year's Night
                                                              service in Holland was designated for the Church
  A special congregational meeting was scheduled at           Publication Committee Fund. This fund is used to
Southwest on January 10 to consider a proposal from           underwrite the cost of sending tape recordings of the
the church council to accept an offer to buy their            church services to points as far away as Jamaica, New
present church building.                                      York, Washington, and Florida. Other of our
  The Southwest council has also granted the request          churches such as Hope, First, and Kalamazoo are also
of their pastor, Rev. Herman Veldman, for  emerita-           active in this area, sending cassette recordings of
tion and will request the approbation of  Classis East        church services, lectures, Bible lessons, and Reformed
at their next meeting.                                        Witness Hour radio programs from Ireland to
  On his way-to Christchurch, New Zealand, Rev.               Australia and the Far East. It has proved to be an
Ronald Van  Overloop  and his family stopped over the         effective and inexpensive way to bring the Word.
weekend in Redlands, California. Rev. Van  Overloop
led the Sunday morning worship service in our  Red-              The song services sponsored by the young people
lands Church on December 18.                                  after the evening service the last Sunday of the month
                                                              continue in First Church. The congregation gathered
  Beginning with the New Year, Trinity Protestant             to sing Christmas carols on Christmas Sunday
Reformed Church in Houston, Texas, has changed the            evening. During the November song service, another
time of their morning worship service from 10: 30 to          attempt was made to sing Dutch Psalms  - in Dutch,
9:30. The Sunday School follows the worship service.
The congregation in Houston has undergone a slight            of course! The volume was considerably greater this
                                                              time as a number of Dutch Psalters were available.
expansion as Rev. Bekkering and his family rejoice in
the birth of a baby girl, Wanda Joy, born on Decem-              The Young People's Societies in the Grand Rapids
ber 20.                                                       area gathered for a Christmas Mass Meeting on the
  After the special meeting of  Classis West in Ran-          Sunday before Christmas at First Church at 2 P.M.
dolph, Wisconsin, on December 13, the pastors of our          Rev. Joostens  sp,oke on "An Unbelievable Story."
churches in  Doon and Hull, Iowa and Edgerton,                  There appears to be considerable activity among
Minnesota, set up a three way pulpit exchange on              the young people in our South Holland, Illinois,
December 18. Rev. Hoeksema of Hull preached in                congregation making plans for the 1978 Protestant
Edgerton, Rev. Slopsema of  Edgerton preached in              Reformed Young People's Convention if the number
Doon, and Rev. Kamps of  Doon preached in Hull.               of bulletin announcements concerning Steering
  These same three churches sponsor an organization           Committee meetings is any indication.
called the Reformed Witness Committee. This  Com-                                                            K.G.V.


