   STANDARD
         BEARER
F- A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                            *





    Since the Bible is the very Word of God, the
 authority of the Bible is the authority of God
 Himself, Whoever recognizes and submits to the
 authority of the Bible is actually bowing  t'o the
 authority of God. Whoever refuses to ac-
 knowledge the authority of the Bible is, by virtue
 of this fact, denying the right of God to rule
 over him.
                          See "The Bible" - page  277




                                       Volume LIV, No. 12, March 15, 1978 d
                                                   ISSN  0362-2692


 266                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



                            CONTENTS:                                                                                   THE  STANDARD  BEARER
                                                                                       Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                            Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
 Meditation  -                                                                                      Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                               Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
  Calvary's Superscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266              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 ,
 Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .268       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   Miersma,
 Editorials -                                                                  R e v .   Marinus   Schipper,   R e v .   J a m e s   Slopsema,   R e v .   Gise   J .   V a n   Baren,
                                                                               R e v .   R o n a l d   V a n   O v e r l o o p ,   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 .
    Parochiaid Revived - In Disguise . . . . . . . . . . .269                  V i n k .
                                                                               Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
 Translated Treasures -                                                                                        4975  lvanrest  Ave. S.W.
                                                                                                                Grandville,   M i c h i g a n   4 9 4 1 8
    Pamphlet on the Reformation of the Church . .272                           Church News Editor:  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink
Triumph Through Trials  -
    Sown`in Weakness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .274
 My Sheep Hear My Voice -
    Letter to Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .275           contents should be sent to the editorial office.
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 MEDITA  TIO N




                                                                                                                 .           1  l
                                    Calvary's Superscription
                                                                    Rev. H. Veldman

               "And set up over His head His accusation written, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. "
                                                                                                                                                                    Matt. 27: 37

    The superscription as nailed to a cross was a                                 surely no reason to assume that this superscription
 Roman custom. It was nailed to the upright, above                                was the same in all three languages, and that therefore
 `the crossbeam, and it declared the ground of the                                Scripture is in conflict with itself. May we assume
 crucifixion. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ also                             that the Latin version appears at the .top (would not
 bore such a superscription.                                                      the Roman Pontius Pilate favor his own language?),
    It is peculiar of Jesus' superscription that we read                          the Aramaic at the bottom, and the Greek version
 of four different versions in the four gospel narra-                             appears then in the middle? All these versions, we
 tives. This must have been very unique, hardly ever                             understand, purpose to present Jesus as the king of
 done. Modern criticism has called attention to this to                           the Jews.
 undermine the trustworthiness of Holy Writ. There is                                   What a wonderful superscription we have here!


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                267



Pilate and Caiaphas, both of whom played a very               Indeed, a biting mockery!
significant role in the passion history of our Lord           As such it is meant by Pilate. Indeed, he does not
Jesus Christ, have proclaimed a truth with respect to       hurl this mockery at Jesus. The hated Jews are here
our Lord Jesus Christ which far transcends their own        the objects of his scorn, and he aims this mockery at
conception' and meaning, their own personal in-             their Messianic expectation.
tention. Caiaphas declared that it is better that one
man die than that all the people perish. And he also          However, although Pilate here would merely ridi-
tore his high-priestly garment or robe. Pilate com-         cule the Jews' expectation, the result is nevertheless
mands this superscription to be nailed to the cross.        that that superscription causes the mockery with
Indeed, we have a biting mockery here. Nevertheless,        respect to this Jewish expectation to descend upon
how true it is that Jesus is crucified because He is the    the head of this Jesus of Nazareth, that He is viewed
King of the Jews.                                           and ridiculed as King, and the Jewish expectation is
                                                            presented here in all its absurdity. The superscription
                A BITING MOCKERY                            itself is only too plain. It says that Jesus is the King
  Why does the Roman governor direct this super-            of the Jews and that He hangs there as a rebel. It
scription to be nailed to the cross? Fact is, from the      declared that this Jesus, born at Bethlehem, is the
viewpoint of Pilate this superscription is a lie. This      Jewish Messiah, their king. It places Him over against
superscription is supposed to state the ground for the      the Roman Caesar. It declares that He would fain be
crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. From the view-        king over all. And now He hangs upon a cross. How
point of the Jews, they never accused Him of being          ridiculous is His claim! What a king He is! Having
the King of the Jews. They had said that this Jesus of      travelled up and down the country, agitating against
Nazareth claimed Himself to be this king. And as far        the Roman emperor and seeking to establish His own
as Pilate is concerned, he had repeatedly declared          kingdom, He comes to this ignominious end. True,
Him to be innocent. Fact is, he had never condemned         there is a difference between the Jews' reaction to
Jesus, had simply delivered Him over to the wishes of       this  supersdription and that of the Roman soldiers
the people because he would be Caesar's friend. The         The former ridicule the Nazarene's claim to this
Jews had confronted him with the threat that he             kingship,. the latter regard Him as the King of the
would not be the friend of the Roman emperor. Why,          Jews. Both, however, ridicule and reject Jesus as the
then, did he command this superscription?                   King of the Jews.
  Why this superscription? It is rooted in the gov-           This mockery becomes more intense in the light of
ernor's hatred of the Jews. On the one hand, he             the fact that the superscription is written in three
simply hated the Jews. Somewhat acquainted with             languages. We may assume that the Hebrew or
the Jewish Messianic expectation (although, of              Aramaic language represents religion, the Greek lan-
course, not understanding it, and conceiving of it in       guage represents art and culture, and the Latin lan-
the earthy sense of the word), he, of course, despised      guage represents law and power. Fact is, the whole
this expectation. On the other hand, however, the           world is represented by these three languages. Be-
Jews had just caused him the most anxious and               sides, we do well to bear in mind other circumstances.
wretched moment of his life. Superstitious as he was,       The Lord was crucified upon a feast day, the Pass-
he was afraid of Jesus, especially because the Lord         over Jerusalem was crowded. Then, the cross was
had claimed to be the Son of God. And the governor          erected upon a hill, beside a very busy highway.
was afraid that this claim might be true. Then, the         Indeed, the biting mockery of this superscription is
Jews had threatened to accuse him before the                truly world-wide, and intended as such.
emperor that he was not Caesar's friend. Pilate,
therefore, seeking to save himself, without con-                     AN APPARENT CONTRADICTION
demning Jesus, had sentenced Him to die the death of          Is this Jesus not really the King of the Jews? As
the cross. And now he will avenge himself upon these        such He was proclaimed in the prophecies of the Old
Jews. He will provoke them with a superscription            Testament Scriptures. Of Him we read in Micah 5:2
which will make a mockery of the Jewish Messianic           that He is to be ruler in Israel. And in Dan. 7:14.we
expectation. The' Jews are furiously indignant. In-         read: "And there was given Him dominion, and glory,
deed, they, too, fear Caesar. Besides, they had never       and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages
accepted this Nazarene as their king. Moreover, as far      should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting
as Jesus' actual claim to a kingship is concerned, they     dominion, which shall not pass away, and His king-
will have no. part of it. They demand of the governor
to change the superscription so that it would read          dom that which shall not be destroyed." And does
that this Jesus of Nazareth had called himself the king     not the angel declare to Mary that He shall be King
of the Jews. And now the cruel governor becomes             over the house of Jacob into all eternity, and that of
implacable. .He now laughs at his Jewish tormentors.        His kingdom there shall be no end?
The superscription remains as it is.                          Besides, did not Jesus always witness of Himself


268                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


that He is that King and Messiah? He did this in word.       However, we must understand the nature and
Again and again He proclaimed Himself to be the            character of Jesus' kingdom. Jesus, of course, is king
fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Was He not          here according to His human nature, God, we know, is
born in Bethlehem, the city of David, out of the seed      King, sovereignly, over all. This kingship, however,
of David, and had He not been called out ,of Egypt?        refers to His Messianic kingdom, in His human nature.
Then, we also read of His good testimony before            This kingship, now, is purely spiritual. He is indeed
Pontius Pilate. How the governor feared Him! Listen        the King of the Jews. 0, this does not mean that He is
to what we read in John 18:36-37. Here He tells the        their king according to the flesh. He is King of the
governor that His kingdom is not of this world. And,       elect Jews, of them who. are really Jews as according
in reply to Pilate's question: "Art thou a king then?",    to the spirit. Besides, this King of the Jews is also
the Saviour answers that He is indeed a king, that for     King over all. To Him has been given all power and
this cause He was born, and for this cause He came         authority in heaven and on earth.
into the world, that He should bear witness unto the         How wonderful and blessed this superscription
truth.                                                     now becomes! How wonderful it is, on the one hand,
   Moreover, the Lord also bore this witness of            from the viewpoint of those three languages! He is
Himself in deed. The New Testament Scriptures are          indeed the King of the Jews, but as out of all nations,
full of His miracles. They are surely proofs of His        peoples, lands and -tongues. He is this upon the cross,
Messianic office. But they are also symbols of His         ordained by God to be their head, even from before
kingship. And how the governor therefore feared            the foundations of the world. And He is their King
Him!                                                       throughout the ages. But He is also the King of the
  But, what a wonderful contrast we have here in           Jews in relation to the world. As King of the Jews,
this text! What must one think of this superscription?     His people, He redeems them, purchases them with
Does it not contradict His kingship completely? When       His precious blood. But King of His people, He also
does a king, to whom the ends of the earth have been       rules over all the powers of sin and darkness.
given for an inheritance, and who has power over             Finally, how wonderful is this word also and
sicknesses, death and the seas, hang upon a cross,         exactly as a superscription! In a superscription the
nailed to it because He is that King? What an amazing      ground of the victim's condemnation and crucifixion
phenomenon! Why does Jesus allow this? In fact,            was set forth. Pilate, we know, had his own meaning.
why did He write it? Surely, this superscription is of     He would avenge himself upon the hated Jews. God,
God! We can well understand, can we not, the               however, rules over all. The cross of Calvary is also
resentment and mockery of these Roman soldiers. In         God's cross. The Lord realizes His covenant, and
their conception the cross simply has no place.            Pilate, be it unwittingly, must serve the living God.
  Jesus, the King of the Jews, hanging upon a cross!       Hence, when viewed as God's cross, it is indeed true
He holds His peace, does not resist. What an apparent-     that Jesus is crucified because He is the King of the
ly amazing contradiction!                                  Jews. This does not merely mean that Jesus, in the
                                                           way of the cross, enters into His kingdom, receives all
               A BLESSED REALITY                           power in heaven and on earth. But He was also really
  Indeed, He is the King of the Jews. And it is also       crucified because He is the King of the Jews.
true that He was crucified because He is the King of         As that King, eternally anointed by God, He must
the Jews.
  This does not mean, of course, that He is the King       suffer and die for all the sins of His own, as out of
of the Jews as the superscription means it. That           every tribe, nation, people, land, and tongue.
superscription, humanly speaking, is completely in           And the Lord our God shall receive all glory and
error.                                                     honour and praise, now and forevermore.



                                       Editor's Notes

Bound Volume 53. Bound volume 53 is ready, and             add a note about the cost. The price per copy is
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                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          269


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 EDITORIAL





                  Parochiaid Revived--In Disguise
                                                 Pro5 H. C. Hoeksema

   Recently a colleague gave me a little brochure put        approach of this material is oblique. At no point does
 out by an organization called Citizens For More             it attempt to leave the impression that this is a
 Sensible Financing Of Education, with headquarters          parochiaid proposal; the opposite is true. In fact, the
 in Lansing, the state capital  .of Michigan. I have         whole attempt is to leave the impression of being a
 written for more information concerning both the            tax-reform proposal. The front cover of the brochure,
 organization and the proposal which it is promoting.        for example,' poses the question in large print, "Isn't
 But from the information in this brochure it appears        there a more sensible way to finance education?"
 that the proposal set forth in this brochure is nothing     Now who would not be interested, in this day of
 more than an attempt to revive parochiaid, or govern-       unreasonable and increasing taxes, in a "more sensible
 ment financial support of private schools. However,         way to finance education"? At the bottom of the
 this time the proposal is in disguise, the disguise of a    front cover is a slogan which has been becoming
 tax-reform proposal. And while, perhaps, tax-reform         increasingly popular, at least in Michigan: "Down
 may be attractive to some, even to many  - and              With Property Tax - Up With Education." That's, of
 perhaps this very attractiveness is intended to be the      course, like being in favor of motherhood and apple
 lure - nevertheless, from the information I now have,       pie! Moreover, the name of the organization itself
 it appears to me that this is a rather thinly veiled        gives no hint of being a pro-parochiaid organization.
disguise. And, again drawing my conclusion from the          Nevertheless, in the course. of the information
 information I now possess, it appears to me that the        furnished, the proverbial cat comes out of the bag.
 disguise is also deceitful and dishonest.                     This is a proposal for a referendum, that is, to
   It is the avowed intent of this editorial to expose       submit to a popular vote the following plan:
 this disguise and to militate against the proposal.            This proposal would place a referendum on the 1978
   Admittedly, this is a proposal which affects Mich-           ballot, mandating the following changes:
 igan readers directly. Yet the issue of parochiaid in             1. All property taxes previously earmarked for
 general is broader than that, and is of importance for                 educational operation purposes would be elim.-
 readers in other states as well. In fact, it may safely                inated.
 be predicted that if the Michigan proposal would be               2. A statewide voucher system would be estab-
 approved by the voters in the proposed referendum,                     lished allowing each child an allocation of state
 and if then the proposal would also be found to be                     tax dollars to be applied to educating that child
 constitutional, the same type of plan would be                         at a school of his or her parent's choice.
 attempted in other states.                                        3. Restrictions relative to support of children in
   In the interest of fairness, I will quote  all  of the               non-public schools would be removed.
 information furnished in the brochure, Before I do            Already here, of course, the question arises: what
 so, however, I must point out that the entire               does item No. 3 have to do with the main thrust of


270                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


the proposal?  Besides, what does a voucher system                                                             local property.  ln the last 12 years, state
have to do with more sensible financing? But let us                                                            equalized property values have increased
allow the brochure to explain in full. I will quote the                                                        126% and  millage  levels have jumped 30%.
brochure in full. The only change I have made is the                                                 6.    Q. Is the proposal a shift from property tax to
addition of numerals to the questions and answers,                                                             income tax?
f o r   t h e   s a k e   o f   r e f e r e n c e .   U n d e r   t h e   h e a d i n g   o f
"Taxes" the following is presented:                                                                        A. No, the proposal does not mandate a shift. It
                                                                                                               is likely, though, that the Legislature will
       1. Q. How do we currently pay for education?                                                            proportionately increase the personal in-
                                                                                                               come tax and the single business tax within
             A. The operational income for public schools is                                                   the current constitutional requirements in
                   currently gathered from local property taxes                                                order to generate the funds necessary to
                   in the amount of $1.8 billion and state taxes                                               finance schools. The Legislature may also
                   amounting to $1.3 billion.                                                                  consider other forms of taxation, such as
       2. Q. Why remove the property tax?                                                                      excise tax, sales tax, intangibles tax, etc.
            A. The present system of financing education is                                          7. Q. Will this proposal hurt business and in-
                   inequitable and unfair because property                                                     dustry?
                   ownership in itself does not represent a true                                           A. No. On the contrary, the proposal removes
                   measure of a person's ability to pay. Families                                              the educational property tax from business
                   in homes of similar value can have widely                                                   and therefore does not penalize a business
                   different incomes, and yet pay the same                                                     for owning property. Business taxes which
                   property tax.                                                                               are now contributed to the General State
                   In addition, the archaic formula for state                                                  Fund would be expected to increase to the
                   financing of education is based upon the                                                    amount of property tax eliminated.
                   amount of  millage  levied in each school                                         8.    Q. Won't I lose my one chance to reject school
                   district, and this has resulted in great dis-                                               millage  at the ballot box if this referendum
                   parities of educational opportunity from                                                    passes?
                   community to community.                                                                 A. Yes, school  millages  would be unnecessary
       3. Q. What  changes will this make in the taxes                                                         since that large portion of property tax now
                   collected by the state for education?                                                       earmarked for operational educational sup-
            A. The proposal specifically prohibits the levy                                                    port would be eliminated from property tax
                   of property taxes for financing K-12 educa-                                                 payments. However, you gain a greater
                   tional operations; it eliminates any use of                                                 opportunity to exercise economic control
                   property taxes to pay for school operations.                                                over your child's education through receipt
                   The proposal directs the Legislature to estab-                                              and use of individual vouchers. Funding and
                  lish a program of general taxation for the                                                   control go hand in hand; this greatly en-
                   support of education.                                                                       hances the voucher.
     4. Q. How much of the property tax now goes for,
                   the support of education?                                                       Now we are not interested so much in the tax
                                                                                                 aspect of the proposal. Yet we must remember that
            A. In 1960 property taxes for public education                                       this is intended as an attractive part of the whole
                  in Michigan amounted to $434 million. By
                   1976, that figure had increased to one                                        proposal. In itself, of course, there is nothing wrong
                  billion, eight hundred million dollars!                                        with a proposal to reform the method of taxation. I
                                                                                                 suppose, too, that property owners can be  attiacted
                   This figure represents about 65% of all                                       by a proposal which somehow wants to lift the
                  property taxes levied on a statewide average.
                  This means that if your property taxes                                         burden of school taxes from property owners only
                  amounted to $1,000, using the state average,                                   and to spread that burden around to  all taxpayers.
                   $650 of your property tax payment would                                       Yet we must remember that under the terms of this
                  be used to finance the operation of local                                      proposal the over-all tax burden will be increased
                  public schools.                                                                tremendously. Why? The proposal wants to include
     5. Q. How can these costs skyrocket when local                                              payment for the education of all present non-public
                  millage  requests are turned down repeatedly                                   school students. I do not have the statistics at hand
                  by the voters?                                                                 on the number of private school students in Michigan;
            A. A millage issue is never closed until it passes.                                  but it is large. And it does not require a tax expert to
                  If defeated by the voters, the issue simply                                    figure out that if state taxes are going to support the
                  keeps showing up on the ballot until it is                                     students of'private schools at about the same rate as
                  ultimately approved. Also, property tax                                        public school students are now supported, this is
                  revenue can be increased, through assess-                                      going to increase the  t&i  bill by an enormous
                  ment without a vote,  merely by re-evaluating                                  amount. In other words, for the general public this


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      271


proposal is after all not so very attractive! Besides, in                 economic opportunity to select the type of
the second place, it is almost an axiom of government                     education and school of their choice.
that the farther away from the citizens the control of           13. Q. Will total state funding result in more state
taxes  gets,. the less voice the citizens have, the higher                control if this voucher system becomes a
the taxes go; and, once  they are up, it is extremely                     reality?
difficult to get taxes down. The proposal admits (Qu.                A. No. The proposal g&is no additional power
& A.  8) that we will lose the power of the ballot box                    for state regulation of public or non-public
on school  millage. It foolishly claims greater eco-                      schools. The proposal does not change or
nomic control. The truth is that the control will be                      add any statutory controls by the state. (As
with the  legislature,  not with the citizens. And in the                 an example, acceptance of the GI Bill did
legislature the education lobby and the teachers'                         not result in added government control of
lobby are some of the most powerful! The con-                             schools, either public or private.)
clusion? Taxes for educational purposes will go up,              14. Q. What could be some other beneficial results
up, up! Some may call this more sensible financing of                     of the voucher proposal?
education. I demur.                                                  A. 1. Parents and students could freely
  The next subject treated in the brochure is "The                             choose the type of school and type of
Voucher System." On this subject there are the                                 education they desired.
following questions and answers:                                          2. A more equitable and reasonable formu-
                                                                               la for  fmancing education would be
     9. Q. What is a voucher?                                                  created. (i.e. educational payments to
                                                                               individuals, not to school institutions.)
        A. A voucher is a certificate representing a sum
            of money issued by the state to parents for                   3. Competition between schools would
            the education of their children.                                   provide incentive to upgrade standards.
    10. Q. How will a voucher system work?                                4. Parents will become more actively in-
        A. Under a voucher arrangement each school                            volved with schools.
            child, or parent, would be issued an authori-                 5. Schools would be motivated to develop
            zation which could be redeemed at any                             better course offerings.
            state-approved school. The voucher would
            be applied toward  the cost of the child's                    6. Parents would finally have a voice in the
                                                                              education of their children by exercising
            education during that school year, with the                       their own economic decisions through a
            exact amount determined by a formula                              voucher.
            which would encompass a wide variety of
            factors bearing on costs in the district and
            the needs of the child. When cashed at a            We have the following comments on the proposed
            school where tuition costs exceed  the            voucher system:
            voucher payment, parents of the child would         1. First of all, this voucher system is definitely
            be required to make up the difference.            NOT a part of tax-reform, nor can it be justified as
    11.  -Q. Will the proposal change school district         being "more sensible financing of education." The
            boundaries?                                       fact of the matter is that if this proposal were limited
        A. No. The proposal itself  will not change           to the present system of public schools, the voucher
            school district boundary lines. The Legisla-      system would not even be necessary, would, in fact,
            ture has determined the current school dis-       be unnecessary red tape. The simple fact is that at
            trict boundaries and retains the authority to     present the State of Michigan distributes state aid to
            change these boundaries. It is anticipated        the public schools on a per-pupil-formula. All that is
            that the Legislature will recognize the need      necessary is that the state be informed of the number
            to increase the choices available to parents      of pupils enrolled in a given school or school district,
            and students among public schools. The            and an  equiva!ent amount of aid is given to that
            freedom to attend non-public schools has          school district on the basis of a certain amount per
            never been geographically restricted, since
            .there are no legislatively defined attendance    pupil. No voucher system is needed.
            areas for non-public schools.                       2. Of course, this voucher system is designed with
    12. Q. This voucher system of providing funds to          parochiaid in view. Notice that Question and Answer
            each student individually is pretty radical.      11 already makes mention of non-public schools.
            How do we know it can work?                       Question and Answer 12 speaks of "the type of
        A. The feasibility of this type of arrangement        education and school of their choice." Question and
            was thoroughly tested with great success in       Answer 13 again mentions non-public schools. And
            the federal government's GI Bill education        Question and Answer 14 suggests that "Parents and
            ,provision, which provided veterans with the      students could freely choose the type of school and


272                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


type of education they desired." The whole voucher             4. The brochure makes the claim that this will not
system is designed with parochiaid in view. But the         result in more state control. True, the proposal as
strategy is to have the funds go to parents, and, of        such grants no more powers of state regulation. But
course, to all parents, rather than directly to schools.    do not forget that already in Q. and A. 8 the
By this strategy they think to avoid the charge that        brochure itself has argued that "Funding and control
this aid is unconstitutional because the state is sup-      go hand in hand." Do not forget that the state will
porting religious education. I am no lawyer, and            hold the purse strings over both public and non-
surely not. an expert on constitutional law. But it         public schools: for the state has the power to grant or
seems to me the ruse is so transparent that a child can     not to grant vouchers. Where does the control lie?
discern it.                                                 With the parents? No, with the state which grants the
   3. Can you begin to imagine the endless miles of         vouchers.  Funding and control go hand in hand.
red tape (and expense) involved in a voucher system?        Perhaps the proposal itself grants no further powers
Furnish a voucher to every parent for every  school-        of control. But the principle of control through
age child? And in this connection, let no one talk to       funding is implicit in this proposal. And the potential
me about the GI Bill! I and members of the Theologi-        for state control is plainly present. As far as our
cal School Committee had abundant experience with           parental schools are concerned, we must avoid this
its red tape during the late 1940s and again recently.      like the plague!
And this is presented as "more sensible" financing of
education?                                                                                        (to be continued)

TRANSLATED  TREASURES





                     Pamphlet on the Reformation
                                         of the Church
                                                   Dr. A. Kuyper

  7. Why the church in an earlier time had no need            The impulse of the church towards a certain
of its own regulations, but has this need now.              organization gradually originates from this. There was
  Under the dispensation of shadows there was an            no need of this in Israel because the organization of
ordained ministry for the priesthood, but not for the       the people itself at that time was at the same time the
Word. Now, on the other hand, there is no longer an         organization of the church. People and church were
ordained ministry for the priesthood, but there is a        one, just as a child yet undeveloped and unborn is
regulation for the ministry of the Word. Both these         one with the womb. in which it is cherished and in
ordinations are not of the same kind. During the            which it rests.
priestly ministration, the church was still concealed in      But with the falling away of Israel and the expira-
the swaddling clothes of Israel and the priestly            tion of Israel's own unique significance for the
ministration bore a strong national character. It was       church, all this becomes entirely different. The
entrusted to a single tribe, or, more specifically, to a    church is not destined to be a Greek or Egyptian or
single family; and not a spiritual preference but a         Roman church, but is destined to grow up as a
fleshly appurtenance gave to this family or to this         world church. Therefore, by the loss of the organic
tribe the right of ministration. On the other hand,         power which was hid in Israel's existence as a nation,
after the death of the apostolate, after the church         the church of Christ cannot find fulfillment by cling-
became a world church, the church laid this. restric-       ing to the national bonds of Greece or Syria, Egypt or
tion aside, displayed her spiritual face more purely        the Roman empire. Rather she must, to be able to ful-
than up to this point, and thus could no longer bind        fill her calling, be opposed to the danger of such a
her ministry to natural descent and communion of            confinement in an unnatural straight jacket, and must
blood.                                                      be vigilant for her independence.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                273



  This it can do only through organization on its                Christ does not possess this royal authority of
own foundation, independent of the organization of            Himself. It is loaned to Him by the Father as the
other peoples. Israel was established with a view to          reward for His self-humiliation even unto death.
the church, created for the church; and out of that           Therefore, because He became obedient even to
principle Israel could produce a fitting form for             death, yea, the death of the cross, the apostle Paul
ecclesiastical life in its preparatory state. But this was    says, "God also hath highly exalted Him, and given
unique with Israel. This could not take place with any        Him a name which is above every name: that at the
other nation. There is not another nation established         name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in
with a view to the church nor created for the church.         heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
Each attempt, therefore, to want to force on the              earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
church another national organization as if it were            Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father." "To
destined for her, would be unnatural, not fitting, and        me is given all power," Christ Himself testifies, "in
opposed  -to the nature of the situation. The church          heaven and on earth." Thus originally all authority
has no choice but to organize herself. Not in the             over the church, even as all power, rests with God
manner in which Israel was organized, nor as a copy           triune, i.e., with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It
of the model of national organization, but according          flows forth from the fountain of divine sovereignty,
to her own nature agreeable to the requirement of her         and, in so far as Christ is God's own Son and Himself
own life. Only in this way does the mystery of which          God, He undoubtedly possesses also that original
the holy apostle Paul spoke come to its own.                  sovereign power over the church as His divine portion.
  8. From whom the fountain of sovereign authority               But, and here it is necessary to distinguish clearly,
rises for the church.                                         Jesus was not appointed King of the church as God's
  This separate organization of the church pre-               Son, but as our Mediator because only as Mediator
supposes that there is an authority in her and over           does He possess sovereign authority over the church.
her. How would an establishment, an institution, or           This is not out of Himself, but He is King by the
gathering be thinkable without a power to give                grace of God, or rather because grace always includes
commandment and the duty to be obedient to the                unmerited favor; therefore by God's supreme decree.
commandment existing in her sphere. An institution              The matter is thus: all sovereign authority rests in
which, without original or granted or conferred               the Triune God, not only in the state and among the
authority, would be like a wall without cement, a             nations, but also in the church. Now it does not
beam laid in a wall without anchors. Such as author-          please the Lord God to exercise this authority direct-
ity was also present in the preparatory church: first         ly, neither over the nations nor over the church. On
in Moses' government under Jehovah, then in the               account of this He places over the nations princes and
judges, and afterwards in Israel's kings. David's house       viceregents, and now in like manner He places over
was vested with divine authority from God. That               His church the Mediator Christ. Thus, just as the
authority however was not only for a period of time,          kings of the earth have an authority over the nations
but was continuous, invested in David's royal dynasty.        which is borrowed from God, Christ as our Mediator
                                                              is clothed with an authority over the church which
  "I have once sworn by my holiness:                          also is borrowed from the sovereign God.l
  If I should lie to David, my word would deceive;
  His seed shall be everlasting, his throne shall shine         There is indeed given to the Son, in order that He
  gloriously,                                                 meay be a genuine King over His church, at the same
  As continually as the sun, as glorious as her               time power over Satan who tempts the church and
  beams."                                                     desires to overpower it; over the angels `who are sent
                                                              out for the sake of those who shall inherit salvation;
  Therefore, both must be true, namely that Israel's          and thus over princes and nations under whose
kingdom should fall away and that David's throne              crowns and in whose midst the church appears and
should stand forever. This is a seeming contradiction         prospers. But this does not alter the serious and
which finds its solution in this that David's house first     undeniable fact that Jesus' kingship over His church is
brought forth kings who only foreshadowed the true            a reward for His inexpressible love. His reward is
king, and after this brought forth that true King Who         grounded in His self-sacrifice.
is called King of kings and Who is to remain King               Even on this account His kingship is therefore
forever. Rome's attempts also in this respect to              inseparable from His priesthood; and in like manner,
imitate the Mosaic and Israelite situation in her             inseparable from His prophetic honor. Golgotha is no
viceregency becomes an assault on our Lord's honor.           dead fact but the everlasting and always living event
The Christ of God and He alone sits as David's Son,           which is applied hour by hour and moment by
Lord and King over His church forever.                        moment by Christ actively to the souls of His elect.
  9. How Jesus became King of His church.                     And because the word without authority can no


274                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


longer be a word of God, there cannot be a prophetic        through a King Who is man and Who by Him is girded
witness in His church apart from His kingship. The          with power. The only difference is that the princes
priest and the prophet are one in the king, and every       are sinners and King Jesus is separated from sinners,
attempt to establish a priesthood after or apart from       and that therefore the authority which is invested in
Golgotha, to establish a sphere of authority apart          the crown of princes is invested in Jesus Christ as a
from the throne of David's son, or also to establish an     power which rests in His divine person.
untrue word of man apart from the word of the man
Jesus Christ, in the organization and formation of the            One must not think for a moment as if in truth
church on earth, must be rejected and resisted as           Jesus is outside the church. Jesus lives in her, always
condemned by God's word and as opposing Jesus'              administers in her His sacrifice, does everything
                                                            through the procession of His high priestly inter-
honor.                                                      cession, and rules without interruption over her by His
  Let it be said with emphasis: this all is true of the     word and Spirit. Only through that constant pro-
man Jesus, because only as the Son of Man Jesus is          phetic, priestly, and kingly action of Christ is the
our highest Prophet, our only High Priest and our           church church, and on earth only so much of the
eternal King. The Triune God is outside the church          church of God comes to manifestation as that con-
because He is above it, but the man Jesus Christ is in      tinuous, active working of Christ shines through and
the church living in our flesh and blood. And just as it    is seen in her external form.                                ..--...--  .^_.
has pleased.God to rule the nations through princes         1.
who are men and to whom He gives might, so it has                 From  many  of  Kuyper's  other   works  it  is  evident  that  Kuyper  does
been thought good to the Lord to rule His church            not  mean   to  deny  in  this  paragraph   that  Christ.   is  also  the  sovereign
                                                            Lord  over the nations.


TRIUMPH  THROUGH  TRIALS



                                  Sown in Weakness
                                                  Rev. J. Kortering


  That's quite a list whereby the Apostle Paul de-          the "victim" of a violent accident. Nothing in the
scribes the character of our physical bodies: corrup-       hospital is quite like geriatrics. It is sown in weak-
tion, dishonor, weakness, and natural, see I Cor.           ness. Walk among the aged in the hospital and rest
15 : 42-44.                                                 home. What you see, what you hear, what you feel,
  It's very accurate.                                       yes, even what you smell is death! How often I have
                                                            quietly reflected to myself while visiting among them,
  Every time I have to visit the hospital, its accuracy     "What is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the
leaps out at me. Press your nose against the glass of       son of man that Thou visitest him," Ps. 8:4. Yes, they
the nursery, you are sure to find some little one            are at the end of the road, some almost waiting to
gasping for breath, sometimes assisted by gigantic          breathe their last  - and for God's people, to be re-
machines that enfold them like a second womb. Yes,          deemed from the body of this death.
they have barely arrived upon the scene and weakness
is displayed. Try walking quietly through pediatrics.             You may well ask, why dwell on these things?
It's quite a learning experience. Here's a little boy             Perhaps you are one who would just as soon look
with his leg suspended by an iron contraption; he            at the bright side of life. You may say that there are
looks awfully uncomfortable. There's another one,            more places to visit than hospitals and old people's
face flushed with fever, cuddling his fuzzy toy, crying      homes. Think of the homes that echo with the happy
softly. True, it may not take many days and they will        sounds of healthy babies and children and grateful
soon be bounding with the zest of life, yet while they       parents that care for them. Or visit the schools where
are sick they surely are weak. The halls are long, the       teachers are about to pull out their hair knowing how
floors are many, each room tells its own story of            to handle children that have energy to spare. We can
weakness. In one we see a once beautiful young girl,         step into many homes and see old folks actively
her body attacked violently by death, the. disease           engaged in their retirement years and appreciating
obviously taking its toll. In another we can see a           every one of them.
strong young man, hovering between life and death,                 True.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    275


  When Paul, through the work of the Holy Spirit,             Face that honestly as you see it in others and in
describes for us the character of our. physical body,       yourself. Yes, it is sown in weakness.
he does not mean to belittle its amazing quality. It is       Even our bodies tell us we need a Savior! The good
still a wonderful creation of God. Still more, for each     news of the gospel is that we have such a Savior.
one of us as children of God it is nothing less than the    There is deliverance from sin and death in One, the
"temple of the Holy Spirit," I Cor. 6: 19. Beyond all
doubt, our bodies also are wonderfully made.                Lord Jesus Christ. He took upon Himself our death in
                                                            order that He might impart to us His life.
  Let's not whitewash the reality of weakness, how-           In Christ, we have forgiveness of sin, Acts 5 : 3 1.
ever.                                                         In Christ, we have the redemption of our body,
  We must see that there is a difference between the        Rom. 8:23.
bodies of Adam and Eve prior to the fall and our
bodies as we have them today. Still more, we must             Take courage then, dear reader. In the midst of our
also see that there is a difference between our bodies      weakness of body we have everlasting life, John 3: 16.
as we now possess them and the bodies of the saints         Jesus assures us that, "He that liveth and believeth in
that have already been redeemed. The difference is          me shall never die," John 11: 26.
                                                              We have another list that describes the character of
weakness, corruption, dishonor, and natural.                our physical bodies: incorruption, glory, power, and
  That weakness is inseparably connected with sin           spiritual," I Cor. 15 :42-44.
and death.                                                    We have a blessed change in the resurrection of
  Because of sin we are weak in our bodies.                 Jesus Christ.
  Without sin there would be no death. Now, be-               In Him, death is swallowed up in victory.
cause of the sin of Adam, we all die.                         Believe in Him and enjoy that change.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                                         March 15, 1978
Dear Timothy,
  In our last letter we were discussing the origin of       father-in-law of Moses, visited the congregation of the
the special offices in the New Testament Church as          children of Israel. The incident is recorded in Exodus
these offices arose organically out of the life of the      18: 13-26. Jethro witnessed the fact that all the
Church.                                                     people came to Moses with their problems and Moses
  It is that time of the year when new officebearers        passed judgment in the individual cases which were
are once again ordained in our congregations, and it        brought to his attention. Jethro talked to Moses
was my privilege also to ordain new officebearers in        about this and told him that if he continued to bear
one of our congregations. As I was reading the form         the burden of the rule of the congregation by himself
for the ordination of officebearers, I was struck by        he would wear away. Jethro therefore advised that
the fact once again that our Form takes a certain           Moses appoint able and spiritually minded men to
definite position on certain matters which pertain to       hear the problems of the people and to pass judgment
this very question. I thought perhaps it might be well      in the cases brought to them. If there were any hard
if I call attention to some of the more interesting         cases these could be brought to Moses himself. Moses
features of this Form. You yourself have no doubt           took this advice and "chose able men out of all Israel,
read the Form within the last couple of weeks; and          and made them heads over the people, rulers of
you may also have been struck by what the Form              thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and
says. But to call special attention to a few items will     rulers of tens." This was the origin of the Council of
be interesting and helpful.                                 Elders in the nation.
  In the first place, concerning the origin of the word       Nevertheless, there were elders in the nation al-
"elder," our Form notes that this word is taken from        ready before this time. For example, at the return of
the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, according          Moses from the wilderness of Sinai to Egypt, we read
to the Form, the word connotes "a person who is             that he consulted with the elders of the people. (See
placed in an honorable office of government over            Ex.  4:29, e.g.) These men were probably the older
others." The reference is undoubtedly to the incident       men in the congregation who, because of their age
which took place in the wilderness when Jethro, the         and position, were leaders in their families and clans.


 276                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


   It is striking, however, that, from the days of             of the Church, which is committed to them, and
Jethro's visit, there is constant mention made of              diligently to look, whether every one properly
elders in Israel's history. This continued through the         deports himself in his confession and conversation; to
captivity and into the New Dispensation. The Jews              admonish those who behave themselves disorderly,
maintained that the Sanhedrin of Jesus' day had its            and to prevent, as much as possible, the sacraments
origin in the men who were chosen by Moses on the              from being profaned; also to act (according to the
advice of Jethro.                                              Christian discipline) against the impenitent, and to
   The two points which interest us here are these: 1)         receive the penitent  again into the bosom of the
they  were always men to whom was entrusted the                Church, as doth not only appear from the above
rule of the nation; and, 2) there is clear continuity          mentioned saying of Christ (the reference is to an
between the Old and New Testament Church in this               earlier part of the Form where Mt. 18: 17 is quote'd),
respect.                                                       but also from many other places of  Holy Writ,  as I
   The second point which the Form makes is that               Cor. chap. 5, and II Cor. chap. 2, that these things are
Scripture speaks of two kinds of elders. The text              not alone intrusted to one or two persons, but: to
quoted in this connection is I Timothy 5: 17: "Let             many who are ordained thereto."
the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double             There is, therefore, a certain sharing of this
honour, especially they who labour4n the word and              responsibility within the council of the Church. The
doctrine." The Form points out in this connection              ministers and elders share in the rule of the Churtih.
that, while both ministers and elders are called               This works out this way also in the practical affairs of
ministers, nevertheless the two offices are distinct.          the Church. Matters of discipline are discussed and
"Hence it is evident that there were two sorts of              decided upon by the minister and the elders. The
elders in the Apostolic Church, the former whereof             work of the rule of the Church falls upon both
did labor in the Word Bnd doctrine, and the latter did         ministers and elders. Both ministers and elders visit
not. The first were the ministers of the Word and              those who walk in sin to admonish them and call
pastors, who preached the gospel and administered              them to repentance. Both ministers and elders go `on
the sacraments; but the others, who did,not labor in           family visitation. Scripture gives to both the rule and
the Word, and still did serve in the Church, bore a            government of the Church.
particular  (undersco+g mine) office, namely, they                Nevertheless, there is also a distinction. Elders niay
had the oversight of the Church, and ruled the same            not, ordinarily, engage in the preaching of the Word
with the ministers of the Word."                               and the administration of the sacraments. And prbb-
   You will recall that a couple of let&s earlier, we          lems in the Church which involve specific discipline
made mention of the fact that there was a discussion           are usually the responsibility of the elders. Surely the
going on among some presbyterians whether there                supervision of the preaching and the sacraments
were two or three offices in the Church. Some                  belongs to their office.
maintain that there were only two: elders and dea-                The question may arise in your mind, however,
cons; others maintain that there are three: elders,            why the distinction between the two offices is not
deacons, and ministers of the Word. The whole                  sharper than this. The answer, I think, is not so h$d
controversy revolves, finally, around an interpretation        to find. You will recall that our Church Order even
of this text in Timothy. But it is clear that we are           makes provision for the deacons to labor along with
confessionally bound to the position that there are            the elders in smaller congregations where the number
three offices in the Church, not two. And this, I              of officebearers is not large. Article 37 reads in part:
believe, is the correct interpretation of this passage. It     "Whenever the numljer of elders is small, the deacons
is true that both ministers and elders are entrusted           may be added to the consistory by local regulation;
with the rule of the Church; and for this reason both          this shall invariably be the rule where the number is
are called in Scripture, elders. But it is also true that      less than three."
Scripture makes a distinction between the two offices            Van  Dellen and Monsma, in their "Church Order
and separates them. While, therefore, both rule in the         Commentary," point out that this is possible because
Church of Christ, each rules in his own office. And            of the fact that all the offices in the Church originate
both rule according to the unique idea of the office           in the one office of Jesus Christ and have their unity
which they hold. The ministers rule in the preaching           in this one office of Him Who is alone the  Office-
of the Word and the administration of the sacraments           bearer in the Church. To this may be added the fact
and the elders rule in the government and discipline           that all three offices really partake of the prophetic
of the Church. The Form also speaks of this                    office. We have called attention to this more than
distinction when it begins to sum up the duties of the         once; and it is well that we now spell out a bit more
elders. It states: ". . . the office of elders is, together    the implications of this.
with the ministers of the Word, to take the oversight            The authority of all the offices in the Church is in


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 277


authority which comes only through Jesus Christ. He           us obedience. And it itself has the power to punish
alone calls and ordains to office. He alone, therefore,       the disobedient as well as bless the obedient. Thus the
gives authority within the Church. But this authority         Word rules in our life whether that Word is brought
is always the authority of the  Word.  While the              by a minister, elder, or deacon.
authority of an officebearer is given directly by Jesus         It is in this respect that there is a certain unity of
Christ, nevertheless that authority is the authority of       the three offices. They must be kept distinct in the
the Word of Christ.  .That is, only when an  office-          Church. And yet they cannot be so separated from
bearer comes with the Word does he have any                   each other that they are isolated from each other in
authority at all. If he should, e.g., come with his own       their functions in the Church. All draw their work
word, whether that be as he attempts to play the role         out of the Holy Scriptures, and all manifest the one
of psychologist, psychiatrist, marriage counselor,            office of Jesus Christ.
youth director, money-inanager, or whatever, he has
no authority, He may come with some excellent                   Finally, the Form mentions the fact that elders act
advice which he has gleaned from other sources or             as assistants to the-ministers. "Thus we see that these
learned from some special courses which he took.              sorts of ministers are added to the others who preach
And he may, in the capacity of giving advice, suggest         the gospel, to aid and assist them, as in the Old
to those with whom he deals that it is probably the           Testament the common Levites were to the priests in
better part of wisdom if such a person should follow          the service of the tabernacle, in those things which
this particular course of action which he suggests. But       they could not perform alone: notwithstanding the
he has no authority. He cannot say: Thus saith the            offices always remained distinct one from the other."
Lord; you are duty-bound to do what I say upon
penalty of the wrath of God. He can never say this              We cannot discuss this in detail; nor is that neces-
because he lacks authority. His authority is in the           sary. It is only important to point out that the idea is
Word and in the Word alone.                                   not that the ministers occupy some superior office.
                                                              Scripture is very clear bn the parity of officebearers.
  This is true of every officebearer. Whether he be           But again the emphasis falls upon the fact that the
minister or elder or deacon, he comes with the Word.          government of the Church is giveh to many who labor
This is his only calling, and only when he does this          together for one cause.
does he truly function in his office.                           But we must end this letter and return again to this
  But that Word which he brings always carries with           subject at a later date, the Lord willing.
it a certain ruling and governing power. This is in the
nature of the Word itself. It is, in itself, the rule for                                Fraternally in Christ,
all faith and life. Whenever it is brought, it requires of                               H. Hanko

TAKING HEED TO DOCTRINE



                                                The Bible
                                                  Rev. David Engelsma

  What authority over your life do you acknowl-                 There are other people who might reply to our
edge? What is it that determines what you believe             questions with a question of their own: 7s there any
about God, about the world, and about yourself?               authority? Is there any safe and sure and clear guide
What regulates your behavior? What standard do you            for human life?" They despair of any such authorita-
have for your behavior in marriage? What guide do             tive rule and standard.
you follow in the rearing of your childrefi;  or, if you
are a child, what guide do you follow in your                   The one authority over man's life, the one rule of
relationships with your parents?                              man's faith and behavior, is the Bible. The Bible has
                                                              this authority because it is inspired of God. This is
  There are many people who would reply: "I do not            what the Bible says of itself in II Timothy 3: 16: "All
recognize any authority over me or over my life. I am         scripture is given by inspiration of God. . .  ." This
free!" In fact, however, these people are saying that         tells us the origin of the Bible. The Bible did not
they themselves are their own lords. Their own will           originate from men, even though God used men to
and their own wishes govern their lives.                      write the Bible. The origin of the Bible is God; God


278                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



has breathed forth the Bible. The Bible came into              3: 15 to the young minister, Timothy: "from a child
being because God moved men to write down those                thou hast known the holy scriptures." From the time
things that are in the Bible. As they wrote, God               that Timothy was a very young child, of a few years,
worked within them, by the Holy Spirit, so that they           he knew the Bible, understood its teachings, and
wrote exactly what He wanted them to write and                 grasped its message.
exactly how He wanted it written. Because the Bible              A young child is able to read and understand
is inspired of God, the Bible is the Word of God. All          Genesis 1 and 2, the simple account of God's creation
of the Bible is the Word of God, for "all scripture is         of the world, and thus that young child knows the
inspired of God." No part of the Bible is man's word.          great truth of the origin of all things. A young child is
For this reason, verse 15 of II Timothy 3 calls the            able to read and understand Genesis 3, the  siniple
Bible "holy": "And that from a child thou hast                 record of the fall of the first man and woman into
known the holy scriptures." God is holy, and God's             sin, and thus that young child knows the great truth
Word is also holy. Of no other book is this true.              of the entrance of sin and death into our world. A
  Since the Bible is the very Word of God, the                 young child is able to read and understand the
authority of the Bible is the authority of God                 gospels, the record of the birth and work and death
Himself. Whoever recognizes and submits to the                 and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, and thus that
authority of the Bible is actually bowing to the               young child knows the great truth of God's gracious
authority of God. Whoever refuses to acknowledge               salvation of His people through His Son come into
the authority of the Bible is, by virtue of this fact,         the flesh.
denying the right of God to rule over him. Then, he              The Bible is clear and bright, as clear and bright as
sets up another authority, another god, and that               the sun is in the heavens. The trouble is that men's
other authority is man, perhaps himself, perhaps               minds are darkened and their spiritual eyes are
some other man.                                                blinded by sin. Therefore, men do not see that the
  As the inspired Word of Gdd, the Bible is reliable.          Bible is God's Word, as it very plainly shows itself to
It is infallible - it contains no errors. It does not lie      be. Nor do they understand its teachings, although
or deceive. It records no history that is merely a             those teachings are plain. The fault is not in the Bible,
myth. It makes no promises that go unfulfilled. It             but in us; just as the reason why a blind man does not
gives no direction for human life that is mistaken and         see the sun is not some deficiency of the sun but the
that leads one into bitter disappointment. We can              blindness of the man himself. Therefore, before any
safely trust the `Bible, as is possible only with the          man can see the clarity of the Bible, God must work
Word of the God Who cannot lie.                                in that man to open the eyes of his heart and to
  The Bible alone is sufficient for man's salvation.           enlighten his mind. Christ must open the Scripture to
Everything that a man needs to know for his salva-             our understanding and must open our understanding
tion, the Bible contains. Everything that a man needs          to the Scripture (Luke  24:32, 45). The Holy Spirit
to know so that he may behave himself in a way that            must give us faith.
pleases God, the Bible teaches.  It  is  complete;  it           This already indicates what our answer is to those
requires no supplement. This is plainly the teaching           who challenge us to prove all that we confess about
of the passage quoted before. It says of "holy                 the Bible. "How do you know that the Bible is the
scriptures" that "they are able to make thee wise              inspired Word of God? How do you know that it ,is
unto salvation." The Bible is able to do this, the Bible       the only authority over man's life? You can say all
all by itself. If this were not the case, if the Bible were    these things, but prove it!"
incomplete, that other thing would be an authority               The proof that the Bible is the Word of God and,
alongside the Bible. But the Bible is the only                 therefore, the only authority, is the Bible itself. The
authority over men, whether that be the Church or              authority of the Bible does not depend on anything
the individual. God alone rules over the ,Church and           besides itself, not even the testitiony  of the Church.
over the individual child of God by His Word, and              The Bible proves itself! This does not embarrass us.
both the Church and the child of God must submit               We must not secretly wish that there were some
themselves to this Word.                                       evidence apart from the Bible that would conclusively
  None of this would be of any benefit to us if the            prove that the Bible is the Word of God. It stands in
Bible were not clear. The Bible teaches what we need           the very nature of the case that the Bible is its own
to believe and how we should live, clearly and plainly.        conclusive witness. For the Bible is the Word of God,
The Bible is not a deep, dark book that only a few,            and the Word of God substantiates and bears witness
learned theologians and ministers are able to under-           to itself. It no more needs, or allows, something else
stand. The Bible is understandable for the common,             to prove it than God needs, or allows, something else
ordinary man. Even a child can easily understand the           to prove Himself.
Bible. This is what the apostle Paul said in II Timothy          But if the question intends to ask concerning the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               279


possibility of knowing beyond any doubt that the.            condition, and men feel it. Especially the young
Bible is God's Word, the answer is this: "The Holy           people are quick to note that, without any authorita-
Spirit has testified, of this in my heart and has given      tive Word of God, our life is without meaning  and,
me perfect assurance that the Bible is what it claims        purpose. Everything, then, is up for grabs: marriage,
to be." One of the creeds-in which Reformed people           government, work, the authority of parents and
confess their faith, the Belgic Confession, says this:       teachers, concern for the neighbor, even health and
"We receive all these books (of the Bible) and these         physical life. To the question, "How shall a young
only, as holy . . . for the regulation, foundation, and      man, or young woman, regulate his, or her, life?"
confirmation of our faith; believing without any             there is no calm, sure, authoritative answer. There-
doubt, all things contained in them, not so much             fore, the youth are exposed to every misery. What a
because the Church receives and approves them as             contrast to the upbringing of children and young
such, but more especially because the Holy Ghost             people according to the standard of the Bible! In the
witnesseth in our hearts, that they are from God,            sphere of Holy Scripture, when the question is raised,
whereof they carry the evidence in themselves"               the vital question,
(Article V) .                                                   "How shall the young direct their way?
  The doctrine of the Bible, that the Bible is the              What light shall be their perfect guide?"
inspired Word of God, without errors, reliable in
everything it teaches, sufficient, clear, the only           the answer is given:
authority over the Church and the believer, is ab-              "Thy Word, 0 Lord, will safely lead,
solutely basic for the Christian faith, for the Church,         If in its wisdom they confide."
and for the individual child of God. Upon the Word              The confession of the authority of the Bible as the
of God, everything depends. The attacks made upon            Word of God, made in faith, will have great and
the Bible in our day, the den.ial of its inspiration, the    delightful benefits for the congregation and for the
questioning of its reliability, the obscuring of its         child of God. The scriptures will make men wise unto
clarity, and the challenge to its authority, are             salvation and will prove themselves "profitable for
attempts of Satan to destroy the very foundation of          doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
the Christian faith, the Christian Church, and the           in righteousness: that the man of God may be
Christian life. These attacks represent the height of        perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (II
human pride: Man dares to criticize God's Word.              Timothy 3: 15-17).
  The consequences of rejecting the authority of the                                 *  * *  18
Word of God are disastrous, as is evident on every              A question often raised today is: What version of
hand. Without the scripttires no one becomes wise            the Bible should I use? We are gravely concerned
unto salvation through faith in  Christ. Men remain          about the modem versions of the Bible which become
foolish - ignorant both of their own desperate plight        so popular,  e.g., The Living Bible.  In a pamphlet
and of God's Savior. Withqut the light that the Bible        called "Modern Bible Versions," we tell why we are
shines on his life, a man wanders blindly in darkness.       concerned, and we give our answer to the question,
He does not know whence he has come, why he                  which version. We invite you to write us for free
exists, or where he is going. Neither does he know           copies of this pamphlet in care of the business
how to behave himself on the way. This is a wretched         manager of The Standard Bearer.

STUDIES IN ISAIAH



                        The Land (Ours?) Forsaken
                                               Rev. Robert C. Harbach
Isaiah 7:15-l 7
  These verses have been interpreted and understood          was speaking and that he pointed to her in illustration
of a person different from the Immanuel of v. 14, of         of his prediction. Others, yet, said this was a son of
one naturally born in the days of Isaiah. Some of the        Isaiah's. These are assumptions without supporting
rabbins supposed the child to be Hezekiah, others            1 evidence and all unnecessary to the understanding of
that he was a son of Ahaz, and still others imagined         the passage. There is no necessity, especially no
that a pregnant woman was present at the time Isaiah         exegetical necessity, for making the person of w.


280                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


15-16 any other than the same person as h verse 14.             What is taught here is Christ's real humanity. To
It is both ungrammatical and arbitrary to refer v. 16        prove this to His church, even in His resurrection
to a child different from the one of v. 14. C. H.            from the dead in the flesh, He, just as any human
Spurgeon calls this "a strange frittering away of a          being would, ate some broiled fish and a piece of a
wonderful passage . . . I, therefore, reject that view of    honeycomb. The heretics known as the Doketites
the matter; it is, to my mind, far below the height of       taught that Christ's body was a mere seeming
this great argument. It does not speak, or allow us to       appearance. Then He was not a real man. But He ate
speak one half of the wondrous depth which                   butter and honey as other men did. He was nourished
coucheth beneath this mighty passage."                       with food as other men. He was true man just as
  Others suggest that the problem of the identity of         really as He was true and eternal God. He also was a
the persons in these verses is to be solved by the idea      holy Child, for He did not choose evil, as did our first
of a double fulfilment of prophecy. Of this, J. A.           parents, and as the natural man can only do. His
Alexander says, "A double sense is not impossible,           nature being sinless, He rejects the evil and chooses
and must, in certain cases, be assumed, (although) it        the good.
is unreasonable to assume it when any other ex-                Here is also taught that Christ would be born in a
planation is admissible . . . especially if any simpler      time of peace. "The bees may make their hive in the
mode of exposition be at all admissible."                    lion's  carcase, and there may be honey there; but
  The view here is like that of a phdto made with a          when the land is disturbed, who shall go to gather the
telescopic lens, showing buildings, cars, telegraph          sweetness? How shall the babe eat butter (thickened
poles, traffic, and people all in one close-up scene, all    milk - RCH), when its mother flees away even in the
in one plane. Distance and depth are squeezed out of         winter time, with the child clinging to her breast? . . .
the picture. The perspective combines objects near           Ere the King of Peace came to the temple of Jeru-
and lying far apart in a complex sequence and                salem, the horrid mouth of war was stopped . . .
arrangement. So the prophet, with telescopic eye sees        Augustus Caesar was emperor of the world; none
ranges of mountains as though within reach, not              other ruled it, and therefore wars had ceased, and the
seeing the far apart valleys in between. So when             earth was still! . . . then  c&e  the Prince of Peace,
"Isaiah speaks of Immanuel as eating thickened milk          who in after days shall break the bow and cut the
and honey, like all who survived the Assyrian troubles       spear in sunder, and bum the chariot in the fire"
. . . he evidently looks upon and thinks of the              (CHS).
childhood of Immanuel as connected with the time of
the Assyrian calamities" (Delitzsch). Everything is            "For before the boy shall know in (the presence
viewed in telescopic panorama  L close up. The               of) the evil to reject and in (the presence of) the good
prophet sees to the time when Jesus was born. At             to choose, the land, before two of her kings, concem-
that time, Israel was under a `Gentile power, in a           ing whom thou  feelest a sickening dread, shall be
situation directly traceable to the unbelief of Ahaz.        forsaken"  (v.  16, Heb.). "The  land  here meant is
                                                             Syria and Israel, spoken of as one because confed-
  "Curds and honey he shall eat to (the time of) his         erate against Judah. The wasting of these kingdoms
knowing, in (the presence of) the evil, to reject, and       and the deportation of their people by Tiglath-pileser
in (the presence of) the good, to choose" (v. 15,            (2 K.  15:29;  16:9), is here predicted" (J. A. Alex-
Heb.). The first Adam was a full grown, mature man           ander). The child, the one referred to in v. 14,
immediately upon his creation; but the Last Adam             Immanuel, as to his human nature, learns to dis-
was conceived, born, and advanced gradually through          tinguish good and evil, but before he does- so, some-
the stages of infancy, childhood, and youth to man-          thing happens. The land  ,gets to be God-forsaken.
hood, with increasing ability to discern good and evil.      Isaiah does not expressly say when this will take
As for the King James Version of this verse, Spurgeon        place, but only that it will before the child has
says, "Our translators were certainly very good              reached the riper age of boyhood. After Syria and
scholars, and God gavk them much wisdom, so that             Israel were fosaken, "Judah (w.  17ff) was then next
they craned up our language to the majesty of the            laid waste by the Assyrians as a punishment for
original, but here they were guilty of very great            having refused the help of Jehovah, and preferring the
inconsistency. I do not see how butter and honey can         help of man . . . The very king to whom  Ahaz had
make a child choose good and refuse evil. If it is so, I     appealed in his terror would bring Judah to the brink
am sure butter and honey ought to go up greatly in           of  d&truction." (Delitzsch). His hopes were dashed
price. For good men are very much required. But it           to disappointment. For the two kings, who were no
does not say in the original, `Butter and honey shall        more than two tales of smoking firebrands, but whom
He eat that  .He may know to refuse the evil and             Ahaz dreaded, were drawn off and made to  for&e
choose the good.' " The text is literally as noted at        the land of Israel, thus relieving Judah of this threat,
the beginning of this paragraph.                             and leaving Ahaz with nothing more to fear from


\                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                281


them. Yet Ahaz, too, followed not long afterward in           when God covered England with His wing, when
their slippery path.                                          Spain's Armada was swept away by the tempest, like
     "The land forsaken!" Why was it so? For the sins         chaff before the wind, and God was with our
of idolatry and image worship! Ahaz was an idolater.          country, and gave her power, and made her to be the
His sins brought the land to God-forsakenness. Our            empress  of  the  se&  (ital added); but if she forsakes
land, too, is full of these same sins. The nation falls       her God, she will fall from her heights. (God will
into these evils only gradually. "After a while, they         bring such days as have not come, v. 17. - RCH). If
who professed to worship Christ must needs have               this land becomes full of images and idols again, and
cross and crucifix, picture and image. Of course, they        there be found none to protest against it, the God
did not worship the cross, or crucifix, or the picture,       that lifted us up will throw us down. He that  hatli
or the image! No, but they professed to worship               used us for His glory will reckon us to be unfit for His
Christ by the help of these things. That was the first        service, and cast us away with the other nations that
violation of the simplicity of worship . . . in reality, a    He hath forsaken because of their defilement through
departure from the living God. In a very short time           idolatry." (Spurgeon).
they took to the worship of saints, and from that               "Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy
they went to the worship of cast clouts and rotten            people, and upon the house of thy father, days which
rags . . . bones . . . decayed teeth and all kinds of         have not come, to, from the time Ephraim departed
rubbish, made the subjects of worship when they               from upon Judah, by the king of Assyria" (v. 17).
have been exposed to the gaze of the deluded people           Ahaz could not listen to Jehovah speaking either
. . . Only three or four hundred years ago, from one          through a special supernatural world-staggering
end of this island to the other, the land was full of         wonder or His own simple word of truth, because he
holy roods and images and relics . . . the people were        was so indebted to and involved' with the King of
utterly given up to idolatry, and the gospel of God           Assyria. He had committed himself, for certain helps,
was scarcely known" (C. H. Spurgeon). But then the            to be his servant. He had paid him off in gold and
time came when God's people were moved to "revolt             silver tribute money. To do this he had impoverished
against Romanism, and all over England men smashed            the treasuries of church and state (2 K. 16:7-8). But
the `holy water' basins, and defaced the pictures, and        the king of Assyria would become to him to lean on a
pulled down the images, and treated them with utter           broken reed. He would become to him a scourge of
contempt, and England was freed from the idolatry             thorns, a whip of scorpions. Therefore "Jehovah will
under which she had groaned so long. We thought she           bring upon thee," i.e., the hypocritical Ahaz (who
would always remain free; but, alas! we only dreamed          was such a lover of everything Assyrian) would find
it. By and by there came men in `the Established              that far from coming to his aid, they would come to
Church,' who did not bid us worship saints, nor did           destroy him. "Upon thee, upon thy pedple and upon
they at first go very far in idolatry; but they said that     the house of thy father." The house of David would
they must have vestments, incense, and I know not             not be exempt from this severe judgment. The spiri-
what, and now they have boldly set up the crucifix -          tual Israel would be spared and preserved through
that calf of Baal, for it is nothing better - that image      God's judgments, while the carnal Israel would not
which they adore, and which we loathe, because it             escape unpunished but be consumed in His wrath.
has become the thin end of the wedge, the first return        Saith the  .Lord, I will bring upon thee days which
to idolatry. Where is true Protestant feeling (thinking,      have not occurred since the schism and revolt of
teaching, and preaching  - RCH) in England (in                apostate Israel from Judah. That national affliction
America  - RCH)? It seems to me to be almost                  did more damage to the kingdom than any heathen
extinct. All that many care for is an ornate service,         enemy. Yet by all this destruction, the overthrow of
something beautiful for the eye to rest upon, flowers         Syria, next the ruin of  Samaria, the carrying off of
more abundant than in a conservatory, music sweet             Israel to captivity, and finally the fall of Judah, the
to the ear, and thus, by-and-by, unless God prevent,          Lord would destroy the hypocrite and prove that
we shall get back to the old Roman idolatry, and that         judgment on the wicked is for the sake of the
would be the ruin of this land as it has been the ruin        preservation of His Church.
of every land where it has had the sway. Time was                                               A

                           `Know the standard and follow it.
                                             Read the
         THE STANDARD BEARER


 282                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


SIGNS OF THE TIMES




                        Towards a Secular Solution
                                               Rev. Mark Hoeksema
   Recently `I received a "Hunger Fighter" in the mail.     a step, should we say anything at all about it? These
As I suppose most other pastors do, I receive a great       questions crossed my mind as I scanned the material I
deal of "junk mail," unsolicited advertisements for         had received. Why not just toss the whole package
many organizations and causes. Virtually all of these       into the wastebasket and forget about it? But then
materials go into "File 13" without so much as a            again, should something be said after all? And if so,
second glance. But once in a while there comes a            what?
publicity stunt that is just about impossible to ignore;      After pondering the matter for some time, I de-
it receives more than cursory attention, and perhaps        cided that something should be said. However, I must
provides food for more in-depth thought. Such was           confess that it is rather difficult to criticize a program
my "Hunger Fighter."                                        such as this. Though my initial reaction was instantly
  What is a Hunger Fighter? It consisted of a "Love'        negative, to give content to those negative feelings is
Loaf," a small plastic box in the shape of a loaf of        much more difficult. Being against fighting hunger is
bread with a slot in the top, and of considerable           something like being against motherhood and apple
written material explaining the promotion. Sponsored        pie - it's unAmerican and unchristian in the eyes of
by World Vision International, this Hunger Fighter          most people today. But, on the other hand, such
kit is meant to be used in one's congregation. The          anti-poverty programs sponsored by churches and
recipient is supposed to order, free of charge, enough      religious organizations are proliferating today; World
Love Loaves for his congregation, which then fills up       Vision is not by any means the only organization so
the loaves with money, and at -an appointed time,           involved, but it is a good representative of the kind of
turns them all in so that the money can be collected,       thing that is being done today. And because this issue
counted, and sent to World Vision to feed the poor of       is one that is connected with the church, and because
the world. There are detailed instructions as to            the appeals of these organizations are directed to
exactly how the program should be conducted, what           Christians, and often to Reformed Christians, some
it will do, and what its advantages are for the local       reflection is in order. I want to make it clear in this
congregation, as well as for the poor and deprived          regard that I attribute no evil motives to those
people who will receive this aid. For example, the          involved, nor am I (or the denomination of which I
church can aid people in Southern Sudan, Africa;            am a member) opposed to the relief of the poor.
Gujarat, India; Irian Jaya, Indonesia; and Maranhao,        Because this matter concerns the church, and because
Brazil, with medicines, sewing machines, water buf-         there is here a sign of the times, a few words of
faloes, tractors, chicken feed, and apple trees, all for    evaluation are in order.
just a few dollars a month. According to the promo-           The intent of World Vision is obviously to instill in
tional material accompanying the Love Loaf, all of          Christians a sense of responsibility or even guilt
this is a "proven way to increase your church's             towards the poor of the world. I do not intend to
support of denominational hunger programs," and is          enter into the whole question of who is one's neigh-
also good for families, who can use this Love Loaf in       bor, and what is the obligation of Christians towards
family devotions ("Children love it"). As proof that        those less fortunate than those of us in developed
the program is successful, World Vision points out          countries. But I must confess that I cannot bring
that more than $2 million was raised through the            myself to feel responsible or guilty for the plight of
Love Loaf  - program last year, and adds glowing            people in far-off lands, since I do not believe that I
testimonials from pastors of churches which took            am. their neighbor, and I resent being asked for
part in the program. Perhaps more details could be          money on the basis of a supposed feeling or respon-
added, but the picture should be sufficiently clear to      sibility. But apart from this, there are many more
give a good understanding of the Hunger Fighter.            important things that can be said about this Hunger
  What must we say about all of this? Or, to back up        Fighter. Its underlying assumption is the common


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                              283


`humanity of man, with mutual responsibility, under a         underlying assumption of those who promote such
universal fatherhood of God, an assumption which all          projects. Apart  from the fact that we as Reformed
Reformed Christians must reject on the basis of the           Christians must not allow this to be the test of our
Scriptures. To put the same thing into different              Christianity, there is a deeper problem here.
words, there is not even a hint of the truth of the
antithesis here, because there is no regard for spiritual        The deeper matter is that here is a sign of the
matters and principles, which must always govern the          times, for such movements evidence the development
lives of God's people. There is an emphasis, sicken-          of the power of antichrist. As John points out in I
ingly, upon what man can do and what man should               John 2: 18, "Little children, it is the last time: and as
do. The benefits to you and your congregation are             ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are
repeatedly stressed; those who give to this project are       there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is
exalted for showing their love. Such a man-centered           the last time." In the book of Revelation, especially
philosophy of do-goodism betrays a basically Arminian         the 13th chapter, we are instructed in figurative
and universalistic bias on the part of the sponsors           language that the antichrist shall utilize the power of
of this and similar projects, as well as a gross ignor-       so-called religion to realize his false kingdom at the
ance of the Biblical concept of love. Does this sound         end of time. All the power of the existing church will
like Reformed language?                                       become subject to the goals of antichrist and his
       Jesus                                                  kingdom. Moreover, we are instructed in the Scrip-
                 met every human need. One evening He
    healed many of the sick who had gathered at the door      tures that his kingdom shall be glorious in character,
    of Peter's house. On another occasion He overturned       so that poverty, disease, and misery, shall be elimi-
    the moneytables of those who were cheating the            nated to a great degree. Therefore he will be ac-
    poor. And once He took five loaves and two fishes to      claimed and worshipped by the whole world as their
    feed a hungry crowd. His were acts of love  - the         hero and savior. In the elimination of poverty the
    expressed love of a God who cares.                        church will aid.
       That same love can be cultivated in your church
    through the Love Loaf. It's one way to let Jesus             When these briefly stated truths are remembered,
    continue, through His Body, to care for the poor as       then we are able to gain a perspective on many of the
    He did while on earth.                                    movements we see in the church world today. Never
                                                              should we forget that the signs of the times take place
       If Jesus can feed  5000  people with a small boy's
    lunch, we can ask Him to do it with a Love Loaf.          not only in the world, but also concern that which is
                                                              called church. Some of those signs are clearly evident
  Who is this God and this Jesus? For whom does He            already. Hand in hand with the current apostasy from
care  - for all people in the world, or for His elect         the faith goes the pseudo-religion exemplified in such
children? Is Jesus so weak a Savior that we have to let       movements as World Vision. After all, when the
Him care for the poor, or is He the exalted Lord over         gospel is lost or taken away from the church, some-
all things in heaven and on earth? Is this a Reformed         thing must be substituted for it. And what is substi-
concept of mission work? Where is the gospel of               tuted is a secular religion, according to which the
salvation, of God's sovereign salvation of His people         doing of a general kind of good works in the civil
through the work of His grace in Christ? To ask these         realm is made to be the same as the service of Christ.
questions is to answer them.                                  Further, such efforts are increasingly effective as
                                                              tools to unite world Christianity, which is a pre-
  But more significantly for Reformed Christians,             requisite for the realization of the kingdom of anti-
there is an unmistakable sign of the times in this            christ.
endeavor and others like it. I refer to what might be
called a secular religion. This religion is secular in its      The calling of all Reformed Christians, then, is not
methods, for it uses the tactics of Madison Avenue, of        to participate in efforts to eliminate world hunger
slick promotions, of glib phrases, of shallow thinking.       and poverty; we must remember that the enemy of
This commercialization of religion, the dealing with          the gospel and the church and Christ is not poverty,
big money, the recitation of impressive results must          but sin and the power of antichrist. If we unthink-
never characterize the church of Jesus Christ. But            ingly go along with and support such efforts, then we
apart from the methods involved here, the message             become part of the spirit and power of antichrist, and
that comes through is very secular. Make no mistake,          we lose the gospel and faith of Jesus Christ. Rather,
Christianity is equated here with giving of money to          in an age of many antichrists which are in the world,
the poor. While it is certainly true that the care of         we must remain faithful to the truth of the Scrip-
God's poor is one of the callings and even one of the         tures, and be busy with the work of preaching the
marks of a Christian, in no way does Christianity             gospel of Christ, that we may be instrumental in the
consist of sending Love Loaves to the poor in remote          gathering of the church while it is day, before the
areas of the world. And yet this is exactly the               night comes.


284                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


GUEST ARTICLE





              Dooyeweerd's Passing--An Evaluation
                                                                    (1)
                                                           Bernie  Postma

(Editor's Note: This article was submitted for possible place-             every special science was running up against  founda-
ment in the S~LZ&W~ Bearer by Mr. Bernie Postma, member of                 tional problems of a philosophic sort" (italics added).
the Protestant Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa. Because of the               And, finally, in the same context he writes: "By the
importance of the subject of the Dooyeweerdian Philosophy                  end of the first World War what philosophy itself
and the related AACS, or "Toronto," Movement, we are                       needed, if it was to develop soundly in this. new
placing it in two installments. As is always the case, placement           situation was men whose general philosophical
does not imply endorsement by the Standard Bearer  or its                  abilities were related to an informed awareness of
editor.)                                                                   these philosophical questions that lie at the founda-
   The Banner of April 22, 1977 carried a rather long                      tion of each of the special sciences" (italics added).
article written by Dr. H. Evan Runner, of Calvin                             A little later, in a different context, referring to the
College, entitled, "Dooyeweerd's Passing  - An                             historical background of Dooyeweerd's rise and his
Appreciation."                                                             emerging Christian perspective, Runner says: "Thus,
   Although I am not a professional philosopher, I                         Dooyeweerd came to general philosophical questions
shall nevertheless attempt to set forth clearly my                         by way of a study of the philosophical questions that
reactions to some of his statements, along with                            lie at the foundation of the law sciences."
reiterating what I have always believed to be the                            Now, really, with all due respect for the person of
Reformed position over against the Dooyeweerdian                           Dr. Runner, does not all of this sound very much like
view of the Scriptures.                                                    going around in circles? We know, do we not, that by
   In the light of the Bible, God's Word, the Holy                         going around in circles we never get to the point,
Scriptures, which all mean exactly the same, I intend                      always ending up where we started from. We may
to present my reactions in the following order with                        take several people with us, walking or even running
respect to:                                                                as fast in a circle as we like; but we are not getting
                                                                           anywhere, although we "Christians" might think or
            I. Runner's view;                                              feel that as a "community" we are really "on the
       II. Dooyeweerd's view of the Bible;                                 way," according to Runner. However, it should be
       III. How the Bible is viewed by some of                             rather obvious that all this "rurming around" is
               Dooyeweerd's pupils.                                        nothing but self-deception. For, it is simply not true
                                                                           that the "deep problems" which lie at the bottom of
I. Runner's article                                                        the special sciences would be of a philosophical
   The more I reread his article the more I cannot                         nature, including even the science of philosophy. If
escape the basic concept Runner seems to convey,                           this were true, this would elevate philosophy to a
namely, that fundamental to the deep underlying                            level above all other sciences, including theology; and
problems related to the various sciences are other                         it would mean that all problems would be solved as
problems of a deep philosophical nature. For, talking                      soon as we have found the philosophic answers. Then,
about a rabid proliferation of the special sciences in                     philosophically speaking, we might conclude, for
the nineteenth century, he writes: "At first the view                      instance, that at the bottom of the philosophic
had prevailed (positivism) that the special sciences                       problems of the science of philosophy lie problems of
were self-sufficient, that is, that they could make it                     a deep philosophical nature which can or must be
on their own, were structurally unrelated to philos-                       solved in the philosophical way, including those
ophy"  (italics added). And further: "But it gradu-                        philosophical problems which lie at the bottom of
ally became clear to a great many investigators that                       theology. Well, if this is not going around and around


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 285


on the philosophical merry-go-round, I don't know           Bible. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in Whom all
what else this is. Is it any wonder that a well-known       things consist, and Who upholds all things by the
minister in the Christian Reformed Church made the          power of His might - He is the Way, the Truth, and
remark, "The study of philosophy is a waste of time;        the Life, and the Supreme Wisdom, also when it
I'd rather study the Bible"?                                pertains to the study of any science, special or
  Fact is, that basic to the deep problems many             non-special.
"investigators" of the many special sciences run up           But, so the reader might ask, what is the argument?
against is a spiritual problem, relating to the true        Did not both men, Vollenhoven and Dooyeweerd,
knowledge and childlike fear of Jehovah, and to the         want to establish a Christian philosophy distinct from
everyday worship of Him in spirit and in truth              all the secular philosophies so prevalent in an unbe-
according to God's Word, the Bible. This is what the        lieving world? And, therefore, this philosophy is
Bible clearly teaches us in Colossians 1: 16,17:  "For      based upon the Bible, is it not? And so, again, what is
by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and     the argument?
that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they        In spite of a sincere desire on the part of both
be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers:     Vollenhoven and Dooyeweerd to establish a Christian
all things were created by him, and for him: and he is      philosophy (I have no reason to doubttheir integrity
before all things, and by him all things consist."          and sincerity), it is my heartfelt belief and conviction
"Whom we preach," so the holy apostle Paul con-             that their starting point was wrong. Runner himself
tinues in vs. 28, "warning every man, and teaching          indicates this when he says, "Thus they (Vollenhoven
every man in all wisdom; that we may present every          and Dooyeweerd, B.P.) came to see the urgent need
man perfect in Christ Jesus." And now, spiritually          for a general Christian philosophical theory." A few
speaking - we are talking about "deep problems," are        remarks about this statement should suffice. The
we not?  - what has the unbelieving  investigator-          words general and Christian are mutually exclusive.
philosopher in common with Christ Jesus? Nothing at         The word  Christian  implies separation, antithesis,
all! No wonder he has problems! What has the                unique, very special, all referring to God's sovereign
unbelieving theologian in common with Christ Jesus?         grace in the Lord Jesus Christ whereby He elects
Nothing at all! And, consequently, he does encounter        some to eternal bliss and reprobates others to eternal
foundational problems, too! The general church              damnation in hell. What is so general about being
world, even the churches which are called or call           Christian? The Bible and our Reformed Confessions
themselves Reformed, are pregnant with theological          are unmistakably clear when it comes to these
nonsense, because the pure wisdom of God in Christ.         matters pertaining to election and reprobation. The
Jesus has been replaced on many pulpits with                expression "general Christian" is therefore a contra-
philosophical hullabaloo!                                   diction in terms.
  And so we could continue. Every unbeliever pursu-           From the very start, though perhaps not in so
ing any kind of science  - he might even have               pronounced a form as came to manifestation later on,
acquired one or more doctor's titles!  - apart from         this philosophy was fundamentally an effort to unite
true faith in God,  .that is, apart from a heartfelt        all Christians of all kinds of "colors" from all de-
reliance upon and a sincere and humble subjection to        nominations under one roof. This is an unbiblical
the Bible, indeed runs up against all sorts of insur-       "ecumenical" spirit so prevalent in our age, a strife
mountable problems, because he fails to see the unity       for unity at the expense of the truth of the Bible.
of all the sciences, special or non-special, in Christ      And it simply won't work. Think, for instance, of
Jesus. Consequently, these problems are of a deep           "Key 73," which was at best a religionistic flop.
spiritual nature, and are not of a philosophic sort, as       Wanting to deny the existence of such an "ecumen-
Runner wants us to believe.                                 ical"' spirit in the Dooyeweerdian philosophy would
  Two prominent Reformed men, the late Dr..                 mean to assume a position contrary to plain fact,
Abraham Kuyper and the late Dr. Klaas Schilder, of          but above all contrary to Scripture and Confession,         .
the Netherlands - to mention only two of several -          which we might illustrate with the following his-
had the courage of their heartfelt conviction by the        torical example.
grace of God to state emphatically that all  true             When the late Dr. Dooyeweerd came to Canada in
science, that is, the true study of the various sciences    October, 1961 to meet with the board of the
in accordance with and in humble subjection to the          A.R.S.S., the Association for Reformed Scientific
Bible will invariably lead to God, our Creator, of          Studies, headquartered in Toronto, and the fore-
Whom, through Whom, and unto.Whom are all things.           runner of the present day A.A.C.S., he urged the
  There is no conflict between the true study of any        Board as follows: `to seek for a basis for the
science, which obviously can only be performed by,          Association which would not bind him to the creeds
the true child of God, and the Word of God, the             .o.f the Church, but would set forth clearly the


286                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


Scriptural demands for a reformation of theoretical           thoughts, words, and deeds, should warn us to be
thought. "                                                    constantly on our guard for any man-made theory.
   The adoption by the Board of the A.R.S.S. of this          No wonder that God  .instructs us to test the spirits
ill-conceived suggestion caused an ever increasing            whether they are of God! This implies (and the
polarization and confusion within the Reformed                practice of our daily lives demonstrates this very
Churches. And, by the way, in 1967 the name of the            clearly) that instead of establishing a Christian
Association was changed to A.A.C.S., the Association          philosophical theory, the outcome of such an en-
for the Advancement of Christian Scholarship  -               deavor, in spite of serious intentions, is a philosoph-
whatever is meant by the word "Christian" - right             ically oriented or dominated man-made theory
after the Institute for Christian Studies (I.C.S.) was        covered with a layer of "Christian" veneer. To con-
established in Toronto.                                       tradict this would not only mean a headlong rushing
                                                              up against the plain facts of life, but would also mean
  What Dooyeweerd suggested, based upon and in                taking a position contrary to the clear teachings of
harmony with his personal philosophically oriented            the Bible. God says to His apostle Paul in Colossians
thought patterns, is a contradiction in terms, and a          2:8: "Beware lest any man spoil you through philos-
very serious one indeed. We must well remember that           ophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of man,
what God has joined together throughout the history           after the rudiments of the world, and not after
of His church no man can or has a right to put                Christ."
asunder without provoking His righteous wrath. If the           Fundamentally speaking, this "Philosophy of the
creeds of the church are considered not good enough,          Law-Idea" wants to be synthetical, rather than
not broad enough, inferior, or even if they are               Biblically antithetical. Let us well remember that it is
considered an obstacle in the way for true church             God Himself Who established the antithesis! Let me
unity, it follows irrevocably that the Bible is also          quote in this regard another one of Runner's state-
under attack. The creeds, sealed with the blood of the
martyrs  - being the seed of the church!  - are the           ments: "During these years (up to World War II, B.P.)
                                                              in tense discussions began with  Roman- Catholic
expression of an heartfelt conviction of the church of        philosophers and theologians, which have profoundly
God with respect to the eternal truths of the Word of         effected Roman Catholic thought in the Netherlands..
God, the Bible, and the God of that Bible. To try to          In other words, what the Holy Spirit apparently was
separate the two, Scripture and Confession, either in         not able, or rather, not willing to do, namely, to
practice or theory, does not only lead to absurdities,        bring about a unity between Roman Catholics and
but is downright wicked. Such separation results in a         the posterity of the Reformation, the "Christian"
situation wherein ultimately we have nothing left,            philosophy was considered able to accomplish? I am
neither Scripture nor Confession: for God Himself,            sure that Prof. Runner does not mean to blaspheme
bestowing His sovereign grace in the history of His           the Holy Spirit; but such a statement is not only
church, joined those two together! Do we not see all          contrary to plain facts as God made them to happen
around us an ever increasing ignorance, coupled with          in and through His church, but also contrary to God's
an ever growing indifference and disdain for the              Word. Fundamentally, Roman Catholicism has not
creeds of the church? And must not the same con-              changed; with its Mary cult and other blasphemous
clusion be drawn with respect to the Bible, God's             anti-Biblical dogmas it has grown worse over the years
Holy Word?                                                    and it does not apologize for what it stood for in the
  A second remark concerns the reality of sin. It is          past and what it stands for today. But the fact is that
my conviction that this philosophy, known as De               the children of the Reformation have changed dras-
Wyssbegeerte der Wets-idee,  which means "The                 tically. Of course, the principles of the sixteenth
Philosophy of the Law Idea," does not take into               century Reformation, whereby God in His infinite
account sufficiently the tremendous and horrible              mercy by His sovereign grace delivered His church
reality of sin and the salvation from sin through the         from the horrible grip of the spiritual darkness of the
unimaginable sufferings and agonies of Jesus Christ           Middle Ages, are still the same. These principles will
on the cross. This is why we must be careful with             not change, but will forever remain the `same: for
human theories, regardless of how Christian-like they         they are in full agreement with, are solidly founded
might sound. Every theory originates in the thoughts          upon, and are established in heart-felt subjection to
of man. God tells us through His prophet Jeremiah,            the eternal Word of God, the Bible. Consequently,
17: 9, that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and     between the system of Roman Catholicism and the             /
desperately wicked; who can know it?" Furthermore,            principles of the Reformation stood the Bible, and
we read in Genesis 6 : 5 : ". . . every imagination of the    still today stands the Bible. To make philosophy,
thoughts' of his heart was only evil continually."            even Christian philosophy, the binding force of all
These words and many more passages from Holy Writ             religions is an effort not worthy of Biblical considera-
which deal with the corruptness of man in all his             tion.


                                                                                                                                               I
I                                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                          287


                                                                                                     :    :,:
                                                                  Book  Reviews1

     OUR REASONABLE FAITH, by Herman Bavinck                                              Volume II of Bavinck's Reformed  fiogmatics which
     (translated by Henry Zylstra); Baker Book House,                                     deals with the first locus of Dogmatics. This work is
     Grand Rapids, Michigan; 568 pages, $6.95 (paper-                                     of a more technical nature; but Dr. Hendriksen has
     back). (Reviewed by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema)                                            furnished an excellent translation on the whole and
     THE DOCTRINE OF GOD,  by Herman Bavinck                                              has made the work easier reading by translating into
     (translated by William Hendriksen); Baker Book                                       English all the German, Latin, Hebrew, and Greek
     House, Grand Rapids, Michigan; 407 pages, $5.95                                      quotations and expressions. It is always better to read
     (paperback). (Reviewed by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema)                                      a work of this kind in its original language; and at the
        Both of these books are reprints in Baker's "Twin                                 seminary we expect our students to be able to read
     Brooks Series." The original publications were hard-                                 Bavinck in the Dutch. Nevertheless, it is good that
     backs, published by Eerdmans.                                                        this part of Bavinck's Dogmatics has been made
        Our Reasonable Faith  is. a survey of Christian                                   available in the English language for those unable to
     doctrine intended not for the theological student but                                handle the Dutch. Besides, with a little effort and use
     for the general reading public. It is an excellent                                   of the thinking-cap, the run-of-the-mill Christian
     translation by that English language perfectionist, the                              reader who is interested in growth and enrichment in
     late Henry Zylstra. The Dutch work had the imposing                                  Reformed doctrine can very well read this book. For
     title                                                                                example, Bavinck's discussion of supra- and  in-
               Magnalia  Dei.  For those interested in the study
     of Christian doctrine and in enrichment in the think-                                fralapsarianism is very interesting and instructive. One
     ing of other Reformed thinkers, this is an excellent                                 does far better to wade through books of this kind
     book. Do not expect easy, relaxing reading, however;                                 than to float through much of the trash on today's
     you will have to put on your thinking-cap. Neverthe-                                 religious book market. 1
     less, Herman Bavinck was a Reformed scholar, an                                         One minor criticism: for theological students the
     interesting writer, and a penetrating thinker. An                                    value of the book would have been enhanced if all of
     excellent addition to anyone's library.                                              the references to other writers had been included.
        The Doctrine of God is a translation of that part of                                 Highly recommended.


                                  SOUTHWESTPROTESTANT
                                           REFORMEDCHURCH
                         Southwest Protestant Reformed Church of Wyoming, Michigan, is still in
                     need of  $35,000.00 to finance the construction of their Phase I building
                     project. Those interested in loaning  $l,OOO.OO  or more for periods of five
                    years, ten years or fifteen years at interest rates of 7%, 71/%  and 8% respec-
                     tively are requested to contact Mr. John Vander Woude, 7085 Sunset Dr.,
                    Jenison, Michigan, 49428 (Phone 616-457-0553) for particulars.



                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                              NOTICE!!!!
        The  Consistory  of  First  Protestant  Reformed   Church   of  Holland,             The  Northwest   Iowa  Protestant   Reformed   School,  Doon,   Iowa,  will
     Michigan,  expresses  their  Christian  sympathy   to  Rev.  and  Mrs.  John   A.    be  in  need  of  three  (3)  teachers   for  the  School   term  of  1978-1979.
     Heys  in  the  loss  of  his  brother,   JAMES  HEYS.                                Teachers   needed   are  for  the  Lower  Room  -  Kindergarten,   1st  and  2nd
        May  our  God   strengthen   them  by  His  Spirit   and  Word.   "For  this      grades,  Middle   Room  -  3rd,  4th  and  5th  grades,  Upper  Room  -  6th,
     God   is  our  God  forever  and  ever:  He  will  be  our  guide   even  unto       7th  and  8th  grades.  Application   can  be  made  by  writing   to:  -  The
     death."   (Psalm  48:14).                                                            Northwest   Iowa  Protestant  Reformed   School,  Doon,   Iowa  51235  (c/o
                                            Mr.  H.  Vander   Kolk  (Vice   Pres.)        Mrs.  Ed  Van  Egdom)  or  to:  -  Henry   Bleyenburg,   909  -  12th  St.,  Rock
                                            Mr.  Terry  Elzinga  (Clerk)                  Valley,  Iowa  51247.


  THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                                                  SECOND CLASS
          P.O. Box 6064                    ____~ -       -         -~  --_                              POSTAGE PAID AT
 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                         GRAND RAPIDS,  MICH.
                                                                                                 I                            1


                                                                 . . :.:


  288                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

                                 News From Our Churches
    Rev. Meindert Joostens, pastor of our Faith                   ing between 9:30 and 1,l :OO. Wij hopen eeen gezellig.
 Church in Jenison, Michigan has accepted a call from             uurtje met elkander door te brengen." The meaning
 First Church in Grand Rapids to serve as their pastor.           of the last sentence is left to those readers who can
    The consistory of our church in Edgerton, Min-                master the appropriate foreign language.
 nesota, has granted the request of the Foreign Mission                     The requirement of the Church Order that each
 Committee of our churches that their pastor, Rev.                local congregation receive an annual visit by `church
 James Slopsema, be released for a period of one to               visitors' appointed by the Classis means quite a bit of
 two months in order that he might labor in  Singa-               travel for the church visitors in  Classis West.. Rev.
.pore. The Mission Committee has received a plea for              Kortering of Redlands, California, and Rev. Engelsma
 help from a group of about one hundred young adults              of South Holland, Illinois, planned to visit the
 there to organize them into a church and to instruct             churches in Isabel, South Dakota, Loveland, Colo-
 them in God's Word. Rev. Slopsema and Mr. Dewey                  rado, Houston, Texas, Randolph, Wisconsin, and
 Engelsma of our Hope Church in Walker, Michigan,                 South Holland, Illinois, between February 20 and the
 plan to leave sometime near the middle of March,                 meeting of Classis West in South Holland on March 1.
 depending on how quickly things can be arranged.
The purpose of this visit is to investigate the situation                   News of the work of church extension committees
 in Singapore first-hand with a view toward sending a            in various of our churches have appeared in the
 missionary to labor in Singapore. The Edgerton con-             bulletins of late. The committee in our church in
 sistory has asked the congregation "to remember this            Loveland recently mailed out 550 copies of the
 very important work in their prayers and also to                pamphlet entitled "The Necessity of Scripture."
 patiently bear with any inconvenience the absence of            Faith Church in Jenison, Michigan, has been placing
 the pastor may cause."                                          articles in the local `Shopper' paper. Our church in
                                                                 Edmonton, Alberta, has purchased a new tape
    Rev. John Heys, pastor of our church in Holland,             machine, the primary purpose of which is to produce
 Michigan, had open heart surgery on February 22.                high quality tapes for a local church radio program
 According to reports in the Southwest and  Hudson-              which the church has plans to set up. The congrega-
 ville bulletins Rev. Heys is coming along very well.            tion in Isabel, South Dakota, pays for one-half the
    According to another report in the Hudsonville               cost of the Reformed Witness Hour radio program
 bulletin, Rev. Van Overloop, who is working and                 broadcast on a station in their area. This amounts to
 preaching in Christchurch, New Zealand, for about                $5.95 per,family per month.
 nine months, is enjoying the fruits and vegetables he
 and his family are gathering from their garden. To                         The young people of our South Holland congrega-
 those of us in the Midwest, this gardening activity             tion are quite busy with fund raising projects for the
 comes as a bit of a shock. We can hardly find our               `78 Young People's Convention which they are
 gardens which are buried under two or more feet of              hosting this summer. The project list includes a pizza
 snow!                                                           sale, a roller skating party, a talent program, a work
                                                                 day, a salad luncheon, a paper drive, a garage sale, an
   The latest new church building news from our                  ice cream social, a sub sandwich sale and more. And,
 Southwest Church is as follows: "The building is                the  Redlands young people are already busy with
 closed in, the roof is on, the windows are in and it            projects to benefit the `79 convention. They were
 looks like a church building now. You can walk inside           planning a special-talent-request program for Sunday
 and when you do you will see that it is BIG. (We                evening, March 5.
 suggest that you wear boots on the site.)" The need
 for boots may mean that there is a bit of mud and                     A quiet thought from the Hudsonville bulletin,
 snow on the building site.                                      "Use of the Bible, like the practice of prayer, is an
                                                                 accurate spiritual barometer. Love of God and His
   The following appeared in the February 19 edition             Word go together. -Clowney"
 of the Hudsonville bulletin: "Attention Senior Cit-
 izens! Come to the coffeeklets on Tuesday morn-                                                                     K.G.V.


