      STANDARD
               BEARER
c               A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                   3




            If the truth of divine inspiration means
     anything, then it means this, that God by
     His Spirit so illuminated, guided, directed,
     and empowered the human writers that
     this operation by the Spirit of Christ
     precluded  the possibility that their  intel-
     le c t ual limitations, their forgetfulness,
     their  .sinfulness could affect the  mote+2
     content of Scripture in any way.
      I.

     See "Limited Inerrancy: Right or Wrong?"
                                                               - page 347
                                                              `.

                                               Volume LIV, No. 15, May I,1978 d
                                                        lS9N  0 3 6 2 - 4 6 9 2


338                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER
                           L

                                                                                   Semi-monthly. except monthly during June, July, and August.
                           CONTENTS:                                                     Published  bythe Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                              Second class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                            Editor-in-Chief:  Prnf Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                            Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
Meditation  -                                                               Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
                                                                            Rev. John A. Hays, Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert Joostens,
   The Outpouring of the Sovereign Spirit . . . . . .338                    Rev. Jay Korterlng, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Mlersma,
                                                                            Rev. Marlnus  Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.  Gise J. Van  Baren,
Editorial -                                                                 Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Kenneth G.
                                                                            Virlk.
                                                                            _ . . . .
   Dr. Daane's Madness Against Election . . . . . . .341                    Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATION




            The Outpouring of the Sovereign Spirit
                                                                Rev. H. Veldman

              "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all
             the house where they were sitting. "
                                                                                                                                    Acts 2: 2

  God is always exactly "on time" in all His works.                          later He ascends to heaven. Ten days elapse between
This is true in the realm of the natural. Nothing                            our Lord's ascension and Pentecost. Upon this tenth
happens by chance or unnecessarily. This is also                             day the Spirit is poured out into the whole Church.
applicable to the realm of the spiritual. Salvation                                We read: "When the day of Pentecost was fully
appears in Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the moment of                          come," or, "In the being fulfilled of the day of
the "fulness of time." When  the  Hour is come the                           Pentecost." The word, Pentecost, means: the fiftieth.
Lord suffers and dies upon the cross of Calvary. He                          The text probably means that the day of Pentecost
rises from the dead upon the third day. Forty days                           had been completed. The Spirit was poured out


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  339


immediately afterward. The Old Testament is com-             the Holy Spirit as He operated in the Old Dispensa-
pleted before the New begins; the Old Testament              tion. Then, too, He was the Spirit of life. In Him and
lamb is slain, the last one,. before the Lamb of God         through Him the sun, moon, and stars shine in the
takes away the sin of the world. And the `New                firmament of Heaven, and all things move, live, and
Testament feast of Pentecost follows immediately             have their being. Besides, then also He was the Spirit
upon the Old Testament feast, inasmuch as the latter         of grace. The saints of the Old Dispensation were
was a symbol of the former and must make way for             surely saved in the same manner as we are saved.
the fulfillment.                                             Their regeneration and faith were His gifts. We need
                                                             not say more about this at this time.
                    HIS SIGNIFICANCE                           The Spirit of Pentecost is the Holy Spirit as the
  Two things are emphasized in Holy Writ concern-            Spirit of the glorified Christ. Jesus is come and is
ing the Holy Spirit. First, He was poured out upon           glorified. In the Old Testament He existed only
Pentecost. We read in John 7: 39: "The Holy Ghost            typically and symbolically. . . . But now Jesus is
was not yet given." Notice that the word "given"             come. The long awaited Hope of Israel, the Messiah
appears in our King James version in italics. This           of God, the Seed of the Woman, the Anointed
means that it does not appear in the original.  Or@-         Servant of Jehovah, the second Person of the Trinity,
nally we read: "The Holy Ghost was not yet." And,            coeternal and coequal with the Father and the Holy
secondly, many passages can be quoted which indi-            Spirit, united in the second divine Person with our
cate that the Holy Spirit was also in the Old Testa-         flesh and blood, Immanuel, God with us, has come.
ment.                                                        And now, having suffered and died, He is glorified.
  From this we may conclude, negatively, two                 He Himself is glorified. And He is also glorified as the
things. On the one hand, the Spirit was not poured           Head of Zion, to become the life-giving Spirit.
out upon Pentecost as the Holy Spirit of God, in His           Now we can understand the fulness of salvation of
capacity as the Spirit of God. He is the Spirit of God.      the Church as in the New Dispensation. Indeed, how
God is a Spirit. When we speak of the third Person of        comparably poor was the Church in the Old Dispensa-
the Trinity as the Spirit of God, we understand that         tion! To be sure, also then the people of God
this must not be understood in the sense in which            experienced the salvation of the Lord. They experi-
God is Spirit. God is Spirit. This means, negatively,        enced the communion and fellowship of God, the
that He is immaterial, exalted above and to be               forgiveness of sins, were pilgrims and strangers in the
distinguished from all material and substance, abso-         earth. However, they were saved only in hope. The
lutely invisible, and that He can never be worshipped        salvation of God itself they did not see; it had not yet
with men's hands. That God is Spirit refers to His           been realized. They experienced this salvation only
essence and is true equally of all the three Persons of      through shadows and types and symbols. This applied
the Trinity. That the third Person of the Trinity is the     also in the Old Dispensation to the saints in glory.
Spirit of God denotes Him in His personal activity, as       But now Christ has come and the Spirit of the
proceeding eternally from the Father and the Son.            glorified Christ has been poured out into the Church.
Moreover, He is the Holy Spirit of God. This, too,           Jesus has come. The shadows and types of the Old
refers to His personal activity within the Trinity. If       Dispensation are no longer needed. Yet, we see in a
we understood "holy" in the sense of ethical perfec-         glass darkly. We are yet in the earthly house of our
tion, all the three Persons of God are holy. That the        present tabernacle. Presently we shall see face to face.
third Person is called the Holy Spirit is because, in His    Then this glass will be done away with, and also all
peculiar function as the third Person, He is uniquely        this earthly and sin. And the Church of God will be
consecrated to the divine fulness, searching con-            received up into heavenly glory and immortality;
stantly the deep things in the Father and in the Son,        God's tabernacle shall be forever with men.
testifying of the One in the Other. Pentecost, now,
does not refer to the Holy Spirit in His capacity and                  HIS MANNER OF OPERATION
activity as the Spirit of God. Of course, the Spirit of        First, the Spirit is irresistible. This is emphasized in
Pentecost is the third Person of the divine Trinity.         Scripture. And it is true in this text. When we read
However, He is eternal, was not "born" upon Pente-           that the sound came from heaven, we realize that the
cost. Pentecost is surely not the birthday of the Holy       disciples gathered there recognized its heavenly
Spirit; neither is it the birthday of the Church. The        origin. Where else would a sound as of a wind without
Church has been in the world since the beginning of          any wind originate? Notice, too, that the text speaks
this world. If, then, we read that the Holy Spirit was       of the sound as of mighty rushing wind. There is no
not yet (John 7: 39), this cannot refer to Him as He         wind. And, it is the sound as of a mighty rushing
operates as the third Person of the Holy Trinity.            wind. Besides, do we not read in John 3:  8 that we
   On the other hand, the Spirit of Pentecost is not         cannot tell whence it  cometh and whither it goeth.


340                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


So, no man is able to control it. In this connection,        question who will be saved is not determined by man
we may also refer to Romans 9: 15, 16, 18, 19, 21,           and his free will but by the living God alone. How
25, and 26.                                                  this is verified in history! He saves men, of high and
  That the Spirit is irresistible lies in the nature of      low estate, rich and poor, strong and weak, learned
the case. This is, first of all, because of us. We are       and unlearned. His disciples are unlearned, but He
conceived and born dead in sin and in trespasses. Our        also stops a leader of the pharisees dead in his tracks
hearts are hearts of stone. We are blind and deaf and        enroute to Damascus. He passes by Athens and
dumb and lame. We are dead; there is no life in us.          captures Rome by storm. Capernaum is sovereignly
Hence, the world cannot receive Him because it               rejected,. but in the heart of Lydia He plants the seed
neither sees Him nor knows Him - see John 14: 17.            of the gospel. Everywhere He gathers His Church,
We do not read that the world does not will to receive       according to sovereign election. Indeed, "of all whom
Him, although this is also true. But the world cannot        Thou hast given Me I shall lose nothing."
do so. Man cannot receive Him, embrace Him, pray
for Him, desire Him, recognize and acknowledge and                        HIS ALL-COMPREHENSIVENESS
obey Him. Fact is, man does not see Him and he does             We read: "And it filled all the house where they
not know Him. This "seeing" is to look upon some-            were sitting."
thing with interest. We do not desire Him. For, we do           The Holy Spirit takes hold of the entire man, fills
not know Him. Man has never tasted Him, experi-              him according to his capacity, his mind and will and
enced Him; he is a stranger to Him. The light of the         all his desires, dwelling in his inmost heart. He renews
Spirit was never kindled in his soul. He never knew          the heart, enlightens the mind, directs the will. He
the cross, his own sin, the consciousness of guilt, the      leads us so that we may confess our sins, confess that
power of the Holy Spirit. This explains why the              we hate all sin and have a delight in all righteousness.
world cannot receive Him. For the natural man to             Indeed, He fills us. He causes us to hate ourselves
receive the Holy Spirit is and remains a spiritual           completely, all of ourselves, so that no good dwells in
impossibility.                                               our flesh and we do not cleave to any part of it. He
  Secondly, that the Spirit is irresistible is because of    enables us to walk in  all the commandments of the
the Holy Spirit. Is He not the Holy Spirit? As the           Lord. He grants us to taste the fulness of salvation in
Holy Spirit He is the Spirit of God, Who does not call       Christ Jesus. Christ covers all our sins; He protects us
things into existence after they exist but Who calls         against all our enemies; He gives us, of course, in
them into existence by the word of His power; He             principle, the fulness of joy and hope.
speaks and it is, He commands and it stands. He calls           Is it any wonder that we read what we read in verse
the dead to life, makes the blind to see, the deaf to        1 l? We read that they spake of the wonderful works
hear, and the lame to walk. His work is surely
irresistible. Him no man can deny entrance. His work         of God. Of course! Of what else could they speak? Of
none is able to withstand.                                   what else can we speak? Is not the operation of the
                                                             Holy Spirit irresistible and sovereign? Is He not the
  Consequently, this Holy Spirit is also sovereign.          sole Author and Finisher of our faith and salvation?
This, too, is emphasized in John 3: 8. We read: The          Is not this salvation the fulness of joy which all
wind bloweth where it listeth. Indeed, He is sover-          eternity will not be able to exhaust? Let us, then,
eign. Sovereign grace or mercy is grace or mercy not         proclaim these wonderful works of God.
dependent upon the will of the creature; it is deter-          Let us do this, individually and personally, in all
mined solely by the living God. We understand: the           our confession and walk.
grace of God is either irresistible and therefore also
sovereign, or it is resistible and then it is not sover-       Let us do this as churches, in all our preaching and
eign. The work of the Holy Spirit is surely sovereign.       teaching.
No man can thwart His operation. He saves whom He              That we may taste the blessed assurance that God
wills to save; He does not ask admittance; He does           is for us and nothing can be against us.
not knock before entering. He simply comes in. The


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


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          341


EDITORIALS




           Dr. Daane's Madness Against Election
                                                ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema

  In  The Banner,  April 7, 1978, Dr. James Daane            about Hoeksema in this connection.                 After all,
writes the first of a promised two articles on "The          Daane is writing about a Christian Reformed prob-
Logic of Election." In this article he joins forces, as      lem, the problem of Boer's gravamen. I can under-
might be expected, with Dr. Harry Boer against the Re-       stand, then, that Daane, in championing Boer's cause,
formed doctrine of reprobation. Boer, as you know, has       would inveigh against Louis Berkhof, who was for
filed a gravamen against the Canons and their claim that     -many years  the  dogmatician of the CRC. But why
the doctrine of sovereign reprobation is the express         Hoeksema? After all, Hoeksema was repudiated and
testimony of sacred Scripture. Daane has long denied         cast out by the Christian Reformed Church, and that,
the doctrine of sovereign reprobation, and he does so        too, over doctrinal issues which directly involved the
expressly in  his The Freedom of God;  but he never          doctrine of election and reprobation. Besides, Hoeks-
had the honesty to file a gravamen. Nor, we may add,         ema was not one to base his doctrine of reprobation
has the Christian Reformed Church had the honesty            on the mere logic of numbers, as Daane calls it. He
to discipline Daane and others who deny reprobation.         based it on the testimony of Scripture. Indeed, he
  After some undeserved plaudits for Boer's  grava-          conceded the validity of the clearly logical argument
men, which I think is one of the poorest attempts at         that if only some certain persons out of the whole
exegesis to come under my eyes in a long time, Daane         human race are elect, the rest are non-elect,  or
explains that it is his purpose in his article to attack     reprobate. But he conceded this only as a "good and
"the role that logic has played in support of reproba-       necessary consequence," based upon the testimony of
tion." He refers first to a statement of Louis Berkhof       Scripture. In other words, he always let Scripture rule
that "The doctrine of reprobation follows naturally          his logic, not vice versa.
from the logic of election. The decree of election           2) Daane imputes to Hoeksema all kinds of things
inevitably implies the decree of reprobation. . . . If He    which Hoeksema never taught and which Daane can-
(God) has chosen or elected some, then He has by             not prove that Hoeksema taught even by implication.
that very fact rejected others." Daane admits that this      I used to grant the possibility that this might be inno-
is good logic. He criticizes it, however, because, he        cent ignorance or misunderstanding on Daane's part.
claims, it is the logic of number. But, so Daane             I no longer will concede that: for Daane  -will not
claims, the logic of election is not the logic of            repent of his misrepresentations even when they are
number.                                                      pointed out. I pointed out in detail in a review in our
  But suddenly Daane reverts to form: -he switches           Protestant Reformed Theological Journal  how Daane
from Berkhof and launches an attack on Herman                misrepresented Hoeksema's views in The Freedom of
Hoeksema and his doctrine of predestination. I say:          God. I have done so elsewhere. But Daane continues
Daane reverts to form. For seldom, if ever, does he get
on the subject of divine predestination without spe-         to misrepresent Hoeksema. He does so in this article,
cifically attacking Herman Hoeksema. In his The              pp. 6, 7:
Freedom of God he singles out Hoeksema as the most                  Does the Bible ever suggest that the nature of elec-
consistent representative of decretal theology. And in           tion is such that it demands reprobation? Could there
many past articles he has done the same thing. Daane             be no election without reprobation? Must some men be
seems to have a kind of "hang-up" about Hoeksema;                damned if some are to be saved? Herman Hoeksema's
                                                                 answer is Yes. If so, the salvation of the elect is
it is a kind of paranoid tendency. It is a certain               grounded no less in the damnation of the reprobate
madness. Only, I fear, the problem is not psychologi-            than in the death of Christ. But does a populated
cal, but spiritual. Consider the facts:                          heaven depend on a populated hell? . . . To put the
                                                                 same question in different words: Is the  nature  of
1) There is not a reason in the world for Daane to write         election such that it necessitates reprobation? Would


 342                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



        the nature of election and would the grace of election       No, I am not glad that Daane disagrees with the
        be any different than it is;if all men were elect? Even    Canons; I would much rather see him agree with the
        more to the point: Would the nature of Jesus, of His       Canons one hundred percent.
        death and resurrection, be any different than they in
        fact are, if all men were elect?                              But I am glad that it is becoming plain that Daane
                                                                   not only disagrees with the Canons' doctrine of
    And in the third column on page 7 he writes:                   reprobation, but also with the Canons' doctrine of
           . . . But I am arguing that the logic of election is    election. We have always maintained that an attack
        not the logic of number, that the ground of reproba-       on reprobation is  per  se an attack on election, that
        tion does not lie in election, that it is not true that    the denial of sovereign reprobation implies the denial
        none can be saved unless some are damned, that there       of sovereign election. In his gravamen Boer apparent-
        can be no people in heaven unless there are also           ly only attacks the articles which speak of reproba-
        people in hell. Herman Hoeksema endorsed all that I        tion. In his article Daane does the same thing: he
        am here rejecting, but he has the perception to accept
        the consequence  - which he freely admitted  - that        claims that "the doctrine of reprobation should go
        God could not save some without damning others.            the way of other errors." And in the past, men like
                                                                   Berkouwer and Daane, appealing to a statement in
   Understand well: Daane is trying to say, as he does             the Conclusion of the Canons, have tried to say that
in The Freedom of God  also, that Hoeksema taught                  the doctrine of reprobation in the Canons is really
 that God was under the  necessity  of reprobating                 not in keeping with the rest of the Canons and that
some, that God could not save some without damning                 this statement in the Conclusion was an attempt to
 others. This is a barefaced lie! If there was any truth           remedy that situation.
which Hoeksema emphasized without wearying, it
was the truth of God's absolute freedom and sover-                    But in Daane's article it becomes abundantly plain
eignty. Negatively put: God was never under the                    that he also rejects the doctrine of election as set
necessity of doing anything. Daane knows this. But                 forth in the Canons.
he so hates Hoeksema's theology that in his madness                   First of all, let Daane quit talking about the
he will go to any length to fight it.                              "essence" and "nature" of election in the abstract.
   The same is true of that other statement: "If so,               The concrete question is: what are the characteristics
the salvation of the elect is grounded no less in the              of the only divine election there is? What are the
damnation of the reprobate than  @ the death of                    characteristics of the only divine election of which
Christ." Daane knows very well that this was never                 Scripture and the Reformed confessions speak?
Herman Hoeksema's position.                                           In the second place, let us note carefully that this
   3) In his madness against Hoeksema's theology                   only divine election of which Scripture and the
Daane forsakes not only the logic of numbers, but all              confessions speak is an election  - to use Daane's
logic. Consider the fact that in column one on page 7              terminology - of "only some of the total number of
he presents Hoeksema (by Daane's admission the                     men." Article 7 of Canons I teaches: "Election is the
 consistent logician, the stringent decretal theologian!)          unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the
as teaching that "the salvation of the elect is ground-            foundation of the world, he hath out of mere grace,
ed no less in the damnation of the reprobate than in               according to the sovereign good pleasure of his own
the death of Christ." But in column three Hdeksema                 will, chosen,  from the whole human race,. . . . a
is said to have endorsed "that the ground of reproba-              certain number of persons  to redemption in
tion lies in election." Now if there was one thing                 Christ. . . ." (italics added) Article 10 of the First
Hoeksema never did, it was to teach such contradic-                Head teaches the same thing:  ". . . but that he was
tions. But in his fulminations against decretal theol-             pleased  out  of the common  n&s of sinners  to
ogy Daane cannot even see straight. I cannot even                  adopt  some certain persons  as a peculiar people to
write any longer, as I formerly did, that he is "right,            himself.. . . ." (italics added) And `both of these arti-
but dead wrong."                                                   cles also cite Scripture in support of this doctrine.
                                                                   Again, Article 7 speaks of "this elect number."
   Nevertheless, at bottom Daane's article is not an               Article 3 of the Rejection of Errors explicitly rejects
attack merely on Hoeksema or Berkhof. It is not even               the error of those "Who teach: That the good
an attack merely against "Reformed theology." It is                pleasure and purpose of God, of which Scripture
an attack on the Canons of Dordrecht. I mean by this               makes mention in the doctrine of election, does not
not only that it is an attack on the doctrine of                   consist in this, that God chose certain persons rather
reprobation found in Canons I, 6 and 15; it is that                than others. . . ." (italics added)
indeed. But I mean that Daane in this article plainly
contradicts the doctrine of election found in the                    In the third place, Daane exactly repudiates this
Canons.                                                            kind of election  - the only election which our
   I am glad about this.                                           confessions know and the election which especially


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             343


our Canons explain and defend in great detail. He                   There is indeed only one elect nation, the Jews
calls this an error: "Grant him (because of a printing          (Watch out: "only one" is an  exciusive number, Dr.
error, it is not clear whether Berkhof or Hoeksema is           Daane.  HCH),  only one who is par excellence, the
                                                                Elect of God, Jesus the Christ, and only one elect,
meant by "him") the propriety of his initial error,             holy, catholic church, but in Biblical thought this one
then none can gainsay his contention that if only               is not the basis for logic of numbers (if one is, the rest
some of the total number of men are elect, then some             are not) but the basis for the logic of election.
men are reprobate. But recognize his error of thinking         Now I contend that no human mind can make any
that the logic of number is the logic of election, and       sense of this. Logic - not just what Daane calls the
his argument for reprobation loses its force." Notice:       logic of number, but just plain, ordinary logic  -
Daane does not want a definite, personal, numerical          demands that if there is "only one," then all the rest
election. Again: "But it will lose this force only if we     are excluded. Furthermore, let Daane state what is
recognize that the Bible never defines election in           meant by "the logic of election" in distinction from
terms of number, in terms of limitation . . . ." Again:      the "logic of numbers."
"Since the logic of numbers is not the logic of elec-          But Daane continues:
tion, none who believes in election ought to feel
compelled by logic to believe in reprobation. And                   And the logic of election, unlike the logic of
none should hesitate to endorse election because he              numbers, does not bespeak limitation but openness,
thinks it entails an endorsement of reprobation."                fullness, pleroma. The election of the one Jewish
                                                                 people bespeaks the election of non-Jewish peoples;
  From this it is plain that the object of Daane's mad           Christ's election bespeaks the election of His breth-
attack is not Berkhof, nor Hoeksema, nor "Reformed               ren, and the election of the church demonstrates the
theology" in general, nor even merely the Canons'                truth of both.
doctrine of reprobation, but the Canons' doctrine of           I ask: openness to what, to whom? Fullness of what
definite, personal, numerical election.  Daane may           or whom? A fullness must have some content? What
endorse his own private kind of election (which no           is that content? Daane denies that he argues that
one, not even he, can understand), but he does not
endorse the only Reformed doctrine of election, that         election means the election of every human being. If
set forth in the Canons of Dordrecht.                        not every human being, does it mean some human
                                                             beings? If some human beings, not the rest of human
  We may thank him for at last making this crystal           beings? Further: who are "His brethren"? All men?
clear.                                                       Potentially all men? Some men? What about the rest,
  Now if Daane will honestly and forthrightly admit          then? And: who are those non-Jewish peoples? And
this, we will at least have gained this, that we all         seeing  that those "non-Jewish peoples" must be
know that he makes no claim to being Reformed. Then          composed of individual persons, are they all included,
we can ignore his rantings from now on and turn our          or only some? Besides, even though the number of
attention to more important things.                          these non-Jewish peoples is unspecified and indefi-
                                                             nite, it is indeed a finite, limited number, is it not?
  Meanwhile, even Daane can not escape the logic of            Now Daane himself claims not to be Arminian. I
numbers. But his numbers are vague, indefinite num-          believe him, even though I cannot find out what he
bers.                                                        really is. I suspect he is worse than Arminian. But
  I must confess that I do not understand Daane's            one thing I know: his doctrine, especially in the light
doctrine of election. I seriously doubt whether Daane        of the fact that Daane holds to conditional reproba-
himself understands it. If he does, he certainly fails       tion, reminds me strongly of one of the Arminian
utterly to define it and make it plain. The same is          errors condemned in the Canons. I refer to the
true, by the way, of his The Freedom of God; Daane           Arminian doctrine of a "general and indefinite"
is free with page after page of criticism of decretal        election. But whatever his doctrine, even Daane cannot
theology, but utterly fails to produce anything posi-        escape the fact that election involves numbers. And if
tive and clear. Yes, Daane holds to.a kind of national       Daane does not hold to universal election, then also
election of the Jews, an old, thoroughly discredited         Daane's doctrine of election involves a limited num-
error. He also claims that he is not arguing that            ber. And if it involves a limited number, it excludes
election means the election of every human being.            those not part of that number.
This, by the way, is negative numbers already; and I           The question is: who does the including and the
suppose his conditional reprobation fits in somewhere        excluding?
in this scheme. But, apart from all his other errors, -he
never does tell us precisely who are included in               A Reformed man will: God, by sovereign election
election.                                                    and reprobation.
  Writes he:                                                   But this doctrine Daane hates.


344                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS




              The Offices in the Church of Christ
                                             Prof Robert D. Decker
              "We believe, that the ministers of God's Word, and the elders and deacons, ought to be
           chosen to their respective. offices by a lawful election by the Church, with calling upon the
           name of the Lord, and in that order which the Word of God teacheth. Therefore everyone
           must take heed, not to intrude himself by indecent means, but is bound to wait till it shall
           please God to call him; that he may have testimony of his calling, and be certain and assured
           that it is of the Lord. As for the ministers of God's Word, they have equally the same power
           and authority wheresoever they are, as they are all ministers of Christ, the only universal
           Bishop, and the only Head of the Church. Moreover, that this holy ordinance of God may
           not be violated or slighted, we say that everyone ought to esteem the ministers of God's
           Word, and the elders of the Church, very highly for their work's sake, and be at peace with
           them without murmuring, strife or contention, as much as possible. "
                                                                   Article XXX, The Belgic Confession
  It is clearly evident from this Article of the            throne of grace and Who ministers to the saints in all
Confession  that there is no room in the Reformed           their needs, As the eternal Ring, Christ graciously
conception of the offices and government of the             rules His saints by His Word and Spirit. But Christ.
Church for either the tyranny of the Romish hierar-         does all this: speaks His prophetic Word, mercifully
chy or the license of the Anabaptists. Rome had             cares for His saints and governs them through men
robbed the believers of their God-given rights and          whom He calls and qualifies and ordains to serve as
privilege to function in the Church. All right to rule      officebearers in His Church. Furthermore, Christ calls
was vested in the hierarchy which was headed by the         men to these offices through the Church. Christ does
pope. Priests and bishops lorded it over God's heri-        not call men mysteriously through some inner light or
tage often ruthlessly and with devastating results          by speaking directly to them as He did in Bible times.
spiritually. On the other hand there were the  Ana-         Christ calls through the Church. Therefore, "we
baptists among whom all church organization tended          believe, that the ministers . . .  .and the elders and
to degenerate into sectarianism. Among them was             deacons, ought to be chosen to their respective
little regard for "decency and good order." Anyone          offices by a lawful election by the Church, with
who "felt" called to preach went forth at will. The         calling upon the name of the Lord. . . ."
work of these self-styled preachers was revolutionary          That lawful election takes place in one of two ways
rather than reformatory in character and resulted in        in the Protestant Reformed Churches which adhere to
no little dissension among believers. The Reformed          the Church Order of Dordt. The one way is that the
Churches in their quest for a Church Polity soundly         consistory chooses the officebearers and presents
based upon the Scriptures were at pains to avoid both       them to the congregation for approbation (approval).
of these extremes. This in itself explains the              This may be done with the calling of a minister as
Confession's  insistence on the  Headship of Christ,        well as with the election of elders and deacons. (Cf.
the equality of the officebearers, and the necessity of     Articles 4 and 22 of the Church Order) If no lawful
choosing officebearers by a lawful election by the          objections are lodged against those selected by the
Church.                                                     consistory they are installed into their respective
  This lawful election by the church is for the             offices according to the Forms of Ordination. The
Reformed Churches a very solemn matter. It is that          other way prescribed by the Church Order (Cf.
because Christ is the Head and "only universal Bishop       Article 22) is the one most commonly followed.
of the Church." Christ is the Prophet Who declares          According to this method the consistory presents a
the Word and will of God to the Church. He is the           nomination of two or three in the case of the calling
merciful High Priest Who offered Himself as the             of a minister and of double the number needed in the
perfect sacrifice for the sins of God's people and Who      case of the election of elders and deacons. The
makes continual intercession for them before the            congregation (all male confessing members in good


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               345


standing) then elects officebearers from this nomina-        seminary courses and to preach and teach the Scrip-
tion.                                                        tures. One who lacks these but who possesses other
  This is very serious and a highly spiritual matter. It     capabilities may safely conclude that the Lord calls
must not be supposed that because officebearers are          him elsewhere than the ministry. In addition one
elected by majority vote of the congregation the             must have a gift for public speaking. He must have
Church is a democracy. Elders and deacons and                the gifts of love and compassion for the sheep of
ministers do not rule by "the consent of the govern-         Christ. He must be gifted with wisdom and discretion
ed," but by virtue of the authority of Jesus Christ          so as to be able gently to lead God's flock. Where
vested in them. This is precisely why the                    these gifts and more are present in a young man, that
                                              Confession
stipulates that this be done "with calling upon the          man ought seriously and prayerfully to consider
name of the Lord, and in that order which the Word           whether or not the Lord calls him to the ministry. By
of God teacheth." The entire congregation is involved        the same token, where these gifts are absent that man
in the election of officebearers, not just as individuals    ought not consider the ministry as his calling. Finally
who vote their preferences, but in the office of             the internal call consists of what may be  called an
believer, as those who share in the anointing of Christ      open way. There must be no obstacles in the circum-
and through whom Christ calls men to serve in His            stances of one's life which prevent one from serving.
Church. That is why the entire process must be in            The way must be clear so that the goal may be
harmony with the Word of God and done in prayer.             reached.
So seriously did Reformed Churches in Reformation              There is as well the external or outward call. This
times take this matter that we are told: "In not a few       external call is the call which seals and confirms the
Reformed Churches, notably that shepherded by a              internal call. This call is the call of Christ Himself
Lasco in London, a day of solemn fasting was                 through the Church. Thus the Confession warns that
proclaimed as proper preparation for the work of             no man may appoint himself to any office. Christ
electing officers." (P.Y. De Jong, The Church's Wit-         alone calls and qualifies and ordains and He does so
ness To The World, vol. 2, p. 306)                           internally and externally through His Church. No one
                                                             may intrude upon an office by indecent means. He
  As has been noted the Confession emphasizes that           must be called by Christ. And Christ calls through the
Christ, "the only universal Bishop, and the only Head        Church.
of the Church" calls men to serve as ministers, elders,
and deacons in the Church. What is involved in this            The  Confession also speaks of the equality of the
calling by Christ? Whom does Christ call? How does           ministers. They are all servants of Christ Who is the
Christ call? How may one know whether or not the             only universal Bishop and the only Head of the
Lord calls him to office in the Church? Suppose, for         Church. Hence the ministers have the same power and
example, one is nominated by the consistory for the          authority and no minister may lord it over others.
office of deacon or elder; must he assume that the           This the Confession maintains over against the hier-
Lord has given him the necessary qualifications, or          archy of the Roman Catholic Church with its pope,
may he remove his name from nomination? The                  cardinals, bishops, and priests. This certainly means as
answer to all of these questions lies along the follow-      well that there is an equality of offices in the Church.
ing lines. There is first of all the internal or inward      There is no superiority of the office of the minister
call of God. This internal call is especially necessary      over that of the elder or deacon, or of the elder over
for ministers of the Word who must of course pursue          that of the deacon. They are equally the servants of
the calling in the way of college and seminary               Christ even though their functions differ.
training. But it is no less necessary with respect to          Finally, the  Confession  speaks of the calling of
elders and deacons. It must not be supposed that this        believers overagainst the officebearers. They "ought
internal call is some mysterious matter. It is not as if     to esteem the ministers of God's Word, and the elders
the Lord speaks in some mysterious way, with some            of the Church, very highly for their work's sake, and
kind of sign calling one to office. There are some           be at peace with them without murmuring, strife, or
rather clear, objective criteria by which one may            contention, as much as possible." The importance of
conclude that the  Lord. calls him to serve. That            this cannot be overly stressed. We live in a day of
internal call consists of the desire to serve God in         lawlessness and disregard for God-ordained authority.
some office. Certainly God does not call someone             The members of the Church must esteem theiroffice-
without creating that desire for the office. Likewise,       bearers not for their abilities, personality, or good
one who has no desire to enter the ministry ought not        character, but for their work's sake. They are the
pursue that calling. In the second place, the internal'      servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. They speak the
call consists of the gifts to serve in that office. One      Word of Christ; they rule in the name of Christ; and
who wishes to enter the ministry must have certain           they minister the mercies of Christ. Christ is in them
intellectual capabilities to master the college and          for He has called them and given them to the Church.


346                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


Christ cares for the Church through them. They must            They preach, rule, and minister the mercy of Christ
be esteemed, then, for Christ's sake.                          only with the Word of God. And, they must ever bear
  That implies a serious calling for the officebearers.        in mind that the people with whom they deal are the
They must remember that they are solely responsible            precious, blood-bought sheep of Christ. They must
to Jesus Christ in all their work. They must not be            take great care how they handle them. As the servants
men-pleasers. They, as the servants of Christ, must            of Christ, the officebearers are not the lords but the
come to the congregation only with the Word of God.            servants of the flock of God.

TRIUMPH THROUGH TRIALS




                                  The Temple of God
                                                    Rev. J. Kortering


   T'was an awesome sight.                                     anger they asked Him by what authority He did this.
                                                               His answer was, destroy this temple and in three days
   The temple.                                                 I will raise it up. Christ identified the temple of
   Its dazzling beauty; gold shimmering in heavenly            Herod with His own body. His body was THE temple
light.                                                         of God. He was truly Immanuel, God with us!.In His
   Its majestic pillars, standing with divine'authority.       flesh the infinite and eternal God was joined, for He
                                                               Himself was God. The wicked destroyed that temple;
   Its somber courts, enhanced with smoke from the             they nailed Him to the cross. Even then, it was not
altar.                                                         the end of the covenant. Rather it was the realization
   It was God's house.                                         of the perfect covenant, for through blood all the
   And Israel came to dwell with God.                          members of the covenant are made perfect. Wicked
                                                               men would destroy His body. Yet, by that very act,
  They bowed in reverence; the fear of Jehovah was             He, the Mediator of the covenant, would establish the
in this place.                                                 covenant in perfect righteousness. He raised it up! God
   But, wait!                                                  raised Him up, and that for our justification. In
   "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the            Christ, flesh and blood are able to enter into the
Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God,              kingdom of heaven. Not as flesh and blood, for the
and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a              old temple must needs pass away. The veil of the
price; therefore glorify God in your body and in               temple was rent. The earthly must be changed into
your spirit which are God's," I Cor. 6: 19,20,                 the heavenly. He arose in glory and power. The sign
   Somber thought; our body is the temple of God.              of His authority to cleanse the temple is the resur-
                                                               rection from the dead.
  Perhaps this thought raises a question in your
mind. How can the inspired Apostle Paul compare                  Through Christ our body is the temple of the Holy
our body to the temple? What a difference! Every-              Spirit.
thing about the temple reflected the God of glory
Who dwelt there. Our bodies seem the opposite. They              God no longer dwells in a beautiful earthly house
are earthen vessels, sown in weakness, beset with all          of gold.
kinds of frailties. How can our bodies be called the
temple of God?                                                   He dwells in earthen vessels, made beautiful by the
                                                               Holy Spirit. He dwells in our hearts which are
  Good question. The Bible deals with it.                      changed by His presence. By His work of regeneration
   Listen carefully: "Destroy this temple, and in three        and conversion, our stony hearts are made hearts of
days I will raise it up," John 2: 19. Jesus had just           flesh. Instead of hating, we love. Spiritually, we are
driven out the buyers and sellers from the temple. In          changed from death to life.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 347


  Our bodies make up the temple.                             cannot do this if we sin with  -our bodies, as for
  When we think of this, we must recognize how               example, by fornication, see I Cor. 6: 18. Because
important our bodies really are. Indeed, they are            they are the temples of God, they must be used in the
temporary. Clearly the Bible speaks of corruption,           service of God
weakness, mortality, with which we are all too famil-          We are to glorify God in our health.
iar. Yet, they are the temple of God Himself. He               We are also to glorify God in our sickness. When
dwells in our bodies. They are His temple. We may            we are reminded that this temple is temporary, is
not say, the flesh is not important. We may not act as       beset with weakness, this does not mean that .it ceases
the ascetics of old, trying to sanctify the spirit by        to be the temple of God. God continues to dwell in -
torturing the flesh. We are saved in Christ. We say          us in our sicknesses as well. Then, too, our hearts
with our forefathers, "In body and soul, both in life        must glow with the presence of God. When it pleases
and death, I am not my own, but belong to my                 God to break down the earthly house of this tabema-
faithful Savior Jesus Christ."                               cle, we must look more and more to that building of
  Rather than trying to destroy our bodies, we               God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the
recognize the need for health. A healthy body makes          heavens, II Cor. 5: 1.
a healthy temple for our soul. There is such a close           Through the resurrection, the temple of God shall
relationship between body and soul that we cannot            be made perfect and we shall enjoy the everlasting
begin to draw a line of separation. By caring for our        covenant.
bodies, we recognize that as a temple it too is for the
glory of God. As the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we use          Take care of your body.
our health and strength in the service of God. We              It is the temple of God.

GUEST ARTICLE




             Limited  Inerrancy: Right or Wrong?
                                                   Rev. M. Kamps

An Evaluation of Limited Inerrancy                           historians and scientists. Simply accepting those con-
  There are three very serious errors which lie at the       clusions, they reject the testimony of Scripture when
basis of the theory of, "limited inerrancy." In the first    Scripture would apparently contradict the claims of
place, they  ~who hold to limited inerrancy fail to          the learned. The proponents of limited inerrancy
approach Scripture in faith. Secondly, they presup-          implicitly claim the right to stand as judges of the
pose a human factor responsible for the  content  of         validity of what the Bible teaches. Instead of laboring
Scripture. Thirdly, they separate the historical  from-      in the sphere of faith as children of faith, they set the
revelation. They place a disjunction between sacred          approach of unbelief. Higher criticism is an unbiblical
history and revelation.                                      method.
  Now that we have these three errors clearly before           In this regard the proponents of limited inerrancy
us let us take a look at each in some detail. We want        have asked questions calculated to expose the alleged
especially to elaborate upon the third error which is        error of the Bible. For example, one asked the
implied by the theory of limited inerrancy.                  question: Which account of the cleansing of the
  With respect to the first error, what is meant by          temple by our Lord is the correct one, for the Bible
our assertion that they fail to approach Scripture in        gives two different accounts of the same event? He
faith? The proponents of the theory of "limited              had deliberately formed his question this way to
inerrancy" refuse to allow Scripture to tell them what       show that with respect to historical matters the Bible
kind of book it is. They use the methods of higher           is oftentimes spotted by discrepancies and errors.
criticism in their interpretation of Scripture. They         Another question calculated to do the same is: Which
accept without question the conclusions of secular           gospel writer is correct, for one records that there was


 348                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


 only one angel at the empty tomb and another writer          inerrancy of the Bible by appealing ultimately to the
 claims there were two? Obviously, one of the gospel          truth of God's sovereignty. The liberal, the modem-
 writers is mistaken, he assumes. With respect to             ist, the Arminian, and those who deny the complete
 historical matters the Bible is untrustworthy.               infallibility of Scripture, they all despise the truth of
   But we are piously reminded by these proponents            God's sovereignty over man. God's sovereignty is such
 of limited inerrancy that really these questions are         that He is able to speak His infallible Word through
unimportant and should not be allowed to trouble              weak and imperfect instruments.
 the Church. For the Bible's message is the gospel of
- salvation and these questions which have exposed               But let us examine the third error that underlies
 errors in the Scriptures do not touch upon this              the theory of "limited inerrancy." We said that the
 infallible message. Surely, the Bible's testimony con-
 cerning the cleansing of the temple and the number           third error was that the proponents of this theory
 of the angels at the empty tomb is troubled by               separate the historical from revelation. They place a
 discrepancies and contradictions; but the gospel mes-        disjunction between sacred history and revelation.
                                                              For the proponents of "limited inerrancy" the
 sage is nonetheless reliable and infallible.                 historical events which Scripture records are not so
   Over against this pious reminder made by the               important,  at least many of them are not so impor-
 proponents of "limited inerrancy" we must maintain           tant, as to necessitate an errorless or infallible record
 that the Scriptures themselves must tell us what kind        of them. Many of the historical events are minimized
 of book it is. (II Peter 1:  19-21, II Tim. 3 : 16, Ps.      or accounted insignificant. That portion of the histor-
 119:105, 142,160) Scripture itself must form for us          ical events of Scripture accounted to be insignificant
 our doctrine of Scripture. This is the attitude of faith,    and which therefore can be safely viewed as fallible
which the proponents of limited inerrancy find so             was at first small, but it grows and grows until only
 objectionable. But the Church of Christ has always           very few of the historical events are accounted as
 followed this principle. The Scriptures alone must be        truth or fact. The history of Jonah, of Noah, of
allowed to determine the content of all our doctrine.         Adam and the fall, the miracles of Christ, and the
 It always has. So also our doctrine of Scripture must        earthquake at the death of Christ are denied as
be determined not by higher critics . . . but by              actually happening in time and space exactly as
 Scripture itself. Let Scripture speak concerning its         Scripture records these events. For the proponents of
 own nature. That and that only is the attitude of            the theory of "limited inerrancy" the Scriptural
faith; any other approach is principally the unbelief         record of the events, acts, places, persons of sacred
of rationalism or mysticism.                                  history are the crib or vehicle in which is found the
                                                              babe or message of God. This crib is the construction
   The second error that lies at the bottom of the the-       of men and it is full of errors and contradictions. But
ory of limited inerrancy is the claim that the content
of Scripture is in part attributable to man, the human        we are not concerned about the crib of human words
factor. Errors are to be expected because the Bible is,       and record. We must search for the spiritual and
as are all other books, a human book. I do not want           infallible message of God, the baby, in the poorly
to discuss this point at any length now because in the        constructed crib. God's Word is in the Bible; the Bible
preceding discussion we have dealt with it in part.           is not God's Word.
However, not man but God, by the Spirit of Christ, is           Thus the following type of questions are cast in the
the  sole  author of Scripture. To God alone is to be         face of those who maintain that the Bible is infallibly
attributed the  contents  of the Bible. If the truth of       inspired in its entirety. Do I have to believe that the
divine inspiration means anything, then it means this,        narrative  ,of the fall of Adam actually describes
that God by His Spirit so illuminated, guided,  di-           history in order to know that sin entered our world?
rected, and empowered  the.human  writers that this           Do we have to believe in a world-wide flood to know
operation by the Spirit of Christ  precluded  the             that God is displeased with sin? The question will
possibility that their intellectual limitations, their        gradually become: Do I have to believe in the virgin
forgetfulness, their sinfulness could affect the materi-      birth in order to know that the Son of God is come
al  content of Scripture in any way. The truth of             to save from sin?
organic inspiration precludes the possibility of a              The question arises, how is it possible for the
human factor affecting adversely the contents of              proponents of this theory to reason this way? We
Scripture. Sovereignly, God decreed, created, and             must remember that they view the recorded events of
formed certain specific holy men to. be the rational          Scripture as disjoined, separated from revelation. The
moral or personal instruments through which He has            revelation of God is viewed as not being inseparably
spoken to the Church of all ages. The Spirit of God is        joined to the historical event. This is one of the basic
not time bound and culturally determined. A Re-               errors which lies at the center of the theory of
formed believer must and will defend the complete             "limited inerrancy."


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   349


  I would like to demonstrate from Scripture itself            Jerusalem upon the "foal of an ass." Now, was this an
the significance of the historical event and that the          important aspect of Zechariah's prophecy? Could
historical itself is God's self-revelation. Thereby, I will    Jesus assume that this little historical-detail was
show that to reject the accuracy of the biblical record        unimportant and that possibly Zechariah, because of
of the historical event is to cast away God's revela-          his time-boundness and limitations emphasized the
tion.                                                          unimportant and inconsequential? Can the revelation
                                                               that Christ is King of a spiritual Kingdom be sepa-
  Let us, first of all, turn to Mt. 22:23-33 where we          rated from this little and apparently insignificant
read: "The same day came to him the Sadducees,                 fact? Did Zechariah really know what he was talking
which say that there is no resurrection, and asked             about? The answer is obvious. God thought this little
him, saying Master, Moses said, If a man die, having           historical detail so important that He from eternity
no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise       prepared the "foal of an ass" to be set in Bethphage
up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us               at the right time to be used by Christ in the deliberate
seven brethren; and the first, when he had married a           fulfillment of Zechariah's gospel. Further, God re-
wife, deceased, and having no .issue, left his wife unto       vealed the fact of the colt's presence in Bethphage to
his brother; Likewise the second also, and the third,          the Christ. Still further, Christ knew that God had
unto the seventh; And last of all the woman died also.         prepared the hearts of the owners of this colt to
Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be          submit to His Lordship. "The Lord hath need of
of the seven? for they all had her. Jesus answered and         him."
said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures,
nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they               The historical event, though so small and appar-
neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as           ently insignificant, is part of the revelation of God,
the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the               Who reveals to us the loving humility of Jerusalem's
resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which          King. Cast away the infallibility of the Biblical record
was spoken unto you by God saying, I am the God of             concerning this "foal of an ass", and in principle you
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of                  cast away the Christ.
Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the                The final passage to which we draw attention is
living." Jesus clearly demonstrates that the invisible,        Isaiah  43:3,11,14,16 where we read: "For I am the
eternal, and spiritual truth of God's Word is revealed         Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I
to us by the visible, temporal events ofhistory. The           gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for
spiritual truth that Christ preached in this passage is        thee. . . . I even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is
the resurrection. The Sadducees denied that there is a         no saviour. . . . Thus saith the Lord, your-redeemer,
resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees denied that            the Holy One of Israel; for your sake I have sent to
there is a heaven or a hell. They were the empiricists         Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and
and rationalists of that day. Now, how does Jesus              the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. . . . Thus
prove the truth of the resurrection? Not by beginning          saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a
a dissertation about the abstract. But Jesus appeals to        path in the mighty waters." In this passage the
Scripture. "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor         emphasis falls upon the first person, the "I", of the
the power of God." Secondly, Jesus pointed out that            one speaking. Jehovah God is identifying Himself to
God had declared to Israel that He was the God of              Judah. He is speaking of His faithfulness and power
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Even though these histor-           and of His love toward His people. In these words
ical persons suffered death yet God is not the God of          God has identified Himself as the only true and
the dead but of the living. God's promise to Abra-             living God in contrast to all idols. But we must
ham, Isaac, and Jacob to be their God forever implied          specifically note how it is that God Jehovah identifies
the truth of the resurrection. This implication the            Himself to His people. The question is, how did God
Sadducees never saw. However, let us emphasize that            tell us of Himself and of His love, power, and
Jesus in this passage insisted upon identifying the            faithfulness to Judah. How can we know the invisible,
revelation of God concerning the invisible and eternal         transcendent God, Whom no man hath seen nor can
with the historical lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.        see? The answer: God identifies Himself as the Holy
Deny that these three persons lived as Scripture               One of Israel by calling attention to His historical acts
records it for us and you deny in effect the resurrec-         infallibly recorded in the books of Moses. The God
tion. The historical event and the revelation of God           speaking to Judah through Isaiah is the same God
are inseparable.                                               who gave Egypt for Judah's ransom, Ethiopia and
  The second passage to which we call your attention           Seba too. This God is Jehovah, "which maketh a way
is Zechariah  9:9, in relation to John 12: 14-16 and           in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters. . . ."
Mt. 21: l-9. Zechariah prophesied hundreds of years              God through Isaiah  r&eals His covenant faithful-
before Palm Sunday that Jesus would ride into                  ness to Judah; He  comf&ts His people by assuring


350                                           THE STANDARD  BEARER



them He, Who was ever faithful in the past, will bring        In conclusion, therefore, we must reject with all
her back to the land of Canaan from Babylon; He             our hearts the theory of limited inerrancy as  un-
calls the true Judah to place all her trust in Him Who      biblical. We must reject also the three errors upon
is the almighty God, and Who loves her and is ever          which this theory is founded. Positively we must
faithful to her. But, again, how does God reveal this       maintain that God is the only author of Scripture.
spiritual truth of the gospel? Very definitely, the         Specifically, we must confess that God is this sole
answer is: by pointing to history and the revelation of     author of the  contents  of Scripture through the
Himself in past historical events infallibly recorded by    miracle of organic inspiration. Thus, we believe that
His servant Moses. The historical event is itself the       Scripture is the infallibly inspired Word of God in its
self-revelation of Jehovah God to His people.               entirety. Therefore, the Bible has objective authority
  If one minimizes the importance of the complete           in all matters-of doctrine and life. (II Tim. 3: 16)
infallibility of the Bible, discredits the accuracy of
the Bible as the inspired record of revelation, ac-           Once again let us be reminded to pray earnestly the
counts the record of God's acts in time and space not       prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ for His Church in the
so important as to be free from error. . . the result       world: "Keep them from the evil . . . Sanctify them
then is that one loses the self-revelation of God-that      through thy truth: thy word is truth."
is, He rejects God's Word.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                                           May 1, 1978
Dear Timothy,
  We were talking, in the last two or three letters,        key ideas of the Scriptures, and is a profound truth
about the relationship which exists between the             which goes beyond our understanding. It is our main
officebearers in the congregation and the members of        purpose here to point out that Christ is the Word of
that same congregation; and we noticed that that            God from the viewpoint of the spiritual needs of
relationship, as defined by Reformed Church Polity,         God's people.
is really the genius of our system of Church govem-           The Scriptures often use the figure of food to
ment.                                                       explain the need which God's people have of Christ.
   Since we have finished that discussion, I want now       At the time of the miracle of the loaves e.g., (John 6)
to discuss the calling which belongs to each office         Christ pointed out that He was the true bread from
(and to the office of believers in relation to each         heaven. The manna which the Israelites ate in the
office) as a result of this unique relationship which       wilderness was but a type of the true bread. The
exists.                                                     people, therefore, had to eat Christ if they were to
   It is best that we begin with the ministry  of'the       live. So sharply was this emphasized that the people
Word.                                                       said: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (vs.
                                                            52). Jesus' response was: "Verily, verily, I say unto
   You will recall that we pointed out how the              you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and
ministry of the Word arose organically out of the life      drink his blood, ye have no life' in you.  Whoso
of the New Testament Church under the infallible            eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
guidance of the apostles. You will recall too that,         life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my
while it is the calling of all three offices to bring to    flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed."
God's people the Word of God (each in its own               (vss. 53-55). In this same line of thought, the Scrip-
unique way and according to the nature of the               tures speak of God's Word as being milk. Peter writes,
office), nevertheless, the office of the ministry re-       in I Peter 2: 1, 2: "Wherefore laying aside all malice,
flects Christ's prophetic office in the Church; and this    and all guile, and hypocrisies, and all evil speakings,
office is emphatically the office of the ministry of the    As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the
Word.                                                       word, that ye may grow thereby." And, following
   It is best if we start our discussion of this subject    this same figure, the author of the epistle to  the.
by reminding ourselves that Christ is the Word of           Hebrews writes in chapter 5: 12-14: "For when for
God. I do not want to get into a lengthy discussion of      the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that
all that the Scriptures teach concerning this simple        one teach you again which be the first principles of
(yet profound) proposition; for the idea is one of the      the oracles of God; and are become such as have need


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               351


of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that           To answer this question, we must answer another
useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness:        question: what really is a minister of the Word?
for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them            There is one word in the New Testament which is
that are of full age, even those who by reason of use        given to ministers which really means "proclaimer."
have their senses exercised to discern both good and         Or, perhaps it can be translated, "preacher." This
evil."                                                       word was very common already among the Greeks
  The idea is that we need earthly bread for the             before Christ came on earth. And the word had a very
sustenance of our earthly life as long as God calls us       particular meaning among the Greeks, a meaning
to live in the world. But this bread is never really         which, from a formal point of view, is taken over into
enough. For, as Jesus puts it in the parable of the rich     the New Testament Scriptures.
fool, "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of         In the days of the Greeks, when kings ruled over
things which he possesseth." Man has a soul. And             the nation, it was not as easy for a king to communi-
because of this he lives on a higher plain than the          cate with his people as it is today. These kings had no
physical. He is also a spiritual being, and his existence    access to radio and television, or even telephone.
continues after death. That part of his life cannot be       They would utilize the means of a "proclaimer" or
fed with bread of this world. That was exactly the           "preacher" to bring to their people messages which
`error of the rich fool, for he thought that he could        the people ought to know. These proclaimers occu-
feed his soul with corn and wine. But because man            pied a very important position in the kingdom, for
possesses a life which is spiritual, he needs spiritual      they were the means by which the king spoke to his
food to sustain that life. That food is Christ. The          subjects. And so, when a king was choosing his
people of God must eat Christ. And they do not do            proclaimers, he made sure that these men would have
this only during the celebration of the Lord's Supper        the necessary qualifications to perform (faithfully)
when they eat the bread of the Lord's table and-drink        the duties assigned them.
the wine; they do this when they listen to the
preaching, for the sacraments are added to the                 The main point which the king wanted to ascertain
preaching to seal and confirm the faith which  is-           was whether a proclaimer would faithfully bring the
worked through the preaching.                                message of the king. Such a proclaimer had to speak
                                                             in the place of the king in such a way that the people
  That Word is contained in the Scriptures. That is,         would understand that the king himself was speaking.
Christ is contained in the Scriptures; for the whole of      The proclaimer had the authority of the king behind
the Scriptures are the infallible record of the revela-      him and his words were the message of the king. If,
tion of God in Jesus Christ. There is a great mystery        e.g., an enemy threatened the borders of the kingdom
here which belongs to the wonder of God's grace.             and the king wanted to summon the people to war,
There has been a lot of talk in our day about the            he would send his herald throughout the realm to
validity and even possibility of propositional revela-       announce the danger of war and to  marshall  the,
tion. The controversy swirls about whether or not it         forces of the land. It had to be clear that the people
is possible for the infinite God Who is transcendent         understood that the king was bringing the `message
above time to reveal Himself in human words. And,            and that his authority was behind it.
to carry this a step further, whether God can reveal                        -. .          .__ _ _ _ _
                                                               This idea is carried over into the Scriptures. One
Himself in groups of human words which form                  who preaches the Word is a proclaimer of the king.
sentences and paragraphs and chapters and books -            He brings a message which the king wants proclaimed
and, finally, the Bible itself. There are many who           throughout his realm. This is the message of the
deny this. Whatever else the Scriptures may be, so           gospel with both its promises and its warnings. But a
they say, the Scriptures cannot be, in themselves,
revelation. But this is a rationalistic approach to          minister of the Word comes from the King with the
Scripture which simply denies the fact of the wonder         authority of the King behind him so that the King, in
of grace. God reveals Himself through Christ. And,           fact, is the one who is speaking. Christ speaks through
because the Scriptures are the infallible record of the      the gospel.
revelation of God in Christ, therefore God reveals             In Greece, the king was very particular whom he
Himself through the Scriptures.                              appointed to this work. He wanted to be sure that his
  To put it as clearly as possible: we eat Christ by         proclaimer or herald would limit himself exclusively
eating the Scriptures which contain Christ as those          to the message of the king. He did not want the
Scriptures are given to us as the revelation of Christ.      herald to be a man who would add his own words, or
In this way the Scriptures are the food of our souls.        deal with the message as he saw fit. The message had
                                                             to be delivered in exactly the words which the king
   So, the office of the minister is to bring to God's       had given. The king would be the one who knew best
people the Scriptures.                                       how the message had t$. be worded, and the herald
  How does a minister do this?                               was rigidly limited to that message. Supposing, e.g.,


352                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



that the herald was permitted to formulate the             danger so that they might be instrumental in saving
message in his own way: to leave out parts which he        their beloved homeland and their houses and lands,
thought inappropriate; to add to the message as he         the king would not hire him. These motives were too
saw fit; to engage in debate and argumentation with        dangerous. If a herald was motivated by these things,
those to whom the message was directed, The result         he might not be a trustworthy herald who could be
would be that the message was partly the message of        trusted to bring only the message of the king. If, e.g.,
the herald or proclaimer, and all kinds of bad things      he saw that people were not sufficiently aroused to
could happen to the message which would destroy its        action by the message of the king, he might conclude
force and power. The king would have none of this.         that the king's message was inadequate to show the
                                                           people the danger and to excite them to action. In
  So it is with a minister too. He brings the message      that case, he would throw away the message of the
of Christ and nothing more or less. He is rigidly
bound and limited to the message of Christ. For only       king, and make his own which, in his conviction,
in this way will Christ's Word, with all its power and     would be a more powerful stimulus to get the people
authority, come to those in the kingdom. A minister        to act. The king wanted none of this.
must not add to that message; he must not subtract           The same is true of the preaching of the gospel.
from it; he must not give what, in his opinion, is the     This is not to say that preachers must not love the
meaning. He must limit himself to the message of the       cause of God and must not have a deep concern
King. He must do this by limiting himself to the           about the salvation of God's people. But this may not
Scriptures, and by explaining Scripture with Scrip-        be the deepest motive for preaching. In the final
ture. He must be able to say as Paul said: "I have         analysis, the only motive for preaching must be what
preached unto you the  whole  counsel of God." He          Paul writes in I Cor. 9: 16: "Necessity is laid upon me;
has no message of his own. And he must always work         yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!"
in the consciousness that he has no other calling but      There is no other motive that will do. If anyone is
to tell the people what Christ wants told. Christ          motivated by other reasons he cannot be trusted with
knows best what the people of the kingdom have to          the message of the King, for he will soon become
hear.                                                      convinced that the message of the King does not have
                                                           the proper effect, and he will change the gospel so
  Finally, in Greece, a king would often inquire into      that there is more fruit when he preaches it. But
the motives of a herald. This was considered impor-        Christ will have none of this.
tant. Why did a man want to be a herald? The king
wanted to know. If the man answered that he desired          But I must close for this time. There is here, for
to be a herald because he loved his country, was           you, something to think about as you work in your
concerned about its welfare with a foreign army on         position of minister of the gospel.
its borders, and longed to bring the message of the                                          Fraternally in Christ,
king to the people in order to warn them of their                                            H. Hanko

FROM HOLY WRIT




                     Exposition of Galatians 4: l-7
                                                 Rev. G. Lubbers

A FURTHER ELUCIDATION THAT ABRAHAM'S                       added to the promise in order that the exceeding
SONS .ARE FREE IN CHRIST                                   sinfulness of sin might be revealed. Only in Christ's
  From the time of Sinai till the coming of Christ the     redemption on the Cross is there any hope of life,
church was under the pedagogue: the Law of                 righteousness, and peace. Man must become a new
commandments contained in ordinances! This law             creation by the Spirit of Christ. He must be baptized
proclaimed that no flesh shall be justified by works of    into Christ; he must put on Christ, the whole Christ,
law which we perform. By the law is the knowledge          as prophet, priest, and king. He must become a Chris-
of sin; the law is the power of sin and death. It was      tian. He must die to law through law, that he might


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               353


live unto God by the faith of Jesus Christ.                 Christ was born. They were lost in their sins. Is He
   In the Old Testament dispensation, from Sinai to         not the only one who will save His people from their
Christ, the  entire  church was really an heir of the       sins? Is His Name not called Jesus by the angel of the
promise in Christ. However, the time was "not yet"          Lord? The term translated "were in bondage" means:
that she should receive the Spirit of Christ. That must     in a completed state of bondage. There was- no way
wait till the time called "the fulness of time." That       out. The just demand of the law must be satisfied.
was the time appointed of the Father in the terms of        And the law under which Israel was held was weak
the ratified covenant with Abraham and with his             and beggarly. It could not help the impotent sinner; it
Seed, Christ.                                               could not justify the ungodly and it could not
   To make this clear Paul now proceeds, in these first     sanctify the filthy sinner. All was hopeless for the
seven verses of Galatians 4, to use the metaphors of        heir-child under law.
an heir-child, as he is a minor, and as this same child        And this was thus by the appointment of the
is an adult in life. They are the same person, with the     Father in the Testament. Paul makes this clear from
same rights, but they are treated differently in each       an illustration in ordinary life of his day. It makes
of these stages of their life. The child is under tutors    very little difference whether he is referring to the
and stewards till the time appointed; the man is free;      strict technical law of his day as applied by the
he has received all that is implied in being a son by       Romans or to Greek law, as far as his point of
adoption to life and glory, to occupy his place in the      comparison goes. In either case men, (boys and girls)
father-house with its many mansions. (John 14: l-3)         were minors (nonage) in the strict sense till they were
                                                            14 years old, and they received their full rights when
                                                            they arrived to the age of 25 years. In either case they
                                                            were under the supervision of pedagogues, tutors,
HELD IN PERPETUAL BONDAGE UNDER THE                         governors. They are shut under law unto the time
RUDIMENTS OF THIS WORLD (Gal. 4: l-3)                       appointed of the Father in the will.
  In the Old Testament the church was like little              This is very meaningful for our purpose.
children who needed to learn the spiritual alphabet of         This means that Paul is here not speaking of
the Christian religion. They were under the first           individual Christians before and after their conversion.
principles, which they needed to learn before they          He is not speaking of an individual saint at all in the
could attain to the full knowledge of salvation in          Old Testament. He is comparing the legal and spiritu-
Jesus Christ. They all pointed to Christ in dim             al status of the Church in the Old Testament with
shadows and types. They were really lessons which           that of the church after Faith has come, in the
were the first principles of the "world." The lessons       dispensation of the fulness of time. He is comparing
were all geared "under law": do this and thou shalt         the Old Testament child-church with the New Testa-
live. In a sense that was true not only of the Jew but      ment  adult-church.  They are the  same  church. The
also of the Greek. The morality of the latter also          adult is the full-grown child. It is the same person!
dealt with the "good man." It was ever the way of           This refutes the false teaching of Premillennialism
works. The one perished in his sins "without law"           which would separate as two spiritual entities the. Old
and the other perished in his sins "by law." But they       Testament Kingdom from the New Testament Bride of
both are under worldly principles, which could not          Christ, the Church. If premillennialism is correct, then
save, but could only point up the moral and spiritual       Paul does not make his point here, and the, Galatian
bankruptcy of man as he is apart from the saving            errorists win the day. But Paul would have them one
grace in Christ. Because these principles could in no       church, the one planting of the Lord, the one tree
way help man actually to perform them (Gal.  3:21)          which continues from the Old Testament into the
they are weak through sin. (Rom.  8:3) Paul calls           New Testament. (John 15 : l-5; Rom. 11: 17-2 1) How-
these principles weak and beggarly! This was true of        ever, let it be understood, once and for all, that the
the Pharisaic self-righteousness as well as of the weak     Old Testament church is the "child" and the New
Pagan  moral&m. Both are weak and beggarly. They            Testament church is the "adult" in the same church,
have no power and they leave one destitute in his           which is the body of Christ, the fulness of Him that
spiritual poverty of guilt and shame.                       filleth all in all!
  Rudiments of this world!                                     Yes, we were under those first principles as church
  They have nothing in them of the power of God             once!
unto salvation.                                                But that shall never more again be the case.
  What is worse is that the Old Testament Church,              The clock of God has struck the hour of Christ's
from Sinai till Christ, was- in a perpetual. state of       birth. And now all things shall be changed for the
bondage. Such was the state of the Church when              "child-Heir."


354                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


GOD SENT HIS SON IN THE FULNESS OF TIME                     Leviticus 12:2-8.  And so the Son of God was "made"
(Galatians 4:4,5)                                           under law. He was redeemed by the redemption of
   Yes, God had to change matters for the child-heir,       the firstborn son. (Num. 3: 13; 8: 17) Yet, He is
for the children of election, both  .out of the Old         "made" of a woman. He had no human father. Mary's
Testament and out of the New `Testament Dis-                son was conceived by the Holy Ghost. The Son of
pensation. He did this once and for all when the            God "took upon Himself" our human nature in Mary.
fulness of time came. It was the time appointed of          He chose His own mother, the blessed among women.
the Father in His will for His children and heirs in        (Luke 1:30,42) Paul seems to suggest in the choice of
`Christ Jesus; It was the right time when Jesus was         his words here that this was a unique birth, when he
born. The time struck on the clock of God. Then God         writes, "made  of a woman,  made  under law." The
set the wheels of heaven in motion: the whole world         eternal God "became," as far as His flesh was con-
must be taxed by a decree of Caesar Augustus, and a         cerned: The Word was "made" flesh! (John 1: 14)
woman must go to Bethlehem to give birth to her               God sent His Son into this world with a mission,
first-born son, and she must call his name Jesus: for       with a definite task to perform as the Mediator. He
he it is that shall save his people from their sins. And    was "sent out" from God. Jesus says repeatedly while
He shall be Immanuel, that is, God with us. (Luke           on earth: and this is the will of Him that sent me.
 2: l-7; Matt. 1: 18-23)                                    (John  6:39,40) And He comes and cries, "Behold, I
                                                            come to do thy will, 0 God." (Hebrews 10:7; Psalm
   Time has a measure to it and design. All things          40:6) This task which He has come to perform is that
from Adam lead to Christ. And that time then is a           He must "redeem those who were under law," that is,
fulness of time. When the last day has come in that         the entire church, as she was in the status of being
long history, and the "days are accomplished that she       but a child in nonage, under the Old Testament Law;
should be delivered," then the heavens can break            the first principles of the world. The task was to bring
open and the multitude of the heavenly host can sing,       the ransom price at Calvary on the accursed tree. For
"Glory to God in the highest," and all the angels can       this purpose He must come under law. Jesus comes
come forth to worship the Son in the flesh." (Luke          under the law: do this, do this, pay, pay, pay. He
2:12-14; Hebrews  1:5,6) It was  not  the time when         Who knew no sin was made sin for us. (II Cor. 5: 21)
the reprobate world was ready to receive the Christ at      And this God did in the fulness of time, the time
all, but it was the time when the stage of God is set       appointed in the promised Testament. Up to that
for the Son of God to be born, suffer, die, rise from       point the children were under tutors and governors.
the dead, and sit at the right hand of God, Lord over       They did "not yet" have the actual rights of the
all things. It is the time when the "dispensation of the    adopted sons: the actual forgiveness of sins, and the
fulness of times" will usher in our present New             obtaining of the righteousness of Christ Jesus. The
Testament Church into the time ,when all things shall       church only had this in a promissory note. Christ has
be put under one head, both in heaven and on earth.         the assurance of this. Wherefore we read in Hebrews
(Eph. 1: 10) Such was' the wisdom of our heavenly           9: 15, "And for this cause he is the Mediator of the
Father over His heir-children.                              new testament, that by means of death, for the
   Yes, the Son was made from a woman in the                redemption of the transgressions that were under the
fulness of time, from a woman born in the  ;Old             first testament they which are called might receive
Testament and under law!                       v            the  .promise  of eternal inheritance." (Hebrews  7:22;
   The virgin Mary must be a woman from the Old             Rom. 3:25)
Testament as was Sarah, Ruth, and Hannah. She is a            Yes, the entire church in heaven and on earth now
part of that Old Testament church which is under the        has this great adoption of children. Legally we have
law as a taskmaster to Christ. She must go to the           rights to heaven and to all the blessings of God's
temple on the fortieth day  of, her purification, and       covenant now. We have had this, the one church, Jew
then present herself and her son to the Lord. (Luke         and Greek, from the time of the fulness of time when
2:22) Yes, she must bring the Old Testament bloody          Christ died for us on the Cross. "But now once in the
sacrifice of the pair of turtle-doves, or two young         end of the ages hath he appeared to put away our sins
pigeons. She is under the law as given by Moses in          by the sacrifice of himself." (Heb. 9`i26)



            The STANDARD BEARER makes a thoughtful gift for a shut-in.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               355


GUEST ARTICLE




                                Careful For Nothing,
                        But Pray With Thanksgiving
                                                 Rev. R. G. Moore

  It often seems as if those who attempt to solve our      don't understand," or, "I don't think you know my
problems do not know them at all. We may be poor,          trial or my circumstances, Lord." 0, you might say
and one who is well off tries to bring us comfort and      this to man, but not to God! And God tells us to
help. Or, we may be sick, and one who  .has good           walk in prayer and thanksgiving, being careful for
health comes with prayer and words of comfort. Or,         nothing.
we may be passing through a particular trial, and one        When one who is tried, then, considers this word of
who is untried speaks with us. And although this           God-to be careful for nothing-it is necessary to
comfort and care is brought with good Christian            distinguish the term "careful" as used in our- text
intent, nevertheless we are often prone to say that the    from the use of the same term used in a good sense in
one attempting to comfort us knows nothing of our          Scripture. In a positive way the child of God can be
problems. And we say, "he isn't sick, or, he isn't         careful. That is, we ought to be filled with proper
poor, he does not know how great our burdens are."         concern over matters of life as good stewards before
It seems easy for him to say "don't worry" or "live in     God. Then this means that we are conscientious in
hope. "                                                    our calling before God to serve Him in all of our lives,
  However, the words to which we look in this              in ways well pleasing to Him, in the way of His grace
article are written by one who knew affliction of          bestowed upon us by the Spirit of His Son. Paul so
many kinds. He was persecuted, afflicted, ship-            uses the term (careful) in this way in the very chapter
wrecked, etc. Even as he wrote the words, which we         in which we find the text that we consider in this
call God's, he was bound in prison. Of course we           article. In verse ten we read, "But I rejoiced in the
speak of Paul. And he says to us, "Be careful for          Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me
nothing; but in every thing by prayer and sup-             hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful,
plication with thanksgiving let your requests be made      but ye lacked opportunity."
known unto God." Phil 4:6. He who was deeply tried           However,  in- our text the term "careful" in the
exhorts us who pass through trial.                         phrase "careful for nothing," has the opposite mean-
  But even more importantly, we must emphasize             ing. Be not filled with cares, anxieties, unrest, or
that God speaks these words. For the Scripture is His      worry. Worry or anxiety is the concern of Paul's
Word infallibly inspired. Words of life for His elect      admonition.
ordained unto life from before the foundation of the         Such anxiety or worry we know by the hard way
world. And the Spirit of Christ says to us be careful      of experience. It is mental agony, or the morbid
for nothing, but be in prayer and thanksgiving. Thus,      dread that the future will not be as we think it should
even as a pastor, I cannot speak words of comfort in       be. Such worry causes one to tremble. And its
my own strength,. for I too must confess the sin of        symptoms are irritableness, vexation, and impatience.
worry and anxiety. But God speaks - and I must listen      But it ought not so to be. Be careful for nothing says
to these words also! Even when our Lord may                the Spirit.
call me to bring these words to the bedside of a sick
saint, I must listen and so must you. For when God           Be silent and hear!
speaks, we must be quiet, must listen, must believe,         As such, worry is too often a common experience
and must do what He says as we are given grace. Or as      in the church, and it has no respect of age. Our
one grandma once said in a Bible Study, "When God          children are filled with worries about school (and we
speaks, we shut up." One does, not argue, or say, "I       often add to this)  - they worry about the friends


3     5     6                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


they have or don't have, etc. In the time of youth,         will not be restored to health soon enough to do this
anxieties arise caused by the pressures that are unique     or that. We are so often filled with doubt concerning
to them - those arising from decisions that will affect     God's ways and His will for us and our loved ones. We
their whole lives: the seeking of a wife or of a            usually worry about the future, about the unknown.
husband that is one in faith with them; their choice        The Spirit says, worry not at all.
of occupation in a day when more and more fields of           Be still, and hear!
labor are being closed to the Christian stranger and
pilgrim; the questions that arise of acceptance in their      Christ teaches this same truth throughout His
peer group, while yet desiring to stand distinctively as    Word. An example is found in the sermon on the
a child of God; etc. And as one grows older so it is        mount. This is recorded in Matthew, the sixth
the tendency to have increasing opportunity for             chapter. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they
worry. In adulthood there seems to be no end of             grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: . . . Where-
things that arise in our lives that give rise to worry.     fore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which
Our labor, our health, our `children, etc. Worry in life    today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he
seems so common that we may be tempted to shove             not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith." Do
this admonition aside, saying, "We can't do anything        not be filled with anxiety, because it is of no avail -
about it anyway!" But this we may not do!                   and gets one nowhere. We cannot add one cubit to
                                                            our stature. Worry can only cloak your life in a
     Be silent and hear!                                    shadow of despair and misery! Be careful for nothing.
     Further, it seems as though we worry about               And yet there is a much greater reason to cease
anything and everything. Marriage relations (how can        from all anxiety and worry, and that is that it is the
I make my husband relaxed when he comes home                deep way of sin! Worry draws us away from trust in
from a hard day of work, when I, myself cannot              God. Worry looks away from God, and looks inward
relax) or (how can I cheer up my wife who has               upon self. Worry is concerned with the ease of the
struggled all day with her daily chores, when I, myself     flesh and of this earthly life. Worry is based upon
am discouraged); we worry about our children (the           setting our judgment over against our God's sovereign
training of them in God's Word, when so much seems          will and counsel. It leads us into selfishness.
to interfere); our parents (who can't possibly know
our problems); food for the table; clothes (are they          And while it is true that we do not know or
acceptable); things present; things future; our health      understand all of God's ways, worry nevertheless is
(whether all the cancer is gone or not); etc. And if we     exactly a distrust of God's covenant faithfulness, and
have nothing else to worry about, we probably worry         a distrust of God's ways with us. When we worry we
about nothing. But such worry keeps us from thanks-         refuse to walk in submission to our Father. We
giving and prayer. The Spirit says, Be careful for          express that we know what is the right portion for
nothing.                                                    our life. And thus we fail to trust in Him Who alone
                                                            knows our needs perfectly. We walk in sin. And we
     Be silent and hear!                                    are robbed of all true peace.
     And yet further, the present day in which we live        Positively to be careful in nothing means that we
seems to add to the growing list of things that can fill    walk in relation to all things as children of God. Out
us with anxiety. There is increasing unrest in. the         of faith, with reverence and fear, we submit all things
economy of the whole world and it is hard to know           unto the Father for Jesus' sake. The Spirit says in I
where we are heading financially. This in turn con-         Peter 5 : 6-7 "Humble yourselves therefore under the
tinues to spur on political unrest and upheaval             mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due
throughout the world  - so we live in an era of             time: Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth
instability that borders an chaos. And finally we live      for you." Further, we know that Christ has been
in the age of great apostasy - when the love of many        given all power in heaven and earth to rule over all
wax cold. And this in turn can give rise to many            things to perfect the kingdom of our God. For God
questions to the child of God, questions that are not       hath given Him all power, "when he raised him from
always faced with steadfast trust.  Howeverj even in        the dead, and set him at his own right hand in
the light of the above, and especially because of the       heavenly places, Far above all principality, and
above Christ says, be careful for nothing. And we           power, and might, and dominion, and every name
must hear!                                                  that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
     Has it struck you that it is basically the work of     which is to come: and hath put all things under his
God that we worry about. We worry about the things          feet, and gave him to be the head of the church,
which we cannot change. The farmer worries whether          which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in
it will rain, or whether it will not stop raining. The      all." Eph. 1: 20-23.
sick are worried that they will get worse, or that they       God has predestined all things that come to pass in


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            357


this life. He has chosen His people in Christ from                     Precious way of trust  - precious prayer and sup-
before the foundation of the world upon whom to set             plication with thanksgiving!
His love. He sent His Only Begotten Son to die the                     Do -not go to the psychiatrist, do not gulp pills, do
accursed death to save that people. And He gives                not try to drown out your cares in drink, or escape
Christ as our High Priest all power to rule over all            them with the stupor of drugs. But the way to blessed
things unto our salvation. Then how foolish to be               trust and peace that passeth understanding is to bring
filled with worry! Christ came in our flesh, He tasted          your requests to God in prayer. For prayer dispels
our infirmities, He knows our chief adversary and his           anxiety and care. When we bring our cares to Father
power, He knows our weakness - our sin (for sin He              and leave them there, no longer shall we be burdened.
suffered to taste the fulness of God's wrath), and He           By turning to Father it is necessary that we turn our
knows each of His elect personally as members of His            thoughts away from self. We see ourselves as sinners.
body. Surely then all things work together for good,            And alone in contrition we bring our supplications
to them who love God, to them who are the called                unto Him. But then we come alone in Christ, for
according to God's purpose. Hence, it is in the                 apart from Him we cannot stand. It is by grace
confidence of grace that we must understand that all            through faith we petition Father for Jesus' sake. Our
things work together for the perfect realization of             deepest need of forgiveness, caused by selfishness and
that which our covenant Father in Christ has pur-               pride, filling us with care, we bring unto Him seeking
posed! And this in every minute detail. Trust in the            mercy. And for His Son's sake God hears your prayer.
Lord for He cares; and in love having blotted out our           Your sins are forgiven in Christ's blood. All things are
sin in the blood of His Son He forgives your iniquity           well. Surely then we  rejoi?e and live in all thanks-
and makes you His child. Surely He will perfect His             giving  - and all care slips away. In Christ we have
work in you. All is well!                                       peace with our God, and this in all of our way!
  Be still and hear!                                                   Be still, hear - Be at peace!

ALL AROUND US
Rev. G. Van Buren

                                                    Labor's New Muscle
  Newsweek  magazine of April 3, 1978 points out                        Workers and other unions are considering the use of
new and growing attempts of the unions to gain                          similar tactics against banks and other corporations
control of the workers of the country. They are                         that do business with South Africa's racist govern-
seeking to use their considerable financial clout to                    ment. The AFL-CIO may draft "standards" for the
compel employers to submit to their demands for                         placement of union pension funds. Declares one top
unionization. We might be noticing some of these                        labor leader, "We're going to send a message to
effects in our own area soon. The article states:                       business and the  fmancial community: `You can't
       Few people noticed last year when the Amal-                      associate with dirty people without getting your
   gamated  Clothing and Textile Workers Union put                      hands dirty. . . .'  "
                                                                 _
    a new organizational strategist . . . on its pay-                      Otitsiders  seem divided as to just_what the implica-
    roll. . . . But last week the entire labor-manage-                ' tions might be. The Wall Street Journal last week
   ment world was marveling at Rogers's work. The                       referred to the  ACTWU's  new weapon as a "secon-
    34-year-old  ex-VISA volunteer and political campaign               dary blacklist." Rogers admits his tactics are harsh,
    consultant has  ttirned around what had been a futile               but he and other labor experts deny that the strategy
    ACTWU struggle to organize giant J.P. Stevens and Co.               amounts to illegal secondary boycotting, as the
    - and his tactics couldrevolutionize the labor move-                Journal seemed to imply.
   ment. "The movement for the first time is using its                     The union's tough tactics were born out of des-
    economic power," says Prof. B. J. Widick of the                     peration. In twelve attempts since 1963, it has won
    Columbia University Graduate School of Business.                    bargaining rights at just two Stevens plants  - and it
    "And it will use it again."                                         has been unable as yet to work out a contract with.
       Rogers's strategy is designed to isolate Stevens                 the company. Some experts now think the mounting
    from the rest of the corporate world by pressuring                  pressure may ultimately be too  much for even
    the textile manufacturer's outside directors to quit its            Stevens to bear. Says Professor Widick: "J.P. Stevens
   boards, and by forcing other companies to oust                       will settle in two or three years, when its stock starts
    Stevens officials  who sit on their boards. And the                 going down." That's an iffy proposition  - but if it
    power play has worked remarkably well. . . .                        materializes, it will be mighty testimony to Ray
      The new muscle is working so well, in fact, that                  Rogers's new organizational tactics.
    other union leaders are eager to try it. The Interna-             At the same time the often wide-ranging editorials
   tional Association of Machinists, the United  Auti,          of the  Banner  contain also some unsolicited  com-


358                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



ments of the editor concerning another position of                      course, largely ignored its own synodical rulings in
the union: that of opposing the "right-to-work" laws.                   the past. But regardless, I consider it harsh and cruel
Says he in the April  7,`1978 issue:                                    that any. editor of a Christian magazine should pub-
          . . .The union movement has set itself, you know,             licly declare that "on the whole" the union is  cor-
       against "right to work laws," and on  the whole I                rectly against "right to work laws." There are many
       think correctly so. Rightly, at least, whenever "right           of us who still firmly believe that the old Christian
       to work" has meant in practice the destruction, or
       serious weakening, of unionization. . . .                        Reformed stand is correct: the child of God can not
                                                                        belong to any union which opposes God or the
  Now the editorial is concerned rather with the
"right" of everyone to have a job if he so desires. But                 standards of His Word; that there may be no union
                                                                        between light and darkness. When, therefore, an
the strange insertion of the above comment, leading                     editor endorses one of union's pet clubs (to forbid
to another point, is surely out of place in any                         anyone the "right to work" if he refuses  to join the
Christian magazine. The Christian Reformed Church                       union), one can only shake his head in wonderment
itself, I understand, has synodical decisions against                   and even discouragement, and ask, "Who is in whose
belonging to any anti-Christian union. It has, of                       camp?" For shame, editor De Koster!
                                               Christian Schools Under Attack
  In the March/April  1978  issue of  Liberty,  a                          school in his Frankfort Baptist Tabernacle and is a
Seventh-day Adventist magazine, appears another                            Ph.D. candidate in English at the University of
article concerning the struggles of some Christian                         Kentucky, says his school is given accreditation an-
schools against the power of the state. In Kentucky                        nually, but he turns it back each year.
there has been some agitation on this issue. The                              "The state cannot tell us what, our ministry should
magazine states:                                                           be," he says. "The state board places all authority in
                                                                           the school with the state, but we feel that authority
          The Kentucky State Board of Education is cur-                    over the control of our children is ours."
       rently under a restraining order barring it from                       Pastor Goode11 says all textbooks approved for
       prosecuting parents whose children attend private                   state-accredited schools espouse  `cproevolution"
       Christian schools.                                                  theory, "collectivism," "humanism," and negative
          That is but the latest installment of a debate that              values. He says the Christian school "movement" has
       has been unfolding for five months. Involved are                    been under attack because it teaches children ab-
       twenty nonaccredited Christian schools, the former                  solutes.
       chairman of the state's Board of Education, who is a                   "If you don't have absolutes, then you have to
       Baptist minister, and thirty-six parents who believe                move toward situation ethics," he argues. "Lenin, the
       that  they and not the state's Board of Education                   god of the Communists, opposed absolutes unless
       should control their children's education.                          they were endorsed by the state. If we are turned
          The Christian schools have been under pressure                   down, then we are as state-controlled as they are in
       from the state board to meet minimum standards for                  Moscow."
       accreditation since June. Twenty such schools were                     He said there `is a good chance that his "move-
       directly threatened with state enforcement of truancy,              ment" might lose anticipated court suits, "because
       laws involving children who do not attend a state-,         :       they - the judges, attorneys, school officials - are all
       accredited school.                                                  products of the [John] Dewey school systems. . . ."
          Parents of students in those schools, joining with              So the pressure increases in various states against
       the Kentucky Association of Christian Schools,                   Christian education. The attack is on various fronts.
       lodged a suit asking that enforcement proceedings be             There is the question of accreditation, of tax-exemp-
       stopped. Franklin Circuit Judge Henry Meigs issued a             tion, of government subsidy, of tuition vouchers.
       temporary restraining order against the state board              Many of these things will doubtlessly be used in the
       early in October. The state has filed a response.                near future to undermine and destroy the Christian
          Accreditation is the surface issue, but questions             school movement. May we have the grace of God to
       raised in the case go beyond simple matters of                   resist  - and resist also that tremendously great
       accreditation, which mandates certain textbooks,                 temptation to accept of the hands of the government
       teaching methods, and teacher certification.                     the monies that some suggest they should provide to
          Pastor Guy  Goode& who operates a Christian                   keep our schools open.

                                          ."Christian" Social Dancing-Again
  The Banner of April 7, 1978 also reports on action                       the matter of "social dancing" on campus, as re-
taken by the Board of Trustees for Calvin College and                      ported to synod last year. After considering both the
Seminary. The following action was taken:                                  substance and  the number of responses that were
                                                                           received by the board of trustees, a report was
          There was also much time and attention given to                  prepared for synod. The final paragraph of this report


                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                      359


     states, "Therefore, the board of trustees reaffirms its                  za is the 50th anniversary of the "Report on Worldly
     position re the dance issue taken in May, 1977, and                      L' Amusements." The crowd roared. But not all did.
     reported to the synod in June, 1977. If the board of                         Serious faces showed that some considered this no
     trustees' interpretation of  1966/71  (Acts 1971, p.                         joking matter. Another speaker at the same meeting
     139, art. 163,  V,C)  is correct, we would expect the                        observed that he was sure his audience didn't expect
     synod to support the board in its efforts to im-                             that he would ask them to push their banquet tables
     plement the board's decision re social dancing at                            back and join in a Tango. The crowd laughed again;
     Calvin College. If there is a basic uncertainty as to the                    but not all did. This too was no joking matter and
     meaning of the  66/71  decisions and their application                       seemed to be in poor taste.
     to social dancing, we recommend that synod take                             So the debate continues on many fronts and about
     steps to clarify its position while the board of trustees               many issues. Serious Christians surely must consider
     withholds implementation of its decision until the                      the Word of God which also requires, "Come out
     results of synod's study are available."
   In the                                                                    from among them and be ye separate, and touch not
                   meantime, in some circles  the whole  qu,es-              the unclean thing." Continued alliance --between
tion has become a joking matter.  As  reported in the
Outlook, April 1978, the following is deplored:                              church and world, between light and darkness, be-
                                                                             tween Christ and Belial may not be condoned. There
         Recently at a public meeting two denominational                     is the matter of corporate responsibility. And there is
     leaders made light with a laugh of some things that                     the matter of the judgment day in which every idle
     deserve serious attention. One speaker, as an intro-               -
     ductory joke, said that although we are celebrating a                   word is judged by God. Where we too tend to
     number of anniversaries these days, some of them                        compromise and seek the world and all of its corrup-
     aren't of much consequence; he went on to name a                        tions, there must likewise be repentance. We also have
     few and then commented that one anniversary  isvery                     the warnings and direction of Scripture to walk in all
     important. Then he proceeded to inform us that 1978                     holiness before our God.

                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   The Consistory of the Hudsonville (Michigan) Protestant Reformed             The consistory of Faith Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison,
Church extend their Christian sympathy to two of its members,                Michigan, extends its Christian sympathy to one of our fellow  office-
Deacons Ted Miedema, Jr. and Gerald Miedema in the recent death of           bearers, Elder Erne Miedema and his family in the passing of his
their mother, MRS. TED MIEDEMA, SR.                                          mother, MRS. TED MIEDEMA. Our prayer is that God may comfort
   May they be comforted by the truth expressed in II Cor.  4:17  -          him and his family in this time of sorrow.
"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a          "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."                             dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
                                      Rev. G. Van  Baren, Pres.              eternal in the heavens." (I I Cor.  5:l).
                                      Perlin  Schut, Clerk                                                                           Rev. M. Joostens, Pres.
                                                                                                                                  David M. Ondersma, Clerk
                        OBITUARY NOTICE
   On Friday evening, February 24, 1978, it pleased our Heavenly                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Father to take to eternal glory our very dear husband, father, grand-
father and great-grandfather MR. EVERT G. VAN VOORTHUYSEN at                    The Mens Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church
the age of 87 years.                                                         extends sincerest sympathy to Mr. Ted Miedema, Sr. in the recent loss
   "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Psalm    of his wife. May the God of all grace and mercy comfort him and his
116:15).                                                                     family with'the assurance of the faithfulness of His promises.
                                Mrs. E. Van Voorthuysen                                                                   Rev. C. Han ko, Pres.
                                Mrs. Christine Kooiman                                                                    G. Bouwkamp, Sec'y.
                                Mr. and Mrs. John  Ekema
                                Mr. and Mrs. Andy Van Voorthuysen
                                Mr. and Mrs. Everett Van Voorthuysen
                                Mr. and Mrs. John Kimm
                                   21 grandchildren
                                   24 great-grandchildren
Redlands, California

            NOTICE TO CHURCH TREASURERS!!!
   The newly appointed treasurer for the Lecture Committee is:
Harlow Kuiper, 1836 Waterbury S.E., Kentwood, Ml 49508.

   Please send special collection receipts to the above address until
further notice.


                                                                      NOTICE!!!!
                      The Lord willing, on May 15, 1978, there will be a lecture in the South Holland
              Protestant Reformed Church given by Rev. George Lubbers on the topic "HEALTHY
              PIETY VS. FALSE MYSTICISM."
                                                        PLAN NOW TO A TTEND!!!!


  THE STANDARD BeAFtER
        P.O. Box 6064                                                                              SECOND CLASS
                                                          -
 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506    :                                                                 POSTAGE PAID AT
                                                                                            GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





 360                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    5
                                 News From Our Churches
   Our church in Pella, Iowa, has extended a call to           tion during Easter week. The young people in First
 Rev. Rodney Miersma of Isabel, South Dakota, to be            Church recently sponsored a `coffee' for the senior
 their pastor.                                                 citizens of the congregation. From all reports the
   The consistory of First Church in Grand Rapids              coffee was well attended and well received.
 called a special congregational meeting on the evening          Spring also brings notice of spring banquets, kin-
 of April 10. The congregation approved the purchase           dergarten roundups and bulletin notices in our  mid-
 of a house at 20 16 Tekonsha SE for a parsonage. This         western churches to the effect that church services
 home is in the Indian Village area of Grand Rapids,           will be canceled if a tornado watch is in effect one
 about two miles southeast of the church. Rev.                 half hour before the worship service:
 Joostens is scheduled to be installed as the new pastor         Our church in Houston held what could be called a
 of First on April 16. If plans go according to                "Millennium Seminar" on Saturday morning, Febru-
 schedule, Rev. Joostens and his family should move            ary 25. Rev. Wayne Bekkering presented the amillen-
 into the "new" parsonage before the end of April.             nial view and Rev. Lewis Bulkeley, pastor of the
   The congregation of Randolph, Wisconsin, met in a           Providence Presbyterian Church presented the post-
 special meeting the week of March 19 and decided              millennial position. A time was also given for ques-
 not to construct a nursery room in the church, but to         tions and discussion.          >
 continue to use the consistory room for that purpose.
 It was also decided that nursery once a week is                 The South Holland Young People continue their
 sufficient.                                                   fund raising activities for the `78 Protestant Re-
                                                               formed Young People's Convention, which they are
    Our Trinity Protestant Reformed Church in                  hosting this summer, with a submarine sandwich sale
 Houston, Texas, began to meet in their "new" church           and an organ recital in their church on April 7th.
 building on March 26. Perhaps a little more informa-
 tion about the new facilities in Houston will be                The children of our Christian day school in South
 forthcoming.                                                  Holland were addressed in a chapel talk by Rev.
    Southwest Church in Wyoming, Michigan, is also             Moore recently. Rev. Moore is pastor of our church in
 meeting in a different but temporary facility (a              Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and had come several
 school building near 28th and Byron Rd. SW) until             thousand miles not only to make a chapel speech, but
 their new church home is completed some time this             also to attend the meeting of  Classis West' of our
 summer.                                                       Churches which met in South Holland this spring.
   A number of special lectures are scheduled by our             Our denominational missionary, Rev. Harbach, in-
 churches again this Spring. The Annual Spring Lec-            cluded the following appropriate paragraph entitled
 ture sponsored by the Michigan Area `Churches is              "Spring Housecleaning," in his little paper "The
 scheduled on April 27 in the  Hudsonvihe  Church.             Calvinist Contender. " "It's that time again! Carpets,
 Professor H. Hanko will speak on "The Pleasures of            closets and clothes are cleaned. The whole house,
 Babylon in Jerusalem" (an analysis of the entertain-          basement to attic, is swept, dusted and polished. It's
 ment problem). Professor R. D. Decker has been                time for housecleaning in the churches too. Much of
 asked to speak for the combined meeting of the                what is only trash has accumulated. Attention is
 Men's and Ladies' Leagues on April 18 in our Holland          called to this refuse in synodical decisions on dancing,
 Church on matters pertaining to the love of God. His          worldly amusement, unbiblical divorce, abortion,
 title is, "Does Emphasis on the Love of God Lead to           homosexuals, lodge membership, union membership,
 Arminianism or to the Comfort of the People of                the charismatic movement, etc. For the ordering of
 God?" The Men's Society of our South Holland,                 God's house will the synodical broom sweep clean?
Illinois, Church has scheduled a lecture on May 15th           Need we majority vote directives on how to `clean
 in their church. Rev. George Lubbers plans to speak           house'? Haven't we in us the Spirit of God who
 on "Healthy Piety versus False Mysticism."                    teaches us to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of
   The Young People's Society in South Holland                 the flesh and spirit (II Cor. 7: l)?"
 brought plants to the older members of the congrega-                                                          K.G.V.


