          A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





  66 . . . But it is in no passive sense  that the  Bible is
the Word of God, according to Luther. It is as the
Spirit who inspired, it  breathes  .upon it  ,afresh, and
applies it to the reader, that God speaks again through.
the Scriptures, as He spoke when  .they were first set
down. .But for Luther, it is supremely in preaching
that the Word of  God- in the Scriptures is made alive
in the present. The living Word of God, once spoken
through the prophets and apostles, now recorded in
the Scriptures; speaks. again  throu&His servants who
are called to preach."             ,.

                                         From  Captive to the Word
   (see Preaching  - the Instrument  of.Reformation  -
                                                                         Page 77)



                                              Volume LV, No. 4, November 15, 1978 -
                                                        ESN 0362-4692


     74                                                           THE STANDARD  BEARER



                                                                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                         Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                              Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                  CONTENTS:                                                        Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                                   Ed&or-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                   Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
                                                                                   Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
     Meditation  -                                                                 Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert Joostens,
                                                                                   Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma,
                                                                                   Rev. Marlnus  SchlPPer, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev.  Glse J. Van  Baren,
.          Standing Through Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74           Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Kenneth G.
                                                                                   Vink.
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MEDITA TIO  N'




                                  Standing Through Prayer
                                                                       Rev. H. Veldman



                        "`Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto
                    with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.  "                                               .         E p h .   6:18




           The context of this text must not be sought in the                       this sword of the Spirit with all prayer and supplica-
     latter part of verse 17,`where we read of the sword-of                         tion. However, this sword of the Spirit is but another
     the Spirit which is the Word of God. If this were true                         part of the Christian's  armour, the  armour of God.
     `then the thought here would be that we must take.                             Why, then, limit verse 18 to. only  done- part of this


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER'                                               75



 armour, the latter part  .of,verse  173.  _        `I?..    perseverance," refers to what precedes, and especially
    This text must be understood, therefore, with the        to the words, "in the Spirit." We will return to this in
 admonition of the apostle in verse 14: "Stand there-        due time. However, we must- watch unto this end,
 fore." We must take unto ourselves the whole armour         unto the end that we may always engage in prayer
 of God, held before us in the verses  14-17. To this        and supplication. We must not fall asleep in this
 armour, however, must also be added the power of            spiritual conflict. We must always be on the alert. We
 prayer and supplication.                                    must know the enemy. We must never compromise
                                                             with him. We must always bear in mind the intensity
    We must bear in mind the following. First, we read       of the conflict, the constant purpose of the foe.
 literally, as in the Holland translation: "with, or         Always we' must understand our own weaknesses. We
 through all prayer and supplication.? This is the           must indeed persevere in prayer and supplication.
 effective means through which our standing in this
 awesome conflict of the ages is alone possible. Then          And, we must pray in the Spirit. The Spirit here is
 we read: "praying always in the Spirit and watch-           the Holy Spirit. To pray in the Holy Spirit means that
 ing. . . ." In these words we have a more detailed          we pray in the sphere of the Spirit, that we pray as
 setting forth and explanation of the words: "with all       being in the Spirit and therefore also as influenced by
 prayer and supplication.," What a unique way to fight       the Spirit. Indeed, this is a spiritual battle.
 a battle, upon bended knee! One would almost say, if          To be sure, we are.not engaged in a battle against
 I may use the expression, Is not the Christian a sitting    flesh and blood! Today we hear much of a social
 duck? Does this not place him in a hopeless position?       gospel, a gospel that is geared to making this world a
 Yet, how true is the saying: "Satan trembles when he        better place in which to live, to fight against im-
 sees, the weakest saint upon his knees."                    morality, debauchery, etc., removing the results ofsin
                       * * * * *                             without removing sin itself, and without the cross of
   This prayer is a spiritual prayer. Supplication is one    Calvary. How common today is this social gospel! Be
of several forms of prayer. Prayer can and does              not deceived. It is but an example of the wiles of the
 assume the form of praise, of confessing one's sins         devil! If only he may lull the people of God to sleep,
 and also of thanksgiving. Here we read of supplica-         persuade them to lay aside the  armour of God and
 tion. Prayer is not a magic means to get something.         join forces with the world to improve all of life here
To pray ceaselessly, then, would mean to pray until          below! How impossible is this view! How demoraliz-
 we get it. Such praying is often carnal, to get the         ing! We are not called to conquer this world and
 things we want. We pray, then, for health in time of        transform it. We are called to stand, never to re-
 sickness, for peace while at war, etc. How impossible       nounce our calling, always be witnesses of the light in
 is this  view! The Christian,  tighting this  spirit,ual    the midst of darkness.
 battle, exhorted to put on the whole armour of God            We must pray in the Spirit. And this surely means,
 and to stand, would pray for material things, for           not only that we must be in the Spirit, but also and
 peace, that the enemy may either surrender or capit-        emphatically that we must pray as in the Spirit, as
 ulate or somehow stop attacking him? We, then,              controlled and influenced by .Him. We must pray as
 would pray that this spiritual battle would cease, that     Christ taught us to pray, as according to His Word,
 we and the enemy of darkness may live together              seeking to be pleasing in God's sight, that we may
 peaceably and amicably? How impossible! Prayer is           walk worthy.  of, the gospel, worthy of God, always
 the address, the reaching out of my soul to the living      seeking to glorify Him Who called us out of darkness
 God, to receive His grace in whatevercircumstances          into His marvelous light. Such is our calling. And only
 He may place me. Prayer does not attempt to change          when we thus pray in the Spirit shall we be able to
 or mould God's will, but it does seek to know and           stand in the midst of this fearful battle.
 abide by that will of our God.                                                     * * *  *  *
   Prayer and supplication. Yes, especially supplica-          This prayer is a constant. prayer.  .The text em-
 tion. Indeed, how deeply we are in need! Indeed, we         phasizes this. First, we read here the word, "always."
give thanks to God, praise Him, but always the child         Literally we read: "in every time, at every moment."
 of God addresses to the Lord the supplicating plea.         We are reminded of I Thess. 5: 17. We must pray
 How true this is particularly here, in this context, in     always, not necessarily audibly, but also silently, as
the midst of this warfare that never stops, never            within ourselves. Besides, we also have the expression,
knqws of any armistice! How desperately we are               "in all perseverance." In all perseverance we must
dependent upon Him, thk God of our salvation!                watch thereunto. We must never stqp this `watching..
   Praying always with all prayer and supplication in.       We must' continue this perseverance to the very end,
the Spirit, we must watch thereunto with all persever-       always engaging in all prayer and supplicatidn.
ance. The expression, "watching thereunto in all               Howl necessary this is! Visualize, if you will, the


76                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


setup here, the church of God as involved in a battle         saints. They are saints, .holy ones. This enables us to
which is to the death. This is a spiritual battle, not for    understand why the apostle speaks of saints in this
or against flesh and blood, but between light and             text. It  4s exactly this which explains this conflict.
darkness. And, it is a struggle without compromise. In        They are saints, separated from sin and dedicated to
this struggle we have, first of all, the kingdom of this      the living God. For this reason they are hated and
world with all its man-power and all its resources.           persecuted by the world. The world hated Christ and
Against this kingdom of darkness is the Cause of the          therefore hates them. And now we must pray for
Son of God. The church is but a little flock, few in          them. We remind the Lord, as it were, that they are
number, and so weak in resources. Besides, please             saints, hated of the world because they love God and
note how we must fight. We must stand, but only in            that, therefore, nothing less than the glory and
the armour of God. Our only offensive weapon is the           honour of God are at stake here. This battle occurs
sword of the  Spinjt, which is the Word of God. We            for God's sake, and the Lord is besought to vindicate
may never resort to violence, fight fire with fire; we        them for His Name's sake.
must put all our trust, never in ourselves, but solely in       And we must pray for all the-saints. We must have
the Lord. What a hopeless struggle as far as the              before us all the people of God as they are engaged in
church of God is concerned!                                   this struggle. We must, therefore, keep abreast of the
      Now we can undertand the admonition to be               times, remember all God's people in our prayers to
constant in prayer. What else can the Christian soldier       the throne of God's grace. May this conflict and the
do but pray to the Lord? He can do nothing of                 needs of the saints engaged in it, and of all the saints,
himself. Only when we pray can we experience the              ever occupy a prominent part in our prayers.
blessed assurance that the Lord is with us and that we                              * * * * *
are more than conquerors. Failing to pray, we can               This prayer is effective. Prayer is always effective.
never enjoy this assurance. The Lord will never give          See James 5: 16b, Matt. 7:7-8.
His glory to another, never share it with another. 0, it
is so true, therefore, that "Satan trembles when he             0, this prayer for ourselves and for all the saints is
sees the weakest saint upon his knees." For this              not heard in the sense that the conflict will cease,
reason the Lord willed the utter hopelessness of this         that we will no longer be afflicted or persecuted. The
conflict, that He might receive all the praise and all        answer to prayer is never carnal.
the glory.                                                      But the answer to this prayer is exactly that we
                         * *  *  * *                          will be able to stand, will not succumb, will be abl,e to
      This prayer is an all-embracing prayer..                hold our position in the midst of the battle. Indeed,
                                                              the blessedness of the armour of God will be ours. We
      Indeed, we may not pray for all men or for the          will know that we are righteous, have peace with
world. Shall we pray that all men may be saved? Or,           God, believe that we will attain unto the hope of
shall we pray for the improvement and betterment of           everlasting glory and heavenly immortality, that we
this world? Shall we pray that this bitter struggle may       are even now more than conquerors through Him
cease,' that humanitarian efforts may be employed to          Who loves us and loved us upon-the cross of Calvary.
produce a better world, an improved society? How              We will indeed be able to sing that wonderful song of
impossible! Do not the scriptures teach that the              victory as recorded for us in Romans 8: 35-39.
wicked shall have no peace? The Saviour Himself does
not pray for the world; and in this text this prayer is         So, let us pray with all prayer and supplication.
limited. to the saints. Indeed, this battle continues           Let Us pray in the Spirit, and for all the saints.
unabated throughout the ages.                                   And we will know that we are more than con-
      We must pray for the saints, and then for all the            querors.


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                                             T H E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        77


EDITORIAL
Prof. H. C. Hoeksema





                        Preaching  - The Instrument
                                    of Reformation 2



   Last time  we saw that the Reformation marked a                 A Preacher," from which we can learn much about
return to and a restoration of preaching to its proper             Luther's reformational preaching.
place - the primary place - in the life of the church.                 What is prophetic preaching?
It was this preaching, so heavily emphasized by the
reformers, which was the primary instrument in the                     It is first and foremost preaching of the  Word  in
accomplishment atid the spread of the Reformation.                 the strictest sense of the term. It is expository. In the
More than any other single factor the preaching of                 book.referred to we read this, p. 89:
the Word by Luther and Calvin and their associates                     "The salient feature of Luther's preaching was its
served to call the people of God back to the Gospel                biblical content and reference. It was subject to
of our Lord Jesus Christ.                                          Scripture throughout. Luther submitted to a rigorous
  But this could only be true because the Reforma-                 discipline. He was bound by the Word. His preaching
tion marked a reformation of the preaching itself,                 was never merely topical. He could. never turn a text
first of all. In fact, it is safe to say that preaching            into a pretext. `I take pains to treat a verse, to stick
could never have been an instrument of reformation                 to, it,' he explained,. `and so to instruct the people
if there had not been, first of all, a reform of the               that. they can say, "That is what the sermon was
preaching itself.                                                  about." ' His preaching was never a movement from
                                                                   men to the text: it was always a movement from the
  What was the nature of that reformation of preach-               text to men. The matter never determined'the text:
ing?                                                               the text aiways determined the matter. He tias%dt in
  In a word, through it the preaching of the                       the habit of treating subjects qr iss`ues, but doctrines.
reformers again became prophetic! No, this does not                But when he  did, so, he invariably followed a pre-
mean necessarily that they preached from the pro-                  scribed Scripture, passage step by step. He considered
phetical books. It certainly does not mean that they               one of the major qualifications of the preacher to be
engaged in trying to predict the future. It does mean              familiarity with the Word. He must `be bonus textualis
that they began again to preach like  the prophets of              - a good man with the text. Luther never dispensed
old - or like the apostles. And this means, above all,             with a text from Scripture, and never'approved of the
that their preaching was emphatically  preaching  of              -practice in others. `It is disgraceful for the lawyer to
the Word, the Word of God in Christ.                               desert his brief; it is even more disgraceful for the
                                                                   preacher to desert,his text.' "
  I wish to illustrate this by referring again  to. the
preaching of Martin Luther.  There is a fascinating                   Needless to say, the same was .true of Calvin, who
book about Luther  bjr A: Skevington Wood entitled                 became known as the "prince of execgetes."
Captive To The Word (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co.,                       In the second  place, the preaching of the reformers
1969). In it there is an entire chapter on "Luther As              was antithetical, as all sound preaching should be. A.


78                                               THE STANDARD  BiARER



Skevington Wood puts it this way, pp. 90, 9 1:                 after he has been humbled and led to a knowledge of
      "There is thus a distinctly existential quality about    himself by the threats and the fear of the divine law.' "
Luther's preaching. Qne feels that through it God is             This is important. For we must remember that the
speaking directly to His people, and to those who still        reformation of the church is after all a  spiritual
reject Him - and this immediacy is conveyed even in            process. Reformation is not to be compared to a
the printed record. It was this factor which ensured           political campaign, in which one seeks by moral
that Luther's preaching should always be decisive.             suasion and by rational argument to gain adherents
There was nothing vague or cloudy about it. It was             and supporters for this or that doctrinal tenet and
clear-cut and definite. A sense of reality prevailed.          this or that viewpoint. No, it is distinctly spiritual. It
Luther was no mystic. Christ and Antichrist, God and           involves repentance and faith. It involves return from
the devil - these were objective personalities to him,         the way of the lie to the path of the truth, conversion
and this awareness gave a peculiar urgency to his              from the ways of sin to the ways of righteousness,
preaching. He believed, as Doberstein expresses it,            from the path of unbelief' to the way of faith in
that "preaching continues the battle begun by the              Christ.
saving event and is itself the saving event.' This is            However, there was also a reformation of the
made clear in one of Luther's own comments. `When              preaching in the sense that with the Reformation
I preach a sermon I take an antithesis.' This is to say,       came also a renewed understanding of the nature and
he never proclaimed God's great Yes, His acceptance            importance of the "moment" of the preaching. The
of man in the gospel, without at the same time                 reformers understood full well that it was not their
proclaiming His No, his rejection of all man's pre-            word, but the speech of God Himself which made the
sumption and pretence. Every sermon for him was a              preaching of the gospel powerful. Their preaching
struggle for souls: Eternal issues were being settled in       stood in the service of the powerful Word of Christ.
the moment of preaching  - the issues of life and              They understood that the moment of the preaching
death, light and darkness, sin and grace, the kingdom          of the Word was the moment in which God Himself
of Christ and the kingdom of Satan."                           spoke His Word to the hearts of Hi's people. And it is
      In this connection, let us remember, too, that the       this that accounts for their strong emphasis upon the
reformers were very  concretely  antithetical in their         necessity of the preaching of the Word, as well as for
preaching, both with.respect to doctrine and practice.         their confidence that the preaching of the Word
One has only to recall the fact, for example, that             would be fruitful. Writes Wood, p. 90:
Calvin never missed an opportunity to inveigh against            ". . . But it is in no passive sense that the Bible is
the papacy and against the false doctrine's and pray-          the Word of God, according to Luther. It is as the
tices of Roman Catholicism. Or recall the fact that he         Spirit who inspired it breathes upon it afresh, and
opposed in his preaching the practices. of the                 applies it to the reader, that God speaks again
Libertines in Geneva.                                          through the Scriptures, as He spoke- when they were
      In the third place,_ the preaching of the reformers      first set down. But for Luther, it is supremely in
was characterized by the call to repentance and faith          preaching that the Word of God in the Scriptures is
in Christ. Writes Wood, p. 9 1:                                made alive in the present. The living Word of God,
      "                                                        once spoken through the prophets and apostles, now
       . . . Christ must be preached as the One who lived      recorded in the Scriptures, speaks again through His
and died to redeem men from sin. What He did was               servants who are called to preach."
not for His own benefit, but for ours. `Christ ought to
be preached to the end that faith in Him may be                  This accounts for Luther's stress upon the neces-
established that He may not only be Christ, but be             sity of preaching. He himself wrote: "The church is
Christ for you and me, and that what is said of Him            not a pen house, but a mouth house. For `since the
and is denoted in His name may be effectual in us.             advent of Christ the gospel, which used to be hidden
Such faith is produced and preserved in us by preach-          in the Scriptures, has become an oral preaching. And
ing why Christ came, what He brought and bestowed,             thus it is the manner of the New Testament and of
what benefit it is to us to accept Him.' There were.           the gospel that it must be preached and performed by
preachers of repentance and grace even in his day,             word of mouth and a living voice. Christ himself has
Luther went on, but they did not explain how a man             not written anything, nor has he ordered anything to
might repent and  hoti he might know. the grace of             be written, but rather to be preached by word of
God. Repentance proceeds from the law of God, but              mouth."
grace from the promise of God. `Faith comes from                 Or again: "God, the creator of heaven and earth,
what is heard, and what is heard comes by the                  speaks with you through His preachers, baptizes,
preaching of Christ' (Rom. 10: 17). `Accordingly man           catechizes, absolves you through the ministry of His
is consoled and exalted by faith in the divine promise         own sacraments. These are the words of God, not of


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 79


Plato or Aristotle. It is God Himself who speaks."              Only the pure preaching of the, Word will accom-
                      * * * * *                              plish it!       ."
   Now all this is of the utmost importance for today.          There may be many contributory means in the
   If there is to be reformation today, then it can and      process of reformation. Who would dare to deny, for
will be brought about primarily through the means of         example, that the invention of the printing press and
the preaching of the Word.                                   the  .resultant spread of the Bible and of the  `many
                                                             writings of the men of Reformation times constituted
   And if it is to be brought  .about through the            an important instrument in the spread of the message
preaching of the Word, then there must first be a            of the Reformation? That does not change the fact
reformation of preaching itself!                             that the preaching of the Word was primary; and not
   And if there is to be a reformation of the preaching      only was it primary, but it was central. Without that
of the Word, that reformation must be patterned              preaching there would not have been reformation; in
after the preaching of the Reformation of the six-           fact, without that preaching the various other means
teenth century.                                              would not even have come into' existence and use. It
   In a word, that means that preaching must be              has been said, too, that in all reformation there must
prophetic!                                                   be a leader, and that what is needed is a great man -
                                                             a Luther, a Calvin. But Luther and Calvin and all the
   Such sound, prophetic preaching has become a              other "giants" of Reformation times were not great
scarce item in the ecclesiastical marketplace today.         men in any this-worldly sense of the word. They
Even in denominations which are commonly recog-              began, in fact,  `.as, rather insignificant men. What
nized as `"conservative" or "evangelical" and even in        constituted their real "greatness" was after all the
some of the newer, breakaway denominations,                  fact that by the grace of God they were faithful
formed supposedly as reformation movements, this is          preachers of the Word who took their stand on the
true. And it is one of the chief reasons for the fact        basis of the Word of God and who proclaimed that
that they do not really represent reformations, but,         Word of God "as love knows how."
on the contrary, are doomed to failure and have the
seeds of deformation and apostasy in them as soon as           But this entails reformation of our understanding
-they are formed. This is a striking fact. It impresses      of the meaning and significance of the "moment" of
me every time I have an opportunity to hear and              the preaching as well. We must learn to understand
observe the preaching as an occasional visitor in other      anew that the moment of the preaching of the Word
denominations. Frequently my reaction after hearing          is the moment in which it pleases the Lord our God
the preaching in `church away from home has been,            Himself to speak His own Word, living and powerful
"If I had to listen to such preaching as a steady diet, I    and efficacious, to and in His church. It is not merely
would not go to church." It is not as though. no             a moment in which we hear men speak, even though
gospel whatsoever is proclaimed - though I have had          they speak true words about the Christ. But it.isthe
the experience of `being in and out of a church              moment in which we hear Christ Himself speak.
belonging to the Reformed community without hav-               And why is this important with respect-to-reforma-
ing heard any gospel, any sin, any -grace, any cross,        tion?
any Christ, preached at all. But the preaching is not          The answer is simple. Reformation is pre-eminently
prophetic! It is topical rather than expository. It is,      a  spiritual  reality. It involves not mere intellectual
vague rather than specific. It is blurred rather than        conviction, and it involves not mere natural devotion
sharply antithetical. It tends to leave one unaffected       and allegiance to a cause. The latter are after all
rather than moving one to repentance and faith. It           strange tire on the altar of true reformation. No,
does not have the ring, the vibrancy, the intensity,         reformation involves faith. It involves repentance on
the urgency of the pure preaching of the Word                the part of church and individual. It involves con-
standing in the service of the living and powerful
Word of Christ.                                              version, a turning from darkness to light, from the lie
                                                             to the truth, from sin unto righteousness, from Belial
   To such preaching, wherever there has been de-            to Christ, from the service of men to the service of
parture, there must be a return!                             the living God. Reformation is always principally a
   No `propaganda campaign, no proliferation of              spiritual process.
literature, however sound and Reformed, no lecture             But faith, repentance, conversion  - these are
series, no "testimony" or gathering of signatures on a       wrought by God Himself in the moment of the
testimony, `no sending forth of negatively critical          preaching, and that, too, as in no other moment.
brochures and newsletters, no rise of a great and            Why? Simply because it pleases God to work His
dynamic leader  - none of these will ever serve in           work in His people through that means of the
themselves to bring about reformation in the church          preaching of the gospel, according to His own ap-
today.                                                       pointment.


80                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



      In conclusion, therefore, if there is to be reforma-                        And to those outside the circle of our Protestant
tion in the churches, there must first be a reformation                           Reformed Churches, especially those in churches
of the preaching. Let us remember, too, as Protestant                             which are in the throes of apostasy, I say: if you
Reformed Churches that reformation-by-separation is                               would, see reformation, you must insist on reforma-
but one kind of reformation. There is also such a                                 tion in the pulpit, first of all. And if you cannot
thing as on-going reformation. In fact, it is charac-                             expect that where you are, then it is your  bounden
teristic of truly Reformed churches that they are                                 duty  - for your own sake, for the sake of your
"Reformed, and ever reforming." This also applies to                              children, and for the sake of the cause of God's
the reformation of the preaching. With regard to it,                              church - to seek it elsewhere.
we, our churches, our elders, and especially our                                     Above all, to preachers I say: be a bonus textualis,
ministers must be Reformed, and ever reforming!                                   a good man with the text!

LEST WE FORGET



                                      A Word  .of Introduction
                                                                  ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema





      A comparison of the denominational statistics of                            schism was actually brought about is undoubtedly
the Protestant Reformed Churches in America for the                               true. Nevertheless, this description is, after all, rather
years 1952 and 1954 indicates that something of a                                 negative. It is far .better to speak of the Reformation
very severe character happened in the period between                              of 1953. True, in this instance of reformation our
those dates. The Yearbooks of our denomination for                                Protestant Reformed Churches were preserved intact
those years show the following:                                                   as a federation of churches; and it was we, not those
                                               1952                       1954    who departed, who retained and maintained the
                                                                                  precious heritage of the truth as the Lord had
Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .       24 . . . . . . . . . .     16      entrusted it to us from the very beginning of our
Vacant churches . . . . . . . . . . .           2 . . . . . . . . . .      4      history. But a reformation it was, nevertheless: a
Ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    28 . . . . . . . . . .     14      reformation through which our Protestant Reformed
Home Missionaries . . . . . . . . .              1 . . . . . . . . . .     0      Churches were purged and purified and strengthened
Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1302 . . . . . :. . . . 563             in the truth.
Total souls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5449 . . . . . . . . . . .2353             It is the purpose of this new department to set
                                                                                  down in order the story of that reformation. An
Further statistics could be adduced, `which would                                 entire generation of our churches has grown up which
show in greater detail precisely where this attrition in                          has no knowledge by experience of what happened in
numbers of ministers, families, and total souls took                              1953 and of the truths which were at stake in that
place within the denomination. But the figures cited                              struggle. For them, as well as for those of us who
sharply illustrate that something must have happened                              lived through the struggle, it is imperative that this
in our little denomination.                                                       record be preserved. For what happened in 1953
      By some that is called the "split" of 1953. That,                           concerned the heart and core of what our Protestant
however, is a somewhat neutral. term. In fact, it could                           Reformed Churches are all about. It is my purpose
even indicate that there was an amicable parting of                               eventually to bring up` to date the entire historical
the ways among those who agreed to disagree  -                                    record of our denomination. That, too, is necessary:
something which certainly did not happen., Others                                 for not only is the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema's
have .on occasion spoken of the  ,"schism" of 1953.                               account of that history no longer in print, but it
And that the sin of schism was committed and that                                 carried the record only to about the year 1935


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              81


 (although a second printing was scantily revised to       the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand
bring our history up to about 1940). At present,           Rapids, the Rev. Hubert De Wolf. Incidentally, bear
however, we shall concentrate on the history of 1953,      in mind that in those years First Church was a
with the hope that much of this material can be            congregation of well over 500 families and that they
incorporated at a later date, the Lord willing, in a       had three pastors, Rev. Herman Hoeksema, Rev.
complete and up-to-date history of our denomina-           Cornelius Hanko, and Rev. De Wolf. Rev. G.M.
tion.                                                      Ophoff was officially a minister emeritus of First
   Further, we shall begin with a kind of catechism on     Church while he labored in our seminary; but he also
the doctrinal issues involved in that Reformation of       frequently served as an elder in the Consistory of
 1953; and we shall leave the story of that reformation    First Church. The two statements, however, were not
for a later date. We are beginning with this doctrinal     isolated instances of heretical statements. On the
aspect because of its importance and because of the        contrary, they stood intimately related to the broader
importance of being well-informed about it.                controversy in the denomination concerning the
                                                           Declaration of Principles and concerning our differ-
                      * * * * *                            ences with the so-called Liberated Churches.
                                                           2. What were the specific statements in question?
             The Doctrinal Issues of 1953                     The first occurred in a sermon in April, 1951:
1. What were the doctrinal issues of 1953?                 "God promises everyone of you that, if you believe,
   In the broadest sense of the word, they concerned       you will be saved." The second occurred in a sermon
basic doctrinal differences between us and the             in September, 1952: "Our act of conversion is a
Reformed Churches (maintaining Article 31 of the           prerequisite to entrance into the kingdom of God."
Church Order) in the Netherlands. The latter are           3. How did these statements come to be the focal
sometimes nicknamed the Liberated Churches of the          point of the doctrinal controversy in 1953?
Netherlands and are sometimes also referred to as the
Schilder churches. Today the immigrants from those            First of all, there was a long process of protest and
churches are organized, in the Canadian Reformed           debate in the Cansistory of First Church. We shall not
Churches, a denomination which has one congrega-           recount that history here. Suffice it to say that this
tion in the United States, called the American             process went on in the Consistory of First' Church
Reformed Church of  .Grand Rapids. Prior to 1953,          until the spring'of 1953. At that point - although the
however, these immigrants were being advised in the        Consistory had at one time condemned the state-
Netherlands to seek admission into our denomina-           ments by majority vote  - the Consistory reached a
tion; and we even had a couple of congregations (in        deadlock.
Hamilton and Chatham, Ontario) which were made up             The result was that the whole matter was appealed
largely of Dutch immigrants from the  afore-men-           to  Classis East, which dealt with the appeals in
tioned churches. But there were serious differences        April-May of 1953. The  classis appointed  a. study
between them and us, differences which concerned           committee which was to report to the same session of
the covenant of grace, the question who are included       classis at a later date. The study committee, however,
in that covenant, and especially the question whether      became divided into a majority and minority, so that
the promise of God's covenant is a general, coil-          there were two reports submitted. The majority
ditional promise for all baptized children,.or not.        report, in .effect, sought to excuse the statements by
  Secondly, these doctrinal issues came into focus         laying a favorable interpretation-upon them:.A minor-
within our own denomination in connection with the         ity of two elders, the brethren R.  Newhouse and P.
Declaration of Principles, a document which our            Lubbers, insisted in their report that the two state;
Synod drew up with a view to, the organization .of         ments were literally heretical, regardless of what the
new congregations and in which our distinctive             Rev. De Wolf meant by them, regardless of how he
Protestant Reformed position was briefly set forth on      e x p l a i n e d   t h e m . .
the basis of our Reformed confessions. The difficulty         After lengthy debate, the majority report was
was that within our own ranks as churches there were       rejected and the minority report was in substance
those who were violently opposed to the Declaration        approved.  Classis East then formulated its judgment
of Principles, and that, too, for doctrinal reasons  -     of the two statements, specified the grounds from
although there were many who hid these doctrinal           Scripture and the Confessions, and gave advice to
objections behind other alleged reasons for disagree-      First Church as to how they should, proceed in the.
ment.                                                      matter. This decision of  Classis East is of crucial
  In the third place, however, the concrete doctrinal      importance for the understanding of this history, and
case arose in connection with two specific statements      therefore we shall quote it in full. This, however,
made from the pulpit by one of the three ministers of      must wait until our next installment.


82                                                   THESTAN,DARD  BEARER



MY: SHEEP  HEAR-Mx   VOICE..
                                .
                          .'





                                     .
      .     -



                 .(     .;





                        _..



                                          l2ette.r  t o Timothy



                                            November 15, 1978
Dear Timothy,                                                    are somehow inferior to .the elders. This is so often
  It has -been a long time' since last we corresponded.          expressed in the notion that the office of deacons
It seems that the hot summer months, when all the                serves as a kind of training ground for the office of
work of  rthe Church lets up somewhat, are not                   elders. If a person is nominated. for the office of
conducive to correspondence, and the result is that              elder, some in the congregation are bound to raise
our contacts with each other. have flagged. But now              their eyes and ask: How can he serve as elder? he has
with the work of the Church in full swing once again,            never even been a deacon. Or if one has served one or
it is time to resume our discussion.                             more terms in the office of deacon, then the
  Because the interim has been long, it might be well            consistory is inclined to consider his name for nomi-
to try to pick up the thread of our discussion. We               nation for elder, and the congregation thinks to itself
were talking about the.various offices in the Church:            that he perhaps ought to be chosen as elder because
the idea of these offices, their relation to each other,         he has proved himself a capable officebearer in the
and the work for which Christ appointed them in the              office of deacon. He has, as it, were, undergone a
Church.                                                          period of probation and testing, and has now shown
  We had discussed the office of minister and were               himself worthy of being "advanced" from deacon to
busy with the office of elder. You recall that we                elder. We ought not to think along these lines. It is
talked about `the fact that `the office `of elder was            contrary to the whole idea of the offices. They are on
primarily one of rule and supervision within the                 a plane of equality as far as authority is concerned
Church.  In, our last letter we talked about how the             though they exercise that authority in different ways
elders had to exercise this supervision over the work            within the Church. While it is true that there are
of the ministers. In this letter we ought to touch               certain men who may possess the qualifications to be
briefly on the supervision which elders are called to            either an elder or a deacon, it is also true that there
exercise over themselves, the deacons, and the congre-           are some men who are eminently suited to be deacons
gation as a whole.                                               according to the qualifications of Scripture, yet who
                                                                 are not suited to be elders. Nor ought it to happen
  First then, the supervision of elders over them-               that only the older men of the Church are chosen as
selves and over the office of deacons.                           elders and the younger men exclusively as deacons.
  We might be inclined to conclude from the fact                 To my mind, the ideal balance in the diaconate is the
that elders have this obligation to supervise the work           balance between younger deacons and older deacons.
of deacons that the office of elders is some kind of             And it would certainly be for the welfare of the
superior office. It is strange that this idea persists in        Church of Christ if every diaconate had in it one or
the Church. For some reason, in our denomination,  fr more older men who have served in that office before
there is always that lingering notion that the deacons __ - perhaps many times.                 i


                                               THE ST;ANDARD BEARER                                                  83

                                   -..
   But however- this may be, the .fact that the elders       falling :upon-the. shoulders of&me officebearers to
are called to exercise supervision over the deacons in       the exclusion of others,  zwhether  the congregation
no.way.implies .that they hold a superior office. .Their     under'the  rule  aof the Consistory  is, prospering,
calling is` to rule in the Church. And they must `rule       whether there are any changes which ought to be
over the minsters and deacons -as well aSover the rest       made  .m the work of the  Consistqry to make this
o f   t h e   c o n g r e g a t i o n .                      labor more, effective, whether there are any pressing
                           ,:                                problems within the congregation which re,q&-e the
   Before .we look into this a bit more closely, there is    special .attention  of the pffic.ebe.~~rs,-.etc. This would
one. point: here that we -ought to mention. The elders       m,ake the discussion, a profitable one and' would: give
must not only exercise proper supervision over. the          some real .content to. what is actually. often a rather
minsters, the  I deacons and the congregation; they          formal  matter.within the `Consistory.
must also, exercise .supervision  over themselves. The
Church Order is .quite. clear on that point. .Article 23        But  .the supervision of the elders by the  eldersis
reads: "The office of elders . . . is `to take heed that     broader than all this: Such discussions as ,mentioned
the ministers, together with their  felldw~elders and        above could perhaps be carried on fr.om time to time
the deacons, faithfully discharge their office."             within the Consistory. But the:point  is that the walk
                                                             and conduct of the elders individually is subject to
   There is one article in the Church  Grder which           the supervision of the. Consistory as a whole. And the
spells out one way in which this is to be done. Article      Consistory `as a whole bears the responsibility to see
81, reads: "The ministers of the Word, elders and            to it that the walk of the individual elders is in
deacons, shall before the celebration of the Lord's          accordance with the Word of God and the Con-
Supper exercise Christian censure among themselves,          fessions of the Church. No Consistory may ignore this
and in a friendly spirit admonish one another with           important part of its calling.
regard to the discharge of their office." Because of
this article it is, so far as I know, the practice in all      But this supervision extends also to the deacons.
our Consistories to spend a few moments at the               There are three different places where this supervision
Consistoj meeting prior to the  .celebration of the          is mentioned in the Church Order. We already quoted
Lord's Supper, to talk about this among the mem-             Article 23 which speaks of the fact that elders must
bers. It is sad that as often as not this becomes            take heed that the deacons faithfully discharge their
somewhat of a formality. Near the end of the meet--          office. Article 25, which speaks particularly of the
ing, the chairman of the Consistory asks each indi-          office of deacons, mentions that the deacons "shall
vidual officebearer in turn whether he has anything to       render an account (of their work) in consistory." And
bring up which.ought to be discussed. Van Dellen and         Article 40 reads: "The deacons shall meet, wherever
Monsma state in their Commentary that this practice          necessary, every week to transact the business per-
really has no connection with the celebration of the         taining to their office, calling upon the Name of God;
Lord's Supper even though the article mentions this.         whereunto the ministers shall take good heed and if
However, it is only very rarely that this actually           necessary they shall be present."
results in some officebearer raising some point con-           Now. this latter article seems to put the responsi-
cerning the conduct of one oi more of his fellow             bility for the supervision of the deacons in the hands
officebearers: And it is not surprising that-only rarely     of the-ministers. But this must be taken in conn_ection
is something brought up, because if a consistory             with the other two articles. The minister is also an
member has a matter which troubles him concerning            elder to whom belongs the work of supervision. And
the walk of any one of his fellow consistory members         so he too, along with the other elders, has a responsi-
he ought to bring the matter to the attention of his         bility for this. But when he attends the meetings of
brother privately without waiting for censura  morum         the deacons, he does so particularly in his capacity as
- as it is called. It seems to me that some improve-         elder.
ment can be made in this respect in our Consistory             Usually these requirements of the Church Order
meetings. The article speaks of the fact that the            are met in our churches by appointing one elder to
officebearers, "in a friendly spirit admonish one            attend the meetings of the deacons. He is present not
another with regard to the discharge of their office."       only for the counting of the money, but also for the
This should be taken more literally. And the time            whole meeting so that he may hear what work the
allotted for this in the Consistory meeting ought to         deacons are doing and what is the nature of their
be used to discuss mutually how the Consistory as a          labors. It is not, so far as I know, customary for the
whole and each member in particular could better             deacons to hand in a monthly report to the elders
fulfill the work to which God has called him in his          concerning their work, but it is customary for the
office. Some time could be profitably spent on dis-          deacons to bring  ,a11 matters of importance and all
cussing whether all the work that needs to be done is        unusual matters to the attention of the elders so that
actually being done, whether too much of the work is         the elders may direct the deacons in their work. And


84                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


this-is as it ought to be. The deacons ought always to        responsibilities of their homes and families, and, as
work in close- cooperation with the elders and the            often as not, they must hurry to get ready  -
minister in their labors so that the work of supervision      especially spiritually - for work within the Church.
and rule is not hindered.                                     That they continue  .to do such outstanding work
  And so this supervision of the elders extends also          within the Church is reason for profound thanks-
to the entire congregation; We need not go into this          giving to God. On the whole, God has given to our
in detail here because within our Churches the elders         Churches elders who are eminently equipped for the
are not only very busily engaged in this work, but do,        work and who labor long and `hard- for the cause of
on the whole, an outstanding job. Quite frankly, I am         Christ. And God blesses their work too, for under their
amazed at the work which our elders do in our                 faithful labors in the congregation, the Churches
congregations. You must not forget that these elders,         prosper. We ought to pray for our elders every day.
especially some of our older ones, never had the                Well, Timothy, we ought, to talk yet about the
education which most of our children receive today.           work of deacons; and we will do this, the Lord
Nor ought you to forget that our elders work hard all         willing, next time.
day at their daily tasks in order to earn their daily
bread and support the causes of God's kingdom. But                                   Fraternally in Christ,
they come home weary of a day's work to face the                                     H. Hanko





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                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  85


FROM HOLY WRIT'





                            Exposition of Galatians
                                                 by Rev. G. Lubbers





THE TWO SONS OF ABRAHAM (Galatians 4:22,23)                 of each mother determined the legal status in which
  Paul calls specific attention to two of the sons of       the sons were born. The legal status of the father did
Abraham here in Galatians 4. Abraham had more sons          not determine the status of the children. Such is the
who were born to him by Keturah. (Gen. 25 : 1,4) The        clear implication here in the text. Thus it is written in
Chronicler writes of this in I Chron.  1:32,33. These       the law.
sons are here not brought into account as proof from          The first matter which we notice concerning the
"the law". that we are not under law or bondage of          two sons is that they were the one a bond-child, and
sin, but to show that we are under grace, and,              the other a free-born child. However, there is here a
therefore, we are free-born sons of God. Only these         second element added which we must carefully
two sons come here into reckoning.                          notice: it is that the manner of the birth was also
  Of them there should be careful notice!        _          different. Not only were their mothers different
  These two sons are the basis for the great and deep       radically, but they had a different coming into this
meaning of the covenant history in the times of the         world as to manner.
patriarch Abraham, who is the father of all believers.        Let us try to see this. The text says that the one
The history here recorded is real history. The things       born to the bond-woman was born "according to
here recorded are concerning real people, who               flesh." He was born just as every other child is born.
actually were born and who lived in the dispensation        Except for the great miracle .and wonder-work of God
of God's covenant dealings with Abraham and with            which we see in every conception, there was nothing
his seed. This is not allegorical history, but this is      exceptional about this birth. Both Abraham and
history which has an allegorical meaning. This fact we      Hagar had the natural vigor to produce seed. That is
here repeat; it is of great importance, in our day, that    why Sarah had said to Abraham, "I pray thee, go in
this be underscored. The so-called new hermeneutic          unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children
would like to reason away that this is real history         by her." (Gen.  16:2) And so all that was born was
here. But these proponents of the "new hermeneutic"         "according to flesh," the natural law of be fruitful
really destroy the evidence here brought forth by           and multiply and replenish the earth. Nothing hap-
Paul in his having us "hear" the law, the Pentateuch.       pened as for the bringing forth of the fulfilment of
They really deny that Abraham "had" (eschen-Aor.            the promise to Abraham, "And I will make thy seed
indicative) two sons. Paul uses the fact tense! Let it      as the dust of the earth, . . . ." (Gen. 13.: 16-17) Even
be noticed!                                                 when God makes a great nation of Ishmael for
  It ought to strike our attention that Paul does not       Abraham's sake (Gen. 16: 10; 2 1: 13) this does not
name these two sons here. He does not speak here of         bring forth the seed. Shall any of this nation be saved
Isaac and Ishmael, but he identifies these sons as          they must be saved in the son of the free-woman. For
"born from a bond-woman" and "born from a  free-            that which is flesh is flesh, and it profits nothing.
woman." Paul is interested in the legal status of both      (John  3:6;  6:63) The birth of the son of the  bond-
Ishmael's mother and Isaac's mother. The legal status       woman was according to flesh.


86                                               iHE STANDARD  BEARER



      How !diffeyent .was the way in which the son of the      depth we refer to Lightfoot's discussion `on-page. 18 1
free-woman was born and conceived. Notice that Paul            of his Commen&-y called' E&&b Td' the `Gblatiahs.
does not say that this was  "according  to promise,"           Lightfoot points out that the key to understand the
but  ,he says that it was  "through  promise." The             implication of this allegorizing is found in the term
preposition through ("dia") in Greek is instrumental.          "answers to." (sunstoichei)   We quote the three fol-
It means here: by means of the promise. The promise            lowing paragraphs.
here refers to God's sure word of what he would do                       "Literally the term `answers to' means: belong in
for Abraham and for his seed. Paul referred to this in            the same column with. In military language this
Chapter 3.8 where he speaks .of the Lord preaching                means a file, a rank of soldiers. The word is here best
beforehand that "in thee shall all nations be                     illustrated by the Phythagorean sustoicheian (belong
blessed." (Gen. 18: 18; 12 :3) This is. the fulfilment of          to together) of opposing principles, which stood thus:
the great Gospel-promise first revealed by God in                  good:bad,'   finiteiinfmite,  one-many,  permanent-
paradise. (Gen. 3: 15) But there is here one more thing           changing, etc., etc."
implied and designated with this miraculous birth. It                    "The allegory in the text then may be represented
is that the promise here was not merely a fulfilment              by the susstoichai thus: 1. I-Iagar, the bondwoman -
of what was predicted by the Lord, but it was by the               Sarah, the freewoman. 2.  Ishrnael,  the child after the
efficacious operation of God in which he fulfilled His             flesh  - Isaac, the child of promise. 3. The old
promise that Isaac, the son of the free-woman was                  covenant  -. the new covenant. 4. The earthly Jeru-
born. God here raised the dead to life and called the             salem  - the heavenly Jerusalem, etc."
things which be not as if theywere. It was upon this                     "The old covenant is thus  sustoichos  (agrees with)
power that Abraham learned in faith to hope against               the earthly Jerusalem, but antistoichos  (against the
all. hope, and to  look away from  `the deadness of               agreement with) to the heavenly. It is not improbable
Sarah's womb as well as'from the deadness of his own              that St. Paul is alluding to some mode of representa-
body. And thus this child was-brought forth in faith.              tion common to the Jewish teachers to exhibit this
                                                                                                                 ,
(Heb.  .l 1: 11, 12) Thus there was a child brought                and similar allegories.`i
forth, from one who had died, as the stars in the               Now let us attend to the text. It is quite clear that
heaven in multitude, and as the sand by the seaside,           we are dealing with two covenants. On the one hand
innumerable. (Rom. 4: 16-21) This is all implied. in           we are here dealing with the covenant of Mount Sinai.
the short phrase: "born by the promise." Here we see           This was the covenant of the law-giving by means of
that with God nothing is impossible. He is God                 angels in. the hand of the Old Testament Mediator,
Almighty !                                                     Moses. (Gal. 3: 19) In our exposition of this passage
      Thus Abraham had two different sons, by two              we noticed that the very manner of the law-giving, by
d i f f e r e n t   w o m e n !                                means of angels, indicated that it was a covenant less
                                                               great than the covenant of the promise in which God
TWO DIFFERENT WOMEN-TWO DIFFERENT                              spoke directly. This is the covenant which "genders
COVENANTS (Galatians 4:24-26)                                  to bondage." It says, "do this and thou shalt live."
      We must bear in mind that these two different            Those who will to be under law, will to be under that
mothers, in their bringing forth of two different kinds        manner of obtaining salvation: works of law. But that
of sons in two different ways, are here presented to           is bondage. It is the very opposite of the "liberty
us in an "allegorical" interpretation. The term here is        wherewith Christ has liberated us." (Gal. 3: 12; 5;l)
not the noun "allegory," but it is the passive' par-           And such is the covenant of Sinai. And that is Hagar.
ticiple, which is alleegoroumena in. Greek. Paul says          She is a bondwoman, a mere slave in the family;
that the two women here, in their bringing forth of            under the do this- and thou shalt live. She had only
sons, must be classified in the things which are of an         one son. He was born into bondage. Had she received
allegorical nature.                                            many `more sons by Abraham, as did Keturah, still
                          (atis).  Each of these mothers
represent, answer to                                           they would be bondmen. They would not ever remain
                          fsunstoichei) a kind of covenant.
Paul does not say that Moses in writing of these               in the house. (John 8:34,35) They would merely be
women in Genesis is writing an allegory. Not at all.           doers of sin. The law cannot make alive. (Gal. 3:21)
                                                               The 
He was writing history, the things which must come                     law-covenant is quite different from the covenant
                                                               of the promise in Christ. Allegorically speaking, Hagar
to.pass .quickly, the unfolding of the counsel of God,         is that Mount Sinai. All her children are  bond-
the fulfilment of the promise of God. The force of             children, slaves of sin, without right to the kingdom
the passive participle here is that this history and the       of heaven.
great.implications must be treated as an allegory.               Now the covenant which is of Sinai is the covenant
  What does this mean?                                         which is being perpetuated by Jewry and by these
      The study of the term "allegory" is really quite         false teachers who are disturbing the minds of these
fascinating. Anyone who desires to study this a bit in         Galatian saints, insisting that they must be  circum-


                                              THE  STANDARD.BEARER                                                87


cised to enter the kingdom. They must first be in ,the       house as do the children. (John  8:39-41) Ishmael
covenant of Sinai before they can be in the covenant         does not do the works of father Abraham. He does
of grace in Christ. They must be under the "do this          not walk in the footsteps of father Abraham. As Esau
and thou shalt live" before they can be under the gift       was a profane man, Ishmael was a "mocker" and a
of grace which is "he that believes in Christ shall be       "persecutor" of the royal seed, personally and in his
saved." They must keep days, months, and years and           generations. (Gen.  21:8,9) This was not some in-
times to inherit the kingdom. This is not clinging to        nocent teasing `of a big brother toward a little
Christ the head, who has nailed this all as a "hand-.        brother. It was the mockery of unbelief, mocking the
writing against us" to the Cross. (Col. 2: 10-15)            work of God, His wonder-work in the birth of the
Wherefore Paul can write that the old testament law          free-born child. That is the meaning here of the
of Sinai, with all its ceremonial duties, answers to         Spirit. For the words of Sarah to Abraham are not
"Jerusalem which is now." That was Jerusalem with            some momentary explosion of an irate mother, but
the glittering temple, its solemn rituals, reflecting the    they are the very oracles of God, which Abraham
glory of the thunder and lightning of the mount in           must obey in humble faith, which tries his  father-
Arabia. (Gal.  4:25; Heb.  12:1,8-21) The awesome            heart greatly. Abraham must love the Lord more than
sight of Sinai made even Moses to tremble and quake          kith and kin, more than the son of his own loins! He
exceedingly. This was the pure holiness of God and           must act as the viceroy of the covenant Jehovah, the
His justice in His law confronting the naked and             office-bearer in the church. Shall ~Ishmael -be saved in
guilty and damnworthy sinner. Here is no hope. It is         his generations (Acts 2: 11) then he must come to the
all bondage. The redeemed must. be made free and be          true Jerusalem where the Gospel is heard in his own
married to another. (Rom. 7: l-4)                            language. But then he separates from  Hagar,, from
  Allegorically speaking, Ishmael is this son, who is        Mount Sinai, and clings to Christ the head of the
born unto bondage. He cannot ever abide in the               church, the Jerusalem above!
STRENGTHOFYOUTH





                          Your Bible  And  YOU
                                              Rev. Ron Van Overloop





  Sometimes we talk with people who are not Chris-           formed in their religious position.
tians. Have you done that recently?                            It was different to speak to them. This `was because
  I mean, have you recently spoken with someone              I could not assume they knew much doctrine, as I
who seemed not to be a Christian- and you tried to           know I can assume when I speak to you. After all,
speak to him about God, about Jesus, about the               you have had at least seven years of instruction in
truth?                                                       Bible history; and progressively that history of the
  Recently I had the privilege of. addressing a group        Bible was taught with its doctrinal significances.  And
of young people, most of whom did not know the               most of you have had a good number of seasons of
Bible very well. And most of them were not Re-               catechism in the study of Biblical doctrine.


      88                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



            Therefore, if I spoke with you I could assume you          Do you walk with God? Can you describe from
      know much of the sacred history in the Bible and of           personal experience communion with the ever-blessed
      the doctrine of the gospel.                                   God?`How frequently have you walked with God?
            But when one is accustomed to teaching Biblically          Is not the infrequency of our walking with God
      well-informed young people and then must instruct a           and living a holy life a direct result of our not
      group which for the most part had not had much                knowing Him. And is not. this lack of true spiritual
     instruction, it is difficult to talk with them at first.       knowledge the consequence of not knowing the Bible
            Whenever we speak of the truth to someone who           in which He most beautifully and adequately reveals
     has little knowledge of that truth we must be very             Himself?
     simple and clear. And we must be very Biblical.                                      *  * * *  *
            Do you find it easy to do that? I mean, to be              We should know pur Bible as well as we know
     Biblical?                                                      doctrine. Maybe we should say, "better."
            Why is it as difficult as it is? Is it because we do       How often do you spontaneously take your Bible
     not know the Bible well? Do we know our doctrine,              and read it? Why is it so few times? Is it because we
                                                                    do not want the God Who speaks and is spoken of in
     but not our Bible?                                             the Bible?
            Where would you look to find the Bible's teaching          I realize that most of you have devotions at the
     on creation, besides in ,Genesis?                              evening meal and at school. That is good. But is it
            How would you prove from Scripture that the days        enough? Does it give you all you need? Or does it give
     of creation were not long' periods of time, but 24             you all YOU think you need? The Bible says that a
     hours in length?                                               young person keeps his way clean by "taking heed
            You believe in election and reprobation. Could you      thereto according to Thy word." (Psalm 119:9).
     show someone where the Bible teaches these impor-                 Take time to read the Holy Scriptures. Alone. Do
     tant, Reformed truths?                                         it every day. Set some specific time of the day aside
            Often we hear that Christ died for all men. Can         for this holy activity, Put this activity in its proper
     you, using your Bible, prove that such a position is           place of high priority. You are not too old or too
     f a l s e ?                                                    young for this.
            There are many who say that God loves all men              And then think about what you have read. If you
     and use John 3: 16 to substantiate their position.             do not understand it, read it over. Maybe you will
     Would you be able merely to give a logical argument            have to read it many times. That is okay  - can you
     against their position? Or could you show them that            think of anything better to i-e-read? Try to find other
     Scripture teaches God's love is for a particular,              texts which speak of the same truth.
     definite people?                                                  Then after you have gained an understanding of it,
            Often it seems that we know doctrine, but not the       apply the truth. Apply it to life in as many different
     Bible.                                                         ways as you can. Do not forget to apply it to
                              *  * *  * *                           yourself!
         You can see it in our lives.                                  How many of you take your Bible to catechism?
         That we do not know the Bible as well as we                How many of you look up the proof texts given in
     should is manifested in our lives.                             the lessons? How many of you memorize the texts
                                                                    along with the answers?
         The elders of the church hear that some of their
     young people frequent movies and dances; that some                Take your Bible to catechism and also to Church.
 of the young people are avid listeners to rock and                 And be prepared to make notes in the margins of
     other ungodly music; that some of the young people             your Bible; notes which helped you to understand a
     enjoy getting drunk and flirting with drugs; that some         passage or give a cross-reference. If you do not want
     of the young people readily desecrate the Lord's Day.          to write in your Bible, then be sure to have scraps of
                                                                    paper handy on which you can make your notes and
        And they (the elders) ask themselves, "Why? Why             which you can insert within your Bible.
     do they do those things and enjoy them? Don't they
     know better? Don't they realize the danger and see               In this way you will become familiar with God's
                                                                    Word. Never neglect the learning of doctrine, which is
t h e   e v i l ? "                                                 the systematic setting in order of the teachings of the
        Many reasons and even some excuses are presented            Bible.
     as answers to these questions.                                   Know God's Word. Then you will be ready always
        Is not the best reason (never excuse) that those            to give an answer to those who ask why you lead such
     who walk in these evil ways do not walk with God?              a holy life.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 89


GUEST ARTICLE





                            The Gracious Call of God
                                                    Rev. R.G. Moore





  Throughout the ages, the church has had to con-              of Christ, and gives us the-ability to see the things of
tend for `the faith over against many wrong con-               His kingdom and to believe. So that  spiritually-
ceptions of the Scriptures. Man, who would exalt self          ethically we are made alive, who were by nature dead;
rather than God, sinfully has set forth doctrines that         and we become principally new creatures. This
attempt to confuse. But the Bible is simple and clear,         wondrous work is solely of God's grace!
and the simple truth of the Scriptures has always                Now in the second place, God does not so renew
brought comfort and strength to God's children.                His Church and then leave them in the darkness of sin
When there is an attempt to introduce error into the           and death. But God calls those He has quickened. He
midst of the church it is introduced by the setting            calls them out of the darkness of sin and death, and
forth of their devious tenets in the most abstract and         into the marvelous light of His covenant communion
confusing language possible. Certainly this has been           and fellowship in Christ. It is now to this efficacious
true whenever the call of God unto salvation has been          (effectual and working and powerful) calling of our
taught by those who would lead astray. But it need             God that we turn our attention.
not be! It must not be! Scripture very clearly and
simply sets forth the truth of God?s gracious call unto          Turning then to the calling unto salvation we take
salvation. In this article we briefly set forth this truth,    note at the outset that God is a calling God. He
precious to God's kingdom people. For it is good to            speaks and it comes to pass. We read this literally in
be reminded anew of the precious tenets of our                 Rom. 4: 17: "(As it is written, I have made thee a
Reformed faith.                                                father of many nations) before him  whoni he  be-
                                                               lieveth, even God, Who quickeneth the dead, and
  When we do consider, the call of God unto sal-               calleth those things which be not as though they
vation, we must understand that this doctrine stands           were." God c&s powerfully, irresistibly. God called
on the Scriptural truths of God's sovereign and                into being the heavens and the earth and all that is
eternal election, and in time upon the truth of                therein. "He spake and it was done; He commanded,
regeneration. Scripture teaches us that regeneration is        and it stood fast." Ps. 33:9. God's word is powerful,
the first work of God in the child of God after his            and when He speaks, that Word causes things to
conception and natural birth. It is through regenera-          happen. Again we read in Scripture, "Through faith
tion that the elect receive new hearts and they are            we understand that the worlds were `framed by the
given the spiritual ability to see and receive the things      Word of God, so that the things which are seen, were
of God's kingdom. Further this work of regeneration            not made of things which do appear." Heb.  11:3.
is alone God's work in His chosen ones by the                  This word God speaks in and through Christ, and by
operation of His Spirit in their hearts. In our new and        the power of His Word He continues to uphold and
spiritual birth, God by the Spirit of Christ implants in       govern all things, cf. Heb. 1:3.
our hearts the seed of faith, ingrafts us into the body          It surely is peculiar then that, when we come to


90                                             THE,STANDARD  BEARER


God's call unto salvation, man so .often will attempt        of the Scripture. Such.questions as, How does God so
to change all of this. When speaking of God's calling        call His `church? or,  To' whom does God send the
unto salvation, man so often desires to deny the             gospel call? etc.
sovereign and efficacious power of God's word.                  The first question we consider is the following:
Throughout the ages men have attempted to destroy
the sovereign working of God's grace unto salvation.         How does God call His Church in Christ? Our answer
There have been attempts made to take the glory of           to this  .question must be this: by the preaching of
God unto man. And the church has had to defend the           Christ! It is through the preaching of Christ that God
truth over against such attacks. Unto this end the           is pleased to gather His elect church unto salvation.
church has been called by Christ the King of His             This is the clear testimony of  -Remans 10: 14-15.
c h u r c h .                                                "How then shall they call on him in whom they have
                                                             not believed? and how shall they believe in him (of)
      With respect to the calling, the attack against the    whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear
truth, and thus against the glory of God, has come in        without  .a preacher? and how shall they preach,
the form of a denial of God's powerful, irresistible         except they be sent?" Also in the Old Dispensation
call unto salvation in Christ. Those of this false           essentially it was the same preaching of Christ
conception say that God's word, when concerned               through which it pleased God to gather the Church.
with man, really is not irresistibly powerful. Rather,       Only, then, it was the preaching of types and
they contend, when God calls His church through              shadows, the sacrifices, etc. But the types and
Christ, God really wants to save all men, head for           shadows always pointed to the fulfillment by the
head. They say that God wants all who hear His word          promised Seed, the Christ. God calls the church
to repent and believe. Thus, after all, the call of God      through the preaching of Christ!
unto salvation is, according to them, dependent upon           It is true that God also reveals Himself through His
man.                                                         creation. But this revelation is such that, apart from
      But this above position- is outright heresy! Be not    the Scriptures, the creation only reveals God's -wrath
deceived!                                                    against all ungodliness. And it is such a revelation that
                                                             it leaves man without excuse, cf. Rom. 1: 18-20. Thus
      The truth is that when God through Christ and by
His Spirit calls His Chosen, they believe, repent of         it is alone by the preaching of Christ that God brings
                                                             His elect out of darkness into the marvelous light of
their sins, and are saved. And just as powerfully and
irresistibly as God called creation unto existence, so       His covenant fellowship.
He calls His elect church in Christ out of darkness            The next question it is good to consider is this:
into the light. of His covenant fellowship. God in           whom, does God call through the preaching? It is
Christ gathers His church by an effectual call, and          obvious that in no way can it be said that God calls
those He calls are partakers of His covenant fellow-         everyone. Even in the broadest use of the term
ship and promise unto salvation. They are saved!             "calling,". this cannot be! There are many men and
Thus we read in Acts 2 :39: "For the promise is unto         women who have been born, lived, and died without
you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off,     ever hearing the gospel of Christ. And this is not by
even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Christ         chance, but by the will of God! And in the way of
is given from eternity sheep over which He is Shep-          their sin, as they stand before the testimony of God
herd. And because they are His sheep, He calls them          in creation, they are left without excuse in judgment!
by name. And as He calls them efficaciously, they              But what of the rest of men? Does God call
hear His voice and follow Him, and no man shall              generally to the rest? When we consider this question,
pluck them out of Christ's hand. Read John 10:27ff.          we must make a distinction between the call of the
Further, this is the testimony also in II Timothy 1:9:       preached gospel in an external sense, and that call
"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy               which comes inwardly to the regenerated heart of
calling, not according to our works, but according to        God's elect. Both elect and wicked come under the
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in             sound of the gospel, when it is preached. This is true
Christ Jesus before the world began."                        even `in the church where it is manifest from place to
  Hence we conclude that God's calling His church            place, and time to time. Jesus taught more than once
by the Spirit of Christ is also the sovereign work of        that there were tares in the midst of the wheat. And
God's grace in saving His elect. Thus, they who were         the Spirit through the apostle Paul points out to us in
no people are made the people of the living God. It is       Rom. 9, that not all are Israel which are of Israel.
God's sovereign, effectual,  and. irresistible work of       Now because of this, both elect and wicked alike hear
grace that calls from sin unto salvation!                    the same sound  of. the gospel. They hear the com-
                                                             mand to repent and believe. This hearing of the sound
  However, it is well that we take time to answer            of the gospel is sometimes referred to by the Scrip-
several questions that often arise because of this truth     ture as a call of God. It we call the "external


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      91



call," as we make a distinction.  But remember that,               unto greater damnation..
when speaking of this, God's Word says, "Many are                     But, wondrous grace of God!
called, but few are chosen." .Matt. 22: 14. Only God's
elect remnant are gathered under the preaching unto                   God's beloved church in Christ He saves through
glory. They alone hear the call and obey. They are                 the preaching of the gospel of Christ. This call is very
saved, for God irresistibly calls them out of darkness             particular. It is personal, and it saves! It is the work
into the light.          `.                                        of God's grace, and it is rooted in God's eternal love
                                           II                      and mercy for His church in Christ: The result of this
  But, what then of the wicked. Is God's word                      call of God applied by the Spirit of Christ to their
lacking power? God forbid that we should ever say                  hearts is redemption and glory. It is only for His elect
this! Paul says in Rom.  9:6, responding to the same               in Christ. Thus we,read, "But now thus saith the Lord
thought, that it is not as though the Word of God had              that created thee, 0 Jacob, and He that formed thee,
taken none effect. God's Word always has effect! And               0 Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have
the Spirit goes on to point out to us in Romans 9 that             called thee by thy name; thou art mine." Those called
the Word  pr&laimed  serves God's eternal decrees of               are those redeemed in the blood of Christ. They are
election and reprobation. Isaiah teaches us that the               the chosen. And God's Word further says that those
Word never goes out to return void. The preaching                  whom God calls He also justifies, and whom He
has the effect by God's counsel and purpose to                     justified, them He also glorifies, cf. Rom. 8  :28ff.
harden the wicked in their sin. The preaching accord-              When God so calls His church there is salvation. His
ing to God's purpose is also a savor of death unto                 sheep hear His voice and they do follow Him. For
death to the wicked. II Cor. 2: 15-l 6.' When Christ is            God has given them to His Beloved Son, and no man
purely preached, many stumble at the Word. And                     can pluck them out of His hand! Gracious, calling
Scripture points out to us that unto this end they                 God!
were appointed by God. See I Peter  2:8. Thus God
uses His Word to harden the hearts of the wicked                      May all our praise be given unto Him!
THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS





                                                 H o l y   B a p t i s m
                                                  ProJ: Robert D. Decker





          "We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law, hath made an end, by the shedding of
          his blood, of all other sheddings of blood which men could or would make as a propitiation or satisfaction
          for sin: and that he, having abolished circumcision, which was done `with blood, hath instituted the
          sacrament of baptism instead thereof; by which we are received into the Church of God, and separated
          from all other people and strange religions, that we may-wholly belong to him, whose ensign and banner we
          bear: and which serves  as a testimony to us, that he will forever be our gracious God and Father.. Therefore
          he has commanded  all those, who are his, to be baptized with pure water, "in the name of the Father, and
         of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost": thereby signifying to us, that as water washeth away the filth of the
          body, when poured upon it, and is seen on the body of the baptized, when sprinkled upon him; so doth the.
          blood of Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost, internally sprinkle the soul, cleanse it from its sins, and


92                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


             -regenerate us from children of wrath, unto children of God. Not that this is effected by the external water,
             but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God; who is our Red Sea, through which we must
             pass, to escape the tyranny of Pharoah, that is, the devil, and to enter into the spiritual land of Canaan.
             Therefore the ministers, on their part, administer the sacrament, and that which is visible, but our Lord
             giveth that which is signified by the sacrament, namely, the gifts and invisible grace; washing, cleansing and
             purging our souls of all filth and unrighteousness; renewing our hearts, and filling them with all comfort;
             giving unto us a true assurance of his fatherly goodness; putting on us the new man, and putting off the old
             man with all his deeds. Therefore we believe, that every man, who is earnestly studious of obtaining eternal
             life, ought to be but once baptized with this only baptism, without ever repeating the same: since we
             cannot be born twice. Neither doth this baptism only avail us, at the time when the water is poured upon
             us, and received by us, but also through the whole course of our life; therefore we detest the error of the
             Anabaptists, who are not content with the one only baptism they have once received, and moreover
             condemn the baptism of infants of believers, whom we believe ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign
             of the covenant, as the `children in Israel formerly were circumcised, upon the s&e promises which are
             made unto our children. And indeed Christ shed his blood no less for the washing of the children of `the
             faithful, than for adult persons; and therefore they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of that, which
             Christ hath done for them; as the Lord commanded in the law, that they should be made partakers of the
             sacrament of Christ's sufferings and death, shortly after they were born, by offering for them a lamb, which
             was a sacrament of Jesus Christ. Moreover, what circumcision was to the Jews, that baptism is to our
             children. And for this reason Paul calls baptism the circumcision of Christ."
                                                                                   The Belgic Confession, Article XXXIV





      The previous article spoke of the sacraments in                  sheddings of blood which men could or would make
general, emphasizing their ordination by God to seal                   as a propitiation or satisfaction for sin. . .  ." Christ
to us His promises. This article discusses what we                     has paid the penalty for our sin and fulfilled for us
believe and confess concerning the sacrament of holy                   the whole law of.God. Salvation, therefore, is the free
baptism. The subject of baptism has always been an                     gift of grace. Nothing can or may be added to His
important subject and one about which a great deal                     finished work. He gave us baptism as a testimony that
of controversy has swirled in the church. As im-                       our life is complete in Him.
portant as it was at the time of the Reformation when                     The Confession  finds the basis for the entire
this article was penned, it has not decreased in impor-                doctrine of baptism in the fact that baptism has come
tande today. In our own Protestant Reformed history                    in the place of circumcision, the Old Testament sign
this subject in connection with the doctrines of the                   and seal of the covenant. It is pointed out that Jesus
covenant and promise was the subject  of. serious'                     Christ is "the end of the law." That is an almost
controversy in the late nineteen f&-ties and early                     literal quotation from the Scriptures which state,
nineteen fifties. What is more, the same errors which                  "For Christ is the end (telos) of the law for righteous-
our fathers denounced in the Confession are still                      ness to every one that believeth." (Romans  10:4)
present today. This article was written overagainst the                This does not mean that Christ is the termination of
Anabaptists who made the sacrament dependent                           the law, but that He is the purposeful end, the aim,
upon man's faith and denied infant baptism and                         the goal of the law for righteousness to the believer.
insisted on re-baptism. The Article also confesses the                 In other words the law does not cease to be with
Reformed faith overagainst the Roman Catholics who                     Christ. The law finds its fulfillment in Christ. There-
teach that the power of the sacrament is in the water                  fore Christ, by His own perfect and bloody sacrifice
i t s e l f .                                                          on the cross, is the end or fulfillment of all the
      IT;rze  Confession  begins by emphasizing that it is             sheddings of blood prescribed by the law. This means
Jesus Christ Who has instituted the sacrament of                       that the sign of circumcision, a bloody sign belonging
baptism. It does this in a rather striking way, not by                 to the law,  foufid its fulfillment in Christ. Thus
speaking of the historical circumstances surrounding                   baptism was instituted by Christ in the place of
the institution of baptism, but by speaking of Who                     circumcision.
the Savior is. Jesus Christ Who provides us with this                     The meaning of all this is.clear. Circumcision was
sacrament is our gracious and all-sufficient Savior.                   an Old Testament sign which God gave to Abraham
For us He is "the end of the law," Who: "hath made                     and his generations to seal to them the promise of His
an end, by the shedding of his blood, of all other                     covenant. (Cf. Genesis  17:7-14) Christ instituted


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 93


baptism when He commanded His disciples to go into         in the invisible church as such. Much rather because
all the world and preach the gospel to all nations and     we belong to Christ as the people of God's promise,
to baptize in the name of the triune God. (Matthew         he unites us with the visible church. As such members
28: 19) Circumcision pointed to the necessity of the       we have great spiritual responsibilities and obligations.
shedding of blood as an atonement for sin. As such         Yet our membership does not spring from or rest
the rite of circumcision was prophetic, that is, it        upon our fulfillment of these. It roots in God's
pointed ahead to Christ and His bloody sacrifice for       gracious disposition to us." (P. Y. De Jong,  The
sin. When Christ came and made atonement through           Church's Witness To The World, vol. II, p. 357)
the shedding of  His. own blood on the tree of the           Therefore we are baptized into the name of the
cross, the need for a bloody sign passed away. Thus        triune God. By nature we are members of the fallen
circumcision was fulfilled in Christ. That for which it    race in Adam, dead in trespasses and sins. Baptism
stood and to which it pointed was accomplished by          signifies that we are incorporated into Christ, buried
our Lord. Thus too baptism, a sign of the washing          with Him into the fellowship of His death and raised
away of our sins through Christ's blood, was in-           with Him to newness of life. By means of this
stituted by the Savior in its place.                       incorporation into Christ we are delivered from the
  Furthermore, that baptism is come in the place of        world, from death and guilt, from our own flesh, and
circumcision is evident from the fact that both rites      brought into fellowship with our Covenant God:,The
have precisely the same meaning. As to form, the two       Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Baptism signifies heaven
are different, but as to meaning, baptism and circum-      for us, everlasting life and glory, righteousness. That
cision are the same. Both signify the putting away of      is the sign of baptism. Just as water cleanses the body
sin and the renewal of the heart by grace. Genesis         of its filth, so the blood of Christ cleanses us from all
17 :7-14 teaches that God instituted circumcision as       our sins and regenerates us from being children of
the sign of His covenant between Himself and His           wrath into being children of God. That this is true is
people and their children. The spiritual meaning of        clear as well from the Old Testament types of
circumcision is taught in Deuteronomy  30:6 which          baptism. By means of the flood waters God saved
speaks of Jehovah circumcising the hearts of His           Noah and his family: ". . . the like figure whereunto
people and their seed to love Him with all their heart     even baptism doth also now save us. .  ." (I Peter
and soul. Romans 4: 11 teaches that the sign of            3:20, 21). Similarly Israel was delivered out of Egypt
circumcision is "a seal of the righteousness of faith."    (type. of the bondage of sin and death) into Canaan
This is exactly the significance of holy baptism.  By      (type of the heavenly Canaan) through the waters of
baptism we are buried into the death of Christ and         the Red Sea. (I Corinthians 10: 1, 2)
raised with Him in order that we should walk in              All of this is effected not by the external water
newness of life. (Romans 6:3, 4) Perhaps the clearest      itself, but by the Holy Spirit. The ministers are the
passage in this regard is Colossians 2: 11, 12 which       called servants of God to administer the sacrament,
mentions both baptism and circumcision: "In whom           but only God can give that which is signified and
(Christ) ye also are circumcised with the circumcision     sealed:  ". . . namely, the gifts and invisible grace;
made without hands, in putting off the body of the         washing and cleansing and purging our souls of all
sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried    filth and unrighteousness; renewing our hearts, and
with him in baptism wherein also ye are risen with         filling them with all comfort; giving unto us a true
him through the faith of the operation of God, who         assurance of his fatherly goodness; putting on us the
hath raised him from the dead." Clearly both stand         new man, and putting off the old man with his
for the same reality: the putting off of sin, and the      deeds." These blessings are worked not by the power
resurrection with Christ through faith.                    of the water itself, but by the operation of the Holy
  As to its meaning, baptism is first of all, as our       Spirit. This is written against the errors of Rome.
Confession emphasizes, an emblem which marks the           Rome teaches that baptism cleanses from original
separation of the believer from the world. Baptism         guilt and puts a man into the state of grace by which
signifies that we have been received.into the Church       he can either accept or reject the gospel. This is
of God by being separated from all other people and        effected by baptism  .itself to all who are baptized.
strange religions. It is the ensign or banner of Christ    Against these errors the Confession stresses that the
which we carry with us all our life long. By baptism       water has no power in itself, but is only the sign and
we are marked, set aside as the people of God. "God        seal of what God the Holy Spirit accomplishes in the
himself welcomes us into the corporate fellowship of       hearts of His elect.
the body of his Son, Jesus Christ. The underlying            Finally, these blessings of the sacrament of baptism
emphasis, is clear and comforting. We do not take the      are ours not only at the moment of baptism but all
first step towards church membership. God opens the        our life long.
way for all whom He recognizes as his people.
Baptism therefore is not a guarantee of membership                           to be continued. . .


     94                                            THE STANDARD BEARER




                      .,'
                             _                                              2                 .     .     :     :    \.     7.





                                               Book Reviews


     IN ZIJN ARM DE LAMMEREN, by Cornelius                       traumatic conversions. Yet the author points out that
     Lambregtse. I. Wever B.V., Franeker, Netherlands.           the real comfort of the believer is not found in the
     349 pp. (Reviewed by Rev. C. Hanko)                         various experiences, but rather in the testimony of
           This book is in a sense a biography, in which the     the Holy Scriptures applied to the heart by the Holy
     author relates his own experiences, as is evident from      Spirit.
     the fly leaf in which he relates, "In precious memory         The close of the book, where Fransje dies, is the
     of my only son CALVIN JOHN who at the age of                most impressive and absorbing part of the whole
     three years and seven months had finished his earthly       story. The family struggles to be submissive to God's
     sojourn and on the day of his departure said: "I am         will and finds comfort in the assurance that the lad is
     going to Jesus. Don't cry, Daddy."                          in glory, based partially on his own confession, but
           The setting of the story is in the Netherlands, in    also on the covenant promise of Psalm 105, and the
     the province of Zeeland. The story itself centers           passage from Isaiah 40: 11, from which the title of the
     about  Fransj,e, whose early experiences in his short       book is taken, "He shall gather the lambs in his arms,
     life are told with a deep insight into the thoughts and     and carry them in his bosom." There is, of course, an
     life of a small child. Fransje is in many respects like     even deeper comfort in the assurance of faith, that
     any ordinary boy of his age, has his companions             God is just in all His works, and good in all His
     among children, but seeks also his friends among            dealings with His people.
     older people. He is keenly interested in the wonders          This book can be strongly recommended to all who
     of God's creation, and at the same time shows a             can still read and enjoy the Dutch language. In fact,
     remarkable concern about spiritual matters. He en-          one looks forward to more from the same author.
     joys his Bible Story Book, struggles with his personal
     sins, burdens his mother with many questions which
     she finds difficult to answer, and expresses a growing
     desire to be with Jesus.                                    The Child's Story Bible, by Catherine Vos; revised by
                                                                 Marianne Catherine Vos Radius; Wm. B. Eerdmans
           The novel is written in an appealing, lucid style,    Publ. Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan; 436 pp., $9.95
     which carries the reader along as an interested observer    (washable  buckram) (Reviewed by Gertrude
     of the religious life of the community, the spiritual       Hoeksema)
     atmosphere of the home and the godly strivings of
     the parents. One may have a bit of difficulty at first        This book is a revised edition of the rather  well-
     with the dialect of the Zeelanders, which is generous-      known work, The Child's Story Bible, by Catherine
     ly interspersed throughout the book, but the transla-       Vos. The revision was capably undertaken by the
     tion of the various words and expressions in the back       daughter of Catherine Vos, Marianne Radius, who
     of the book proves to be helpful. We soon even enjoy        "has preserved the cherished style and content of her
     the added flavor of the apt remarks of the people so        mother's work; at the same time she has brought the
     characteristic to that community.                           language closer to the understanding of today's chil-
           It is refreshing in a time when so many "religious    dren, eliminated some repetition. . . ." (Cf. the Fore-
     novels" are tainted with a superficial religion and the     word)
     error of the free-will, to find a book that describes         Written for children from the ages of 3 to 13 years,
     the deep spirituality of a people who live close to the     and adhering rather closely to the text of the  Sciip-
     Lord. True, the mysticism of that part of the Nether-       tures, the book uses simple, direct, and clear lan-
     lands also becomes evident in the story. The charac-        guage. The stories are, told in a straight-forward
     ters speak of `experiences,' of `inner voices,' and         manner, and the reader senses the reverence  .of the


L


                                                                      THE,STANDARD  BEARER                                                                                95


author toward the Scriptures as she interprets' them                                        within evangelical circles, for women officebearers in
for young children. However, the vocabulary in the                                          the Church. There are several important points which
revised edition is perhaps better suited to the early                                       the author makes. 1) The Scriptures emphatically
school-age child than to the pre-schooler.                             -~                   teach that women, because of their subordination to
   The author does not add many insights or interpre-                                       man  - a subordination rooted in the creation ordi-
tations of the history of the Scriptures, as, for                                           nance -, may not assume a teaching or ruling role in
example, the reason that God did not accept the                                             the Church of Christ. 2) That this position of subordi-
offering of Cain (it was without blood) or God's                                            nation does not, according to Scripture, imply an
reason why Moses could not lead Israel into Canaan                                          inferior position in any respect; that, in fact, spiritu-
(he was an imperfect picture of Christ); but probably                                       ally, women stand on a par with men. 3) Women,
that was not the purpose of this story Bible.                                               because of their God-given place in the Church, have
                                                                                            an important role in the work of the kingdom though
   In illustrating this addition, artist Betty Beeby has                                    they are barred by Scripture from the teaching and
used discoveries by archeologists for accuracy in por-                                      ruling ministry. 4) Those who press for women elders
traying life in Bible times. However, her artistic                                          and ministers can supports their views from Scripture
approach is unconventional, and, to this reviewer,                                          only by denying the full. inspiration of Scripture.
distorted and difficult for the young child to under-                                       Thus their position involves an incorrect hermeneu-
stand; and it detracts rather than adds to the dignity                                      tical principle ,which denies the Scriptures to be fully
of this book.                                                                               the Word of God.

THE NEW TESTAMENT, TEACHING ON THE                                                             Apart from the fact that the author is not clear on
ROLE RELATIONSHIP OF MEN AND WOMEN, by                                                      the point of whether women may function in the
George W. Knight III; Baker Book House, 1977; 76                                            office of deacons (he speaks of deaconesses, but in
pp., $3.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                                            the sense of helpers to the deacons; and this may arise
                                                                                            from a misunderstanding of the office of deacons) the
 The author, professor of New Testament at                                                  book is an excellant exegetical defense of the Scrip-
Covenant Theological Seminary has brought together                                          tural position on this question. Although it is brief, it
in this little book an expanded edition of three arti-                                      is concise, to the point, Scripturally grounded, a suf-
cles which he previously wrote on this subject for                                          ficient answer to such men as Jewett in his book
different periodicals.                                                                      "Man As Male and Female," and to be recommended
   The book is concerned with the growing cry, also                                         to all who are interested in this important question.

                                                                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                                 On  November   24,  1978,   our  loving   parents,  MR.  AND  MRS.
                                             RICHARD  TEITSMA  will celebrate  their 40th  wedding anniversary. We
                                             are  thankful   to  God  for  the  many  years  of  Christian  love  and
                                             instruction   they  have  shared  with   us.  We  pray  that  the  Lord  will
                                             continue   to  hold  them   in  His  care.

                                                        Ken  and  Ellen  Teitsma           Homer   and  Kathy  Teitsma
                                                            .Kevin                            Jean
                                                            Keith                             Cyndie
                                                            Annette                           Karen
                                                            Janelle                        Gerard  and  Libby  Teitsma
                                                        Rick  Teitsma                         Laurie
                                                        Jone Teitsma                          Susan

                                                 There   will  be  an  open  house  given  in  their  honor   on  November   24,
                                             1978,  from  7:00  P.M.-`lo:00  P.M.  at  their  home  at  3681  Mohave   Dr.
                                             S.W.,  Grandville,  Michigan. We invite  you to share their  joy with  us.



                 RESOLUTION 0.F SYMPATHY                                        `.                          RESOLUTION OF SYifvlPAT.HY
   The  Council  of  the.  Hope  Protestant  Reformed   Church,  Grand                          The  Ladies  Aid  Society   of  the  First  Prot.  Ref.  Church  expresses  its
Rapids,   expresses  its  heartfelt   sympathy   to  two  of  its  fellow  office-          sympathy   to  one  of  our  members,  Mrs.  E.  Kooienga,  in  the  loss  of  her
bearers:  Elder  H.  Van  Dyke  in  the  death  of  his  mother,   MRS.   JOHN              husband,   MR.  EDWARD   KOOI  ENGA.
VAN  DYKE,  and  Elder  D.  Kooienga  in  the  loss  of  his  brother,   MR.  ED
KOOI  ENGA.                                                                                     May'our   Covenant.God  comfort'her  with  His Word  and Spirit in the
                                                                                            assurance  that   "all  things   work  together   for  good  to  them  that  love
    May  these  brethren   and  their  families  experience   in  this  time  of            God."   (Rqm.  8:28j.         :
sorrow  the  nearness  of  God  and  His  comforting   Spirit.   God's   Word  is                                                      Mrs.  P:  Decker,   Pres.
sure:  "Precious  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  is  the  death  of  His  saints."                                                     Mrs.  C.  Pastoor,   Sec'y.
Psalm  116:15                                                                                                                              `)
                                               Rev.  R.  Van  Overloop,   President
                                               John   Huisken,  Clerk


 THE STANDARD  BEARE                                                                                 SECOND CLASS
            P.O. Box 6064    /                                                                    BOSTAG E PAID AT
 Grand Rapids, Michigan 494                                                                    GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.


                                         _-,     l     .~..              ~-~


 -96                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


                                  News From Our Churches

        During the two weeks preceding the publication            and remembrances which arrived right on our 35th
 deadline for this issue, both  Classis East and West             wedding anniversary! It was also 33 years ago that I
 met.  Classis East met in special session to examine             was ordained to the ministry of the Word in the
 ministerial candidates Bruinsma and De Vries. Our                Reformed Episcopal Church. We have been Protestant
 churches rejoice in the fact that God has again given            Reformed now for 28 years, being 23 years on the
 us servants of His Word in the successful examination            Protestant Reformed ministry."
 of these two men. Faith and Southwest Churches
 were advised to proceed with the. ordination of their              At the request of the Mission Committee, Rev. B.
 new pastors.  Classis West met in regular session                Woudenberg and Mr. C. Prince spent about ten days
 (which was postponed since early September). The                 in Jamaica visiting the churches with whom we have
 highlight of that meeting was the successful examina-            been working for about 15 years. This visit took place
 tion of Candidate Flikkema. It was the expectation of            in late September and early October. The emissaries
 some (the news editor at least) that this column                 worked towards the securing of properties for the
 would  `be filled with the official reports of these             churches, attended a Classis meeting of the Jamaican
 sessions. Next time perhaps?                                     churches, worked further to arrange an instruction
        Candidate Richard Flikkema's installation as the          program  -and investigated other matters, The emis-
 new pastor of our church,in Isabel, South Dakota was             saries .reported a successful trip.
 scheduled for Thursday evening, October 26.                        The Michigan area Mr. and Mrs. Societies scheduled
   The ordination of .Candidate  Michael De Vries was             their Fall League Meeting for Tuesday, November 7
scheduled for Tuesday evening, October 31. Rev.                   at the new Southwest Church. Rev. Woudenberg was
 Ronald Van Overloop  was to officiate and preach the             to speak on the topic of "Foreign Mission."
 sermon. Refreshments were to be served after the                   Rev. Woudenberg also spoke at the annual
 service. The Southwest congregation scheduled a wel-             Reformation Day lecture in First Church. His topic
 come reception -for their new pastor and his wife on             was "Is the Reformation Being Maintained?" A tape
 Friday evening, November 3.  `_                                  cassette recording of this lecture is available. Send
   Faith Church  .installed their new minister, Rev.              your request with $2 to cover the cost of the tape
 Wilbur Bruinsma, on October 25. Professor Robert                 and mailing to the news editor.
 Decker preached the sermon and Rev. Meindert                       Those of us in the United States are looking
 Joostens, the first pastor of the five year old congre-          forward to our annual Thanksgiving Day celebration
 gation, read the form for ordination. A congregation-            on November 23. Our sister congregation in Edmon-
 al welcome program for the Bruinsma family was held              t on, Al b e  rt a, Canada, celebrated their national
 on Monday evening, October 30.                                   Thanksgiving Day with an evening worship service on
   Faith Church plans to begin use of their new                   Monday, October 9.
 sanctuary in late November. The new building is
 located at 7 174 20th Ave. in Jenison, Michigan.                   Among the many other special meetings and
   With the ordination and installation of the three              regular activities which are again scheduled in our
 June graduates of our Seminary, there exists but one             churches with the coming of the fall, season are
-of our churches without a pastor. Southeast's most               Choral Societies in our churches in Loveland, Colo-
                                                                  rado,' and Hudsonville, Michigan.
 recent call to Rev. Van Overloop was declined.
   .The following note from our Home Missionary,                  A `Thought for Contemplation' from John Calvin
 Rev. Robert Harbach, appeared in the Hope Church                 printed in our South Holland Church Bulletin:
 Bulletin. "The Victoria (Vancouver Island) mission               "Christ does not exercise dominion in the Church.like
 continues, and now with a new radio broadcast out of             a `formidable tyrant who keeps down His subjects
 KARI, Blaine, Washington, on Saturday mornings                   through terror, but He is a Shepherd,, and .treats His
 from  10:45-l 1:00 under the name of `Bible Truth                sheep with all-the gentleness which they can desire."
Meditations.' We thank all those who sent us cards                                                               K. G. V.


