                me
    STANDARD
          BEARER
e- A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY  R'lAGAZlNE





       The answer to the question, "Why does He
          --
   reprobate?" and especially, "Why does He
   reprobate this one and not that one?" is: For
   so it seemed good unto Him, i.e., God's good
   pleasure (Matt. 11:26); Because He is the
   Potter Who has power over the clay to make a
   vessel unto dishonor, i.e., God's free, wncon-.
   ditioned authority (Rom.  9  :21); Because this
   is His will (Rom. 9 : 18).                             . I.'
                         See "The Reformed Doctrine
                           of Reprobation"  - page 133




                                          Volume LV, No; 6, December 15, 19781--,
                                                     ISSN 0362-4692


122                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



                           CONTENTS:                                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER
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                                                                                 Rev. Marinus Schipper, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
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MEDITA TIO N



                                          The Indwelling Word
                                                                 of Christ
                                                                    Rev. M. Schipper




                 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one
             another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the
             Lord. "                                                                                                                                          Colossians 3 : 16


   Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly!                                          which is called to walk in sanctification, in obedience
   A serious exhortation indeed!                                                        to the word of Christ. An exhortation which stands in
                                                                                        close and mutual relation to a rather long list of
   Addressed to the church of Christ in the world,                                      exhortations appearing in the preceding context.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  123


  In the preceding the apostle had exhorted the             pleads with-you to let Him in now or it may be
church "to set your affection on things above, not on       forever too late; for the Saviour may pass you by. But
things on the earth"; "to mortify therefore your            anyone with an ounce of spiritual understanding
members which are upon the earth . . ."; "to put off        should be able to see that with this conception you
all that is of the old man, and put on the new man          cannot have a Saviour Who is mighty to save. If He is
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him        unable to break down the most stubborn will, and the
that created him." As the elect of God the church is        most impenetrable door of the heart, He is impotent
exhorted "to put on bowels of mercies, kindness,            to save. Such is not the Christ of the Scriptures, but
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, for-           the figment of an unregenerate mind and will that
bearing one another, and forgiving one another."            does not want an all-powerful Christ but an omnip-
Moreover, the church is exhorted to put on charity          otent man.
(love) which is the bond of perfectness; and let the          Indeed, the truth is, that the irresistible Word of
peace of God rule in their hearts . . . and be thankful.    Christ makes its own way into our hearts. Fact of the
  All of these exhortations are mutually related to         matter is that only after the word of Christ has found
the exhortation in our text. They all have to do with       its abode in us can we be exhorted to let that word
the walk of the church in sanctification, with the          dwell in us. The apostle assumes the former, and
walk of faith in the world. Shall our active sanctifica-    therefore exhorts to the latter.
tion be realized in our lives it is absolutely in-            Nevertheless, it must not be overlooked that the
dispensable that the word of Christ dwell in us richly.     viewpoint of the text is an exhortation. And again,
On the other hand, it is equally true that the walk in      that cannot mean that it is up to us whether the word
sanctification is indispensable to letting the word of      of Christ will find its way into our hearts, or, that it is
Christ dwell in us richly. One has no place in his heart    in our power whether the word of Christ will remain
for the word of Christ unless he is walking in              in us after it has found its way into our hearts. But
sanctification, and one will not walk in sanctification     the apostle means to say that we cherish that word of
unless he is letting the word of Christ dwell in him        Christ that has so powerfully made its way into our
richly.                                                     hearts, that we consciously and conscientiously do
  The main thrust in the text is: Let the word of           something with that word, that we absorb its con-
Christ dwell in you richly. As we will see, this is         tents, and that we obey its commandments.
accomplished by teaching and admonishing one an-              And mark you well, it is the word of Christ!
other in all wisdom. And the evidence of this in-
dwelling word of Christ will be in the singing of             That is, the word which Christ speaks; of which He
spiritual songs unto God. Such is, briefly, the idea of     is the subject. Christ is the Chief Prophet in the
the text.                                                   church. This by no means denies the fact that the
                                                            word of Christ is the word of God, but it is the word
  You, the believing church, are to let the word- of        of God through Christ. Nor does it deny the fact that
Christ dwell in you richly.                                 the  w.ord is concerning Christ, for the word of God
  If you are Reformed in doctrine, and if you have          from Genesis to Revelation is always concerning His
learned of the nature of the word of Christ, in-            Son, concerning Christ. But the text emphasizes the
stinctively you will be moved to ask: But does not          truth that Christ is the word that speaks. And it is His
the powerful word of Christ make its own abode in           word we are to cherish and allow to abide in our
us? How then can the apostle say that we must let the       hearts, whether that word comes to us through the
word of Christ dwell in us? We reply: You have              reading of the infallible Scriptures in Bible study, or
observed correctly. Indeed, the powerful word makes         whether it comes to us through the preaching of the
its own entrance and abode in us.                           gospel. Not man is the subject of the word but Christ
  We must not have the mistaken notion that some-           speaks to us through those means. Unless we hear
how it is up to us whether the word of Christ dwells        Christ speaking to us through the preaching we hear
in us. In our Arminianistic age the conception is           no gospel.
general that everything depends on the will of man.           Let that word dwell IN you!
Accordingly man has the power to decide whether               We must not read this directive as though the
Christ shall save him. Man, by an act of his will can       apostle said: Let the word of Christ dwell "among"
determine whether Christ shall come into his heart,         you, as though he would that the church allow the
and by that same will mere man can determine to             word to be preached or taught in her midst. This is
keep Him out. Though Christ may have made it                true in itself. Surely the church must allow the word
possible for all men to be saved, and stands at the         to be preached. That is her sole calling as the church
door of every heart pleading to come in, it is man          of Christ in the world. The church is not divinely
who must decide whether he will open his heart to let       intended to be a social center, or any such thing, but
the Saviour in. And the Arminianistic preacher also         to preach the gospel. This is the only task of the


     124                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


     church of Christ. But the apostle does not have this in         edify one another in all wisdom concerning the word
     mind here. Rather, he says: Let the word of Christ              of Christ which dwells in us richly, overflows in us!
     dwell "in" you, that is, in your inmost hearts; and             Then our society meetings, instead of becoming
     from the heart in your minds and thence in your                 coffee kletzzes will become most meaningful and
     entire being. You must imbibe that word and keep it             attain to the purpose for which they were organized.
     in your hearts. That this is the thrust of what the                All this will take place `within the sphere of grace.
     apostle is saying is further established when he adds:          And standing in that sphere you will sing.
     "richly." Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
     that is, first of all, see to it that not a small portion of       Here is the evidence that the word of Christ dwells
     it dwells in you, but all of it. And secondly, allow            in you richly while you are instructing and ad-
     that word to overflow, to be abundant so that it                monishing one another in all wisdom. Literally the
     flows over in your whole being and walk of life as              apostle says: with psalms and hymns, with spiritual
     believers in Christ.                                            songs, in the grace singing in your hearts to God.
        In all wisdom teaching and admonishing one an-                  In the grace, not "with grace," as the translation
     other!                                                          has it. In that sphere the word of Christ plays on the
                                                                     heart strings, and the result is that spiritual songs,
        As we suggested above, the phrase "in all wisdom"            psalms, and hymns, rise out of our hearts as paeans of
     belongs with the participles "teaching and admonish-            praise to God.
     ing" which follow, and together they describe the
     manner in which the church is to let the word of                   It is not the intention here to legislate what must
     Christ dwell in her richly. The translators have placed         be sung in the church, nor in a similar passage in
     a semicolon after the word "wisdom." Better it is to            Ephesians 5: 19. Rather, he is reflecting on what
     place the phrase "in all wisdom" with what follows.             happens when believers respond to. the exhortation in
     In or by all wisdom we are to teach and admonish                the text. And they respond as they abide in the
     one another. Thus the apostle used the phrase earlier           sphere of grace. Only when they stand in that sphere
     in the epistle (1: 28), only there the phrase appears in        where the word  of`Ch.rist  dwells in their hearts and
     a different order - "whom we preach, warning every              they are cherishing and obeying that word, and in all
     man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we               wisdom are instructing and admonishing one another,
     may present every man perfect in Christ." So it must            will they become beautiful and make melody of
     be understood here.                                             praise to God. Also here, grace is fundamentally
                                                                     beauty. And how beautiful also the spiritual songs
       In all  .wisdom,  refers, of course, to the spiritual         these beautiful ones sing!
     wisdom of Christ, not to the wisdom of this world.
.    Wisdom is the grace that is able to reckon with                    Sing in the heart to God!
     reality. And there is nothing more real than the word             Not, as you might expect, to Christ. Though it is
     of Christ Who is the truth. (John 14:6). In all wisdom          the word of Christ that dwells in us richly, Christ
     implies that all the instruction and admonition will be         Who is the spokesman always directs us to God. He
     given in the sphere of the truth, reckoning only with           never speaks of Himself, but only that which the
     the word of Christ. It means that all the instruction           Father has given Him to speak. And His speech, as
     and admonition will be in all that Christ has spoken,           well as His life is always intended to glorify the
     nothing else. And the relation of teaching and ad-              Father-God. So also is the evidence of His word
     monishing is such that the latter is based on the               dwelling in us - it directs us to God, as the God of
     former. Teaching is instructing, setting forth the              all our salvation. Also here Christ is the Mediator
     truths of the word of Christ, while admonishing is              bringing us, reconciling us to God. And therefore God
     exhorting and encouraging to embrace only that                  is to be praised and glorified.
     instruction while warning against error or heresy.                And so the redeemed church, already in this life,
       A mutual experience in the church!                            belongs to the great chorus which, the prophetic word
       The apostle here is not especially underscoring the           of Revelation envisions as standing about the throne
     duty of the officebearers  - of ministers, that their           and saying: "Amen, Blessing, and glory and wisdom,
     duty is to teach and exhort; or of elders, who also             and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, unto the
     must be able to teach and exhort those over whom                Lord our God." (Rev. 19: 1).
     the Lord places them. The believers are to follow this            What a beautiful experience that is  - where be-
     rule mutually among themselves. They are to follow              lievers are cherishing the word of Christ, imbibing its
     it in their personal visits as they fellowship together,        contents, so that it overflows in them, and they are
     and in the organic life of the church, in the society           instructing and exhorting one another in all wisdom.
     life of the church. How different then will our visits          They sing all manner of spiritual songs of praise to
     with one another become, when instead of talking                God as evidence of the grace in the sphere of which
     about everything under the sun, we will strive to               they dwell!


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         125


 EDITOR'S NOTE



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EDITORIAL
Profi H. C. Hoeksema
                          Did Christ Come to Save
                                     the Whole World?

  My answer to this question is an emphatic Yes.            insist on the doctrines of which TULIP stands. By his
  Pastor Errol1 Hulse's answer in Reformation Today         own admission, however, Mr. Hulse does not want
(Sept.-Oct., 1978, pp. 18-25) is No. True, he claims        TULIP but TCUIPP, as we saw last time. This is  a.
to answer Yes. But in the interest of supporting a          self-confessed flower of a different sort; and especial-
very confused but principally Arminian view of the          ly that "common grace" petal is altogether out of
general offer of salvation, he actually answers No to       place in TULIP and is like the petal of a Canadian
the question which forms the subject of this editorial      thistle on a tulip flower.
and which also formed the subject of his article.              I will not quibble about the word "whole" ig this
  The article referred to is supposed to be an ex-          connection. I assume that when our Lord says, "I
position of John  12:47, "I came not to judge the           came to save the world," He does not mean half a
world but to save the world." Actually, however,            world, but the whole world. And I maintain that if
Pastor Hulse does not expound the text, but corrupts        Jesus is indeed the Christ of God, then He accom-
it. And`he does so solely in the interest of maintaining    plishes what He sets out to do. If %Ie came to save the
his theory of a universal offer. His theory, of course,     world  - and He did  - then He actually saves the
follows inexorably upon his distortion and destruc-         world.
tion of TULIP by the addition of an altogether                Mr. Hulse, however, does not believe this. This
foreign petal, that of common grace, and his sub-           becomes very evident already in the second paragraph
stitution of "particular redemption" for "limited           of his article:
atonement." It becomes increasingly evident that                   What was Christ's declared purpose at this point?
Pastor Hulse, even apart from his Baptist ideas, is not         The answer, `to save the world.' Sinc6 he is addressing
Reformed. We do not insist on TULIP as a mnemonic               those who were rejectors, even the reprobate of
as the  sine qua  ~lon of Calvinism; we do, however,            Jerusalem, we must say that his purpose is to save the


126                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



       `whole world in the universal sense. Every single               creature.' But no! It is simply a general term `world'.
       creature without exception  is invited to come and              As such it must be left. Some try to restrict world to
       every single creature without exception is assured by           believers asserting that the context speaks of those
       Christ himself that the express purpose of his mission          believing. But it does not say that `God so loved
       is not to judge the world, `For God sent not his son            believers that he gave.' It says `the world' and what is
       into -the world to condemn the world; but that the              general must be left general. In any case both in the
       world through him might be saved' (John 3 : 17)`                case of John 3: 16 and John 12:47  the Greek is in the
                                                                       present continuous tense 
  I will pass by the question of the addressees in this                                             - every one believing in me.
text. I will also pass by the fact that the text does not              The question is an open one. It is a matter  -bf'trial
                                                                       now. Do you, or do you not believe? God could have
breathe a syllable about an invitation. My point now                   judged the world and destroyed it long ago.
is: 1) That Pastor Hulse already here simply changes
`tworld" into every single creature without exception.                       He has not. Instead he  has shown his love. Now
                                                                       the question is one of responsibility. Do you believe?
2) He subtly changes  "save" into "is invited to
come, " and that, too, without any exegetical justifi-               Now notice the confusion, the vagueness, and the
cation. If the writer would maintain the meaning of                utter failure to answer the question which Hulse
"save" in the Scriptural sense, then, of course, he                himself raises:
would have to be a full-blown universalist and main-               1. We can agree that if the word world meant every
tain  that "every single creature without exception"               single creature, the Holy Spirit would make that plain
will escape the damnation of hell and enter into                   in Scripture. The simple fact is, however, that world
everlasting life. That would, of course, be too much               in Scripture never simply means men or all men. This
for Pastor Hulse to swallow. Hence, he changes the                 Hulse fails to make plain.
meaning of words. So doing, he ends with an im-                    2. He suggests that particularity is not important, on
potent Christ and a salvation which is not a salvation.            the ground that the Holy Spirit did not cause John
Quotations from John Calvin will not rescue him                    (in I John 2:2) to write that Christ's sacrifice was the
from the Arminian trap in which Hulse ensnares                     propitiation for the elect only. The argument is
himself; and I will demonstrate this.                              fallacious. What Hulse must show if he wants to
  When it comes to the main part of his article,                   maintain that particularity is not important is that
Pastor Hulse first raises the question, "What is meant             "world" in I John  2:2 includes reprobate as well as
by world?" Here is his answer:                                     elect.
          What is meatlt  by world?                                3. In this section of his article, Hulse tries to leave
          Sbme take the world to mean the world of the             the impression that the term  world  includes neither
       Gentiles in contrast to the Jewish nation only. That is     the elect only nor every single creature, but is simply
       legitimate but `world' is used in many different ways.      in some vague, undefined sense of the word general:
       `He was in the world, and the world was made by             "It says `the world' and what is general must be left
       him, and the world knew him not' (John 1: 10). John         general." Yet at this point he fails to define "general"
       says that we should not love the world (I John  2:15)       and thus fails to answer the question which he
       and goes on to explain that he means by that,  `the         himself raised, "What is meant by world?" At the
       worldly anti-God spirit of the world. John also             same time, remember that he has already stated: ". . .
       declares that Christ is the propitiation not only for       we must say that his purpose is to save the whole
       our sins but also for the sins of the whole world (I
       John  2:2). Now if the word world meant every single        world in the universal sense.. Every single creature
       creature the Holy Spirit doubtless would have caused        without exception is invited to come. . . ." And later
       that to be written. Likewise if particularity was           in his article, when he discusses "What is meant by
       important the Holy Spirit could easily have caused          save," he again makes it plain that he nevertheless
       John to write that Christ's sacrifice was the propitia-     understands by  world  every single creature. Notice:
       tion for the elect only, but he says the whole world.       "The intention or purpose with regard to all procla-
          Read at its face value I John 2: 1,2 is an assurance     mation and teaching is the conversion of all nations,
       to any man that there is an advocate who has made           all creatures, and all people, in general, and in
       propitiation for the sins of the whole world. If a man      particular, none excepted. Our aim is the salvation of
       requires such an advocate no obstacle whatsoever lies       the world! Christ came to save the world!"
       in the way. Let him be encouraged to  find in Christ           There can be no question about it, therefore, that
       an advocate `indeed and know at the same time that          in spite of all he writes, Hulse understands world as
       the propitiation of Christ will count for believers         meaning all men, head for head and soul for soul.
       only.
          Likewise when we examine John 3 : 16 `For God so'           This is Arminianism, and that, too, in the full sense
       loved the world,' it would be an easy matter for the        of the word! And there is no Arminian who would
       Holy Spirit to  .direct that it should read, `For God so    disagree with what Hulse writes on this subject. It is
       loved the church,' or `For God so loved every single        very plain that according to Hulse, salvation is avail-


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       127


able for all men upon the condition of faith: "The             nevertheless and he came with the express purpose of
question is an open one. It is a matter of trial now.          saving them. His foreknowledge or omniscience did
Do you, or do you not believe? God could have                  not deter him. He said of his own people, `how oft
judged the world and destroyed it long ago. He has             would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her
not. Instead he has shown his love. Now the question           chicks under her wings, but ye would not'  (Matt.
is one of responsibility. Do you believe?"                     23:37).  That he was  speaking  of reprobate Jerusalem
                                                               is unmistakable for the whole of Matthew 23 consists
  Frankly, Hulse should apologize for ever having              of woes pronounced upon Jerusalem and her scribes
called  ,Billy Graham a pastor's dilemma. Except for           and Pharisees.
minor difference& as to method, there is no difference            In declaring his objective to save the world (John
between Hulse and Graham. In fact, if the above is             12:47) he is  indikating as he was in his conversation
Hulse's doctrine, then I would recommend that he               with Nicodemus that the cross must be lifted up
follow Graham's method of high pressure crusade                before all nations. As the brazen serpent was lifted up
evangelism.                                                    before the eyes of dying, rebellious, lost Israelites to
                                                               behold, so now the cross must be lifted up that all
  Furthermore, Hulse should not try to leave the               men might be drawn to Christ. The world of Psalm 24
impression that he admires Calvin's doctrine and can           is meant  - the world, and all they that dwell therein
rightly appeal to Calvin for support. Personally, I do         (Psalm   24:l).  Hence in giving the great commission
not hesitate to say that I do not always agree with            our Lord is very specific in using universal terms.
John Calvin's' exegesis. Calvin did not always later              The intention or purpose with regard to  a.ll procla-
`8&e with his own earlier exegesis, as comparisons             mation and teaching is the conversion of all nations,
will show. Nevertheless, with Hulse's doctrine, set            all creatures, and all people, in general,  and in
forth above, Calvin surely did not agree. Writing on I         particular, none excepted. Our aim is the salvation of
Timothy 2:4 (which Hulse also cites in the course of           the world! Christ came to save the world! That was
his article), Calvin argues at length that "all men"           the object of his mission and that is the object of our
does not mean  every single creature, but "orders of           mission to  a.l.l nations. That we are fully aware that
men." And he repeats this position in a later connec-          the sovereign purpose of God is to call out a people
tion. (Calvin's Calvinism, pp. 103- 106, 275)                  for himself does not change  the object and the
                                                               command to go into all the world to preach the good
  For my part, the world in John 12:47 is the same             news. We may not stop half way and say we have
as the world of John 3: 16. It includes not only elect         called to many and a chosen few have been saved. As
men, and that, too, conceived not individualistically          a result we can now drop our objective and settle
as a mass of men, but as a church, the body of our             down to a cozy time with the few.
Lord Jesus Christ; but it also includes the whole
creation, heaven and earth and all creatures. It is the       Notice what Hulse does in this section:
world as God conceived it in His counsel. That world        1) First, without any Scriptural basis he makes
He loved. That world He saves in Christ. That world         "save" equivalent to the idea of being "lifted up."
Christ came to save. That world Christ does not judge       The latter idea occurs in John 3: 14, 15, "As Moses
unfavorably, that is, condemn. That world Christ            lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so also must
surely succeeds in saving!                                  the Son of man be lifted up. . .  ." It also occurs in
 - Pastor  Hulse's second main error in this article        John  12:32, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
follows from the first. Having made world mean all          will draw all (men) unto me." We might very well
men, Hulse was bound to tamper with the meaning of          follow Hulse's own method of argumentation here,
"save." He himself cannot escape the fact that words        and say: if the Holy Spirit intended to say, "lifted
have meaning, .and thus at times he after all seems to      up," He could very well have done so instead of using
understand the word "save" in its proper sense of           the word "save."
deliverance from sin and death and the curse. Yet he        2) In addition, Hulse obviously corrupts the idea of
cannot accept that meaning in his interpretation of         "lifted up." It is perfectly evident that John 3: 14
John  12:47, but has to pour a different content into       does not say that "the cross must be lifted up before
the term, so that it does not really mean "save" at all.    all nations." No, the Son of Man must be lifted up.
Here is what he writes (p. 22):                             And both in John 3 : 14 and John 12:32 the reference
                                                            is not merely to Christ's being lifted up on the.cross,
       What is meant by save?                               but to His being lifted up, exalted, all the way into
      When our Lord came into the world we read that        His heavenly glory and -majesty, in which He has all
    he came to his own and that his own received him        power in heaven and on earth, receives the promised
    not. Knowing the end from the beginning and being       Spirit, pours out that Spirit, and thus draws all unto
    the Alpha and Omega of all things our Lord did not      Himself.
    reason that it was pointless in coming to'his own if
    they would not receive him. No, he came to them         3) But by thus tampering with the text, Hulse  in-


128                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


exorably reaches the conclusion that Christ did not           attempts to philosophize that "God is not frustrated
really come to save the world, and that He does not           in permitting these frustrations" by stating that "he is
in fact save the world. It is as I stated at the outset of    overruling it all for good." But the simple fact is that
this editorial: I believe `that Christ came to save the       Hulse's Christ is fnistrated: He came to save the
whole world, but Pastor Hulse does not believe it.            whole world, but He failed in this objective. And
   This is confirmed by the fact that Hulse liimself in       Hulse has no solution. Hulse's Christ is a weak Christ,
the last part of his article raises and seemingly faces       unable to accomplish what He set out to do!
the objection, "Surely Christ if he came to save the
whole world is fi-ustrated because it is obvious he has       (At a later date I will deal briefly with Hulse's appeal
failed hopelessly in that objective." Pastor Hulse            to John Calvin.)

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE





                                     Letter to Timothy



                                    December 15, 1978
Dear Tiniothy,                                                why this passage is quoted in support of  women-
  In our discussion of the offices in the Church of           deacons is because the word "servant" in the phrase,
Christ, we must now turn to the office of deacon.             "a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea" can
                                                              correctly be translated, "deaconess." It is the same
  You reminded me in your last letter of the fact             word, though in the feminine, which in other parts of
that, among many different denominations,. it is              Scripture is translated, "deacon." The conclusion is
becoming customary practice to ordain women in                therefore made that Phebe was a deaconess in the
office; and you mentioned specifically the recent             church at Cenchrea and that this had the apostle's
decisions of the Christian Reformed Church which              sanction. Because the apostle Paul was a means
granted the right to women to serve in the office of          whereby God gave us the Scriptures, his word is to be
deacon. You asked me if I would make some com-                considered regulative for us also in this respect.
ments about this in connection with these letters on
the offices.                                                    We ought to look at this whole matter a bit
                                                              because, although many other texts are quoted and
   I do not intend to write concerning the whole              discussed in connection with this controversy, this is
question of women-elders and women-ministers; but             in a sense the key passage, for it is the only qne where
it would be worth our while to discuss this matter of         there is any positive statement which seems to allow
women-deacons in the light of recent Christian Re-            for deaconesses.
formed Synodical decisions.                                     The Scriptures do not tell us a great deal about
   One of the texts quoted in support of the conten-          Phebe. In fact, all the information we have of her is
tion that women may function in the office of                 found in this passage.
deacon is Romans 16:  1, 2: "I commend unto you                 The city of Cenchrea of which she was a resident
Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church            was located just a little to the south and east of
which is at Cenchrea: That ye receive her in the Lord,        Corinth in the southern part of the Greek peninsula
as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatso-         which was known as Achaia. The church in Cenchrea
ever business she hath need of you: for she hath been         was probably established on Paul's second missionary
a succourer of many, and of myself also." The reason          journey during the time of his labor in Corinth. Paul


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          129


often inade one city the center of his labors, and the      church. The argument is based on vs. 11. The KJV
gospel went forth from that center to all the sur-          reads: "Even so must their wives be grave, not
rounding area. Cf. Acts 19: 10.                             slanderers, sober, faithful in all things." The word
  Phebe may have been a woman of some mkans who             translated, "wives" can also be translated "women";
was travelling to Rome on business for he `tells the        and the word, "their," referring to the deacons
Roman Church to "assist her in whatsoever'business          themselves, is not found in the Greek - which is why
she hath need of you."                                      it appears in the KJV in italics. There are, therefore,
                                                            gifferent translations of this. Philips translates this
  If it is true that Paul's letter to the Romans was        vs. : "Their wives should share their serious outlook";
written from Corinth (and this is likely) then it may       and contains the same idea as the KJV. The New
be that he sent his epistle to the Romans by her hand.      English Bible does the same: "Their wives, equally,
That would explain the commendation he gives her in         must be women of high principle." The New Interna-
these two vss. of Romans 16. At any rate,' this has         tional Version does the same. But the Revised Stan-
been the traditional opinion of the church; and so we       dard Bible does not: "The women likewise must be
read at the end of the epistle: "Written to the
Romans from Corinthus, and sent by Phebe servant            serious."
of the church at Cenchrea."                                   So there are different translations and interpreta-
  The Lord had saved her and she occupied an                tions of this passage. Hendrickson says the passages
important place in the church at Cenchrea  - what-          refer to deacons' helpers. Len&i claims the passage
ever now that place may have been.                          refers to deaconesses. And others insist that the
                                                            reference is to deacons' wives. We  agree with this
  Paul himself stopped in Cenchrea after he had             latter. Rev. Lubbers writes in the  Standard Beaver
finished his work in Corinth and prior to going to          (Vol. 38, p. 203):
Jerusalem. There he had shaved his head in fulfill-
ment of a vow he had made to God.                                  The first interpretation holds that Paul here speaks
                                                                of the requisites for women to be elected to the
  This is about all that is known of Phebe.                     office of deaconess. The reasons assigned by these is
  The question is: Was she a deaconess?                         that the term "likewise" in verse 1 i, must, just as iri
                                                                verse 8, refer to a transition to a new class of
  As far as the word itself is concerned, it is true as         office. . . .
some have argued that the word translated "servant"                The second interpretation holds that Paul here
in Romans 16: 1 can just as well be translated "dea-            speaks of the "wives" of deacons. Attention is called
coness." We readily grant this. It is striking however,         to the fact that Paul does not really begin to speak of
that the translators of the King James Version of the           a new and different class sf officebearers - dea-
Bible did not do this; and we may well ask: Why?                conesses, but that he must refer to the wives of
  Other than in this passage, there are only two                deacons since he inserts this instruction in the midst
places in the whole New Testament Scriptures where              of his instruction concerning the necessary qualifica-
this word actually refers to the office of deacon. It           tions of the deacons who will be called to the office.
                                                                Besides, it is noticed that Paul does not here speak of
might be well to take a look at these passages a                "deaconesses" but that he simply speaks of
moment, for they have some bearing on  the matter.              `Lwomen," while there are passages where Paul, refer-
The first place is I Timothy 3:8-13 which reads:                ring to women set aside to the special ministry in the
"Likewise must the deacons be grave, not  double-               church, denominates these with the name "dea-
tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy           coness" or "servant."
lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure                  We are of the opinion that the latter interpretation
conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let       is the correct one.
them use the office of a deacon, being found blame-
less. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers,      We might add to the above that the very same
sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the       word is used in the following verse where emphati-
husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their       cally Paul writes: "Let the deacons be the husbands
own houses well. For they that have used the office         of one wife." If Paul were, in vs. 11, referring to the
of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good              special office of deaconess, it would have been very
degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in         easy for him to use the word for deaconess here and
Christ Jesus."                                              not a word which in the immediately following verse
                                                            must be translated wife.
  The reason why I have quoted this passage is not
only that it is one of the two places where the word          So this passage refers to the qualifications of the
for "deacon" appears in reference to the office, but        office of deacon and clearly teaches that all these
also because this passage too has been quoted to            qualifications belong to deacons who are men.
prove the existence of deaconesses in the apostolic           The second passage where the word "deacon"


130                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


refers to the  -special office in the church is in             `Now, having proceeded this far in the argument we
Philippians 1: 1: "Paul and Timotheus, the serv?nts  of      shal also have to  shoti that the word as used in
Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are    Romans 16: 1 cannot be correctly translated as "dea-
at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons."                  coness."
  Here the reference is to the special office of the            This can easily be proved.
diaconate because "deacons" are mentioned in one
breath with "bishops"  - another name for elders                It must be remembered first of all that which I.said
which could better be translated, "overseers."               to you in an earlier article concerning the work of the
  These then are the only two places where the word          offices in the church in general. You remember that I
clearly refers to the special office.                        stressed the fact that the three offices had this in
                                                             common that they all brought the Word  o$ God to
  But there are innumerable places where the word            God's people. They all do this in keeping with the
cannot possibly refer to the special office of deacon.       particular nature of their office, but nevertheless,
There are so many that we can scarcely pick between          they are all servants of the Word. They all speak in
them. But two passages will suffice. In John  20:26          Christ's name. They all are ministers of Christ's Word.
Jesus says: "If any man serve me, let him follow me;         They all have no authority outsidk that authoritative
and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any       Word. The ministers speak that,Word as prophets who
man serve  me, him will my Father honor." In this            bring the Word through the preaching. The  elders
passage, the word translated "servant" is the same           speak that Word as king and rule by that Word in the
word which can be translated "deacon." But it is             congregation. The deacons bring that Word as it
clear from this passage that it cannot have a reference      speaks of the mercy of Christ to His afflicted people.
to' the special office of deacon, for Jesus is talking       But they bring the Word. To say anything else is to
about all His people who serve him.                          misunderstand badly the office. This is why also our
  In Matthew 23: 11 we read: "But he that is greatest        Form for Ordination d.efines the duty of the deacons
among you shall be your servant." Here too the               to be to bring to the poor "comforting words from,
reference obviously cannot be to the special office of       Scripture."
deacon even though the word "servant" is the same as            This whole question must be examined a bit more
that translated deacon in I Timothy 3.                       in detail in connection with the subject of deacon-
  What we have proved is that this word, while it can        esses. But we shall have to wait with this for a future
be translated "deacon," nevertheless need not be.            letter.
And this is because its general meaning is taken from
a verb which means "To minister to the needs of                                        Fraternally in Christ,
another."                                                                              H. Hanko

FROM HOLY WRIT




                              Exposition of Galatians
                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers





TWO DIFFERENT WOMEN  - TWO DIFFERENT                         her son(s). All are born according to the flesh; natural
COVENANTS (Galatians 4:24-26) Continued                      children they are, and nothing more. Children of
   Yes, Sinai was a Covenant. It was the Covenant            wrath.
which gendered unto bondage. Thus was Hagar and                 However, there is another covenant of God. It is


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  131


   the covenant of grace and peace in Jesus Christ. This        thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and
   covenant is portrayed in Sarah and her freeborn son,         cry aloud, thou that didst not `travail with child: for
   Isaac. This covenant is not one which answers to the         more are the children of the desolate than the
   earthly Jerusalem with its shadowy temple ritual and         children of the married wife, saith the LORD."
   service's, but it is really the heavenly Jerusalem, which       It ought to be evident that Paul will prove from
   is above in the glories of mount Zion, the city of the       this text from Isaiah that the children born by the
   living God. (Hebrews  12:22-24) The writer to the            power of the promise are freeborn, and that they are
   Hebrews tells us that we have not come legally and           born from above, from the heavenly Jerusalem, which
   spiritually to that earthly mount in Arabia, but that        is free and which is the mother of us the church. Fact
   we have now come, arrived at mount Zion, the city of         is that Paul applies this passage directly to the
   the  ,living God, and to the blood of the mediator,          Galatian saints, saying, "Now we, brethren, even as
   Jesus, which speaks better things than Abel. The             Isaac was, are born according to promise. (Gal. 4:28)
   blood of the latter calls for vengeance; however, the
   blood of Christ, the blood of sprinkling, calls for            When we survey rather careffully the content of the
   peace and pardon, and is the guarantee of being sons         chapters 52-54 of the prophecy of Isaiah, we notice
   and heirs of God. 0, glorious city of God!                   that this entire section deals with the high and
      What the apostle Paul here emphatically states            glorious exaltation of Zion, Jerusalem, the captive
   concerning. thiS heavenly city is that here we have a        daughter of Zion, my people. These chapters contain
   covenant of-God with man where we  are "free."               the divine announcement that the people of God, the
   Freedom from the curse of the law is the great theme         sons of Abraham, shall no more be in bondage of sin
   here in Paul's masterful and pointed apology; It is the      and guilt. Twice this has happened to "my people";
   freedom of the man who, by law, has died unto law.           twice they were in bondage of sin. God led them into
Paul was hemmed  ,in by the law and  i,ts awful                 Egypt in the days of  Jacqb, and later they were led
   condemnation and curse. He could not thus find               into the cruel captivity of Babylon. (Isaiah  52:4)
   peace and liberty. Now he died unto law. Christ has          However, that shall never again happen. No more
 fulfilled the law for him on the accursed tree; Christ         shall the enemy assault the city, break down the
   removed the curse forever by His one sacrifice on the        walls, and pollute the altar, and carry God's sons and
   tree. It is finished forever now in the end of the           daughters away from the city of God. God will build
   ages. (Heb. 9:26b) He was delivered for our transgres-       a better city, the heavenly city. He will build the city
   sions and was raised for our  .justification.  we were       which Abraham sought when a pilgrim and stranger in
: crucified with Christ,  so. that sin's mighty grip has        the land, together with Isaac and Jacob. And He will
   been broken forever! We are freeborn sons in Christ,         no  more dwell in the earthly city; He will leave this
   born from above by water and by Spirit. (John 3:3-8)         city destitute forever. Such is the trumpet-sound of
   Paul will have more to say about this. He brings in a        the gospel here in Isaiah 52-54. It is the gospel which
 .mighty proof from Scripture to sustain this allegorical       will be preached by those who are sent to preach.
   implication of the birth of Isaac from Sarah by              (Isaiah 52:7; Rom. 10: 15) The message is so wonder-
   promise.                                                     fully exalted that even the footsteps of its messengers
                                                                shall be beautiful upon the mountains of Zion!
      Jerusalem above is free!
      Jerusalem above is the mother of us, the church, all      `THE BARREN WOMAN MUST SING ALOUD (Gala-
   the freeborn children of Sarah's promise children.           tians 4: 27)
   Had not Paul written in, chapter 3 :29: "Now if we are         The passage from Isaiah 54: 1 speaks a Word from
   of Christ (and we are!) then are we the seed  sf             Jehovah, our covenant God, Whose promise stands
   Abraham, and heirs according to the promise"? To be          and Whose word never fails. In Isaiah 54: 1 we read,
   sure, the sdns of Abraham tid those of Sarah are the         "saith the LORD." It is God's word concerning the
   same numberless throng. (Hebrews 1.1: 11, 12) And of         great and high exaltation of the church in the New
   these Paul writes in our text: who is the mother of us       Testament Dispensation! This exaltation of the
   all!                                                         church is the exceedingly great and glorious coming
      And this point Paul will prove from the prophetic         of the heavenly kingdom of God, which no one can
   word which is very sure, and shines more and more            see except he be born from above. This is a pivotal
   unto the perfect day; when Jerusalem shall descend           and basic truth of all the prophecies, which premil-
   from heaven as a bride adorned to meet her husband.          lennialism fails to grasp. Basically such is the case with
   (Rev. 2 1: 2) Then shall the church behold the glory of      all Jewish, nationalistic conceptions of the Kingdom
   the glorified  Son. of. God, and then shall the high         of God in Christ Jesus. The time when the barren
   priestly prayer of the Savior be answered completely.        woman sings is not the greatest moment in
   (John  17:24) The text,' which Paul quotes, is taken         prophecy; it is really a mere intermezzo, which does
   from Isaiah 54: I, where we read, "Sing, 0 barren,           not belong to major sections of the symphony of


132                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


God's masterplan to Abraham's seed; the gathering of        above all the angels.
the church is really not such that Japheth will dwell
in the tents of Shem at Pentecost. (Gen. 9:27a; Isaiah         And now the barren woman can sing!
54:2) However, at Pentecost the wonderful works of            Sarah was such a barren woman once. She could
God are proclaimed in every man's language. The             not sing but was like a woman forsaken, although she
confusion of tongues of Babel is superseded and now         is the free-woman, the legal wife of the father of all
all can hear, and whosoever calls upon the name of          believers. But this was changed in the birth of Isaac,
the Lord shall be saved. This is the acceptable year of     who was born by promise, so that it might be forever
the Lord. The Scriptures are replete with this glad         evident that  the pattern  of God's dealing with his
news concerning the promise of God and the new              church is: with God almighty nothing is impossible.
birth of all the elect children of God, whether Jew or      But, o, how she sang at the birth of Isaac. All peoples
Greek. (Luke 4: 10, II Cor.  6:2) Paul had touched          sing with her. They sing with her in the son of
upon this great truth of the Scriptures already in Gal.     laughter, Isaac, that miracle of God! And, again, the
3:26. We have explained that passage in one of our          church seemed to be "barren" in the time of the
earlier essays in Galatians. No, no! The time when the      captivity. All the types and shadows had availed
barren woman must break forth into singing and              nothing, and the church was as the nonage child
shouting for sheer, rapturous joy is the very end, the      under tutors and governors till the time appointed of
great purpose of God's promise to Abraham and to            the Father. There was no hope, and there was the
His Seed. (Gal. 3: 14, 22; 4:6, 70)                         great cry of the church in hope against hope: How
  What accounts for this rather sudden command of           long, 0 Lord? Watchman, what of the night? Prophets
the LORD to the church in the Old Testament                 tell us, tell us . . . lest we die! Harps upon the
already as she is in the days of Isaiah? We must            willows of the streams of Babylon! The church is a
briefly call attention to the following great truths        bai-ren woman. But there is more hope for Israel in
which we find here set forth in Isaiah 52: 13-53: 1-12.     Babylon, than what there was for her in the glorious
                                                            days of Solomon's reign and temple building.
   1. The great event in history in the realization of
God's promise is that which is spoken of in Is. 52: 13.       For salvation is of the LORD!
"Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be         For the promise shall be fulfilled when "my
exalted and extolled, and be very high." This "ser-         servant" shall deal very prudently. He shall suffer,
vant" is none other than God's Son sent in the fulness      die, arise the third day and be exalted in the highest
of time, made from a woman." He came in the form            heavens, at God's right hand. He shall gather the
of a servant and was found in fashion as a man. (Gal.       church by His Word and Spirit. And then the church
4:4; Phil 2:6-8) He is the very Christ of God!              shall be brought in from the east and from the west;
  2. This "servant" shall deal prudently; he shall be       all nations shall be saved in Christ, justified by faith,
humbled unto death, even the death of the Cross. He         and free from sin's dominion!
shall come and be "under law" in our stead. He shall          Yes, we as Isaac are born from the free-women,
redeem us. His face shall be more marred than any           Sarah, Jerusalem above. Let not this glory be dimmed
man. He will be worm and not a man in all his               by any Jewish "Jerusalem which is now." Let no one
inexpressible anguish and sorrow under the burden of        deceive us into believing that this is a mere "inter-
God's wrath against our sins. This theme is worked          mezzo" in God's work. It is the great theme of the
out by the prophecy in Is. 53 in such a way that we         symphony of  &l the works of God,  the harmony of
see three things concerning the Messiah's work, His         the Cross's reconciliation in the blood of the Lamb!
suffering all these things to enter into His glory. And
here we have the epitome of all the prophecies
beginning at Moses (Genesis to Deuteronomy) passing
through the Psalms and all the prophetic poetry of                Wishing You
the inspired Scriptures, as this is set forth more and
more in all the prophets till John, the forerunner of
the Lord. Isaiah 53 tells us of the suffering,-resurrec-      and Yours
tion, and the glorious exaltation of the Christ.
   3. And the great theme here reaches its conclusion
in Isaiah 54: l-10. Yes, Zion must put on her beauti-          a Blessed
ful garments, she must put on her strength, and must
be decked in the gorgeous array of the saving grace
and salvation of her God and Christ. The good                  Christmas.
pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in the hand of
Christ. Christ is exalted at the right hand of God, far


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 133


TAKING HEED TO DOCTRINE





                             The Reformed Doctrine
                                       of Reprobation
                                              by Rev. David Engelsma





         Essential Elements of Reprobation                    As will be shown later, reprobation is one decree
  Reprobation is a Divine  decree.  It is the  will  of     with election, concerning which Ephesians  1:4 says
God, not an act of God in time and history. There is,       that it was "before the foundation of the world."
of course, an act of God of punishing sinners. But this       Reprobation is a decree concerning certain, defi-
act is judgment,  or condemnation, not reprobation.         nite persons, who, although untreated,  appear in the
Reprobation is the good-pleasure of God, according          mind of God as concrete individuals: Esau! and
to which He hides the things of salvation from certain      Pharaoh!
persons (Matt. 11:25-27). The word which Jesus uses           It is a decree that determines with unchangeable
in Matthew  11:26, translated "seemed good" in our          finality that the destiny of these persons is perdition.
version, is a word that means `determination, de-           It is sometimes argued that reprobation is merely
cision, will.' According to Romans 9:.18, reprobation       God's decision to deny men certain earthly privileges
is the-w-ill of God, which wil.1 of God appoints certain    and benefits or, if the benefit denied is spiritual, some
persons to be hardened.                                     spiritual benefit other than salvation. The rejection of
  Reprobation is an eternal  deiree. This is the force      Esau, it is said, had in view only that he would not
of Scripture's teaching that this decision. of God          inherit the covenant, not that he would perish. The
precedes, stands behind, and accounts for God's             implication is that election likewise is not God's
dealings with the reprobate in history. God does not        choice of men unto salvation, but only unto service or
decide to reject Esau after Esau has grown up and           some temporal advantage. Scripture, however, teaches
shown himself a profane despiser of God's covenant;         that "God hath from the beginning chosen you to sal-
but before Esau was born or had done any cevil, God          vatjon" (II Thess. 2: 13).
had a purpose to reject Esau in hatred (Rom.
9: 11-13). God does not come to the decision' to reject       Romans 9 makes indisputably clear that God's
Pharaoh after Pharaoh has wickedly oppressed God's          reprobation of Esau and others is a rejection of them
people and stubbornly refused God's command to let          unto  everlasting damnation.  First, this decision is
God's people go; but God gave that king existence           motivated by God's hatred of Esau: "As it is written,
and set him on Egypt's throne with  the express             . . . Esau have I hated" (v. 13). To translate "hated"
purpose to show in him God's power. This is an              as `loved less' is sheer exegetical outrage. "Hated"
illustration of the truth that God hardens some men         means `hated': to abominate someone and to will his
in time and history according to a preceding and            destruction. It is the opposite of "loved" in the first
determining will, just as He has mercy on others            part of the text. Malachi 1, the passage from which
according to His eternal will (Rom. 9: 17, 18).             Paul quotes, bears this out. God's hatred of Esau


 134                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



moves Him to destroy Es-au: ":. . laid his mountains           cause .of the will to reprobate is not the sinfulness of
and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilder-          the reprobate. The answer to the question, "Why
ness." When Edom vows to rebuild,`Jehovah declares,            does. He reprobate?" and especially, "Why does He
"They shall build, but I will throw down; and they             reprobate this one and not that. one?" is:  .For so it
shall call them, The border of wickedness, and; The            seemed good unto Him, i.e., God's  .good pleasure
p.eople against, whom the LORD hath indignation for            (Matt,  11:26); Because He is the Potter Who has
ever" (vss. l-5). To see the absurdity of translating          power over the clay to make a vessel unto dishonor,
"hated" as `loved less' one needs only to read Malachi         i.e., God's free, unconditioned authority (Rom.
 1 this way: "I loved Jacob, And I loved Esau less (I          9:2 1); Because this' is His will (Rom. 9: 18). This is
loved Esau also, but not as much), and laid his                true, even though one holds the view, as does the
mountains and his heritage waste . . . (and) I will            Canons, that the objects .of reprobation are, in God's
throw down; and they shall call them, The border of            counsel, fallen men, sinners, the sinful mass. They are
wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD              rejected as sinners, but not because they are sinners.
hath indignation for ever." In  .His lesser love, God          The truth  of. this is plain to see: If reprobation
utterly destroys and pours out His wrath! With love            depends on the sinfulness of the reprobate,  all  men
like this, what need is there of hatred?                       would be reprobated, for all are equally sinful.
   That reprobation is ordination unto perdition is              When Paul confronts the challenge to his teaching
evident, secondly, in that Paul is proving that the            that ,God has willed to harden some, his reply is an
word of God was not ineffective in the case of the             appeal to God's unchallengeable sovereignty: the One
many Israelites who .went lost in unbelief. Certainly,         Who has reprobated is God, the Potter; and the Potter
in the opening verses of Romans 9, the apostle has             has power, i.e., authority, over the clay (Rom.
great heaviness and continual sorrow and could wish            9: 19-21).
himself accursed from Christ on account of Israelites            In accordance with this decree, God deals with the
who perish everlastingly. The concern of the apostle           reprobate in time; the. decree is efficacious. He with-
is not that some of his brothers according to the flesh        holds faith; hides the truth of Christ and salvation;
lacked certain temporal privileges and benefits, but           `and blinds. This is the express testimony of Scripture
that they did not obtain the salvation promised in             in Matthew 11:25, 26; Romans 9: 18;  Remans 11~7;
God's, Word. It would be to no purpose, therefore,             and I Peter 2:8.
that the apostle-should bring up .Esau as an example             The purpose of God with the. decree is to show in
of God's -deciding that some men not enjoy merely              the reprobation His power and the justice of His
temporal privileges.                                           wrath, i.e., His glory (Rom. 9:22).
   Thirdly, God's purpose in raising up Pharaoh,                 But God realizes this purpose in connection with
namely, to show His power in Pharaoh, was a purpose            and in contrast to the gracious salvation of the elect.
that appointed the Egyptian to everlasting death. The          There is a relationship between reprobation and
history in Exodus shows this. Hardened by Jehovah              election.
so that God might make His Name great in delivering
Israel, Pharaoh dies under the angry waves of the Red
Sea and the fierce billows of the wrath of God. The            The Relationship between Reprobation and Election
will of God that ordains some unto hardening in                  This relationship is crucial in the controversy over
unbelief and disobedience is a will that appoints them         reprobation now going on in Reformed churches;
unto eternal death. (vss. 17, 18)                              Those bent on getting rid of reprobation deny that
   If any doubt remained, verse 22 would be conclu-            there is such a relationship. They insist that election
sive. It speaks of "vessels of wrath fitted to                 and reprobation, as found in traditional Reformed
destruction. "                                                 theology, are two distinct, separate decrees. They
                                                               claim that reprobation can be. thrown out. without
   It is not only  Remans 9 that teaches this. I Peter         affecting election. This is what they propose: drop
2:8 teaches that God has appointed some to stumble             reprobation, but keep election. On the first page of
over Christ as He is revealed in the Word  - a fatal           his gravamen against the doctrine of reprobation,
stumbling. This doctrine of reprobation, strikingly, is        addressed to the Synod of the Christian Reformed
followed immediately by the -teaching of election              Church, 1977, Harry R. Boer states: "Excluded from
unto life and glory: "But ye are a chosen genera-              the gravamen are any objections to the `doctrine of
tion. . . ." (v. 9).                                           election. I stand wholly committed to the. scriptural
   Still another essential aspect of this decree is that it    teaching concerning the sovereignty of God in the
is sovereignly free, or unconditional. In reprobating,         salvation of men." Later, he writes: "it must be
God is not dependent on the unbelief, disobedience,            pointed out that the present gravamen has been
and unworthiness of those whom He rejects. The                 constructed with little or no attention given to the


                                                        THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                      135


doctrine of election. This was done of set purpose. In                     has always been the approach of Rome. This was how
Reformed theology election and reprobation are the                         the enemies of election operated in Calvin's day. This
two inseparable faces of :the one coin of predestina-                      was the procedure of  the.Arminians  at Dordt. They
tion. Nevertheless, the doctrine of reprobation is not                     presented their objection against the Reformed doc-
only altogether distinct from election but stands in                       trine as an objection to reprobation. When their
antithesis to it."                                                         maneuvering to avoid an examination of their teach-
  The all too real danger is that the churches,                            ings by the Synod failed, the Arminians demanded
supposing this to be possible, fall for the proposal. Is                   that the Synod begin with  the. doctrine of reproba-
this not attractive: Be rid of reprobation, so offensive                   tion. -This is exactly, how the present-day preachers of
to those outside the Reformed community and so                             free-will attack "Calvinism," e.g.,. John R. Rice,
fraught with difficulties; but retain election?`Make  no                   whose diatribe against sovereign grace is titled,. "Pre-
mistake, however, if the churches adopt the proposal,                      destined for Hell? No!" Now, nominally Reformed
they will discover that they have lost both reproba-                       theologians do the same thing.
tion and election.                                                            Calvin saw and expressed the necessary connection
  There is such a relationship between election and                        between election and reprobation. Not only did he
reprobation, Biblically now, that to lose reprobation                      write in the  Institutes, "there could. be no election
is to lose election as well. This exposes the current                      without its opposite reprobation" (III, XXIII,  1); but
attack on reprobation for what it really is: an assault                    he also wrote, in the  Genevan Consensus of 1552
on the Reformed doctrine of election. It is election                       (known among us as "Calvin's Calvinism"), "election
that must go. The enemy is stabbing election through                       itself unless opposed to reprobation will not stand."
the side of reprobation. Nor is this a new tactic. This                                         (to be continued)

THE'VOICE OF OUR FATHERS





                                                   Infant Baptism
                                                          Pvof Robert D. Decker





           "
            .  .  .    Therefore we believe, that every man, who is earnestly studious of obtaining life eternal,.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 the
          infants of believers who we believe ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as the
          children in Israel formerly were circumcised upon the same 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 bath  done for
          them; as the Lord commanded in the law, that they should be made partakers of the sacrament of Christ's
          suffering and death, shortly after they were born, by offering for them a lamb, which was a sacrament if
          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. "
                                                                                       Article X-IV,  i%e Be&c Confession


136                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  The doctrine of infant baptism has always been           seed, the seed of Abraham, the children of the
maintained by the Reformed Churches especially             promise, the believers. Invariably the opponents of
overagainst Baptists of every stripe. Our Creed in the     infant baptism argue that in the old dispensation the
second part of this article presents, in the main, two     Jews were the seed of Abraham and the promise was
grounds for infant baptism: 1) The promise in both         to them. This is not true. The Bible never identifies
the old and new Testaments is one and the same; and,       the Jews (the natural descendents of Abraham) with
2) the sign of baptism is essentially the same as the      the seed of Abraham. It is true that for a time the
Old Testament sign of circumcision. This the Confes-       seed of Abraham was found exclusively among
sion maintains overagainst the error of the  Ana-          Abraham's natural descendents: in the generations of
baptists. The latter were a sect which was an offshoot     Seth, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Israel. In the new
of the Reformation. They denied the necessity of           dispensation they are found among all nations, for
baptizing infants and insisted on re-baptizing those       there is no difference any more between Jew and
who were baptized as infants, hence their name, Ana        Gentile. But in either case the seed of Abraham, the
(again) baptists. This error has persisted to the          children of the promise, are the believers, the elect,
present day among all who deny the necessity of the        the children of God. These are the true seed of
baptism of infants. Usually this view is accompanied       Abraham, the father of the believers.
by denials of the sovereign character of grace, the          This is plainly taught in many passages of Scrip-
truth of the covenant, and the error of pre-               ture. We read, for example, in Romans 9:6-8: "Not as
millennialism.                                             though the word of God hath taken none effect. For
  There are others who, while they teach the baptism       they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Neither
of infants, have erred in attempting to find a ground      because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all
for infant baptism. Some have based itifant baptism        children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That
on the doctrine of "presupposed regeneration." Ac-         is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are
cording to these we must presuppose that all children      not the children of God: but the children of the
of the covenant are regenerated and, therefore, ought      promise are counted for the seed." This passage
to be baptized. This view is wrong. We know from           teaches that not all who are of Israel (the natural
both Scripture and experience that all baptized chil-      descendants) actually  are  Israel. Only the spiritual
dren are not regenerated. There are Esaus born to          seed, believers, they that were born of the promise, as
believing parents as well as Jacobs. Others have found     Isaac was, are counted for the seed. (Cf. also in this
the basis for infant baptism in a general but objective    connection: Romans  4:11-16; Romans  2:28, 29;
and conditional promise of the covenant. These main-       Hosea 1: 10, 11 in comparison with Romans 9: 24-26.)
tain that all infants must be baptized because God's         And that the people of God of both the old and
promise comes to all objectively. Only that promise        the new dispensations are one people is clearly taught
comes in a conditional form so that its fulfillment
and realization is dependent upon faith. The error of      in Galatians 3:7-9; 16-29; and  4:1-7. From these
this view is very simply that it introduces the age-old    passages it- is perfectly clear that only believers, "they
heresy of Arminianism into the covenant.                   which are of faith," are the true seed of Abraham in
                                                           both the old and the new dispensations. Centrally
  In the light of this it is extremely important that      that seed of Abraham is Christ. If that be true it
we have a proper understanding of the Biblical             stands to reason that only those who are in Christ by
ground for infant baptism. This doctrine lies at the       faith can belong to the seed of Abraham. That is true
very heart of the truth of Scripture and affects           whether they be of the old or the new dispensation.
practically every aspect of the truth: sovereign pre-      The passage also teaches that there is but one promise
destination, the promise and covenant, the church,         for the seed of Abraham and the heirs of that one
the means of grace, and the calling (obligation) of        promise are the believers. Hence it is the clear
believers and their children. (The reader who is           teaching of Scripture that there is but one people of
interested in a more exhaustive study of this beautiful    God and that one people of God is called the seed of
truth is advised to consult H. Hoeksema's Reformed         Abraham in Christ. This means that the seed of
Dogmatics, pp. 680 ff.)                                    Abraham is not the Jews as such nor the Gentiles as
  The basic ground for the baptism of infants lies in      such, but the believers with faithful Abraham, of
the fact that the Church of the Old and New                both Jew and Gentile.
Dispensations is one church. To that one church there        But not only is it true that the people of God are
is one promise; with that one church God establishes       in the old and new dispensations the same; also the
one covenant; for that one church there is one sign of     sign of the covenant, though different in form, is the
the covenant and one way of salvation. The Bible           same in both dispensations. Also circumcision, the
knows only one people of God in both the old and           old testament sign of the covenant, was a sign of the
new dispensations. These are the elect, the spiritual      righteousness which is by faith, of spiritual  circum-


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                137


cision, of regeneration, of the circumcision of the            Finally, belonging to the Biblical ground for the
heart, of sanctification, of the cutting away of the old     baptism of infants is the fact that God gathers His
man of sin, of the love of God in a new heart.               people  in the line of continued generations. Always
Romans 4: 11 teaches this: "And he received the sign         the covenant is established with: "thee and thy seed
of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the          after thee in their generations." (Genesis 3 : 15  ;
faith which he had being yet uncircumcised." (Cf.            Genesis  9:9; Genesis  17:7; etc.) On Pentecost the
also Leviticus 26:40, 41; Deuteronomy  10:16; 30:6;          Apostle Peter preaches: "For the promise is unto
Jeremiah 4:4.) This is essentially the meaning of the        you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off,
sign of holy baptism. In Acts  2:38  we read: "Then          even as many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acts
Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every           2:39) This does not mean, certainly not, that all
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the               children of believers who are baptized are saved.
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the      There is always carnal seed who upon arriving at years
Holy Ghost." According to this text baptism signifies        of discretion manifest that wickedness. To these
the remission of sins in Jesus Christ which is the same      latter, just as is  the'case with the preaching of the
as the righteousness which is by faith. Similarly Acts       Word, baptism is a savor of death unto death.
22: 16 teaches that baptism signifies the washing away         On this ground the Reformed church `baptizes
of our sins. (Cf. Romans 6:4; Galatians 3:27..) A very       infants of God's Church and covenant. For this
striking passage in this regard is Colossians 2: 11, 12:     reason the Apostles always baptized entire houses. It
"In whom ye also are circumcised with the circum-            makes no difference whether or not there were
cision made without hands, in putting off the body of        infants in those houses: the point is houses, families
the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:         were baptized.
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye:are risen
with him through the faith of the operation of God,            This holy sacrament places believers and their seed
who hath raised him from the dead." Here circum-             under sacred obligation. The Form For The Adminis-
cision and baptism are identified as far as their            tvation of Baptism  speaks of that eloquently:
significance is concerned. Believers, according to the       "Whereas in all covenants there are contained two
text, are circumcised in the spiritual sense of the          parts: therefore are we by God through baptism,
word and spiritual circumcision took place when they         admonished of, and obliged unto new obedience,
were buried with Christ in baptism. This is direct           namely, that we cleave to this one God, Father, Son,
proof that baptism and circumcision are essentially          and Holy Ghost; that we trust in him with all our
the same in meaning. The change in form from                 hearts, with all our souls, with all our mind, and with
circumcision to baptism has taken place because of           all our strength; that we forsake the world, crucify
the change from the old dispensation (the age of the         our old nature, and walk in a new and holy life. And
types and shadows) to the new dispensation (the age          if we sometimes through weakness fall into sin, we
of fulfillment). Thus baptism has come in the place of       must not despair of God's mercy, nor continue in sin,
circumcision in the sense that the latter old :dispensa-     since baptism is a seal and undoubted testimdny, that
tional sign of the covenant finds its fulfillme'nt in the    we have an eternal covenant of grace with God."
sign of baptism.




   S .bsc                                                                                                RD


 138                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



ALL AROUND US





                                               And Now:
                        What About Christmas?
                                                   Rev. G. Van Baren





   Last time I presented two letters which objected to        of the information the letter writers did, but came to
 the current celebration of Christmas. You have been          different conclusions.
 given time to think about these letters. What have             So  - why not discontinue the celebration of
 you concluded? Have you talked this over with your           Christmas? I personally would be in favor of great
 family and friends?                                          revision in our methods of celebration, but not an
   I also have some comments. I do not care to be             abolition of the celebration itself. I think it not quite
 placed in a position where I am obliged to defend            fair to equate the celebration of Christmas with that
 Christmas as it is celebrated today,' yet I would            of Halloween. The former commemorates the blessed
 frankly state that I am not. ready to' throw it out.         Scriptural presentation of Christ's wonderful birth,
 Some of the points of the letters were very valid, but       the latter commemorates no Scriptural event. The
 some of the reasoning is not correct, it seems to me.        former has been indeed often misused but can be
                                                              celebrated rightly, the latter can not.
    1. The debate concerning the date of Christ's birth         Concerning the celebration of Christmas, I could
 (and no one has determined that with any degree of           point out that the church order of the Reformed
 certainty) and the advisability of celebrating a certain     churches have required that celebration (article 67 in
 day has been debated for m&e than 1600 years.                our Church Order). Monsma and Van Dellen in their
   2. The first record -of Christmas celebration on           "Church Order Commentary" (Second edition, 1949)
 December 25 dates back to 336. Hippolytus is the             write concerning this article:
 man credited with having first set the date. It'is also a           During the early days of the Reformation some
 matter of debate whether .the'date  was set because of           Reformed localities observed only Sunday. All special
 the Roman pagan holidays, a$ the first writer would              days sanctioned and revered by Rome were set aside.
 have it (The New Schaff-Herzog. Religious Encyclo-               Zwingli and Calvin both encouraged the rejection of
 pedia).                                                          all ecclesiastical festive days. In Geneva all special
   3. That many-of the current practices at Christmas             days were discontinued as soon as the Reformation
                                                                  took a firm hold in that city. Already before the
 time can be traced to pagan celebrations appears to              arrival of Calvin in Geneva this had been accom-
 be true.                                                         plished under the leadership of Fare1 and Viret. But
   4. That the Reformers, for the most part, opposed              Calvin agreed heartily. And Knox, the Reformer of
 the celebration of Christmas seems also to be true.              Scotland, shared these same convictions, he being a
                                                                  disciple of Calvin in Geneva. Consequently the Scot-
   5. Therefore I  a!so, on various occasions, have               tish Churches also banned the Roman sacred
 given speeches and written articles presenting much              days. . . .


                                                    T'HE  STANDARD BEARER                                           1       3    9


      Consulting the present article (67) we  find that it      the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that
   prescribes the observation of several special or festival    regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard
   days. How is this to be explained? The government of         it. He that eateth, eateth to the  L&d, for he giveth
   Holland was loath to set all the Christian festivals         God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he
   aside inasmuch as many of the people delighted in            eateth not, and giveth God thanks." Call this "Chris-
   these days for the sake of their pleasures and because
   the government officials and employees hated to part         tian -liberty" or call it a matter of the "adiaphora,"
   with a number of holidays which afforded them rest           the principle applies that  ,what is done, MUST BE
   and recreation. Rather than see  the& days given over        DONE to the glory of God. If it can be shown that
   to the danger of abuse and frivolity, the Churches           the Christian CAN NOT observe Christmas Day to the
   accommodated themselves to circumstances and be-             glory of God, only then ought we to condemn every
   gan to celebrate these days after a fashion. Thus the        form of celebration.
   Synod of Dort, 1578, Article 75, declared in sub-
   stance that it would be desirable to celebrate Sunday           What about many of the Christmas practices?
   only according to God's ordinance. But, inasmuch as          Again, I do not want to be in a position of approving
   Christmas Day and the day following upon Christmas,          much of what  is  done  at Christmas time  - by
   as well as the days following upon Easter and Pente-         Christians too. There is evident gross excesses, wrong
   cost and in some places also New Year's Day, and             practices, sinful lusts. However, the child of God
   Ascension Day were legal holidays by autho&y of              must again keep in mind .the Scriptural principle:
   the governments, the Ministers should preach ap-             whatever he does, must be done to the glory of God.
   propriately on these days in order to turn a fruitless       If such is not the `case, it is sin (Rom.  14:23).  I,
   and harmful idleness into a holy and profitable              believe that the Christian is not forbidden the use of
   exercise.                                                    those things which may have had something to do
  The above suggests that our forefathers decided               with paganism in the past. Because pagans made use t :
that a spiritual celebration on the day of Christmas            of evergreen trees, may I not therefore ever use them
would tend to reduce and perhaps eliminate the                  for celebration or decoration? Because pagans used
purely secular celebrations of some Christians. Per-             "mincemeat, etc.", may I therefore never use mince-
haps such argument speaks of the "hardness of heart"            meat at Christmas (or at other times)? Because gifts
of our forefathers which requires such measures to              are used to satisfy lusts, to defraud, to blind the eyes
counteract the influence of the world. Yet, what                of judges - may I not therefore give gifts? Because
would happen today if the church completely ignored             the  word "Christmas? means: "Christ's mass," does
Christmas? The legal holiday and the celebrations               that eliminate the celebration of that day for me?
continue regardless. Is it not better to bring people of        (What about "Sun"day? Or, "Thurs"day?) That there
God into His house of worship to  commemorate in                are practices which are  per  se wrong, I would not
the light of Scripture the birth of His Son into our            deny. That there is often, an evil imitation of the
flesh? Will this also not be a constant reminder to             world about us, I readily admit - to our shame. That
children of God that they are not to celebrate as the           we do not always celebrate Christmas to God's glory
world commonly does about us? Is this an argument               is almost self-evident. But we must take care lest we
from weakness? Should this sort of celebration be               see things as sinful in themselves. Again, the instruc-
necessary for the faithful Christian? It might indeed           tion of God's Word concerning the use of meats
well be debated. I would personally prefer to use the           which had been offered to idols is useful. In I Cor.
day to remind ourselves of that distinction between             8:4, 5, 8, "As concerning therefore the eating of
the church and the world when it comes to com-                  those things that are offered in. sacrifice unto idols,
memoration of Christ's birth.                                   we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and
  Is it wrong,  per  se, to set aside a date for the            that there is none other God but one: For though
celebration of Christ's birth? Granted, we do not               there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in
know the exkct date of His birth - and most likely it           earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,). . . .
was NOT on December 25 - is it wrong to celebrate               But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if
on a specific day? Scripture nowhere requires celebra-          we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not are we
tion of the day. A Christian does not violate Scrip-            the worse." The apostle goes on, however, in warning
tural principles if he does not celebrate at all on this        lest one offend the weaker brother.
date. But Scripture does not forbid celebration either.            The point is, we can make proper use of the things
The only requirement of Scripture is, that what is              in the world. How others have misused them must
practiced must be done to the glory of God.                     not determine my own proper use of these same
  I believe the principle expressed in Romans 14:5, 6           things. We surely then can not condemn one because
applies: "One man esteemeth one day above another:              he has a "tree" or eats "mincemeat" in Christmas
another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be             celebration.
fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth                 The above  is not to condone  the excesses` of


140                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


Christmas celebration in which we easily involve          return again.
ourselves. How would I like to see Christmas properly
celebrated? I could suggest:                                 3. In use of decorations and feasting, this must be
   1. If and when we celebrate the day, there ought       done (if done at all) to the glory of God and for our
to be that strong contrast between the church and the     spiritual profit.
world. They have really nothing spiritual in common
on this day. We ought to concentrate on that wonder          4. Those who are spiritual will make constant
of the Incarnation which must lead to the cross.          self-examination with respect to their use of this
                                                          special day. Let us never blindly insist: "We've always
   2. Our celebrations ought not to be after the          done it this way - therefore it is right and proper to
-fashion of the world. I've often wondered why we         continue this way of celebration." What is done must
should not rather give gifts to those in special need     be out of a living faith and to the glory of our God. Is
rather than giving of gifts to those who will give in     that how you celebrate Christmas?

Report From "Down Under"





                                      Christ's Church
                                      in Christchurch
                                               Rev. John A. Heys





  But Christ's Church is here in New Zealand; and         represent different denominations and different
therefore we did not remain strangers very long after     nationalities. And I told the congregation in the first
arriving. The semicircle of members of the congrega-      sermon I preached in their midst that I did not mind
tion that stood facing the hallway down which the ar-     being called "minister on loan" provided it is remem-
riving passengers came into the terminal soon revealed    bered that this is possible only because they are
that they had come not to welcome a tourist, or a         "congregation on loan" to me. My congregation in
business associate, but an ambassador of Christ. And      Holland, Michigan is lending my services to the OPC
to us the truth we love became more and more              of New Zealand - and for the moment exclusively to
precious that, "The Son of God from the beginning         the Christchurch congregation - which works under
to the end of the world, gathers, defends, and            another Reformed confession, but only because the
preserves to Himself by His Spirit and Word out of        Session of the Christchurch congregation is lending its
the whole human race, a church chosen to everlasting      congregation to me.
life, agreeing in true faith." A oneness in Him became
manifest at once. And while our churches, through a         Our readers are undoubtedly interested in the
synodically appointed committee, are struggling with      affairs of our churches, and therefore also in the work
the concept of a "minister on loan," my wife and I,       of the Committee for Contact with Other Churches,
and the OPC here in New Zealand are experiencing          and of our Holland congregation down here, below
the relationship of shepherd and sheep although we        the equator and across the international date line.


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 141



         For just under forty years it pleased the King of          occasions to labour, is also found here. But it is far
       the Church to grant me the privilege of serving as a         more so the case here. Names of cities in England
       minister of His Word in Christ's Church as that              and in Jamaica are also here, such as Islington, where
       Church is to be found in the Protestant Reformed             Rev. Elliott lives, and Kingston. Christchurch has a
       Churches in America. And now it has pleased Him to           River Avon as well as does England. English coins get
       extend these labours to His Church as she is found in        mixed up with the New Zealand coins and there is no
       the Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand              discrimination against them. Our money, on the other
       some 6,000 miles from our western shores, and some           hand, depending on the rate of exchange, which
       8,000 miles from what still is my congregation in            seems to vary daily due to the dropping of the dollar
       Holland, Michigan.                                           in its value, is worth about 90 to 93 cents.
         Indeed, "God moves in a mysterious way His                   Christchurch is also called "The Garden City," and
       wonders to perform: He plants His footsteps in the           at this time of the year one need not wonder why.
       Sea, and rides upon the storm" as the hymn out of            Flower gardens are everywhere. And `for us it was a
       the Old Scottish Psalter expresses it. Planting His          unique experience not only to see tulips in full bloom
       footsteps in the Sea - and some 6,000.miles of them          in October  - we have our annual Tulip Time in
       - and riding upon the storms below, He took me and           Holland the second week of May - but tulips in full
       my wife along and safely and gently set us down at           bloom next to rose bushes with large and beautiful
       the airport of Christchurch, New Zealand on October          roses also in full bloom, pansies and daisies growing
     20, 1978. In ways above our ways, and in thoughts
I                                                                   alongside them, to say nothing of asters and petunias.
       that are higher than ours, He so ordered our lives that      The beauty of flowers is everywhere; and seeing it
       what we had never planned, and what for a time               one is inclined to add a line or two to Psalm 19 and
       seemed to have insurmountable obstacles, He real-            say, "The flowers in all their brilliant colors, forms,
       ized, smoothing out the way and bringing' us to a            and delicate textures declare the glory of God; and
       congregation whose members were unknown to us                the gardens show forth His handiwork." Although the
       except as names, with whom we had never cor-                 city has Christ's name, we do wonder how many of
       responded, and to whom we likewise were only                 its citizens seeing all this beauty see God in it at all.
       names and total strangers, apart from indirect contact       Although our travels away from Christchurch, the
       through the pages of the Standard Bearer.                    city, have not been extensive at all  - at the most
       Since the Son of God gathers His Church out of all           perhaps 20 miles, and to the airport to see off a
       nations; and since that Church is one Church, one            young woman from England who had been worship-
       body with many members, the members. in our                  ping with the congregation ffor the last eighteen
       congregations are interested in the Orthodoxi Presby-        months  - we have not found the abundance of
       terian Church of New Zealand; and the members of             churches that characterizes so `many of our own
       the Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand are          cities. And those that we have seen are not as large as
       interested in our churches, the Protestant Reformed          the ones found in many of our American cities.
       Churches in America; and their questions and prayers           We do find it confusing at times to have the
       reveal that to us. And so we would like to fill our          southern side of our home, and .of the trees, in the
       duty as one of the contributing editors of the Stan-         shade. Since we are south of the equator the sun is
       dard Bearer  by giving a little information about            north of us, and keeping directions straight becomes a
       Christ's Church here in Christchurch, New Zealand. We        problem at times. We remind ourselves, and need to
       will, the Lord willing, return to our department of          keep reminding ourselves, that, although we want it
       The Day of Shadows when we are once again able to            differently, even this shows the wisdom and exactness
       do so.                                                       of our God as He guides the sun in the heavens in an
         Christchurch, the city, is one of the largest cities in    unaltering course. And we had better leave the sun
       New Zealand, and the largest  .city of the southern          and all creatures in His hands. We would create
       island. New Zealand consists of two islands about            confusion if we were to try to regulate the creation
       1,500 miles east, and to the south of Australia.             according to our flesh.
       Christchurch is on the eastern side of the southern            As to Christ's Church here in New Zealand - and
       island and is the third largest city in New Zealand,         we speak only of one congregation, and perhaps, the
       having a population of some 300,000. It is, therefore,       Lord willing, after we make contact with the others
       somewhat larger than Grand Rapids but far smaller            in this denomination, we shall be able to send in
       than Chicago. It is advertised as the "most English          another report for our readers - it is a relatively small
       city outside of England." And the English influence is       congregation in numbers but quite ambitious in its
       to be seen on every side. Much of the same English           activities. It, together with the churches in the north,
       influence that we found in Jamaica, where it pleased         and on the northern island, publishes quarterly a
       the King of the Church to send us on eight different         magazine called "The Gospel Witness." In the Octo-


  142                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



ber issue of 1978 appears this announcement: "The                churches, who are interested in hearing about the
  OPC Tape Library has now released Catalogue                    Reformed faith.
  Number 3, with a yellow cover. This new catalogue                As a Presbyterian church the congregation lives and
  lists over 590 messages which are available on cassette        works under the Westminster Confession and uses the
  tapes. If you did not receive a copy and would like a          Westminster Shorter Catechism for instructing the
  copy write P.O. Box 2289, Christchurch." We were               youth. This for us is a unique experience, having lived
  quite amazed when we saw the rows upon rows of                 and worked all these years under the Heidelberg
  tapes neatly filed away at the "tape headquarters" of          Catechism together with the Belgic Confession and
  the OPC. Many of these messages are from our                   Canons of Dordrecht. This does not mean that we
  ministers and professors. What is even more striking -         have to change our doctrinal position and teach and
and you may be sure that there is no little outlay of            preach otherwise than before and in our churches. It
  money in building up a library that large, and of              does mean that new facets of the truth come to light;
  producing the duplicates that are called for and sent
  -                                                              and we feel perfectly at ease on the pulpit here, have
       is the fact that these tapes are being sent out at the    not changed a sermon to accommodate the condition,
  rate of about 200 a month on an average. A relatively          but speak freely as the Scriptures set forth the truth.
  small congregation it is, but one whose arm reaches            And,, because Christ's Church is here, we make spir-
  out throughout New Zealand not only, but to Singa-             itual contact; and we may believe that because of the
  pore and Australia and other parts of this globe on            doctrinal background of the congregation that sent
_ which we were placed to witness.                               me here to preach and work, the First Protestant
       An idea of the activities of the congregation may         Reformed Church at Holland, Michigan, there is not
  be gained from a list of what goes on in the congrega-         only contact but we are mutually edified. For to
  tion. There is on the Sabbath first of all the Sunday          them also new facets of the Reformed truth come to
  School, and then the morning service at 1l:OO A.M.             light. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all wrote about
  The evening service is at 7:00 P.M. And all this is            Jesus' ministry but give different facets of that one
  before our churches in the States have had their               truth. So as minister with one Reformed background
  morning service. When it is Sunday here on this side           and confession, and as congregation with another
  of the international date line, it is still Saturday from      Reformed background and confession, we can not
  Honolulu to New York. Then there is the Tuesday                only work together but share with each other what
  evening meeting for Prayer and Bible Study; once a             the one Spirit of the one Lord and Christ has been
  month on Wednesdays the Women's Fellowship Meet-               pleased to give in the one Holy Catholic, or universal,
  ing; on Thursday catechism is taught; and every other          Church. And the Lord willing we will at a later date
  Friday a meeting is held in the heart of the city for a        give further report of Christ's Church in New Zea-
  group of young people, `mainly from Baptist                    land.




                                              Book Review

  GOD HAS NOT REJECTED HIS PEOPLE,  by                           helpful chapter. Chapter 4 speaks of the "Holocaust"
  Richard R. De Ridder; Baker Book House, 1977; 88               of 1933-l 945 and its impact on Jewish thinking. The
  pp., $2.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)               author points out that Jews think in terms of national
                                                                 survival because of this event  in,their  history, and
       Dr. De Ridder is interested in mission work among         now consider proselytizing as a threat to their exis-
  the Jews, and this book is written with a view to              tence  - a threat as great as Hitler's efforts to
  encouraging such work. It is a brief book, consisting          exterminate them. Chapter 5 discusses mission work
  of five short chapters, but there is some interesting          among the Jews and offers some guidelines.
  and helpful information in it.                                   While really too brief, the book must be added to
       Chapter 1 deals with the history of the Jews in the       the reading list of all those who are interested in this
  New Dispensation. Chapter 2 points out the evils of            question. In this reviewer's opinion, the book does
  Anti-Semitism. Chapter 3 discusses the development             not do sufficient justice to the sin of crucifying Christ
  of and variations within Judaism and is an especially          - a sin committed by both Jew and Gentile.


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER





                         COVENANT PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCH
                                            OF WYCKOFF, NEW JERSEY

                                                  offers $164,000 in bonds
                             to finance construction of new church building


                                         Issued in denominations of $500.00 and $1000.00
                                                                   Maturity: 20 years



                                             Complete  Pt-ospectus  available. Write or call:

                                                                 Mr. Clarence  DeGroot
                                                             176 Prescott Ave.
                                                                 Prospect Park, N.J. 07508
                                                                 Ph. (201) 278-6791





                                                                      NOTICE!!!
                                           Classis East will meet in regular session on Wednesday, January IO,
                                       1979, at the Southwest Protestant Reformed Church, Grandville,
                                       Michigan. Material to be treated at this session must be in the hands of
                                       the Stated Clerk at least ten days prior to the convening of the session.

                                                                                Jon Huisken
                                                                                Stated Clerk





              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   The Ladies Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church               On December 21, 1978, the Lord willing, our parents, MR.  & MRS.
wishes to express its sympathy to one of our members, Mrs. Rhine              BERT I. KORHORN, will celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary.
Lubbers, in the death of her mother, MRS. MINNIE VELTEMA, who                 We, their children, are thankful to our Heavenly Father for His
passed away on November 17, at the age of 81 years.                           guidance during their years together and pray that they might continue
                                                                              to receive His blessing in years to come.
   May she and her family find comfort in the Word of God as                                                         Mr.  & Mrs. Ivan. Korhorn
expressed in Psalm  116:15   - "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the                                             Mr.  & Mrs. Dale Mensch
death of His saints."                                                                                                Mr.  & Mrs. William Post
                                                                                                                     Mr.  & Mrs. David Korhorn
                                      Rev. G. Van  Baren, Pres.                                                      Mr.  & Mrs. Daniel Baldwin
                                      Mrs. Hib Kuiper, Sec'y.                                                              & 15 Grandchildren


 `
 ,&.
        THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                                            SECOND CLASS
                   P.O. Box 6064                                                                        POSTAGE PAID AT
        Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                  GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
                                                                                                 L

                                                   ----  ~.-~_--.-_
        144                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



                                        News From Our Churches

          The Council of our Southeast Church  :in Grand          phone at 616-538-3948.
        Rapids has proposed a trio of the following ministers:           Hudsonville has scheduled a combined societies
        Rev. Arie den Hartog, Rev. David Engelsma, and Rev.       Christmas gathering on December 6. This sounds like a
        Jason Kortering. One of these brethren will be chosen     fine idea - when all the societies of the church can
        to receive a call from the Southeast congregation to      meet together. Rev. Van  Overloop is scheduled to
        serve as their pastor during the course of the annual     show slides on his work in New Zealand.
        congregational meeting scheduled for December 4.                 Have you written to Rev. Harbach in Victoria and
          Southwest Church's new pastor is now living in the      Rev. Heys in New Zealand yet? Their addresses were
        church parsonage at 2612 Central Ave., Grand              printed in the last issue of the S.B.
        Rapids. Rev. and Mrs. De Vries can be reached by                                                              K. G. V.


                                               Report  of  Classis West

          Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches             examined him in Dogmatics; Practical qualifications;
        met in Doon, Iowa, the evening of October 17 and all           Knowledge of Holy Scripture; Knowledge of the
        day, October 18.  Classis was scheduled to: meet on            Confessions; and Controversy, as required by the
        September 6, but this meeting was postponed so that            "Decisions" of Article 4 of the Church Order.
        Classis could examine Mr. Richard Flikkema at the                With the concurrence of the synodical deputies,
        later date.                                                    Classis approved the examination and advised Isabel
          Eleven ministers, twelve elders, and one deacon              to proceed with Mr. Flikkema's ordination into the
        represented the churches of Classis West. Three min-           office of the ministry of the Word and Sacraments.
        isters from  Classis East were present as synodical       This has since taken place, so that all twelve churches
        delegates ad examina  and were given advisory vote.       in Classis West now have a pastor.
          Rev. D. Kuiper led the  Classis in its opening                 Classis expressed its thanks to God for this gift of a
        devotions on Wednesday morning. He spoke to               pastor and teacher, as well as for the faithful labor of
        Classis on John 3 :29, 30: "He that hath the bride is          our seminary. The delegates and visitors con-
        the bridegroom: but the friend of  the-bnae$$oom,              gratulated Rev. and Mrs. Flikkema and commended
:-. which scandeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly                  them to the blessing of God.
        because of the bridegroom's voice: this' my joy                  Isabel's request for $1,200 for the expense of
        therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must           moving their new pastor was granted.
        decrease." Rev. R. Miersma then presided over this
        Classis. Several delegates were present for the first            The rest of Classis' work was routine. Classis heard
        time and signed the Formula of Subscription: W.           various reports. Among them was the report of the
        Bruinsma (South Holland); A. Reichert (Isabel); U.             Reading Sermon Committee (Edgerton), which in-
        Tolsma (Edmonton); and J. Regnerus, Jr. (Ran-                  formed  Classis that several new reading sermons are
        dolph).                                                   now available.
          The main work of the Classis was the examination               Classis increased to 15$ per mile (for two delegates
        of Mr. Richard Flikkema, who had accepted the call        riding together) the amount that is paid for travelling
        of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church of Isabel,         to and from Classis by car.
        South Dakota.                                                    Classis will meet next in Edgerton, Minnesota on
          Mr. Flikkema preached a sermon on II Peter 3 : 8, 9     March 7, 1979, the Lord willing.
        before the  Doon congregation, in the presence of                             Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
        Classis, on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, Classis                            Classis West


