  STANDARD
             BEAf?ER:~`-
               A  REFQRMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





             We  must  beware,  especially   in,the  light
    . l .


of  the  rich  heritage  which  the  Lord  has  given
us and in the 1igh.t of the open doors to which
He  is  pointing  us, that  we  do  not  become
selfishly  introverted,  that  we  do  not  insist  on
taking care of our own interests first, and that
we  do  not  take  the  attitude  of  giving  the
1 eft
    overs .- if  there  are  any  -  to  others
outside  the  confines  of  our  denomination.

             See  "A Call  to Go  Forward" -  page 390




                                                    Volume LV, No. 17, June  I,1979  J


386                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


                            CONTENTS:                                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                                   ISSN 0362-4692
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   Our Triune Covenant God . . . . . . . . . .  .I .  : .  .386               Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                              Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
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                                                                              R e v .   J o h n   A .   Heys,   R e v .   M e i n d e r t   J o o s t e n s ,   R e v .   J a y   Kortering,  Rev.
                                                                              George C. Lubbers, Rev.  Rodney  Miersma, Rev.  Marinus   Schipper,  Rev.
   Not a Surplus, but a Shortage . . . . . . . . . . . . . .389               James  Slopsema,   R e v .   G i s e   J .   V a n   Baren.  R e v .   R o n a l d   V a n   O v e r l o o p ,
                                                                              Rev. Herman  Veldman,  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink..
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MEDITA TIO N




                      Our Triune Covenant God
                                                                        C Hanko




                  Ques. 24. How are these articles divided?
                 Ans. Into three parts; the first is of God the Father, and our creation; the second of God
              the Son, and our redemption; the third of God the Holy Ghost, and our sanctification.
                  Ques. 25. Since there is but one only divine essence, why speakest thou of Father, Son,
              and Holy Ghost?
                 Ans. Because God hath so revealed himself in his word, that these three distinct persons
             .are the one only true and eternal God.
                                                                                                   Lord's Day 9, Heidelberg Catechism.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                387



    "I believe."                                             forever.. (Rom.  1:25). The day is not far off when
    Those were the words spoken by the father of the         every knee must bow and every tongue must confess
 demoniac when he came to  Jesus wondering whether           that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of the one, only true
 it was possible for Jesus to heal his son, and Jesus        G      o    d    .
 answered him that all things are possible to him who             God is GOD! We can allow for no tolerance on that
 believes. That was the testimony of the Ethiopian           score. God is the infinite  fulness of eternal perfec-
 eunuch when Philip. preached Christ to him as the           tions, even as He has revealed Himself to us in His
  only Savior. That faith dawned in the heart of the         Word. WE do not determine who and what God is,
 Philippian jailer when Paul told him that the only          but we bow with docile attentive hearts before God's
 possible way of salvation is through faith in Jesus         Self-revelation in the Scriptures. If we fail to do that
 Christ. These same words have come from the lips of         we are no different from Aaron who made the golden
 children, of young people, of men and women all             calf  at Sinai; no different from Jeroboam who set up
 over the world, even from the lips of the dying.            calves in Bethel and Dan that Israel might worship
    "I believe in God." Those are the first words            God through those images. This was the sin which
 preserved for us and confessed by us in the Apostolic       caused. Israel to wander ever farther from God into
 Creed. What great joy, what amazing peace, what             the abominations of the heathen, into outright idol
 boundless blessing is expressed in those few words! It      worship. He who worships God must do  sb in Spirit
 is the joy wrought in the heart of the blind man            and in truth.
 whom Jesus healed, whereby he cried out, "One thing              God is One! Hear, 0 Israel, Jehovah our Almighty
 I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." (John        is one Jehovah. (Deut.  6:4). There are animal beings,
 9:25) It is the joy that floods the soul of parents         human beings, angel beings, but there is only one
 when God fulfills His promise in the hearts of their        divine Being, Who is God. He is `the Holy One of
 children, "I will be thy God and the God of thy seed        Israel. He is the righteous Judge Who judges all men
 after thee." It is the comfort in the loss of dear ones     in perfect justice. He alone has all knowledge and
 who have witnessed of their faith and of the hope           wishom. He is the God of all grace, to Whom belongs
 that can never be put to shame. For the opposite of         the full pdwer to bestow that grace: He is the only
 this faith is wicked unbelief, blindness, rebellion, and    source of every good and perfect gift. Besides Him
 infinite misery; the horrible experience that to live       there is and can be no other. In holy adoration we
 apart from God is death;  now,. at journey's end,           stammer, God is GOD.
 forever.                                                         Our God is Triune.
    Our God is GOD.                                               We confess with-the church of all ages that God is
    Our Book of Instruction speaks of "one divine            one essence with three persons. We also are personal
 essence." Our Belgic Confession states in the first         beings. To put it simply, our person distinguishes
 article, "We- all  believes with the heart, and -confess    each one of us from the other as an  indisdual. Each
 with. the mouth, that there is one only simple and          of us  has.his own personal distinctiveness, which we
spiritual Being, which we call God. . .  ."                  express every time we say "I." This person, interest-
    God is! Unbelief always denies this. Scripture calls     ingly enough, permeates one's whole being. It
 him a fool who  `says in his heart, There is no God.        determines the color of our hair and eyes, the texture
 The world of our day has done away  with God, so            of our skin. It is impressed upon our thumb prints. It
 that the very mention of His Name  .arouses bitter          comes to expression in our voice, in our character,
 antipathy. Every effort is put forth to replace God         yes,-iti every part of our soul and body. Even though
 with  .the name MAN. Yet  inspite` of every effort of       we constantly change, our person never changes.
 unbelief God still directs all things by His providence,    Once we were born, we were children, we grew up,
 carries out His eternal purpose, and gives His              ultimately we die, our body enters the grave while
 undeniable testimony that He is God. The tiniest            our soul goes into.  etetiity unto  the day when soul
 flower that lifts its head among the grass, the raging      and body will once  more be united, but always the
 storm and the fearful earthquake continue to declare        person remains the same. That "I" never changes.
 that God is in the heavens,, let the whole earth be              In us there is but one  pi=rson;  in God there are
 silent before Him. The wicked may ignore-the inner          three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The individuality
voice of conscience, yet God never ceases to testify in      of the Father rests in this, that He generates the Son
 the heart of every man, woman, and child that He is         as the exact duplicate of His person, and that He
 God, and that there is no God besides Him. For the          breathes forth the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the
 pagan who prostrates and castigates himself before his      Father. The distinctiveness of the Son is that He
 idol `only proves thereby that he chooses to worship        continually draws His  life.fiom the Father, and at the
 the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed        same time breathes forth the Holy Spirit as the  spirit


388                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


of the Son. The characteristic of the  Holy Spirit is         heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath
that He proceeds from the Father to the Son, and              (Spirit) of his mouth." (Psalm  33:6).
from the Son to the Father, uniting the three persons             All three persons were also engaged in the work of
in intimate fellowship. The Spirit always searches the        redemption. The Father spared not His only begotten
depths of God, whereby all three persons experience           Son, but gave Him as a ransom for the sins of His
the riches of the glory of their infinite perfections in      people. (Rom.  8:32). The Son laid down His life as a
communion of life, rejoicing in the beauty of the             sacrifice for sin, supported by the Holy Spirit Who
holiness of the Godhead as God blessed forever.               had come upon Him at the beginning of His public
  For, let us never forget, these three are indeed one.       ministry. God was in Christ reconciling the world
All three persons are eternal, omnipresent, unchange-         unto Himself, for the Father atoned for our sins in
able, self-sufficient, intelligent, infinitely good as the    His Son and through the  sustainihg  power of His
holy, righteous God of all truth and grace. Together          Spirit.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit think the same thoughts,             The work of  our'sanctification is no less carried
plan the same works, decree the same goals, speak the         out by our Triune God. God has exalted Christ, His
same language, working in closest interaction among           Son, to the position of authority in the heavens, as a
each other.                                                   reward on. His accomplished work on the cross. There
  Our Catechism asks, "Since there is but one  divine         Christ intercedes for us and is heard. God bestows
essence, why speakest thou of Father, Son and Holy            upon Him every spiritual blessing, which He, in turn,
Ghost?"  We might slip in the question, why is this so        pours out upon the church through His Word and
important for us to know? To which the modest                 Spirit. We are reminded of this every Sunday when
answer is given, "Because God hath so revealed                the divine benediction is laid upon us: "The grace of
himself in his word, that these three distinct persons        our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
are the one only true and eternal God." Humbly we             communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." (II
confess, we know and want to know because the                 Cor. 13: 14). All the work of salvation whereby we
Bible tells me so. We  can only marvel that God in His        are prepared for and brought into heavenly glory is
eternal goodness reveals Himself to us exactly as He          wrought of God in Christ, through. the Spirit of Christ
is, that we may know Him, the true and living God,            Who dwells in us.
Whom to know is  life eternal.                                    This God is Our Covenant God.
   Our Triune God is the Lik'ng God.                             He is completely Self-sufficient. God lives and
  God is the ever working, resting God. All His works         enjoys His own glorious covenant life in Himself. He
proceed from the Father, to be carried out in the Son         has no need of men's hands to be worshipped by
and through the Holy Spirit. He sees all that He does,        them. It is His  eternai, sovereign good pleasure that
and eternally rejoices in His perfectly accomplished          w i l l s   t o   b r i n g   t h e   c r e a t u r e   i n t o   H i s   life  a n d
work.                                                         blessedness to enjoy Him forever.
                                                                  God loves His people, chosen in Christ, as His royal
  This is evident from creation. Is  it not significant       family. He calls us out of death into life, provides for
that the trinity is mentioned already in the first verses     $1 our needs, cares for us as a Father for His children;
of Genesis  l? We read, "In the beginning God created         in all the trials and vicissitudes of life He watches over
the heaven and the earth." Whereupon follows, "And            us and hides us in the safety of the Fortress of His
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the                  power.  He transforms us into the likeness of His dear
waters." This is obviously the third person of the            Son, Jesus  Christ, bestowing on us every spiritual
trinity, through Whom all things were made. And               blessing that prepares us for  gloiy.
then, "And God said." John tells us in his gospel
account, "In the beginning was the Word (the Son,                 He will never rest until He has taken us to Himself,
the Christ, the revelation of the Father), and the            to behold Him face to face, to share His blessed
Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . All            covenant fellowship, and to praise His glorious Nanie
things were made by him, and without him was not              unto all eternity!
any thing made that was made." No wonder that the                 "For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will
Psalmist declares,  "By. the word of the Lord were the        be our guide even unto death." (Psalm 48: 14).
                                                                   `.



         THE STANDARD BEARER is' a thoughtful gift for a "Shut-in".


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                               389



EDITORIALS
Prof H. C Hoeksema





                                Not a Surplus, but a Shortage



  This is not an editorial in the spirit of "I told you      e x a m i n e d   t h i s   y e a r 's   s e m i n a r y   g r a d u a t e s ;   b u t   i t
so." On my part there is no desire or striving in this       appears there will be  five vacant positions, three
department for editorial self-justification. Besides, the    congregations and two missionary posts.
matter to be discussed here is far too serious to be             There is an object lesson in all this.
treated' as a matter of "I was right" and "You were
wrong."                                                          A lesson not to worry? Yes. We cannot and need
                                                             not lift the  ;eil of the future. Neither our students
  Several months ago I raised the question whether           and potential candidates nor our churches should
we as churches have a surplus of students for the            attempt to do so. We simply cannot know what the
ministry. At that time I cited a few statistics and          future holds. And when the veil is lifted, so that the
came to the conclusion that between now and 1985             future becomes the present, it holds many an
there was a potential of 10 graduates from our               unexpected eventuality. To worry about it is foolish.
seminarjr. That picture has not changed substantially.       It is  vain. And how often does not the Lord put our
On the basis of those statistics I proposed at the time      foolish and sinful worries to shame in an altogether
that the average supply of 2 graduates per year is, on       unexpected way!
the basis of past experience, less than adequate to
meet the needs, of our churches. I further proposed              A lesson to go forward in faith, faith founded on
that our churches should not cease to pray that the          the Lord's own Word? By all means! In this
Lord raise up young men for the ministry of the              connection I wish to remind you of what my
Word among us, and that parents, pastors, and elders         colleague, Prof. Hanko, said in last fall's convocation
should  not discourage, but encourage potential              address, in which he spoke of our calling to pray the
students for the ministry in our congregations.              Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers and of our
                                                             Lord's reminder that the harvest is plenteous, but the
  At the conclusion of that editorial of last                laborers few. Among other things he said:
September I promised to write more on this subject.
That concluding paragraph was:                                         The second reason why we are instructed to make
                                                                   this prayer is that the laborers are few. We might be
       But I hear someone suggest that I am not facing             inclined to dispute these words of Jesus. It seems to
   the reality that we have a potential surplus in 1979,           us as if there are more laborers than we know what to
   when possibly there will be five candidates. Now far            do with. There are, after all, only a few vacant
   be it from me to try to lift the veil on the future.            churches and there are many students in our
    And anyone who knows me also knows that I am by                seminary. And so, we might argue, Jesus' words
  no means a mystic. But I have always maintained  -               cannot possibly apply to the times in which we live.
    and maintain today  - that the Lord did not give us                But Jesus Himself says differently. As applicable as
   all these students for naught: He had a reason and a          - the Word of God in its entirety is to our time, so also
   purpose in giving them to us. On this subject also I            are these words which Christ speaks; and we ought to
   have some thoughts: for apart from the matter of                be careful lest we contradict Him as if we know
   averages and average supply and demand, I am not                better. It is true now too that in comparison with the
    convinced that we have a real surplus  - surely not a          work of the harvest the laborers are few.
   surplus that can be wasted or cast aside. But on this
   subject I will submit some  thoughts,at a future date.            We must  look at all this in the proper light. Christ
                                                                   has entrusted us with His Word. And there are but
  That potential surplus has vanished now and has                  few places in the world today where this truth is
changed.into a shortage. For, the Lord willing, there              maintained in all its purity. If the harvest is to be
will. be four candidates after Synod of 1979 has                   gathered by the preaching of the truth of God's


 390                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


   Word, the laborers must come forth from churches             small a harvest, you may know in advance that your
   where that truth is confessed in all its purity and           conclusion is incorrect. It simply is not true. It
   preached.                                                     cannot  be true. Why not? Because it is contradictory
          But we must remember also that'this is a matter of     of the Word of God.
   faith. Perhaps it is impossible to point out specifically        No, in such a case you must reassess the situation.
   the concrete need for more ministers of the Word.             And to do so, you must put on the spectacles of the
   Perhaps if you should ask me to cite instances where          Scriptures. Then lift up your eyes, and behold the
   all the men whom the Lord sends us are going, I               fields white with harvest. The problem is not that of
   would not be able to answer you to your satisfaction.
    But this is, after all, not the point. The Lord always       too many laborers and too small ,a harvest. It is
   asks us to live by faith, not by sight. This is the           always just the reverse: too few laborers, and too
   pattern of our entire life here below. And that faith         great a harvest. This is true  a priori.  If ever there
   by which we must walk very concretely demands of              comes a time, therefore, that there is an  apparent
   us that we believe these words which Christ spoke:            surplus  of laborers, do not be nearsighted and say,
   the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.         "What are we ever going to do with them all?"
                                                                 Instead, say: "Thanks, Lord, for providing laborers. If
  Concretely put, therefore, the implication is `this. If        we are so nearsighted that we cannot see the harvest,
ever you look about you and assess the situation and             open  your eyes and show us that harvest. And then
are inclined to come to the conclusion rationalistical-          be pleased to use us as churches to send forth Thy
ly that there are far too many laborers and far too              laborers into Thy harvest."




                                          A Call To G o   F o r w a r d

  Partially in connection with the preceding edi-                  Why do I say "partially in. connection with the
torial, I wish to reflect on some of the matters which           preceding editorial?" The reason is that past ex-
confront our Synod this year. At the same time, I                perience confirms that the danger is not unreal that
wish to stress that they do not merely  con'front our            our churches  - not only those without a pastor, but
Synod, as though that assembly were some kind of                 also the others  - will look at the short supply of
body by itself, standing perhaps at the top: for such            laborers available and will be inclined to conclude
is not the nature of a synod. No, these are matters of           that they cannot afford the manpower for various
concern to our churches-in-common; and they will                 labors outside the bounds of our own denomination.
continue to be such even long after the 1979 Synod               We must beware, especially in the light of the rich
has adjourned.                                                   heritage which the Lord has given us and in the light
  The matters to which I refer lie-chiefly in the areas          of the open doors to which He is pointing us,' that we
of home missions, foreign missions, and our contact              do not become selfishly introverted, that we do not
with other churches, especially in Christchurch, New             insist on taking care of our own interests first, and
Zealand. It is not my purpose in this discussion to              that we do not take the attitude of giving the
engage in any recriminations. Nor is it my purpose to            leftovers  - if there are any  - to others outside the
criticize individuals or committees: I am interested in          confines of our denomination. I am well aware that
issues and in the cause of our Protestant Reformed               no congregation likes to be without a pastor for long.
Churches as they represent the church of Jesus Christ,           I also insist that it is not an unhealthy situation when
not in personalities.                                            there is a `limited number of vacancies in the
                                                                 churches; this also creates an incentive for students;
  My concern is that  we do not make sufficient                  besides, it provides room for a certain amount of
progress or will  not make sufficient progress in the            change,  iyhich is also salutary. But above all, I would
above areas, and that thus we will not be obedient  to           point to the fact that while established congregations
our calling as churches. I will not say flatly that our          can get along for a time without a pastor, it is
churches are  on. "dead center." I do, however, see              virtually impossible  to take care of the labors outside
danger signs. Whatever may have been the reasons, we             our denominational Walls without men who can be
passed through such a period of little  qr no progress,          permanently in the field. To have such men is
of a flagging and pessimistic spirit, and of a somewhat          imperati&,  therefore, for the accomplishment of the
lethargic attitude in the  late fifties and early sixties.       work.
And it would be detrimental if we would do so
again.                                                             N&w let us turn to specifics..


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  391



  Turning, first of all, to the work of home missions,       that when the Lord brought them and us into contact
it may be granted that some progress was initiated at        with one another, they recognized in us a true and
our last synod when it was decided to appoint South          vital  cbmmunion of Reformed churches, faithful to
Holland a calling church for another missionary. But         the Word of `God  .and to the Reformed confessions;
the situation is that this decision is just beginning to     They recognized in our churches the only ones to
be implemented, while our  Gurrent  home missionary,         whom they could properly turn for help in  their
Rev. Harbach, is reportedly going to retire. The             need. When this was reported to the Synod of 1976,
result? .One gained, one lost. But according to my           the synod heeded this cry. And while the proposal of
information, there are some four or five possible areas      the Contact Committee was modified in some details,
of labor, not counting the perennial problem of the          it was decided to say Yes to' the request of
work in Jamaica. I will gladly. concede that when            Christchurch. Thereafter steps were taken to provide
nothing else can be  done, part-time laborers are the        long-term help, and to provide interim help pending
next best thing. I will also concede that from time to       that long-term help. Meanwhile our Yes did not
time emissaries are necessary for investigative work,        remain quite so firm, and we began to think and to
although we should beware that we do not so                  say, in effect, "Well, maybe. . . .  ." Aspects of this
frequently use "emissaries" that they become a new           matter were committed to a study committee,
kind of office. But I will insist that what we truly         scheduled to report to this year's synod. In the
need is long-term, consistent labors by men who are          meantime, our churches have provided interim. help in
not just visiting a field for a time but who are             the form of Rev. Van  Overloop  and Rev. Heys.
stationed there. This must not be delayed. Mission              If our churches heed the majority of the Study
fields do not lie in limbo until it pleases someone at       Committee, as I am convinced they surely should,
long last to work  - no more than a harvest waits            then we  wil!  ,still be back to "square one." And if we
when it is ripe..In the past  our churches have always       are serious about our contact and fellowship with
expressed a willingness to go where they were                other  chuches, as we surely should be, then let  us.
requested to come. We must keep that promise with            show this in very deed and strive earnestly and with all
all that in us lies. Specifically, I suggest: 1) That we     deliberate speed  tP heed this cry for help, and pray
ought to survey the various possible areas of labor          earnestly that the Lord will lay it upon the heart of
and set some priorities. 2) That we ought to call at         one of our ministers to heed a call for long-term'
least three home missionaries if at all possible- and  as    service to the congregation in Christchurch. This is
soon.as possible. We could probably use five. 3) That        the more imperative in the-light of the fact that it has
calling consistories should use as their criterion in        proved impossible for brother Andrew Young to
calling not the question of who is available or who          come here and be trained at our seminary. The
might be likely to accept, but who is the best possible      minister  ~who goes to Christchurch will have the
man for the work. On the mission field we ought, so          added duty of helping to train young men for the
to speak, to "put our best foot forward." In that            ministry over there.
connection, I wish to stress that the fact that a given        The third area to which I call your attention is that
minister has children must not be a deterrent or be          of our Foreign Mission labor in Singapore. I am
the criterion for not calling him. In that case our need     somewhat hesitant to write about this, due to the fact
for home missionaries simply cannot be filled.               that at this time I have not yet seen the official report  I
4) That it must be expected and demanded of a                of the two brethren who recently worked there. But I
home missionary that he not confine his labors to a          have received a warm and glowing oral report from
little group  df interested persons, but that he work        one of the brethren. I have been told that our
whatever field he is in to the utmost of his power.          churches  -will be confronted with a request for our  _
Preaching, lecturing, radio  brbadcasting, personal          first foreign  missio~nary.  And make no mistake about
contacts, Bible classes, and literature distribution         it: this is legitimate foreign mission work. Involved
should all be directed to -this end;  and- periodic          are young people who  are called directly out of
reports to the home church and the Mission                   heathendom and from heathen families to faith in
Committee should  fuinish.specifics about this.              Christ. What a glorious thing! I am told that our
  With respect to the  secqnd item of our denomina-          emissaries found in the GLTS (formerly the GLTD) a
tional labors, I may be brief. It is now four years ago      vital interest in the Reformed truth. I am also told
that representatives of our churches had their first         that a missionary would be gladly received by this
personai contact with the Orthodox Presbyterian              group of young saints and that he would find an
Churches of New Zealand, and more specifically with          abundance of labor. In a most mysterious way we
the O.P.C. of Christchurch. At that time, at their           have been brought into contact with these young
initiative, not ours, a call for help in the form of a       people and this field of labor. To  me, there is no
loaned  ,minister  came to our churches. The reason for      question but what the Lord our God is pointing us to
this. call lay not only  iri their need, but in the fact     an open door. When the request comes, our synod


392                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



must make provision to heed it. That there is a large       and for the Lord's guidance in accomplishing our
task here is undoubtedly true. That there are               calling and eventually in obtaining a man of His
difficulties to be faced and problems to be solved          choosing for that work.
is also true. That one of the greatest problems will           May the Lord bless our Synod in all its labors,
be to obtain the right man and his family for the work      and may  He give our churches grace to labor while it
is also true. But let us be much in prayer for this         is day, ere the night  cometh, in the which no man can
work, for the group of young saints in Singapore,           work.

TRANSLATED TREASURES





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





(Kuyper takes the position in this pamphlet that in            This question in turn divides into two others. Must
order to understand reformation in the church one           men form distinct churches in the separate parts of a
must understand deformation. And in order to                large city? And may men, without dividing the cities,
understand the deformation of the church one must           place two identical churches alongside of each other?
understand what the Scriptural idea of the church is.          Both questions must be answered negatively. The
In the last paragraph Kuyper has spoken of the              unity of a local city church determines quite
importance of the local church as the manifestation         naturally the area where an individual church is
of the body of Christ. He concluded that section with       established. Where, as in London, the so-called city is
the words: "For this reason, therefore, we maintain         only a combination of thirty or more boroughs, each
that Scripture history, and precision of terminology        with a separate civic life, separation of congregations
all agree with the idea that the local church is the        is to be required rather than discouraged. But if there
essence of the church. And if this is true then it          is one civil borough, then the church should be one
cannot be denied that the church unity from which           congregation even though it includes a hundred
we must proceed is not in a world church, nor in a          thousand or  niore souls.* However, this idea em-
national church, nor in  classis, but exclusively in the    phatically includes the further idea that in this one
local church.")                                             church subdivisions or parishes can be formed
                                                            because one consistory is at the head of all these
16. If More Than One Church Can Be Formed In The            subdivisions and that consistory represents the unity
Same Place.                                                 of the congregation.
  If it be granted that believers cannot form the
church arbitrarily but are bound to the unity of the
body as far as their God-appointed residence is             * This idea of Kuyper is in keeping with an idea that was prevalent in
concerned, then the question arises whether all             the Netherlands where  all. the believers in one city belonged to one
believers in the same place must form only one              congregation and were under one consistory even though it might be
                                                            cared for by a number of pastors and even though it might meet in
church.                                                     several different church buildings.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               393



  It must also be maintained that the principle stated      only by making the lake dry. But it always remains a
above requires that there may not be more than one          . diked-in and pumped-dry polder which can be used as
congregation in a given area. A Lutheran church or a        farmland by the present and future owner.
newly separated Reformed church alongside of an                The stability of the church is dependent upon the
already existing Reformed church in the same city,          seriousness with which it was formed; and thus it
her members mixing on the same streets, is not as it        must be asked: how is this stability acquired?
ought to be even though, because of the imperfection
of this state of affairs, it must be endured for a time.       In this connection two methods  are possible,
Only churches which principally diverge in confession       usually distinguished as the Reformed method and
of the truth must be formed separately. That which is       the Methodistic method.
one in confession belongs together. This principle is          The Methodistic method judges that the most
strictly maintained only when those who differ in           profitable way to give stability to the church is in the
minor points of the confession do not rest until they       conversion of the still unconverted who now, after
agree. And only then can one deny the right to the          being converted, enter the church. The'place of those
name of church to all who are opposed to. this              who die blessed is continuously filled by those who,
confession of the truth.                                    though once lost, are made blessed. Baptism after
  Meanwhile in the Romish church evidently the              confession is on this basis the only correct thing and
believers are exposed to certain dangers if, while          concern for Christian education has no place in this
bringing this principle into practice, no consideration     way of thinking. All that needs to be done is that one
is given to the faultiness and imperfection of our          continually recruits for King Jesus new members
circumstances. All this makes it necessary that. a          from among children of believers, Jews and heathen.
boundary in the conscience be respected which must          Succeed in that recruiting, and the purpose is
never be overstepped. Yet where the formation of            attained and the membership of the church expands.
churches rests on the free joining of the believer, the     But once converted, no one really has any more a
unity of the church can and may extend further than         reason for living on earth. He can die and that he
the unity of conviction, and church formation               should die is for him far and away the best. That he
alongside of our church must be tolerated provided          now in his turn must convert others is the only
that it is on the foundation of a deviating confession.     motive which can reconcile him to the idea to
Yes, even when two churches exist alongside of each         continue to live his life on earth.
other in the same city or village and are in complete          In the circle of those who think this way, the
agreement in confession, though separated because of        church is entirely secondary. It must serve as an
external causes, each must on its part not deny the         instrument of conversion. But men effect conversion
other the right to the honorable name of "church,"          through a number of ways. And because those other
but must always be zealous in love to unite both            ways, as e.g., the Salvation Army, prayer sessions,
churches.                                                   meetings, etc., better attain this goal, a church is of
                                                            little usefulness, and in the estimation of both recedes
17. How An Established Church Acquires Stability.           far into the background. Men also then depopulate
  Believers who, in the name of the Lord, form a            the church in order to crowd individual meetings. The
local church of Christ, do not intend by this the           church is maintained in name but in fact it falls away.
establishment of a church for their own profit. If that        The Reformed, on the other hand, have an entirely
were true then  -the church would be considered             different conception. According to their conviction,
superfluous when the members moved away or died;            the only one who can powerfully convert those souls
or the church would die out in default of members.          is the Lord our God. Not only in a way of speaking,
This is the way it would be if men made the church.         but very actually, God does this so that not a single
But on the contrary it is true that the church was          soul is ever genuinely and powerfully converted until
there before believers appeared, and their forming the      God the Holy Spirit implants the faculty of faith and
church only intended to bring to visible manifestation      makes that faculty active. Reformed people never
the already present spiritual church. Thus believers        deceive themselves into thinking that they must
act as one who drills a well which was already there        convert others, but rather confess that they least of
underneath the ground before the drilling began, but        all can do this. They only have to see to it that none
when once drilled, is also destined to give water           of the means. remain unused which in God's hand can
continuously to each new generation. Or, if one             serve to the conversion of their neighbor. The
wishes to be more Dutch, one can  borr-ow a figure          judgment concerning these means they do not
from our polders. The formation of such a church is         arrogate to themselves, but consider that God alone
not unlike the drying of an inner lake where the            has the right to determine the means; and they err
bottom is hidden. The ground first appears, however,        badly if they do anything else but activate those


   394                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



  God-ordained means in quiet obedience and each in             written role of members. But yet, that book is only
  the way of his own calling. And because the means of          the catalogue  of life, and the life of which that book
  grace have been placed  by- God in His church, the            testifies is the confession of one's  owri condemnation
  saints preferably expect the gathering of God's elect         and sanctification in Christ sealed in the fellowship of
  from the inner expression of the life of the church           saints at the Holy  Supper.
  and not from without.                                          The Reformed leave to the judgment of God the
     Their concern  .for the stability of the church            .fact that many hypocrites creep in among these
  expresses itself also in an entirely different way.           mature members who also come to the Lord's
  Arising out of the spiritual church and attempting to         Supper. But they must take care that they are not
  manifest the church, they know that they do not               remiss in the way of obedience and thus do not
   form that church as separate individuals, but as men         refrain from cutting off these  hyprocrites  through the
  and women, as fathers and mothers with all that is            continuous exercise of Christian discipline. If it could
  theirs. They thus are entered into that church with           be otherwise they would rather judge the heart; but
  their children, or, if one prefers, with the seed in their    they know that this is God's inviolable privilege, so
  loins; and all those born to them are thus born in that       that not even the fieriest Methodist, anymore than
   church. The rivers which flow along your land do not         they,. can fathom the internal man. And disappoint-
  keep flowing, in the conviction of Reformed people,           ment awaits everyone who lowers a sounding device
  because we now and then pour into it a pail of water,         into those spiritual waters. They therefore consider it
  but only because the brooks which flow down from              sufficient what the Lord God has ordained for them,
  God's mountains enter the stream. And thus also the           and they firmly set forth this rule: that they shall
  living stream of the church is not maintained by each         judge  others  according to their confession, but
   convert which is mixed in, but rather through that           themselves,  in God's light, according to the heart.
  new life in the children who are born, which life
  proceeds from God. They acknowledge therefore that              The gathering of believers has a responsibility in
  their children, already at -their birth, are conceived in     the admission of mature members to the church, or
  sin and subject to condemnation. But at the same              rather to the Lord's Supper, which is as great as the
  time they are sanctified in Christ and thus considered        responsibility of the persons themselves  tiho come to
  as members of the church even though they are yet             the Lord's Supper. The church remains the gathering
  undeveloped members. Hence the insistence upon                which has, in her deepest roots, a bond in Christ. But
  infant baptism. Hence their determination to give             in her visible manifestation, she has no other bond
   children a sound upbringing. Hence their emphasis on         than one of mutual agreement. He who longs for the
  Christian education. Hence, their peace and. quiet            Lord's Supper, let him come. But also to thechurch,
  rests on the still obedient use of means even if no           i.e., to the gathering of believers, remains the
  conversion is yet evident. They know that they must           uncurtailed  right to receive into her circle or to
  be obedient and that the number of the elect is never         exclude from that circle.
  increased, although it is certainly complete.
     As external then as their church formation is, it is         This is even more the case with the coming of
  never for one moment loose from the spiritual                 persons from elsewhere who in the place- of their
  background of the invisible church. Life is under the         former residence were members of a church. Never
  soil, and out of that living soil it shoots up again and      must a church in common be obliged or compelled to
  again. The church is a living organism .of which  the         receive anyone as a member only  bkcause he already
leaves may wither, but only in order that it may                was a member of a church elsewhere. Each church has
  rejuvenate its foliage again and again. And this is true      to decide for itself to whom it will grant a mutual
  so that the full expression of the adult members must         voice within its circle. And however much an issued
  never be merely formal but must always have a                 attestation makes this  transfer from church to church
  spiritual character. Naturally each new member must           easy, this convenience must never abridge the right of
  through his own public confession help continue that          the church, nor can it ever excuse the believer of the
  first church formation. Whether anyone helps estab-           obligation for a renewed confession. Every good
  lish a new church or whether one comes into an
  already existing church as a newly-born member, this          Reformed church must know well whether it can
  makes  .absolutely no difference. A member of the             accept the contents of an attestation, and it is
  church must express once in his life: "I am a believer,       obligated, especially when a doubt arises, to engage in
  and as a believer I seek the fellowship of the saints         a new, independent investigation of the person who,
  with other believers." And where does. this manifest          applies. However, with this the church has not yet
  itself? In a membership book? 0, indeed. The Lord             come to the end of her task in her concern for
  our God is not so spiritual as not to bind us to a            stability; In addition to the children born in her


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  395


   bosom and those who entered from elsewhere, she              saints live is: "preach the gospel to all creatures!" - a
   must also investigate if in  ,the place where she exists     command from which they are least of all excused
   there are not others living who perhaps  are'to be won       when they let missionaries work in  .their name
   for the church. She must consider the possibility that       thousands of miles away. But this commandment is
   there are also elect of God hiding among them. And           only obeyed when they go out into the hedges and
   even apart  -from this, she must be zealous for the          byways, not only among church members, but also
   honor of God's  n&me also in relation to her fellow          among those outsiders. This must be done not only
   inhabitants. The commandment under which the                 by means of church services, but also by missions.

   THE LORD GAVE THE WORD





                                    Report of the Foreign
                                     Mission Committee
                                                 Prof Robert D. Decker





     The following article is from the pen of Rev. James       been in the spotlight of our churches in years gone
   Slopsema, secretary of the Foreign Mission Com-             -by. There are some in our churches that may not even
   mittee of the Protestant Reformed Churches. Rev.            be aware of our existence. This is due perhaps to the
_, Slopsema writes interestingly and informatively of          fact that up until this point we have not received an
   our churches' involvement in foreign missions. The          open door that has required the labors of a
Protestant Reformed Churches aie preaching and                 missionary. At any rate, the Foreign Mission Com-
   teaching the blessed gospel to the very ends of the         mittee is a committee of Synod located in the
  earth. God has opened doors for us and is using us for       western branch of our churches. Due to the great
  the gathering of His people out of the nations. How          distances between the churches in the west, the
   thankful we ought to be. How fervent in our prayers         members of this committee are men from our Hull,
  and support we ought to be that this work may                Doon, and  Edgerton congregations, all of which are
  continue  tb the glory of the Name of Him Who has            within driving distance of each other. As our name
  set before our churches this open door.                      indicates, our field of labor is  foreigii. missions. This
                                                               has been defined in our constitution as the gathering
                                                               of the church among those who "in their generations
     As the editor of this rubric indicated `in his            have not belonged to the covenant." In short,
   introductory article, the mission committees would          therefore, our  mandate  is to  labor in those areas of
   be asked from time to time to submit a report of            the  world which are predominantly pagan. This is in
   their various labors. Complying with this request, the      distinction from domestic missions which labors in
   Foreign Mission Committee submits the following             those areas where God's covenant and church have
   report of its work. We do so in the hopes that this will    existed down through the ages.
   not only keep you informed but also-generate interest          At present the Foreign  Miss@ Committee is
   in this work of our churches.                               .engaged in two fields of labor.
     Perhaps a brief introduction of ourselves is in order        The first is Singapore, which will occupy the lion's
   at this point. We as a committee have not exactly           share of this report. In a previous issue of the


 396                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



Standard Bearer,  the Foreign Mission Committee                   Foreign Mission Committee. Several copies each of
informed you of its sending of emissaries to the                  The Triple Knowledge  by H. Hoeksema,  The Mys-
Gospel Letters and Tracts Department (GLTD) in                    teries of the Kingdom  by  Hr Hanko, and  Marriage:
Singapore. You perhaps recall that the emissaries at              The Mystery of Christ and the Church  by D.
that time found the GLTD to be a group of                         Engelsma have been sent. The response of the GLTD
approximately 120 individuals ranging in ages from                has been that they find these books to be very
18 to 21, of Chinese ancestry, all converts from                  helpful.
paganism. In general the emissaries' report was quite
favorable. Considering the heathen background and                   In addition to this, cassette tapes of instruction on
homes from which they came, considering their age                the Heidelberg Catechism have been made and sent to
and inexperience, considering the spiritual climate              the GLTD. The purpose of these tapes has been to
in Singapore even among the Christian churches there,            instruct the GLTD in the Reformed faith, with
we found the GLTD to be more than what one                       particular emphasis on areas of disagreement. To
would normally expect. Their life and walk was very              study and evaluate these tapes, the GLTD has formed
much to be commended. They had completely turned                 a "Study Commission" of 10 members. To date, the
away from the paganism of their past. Willingly they             "Study Commission" has expressed full agreement
suffered for the sake of the gospel, even in their               with the instruction given.
homes which remain pagan. Their greatest weakness                   On this basis and with the approval of the 1978
was their doctrinal position, or perhaps better, their           Synod, the Foreign Mission Committee decided to
look of it. They embraced anything from  Arminian-               send emissaries again to the GLTD. The main purpose
ism to a somewhat Reformed position. The majority                of this mission is further to instruct the GLTD in the
held to a 4-point Calvinism, rejecting the truth of the          Reformed faith and in that way to gain a commit-
particular atonement of Christ. Upon hearing the                 ment from them to the Reformed faith so that they
doctrinal position of our churches, the GLTD wanted              request a missionary from us to labor on a permanent
time to consider whether they wanted a missionary                basis. To carry out this mandate, Mr. Dewey
from us to labor among them and eventually establish             Engelsma, who also went as emissary before, and Rev.
them as a church. To this end it was decided to                  M. Kamps left for Singapore on March 19. Their term
conduct a tape program of instruction with them                  of labor has been set for six to eight weeks.
following the Heidelberg Catechism. Such in brief was
the report we were able to bring you about a year                   The Foreign Mission Committee has also asked the
ago.                                                             wives of the emissaries to accompany their husbands
                                                                 on this trip; something that was not done on the
   Since that time, things have progressed in a                  previous trip due to the added expense. Perhaps a
favorable direction.                                             word of explanation is in order. On the previous trip,
   Personal letters, for example, have come to the               the emissaries found that it was very difficult to work
emissaries from various members of the GLTD. The                 effectively with the women of the GLTD. This was
following is an excerpt from one of the letters which            due to the cultural situation. The women, who
indicates a receptivity to the Reformed faith as it was          constitute just  over half of the membership, had many
brought to them.                                                 questions relating to the home and marriage they
        I remember hearing yoti speak on total depravity in      wanted to ask, questions to which they need answers
        one of your sessions with us. I thank God I'd not        if they will be in  B position to determine whether
    missed that session for He spoke to me and brought           they want a missionary from us. But most of these
    me to a wonderful truth. We have heard much of               questions were never asked simply because it is the
    limited atonement, unconditional election, etc. from         height of impropriety according to Oriental standards
    brother Chin Kwee (one of the leaders and instructors        for a woman to discuss such matters with men. To
    in the GLTD), but that bit on the will of man was            give but one example, the emissaries found it to be
    brought forth more clearly and forcefully by you.            improper when they asked a few of the young women
    I've never really known the importance and signifi-          how old they were. More than once the emissaries
    cance of it. Though few may not find such teaching
    attractive, those who receive it are certainly blessed.      were asked, "Why didn't you bring ypur wives with
        Great is our God and greatly to be praised.              you?" They had many things to discuss with the
                                                                 emissaries' wives. Consequently, the Foreign Mission
   Here is an excerpt from another letter.                       Committee asked the emissaries' wives to accompany
The willingness of your church to help us is really an           their husbands to assist them by giving practical
encouragement to us. If the Lord willing, we sure                instruction to the women of the GLTD. And having
look forward to having a minister from your church               graciously consented to this, they left for Singapore
in our midst.                                                    on April 3 to join their husbands.
   Books also have been sent to the GLTD from the                   As this article is being written, `our emissaries and


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               397



their wives are still in Singapore. Reports, however,      gelistic Association which is involved in evangelism
have been coming back on the progress of the work          work among the native tribes in the Volta region of
there. The latest report, which came via telephone,        Ghana. Our contact with Mr. Anyigba dates back to
was that the GLTD has decided to request a                 1974. Since that time various books and pamphlets as
missionary from our churches to labor in their midst.      well as tapes of instruction have been sent to him.
We rejoice in this and praise God. We do so not only       Mr. Anyigba not only shares this material with his
for His blessing upon our labors thus far but also for     co-laborers but also uses it, particularly our catechism
the fact that He has created within the hearts of these    books, to instruct new converts. Exactly what kind of
young people a desire for the Reformed faith. Our          fruits this will -have in the future remains to be seen.
prayer is that God will continue to give us an open        If nothing else, it is an opportunity for our churches
door in Singapore so that one day a Reformed church        to be a witness of the precious truth also in that part
may be established there to  labor in the gathering of     of the world.
the harvest.
   Singapore, however, is not the only work in which         In conclusion, the Foreign Mission Committee asks
the Foreign Mission Committee has been laboring.           that you support these labors with your concern and
Work is also being done with a Mr. Gabriel Anyigba         prayers. God is still gathering His church today, even
of Ghana, Africa. The following details will help to       from those who historically have stood outside of the
give you a better understanding also of this situation.    covenant. And He shall continue to do so till the end
Mr. Anyigba is a man in his late twenties, who teaches     of time. It is a great privilege that God will use even
at a technical school in Ghana. He is a member of the      us as churches in the accomplishment of that
Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana. He has           purpose. May we consider it to be a privilege. And
also been instrumental in forming the Volta Evan-          may we faithfully labor at the opening of every door.

T H E S T R E N G T H O F Y O U T H




                          From Children to Fathers
                                              Rev. Rodney Miersma




  How old are you?                                                   "I write unto you, little children.
  The youth to which this department is directed                     because your sins are forgiven you
will answer, "Why, I am a young man or a young                       for his name's sake.
woman." There may  evenbe a few younger readers                      I write unto you, fathers, because
who recognize that they are yet children. And many                   ye have known him that is from the
older readers will reflect on the question and once                  beginning. I write unto you, young
again realize that the years are slipping away and that              men, because ye have overcome the
they are no longer children or young people, but                     wicked one. I write unto you, little
fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers,                  children,.because ye have known the
maybe even great-grandfathers and great-grand-                       Father.
m o t h e r s .                                                      I have written unto you, fathers,
                                                                     because ye have known him that is
  Yes, in natural life our physical ages vary greatly.               from the beginning. I have written
But did you ever stop to think and realize that our                  unto you, young men, because ye are
spiritual growth also varies and corresponds to our                  strong, and the word of God abideth
physical growth and age? The apostle John was aware                  in you, and ye have overcome the
of that when he under the inspiration of the Spirit                  wicked one."
recorded for us the Word of God in I John 2: 12-14.


398                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


   You see, in normal life there is development,              period characterized by strength. I realize that a
whether we are speaking of our natural life of the            grown-up man is also strong, and in a way stronger.
body or of our spiritual life. When there is life, one        But the older man's strength does not simply
grows and develops; stagnation and decay are                  overflow, looking for something to do. But this
indicative of death. That is why if one is pale, listless,    overflowing strength can be seen in youth by the very
having little or no physical and mental development,          way that he walks and carries himself. However,
he gets worried and goes to the doctor. But do we             youth has a problem; he does not know what to do
have that same concern: for our spiritual life? When          with what he has. One may work hard all day and
God first instills within us the principle of new life we     expend much effort and energy. But does he now
are not suddenly full-grown and perfect. No, but we           stop and rest? Why, no, he instead trots off, flexing
must grow and increase in spiritual knowledge and             his muscles and engaging in one strenuous exercise or
faith.                                                        another.
   The question to you young people is this: Since I            The same thing holds true mentally. Do you ever
am as the young men in the-text physically, am I also         become stumped by the problems of the day? On the
as these young men spiritually? In this article we will       contrary, you have not yet met a difficulty that you
try to answer that as we compare ourselves to the             could not overcome or a problem that you could not
three different groups of the text.                           solve. You know all the answers on the basis of
   Let us first look at the child and see whether or          which the rest of your life will be without bump or
not we have advanced beyond that stage. The age of            wrinkle.
childhood is an age that is characterized by being              In harmony with this natural period of strength is
receptive. A child is on the receiving end of                 the spiritual side of your life. You have grown in
everythi.ng. Physically he receives from his parents all      grace, truth, and in knowledge. In your grasp you
of his earthly needs, such as food, drink, clothing,          have the basic principles and have tasted the beauty
and shelter. Mentally he is nourished with food for           of God's Word. Now, too, nothing seems too
the mind, which he receives readily because, at this          difficult. Filled with spiritual energy you are ready to
age, he can remember and memorize very easily.                fight the battle of faith and overcome the evil one.
Similar to a sponge, he soaks everything in.                    The Evil One! Where you find Christ you  find the
   Now, his attitude must be in harmony with these            forces against Christ. Where you find strong faith you
characteristics in that he is silent and willing to learn.    will find also strong opposition. The more faith exerts
We look upon some children as little monsters, very           itself, the more intense is Satan as he goes about as a
unnatural, when they assume the attitude that they            roaring lion. Did you ever wonder why the devil
know it all and must educate their parents. A child           seems to work hardest of all among the youth? This is
must not command, but must obey.                              where exuberance of faith is displayed; and Satan
  What is true naturally is also true spiritually. A          works hard to persuade you that you are condemned
child must reveal an eagerness to learn. Thus, John           in your sins, without  hope: But God preserves His
can "write unto you, little children, because your sins       covenant youth and gives them the, assurance that the
are forgiven for his name's sake." Is not that the            fact that they know their sin is the testimony of the
beginning of one's spiritual, conscious life? Indeed,         Spirit in their hearts that they are children of the
we learned that when the name of Christ was revealed          light. If Satan loses ground in one area he turns to
to us. We love that name, we know that name, and in           another, such as presenting to you all the enticements
that name are conscious of our sins, but also of              of the world. Is not it a temptation to take Sunday
forgiveness. So here, also, we see that Christian virtue      off, as the rest of the world does? The devil tells you
of obedience. A child knows when he is disobedient            that this is one day that you can have to yourselves.
and can not rest until `he knows that he has been             Why waste the day by going to church and Young
forgiven.                                                     People's Society? But you as covenant youth know
   Thus, the child must know that he is a beginner            that one's real joy is in communion and fellowship
and he must learn to listen. In this way he develops          with God and His people and that the fleshpots of
into a youth. That is where you find yourself today,          Egypt give no satisfaction.
young people. Do you reflect in your life what the              Finally, the old mud-slinger will appeal to your
apostle has to say about youth, "young men?" Or do            reason. Remember how you seem to know all the
you find yourself immature, having neglected your             answers and seem to have all things figured out?
spiritual life so that there was not much develop-            Satan appeals to your powers of reason and en-
ment? Or do you find yourself overstepping your               courages you to use it to his advantage. He asks what
bounds in order to play the role of your parents?             reason you have for believing that there is a God.
   Let us take a look. The period of youth is the             Reason gives you no knowledge of God. However,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                        399


you tell him that the Bible tells you so. He retaliates     neither do you assume the role of a parent. Your
by telling you that reason will tell you that you have      parents must be seen for what they are and for what
no basis in logic for believing the Bible. How do you       they have. God has given them stability, wisdom, and
know and how can you prove that His Word is truth?          real practical knowledge. They must guide and teach
Your answer will be that this is  given.to you by faith.    b o t h   t h e   c h i l d r e n   a n d   t h e   y o u t h .   T h e y   h a v e
Yes, indeed! Do not let that old deceiver lead you to       experienced both and have many years behind them.
believe anything different. By God's grace you will         At times you may be provoked by their slow action,
remain strong. The apostle reveals that to you here,        their firmness, their apparent inflexibility. But they
"I have written unto you, young men, because ye are         are the wiser, the more experienced, the more deeply
strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, and ye          Christian. They "have known him that is from the
have overcome the wicked one." The apostle knows            beginning." This refers to Christ as the eternal Word,
your strength and the battle that you are waging. But       signifying that they have advanced from the simple
at the same time he knows and is assured of your            knowledge of the child who knows that his sins are
victory, that you will advance to spiritual fatherhood      forgiven, through the heat of the battle of the
just as you have already advanced from spiritual            kingdom as youth, to arrive at the deeper knowledge
childhood. That you are advancing is sure  bec.ause in      of God's covenant. Knowing that God sent Christ
battle one does not remain stagnant, but grows in           into the flesh that we might be perfected in one is a
strength and knowledge.                                     knowledge that gives one quiet and calm wisdom in
  But you are not spiritual fathers yet. No, you are        which there is no wavering or uncertainty.
youth. Hence, you must learn to respect your                   In conclusion, young people, do not be -dis-
parents, your teachers, your  consistory, and all others    couraged. You are in the heat of the battle; you are
who are in the latter state, that is, spiritual             struggling for faith. But the battle is only proof of
fatherhood. You must know your place. Certainly,            your strength. Ye have overcome the wicked one, and
you do not want to act like a child anymore. But            the Word of God abideth in you.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE





                                    Letter to Timothy

                                      June 1, 1979

Dear Timothy,                                                  All Psychology, as it has been developed from its
  In our last letter we quoted at length from Dr. H.        modern  inception;is  basically evolutionistic and was
Bavinck to show the role that Scripture plays in the        developed within the framework of evolutionism. The
development of a Psychology which is truly Christian.       main consequences of this are not hard to see. Man
                                                            was considered within this kind of Psychology as a
  There has been a lot of Psychology written in the         higher development of the animals. And, therefore,
last half century, but almost all of this Psychology        the existence of a soul in man was flatly denied.
has been written from the viewpoint of the world            There is nothing spiritual about man; he is wholly
and, consequently, of unbelief. It is not too strong a      material. He possesses no soul or spirit; he is only a
statement to make to insist that evolutionism has           mass of earthly stuff.  All his actions, including all his
really won the day in the whole field of Psychology.        thoughts and desires, must be explained in terms of
  We are not interested in a review of the history of       chemical reactions, the interplay of electrical charges
Psychology, but there are certain features about it         on the brain and purely physical functions. Although
and certain consequences  fro-m it that are important       he has developed higher than the animals, he is
for us to understand.                                       essentially no different from the animals. Man is not


400                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



created by God, but he is born in a completely                of creation; but evolutionism has colored the whole
natural way just as an animal is born. And when he            idea of the child. A number of years ago what was
dies that is the end of him.                                  called "progressive education" was in style; and
  It is not difficult to see what consequences follow         indeed, in some areas of the country it has never gone
from this kind of description of man. Fundamental to          out of style. I have read recently that the failure of
it all is a blatant denial of the fact that man stands in     the public school system in many parts of the
a relationship to God. This relationship is funda-            country is even prompting some educators to return
mental to his whole life. And it is fundamental               once again to this theory, even though when it was
because man stands before God as an accountable               put into practice two or three decades ago it proved
creature who must give account before God for all             to be a colossal failure. The idea is that the child is
that he does. He is created by God, upheld by God             basically and fundamentally good. All that he does
every moment of  his. existence and obligated to serve        wrong is the result of bad influences upon him. If a
God in all his life. If he does not serve God, he sins        child can be protected from all kinds of bad
and the wrath and judgment of God is upon him.                influences and if he can be allowed to develop within
                                                              a good environment, his development will produce a
  Any evolutionistic conception of man denies this.           good man. But he must be allowed to develop as he
Man is what he is by virtue of evolutionism. He is not        himself desires. His deepest desires and impulses are
a sinner, but what Scripture calls sin is nothing else        basically sound and healthy, and so he must be
than some remnants of his animal ancestry or some             allowed to unfold without any interference, as a rose
poor influences upon him during his childhood or his          unfolds in all its beauty, and he will become an
later life. He is the victim of circumstances beyond          outstanding adult, able to make his worthwhile
his control and cannot be held accountable for his            contribution to society. Of course, you understand
deeds. He does not really sin in the Scriptural               that even though I used the word "wrong," above,
meaning of that term. He has no personal guilt before         there is really no such thing as wrong in the sense of a
God or before his fellow man. He will never have to           violation of God's law. "Wrong" is defined within this
render account for his conduct before the Judge of            context merely as conduct with which the majority
heaven and earth. He does not have to face the                of the people in society do not agree. It is socially
prospect of the abiding wrath of God against sin after        unacceptable conduct. He doesn't follow the masses
he dies.                                                      as he ought. He does things which more than half of
  There is also, therefore, no cross of Christ upon           the people disapprove of. But in this sense of the
which the eternal Son of God made atonement for               word, if allowed to develop by himself he will
sin; there is no forgiveness and pardon; there is no          become a good man. You know what disastrous
power of grace in the lives of men which alone can            consequences this idea of education had within the
solve life's problems; there is no hope of life after         public school system.
death in fellowship with God; no hope of the
resurrection of the body and life everlasting. His life         We can find another example in the field of
is limited to this world where he passes a few years.         penology. There are, according to current theorists,
And in this life he must learn to make the best of            no such people as criminals. There are people who,
things, to adjust to life, to live a kind of life which is    because of bad influences somewhere along the line
acceptable to society, to enjoy life as much as               or because of some chemical imbalance in their
possible; and when he dies, that will be the end of the       systems, do things which society cannot approve of.
story.                                                        They lie and steal; they murder and rape. But these
                                                              are not sins; nor is there any guilt to be attached to
  This kind of thinking has had a tremendous impact           what they have done. They are merely innocent
upon our entire society. There are some who claim             victims of circumstances entirely beyond their con-
that evolutionism is nothing else but a scientific            trol. And so, while they probably ought to be
theory which attempts to explain the origin of the            imprisoned because they are some kind of a threat to
world. These deny that evolutionism is an entire              society,    they are not imprisoned because they
world-and-life view, an entire "theology," a whole            committed a crime for which they have to bear the
system of ethics, a philosophy born in hell which             punishment. They have no personal guilt. They have
fundamentally affects every single relationship of life.      no debt to pay. They must be imprisoned because it
  But it is all these things whether the evolutionist         is hoped that they can be taught to live lives which
will admit it or not. We can point to just a few              are socially acceptable. They have to be "rehabili-
examples. In the field of education evolutionism has          tated." They have to undergo a process of learning
had profound and devastating effects. I do not mean           which will unlearn all the bad things which have
that evolutionism has been taught as a scientific             influenced them and which will teach them what
theory in the classroom in the place of the doctrine          society expects from them. We do not have prisons


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    401



any more, therefore; we have rehabilitation centers.         different methods of treatment, and nothing seems
Capital punishment becomes cruel and unusual                 really  .to help. The loud boasts of psychiatry have
punishment and makes it forever impossible for the           been hollow. And yet, while the article agreed that
"criminal" to be retrained for a useful life in society.     this was indeed the case, the article held out a bright
And while crime is rampant in the streets and every          and promising future for psychiatry for all that. And
day sees an increase in the crime figures, the               what was the key to this bright future? More of the
wooly-headed thinkers who determine all these                same stuff we have been getting all along.  Time
things piously speak about the need for society to           insisted that the whole field of drug therapy
help these unfortunate victims of a cruel and unjust         especially was now being more thoroughly studied,
culture. You recall how even during the rioting-of the       and that along with a fuller understanding of the
Sixties, the rioters were excused on the grounds that        human brain (not mind, for that belongs to the soul
the unjust treatment they  hBd received at  the hands        which evolutionists deny), such drug therapy held
of their fellow citizens  cdmpletely exonerated them         forth new hope for the future.
from the crimes of looting and burning. It all comes            And so it has been and, presumably, will be. You
down to the fact that there is no longer any such            recall that several years ago it was common to treat
thing as guilt.                                              people with mental problems by means of shock
  And so we could go on and cite other instances of          therapy. High voltage electrical currents were run into
how the godless theory of evolutionism has in-               the brain. The theory behind this was, of course, that
fluenced our times. We could point to what this              all man's thinking and willing is nothing else but the
whole denial of sin and guilt has done to the laws of        interplay of electrical charges. Somehow these things
our land  - how it has all but stricken from the books       got scrambled so that a person could not think clearly
laws against gambling; how it has put on the books           any more. So, and this was the theory, give massive
laws permitting abortion; how it has so changed the          shocks which will scramble the electrically charged
laws of the country that we are inundated with a tidal       brain and  .mix up all the electrical charges which
wave of horrible filth;  hoti the easing of the laws of      play back and forth in the brain and on the brain, and
divorce has made marriage a mockery.                         - hope that, when things settle down inside one's
  All this is due to an evolutionistic view of man.          head, they will settle down in more favorable
                                                             p a t t e r n s .
  But this same thing has had deep and lasting  effects
upon the whole field of psychology (the theory of               From a slightly different point of view, this also
the soul) and psychiatry (the treatment of "mental           lies at the basis of all drug therapy. And the
illness"). Within the last few weeks  Time  magazine         interesting,part  of it is that there is really an evolution-
ran a feature article in which the current state of          istic foundation for  thiS treatment of mental prob-
psychiatry was discussed.. If you read this, you will        lems.
recall that the thesis of the article was that psychiatry       In the light then of  what has happened in our
which claims to  .be able to treat depression (and other     modern age, it is important that we turn to the
mental "illnesses") is itself in a deep state of             Scriptures for our understanding of man and of his
depression. And this is because  psychiatry has  I'un        problems.
down a dead-end street where many leading  psy-                 .Farewell  for -now.
chiatrists themselves have been forced to admit that
they have done little or no good in this whole field of                                  Fraternally,
mental problems. They have tried  -all kinds of                                          H. Hanko





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


402                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



I N   H I S   F E A R





                               Children: An- Heritage-
                                                             -
                                             of the Lord
                                              - Rev.  Al. Joostens

                                                                             .-



  The weather has been beautiful. Spring time is the         the  firmamedt showeth his handywork. Day unto day
favorite time of year for me. Sunday was a gorgeous          uttereth  - speech, and night unto night showeth
day but Monday did not fair so well. The wind was            knowledge. There is no  s@eech nor language, where
rather chilly, but the sun stood in the heavens in all       their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out to all
its glory. It was the first time of the season that I had    the earth, and  .their words to the end of the world.`?
no Monday afternoon catechism class for which to             The sand kept trickling through my fingers.  How
prepare. So, I packed up the family and headed for           many  ~grains `of sand. comprise a handful? The
the beach of Lake Michigan. As we put on our                 question is impossible! As far as I could see, there was
jackets, there were others who braved the wind in            the sand of  the seashore.
their  bathing suits. But it did not matter, for we had           The Lord' speaks loudly ! `"That in blessing I will
come there for a different purpose. It was our desire        bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed
to spend some much needed time together as a                 . . . as the sand which is  tipon the seashore; and thy
family. There is something about the breaking of the         seed shall possess the gate of thy  enernie?; . . . And I
waves and the vast expanse of sand that is soothing          will establish my covenant between me and thee and
and relaxing. We had appropriately taken along  3 kite       thy seed after thee in their  .generations for an
and frisbee to keep us occupied in-case of boredom.          everlasting covenant, to be a God unto. thee and to
Trudging a few hundred feet in the loose sand  yielded       thy seed after thee . . . and I will give unto thee, . . .
to us shoes filled with sand and our own peaceful            all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession;
little domain for a few hours. With almost predictable       and I will be their God." And I continued to watch
regularity, the  feesbee thrown against the wind             my children  .as they played. Little did they know or
would return to us as a dog retrieving a stick for her       could they understand the thanksgiving that was in
master. The steady wind set the kite motionless-in the       my heart. A few hours at the beach made the
heavens. The children began to entertain themselves.         romping of my children and a few grains of sand
It was a time to relax and let one's thoughts wander         re-echo as a mighty word of promise in my heart and
and run free. As I observed all these things, I              soul.
squeezed some of the finely ground sand between my
fingers.                                                          The Lord has surely blessed us in that He gives
                                                             unto us the children that are His heritage. Often we
  How staggering is the creation of our God! The             like to murmur and complain about the price of food
clouds in their ever changing formations present to          and clothing and sometimes of covenant education.
the eye all sorts of beautiful configurations. The           Sometimes our speech is almost analogous to that of
colors, no artist or camera can reproduce. The erosion       the world when they say that anything over two
of the waves, which man vainly tights, are held within       children is an undue burden. The Lord has- called us
their predetermined bounds. I was reminded of Psalm          to be the children of Abraham. Not that we are Jews
nineteen : "The heavens declare the glory of God; and        - the Lord  is not interested in the propagation of a


                                               THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                              403


certain nationality that belonged to the  piC&lre  and        the Baptism Form by simply giving our children
type  -of the old -dispensation  i but  we are the            "christian education" or a formal catechism instruc-
spiritual children of Abraham, the seed  df Abraham           tion. But it must be on our part a- thorough going
in Christ! "For the promise, that he (Abraham)                effort aimed at every part of our child's development
should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham,          and maturation. AS we,  can. readily gather from
or to his seed, through the law, but through the              Deuteronomy, it is the whole of our life as parents. In
righteousness of faith . .  -. to the end the promise         all of our doing, we teach and instruct our children
might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which         explicitly  or by implication.
is of the law, but to  .that also which is of the faith of      And who is man to the task?. We know and we
Abraham; who is the father of us all, . .  ." (Rom. 4)        confess that we fall far short of this demand. Each
How wonderful that our God has effectually through-           night when we place our heads upon our pillows, we
out preceding generations called His people and kept          must confess before God our shortcomings, in-
His covenant with believers and their seed! We can            consistencies,  and- sins with regard to teaching our
now be thrilled by the words that were spoken to              children. And, as an aside, I might mention here that
Abraham. We are privileged to see and experience this         it does -not. hurt us to make this known to our
in our families and congregations. It is not because we       children. It is good to go to the cross with them! I say
have earned it! It is not of works, lest any of us            again, it is wonderful that His covenant does not
should boast before His face. But it is according to          depend upon our meager efforts!
His good pleasure and grace that the promise might
be sure to all the seed. For it is God who  quickeneth          The awesome responsibility of parents is taken on
the dead and calls those things which be not  as              by faith! To bring children into this corrupt and
though they were. Thanks be to our covenant God               wicked world brings fear and dread to the hearts of
that He continues to call His Church from among us!           parents.  l&t we can and must cling by faith to the
                                                              promise which our -God gave unto our father
  My thoughts continued to roam.  An allegorical              Abraham. He will be a God unto us and our children.
hand full of sand turns out to be a parental lesson. I        He will use our efforts, though fraught with sin, to
recalled the Baptism Form which is most beautiful in          the ingathering of His Church. Oh, this does not mean
all its parts. Especially, I thought `of the third            that all are Israel that  - are of Israel. The line of
question that preachers, or better, God, puts to              reprobation also runs across the sphere of the
parents when they present their children for baptism.         covenant. And we know that Jacob was beloved of
"Whether you promise and intend to see this child             God, yet Esau hated Him. Let us not stagger at
. . . instructed and brought up in the aforesaid              the promises of God, but in the strength of faith
doctrine, or help or cause him to be instructed               cherish, piously instruct, and nurture our children
therein to the utmost of your power?" And we                  which is His heritage in the fear of His name.
answered "Yes!" How beautiful and comforting is the
truth that God's covenant with us stands steadfast in           A handful of sand  - the promise of our  God\.-
His immutability! And how  wondeSfu1 that it does             believers and their seed  - an &numerable  host which
not depend upon us, for then it would most certainly          no man  "can number, singing the song of Moses and
fail! But amid such comfort and assurance, I, as a            the Lamb forevermore!
parent, shutter. This places before me an awesome
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sand, and your children, are God's heritage. They are           while supply lasts, Cassette Tapes  (60 min.) of three Reforma-
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that I promise to bring them up in His fear! In my                                                          by Prof. Herman Hanko
mind I turn to Deuteronomy chapter 6: "And these                2  - "Women in Church Office"
words  which.,1 command thee this day (this chapter                                                         by Prof. Robert Decker
                                                                3  - "Reprobation  - Is It Reformed?"
comes  .upon the heels of the Law of God!), shall be in                                                     by Rev. David Engelsma
thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently                  These are offered to readers of The Standard Bearer (and
unto thy children, and thou shalt talk of them when             others) on the following basis:                   `\
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                                                                                 16511 South Park Avenue
comprehensive and demanding task! We cannot                                     -South Holland, Ill. 60473
satisfy the  affirmaiive answer to the third question in


404                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


BIBLE STUDY GUIDE





                      II Corinthians-The Authority
                                       of the Word (3)
                                                 Rev.  J. Kortering





   12. The Holy Spirit is presen.t  .in the church of       blessed example of the Holy Spirit's reformed work
Corinth  (7:1-16). The apostle Paul introduces this         in the church! His presence makes all the difference,
section with a reminder of the need for spiritual           today as well as in Paul's day.
cleansing, both external (in deed) and internal (in
attitude). vs. 1. He becomes jubilant as he deals with      INSTRUCTION CONCERNING CHRISTIAN GlV-
the Corinthian church. He urges them to make room           ING (chapters 8, 9)
in their heart for him as he has them in his heart, (vss       Interspersed between Paul's joy in the renewed
2, 3). Unashamedly and frankly, he tells them of his        `Corinthian church and his instruction concerning
joy and confidence in hearing from Titus of their           specific problems that still existed in the church, he
repentance. This was great comfort and consolation          deals with the subject of Christian giving.
for him (vss. 4-6). He could easily forget the
opposition he encountered from some of their                   1. The Macedonian (Greek) churches were ex-
members. Repentance and forgiveness brings com-             amples of liberality, (8: l-6). Those churches had
plete reconciliation. He distinguishes their sorrow         themselves gone through a time of economic trial.
(after a godly manner, vs. 9) from the sorrow of the        This may have been due to the general political
world which is self pity. This godly sorrow included        situation (Greece, was plundered by Roman armies),
indignation (righteous anger at- themselves for their       or it may have been due more particularly to the
sin), fear (of punishment), vehement desire (of the         persecution of Christians. It left them poor in worldly
favor of God and the apostle), zeal (to do good) and        goods. Yet, they did not use this as an excuse not to
revenge (not in an evil sense, but in the consciousness     give to the poor Christians in Jerusalem, see I Cor.
that sin must be punished and things must be-made            16:3. Rather, they gave liberally, out of their own
right with God). The fruit of such sorrow is a              limited nieans.  The.apostles  did not force them to do
"clearing of yourselves", (vs. 1 I), that is placing        this, they did it voluntarily. The spiritual reason for
themselves in good standing before the apostle and           this was the fact that  they had given  themselves  to
the God he represents. By God's grace, this stern           Christ, (vs.  5). This is always first. Christ said,
reprimand bore fruit so that Paul and Titus may now         wherever your treasure is there will your heart be
be the more joyful. Even as Paul had expressed to           also, Matt.  6:21. Hence, giving of their possessions
Titus his confidence that the church of Corinth             came easily. Paul informs the Corinthians that part of
would respond correctly by repenting (Paul boasted          Titus' ministry will be to  instiuct them in this
of them to Titus, vs.  14), so they both may continue       Christian activity  .of giving.
confident in the good standing of this church. What a          2. The apostle gives the church guidelines for


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   405



Christian giving, (vss 7-15). First, he explains to them         hence he was especially `qualified for this task of
what the proper motivation should be. This includes              collecting for the needy churches, (vss. 16, 17). We
five things. (1) It will be an additional demonstration          are reminded that Paul sent Titus as the bearer of this
of their love which will confirm their past conduct,             letter and to implement the instruction it contained.
vs. 7. (2) It will establish their sincerity, for it will not    Accompanying Titus were two other men. One is
be a forced act, but a willing deed, vs. 8. (3) It will          mentioned in verse 18. He is unknown to us, but
make them Christlike in their life, for He was rich but          obviously he had good credentials and was chosen by
became poor for us, vs. 9. (4) They will be able to              the churches. Since Titus was going to deal with large
fulfill their good intentions made a year ago, see II            sums of money, it was important that there be more
Cor.  9:2. In response to his former letter (I Cor.              than one man (to avoid temptation and to remove
16: l-3) they said they would raise money to help the            any suspicion)  - a practice our deacons still follow
Jerusalem Christians. Now they should go ahead and               today. In addition, all concerned had to have a
do this and they will be true to their word, vss. 10,            reputation for honesty and trust, (vss. 20, 21). The
11. (5) They will not be expected to give more than              other brother mentioned in verse 23 was also zealous
they have. The privilege to give financially is not an           for this work. Hence Paul recommends these three
impossible burden, for giving must be according to               men to the church. Titus, as a partner and fellow
what a man hath to give, vs. 12. According to I Cor.             laborer, was to be received, and the other two as
16:2 it is as God hath prospered him.                            messengers of the churches (in all likelihood not
  The apostle explains the implications of this last             apostles as Paul was, but helpers). The Corinthians
idea in greater detail in the following three verses.            should love these men and receive them and thereby
How much should one give?  - that's always a sensitive           prove that what good things Paul had said of the
question. So Paul tells them that they must not give             Corinthians were indeed true, (vs. 24).
in such a way that some members of the church have                 4. Giving should be done cheerfully, chapter
it easy and will sit back and receive the benevolence            9: 1-15. Paul points out the urgent need for the
of the church without lifting a finger to earn their             Corinthians to respond quickly and liberally with the
own way. According to verse 13, Paul does not                    collection (vss. l-5). He had spoken highly of them to
expect some Christians to be burdened by carrying a              the churches of Greece. This fact had moved these
double load at the expense of lazy members. We are               churches to respond generously with their collection
reminded of II Thess. 3: 10, "For even when we were              for the poor in Jerusalem. Now Paul is on his way to
with you this we commanded you, that if any would                visit Corinth and with him are members of the Greek
not work, neither should he eat." The concern that               churches. The Corinthians, however, have not yet
the Holy Spirit has for the material needs of the                finished their collection. Hence he urges them,
church is this: Christians must work to deliver one              through the three men sent to them, to hasten with
another from the burden of poverty. Verses 14 and                the work and give liberally so that when he arrives,
15 speak of "equality." This does not mean that we               they will be proven. as faithful and none need be
have no right to private property (see Acts  5:4, where          ashamed. Their bounty (collection) will prove them
Peter instructs Ananias that to sell their property or           generous and not covetous.
not  Andy how much to give to the church was their                 To spur them on, Paul now instructs them as to
own private decision. Their sin was that they lied               what spiritual attitude should govern their giving. It
when they said that they brought the entire price, but           must be cheerful, with joy! The opposite is to give
in reality kept back part for themselves). Neither does          grudgingly or out of necessity, that is, with regret or
this mean that all Christians should have, equal                 by constraint. Such a person feels the obligation to
financial assets, as sought by those who desire some             give, but not the joy. "God loves a cheerful giver."
form of Christian communism or socialism. Rather,                How can a Christian give cheerfully? The answer  .is
he means that those Christians who have more than                that he knows the benefit of such giving. In verse 6
they can use, should share it with Christians who are            we are reminded of the oft quoted maxim, we reap
poor and have need. In this way the rich will be the             what we sow, see also Prov.  11:24, Luke  6:38. In
means in God's hand to deliver the poor from the                 verses 8-10 he points out to them that God rewards
ravages of their poverty. The reference to the                   liberality. This is true spiritually, but also materially.
distribution of manna proves his point, see Ex. 16: 18.          Even though we give up our money or possessions,
They did not all have the same quantity of manna,                God is able to return it to us in great measure, (vs. 8
yet they all had enough.                                         refers to all grace, favor, gifts). The purpose of God in
  3. Paul encourages the Corinthians to receive Titus            returning it is that we may have plenty with which to
who comes with the great desire to prosper in the                perform every good work. Notice the promise is not
collection for the poor, (vss. 16-24). Titus  -was               to make us materially rich, as you hear some say it:
compassionate and zealous for the care of the poor,              "Give to the Lord and He will make you rich." No,


 406                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 the idea is that we give liberally to the Lord's cause       attention to those in the church  of. Corinth who
 and He will -provide the means with which we can             attacked his authority to preach, but were themselves
 serve Him in all things, to buy food and material            false teachers.
 necessities for our family,. to give them Christian            1. Paul sets forth a warning that his opponents not
 education, to promote the ministry of Word and               take his Christian meekness to mean that he will not
 missions, and such like. In this way God blesses the         fight for what is right and true (10: l-6). His enemies
 home of him who gives cheerfully. His righteousness          thought him to be base (cowardly) when he was in
 (the ability to do good) shall remain. God is able, for      Corinth and to be bold (courageous) when speaking
 He is the one Who gives seed to the sower and bread          to them from a distance (vs. 1). He urges them to
to the eater, Isa. 55 : 10, and He will multiply your         respond to his instruction so that what boldness he
 seed (material wealth) and cause you to have more            has will not have to be demonstrated to them when
 means with which to do deeds of goodness (fruits of          he comes. They had falsely accused him of walking
 your righteousness).                                         according to the flesh, (vss. 2, 3). Paul declares war
   The purpose of such cheerful giving is not only the        and assures them that the weapons he uses are not
 care of the poor saints (vs.  l2), but especially it         after the flesh (human reasoning and argumentation)
 expresses thanks to God and thereby God is glorified.        but spiritual, which even God considers to be mighty,
 It also causes the poor who are helped to pray for           (vss. 3, 4). So mighty are these weapons that they
 them who help. (vs. 14).                                     pull down strongholds, which are `explained to be
                                                              imaginations (opinions of men) and high things that
   How fitting that this instruction should close with        exalt against the knowledge of God (human knowl-
 the doxology of thanks to God for His great gift,            edge that seems impressive, such as philosophy or
 Jesus Christ. In this unspeakable gift, all our giving       science of unbelieving men). Instead, all human
 has meaning. It is of God alone.                             knowledge must be brought into obedience of Christ,
                                                              (vs. 5). This Paul will continue to do until the
 PAUL'S AUTHORITY UNDER ATTACK (chapters                      disobedient are exposed and removed and the
 10-13)                                                       obedient safeguarded (vs. 6).
   The tone of the epistle now changes. Paul turns his                           (To be continued)





                                ..  B o o k   -Reviews


 Commentary On Luke.  (New International Greek                on sections and sub-sections being followed by a
 Testament Commentary), I. Howard Marshall; Wm. B.            detailed verse-by-verse treatment of the text.
 Eerdmans  Publ. Co., Grand Rapids,  Mich.; 928 pages,          "An important aim of the authors is to interact
 $24.95 (cloth). (Reviewed by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema)           with the  .most significant results of the New
   This large volume is one in a projected new series         Testament research published in recent articles and
 of New Testament Commentaries to be `published               monographs. This serves as a background for their
jointly by the Paternoster Press Ltd. and the Wm. B.          own contributions to the ongoing effort  to  explore in
 Eerdmans Co. As to the general character of this             greater depth the meaning of the biblical text."
 series we are informed as follows:                             This volume on Luke is faithful to the stated
   "This new commentary series is established on the          purpose just quoted.
 presupposition that the theological character of the
 New Testament documents calls for exegesis which is            It does not take long, however, to discover that
 sensitive to theological themes as well as to the details    this commentary, though highly technical and very
 of the historical, linguistic, textual, and critical         "scholarly," is replete with higher criticism. The
 context. Such thorough exegetical work lies at the           author makes no effort to hide  this;.in fact, he very
 heart of these commentaries, with general comments           frankly informs us of his approach in the Preface:


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                407


   "Creed. wrote before the development of tradition                        commentary is very learned and scholarly, it is of
criticism and redaction Criticism. A modern com-                            little use to a student of Scripture who stands in the
mentator must inevitably make use of these critical                         Reformed tradition. For our ministers and students it
methods, and the present commentary attempts to                             is not worth the high price.
assess and elucidate the gospel in the  ,light of these
new aids to its study. It can indeed be argued that the'                       An indication of the colossal pride of these critics
time is not yet ripe for a definitive commentary on                         is. found in the statements, "It can indeed be argued
Luke. It is perhaps still too early to assess the results                   that the time is not yet ripe for a definitive
of the revolution in Lucan studies which has been                           commentary on Luke. It is perhaps still too early to
proceeding during the last quarter of a century.                            assess the results of the revolution in Lucan studies
Nevertheless, there is a great need for a commentary                        which has been proceeding during the last quarter of
which will at least provide some sort of guide to the                       a century." One wonders whether we have to wait
present state of scholarship, and in particular the                         until the Lord's return for "a definitive commentary
needs, of students of the Greek text cry out to be                          on Luke" to be written. But when Luke's Lord and
met."                                                                       mine  .retums, that will at least be the end of all
                                                                            tradition criticism and redaction criticism. Nor will
   The fundamental outlook of this commentary,                              we any longer need "a definitive commentary on
therefore, differs radically from that of the believing                     Luke."
student of Scripture. For that reason, while this


Prophecy and Hermeneutic in Early Christianity, by                          false prophets who perverted these doctrines. He
E. Earle Ellis; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978;                       discusses how disputes within the Church helped this
289 pp., $15.00 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H.  Hanko)                      development and what interpretive principles were
                                                                            used. While the book has many interesting and
   In an extremely technical book the author de-                            valuable features, two criticisms especially come to
velops the thesis that prophets in the apostolic church                     mind. The first is that the book approaches Scripture
who were primarily engaged in the teaching and                              from the viewpoint of form criticism and belongs
missionary work of the church were also largely                             therefore to the writings of higher critics. The second
responsible for -formulating New Testament doctrine.                        is that the book is- so obsessed with trivia that the
They did this by restating the truths of the Old                            meaning of the Scriptures themselves is obscured. It is
Testament in the New Testament situation and by                             a book which can be read only by those who are
defending the Scriptures of the Old Testament against                       thoroughly acquainted with Hebrew and Greek.

                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                   NOTICE!!!
   On June 10, 1979, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND MRS.              Due to our decision to add a third teacher to our staff, The Covenant
THEODORE LOOYENGA celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.                 Christian School of Lynden Washington is accepting applications for
We are truly grateful for the Christian instruction we have received by     the position. Anyone interested should write or phone:
them. We thank the Lord that He has given them strength and guidance                                  Mr. Henry Vander  Meulen
to sacrifice much in order for our Christian education. We pray that the                              4778 Rock Road
Lord will continue to bless them in the years ahead together. (Psalm                                  Sumas,  Washington 98295
115:11-15).                                                                 Phone  (206)  988-9199
      Their children
         Joe and Mary Brummel              Robert and Kathy Looyenga
               Marijo, Joel, Theodore        Jennifer
         John and Pat Sperry               Randall, Nancy, Douglas,
               Matthew                     Mark, Karen.
         Larry and Kathy Looyenga
               Melissa, Michelle


                                                             Report of Classis East
                                                                   May 9, 1979
                                                           Faith Prot. Ref Church

   Classis East met in regular session on May 9, 1979                          In routine business,  Classis dealt with the reports
at the Faith Prot. Ref. Church. The churches, with                          of the church visitors and stated clerk. The Classical
the exception of Kalamazoo, were represented by Committee had no occasion to meet. Southeast
two delegates. Rev. Woudenberg led in opening                               requested classical appointments and the following
devotions; Rev. Bruinsma has his initiation as                              schedule was adopted: May 20  - De Vries, May 27  -
chairman.                                                                   Bruinsma, June 3  - Van  Baren,  June 17  - Woudenberg,


 THE STANDARD BEARER
         P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506


                                __.___. ----.--
4 0 8                                        THE STANDARD BEARER




June 24  - Joostens, July 1  - Van Overloop, July 15  -      The second matter of special significance was that
Bruinsma,. July 22  - De Vries, July 29  - Van  Baren,     classis approved Hope Church's decision to grant
August 5  - Woudenberg, August 19  - Joostens, August      emeritation to Rev. Robert Harbach. Rev. Harbach is
26 --Van Overloop.                                         presently serving on the mission field in Victoria,
  Two items were of particular. import to the  classis.    British Columbia and will be terminating his stay
The first was that another request came from the           there about September 1st.  Classis expressed appreci-
group in Maine to be organized as a congregation. It       ation to Rev. Harbach for his contributions to the
was reported by this group that in addition to the         denomination during the years of his service and
three families established there, several additional       expressed gratitude to God for providing Rev.
families have expressed a desire for a Protestant          Harbach for the churches.
Reformed congregation there.  Classis decided, since         In other matters, Edmonton's request to contact
the very recent developments, there had not yet            the churches in  Classis East for financial help for their
stabilized sufficiently to warrant immediate  organiza-    building fund was denied since this type of request
,tion, to advise the people in Maine to contact either     must be made via synod. The expenses of  classis were
the Mission Committee or a local consistory for help       $370.36.  Classis will meet next on September 12th at
in continuing the work there. A committee of Rev.          Hudsonville.
M. De Vries and Rev. G. Van  Baren was appointed to                                     R e s p e c t f u l l y   s u b m i t t e d ,
visit -the people there and to convey this decision to                                  Jon Huisken
them.                                                                                   Stated Clerk



                                News From Our Churches

  Beginning on Sunday, December 30, and con-               the work is not without its difficulties. The greatest
tinuing for fourteen weeks, the Consistory of our          of those, perhaps, is the matter of obtaining ministers
First Church in Grand Rapids, working through its          to spend some time in Bradenton. We have no one in
Church Extension Committee, has attempted to               Florida at present; and that's due primarily to the
extend our witness to the Bradenton, Florida area. A       unavailability of ministers.  .Our denomination has, as
report of these labors was given to the congregation       you know, other fields to fill. Congregations are
of First Church on May 13. What follows was                understandably reluctant to send their ministers away
excerpted from that report.                                for an extended period of time. And that, by the
  Under the sponsorship of First Church, a number          way, is what we need  - someone who is able to make
of our ministers visited the area  _ and conducted         a more extended stay in the field.
church services. Prof. Decker, Rev. den Hartog, Rev.         "The original intent of the consistory was that our
Koole, Rev. Joostens, and  Pro.f. Hoeksema preached,       work in Florida continue without interruption. But
conducted Bible classes, made personal contacts, and       because of the shortage of man-power, and because
advertised the work in the local newspaper. The            the nature of intensified efforts requires some more
committee judged the results to be highly en-              preparatory work, we have decided that we ought not
couraging. Thirty to fifty-five people were at each of     to attempt a resumption of the work till fall.
the services. Bible classes were also well attended.       Meanwhile we will begin at once to look for a more
Five couples or families which reside in the area have     desirable meeting place. We will investigate the
expressed a strong desire that a church be established     possibility of a lecture series in the Bradenton area, in
there. The field has been repeatedly characterized as      order to make for greater exposure and in order to
"one of the most promising fields that our churches        generate more interest. And, most difficult of all, we
are currently laboring in."                                will arrange for a preaching schedule, to begin as early
  The report continues, "Needless to say, however,         as possible and practical in the fall."


