                The
        STANDARD
                BEARER                                                          ~.
c                A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                      \




              in a so-called Christian nation such as
     l l l


ours there is, even from an outward
point of view, an alarming breakdown of
morality in our  .society, and that, too, in
     the crucial  ~areas of marriage and the
     home. What we are seeing is the practical
     results of the "situation ethics" which
     men began increasingly to promote in
     the name of the "church" a couple of


       See "Frightening Statistics" -  page  437

                                                     Volume LV, No. 19, August  I,1979  d


 434                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                                 ISSN  03634692
                                                                                    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                            CONTENTS:                                                  Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                 Second  Class  Postage Paid at Grand Rapids.  Mich.
                                                                            Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer  C. Hoeksema
                                                                            Department Editors:  Prof.  R0bert.D.  Decker, Rev. David J.  Engelsma,
 Meditation  -                                                               R e v .   C o r n e l i u s   H a n k o .   P r o f .   H e r m a n   H a n k o ,   R e v .   R o b e r t   C .   H a r b a c h .
                                                                            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.
    Abraham's Sojourn .~. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .434        George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev. Marinus  Schipper.  Rev.
                                                                            James  Slopsema,   R e v .   G i s e   J .   V a n   Baren,   R e v .   R o n a l d   Van   Overloop,
 Editorials  -                                                              R e v .   H e r m a n   V e l d m a n ,   M r .   K e n n e t h   G .   V i n k .
    Frightening Statistics! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .437        Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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    Fiction, Nevertheless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 8                                      Grandville.   M i c h i g a n   4 9 4 1 8
                                                                            Church News Editor:  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink
 The Lord Gave the Word -                                                                                              1 4 2 2   L i n w o o d .   S . E .
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    Missions in Old Testament Perspective . . . . . . .441
 My Sheep Hear My Voice -
    Letter to Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .443
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 MEDITA  TIO N



                                             Abraham's Sojourn
                                                                 Rev. H. Veldman




                  "By faith he  sojoufxed in the land  of  promise, as in a strange `country, dwelling in
               tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for
               a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. "                                                                               Heb. 11:9-10


    Abraham was called by God, unconditionally, to                                   In this scripture we now call attention to
 leave Ur of the Chaldees. He went out, we read, not                          Abraham's sojourn or pilgrimage in the land of
 knowing whither he went. He knew nothing either of                           promise. It must have been a sore trial for him when
 the country to which he was going or the way to that                         he finally arrived in the land the Lord would show
 country.                                                                     him. .He was a stranger in his own land! The land of


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                435



promise was a strange country to him!                       have hones that our troubles cannot become any
                                                                     I
  The Dutch translation is an improvement upon the          worse. Yet,`they.increase!  How disappointed we may
English. It reads, and we translate: "For he looked         be! And, the Lord continues to call unto us: where I
for  the  having foundations city (the emphasis falls       lead you, you must follow. Why? Because we must
upon the fact that this city has foundations  - H.V.),      live by faith. The Lord does not ask us to follow Him
whose architect or designer and builder is God."            because we see the end of the road. We must not walk
                                                            by sight. He calls to us: I know the end, and that is
  A sore trial!                                             quite sufficient. Is it not quite enough that the living
  Did Abraham expect `improved conditions in his            and unchangeably faithful God, the God of our
new country? Idolatry and superstition must have            salvation, knows all things, also the'road on which He
been common in Ur, as is also evident from Joshua           calls us to travel?
24:2. Already some four hundred  .years after  .the           Abraham was a stranger, a sojourner. To be a
flood, the true service of Jehovah must have become         stranger means literally to dwell beside or near some-
very scarce; the people who served the living God           one. A stranger dwells near the people of his country,
must have been very few. Did Abraham think that the         never with them. Abraham was no mixer. If you had
Lord was calling him to a better home, better sur-          seen him you ,would  have been able to single him out
roundings, spiritually better neighbors in that new         immediately. He looked and acted like a stranger.
country? Did he, weary of all the idolatry in  Ur of        Secondly,. he dwelt in tabernacles or tents, as did
the Chaldees, look forward to new surroundings in           Isaac and Jacob. Although the whole land was his by
which he would be free to serve the living God,             promise, nothing was his by reality. He settled no-
unhindered by all .the godlessness around him as had        where; he built no city anywhere. He chose to live in a
been the case.in.his  native land? Was this his hope and    tent. A tent, we understand, emphasizes the idea of
expectation?                                                the temporary.
  How disappointed he must have been! Indeed, he
came into a rather populous country. Genesis 13  :7           How remarkable! First, this was Abraham's de-
tells us that the Canaanite and the Perizzite lived. in     liberate choice. He was a very rich man. He also has
the land. Indeed, the land into which he came was           three hundred eighteen servants after he and Lot
worse than the country he had left.  God.surely did         separated. Surely, he did not have to live as a
not call Abram out of Ur to preserve the true religion      foreigner. But he chose this life deliberately. How this
as it is sometimes alleged and taught in catechism          becomes evident in the quarrel between his and Lot's
books. Fact is, the country was inhabited by heathen        servants, and later when the king of Sodom offered
tribes that were very numerous and desperately              him of the goods recaptured from Chedorlaomer! The
wicked. All we need do is think of Sodom and                country was not his own, and he never tried to make
Gomorrah, the wicked cities of the plain.                   it his own. Secondly, notice the life he chose to lead.
  This is not all. Abram could not even call this new       He never tried to return to Ur of the Chaldees. One
country his own. True, he did receive more definite         may ask: why leave one's country and go to another
information about the future: that he would receive a       and then never try' to make that new country one's
seed, that that seed would become a great nation,           own? Of course, the answer is: this is the land of the
that all the land would be given him and his seed for       promise. To be sure, the Lord promised this land to
an everlasting possession. However, all this lay in the     him and to his seed. However, the realization of this
future. One may ask: why did not the Lord give him          promise lay in the future. God would give it to him in
the land immediately? The answer must be: Abram             His own good time. This explains Abraham's sojourn.
must live by faith, not by sight..He must wait a long       He. was' willing to .wait until the Lord gave it to him.
time; in fact, he himself would never receive any part        And the same also applies to us. Indeed, we must
of it, not even to set. his foot on it  - see Acts 7~5.     surely live in the world, near the world. But we must
Shortly after he enters the land, he is forced into the     never `live with the world. We must be strangers and
land of Egypt because of a famine. Twenty-five.years        foreigners, live antithetically, as a people who are
he must wait for a son, Isaac.. In the meantime, he         completely different by God's grace. . . .
and Sarah had become old And during all this time             What motivated Abraham, this father of believers?
he is a complete stranger in the land. How disap-           He looked, we read, for the city that ,has foundations.
pointed he must have been when entering this new            Now this certainly does not mean that he looked for
and promised land! How different may have been his          an earthly city, the earthly Jerusalem. How impos-
expectations! This land must have been a far cry from       sible is this view!. First, how disappointed this man of
that which he had anticipated!                              God must have been, inasmuch as he never owned a
  Does not the same thing also apply to us? We find         foot of land in this new land! He looked for an
ourselves in the midst of afflictions. We probably          earthly city? Secondly, this earthly view is exactly


4     3    6                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


what the writer of this epistle is opposing throughout       surely hopeless for Abraham. He lived in the Old
the epistle  - see Heb.  12:22;  11:16. Thirdly, this        Dispensation, in the age of the shadows, before the
earthly view is in conflict with this text. It certainly     coming of Christ into our flesh and blood. How far
could not be said of the earthly Jerusalem that God          removed he was from the heavenly City!
was its builder and maker in that literal sense of the
word. These words surely apply to the Jerusalem that           However,, our lot is surely just as hopeless! What
is above.                                                    guarantee does the afflicted, despised, hopelessly
                                                             outnumbered people of God have that they will
     God is this city's Builder or Architect. He is the      inherit heavenly life and immortality? Are not all
Architect or Designer of the heavenly Jerusalem that         things against us? Is anything for us?
has foundations, the city, therefore, that will abide
forever. He planned it. It is the City of God, God's           This is possible only by faith. Faith is the sub-
City, in which God will be all in all, everything            stance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
revolving about Him and His glory, and then as               seen. Faith trusts in God, and in the word of His
centrally revealed in Jesus Christ, our Lord. And the        promise. Everything is invisible: God is invisible; His
Lord is also its Maker. Indeed, who else would be able       Christ is invisible; His cross (what it really is) is
to build this city?! This city must be built upon the        invisible; that He is highly exalted is also invisible.
ruins of sin and death, is built by the living God           Faith, however, is this evidence, is itself this evidence.
through Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, in the          Faith takes hold of God and of His promises in
way of the cross and resurrection, and by the power          Christ. We need not prove things. Of course, we can
of God's almighty grace.                                     never prove these things to the world. But we need
     And Abraham looked for this city. He looked for         not prove them. Fact is, I believe, and therefore I
                                                             know. And faith is also the substance of things hoped
it, expected it, waited for it. He had his eye of faith      for. Faith itself is the ground for this hope, is itself
upon it, looked for it, not naturally, but spiritually,      this hope. Faith, as rooted in Christ, reaches out to
was homesick for it, longed to dwell in it.                  the life that is above; believing, we hope and reach
     This motivated Abraham's sojourn. He was a              out to the future, are not only pilgrims and strangers,
citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. The life of that          but also consider it a rare privilege of grace to be
city was in his heart; the love of God had been shed         such, rooted as it is in God's sovereign and uncondi-
abroad in his heart. He had been born again, from            tional election. Besides, is it not wonderful to suffer
above. He was therefore a sojourner in the land of           in behalf of Christ, that all our suffering and afflic-
promise, was so different from all the people round          tion serves the glorious purpose of setting forth the
about him, could therefore' never mix with them.             power and glory  of.God's grace as revealed in and
And, in the measure that he dwelt or sojourned               through Jesus Christ, our Lord?
among them, he looked for this heavenly city; his
homesickness grew for the City that is above.                  Yes, we look for the City of our God. We consider
     Need we say that the same thing must also charac-       all things but loss in the light of it. We believe all our
terize us, the people  .of God, and throughout the           affliction to be worthwhile. Worthwhile? Indeed, we
ages? Yes, this must always be said. Strangers we are        know that all the suffering of this present time is
and must be in the midst of the world. It should not         never to be compared with the glory that shall follow.
be at all difficult to "spot" the people of God here.        The apostle sings of this wonderful expectation in the
                                                             eighth chapter of his epistle to the Romans, and the
below and as in the midst of the world. We, too, must        Church of all ages has learned by the grace of God to
live in tents - spiritually, of course! We must never set    sing it after him. And the same apostle Paul also sings
our hearts upon the things that are below. We must           of this unbelievably wonderful expectation in the
be known by the world as strangers, and also treated         fourth chapter of his second epistle to the- Corin-
as such, all because we are foreigners in the world,         thians: our present light affliction which is but for a
born from above, strangers who are  enroute. to the          moment works for us`an exceeding and eternal weight
City of the living God.                                      of glory. This is our calling, and our unspeakable
     Indeed, how hopeless is apparently our lot! It was      privilege by divine grace.

                            . .


                                    Know the standard and follow it.
                                   Read  The Standard. Bearer


                                             THE STANDARD  BEARER                                               437


EDITORIALS
ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema





                                     Frightening Statistics!  -


                                                .
     "And even as they did not like to- retain God in       - "The 1970 census found only 29,000 of the un-
their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate          der-25 couples, compared with 236,000 in the 1978
mind, to do those things which are not convenient."         survey."  .A note is added that "Some of this rise
     Of these words of Romans  1:28 I was reminded          might be due to greater willingness today to disclose
recently by a front-page article in The Grand Rapids        such arrangements to census takers." A note might
Press `entitled "Census Finds Unwedded Bliss Rising,"       also have been added that no one knows the number
with the sub-title, "Experts Believe Nearly Half of         of such fornicating couples who do not disclose such
Today's Newborns Will Be Raised by Only One                 arrangements to census takers or who cannot be
Parent." Here are some of the statistics cited by the       traced.
article :                                                   -"The number of families in which no man is present
-                                                           rose from 5.6 million in 1970 to 8 million in 1978. In
     "The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that the           1978, a third of these women were divorced, 29
number of couples living together outside of marriage       percent widowed and 15 percent single."
has more than doubled during the first eight years of
this decade, and increased more than eight-fold             -"The Census Bureau estimates that last year 12
among people under 2.5."                                    million of the country's 63 million children were
                                                            living with only one parent. This represented an
_-"The Census Bureau found that as of March 1978            increase of nearly half over the proportion in 1970.
one of every five American households consisted of         The number of children living with unmarried
just one person, up 42 percent just since 1970.             mothers more than tripled over the period."
Moreover, census experts have estimated that nearly
half of all children born today will spend a `meaning-        A cursory consideration of frightening statistics
ful' portion of their childhood with only one parent."      like these makes it plain. that in a so-called Christian
-                                                           nation such as ours there is, even from an outward
     "The study shows that cohabitation, or `households     point of view, an alarming breakdown of morality in
which contain two unrelated adults of opposite sexes        our society, and that, too, in the crucial areas of
had increased by 117 percent since 1970. It found           marriage and the home. What we are seeing is the
about 1.1 million such households in the                    practical results of the "situation ethics" which men
country. . . ."                                             began increasingly to promote in the name of the
-"In seven of every 10 of the unmarried households,         "church" a couple of decades ago.
both partners were under the age of 45 in 1978. One           In terms of our Reformed confession concerning
fourth of the households had one or more children           total depravity and the corruption of mankind, there
living with them."                                          is in these statistics an object lesson illustrating the
-"The trend toward living together without legal            truth taught in Canons III-IV, Article 4. According to
sanction was largely a youth phenomenon. There was          that article, there remain in man since the fall "the
almost no change between 1970 and 1978 in the               glimmerings of natural light, whereby he retains some
number of unmarried households headed by persons            knowledge of God, of natural things, and of the
45 or older. However, there was a six-fold increase         differences between good and evil, and discovers
among those headed by persons under 45 -and an              some regard for virtue, good order in society, and for
eight-fold increase in those headed by someone under        maintaining an orderly external deportment." The'
25."                                                        very fact that. the Census Bureau pays attention to


438                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



matters like the above and gathers statistics about            ing and as shocking can become so commonplace that
them is evidence of such "natural light." And the fact         it begins to be deemed acceptable. Do you remember
that sociologists and educators are perturbed and              when coed dormitories at colleges and universities
deeply concerned about such things as the prolifera-           first made the news? Shocking, wasn't it? Today they
tion of "single parent homes," illegitimacy, teen-age          have the status of acceptability. Do you remember
pregnancies, couples who "shack up" (the Dutch call            when couples living together in fornication first began
it "`hokken") without benefit of law, etc. - this very         to become a public thing? Probably it has not yet
fact, I say, though these same sociologists and educa-         reached the status of acceptability, but it no longer
tors never propose the right solution to these prob-           creates the shock waves that it once did. It is
lems, is also evidence of "natural light" in a depraved        becoming accepted. It is made the butt of ribald
society.             -                                         jokes. It is discussed as possibly having quasi-legal
  At the same time, there is  ,here an object lesson           status in connection with what have been dubbed as
illustrating the Canons' evaluation of fallen man's            "palimony" lawsuits. But do you ever hear it
natural light and its abuse: "But so far is this light of      seriously described as living in.sin  and debauchery?
nature from being sufficient to bring him to a saving            Take, for example, the news dispatch from which I
knowledge of God, and to true conversion, that he is           quoted above. Did you notice the euphemisms em-
incapable of using it aright even in things natural and        ployed in the -article to refer to what is sin, to what is
civil. Nay further, this light, such as it is, man in          a vile transgression .of the law of God? The article
various ways renders wholly polluted, and holds it in          speaks of "cohabitation," of "households which con-
unrighteousness, by doing which he becomes inexcus-            tain two unrelated adults of opposite sexes," of
.able before God." Those who perpetrate the above              "unmarried households." About the closest it comes
described evils in our modern society are certainly an         to any kind of mention of breaking the law is the
illustration of this truth. But the leaders in the field       mention of "living together without legal sanction."
of sociology and education who are forever treating            And you and I can easily become accustomed to such
or trying to treat the effects of sin, rather than sin         euphemistic language, begin to adopt it into our
itself and the cause, are also illustrations of the fact       thinking and into our own speech.
that natural man renders his "natural light" wholly              And then I have not mentioned the movies, the
polluted  - and becomes -inexcusable before God.               stage plays, the television shows, the magazine articles
Incidentally, how even from an empirical point of              which deliberately flout the law of God and which
view - let alone Scriptural - anyone can believe in a          flaunt the sinful life-style under discussion. These
restraint of sin  -in man and society by virtue of             should not even need to be mentioned. To expose
common grace in today's world is difficult to under-           one's self to them is deliberately to expose one's self
stand.                                                         to hell fue!
  Meanwhile, there is a warning that needs `to be                No, I am referring merely to simple, everyday,
sounded.                                                       unavoidable contacts with the world and its thinking
  Our covenant homes are established in the midst of           and its life-style.
a world full of such corruptions as are described in
the statistics cited. Our children and our young                 Beware that sin and its defilement do not become
people grow up, begin their courtships, are married,.          commonplace in your Christian thinking and outlook.
and establish their homes in the midst of such a                 Beware that sin is no longer viewed as sin in your
society. Whether we are aware of it or not, all of us          thinking and in your home life. Beware that the
come into contact with that society and its corrup-            world's way of thinking and speaking does not be-
tions. Almost unconsciously we' can be influenced by           come yours and mine. For when it'does, it is but one
the world's life-style and thinking and language.              more step to the point that the world's life-style also
Gradually that which was first mentioned with blush-           becomes, ours.



                                   .&ion,,
                                               _       Nevertheless

  In a recent issue of  Clarion,  the Canadian  Re-            tion with the Baptism Form one can think of either
formed magazine, Prof. J. Faber takes sharp  excep-            "two parties" or "two elements or aspects" when the
tion to my criticism of his statement that in connec-        Form says, "Thirdly, since in all covenants there are


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           439



contained two parts. . .  ." Prof. Faber goes back to        covenant, in particular about the question concerning
the roots of our Baptism Form and quotes from the            the unilateral or bilateral character of the covenant,
Church Order of the Palatinate (1563) and from               they have also been writing in the Netherlands, re-
Datheen's translation of the former in 1566 in an            cently about the question how the expression in our
attempt to show that he is correct in his claim. He          Baptism Form is to be understood, `Since in all
then states in a concluding paragraph that I should          covenants there are contained two parts, therefore are
answer his reference to the original Baptism Form.           we by God through baptism also admonished. . .  .'
This I gladly do.                                            The question is not only how this expression must be
  My reply is as follows:                                    understood, but also which is the correct reading.
1. I was well aware of the language of the Form of             "Also for us this question is of very great interest.
the Palatinate and of the alleged language of the            Therefore. I think that I do our readers a service if I
translation of 1566 by Petrus Dathenus, having done          keep them a bit informed concerning the progress of
my research on this question in some  of the same            this discussion in the old country. The. brief article
sources (and others) which Prof. Faber consulted. I          from the pen of Dr. Schilder which appeared in De
even have an edition of Datheen's translation which          Reformatie  of Feb. 4 can serve this purpose, and I
uses the term  "partijen  (parties)" in place of the         quote it here:
expression, "Maer naedien  dai in  alle verbonden,                 Our readers remember what I remarked over
beyde  deelen  sich met malkanderen verbinden. .  ; ."           against Dr. A. Kuyper Jr. concerning the expression
                                                                 in the Baptism Form, that "in all covenants there are
2. I was also well aware of the very common practice             contained two parts." Dr. Kuyper understood "parts"
on the part of various- Reformed writers of under-               as "parties"; I found his (already long known) argu-
standing the above expression as referring to parties;           ment the opposite of convincing.
3. However : a) There is not even absolute certainty               At present we point, in continuation of what we
as to the text of the edition of 1566. b) There is, to           already Wrote, to what has been observed concerning
say the least, grave doubt as to the meaning of the              this matter in our ecclesiastical life; one: of our
expression in the edition of 1566. c) The edition of             readers, whom we thank for this, has also called our
1566 was not the synodically adopted edition of the              attention to this.
Dutch churches. The language found in the abbre-                   As appears in the volume "Reports," belonging
viated edition of 1578-1580 is the  language. which              with the Acts of the Arnhem Synod 1930, and then
prevailed in every officially adopted version of the             more precisely in the "Liturgy-report," p. 6, the
Baptism Form ever since 1.578, the Synod of                     `pertinent committee proposed the following:
Dqrdrecht 16 18-19 included: d) There is very good                 "In the 4th paiagraph (of the Baptism Form) to
reason for the grave doubt to which I referred in "b"            replace the expression `there are contained two parts,'
above, as well as very good reason to prohibit under-            @wee delen begrepen zijn') an expression not un-
standing the present language of our Form as re-                 derstandable for all, by thi expression `two parts
ferring after all to "parties" rather than ."parts." That        enter into a bond.' " (or: `two par+ combine.' This is
reason is that the Form could very well have used the            the Dutch expression, "twee delen zich met elkander
word "parties" if that had been what was intended;               verbinden," to which Prof. Faber referred .in connec-
                                                                 tion with the Forms of 1563 and 1566. HCH)
this would have been very simple. Secondly, as I
wrote before, the Form never mentions who these                    This harmonizes, as' you will recall, with the view
supposed parties are, while it does spell out in what            in Biesterveld's "Gerefotieerde Kerkboek," a view
the parts consis't.                                              which in my opinion is unsatisfactorily supported.
                                                                   According to the Acts of the Synod of Arnhem
  Finally, I would point in this connection that I               (p.18), however, the Particular Synod of Drente
have the Synod of Arnhem 1930 (and thus the                      advised this Synod something else:
official decision of the Reformed Churches of the
Netherlands in the pre-Liberation days) on my side;                " `In the concept-Form' of infant baptism to drop
                                                                 the words `two parts enter into a bond' (`twee delen
and in connection with the decision of the Synod of              zich met elkander verbinden') and to read instead:
Arnhem I have also the support of the late  Klaas                `are contained two parties' @wee partijen begrepen
Schilder and Herman Hoeksema, both of whom ap-                   zijn')."
plauded the decision of Arnhem. This appears from                   Something similar -was proposed by Classis
an article in the  Standard Bearer,  Volume 14, pp.              Enkhuizen (Acts, 21); `they wanted to read, "two
249-250, in which De Reformatie of Feb. 4, 1938 is              parties enter into a bond" ("twee partijen zich
quoted. I have taken the trouble to produce a free              verbinden").
translation of this brief article by H. Hoeksema. It
was entitled "Parties dr Parts?" and ran as follows:               Moreover, the church of Velsenproposed as a third
                                                                idea (Acts, 21): ". :. to take under consideration
   "In connection with the discussion about the                 whether it would not be better to change the word


. 440                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



         `parts'-to the word `parties' in the proposed change        true with regard to him. Yet he himself makes it
         `two parts enter into a bond' (`twee delen zich met         abundantly clear that the matter of "parties" in
         elkander verbinden'). The lack of clarity in the            God's covenant is tremendously important to him.
         presently used edition, `are contained two parts,'          And he brings into focus some very crucial matters in
         resides precisely in the word `parts.' That lack of         connection with the whole subject of the covenant.
         clarity would disappear if this word were replaced by       For he now maintains:
         `parties.' "                                                1) That it is not Reformed and not Scriptural to
           Concerning all those proposals a committee re-
         ported                                                      state that man is never a party in relation to the Most
                    (Acts, 397). This  committee was of the judg-
         ment that the various proposals to replace the word         High and that there are no parties (plural) in His
         "parts" by the word "parties" in the Form could not         covenant.
         be accepted, "seeing that these rest on an incorrect.       2) That I forget that God established His covenant
   /`interpretation of the pertinent passage" (398). On this         after His act of creation or rather that the act of the
         ground the committee advised to remain with the old         establishing of the covenant is'distinct from the act of
         edition (400). This also happened (Art. 166A, 20,
         p.100).                                                     creation.
                                                                     3) That in His favour God made man to become a
           It appears therefore that Dr. Kuyper Jr. thinks
         differently than I, and also differently than the           party in relation to His Creator.
         reporting committee of Arnhem. I will gladly justify          On all three of these matters I am in disagreement
         him over against the committee and myself if he can         with Prof. Faber. To enter into these matters at this
         convince me. But on the ground of what I myself             time is beyond the scope of this editorial. However, I
         remarked, I continue to consider my own view                must point out two things: 1) In this light, the whole
         correct for the present: "parts" - not "parties," but:      question of "parts" or "parties" is much more than a
         promise and demand.                                         question of Symbolics, even in connection with the
    "I believe that we may be glad about the advice of               Baptism Form; and I am thankful that the Baptism
  the committee and the decision of the Synod of                     Form's use of "parts" rather than "parties" has been
  Arnhem. Apart now from the question which is the                   maintained in Reformed churches over the years.
  correct reading of the Baptism Form in this regard, it             2)  Even  as I stated in my earlier editorial comment
  would' certainly lead us in the wrong direction if we              about Prof. Faber's articles on this subject, I am more
  would read `parties' instead of `parts.' "                         than ever convinced that our differences with the
    Thus far the Hoeksema-Schilder article in 1938.                  Canadian Reformed run deep; they concern the very
                                                                     definition of the covenant of grace.
    I maintain my position, therefore, that it is pure
  fiction that we may think of either parts or parties in              In  conch&ion,  I remind Prof. Faber that he left a
  connection with this expression in our Baptism Form.               question unanswered. In his earlier article he spoke of
                                                                     the covenant as "the  mutual relationship or agree-
    Nor is this a matter of minor importance. Dr.                    ment between God and His people." I posed the
  Faber suggests in his article that for him this question           question: what does Prof. Faber understand by the
  concerning the Baptism Form was simply a matter of                 expression - a Biblical one - "His people"? Does it
  Symbolics, while for me the truth of the Reformed                  refer to the elect, or not? It would be worthwhile to
  doctrine of God's covenant is at stake. Perhaps this is            hear from the professor on this subject.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               441



THE LORD GAVE THE WORD





                         Missions .in -Old Testament
                                           Perspective

                                            Pro5 Robert D. Decker





  Several truths which have implications for missions     through Noah's preaching and building of the ark.
emerge out of the Old Testament Scriptures. We            The world knew what was coming! Again God did
noted in our previous article that the Old Testament      not leave Himself without witness to the world. That
teaches that all the nations will ultimately come into    same righteousness of God must be proclaimed by the
the Kingdom of God. It is also plain from the Old.        church in its mission today.
Testament that God did not leave Himself without            The Old Testament also reveals that there were
witness to the whole world. In the earliest period of     those outside of the holy line in the narrower sense,
Old Testament history we  find this phenomenon.           that is, outside of the particularistic line of Abraham,
Enoch, the seventh from Adam in the line of Seth,         Isaac, Jacob, and Israel. There was Melchisedec who
prophesied: "Behold the Lord  cometh with ten             lived in Canaan at the time of Abraham. He was
thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all,    called a priest of the most high God. As such he
and to convince all that are ungodly among them of        stands in Scripture as the typical priest, for Christ is
all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly           the priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. He
committed, and of all their hard speeches which           represented God in his community. There was also
ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 14,       Jethro, the Midianite and father-in-law of Moses.
15) This of course is negative. But it does indicate      Rahab, and Ruth the Moabitess, are other examples.
that Enoch preached to the entire world of his day of     Hence the line of the covenant, though for the most
the final redemption of the Church and of  .the           part confined to Israel, did include "outsiders." This
punishment of the ungodly who rise up `against God        is certainly prophetic of the New Dispensation when
and His cause as represented by  His people in the        God would gather His elect out of all nations.
world. And this is ever and always the message of the
gospel. This same truth must be preached on the             There is as well in the Old Testament God's
mission fields today. God is coming to judge the          revelation of an all embracive covenant to Abraham.
nations and save His elect church!                        The "seed of the woman" of Genesis 3: 15 can be
                                                          traced from Seth, Enoch, Noah, Shem, to Abraham.
  Similarly we read of Noah that he was a preacher        And we know from the New Testament (Galatians
of righteousness (II Peter  2:5) and that he con-         3:6ff.) that this "seed of Abraham" is really Christ
demned the world by faith. (Hebrews  11:7) Also           (verse sixteen) and all who are in Him by faith. This is
through Noah it is clear God left a witness of His        the one seed, the Church of all the ages. Nevertheless;
righteousness to the world. That was a righteousness      already to. Abraham God revealed something of this.
according to which God saved Noah and his family          When God called `Abraham He said, "Get thee out of
and destroyed the world with the flood. God didn't        thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy
just do that all of a sudden. God announced it            father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: And


442                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


I will m&e of thee a great nation, and I will bless           means of the preaching of the Word. Not at all. The
thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be .a           emphasis falls rather-on the fact that God gathers and
blessing: And I will bless them that bless  thee, and         defends and preserves His Church out of every nation.
curse him that curstth thee: and in thee shall all            Whatever else one may say about the work of
families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12: l-3)          missions he must say that it is preeminently God's
This promise, `"in thee shall all families of the earth       work! This- is the fondamental  principle of missions.
be --blessed," God repeated often. (cf. Genesis               Even in those passages where the agency, of the
13:14-18;  15:5;  17:4-8;   17:15, 16;  22:17, 18) The        Church is mentioned the emphasis remains on the
whole idea, therefore, of the  covenant with its              fact that the coming of the nations is God's work.
spiritual seed implies the task of missions. God's            Isaiah 55 : 5 reads: "Behold, thou shalt call a nation
covenant embraces not just an, indefinite number of           that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not
scattered individuals, but the covenant embraces a            thee shall run-unto thee because of the Lord thy God,
seed (not seeds as of many), a people, a new                  -and for the- Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified
humanity. This is the elect race'in Jesus Christ. These       thee." The "thou" of the text is Israel, God's sei?rant
must be gathered by the Son of God out of all                 whd shall,call  the nations. But the nations shall run to
nations by the preaching of the Word.                         Israel because of the Lord her God Who is the Holy
   There is an obviously universal .and prophetic note        One of Israel Who has glorified her.
to be found in the Psalms. This, do not forget, is still        All of these passages are prophetic of the coming
the Old Dispensation. There was at this time no               of the Great Day of the Lord. The prophet Joel
preaching of the gospel to the. .nations.  Yet there is a     speaks of this: "And it shall come ,to pass afterward,
universal note and the suggestion that in the future          that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;.and your
the gospel will be preached to all nations. Among the         sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men
many examples which could be cited is Psalm 96 l-4:           shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
                                                              And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids
"0 sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the               in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will
Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless his            show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood,
name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.               and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned
Declare his  glory among the heathen,  his- wonders           into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the
among all people. For the Lord is great, and greatly          great and terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall
to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods." That       come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name
remains the task of the church in its mission to              of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and
declare God's glory among the heathen and his                 in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath
wonders among all people.                                     said, a@ in the remnant whom the Lord shall call."
   This universal note is sounded `even more clearly in       This word finds its fulfillment in the cross, resurrec-
the prophets. Everything still finds its focus and            tion, ascension, and pouring out of the Spirit of
meaning in Israel,, but the universal idea is emphasized      Christ  as. the Apostle Peter preached on Pentecost.
nonetheless. There is a "Day of the Lord" coming in           (Acts 2) But again the work of salvation is entirely
which all shall know Jehovah and both down ,before            God's. God pours out His sbirit upon all flesh, God
Him. This is the vision of  .the Old Testament                shows wonders in the heavens and in the earth,
.Propliets, something no doubt which they did not             salvation shall be  in Mount Zion and in Jersualem,
even grasp in all its implications. The prophet Isaiah        even in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. The
proclaims: "And it shall come to pass in the last days,       work is God's.
that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be                  The motive or purpose of the gathering of the
established in the top of the mountains, and shall be         Church out of nations is the manifestation of God's
exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto      glory, the h&or of His name. Thus the Lord instructs
it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and            the prophet Ezekiel: "Therefore  say unto the house
let us go up to the mountain of the  Lqrd, to the             of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for
house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of "nis       for your sakes, 0 house of Israel, but for mine holy
ways, afid we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion         name's `sake, which ye have profaned among the
,shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from        heathen, whither ye went.  Atid I will sanctify my
Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:2, 3) Similar passages are: Isaiah      great name, which was profaned Bmong the heathen,
 11: l-10; 25:6-9;~Micah  4: 1, 2; Zechariah 8:2-O-23. -It    which ye- have profaned in the midst of them; and the
is striking that in all these passages the coming of the      heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord
nations, the Gentiles, the heathen to, Jerusalem (Mt.         God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their
Zion) is spontaneous. There is no niention of  any~           eyes. " God will save His people, not for their own
human agency. This does not mean that the Church is           sakes, but.for His holy name's sake. God will do it in
not instrumental in the gathering of the nations by           order that His glory may be displayed before the


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    443



heathen.                                                     .- the  work of God.  God gathers His elect  .Cburch.
  In sum,.therefore, there are three principles already        Finally, the motive and purpose. or goal of this
obvious in the Old Testament Scriptures. The first is          gathering  .of the Church out of the nations is  the
that while salvation is centered in Israel (Jerusalem,         manifestation of God's glory and the honor of His
Mount Zion), it shall not be restricted to.Israel. There       name.
is a day  corn&g (the Great and Terrible Day of  the              These principles must govern the Church in its
Lord-)-  when the Church shall be gathered  otit of all        mission work. In that work the Church is engaged in
nations. In that Day "whosoever shall call upon the            God's work. And the Church is kngaged in God's
name of the Lord shall be delivered." The second               work for the sake of the glory of His name. These
principle is that this gathering of the church out of          same  princihles  stand in  ' bold relief in the New
the  nations,~  even though it takes place through the         Testament. We shall-examine them in depth, D.V., in
agency (preaching) of the church itself, is exclusively        subsequent articles.

MY SHEEP  HEAR MY VOICE





                                     Letter to T i m o t h y


                                           July 1, 1979
Dear Timothy,                                                     It is clear from this passage that man was created
  If we are to be effective in our pastoral counselling        by a twofold act of God. God formed him from the
of Christ's sheep we must have some understanding of           dust of the ground, and God breathed into his nostrils
how God created man. This seems to me to be                    the breath of life. Both aspects of this creative act of
essential. There is, of course,' a general principle           God are worth some attention.
involved here: practice is always based on principle.            What does it mean that God formed man from the
T&is is true in all our life, for all of life is practice      dust of the ground?
which flows forth from principle. A man lives  -
always  - according to what  h& believes. The same               I recall when I was going to grade school (I did not
thing is true in pastoral work. The pastoral work of           have the privilege of attending a Protestant Reformed
elders and ministers will be based upon what he                Christian Schdol,  although the school I attended was
believes concerning the nature of a man. If he has an          a Christian School), the teacher made quite a point of
evolutionistic view of man, this will determine how            it that this creative act of God meant that God
he works with a man when problems enter a man's                formed a kind of a dust man, something similar to a
life. If his labor with God's sheep is going to be             child's making a snowman when the snow on a winter
according to the Scriptures, then he must understand           day is  just- right for packing.  T@ dust man stood
what the Scriptures themselves say about man by                there without life until God came and breathed into
virtue of his creation by God.                                 it so that it stirred into life and suddenly began to
                                                               walk around as a man.
  To learn something about this subject, we want to
take our starting point with Genesis  2:7: "And the              This is surely not the meaning of the text.
Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and               There are others who take the position that- that part
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man         of the creation of man which speaks of his formation
became a living soul."                                         from the dust of the ground refers to the creation of


444                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


the body; the other aspect, the formation of man by          man; Almost as it were, lovingly, carefully, with great
the breath of the Lord God, refers to the creation of        skill, God fashioned man with His own almighty
the soul. This too is wrong. Rev. Hoeksema in his            fingers. It was a special act of God and produced a
Dogmatics, comments on this: "In `this view man is           special kind of creature  - man,  the' highest of all
really two distinct entities, two.  ,distinct beings, a      creatures, created in the image of God, created as
physical and a spiritual being,. the two being rather        king over the. whole earthly creation. Already this
mechanically united for a time. Man is really a spirit       expression, that God formed man of the dust of the
living in body. The spirit is the life of that body. In      earth, indicates something special about man which
death the spirit departs from the body, and as a result      sets him apart from the other creatures which God
the body dissolves. This crude and philosophical             formed.
conception is even applied to the birth of each                Nevertheless, man, along with cows and bears,
individual human being when it is presented as if the        eagles and snakes, sharks and worms, can be called "a
body is born from the parents while God creates the          living soul." He shares something with all these
soul. Man, according to this view, is really not one         creatures. He is like then in some respect.
being, but two, even as he was created by two distinct
acts of the Creator." (p. 198.)                                What is this similarity?
   It is rather striking that when Genesis 2:7 calls the       The answer is that, from one point of view, man
created man "a living soul," it uses the same                was created as a part of this earthly creation. He
expression which is used in Genesis 1 to describe            belongs to this earth, is a part of it, stands related to
other creatures in God's creation. For example, in           it, cannot escape from it, is dependent upon it; and
Genesis  1:2 1 we read: "And God created great               thus he resembles all these other creatures which God
whales, and every living creature that moveth, which         called into being.
the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind,         This is a very important truth which ought never to
and every winged fowl after his .kind; and God saw           be forgotten by us. When man sinned God said to
that it was good." The expression in this verse, "living     man: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
creature," is exactly the same in the Hebrew as the          till thou return unto the ground; for out of it  waste
expression used in Genesis 2:7 and translated, "living       thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
soul." The same thing is true of Genesis 1:24: "And          thou return." Man was emphatically of the dust. He
God said,- Let the earth bring forth the living creature     was of this earth. Here he was placed by God. Here he
after his kind, -cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of    belongs. From this earth he can never escape.
the earth after his kind: and it was so." Here again           Already here the idea of the covenant of works
the expression, "living creature," is the same used in       goes wrong. The covenant of works teaches that man,
Genesis 2:7 when that text says: "and man became a           if he had remained standing in a state of rectitude for
living soul. "                                               a definite period of time, would have finally been
   Quite clearly the Scriptures mean to say by this          taken by God into heaven. Nothing can be farther
that, by virtue of the creative act of God, there is a       from the truth. It is simply a fact that man cannot
certain resemblance between man and the living               live in heaven by virtue of his creation. He was not
creatures created on the fifth and sixth days. The           created as the angels, adapted to live in the heavenly
fish and birds were created from the water of this           creation; he was created as a man from the dust of
earthly creation; the animals were created from the          the ground, able to live only upon this earth. Paul
earth. But man was also created from the dust of the         emphasizes this same truth in I Corinthians  15:50:
ground. By this creative act of God, therefore, there        "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood
is some sense in which man is like the animals.              cannot  inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth
  This must not be interpreted to mean, however,             corruption inherit incorruption." It is true that Paul
that man, by virtue of his creation from the dust of         means here to say that wicked and sinful man cannot
the ground, was first created an animal; and then,           go to heaven. But he means more than that. He means
when God breathed into him the breath of life, God           to say that it is utterly impossible that we who are
made a man out of the animal. The resemblance is             created flesh and blood can possibly inherit that
not to be found here.. After all, God simply                 which is heavenly. This is not only because sin
commanded the waters to bring forth fish and birds           entered the world; this is also because we are created
and God simply commanded the earth to bring forth            of the earth earthy. After all, "The first man is of the
animals and creeping things. But man was fashioned           earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from
by the very hands of God. "God  formed  man from             heaven." (I Corinthians 15 :47)
the dust of the earth." There is something about that          Even the elect child of God cannot "naturally" go
expression which indicates that God bestowed some            to heaven. He isn't created that way. The only way he
kind of special care in this work of the creation of         can possibly go to heaven is by means of a wonderful,


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 445


powerful, and altogether miraculous wonder of grace           dependent upon the earth just as are the animals and
through Jesus Christ. By this miracle of grace he is          fish and birds. When he dies he returns again to the
utterly transformed `so that he who was created to            dust from which he is taken.
live only in this world is now able to inherit the               This is what is meant when ,Genesis 2:7 speaks of
kingdom of heaven. This takes a complete change in            his creation from the dust of the earth.
his very nature which is.possible  only through Christ.
This is what Paul is talking about in I Corinthians 15.          But there is more. Adam was also created by
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.          another act of God, for God breathed into his nostrils
This corruptible  must  put on incorruption and this          the breath of life. Here is something unique.
mortal must put on immortality. Our salvation is far          Concerning this we read nothing in connection with
more wonderful than we often think.                           the creation of any other creature. God created man
                                                              by a twofold act, one of which resembled the
  So, Adam was created to live in this earthly                animals and birds, and one of which was unique to
creation. This was his abode. Here he was destined to         man.
spend the years of his life. He was of the dust. He was
an organic part of this creation. He was connected to            So we must ask the question; What does it mean
it in all its parts. He stood at the head as king; but the    that God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of
fact remains that he was inseparably related to it. He        life?
is dependent upon this creation, for he needs the air            But we shall have to await this part of our
of the creation to breath, the fruit of the creation's        discussion for another letter.
trees to eat, the water of the rivers of this creation to                                       Fraternally,
drink. If he has not these things he will die. He is                                            H. Hanko

NEWS SPECIAL

                                  Covenant Christian School





                                              LYNDEN, WASHINGTON



  In the Spring of 1977, a group of believers of              Reformed parents and they openly expressed that
Protestant Reformed persuasion came together to               need to  the. elders of the church during family
discuss the possibility of beginning a distinctively          visitation that year. One of the fruits of that  visita-
Reformed, Christian school in the Lynden, Washing-            tion of the -homes in the flock that year was the
ton area. The need for such a school here was                 consistory's giving initial leadership by calling that
outstanding in the mind of most of our Protestant             first meeting. Thus was begun the activity which


  446                                          THE,STANDARD BEARER



  resulted in the formation of the Society for  Prot-               What- a wonderful, busy year that was for our
estant Reformed. Education in Lynden, which is                   people, doing much of the work "volunteer," but
  responsible for the operation of our school here:              when September came last fall, we were able to open
  Covenant Christian School.                                     our doors for the first year of instruction. Mr. Kuiper
    From the start, the Lord has richly prospered- this          and Miss Lubbers came from Michigan to instruct our
 -work with. zeal  and. enthusiasm on the part of the            children in the fear of the-Lord and now the first year.
  membership, in heart and spirit, in cheerful giving,           is already past. On May 30 we were. inspired to
  and in willingness of hands to the work! We as board           witness the first graduating class and to hear them
  and society rejoice through thanksgiving in all that           addressed by Rev. Kuiper from their class text: ."Take
  God has done to bring us this great gift for this              fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for
  covenant seed,  .also those gifts that came to us              she is thy life." Proverbs 4: 13. Earlier this spring our
  through your hands, dear reader, when you en-                  society took the decision -to add the kindergarten and
  couraged us in our calling by your gifts in the                the ninth grades to the school, and we are now
  congregations, from coast to coast.                            seeking a third teacher to help in that work,. We pray
                                                                `that the Lord will provide someone to come and
    Soon a building was found, purchased and reno-               share these labors with `us, because the school grows
  vated. The old "Grange Hall" on Northwood Road,                from within and without, and at present we expect
  eye-sore that it was, now appears as shown above. In           45 students in September.
  the lower level, there is provision for three class-
  rooms, a kitchen, and the utilities room. The upper               It was a busy year and a good year. Glory be to the
  level contains two large restrooms, three storage .areas       Lord !
  for books and athletic equipment, and the gym-                                               Covenant Christian School
  nasium.                                                                                                   John Tolsma
    Outside, behind the parking area, we have the
  playground: swings, bars, tetherballs, etc. as well as         P.S. We  .are happy to report that the Lord has
  softball diamond, complete with  -a new backstop.              answered our prayers with respect to our teacher
  Going further to rear of the property is a small               needs by sending Mr. David Zandstra as our third
  wooded "park" of about two acres, which includes               teacher beginning this fall. May God bless him as he
  many towering cedars.                                          begins his labors with us this fall.

  SPECIAL REPORT



                                    Christ's Church in.
                           Christchurch and Beyond
                                                    R,ev.  J. A. Heys  ,.
                                                                             :



    Having returned home safely, in the mercy of our            at this time give a further report of our work "down
  covenant God, and by means of planes that two days            under. "
  later were grounded because they were found to be                From October, into the middle of February our
  unsafe for use, and having in a former contribution           labours were confined strictly to the Christchurch
  written about Christ's Church in Christchurch with          -. congregation. But in mid-February we answered a
  the promise to write again after visiting the other           request to come and preach in Nelson and for the
  Orthodox Presbyterian Churches in New Zealand                 congregation of which Rev. Ivo Bishop is pastor. Now
  outside of and beyond the one in Christchurch, I will         Nelson is on the northern tip of the southern island,


                                             THE  STANDARD  BEARER                                                447



New Zealand consisting of three islands, two rela-           thev found it hard to get in their locality. Mr. A. Van
tively large islands and one small island. Christchurch      E&ten,  at whose home we stayed, put us on a bus for
is about midway on the southern'larger island and on         Hastings, and so on April 29 we left to visit the
its eastern shore. Nelson is about three hundred miles.      brethren and sisters there. We found that there are
northwest of Christchurch and almost as far north as         only four souls left of that former OPC congregation,
one can go on the southern island at that point. It is       their pastor having left for Australia some time in the
fruit country, and when we were there in February            past. We broke the bread of life that night in the
the trees were full of apples, pears, apricots, plums,`      home- of Mr. and Mrs. Neil Scott with whom we
and the like. Down under and south of the equator            stayed while in Hastings. We encouraged them from
the climate and seasonswe found to be quite different        the Word and urged them to seek out others who
from ours. And even three hundred miles north of             hungered for the truth. At the moment they listen to
Christchurch makes quite a difference in temperature         tapes in order to be edified and to receive spiritual
as well. In fact New Zealand, even as in our own             food and strength. On Friday we left for Manurewa
country, has some great extremes in temperature,             which is a southern suburb of Auckland, and we
although they are found in the opposite order from           spent two enjoyable days with the Armour family.
our northern tier of states to the southern row of             That Sunday morning I preached for the congrega-
them. From the southern shores of the southern               tion of Rev. MC. Kenzie. Here again we found a
island to the northern shores of the northern island         congregation about the size of the one in Christ-
there are some- one thousand miles of different              church but with more young people, which always
climate. But here the northern regions are the               holds promise for any congregation. The Word was
warmest and the southern are the coldest, being              well received as in Nelson and in Palmerston North, and
nearer to the south pole.                                    one acquires a sincere sense of pity for brethren and
Nelson. is nestled among mountain ranges that                sisters so far removed from each other on two islands
protect it from strong cold winds from the south.            and standing alone in the midst of thousands -upon
And we are told that it is a' favorite place for retired     thousands who have no faith at all, and among
- and maybe tired - businessmen to settle for their          thousands of others who are not concerned as to
twilight years. And, indeed, the scenery is beautiful.       what is preached and in what direction their church is
From the kitchen window of Mr. and Mrs. Kevin                going. And at the same time  it- is heartening and
Inskeep, with whom we stayed, there is a most                encouraging to see Christ's Church there and those
delightful view of mountain scenery mixed with fruit         with whom one can speak the truth freely and with
orchards and the backwaters of the bay. Our colored          agreement.
slide of it proves the point.                          <'       On Monday we flew back "home" to Christchurch,
  On Sunday morning we gathered with the con-                and that Saturday we took a plane to Wellington
gregation and preached the Word there to a very              where we -had a busy and enjoyable Sunday. We
attentive audience, and our picture of the congrega-         found four families that listen with joy to our tapes,
tion reveals a group about as large as in Christchurch       read our publications, and love the truth. That
although many of the younger women are there                 Sunday morning I preached in the home of Mr. and
without their unchurched husbands. The many chil-            Mrs. Van Herk in Wainuiomata, a suburb of Welling-
dren in the congregation do give hope for growth in          ton. After our noon meal we hurried into the heart of
the future, if it pleases our God to enlarge and             Wellington for an afternoon service in the YWCA
strengthen the congregation that way.                        building where the Council meetings of the OPC in
  We returned to Christchurch and stayed there until         NZ are also held. This service had been advertized in
shortly before leaving for home. On February 17,             the evening paper, and there were visitors. Hurry back
1979 we attended a Council meeting in Wellington,            it was again to Wainuiomata for an evening service in
attended by ten men. It was after this meeting that          the home of Mr. and Mrs. Vooys. A busy but
Rev. Geo. McKenzie, pastor of the Manurewa OPC               enjoyable Sabbath among those who hunger for the
and Chairman of the Council and I  .made arrange-            truth where, to a great extent there is, in spite of
ments for a visit to the `churches on the northern           much preaching, a "`famine of the Word." Our Hope
island, Wellington itself being on the southern tip of       Church `in Grand Rapids supplies this group with
the northern island. And so on April 17 we travelled         taped sermons, and Reformed Witness Hour messages,
to Palmerston North (there is a Pahnerston on the            which are heard regularly and greatly appreciated.
southern island as well). and' lectured for some             Indeed, as someone on- the islands said, "This is not a
twenty-five to thirty adults' in the Air New Zealand         time of big things." But God has today little pockets,
building. There we found brethren and sisters who            little groups of those who love the truth and know
were hungry for the truth and knew what the Re-              -what the t-ruth is, and that is true all over the world.
formed Faith is,. and that they wanted it, although          That the true church is a "little flock" we found time


448                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



and time again to be true..                                 never be forgotten. We were too weary to respond to
   Returning home on Monday, we left again on               it as fully as we would have liked, but it will never be
Thursday and this time by car, for another visit to         forgotten - young and old were there; and it was so
Nelson, which had been requested as somewhat of a           good to be with them again.
farewell visit before we returned to the States. And          But while we were yet in Christchurch we heard so
since we would see each other for the last time on          much of the brethren and sisters in Singapore - two
this earth, it was a thing to look forward to, even         of those in Singapore being members of the Christ-
though it had its sadder side to it. This time Rev.         church OPC congregation - that after much delibera-
Bishop was in Christchurch occupying the pulpit we          tion, and finding that we could change our tickets
had been- tilling; and again there was rapt attention at    homeward by stopping in at Singapore, we did, and
the morning service. That evening I preached in the         will never regret it. We were received with great
home of Mrs. Cook, who is exceptionally spry for her        warmth and spent four unforgettable days among the
eighty some years of age, and still plays the piano         members of the GLTS.
with vigor for the services. It might be pointed out          For them we spoke Saturday afternoon. The
that ALL the OPC Churches suffered for Christ's sake        speech was followed by an hour of good, worthy
to the extent that they had to give up their church         questions. On Sunday I preached for them in the
buildings to keep the Reformed faith. And, either           morning and in the evening, with a profitable ques-
services are held in a home at night, or Bible Study        tion hour again at night. And what struck us with
meetings are held in these homes.                           such force is the fact that although these "first
  This left us with two Sundays in Christchurch             generation Christians," as they call themselves, are
before we would leave for home. The evening of the          from a different nation and race, and from an entirely
Sunday that we were in Nelson, and Rev. Bishop              different culture, they are interested so greatly in our
preached in Christchurch, there were the firstfruits of     tapes and publications and the Word of God as our
some of our  labours in Christchurch in that Mr.            men preach it. ,The Revs. Kamps and Slopsema and
Robert Dow, to whom I had been giving instruction,          Elder Engelsma have worked hard and faithfully there
had been licensed by the Christchurch Session (Con-         and are loved by these brethren and sisters in Singa-
sistory) to preach, and he conducted that evening           pore.
service. And now we were faced with "farewell"                It is amazing how truths that one believes, teaches,
sermons in Christchurch. On the morning of May 20,          and preaches have so much more and richer meaning
using the text of Hebrews 2: 1, we gave the congrega-       when one experiences those truths. We were taken by
tion the warning found there to give the more earnest       Boon Kwang and Chin Kwee to W. Malaysia on
heed to what we have heard, lest at any time we drift       Monday to visit two churches. We were - as by Ong
from the truth and suffer shipwreck on the sea of life      and  Cicilia and the members of the GTLS in Singa-
as a church. We who have heard and for years have           pore  - royally received and treated. After a sump-
stood for the truth of God's Word as it is expressed in     tuous meal which the wife of the deacon had pre-
the Reformed Confessions always also need that              pared on the spur of the moment - she did not know
warning, and especially when we think that we are           we were coming  - Boon Kwang gave thanks in
above such drifting. In the evening service we pre-         Chinese, since this deacon's wife understood. no
sented to them our prayer, borrowed from the                English (even though through interpreters she made it
Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Philippians, chapter     clearly known to us that she knew the truth, and
1 and verses 9 and 10, that their love would abound         almost in tears told us that they do not preach the
yet more and more in judgment and in all knowledge          truth anymore in their churches). I did not under-
so that they might be spiritually sensitive to know the     stand one word of that prayer; but the thought hit
truth and righteousness, and be attracted to them           me with force: What a great God we have Who knows
while loathing and detesting the lie in every form, and     not only all languages and every one of His sheep, but
sin in its every shade.                                     our prayers before we utter them!- This I always
  A farewell luncheon was held in the Community             knew, but it struck with force by this experience; and
Centre where the services were held, and that after         we left confident that all of God's people are in good
the morning service. And a farewell meeting with the        Hands, for underneath are the Everlasting Arms. And
Session was held on Wednesday evening the 23rd of           for what more could one ask?
May. A goodly number were at the airport to see us            We commend all the brethren and sisters in Christ-
off at 11 A.M. Thursday, May 24, and there were             church and beyond, regardless of race, color, or
indeed mixed feelings on our part; but as a powerful        nationality, whose common creed is: "I believe in
magnet our congregation at home was drawing us;             Jehovah, the God of our salvation in Jesus Christ His
and the welcome we received at the Kent County              only begotten Son," to the grace and faithful keeping
International Airport when we arrived there will            of Him Whom `they confess.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  449



BIBLE STUDY  GUZDE





                                        II Corinthians
                           The Authority of the Word
                                                 (Conclusion)

                                                  Rev. J. Kortering




  2. Paul assured the church at Corinth that when he           4. Since Paul's authority was attacked, `he now
comes, his personal dealings with them will be as            presents reasons why the Corinthian church should
open and faithful as his letter had been (vss. 7-l 1).       rely on him more than on the false teachers (vss.
His boasting of authority (vs. 8) is rooted in Paul's        1-15). He even apologizes and-asks them to bear with
being an instrument of the Holy Spirit to write by           his "folly" in asserting his qualifications (vs. 1). In
divine inspiration; hence he teaches infallibly. They       verses 16-21 he points out that boasting is not a
must realize this is not for the destruction of the          common way for a servant of Christ to speak, but he
church (a personal victory of Paul at the expense of         must show to them that Christ has used him as His
others), but for their edification (salvation). Hence        servant.
his conduct upon his arrival in their midst will also be
with decisive authority and power not weakness and              a. His desire for the church at Corinth to listen to
evasive speech as charged, (vs. 10).                         his instruction is rooted in jealous love (the kind that
                                                             a husband has for his wife  - he doesn't want any
  3. The apostle glories in God that He gave him             other man to flirt with her  - so Paul was
authority to care for the spiritual needs of the             instrumental in the "engagement" of the church of
churches, (vss. 12-18). The false teachers measured          Corinth to Christ and he desired her to be faithful for
themselves by human standards and confided in                that marriage, (vs. 2). He is afraid that the false
human learning, (vs. 12), but Paul measured his word         teachers will tempt the Corinthians to believe the lie,
and ministry by God's revelation and he trusted in           (vs. 3). He has reason for this concern for they
that, (vs. 13). Because of this, Paul could not be           already listened to these false'teachers, (vs. 4).
accused of intruding in territory that-was not his.
He labored in Corinth because it was Christ's church.          b. Paul asserts his position ofleadership among the
As a missionary apostle, traveling throughout the           apostles. He was among the chiefest - a reference to
countries, he exercised his duty to care for the needs      men like Peter and James. Rank here is not a personal
of all the churches in Asia Minor, Greece, and even         thing, not even a primacy of office, but of gift and
Rome, (vss. 14, 15). His desire is that he may extend       service, (vs. 5). Paul mentions his lack as an orator
beyond Corinth, not to take over some other man's           (one skilled with the use of words as the Greek
territory, but to be used by Christ to save the church      schools emphasized), but maintains his excellence in
and so to glory in the Lord Who alone blesses his           knowledge which the church of Corinth knew very
ministry, (vss. 11-18).                                     well, (vss. 5, 6).


4 5 0   .                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



   c. He reminds them that his refusal to be                 t u r n   a w a y , he suffered with the weak and
financially supported by them was not a rejection of         admonished those who did wrong, (vs. 29). We can
his apostolic office; rather, he did not want to burden      understand Paul's boasting. It is not in himself;-God
them. He took money from other churches and                  called him to endure and he did by God's grace.
worked with his own hand rather than give the enemy          Hence God receives the praise, (vss. 30, 3 1).
in Corinth occasion to accuse him of preaching for              5. If there is any doubt as to Paul's qualification as
profit. This he intended to continue and he even             an apostle, he adds two more important points,
challenged his opponents to teach without being paid,        namely, he received a vision from God and he
to show their sincerity, (vss. 7-12).                        personally triumphed over his own infirmity.
   d. The enemy within the church must be taken                 a. Paul's vision from God (chapter 12:1-6). This is
seriously. They are not to be considered next to Paul,       not a reference to his conversion experience (14 years
but against him. They claim to be apostles, which is         ago would not coincide). It was a special revelation
not true. They are false teachers. Just as Satan tries to    from God to Paul in such a way that Paul did not
come as an angel of light, so they come as false             know if he was bodily taken up to heaven or if it only
ministers; but God will judge them, (vss. 13-15).            involved his inner soul. He did realize he was taken up
   e. Paul declares his good standing with the Jews.         to the "third heaven," synonymous with Paradise in
I-Ie is a Hebrew (emphasizing the national distinction       verse 4, representing the presence of God, see Luke
of God's people), and an Israelite (one in the               23:43 and Rev. 2:7. The first heaven was made up of
Kingdom of God), and also of the seed of Abraham             clouds, the second heaven was the stars and space, the
(in the covenant line). In all three areas, Paul             third heaven was the abode of God. In this vision,
excelled, (vs. 22).                                          God revealed to Paul divine secrets which he was
   f. The record of Paul's suffering for the sake of         forbidden to- tell. Undoubtedly Paul served in a
Christ's gospel established his sincerity as an apostle.     special capacity and needed special assurance of glory
First, he labored harder than any other and was              which God gave to him. We have the Bible and can
blessed in it, (vs. 23). Second, he was willing to bear      ,receive this assurance from Paul as coming from God.
stripes. According to verse 24 he was beaten five            We join Paul in giving glory to God for His
times by Jews (39 stripes with a leather thong, since        faithfulness.
the law forbade 40 stripes, Deut.  25:3). In addition          b. God gave Paul a thorn in the flesh to humble
he was `beaten with rods three times by the Romans,          him and teach him to depend upon God for all things
as happened in Philippi. Most of these incidents are         (vss. 7-10). It is good to learn with Paul the pitfall of
not recorded in the Bible. It gives additional               boasting. The thorn served him well. It refers to some
information about Paul's life. He speaks of                  physical affliction that Paul had. Some suggest it was
imprisonment more frequently and death oft  - that           a deformity in bodily appearance; others suggest it
is, his life was so endangered that he was ready to die      was a speech impediment. It does little good to
almost every day, (see vs. 23). He was shipwrecked           speculate. One thing is true, Paul felt he could be a
three times so that once he even spent a night and           better missionary without it, so he prayed God to
day in the water, hanging on to a piece of wreckage.         remove it. He saw in it an attempt .of satan to tempt
Since this was written prior to his trip to Rome, that       him. He prayed three times, following the example of
shipwreck was in addition to the three mentioned             Jesus in the garden. Yet, the answer came, he would
here. He faced the general hazards of travel, water          have to bear it, but God's grace would enable him. In
(crossing rivers), robbers, especially in desert regions,    this he could well glory, arise above it and see a good
mob uprisings by the Jews-(his countrymen) and by            purpose of God in it. It taught him to depend entirely
the heathen Gentiles as well. He had danger in cities        upon God and not to trust in self. How wonderful it
and deserts. Worst of  .a11 was the treatment he             is when we can learn to glory in our affliction. The
received from false brethren, those who pretended to         grace of God makes all the difference.
be followers of the Lord,, but turned against him, (vss.       6. Paul's concluding assurance of his calling as an
25, 26). He even made specific reference to his escape       apostle and that he seeks the good of the Corinthian
from Damascus when Aretas was ruler, (vss. 32, 33).          church, (chapter 12: 11-13: 14). He points out to the
All this produced weariness and pain, hunger and             Corinthians that as far as his work is concerned, all
fasting (not deliberately for spiritual reasons, but due     the proof. of his apostleship is connected with his
to lack of food), cold and nakedness, (vs. 27). We           work: he patiently preached, he did signs and
read this and we shame our faces for complaining to          wonders (vss..  11, 12). As a church they responded
God for the little we suffer for the sake of Christ.         well, only they needed parental attention (vss. 13,
Paul was a missionary who knew all the trials                14). This was given them also through Titus, not with
firsthand. In addition he carried the-responsibility of      guile and deceit as charged, but unto edifying, (vss.
all the churches; everyone sought his help. He did not       15-l 9). In this way Paul wanted, .to prevent the need


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               451


for further correction which might result in open            with sufferings for the sake of the gospel? Why not
conflict. He would rather see them live a life of            give up? Wherein lies the strength to carry on?
obedience, (vss. 20, 21).                                      2. Summarize the method Paul used in dealing
  They must realize that even though he comes this           with the corruption in the Corinthian church. And
third time, he will not. come, in weakness, he will not      how can we use it today?
spare them if they'sin, he will establish right with           3. Consider the different ways that the hope of
witnesses, and by doing this remove evil through             life after death encouraged Paul to carry on his
confession and maintain truth and right, (chapter            ministry. Why is this so? How is it true for us today?
13: 1, 2). Self denial is not weakness. It follows the
example of Christ, Who gave Himself to the cross.              4. Evaluate the instruction  - given on Christian
One who believes in Christ will follow Christ. A             giving. What are the main points? Consider how they
reprobate will glory in himself. Paul maintains he is        relate to our method of giving. Can they be
willing to be considered, weak for their strength.           harmonized with church. budgets, free will offerings,
Edification is the key word here (vss.  3-lo)., This         fund drives, sales, and bazaars, etc.
section is a beautiful expression of one who truly             5. Paul received a vision from God to strengthen
seeks the welfare of the church even though it means         him in his ministry. Does God still give such visions
self denial.                                                 today? Give reason.
  Paul bids farewell by exhorting them to be,perfect,          6. Why is it so important that Paul stressed he was
united, strong in the Lord in love and peace. This           an "ambassador of Christ." Consider its significance
should be expressed by greeting.one another with the         over against the attacks he was withstanding and also
holy `kiss. In such confidence he pronounces upon            his willingness to defend his ministry and not give up.
them the trinitarian blessing from God, Christ and the
Holy Spirit, (vss. 11-14).                                     7. How did Paul's thorn in the flesh help him
                                                             rather than hinder him as an apostle? Draw similar
SUGGEST THOUGHT QUESTIONS                                    comparisons with your own particular sufferings and
   1. What can we learn from Paul as to how to deal          limitations.


ALL AROUND US





                         Out of the Mouth of.  .`. WHOM?
                                                  Rev. G. Van Baren





   The Banner has, in past months, presented a series          Concerning the practice of obtaining this sort of
of articles entitled, "As Others See Us." To date, they      material from men such as those mentioned above, I
have had one liberal Lutheran, one Roman Catholic,           need not say much. Objections have been raised by
and one avowedly liberal (denying even the blood of          Christian Reformed brethren concerning this practice.
atonement) man -write. The last is Dr. Duncan                Certainly it encourages the false. ecumenism of our
Littlefair of the Fountain Street Church in Grand            day. Young people would be particularly vulnerable.
Rapids, Michigan. Of himself, Dr. Littlefair writes in       If they can read these men in their church magazine,
his article, "Our position is so radically different that    why not worship in their churches? But Scripture also
I understand and can accept the declaration of many          points out, "Can two walk together, except they be
Reformed people that we are not a church and not             agreed?" Or, in I John 10, "If there come any unto
Christian."                                                  you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into


452                                                    Tj-lE  STANDARD BEARER


your house, neither bid him God speed." One would                          But now, alas, the Christian Reformed Church
think that this Scriptural principle  also applies to                   appears to be in the process of losing its integrity and
church magazines.                                                       dissolvi& into just another church attempting to hold
                                                                        on in a world that cannot accept its presuppositions,
   However, all the above leads me to the point of                      beliefs, or philosophy.  The winds of  bhange blowing
this article: some of the  remarkablC things that Dr.                   for so long are now blowing through the Christian
Duncan Littlefair, avowed modernist, has to say                         Reformed Church. Your young people are not so
about the Christian Reformed Church. I could not                        ardent. They slip away more easily when they get
help but think of Titus 1: 12, 13 where Paul wrote,                    .away from home. Divorce is becoming more common
"One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said,                  and more acceptable. And what can be done about it?
`The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow                       Extra-marital affairs are openly discussed  `in your
bellies.`. This witness is true." So also, though one                   official publication. Secular counseling is recom-
could not expect the truth from Dr. D. Littlefair, yet                  mended in preference to pastoral counseling or
he says some strikingly true things in his assessment                   prayer. Dancing is common. Movies, even the most
of the C.R.C. One can only marvel at some of them.                      secular and pornographic, are carefully reviewed in
                                                                        The Banner.  Sunday observance is not what it was.
If the late Rev. H. Hoeksema had written that kind of                   Evening attendance at church is slipping noticeably.
article, and when he did say similar things about the                   You are having to wrestle with the terrible "problem"
C.R.C. when he was alive, there seemed but few in                       of what to do with women in the church. Some of
the G.R.C. who would listen. When the Association of                    your ministers are quietly moving into less demanding
Christian Reformed Laymen deplored the direction                       Presbyterian or Congregational churches. Christian
their church was going in an article recently in their                  schooling for your children is easier to avoid. More
Bulletin,  Dr. Bratt of Calvin  Cqllege took extremely                  and  more of your members are playing the  social-
strong exception in a letter to "voices" in the Banner.                 ladder game, moving to more social but less exacting
But now Dr: Littlefair says it - the outspoken liberal                  churches within the denomination.
among liberals. First, he observes what he saw in the                 Now Littlefair proceeds to analyze some of the
C.R.C. in earlier years:                                            recent attempts to "improve" the gospel of the
          Through all the years I have been in Grand Rapids,        church through all kinds of acts of "salesmanship."
       the Christian Reformed Church has been a powerful            Says he:
       religious organization based on clear, strong principles            And then there is Rdbert  Schuller, smiling prophet
       unswervingly maintained. Your consistently strong                from your fellow Reformed denomination! He is not
       .and intellectually sound presentation of  Calvinistic           merely waiting in the wings. He is front stage and
       principles and Biblical faith has made your impact on            center. He makes tours to tell the more backward
       our  community deeper  and more pervasive than any               brothers how to commercialize their churches! And
       observer could readily describe. You have taken pride            the brothers are eager to hear. Some of your local
       in the "narrow way," and it is largely because of this,          affluent lay leaders even send local clergy on free
       I think, that you have contributed so greatly to the            junkets to the "Center of Power" to learn how to
       quality of life in this community. You have not been             organize parking lots, package the product attractive-
       seduced by the lure of the secular world to                      ly, make it comfortable for the prospect, lure him
       accommodate yourself to modern needs and modern                  into the church, and then sell him the gospel. After
       conditions. You have not compromised for the sake                all, if you can sell soap effectively, why not religion?
       of being modern or popular or more attractive. You               Since the latter is even more important than soap, it
       have nurtured religious passion. Your people care                must follow that it is even more important to do
       about the religious life, and this religious concern has         what you have to do to sell it. If you can succeed in
       infused the total community.                                     getting the prospect in at the gate long enough to sell
          This passion, ironically, has been of great value in          him Jesus, the effort must be considered worthwhile
       my work and in the life of the Fountain Street                   and thoroughly valid.
       Church. You have been a major factor in the rather                  So we begin all the slippery compromises that
       unusual "success" of our church. The rigorous                    bleed religion of its integrity, significance, and worth.
   religion you espoused created a religious en-                       Being successful becomes more important than being
       vironment in Grand Rapids which made what we did                 right. Attractive techniques are more effective than
       at Fountain Street much more significant. People in              discipline or doctrine. What a shame to have the
       Grand Rapids paid attention to religion. When they              Christian Reformed Church beginning to join the
       could no longer accept your kind of religion,                   popular but totally undistinguished mass appeal of
       Fountain Street Church was there  with a  well-                 Aimee Semple McPherson, Billy Sunday, Billy
       grounded radical alternative.  You made it necessary            Graham, Billy Joe Hargis, Billy Zeolli (Why are there
       for people to make a choice; we were there to give              so many `Billies'?), Rex  Humbard,  and Oral Roberts.
       them an alternative.                                           Finally, Littlefair presents his own conclusions:
  The, Littlefair continues by evaluating the C.R.C.                       And I think I understand what's happening. As
as it exists today.                                                     one's  philoSophy and world-view becomes more and


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       453


      more outmoded and unable to meet the needs of the               to change is irresistible. I don't see how you can avoid
      modern world, the normal reaction is to decorate,               the slide. It is, as I have pointed out and as I think
      sentimentalize, and compromise in the hope of                   you inwardly know, already well on the way,
      holding on. While this is going on the secular world is         Nevertheless, I am genuinely sorry to see you lose the
      blamed for luring the young people from the path of             vigor, clarity, integrity, and distinctiveness of your
      truth and virtue, even as that same secular world is            traditional position.
      invited in, covering up the truth of the situation with
      seductive appeal. I, like you,. have watched the               With  the statement of the apostle Paul, I think I
      Liberals pursue such practices for many years.               too need only say, "This witness is true." Nor ought
         But now I see your own traditional belief structure       we smugly sit back and gloat. The dangers grow that
      shaking under the accumulated weight of changed              we too slide along the same course taken earlier by
      and changing understandings of the world. The                the Christian Reformed Church. "Let him that
      eternal truth wavers, and the pressure of your church        thinketh he standeth, beware lest he fall!"



                                                    Education and
                                                  B i g   G o v e r n m e n t .

     One encounters often, lately, reports of the                    harassing and threatening" calls from HEW.
attempts of government to take over the regulation                       . . .When HEW acted, about 140 Grove City
and control of the private and parental schools.                      students were receiving federal tuition grants. HEW
Increasingly, it seems, that big gpvernment bases its                 argues that such aid to students who choose to use it
claim to regulate on the fact that, however remotely,                 at Grove City constitutes aid to the college.
the school has received some sort of government aid.                     The college argues that this is a petty justification
It need not even be direct aid - if any ofthe students                for extending HEW's jurisdiction  to. an institution
attending that school may have received some aid to                   that has made substantial sacrifices  - in terms of
go there, then the school- itself is to be under the                  direct aid it has not sought  - in order to remain
regulations `of government. A report of one such                      outside such federal jurisdiction. . . .
action is given in the Grand Rapids' Press and written                   . . .The administrative law judge who ruled that he
by columnist George F. Will. He reports:                              is powerless to overturn HEW's claim of jurisdiction,
         Grove City College's troubles began, as many                 also emphasized that, "There was not the-slightest
      Americans' troubles do, with a letter from the                  hint of any failure to comply with Title IX, save the
      Department of Health, Education- and Welfare. It                refusal to submit an executed assurance of com-
      began: "Dear Recipient" and ordered the college to              pliance. . . . This refusal is obviously a matter of
      sign forms confirming compliance with Title IX                  conscience and belief."
      regulations against sex discrimination.                            The judge held that HEW has "total and unbridled
         Such confirmation is required of institutions                discretion" in requiring compliance forms. The
      receiving federal aid. But Grove City insists that it           college is challenging this in court. . . .
      neither seeks, nor receives any aid, and it assumed the
      letter was a simple mistake. Alas, HEW's mistakes              One can only wonder when our own schools will
     rarely have the virtue of simplicity.                         feel the increasing pressure of government requiring
         The college's president says: "I was told in strong       of us observance of regulations which we, in good
      terms that they would `bring us in compliance one            conscience .before God, can not obey. The time might
      way or another.' " And he began receiving "insistent,        not be far away.



I                                                                                                                                   I
           THE STANDARD BEARER is ti thoughtful gift for a "Shut-id'.


 454                                           THE STANDARD BEARER





                                  L Book Reviews

THE  EPIsTLES  OF JOHN,  by I Howard Marshall;               it highly to those who are looking for good
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Company, 1978; 274                commentaries for their homes or  ,for helps in Bible
pp., $10.95. (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                    study for society.
   This commentary is a part of "The New Inter-
national Commentary on the New Testament," edited
by F. F. Bruce. It is published to replace the first
commentary written for this set which was originally         Reformed Dogmatics,  Heinrich Heppe (translated by
written by Alexander Ross and included a com-                G.T. Thomson); Baker Book House, Grand Rapids
mentary on James.                                            Mich.; 721 pages, $9.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof.
                                                             H. C. Hoeksema)
   The commentary has some strengths and some
weaknesses. Its strengths are: 1) It includes an                Heinrich Heppe (1820-1879) was a German Re-
important introduction which aids considerably in an         formed theologian and church historian. He was a
understanding of the three epistles of John. 2) It is,       graduate of  Marburg, where he then became a
on the whole, conservative; i.e., it proceeds from the       professor in 1850.
premise that Scripture is the inerrant Word of God.             Heppe's aim in writing and compiling this book
3) It relegates all technical discussions to the foot-       (which first appeared in German in 1861 and in
notes so that anyone can read the body of the text           English in 19.50) was to expound the orthodox
with profit, while the student of Scripture who is also      system of doctrine in the Reformed church faith-
able to handle the Greek and can understand more             fully and without addition. "All the written sources
technical problems will find the footnotes helpful.          I could lay hands on," wrote Heppe, "I have carefully
4) It is, generally speaking, a thorough discussion of       researched and cornpared, in order to transmit the
the text.                                                    thought material brought to light and disseminated
   Its weaknesses are:  - 1) The author apparently           by the acknowledged representatives of Reformed
believes in universal atonement in some sense. In his        orthodoxy. . . . The extracts of the sources which I
explanation of I John 2:2 he writes: "Nor is that the        have imparted for the illustration of Reformed
full extent of the wonder. With one of his typical           Church doctrine are (particularly in the fundamental
afterthoughts John adds that the efficacy of this            Loci) given so copiously and so fully that the reader
sacrifice is not confined to the sins of his particular      can himself test the reproduction  .of the Reformed
group of readers. It reaches out to all mankind. The         system which I have given him."
universal provision implies that all men have need of.          Th value of this book lies exactly in the fact that
it. . . . The possibility of forgiveness is cosmic and       Heppe consulted all the written sources he could lay
universal." This interpretation affects other parts of       hands on. He quotes profusely the writings of the
the exposition, as, e.g., the author's explanation of I      Reformers of the sixteenth century, but also the
John  2:15, 16. 2)`There is not always a proper              writings of Reformed thinkers of the seventeenth
attempt to explain a text in the light of other texts        century, those who are frequently referred to as
within the same epistle. This becomes clear, e.g., in        `"scholastics." The result is that this work constitutes
the author's discussion of 1: 10 where- John writes:         a. compendium of Reformed theology as it had
"If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a            developed up to Heppe's time. The student of
liar, and his word is-not in us"; and 39 where John          dogmatics can refer to this work and: can learn from it
writes: "Whosoever is .bom of God doth not commit            what almost every Reformed theologian of note
sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin,       thought concerning a given subject in the area of
because he,is born of God." 3) The text suffers from         dogmatics. This is, therefore, an excellent source
`less than full exposition of several important passages     book.
in  the.epistles. But this is, of course, partly a matter       All our ministers and seminary students should add
of judgment. What I consider important, the author           this book to their libraries. Baker Book House is to be
of the commentary may consider of secondary                  congratulated on reprinting this important source
importance.                                                  book in the field of dogmatics and on making it
   If the commentary is read carefully, I recommend          available at a very reasonable price.


                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                        455



COMMENTARY ON EPHESIANS,  by J. Armitage                                          Although, generally speaking, the commentary is
Robinson; Kregel Publications, 1979; 314 pp.,                                 written from a theologically conservative viewpoint,
$12.95. (Revie,wed  by Prof. H. Hanko.)                                       its expository material is somewhat too brief to be of
                                                                              any great help. More particularly, the key concepts in
    This commentary is a Kregel reprint and part of                           the book are treated very briefly and very super-
the Kregel Limited Addition Library. The author, an                           ficially. There is, e.g., little discussion of the great
Englishman, lived from 1858-1933.                                             truth of election as Paul treats it in chapter one; there
The commentary is divided into four basic sec-                                is almost no discussion of the sovereignty of grace in
tions. The first section contains a brief introduction                        the first ten verses of chapter 2.
to the book in which is contained material concerning                             The  value of the book is to be found in the fact
authorship, date of writing, circumstances, etc. The                          that the first two sections can be easily used by
second section is a translation of the Greek text along                       anyone who wishes a brief and succinct discussion of
with a commentary on the text. The third section is                           the book of Ephesians; while the last two sections are
the Greek text itself with many linguistic, syntactical,                      of some value for ministers and students of the Greek
and grammatical `remarks. The fourth section is a                             text. Considering the amount of work which went
discussion of several Greek words which appear in the                         into the printing of the book, it is well worth its
epistle.                                                                      price.



                                NOTICE!!!                                                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    Classis East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in                The members of the Adult Bible Society of Faith Protestant
regular session Wednesday, September 12, 1979, at the Hudsonville             Reformed Church (Jenison,  MI), express their sympathy to Mr. and
Protestant Reformed Church, the Lord willing. Material for the Agenda         Mrs. Erne Miedema in the passing away of her mother, MRS. ISABEL
of  Classis  must be in my hands thirty days before the convening of.         ELHART.
Classis.                                                                          "Blessed are they that mourn,
                                                 Jon Huisken, Stated Clerk                                                for they shall be comforted."
                                                                              ( M a t t h e w   5:4).

                                                                                                                     Rev. W. Bruinsma, Pres.
                                                                                                                     Mr. R.  Noorman,   Sec'y.-Treas.
                                 NOTICE!               .'
    Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches  -will meet in
 Isabel, South Dakota on September 5, 1979; at  8:30 AM, the Lord
willing. Delegates in need of lodging or transportation from an airport
should notify the clerk of the Isabel Consistory,                                               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                         Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
                                                                                 The Martha Ladies Society of the Hull, Iowa, Protestant Reformed
                                                                              Church hereby expresses sympathy to one of its members, Mrs. John
                                                                              Hoekstra, in the loss of her brother, MR. LEO TE PASKE.
                      C H A N G E   O F   A D D R E S S                          "Wait on the Lord, be of good  courage,and He shall strengthen thine
                                                                              heart: wait I say, on the Lord." (Psalm  27:14).
   Rev. R. Van  Overloop  has informed-us that their new address, as of
August 3, will be:                                                                                                   Martha Ladies Aid Society
                                                                                                                     Mrs. Nellie Brummel, Sec'y.
                            REV. R. VAN  OVERLOOP
                            5008 SUNNY DELL DRIVE
                            HUEYTOWN, ALABAMA 35020


                                                                                                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                      CHANGE OF ADDRESS                                           On August 2, 1979, the Lord willing, our beloved parents, MR.  &
                                                                              MRS. TUNIS JANSMA, will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.
    Rev. M. Schipper has informed us that their new address (tempo-           We are grateful to our heavenly Father for keeping them for each other
rary) is:                                                                     and for us, their children and grandchildren.
                            Rev.  M. Schipper
                            2021 Arnold,  SW.                                     It is our prayer that the Lord will bless and keep them and cause His
                            Wyoming, MI 49509                                 face to shine upon them and grant that they may continue to live
                            Phone: 452-1945                                   together in godliness and holiness.
                                                                                  "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
                                                                              them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children."
              -EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE                                        (Psalm 103:17)
                                                                                                                David and Diane Bonestroo
    The four candidates, Ron Cammenga, Carl Haak, Ron Hanko and                                                       Daniel, Doreane. and Dean
 Steve  Houck  wish to thank all those who remembered them'with cards                                           Robert and Marlys Brands
 and gifts and other expressions of concern at graduation.                                                             Randall
    "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in                                         Rachel Jansma
 mercy." (Psalm  103:s).                                                                   ,                    Terrance  Jansma

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





4 5 6                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



                                News From Our Churches

  Rev. Arie den Hartog has declined the call              July 4th. That makes a double holiday!
extended to him by the congregation of our                  Professor Robert Decker lectured in our church in
Southeast Church in Grand Rapids. Their new trio          Holland, Michigan on June 26.. His topic was "The
consists of candidates Ronald Cammenga, Carl,Haak,        Church's Calling to Missions and the Believer's Calling
and Ronald Hanko.                                         to Witness." The lecture was scheduled earlier in
  The consistory of our church in Hull, Iowa has          South Holland.
made a trio consisting of Rev. A. den Hartog and            The Young People's Societies of our churches in
candidates Cammenga and Haak.                             the Northwest Iowa  - Minnesota area held their
   Hope Church in Walker, Michigan held a, special        Spring Banquet in  Doon, Iowa on June 11. Rev.
congregational meeting on the evening of June 25.         Marvin Kamps was the scheduled speaker.
From a trio of Rev. den Hartog, Rev. Jason Kortering        In addition to the `Summer Society' now meeting
(a former pastor of the congregation), and Rev. James     in Hudsonville, .Hope in Walker, Michigan is holding a
Slopsema, a call was extended to Rev. Slopsema. A         summer Bible Study Class for all ages on Tuesday
proposal to expand the church by eleven feet was          evenings. Their topic for discussion is the Sermon on
defeated. The proposed expansion would have en-           the Mount, beginning with Matthew 5. Faith Church
larged the coatroom and narthex area.                     in Jenison, Michigan has scheduled a summer series of
  Hope's pastor, Rev. Ronald Van Over-loop, ac-           classes on Wednesday evenings. Rev. Bruinsma is
cepted a call from our church in South Holland,           leading these classes on the topic of the History and
Illinois, to labor as home missionary in the Birming-     Doctrines of our Churches.
ham, Alabama area. Rev. Van Overloop preached his           Our church in Randolph, Wisconsin scheduled a
farewell sermon in Hope Church on July 1. A farewell      public lecture in their church on Tuesday, May 29.
program was planned for Thursday evening, July 19.        Rev. Herman Veldman spoke on the topic of
Rev. Van  Overloop is scheduled to be installed as        "Prayer." Refreshments followed the lecture.
Missionary at a special worship service in South
Holland on the evening of Friday, July 27. Rev. Van         Randolph began their yearly family visitation the
Overloop is then scheduled to preach both services in     first week in June. The theme of this year's visits is
South Holland on Sunday, July'29, D.V.                    "The Importance of Personal and Family Devotions."
   Our congregation in Loveland, Colorado has               Our church in Holland, Michigan celebrated the
extended a call to Rev. Marvin Kamps of Doon, Iowa.       50th anniversary of the congregation with a special
                                                          program on July 3. In honor of this occasion, a
   Rev. G. Van  Baren and Rev. M.  De-Vries visited       special booklet was produced. The booklet was
with the group in Skowhegan, Maine who have               dedicated to Rev. Marinus Schipper as the only living
requested organization as a Protestant Reformed           charter member of the Holland congregation. The
Church. Rev. Van Baren and Rev. De Vries are serving      booklet contains a history of the congregation, a
on a committee appointed by  Classis East. In Rev.        message from their pastor, Rev. John Heys, and
Van Baren's absence, Rev. Wayne Bekkering, pastor         greetings from Rev. Schipper, Rev. Jason Kortering,
of our church in Houston, Texas, and Rev. C. Hanko        candidate Ronald Cammenga, and seminarian Deane
preached for the Hudsonville congregation on June         Wassink, all sons of the congregation.
17.                                                         The South Holland bulletin included this `thought
   The Ladies' Society of Hudsonville sponsored their     for contemplation' from the pen of John Calvin:
annual Senior Citizens' picnic in Hagar Hardwood          "After God has bestowed all things freely upon us,
Park on Tuesday, June 19. This is the time of year        He requires nothing in return but a grateful remem-
when many church picnics are scheduled. Some of           brance of His benefits."
our western churches schedule their annual picnics on                                                     K.G.V.


