             The
       STANDARD
I           i3EARE.R
               A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE


       But it is a fact of church history and of experience
     that smallness and faithfulness to the truth go hand in
     hand. And not infrequently has it been demonstrated
     in church history that outward growth in size and
     financial power and standing in the world goes hand
     in hand with a relaxing of the reins as far as doctrinal
     purity and  faithfulness-~to the creeds are concerned. If
     you want to grow, you must not be too precise
     doctrinally, you must not be too insistent upon the
     truth, you must not enforce the creeds and the
     Formula of Subscription too strictly.  Be  content to
     be "evangelical." Be content to be generally Presby-
     terian or Reformed. Be not righteous over much!
       But remember: the end of that road is the loss of
     your heritage.
                            See "Is The OPC Next" - page 271



c,                                                 Volume LVI, No. 12, March 15,198O -


                                                           ME STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER
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    Calvary's Victory Cry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266         Department Editors:  Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Arie  denHartog,  Prof.
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    A Presbyterian Amalgam? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269               Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper,  Rev. James  Slopsema, Rev.
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MEDITA TION




                                        Calvary's Victory' Cry .' -
                                                                Rev. Hi Veldman



                        "lt Is Finished. "                                    Jesus has suffered as the Righteous One. God, the
                                                      John  19:30b            Judge of heaven and earth, will surely vindicate Him.
  This sixth crossword is a cry of victory. It is such                        Indeed, the world's condemnation is sealed and the
in connection with the kingdom of darkness. The                               prince of this world has been cast out.
onslaughts of darkness near their end. Throughout                                   Besides being a shout of victory this sixth cross-
Jesus' life, culminating upon the cross, these forces of                      word is also all-comprehensive and complete. It
sin and darkness have spent themselves in their rage                          reaches out to the full salvation of all God's people,
upon this Jesus of Nazareth. All this now nears its                           to the entire Old Dispensation, into the eternal
end. And the world has sealed its own condemnation.                           counsel of the Lord God. It, also embraces  .the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                267



everlasting future. No word is more pleasing to the          its culmination at the end of His life. The betrayal of
Father, sweeter to the angels, more blessed for              Judas, every word and all the hatred of the enemy,
sinners, more terrible for the devil, richer for the Son.    the driving of the nails, the prayer upon the cross, the
It embraces the eternal past and the eternal future,         parting of His raiment, His thirst upon the cross, all
the reunion of heaven and earth. It represents for           the mockery and ridicule and railing of the world -
Jesus the end of all His suffering, this wonderful cry       all this was divinely determined. Indeed, the Son of
of victory.                                                  Man suffered and died as it was written of Him and
                                                             determined by His God. How otherwise could the Old
                     WELL-GROUNDED                           Testament be the program for Jesus' suffering?
  What is finished?                                            Besides, this suffering is also pictured to us in the
                                                             Old Testament prophecy. This does not merely mean
  The cross, of course, does not conclude the work           that Christ simply fulfilled what was written of Him.
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He must still descend into         But prophecy is Christ as He speaks of Himself as He
the grave, ascend to heaven, rule over all things in         was to come. The Old Testament needed this
heaven and on earth (the entire New Dispensation is a        prophecy. Christ was not yet in the Old Dispensation,
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ), return upon the            and the people of God of the old day took hold of
clouds of heaven to judge the quick and the dead. It         the Christ as He was to come. And this prophecy
is true that, in a certain real sense, also all this was     concerning Christ proclaims to us that all things occur
accomplished upon the cross. Yet, all these things           according to God's own sovereign will. How rich is
must still occur.                                            this content of the Old Testament prophecy! We need
  What is finished here is all Christ's suffering            not call attention to this in detail. Genesis 3:15; the
effecting perfect reconciliation. Reconciliation, a          lamentations of David in Psalms 22, 41, 69, 89; the
legal concept, expresses a change in the legal relation      lifting up of the brazen serpent by Moses; and the
between two parties in which that which interfered           climatic presentation in Is. 50-53, all speak so vividly
with their fellowship is removed and-the basis is laid       of the suffering Servant of Jehovah. Besides this, we
for the resumption of this fellowship. Reconciliation        have this suffering held before us in all the sacrifices
does not imply a change in God. According to the             of the Old Testament.
Word of God, God is never reconciled, only the                 How was this finished?
world; and the world never does the reconciling, only
God.                                                           The Subject of this suffering is personally the living
                                                             God. Does not Is.  54:5 speak of the Holy One of
  At Calvary God is not reconciled with us but we            Israel as our Redeemer? Only, He is the Holy One of
are reconciled with God. God has established eter-           Israel Who suffers in our flesh and blood. Our
nally His covenant in Christ. He is the sovereignly          Heidelberg Catechism speaks of Him as a very and
appointed Head, and in Him the Lord loved a people           righteous man and as truly God. He must bear the
with an everlasting love. Only, to realize this covenant     infinite and eternal wrath of God in perfect love and
of friendship, the Lord willed the way of sin and            obedience. To do this, He must be really God and
grace. Hence, according to this eternal decree, this         also very and righteous man. He must die, not for
elect people, in the way of their own willful                His own sin (He had none) but for the sins of others.
disobedience, fall into sin. They therefore become in        And He must merit everlasting life and righteousness.
themselves the objects of divine wrath, although God         This was possible only by God Himself.
loves them eternally in Christ Jesus. And if we are to
enjoy God's covenant friendship, then a sacrifice              How did He finish this awesome task?
must be brought which balances completely with sin             Indeed, He finished this work throughout His
according to the righteousness of God. Reconcilia-           entire life. At His birth, in  His incarnation, He
tion, now, is that act of God whereby in unfathom-           voluntarily placed Himself in our guilty relation to
able love and in harmony with His righteousness the          God's law. He took upon Himself all our sicknesses
Lord establishes the basis for this covenant fellowship      and diseases, symbolic of the fact that He would bear
between Himself and His own upon the cross of                the curse of God upon all our sinsupon  the cross of
Calvary. Calvary is, therefore, an act of the unfathom-      Calvary. This, however, occurred particularly at the
able, unchangeable love of God.                              end of His life. Voluntarily He set His face towards
  Unto that end God determined in  I-I& counsel all          Jerusalem already at His baptism by John. In the
the suffering of the Saviour. `Every step of this            upper room He commands Judas to do quickly what
suffering is divinely determined. Step by step, Christ       he was ordained to do. Although He sweat drops of
descends into the depths. He could not be crucified          blood in Gethsemane, He nevertheless reveals that He
immediately after entering upon His public ministry.         is the Lord also of His captors and they can do
He suffered all His life. And now His suffering reaches      nothing but His will. Before Caiaphas He compels the


       268                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


       high priest to ask Him whether He is the Christ, and        hate and will always oppose.
       voluntarily He seals His own condemnation with the             But, this also establishes the terribleness of this
       answer that He is indeed the Christ, the Son of the         sixth word of the cross. This cry of victory is surely
       living God. In wonderful obedience to His task, He          the announcement of Sion's victory and eternal
       reminds Pilate that he would have no power except it        salvation. The curse of God has been borne and Christ
       were given him from above, and He submits Himself           has triumphed. In all His suffering and death He was
       to the governor's sentence of death upon the cross          the perfectly Righteous One. Therefore He is raised
       because the cross is the symbol of the bearing of the       from the dead and exalted at the Father's right hand.
       wrath of God. Upon the cross He gives His life, but         But this same shout of triumph is also the announce-
       not until all has been finished. The flood of God's         ment of the condemnation of the world. It may
       eternal wrath rolls upon and over His soul. As the          appear different at the cross and throughout the New
       chiefest of sinners, crucified between two  male-           Dispensation. It may appear as though the forces of
       factors, and as a lamb opening not its mouth, He            darkness are in command and have the victory. But it
       bears in full consciousness and in perfect love all the     is exactly otherwise. God justified His Servant pres-
       billows of the wrath of God. He pours out His life,         ently because of His perfect obedience. And the
       body and soul, as the Thirsting Fountain.                   world has revealed itself in all its evil and corruption.
         And now hear the cry of victory: It is Finished.          Hence, their destruction is sealed and sure.
       The entire program of suffering has been fulfilled. All
       the righteousness of God has been satisfied. Our                                   BLESSED
       righteousness has been accomplished, all our debt             The crucified Saviour is our complete salvation.
       paid and everlasting life merited. Indeed, Calvary's        This fact is symbolised in the temple by the tearing of
       victory cry is well-founded. The awesomely fearful          the veil from the top to the bottom at the moment
       night is past! No prophetic suffering is left unful-        Jesus gives up the ghost. The way is now open into
       filled. Sion is reconciled with God. The basis for          the holy of  holies.  The sin that made separation
       G,od's covenant has been laid. All suffering is past for    between the. Lord and His people has now been
       this suffering Servant of Jehovah! Everlasting bliss        removed. All our debt is paid and our complete
       and blessedness are at hand!                                righteousness has been won. The Lord was indeed in
                            TERRIBLE                               Christ reconciling the world, His own elect world,
                                                                   with Himself. All has been fulfilled.
         Jesus' suffering and death were committed upon
       Him by the world. This applies; first of all, to our          The result. is that a,ll .work.of  .man is vain. 0, there
       Lord Himself. It is, of course, true that He was            are always those who would maintain  .this work of
       crucified according to God's eternal counsel and            man. Roman Catholicism would maintain that our
       decree. All history, we understand, is the unfolding of     good works are meritorious. Arminianism and Pelagian-
      God's eternal decree. Nothing happens by chance.             ism emphasize the will of a sinner as determining his
      This is also true of the cross. The apostle Peter sets       salvation. However, all this is vain. Salvation is not of
      this forth in his Pentecostal address, as in Acts 2:23:      works. It is given us by grace through faith. And faith
       "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and        is a gift of God. Hence, saved by grace through faith,
      foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked           because of Christ's finished. work upon the cross, we
      hands have crucified and slain." And this applies to         must look away from ourselves and to Him Who is
     Christ's suffering upon the cross in all its terrible         the Captain of our salvation. No flesh may boast. Let
      details. Indeed, this is also our only comfort. Upon         us ever glory in the Lord.
      the cross God was in Christ, reconciling the world
      unto Himself.
         Nevertheless, Jesus was slain by wicked hands.
      God's counsel and Man's responsibility must always
      be maintained. The sinner is a moral, rational creature
      and he always sins willfully' and deliberately. Judas
      betrays the Christ because Christ is light and he loves
      the darkness. The world crucified Him, according to
      God's decree, but as an act of hatred and darkness.
         And this applies throughout the ages. Yes, the
      world will always bend the knee before a humani-
      tarian Christ. The Christ they serve, however, is a
      Christ of their own imagination.  The--Ch-@,i.  of the
      cross, Who came to do the will of Him Who sent Him,
      interested solely in the cause of God's covenant, they
                                                 $1i
L


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                           269



EDITORIALS
ProJ:  II. C. Hoeksema





                                      A Presbyterian Amalgam?


  One of our readers was kind enough to send me a                 It seems evident that this is not an  ,ordinary
copy of a letter which was circulated to all ministers         proposal of merger or of discussions of the possibility
and sessions of the Reformed Presbyterian Church               of merger. It is simply a proposal to join the PCA en
Evangelical Synod by the Stated Clerk of that                  masse if the latter will have them and invite them. Or,
denomination. Said letter contains an important                if you will, it is simply a proposal to the RPCES to
proposal from the Fraternal Relations Committee of             allow themselves to  .be swallowed up. And if this
the RPCES which in effect proposes that the denomi-            proposal meets with approval and the wished for
nation allow itself to be swallowed up - if it should          invitation is forthcoming, the PCA will become an
receive an invitation - by the rather recently formed          amalgam - or more of an amalgam than it already is
denomination known as the PCA, the Presbyterian                - that is, a compound of various elements.
Church in America, a denomination formed largely                  What will the RPCES bring to the'P(ZA? I am not
by separation out of the so-called Southern Pres-              talking about physical assets, about funds, about
byterian Church. The proposal is in the form of the            educational  i&titutions, about missions, etc. There
following three motions adopted by  t,he Fraternal              are these, and it is evident from the proposal
Relations Committee of the RPCES:                               that some arrangements will have to be made
      Moved that we recommend that the RPCES, if it             concerning these. Nor am I talking about numbers
    receives an invitation from the PCA to be received          of members or congregations. There are also these.
    into that denomination, accept such an invitation on        I do not have at hand any current statistics; but
    the basis  bf the inerrancy of Scripture, the West-        although the RPCES is far smaller than the PCA, a
    minster Confession of Faith as held by the PCA, the        mass joining of the PCA by the RPCES will un-
    doctrine of the purity of the Church, and the PCA          doubtedly result in a sudden growth-spurt for the
    Book of Church Order.                                      PCA, which, by the way, has been a fast-growing
      Moved that if an invitation is received and ac-          denomination from its infancy. I am raising the
    cepted, we recommend that particular churches be           question what the RPCES will bring to the PCA as
    automatically placed in presbyteries of the PCA            church.  What ecclesiastical heritage, what doctrinal
    within whose bounds they lie, with the suggestion          heritage, what peculiar tenets, if any, will the RPCES
    that the PCA General Assembly be authorized to             bring along with it to the PCA?
    redraw presbytery boundaries without full constitu-
    tional process during a period of two years.                  To answer this question, we have to go back in
      Moved that we recommend that the agencies of the         history.
    RPCES be submitted immediately upon union to the              The RPCES was originally  part. of the separatist
    four major committees of the PCA, and that the             movement in the `old  "Notihem" Presbyterian
    existing boards and agency heads negotiate with the        Church which is associated with the name of Dr.
    appropriate committees of the PCA plans of transi-
   tion and merger to be completed within a period of          Machen, part of the same movement which is today
    three years.                                               known as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. When
                                                               the Orthodox Presbyterian Church was established in
  There were no grounds attached to these three                 1936 under the leadership of Dr.-Machen and others,
proposals in the letter circulated to ministers and            there soon became evident rather serious differences
sessions. The proposals will be up for consideration at        of views within the new denomination. These dif-
-the Synod of the RPCES in Seattle, W&ington next              ferences concerned chiefly premillennialism and mat-
July 4-10.                                                     ters of Christian liberty (the use of alcohol and


  270                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  tobacco). Ultimately these differences gave rise to a       and one merger) once a part of the OPC. These
  separation in the new group, with a segment forming         discussions, however, involved some real discussion in
  the Bible Presbyterian Church in 1937 - the church          both denominations concerning the differences be-
  which still today is associated chiefly with the name       tween the two groups and involved attempts at
  of Dr. Carl  McIntire. From the start the Bible             resolving these differences. However, this attempt at
  Presbyterian Church has been strongly premillennial,        merger ultimately failed. Nevertheless, both groups
  and it even modified its confessional basis in order to     have remained in contact, especially through
  provide room for its premillennial position. Par-           NAPARC (the North American Presbyterian And
  ticularly in the Westminster Larger Catechism, Ques-        Reformed Council), in which also the larger PCA is a
  tions 86-89 (which deal with the doctrine of the last       participant.
  things), several changes were made which made                  Suggestions for merger discussions between these
  allowance for and even to a degree adopted a                smaller denominations (the OPC and the RPCES) and
  premillennial position with respect to the doctrine of
  the coming of Christ. I will not now specify these          the Presbyterian Church in America have been turned
                                                              down by the PCA. One gets the impression that the
  changes; any reader who is interested in more details
  can look them up in  Vols. 48 and 49, where I               PCA, which is much larger and has enjoyed rapid
  discussed a proposed merger of the OPC and the              growth, feels no urgent need of such merger and does
  RPCES. At its first General Synod the newly formed          not want to get bogged down in protracted discus-
  Bible Presbyterian Church also adopted a Declaratory        sions and negotiations, though it might indeed be
                                                              willing to "swallow" them.
  Statement appended to the Westminster Confession
  affirming its belief in the universality of the offer of       Now what may be said about this RPCES proposal
the gospel and in the salvation of all who die in             to accept a possible invitation to be received into the
  infancy. As far as I know, no statement concerning          PCA?
  the matters of Christian liberty was adopted at that           In the first .place, of course, there is very little to
  time, although it is well known that the BPC and the        judge by, because there are no grounds furnished
  later RPCES continued to maintain their so-called           along with the threefold proposal. There are, how-
  "strict" stance on the use of alcohol and tobacco..         ever, some presuppositions, it seems to me, which lie
    Then in 1956 there came a further division within         at its basis. Some of these are hinted at in the
  the Bible Presbyterian denomination. Whatever the           fourfold basis included in the first part of the
  legitimacy of this claim, Dr. McIntire asserts that this    proposal, namely, that a possible invitation be ac-
  defection began in 1954 "under the leadership of the        cepted on the basis of: 1) the inerrancy of Scripture;
  Rev. Francis Schaeffer, Dr. Robert Raybum, and the          2) the Westminster Confession of Faith as'held by the
  Rev. Tom Cross, who felt that the church could get a        PCA; 3) the doctrine of the purity of the Church; 4)
  great deal farther if it would take a softer approach in    the PCA Book of Church Order. The proposal, by the
  dealing with apostasy." This new group became               way, is somewhat ambiguous. Does it really mean
  known as the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. This          that the above four bases are the basis of accepting
  new group received its doctrinal heritage `from the         the (possible) invitation? Or does it mean that these
  Bible Presbyterians. This means, therefore, that it         four items form, or ought to form, the minimal basis
  kept its premillennial views (reaffirmed at the time of     of the invitation from the PCA, and thus the basis of
 its formation), its Arminian views of the offer of the       the only kind of invitation which the RPCES would
  gospel, and its so-called "strict" views on Christian       be willing to accept? I understand it to mean the
 liberty. In 1965 this Evangelical Presbyterian Church        latter.                   '
 united with a segment of Reformed Presbyterians (in             Without trying to define further the four items
 the Covenanter tradition) to form what is now the            mentioned or the reasons for . their inclusion, I
  Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod. At          would say that the following presuppositions are
 the time of the latter merger, it numbered about 100         implied:
  congregations and 10,000 communicants. I have no
 current statistics at hand, but the denomination has         1) That the PCA does indeed hold to the inerrancy of
 never enjoyed phenomenal growth in numbers.                  Scripture and the doctrine of the purity of the
 Numerically speaking, it would be counted among the          Church  - whatever is to be understood by these
 smaller denominations.                                       undefined items.
    In the early 1970s there were official discussions        2) That the PCA does in fact and in truth hold to the
 between the RPCES and the Orthodox Presbyterian              Westminster Confession of Faith, and does not
 Church with a view to a possible merger of the two           merely hold to it in form and in name. This, of
 denominations, a merger which would have been in             course, ought to be the crucial question. There are
 the nature of a reunion, in view of the fact that the        many Presbyterians who have the Westminster Con-
 RPCES was (although separated by two separations             fession as their  creedal basis but who do not in fact


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         271



and in truth hold to it. And it is indeed a question            In the second place, it seems to me, that under-
precisely in how far the PCA holds to its confession.        lying this proposal, which practically  asks  for an
                                                             invitation from the PCA, is a willingness on the part
3) That the RPCES also holds to the Westminster              of the RIVES to give up all that it has ever stood for
Confession in fact and in truth. This should be the          as a separate denomination over the years, and to do
question which the PCA confronts seriously before it         so in the interest of being a part of a much larger and
issues an invitation. However, this appears to be the        fast-growing denomination. Presumably, in the past
presumption with respect to both denominations in            the RPCES felt that it had good reasons for separate
this proposal.                                               existence, even to the extent that twice in a span of
4) That the RPCES is willing to waive the peculiar           about twenty years it went the way of separate
tenets to which it has formerly held as a denomina-          existence. Just how truly Presbyterian the RPCES
tion. I refer to the Declaratory Statement attached to       was in its stance is another question. But it would
the Westminster Confession concerning the offer of           appear that its stance in the past could be classified as
the gospel and infant salvation. I refer also to the         exclusivist, at the cost of being relatively small and
revisions of the Larger Catechism, Questions 86-89.          slow-growing. Is this now changing to an inclusivist
Under the proposal the latter will be avoided as an          policy, at the cost of whatever distinctive positions
issue for the PCA because the Larger Catechism will          they have held?
not be a part of the confessional  basis,- only the             Meanwhile, from what I know of both the PCA
Westminster Confession. It must be that the com-             and the RPCES, I can see no overwhelming reason
mittee of the RPCES feels that the PCA is a large            why this new kind of merger should not go through.
enough umbrella to cover premillennialists along with        The PCA would appear to have nothing to lose and
postmillennialists and amillennialists. For I cannot         something to gain. The RPCES appears willing to be
conceive of it that the RPCES is suddenly going to           swallowed up; in fact, if this proposal of the fraternal
give up its premillennial views. That the PCA is a large     relations committee is at all representative of the
enough umbrella I do not doubt. But the only basis           trend in that denomination, they would appear to be
on which pre- and post- and amillennials can co-exist,       eagerly waiting for an invitation to let themselves be
it seems to me, is on the basis of all being little frogs    swallowed up. In that case, the PCA could continue
in a big pond, and then agreeing not to make an issue        on its way of being rather broadly Presbyterian, but
of their millennial creakings.                               not distinctive over much.



                                           Is the OPC Next?

  It is not impossible that the Orthodox Presbyterian        a separate magazine, therefore, the  Presbyterian
Church will also be involved in the discussion of a          Guardian  is dead.
similar merger with the PCA as is the RPCES. While I           In the final issue of the  Guardian  Dr. Clowney
do not now know of any official proposal to this end,        writes under the title, "Toward The Future Of The
there has been mention of this in OPC circles. Since         Presbyterian Church." In this article he reflects, first
the demise of the Presbyterian Guardian last year I          of all, on the fact that the early leaders of the OPC
have not been able to keep abreast of developments           were optimistic as to numerical growth. He quotes
in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and so I do not         Dr. Machen as writing, "With what lively hope does
know if anything is actually being proposed con-             our gaze turn now to the future! At last true
cerning merger to their General Assembly. However,           evangelism can go forward without the shackle of
there was a significant article by the Rev. Edmund P.        compromising associations." And the editor of the
Clowney, President of Westminster Seminary, in the           Guardian, H. !vIcAllister Griffiths, is quoted as having
very last issue of the  Presbyterian Guardian which          written in an early issue: "We believe that in a
strongly urged Presbyterian unity.                           generation it (the new OPC) will compare numerically
  Incidentally, the Presbyterian Guardian was not an         with the body whose light has gone out."
official church paper of the Orthodox Presbyterian             Secondly, Dr. Clowney calls attention to the fact
Church, but ever since 1935 has been the paper that          that this optimism met with disappointment. He
served OPC interests. Officially, it has merged with         writes:
the Presbyterian Journal, which for years served the                    The generation has gone by and that prediction
conservative element in the Southern Presbyterian                has not been fulfilled. The Presbyterian Church of
Church (PCUS) but now serves especially the PCA. As              America was soon divided, The heirs of that division


272                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



       in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church; the Reformed               who speak Dr. Clowney's language, the merger will be
       Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod; and the                 inevitable.
       Bible Presbyterian Church would scarcely equal in
       numbers a score of the largest evangelical congrega-                 And again, from the point of view of size and
       tions in the United Presbyterian Church. That de-               numbers and financial power and even name, why not
       nomination, in spite of declining membership, still             merge? And if the OPC desires to be no more
       reports almost two and a half million members, and              distinctively Presbyterian than the PCA, and the latter
       has more enrolled elders than the entire membership             desires to be no more distinctively Presbyterian than
       of the other churches just named.                               the former, what obstacle is there?
   Yet  Clowney does not see only gloom in the                              But there is a lesson in all this.
development of American Presbyterianism. For one                            It is, of course, not pleasant to be small, not to
thing, he still sees glimmers of hope for the United                   enjoy much growth in size, to be limited in financial
Presbyterian Church. For another, he writes:                           power and in the ability to accomplish things. The
         Further, the-situation has changed radically with             OPC knows something of this by experience. We of
       the establishment of the Presbyterian Church in                 the Protestant Reformed Churches certainly also
       America as a result of division in the southern                 know something of this by experience. We know
       Presbyterian Church (PCUS). The PCA is growing                  what it means to struggle, to light for survival, to
       vigorously, establishing mission works here and
       abroad and is increasingly reaching out in fellowship           sacrifice, to be despised, to be ostracized for the sake
       with the other Presbyterian churches that take the              of the truth. We know what it means "not to count"
       Westminster Confession of Faith seriously.                      in the ecclesiastical world.
  Mr. Clowney then goes on to make mention of the                           But it is a fact of church history and of experience
cooperation among .churches of the North American                      that smallness and faithfulness to the truth go hand in
Presbyterian and Reformed Council and to mention                      hand. And not infrequently has it been demonstrated
specifically areas of cooperation between the OPC                     in church history that outward growth in size and
and-the PCA and between the RPCES and the PCA.                        financial power and standing in the world goes hand
Then; after explaining and justifying the merger of                   in hand with a relaxing of the reins as far as doctrinal
the Guardian with the Presbyterian Journal, he makes                  purity and faithfulness to the creeds are concerned. If
the following plea:                                                   you want to grow, you must not be too precise
                                                                      doctrinally, you must not be too insistent upon the
         The cause of Christ's kingdom surely demands that            truth, you must not enforce the creeds and the
   the genuinely Presbyterian denominations in this
       country unite without delay. That cause also de-               Formula of Subscription-too strictly, Be content to
   mands that the revealed will of Christ for the faith               be "evangelical." Be content to be generally Pres-
   and life of his church be faithfully and lovingly                  byterian or Reformed. Be not righteous over much!
   communicated to the thousands of true Christians                         But remember: the end of that road is the loss of
   who are in denominations that are being led astray by              your heritage. All the large denominations which
   leaders who set themselves above and not under the                 today are modernist and completely liberal have
       written Word of God.                                           trodden that same path before!
  One can readily detect that notes such as the above                       The church has but one calling, regardless of the
could easily lead eventually to a merger of the OPC                   consequences: maintain the marks of the true church!
with the PCA. In fact, if there are many OPC leaders                        The Lord will take care of the rest!

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                                            Letter to Timothy
                                                                H. Hanko


                                             March 15, 1980
Dear Timothy,,                                                        conscience and what Scripture teaches concerning the
                                                                      conscience. I consider this a most important subject,
  We began, in our last letter, a discussion of the                   and I hope that you will, if you have any questions,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  273



respond to what I have to say about this matter.             being. And because He is the Creator and we are but
   The English word "conscience" comes from a                creatures, He has the sovereign and absolute right to
Latin word,  conscientia,   which means, literally, "to      determine for us, His creatures, what is, for us, right
know with," in its verb form, and, "knowledge with,"         and what is, for us, wrong. He has this right for His
in its noun `form. The Greek word for "conscience"           rational and moral creatures just as He has this right
has exactly the same basic meaning. The main                 for a tree or a star. He has the right to determine that
question which this etymology of the word brings up          a tree shall live only when it is planted in the soil,
is this: If "conscience" is a knowing with, with whom        receives nourishment from that soil, and, because.it
does one have this knowledge of which the word               receives the gift of sunshine, is able to manufacture
conscience speaks? The answer to this question,              food for itself and live. He sets the stars in their place
according to Scripture, is, emphatically, God. In some       in the heavens and moves them as it seems good to
sense of the word, the fact that we have a conscience        Him. This same right He has over us as rational and
means that we know something with God.                       moral creatures.
   Now it is clear from Scripture that this does not            However, He not only possesses the right to
refer to all knowledge. It is certainly true that all the    determine for us what is right and what is wrong; He
knowledge which a man has he receives from God.              must, as God, do this. He must maintain His own
This is implicit in the truth of revelation. Whatever        righteousness and goodness. He must maintain Him-
knowledge we have, we receive through revelation.            self as the sovereign God. And He does this by
But the word "conscience" does not have this broad           determining for us that we conform to His determina-
meaning and does not refer to all knowledge; it refers       tion of rightness and wrongness; and by insisting that
only to knowledge in a more restricted sense. And, to        we conform our lives to this determination upon pain
put the matter as briefly as possible, it refers,            of death should we disobey. He would no longer be
undoubtedly, to knowledge of right and wrong. This           God if He simply let man determine all these things
is, e.g., the clear teaching of Romans 2: 14, 15 (an         for himself.
important text which we shall have to' discuss more in          Yet it is precisely man's arrogance and pride which
detail a bit later): "For when the Gentiles, which           prompts man to say: "I will not pay attention to
have not the law, do by nature the things con-               what God has to say on this matter. I will make all
tained in the law, these, having not the law,                these determinations for myself." Man has nothing
are a law unto themselves: Which shew the                    which he has not received. The very breath that he
work of the law written in their hearts, their               breathes is given him as a gift. His every moment of
conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts          life is given from his Creator. He is utterly and totally
the mean while accusing or else. excusing one an-            dependent. And yet, paying no attention to this, he
other." The idea is, therefore, that God testifies in        determines that he will deny God the right to tell him
the consciousness of every man what is the difference        what is right and what is wrong and he will determine
between right and wrong.                                     all this for himself. When he does this, he pushes God
                                                             out of his life, denies the most fundamental fact of
   Now there are several things which we must say            his existence, and sets himself up as God. This was
about this if we are to have a clear concept of this         the lie of Satan in Paradise: "Ye shall be as God,
idea.                                                        knowing good and evil." We listened to this lie, and
                                                             we have been trying ever since to be as God.
  In the first place, this testimony of God in the
conscience of every man is a testimony of absolute             God would deny Himself if He let man get away
right and absolute wrong. I mean by that that God            with this. God cannot allow man to sin this kind of
Himself, just because He is God, determines sover-           sin. And so God always solemnly tells man: if you do
eignly for the creature what is right and what is            as you please and do not do what I tell you to do,
wrong. He determines this according to His own               you will surely die.
eternal and perfect being. He is God. He is, in                Man's conscience is, therefore, the testimony of
Himself, perfectly good and holy, perfectly just and         God concerning what is right and what is wrong. But,
right. He is, in His own being, the full reality of all      along with this, man's conscience is also God's
that is just and right and good; and He is, because of       testimony that the right brings with it God's favor
His own essential goodness, opposed to all that is           and the wrong always ends in God's wrath and
wrong, unjust, sinful, and bad. His testimony is,            everlasting death. This too is part of the conscience.
therefore, His own sovereign determination con-                Now it must be understood that this testimony of
cerning this matter. It must be remembered that He is        God in the consciousness of every man does not come
God and that we are only creatures. He has created us        as some kind of direct testimony through the agency
and He upholds us every single moment by the Word            of some kind of inner voice. There is no separate
of His power. In Him we live and move and have our           and distinct- speech of God which is whispered


274                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


in the inner recesses of a man's consciousness and           are made. And, because they have this law of God,
which is totally apart from God's speech in creation         they are able to make laws which govern every part of
and the Scriptures. This would be false and                  their life and which are a reflection of the law of
contrary to all God's work. This testimony                   God. Adultery is considered wrong in the most
comes also through the objective speech of                   uncivilized parts of the world. The same is true of
God, whether that be in creation or in the Scriptures.       stealing and murder. In this way the Gentiles also
Every man has a conscience. This is the clear teaching       show the work of the law written in their hearts. The
of- Romans 2: 14, 15. Paul is talking here about             principle of the law, is indelibly impressed upon them.
Gentiles which have not the law. That is, he is, in the      They know with total assurance that God demands
historical context in  ,which he wrote this, talking         conformity with His will and that disobedience will
about the Gentiles of the world of Rome in which the         surely be punished by the Judge of heaven and earth.
Church of the Remans lived. These Gentiles were the             And that is why their consciences also bear witness
ones who had never heard the Scriptures or the               of all the deeds which they do, and their thoughts
preaching of Christ. They did not, in other words,           accuse or else excuse one another.
receive the law as it was given to *Israel from Mount
Sinai. Nevertheless, even they received this testimony          All this does not mean that there is a certain
of God in their consciousness concerning what is right       common grace which operates among the pagans
and what is wrong through the speech of God; only            This is far from the truth. After all, the theme of the
this speech of God was given to them through the             whole passage in Romans 1: 18ff is: The revelation of
creation.                                                    the  wrath  of God. Paul is explaining the wrath of
                                                             God, not some general and universal grace. The whole
   Paul speaks of this literally in Chapter  1 of this       point is simply that all men justly experience God's
same epistle, vss. 18ff. One could perhaps say that the      wrath, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, because
theme of this entire section is the statement of vs. 18:     they are all "under sin." And the Gentiles are under
"The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all        sin as well as the Jews because God makes Himself
ungodliness. . . ." That Paul is talking here about the      known through the creation in such a way that
Gentile world, the pagan world which had never               Gentiles too know that God is God and that He alone
heard the gospel, is clear from the following verses.        must be served and worshipped. And this testimony
He tells us that the Gentiles are the objects of the         of their own conscience is, therefore, in connection
wrath of God because they suppress the truth - they          with and never apart from the speech of God through
hold it under in unrighteousness. vs.. 18. But the           the creation.
question is: where do they get the truth which they             But it is also true that those who hear the
hold under? The answer, according to the apostle, is         preaching of the gospel and know the Scriptures have
that they get this truth through the means of the            a much more definite and precise.conscience than the
things of the creation: "For the invisible things of         pagan. After all, they have the law of God spelled out
him (i.e., of God) from the creation of the world are        in all its details on the pages of Holy Writ. And they
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are        have that speech of God which speaks of the fact that
made, even his eternal power and Godhead." vs. 20.           God has fulfilled the whole law for His elect people
According to this verse, therefore, God makes two            through the perfect work of Jesus Christ. So, their
things clear through the creation: that He alone is          consciences  - consciences which also operate in
God and that, because He alone is God, He alone              connection with the Word of God - now through the
must be worshipped and praised. This, then, is the           Scriptures are more precise and definite, and such
fundamental determination which God gives to all             people have a much clearer understanding of what
men concerning the difference between right and              God's will is. Hence also the wrath of God comes
wrong.                                                       upon them with greater judgments when they sin.
  It stands to reason that for this cause all men have       After all, it is more tolerable in the day of judgment
also a conscience. Because of this Paul writes in            for Sodom and Gomorrah and for Tyre and Sidon
chapter 2: 14 and 15 that, although the Gentiles do          than for Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capemaum.
not have the law, they nevertheless do by nature the         Matthew 11:20-24. The closer one stands to the pure
things contained in the law and are a law unto               light of the gospel, the clearer is the speech of God,
themselves. The idea is not that they are able to keep       the more definite and precise is the voice of the
the law. Paul himself tells us that this is not his point    conscience, and the greater the responsibility of those
when he writes, in  3:9b: "for we have proved both           who are disobedient.
Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin." The            But we must continue this subject in another
idea is rather that, although the Gentiles do not have       letter.
the law in the sense that Israel had it from Sinai, they                             Fraternally in Christ,
have the essence of the law through the things that                                  H. Hanko


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 275


SIGNS OF THE TIMES





                                          The Last Time:
                                   How Are We Living
                                                    Rev. R. Flikkema




  The last time: how are we living? That we live in            ungodly men will scoff at us. The reprobate seed of
the last times means that we must live our lives in            the serpent will hold us in derision. They will hate us,
complete separation from the world. As we walk in              and in their hatred they will seek their vengeance
the midst of this world we must be distinct. We must           upon us who stand firmly upon the side of Christ
manifest in our lives that there is indeed something           Jesus.
different about us; something so completely different            Is that the way in which we live? Do we live our
that we have absolutely nothing in common with the             lives distinct from the world? Can the world see by
world of sin and iniquity which surrounds us.                  the way we live and how we act that we have
  That we live in the last time means that we must             absolutely no common ground with it and all of its
stand antithetically on the side of Christ Jesus our           wickedness? Do we stand antithetically on the side of
Lord. As we walk in the midst of this world we must            our Savior, knowing that we are not our own? Do we
walk as He walked. We must live as He lived. The               stand in faith, nothing wavering, clinging by grace to
words which we speak must be the words which He                the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ? Do we live with
spoke. In short, we must live in these last times in           the consciousness that, though we are persecuted for
unconditional obedience to Him Who performed the               righteousness sake, our Savior, to use the words of
will of the Father to the very letter. We must live in         our Heidelberg Catechism, "will make whatever evils
such a way that we manifest in our lives the                   He sends upon me in this valley of tears turn out to
marvelous truth that we are not our own, but that we           my advantage"? Is that the way in which we live?
belong with body and soul to our faithful Savior, the            That by the grace of God is the way in which
Lord Jesus Christ.                                             Daniel's three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah
  And that too, in the face of almost certain                  lived. And that fact we must notice in this article as
persecution. Yes, that is also what it means to live in        we consider the Word of God as that is set forth in
the last times. If it is the case in our lives that we live    the. Book of Daniel, chapter 3. Daniel chapter 3
in complete separation from the world; if it is the            presents to us a very vivid picture. It describes for us
case in our lives that there is something different            the fact that King Nebuchadnezzar had made a great
about us, something so completely different that we            image. Concerning that image we read that it stood
have absolutely nothing in common with the world of            some 60 cubits high and some six cubits wide. That
sin and iniquity which surrounds us; if we stand               is, it was an image that stood some 90 feet high and
antithetically on the side of Christ; if we obey Him           some 9 feet wide. A great image it was. However, not
and His Word unconditionally; if we show forth the             only was it great from the point of view of its size
fact that we are not our own, but that we belong to            and dimensions, but it was also great from the point
our faithful Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall           of view of its costliness. It was made, we read, of
face almost certain persecution. The world of                  gold. It was a golden image. And with respect to that


 276                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


fact, it really does not matter whether we conceive of      reflection of all that man had done, and all that man
that image as being an image of solid gold, or whether      had accomplished. As it stood there it spoke volumes!
we conceive of that image as being an image of wood         It said to all those who were gathered at its feet:
overlaid with gold. It really does not matter. It was       Look all ye peoples! Look at me! I am the very
indeed a great image.                                       embodiment of man: of all man's power and strength,
   That great image Nebuchadnezzar erected on the           and all man's wisdom and learning, and all man's
plains of Dura. No one really knows where exactly           achievements! By me nations are conquered and
the plains of Dura lay, nor is that important. But          people are subjected! And who is like unto me? Look
what is important is what took place on those plains        at me and bow! Fall down and worship! That is what
of Dura. What took place there was this, namely, that       that image spoke to those who were gathered at its
to those plains and before that great image,                feet. But that, however, is not all. For not only did
Nebuchadnezzar called all the mighty men of his             that image by virtue of its greatness command all to
realm. He called everyone and anyone who was                bow down before it, but it also said that those who
somebody in his realm. After they were gathered             refused to bow would die! And not only that, but
there, all of a sudden the voice of a herald rang out       having spoken that word of death to all who refused,
with a message - a message which amounted to this:-         that image also mocked God. We must notice that. It
when ye hear the sound of the comet, flute, harp,           said, "And who is that God that shall deliver you out
sackbut, psalter-y, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye    of my hand?" I know that those were words spoken
shall fall down and worship this great image. No            by Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar spoke those
sooner had the herald spoken when the sound of all          words when he discovered that Daniel's three friends
those instruments were heard. And all fell down in          had refused to bow down to his image. But what we
worship before that great image which Nebuchad-             must understand is that when Nebuchadnezzar spoke
nezzar had made.                                            those words, that image also spoke those words.
                                                            Nebuchadnezzar made it. It was his image. And
  All fell down in worship! All, except Daniel's three      therefore, all that he said and did, and all that which
friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Oh, yes,           was not God which Nebuchadnezzar represented, his
they too were gathered there on those plains of Dura        image also represented. Imagine, it said, "And who is
for they also were important men in Nebuchad-               that God that shall deliver you out of my hand?"!
nezzar's realm. They too heard the herald say that
when the sound of all of those musical instruments            That is not too difficult to imagine, is it? It was
was heard, all must bow down in worship before              not too difficult for Daniel's three friends to imagine.
that great image. But Hananiah, Mishael, and Azarigh        They were there. `They heard it. -And having heard it,
did not bow down. They would not fall down in               they refused. But the point is, that all that that image
worship before that great image. Imagine that! All          represented, and all that that image spoke, yes, even
those men were gathered there on the plains of Dura         its horrible word ("And who is that God who shall
and all bowed down before that great image, but             deliver you out of my hand?") is not too difficult for
Daniel's three friends did not! How conspicuous they        us to imagine. We hear those words every day. We are
must have looked! Three out of hundreds, or maybe           in the world - not of it, but in it. And because we are
even thousands, remained standing.                          in it, we hear those words. We stand with Daniel's
  Now, the'question of course is: why? Why did they         three friends in the plains of Dura before that ,great
do that? Does not the Bible say that we must obey           image and its horrible speech. The plains of Dura with
those in authority over us? Does that not mean,             its great images are everywhere. We cannot escape
therefore, that Daniel's three friends were violating       them. No matter where we go, no matter where we
that authority, the word of King Nebuchadnezzar,            turn, there are those plains of Dura, and there are
when they refused to bow down before that great             those great images with their horrible God-defying
image? Yes, indeed, the Bible says that we must obey        speech.
those in authority over us. But the Bible also says           And the question is: what do we do when we are
that we must obey God rather than men. And it was           confronted with that speech? Do we listen to that
exactly that fact that Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah       speech? Do we bow down before those great images?
were doing when they refused to bow down before             As we stand before them do we determine how we
that great image. We must not obey that which is not        are going to live and what we are going to do by
God. But most emphatically,. we must obey God!              looking and seeing how everyone else is living and
Clear to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah was this            what everyone else is doing? And do we determine
truth, that that which stood before them represented        that if everyone else is bowing down before the great
all that which is not God. That image was nothing           images of this world, that we will do likewise? I
other than a glorious tribute to man. As it stood there     submit to you that if Daniel's three friends had done
shining in the noonday sun, it was a glorious               that, they would have bowed. But they did not bow.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   277



Why not? Because they knew in their heart of hearts            upholding their faith every step of the way. He did!
that it was their calling to live their lives distinct from    Even when they were thrown into the fiery furnace,
the world and separate from the world. They knew               He did. And the wonderful testimony of the
that it was their calling to stand upon the side of            Scriptures is that so also does Christ Jesus our Lord
Christ, come what may. Do we know that that calling            stand beside us. He upholds our faith as we stand in
is also our calling? And, even more importantly, are           the plains of Dura with its great images every step of
we obedient to that calling, come what may?                    the way.. The world says: who is that God that shall
  That is our calling. It is none other than the calling       deliver you out of my hand? By faith we say: He is
given to us by Christ. And to us who have been given           Jesus, Jehovah Salvation, the Son of God in our flesh,
that calling, Christ gives the grace to obey, yes, even        our King and our God. He shall deliver us.
in the face of persecution and death. I ask you, how              May it be true of us that we live our lives with that
could Daniel's three friends have obeyed their calling?        wonderful testimony in our hearts and on our lips.
Not by virtue of their own strength. They did that             Remember, these are the last times. But the question
because Christ Jesus their "Lord stood beside them,            is: how are we living?

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD                                              . .



                                   News From Lansing
                                                   Rev. Steven Houck



  I am thankful for this opportunity to report the             worshiu together here. We conduct worship services
progress of our -Mission work in Lansing, for I believe        twice on Sunday (10 A.M. and 6 P.M.). After the
that God is working here, through the ministry of His          morning service I teach two catechism classes while
Word. No, it is not that we are experiencing a growth          the adults have a Bible study and the young children
in numbers; it is not that new families from the               have Sunday School. Every Wednesday we meet
community are joining us; and it is not that people            together at  7:45 P.M. for studies in the Canons of
are breaking down the doors of the church to hear              Dordt.
the preaching of the gospel. Nevertheless, God is                We are very grateful to God that He has provided
working here and through His Word is accomplishing             for us a very nice building in which to worship. We
His purpose. For the Lord tells us through the                 rent a Seventh Day Adventist Church which is located
prophet Isaiah, "So shall my word be that goeth forth          near the University in East Lansing. It is a small
out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void,             building which is very well suited for our needs.
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it
shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isa.              Although we have not gained, as of yet, any new
55: 11). God's Word which He sends forth never                 regulars, we have been getting a good number of
returns to Him empty, but always brings about just             visitors. In fact, lately we have had at least one visitor
exactly what He has purposed. This we firmly believe           attend one of our services just about every Sunday.
with respect to our work here in Lansing. Although             Most of these visitors are college students who come
sometimes it is difficult, if not impossible, to see that      from various parts of the country and who vary
Word do its work, yet our comfort and encourage-               greatly in their religious affiliation. We have had
ment is that this work is not, first of all, our work but      visitors who are members of the Reformed Church
God's work. We indeed preach the gospel, but only              as well as those who belong to the Roman Catholic
Christ can gather His people into the Church.                  Church. There have even been some from the "funda-
                                                               mentalist camp."
  We are encouraged by the fact that Christ has given            The reaction of these visitors to the preaching of
to us a fairly solid group of people who are firmly            the gospel has been just as varied as their religious
committed to the Reformed Faith. Including my                  affiliation. Sometimes they are very attentive and
own, there are seven families and one individual who           seem to be drawn by the Word of God. They nod


278                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



their heads in approval. Oftentimes after the service       Word and does not want the Reformed Faith. Now I
we have some interesting talks with them. But then,         realize that this is true of all men everywhere.
too, some have come who seem to be bored with the           However, here in the Lansing area, I have been struck
Word. Our hour and a half service is too much for           by the fact that there seems to be very few who really
them. It has happened, too, that the Word of God            seek the truth. The people of this area seem to be
offends some. `I have preached to people who reveal         very liberal in their thinking and in their beliefs.
by the expressions on their faces that they do not like     There are few that I talk with who are sincerely
what they hear. In fact, on one occasion the                interested in the gospel of Jesus Christ. They will tell
preaching of the gospel drove a man out of the              you in no uncertain terms that they don't believe
service. In the middle of the sermon, he got up and         what you say and do not want what you have. They
walked out. It is at times like that, that we are           stumble over the Gospel.
reminded of the fact that the word of God has a               Then too it is difficult because of my own
two-fold effect upon its hearers. It both softens and       weaknesses as missionary. Because I have not had the
hardens, for "to the one we are the savour of death         previous experience of being a minister of the gospel,
unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto        I have much to learn with respect to the work of the
life" (II Cor. 2: 16). But whatever the reaction we         ministry. The tasks that would be routine for a
know that God's Word is working what God wants it           veteran minister are still struggles for me. And yet, in
to work, and our responsibility is to preach the Word.      all of this I am not discouraged, because we have in a
  Most of our visitors come because they have read          very wonderful way experienced the grace of God. I
our ads in the paper. Every Saturday we advertise not       can say with the apostle Paul, "when I am weak, then
only the time and place of our services, but we also        am I strong" (II Cor. 12: 10); for when I am weak I
tell them what we believe. We have run a series of ads      experience the strength of Almighty God Who
on the five points of Calvinism, as well as on the          upholds His people and gives unto us all that we need
Apostles' Creed. In this way we tell them who we are        to fulfill our calling. And even as He removes the
and what we believe and preach. We take care to             difficulty of my own weakness, so too He removes
emphasize that we stand upon the Scriptures as the          the first difficulty. For the heart that is hard He can
sole authority for our faith and practice. Along with       soften, and the man who is dead He can make alive;
our regular church ads we also advertise the literature     the Lord God Almighty sovereignly rules "all the
of our Reformed Free Publishing Association. At first       inhabitants of the earth." He can put "a new spirit"
we did not get a very great response to this. But lately    within them; He can "take the stony heart out of
more and more people have been writing for this             their flesh, and give them an heart of flesh" (Dan.
literature. It is difficult to judge how effective this     4:35 & Ezek. 12: 19). This is our confidence.
witness is. We do not know how many actually read             Our Lord Jesus Christ is building His Church in
this material. But it does seem to be a witness. On         spite of all the opposition and resistance of the world.
two occasions now, people have visited our worship          He is gathering His people, and we as Protestant
service because they had previously received and read       Reformed people are privileged to have a part in that
our literature.                                             great work. God has called three of our ministers to
  It is especially with these people who ask for            the specific task of mission work. We have the
literature and who visit our services that I later make     opportunity to spread the Reformed Faith, the faith
contact. I ask them what they think of the literature       of the Scriptures which we hold so dear, to places we
and tell them more about our Churches and what we           have never been before. The doors are open for us to
believe. If they do not agree with what they have           preach of the Soviereign God who by sovereign grace
read, I seek, through the Word, to show them the            alone saves His people. I trust that we are excited
preciousness of the truths of the Reformed faith and        about that and eager to share in that. Do all you can
how these truths can give a man comfort and peace in        to support your missionaries. Support us with your
the troubled world. Up to now, this contact has             interest, support us with your financial help, but
resulted in no immediate positive fruit. We are,            most of all support us with your prayers. Pray for us
however, confident that God has called us here, not         that we might receive of the Lord all that we need to
only to be a witness, but to be used to gather His          carry on this most wonderful work. I ask you, as the
people. In His own time and in His own way He will          Apostle asked the Ephesian Christians, "pray always
gather "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" here in      with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and
the Lansing area.                                           watch thereunto with all perseverance and supplica-
                                                            tion for all saints, and for me, that I may open my
  And yet, from the perspective of a missionary             mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the
laboring here, I must confess that the work is very         gospel, for which I am an ambassador, . . . that
difficult. Difficult in the first place, because the        therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak"
natural man does not like to hear the preaching of the      (Eph. 6: 18-20).


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         279 ..



TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE





                                         The Incarnation'
                                                  Rev. David Engelsma




   The incarnation was the wonder of all the wonders          This is the creed which requires Christ to be
of the wonder-working God. All of the other                   acknowledged in two natures, "inconfusedly, un-
w.onderful  works of God, both before and after this          changeably, indivisibly, inseparably."
miracle, are so' many satellites about this great star,          But the opposition was not annihilated in A.D.
or, more accurately, so many rays of light emitted by         451, or, for that matter, in A.D.  ,680. Nor is this
this glorious sun. "Great is the mystery of godliness,"       opposition limited, in our day, to the outright denial
the Church confesses in I Timothy 3: 16, "God was             of Jesus' Deity by modernist-Protestantism. Rome
manifest in the flesh."                                       today is confronted by a challenge to her dogma of
   For this reason, the incarnation is known only by          the incarnation on the part of certain of her own
faith  - unbelief has no eye for the dazzling light of        notable theologians. In my own tradition  - the
the revelation of God's greatness and goodness in the         Dutch Reformed  - men are questioning the
world; and even for faith this wonder is incompre-            Chalcedonian Christology, and questioning it in such
hensible. This, of course, is not to. say that faith          a way as to raise the question, whether they deny the
cannot understand the incarnation, or that it cannot          incarnation.
explain what it believes, or that it cannot defend               Opposition to the incarnation had the effect in the
what it believes - faith certainly can do these things;       4th and 5th centuries and has the effect today that it
but it is to say that faith cannot exhaustively               drives the Church to search the Scriptures for the
understand  - cannot plumb the depths of  - this              living knowledge of Jesus the Christ.
work of God which we name the incarnation, and                   Who is Jesus? Who is the Jesus revealed in Holy
that faith adores the greatness of God that surpasses
understanding, even as it seeks understanding.                Scripture?
   The words quoted from I Timothy 3 begin,                      In the doctrine of the incarnation, we are
 "Confessedly." "Without controversy" in the King             concerned with Jesus; and our concern is exactly that
James is really "Confessedly - Confessedly, great is          of the question which Jesus Himself once asked about
the mystery of godliness." The manifestation of God           Himself in conversation with the Pharisees: "What
in the world is a confession. It is a confession of faith.    think ye of Christ? whose son is he?" (Matthew
Faith is expressing what it believes.                         22:42) This was also the controlling question in the
                                                              trinitarian controversy that preceded, and gave rise
   Like Christ Himself, the incarnation is truth that is      to, the struggle over the natures of Christ and their
 always spoken against. The great struggle for this           relationship to each other.
 truth was fought in the last part of the 4th century
 and the first half of the 5th century A.D., although            In her careful formulation of the truth of this
 the mopping-up operation lasted late into the 7th            doctrine, not only was the Church responding to
 century. The decisive blow for the incarnation was           various heresies, but she was also expressing the living
 struck by the church council of Chalcedon in A.D.            faith of the saints (and let it be emphasized, it was
 45 1. This council set forth the faith of the Church on      *A speech given at the University of Chicago for the University of
 the incarnation in a creed, the Symbol of Chalcedon.         Chicago Christian Fellowship.


280                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



not only the faith of the theologians and bishops, but       the human, a dwelling side-by-side of God and a man
also, and especially, the faith of the saints) as to Who     in the temple of the body and soul of one Jesus. The
and what Jesus is, on the basis of the clear testimony       incarnation was not the turning of God the Word into
of Holy Scripture. We may not for one moment                 a man, so that what we have as a result is one who is
suppose that the doctrine of the incarnation as it is        only a man, but no longer God. On the other hand,
set forth in the creeds is the theoretical speculation of    the incarnation was not the absorbing of the human
the theologians. Rather, it is the statement (and if         into the Divine Word, so that what we have is one
you take the time to read it, you will discover that         who is only God, but no longer man. Nor was the
the statement is characterized by simplicity) and            incarnation the mixture of Divine and human to form
defense of that which the whole Church read in the           a third kind of being: a super-man or a  demi-god.
Bible.                                                       None of these is  union.  But God united to Himself
  She read that her Saviour, Jesus, is a real man            flesh, so that He is now both God and flesh.
among men. She read that this Savior is, as well, God          Accordingly, Jesus is a real man. "Consubstantial
Himself come down to her from heaven. She read               with us according to the manhood," confesses the
that He is, nevertheless, one Christ, not two Christs.       Symbol of Chalcedon. He is flesh; and "flesh" is
And this is the doctrine of the incarnation.                 human nature, humanity. He derives His manhood
  The Church of Christ believed this from the first;         from the mother in whom He is conceived and of
the heresies did not lead the Church to believe              whom He is born; and, thus, He derives it, as do we
something she had never believed before. All that the        all, from Adam.
heresies did was to stimulate the Church to under-             He is a complete man; the flesh taken to Himself
stand more clearly and sharply what she believed; to         by the Word is full flesh, lacking nothing. Chalcedon
express more definitely what she believed; and to            had to contend for this against Apollinaris, who held
formulate her faith carefully.                               that, although Jesus had a human body and a human
  Apart from this, it would be impossible to account         soul, He lacked a human spirit (in the language of the
for the steadfastness of the orthodox over so many           day, a "reasonable soul"). In place of this supposedly
years, in the face of so many adversities, and despite       highest part of man, said Apollinaris, was the Divine
so many bewildering deviations.                              Word Himself. Chalcedon, therefore, was at pains to
  Amid all the din of Arianism, Apollinarianism,             assert that Jesus was "perfect in manhood" and that
Nestorianism, Eutychianism, monophysitism, and               He possessed a "reasonable soul," i.e., a spirit.
monothelitism, to say nothing of the noise of the              What all this amounts to is the simple insistence
subtle variations on all these errors, besides the usual     that Jesus is a man. If He is a man, He is completely a
confusion contributed by the civil powers, there was         man. Whatever makes up human nature composes
the clear, certain, powerful sound of the Word of            Him. He is "in all things . . . made like unto his
God, Holy Scripture; and the Church listened intently        brethren" (Hebrews 2: 17).
and obediently to the Word of God.                             In one respect only does He differ from us, and
  The Church heard Scripture say, "And the Word              that is that He is sinless: "without sin" (Hebrews
(Who was in the beginning, Who was with God, and             4: 15); "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from
Who was God) - And the Word became flesh" (John              sinners" (Hebrews 7:26). But sinfulness is not of the
1: 14).                                                      essence of humanity.
  The incarnation was the act of the Word, Whom                At the same time, Jesus is very God.  "Consub-
John identifies in John 1 as the eternal Son of God,         stantial with the Father according to the Godhead,"
of becoming flesh; it was the event of the union of          Chalcedon says. He is, and remains, the Word, the
the Word and flesh. It was the act, or event, of a           eternal  Logos Who is God and by Whom all things
moment  - one, definite, particular moment of time           were made in the beginning. He has His Deity of God
(time's fulness, according to Galatians  4:4), the           the Father by being begotten from the Father from
moment that Jesus was conceived in the womb of the           all eternity. According to John 1: 14, He is the only
virgin, Mary, in Nazareth, Galilee. The word, incama-        begotten of the Father - the Son, therefore. Having
tion,  means this: `becoming flesh,' or `coming in           His Being from the very Being of God the Father, He
flesh.' God became man; and this God-become-man is           is, as the best reading of verse 18 puts it, "the only
Jesus.                                                       begotten God." Jesus claimed Deity, and forgave sins;
  This was an act of real union. How this union was          the disciples recognized His Deity, and Thomas said
effected, in what it consisted, we put off explaining        to Him, "My God."
for a moment. But it was the union of God and flesh.           In other words, Jesus has two natures. We
The incarnation was not a close contact between God          understand by "nature" (or substance) the sum total
and a human being, a conjunction of the Divine and           of all the powers and qualities that make up a certain


                                              THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                   281



being; or, more simply, what someone is. Jesus is             view, Jesus is one nature, the Divine. Chalcedon
God; and Jesus is man.                                        spoke against this when it wrote, "inconfusedly,
  These two natures always remain distinct. One of            unchangeably." As has already been noted, the
the teachings rejected by Chalcedon as an error was           confusing of the natures can take other forms.
that known as Eutychianism: the flesh was so taken                                (to be concluded)
up into the Word as to be absorbed by the Divine
Word. Even the body was deified. Hence, on this

FROM HOLY WRIT





                              Exposition of Galatians
                                                  by Rev. G. Lubbers




   It ought not to be overlooked that the first ten           THE TENDER AND MERCIFUL RESTORATION
verses of this sixth chapter of Galatians are a               OF A FALLEN SAINT (Galatians 6: l-5)
continuation of the admonitions contained in verses              Full of earnest and apostolic appeal, Paul addresses
25,26 `of the former chapter.  Paul"applies to two            the Galatian saints as "brethren."' These "brethren"
particular matters the content of the truth that living       include also the sisters in Christ. In a sense the entire
by the Spirit calls for a consistent walk by the Spirit       admonition is couched in this term:  brethren.  A
of Christ. For they who walk by the Spirit, being led         somewhat hasty perusal of the Scriptures indicates
by the Spirit, do not ever fulfill the lusts of the flesh.    that the term "brethren" does not refer to natural
That is like a great beacon light shining upon the path       ties of blood ("Blood-brother" sic) but refers to the
of our earthly pilgrimage until the day of Christ. (Gal.      new relationship which is ours through the regenera-
5: 16).                                                       tion in Christ Jesus. It is the new birth by which we
  Particularly these verses, which we are about to            have the power, the right, and the authority (exousia)
study; illucidate the orderly walk  f  `"stoichein"  Gal.     to become the children of God (John 1: 11-13). In the
5:25) of the power of the Spirit of Sanctification.           household of faith (Gal. 6 : 1 Ob) all things are basically
This is the Spirit, Who shed God's love abroad in our         and radically new. The household of God is the
hearts, so that we have a faith which works (is               family of the freeborn sons of Sarah, born from
energized) by love.                                           above (John 3:3,6,7,8,). How pregnant with meaning
  Paul singles out two aspects of the life of the             the term "brethren" is in the book of Galatians may
congregation in which this walk by the Spirit must be         be seen in all the places where Paul speaks of the
evidenced as a good fruit of practical thankfulness,          saints as brethren: Gal.  1:2,11;  3:15;  4:12,28,31;
which is the keeping of the commandment of love for           5: 11, 13. Paul has never lost confidence that these
the brother. Firstly, he shows in a "case study," how         brethren, "through the Lord," will be wooed back to
walking according to the Spirit is evidenced in the           the faith, that Christ be once more formed in them
merciful restoration of a man  (anthropos)  who is            (Gal. 4: 19; 5: 10). How much of Paul's travail of soul
overtaken by a transgression of the law (verses l-5).         is in each of these texts, where he calls them
And, secondly, he exhorts to the loving care, which           "brethren," may be seen in the fact that the last word
members of the church must show for their teachers,           in this entire epistle is "Brethren" (Gal. 6: 18).
and for all those who are the poor in the household             The Bible never speaks of a brotherhood of fallen
of faith (verses 6-l 0).                                      mankind, the so-called "brotherhood of man" of


282                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



which deniers of the Christ speak. This is the language      pray, according to the instruction of Him, who was
of those who would deny the truth that the church is         tempted in all things, "lead us not into temptation,
gathered "out  of every tongue, tribe, people, and           but deliver us from evil (evil One)" (Matt. 6: 13a).
nation." Such deny the reality of the enmity  ,which         This is a prayer in the household of faith. The
God Himself has made between the seed of the                 children of our heavenly Father pray thus for
Serpent and the Seed of the Woman (Gen. 3: 15; Rev.          themselves and for all the saints, with whom they
7: 9,10). The term "brotherhood" is used in                  know the length and breadth, the height and depth of
Zechariah 11: 14 and I Peter 2: 17. In both of these         the love of Christ (Eph. 3: 14-19). Here we have the
cases the term definitely refers to the peculiar tie and     intense battle against Satan, the world, and our own
relationship between the members of the household            flesh, do we not? We must pray lest we be overcome
of faith. In Zechariah the Lord speaks of the unity          in this battle, must always give strong resistance until,
between the tribes of Judah and Israel. This tie was         at last, in glory we have the complete victory, and
symbolized in the one stave which is called "Bands."         the victor's crown! And for this battle we heed
When this band is symbolically broken, it refers to          the power of the Holy Spirit of Christ (I Peter  1:5;
the Lord's sovereign breaking of the "brotherhood            II Peter  1:3). This battle is not a proud  Pelagian-
between Judah and Israel" (Zech. 11: 14). On the             humanistic effort, a legalistic work-righteousness, but
other hand, in I Peter 2: 17 the term definitely refers      it is of the battling saint. And he is but a "man," who
to the church of the reborn saints in Christ, the eldest     was overtaken in a fault.
brother, the  tirstbom brother amongst the brethren,            Yes, Paul says, he was overtaken in a fault!
as an eternal abiding family in the Father's house
(John  14:1-3). Here is a brotherhood which is                  I believe that we must be cautious not to minimize
separated from the rest of mankind by God's sover-           the "fault" of this saint, this "man," and conceive of
eign election and reprobation. They are an elect             it as being a rather insignificant sin. It is much more
nation, a holy priesthood, a peculiar possession,            according to Scripture to conceive of this sin as being
called out of darkness into God's marvelous light.           rather grievous, such as "overtook" both a David, a
                                                             man after God's heart in the sin of adultery, and
  Thus we must view the number of the "brethren"             Peter in denying his Lord (II Sam. 11: l-5; Luke
here, as the freeborn sons of Sarah, with the rights to
the eternal inheritance in the Fatherhouse with its          22:54-62). Yes, even father Abraham, whose foot-
many mansions.                                               steps of faith we must press as sons of adoption, lied,
                                                             once and again, in moments of weakness (Gen.
  We should notice that Paul speaks here of a man            12: 10-13; 20:2). He was overtaken in a fault. Even
(anthroopos)  in the church, that is overtaken in a          Isaac was overtaken in the same "fault" (Gen.
fault. Such a man is one of the saints, a chosen one of      26:7-g). And God is called the God of Abraham,
Christ. He falls into a sin, is overtaken in a transgres-    Isaac, and Jacob, is He not? He is not ashamed to be
sion. He fell into this sin rather unawares. He is a         called their God as the great city-Builder (Heb.
brother or a sister in Christ, one who professes to be a     11: 16). It ought not be glossed over that the term in
living member of God's church. But he (she) is but a         Greek for "fault" is  "`paraptoomati,"  and that this
man, homo! His breath is in his nostrils. Yet, he is a       term is translated some seven times in the KJV as
member of the household of faith. It was by the              "offence," referring to the Fall of Adam in Paradise.
precious blood of the Lamb, without spot or blemish,         It also refers to our "offence," for which Christ was
that his new status was brought about (I Pet. 1: 18).        delivered to the accursed tree (Rom. 4:25; 5: 15-20).
Such brethren call God their Father (Gal.  4:6,7;            The term in the Greek is also translated "trespasses"
I Peter 1: 17). Such are partakers of the heavenly           in Eph.  2:5, Col.  2:5, referring to our being legally
calling (Heb. 3: 1). The term "partakers" (metochoi)         and spiritually dead. And, therefore, we believe this
does not suggest the idea of personal fellowship (See        to be not merely a minor sin, a'mere "fault," which
Heb.  10:33) but rather the participation in some            Paul presents as a possibility for a christian, a man, to
common blessing and privilege. (See Westcott on              be overtaken with. Paul is speaking of a transgression
Hebrews on Heb. 3: 1) In this communion of saints,           by the Christian of the royal law; he is overtaken by
saints in all their imperfection of lust warring against     such a "fault"; he falls into sin. He was tempted and
the Spirit, we must see this "man" who is overtaken          succumbed. What a sad spectacle: a fallen saint for
in a fault, a transgression!                                 whom Christ died. Yet, for  him there is the com-
  Here in the midst of the redeemed brotherhood, in          forting word: I have prayed for you that your faith
the household of faith, it happens (yes, in the divine       fail not! (Luke 22:32)
wisdom and pedagogy!) that a man is overtaken in a             The verb "overtaken" does not mean, as we
fault. We are ever surrounded by sin which so easily         already suggested, that a fellow-saint found him out.
besets us (Heb. 12: 1). The pitfalls of Satan against us     No, it means that "he through weakness fell into sin."
are many and various, are they not? Daily we must            (See "FORM OF BAPTISM") The German  transla-


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             283


tion  of Luther `here translates the term overtaken            Such a man must be restored in the spirit of
"`proleemphthee"   by the verb  `ubereilt"  which is         meekness!
akin to the Holland translation  `Overvallen.  "  The          The verb in the Greek for "restored" is katarizete.
poor saint fell before he realized it. Hence, here is not    The term means: to adjust thoroughly, to knit
the case of a hypocrite, who masqueraded as a saint          together, to unite completely. Once again the "man"
and is found out, but he is one who has walked in the        must be joined together again in the same mind of
commandments of God by a true faith in thankful-             Christ (I Cor. 1: 10; 2: 16). The joy and peace which
ness but who, at a given time and in an hour of              Christ gives to poor and filthy sinners, must, once
unwatchfulness, was overcome of a transgression.             more, flood his soul with inward and constant
Now his conscience is injured, he is mortified as was a      delight. He must sing with David of the blessedness of
David and Peter by their sin and transgression. He           the man whose sins are forgiven (Psalm 32: 1). He
does not feel that he has a rightful place among the         must experience with holy delight that where sin
brethren anymore, or that he shares in the love -of          abounded grace does much more abound (Rom.
God in Christ Jesus, and, that, too, with the hope of        5:20). He will then say far more emphatically than
eternal in his heart. All is now dark and distressing for    before his "fault": shall I continue in sin that grace
him. He is undone, or at least he must be brought to         may abound? God forbid! (Compare Canons of
see the greatness of his sin before a holy God and           Dordt, Fifth Head Of Doctrine, Articles 4,12,13) Yes,
Father. He lies prostrate in the dust before God.' Or        everyone who is perfected  (kateerismenon),  who is
he'still tried, as did David (Psalm  32:3,4) to shield       wholly restored and amended, shall be as his master
himself in the hope that he will not be found out.           (Luke 6:40). Here is the fulfilment of the law written
Such a man must be restored!                                 upon the fleshy heart of the fallen saint!,


FAITH OF OUR FATHERS





                            Chapter IV `- Of Creation

                                                Rev. Ron Van Overloop



   As many readers will recall, chapter III of the           ing the decrees of God in chapter three.
Westminster Confession treats the subject of God's              In this issue let us consider Chapter. IV  - of
eternal decrees. Whereas the `Confession simply              Creation.
proceeds to a treatment of creation, the relationship
between God's decrees and creation is given in the                  1. It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy
                                                                 Ghost,a for the manifestation of the glory of His
Westminster catechisms. Question 14 of the West-                 eternal power, wisdom and  goodnesqb in the begin-
minster Larger Catechism asks, "How doth God                     ning, to create, or make of nothing the world, and all
execute His decrees?" That question is answered                  things therein, whether `visible or invisible, in the
briefly in the Shorter Catechism, "God executeth His             space of six days, and all very good.c
decrees in the works of creation and providence. Rev.               a. Hebrews 1:2; John 1:2,3; Genesis 1:2; Job 26:13; Job
4:ll; Eph.  1:ll." This answer is amplified in the               33:4.
Larger Catechism. "God executeth His decrees in the                 b. Romans 1:20; Jeremiah 10:12; Psalm 104:24;  33:5,6.
works of creation and providence, according to His                  c. The whole first chapter  .of Genesis; Hebrews  11:3;
                                                                 Colossians 1:16; Acts 27:24.
infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable
counsel of His own will. Eph. 1: 11; I, Peter 1: 1,2.`:             2. After God had made all other creatures, He
                                                                 created man, male and  female,a with reasonable and
   Hence, chapters four and five of the Confession               immortal  souls;b endued with knowledge, righteous-
treat the subjects of creation and providence, follow-           ness, and true holiness, after His own  image,c  having


284                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



       the law of God written in their  hearts,d and power to             infallibly true. The Scriptures and the book of
       fulfn  it;e and yet under a possibility of transgressing,          creation (nature) are both of God and perfectly agree.
       being left to the liberty of their own will, which was             If it appears that these two do not coincide, then the
       subject unto change.f Beside this law written in their             facts or theories supposedly derived from creation are
       hearts, they received a command not to eat of the                  imperfectly understood.
       tree of the knowledge of good and  evil;g which while
       they kept, they were happy in their communion with                   As the motivation of the eternal decrees of God is
       God, and had dominion over the creatures.h                         "the manifestation of His glory" so, we are told
          a. Genesis 1:27.                                                immediately, it is for the execution of those decrees
          b. Genesis  2:7; with Ecclesiastes  12:7; and Luke  23:43;      in creation.
       and Matthew 10:28.
          c. Genesis 1:26; Colossians 3:lO; Ephesians 4:24.                 Creation took place not of itself in an evolutionary
          d. Romans 2:14,15.                                              manner, Nor were things created by a power other
          e. Ecclesiastes 7:29.
          f. Genesis 3:6; Ecclesiastes 7:29.                              than the one true God. He is THE Creator. And He
          g. Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:8-11,21.                             created for Himself. Romans  11:36 tells us that all
          h. Genesis 1:26,28.                                             things are "of Him. " "All things were created by
  The first section establishes the fact that the world                   Him" (Colossians 1: 16).
and all within it are not self-existent, nor eternal.                       Not only is it a Biblical truth that all things are of
That they exist is because of the creative power of the                   Him, but also all things are "to Him" (Romans
one, only, true God.                                                      11:36) or "for Him" (Colossians 1: 16). Proverbs
  This applies equally to that which cannot be seen                       16:4a states it explicitly, "The LORD hath made all
as well as to that which can be seen. "Visible and                        things for Himself." Revelation 4: 11 gives us more of
invisible" is the language of Colossians 1: 16. By                        the same: "Thou hast created all things, and for Thy
things invisible is meant space and time, concepts,                       pleasure they are and were created."
and spirit being.                                                           Let us look about us and examine creation from
  That all things within the world had a beginning is                     this perspective! Let us look for the glory of God's
proven by the Scriptural references which speak of a                      power, wisdom, and goodness in creation. See His
"time" (we call it time for the obvious lack of better                    glory in the heavens. See it and marvel in the human
terminology) when the world was nonexistent.                              body. Wonder in awe as you see it in animals, fish,
"Before Thou hadst formed the earth and the world,                        and fowl. See it in a leaf and blade of grass. And
even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God"                       return to God the glory.
(Psalm 90:2). Also Jesus speaks of the glory "which I                        "Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and
had with Thee before the world was" (John 17:5,24).                       honour and power: for Thou hast created all things,
  Also, the Scriptures never imply the presence of                        and for Thy pleasure they are and were created."
anything pre-existing or anything without God's                             We record here without comment the interesting
creation. "By the word of the LORD were the                               reference to angels found in the Larger Catechism,
heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath                      but not found in the Confession.
of His mouth" (Psalm  33:6). "Through faith we
understand that the worlds were framed by the word                                Q. 16. How did God create angels?
of God, so that things which are seen were not made                               A. God created angels,  spirits,a   immortal,b  holy,e
of things which do appear" (Hebrews 11:3).                                    excelling in  knowledge,d mighty in  power;e  to
                                                                              execute His commandments, and to praise His name,f
  That to God is attributed the creation of the world                         yet subject to  change.g
and all therein is contrary to the findings of ungodly                            a. Psalm 104:4;  Colossians 1:16.
science. Such, so-called, science concludes with an                               b. Luke 20:36.
evolutionary process which determines the age of,the                              c. Genesis 1: 3 1.
                                                                                  d. Matthew 24~36.
world to be in the millions and billions of years.                                e. II Thessalonians 1:7.
                                                                                  f. Psalm 103:20,21.
  What difference does it make that the Bible and                                 g. II Peter 2:4.
the Confession were written long before the science
of geology came into existence? The truthfulness of                         Section two deals with the creation of man, the
the facts and/or theories of science is determined                        crowning work of creation.
only by their agreement to Scripture. It is the Word                        Last of all, God created man. Man's place is last to
of God alone which serves as the basis for all truth.                     indicate that he is the end and crown of all creation.
God's Word is not to be reconciled to a discovery or                      In the creation week God was building up to the
theory of man.                                                            climactic creation of the king of creation: man. All of
  Through faith we believe that the record in Genesis                     creation serves man, that he, in turn, might serve
has been given by divine revelation and, therefore, is                    God.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          285


   Evolution denies that man was created by God. It         regeneration that gives us insight into how God
makes man the last in a long chain of gradual and           originally created man. Confer Ephesians  4:24 and
successive developments from the lower and more             Coloss$ns 3: 10. We concur with Martin Luther's
simple.                                                     exposlZion of  Remans 2: 15 in his commentary on
   That man was created directly by God is positively       this text.
                                                                     .z
given to us in Genesis 1:26,27 and Genesis 2:7.                      Now it seems to me that it is one thing to say
   God created man one human pair, male and                     "that the work of the law is written in their hearts"
female. From this couple the entire human race in all           and another that "the law is written in their hearts."
its varieties has descended by generation. This is              For the apostle did not intend to say here (even if he
taught explicitly in Acts  17:26, "And hath made of             could have done so  ,on the basis of knowledge) that
                                                                they had the law written in their hearts, but he
one blood all nations of men for to dwell on ail the            wanted to say only "the work of the law."
face of the earth." The geneologies of Genesis 10
shows clearly the same. Also this is implied in the                  I believe, therefore, that "the law is written in
Scriptural doctrine of original sin. Job 15:4, "What is         their hearts" means the same as "love is shed abroad
                                                                in their hearts through the Holy Spirit" (Romans
man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of           5:5). But "the work of the law is written in their
a woman, that he should be righteous?"                          hearts" means that the knowledge of the law is
   A reservation must be expressed against the use of           written in them, i.e., the law written in letters
the term "immortal." The same criticism applies to              concerning what must be done but not grace  which
the same use of this term in the Belgic Confession,             enables one to do this, Hence, those who have had
article 37. It seems that this philosophical conception         only the work of the law written in their hearts must
was current at the time of the formulation of these             necessarily have remained confined until now in the
                                                                letter that kills.
creeds. What is meant is that there is existence after
death. But the term "immortal" very poorly ex-              Better proof would have been Ezekiel  11:19,20;
presses this idea, first, because the word itself means     36:26-28; II Corinthians 3:3.
"not able to die" and man, body and soul, certainly           Although Adam was created holy and capable of
came under the penalty of death at the fall into sin,       obedience, he was at the same time capable of falling.
and secondly, the Scriptures use the term only to           The terminology of the Confession  is being left to the
refer to the glorified state of the believer after death    liberty of their own will; This does not mean that
(cf. I Corinthians 15:53).
 .-.                                                        Adam and Eve were sovereignly free, for they were
                                ..-.               _..-
   The `&&f&i&.  continues-its description 67 man as        always within the-bounds God had set for them. Nor
God created him by stating that God created man             was their liberty that they could determine what was
after His own image, namely, endued with knowl-             good for themselves. God told them to obey Him by
edge, righteousness, and true holiness. Man resembled       eating  of the Tree of Life and not eating of the Tree
God in a creaturely way, i.e., he reflected creaturely      of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God commanded I
God's perfections. That means that he possessed a           them to choose thi: good and reject the evil.                        -/c-i.  _
reasonable soul; he was a rational, moral being. As           Rather, the liberty of their own will means that
God created him, man stood in a positive relationship       they were morally free. They were able to do good,
to God. He was capable of a right apprehension df all       but they could fall; they could entertain sin. The Tree
things, including God, and also he was capable of           of the Knowledge of Good and Evil placed them
doing that which was right, being within himself            concretely before this choice of good or evil, of
also right with God.                                        obedience or disobedience. If they obeyed, they
  The fathers continue to describe man's original           would know good and evil in the love of God: loving
position by saying, "Having the law of God written in       good and hating evil. But if they disobeyed, they
their hearts." We do not question this description as       would know good and evil in enmity against God:
being apt, but we seriously question the use of             loving evil and hating good. God placed them
Romans 2: 14,15 as Biblical support for this. Romans        concretely before the Tree of Life which represented
2: 15 speaks of the "work of the law written in their       joyful fellowship with God in the way of obedience.
hearts," not of the law itself being written there. That      So it pleased God for the manifestation of the
in the first place. Also, the reference in Romans           glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and goodness to
2:  14,15 is to those who are not believers. It is the      create the world, and all things therein, and all very
work of God's re-creation within His chosen people in       good.

                               Know the standard and follow it.
                              Read  The Standard Bearer


286                                           THE STANDARD BEARER





                                          Book Reviews

STUDIES IN EXODUS, F.B. Meyer; Kregel Publica-              BIBLICAL AND NEAR EASTERN STUDIES, Essays
tions, Grand Rapids, Mich.; 476 pages, $9.95 (cloth).       in honor of William Sanford LaSor, edited by Gary A.
(Reviewed by Prof. H.C. Hoeksema)                           Tuttle; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978; 300
                                                            p.p. (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko.)
   Since the author of this commentary is probably
unknown to most of our readers,. we will quote the             This Festschrift was dedicated to William  LaSor,
following biographical note from the dust jacket:           professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, on his 65th
                                                            birthday. It is divided into three parts: the first
   "Frederick Brotherton Meyer (1847-l  929), the           dealing with New Testament Studies, the second
English Baptist pastor was born in London to a              with Old Testament Studies, and the third with Near
wealthy family of German ancestry. He was educated          Eastern Studies. A partial sampling of the authors and
at London University, graduating in 1868 and                articles will give the reader some idea of what this
completed his theological training at Regents Park          book contains. Its authors include among others:, F.
Baptist College between 1870 and 1895. He held              F. Bruce, Eldon J. Epp, Ralph P. Martin, Cyrus H.
seven successful pastorates throughout England.             Gordon, Meredith G. Kline, and D. J. Wiseman. A few
Meyer was President of the National Federation of           of the titles are: Jews and Judaism in  The Living
Free Churches (1904-05). He was a very popular and          Bible New Testament;  The Canonical Shape of the
beloved Conference speaker and Bible teacher. While         Book of Jonah; Oracular Origin of the State; The
at York, between 1872 and 1874, Meyer met D.L.              Tower of Babel Revisted; The Date of Nehemiah
Moody and these two godly men formed a life-long            Reconsidered; They Lived in Tents; A New Look at
friendship." From this biographical note it is evident      Three Old Testament Roots for "Sin"; Case Vowels
that F.B. Meyer does not stand in the Reformed              on Masculine Singular Nouns in Construct in
tradition. It may be expected, therefore, that this will    Ugaritic."
also be reflected in his commentaries.                        Most of the articles are written for scholars who
   If you are looking for solid exposition and help in      are acquainted with the ancient languages of Scrip-
understanding the book of Exodus, this is not the           ture; and many of them are written from the
commentary to purchase. It does not furnish a careful       viewpoint of form-literary criticism.
explanation of the Scriptures, and it does not trace
the line of Old Testament history as set forth in the       JESUS OF NAZARETH IN WORD AND DEED, By
book of Exodus.                                             Charles C. Cochrane; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
                                                            Company, 1979; 133 pp., $4.95 (paper). (Reviewed
   I am not certain what a "devotional commentary"          by Prof. H. Hanko.)
is supposed to be. I am certain, however, that any
commentary, devotional or otherwise, should be a              This very brief book discusses a few of the events
faithful exposition of Scripture. I am certain, too,        in the life of Christ. It is difficult to determine its
that it cannot be properly devotional if it is not          underlying theme, but the Introduction states: "The
thoroughly exegetical. In these respects this com-          purpose of this modest volume is to set forth an
mentary falls short. For example, the entire signifi-       orderly statement of who Jesus of Nazareth was and
cant passage of Exodus 4: 18-26 receives a treatment        is which will prove intelligible to the learner and the
of five and one-half pages' length; and in that             learned alike. To do this, I have chosen the Gospels of
treatment no attention is paid to the very significant      Mark and Luke as primary sources, with such
fact that before Moses ever went to Pharaoh, the            confirmation from other biblical sources as may be
Lord told him, "But I will harden Pharaoh's                 required for clear understanding. The selection of
heart. . . ."                                               circumstances and incidents recorded in these Gospels
                                                            has been made with a view to our main theme: to
  This is not to say that this commentary is not            enunciate in a manner faithful to the New Testament
evangelical in the broad sense of the word. Nor does        the identity of Jesus `who is called Christ.' " The
it imply that there are no nice thoughts presented in       book, while written generally from a conservative
the book, although even `the.devotional material is         viewpoint, is rather shallow in its discussions of the
sometimes marred by improper spiritualizations.             significance of the events in Christ's ministry.


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                        287



                                                  CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY


   All young men desiring to begin studies this fall in the                        Theological School Committee, to such an aspirant only who
Theological School of the Protestant Reformed Churches,                            comes supplied with a testimonial of his consistory that he is a
located at 4949 lvanrest Ave., S.W., Grandville, Michigan                          member in full communion, sound in faith and upright in
49418 are hereby notified of the Theological School Com-                           walk, and also a certificate from a reputable physician showing
mittee meetings to be held on March 20 and April 16, 1980 at                       him to be in good health.
7:30 P.M. in the Theological School Building.                                         A complete high school education and the equivalent of a
                                                                                   four year (125 hour) college education are required for
Pre-seminary Department:                                                           entrance into the seminary department. Moreover, each
   Permission to pursue the pre-seminary course of study shall                     entrant into this department must produce evidence that he
be granted by the Theological School Committee. A transcript                       has credit for the required college courses. Requirements are
of grades from High School and College (if any), a letter of                       listed in the school catalog, available from the School.
testimony from a student's pastor or consistory, and a                                All applicants for enrollment in the seminary department
certificate of health from a reputable physician shall be                          must appear before the Theological School Committee for
submitted along with the student's application.                                    interview before enrollment. In the event you cannot be
                                                                                   present at these meetings, please notify the undersigned
Seminary Department:                                                               secretary of your intentions, prior to these meetings. Mail all
   Permission to pursue the Theological course in the seminary                     correspondence to the Theological School.
shall be granted by the Synod, upon recommendation of the                                                                            John Buiter, Secretary





                     The League of Eastern  Men's and Ladies' Societies will meet at Hudsonvilie
                     Church at 8:00 on Wednesday, April 9. Prof. Decker will speak on "The Signs of
                     the Times." Everyone is welcome.




                                                            IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!
                                            The Standing Committees, as well as the Special Committees of
                                        Synod are reminded that all materials for the Agenda of the 1980
                                        Synod  .must  be in the hands of the Stated Clerk on, or before April 15,
                                         1980.
                                                                              Stated  Clerk of Synod
                                                                              Rev. Meindert Joostens
                                                                              2016 Tekonsha S.E.
                                                                              Grand Rapids, Ml 49506.       I




              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   The Ladies Aid Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of                  On March 8, 1980, our parents, MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM
Grand Rapids, Michigan, mourns the loss of a faithful member, MRS.                 LENTING celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. We thank our
ALICE  KOOIENGA, whom the Lord took home on February 10,                           heavenly Father for preserving them for each other and for us, and pray
1980. We hereby express our sympathy to the bereaved family.                       that He will continue to bless them in the years to come.`

   "Precious in the  sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Psalm                                        their children,
116:14).                                                                                                             Marv and Carolyn Davis
                                   Dorothy Decker, Pres.                                                             Hank and Marcel la Lenting
                                   Jean Pastoor, Sec'y.                                                              Bill and Jan Lenting
                                                                                                                     Ade Lenting
            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                                   and 8  grandchildren.
   The Adult Bible Class of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed
Church' expresses its sincere sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth
Lanning in the loss of Mrs. Lanhing's step-father, MR. WILLIAM
WIERENGA.

   "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also
which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."  (I Thess.  4:14).


                                         _-
THE STANDARD BEARER  .-                                                                           SECOND CLASS
       P.O. Box 6964                                                                           POSTAGE PAID AT
Grand Rapids, Michigan 495( Y                  I                                          GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.


                                                          -                 -d.
288                        -                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   . .
                                                                               -.


                                 News  Fro'm  Our. Churches

   Our church in Redlands, California has extended a           meaningful in a small congregation. On Thursday
call to Rev. Kenneth Koole of Randolph, Wisconsin.             evening, February 21, Professor Herman Hanko
The Redlands trio also included Rev. Marvin Kamps              lectured in Kalamazoo on the topic, "Interpreting the
and Rev. Richard Moore.                                        Bible." A sizable group of visitors attended the
  A review of calls declined recently is as follows:           lecture and showed interest.
Rev. Kamps from Lynden to serve as home mission-                 Rev. Engelsma, pastor of our church in South
ary; Professor H. C. Hoeksema from Hudsonville to              Holland, Illinois was invited to speak on "The
serve as minister-on-loan to Christchurch, New Zea-            Incarnation" for the Christian Fellowship of Students
land; Professor H. Hanko from Redlands; and Rev.               at the University of Chicago on February 8.
David Engelsma from Hope, Walker, Michigan.                      Recently the Young People's Federation Board
  There has been quite a bit of activity of late               published a booklet containing a series of articles by
involving church buildings our congregations use or            Rev. C. Hanko, originally printed in the  Beacon
plan to use in the future. A new church building is            Lights,  entitled "Leaving Father and Mother." The
under construction in Wyckoff, New Jersey, for our             booklet addresses many of the questions young
congregation there. The masons have now completed              people face in choosing a life-mate and making a life
the second (upper) half of the foundation. The lower           for themselves. Copies may' be ordered for $1.50
half of the foundation is buried, the block for the            from Miss Grace Faber, 4190 Burton SE, Grand
lower part of the basement is laid, plastered, and             Rapids,.Michigan 49506. You may also be interested
tarred. The next part of the project is the framing and        in the Beacon Lights, a monthly publication intended
also some further excavating.                                  for and.published by young people. A subscription is
  The congregation in Isabel, South Dakota approved            $5.00 per year and can be entered through Miss
the building of a new addition to their parsonage.             Faber.
Redlands approved the building plans presented by                The consistory of First Church in Grand Rapids
the consistory at a special congregational meeting on          purchased a supply of the booklet "Leaving Father
January 2 1. The building committee is now working             and Mother" and sent a copy to each of the young
to obtain a building permit in order that construction         people in the congregation between the ages of 14
can begin on the new church in Redlands. South                 and 20, as the consistory felt that these well-written
Holland has scheduled a collection to be taken the             articles could be read with profit by the young
first Sunday of each month for their Future                    people.
Expansion Fund. Our church in Kalamazoo, Michi-                  Mr. Dewey Engelsma has been busy of late bringing
gan, is in the process of finalizing plans for a new           his program of slides on Singapore and the work our
church building. Construction is scheduled to start            churches have undertaken there to many of our
this spring. A sketch of their new church is on the            churches. Mr. and Mrs. Societies seem to be especially
Kalamazoo Bulletin  - and an attractive one it is.             active in bringing this interesting program to their
Loveland has also appointed a committee to examine             respective churches. A future program is scheduled in
the future needs of the congregation.                          Faith Church, Jenison, Michigan on March 19.
  A milestone of sorts was achieved recently. The                A Singspiration, directed by Mr. Roland Petersen,
first news in four and one-half years was received             was held on Sunday evening, February 17, in First
from our Kalamazoo Church. Thank you! A news                   Church. One of the things the director asked us to
column tends to be rather skimpy with no news to               sing was Psalter 424  - but not in the style we are
report  - and gathering of the news depends for the            accustomed to singing these tunes taken from the
most part on a far-flung network of unsung pastors,            Geneva Psalter dating from the time of the Reforma-
bulletin clerks, and others who take the time and the          tion. Usually we sing these in chorale style with all
postage to send in copies of their bulletins.                  notes of equal length - and quite slowly. Try singing
  In addition to news of their building plans,                 one of these. songs as written - and about twice as
Kalamazoo had more to report. Four young people                fast as `normal' - you might even like it as it was
recently made confession of their faith. This is always        originally intended to be sung!
a special event in any congregation, but especially                                                           K. G. V.


