      me
 STANDARD
I BEARER
       A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





. ..We must be "ready always to give answer
to every man that asketh you a reason of the
hope that is in you with meekness and fear"
.(I Peter 3: 15). We do not throw our prophetic
mantle about us on special occasions, but we
are prophets of God seven days a week,
twenty-four hours of each day, and sixty
minutes of every hour. This is ou.r privilege,
but also our calling.
           See  "Calledda Christian"-page  434



                                   Volume LVI, No. 19,  Augustl, 1980    .


4 3 4                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                          ISSN 0362-4692
                                     CONTENTS                                                       Semi-monthly, except monthly during June.  Jul;,  and August
                                                                                                     Published b the Reformed Free Publishin Association, Inc.
  Meditation-                                                                                            Secon a Class Postage Paid at Grand  aplds,
                                                                                                                                                    ii          Mich.

                                                                                     Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
         Called a Christian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; . . .434              Deparrmenr   Editors.'  Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Arie  denHart
                                                                                       D. Decker Rev. David J. En  elsma,  Rev. Richard Flikkema, sPE%~;
                                                                                       Hanko Prdf. Herman  Hando   t? .
                                                                                                                          ev John A. He  s,
                                                                                                                                          H  Rev. Kenneth  Koole,  Rev. Jay
  Editorials-                                                                          Korterhg, Rev. George C.' Lubbers, Rev.                 odney   M i e r s m a ,   R e v .   Marinus
                                                                                       Schipper,  Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,  Rev. Ronald Van
                                                                                       Overloop, Rev. Herman  Veldman,  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink.
         A Presbyterian Amalgam? (2). . . . . . . . 1. . .436                          EdirorialOffice:   Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                            4975  Ivanrest  Ave. S.W.
         Reactions to the Merger Proposal. . . . . : . . .439                                               Grandville, Michigan 49418
                                                                                       Church News  Ediroc   Mr. Kenneth G. Vink
                                                                                                                 1422 Linwood, S.E.
         CRC Decision on the Boer Gravamen. . . . .440                                                           Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
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MEDITATION


               -_                                  Called A Christian
                                                                          Rev. C. Hanko

                      Ques. 32. But why art thou called a Christian?
                      Ans. Because I am a member of Christ by faith, and thus am partaker of his anointing;
                       that so I may confess his name and present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to
                      him, and also that with a free and good conscience I may fight against sin and Satan in
                       this life: and afterwards reign with him eternally over all creatures.
                                                                                                            Heid. Catechism, Lord's Day 12
                             . --

  Why art thou called a Christian?                                                        breaker, but live a decent, respectable life. A third
  This question can arouse many and varied                                                might say, I believe in the universal fatherhood of
answers. Someone might answer, I am not a pagan                                           God and the universal brotherhood of man; I am a
idol worshipper, but live in a Christian community.                                       follower of Christ in dealing kindly with all men. A
Another might answer, I am no scoffer or law                                              fourth might insist, I am a Christian because I


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             435


accepted Christ as my personal Savior, and am now         the people to a special office, either as a prophet
repaying Him for all that He has done for me.             who spoke God's Word, or as a priest who served
  But you, why are you called a Christian? This           in the sanctuary, or as a king who ruled over the
question demands of us a bit of serious soul search-      theocracy. In the new dispensation we are all
ing.                                                      ordained, called, and qualified by the Holy Spirit to
                                                          the special office of believers. We are stewards in
  It must be granted that we are side-stepping a bit      God's House who must labor while it is day, to give
from the main thought of our Book of Instruction.         account of our stewardship in the final judgment.
Our Catechism is treating the Apostolic Creed step        The church is not an old people's home, as one
by step, and is therefore discussing the names of         might conclude from seeing some of the modern
the Son of God mentioned in the Creed: Jesus,             churches. Nor is the church like an airplane that is
Christ, and Lord. It is in connection with the name       soaring toward the heavenly abode with a few
of Christ that our fathers, in harmony with the           individuals who serve as pilot, navigator, and
practical viewpoint of the Catechism, pause a             stewardess, while the rest sit leisurely enjoying the
moment to confront us with the pertinent question:        trip and hoping that their plane will not arrive at
"But why art thou called a Christian?"                    the terminal too soon. Every member of the body of
  It appears that the enemies of the church, likely       Christ is an active, living member functioning by
the Jews, branded the followers of that contempti-        faith out of the Head, Christ Jesus. Everybody is a
ble Jesus with the name Christian. We are told that       somebody with individual gifts and talents, and an
the believers in Antioch were first called Christians.    individual place and calling to serve in his or her
Peter writes to the churches that if they are re-         capacity as only he or she can serve.
proached for the name of Christ they must consider          "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my
themselves blessed, for they are partakers of the         servant whom I have chosen" (Isaiah  43:21). A
sufferings of Christ, and God is glorified through        faithful witness must be devoted to his Lord in
them (I Peter  4:13,14). Therefore we with the            love. First of all, he must have an attentive ear. He
church of the past gladly assume for ourselves this       must listen. He must listen as the Lord speaks to
association with the Christ of God. For that reason       him from the Holy Scriptures and by the Holy
our Catechism lays in our mouths the confession           Spirit in his heart. He must be willing to learn, to
that for us the name Christian means that "I am a         remember. And then he must speak. Any evil
member of Christ by faith, and thus am partaker of        communication that comes out of his mouth is un-
His anointing."                                           worthy of his high calling and dishonoring to his
  What a glorious privilege that is, to be reckoned       Lord. If he is silent, he denies. For the word of Jesus
as a member of Christ! We are immediately re-             applies, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me
minded of the fact that we would have no right to         before men, him will I confess also before my
such a grand privilege if it were not for sovereignly     Father which is in heaven. But whosoever denies
free election that makes us a separate people, a holy     me before men, him will I also deny before my
nation, a royal priesthood. God has given us to           Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 10:32,33).
Christ, in order that by His atoning blood of the         This witnessing begins at home between husband
cross we may be brought into the family of God as         and wife, extends to the children in the home, and
heirs of eternal life. God has raised Christ and          also to the church whenever and wherever the
exalted Him to His own right hand in glory, in            opportunity arises, and even to all those with
order that Christ may bless us with every spiritual       whom God brings us in contact from day to day.
blessing unto everlasting glory. Christ unites us to      Our very life must be a confession of Jesus Christ as
Himself by the bond of living faith, whereby we be-       our Savior and our Lord. This includes our family
come partakers of His blessings, and whereby we           devotions, our church worship, our conversation in
may realize and confess in deepest humility: I            the home, on the job, out on the street, and
belong! I belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.      wherever we may be. We must let our light shine as
Or, to express it even more fully with the trium-         children of light in an evil world that wanders in
phant cry of the apostle Paul, "I live, yet not I, but    darkness. We must be "ready always to give
Christ lives in me."                                      answer to every man that asketh you a reason of
  I am a member of Christ and a partaker of His           the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (I
anointing. It is in the church, and therefore as          Peter 3:15). We do not throw our prophetic mantle
member of the church, that I receive the added            about us on special occasions, but we are prophets
privilege of sharing in Christ's anointing. Never         of God seven days a week, twenty-four hours of
apart from the church and the ministry of the Word        each day, and sixty minutes of every hour. This is
and sacraments is that privilege granted. In the old      our privilege, but also our calling.
dispensation a few men were called from among               "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual


4 3 6                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



house, an hoZy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacri-    are but pilgrims and strangers on  .the earth,
fices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (I Peter         wending our way through the enemy's country, so
2:5). Therefore our personal confession can be,            that we must be prepared for battle and anxious
"that so I may present myself a living sacrifice of        struggle every day. Yet even so, "with a free and
thankfulness to him (Christ). " In the old dispensa-       good conscience I may fight against sin and Satan in
tion the priest stood in the Holy Place with his face      this life." This is a matter of conviction for us. We
directed to God as the incense arose from the altar        can not, may not, must not, and will not compro-
and his prayers for the people were presented to           mise at any cost. We are called to contend for the
Jehovah. Only then could he turn about to face the         faith delivered unto us from the fathers. The truth
people and bestow Jehovah's blessing upon His              of God's Word is our only sure guide, the only
people. We need no priest, no altar, no visible            trustworthy lamp before our feet and light upon
temple, for our Mediator and Advocate is in heaven.        our pathway. We need the breastplate of righteous-
We also stand with our faces constantly directed to        ness, the girdle of truth, the helmet of salvation, the
God, praying without ceasing, making all our needs         shoes of preparedness, the shield of faith, and last,
known to God in prayer and supplication, with all          but by no means least, the sword of the Spirit,
thanksgiving and praise to the overflowing                 which is the Word of God. Jesus says, "He who is
Fountain of every good and perfect gift, the ever          not with me is against me,; and he that gathereth
blessed, adorable God. Likewise we are the instru-         not with me scattereth abroad." We see that in our
ments of Christ to bestow God's mercies upon our           own homes and families, in the church, and in the
neighbor. When we ask, what shall I render unto            world around about us. As good soldiers of Jesus
the Lord for all His benefits bestowed on me? there        Christ, standing and fighting in the power of the
is but one answer: Myself, with my whole life and          Spirit, we march onto victory with the Captain of
being, with all my time and effort, with all the           our salvation leading the way, triumphantly
means God has placed at my disposal to be used in          assured that more than conquerors are we!
His fear. Our priestly office requires of us that            From this follows the reward of grace that we
whether we eat, or whether we drink, or whatever           shall "reign with Christ eternally over all crea-
we do, we do it to the glory of God as stewards in         tures." Christ rewards the cup of water given to
His House. We are privileged to show the mercies           Him, or the visit paid to Him with an eternal "well-
of Christ. We can forgive one another, even as God         done." As we lay aside our running shoes and cast
has forgiven us. We can help the Lazarus that God          away our sword and shield, Christ bestows on us
places at our doorstep, comfort the weary and              garments of righteousness, palm branches of vic-
distressed that we meet on our way, and show our           tory, and a crown of glory. We take our own place,
proper use of God's gifts by supporting the affairs        eternally appointed for us and prepared for us by
of God's kingdom. Freely we receive; freely'we can         Christ, that in the assembly of the saints we may be
give. God says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren,        entrusted with power and authority, according to
by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies         our full capacity, to live and reign with Christ over
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is      the angels, over the heavenly creatures, yea, over
your reasonable service" (Romans 12: 1).                   all the works of Gods hands. We shall show forth
   "Ye are a royal priesthood," a family of priests        the glorious power of the King of kings and Lord of
that reign as kings. It may not seem so, for sin still     lords, that all glory may be to the Father, and to the
wars in our members, forcing from us a bitter com-         Son, and to the Holy Spirit, world without end!
plaint of our own depravity and of the guilt of sin          Is that.why you are a Christian?
that weighs so heavily upon our consciences. We

EDITORIALS
Prof H.C. Hoeksema

                     A Presbyterian Amalgam? (2)

   A few months ago, writing on the above sub-             America (PCA) to invite the RPCES to be swallowed
ject, we reported concerning a proposal by the             up by and to become a part of the PCA. Since that
Fraternal Relations Committee of the Reformed              time, there have been several significant develop-
Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod which, in            ments. In the first place, the whole idea of a merger
effect, would ask the Presbyterian Church in               with the PCA has been expanded to include also the


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      437


Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Reformed                        Whereas  we hold to and desire to promote a com-
Presbyterian Church of North America (Covenant-                   mon testimony to the inerrancy of Scripture, the
ers). This was an idea which has been in the air for              system of doctrine contained in the Westminster Con-
some time; but it is now an actual proposal coming                fession of Faith and Catechisms, and the doctrine of
before the General Assembly of the PCA. This will                 the purity of the visible Church; and
mean that all the generally conservative Presby-                    Whereas  we feel constrained by our commitments
terian denominations, with the exception of the                   to seeks a more perfect unity among us as members of
Bible Presbyterians (Rev. Carl McIntire) and the                  Christ's body:
Associate Reformed Presbyterians would be                           Now Therefore, the General Assembly of the Presby-
included in the proposed amalgam.                                 terian Church in America, in the bonds of our Lord
                                                                  Jesus Christ, invites you to come with us for the pur-
       In the second place, there is trouble in the United        pose of effecting and perfecting one church among us.
Presbyterian Church USA, the old northern Presby-                 We propose, as the basis of this association, the above
terian Church. Generally speaking, the liberals                   named principles, together with the  Book of Church
have been turning the screws tighter on the conser-               Order of the Presbyterian Church in America.
vatives, attempting to force them to live according                 We suggest that initial steps to this end be taken as
to some of the liberal provisions of that denomina-               soon as possible and that the time and place for final
tion, with the result that some of the more                       action be Calvin College, Grand Rapids,  Mich., in
conservative congregations are at last separating                 June 1982.
from the denomination. This is the denomination                     Specifically, we suggest that General Assemblies
from which Dr. Machen  and others were expelled                   and General Synods act on this invitation by or in
already in the 1930s. It is also the denomination                 their 1981 meetings, with constitutional ratification
which adopted the Confession of 1967. It has long                 following, before we meet together in a ratifying
been liberal, and it is indeed a question just how                General Assembly. The order of business would be
conservative, let alone Presbyterian, some of these               approximately as follows:
separating congregations are. Nevertheless, some                    1. Each General Assembly or General Synod would
of these congregations are already looking for a                  act upon a resolution to join with the PCA on the basis
new denominational roof; and some of them are                     of the governing standards of the PCA in a single
casting their eyes on one or the other of the very                church to be called the Presbyterian Church in
denominations involved in the merger proposal                     America. The PCA's resolution would approve joining
mentioned above. This complicates matters                         to the PCA the RPCES, the RPNA and the OPC on the
somewhat for all concerned.                                       basis of the existent governing standards of the PCA,
                                                                  as a continuing Presbyterian Church in America.
       In the third place, before any of the smaller
Presbyterian groups have even met in Synod or                       2. Each General Assembly and General Synod
General Assembly, and before they even asked for                  would then appoint representatives to a Committee
                                                                  on Presbytery Boundaries, consisting of one represen-
or received any invitation to be swallowed up by                  tative from each presbytery; the Convenor to be
the larger PCA, the PCA's Sub-committee on Inter-                 designated by the PCA Assembly. This Committee
Church Relations has proposed a letter of invitation              would hold meetings between the 1981 and 1982
for such a merger. This proposal will be before the               Assemblies.
PCA- Assembly which is meeting June 14-20 in
Savannah, Georgia. The PCA Assembly will be                         3. Each General Assembly and General Synod
                                                                  would authorize its Boards, Committees and Agencies
asked to approve it by a three-fourths majority if it             to meet jointly with the corresponding Boards, Com-
is to be considered by the other denominations                    mittees and Agencies of the other bodies throughout
involved.                                                         the year, 1981-1982, for the purpose of working out
       Because of the importance of this proposed                 details of merger and to prepare a united report to be
letter, we are reproducing it below, as it appeared               submitted to the 1982 General Assembly when con-
in                                                                stituted. The Arrangements Committees planning for
       The Presbyterian Journal of April 9, 1980. The
proposed letter is as follows:                                    the Grand Rapids meetings would also be instructed
                                                                  to work together. In each case, the Convenor of the
To:        The General Synods and General Assembly                joint meeting would be the chairman of the respective
           of the Reformed Presbyterian Church,                   PCA committee.
           Evangelical Synod, the Reformed  Presbyte-               4. In Grand Rapids, at the time and place ap-
           rian Church of North America and the                   pointed, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in
           Orthodox Presbyterian Church.                          America would act as Convenor. Clerks from each of
Subject: Arrinvitation to participate in steps designed           the other churches would certify their respective
           to effect one church among us.                         enrollments to the Convenor. A resolution such as the
Brethren:                                                         following would be adopted: "Be it resolved that those
         Greetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the      enrollments certified by the OPC, the RPCES and the
       King and Head of the Church.                               RPNA, together with the enrollment certified by the


4 3 8                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



    PCA, are hereby declared to be and will constitute the                        9. The Nominating Committee would present
    10th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in                         slates of nominations for all vacancies on Committees,
    America."                                                                   Commissions and Agencies of the Assembly according
          5. A Moderator would be elected. The PCA stated                       to  theBooh   of  Church Order,  par. 15-1-11.
    clerk, being the only full-time officer occupying such                        10. A special ad interim Judicial Committee would
    a position among us, would continue in office, with                         be elected to receive and consider organizational and
    additional  assistants'later  to be determined by the                       administrative changes to be recommended to the
    General Assembly.                                                           1983 General Assembly. This committee would
           NOTE: If necessary, recognition would be made of                     consist of the former Stated Clerks, the Moderators,
           any other grouping from among assembled commis-                      and additional personnel determined by the General
           sioners  that  any  dissenting   parties   may  want  to             Assembly.
           make,  and  an  opportunity   given  for  such meeting(s)
           to take place.                                                          NOTE:  It  would  be  understood  that  distinctives  of
                                                                                   the  participating   churches-such   as  the  worship
          6. The Assembly would recess into meetings of                            practices of the Covenanters-would  be safeguarded
    presbyteries as determined by the Committee on                                 by  this  merger.  Congregations   and  ministers  would
    Presbytery Boundaries and approved by the Assem-                               have complete freedom is such matters.
    bly. Commissioners from the former churches would                          It remains to be seen, of course, whether this
    meet with those presbyteries within whose recognized                    proposal will be approved by the PCA, and then
    boundaries they then live and/or labor. These presby-
    tery meetings would be convened by the Moderator in                     how it will be received by the other denominations
    office in that presbytery which bears the name agreed                   involved. Already there has been considerable dis-
    to by the Committee on Presbytery Boundaries-for                        cussion in print, especially in  The Presbyterian
    example, Ascension Presbytery or Rocky Mountain                         Journal Most of this discussion has centered upon
    Presbytery. There would be no ordinary challenge to                     and has arisen from three of the denominations
    the credentials of any minister or elder properly certi-                concerned,. the PCA, the OPC, and the RPCES.
    fied. (Extraordinary challenges would be heard by the                   Thus far I have noted no discussion on the part of
    presbytery in its next meeting.) The PCA ministerial                    Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America
    "obligation" would be subscribed to by all. Each                         (Covenanters). And, in fact, much of the discussion
    presbytery would then elect a new Moderator. and                        only mentions the PCA, the OPC, and the RPCES.
    Stated Clerk and appoint a Nominating Committee to                      There seems to be some doubt whether the RPNA
    restructure presbytery committees. Each presbytery
    would also elect representatives to a General                           will be receptive to such a proposal and whether
    Assembly Nominating Committee, with each of the                         they would ultimately be included in the amalgam.
    former churches represented. Each presbytery would                      The RPNA has a much older Presbyterian tradition
    also elect nominees to each new class of Assembly                       than any of the other churches; and it also holds to
    .committees.                                                             "purity of worship," something which might very
           NOTE 1: It is suggested  that for the purpose  of this           well stand in the way of merger. But about some of
           step  in  the  restructuring  process,  the  full  member-       these things later.
           ship  of  all  the  presbyteries  of  the  constituent              First let us take a look at the proposal itself.
           churches be present in Grand Rapids. This could be
           accomplished by having  all the presbyteries adjourn                In the first place, it strikes one that the proposal
           their  immediately   previous   meetings  "to  meet  on
           June-,  1982,  in  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan."  By  such          is devoted for the most part to the procedure and
           action,  the  new  presbyteries  would  be  able  fully  to      the mechanics of union. By far the larger part of it
           constitute  themselves  and  transact  necessary  busi-           contains various provisions about this.
           ness.
           NOTE 2: Local churches not represented by commis-                   Along with this, in the second place, the essence
           sioners to this General Assembly would be contacted               of the proposal is contained in the first three para-
           by the presbytery of jurisdiction  with an invitation  to        graphs-those beginning with  "Whereas" and "Now
           attend  the next meeting. At that meeting,  they would
           be welcomed and their ministers enrolled  upon sign-              Therefore. " These are the paragraphs containing the
           ing the obligation.                                              basis of the proposed amalgam. From a formal
                                                                            point of view, this basis is a Presbyterian basis in so
           7. The Assembly would reconvene to organize                      far as it makes reference to Scripture and the West-
    itself. Committees of Commissioners (Standing or Ad-                     minster Confession. But the question which ought
    visory Committees) would be designated according to                     to be of prime importance for all concerned is: 
    established PCA procedure, but would receive the                                                                                           do
    business of the equivalent boards and/or agencies                        the denominations concerned adhere to this Presbyter-
    from the other Churches-for example, Foreign                             ian basis in truth and in fact? Are they genuinely and
    Missions.                                                                specifically Presbyterian? This question is not
                                                                             addressed. Moreover, with few exceptions, this
           8. Meetings would be held of boards, commissions,
    committees, trustees and agencies where enabling                         fundamental question is not addressed in much of
    resolutions would be necessary for the dissolution of                    the journalistic discussion concerning this matter.
         existing structures and the perfecting of new  ones-                On the contrary, the genuinely Presbyterian
    for example, Covenant College.                                           character of the PCA, the OPC, and the RPCES is


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 4 3 9



simply  assumed,  even as it was  assumed  in the         denominations involved, the OPC, the RPCES, and
proposal circulated in the RPCES which we                 the PCA, historically had their origin not in a con-
discussed last March. But it is this very assumption      troversy      regarding       matters       specifically
which is all-important. For one thing, unless the         Presbyterian or Reformed, but in a modernist-fund-
denominations forming this union are genuinely            amentalist controversy. This was true of the OPC
and specifically Presbyterian,           thoroughly       and the RPCES, both of which had their origin in
Reformed, there can never result from the merger a        the 1930s in the so-called Machen controversy. The
greater and stronger Presbyterian witness. The            issues in that controversy were not specifically
cause of the Reformed faith cannot be served any          Presbyterian or Reformed, but they involved the
better by a church of 100,000 members than by a           bare minimum of orthodoxy, called fundamental-
church of 75,000 members IF that church is not            ism. They were really the issues at stake in the
genuinely Reformed. In other words, the question          infamous Auburn Affirmation. The same is true of
is not how big you are, but how sound you are. For        the PCA in general. This young denomination did
another, as far as the merged denomination is con-        not even originate in a formal split with the PCUS,
cerned, if they do not first address their differences    and still today (at least on the part of some in the
and settle them, the result can only be that all the      PCA) communion with the PCUS (the so-called
differences will be carried over into the merged          Southern Presbyterian Church) is possible. And for
church; and while the umbrella may be broad               the most part separation from the PCUS did not
enough to cover all for a while, or the pond big          have its reasons in matters which concerned Pres-
enough for all the little frogs for a time, sooner or     byterian specifics, but in matters which involve the
later these differences will crop up again to cause       bare minimum of orthodoxy, fundamentalism. In
trouble-unless all can somehow agree simply to be         all instances, one might say, separation came too
broadly evangelical. And as some have suggested,          late to establish a strong and soundly Reformed
the present PCA is already enough of an amalgam           new church. From this point of view, there really
and has enough differences within its denomina-           cannot be much objection to a merger among the
tional walls without adding to them.                      denominations concerned. There may be differ-
  All of this leads me to a general observation con-      ences of degree among the three. But there is not
cerning this matter. The real problem involved in         much to lose, nor much to be gained. Don't look for
this merger is due to the fact that the three main        a resurgence of genuine Presbyterianism, however!


              Reactions to the Merger Proposal


  Reactions to the merger proposal discussed              ences. In a similar vein, it is also argued that it is far
above have, in the main, been rather favorable,           better to follow the longer and slower route of dis-
judging from various articles and reports and             cussions.
editorial comments in  The Presbyterian  Journal.           At this point in time (this is being written in mid-
Several favorable articles have appeared in that          June) only one of the three churches has held its
magazine. At the same time, however, there are            General Assembly meeting-the OPC, whose
those who are opposed. One large RPCES presby-            Assembly met in mid-May. The PCA proposal
tery (classis) evidently voted against the proposal       could not, of course, be before that assembly for
by an overwhelming vote. Also in the PCA voices           the simple reason that the PCA Assembly had not
have been raised against the proposal, and some           yet passed on it. However, there was before the'
rather cogent arguments have been put forth. Some         OPC Assembly a proposal similar to that in the
claim that the proposal is improperly before the          RPCES, the one which we discussed last March: in
General Assembly. Others argue that parity of             effect, a proposal to ask for an invitation to join the
ruling elders and teaching elders, a cherished            PCA  en masse. This proposal was not adopted,
principle in the PCA, will be destroyed by the            however. Instead, the OPC made decisions which
merger. Another argument has it that if merger is         will, I think, definitely slow down the  merger-
pushed now, prematurely and hastily, the result           process, but which will not completely shut the
will be that the whole cause of eventual merger. will     door to the PCA proposal. The RES News Exchange
suffer shipwreck because of unresolved  differ-           carried the following report:


4 4 0                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



         OPC DESIRES CHURCH UNITY BUT NOT TOO                          information it needs in order to act on a matter of such
         QUICKLY                                                       far-reaching effect upon all our member churches."
         (Beaver Falls, PA, USA) The General Assembly of the                                                       (RES NE  6/3/89)
         Orthodox Presbyterian Church meeting here in May            If reports of further Assembly decisions appear
         affirmed "its desire to achieve biblical unity and        in print before our publishing deadline and during
    union with the Presbyterian Church in America, the             my absence in July, Prof. Hanko has promised to
    Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod,               write about them.
         and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North              * * * *  *. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    America as soon as possible."                                                 ADDITION TO EDITORIAL
    To implement this resolution, the Assembly decided                                        Prof Hanko
    to request the 1980 General Assemblies/Synods of
    these churches to agree, i.a., to a meeting of repre-            There has been, to date, only one development.
         sentatives later this year                                The General Assembly of the PCA has met and has
            to draw up a statement on "the compatibility           formally extended the invitation spoken of in the
            of the participating churches," and                    above editorial. According to  The  presbyterian
                                                                   JoumaZ,  the motion was adopted by a vote of 525 to
            "to insure insofar as possible that if a united        38. So the support was overwhelming. The official
            church were to be achieved it would produce a
            church of one mind in its willingness to deal on       letter which is to be sent is, in part, identical with
            a biblical basis with issues that would inevit-        that quoted above. The first four paragraphs
            ably arise from time to time which would in            remain the same, but a paragraph was added which
            turn minimize the possibility of division in the       reads:
            future."                                                     It is to be understood that this invitation is an action
    The Assembly was concerned that adequate oppor-                    of the Eighth General Assembly, and to receive any
    tunity be given to the participating churches to study             denomination which responds to this invitation it
    the standards of the governments, discipline and                   should be stated that for the Presbyterian Church in
    worship in the four churches so that each church may              America to consummate any such union, it would
    act responsibly in any eventual proposal for merger.              have to go through the constitutional process of
    The Synod therefore informed the three other                       approval by subsequent General Assemblies and
    churches that in its opinion "the interest of the unity            three-fourths of our presbyteries. In this constitu-
    of the Body of Christ would be served well by holding              tional process, each denomination must be dealt with
    in abeyance formal consideration of merger until the               separately.
    major Assembly meetings of 1981 when there shall                 It remains to be seen what the other invited
    have been opportunity for each church to receive the           denominations will do.


                 CRC Decision on the Boer Gravamen

   After one morning's discussion, the Christian                             which God is the cause of man's unbelief, and by
Reformed Synod reached the following decision                                means of which God has from eternity consigned
concerning the Boer Gravamen and the related                                 certain human beings to damnation apart from any
Study Report:                                                                merit or demerit on their part.
                                                                       b. The Scriptures do teach a doctrine of election and
           1. That synod give the privilege of the floor to two              reprobation in that they teach that some but not all
    representatives of the study committee who may be                        have been elected to eternal life.
    available when this report is discussed.
                                                                         3. That synod refer report 30 to the churches for
           2. That synod do not accede to the request made in          elucidation of the teaching of the Canons on election
    Dr. Harry Boer's Confessional-Revision Gravamen:                   and reprobation.
    namely that "the doctrine of reprobation ought...to be
    exscinded from or become a nonbinding part of the                    4. That synod refer this report and decision for
         creeds of the Christian Reformed Church"                      information to the churches which are in ecclesiasti-
         (Gravamen, p. 330).                                           cal fellowship with the Christian Reformed Church,
                                                                       and the churches which belong to the Reformed
         Grounds:                                                      Ecumenical Synod.
         a. The Canons of Dort do not teach what the                     5. That synod express its appreciation to Dr. Harry
            gravamen erroneously understands the doctrine of           Boer, and to the study-committee for their sincere
            reprobation to be: namely, a decree by means of            efforts to help the church in coming to a clearer


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                              441



   understanding of the Scripture and the, creeds with           for the churches to study the report of the Study
   respect to this difficult doctrine.                           Committee. As it turned out, Synod rejected a
      6. That synod discharge its study committee                proposal to defer action and adopted the above
   w i t h   t h a n k s .                                       decision by an overwhelming vote.
      7. That synod consider this its answer to overtures          And so the doctrine of reprobation is effectively
   20 and 23.                                                    buried in the Christian Reformed Church.
  We will not comment at length at this time.                      It is doubtful, however, whether the debate is
There was very little substantive discussion of the              ended. The Boer forces will probably take advan-
Study Report or the Gravamen; most of the dis-                   tage of point 3 of the decision in order to renew the
cussion centered on the question whether or not to               discussion. After all, they did not want reprobation
defer action until next year in order to allow time              to be buried, but to be cremated.



                                             Synod of 1980
                                                      Rev. G. Van Baren


  The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches                  since they have only recently begun study of our
convened on June 11, 1980 at Randolph,                           three forms of unity (Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic
Wisconsin. The meetings continued through the                    Confession, and Canons of Dort), they thought it not
afternoon of June 18. The Synod was wonderfully                  proper for them to be organized on the basis of these
provided for by the ladies of Randolph congrega-                 three creeds. They preferred to organize on the ba-
tion and the delegates were most hospitably re-                  sis of a simplified statement of Reformed truths.
ceived within the homes of the members of the                    The Doon consistory and the Foreign Mission Com-
congregation. It was very pleasant visiting with                 mittee demurred. These bodies decided that Rev.
members of the congregation-and the Synod itself                 den Hartog could help to organize-but only on the
provided an opportunity of blessed fellowship and                basis of our Reformed Confessions. The Synod was
mutual refreshment.                                              deeply impressed by the conscientiousness of these
  The pre-synodical service was held in the Ran-                 young people and their hesitancy of accepting any-
dolph church Tuesday evening. The president of                   thing before they could properly understand it.
the Synod of 1979, Rev. G. Van Baren, presented                  However, Synod also supported  Doon and the
the sermon. The officers for the Synod of 1980 were              F.M.C. in their decision, pointing out that a
chosen the first morning of Synod: Rev. J. Heys as               Reformed church should properly be organized on
president, Rev. J. Kortering as vice president, Rev.             the basis of Reformed creeds. The decision further
D. Kuiper as first clerk, and Rev. M. De Vries as                reminded the young people of Singapore that this
second clerk.                                                    decision ought not to be understood as reason for a
                                                                 long postponement of organization. Synod stated,
  That which occupied much of the time of the                    "If the Reformed Truth is held commonly among
Synod was matters of missions. The Synod received                the members, and if they are ready to be organized
reports and decisions which came from our                        as a Church holding the Reformed Faith, as the
missionary in Singapore, Rev. A. den Hartog, and                 G.L.T.S. confesses in their request for organization
from the Foreign Mission Committee and Doon, Ia.                 of 16 March 1980, it seems to the Synod that the
consistory. Rev. A. den Hartog reported concerning               G.L.T.S. can soon see that the Reformed Faith is
his own labors and finds the work there most bles-               expressed in the Reformed Creeds, so that they can
sed and enjoyable. There is, however, much work                  intelligently adopt these creeds as their basis...."
to be done. At the present time, Mr. Dewey Engels-               The Synod was very encouraged by the desire of
ma and his wife are also in Singapore to help the                this group to be truly Reformed, and in its decision
den Hartogs in any way they can.                                 sincerely wanted to direct these young people in
  One of the problems which arose in the work of                 the proper manner of organization in order that
Singapore was connected with the question of                     their Reformed character may continue to flourish.
organization of the group of young people there                  Synod conveyed its greetings also to Rev. den
into a Reformed church. The young people there de-               Hartog and family, the Engelsmas, and the young
sire to be Reformed in confession and walk, but                  people of the G.L.T.S. in Singapore.


  442                                        THE  .STANDARD  BEARER



    One of the young men of the G.L.T.S. also              missionary for the Mt. Vernon-Monroe area.
  requested permission for entrance into our               Several of the interested families there have moved
  seminary for a two-year period. That request was         to Lynden, and Rev. D. Kuiper seeks to keep in con-
  granted and Synod appointed the F.M.C. the task of       tact with others who are in that area.
  raising $4,000 annually for his support through            Synod treated other items of business related to
  voluntary contributions.                                 missions. This brief report, however, can not
    Synod made significant decisions also regarding        present each of these matters. Be sure to study the
  Jamaica. Synod did not accede to the request of the      Acts when this is published for information which
  calling church (First Church) and the Mission            can not be included here.
  Committee, to call a missionary for Jamaica at this        One other item which affects mission work was
  time. The ground given was, "to call a fourth full-      that which dealt with baptism on the mission field.
  time missionary and to commit the Churches to an         A study committee had been appointed by the
  additional $50,000 per year would be to over-            Synod of 1979 to report this year. The committee
  extend the Churches at this time." Synod did             sought to reconcile past decisions of Synod which
  decide to allot funds that emissaries, perhaps of our    appeared to forbid baptism on the mission field
  retired ministers, could labor in Jamaica for a two      before organization, with the calling to baptize
  to three month period.                                   converts on the mission field. The Synod rejected
    The Synod further decided to transfer the super-       the advice  of. the study committee and rather
  vision of benevolence from the Hudsonville to the        adopted the Report of the Study Committee Re
  First Church diaconate. The ground for this was the      Baptism on the Mission Field as presented to Synod
  desire to place all the activities of the Jamaican       of 1976 and which report had been rejected at the
  missions under the supervision of the same consis-       Synod of 1977. This decision now allows for
  tory. Synod expressed its deep appreciation and          baptism on the mission field with a view toward
  thanks to the Hudsonville diaconate for their faith-     the organization of the church. There were several
  ful labors in this area of Jamaican benevolence in       negative votes recorded against this decision. At
  the past.                                                least in the mind of this writer, the whole question
    There were reports also from our domestic              remains in limbo since Synod took no action to
  missions in Birmingham, Alabama and East                 adapt present baptism forms for this purpose-and
  Lansing, Michigan. The reports were encouraging          the Church Order requires the use of our present
  although the number of regular attendants is small.      forms. Individual churches or persons do not have
At Birmingham, the Mission Committee found it              the authority to alter the forms of the church.
  necessary to purchase a house for the Van Over-            The Synod received reports which indicated that
  loops, since rental of the kind we needed, did not       several appointed committees had not finished
  appear available at the time the Van Overloops           their work. The committee to draw up a "public
  moved to Birmingham. Outside of the re.quired            confession of faith form" requested continuation of
  amount of $20,000 down-payment, the monthly              their committee; the same was true for a committee
  payments cost the churches less than the amount          to index past Synodical decisions; and additional
  which would have to be paid for rent. Synod              work must be done before there can be a publica-
  approved this action of the M.C. Synod also              tion of a revised Church Order book. Probably
  approved the decision to purchase radio time in Bir-     these matters will be finished, D.V., at the next
  mingham so that the Sunday service might be              Synod.
  broadcast every Sunday there. This provides the
  means of making the message of the Reformed                Another item of great importance at every Synod
  truth more widely known in that area.                    is that which treats of our theological school. Often
                                                           routinely Synod decides on seminary matters. This
    At East Lansing, there are several families that       year there was a difference. The third of our three
  regularly attend the services. Visitors also             professors, Rev. Robert Decker, was granted per-
  frequently appear and Rev. S.  Houck seeks to            manent tenure in the seminary. The hearts of
  follow up on those who show interest.                    Synod were gladdened to hear of Prof. R. Decker's
    As churches, we ought to remember these                acceptance of this appointment. According to
  missionaries in our congregational prayers; and as       earlier decisions of Synod, Prof. Decker could
  members of the church, we ought to pray regularly        become eligible for a call after two more years.
  for them in our family devotions. These brethren           The annual rector's report stressed especially
  especially need our prayerful support and en-            two points: the continuing need for students for the
  couragement.                                             seminary and our churches; and secondly, the need
    It was reported to Synod that Lynden, Washing-         for preaching opportunities for both professors and
  ton congregation is presently not calling a              seminary students. The professors especially


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              443


believe it necessary for them to .have regular oppor-       Synod altered another constitution: that of the
tunities to preach in order that they may continue        (Seminary) Student Aid Committee. The constitu-
to sharpen those skills necessary for the instruction     tion had stated that married pre-seminary students
of others.                                                were ineligible for aid; and married seminary
  The past year, the seminary had six pre-seminary        students could receive financial assistance only to
(college level) students and three seminary               the amount allowed unmarried students. (This
students. Of the six pre-sems, three expect to enter      itself had been a change from earlier years when
the seminary department this fall: Mr. Barry Grit-        only unmarried students could receive aid. The
ters, Mr..Ken Hanko, and Mr. Everett Buiter. One          assumption appears to have been that students who
special student was admitted  <for a two-year             could assume the added obligations of wife and
seminary course, Mr. Lau Chin Kwee from Singa-            family, would not be justified in asking assistance
pore. Two new pre-seminary students were accep-           for themselves or family.) This year, Synod decided
ted: Mr. Russ Dykstra and Mr. Ken Kuiper.                 that married pre-seminary students could also
                                                          receive aid. And the aid granted married students
  It was reported to Synod that the building fund         would no longer be limited to the amount which an
balance of $1,707.65 was turned over to the Synodi-       unmarried student might require. The amount of
cal treasurer. This is the amount of money remain-        possible aid was doubled (from"$200 to $400 per
ing after paying fully for our seminary building.         month-but the Student Aid Committee could grant
  Synod did reject a request from the R.F.P.A. to         no more than a total amount to all the students of
erect a building for their use on seminary property.      $15,000 for the next school year). This will not make
Synod was minded not to tie together in this way          our students wealthy by any means-but should
denominational property with that of an                   lessen a bit the financial burden involved in prepa-
independent (free) organization.                          ration for the ministry. This decision was in re-
                                                          sponse to two overtures: one from Holland and one
  Some time was spent in matters related to the           from Mr. V. Casemier; and to the request of the
Contact Committee activities. This was done first         Student Aid Committee. The overtures arose
because of an overture from Mr. T. Feenstra who           because individual churches, independently and
asked Synod to "study, evaluate and correct the           somewhat arbitrarily, were giving additional assis-
constitution of the Committee for Contact." In            tance to married students above and beyond that
response to the overture, Synod did make two              approved by the Student Aid Committee. The
changes in this constitution. It added two elders to      present revision, hopefully, will alter that situation
the committee (who will serve with two ministers          and support the students according to their need.
and two professors). Another article was modified
by the addition of the words "sister churches" so as        There were two appeals of individuals against
to specify clearly among what churches certain            their consistories and classis concerning questions
types of assistance and cooperation could be done.        of discipline or possible discipline. These were
In response, too, to the overture, Synod appointed        treated in closed sessions because of their content
another study committee to consider the "minister-        which related to disciplinary matters. In both cases,
on-loan" concept to see if it is "Biblical, confes-       the appellants were not sustained.
sional, and in harmony with our Church Order."              A request from Loveland, Colorado consistory
                                                          for assistance from the needy churches fund in
  The report of the Contact Committee spoke of a          order to provide support for Rev. G. Laming was
difficulty which has arisen between them and the          granted. Synod rejected the larger amount recom-
Christchurch of O.P.C. of New Zealand. Corres-            mended by Classis West and approved the lesser
pondence from Christchurch and of the Contact             amount requested by the consistory.
Committee was read on the floor of Synod on this
question. The problem has to do with the kind of            Synod approved the emeritation of Rev; R. Har-
man to be called to serve in Christchurch as              bath (it treated this question last year already,
minister-on-loan. Synod instructed the Contact            but did not take final action because certain docu-
Committee and Hudsonville consistory to seek              ments were lacking). It also approved the emerita-
resolution of the difficulty and report to next year's    tion of Rev. J. Heys beginning June 1, 1980 on the
Synod.                                                    grounds of his age and health. Rev. J. Heys did
                                                          openly and without much hesitation reveal to
  A request from a foreign country for mission            Synod his current age. Since this was revealed in
work in their area and a request for organization         open session, I assume I have the liberty to print
into a congregation had been received by the Con-         that too-however, perhaps those interested could
tact Committee. Synod instructed this committee to        best ask him. The Synod took special note of the
turn over the request to the Domestic Mission             work of these two brethren and intends to express
Committee for further consideration.                      appreciation and thanks both  in  the  Standard Bearer


4 4 4                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



and in the minted Acts. We must surely give thanks           Finally, but hardly of least importance, Synod
to our God for providing such dedicatkd  men who           accepted the resignation of its treasurer, Mr.
willingly give of themselves in the service of the         Charles Pastoor. He has almost arrived at his 77th
kingdom to Gods glory and the benefit of His               birthday and has served in this capacity for more
church.                                                    than 25 years. He wrote Synod, "...I have always
   Other miscellaneous matters: Synod decided to           been treated with utmost consideration. In all this
microfilm (again) its records in an orderly way at         time I have never found any irregularity or hint of
the cost of $2,000. The yearbook committee gave its        wrong doing by anyone." Synod expressed its
report which showed that we have at present 1,083          appreciation for his services and intends to do so
families. Synod approved the requested payments            also publicly in the Standard Bearer. The Synod
for the emeritated persons in the ministry and also        appointed Mr. Dick Teitsma as successor. Mr.
approved the various subsidy requests. Covenant            Teitsma is not unfamiliar with the work, having
(New Jersey) and Kalamazoo congregations were'             served as assistant to Mr. Pastoor for a number of
granted permission to take collections in. Classis         years.
West for their building projects. A budget was               Synod closed its sessions with the singing of the
adopted which requires $320 per family per year            "Lord's Prayer" set to music composed by Rev. J.
(compared to $304 of this year). This represents but       Heys.
a 5% increase-quite a bit less than the inflation            The Lord willing, the Synod of 1981 will meet the
rate.                                                      first Wednesday of June at Holland, Michigan.

QUESTION BOX


                  About the Image of God in Man
                                                  Rev. C. Hanko




   A reader sent in a letter which I quote in part:        their idea of Gods image in the `narrower' and
   "From most of that which I have read, of which I        `wider' sense?
have quoted some, which without doubt, could be              "All this came to mind when I read: `Exposition
multiplied by you, I get the firm impression, that         of Galatians,' by Rev. Lubbers (Standard Bearer,
through the fall we lost the image of God.                 Dec. 15, `79, page 138, under the co-heading
   "Now comes the question. Again and again I              `secondly: Murder is the desire to obliterate a man
come across writings that either slightly contradict,      as image bearer of God (Gen. 9:6). We do not speak
or add something that to my mind confuses the              of the murdering of an animal, do we? . ..But
subject, sometimes coming from the same sources            murder is hatred for man as the image of God'
or author.                                                 (Gen. 4:8,14,15).
   "Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, Chapter I.                "Reformed Dogmatics (on page 207) denies that
Although he claims on page 94, that the image was          this distinction has ever received official standing
destroyed, on page 95 he claims, `...but now some          in the Reformed Churches, yet, I am not able to
obscure lineaments of that image are found remain-         find an explanation of Gen.  9:6, I Cor.  11:7, or
ing in us....'Or Calvin's Institutes, Book II, Chapter     James 3:9. Without doubt, it is there, but I, for one,
VIII, art. 40: `man is both the image of God and of        would like to have this seeming contradiction ex-
our flesh, wherefore, if we would not violate the          plained."
image of God, we must hold the person of man                 First of all, I wish to express by sincere appre-
sacred..., viz., to revere the divine image impressed      ciation to a person who makes a serious study of
upon him....' Then Calvin goes on to connect it            the Scriptures and is, at the same time, a discerning
with the crime of murder. All this leads me to ask:        reader of various expositions of the Scriptures.
"Is this where some of the Reformed writings get           Your number is by no means legion in this day, no,


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             445


not even among us as Protestant Reformed believ-          be shed." The punishment of the murderer is com-
ers.                                                      mitted into the hands of "man," that is, of the
  I gladly make an attempt to remove some-of the          magistrate. The magistrate is ordained of God to be
problems that have arisen in the mind of our ques-        the minister of God's justice in an evil world
tioner.                                                   (Romans 13:1-5). And the reason why this execu-
                                                          tion of justice is entrusted to man is the fact that "in
  We turn, first of all, to Genesis 9:6, where we         the image of God made he man." Man stood in
read: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall           paradise as friend-servant of God and king of the
his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he        earthly creation, ruling over all things in God's
man." Our correspondent is correct when he says           Name. Already in this original creation of man lay
that, according to the usual interpretation, of this      the institution of the office of the magistrate. There-
verse, the reason why a murderer must receive his         fore the fall did not change God's calling that man
due punishment for his  offence is, that the              should rule in God's Name, and thus also execute
murderer makes an attack upon the image of God            justice in an evil world. The fact that the magistrate
in`man. Nevertheless, this can hardly be the correct      is evil, and therefore does not carry out this divine
interpretation of Genesis 9:6;                            mandate also makes no difference whatever. His
  We know, of course, that when God created man           calling and responsibility remain. The person who
at the dawn of history, He did not create an image        makes himself guilty of murder must be punished
in the narrower and in the broader sense, as if after     by death according to the justice of God, and that
the fall man retains the image in the narrower            by the magistrate which God has appointed for that
sense, but loses it in the wider sense. A far better      purpose.
distinction is the distinction between man as image         Of course, the guilty, unrepentant' murderer is
bearer and as possessing the image of God. When           worthy of everlasting punishment in hell for his
we say that God created man as an image bearer,           sin. As a rational, moral creature he remains re-
we mean that man was created in such a way that           sponsible, even though he may appeal to a moment
he was capable of bearing the image of God. He            of insanity, or make some other excuse to cover up
stood upright with his face directed toward God.          his offe`nce.
`He had an intelligent face, a dexterous hand; a body
capable of functioning as king of the earthly               Turning now to I Corinthians 11:7, we read, "For
creation. Man was a rational, moral, intellectual         the man indeed ought not to cover his head, foras-
being, who could desire, will, think, speak his           much as he is the image and glory of God: but the
thoughts, and act consciously, deliberately,              woman is the glory of the man." In the context of
according to the purpose of God. Besides, the image       this verse we see that Scripture is making the dis-
bearer was created in the image of God, which con-        tinction between man and woman, which goes all
sists of true knowledge of God, righteousness, and        the way back to the creation of the man and of the
holiness, so that He could consciously and willingly      woman. In verse 3 Paul states, "But I would have
devote himself to God in love in all that he did. At      you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and
the fall man's image was perverted. Actually this is      the head of the woman is the man; and the head of
worse than the mere loss of God's image, for the          Christ is God." From this the apostle concludes
image is perverted into spiritual darkness, hatred        that the woman must never make herself the same
against God, and an unholy walk of life. The friend-      as the man, not even in her outward appearance,
servant of God became a child of Satan in open re-        like wearing her hair the same as a man does [verse
bellion against the living God. Yet he remained           6). And the man must not make himself like
man. He is still a rational, moral creature, who          the woman, not even in his outward appearance or
thinks and wills, speaks and acts deliberately. And       hair-dress (verse 7). The reason that is given is, that
therefore man is accountable to God for what he           "he is the image and glory of God." This un-
does all the days of his sinful life upon the earth.      doubtedly refers back to man's original creation.
                                                          Man was created first, and was created as king of
  When we turn once more to Genesis  9:6, we              the earthly creation, the responsible head of the
notice that the statement "for in the image of God        human race. Eve was created as his "help-meet."
made he man," appears in a context in which God           Therefore man was created to reflect directly the
pronounces His just judgment upon the evil doer,          image and glory of God. But the woman was
in this case the murderer. Verse 5 reads, "And            created to serve the man, and thus reflect the image
surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the    and glory of God through her husband. Even
hand of every beast will I.require it, and at the hand    though this image of God was perverted through
of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I         the fall, nevertheless it is restored to us in Christ,
require the life of man."                                 and therefore we must live as members of the body
  Verse 6 adds to this that "by man shall his blood       of Christ, serving Christ to the glory of God.


446                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  Finally, we must consider the passage in James             remains a rational, moral, responsible creature
3:9, where James is speaking of the unruly, evil             before God. To curse that man is to call God's
tongue, saying, "Therewith bless we God, even the.          judgment upon him, that God may condemn him to
Father, and therewith curse we men, which are               hell. What a terrible  offence that is when one
made after the similitude of God." Here we have a            sinner damns another sinner to hell. But how far
reference once more to the original creation of man          more offensive it must be in the ears of God when
in paradise. Man is made`according to the image, or          one who. professes to believe in God and blesses
the similitude of God. Even though that image is             God turns +bout and curses his fellow man, even
greatly perverted by sin, man still remains man, the        when he does that thoughtlessly and carelessly.
man who once was image bearer of God. He

IN HIS FEAR


                   The Binding of the Strong Man
                                                  Rev. W. Bekkering



  The husband is the head of the wife even as               headship of love. We need continually to remind
Christ is the head of the church. The headship of           ourselves of that truth. One of the besetting sins of
the Christian husband is fundamentally a spiritual          fathers and husbands is that they think themselves
headship. Satan assaults the husband in order to            to be lords in their own right.
cast him down from his God-given position.                     Ephesians 5 gives us to understand the spiritual
  In this article we liken the Christian husband to         character of headship. "For the husband is the head
the strong man in Mark 3:27. "No man can enter              of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church,
into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods ex-          and he is the saviour of the body" (vs. 23). We have
cept he will first bind the strong man, and then he         here a most wonderful and exalted model of the
will spoil his house." We liken Satan's assault to          headship of the man over the wife. The husband is
the attempt to bind the strong man and spoil his            not the head in the absolute sense of the word, nor
house.                                                      in the dictatorial sense of the word, but as Christ is
  Christian husbands are involved in a struggle to          the head of the church.
keep the home and family from being spoiled by                 The headship and leadership of love must char-
Satan. This is a difficult struggle, and we want to         acterize the husband and the father in the home.
give encouragement and point to the way of victory          He must lead, that is, he goes before, and the others
for the godly husband.                                      come after him. He must lead in all the affairs of
  The husband is the head of the whole family and           the home and family, especially in the spiritual
not just of the wife. But in a particular way he is the     affairs.
head of the wife so that the wife functions through            The wise husband will not, because he is the
him and he through the wife. They work together             head, say at the breakfast table in the morning,
as an intimate unity so that they are no longer two          "Wife, today you do this, you do that. Children you
but one. They must be one in purpose; they must              do this, you do that." And then off he goes to his
be one in goal; they must be one in love. The only           employment. When the husband comes home late
possibility of that is that they are one in the Lord.       in the evening he expects that all of his commands
  God made Adam first. Adam's being created first           be carried out. "After all," he may reason, "I am
was not just happenstance, but was part of God's            the head, and the others must listen to me". That
creational purpose with respect to mankind. The             man would be a very foolish man. Soon his home,
man would be created first so that his headship             his family, his marriage relationship would begin to
would be unmistakably clear. It is the spiritual             crumble. That would be like a man w.ho was a very
headship that we want to consider particularly. We          able craftsman in his work, and for many years he
must notice that the headship of the husband is a           carried out his craft, and for many years his pro-


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                447


duct sold well. The man began to reason, "Since I        tion is that their prayers will be hindered, because
am such a skillful craftsman and my product sells        there will be tension and disunity in the home.
well, I think I will expand my business and hire for     The husband therefore is instructed. to dwell with
myself helpers, secretaries, and clerks and they will    his wife. That means, first of all, that he is going to
carry out my business for me while I continue to         be in the home. There is a difference, however,
carry on with my craft." The man then would say          between just being in the home and dwelling in the
to all of his hired people,  "Now I am going to          home. It is possible that the man be in the home,
continue to laborwith my craft in conjunction with       but that he be entirely preoccupied with other
the'business. I want you to do this and I want you       things, such as his work or with sports or with a
to do that, and you must all remember that I am the      hobby, that he simply exists in the home without
head." Then the craftsman would become preoccu-          really dwelling there.
pied with his craft again. Soon this man would find        Satan tries to entangle the husband in.activities
that his business was beginning to flounder,             outside the home so that he finally binds the strong
because he had the wrong conception of headship.         man. The devil, however, is not so foolish as to
He would soon find that his business was becoming        attack the strong man head on, but rather he lays a
less and less productive. Soon he would be on the        snare for the strong man. Satan approaches the
verge of bankruptcy, because he was not a wise           strong man by pointing to his calling before God.
head of the business. He had failed to understand        He says, "Hath not God said that it is the husband's
that headship implies leadership, it implies instruc-    calling to provide for the needs of the home and
tion, it implies working along with. Now if this man     family?" -And the man must answer, "Yes, that is
were a wise man and would come to his senses he          our calling." The devil continues, "Hath not God
would see that he would have to take time to work        said. that a man must labor diligently?" And the
in the business as the head of that business if it       strong man must answer, "Yes, that is what the
were to prosper as he had supposed. He would             Word of God says. The man must labor diligently,
have to coordinate the business. He would have to        he must give a good days ,work for a good days
work out problems on a personal basis with his em-       wages." The devil then says, "Is not the man who
ployees. He would have' to instruct, lead, guide,        works diligently and gives himself entirely to his
and encourage. If he were unwilling to do this, then     job the man who gets somewhere in this world?"
the end would be the failure of the business.            Satan, you see, has begun to entrap the strong man
  Now that example we can apply to the headship          with a distortion of the strong man's calling before
in the home and family. The husband cannot be as         the Lord. Make no mistake about it, the man of God
the foolish craftsman who says, "You do this and         has a duty before God to labor diligently and
you do that, and I am going'to occupy myself with        honestly. But the devil inserts a faulty premise
my particular work and calling in the life of the        when he sets before the strong man the model man
home and family, that is, to bring in the necessary      of the world, and not the model man of the scrip-
financial support for the continuation of the            ture. The model man of the world is out to gain
home." The husband will soon find that problems          financial success. He wants the honor of men, the
creep up here and there. There is going to be            honor of his employer, the honor of those around
tension and disunity on the part of the wife and on      about him and under him, but he is not interested
`the part of the children, and there will not be a       in the honor of' God. The strong man of the
unified direction in the home. But the home will be      scripture is a man who provides well, not only for
splintered in direction and in purpose. The              the material needs of his family, but also the spir-
responsibility for this lies upon the husband. He is     itual needs.
the head of the wife, the head of the home. Hus-           The model man of the world-Oh yes, he is going
bands must be wise men of God to understand their        to go places. He will be the man who usually gets
calling before God out of the scripture, and to con-     the promotions and the raises, but after he has
duct themselves in a way that is in harmony with         gained all of these things you will find that often
the will of God.                                         times his marriage is in shambles, his children have
  The apostle Peter gives instruction with respect       gone astray, and he is a very miserable man.
to the headship of the husband. "Likewise ye hus-          The strong man of the scripture is the man who
bands, dwell with them according to knowledge,           keeps the physical-earthly requirements in balance
giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker           with the spiritual requirements. He will be the man
vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of      who has his priorities ordered properly. He will be
life; that your prayers be not hindered" (I Peter        a faithful, dependable, and loyal employee, but he
3:7). Peter sets forth the relationship of the man to    will also have the  wisdqm to say, "No." When
the woman as a spiritual unity. If a man does not        more and more responsibility is laid upon him he
dwell together with his wife as head, the implica-       will have the spiritual foresight to see that if he sets


448                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



himself upon that course something will suffer.              The struggle to which we are called is a difficult
What suffers is always his spiritual life in connec-       struggle. Satan is a formidable opponent. If we
tion with his wife and his family.                         underestimate the enemy or fight half-heartedly we
  In our day spiritually strong men have to be on          are in danger of being overcome. Think of Lot. Lot,
guard. They have to be instructed out of the word          no doubt, thought of himself as a strong man. As
of God, and have to be impressed with the serious-         Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom he may have said,
ness of being the spiritual head of the home. They         "I. can keep the proper perspective, I can resist the
have to understand that they cannot stand in their         temptations." But Lot went out of Sodom a broken
own strength, but hear God's word which says,              and wretched man. His family was shattered. His
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in       wife was destroyed and his children went lost in
the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of          their generations.
God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles          What an awesome responsibility we have as hus-
of the devil" (Eph. 6:10-11).  When the strong man         bands and fathers. Each of us must grieve as we see
is assailed by Satan he will be able to say, "It is        how far short we come from glorifying God as we
written in the word of God, man shall not live by          ought. We must repent from our foolish ways. To
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out         repent means to turn around and to reorder our
of the mouth of God." He will put Satan to flight by       lives according to the Word of God. In the way of
seeking first the things of Gods kingdom and of His        daily repentance and struggle against our many sins
glory. He will show in his whole life that the things      God will bless us. Finally my brethren be strong in
that are above are more important to him'than the          the Lord and in the power of His might.
world with all its riches.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VQICE


                                      Letter to Timothv


                                       August 1,198O       will of God. When this is true of our lives, then we
Dear Timothy,                                              walk in good conscience before God.
  In our last letter we spoke of what Scripture              Concerning these two truths we must say a bit
means when it speaks of walking before the face of         more because they are so important for our under-
God with a good conscience. You will recall that we        standing of a good conscience.
talked about the fact that a good conscience is              Confession of sin is often taken rather lightly by
possible only in the atoning sacrifice of Christ on        us, and that in more than one way. Certainly
the cross. It is only when we, by faith, appropriate       confession means not only confession of our actual
that sacrifice in all its fulness that we can also have    sins, but also confession of our sinful nature. Both
a good conscience.                                         Scripture and our Confessions speak of this. In
  This means, as I explained last time, two things.        Lord's Day XXI, e.g., we read: "What believest
It means, first of all, that we appropriate the for-       thou concerning `the forgiveness of sins'? That
giveness of sin. By faith we stand in the conscious-       God, for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, will no
ness of the truth that all our sins and all our guilt      more remember my sins, neither my corrupt nature,
are covered by Christ's blood. We appropriate the          against which I have to struggle all my life long; but
truth that, for Christ's sake, we are righteous and        will graciously impute to me the righteousness of
holy before God. But this stands inseparably con-          Christ, that I may never be condemned before the
nected with another truth: we, by that same faith in       tribunal `of God." Very clearly, the Catechism
the cross, walk by the power of Christ within our          implies here that our corrupt nature is also in need
hearts so that we repent of that sin which we com-         of forgiveness and must be confessed. We must
mit, turn from our evil ways, and walk in holiness         learn to be sorry before God for our sins, but also
before God. Our lives are in conformity with the           for the fact that these sins proceed from a corrupt


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               4 4 9



and depraved nature which is the source and                 concretely before the throne of grace. This too is
fountain of all our transgression. This is very clear-      important.
ly the emphasis in Scripture too. In Psalm 51, after          The Scriptures also make a considerable point of
his sin of adultery and murder, David prays:                it that we must not only confess our sins to God,
"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did           but we must also confess them to each other. James
my mother conceive me." Surely David does not               writes in 5: 16: "Confess your faults one to another,
mean to say that the corrupt nature with which he           and pray for one another, that ye may be healed."
was born is some kind of excuse which mitigates             It is clear from the context that James speaks here
the seriousness of his sin and diminishes his               of spiritual healing, i.e., healing from the wounds
responsibility. This too is a part of his confession.       and sicknesses brought on by sin. Confession to
He pleads with God to forgive him because of his            one another is the way to healing. This ought to
nature which is corrupt and which is the foul               characterize our life in all our relationships here on
fountain of his sin. This same truth is emphasized          earth. Husbands ought to learn to confess their sins
by the publican who prayed in the temple, "God be           to their wives when by their sins they hurt their
merciful to me a sinner." He did not pray, "God be          wives. And wives ought to do the same to their hus-
merciful to me because I sin." He pleaded rather            bands. I have talked with married couples who
for God's mercy in the consciousness that he was a          have trouble in their marriages and have asked
sinner. And surely this could only be because of his        them whether they have ever confessed their
deep consciousness of his own corrupt nature.               wrongs to each other. Surprisingly, there are many
Thus this is also an important part of our confession       who. have never done this. They have either never
of sin before God. `It is so important because only         thought of it or they excuse their failure to do this
when we recognize this truth can we also recognize          by saying, "He (or she) has his faults too. It was his
our own utter unworthiness and helplessness. And            fault that all this happened. He is a difficult person
only in the consciousness of our unworthiness can           to live with. Why should I do what he never does?"
we go to the cross to find in Christ all our salvation.     But the same holds true of children in relation to
  Confession must also be of specific sins. This is         their parents-and parents, too, in relation to their
not always recognized by us as being very impor-            children when that is necessary. Children must be
tant. It is probably true that most, if not all, of us      taught from childhood on that confession of sin is
rather regularly pray, "Lord, forgive my sins." And         vitally important. And that sin must be confessed
surely this is important. But to confess our sins           not only to God, but also to those who have been
means to repent of our sins. And repentance is              affected by their sin. Without this confession of sin
possible only when we turn from specific sins of            to one another within the Church the communion
which we have been guilty and bring them to God             of the saints is ultimately impossible. After all, we
to confess them to Him Who forgives through the             live in the Church which is still in the battle of
blood of the cross. In some parts of the Roman              faith. Sin is always present. Unless the saints learn
Catholic Church, a regular part of the life of the          to confess their faults to one another, life cannot go
clerics is what is called, "daily examination of con-       on in the Church. But in all the relationships of life,
science." Usually at the end of the day, such an one        confession clears the air, heals the wounds, bridges
who engages in this spends a bit of time going over         the chasms which sin digs, and brings joy and unity
the deeds of the day to examine them in the light of        to the saints.
Scripture and before the face of God. He not only             How important, therefore, confession of sin is.
examines his outer deeds of words and works, but              On the other hand, confession of sin and repen-
also his heart and soul and his deepest motives. He         tance from sin means also a turning away from sin.
asks himself the question, why did I do this? What          I emphasized the fact in my last letter to you that
was the reason for this? And his purpose is to              this was possible only by continually relying on the
inquire whether- or not what he did was for wrong           cross of Christ. Christ is the fullness of our
reasons or for the glory of God. Now, Roman                 salvation. He is not only the complete atonement
Catholicism has this about it that it reduces every         for our sins, but He is also the One Who by His per-
act to a mere formula and habitual practice without         fect sacrifice, earned complete salvation for us. So,
spiritual substance. And no doubt this evil infects         if we are to walk in newness of life, we must walk
also this daily examination of conscience. Never-           in conscious dependence upon Christ. If we try to
theless, the fact remains that Scripture calls us to        walk by our own strength and fight against sin by
self-examination which must be daily practiced. It          relying upon our own resources, we will always
is a sure preventive for escaping the vice of being         fail. We have no strength of ourselves, for all the
casual and insensitive to our sins. It will be of assis-    inclinations of our natures are towards sin. But
tance in knowing our sins, remaining spiritually            Christ is a mighty power within us to walk in God's
sensitive to sin, and bringing them specifically and        ways. When we walk in the consciousness of His


4 5 0                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



strength then we can say with Paul, "I can do all         are we." And they thought this guaranteed their
things through Christ Who strengthens me" (Phil-          salvation regardless of their wicked lives. But the
ippians 4: 13). This is also the reason why Paul says,    judgment of God comes upon them-whether they
in II Corinthians 12: 10: "When I am weak, then am        are Israel or not. Again, it happens sometimes that
I strong." Paul speaks clearly of the fact that when      we excuse our sins by appealing to our own de-
he. is weak, then he recognizes that he has no            praved nature. A sinner may be reprimanded for
strength of his own and must rely only upon the           his sin and may say (in excuse of it): "You must
strength of Christ his Savior. And then, ironically       remember that we are all totally depraved and that
enough, he is strong.                                     we have only a small beginning of the new obedi-
   There is grave danger here-danger which                ence"-as if this will excuse his sin before God and
sometimes raises its ugly head even within our            man. Carelessness towards sin always brings God's
circles. I speak of the danger of antinomianism.          judgment upon us. We had better be warned.
This evil manifests itself in many different ways.          Finally, we must bear in mind that, although we
Sometimes it manifests itself in a spirit of spiritual    know that we shall not be perfect on this side of the
complacency. We tell ourselves (and others) that          grave, nevertheless, overt transgression of God's
we have appropriated the forgiveness of sins in the       commandments can and must be rooted out of our
cross of Christ; but failing to understand what this      lives (by the power of the cross of Christ). It is true
means, we excuse our sins by saying that they are         indeed that, as our Communion Form expresses it,
all forgiven anyway-as if this is a certain license to    we shall not here in the world have perfect faith
continue in sin because of the grace of forgiveness.      nor serve God with that zeal as we are bound. But
Paul addresses himself to this very problem in            this does not mean that sin cannot be rooted out.
Romans 6:1, 2: "What shall we say then? Shall we          The sins of blasphemy, obscenity, Sabbath desecra-
continue in sin, that grace may abound? God               tion, fornication, slander, theft, etc., as well as the
forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any      sins of hatred, pride, covetousness, etc. (all of
longer therein?" From a doctrinal point of view, the      which lurk in our hearts) can, by grace, be rooted
error is the failure to recognize that justification      out of our lives. The cross has this power. Shall we
(the forgiveness of sins) is inseparably connected        slander the cross of Christ by denying that His
with sanctification (walking in new obedience).           cross is able to eradicate these sins from us? Shall
One who walks in sin and boasts of forgiveness has        we speak,evilly of the power of Christ's atoning
no forgiveness and paves his road to hell. Other          death by acting as if that cross has no power within
times this antinomianism becomes manifest when            us? God forbid.
parents excuse the sins of their children with some         It is only when we remember these things that
such remarks as: "They are only kids. They will
grow up and settle down. They only do what                we can walk in good conscience before our God.
everyone else is doing. They do not mean it so              But now I must close.
bad." What parents are saying is that sin is not
important and does not really matter very much.                                           Fraternally in Christ,
Israel said, "The people of God, the people`of, God                                       H. Hanko


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                                           Ph. (201) 427-5483


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             451



THE LORD GAVE THE WORD


                                            Singapore
                                             Prof: Robert D. Decker


   We are digressing from our Missions series on             We have been able to adjust to apartment life
the principles of missions to bring the reader news       very well. Our home is spacious and comfortable.
from the mission in Singapore. In that distant and        The members of the G.L.T.S. have been very
foreign culture Rev. Arie den Hartog preaches and         gracious to us to make sure that we are not cooped
teaches the gospel of sovereign grace to a group of       up in our apartment for too long a time. Almost
young converts recently saved out of heathendom.          every Monday someone will take us out to see some
In addition to his wife, Sherry, Rev. den Hartog is       of the sights of Singapore. We have seen and
aided in the work by Mr. and Mrs. Dewey Engels-           enjoyed many of them. These excursions are a nice
ma who are members of our Hope Church, Walker,            break from the crowded city, the limitations of life
Michigan.                                                 in an apartment, and the business of the work.
   In a personal letter which accompanied this               We rejoiced last week at the arrival of Mr. and
article Rev. den Hartog wrote: "As you can read           Mrs. Engelsma. They received a warm welcome in
from all our reports the Lord is richly blessing the      the G.L.T.S. They are dearly loved and appreciated
work here. In fact it is simply astounding how            here as this is now the third time they have come
much fruit there is on the work. There must be a          here. It goes without saying that they will be of
double pouring out of the Spirit of God in this           great help for the work. Their wise counsel is very
place. It goes without saying that this makes the         much listened to and respected. They are also the
work very exciting and encouraging."                      source of great encouragement to us as your
  We are sure you will find the following letter          missionary family. In the providence of God we
enjoyable, interesting, informative, and a blessing.      were able to find an apartment for them on the
Let us remember our missionaries and their                campus of the Far Eastern Bible College.
families and their fields of labor in our daily              There is no end to the exciting experiences that
prayers.                                                  we could relate to you. Our home is constantly the
   Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Our Lord Jesus         scene of church activities and pastoral calls. During
Christ of Our Protestant Reformed Churches:               the two months that we have lived in this
  We continue to experience the blessing of the           apartment there has been only one day that we
Lord upon our labors in Singapore. In fact, one           have not had people in our'home some time during
stands amazed at the wonderful way the Lord is            the day. We are very happy that the members of
gathering and building His Church in Singapore.           the G.L.T.S. are coming so freely to our home, and
The work in every aspect is going very well We are        to their missionary pastor. They come with many,
being kept incredibly busy. It would be impossible        sometimes even lists, of questions, questions on the
for any missionary of the gospel of Christ Jesus to       understanding of certain scriptures, questions on
do anything but love the work in a field such as          Reformed doctrines, and questions on all kinds of
this.                                                     practical problems in their life. Many of them relate
                                                          to us the hardships and trials they experience in
  The Lord is also richly blessing us personally as a     their Christian life, especially also in their own
family and He is supplying all our needs. We feel         pagan homes. The stories they tell leave us with an
very much at home here in Singapore. We are               overwhelming sense of how thankful we all ought
especially blessed by the daily evidences of love         to be for the Christian homes the Lord has given to
and encouragement that we receive from the young          us. It would'already be easy for me to write a book
saints here. We experience the blessed truth that         about all of these stories. Because our home must
the church of Jesus Christ is a catholic church. In       always be open to often unexpected visitors Sherry
this blessed catholic church is our home and life. In     is also kept very busy. It would be impossible to
this church there is a unity in the Lord Jesus Christ,    carry on a work such as this without a wife who is
a commonness of faith and love, wherever that             also very much active and involved in the
church is found in the world.                             activities.


452                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  In our pastoral work we have been confronted             is investigation going on into this matter.
with many situations where we are being forced to          Purchasing a place is far beyond the means of
learn and develop in ways that we never have               G.L.T.S. Renting a suitable place is very difficult if
before. We are often called to witness of the gospel       not impossible. There are many government
of Christ Jesus to those who are complete strangers        regulations which must be considered. We are
to the faith. We have spoken about the gospel to           hearing of churches being evicted from their place
Buddhists, to Marxists, and to what are here called        of worship because they do not meet these regula-
"Free Thinkers" (meaning they believe that all             tions. There is some danger of this happening to the
religions are the same and they are not committed          G.L.T.S. in the future, especially after we organize
to any one in particular). We have so much to learn        as a church and gain more members. Besides this,
about how we must present the gospel to complete           eventually the Kampong in which we hold our
pagans. What do you say to someone who explains            meetings will be demolished and replaced,
to you in detail that he believes all religions are the    probably by a high rise apartment building.
same and challenges you to prove the truth of
Christianity over all other religions. We surely need        In addition to all our regular meetings in April
your prayers as we learn to do this kind of work.          we had several special meetings. We had a worship
On a few occasions we have been in situations              service in the morning on Good Friday. We also
where we have had to speak of the gospel to those          had what is called a Gospel Meeting. To us as
who do not know any English and we have had to             Reformed people the name of this meeting may
do all our conversation through an interpreter.            bring to our minds some bad connotations. Be
                                                           assured that the program of the meeting was
  There is much evidence around us that we live in         Reformed in every part. I preached a message using
a pagan society. There are Buddhist temples and            as my theme the question of Pontius Pilate: "What
Moslem Mosques in many places. One often smells            shall I do then with Jesus which is the Christ?"
the burning of incense even in the apartment               Because expected attendance at this meeting was
building in which we live. A few weeks ago there           larger than we could accommodate at our regular
was an outdoor Buddhist funeral at our apartment.          meeting place, it was decided to hold this meeting
The service lasted three whole days and nights. The        at a Presbyterian Church. The expectations
pagan ritual was unbelievable. Offerings of food           concerning the attendance were realized.
were made for the dead. Stranger processions were          Attendance numbered from 150 to 200. It was
held. The Buddhists actually believe that after they       therefore an overwhelming success. We were very
die they will all go to hell. They will have               much encouraged, rejoicing at the blessing of
ceremonies of buring paper cars, paper money, and          the Lord upon the labors that went into this
paper dolls. These are burned so that they can be          meeting. Most of the visitors at this meeting were
used by the departed dead in hell. We have seen on         brought by personal invitations given by the
occasion Moslems kneeling on the street facing             members of the G.L.T.S. We rejoice to see two
Mecca praying to Allah. We have heard many                 people who came first to this Gospel meeting in
stories of devilish media whose counsel is sought in       regular attendance at our worship services on the
times of crisis and for making decisions on various        Lord's Day. Because the Lord so richly blessed this
questions of life. We have heard of families who.          meeting we are making preparations to hold
have in recent years, given their own children away        another such meeting some time in the early fall.
to other families because of religious reasons. How        Two weeks ago I had an opportunity to give a
wonderful it is to think that the Lord has called          gospel message to a group of about 20 university
almost all of the young people of the G.L.T.S. out of      students at the home of one of the members of the
such a pagan society to the knowledge of salvation         G.L.T.S. With the exception of the young man who
in Christ Jesus.                                           invited me, none of these people were G.L.T.S.
  The worship services are of course the center of         people. Some of this group were Christians from
our life. The services are continually well attended.      other churches.and some were unbelievers.
Every Lord's Day we.see new faces. Many of these             Much of our time and energy is being spent now
come and go of course, but some of the new ones            directly on matters relating to the organization and
are also returning and even coming regularly. The          institution of the church. One of the major efforts
seating arrangement at our place of worship had to         involves the drafting of a constitution for the future
be completely changed in order to accommodate              church, This constitution includes a long statement
more people. This was all done recently on a               of faith as well as a detailed statement of various
holiday by all voluntary labor. It was necessary to        matters of church polity. Presently a committee is
build a new speaker's platform as well as to do            working on this constitution. This committee meets
some other quite major carpentry work. There is an         twice a week. I would very much like to tell you
urgent need to find another place of worship. There        some of the many questions we face in this


                                           THE -STANDARD BEARER                                               453


committee, but space limits me. After the constitu-         training of ministers. It is not at all unrealistic to
tion is drafted by the committee it must be                 think of three ministers for the work here in light of
approved, first by the executive board and then by          the present size of the G.L.T.S. and especially in
the general body of the G.L.T.S. All of this will take      light of how rapidly the work is expanding.
some time and a lot of effort. Various articles in the        Presently I am beginning a temporary course of
constitution will be molded and remolded as we              instruction for the two brothers. This will give
seek to express the truth of scripture on all matters       these brothers some additional instruction while
and doctrines. The members of the G.L.T.S. are              Mr. Tan is on vacation from the Bible School and
eagerly anticipating the day when the church will           Mr. Lau is waiting to go to the.U.S.
be organized. To appreciate this, one must know
that many of the members of the G.L.T.S. have                 My space is rapidly running out and there is just
waited for years for this to take place. They have          so much more to tell you. We rejoice every
heard it discussed again and again. For so long it          Saturday to see a house full of young people present
just never became a reality. Now eagerly we are             for instruction in the Heidelberg Catechism. On the
actively working toward this goal. This is surely           Lord's Day there is a class for several new converts
one of their chief joys presently. Prayers are made         to prepare them for baptism. On the evening of
without ceasing for all the matters relating to the         the Lord's Day there are two groups meeting simul-
organization of the church. Continue to pray that           taneously at different locations to listen to taped
the Lord might guide and direct us that a true              sermons. One of these groups meets in our home.
Reformed Church might be established here in                We rejoiced at the largest attendance yet last week
Singapore.                                                  of 26 people. We often listen to ministers from our
                                                            Protestant Reformed Churches. Presently we are
  After much discussion of what to do about the             listening to a whole series of sermons by Rev.
future training of ministers for the new church it          Engelsma on the Armour of God based on
was decided to try and send young men from here             Ephesians 6.
to our Seminary in the U.S.A. This is also for us a           Work is being done on starting a second worship
very large matter. It was decided to try to get one of      service. I could also tell you much about this. Plans
the brothers into the Seminary already this fall.           are to give the two ministerial students some
Much work must be done in a short time if this is to        opportunity to preach at this service.
become a reality. Mr. Lau Chin Kwee has studied
for several years in the Bible College of the Presby-         We are looking forward to two weddings in the
terian Church but he needs and desires further              G.L.T.S. this summer. There are many members
training. If a strong Reformed Church is to be              who are seriously dating and contemplating
established in Singapore there must be a strong and         marriage. We see therefore young couples starting
well trained ministry. Mr. Lau will be coming to the        their homes and we see a new character coming
U.S. the Lord willing with his wife. They are               over the G.L.T.S.
anxiously awaiting confirmation of all the                    Plans are that a group of young people and
necessary arrangements. We hope and pray that               possibly myself and Mr. Engelsma will be going up
they will be able to obtain a work permit so that           to Malaysia next month. There is a group of young
they can earn some of their own support in the U.S.         people there who are zealously interested in the
Our churches will be asked to help in their support.        Reformed faith. These young people have sent for
We have already received word from the Theologi-            materials from our churches. Some of them have
cal School Committee that they have approved a              visited the G.L.T.S. in Singapore. They need
special two year course of study for Mr. Lau.               encouragment and instruction.
Another young man, Mr. Tan Boon Kwang has                     There is much reason for us as Protestant
studied at the same Bible college and will graduate         Reformed Churches to rejoice that the Lord has
in another year. He has done special studies in the         given us an open and effectual door to preach the
Chinese language. There is a great need for a               gospel in Singapore. We thank you all for your
Chinese ministry in the G.L.T.S. A third brother,           prayers and support and letters of encouragement.
Francis Quek is also convinced of the call to the           Continue to pray for us and for the saints here as
ministry. The decision to begin studies for the             we also do for you.
ministry was made with very strong opposition in
his Buddhist home and in the face of being expelled                                Your Missionary in His Service,
from his own home if he carries out his intentions.                                Rev. Arie den Hartog
Brother Francis must first complete his final year of
military duty before he can begin his studies.                              Subscribe now to
Because of the great amount of work here it is
simply impossible for me to take on the task of the           THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                   -_.--


4 5 4                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



BOOK-REVIEW

                                  The Sovereigntv of Grace
                                                                      A.


THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GRACE,  by Arthur C.                            five points of Calvinism, the implications of these
Custance; Baker Publishing Co., 1979; 398 pp.,                     doctrines for daily life, the relation between elec-
$12.95. (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                               tion and evangelism, the future of the non-elect and
   In many ways this is a strange book. The author                 a conclusion by way of summing up the matter
came to his views by means of a personal study of                  with a stern warning against any form of synergism
the Scriptures. He tells us himself:                               (the view that salvation is a cooperative work
                                                                   between God and man).
           In the very worst period of the great depression in
         Canada, I found myself in the fall of 1933 in the pro-      The book has many excellent features about it. I
    vince of Saskatchewan, which was perhaps the hard-             can cite but a few. It is extremely well written so
         e&hit  of all the provinces. And I found myself in the    that there is never any doubt about what the author
         worst possible position in terms of survival, since I     is saying. It reads well and can be ready by anyone
         had no resources and no job, and at that time there       who has an interest in the doctrines of grace. The
    was no such thing as relief or welfare for transients. I       historical section is excellent and shows, beyond a.
    was some miles north of Prince Albert, facing the win-
    ter months in a tiny little shack about twelve by six-         shadow of doubt, that the truth of sovereign grace
    teen feet in an area where coal was not available and          (as over against Pelagianism and Arminianism) is
    wood was scarce. The temperature in this part of               indeed the historic Christian faith. This section is so
         Canada can be bitterly cold, so cold in fact that the     well done that it is, in itself, totally persuasive if
    tiny stove I had would not keep itself going much of           one has any doubts that sovereign grace is the
    the time, and the temperature would drop to about -25          keynote of the Scriptures. Its treatment of the five
    degrees F. inside. On one occasion a hot water bottle          points of Calvinism is thorough and Biblical for the
    froze in the bed during the night.                             most part and is an exhaustive analysis of these
           Yet it was marvelously quiet, and, since I had come     truths from a Biblical point of view. The exegesis is,
    to know the Lord only about a year before, the Bible           generally, careful and thorough and all the
    was largely an unknown book to me and I had a won-             objections of the Arminians, Pelagians, synergists,
    derful opportunity to study it. That winter I went             and universalists are answered satisfactorily. All
    eight times through the entire Bible and worked out,           their "pet" texts are examined and explained. His
    almost entirely on my own, a personal systematic the-          chapter on the relation between Calvinism and
    ology. I shall never regret the cold or the isolation. It      missions is itself worth the price of the book. The
    was a golden period of my life in many ways, and an
    enormous privilege.                                            author even speaks of the two-fold effect of the
   He goes on to tell how, after formulating his own               preaching of the gospel and warns that this is God's
theology from the Scriptures, he read avidly all he                work and must not, therefore, serve as a temptation
could get hold of. The result of his reading tended                to alter the contents of the preaching in order to
to confirm his own discoveries and showed him                      make it more appealing to man.
that the theology of the Scriptures was in keeping                   Nevertheless, in spite of all this good, there are a
with the historic Christian faith which stretches                  number of disturbing features about the book. In
back through Dordt and the Calvin Reformation to                   fact, there are several teachings in the book which
Augustine and the writings of the apostle Paul. The                seem totally out of harmony with the general
fruit of all this study is this lengthy and fascinating            defense of the truth of sovereign grace. We mention
book on the doctrine of God's absolutely sovereign                 here a few. The author, in treating total depravity
grace.                                                             (an excellent section in its own right), introduces a
   The book is divided into six main sections which                form of common grace somewhat along the lines of
deal with an historical survey, a treatment of the                 Kuyperian common grace, although he is not hesi-

                                     Know the standard and follow it.
                                     Read The Standard Bearer


                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          455


tant to root this common grace in the cross of                            between God's sovereignty and sin is also less than
Christ, something Kuyper refused to do. This                              satisfactory. Sometimes God is sovereignly deter-
common grace is the explanation for the "good" of                         minative in relation to sin, sometimes permissive.
the unregenerate, although the author stresses in                         He is the latter when the sin is not important to the
other places that the unregenerate can do no good                         divine plan and He is the former when sin is
in the sight of God. Another strange view is his idea                     absolutely essential to God's plan as in the case of
that creationism (i.e., the view that the spirit of                       the crucifixion of Christ. But even when God's will
man is created by God at the moment of concep-                            is determinative of sin, it is determinative of the act
tion) means that a child is born with a pure spirit                       only,`not of the motive. In the last section of the
although his body, which he receives from his                             book the author deals with the questions of why .a?'
parents, is corrupt. The corruption of the spirit is                      majority of men are damned for the salvation of a
due to the corrupting influences of.the body in the                       relatively few and whether eternal punishment is
early years of a child's life. This is fundamentally a                    disproportionate in relation to temporal sin. He
Pelagian notion and one wonders how the author                            gives no definite answer to these questions, but
can square this with his fierce condemnation of any                       leans towards the view that hell is a purifying state
form of Pelagianism. In connection with this, the                         from which; in time, all shall be delivered.
author maintains that we are not personally re-
sponsible for our inherited pollution, something                             As a footnote we might observe that although the
which David specifically denies in Psalm 51.                              author treats the views of H. Hoeksema in two `or
Further, while the author has'an excellent discus-                        three places, -his views of Hoeksema are learned ex-
sion of foreknowledge which completely refutes                            clusively through the writings of G. Berkouwer.
the Arminian position, he nevertheless adopts a                           This is hardly a good place to learn of Hoeksema's
view of conditional reprobation. On the basis of I                        teachings and one could wish that the author were
Corinthians 5 the author has the strange idea that                        acquainted with Hoeksema's own writings.
some people are taken to heaven because of their                             Insofar as it is sound, the book is one of the best
great sin and. the danger of this sin making either                       treatments of Calvinism this reviewer has seen. We
them or the Church of which they are a part worse                         urge our readers to get the book, read and study it,
than it was. In this fashion he explains the death of                     but beware of the wrong views which it contains.
Ananias and Sapphira. His view of the relation                            Reading carefully, you will be amply rewarded.


                             NOTICE!!!                                                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY

   Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in            The Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society of the Southeast Protestant
Pella,  Iowa, on Wednesday, September 3, 1980, the Lord willing.          Reformed Church expresses sincere Christian sympathy to its
Delegates in need of transportation from the airport or lodging should    members, Mr. and Mrs. Donald Hauck in the death of his father, MR.
inform the clerk of the Pella Consistory.                                 ENOCH HAUCK.
                                 Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk           "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help; whose hope
                                                                          is in the Lord his God." (Psalm 146:5).
                             NOTICE!!!                                                                     Rev. Carl Haak, Bible Leader
   Classis East will meet in regular session on September 10, 1980                                         Mrs. Robert Moelker, Sec'y.
at the First Protestant Reformed Church, Grand Rapids. Material to be
treated at this meeting must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk at
least  three weeks prior to the convening of this session.
                                      Jon Huisken
                                      Stated Clerk                                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                 W E D D I N G   A N N I V E R S A R Y                      We children and grandchildren of REV. and MRS. GEORGE C.
                                                                          LUBBERS celebrate the goodness of our Covenant-keeping God. The
   On August 21, 1980, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND             Lord willing, our dear parents and grandparents will commemorate
MRS. WILBUR BRUINSMA, SR., will celebrate together with us their          their 50th wedding anniversary August 17, 1980.
35th year of marriage. We would like to express to them in this small
way the gratitude we experience before God for the many years of             We confess with them that Jehovah has preserved them in their
love and instruction they devoted to us. It is our earnest prayer that    pilgrimage so that they might be useful in the Church and that they
the Lord will continue to bless them as they continue their earthly       might give to us children and grandchildren Christian instruction in
sojourn together.                                                         the heritage of the Reformed faith.
   "He hath remembered his covenant forever, the word which he              With them we confess in the words of Psalm 18:
commanded to a thousand generations."                                     "The lines are fallen unto me in places large and fair; A goodly
                                                                          heritage is mine, marked out with gracious care."
                                   their children,
                                     John and Judy Kalsbeek                                                Agatha Lubbers
                                      Lewis and Donna Bruinsma                                             Tom and Greta Newhof
                                      Wilbur and Mary Bruinsma                                             Case and Fran Lubbers
                                      Keith and Wanda Bruinsma                                             Lamm and MaryBeth  Lubbers
                                         and 15 grandchildren                                                    and 13 grandchildren

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





456                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
                           News From Our Churches
   Rev. Gise Van  Baren declined the call he                        Panama in Central America. Nothing unusual
received from our Hope Church in Walker, Michi-                     about that, except for one thing-it was written in
gan. From a new trio consisting of Professor H.C.                   the Spanish language! Our Business Manager can
Hoeksema, Rev. Richard Moore, and Rev. Bernard                      (perhaps) cope with the "Hollandence taal"-but
Woudenberg, the Hope congregation extended a                        with the Spanish lingo-in no way! If our Protestant
call to Professor Hoeksema. At this writing,                        Reformed Seminary, with its Professors and
Professor Hoeksema is on a trip to the Far East with                students, were now in session we know they could
 his wife and daughter.                                             help solve this problem. But with their vacation
   Rev. David Engelsma declined the call he                         time now here, we turn to our readers for the
received from our church in Holland, Michigan.                      solution. Here is the letter as it was received at Box
Rev. James Slopsema received a call from Holland                    6064, Grand Rapids, MI 49506:
on June 30. The Holland trio also included Rev.                                   EDITORIAL CLIE
Marvin Kamps and Rev. Woudenberg. Holland's                                       P.O. BOX 6064
last pastor, Rev. John Heys, "retired" on June 1.                                 GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 49506
Rev. and Mrs. Heys can be found at their new                                      U.S.A.
home, 679 Butternut Dr. L-440, Holland, MI 49423.                     muy estimados hermanos
Their telephone number is 616-399-4841. The
development in which Rev. and Mrs. Heys have                          En ves de mandar esta carta donde ustedes ojala
made their new home is called Leisure Village, but                  esten bien de salud. te pido us gran favor a uds ojala
Rev. Heys writes that they did not move there to be                 me complacen lo gure estoy prediento a ustedes. te
at leisure, "but want to do what work we can still                  pido gure si me puedin conseguirme unos
do."                                                                eyemplares o libros. te  pido tambrere el libro
                                                                    titulada.
   Rev. Slopsema declined the call extended to him                                            El Grimen La Droga Y. Yo
by our congregation in Redlands, California. The
Redlands consistory announced a new trio                              Este libro yo necesito  mucho tiempo guise
consisting of Rev. Kamps, Rev. Dale Kuiper, and                     consequin en la libresia pert no hay libreria. ojala
Rev. Woudenberg. A special congregational                           me consigueri 10s libros gure yo te pedi
meeting was called for Monday, July 10 to call a                                                                Eso es Todo
minister. If you consult your calendar, you will see                  Mi Nombre-Aldemio Amestmco
that July 10 is on Thursday. It appears that some-                    Direction-Carti Yantupo
thing was in error on the July 6 Redlands bulletin.                               San Blas
Perhaps they use a different calendar in the far                      Pais-Panama
west.                                                                                         Si Dios Guiere
   Professor Robert Decker of our Seminary spent                                                 espero 10s libros
six Sundays preaching in Redlands through July 20.                    Now, if you can decipher that message, you
Rev. Herman Veldman, one of our "retired"                           might drop our Business Manager a line and help
ministers, plans to spend several weeks in                          him out!
Redlands after Prof. Decker and his family leave.                     The Young People of our churches were
Until they are able to obtain a pastor, having a                    scheduled to meet in their annual convention on
minister in their midst is certainly of benefit to the              the campus of Hope College in Holland, Michigan
Redlands congregation and is an experience which                    on July 21-25. The theme of this years convention is
our retired ministers seem to enjoy.                                "Appreciation of the Reformed Truth." That theme
   The Business Manager of our STANDARD                             was to be developed by Rev. Van  Baren  m his
BEARER receives some very interesting correspon-                    speech titled "The Foundation." This was to be
dence each week. These letters come from all over                   followed by Professor Hanko in "The Develop-
the world-from such faraway places as Singapore,                    ment," Rev. Van Overloop in "The Admonition,"
Brazil, England, and even from Egypt. A few weeks                   and Rev. Joostens in "The Application."
ago a letter was received from the Republic of                                                                        K.G.V.


