     STANDARD
,         BEARER
            A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                        T





     .  .  .Jesus Christ is all but lost sight of behind

     the big-name ecclesiastical  showmen who
     claim to preach Him. It surprises us not at all
     that it is continually being disclosed that
     these evangelistic enterprises are money-
     making schemes for the personal enrichment
     of the evangelists and their. families. These
     are the gospel-hucksters (II Cor. 2: 17, those
     who make, merchandise of the Church
     through covetousness (II Pet. 2:3).
     See "Evangelism and the Reformed Faith"
                                                            -page 353


.                                               Volume  LVII, No. 15, May 1  z 1981 -


                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER
                             CONTENTS                                                                               ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                           Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                 Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
  Meditation-                                                                    Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
     The Justified Believer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .            338      Department Editors: Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur  Bruinsma. Rev. Arie
                                                                                 denHartog,  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma, Rev. Richard
  Editorial-                                                                     Flikkema, Rev. Cornelius  Hanko,  Prof. Herman  Hando, Rev. John A. Heys, Mr.
                                                                                 Calvin Kalsbeek, Rev. Kenneth  Koole, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C.
     Impressions of Singapore (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341              Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper. Rev. James Slopsema,
                                                                                 Rev. Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman.
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     Missionary Methods (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .               343                      Grandville, Michigan 49418
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MEDITATION


                                         The Justified Believer
                                                                    Rev. H. Veldman

                                                            "The just shall live by faith. `I
                                                                                          Rom. 1:7b


  Righteous, or just, by faith!                                                    the love of God were universal and that this love of
  This is indeed the heart of the gospel. The apostle                              God were dependent upon a sinner's will so that
is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is                               the living God could be thwarted in His desire to.
the power of God unto salvation to every one that                                  save! This would mean that no sinner could ever be
believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.                                saved, that the house of our Father would remain
Imagine if this gospel were merely a. general, well-                               forever closed and empty. Salvation, then, would
meaning offer of salvation! Imagine if a sinner must                               be wholly impossible.
contribute something to his salvation! Imagine if                                      But now we are righteous by faith. And faith


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              339



always stands in Scripture over against works.             and good and righteous! He is the Judge of all the
Faith is the gift of God. And because this faith is        earth. When He expresses a judgment it is a true
God's gift, and we are saved, righteous by faith, our      judgment. How, then, can He say He sees no sin in
salvation is sure. And therefore the apostle can say       us, when even we know that there is so much sin in
that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ             us? Secondly, there is life all about us. How con-
because it is the power of  God  unto salvation.           trary is this judgment of the Lord to all we see and
  Indeed, we are just by faith, only by faith, by          experience! We are in a valley of the shadow of
means of God's gift, through Christ Jesus, the God         death. God declares of us that we are righteous, and
of our salvation.                                          we die all the day long! The Lord visits tornadoes,
                     **********                            earthquakes, pestilences upon the peoples of the
                                                           earth, also wars and the destruction they leave in
  We read here of the just or righteous. The child         their wake, and yet we claim to be righteous, free
of God is righteous or justified. How fascinating! Is      from death and heirs of life and glory! Besides, all
there anything in the life, the conscious life of a be-    these things are of the Lord. The world, we know,
liever that is more fascinating, more wonderful            always seeks a natural cause for all these calami-
than his justification, that he is just or righteous       ties. God, however, visits His wrath upon the
before God? Indeed, the experience of this wonder-         children of men because of their sins, and these
ful gift of divine grace has fascinated the church of      men refuse to look for the cause in themselves and
God throughout the ages!                                   from God. What folly! Sickness and death, etc., are
  We read: "The just shall live by faith." Two in-         no accidents; they are of God. And we, too, are in-
terpretations are possible of this expression. On the      volved in these calamities. How wonderful, there-
one hand, we can understand the expression, "by            fore, in the second place is this righteous judgment
faith," with "shall live." Then we read: The just          of God! Thirdly, how wonderful is this judgment of
shall live by faith. This is the interpretation favored    God because of God! He is the supreme Judge of all
by our translation. However, the words, "by faith,"        the earth. When He speaks and judges, that judg-
can also be understood in connection with "just" or        ment is final. There can be no appeal to another or
"righteous." Then we would read: he who is just by         higher court; His judgment is final! As the Rock,
faith shall live. We choose the interpretation: the        the I AM, the unchangeable Jehovah, He never
one who is just by faith shall live. We connect the        changes His judgment, cannot change it, because it
words, "by faith," with "just." We believe that the        is true and He can never deny Himself. Let us un-
context demands this interpretation. Had he not            derstand this. It is God Who justifieth, Paul ex-
written in the first part of verse 17 that the righ-       claims, who shall condemn! Where in all the uni-
teousness of God, our righteousness which is of            verse can, or will, anyone be found to dispute,
God, is revealed out of faith unto faith, so that faith    counter-act, annul this divine judgment of righ-
is the exclusive sphere in which our righteousness         teousness? Once righteous, we are righteous for-
is revealed and experienced by us? Paul, therefore,        ever! Whatever may befall us, sickness or enemy or
is emphasizing here that this righteousness before         death, once justified, we are righteous forever;
God is surely a righteousness which we receive by          nothing will be able to separate us from the love of
faith. Besides, this interpretation is also in harmony     that Judge of all the earth! What a wonderful gift,
with the Scriptural idea of "shall live." Paul does        this gift of divine righteousness!
not mean to say that we shall live by faith. But he                             **********
writes that he who is just by faith shall live, forever      We read literally, he who is just out of faith shall
and in heavenly immortality.                               live. To be just or righteous out of faith emphasizes
  Literally we read here of  the  righteous one.           the fact that this lives in the consciousness of the
  The righteous is he who is judged by God to be in        child of God. It means that I live out of faith, draw
perfect harmony with His law and who is also righ-         this justification out of faith.
teous in his own consciousness. The Judge of all the         How vividly this lives in the consciousness of the
earth declares that He sees no guilt in him, and also      child of God! How wonderful is this assurance for
declares him worthy of life everlasting. This righ-        the afflicted, harassed child of God, as he is plagued
teousness is a legal concept. We are judged to be          and tormented by the consciousness of his sin and
free of guilt and declared to be heirs of everlasting      guilt! He realizes his sin and guilt, is conscious of
life and glory.                                            the holiness and righteousness of God, that no
                                                           sinner can ever return into the fellowship of God
  How unbelievably wonderful!                              and of His covenant, and that he can never pay
  Wonderful, first of all, because of us. Fact is, we      even one  farthing of that debt. The fellowship of
are so evil and corrupt. How weak we are and frail         God which he craves lies hopelessly beyond and
in the spiritual sense of the word! And, God is holy       outside of his reach. And now the wonderful gospel


340                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



truth is flashed into his tormented soul: fear not, ye    saved. How wonderful, howdver, are  ,the mercies
weary pilgrim, thou art just by faith; you cannot         of our God! How  wonderfql that we need not do
and need not contribute toward your justification;        what we never could do! How wonderful it is that
Christ did it all. Believing, trusting not in oneself,    we are righteous out of faith, only for Jesus' sake,
but only in God through Christ, I am justified.           because God loved us, sovereignly, eternally,
  Righteous out of faith-what does this mean? 0,          unconditionally before the foundations of the
this does not mean that we justify ourselves by           world!              **********
means of faith. This is Rome's accursed heresy. To
them, faith is the means to do all kinds of good            We shall live-of course! We read in Romans
works; and the doing of these works justifies.            8:32: "He that spared not His own Son, but
Neither does this mean that faith is a condition for      delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with
our righteousness. God, then, knows that we can           Him also freely give us all things?" That he who is
never pay for all our sin and guilt. Christ died for      just out of faith shall live must follow. He Who
everybody. The Lord now accepts our faith as a            spared not His own Son will surely with Him also
substitute. We are justified if we merely believe,        freely give us all things. If He did the one, the other
acknowledge our sin and the righteousness of God.         must follow. He died to save us from sin and guilt
However, there is no substitute for atonement;            and hell, and to lead us into life and glory. The
there is no substitute for the payment of all our sin     purpose of His redemption was exactly that, saved
and guilt.                                                from death and hell, we should be partakers of His
  Now we understand what it means to be just out          life and glory. The fruit of His work must follow:
of faith. Christ suffered and died for all His own        God has justified me, declared me to be free from
upon the cross of Calvary. He took upon Himself           all guilt and to be an heir of everlasting life; surely
the awful burden of our sin and guilt, bore God's         we shall live!
awful wrath upon them, in perfect love and obedi-           We shall live now. He who is righteous out of
ence. And now we receive this righteousness of            faith shall live immediately. Life, we understand, is
Christ from God by sovereign grace. God, in Christ,       fellowship and communion with God, to love Him
calls us out of death into life; He unites us with        and be loved of Him, to taste His life, to know and
Christ,  engrafts  us into Him, makes us one plant        enjoy His fellowship, to say in all humble and un-
with Him. God lays us prostrate before Him in the         believably wonderful adoration: 0 God of all the
dust, presses from us the penitent's cry of utter         earth, Thou art my God!
anguish: 0 God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God            And we shall also live presently. Now we have
leads us to the cross, gives us to see in that Man of     and enjoy this eternal life, this blessed fellowship
Sorrows our Sinbearer, our Redeemer. To Him we            with God, only in smallest principle. Now the evil
flee; in Him we trust; to Him we look up; out of          we hate we do, and the good we love we practice
Him we live and experience the truth: out of faith        not. But, when all this weary night is passed, with
we know that we are righteous before God, only for        all its sin and sorrow and disappointments, all its
Jesus' sake.                                              struggles and lamenting, as we read in Romans
  How wonderful this is! How futile it would be if        7:24: "0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
our righteousness were left to us! How futile if we       me out of the body of this death?" Then we shall
must merit it, we who are in ourselves dead in sins       live; then we shall be clothed in righteousness, in
and in trespasses! How hopeless would be our lot if       perfect righteousness with no more sin or death or
God were to demand of us faith as a condition of          sorrow, but an everlasting knowing, a knowing as
salvation, something which God will accept from           we are known, a seeing of God face to face in Jesus
us as a substitute. What man is there who could           Christ, in that wonderful day when God's taber-
possibly believe? Is not the truth that we are saved      nacle shall be with man.
only by grace, through faith, humanly speaking,             Indeed, the just is righteous only out of faith.
utterly devastating? No man will confess that he is
lost in sin and can do nothing unto his salvation! If       And, just out of faith, he shall live.
we are not saved by grace, we simply cannot be              Now, and surely forevermore.


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


                                          THE STANDARD. BEARER                                              341



EDITORIAL


                    Impressions of Singapore (2)
                                             Prof. H. C. Hoeksema



  Although our stay in Singapore was relatively          their faith with others and spreading abroad the
brief, too brief to make as thorough acquaintance        truth of the gospel to others, wherever the opportu-
with the young brothers and sisters of the GLTS as       nity `presents itself. It stands to reason that during
we might have liked, and too brief to gain as great      our stay there I was repeatedly struck by that sharp
an understanding of the work there as we would           contrast between 1975 and 1980. I must confess
have liked, yet we were able to gain a considerable      that it was thrilling, and more than once I was
acquaintance with the work there. This was partly        moved to tears of joy and thanksgiving. ,What hath
because of our opportunity for fellowship and con-       God wrought!
versation with Pastor and Mrs. den Hartog in their          My second impression is concerning the Rev.
home and partly because our stay was crowded             den Hartog and his work there. Perhaps I should
with contacts with the young people there and            speak instead of a whole group of. impressions,
partly because to no little degree we were directly      arranged here not in the order of importance but
immersed in the work during the several days of          rather arbitrarily. We have all undoubtedly gained
our stay. The result was that we gained some rather      a number of impressions from his numerous and
definite impressions which we wish to share.             interesting reports in our  Standard Bearer.  But there
  One. of our first and strongest impressions, of        is nothing like an objective evaluation from a third
course, was that of the tremendous change which          party. Living in their home and observing his work
had taken place between our visit (with the Rev: C.      and his contacts, we were surely able to gain some
Hanko) in the summer of 1975 and our visit last          firsthand and very definite impressions. One
summer. This impression was unavoidable. In 1975         impression is that the Rev. den Hartog is indeed the
our sole Reformed contact there was with brother         right man for this work: he fits. And while he him-
Ong Keng Ho. It is true that what was then the           self will tell you that he is constantly having new
GLDT agreed, at his request, to sponsor our two          experiences yet, nevertheless in the time that he
evening meetings at that time; but this could almost     and his family have been there he has become well
be called incidental, if not accidental, and was cer-    established in the field and is thoroughly at home in
tainly not because of any special interest in the Re-    the work. He obviously has joy in his work, too.
formed faith on their part. And when we spoke on         There is an air of excitement about him when he
the doctrine of the church at that time, we doubted      goes about the work and when he tells you of his
to what degree we had even been understood. We           experiences. Perhaps in a way this is natural and to
found much Arminianism and fundamentalism and            be expected, seeing `that this foreign mission work
little or no knowledge and interest in the Reformed      is entirely new to him. Yet it is real. When we were
faith. I recall distinctly that when we had to say       together, our conversation inevitably turned to the
farewell to Brother Ong Keng Ho, he told us that he      work and its various aspects and to anecdotes of his
felt so alone that he felt like Joseph in Egypt. Rev.    experiences and discussions of possibilities and
Hanko and I had little expectation of fruits from        future plans. We may indeed be thankful to God
our brief visit there; at that time, if you had asked    for having provided us with this missionary! Along
us, we would have replied that Singapore was one         with this, a second impression in this connection is
of the least likely places where there would be any      that Pastor den Hartog is obviously loved and es-
future positive fruits occasioned by our visit. But      teemed and trusted and confided in by the young
the Lord thought otherwise, and through what to us       Christians of the GLTS. They turn to him with their
was a strange and unexpected series of events there      questions and their problems, whether these are
is now a vital and thriving Reformed mission there       questions concerning the truth or questions and
and a highly interested and active group of young        problems of a more practical nature and regarding
Reformed Christians who have made no little pro-         their lives. And the missionary-pastor's  apartment-
gress in understanding the Reformed faith and who        home is and must be always open to these young
show a tremendous and lively interest not only in        people, especially since they have no Christian
their own growth in the faith but also in sharing        homes to which they may turn and where they may


342                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



be visited. Mrs. den Hartog plays a part in this, too.    grows in the faith and also grows numerically, the
In addition to the care of a busy family of little        drive and the impetus and the opportunities for
children, she must play the part of a gracious host-      outreach in Singapore itself and also beyond Singa-
ess to the young people. We found it to be literally      pore also grow. This is in the very nature of mission
true that there were visitors any time of the day,        work on a foreign field. And it is the fact that there
from morning to night. My third in this group of im-      simply is not enough time and manpower to cope
pressions concerns the living of the den Hartogs. I       with the various opportunities for such outreach
want to stress that I did not hear one word of com-       which concerns Rev. den Hartog-I would almost
plaint from them in this regard. Quite possibly they      say "grieves him." He spoke of this again and again
may even demur when I make mention of this.               during our visit. And it is not too difficult to under-
Nevertheless, we did have the opportunity to ob-          stand, I think, that it gnaws at a man to see all kinds
serve. And I trust that our Foreign Mission Com-          of opportunities for expanding the work and not to
mittee and our next Synod will give due attention to      be able to do justice to them.
this. But we must as churches take good care that           The question is, of course: what is the solution?
the den Hartogs are well provided for abundantly.         Our churches have thought of trying to have
Daily living is tremendously expensive in,                another man on the field as an assistant-possibly
Singapore, especially for those who want to main-         an elder or ex-elder, although personally I cannot
tain a modicum of a Western style of life. Food           see what being an elder or an ex-elder has to do
prices for very ordinary items-for example, such          with this, except, perhaps, from the viewpoint of
things as breakfast cereal or a head of lettuce-are       abilities. After all, an elder in Grand Rapids South-
fantastically high. I recall, for example, that when      east, for example, is an elder only there, surely not
we were there a head of lettuce was $4.70 Sing-           in Singapore. But thus far we have not succeeded in
apore, or about $2.35 American money. We certain-         providing such a man on an extended basis. Nor, by
ly must take care that along with all the unavoid-        the way, is this everyone's work, even from the
able sacrifices which the den Hartogs must make,          point of view of physical stamina and adjustment.
they do not have to pinch pennies when it comes to        Personally, I believe it would be best if we could
their everyday living.                                    send another missionary-pastor. This is true from
  My third impression also concerns Pastor den            many points of view. There is ample work for two,
Hartog; but seeing that it directly concerns the          and much work that is strictly work for a mission-
work there, I will give it separate attention. That       ary-pastor, not merely an assistant. I think, too, that
impression is that Rev. den Hartog is too busy.           two compatible missionaries would be of tremen-
Viewed from another viewpoint: there is simply too        dous assistance to one another from the point of
much work there for one missionary. Again, this           view of advice and consultation. It is simply a fact
statement on my part is not occasioned by a single        that there are many problems to be faced and de-
word of complaint on the part of brother den              cisions to be made on the mission field which at
Hartog, though he was literally busy from morning         present our missionary must face all alone. How
to night. Our missionary did indeed mention to me         helpful it would be to have a co-laborer! Besides,
repeatedly that there was simply too much work            the presence of two missionaries will serve to
for one man. This was not, however, by way of             insure continuity of the work in case of furloughs
complaint. It was rather by way of concern about          or in case one minister leaves for another field of
the work and its accomplishment. In the nature of         labor. Finally, to have two missionaries working to-
the case, most of Pastor den Hartog's work is with        gether in a given field is, I believe, according to the
the young people of the GLTS. It must be. The pri-        Biblical pattern.
mary goal is to instruct them and preach to them
and assist them to become a Reformed congrega-              The practical questions are, of course, whether
tion there. But there is such a large amount of work      we can spare the manpower from the home front
in this area alone that it is more than enough to         and whether our churches can meet the added ex-
keep our missionary busy. In the meantime,                pense of such a venture.
however, there is also the work of outreach from
and beyond the GLTS itself. And as the GLTS

       The Standard Bearer
       makes a thoughtfid gift
           on any occasion.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                343



THE LORD GAVE THE WORD                                                                          5


                            Missionary Methods (3)
                                                 Prof. Robert D. Decker


  Continuing our study of the preaching of the                were filledwith wonder and amazement (vss. 9-10).
Apostles we concentrate our attention on the                  Soon a crowd gathered in Solomon's porch; all were
second sermon of the Apostle-Peter recorded in the            greatly wondering (vs. 11).
Book of Acts. This sermon is recorded in chapter                When Peter saw the crowd he began preaching.
three verses twelve through twenty-six. (Since the            It is obvious that the purpose of the miracle was to
passage is too lengthy to quote in its entirety the           serve as an occasion for the preaching of the gospel.
reader is asked to consult his Bible.) It is our thesis       But before we examine the content of this sermon
that the church in its mission work today must                we ought to answer an objection that might be
follow the same pattern laid down by the Apostolic            raised. It is conceivable that some may argue that
Church. The church, also today, must preach the               this sermon cannot serve as a model for contem-
gospel, herald the good news, evangelize. In doing            porary mission preaching because it is addressed to
so the church must emulate the Apostolic pattern.             "children of the covenant." It is addressed to a
Specifically this means that the church must preach           Jewish audience. Of that there can be no question.
the same gospel in the same way in which the                  It is also true, however, that these people, though
Apostles preached. The Holy Spirit, we firmly                 they knew Jesus of Nazareth, had not yet believed
believe, preserved these sermons so that the church           on Him and in fact had crucified Him. If ever there
of all ages might learn from them. They teach us, if          were a potentially hostile audience it was here! Let
we will but listen and learn, how to preach and what          us note how Peter "handles" them, the approach
to preach, especially in the mission context.                 which he uses. We can learn much from this.
  The sermon was occasioned by a wonderful and                  The main theme of the sermon is this: the
well-known miracle. As was apparently their                   miracle which they had just witnessed was a mani-
custom, Peter and John were on their way to the               festation of the power of the resurrected Christ
temple at "the hour of prayer" (vs. 1). As the                Whom they had crucified. This theme the Apostle
Apostles approached the temple they encountered               drove home along the following lines. Peter denies
a man who had been lame (unable to walk) from                 that he and the Apostle John had healed the lame
birth lying near the gate of the temple called Beauti-        man by their own power. Why do you marvel at
ful. This lame man was brought daily to the temple            this and why do you look at us as if we had done
where he asked alms of those who came to worship              this and made this man walk, Peter asks. Peter em-
and to pray. When he saw Peter and John he asked              phasizes that it was not on account of their holiness
alms of them. Peter, commanding the man to look               or power that the man was healed. The Apostle ex-
at them, said, "Silver and gold have I none; but              plains that God had glorified His Son Jesus, Whom
such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus              they had delivered up and denied in the presence of
Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk" (vss. 5, 6).             Pilate (vs. 13). The Apostle deliberately speaks of
Peter then "took him by the right hand, and lifted            God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is
him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones              the covenant God, the ever faithful God of their
received strength. And he leaping up stood, and               fathers. One must be impressed with this emphasis.
walked, and entered with them into the temple,                Just as he had done in his Pentecost sermon, the
walking, and leaping, and praising God" (vss. 7,8).           Apostle now proclaims the God of the covenant,
He was really healed! He not only could stand for             the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was God's
the first time in his life, and he not only could take        power by which that man was made to walk, not
a few tentative steps, but immediately after Peter            man's. God brought glory to His Son Jesus through
had spoken he leaped to his feet and he continued             this miracle. It was ail the work of God, the
walking and leaping and praising God! The effect of           Sovereign One. This certainly is a key element, no,
this miracle of healing on the people was instan-             indispensable element of all proper preaching, also
taneous: they took note that this leaping man was             mission preaching. The missionary must, if he will
he who sat daily asking alms at the temple and they           be faithful to Christ Who sends him, preach God as


344                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



He is revealed in Jesus Christ in all of His sovereign     these days (vss. 19-24). Finally, Peter reminds them
power and glory. Those to whom the missionary is           that they are the children of the prophets and of the
sent must be brought into a confrontation with the         covenant which God made with the fathers. The
sovereign God in Christ through public preaching           Apostle emphasizes that God sent the gospel of
and private counsel. Missionary preaching as well          Jesus Christ Whom He raised from the dead to
as all preaching must be God-centered. It is precise-      them first of all (vss. 25,26).
ly at this point that so much preaching, especially          As is the case with the Pentecost sermon, so also
mission or evangelistic preaching is to be faulted. It     in this sermon the one element which most people,
is not so much that there is heresy being preached         even in Reformed circles, claim to be essential to
(though there is plenty of that too!) but much con-        preaching generally and to mission preaching es-
temporary preaching on the mission fields fails to         pecially, viz., "the free or well-meant offer," is
bring the people face to face with the Sovereign           missing. If the "offer" is so crucial that some go so
God in Christ of the Scriptures. Preaching, especial-      far as to claim that the Protestant Reformed
ly evangelistic preaching, concentrates on "a              Churches are not able to preach from their pulpits
Jesus" who is sweet and lovely, who loves all men          and certainly are not able to preach in a mission
and wants to save all. In so doing, this preaching         context, why do we not find an offer either in this
fails to bring people to come to terms with God in         sermon or the Pentecost sermon of the Apostle
all His glory. It inevitably becomes man-centered.         Peter? There simply is no "well-meant offer" of the
This runs contrary to the whole thrust of the Bible.       gospel. The whole idea is foreign to Scripture.
In Scripture the first priority is not man and his sal-    Using not one but two imperatives the Apostle by
vation but God and His Christ and His glory. This is       virtue of his holy office commanded them to
what mission preaching must proclaim.                      "repent and be converted" (vs. 19). Peter preached
  The Apostle continues by pointing to the sin and         no offers. He confronted that multitude with the
guilt of the people. If one faithfully proclaims God       promise and command of the gospel. He brought
in Christ he will necessarily preach sin. They             them before their obligation. Christ is not to be
denied the Christ before Pilate even when Pilate           accepted or rejected, He must be believed and
was determined to let Him go (vs. 13). They denied         served! God must be worshipped and praised as He
the Holy One and the Just and desired a murderer           is revealed in Jesus according to the Scriptures.
instead. They killed the Prince of Life (vss. 14, 15).     This is not an option for man. It is a must. All who
All this they did in spiritual ignorance (vs. 17).         refuse perish. All who believe, "by grace through
Peter declared that God raised Christ from the             faith, the gift of God," are saved (Ephesians  2:8).
dead. Note that emphasis once more. God did that!          Peter proclaimed the sovereignty of Almighty God
God raised Christ from the dead! "And His name             and the sovereignty of His grace in Christ Jesus.
through faith in His name hath made this man                 And the fruit? Many opposed the gospel in unbe-
strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith               lief (4:  1, 2). The leaders put Peter and John in
which is by Him hath given him this perfect sound-         prison (4:3). But many believed. The number of the
ness in the presence of you all," says Peter (vss. 15,     men which believed was about five thousand (4:4).
16). Peter explains that all the things concerning the     God gave a tremendous increase. That is always the
suffering and glorification of Christ were the ful-        fruit of the pure preaching of the Word of God.
fillment of what the prophets had foretold. In other       Where the Word is preached in all of its truth and
words Peter emphasizes that Scripture had been             power the thoughts and intents of the hearts of men
fulfilled by Christ. They have no excuse for their         are revealed. The elect are converted and brought
sin (vs. 18).                                              to faith in Christ. The rest are hardened and they
  What does all this mean? It means they must              stand condemned, for they reject the Lord's Christ.
repent of their sins and be converted: "that your          In both God is well pleased. In both the Church of
sins may be blotted out, when the times of refresh-        Christ triumphs (II Corinthians 2:14-17).
ing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And            May God grant the missionaries and preachers of
He shall send Jesus Christ which before was                His Church the grace to preach that gospel of
preached unto you: Whom heaven must receive                sovereign grace faithfully and to the glory of His
until the times of restitution of all things which God     Name.
hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets
since the world began" (vss. 19-21). The Apostle                The Standard Bearer
concludes by pointing to Moses' prophecy concern-
ing Christ as a Prophet Whom they must hear.                 makes a thoughtful gift
Those who do not hear Christ the Prophet shall be
destroyed from among the people. Not only that                           for a shut-in.
but all the prophets from Samuel on had spoken of


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                             345



SIGNS OF THE TIMES


                  Lacking the Power of Godliness
                                                Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma



  It is always a matter of extreme importance for           void of this fruit. This is why he is oftentimes re-
us to watch for the various occurrences which give          ferred to by us as the ungodly. Godliness,
rise to the antichrist. Because of our busy everyday        therefore, speaks of one's relationship to God. The
lives we all too often become oblivious to the many         godly man is one-who possesses a deep respect for
signs which surround us. Not only are these signs           God. He is one who beholds with awe and rever-
prevalant in the world "out there," as we have              ence this mighty Creator of heaven and earth, who
noted in the articles which have dealt with the rise        loves Him and places all his trust in Him, and who
of cults and the chaos of wars, but upon close              will give everything just to stand before Him in
examination we find Satan works hard (perhaps the           humble adoration. The result of this attitude of
hardest) in our own churches in order that when anti-       deep respect toward God in that child of God's
christ does appear we too might be deceived and             heart is that he' will delight in all that God com-
unite with him. Such was the idea in the article            mands him in His Word. That is true  godliness-
which was concerned with spiritual illiteracy in our        conduct which is in harmony with what God com-
churches (have you read a good, spiritual book              mands us because we so deeply respect and love
since then?). Such also is the idea of this article.        God. If we were to ask one whose walk is char-
  There seems to be, on the part of many, an in-            acterized by godliness the question, why do you
creasing confusion in distinguishing between a life         refrain from drinking too much and why do you
of godliness and merely a good, outward moral de-           feel the necessity of attending church, his answer
portment. Many today are beginning to say that              would without a doubt be: I want to! If I would not
they are one and the same: godliness is good moral          do these things in my life I would be living contrary
behavior and good moral behavior is godliness.              to what my God commands me and that is sin! And
These contend, for example, that if in their lives          I hate sin because it offends the very God Whom I
they refrain from such things as drinking too much,         love and respect so deeply! It is evident that this
theater attendance, birth control, or abortion then         attitude of deep respect and piety towards God, this
they are also leading a life of godliness. At the same      power of godliness, manifests itself in the walk and
time they would claim that godliness is regular             conduct of the believer. It so works in him that in
church, catechism, and society attendance, as well          his life he brings forth good works; and these good
as such things as giving freely, being friendly to all,     works include leading a morally good life. We find,
and so on. Now, it can very well be true that all of        then, that good moral deportment in his life flows
these things are a matter of godliness in a person's        out of that power of godliness.
life. That cannot be denied. Nevertheless, it is also
true, and many times it is the case, that all of these        But a mere outward life of good morality does
exercises in good moral behavior are nothing more           not  always  imply the power of godliness in a per-
than that. They are not a matter of godliness.              son's life. To be morally good means that one in his
                                                            walk and conduct conforms to a standard of right
  To clarify this entire matter it is necessary to un-      behavior. This definition, however, speaks nothing
derstand what is really meant by godliness and, on          of the attitude of one's heart. It speaks only of
the other hand, good moral deportment.                      conforming one's behavior to a set of laws or to a
  In I Timothy  6:ll we find godliness among the            standard which is just and right. That can be done
fruits of the Spirit: "But thou, 0 man of God, flee         irrespective of one's attitude or relationship to God.
these things; and follow after righteousness, godli-        Oftentimes the ungodly neighbor who has no love
ness, faith, love, patience, meekness." From this it        or respect toward God can seem to lead a very good
is evident that the life of the man ofGod alone can be      moral life. He will not break the laws of the land,
characterized by godliness. It is a fruit which             neither will he depart from the way of strict asceti-
becomes manifest in his life because of the work of         cism in his life. That, however, is not really godli-
the Holy Spirit in his heart. The reprobate man is          ness. There are those also within the church  insti-


          346                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
     I


          tute who feel that if they conform to the outward          that the church does not discipline one if he
          behavior which the church requires of them, then           watches the same movies on TV. So they use their
          their lives are characterized by godliness. They           Christian liberty for an occasion for the flesh; yet at
          think to themselves: The church tells me I must            the same time have a false sense of security for they
          refrain from over-indulgence in the lusts of this          have kept what the church has required of them.
          world, so I must do that. The church requires that I       And what is their feeling about the preaching? They
          regularly attend the Sunday services, that I give to       too do not like to hear the doctrines of salvation.
          the poor, and that I make public confession of my          The doctrines of Scripture really do not apply to
          sin when I violate such commandments as the                them; in fact, they all too often condemn them.
          seventh commandment. Since these are what I am             They feel also that the preaching should be directed
          required to do to be a good Christian, I will keep         toward their moral lives and conduct.
          them. Here, of course, is an example of leading an           But the question is: how does this lead to the de-
          outward life of good behavior-leading a life of            velopment of the antichrist?
          good morals but not doing so out of a deep love and
          respect for God. That is not godliness. That is good         Slowly but surely within the church of Christ
          moral behavior, a behavior which from all outward          those who are characterized by godliness in their
                                                                     lives become the minority. Why? Because those
     ~    appearances seems godly but in fact is void of the
          work of the Holy Spirit and grace.                         who have the form of godliness are beyond disci-
                                                                     pline. They keep the law of God as far as externals
            Paul tells Timothy, in II Timothy  3:1-5, "This          are concerned. But their hearts are far from God!
          know also, that in the last days perilous times shall      How difficult for a consistory to discipline one
          come. For men shall be lovers of their own                 whose outward moral behavior stands in harmony
          selves,. . . lovers of pleasures more than lovers of       with God's law as far as they can detect but whose
          God;  Having a form  of  godliness, but denying the        heart is far from Him! In fact, mere man cannot
          power  thereof:  from such turn away." Those who           judge the heart! When finally those who have the
I         have only a good moral deportment are those who            form of godliness but who deny the power of it are
          have, in Paul's words, only a  form  of godliness.         in the majority, the church begins to fall as a
          These, however, deny the very power of godliness,          church of Jesus Christ. Men who are interested
          that is to say, they do not have true godliness which      only in the outward moral behavior of the people in
          is a result of the work of the Holy Spirit in the          the congregation become consistory members and
          heart. Religion is just an outward show to them. It        ministers. These no longer concern themselves
          is not really a conviction of the heart.                   with promoting godliness because they do not
            This manifests itself in the church in two ways.         know what it is. Now from the pulpit are heard
          On the one hand there are those who rigorously             little moral homilies on the people's conduct.
          attempt to keep the positions of the church (the           Sermons entitled, "Competition and Good Sports-
          churches position on the law of God) to the crossing       manship' ' , or "Our Involvement in Politics," take
          of a "t" and the dotting of an "i". In fact, they          the place of preaching the doctrines of salvation.
          become quite upset when they find that the church          The church becomes a social institution which is
          has not taken an official stand on some aspect of          concerned with people's morals rather than with
          one's outward moral deportment. Because of their           godliness. It becomes her duty socially to rehabili-
          attitude they become very judgmental  ,of their            tate the downtrodden. It becomes her duty to
          fellow saints. They no longer trust anyone. They           restore morality to this country. It no longer is her
          feel that they alone are keeping the faith with rigor,     duty to preach Christ crucified, which preaching
          and almost everyone else falls short of them. These        alone can work godliness in the heart of a child of
          also feel that the preaching must emphasize more           God.
          one's practical life and less of the doctrines of sal-
          vation.                                                      These institutions of the Church which have
                                                                     already reached this point fail to realize that it is im-
            On the other extreme, those who have but a form          possible to control the outward moral deportment
          of godliness in their lives begin to stretch the law of    of its members if those members have no power of
          liberty for an occasion for the flesh. Since the           godliness in their lives. Their lives will degenerate
          church does not have law upon law and precept              until they are really no different from the ungodly
          upon precept they feel that they may do as they            world about them! They are only empty shells!
          please. All they have to do is keep the basic posi-        That too is why one can see the immorality of this
          tions (laws) of the church and for the rest eat, drink,    reprobate world creeping into such situations.
          and be merry. These, for example, realize that to be
          caught in a movie theater would mean discipline by           But the point is, all the various institutions (and
          the church since it violates the antithesis between        there are many) which have followed this route
          church and world, but at the same time they know           have now the same aims and goals-to improve this


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              347



world socially and morally. That will be the very        rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth
aim of the antichrist. How easily he will be able to     little: but godliness is profitable "unto all things,
attract all these institutions which are different in    having promise of the life that now is, and of that
name only. We already see evidence of that today.        which is to come. . . . Take heed unto thyself, and
  Are we as churches following in this same way?         unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing
Paul once again addresses us in I Timothy 4, "Now        this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear
the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter        thee." We must see to it that our obedience to the
times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed      law of God and the doctrines of our churches flows
to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;  speak-    out of a heart that longs after the living God! Only
ing lies in hypocrisy. . . forbidding to marry and       then will our lives be characterized by godliness!
commanding to abstain from meats,. . . But refuse        Only then will we stand over against the antichrist!
profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself




                           Report From Singapore
                                             Rev. Arie Den Hartog


Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ:                        great keenness for the study of the Old Testament.
  Greetings in the name of our blessed God and           For most of the members this is all very new. They
Savior Jesus Christ upon Whom we rely entirely           are eager to learn the truths of the covenant and of
and in Whose service we stand. Many of the               the wonderful works of the Lord in days of old.
readers of the Standard Bearer  have expressed spe-         The second of these classes is our new  pre-
cial appreciation for the news articles we have writ-    baptism class. This is now the third of this kind of
ten on Singapore. We are happy and thankful for          classes that have been held since our coming. We
the interest in our work that this evidences. We are     rejoice to see seven people in regular attendance.
thankful also for all of the many prayers that are       As we have told you before, it is especially exciting
offered on our behalf. We are thankful that our          to teach this class because it usually involves
work continues to prosper under the blessing of the      teaching the first principles of the Christian Faith to
Lord. We witness the Lord building His Church by         new saints who have never before heard them. It is
His mighty and wonderful power. To Him alone be-         a rare joy and blessing to see these youthful saints
longs all the glory.                                     grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus
  Though we have written to you several reports of       Christ.
our work in Singapore it seems that there are              The third of these classes is what is called the
always enough new things to tell. There are always       commission meeting. The commission is composed
many exciting things going on. Day after day our         of a group of the leaders of the G.L.T.S. who will,
lives are filled with activities. Our home is            the Lord willing, become the office bearers of the
constantly the center of meetings and visits of          Church. The chief task of this commission is to
members of the G.L.T.S. Many weeks there is a            study our Three Forms of Unity for their eventual
meeting at our home almost every evening of the          adoption as the  creedal basis of the newly
week as well as several on the Lord's Day. Our           organized church. What is especially encouraging
supper table is also often shared with guests.           about these meetings is the fact that many besides
  Let me report to you on what we presently              the members of the commission attend these
consider the three most exciting meetings, besides       sessions. In fact, these meetings are probably the
of course the worship services on the Lord's Day.        best attended meetings in the G.L.T.S. This fact
All of these meetings take place on the Lord's Day.      alone is an indication of the interest in the study of
Early in the morning of the Lord's Day we have five      the Creeds. Presently we are studying our Belgic
Sunday School classes. Your missionary teaches           Confession. We had originally hoped to finish this
one of these classes. We give instruction in the Old     study in a few months. It is evident however that
Testament. Each Lord's Day we study one chapter          this is quite impossible. There is so much discus-
of the book of Genesis. Attendance at our class          sion at the meetings that we are progressing quite
alone is usually about thirty. There is especially a     slowly. Because of the need for instruction in all of


348                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



the doctrines of the Christian Faith as contained in     looked at thus far. However, the price is still very
our creeds we are convinced that going slowly is         high in relation to our available funds. It is evident
absolutely necessary. There is a great desire to         that the members of the G.L.T.S. are ready to make
know and understand. In our last two meetings we         very great monetary sacrifices for a church
discussed the doctrine of the Trinity as it is taught    building. This is especially true in light of the very
in Articles VIII and IX of the confession. This doc-     low incomes that these young people receive by
trine, as you know, is a very difficult one. One         comparison to Western standards. Even with such
would not normally expect, however, to spend two         large sacrifices we cannot however come near to
long sessions discussing this subject. Yet, because      the total needed to purchase the property under
of the great desire to know and understand the           consideration. It is proving very difficult to make a
truth of the Trinity and to see its significance for     loan from the bank. To appreciate the greatness of
the Christian Faith, it was necessary to have two        this problem one must know the housing situation
class periods. Each of the classes last two hours. We    in overcrowded Singapore. One does not just go
wish that all of our Protestant Reformed people          down the street and rent a hall for worship services
could sit in on some of these meetings and experi-       like we can often do in the U.S. This is very diffi-
ence their excitement.                                   cult if not impossible. We are waiting for the day
  We have also been busy again making the prep-          when we shall be evicted from our present place of
arations for our coming June Camp Retreat. We            worship, because this kampong is going to be de-
have told you about these camps before in previous       molished to make room for urban redevelopment.
articles. The theme that was chosen for this year's      We have learned by experience that this can
camp is a truly beautiful and significant one: "I        happen within one month's notice. Humanly
Love Thy Kingdom Lord." Your missionary has              speaking, at this point, if this should happen we
again been asked to give five messages on this           would be left entirely without a meeting place. We
theme. This camp will be held at a seaside resort in     trust however that the Lord will provide this for us
Malaysia or Singapore.                                   also. We ask you to remember this in your prayers.
  We have told you before about how the leaders            We had a very unique opportunity to visit some
of the G.L.T.S. take part in the work of the church.     of the homes of our members just recently. During
These brothers essentially do the work of the office     the celebration of the Chinese New Year, which
bearers in the church. We see these brethren grow-       takes place in February, it is custom to go visiting to
ing rapidly as the Lord is equipping them for the        friends and relatives. Most of the homes are very
offices. More and more of the pastoral work is           open to receiving visitors during this time of the
being done by the leaders, and much of this is being     year. Even Western people and Christians are re-
done very well. Attendance at the worship services       ceived into the home. We visited altogether ten dif-
is carefully supervised. New visitors who have           ferent homes. This gave us a new appreciation of
attended several meetings are usually visited by         the circumstances under which our members live.
two of the leaders. Members who are absent from          Many live in conditions that by our standards
the worship services for several times are also visi-    would be abject poverty. None live in beautiful,
ted and encouraged and admonished as necessary.          spacious homes like we do in the U.S. All of the
Those who have problems and are in distress are          homes we visited were very evidently pagan, and
visited and counseled. We have also been working         we saw many idols and shrines to heathen gods.
on preparing the leaders for the diaconal ministry.      Some of our members live in very cramped
Because of the poverty of some of the members of         quarters with many other members of larger fami-
the G.L.T.S. we are really in immediate need of the      lies. Many do not have rooms to themselves, and it
ministry of mercy. We experience more and more           is easy to see how very difficult it would be to find
how essential the work of the office bearers is.         a private place to read and study the Word of God.
Often we in our established churches take all this       The only opportunity that some of the members
so much for granted.                                     have for this is very late at night or early in the
  We want to bring to you two great needs of the         morning when the rest of the members of the
mission field in Singapore. The greatest need is to      family are sleeping. What an amazing thing it is that
be organized and instituted as the church of Jesus       our God has called these young people unto
Christ. We long for this to take place absolutely as     Himself out of these pagan homes. Because of the
soon as possible. The second great need remains          financial hardships of the families many of our
the obtaining of a new place for our worship ser-        young people must give a large part of the salaries
vices. We have been seriously considering a very         they earn to support thier families. Family
suitable building that could be used both for a          allegiance is strong, a thing which is commendable.
pastor's residence and a church building. The price      However, this makes all the more difficult the
of this place is more reasonable than any we have        break that is necessary for the Christians to make


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                             349



from their families. Our visits left us again with the               Our God continues to supply all our needs, not
overwhelming impression of how greatly blessed                     only through our regular support from the
we are with material abundance in the U.S. At the                  churches but also through special love gifts from
same time, the blessing of the Lord is not bound up                our denomination and from the members of the
with abundance of possessions.                                     G.L.T.S. Thanks be unto the Lord.

ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren


                                       The Evil of Abortions

  One hears of the growing murders in abortion.                      The figures are shocking. No wonder so many
The figures given are almost unbelievable. The                     Christians are greatly concerned. All of this evil has
Christian News reports of this in its March 16, 1981               an inevitable effect on man's attitude toward
issue:                                                             human life in general. Many doctors also are deeply
          Legal abortions in the United States totaled an esti-    concerned-some for spiritual reasons and perhaps
    mated 1.5 million in 1979-a new record, reports the            some for other reasons. The  Christian  News  of
    Planned Parenthood-affiliated Alan Guttmacher Insti-           January 26, 1981 reproduces an advertisement
    tute.                                                          which appeared in the Jan. 22, 1981 issue of the St.
          The new total represented 30.2 abortions per 1,000       Louis Globe-Democrat. The ad was signed by hun-
    women of reproductive age. In 1978, some 1.4 million
    abortions were performed in 2,753 abortion facilities          dreds of doctors and began: "Jan. 22, 1973 -Jan. 22,
    across the nation, a level of 28.2 abortions per 1,000         1981. In Memoriam  - VIII; `Respect for Human
    women.                                                         Life.' `I The ad contained three brief statements:
          In both years, about 30 percent of women who be-         "Did you know that...all medical facts indicate
    came pregnant chose to end their pregnancy by abor-            human life begins at conception (and) the supreme
    tion. Some 31 percent of all abortions were obtained           court abortion decision allows abortions during the
    by teenagers, who represent 18 percent of sexually             entire nine months of pregnancy-from conception
    active women of childbearing age.                              right up to birth." They also quote from the decla-
          Guttmacher researchers said their figures reflected      ration of Geneva-1948: "...I will maintain the ut-
    reported abortions. Actual totals may be higher-per-           most respect for human life, from the time of con-
    haps 1.5 million in 1978 and 1.6 million in 1979, they         ception; even under threat, I will not use my medi-
    said.                                                          cal knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity."
          Since 1967, when the first states liberalized abor-
    tion laws, about 7.4 million women have obtained                 One hears of the growing crime rate in our
    some 9.4 million legal abortions, the report said.             country-but there can hardly be a greater crime
    "Since 1967, 15 percent of women of reproductive age           than the legalized murder which still continues.
    have had legal abortions." Abortions became legal
    nationally with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.



                                     One Against the Union

  Many states allow, and many businesses have                      jobs. Yet there is on record in Michigan at least one
approved,           compulsory         union       membership,     case where an individual refused to join the union
sometimes called the "closed shop." This is, of                    or pay dues-and kept her job. A report of this is
course, grossly unfair and contrary to the constitu-               given in the  Newsletter  of the Michigan Right to
tion of the United States which allows for freedom                 Work Association, December  1980. The report
of religion. When some, for religious reasons, re-                 states:
fuse to join the union, these have usually lost their


350                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



         In the spring of 1968, Carol Applegate faced a diffi-            said, "I have never had to answer to anyone except
       cult choice.                                                       the people of the community through their elected
         She had been a professional educator for almost 20               representatives.
       years, and for the past 16 years, a voluntary member                  "I was not going to suddenly, at this point in my
       of the Grand Blanc Education Association (GBEA).                   career, pay tribute to a private organization in order to
         In recent years, however, Mrs. Applegate had no-                 teach in the public schools, especially when I disa-
       ticed that GBEA officials, like their counterparts in              greed with many of the tactics and practices of that
       the National Education Association (NEA-union), had                organization."
       abandoned selling unionism on its merits. Instead                     The union officials quickly made it clear they
       they had adopted the "rule or ruin" ideology of com-               would not tolerate such a challenge to their monopoly
       pulsory unionism.                                                  power. They demanded that the highly respected and
         Deeply troubled by the threat to academic freedom                highly competent school-teacher be fired from her
       posed by forced unionism, Carol Applegate, after                   job. And as so often happens, the school board caved
       much thought and prayer, resigned from the GBEA.                   in to the union bosses' demands.
         "My decision not to belong to the union," Mrs.                      Carol Applegate, however had other ideas. The
       Applegate recalls, "was done as a very personal, pri-              school board may have broken, but she hadn't even
       vate, quiet protest against what I considered to be un-            bent.
       professional actions of the association."                             With the aid of the National Bight to Work Legal
         And a quiet protest it would have remained, had                  Defense Foundation, Mrs. Applegate took her case,
       not GBEA-union officials determined to quash the                   first to the Michigan Tenure Commission, and then to
       principle of free choice in the Grand Blanc education              the Michigan state courts.
       community.                                                            "I vowed to test in any way possible the validity of
       So in September of 1968, the Grand Blanc Board of                  a system that demands, `You either pay dues to the
       Education and the local NEA-union hierarchy struck a               teacher union or you will be fired.' I did this because I
       deal adding a compulsory "agency shop" clause to the               could not in good conscience stand before my classes
       teachers' contracts.                                               and say `think' when I was being denied the right to
                                                                          think myself," said Mrs. Applegate.
         As a result, Carol Applegate, along with every other
       teacher who had chosen not to join the so-called
       "association," was forced to pay dues to the unwant-             The end of the case was that Mrs. Applegate
       ed union.                                                     won. She is still teaching. She withstood the union
                                                                     sucessfully. I have often wondered if we ought not
         Though well aware of the forces against her, Mrs.           also to use the laws of our land to insist on our con-
       Applegate steadfastly refused to meet the compulsory
       dues demands of the GBEA-union officials.                     stitutional right of freedom of religion in
                                                                     connection with work in "closed" shops.
         "In all the time I have been a teacher," she later



                                         Pornographic Music

  The  Chvistian   News, Feb. 23, 1981, quotes an                         the songs our youth hear an average of 3% hours a
article which warns against the corrupt popular                           day.
music which is being presented over radio today.                        The article continues by pointing out some of the
The article states:                                                  corruption which is heard in the songs commonly
         Where are the strongest influences on our morals            played on some radio stations. It gives rather shock-
       today? Time-wise it's no contest! By age 18 the aver-         ing examples of words which are clearly pornogra-
       age teen has been exposed to approximately: 20,000            phic. The article points out that these songs are
       hours of radio; 18,000 hours of T.V.; 11,000 hours of         o f t e n   f a r   m o r e    explicit than the quotes
       school; 1,000 hours [or less) of Sunday School.               indicate-for the worst of the words the author
         The Christian people of America seem to give                considers far too shocking even to print. The author
       attention to these influences in the opposite propor-         then states:
       tion to their effect.                                                The morals and philosophy of tomorrow's adults
         It is important to check every work of our new                  are being molded more by today's music than by any
       hymnal for the implications words might contain, but              other single force. Our youth are struggling to
       it is equally important to start checking the words of            establish their own identity and solidify the principles


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            351



   that will guide their life and family style. We are all         television than with Christian school instruction.
   vulnerable to  hressures  of friends or "would be"              When the radio and television present purely
   friends and hero figures.                                       worldly entertainment, what kind of effect must
  Parents, we ought to give constant thought and                   this surely have on the spiritual lives of the
care concerning what our children hear. Often, it is               children? Far more damage is being done than we
true, our children spend more time with radio and                  sometimes are willing to admit.


           That Third Option for Woinen Deacons

  The Christian Reformed Church contemplates                           of deacon to women. That, after all, is where.ecclesi-
what action their Synod of 1981 will take with                         astical authority lays. Such a decision must ultimately
respect to women serving as deacons. Two years                         be dealt with at the congregational level anyway.
ago the earlier decision allowing women to serve in                  That last proposal might be the one adopted. As
the office of deacon was suspended. This coming                    the author pointed out, the synod did this back in
June the Synod must consider once more what to                     1957 when it allowed individual congregations to
do. In the  Cahinist  Contact,  Feb. 27, 1981, Keith               permit women to vote in congregational meetings.
Knight proposes three possibilities: refuse to allow                 However, this "solution" can only create further
women into the office; or, allow women to serve as                 divisions in an already grievously divided deno-
deacons (which he admits might cause a split in the                mination. If this were done with the office of
C.R.C.); or, leave the matter to the individual con-               deacon, what of that of elder and minister? Would
gregations. Of the latter, he writes:                              this also be decided on the local level? It does not
      The local congregation still has the final authority.        take much imagination to know what kind of prob-
   Synod exists only 10 days but the congregation con-             lems would then arise in the churches. Rather, the
   ceivably lasts for generations.                                 churches ought to abide by the clear teachings of
      Synod would be wise to let each congregation make            Scripture-and the question would be quickly and
   up its own mind with respect to opening up the office           easily solved.

FROM HOLY WRIT


      The So-called Postmillennial Proof-Texts
                                                        by Rev. G. Lubbers



  GOD ALL IN ALL IN HIS GLORIFIED SON                                 Does this mean that in being subjected to the
                        Chapter 5                                  Father, the Son is dethroned, defrocked of His king-
                                                                   ship? In the light of our findings in the former
  We are interested to learn from the Scriptures                   chapter, that can hardly be. For the "delivering up"
whether the kingdom of the Son of God is eternal                   of the kingdom to the Father was an official act of
according to the plain teaching of Scripture or not.               the Mediator. He had finished the work in history
In this chapter we will try to understand the sense                of this present time.
and import of the Scriptural teaching that "the Son
is subjected unto Him that put all things under                       But what about the "ages to come" of which the
Him, in order that God may be all in all" (I Cor.                  Scriptures speak?
15:28).                                                               Is it so that Christ's Mediatorship is merely a
   How must this Scripture from the inspired pen of                means and an agency to an end; that when the end
Paul be understood?                                                is attained, when history has arrived to the  "con-


352                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



summation of the ages," this agency falls away;             eternal state God will be manifested and revealed
that Christ has, after all, but a temporal  mediator-       in great splendor and glory. That all is now "not
ship wherein He is Prophet, Priest, and King in His         yet." We do not yet see Jesus crowned with glory
church and kingdom? Is that the plain and un-               and honor in that ultimate glory. We do not yet see
equivocal teaching of the Bible? Is it true that the        that all things are subjected unto Him. Psalm 8 is
Messiah's work in the history of the world does not         not yet fully fulfilled in the last Adam. That will be
find its perfection in glory after all? Does the fact       in "the coming age." Hebrews  2:5 says that it is of
that Christ is perfected, according to the teaching of      that "world" (inhabited world =  oihoumeneen) that
the writer to the  Hebrews,  refer only to  tempoml         he is speaking here in Hebrews 1 and 2. Into that
glorification at God's right hand, as the very ex-          inhabited  world God brought His firstborn Son,
pressed image of His being, the effulgence of God's         where all the angels of God must worship Him
glory, far above the glory of the angels (Hebrews           (Hebrews  1:6; Ps.  97:7). That is ultimately, there-
1:3,  4)? When God begets His Son as the Firstborn          fore, the eternal state. In that eternal state, where
out of the dead, through His death and resurrec-            the Son shall be fully glorified as the Lord out of
tion, ascension and glorification, is it true that He is    heaven, the last Adam, God shall be all in all. That
then not "perfected" in the eternal state, when the         is the eternal Kingdom; that is the church per-
tabernacle of God shall be with man? Is it true that        fected; that is the tabernacle of God with man (Heb.
the new heaven and the new earth are not a part of          11:40; Rev. 21:3).
the eternal state at all, neither is the tabernacle of        When I Corinthians  15:28 speaks of "God all in
God with man in eternity, in the city foursquare, in        all" it refers to a new dimension of the glory of God
the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:3)? Does this new Jeru-          in the incarnate Son glorified in His church. All that
salem and this new heaven and this new earth                is Christ's humanity stands so in the light of the
belong to the "golden age" of the Gospel prior to           glory of the divine Son, that we see in this Son the
Christ's coming to judge the living and the dead? Is        fulness of the Godhead bodily, that we see Him as
the covenant of God really not eternal as seems to          "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings,
be the obvious implication of Hebrews  8:8-U? Did           the Lord of lords; who only hath immortality,
Jeremiah not write this prophetic word concerning           dwelling in the light which no man can approach
the New Covenant viewing the eternal state of               unto; Whom no man hath seen, nor can see; to
things, as this has its firstfruits here in the New         Whom be honor and power everlasting" (I Tim.
Testament (Jer. 31:31-34)?                                  6:15, 16). Here we will see fulfilled in the highest
  But is that really the teaching and implication of        degree: "he that hath seen Me, hath seen the
"that God be all in all" and the "subjecting' of the        Father" (John 14:9).  Again, "I am in the Father and
Son unto Himself" in I Corinthians 15:28?                   the Father in Me" (John  14:lO). Here will be mani-
  Let us try to see that "God is all in all" in and         fested,  ". .  .glorify  Thou Me with Thine own self,
through Christ even now already in the church, as           with the glory, which I had with Thee before the
she is the fulness of the Christ who "fills all in all"     world was" (John  17:5).  And, once more, here we
(Eph.  1:23).  The church, the body of Christ, is the       shall see the fulfilment of the Sacerdotal prayer of
fulness of Christ, Who fills all in all. And in this        the King-Priest after the order of Melchizedek,
present Dispensation of the fulness of times, when          "that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast
God is putting all things in heaven and on earth            given Me: for Thou lovest Me before the foundation
under one Head (Eph. 1: lo), according to His eter-         of the world" (John  17:24). Here is the end of the
nal good-pleasure, Christ is the Son, in Whom all           golden chain: "whom He did predestinate, them
the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9,         He also called: and whom He called, them He also
10). In this church, which are the Kingdom-citizens         justified: and whom He justified, them He also
of God (Matt. 5:3; Phil. 3:20, 21), the Father is "one      glorified" (Rom. 8:30). And this glorification of the
God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through        Kingdom-citizens is in their King, Whom they
all and in you all." And this fulness of Christ in the      greet: Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the
church is brought about by Christ in the gifts of the       Lord, Hosanna in the Highest!
offices in the New Testament Church, till we all              Calvin writes in his commentary on I Corin-
come to the perfect man, the one new man in                 thians 15 concerning this "God all in all" as
Christ, the last Adam (Eph.  2:15; I. Cor.  15:44-49;       follows:
Eph. 4:7-16).                                                     "But Christ will then hand back the kingdom which
  God is all in all now, too, in the church and in             He had received, so that we may completely cleave to
His Kingdom. He is this in the Son, His beloved                God. This does not mean that He will abdicate from
Son, in Whom is all His good-pleasure. But God will            the Kingdom in this way, but will transfer it in some
be "all in all" in very much greater degree after the          way or other (quodammodo)  from His humanity to His
Son of man delivers the kingdom to God. In the                 glorious divinity, because then there will be open for


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 3 5 3



   us a way of approach, from which we are now kept               the LORD" (I Kings  8:10, 11; II Chron.  5:13, 14).
   back by-our weakness. In this way, therefore, Christ           Yes, God was all in all, but .not in a form in which
   will be subjected to the Father, because, when the veil        men could dwell in His tabernacle. They could not
   has been removed, we will see God plainly, reigning            be near to the glory of the LORD.
   in His majesty, and the humanity of Christ will no
   longer be in between us to hold us back from a nearer             But now already in principle we can dwell in
   vision of God." I Cor. 1527                                    God's house, by the new and living way, the blood-
                                                                  sprinkled way, the new and living way into His
     "...it will not be out of place if this phrase be taken
   as referring to believers only, in whom God has                temple (Heb. 10:19-22). Still we do not yet see that
   already begun His Kingdom, and will bring it to com-           glory manifested in His temple, the church of the
   pletion, and in such a way they will all cleave to Him         living God. That will be in the last Day, in the great
   entirely."                                                     Parousia of Christ. Then we shall be like God, par-
     "...some  imagine that God will be all in all in the          takers of the divine nature, conformed to His
   sense that everything will vanish, and dissolve into           image; then we shall no more see in a glass darkly,
   nothingness. But the only meaning that the words of            but shall be changed from glory unto glory as by
   Paul bear is that all things must be restored to God as        the Spirit of the risen Lord. We shall be like Him for
   their one and only beginning and end, so that they             we shall see Him as He is (I John  3:2; II Cor. 3:17,
   may be bound closely to Him."                                   18). Yes, now we know in part, but then shall we
                                  Commentary on Verse 28.         know even as we are known; now we see in a glass
                                                                   darkly, but then face to face-in the face of Jesus
  Yes, God will then be manifested in all the glory                Christ (I Cor. 13:12). This is for all the pure in heart,
of His majesty, holiness, and grace in the Church,                who shall see God in blessed covenant fellowship,
in His Kingdom of glory, as the all in all. That was              in His tabernacle forever. No, this will not be in an
evidently wholly impossible in the Old Testament                   earthly sanctuary, but it will be in that church of
Dispensation of the shadows. Think of the glory of                the living God, the dwelling-place of God in the
God revealed in the Tabernacle in the wilderness as                Spirit (Eph. 2:21,22;  Rev. 21:22,23). Truly the Lord
spoken of in Exodus  40:24. It is the same glory as                God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
was revealed in the mount of Horeb, which caused
Israel to tremble and fear, and which even caused                    Such is the beautiful and comforting prospect of
Moses the law-giver to say: "I exceedingly fear and               the future glory, in which "God is all in all."
quake" (Heb.  12:21). For we read concerning this                    What a far cry this is from the presentation of
presence of the Lord that "then a cloud covered the               Postmillennial writers, who will not that Christ
tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD                shall be the King of the Kingdom in glory. In our
filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to                  next chapter we will try to show a bit in depth that
enter into the tent of the congregation, because the              the united testimony of all the Scriptures, both in
cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD                    the Old and New Testaments, is that God's
filled the tabernacle." What a glory in which God                 kingdom of heaven is eternal in Christ Jesus the
shows that He is all in all. But this is glory which              glorified Christ, in Whom God is indeed all in all.
must be beheld from afar, even by Moses who                          Those who deny the eternity of God's Kingdom
speaks with God, not as a common prophet in                       in Christ, in the ages to come, do so to sustain their
visions, but mouth to mouth!                                       "theory" of the "golden age" of the universal king-
  Again in the dedication of the temple of Solomon                dom of Christ on earth, prior to Christ's final return
we read, "And it came to pass, when the priests                   with the clouds of heaven. Only tendency exegesis,
were come out of the holy place, that the cloud                   which fails to interpret Scripture with Scripture,
filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests                 will aid them for a plausible foundation and
could not stand to minister because of the cloud:                 support for their theory, which they denominate
for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of                  "Eschatology of Victory."

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE

        Evangelism and the Reformed Faith (4)
                                                          David Engebma

     The Method of Reformed Evangelism                            Reformed Faith has its own method of evangelism:
  Just as it has its own message of evangelism, the               the Biblical method of preaching and teaching. The


354                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



proper, effective method of evangelism is pre-             Church, that preaches the Word. This is the Biblical
scribed by Holy Scripture. No more than the                pattern: the congregation at Antioch, Syria sent out
Church may invent her own message may she                  Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey
invent her own method. She is bound by the com-            and supervised their work (cf. Acts  13:1-4; Acts
mandment of the Bible. Christ determined the               14:26,27).  Evangelism is not to be done by societies
method in Luke 24:47, when He told the disciples,          and para-ecclesiastical organizations. They have no
"...repentance  and remission of sins should be            authority. They have no power-they lack the
preached in His Name among all nations." Accord-           office of preaching.
ing to Mark 16:15, the Lord charged His Church in            But does not every saint have the duty to evan-
these words, "Go ye into all the world, and preach         gelize? Is not every child of God a missionary? Em-
the gospel to every creature." To this method, and         phatically not! It is un-Biblical to hold that every
this method only, is attached the promise that there       believer may and must evangelize. This is to main-
will be the fruit of those who believe and are saved       tain that every saint can and must preach the gos-
(vs. 16). This is the pattern of the ministry of the       pel. Where in Scripture is this authority given to
apostles, set forth by Paul in the first verse of I        every believer? Where in the practical parts of the
Corinthians 2: "And I, brethren, when I came to            New Testament epistles is this made the responsi-
you, came not with excellency of speech or of              bility of every Christian? The notion that every
wisdom,  declaring unto you the testimony  of  God.  "     member of the church is a missionary destroys the
  The method of evangelism is not stirring music;          fundamental truth of the office in the church. Most
puppet-shows; testimonies by worldly celebrities;          pernicious of all is the utterly reckless act of putting
performances by worldly artists; or dramatic pro-          this awesom burden on the shoulders of our teen-
ductions. Nor is it the eloquence, charisma,               age children, who, altogether apart from the matter
dynamic personality, flamboyance, persuasiveness,          of office, ought not to be teaching, but learning the
or enticing words of the evangelist. Jesus Christ is       Word of God.
disgraced today by the gospel-rock (sic!), immodest
Hollywood starlets,         and Sabbath-desecrating          This is not to say that the believer should not wit-
athletes that are used to promote the gospel. Jesus        ness to the truth as he has opportunity; he should-
Christ is all but lost sight of behind the big-name        this belongs to the office of believer (I Pet. 3: 15). Let
ecclesiastical  showmen who claim to preach Him.           us not forget, however, that we witness, not only
It surprises us not at all that it is continually being    with our mouths, but also-and very  powerfully-
disclosed that these evangelistic enterprises are          with our behavior. By our godly conduct, others
money-making schemes for the personal enrich-              may be gained to Christ (Heidelberg Catechism, Q.
ment of the evangelists and their families. These          86).
are the gospel-hucksters (II Cor.  2:17), those who          Nor do we intend, by denying that every believer
make merchandise of the Church through covet-              is an evangelist, to exclude the saints from the great
ousness (II Pet. 2:3).                                     work of evangelism.           H o w   c o u l d   t h i s   b e ?
  It has pleased God to call His people to salvation       Evangelism is the work of the Church; and the
by the foolishness of preaching (I Cor.  1:21).            saints are the Church. Although the instrument of
Preaching is the announcing of the gospel by a man         evangelism is the man called to be missionary, it is
(I use the masculine gender deliberately here)             the Church, the body of believers and their
called and sent by Christ through the Church; it is        children instituted in the offices of elder and
official, authoritative proclamation. In Luke 24,          deacon, that is doing the work through him. Just as
Jesus sends the apostles out; and He sends them "in        the body speaks by means of its tongue (you do not
His name" (vs. 47). Romans  lo:15 lays down the            say, "My tongue is speaking," but you say, "I am
rule when it asks, "And how shall they preach, ex-         speaking"), so does the congregation of saints evan-
cept they be sent?" There are no longer evangelists        gelize through the missionary. Missions is not the
in the New Testament sense. That office was tem-           work of the missionary; it is the work of the people
porary, like the apostolic office. Evangelism is done      of God.
today by ordained ministers set apart for the work           The saints are active in this labor of the Church.
of going with the gospel to those outside the estab-       They pray for the work of missions. This is the co-
lished Church: our missionaries. The reason for            operation Paul asked of the believers: "...brethren,
this is that Christ Himself gathers the Church. He         pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free
has revealed in Scripture that He does His work            course, and be glorified" (II Thess.  3:l). They sup-
through the preaching of God's Word, which                 port the work financially. Paul praises the Philip-
preaching belongs to the office in the Church.             pians for helping him in his material need: "ye
  Evangelism, or missions, therefore, is the work          have well done, that ye did communicate with my
of the Church. It is the Church, the instituted            affliction" (Phil. 4: 14).


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                        355



  Not least, the people of God are to live with each            ism, generally, is that God, by His eternal election
other in the church in such a way that the Spirit                of grace, has a Church to be gathered at all times
will bless their witness outside the church. It is               and among all peoples; and He wills to gather this
striking, in the book of Acts, that the Church grew              Church by the gospel.
as it lived in faithfulness to the doctrine of the apos-            Specifically, our motivation is obedience, obe-
tles; in zealous worship of God; and in peace among              dience to the command of our Lord, Jesus. He has
themselves. Where there is heresy, disinterest in                said to us "that repentance and remission of sins
spiritual things, carnality, worldliness, immorality,            should be preached in His Name among all
hatred, strife, and division, evangelism cannot be               nations"; and this settles the matter. Is there any
expected to prosper. For the Holy Spirit cannot be               obedience like the obedience of the Reformed Faith
expected to bless our labor; and. evangelism                     with its knowledge of the sovereignty of Christ?
depends wholly upon the Spirit of Christ.                           Second, we have the fervent desire that God be
  The means of evangelism is the Holy Spirit; He is              glorified in all His creation. We are grieved and
the power of it. He sends forth the laborers into the            angry that the Name of God is hidden and profaned
harvest; He opens doors; He opens the hearts of                  everywhere. We share something of the spirit of
men and women to receive the Word; He unites the                 Paul in Athens, whose spirit was stirred within him
elect to Christ; He places men in the body of the                when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry, so
Church as it pleases Him. There is great concern                 that he could not but speak on behalf of the one,
today over methods of evangelism. Men try to dis-                true God, the Father of Jesus (Acts 17:16ff.).  In love
cover what will make evangelism effective. The                  for God, we bring His Name everywhere and labor
danger is, not only that they resort to un-Biblical              for the establishing of churches that will be light in
methods, but also that they fall back, in the matter             the darkness. Should any outstrip the love of the
of missions, upon their own resources-their own                  Reformed Faith for God?
wisdom, their own strength, their own inventions.
The method of evangelism is preaching Jesus Christ                  Third, we love the people of God who are to be
and Him crucified; and that which makes this                     restored, or converted. Jesus had compassion on
effective is the Holy Spirit. This is the profound,              the fainting, scattered sheep who, without the
gripping doctrine of Paul in I Corinthians 2. "The               Word, were as sheep without a shepherd (Matt.
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of            9:36-38). Do we? Should we not? Should any love
God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can              be stronger than that of the Reformed Faith which
he know them, because they are spiritually dis-                  knows the people of God to be eternally loved of
cerned" (vs. 14). "But God hath revealed them unto               God, redeemed by the precious blood of God's own
us by His Spirit" (vs. 10).                                      Son, and destined for the bliss of glory?
  Christ pointed out the indispensable place of the                 Besides, there is the purpose of God with mis-
Holy Spirit in missions when, immediately after He               sions that the wicked be rendered without excuse
had charged the apostles with the duty of going out              and that the Day of Christ may come quickly.
to preach in His Name, He instructed them: "And,                    The Reformed Faith can engage in this work with
behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you:                the confidence of victory. The difficulties and ene-
but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be               mies are many and great. There are materialism
endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49).                    and pleasure-madness. There are communism and
  We must beware lest we suppose that for effec-                 humanism. There are the heathen religions and the
tive evangelism we need millions of dollars;  far-               cults. There is dreadful apostasy in the Christian
flung radio networks; catchy radio formats: profes-              churches. At bottom, there is the spiritual death of
sional television productions: and handsome,                     every human heart, the blindness of every mind,
eloquent speakers. Once, two men set out on foot                 and the bondage of every will-and the energetic
into countries of unbelief and immorality, with                  work of Satan to keep it so.
nothing but the gospel of Christ-and turned the                     But the Reformed Church is not discouraged, is
world upside down. Once, an obscure monk in the                  not pessimistic. For the Son of God has come, has
hinterlands of barbarous Germany spoke out for                   died, has risen again, has been seated on the right
the truth-and let loose the Word of God over the                 hand of God. All power in heaven and on earth is
whole world. The Holy Spirit is the power of mis-                His. We preach in His Name. He shall certainly
sions. We must depend upon Him. We must always                   gather His Church.
be beseeching Him to make our work fruitful. We
must consciously be laboring in His might.                                        Take time to study
   The Motivation of Reformed Evangelism                                         The Standard Bearer
  The motivation of the Reformed Faith in evangel-


356                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



SPECIAL ARTICLE


                 Reformed, Yet Always Reforming
                                                   Prof. H. Hanko



         This is the first of three anticipated in-         Catholic institute. It had to be re-formed. It had to
       stallments of the written transcript of Prof.        be re-formed after the pattern of the Scriptures and
       Hanko's Reformation Day Lecture, deliv-              after the pattern of the church established by the
       ered in Hudsonville on October 30, 1980.             apostles. God wrought that work. He re-formed the
  At least 99% of those present tonight go under            church; therefore we speak of the Reformation.
the name of Reformed. That name has come direct-               When we give to our churches the name Re-
ly from the mighty movement of the Sixteenth Cen-           formed, we mean that we want our spiritual lineage
tury called the Reformation. By using the name Re-          to be traced back to that mighty event: We want to
formed we confess that we are spiritually descend-          claim Luther and Calvin and the other Reformers
ed from the fathers of the Reformation. And by              as our spiritual fathers. Once a year on Reformation
tracing our spiritual ancestry back to the Protestant       Day we look back to that event which happened
Reformation of the Sixteenth Century we confess             over 450 years ago and point to it with thankfulness
that we hold to the same truths which the Reforma-          to God and say to others and to ourselves, "That
tion held. We want to be identified  with  that             event belongs to our history as Reformed
movement; we want everyone to know that we                  churches."
stand for what the Reformers stood for; that we                But there is surely more. When we call ourselves
hold fast to the doctrines which they thought to be         Reformed, we insist that we are re-formed. And we
the truth of the Word of God; that we champion              are not only re-formed because 450 years ago the
these truths as they did; that we confess them in the       church was re-formed by the hand of God, but we
midst of the world as they confessed them; and that         are re-formed and, therefore, Reformed because
we are prepared to make the sacrifices for them             reformation is  always,  in every moment of the
which they made.                                            church's life, the calling of the church of Jesus
  At this time of the year when the church of Jesus         Christ. That is why a motto of the Reformed
Christ commemorates the Reformation, she is not             Churches for the last 450 years has been: "Re-
only called upon to recall that the Reformation is          formed, yet always reforming." By this motto our
part of her own spiritual tradition, but the church is      fathers meant to emphasize that it is the essential
asked, yes, obligated before God to give honest             mark of being Reformed that the church is always
answers to certain questions. Chief among these             reforming. The two go together and are inseparably
questions is the question of whether we are the             connected. You cannot, says this motto, claim to be
faithful sons and daughters of the Reformation that         Reformed unless you are a church always re-
we ought to be.                                             forming. The one mark, which clearly marks
  The Reformation was the name which was given              churches that belong to the Reformation is the
to that movement of the Sixteenth Century                   mark of continuous reformation within her own ec-
because, through the work of the Reformers, God             clesiastical life.
reformed His church. He made it anew. It needed                That is the question, therefore, that faces us to-
renewing because, through the centuries in which            night. Are we as a church always reforming? This is
Roman Catholicism had held sway, the church had             a question which faces all of us. Denominations do
lost her identity as the church of Christ. It had           not enter into the matter directly. What has to be
strayed so far from the doctrines of the Scriptures         said is something that has to be said to all of us. I
and had become so corrupt in morals and in life             speak with equal intensity, equal earnestness, and
that, as the Reformers said, it was no longer recog-        equal concern to my own fellow saints within our
nizable as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. No          own denomination. It is neither proper nor correct
one who understood from Scripture what the                  to say that other churches need reforming but our
church was and what it was supposed to be could             own do not. If we say this, we forfeit our right to
recognize the church any longer in the Roman                call ourselves sons and daughters of the  Reforma-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              357



tion. We can best celebrate this glorious event of         people of God are so in control of the church that
God, therefore, by asking ourselves before the face        the doctrinal, ethical, and moral direction of the
of God: Are we a church reformed, yet always               church is determined by them. That was the case in
reforming?                                                 Israel, for example, during the time of King David
  Why is it necessary that a truly Reformed church         and King Solomon. As large as the wicked element
be at the same time a church which is always re-           was and as numerous as were the reprobate seed
forming? The answer is that, as long as the church         within the nation, the direction of the nation as a
of our Lord Jesus Christ is here upon earth, the           whole, the doctrinal, spiritual and moral direction
church is not perfect. And, because the church is          of the nation was determined by God-fearing
never perfect, the church is constantly open to the        people. When that happens the church fulfills her
danger of decay and deterioration. This was true of        calling in the midst of the world and is blessed by
the Romish Church. For many centuries before the           God.
Reformation it had so corrupted doctrine that the            But there is always an opposite tendency in the
doctrine of the Scriptures was no longer heard. The        church. And so it happens sometimes that not the
truth of Christ and Him crucified was completely           people of God are in those positions of power and
obscured by all the ceremonies, false rituals, empty       control, so that the ecclesiastical, doctrinal, and
liturgy, and doctrinal heresies which prevailed.           ethical direction of the church is determined by
Even more, the Romish Church took the Scriptures           them, but the wicked are in control. That happened
out of the hands of the people of God so that they         too, in the nation of Israel, repeatedly, and it was
might not read for themselves of Christ Who died           because of this that there was in the nation the need
for the sins of His people and of salvation which          for reform. When godless Ahaz was king, he im-
comes only through His cross. Further, the church          ported an altar from Damascus to set up in the holy
had become so corrupt that not only was every              place of the temple so that the gods of the Syrians
moral depravity practiced in the church at large but       might be worshiped. Along with this, false prophets
it had become the normal everyday practice of the          and false priests corrupted the sanctuary and the
clergy, from the Pope in Rome to the lowest parish         Word of God. So evil did the nation become that
priest. One could no longer recognize the church of        God raised Hezekiah to bring reformation in the
our Lord Jesus Christ in the Romish institute.             nation. The direction of the nation was determined
  But what was true of the Romish Church is                by ungodly men. There were people of God in that
always true. Because the church is not pure, its           nation, but the control of the nation was out of their
tendency is always towards decline. There are es-          hands. And the whole moral and spiritual direction
pecially two reasons why the church is never pure.         of the nation was determined by those who were
One reason is that the saints, from whom the               enemies of God and of His promise.
church is formed, are themselves saints only in              This is what happens also in the church of the
principle. They are still sinners who have only a          New Dispensation. That the church is always com-
small beginning of the new obedience. The other            posed of elect and reprobate seed, no one can deny.
reason is that there is always present in the church       When the true people of God are ministers, elders,
a carnal element. Scripture often refers to this and       and deacons and when the office of believers under
points out that the carnal and unbelieving element         the preaching of the Word functions strongly in the
is even often a majority. This very truth elicited         church, then, although there is a carnal element
from the heart of the prophet Isaiah the anxious cry       present in the church, the entire direction of the
that the church is a hut in a garden of cucumbers, a       church is determined by the people of God.
beseiged city. "Except the Lord of hosts had left            But sometimes the opposite happens. Sometimes
unto us a very small remnant, we should have been          the wicked come into control. And when the
as Sodom, and we should have been like unto                wicked come into control then there are unregen-
Gomorrah" (Isaiah  1:9). That truth is emphatically        erated men on the pulpit, who do not preach the
stated in Romans  9:6 where Paul states that it has        gospel of Christ and Him crucified. They hide the
never been true in all the history of the nation that      cross behind the words of men. There are unbe-
all those who are of Israel are truly Israel. There are    lievers in the office of elders and deacons. The dele-
many who are of Israel but are not, in fact, Israel.       gates to the ecclesiastic assemblies are unregenera-
This is always true of the church. As it was true in       ted and unbelieving men and the decisions that af-
the nation of Israel prior to the coming of Christ, so     fect the life of the church are made by men who are
it is always true in the church of Jesus Christ after      enemies of the cause of Christ and enemies of the
Pentecost.                                                 gospel of salvation. When this happens the entire
  Nevertheless it is also a fact that there are certain    direction of the church, even though the people of
times in the church's history when, although there         God may be present in it, is determined by men
is a carnal element present in the church, the true        such as these.


358                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  Now, it is very striking and very important that           itself, and, therefore, is the principle which can and
we understand that what is true of the church at             must determine the entire life of the child of God.
large is true also of the individual life of the child of      But there are times in the life of the child of God
God.                                                         when the opposite happens and when the very
  The child of God is, from a spiritual and moral            powerful influences of sin that are rooted in his
viewpoint, two different people. He is, on the one           nature and are enemies of all that is holy become so
hand, a saint in whom dwells the Spirit of Christ            strong in him that they determine the course of his
and in whom is operative the powerful work of re-            life, his ethical and spiritual direction.
generation. But there is in that same child of God,            This can happen when the wicked are in control
as long as he stands on this side of the grave and is a      in the church. When Judah went into captivity and
pilgrim in this present world, the old man of his sin-       the elect of God went with the nation into captivity,
ful nature, which hates God and is opposed to all            we must not think that the elect in the nation were
that belongs to the kingdom of God and is ridden             free of all the sins of the nation; they were not. The
with sin and guilt. Both are present in the Christian        people of God, as well as the wicked, were bowing
so that what is true of the church at large is true of       down before idols and were guilty of all the corrup-
the individual child of God as well.                         tions and sins of which the wicked in the nation
  It is for this very reason that the same thing             were guilty, though they were the people of God.
which happens in the church at large can also                  It is exactly for this reason that it is possible for
happen in the life of the child of God. God has so           the wicked to gain the ascendancy in the church.
given us His grace, His Spirit, and the life of Christ       This happens repeatedly in the history of the
that that grace, Spirit, and life of Christ can and          church. It happens in every church. No denomina-
must determine the entire direction of our life,             tion is exempt from this. The history of the church,
even though our natures are wicked. Even though              therefore, is always a history of gradual decay,
the life of Christ within us is a principle, a small be-     gradual deterioration, gradual apostasy, and the
ginning of the new obedience, it is a victorious             desperate need for reformation. To be Reformed
principle. It is a conquering principle. It is a             means to be always reforming.
principle that is the very power of the life of Christ                          (to be continued)




                                         Book Reviews

UNDERSTANDING CHURCH                       GROWTH,           sion at the School of World Mission, Fuller Theo-
Donald A. McGavran; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publish-                 logical Seminary, Pasadena, California, is an  Armi-
ing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan; 480 pp., paper,             nian, and this detracts a great deal from the value of
$12.95. (Reviewed by Prof. R. D. Decker)                     the book as far as the Reformed missionary or stu-
  This book is a full revision of an earlier (1970)          dent of missions is concerned. What the Arminian
edition bearing the same title. It is full of tables,        refuses to see is that the Church is throughout the
graphs, and statistics, all of which are used to sup-        ages in every nation. By the power of God through
port the main thrust of the book. It is McGavran's           the means of preaching, the Son of God gathers that
contention that the church as it exists throughout           Church unto everlasting life.
the world can and indeed musf grow. If the causes              This is not to say the book has no value. It does.
which hinder church growth are avoided and if                To the author's credit he conceives of the church's
those causes which foster growth are implemented,            mission task in terms of  discipling the nations.
the church will grow, and that too rapidly and even          Social action may not be first. McGavran also
spectacularly. This kind of numerical growth is              makes the point which we must not forget in our
what God desires. "God has a passion to find lost            Protestant Reformed Mission work: "In any in-
men" (p. 32). "Suffice it to say that lack of church         crease of the Church, the activities mentioned and
growth is an unnecessary trait, or experience, of            God's sovereign pleasure are of immense impor-
many branches of the Church and many mission-                tance. Yet if any one thing is certain, it is that
ary societies," writes McGavran (p. 48). The                 churches in the varying cultures of Africa and Asia
author, Dean Emeritus and Senior Professor of Mis-           do  not  grow in the same way as in the wealthy,


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                 359



educated, individualistic Protestant populations of                       more attention paid to technical details than to the
Europe and America. The gospel is surely one, and                         meaning of the parable. In this connection  Kiste-
the church is one; but the visible churches which                         maker  does'not do full justice to the divine inspir-
God creates in every corner of the world differ                           ation of Scripture. I do not want to enter into a
enormously one from another.                        Some speak            quarrel  with:Dr.  Kistemaker on this point (as hap-
Mandarin and others Tagalog. Some exist as tiny                           pened once before when I criticized him for this);
minorities oppressed by the powerful, others as the                       but the fact remains that one could wish that he
power structure itself. Some are literate, healthy,                       would give as much attention to the truth that God
and fat; others illiterate, sick, and hungry. Some                        through the Holy Spirit is the Author of Scripture as
have highly paid professional ministers; others un-                       he gives to the so-called "secondary authors." E.g.,
trained, unpaid laymen. The processes of growth                           he writes on pp. 274,275:
which cause these differences are themselves ex-
tremely different" (p. 83).                                                      Of course, the evangelists recorded the parables of
     Finally, the fifth part of the book, "Special kinds                      Jesus, and in  their.work  of writing the Gospels they
of Church Growth" (pp. 269ff.) and especially                                 show their own individuality. Differences in wording
chapter 19, "Indigenous Church Principles and                                 in the parallel accounts of the same parables clearly
Growing Churches" (pp. 373ff.) are must reading                               reveal the hand of the individual evangelists. Besides,
                                                                              the fact that Jesus taught His parables in the Aramaic,
for any missionary, mission committee, or student                             whereas the Gospels present them in the Greek lan-
of Missions.                                                                  guage, is sufficient to prove that the recovery of the
                                                                              very words of Jesus remains problematic. The
THE PARABLES OF JESUS, by Simon Kistema-                                      question of origin, not authority, in regard to specific
ker; Baker Book House, 1980; 301 pp., $10.95.                                 wording in a given parable is not always easy to
(Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko.)                                                 answer. If a parable has been recorded by only one
     In this treatment of the parables Dr. Kistemaker                         evangelist, the authenticity of Jesus' words need not
                                                                              be debated. But when a parable occurs in parallel
treats not only the sayings of Jesus which are gen-                           Gospel accounts and shows variations in wording, the
erally accepted as being parables, but also many of                           question of editorial work of the individual evangelist
the parabolic sayings. For that reason, the treat-                            is real. Matthew, Mark, and Luke display their own
ment of the parables is quite brief and oftentimes                            characteristics and inclinations as they record the
somewhat superficial and shallow. Nevertheless,                               parables of Jesus.
for a concise treatment of  the,parables and for a
brief summary of their teaching, this book will be                           Further, when the author involves himself in the
of considerable help.                                                     question of the relation between election and the
     We were not always happy with the contents of                        free offer of the gospel, he not only strays from the
the book, however. We mention briefly a few                               Reformed faith but misinterprets the parables
points. Where the parable being treated appears in                        involved as well. This also comes to expression in
more than one gospel record, Kistemaker will often                        his treatment of the sovereign purpose which
make much of differences between the records and                          Christ has in teaching in parables as described in
the significance of these differences so that there is                    Mark 4:11, 12.





                            NOTICE!!!                                                      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

    According to the decision of the Synod of 1980, the Consistory of        On May 14, 1981, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND MRS.
the First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan, was            GERALD BOUWKAMP will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary.
appointed the calling church for the 1981 Synod. The Consistory of
Holland hereby notifies our churches that the 1981 Synod of the              We, their children and grandchildren, thank our heavenly Father
Protestant Reformed Churches in America will convene, the Lord            for giving us God-fearing parents who brought us up in the fear of the
willing, on Wednesday, June 3, 1981 at 9:00 A.M. in the First             Lord. It is our prayer that God will bless and keep them in His care in
Protestant Reformed Church of Holland, 290 E. 18th St., Holland.          the years to come.
The  pre-Synodical  service will be held Tuesday evening, June 2,            "For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting and His truth
1981 at 8:00 P.M. Rev. John A. Heys, President of the 1980 Synod          endureth to all generations." (Psalm  100:5)
will preach the sermon.  Synodical  delegates are requested to meet       Henry and Shirley Bergman
with the Consistory before the service. Delegates in need of transpor-       Barbara, Thomas, Julie, Daniel
tation from Grand Rapids or lodging in Holland should contact Mr. Erv
Kortering, 253 E. 19th St., Holland, Michigan 49423. (Phone  616-         Gary and Rachel Bouwkamp              David Bouwkamp
3 9 6 - 4 9 6 6 ) .                                                       Ruth Bouwkamp                         Carol Bouwkamp

                                                  Erv Kortering, Clerk    Kathy Bouwkamp                        Lora Bouwkamp

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

                                .____        __~~~...      -.     .~~





                                - - - - -       ~_  ~-~-~                                      -_


360                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



                           News From Our Churches

  Along with the report of  Classis  West-which                          news. Such is the source of the following news
you read in the last issue of S.B.-Rev. Engelsma                         about our Faith congregation in Jenison, Michigan.
sent the following account of activities that pre-                       Their January 25 bulletin announced the baptism
ceded the sessions of  Classis  West: "On Tuesday                        of twin infants on that Sunday morning. The
afternoon and evening before Classis,  the delegates                     additional information that was supplied revealed
held an officebearers' conference in the Loveland                        that this was the  fifth  set of twins born to this
church building. The subject was `Preaching the                          recently established congregation. We were further
Law and Gospel' -a continuation of the discussion                        informed that this was the third set of twins
at the previous conference in Pella. An introduction                     baptized by Rev. Bruinsma in the past two years.
in the form of a list of propositions and questions                      We can rejoice with them in this concrete evidence
was provided by the conference chairman and                              of the covenant faithfulness of our God in their
committeeman, Rev. W. Bekkering. Several mem-                            midst.
bers of the Loveland congregation also attended                            I was recently a bit confused when I read a letter
and participated. Discussion was lively and profit-                      handed to me by our business manager, Mr.
able. `Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth                         Vander Wal. The letter was written on Reformed
the countenance of his friend' (Proverbs  27:17).                        Free Publishing Association stationery; but what
The men appointed Rev.  R.. Cammenga to replace                          was confusing was the fact that it was addressed to a
Rev. R. Miersma on the committee for conferences                         Vander Wal and also written  by a Vander Wal. On
and instructed the committee to plan another con-                        the back side of that same piece of stationery was a
ference at the time of the Fall Classis  on the subject                  letter of response with the same problem. At first
of the duty of the elders to see to it that the exhorta-                 glance one might think that our business manager
tions of the pulpit are carried out in the life of the                   was writing letters to himself, but closer examina-
congregation. Both at the conference and at Classis,                     tion revealed that a Vander  W,al from California
the women of the Loveland congregation graciously                        was expressing an appreciation of our stand for the
and abundantly served meals and refreshments."                           truth and requesting some publications from our
  Following the decline of Rev. Koole to their call,                     business manager. If we care to draw a conclusion
our  Redlands consistory formed a new trio con-                          from this, maybe we could say that it appears Mr.
sisting of Reverends Bekkering, Bruinsma, and Van                        Vander Wal has finally met his match.
Baren.                                                                     The following "thoughts of contempiation" were
                                                                         reaped from South Holland bulletins:
  We remind our readers of something that was
written in the March 15 news column, namely, that                             "Just as unbelief discourages men, so that they sink
                                                                            down into inactivity, so faith inspires both body and
since February 15 our Southeast Church of Grand                             mind with vigor for the effectual discharge of their
Rapids has made each issue of the Standard Bearer                           duties." John Calvin
available on cassette tape. Those interested in
receiving these tapes on a regular basis should                               "When the law is written in the heart, it is.copied
                                                                            out in the life." Robert Trail1
contact Mr. Michael Engelsma, 2720 Madison
Blvd., S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507.                                    "The best and most efficient method of inculcating
                                                                            the performance of any duty is to be exemplary."
  It is much appreciated when those who send me                                                                       John Calvin
their church bulletins pass along additional bits of                                                                             C.K.,


