      The
STAAIDARD
BEARER .
      A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE



. ..A believer must always be a willing giver.
His gift must not be an extorted gift but a
willing offering. Yes, more deeply, the in-
clination of the heart must be watched to see
that there is not only a presentation of the
alms, but a priestly sharing of pity; to see
that there is not pride which condescends to
misery, but deep mercy which knows that
he is one with the poorest and most needy as
a fellow brother and sister in the Lord....
                                               Dr. A. Kuyper
     See "Translated Treasures" -page  31


                                    Volume LVIII, No. 2, October 15, 1981 -


26                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
                                    CONTENTS                                                                                 ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
      Meditation-                                                                                    Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
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         In God's Holy Temple. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26            Editor-in-Chief:   Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
      Editorial-                                                                          Department Editors: Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur  Bruinsma,  Rey. Arie
                                                                                          denHartog, Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma, Rev.  Rxhard
         The GKN on the Nature of the Authority                                           Flikkema, Rev. Cornelius  Hanko, Prof. Herman  Hando, Rev. John A. Heys, Mr.
                                                                                          Calvin Kalsbeek, Rev. Kenneth  Koole,  Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C.
             of Scripture (8). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29    Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema,
                                                                                          Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman.
      Translated Treasures-                                                               Editorial   Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATION

                                                In God's Holy Temple
                                                                             Rev. M. Schipper

                      "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints,
                  and of the household of God;                     1
                     And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being
                  the chief corner stone;
                      In whom all the building fitly framed togethergroweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
                      In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. "
                                                                                                                                       Ephesians 2:19-.X?

      The apostle is still directing his attention particu-                                 and foreigners in respect to the covenants of  pro-
larly to the Gentiles who were called the uncircum-                                         mise. They had been reckoned to be without
cision by them who were of the circumcision, Jews,                                          Christ, without hope, and without God in the
according to the flesh. Because they had been so                                            world.
called, they also had bee&  reckoned to be strangers


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 27



  But now this all has been changed. Though they           great altar of sacrifice.
are still Gentiles according to-the flesh, they have         The temple built by Solomon, which came later,
been brought nigh by the blood of Christ. Christ           was a more permanent structure, but it was also of
has broken down the wall of partition, and they            material substance. It was constructed of cedars of
have been reconciled to God through the blood of           Lebanon, and stones cut out of the quarry of the
the cross. Peace has been proclaimed to them who           north country by Hiram. A magnificent structure, it
once were afar off. They as well as the Jew have ac-       was overlaid with pure gold. This building was
cess to the Father in one Spirit, the Spirit of Pente-     destroyed when the children of Judah were taken
cost.                                                      into captivity to Babylon. It was rebuilt after their
  Therefore they are no more foreigners and                return by Zerubbabel, and again destroyed and re-
aliens, as they had been formerly categorized by           built under the direction of  Herod the Great. Its
the commonwealth of Israel, and as they undoubt-           final destruction took place in the razing of Jeru-
edly had judged themselves. But they are made to           salem, A.D. 70.
be fellowcitizens with the saints and of the house-          Peculiarly this temple began to pass away
hold of God. And that means that they have equal           forever with the rending of the veil at the time of
legal rights to dwell in God's house. It means also        Christ's crucifixion. From this time forward the
that they are constituted God's household, His             earthly, material sanctuary is replaced through the
family, with whom God is pleased to dwell. Such is         wonder of Pentecost by the spiritual house of God,
the implication, the logical conclusion to which the       which He builds in the hearts of His redeemed
apostle is drawn, according to the first part of the       people-now as He is pleased to gather them out of
text, and as is indicated in the word "therefore."         all nations, composed of both Jew and Gentile.
  Important it is also to observe how the apostle            Basically the temple is a covenant idea. This is
makes use of figures, and how he changes these             expressed in the text in terms of "the household of
figures. In the context (verse 15) he speaks in terms      God." Here the emphasis is not on the temple as
of one new man. The reference, of course, is not the       such, but on the fact that God has a family. The
new man of regeneration as such but to the forma-          fellowship, or, as it is expressed in the text, the fel-
tion of the church. That church, so he explains, is        lowcitizens with the saints, constitutes the house-
composed now of both Jew and Gentile, and with             hold or the members of God's family. God is the
emphasis particularly on the entirety, the whole-          Father, and the saints are His children.
ness of the church. Thus the church is become one
new man.                                                     God's family becomes the temple in which He
                                                           pleases to dwell. To be noticed here is the fact that
  But in our text the figure changes into that of a        the building is fitly framed together and grows.
building. In our text the apostle draws the lines of       While the text speaks of the temple in the figure of
God's building process. He speaks, first of all, of a      an earthly, material building (for it is fitly framed),
household, that is a family. He also sets that family      the temple nevertheless is not a physical building,
in a house built upon a solid foundation. And re-          as is evident from the fact that it grows into an holy
markably, according to verse 21, that building             temple. To be noticed, too, is the fact that it grows
grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And so we
also, as Gentiles, are incorporated, are become a          "in the Lord." The Lord is the very sphere in which
                                                           the temple grows. This must mean also that, apart
habitation of God in the Spirit.                           from Christ, there is no growth and therefore no
  Verily we are in God's holy temple!                      temple.
  When the text speaks of that holy temple, the              Now according to verse 22, this growing temple
reference, of course, is to a spiritual structure. This    becomes the habitation of God, that is, the dwelling
is the general reference to the temple in the New          place of God. The saints, therefore, constitute not
Testament. It is not to a physical, material building.     only God's family, but also the holy temple in
We remember that, through the Old Testament, the           which He pleases to dwell.
tabernacle (and later the temple) was such a physi-          Marvelous truth!
cal structure. The tabernacle designed at Sinai was
a portable sanctuary, set on wood frames, covered            Much richer than the mere fact that God is the
with animal skins, approximately forty-five feet           Creator, the Former of that people! To the latter
long, fifteen feet wide, and fifteen feet high; divi-      wonderful truth Isaiah gave expression in Isaiah
ded into three compartments: having an outer               43:21: "This people have I formed for myself, they
court, a holy place, and the holy of  holies; and          shall show forth my praise." Indeed, God is the
possessing specially designed furniture: candle-           Creator of this people, and as His creation they
stick, table of shew bread, altar of incense, ark of       shall show forth His praise.
the covenant, and,.of course, in the outer court the         But in the text the marvelous truth is expressed


28                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



that God dwells in that people.: Not only does He            movable foundation of which Christ is the chief
dwell with them or among them, but He dwells in              corner stone. The prophets pointed forward to
them. And this is, as we suggested earlier, a cove-          Him, and the apostles pointed backward to Him. In
nant idea. The covenant God dwells in His                    Christ the Word of God spoken by the prophets and
covenant people.                                             apostles meet.
      A fact it is now, but so it will be throughout all       Nor is it sufficient to say that God in Christ
eternity!                                                    builds His temple on the Scriptures. The Bible, as
      Make no mistake about it, what the apostle says        such, is not the foundation. Nor does God build His
in the text is reality now. As the church grows, not         church on the Bible, be it that the Bible contains the
only in numbers, being gathered out of all nations,          words of the apostles and prophets concerning
but also spiritually under the proper means of               Christ.
grace. God dwells in His people as literally as He             But the temple of God is built through the Word
dwelt in the holy of  holies. But when the church            of God spoken by the apostles and prophets of
has reached maturity, according to the, counsel of           which Christ is the heart and substance. And that
God, God shall dwell in them, all of them for ever.          means also that through the preaching of the Word
      So, while we dwell in God's holy temple, it is also    first spoken by the prophets and apostles, through
true that we are that temple in which God pleases            the lively preaching of the gospel concerning
to dwell.                                                    Christ, God forms and builds up His church.
                                                             Hence, it is the preaching of the gospel concerning
      Well founded temple!                                   Christ as the God of our salvation that is the sole,
      Indeed, God's holy temple has a firm foundation.       divine means through which the temple of God is
      It may be said in general that every building has      built, and the solid rock upon which the temple of
a foundation which supports the building, and                God rests. Against that church and temple of God,
upon which the building rests. And that foundation           resting on that foundation, the gates of hell shall
determines much respecting the building. The                 never prevail.
foundation determines its form and its size. A                 In connection with Christ the building process
building cannot be greater or smaller than its foun-         has been going on throughout the ages.
dation. Nor can one build a round structure on a               It began with Paradise lost, and the so-called
square foundation. The foundation also determines            mother promise of Genesis  3:15. Thus Adam, ac-
its weight. One cannot put a large and heavy build-          cording to the election of grace, fell into the arms of
ing on a weak or frail foundation, but he puts up a          Christ.
building which is commensurate  I with the
foundation.                                                    It continues in the pre-deluvian world, when
                                                             God establishes His covenant with Noah and his
      The all-wise God also builds His holy temple on a      family. Significantly then in the sign of the rainbow
foundation which is going to determine precisely             extending from one end of heaven to the other,
the temple He is constructing.                               even the entire creation of God becomes involved.
      That foundation, according to the text, is the         Always the Scriptures point to a new heavens and
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief          earth, wherein righteousness shall dwell, as being
corner stone.                                                the site of the temple of God when it is perfected.
      This must not be understood to mean that the             In the old dispensation the building process con-
temple of God is built upon man, not even the Man,           tinues in Abraham and Israel. First in Abraham and
Christ Jesus. When the Lord, for example, said to            later in Israel we see the typical realization of God
Peter (Matt.  16:16-18), "Thou art Peter; and upon           dwelling in His people in the tabernacle and the
this rock I will build my church; and the gates of           holy of holies. In them the promise of the gospel is
hell shall not prevail against it," He could not have        fulfilled: I will be your God and ye shall be My
meant that He would build His church on Peter.               people. Even in those days the prophets, standing
That may be the doctrine of Roman  yatholicism,              in the midst of the typical apparatus, sent forth the
but it is not the truth. The truth is that the rock on       word that God had something better and greater in
which Christ would build His church is/ the confes-          mind when He would realize His temple spread
sion which Peter, standing in the room of all the            over all nations.
disciples, made, the confession, namely, "Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God." So it is also in       And in the days of the incarnation, when the Son
the text. Not the apostles and prophets, not mere            of God unites Himself to our flesh, and literally
man, is the foundation, but the Word of God spo-             dwells in the midst of His people, He sends forth
ken by the prophets and apostles and written by in-          His apostles, endowed with His Spirit and the
fallible inspiration in the Scriptures. That is the im-      mighty Word of the gospel, the good news of salva-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   29



tion, that must go into all the world, calling and           offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by
forming that people in whom God pleases to dwell.           Jesus Christ." And he concludes with: "But ye are a
On the day of Pentecost the promise of the gospel is         chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy na-
fulfilled in principle, when the temple of God is            tion, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth
spread over all peoples-when God no longer                   the praises of Him Who hath called you out of dark-
dwells in a temple made with hands, but in His               ness into His marvelous light."
people gathered out of all nations. So the apostle             Indeed, by the mighty impetus of the gospel,
could say in truth to the church of Ephesus, and             preached in all nations, the temple of God is steadi-
through them to us, "In Whom ye also are builded             ly being erected. The saints, as living stones, are
together for an habitation of God through the                being fitted into an holy temple in the Lord. As the
Spirit. ' '                                                  stones of Hiram's quarry were cut out of the rock,
   That includes the church of Christ today.                 measured and fitted into Solomon's temple, so by
   In the sphere of the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ,        the preaching of the gospel and the power of the
and His working power, the preaching of the gospel           Spirit of Christ the saints are being formed and
forms the temple of God.                                     placed into the habitation of God.
   In that sphere you and I and our generations                Presently, when the last saint, according to the
stand. In us and our generations the growing pro-            election of grace, is called, saved, and fitted into the
cess will go on, until all the saints are gathered by        holy temple, then God will come and take up His
the pure preaching of the gospel.                            abode in us forever.
   The apostle Peter (I Peter 2) also envisioned that          Then God shall be glorified in His people, world
building process when he addressed the church                without end!
with these words: "Ye also as living stones, are               And we shall abide in His temple forever!
built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to             Amen!
EDITORIAL

                    The GKN on the Nature of the
                           Authority of Scripture (8)
                                                Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


   We are still busy, in this discussion, with the first     maintain the idea of what is called "organic inspira-
section of Chapter IV of the Report/Decision of the          tion." However, in the view of this writer, not only
Gereformeerde Kerken concerning the authority of             has this attempted distinction never been complete-
Scripture. Last time we began to show how this seg-          ly successful, but also the distinction has more
ment of the Report/Decision goes about eroding               often than not been used to go through Scripture
the Reformed doctrine of the inspiration and                 culling out and separating between those elements
authority of Scripture. The last item mentioned in           which are human and those elements which are di-
our previous editorial was the introduction by the           vine in the contents of Holy Scripture.
Report of the idea of a dual element and then dual             It is in the latter sense that the Report/Decision of
authorship (divine and human). This, we saw, is a            the GKN uses the distinction. Only, the Report at-
very old and commonly held position: the Bible is            tempts to refine this old error by means of its  so-
the product of dual authorship, divine and human.            called relational concept of truth, and thus to make
Now it is true, of course, that this idea has not al-        it more palatable-and, we may add, more decep-
ways been put forth with evil intentions. And it has         tive.
not been uncommon even among Reformed theolo-
gians to attempt to avoid the evident problem pre-             Let us follow the Report a little further, and see
sented by this view by speaking of the Primary Au-           how this is done.
thor (God the Holy Spirit) and the secondary                   First the Report tries to leave the impression of
authors (holy men moved by the Spirit). In this way          maintaining the divine authority of Scripture-al-
some have attempted, with every good motive, to              though even at this point its statements are, to say


30                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



the least, woefully weak:                                               But what do we find when the Report attempts to
         The Holy Scripture derives its authority however            illustrate its meaning? We find an example
       not from any human being. On the contrary, its                appealed to, in the first place, which as such has
       authority rests exclusively on the fact that it is God        nothing to do with the fact that the Bible was writ-
       Who speaks. Therefore, we confess that the Scripture          ten through the agency of men and which would
       is the Word of God. And yet it must immediately be            allegedly make it "so important to make certain
       added that although in making this confession we              which elements in the text could be partly deter-
       have said that which is most  important,  we have there-      mined by the time-bound background and the
       by not yet said enough. God spoke, but He gave His            character of the writers of the Bible." Instead, the
       Word through fallible people in a certain historical          example is taken from those laws for Israel which
       situation. The reliability of the Bible lies in this, that    were directly given by God through Moses. And
       in the Scripture written by people the infallible Word        what does the Report say? Notice:
       of God comes to us; that is the unlimited treasure of
       all that which we need for our praise of God and our                    If we for example find various laws in the Old
       salvation (cf. Belgic Confession, Article 2).                     Testament which seem to us to be inhuman (e.g.
      Notice that the Report never makes the unquali-                    Deut.  21:10-14), we are simply unable to reconcile
fied statement that Scripture is the Word of God-                        this with the Biblical testimony that God loves the
period. Always more must be added; and that                              people of this world; not, that is, unless we carefully
"more" always detracts from the truth that Scrip-                        note the time-and-place-relatedness of such stories
                                                                         and laws. Then it often appears that in comparison
ture is the Word of God.                                                 with the usages and laws of the world at that time the
      But there is in the Report/Decision a certain re-                  laws of the Bible were much more humane, and in
finement of the notion of a dual, divine and human,                      that way gave expression to the love of God. Whoever
element in Scripture. It is a refinement which, on                       places the Bible above and outside the historical world
the one hand, makes it more difficult to discern the                     of humankind could easily wrongly construe the in-
error of this view; but it is a refinement which                         tention of the Holy Spirit.
nevertheless does not succeed. Let me try to                           Here you have an illustration of the application
explain by way of illustration. The RFPA has pub-                    of "relational truth" to Scripture. Men place them-
lished a paperback entitled The Five Points of Calvi-                selves above Scripture in order to pass judgment on
nism.  Two chapters were written by Prof. Hanko,                     what is loving or not, and then in terms of what is
two by Rev. Van Baren, and one by me. Even if the                    "humane" or not. But how foolish! If we take the
names were not attached to the chapters, a reader                    argumentation of the Report at face value, it does
would readily be able to discern which segments                      not mean that the laws of the Bible were "much
are Hanko, which are Van  Baren, and which are                       more humane," but rather that the laws of the God
Hoeksema. But if the three of us somehow had                         of love were Zess inhumane and "in that way gave
managed to compose all five chapters together, it                    expression to the love of God." Here, therefore,
would become much more difficult to detect the                       you have an illustration of where this entire view
Hanko, the Van Baren, and the Hoeksema elements                      leads.
in those chapters. Now perhaps the illustration is
not completely appropriate; yet it will serve, I                       Nevertheless, somehow or other the distinction
think, to illustrate the idea of a divine-human mix-                 between the divine and the human word must
ture of elements which the Report proposes. This                     somehow be maintained. This problem the Report
becomes plain in the following paragraph:                            faces in the following paragraph:
         There is thus a close relation between the divine                 Although thus the human element in the Scripture
       and the human in the Scripture. One cannot sort these             cannot be separated from the divine, as if it would be
       two out. Whoever will not accept the humanness of                possible after a careful sifting to retain the "authen-
       the Scripture, overlooks the fact that the Spirit wants          tic" revelation, one can  to a certain extent make this
       to direct Himself to people in that particular way, in            distinction. If we say that the infallible Word of God is
       those forms, words and circumstances. Therefore it is            given to us in the Scripture, then we do not mean that
       so important to make certain which elements in the               where the human time-bound shines through, the
       text could be partly determined by the time-bound                Word of God cannot be found. On the contrary it
       background and the character of the writers of the                belongs to the task of exegesis to search out what God
       Bible. Key questions are: What were the historical cir-           wanted to reveal as His Word through these human
       cumstances of their time? What ideas did they share               words. Often, however, one can only discover this if
       with other people of the ancient world?                           one reads the text in connection with the entire Bible
                                                                        book, in fact, with the entire Scripture. The history of
      And yet the Report wants to convince people that                   exegesis has also taught us that it often depends upon
"the search for an answer to such questions....                         the time and circumstances in which the expositor
should not be seen as an attack upon the divine                          lives whether this offers a deeper understanding of
truth."                                                                  the text.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   31



  Now notice, first of all, that the  ReportTthough                  getes have to search out what He wanted to reveal!
in bland language-contradicts itself. First it said                  In the third place, notice the ramifications of the
that we "cannot sort these two out." Now it says                     relational notion of the truth: it even depends on
that "one can to a certain extent make this distinc-                 the time and circumstances of the expositor
tion." In the second place, notice how the Report                    whether his searching out of what God wanted to
really contradicts the truth of the perspicuity                      reveal offers a deeper understanding of the text!
(clarity) of Scripture. The Word of God must be                        Small wonder, then, that the Report goes on to
"found." It belongs to the task of exegesis "to                      reject the classic Reformed view of infallibility and
search out what God wanted to reveal as His Word                     accuses the Belgic Confession of teaching mechani-
through these human words." Poor God! He was                         cal inspiration!
not able to express Himself clearly! Human exe-

TRANSLATED TREASURES

                          A Pamphlet Concerning the
                           Reformation of the Church
                                                           Dr. A. Kuyper


(As Kuyper is discussing the deterioration of the church, he dis-    of her life. Just as a drying up and shriveling up of
cusses how this deterioration or deformation takes place in          the blossom and fruit is not yet proof that the tree
various aspects of the church's life. He has spoken of this de-      has died in its root, yet blossom and fruit seldom
terioration in the confession of the church, in the walk of the      are missing if the life and the root are not ill. There-
church, in the administration of the means of grace, and in the      fore we do well to pay closer attention to this, and
work of the office bearers. He continues to discuss this deteri-
oration in the following paragraphs.)                                that in a threefold way. In the first place, as far as
                                                                     the  diaconal office of all believers is concerned, be-
45. Concerning Deformation In the Works Of Love                      lievers must see to it that the impulse to offer their
     And Mercy.                                                      gold and silver works with sufficient  ,zeal in the
   In the church of Christ, love for the miserable                   members of the church of Christ. A believer must
among the brethren and mercy toward the miser-                       always be a willing giver. His gift must not be an ex-
able among outsiders wells up of itself and irresis-                 torted gift but a willing offering. Yes, more deeply,
tibly as water bubbles up from grooves and fissures                  the inclination of the heart must be watched to see
which a fountain finds in the rock. There is thus in                 that there is not only a presentation of the alms, but
that church an interfering cause present which sup-                  a priestly sharing of pity; to see that there is not
presses the natural expression of her life if covet-                 pride which condescends to misery, but deep mer-
ousness, the root of all evil, dries up this fountain of             cy which knows that he is one with the poorest and
love and mercy, and the miserable who cry to God                     most needy as a fellow brother and sister in the
are sent away empty by the church of Christ. This                    Lord; also that there is not a Phariseeistic show of
is an enormous guilt before the Lord, before Him                     liberality, but a giving of alms in secret because the
Who in the judgment of the great day shall measure                   Father Who sees in secret shall reward such people
the love of His bride for Him, the Bridegroom,                       openly. In the second place, it must be investigated
according to the warmness or coldness with which                     whether the church, not only in her members,
they feed the hungry and clothe the naked. He                        through the office of all believers, but also in her
must turn in anger against the church which even                     central office of love, namely, through the office of
pushes Him out of the sanctuary to set up again the                  deacons, maintains her calling; and indeed espe-
idol of mammon, and no "light of His friendly                        cially if the deacons feel their calling to develop the
countenance" can shine in His church if coldly cal-                  art of giving in the church of God; or if they realize,
culated selfishness and covetousness take the place                  according to the high significance of their office,
of mercy in His holy house. We do great wrong to                     that they must walk in the footsteps of Christ in the
be silent concerning the deformation of the church                   feeding of the hungry and in the healing of the sick;
with respect to this horrible abuse. Indeed, it must                 and finally whether they, far from being satisfied to
be conceded that this deformation does not touch                     distribute the money which comes in with coldness
the essence of the church, but rather the expression                 and lack of mercy, on the contrary, set their hearts


3 2                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



on it and do not rest until they have helped all                   bowing and turning; and, accordingly, also in the
whom God has made needy and done this through                      prayers, the sacraments, burials, and whatever
the love of God which the Holy Spirit has shed                     more there may be, to strive for sober, meaningful
abroad in the church. And in the third place, fi-                  symbolism which is an expression of the holy peace
nally, they must carefully see to it that the church               of God. In these external matters an extreme exalta-
of God, in connection with this work of love and                   tion of sobriety is no more to be permitted than an
compassion, does not operate on the basis of feeling               extreme appeal to the senses. There is also a dif-
but always seeks her stability in God's Word; does                 ference of environment and nationality. What is
not limit her task to extending alms to the beggars,               sober for an Italian would be colorful and excessive
but also seeks the miserable whose need cries out                  among us. Firm rules do not exist in this area and
to God in secret; and above all, to see whether, ac-               therefore deformation is more difficult to
cording as the waters of need increase, they know                  recognize. Yet no one ought to think that therefore
how to reveal the measure of their love also as                    no deformation can creep into the worship service.
church by bearing the need of those who are sick                   The sad example of the rituals in our English sister
and infirm, forsaken and maimed. And thus in the                   church proves, alas, the opposite. A large part of
name of the Lord Jesus they must show mercy to                     that church is ruined exactly by the unpruned and
those who are deaf or blind, idiots or insane, crip-               wild outgrowth of her worship. And although the
pled or leprous, or those who are visited with any                 evil does not arise to such a height in this country
other suffering. And if one notices now, alas, that                as in Great Britain, yet the church in our own land
this powerful work of love and mercy languishes;                   inclines to deformation in worship when the lack of
that the art of giving is no more understood; that                 spiritual sound in the singing leaves the church to
the church prefers to leave her task of honor to                   draw from the organ pipes through ,artificial  play-
others; and that the miserable and needy turn away                 ing that which no longer wells up from the soul of
their face from the church of Christ knowing that                  the believer. People seek to make up for the lack of
there is no ear there for their complaint; then the                spirituality of prayer by bodily bowing, and fur-
consequence must and will follow from this wither-                 ther, by incessant standing up and then sitting
ing of the truth of love that such a church becomes                down again, by all kinds of antiphonies or choir
diseased also in her root. "In as much as ye did it                singing or choral singing, or also by solemn attire
not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me,"            and putting up of crowns and whatever more, the
is her threatening judgment.                                       attempt to display in external ways what is lacking
46. Concerning Deformation Of the Worship                          in the heart of the matter. It is noteworthy that in
        Service.                                                   our own churches the worship service remained
                                                                   pure and sober as long as the "My Lord and my
       "The hour  cometh, and now is, when the true                God!" came from the heart; but it became embel-
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and                 lished and decorated with all kinds of innovations
in truth," the Lord our King said. If this is to                   when the  Groningersl denied the divinity of the
happen, then, as a result, the sacred form used in                 Lord and the congregation was addressed by the
our worship must appear in visible form only as far                formalities and lifelessness of the practical Arian.2
as is necessary to make worship in the Spirit per-
ceptible to the congregation of saints. It is for this             47. Concerning Deformation in Church Govern
reason that our fathers made strict demands to be                      ment .
sober in the style and ornamentation of our church                   Deformation in church government can originate
building; preferably to avoid completely organ                     from this that the church rulers are unspiritual,
playing, but, if it is permitted, never to use it for              bureaucratic, formal members, lacking in all the
more than accompaniment; to abandon all artificial                 gifts of  the. Spirit for the government of Jesus'
singing in order to permit the singing of the congre-              church. Then they leave right unavenged even
gation to be the quiet expression of the soul before               though heresy or lawlessness pervert it, and finally
God; quietly sitting, only relieved by the men                     are inclined themselves to misuse their power as
standing during prayer; to prevent all movement in                 judges by calling just what is unjust and by
                                                                   harming the innocent. In the meantime this is not
`This is the reference to a certain movement in The State          yet deformation of church government as such.
Church which originated in the province of Groningen which         This deformation is first present when the exercise
among other things, denied the divinity of the Lord.               of church government itself deviates from what it
2 The word Arian is a heresy which derives from the  name          ought to be according to the Word of God. There
Arius, a heretic in the first part of the fourth century of the    can be a church with an excellent exercise of
Christian church. Arius also denied the divinity of Christ and     government, but which, when controlled by bad
his heresy was condemned by the Synod of Nicea in 325 which        personnel, works badly. But, vice versa, there can
synod drew up the well-known confession of  Nicea.                 also be a very bad exercise of government which


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 33



even though controlled by excellent persons, can             the house, and plays games with  the, future of the
never work well. This is like the engine room in a           church. This is not surprising because every defor-
steamship. The nicest ship may have the most  ex-            mation in church government directly concerns the
cellent engine, but it will still run aground if the en-     question whether in the church of Christ all power
gineer is either ignorant or inattentive or drunk.           shall remain in King Jesus and His Word; and
But, on the other hand, a bad ship with useless en-          further, whether in the church of Christ in which
gines, even though a most excellent engineer is put          all are brothers a certain mastery of brother over
in her, cannot possibly be sailed. It is like this with      brother shall be set up. Revolution through insur-
the government of the church. You do not save                rection against the King, or clericalism through
your church by good government if the Spirit of              wielding of lordship over the brethren is the double
God has left it. But if your church government is            form of illness which affects the life of the church
bad, you cannot keep your church from ruin even              through the deformation of its government. "One is
though you put in all positions of church govern-            your master, and ye all are brothers!" is the living
ment people who are strictly upright. Also this de-          Word which alone brings healing to this sickness. It
formation ought to be very sharply noted because             concerns the ancient struggle between the holy
he who harms justice paralyzes the best power,               ordinances of God and the false ordinances of man.
wrenches loose the braces and the cross beams of

FROM HOLY WRIT


                       The So-called Proof-texts of
                                   Postmillennialism
                                                  Rev., G. Lubbers



     THE CHURCH EVER HATED OF ALL                              There are those among the Postmillennial
                   THE NATIONS                               writers, who teach that there will come a time
                   CHAPTER IX                                when there shall be virtually no evil nations. Al-
                                                             though they will not go so far as to aver that "the
  That the church of Christ, His holy Bride, shall           nations" as nations will be Christianized altogether,
ever be hated of all the nations, particularly as the        still they most avidly preach from the housetops
nations are inspired with the wine of the fornica-           that under the power of the preaching of the Gospel
tion of the false church, the Great Harlot, is the           all "nations" will be so influenced by the power of
clear and indisputable teaching of the Word of God,          the Spirit in the preaching, that they will all come to
the Bible.                                                   Zion. In a word: they will all be "Christianized."
  Such is the clear testimony of Jesus on the mount          That will be the "golden age" as spoken of in the
of Olives to His disciples, as well as in all the Scrip-     Prophecy of Isaiah where we read, "And it shall
tures.                                                       come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of
  On this point too, we, as the faithful church of           the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of
Christ, must not be deceived; we must know our               the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills;
times in the light of the more sure Word of prophe-          and al nations  shall flow to it" (Isaiah 22). Now we
cy (Matt.  24:4; I John  4:l). Hence, we will attempt        have pointed out in earlier Chapters that there can
in this Chapter to show from the Scriptures that             be no Kingdom of heaven except where the church
ever there are "the nations," who hate the church            is, and that the kingdom of heaven and the church
with a cruel hatred, and that the time will not come         of God are coextensive; that keys of the kingdom of
when for a season this hatred is partially removed           heaven are given to the church, to wit, the preach-
or abated. We must indeed lift up our heads, gird            ing of the Gospel and the exercise of Christian dis-
up our loins spiritually, and be sober unto prayer           cipline. By these the kingdom of heaven is opened
with a holy watchfulness. Such is ever the call of           to believers and shut against all unbelievers
the hour!                                                    (Matt. 16:19; 18:18).
  Take heed that no man deceive you!                           It is true that there is ever a certain regard among


34                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



the nations for orderly external deportment; yes,             the compass of His prophetic word here. However,
there are the glimmerings of natural light whereby            Jesus is answering a far broader question here. He
fallen man and the nations retain some knowledge              is here speaking of the "sign of His coming" (the
of God, and the differences. between good and                 final glorious PAROUSIA, when He shall come
evil... but this natural light is such that man is inca-      with clouds) and of the  "fulLend  of all time," the
pable of using it  aright even in things natural and          final harvest day of all of history (Matt.  24:26-41).
civil, and, in so doing, becomes inexcusable before           Confer Matthew  13:39. How could Jesus simply
God (Rom. 1: 18-23). God looked down from heaven              have the history here in mind of the years A.D. 33-
upon the sons of men and found that there was                 70? Exegetically, this is simply not true. We are not
none that doeth any good, that there is no fear of            dealing here with a mere prediction of future
God before their eyes. And such are the nations of            events within the life-span of the disciples, but we
the world, who hate the church for Christ's sake!             are dealing here most emphatically with the great
These nations are not changed into virtuous                   Word of prophecy, as spoken especially by God
peoples by the preaching. The testimony of the                through Daniel. Here the word, the more sure word
preaching is such that it hardens their resistance            of prophecy, shines unto the night of the darkness
against Christ and the faithful church under the in-          of this world, and we see in the future the power
spiration of the forces of Satan and the entire               and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in His revela-
demonic world (Eph. 2:2; John 12:31).                         tion, when, in His very appearance, we shall see
      Such is the clear testimony of Scripture!               the sign of the Coming of the Son of Man (Dan.
                                                               12:1-4; Matt. 24:15; I Peter 1:13; II Peter 1:19).
      Particularly this is the clear teaching of Jesus to
His disciples on the mount of Olives in Matthew                  3. Furthermore, we should take notice of the
24:9, where we read, "Then shall they deliver you             fact that Jesus speaks here very really and most suc-
up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be       cinctly of a hatred which is long-lasting, which
hated                                                         spans the entire New Testament Dispensation,
         of aZZ nations for My Name's sake. "                 even to the very end of the world. In all the Synop-
      Concerning this passage from the lips of Jesus we       tic Gospels the words of Jesus are recorded iden-
ought to notice the following particulars:                    tically. The form of the verb is the passive present
      1. That Jesus says that this being delivered up to      participle with the future of the verb "to be." The
the authorities, with the accompanying "affliction"           verb is very truly and expressively translated by
will be "then." We may not overlook the fact that             Lenski: "Ye  shaZZ go on  beitig hated  by all nations
this word "then" does not refer to a calendar date,           because of My Name" (Matt. 24:9; Mark 13:13 and
a specific incident in a certain time, but that con-          Luke 21: 17). * It is well to read carefully what Jesus
textually this "then" refers to the entire period re-         says, employing these very words in Matthew
ferred to in the verses 5 to 8. It is a long history,          lo:22 in which He predicts what will befall the dis-
very long; it is the warlike history of the nations,          ciples. From these very words of Jesus it is quite
where nation shall rise up against nation, and king-          evident that He is referring to some durative action,
dom shall war with kingdom. It refers to the rest-            and also Zinear action. It is the unbroken line in the
less life of the nations, who know not the way of             future. It is the order of the day, as Jesus says in
peace, because there is no fear of God before their           John  16:33, "In the world ye shall have tribula-
eyes. And these restless nations really have but one          tions."
real enemy; they hate the Church of God in their                 4. It is quite evident from the Greek, too, that
very midst because of the great and blessed NAME              this will be a hatred by the direct agency of the na-
of JESUS, the very Son of God in the flesh. It is in          tions. The preposition "hupo" is the direct agent
that history, in that time-period, that we see that           whereas "dia" is the intermediate agency. The
gradually the birthpangs and sorrows of the world             saints in the earth will be hated  directZy  by the na-
increase under the wrath of God from heaven. And              tions, constantly, duratively, without cessation to
it is "then" that the church will be cordially hated          the very end. These nations aYe hate/2 nations; they
in the same measure that she preached, and that               hate Christ because they hate God, and they hate
she lives the life of Christ, and is the light of the         the church because they hate Christ. That is Jesus'
world, and is as a city upon a hilltop.                       interpretation of this hatred, as the One Who
      2. And it ought to be clear that this period of         knows and tries the reins and hearts of men (John
which Jesus speaks, and which is recorded in                   15:18, 19). This world, these nations cannot love
Matthew  24:5-8, cannot find its termination in the           the church, because they hate God and His Christ.
destruction of the earthly Jerusalem by the Roman             But God has them in derision; He laughs at them
legions in the year A.D. 70. Postmillennialists  insist       with a holy laughter in His serene and glorious ma-
that such is the teaching and intent of Matthew               jesty. But have no doubt or fear! The gospel of the
24:4-14.  Truly Jesus includes also this period within        Kingdom will be proclaimed in all the inhabitable


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 35



world, in this very world of the nations. And it is a      causes the very demons to cry out in fear. When He
testimony to them. Postmillennialists make light of        cast out the "legion" of demons from a very
this truth and really think that this "testimony" is       wretched man in the land of the Gadarenes, under
not sufficient. It must be a positive power to save        the influence of these "demons" the victim cries
the "Nations," to Christianize them. They label            out, "What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son
such "testimony" as belittling Christ to a potential       of the most high God. I adjure Thee by God that
Victor, rather than to an actual Victor, Who goes          Thou torment me not" (Mark  5:7). Are these
conquering and to conquer. Only where the                  demons saved by the power of Jesus' word? Not at
"nations" are "Christianized" do we have an                all! These are destroyed in their evil work, and
"Eschatology of Victory" it is claimed. However,           assigned to their place of torment, awaiting the
when Christ triumphs in the hearts of the unbe-            great day when they shall be cast alive into the lake
lievers who hate Him, hate God and hate His                of fire and brimstone (James 2: 19; Rev.  20:10, 15).
church, by convicting them as He did the evil men          And when finally God calls the birds to His great
in the days of Enoch and Noah, convicting them of          supper, these will then feast on the flesh of kings,
sin, righteousness, and judgment, then that is             and flesh of captains, and flesh of the mighty men
placing them under the power of His glittering             (Rev. 19:17-21).
sword of the Word. He leads them behind His vic-             Such are they who treasure up to themselves
tory chariot, triumphing over all His foes (I Cor.         wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of
2:14; II Cor.  10:4, 5). It is the victory which an-       the righteous judgment of God, Who will render to
nounces in calm majesty, "And he that believeth            every man according to his work (Rom. 2: l-6).
(obeyeth) not the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abideth on him" (John  3:36). This is           Yes, the "nations" will hate the church to the
the victory which proclaims, "Do not think that I          very end!
will accuse you to the Father: there is-one that ac-         Let no man deceive you with vain words!
cused you, even Moses in whom ye trust" (John              *In his  Word Pictures  A.T. Robertson says the
5:45). Thus we see here the prelude of the great vic-      following concerning the verb form in the Greek,
tory of the Son of God over the nations. Yes, they         translated "shall be hated"; "Periphrastic future
are hated continually; all the day long in every           passive to emphasize the continuous process of the
generation; they did this directly by all the power        linear action." In his The Greek NeS Testament In
and riches and learning which they can muster, but         The Light  Of  Historical Research,  A.T. Robertson
the Lord Jesus, the glorified King of kings shall de-      writes concerning the Periphrastic Future: "the
stroy them, consume them with the breath of His            very failure to express the durative action clearly
mouth, and shall destroy them with the brightness          leads to the present participle with (the form of) "I
of His coming!                                             shall be," He refers to Matt.  10:22;  24:9, Mark
  So Christ very really triumphs over every foe. He        13:13.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                                   Letter to Timothy

                                     October 15, 1981
Dear Timothy,                                                A minister can do his work in the Church of
  Hebrews  13:17 is a very interesting and instruc-        Christ with grief. That is entirely possible, and it
tive passage of Scripture in connection with the           happens all the time.
subject we are presently discussing. In my last let-         It is interesting to notice that the minister still
ter we talked about various aspects of the instruc-        does his work-even though it is with grief. This is,
tion of Scripture in this passage, particularly the ad-    of course, not always the case. It happens many
monition to obey our pastors and yield to them. It is      times that the work of the ministry becomes too
the last part of the text ("that they may do it with       much of a burden for a man to bear. He simply
joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable to       cannot go on and the result is that he leaves the
you") that still needs to be discussed.                    ministry for a secular vocation. This is a great trage-


36                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



dy. Sometimes, of course, the fault lies with the           own person is attacked; and he becomes angry be-
minister himself. He went into the ministry with            cause of the personal element which he has intro-
some wrong notions about what an easy life  .he             duced into the matter. But a serious and dedicated
would have. Or, perhaps he did not realize that the         minister of the gospel nevertheless shrugs these
work of the ministry is filled with sorrow and dis-         personal matters off insofar as that is possible. His
appointment, with trouble and opposition, with              grief is really due to the fact that there are those in
difficult problems and heavy responsibilities. And          the congregation who jeopardize their own souls by
when he discovers that this is the case, he becomes         refusing to obey and submit to the Word of Christ.
discouraged and downhearted and finds that he is            The minister comes not with his own word; he is
unable to continue in the work. Sometimes even he           the spokesman of Christ. What he says, Christ is
brings many of his problems and troubles upon               speaking through him. And the congregation is not
himself by foolish conduct and by unfaithfulness in         asked to bow before him, to accept his word, to
the work. But this is not always the case. There are        yield to what he says; the congregation stands obli-
other times when the congregation itself makes his          gated to bow before and receive with humility the
life in the ministry almost unbearable. There are           Word of Christ. When there are those in the congre-
those in the congregation who are constantly oppo-          gation who will not do this, the grief of a minister is
sing all that the minister does: sometimes by overt         exactly because Christ is mocked and slandered
opposition, but more often by innuendo, subtle re-          and Christ's Word ignored. By doing this, the
marks which bring into question the minister's in-          people put their own souls in jeopardy.
tegrity, sincerity, dedication, orthodoxy, etc. There
is overt or covert undermining of a minister's work           But when a minister labors with grief, this is un-
and there is effort put forth to influence others in        profitable for the congregation. It is significant that
the congregation to -resist what the minister does.         the Scriptures should put the matter this way. We
This kind of activity manifests itself in gossip            would almost expect the text to say that when a
within the congregation about the minister and his          minister labors with grief, that is unprofitable for
preaching and labors. It manifests itself in efforts to     him.  But the text stresses that this is unprofitable
get others to question the minister's sermons. It be-       for the  congregation.  The congregation brings suffer-
comes evident in the attitude which some take               ing and trouble upon itself; it cuts its own throat, so
towards the preaching on the Lord's Day when                to speak, when it causes grief to the minister. It
they sit in Church, or when they talk with the              brings harm to its own congregational life.
minister, for they show a certain attitude of dis-            How can this be?
respect. But if this continues long enough, the               When a minister of the Word performs his work
result is that a minister can be driven to despair. He      with grief, it inevitably affects that work.
can be driven right out of the ministry under the
burden of opposition.                                         The opposite is suggested here in the text. A
                             I                              minister can also perform his labors with joy. There
      Nevertheless, all other things being equal, usual-    is joy in his work when the congregation submits to
ly a minister continues his work even when he does          the instruction of the Word of God. You can readily
it with grief. He is called by God to the work and he       understand this. The congregation comes together
endures in the work even when it becomes very               in eagerness on the Lord's Day to hear the Word of
difficult. And this passage in Hebrews presupposes          God proclaimed. The needs and work of the mini-
that.                                                       ster are constantly in the hearts and prayers of
      When ministers do their work with grief this is       God's people. When that Word is preached on the
because there are those in the congregation who             Lord's Day, the congregation readily and eagerly
will not submit to the Word of Christ which he              receives that Word as from Christ Himself. When
brings. It is not surprising that this should be so. A      instruction is given in the truth of Scripture, the
minister labors out of love for the sheep over which        congregation listens attentively, searches the Scrip-
the Lord has placed him. He finds his joy in the            tures whether these things be so, and rejoices in the
ready acceptance of the Word of Christ by the               knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. When
.people of God entrusted to his care. It is a grief to      the minister brings the warnings and admonitions
him when the opposite is true.                              of the Scriptures to the congregation, the people of
                                                            God humble themselves under the Word of Christ,
      There is no question about it that ministers also     repent of their sins, turn from their ways of evil,
are-human and burdened with the same weak-                  flee to the cross for forgiveness and pardon, and
nesses and sins which afflict us all. And because           look to Christ for the spiritual strength they need to
there is always sin, there is always the tendency on        walk as God's people in the midst of the world.
the part of a minister to take the criticism and op-
position which come to him, in a personal way. He             When these things happen in a congregation, the
feels personally slighted; his pride is lacerated; his      minister does his work with joy and gladness. He


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                37



sees the fruit of his preaching in the congregation          ness and love, growth and blessing there is a spirit
and rejoices in his work. And the result is that he          of coldness and formality, of joylessness and dis-
labors more diligently, works with joy and eager-            unity, of internal bickering and scrapping which
ness, looks forward to the Lord's Day, bends every           robs the congregation of the communion of the
effort to make his sermons and his labors yet more           saints. As this vicious cycle continues, the situation
fruitful. There is growth in him and in his preach-          gets worse and worse until the congregation loses
ing, progress and development, spiritual advance-            its identity as the Church of Christ.
ment.                                                          And so, by this, the congregation jeopardizes its
  In an atmosphere such as this the Spirit works             own salvation. And it puts in jeopardy the salvation
mightily. The Spirit of Christ Who brings the Word           of the children of the congregation who are born
of Christ preached to the hearts and consciousness           and grow up in such an atmosphere.
of the congregation brings also the great and mighty           The Word of God is very powerful in this
blessings of salvation. There is peace and unity, joy        passage. It summons you and me, in our respective
and blessedness, spiritual growth, a love for God            congregations, to self-examination. The issues are
and for one another, a bearing of one another's bur-         very serious and the consequences devastating.
dens, a spirit of encouragement of one another and           The welfare of the Church of Christ and the salva-
of helping one another in the difficult pathway of           tion of our souls is at stake. Let us then hear this
life. It is not difficult to see that all this is for the    Word of God, repent of our sins, and learn to sub-
spiritual profit of the congregation.                        mit to those whom Christ has given to be our in-
  The opposite happens when there is no determi-             structors and pastors in the Lord.
nation to obey and yield on the part of the congre-                                          Fraternally in Christ,
gation. There is instead a spirit of criticism and dis-                                      H. Hanko
paragement of the preaching. Under such circum-
stances as this, the minister labors with the greatest
difficulty. He wonders whether his sermon will be
received or whether it will be once again subjected
to the intense scrutiny of critical minds. He won-
ders whether there will be any reaction to his
preaching at all, or whether the congregation will
remain cold and unmoved. He wonders whether it
is worthwhile to make a sermon because no one
seems to listen except to find fault. The joy goes out
of his work. He dreads Sabbath. He dreads climb-
ing the pulpit to speak to the people. He cannot and
does not do his best work for he is caught in a web
of criticism which stifles his enthusiasm and kills
his excitement in his calling. How can he, under
these circumstances, do his best work?
  And so also the congregation suffers. There is a
kind of vicious circle. The preaching becomes less
and less enthusiastic, and the reactions of the con-
gregation grow more and more critical or the con-
gregation increasingly doesn't care any more about
what is happening in the pulpit. And so, doctrinal
preaching becomes a bore because it is proclaimed
in a flat, monotonous, dry, and boring way; and the
truth is lost. Admonitions are ignored as people set
themselves against anyone who dares to presume
to criticize their pet sins and point out to them
where they need repentance and conversion.
  But, worst of all, the Spirit is grieved. And when
the Spirit is grieved, then the whole work of the
preaching suffers. The Spirit withdraws Himself
from the congregation so that His presence is there
less and less. And when the Spirit withdraws Him-
self, instead of a spirit of joy and happiness, eager-


  38
          -                                           WE  STANDARD  BEARER


                         q-HEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL

                                           .  .  .     OF  THE..  .

                           P R O T E S T A N T   R E F O R M E D   C H U R C H E S
                                    4949  IVANREST  AVENUE, S.W.
                                     GRANDVILLE, MICHIGAN 49418
                                          PHONE:  (616) 531-1490
                                          October 15, 1981
Dear People of God and Fellow Saints:
        It has been some time since we have written to you via the pages of our
Standard Bearer; and now, with a new school year well under way, we thought it
best to give you some news about activities on "Seminary Hill."
        With one exception, all of our students of last year are back.                          This in-
cludes seven in the Seminary Program and four in the Pre-Seminary Program. Of
the seminary students, four will be finishing their work, the Lord willing, this
coming June.      One of these is our brother from Singapore, Lau Chin Kwee, who
will return to Singapore next summer to take up his labors in Christ's vineyard
there.     The other three are Thomas Miersma, Jon Smith, and Deane Wassink.                          Our
pre-seminary students are in their last year of pre-sem, and will graduate,
therefore, this coming spring, in order to take up their seminary work, D-V., a
year from now.
        All of this ought to impress on the minds of our people the abiding need of
new students.     We have no new students this year; and there are at present no
students in the first three.years  of the pre-sem program.                            It may seem that there
is no pressing need for students either, but we remind you that the words of the
Lord Jesus remain always true:          "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the
labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send
forth labourers into his harvest."               (Matthew 9:37,38)
        Most of you know by this time that the Synod of 1981 granted Prof. Hoeksema
a partial sabbatical.     The fact that it is "partial" means that Prof. Hoeksema is
still in Seminary several times during the week.                       He teaches his course in Hebrew
Grammar and participates in the weekly practice preaching sessions.                            While this
enables him to remain a part of Seminary life, it also frees him to do some of
the writing he has long wanted to do.                   His first major project is an update and
rewriting of the history of our Protestant Reformed Churches.
        Speaking of practice preaching , we have begun something new this year.                         Many
of you know that Wednesday mornings we regularly had chapel exercises.                             In the
past the professors led these chapels.                   This semester the students are in charge
of chapel; but chapel is combined with practice preaching, so that the students
deliver their assigned sermons.           In this way we have our regular devotions but
also give to the practice preaching sessions a somewhat less mechanical and
somewhat more devotional atmosphere.                   So far this experiment has worked out well.
        Because we have no new students this year, the regular loads of Profs. Decker
and Hanko were somewhat lighter.           This enabled them to take the subjects which
Prof. Hoeksema was scheduled to teach.                   This semester Prof. Decker is teaching
Medieval Philosophy, and Prof. Hanko is teaching Dogmatics III.
        We also take this opportunity to thank all of you who have contributed so
generously to our Library Fund.          Because of this generosity, we have been able
to continue buying books for our ever expanding library.                        We may also report
that our student librarians have almost completed the work of switching our
library from the Dewey Decimal cataloguing  system to the better and more common-
ly used Library of Congress system--a great improvement. We remind you, too,
that our library is open for use to all our people.                      Even those from out of
town may borrow by mail.       We ask only for prompt return of borrowed books.
        Our space is about filled.       We bid you all farewell, coveting your
prayers and wishing you all the Lord's richest blessing.
                                                        Fraternally in Christ,
                                                                             The Faculty


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          39



ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren



                                              Who is Jesus?

  The United Presbyterian Church faced, this past                  who call themselves Concerned United Presbyterians.
summer, a question concerning the deity of Jesus.                  The debate which ensued, in the opinion of many ob-
One of their ministers refused to say that Christ is               servers, said more about the church's answer to the
God. After heated debate, the UPCUSA adopted a                     question than the subsequent final vote.
resolution which seems to be very orthodox and                       Mr. Rose's amendment would have added three
Scriptural-but when some would insert important                    words to the positional statement:  sinless, atoning
and clarifying words to this resolution, the Assem-                and  bodily-so  that the line would have read,
bly turned that down. The whole action indicates                   "...through the birth,  sinless  life,  atoning  death and
the apostasy within the churches today. The Presby-                bodily  resurrection...  ."
terian JournaZ, June 10, 1981,  reports on the General               Said Mr. Rose, "These truths are mandated by
Assembly:                                                          Scripture and appropriate to our confessional posi-
                                                                   tion."
     One question above all others tantalized commis-
   sioners to both the General Assembly of the United             So then, why reject the amendment? Some of the
   Presbyterian Church (UPCUSA) and that of the Pres-          explanations are extremely disturbing:
   byterian Church US (PCUS), meeting concurrently (at                . . . "These words can produce divisions among us,"
   Houston): Would the United Presbyterians defuse a               said (Rev. William P. Showalter, chairman).
   potentially explosive situation by agreeing to say that            "I urge you to respect the inspiration of God's Holy
   a declaration of the full deity of Jesus Christ is re-          Spirit as He led us to omit these words from the state-
   quired of officers in the church?                               ment," he added.
     The issue developed out of the contest over the Rev.             . . . "There is a silent majority in our churches who
   Mansfield M. Kaseman-a minister who refused to                  do not want specific theories. These persons do not
   say that Christ is God....                                      believe they are saved by words, but by the life, death
     And one of the church's honored historians, the               and resurrection of Christ. Let's not use doctrine in
   Rev. John H. Gerstner, had flatly declared that if the          such a way as to exclude people."
   Assembly did not take a firm position on the matter,               His statement was greeted by applause.
   the church could legitimately be declared apostate.                The Rev. Lance L.M. Brown of Purcellville, Va.,
     At the appointed hour, the commissioners were                 said: "Our unity proceeds from Christ and not from
   tense and the press tables packed. After brief but in-          words or phrases. The proposed language presents
   tense debate, the court adopted, with only two dis-             just one of a variety of images through which we may
   senting votes, a pastoral statement which said to Uni-          affirm what we believe about Christ. He is the Bread
   ted Presbyterians:                                              of life. Some of us like whole wheat, some like rye,
      "We believe that God came to redeem this world of            some like pumpernickle. But all are nourished by
   lost children, and to open the way to eternal life,             bread."
   through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus           A senior at Princeton Seminary wound up the de-
   of Nazareth...one with us in our common humanity                bate: "We have been called to struggle with our faith.
   (and) one with God as the incarnation of the second             If we accept these words, I will be told what to believe
   person of the Trinity. Therefore, we confess that Jesus         and no longer will be permitted to struggle with my
   is one person, truly God and truly human...."                   faith."
  One would think that the statement was very                         The vote was about four to one against saying that
orthodox and would firmly establish the Reformed                   Christ's life was sinless, His death atoning and His
character of the Presbyterian Church. However, at                  resurrection bodily.
the same meeting, one minister tried to add three
words to the statement by way of amendment. But                   What does one say of a church which refuses to
the three words were rejected.                                  add these significant words? Can a faithful church
      When the issue came to the floor, the Rev. M. Dud-        truly regard such words as divisive? Though one
    ley Rose of North Sewickley, Pa., offered an amend-         might argue that the words did not alter the state-
    ment in behalf of a group of mostly younger ministers       ment on Christ's  deity,  refusing to add the words


40                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



indicates the sad spiritual state of the church. What                views. In this case, all are ready to concede that
godly saint would question the truth involved in                     Christ lived-but are not ready to say that His life
the addition of the words? All this shows up again                   was sinless. All would concede that He died-but
the subtilty of heresy. Confessions can be adopted                   not that this death atoned. All would agree that He
that sound very Reformed and Scriptural-but                          arose-but not necessarily bodily. Beware the  cle-
omission of key words can allow for wide variety of                  verness of heresy!



                                "The Bible and TV Guide"

      The Presbyterian Journal, June 3, 1981, contains a
thought-provoking poem with the above title:                                  So they open the book in which they confide
                                                                              [No, not the Bible, it's the TV Guide].
             They lie on the table, side by side:                             The Word of God is seldom read
             The Holy Bible and the TV Guide.                                 Maybe a verse e'er they fall into bed.
             One is well-worn but cherished with pride                        Exhausted and sleepy and tired as can be,
             (Not the Bible, but the TV Guide).                               Not from reading the Bible: from watching TV.
             One is used daily to help folks decide,                          So, then back to the table, side by side,
             [No! Not the Bible: it's the TV Guide).                          Lie the Holy Bible, and the TV Guide.
             As pages are turned, what shall they see?                        No time for prayer, no time for the Word,
             Oh, what does it matter, turn on the,TV.                         The plan of salvation is seldom heard.
             Then confusion reigns, they can't all agree                      But forgiveness of sin so full and free
             On what they shall watch on the old TV.                          Is found in the Bible, not on TV!



                              Should Jews Be Evangelized

      The  Christian  News, June 8, 1981, makes refer-               present a substitute resolution. He did not want to
ence to a decision by the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio                  betray the          "central Christian message of
that the Jew is not to be the object of evangeliza-                  salvation." But when the substitute was presented
tion:                                                                (it deplored anti-Semitism, yet without compromis-
         The Episcopal Diocese of Ohio has officially gone           ing the Scriptural truth that one is saved only
       on record in enacting a policy of refusing to tell Jews       through Jesus Christ), it was soundly defeated.
       that Jesus Christ said that "No man cometh unto the           What a terrible thing, to ignore the salvation of the
       Father but by Me" (John  14:6).  The official resolution      Jews under the guise of not being "anti-Semitic." It
       condemning Christian efforts to bring Jews to a saving        seems that it might be fine to be a Christian-provi-
       knowledge of Christ was passed by an approximately            ded one does not impose these views on others, and
       two-thirds majority at the 1981 diocesan convention           especially on Jews. But Jesus commanded His
       in early February.                                            church, "Go ye to all the world and preach the
      The report points out that one clergyman came to               gospel. . . ."
the author of the above proposal and asked to


           Kromminga On An Alternate Seminary

      In the Calvin  Spark,  September 1981, Dr. J.H.                       "...This  movement has been initiated and promoted
Kromminga of Calvin Seminary, presents in an                             by eight ministers of the Christian Reformed Church,
open letter his reactions to the new proposed inde-                      beginning in January of this year. It has progressed to
pendent seminary in Northwest Iowa. He writes:                           the point where money has been given or pledged, a


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              41



   building has been purchased, and there is talk of be-             for more seminary presence in Northwest Iowa. A
   ginning classes in September, 1981, with P.Y. De Jong             group of ministers and elders in that area have indi-
   and Henry Vander Kam as professors.                               cated their readiness to discuss this matter with Cal-
     Motivation for this venture is a mixture of legiti-             vin. One of the possibilities to be discussed is that of a
   mate desires for a theological education more respon-             Calvin Seminary satellite operation in that area....
   sive to rural needs, dissatisfaction with trends in the          Kromminga's open letter indicates a growing
   Christian Reformed Church, and ill-founded innuen-             concern over the new seminary movement-seen
   dos regarding Calvin Seminary.                                 especially in the suggestion that there might be es-
     We at Calvin Seminary reject the negative implica-           tablished a "satellite operation" of Calvin Seminary
   tions of this movement, both as to the seminary itself         in N.W. Iowa. We'll await further developments
   and as to the Christian Reformed Church. We are pre-           and try to report these.
   sently seeking ways to respond positively to the desire

IN HIS FEAR


                   "Children, Obey Your Parents"
                                                         Rev. Carl Haak



  Obedience to our parents is an indication of our                brother and sister in the Lord and to serve them.
obedience to God. The Apostle John writes these                   The love of God in a child, whether he is a child of
simple but soul-searching words in I John  4:10, "If              two or of twenty, causes him to submit to his
a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is              parents in godly obedience.
a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he                  The subject of obedience to parents and of obe-
hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not                   dience to all in positions of God-given authority
seen?" We could say with equal force, "If a man                   was dear to the heart of Jesus Christ. The title of
say, I love God and hateth his father or mother                   this article is put in quotation marks because these
whom he hath seen, how can he obey God Whom                       words are the words of Christ. The Apostle Paul in
he hath not seen?"                                                Ephesians  6:l wrote the words, "Children obey
  The commandments of Christ are not hard to un-                  your parents in the Lord." Not only was Paul
derstand. "A new commandment I give unto you,                     inspired by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, but he was
that ye love one another" (John 13:34-j.  All our rela-           also repeating what Jesus Christ Himself said. We
tionships one with another in the home, school,                   all remember well Christ's words to the Pharisees
and church, toward parents, teachers, and brothers                in Matthew  22:21 concerning our obedience to all
and sisters in Christ, must be governed by love.                  in positions of authority: "Render therefore unto
Love one another in the love of God! (Not with the                Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and unto God
false love of the world. True love is a particular and            the things that are God's. " Not as well known is the
an exclusive gift. It is "out of God." It comes only              Lord's condemnation of the Pharisees in Matthew
from Him and is given only to those who are born                  15 where He exposed their disobedience to their
of God by His sovereign grace. Only such people                   parents. "For God commanded saying, Honor thy
can love-see I John 4:7-8.)                                       father and mother; and, he that  curseth his father
  And the love of God which we must show to one                   or mother let him die the death" (Matthew  15:4).
another reveals itself in one basic way: submission               The Pharisees raised their traditions and teaching
to one another. We read in Ephesians  521, "Sub-                  above the Word of God. The Pharisees taught that a
mitting yourselves one to another in the fear of                  son may abuse his parents with disrespect, argue
God." Love is a servant. To love is to deny yourself              with them, and even curse them, providing he
and serve the person closest to you. Did not Jesus                brought a gift to the temple. If he did this he would
teach, us this when He washed His disciples' feet?                be free from condemnation.
"If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed                       But this disobedience went still farther. The com-
your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.              mandment of God told them that they were to
For I have given you an example, that ye should do                honor their parents not only by respecting them,
as I have done to you" (John 13:14, 15). The love of              but also by caring for them when they became old.
God in a man causes him to submit himself to his                  This, also, the Pharisees, under a cloak of religious


     42                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



     piety, would not do. As Jesus put it, "But ye say,        the home. What kind of man is an ungodly man in
     whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, it is    whom the spirit of Anti-Christ reigns? What kind of
     a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by        man is part of the whole process of the increase in
     me; and honour not his father or his mother, he           iniquity? It is the man who continues in disobedi-
     shall be free" (Matthew  15:5, 6). In other words,        ence to his parents.
     they were piously (or devilishly) saying to their           But more, the Bible plainly teaches that, shortly
     parents, "Ah, I have dedicated all my money to the        before our Lord's return, the church will witness a
     Lord, therefore I cannot look after you, Father and       breakdown in the home and in the family. The
     Mother. Of course I would help you, but I have            Devil knows his business. God's institution of the
     dedicated all my money to the temple and there is         home is the cornerstone of the church and the
     none left for you." The Pharisees disobeyed their         school and the whole of society. Deliberately the
     parents by showing open disrespect and by                 Devil works his hardest and directs his most severe
     refusing to care for their needs, and they taught         assaults against the home. And make no mistake
     men to do so with the excuse of religious dedi-           about it, the Devil works against our homes! Re-
     cation. The Lord called them hypocrites (verse 7):        member the revelation given to John in Revelation
     people who draw near to God with their mouths,            12? John saw that the beast was cast out of heaven
     but their hearts were far from Him (verse 8). A           and that the beast knows that he has but a short
     disciple of Christ is one who in the love of God          time. He is filled with the fury of a wounded ani-
     submits himself to his parents for Christ's sake.         mal; no, with the fury of most bitter hatred against
           That we should attend to the teaching of Jesus      God and Christ. He knows deep down in his black
                                                               heart that he is defeated, and so he goes forth to
     Christ concerning the relationships within our
     homes and specifically concerning our relationship        persecute the woman with utterly reckless aban-
                                                               don. "And the Dragon was wroth with the woman,
I    to our parents is urgent for us today. Anyone with
     an ounce of spiritual discernment would agree that        and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,
I    this is a tremendously important and timely sub-          which keep the  commandm,ent  of God and have
                                                               the testimony of Jesus Christ." This means that the
     ject. We are living in a world where there is an          Devil especially aims at the children of the church,
     alarming breakdown in respect and obedience. The
     fermentation of lawlessness works actively in the         at the children of believing parents. All of the
     whole of society. And this is most evident in the         abounding lawlessness in the world, all of the
                                                               countless evil influences in the world are numerous
     home, in the relationship between parents and             traps which the Devil sets in order to ensnare the
     children. Although it is not my intention to leap         children of believers. The breakdown of the institu-
     over the fence into the next rubric, "Signs of the        tion of the family and the prevailing attitudes of dis-
     Times," nevertheless, how can it escape our con-          respect toward parents are the Devil's attempts to
     sciousness that disobedience to parents is one of
     the preeminent signs of the times? Our Lord told us       poison the children of Jesus Christ, and that means
                                                               our children! As long as a family is faithful to Jesus
     that there will be in the last days a breakdown in        Christ and lives as His bride in chaste observance
     authority. A subdivision of that breakdown, in fact
     its source and foundation, Jesus told us, is disre-       of His commandments, the dragon will pursue that
     spect to parents. Certainly a careful reader of the       Christian family. And specifically the Devil will
                                                               with fiendish fury pursue and seduce the children
     Scriptures cannot overlook that. The Apostle Paul         of that family.
     in both Romans 1 and II Timothy 3 describes the
     kinds of men who will abound in the last days, men          Men of Israel, Awake! The enemy attacks you
     from whom we must turn away, men who are ugly             and your home! Grow not weary, take to yourself
     and vile in God's sight. He says that these men shall     the shield of faith wherewith you are able to
     be "disobedient to parents" (Romans 1:30, II Timo-        quench all the fiery darts of the Devil. Young
     thy 3:2). Not only that, but disobedience to parents      people and children in whom dwells the spirit of
     is mentioned in the very same breath with such            Jesus Christ, remain steadfast! Stand immovable in
     sins as murder, fornication, haters of God, and           the love of God by honoring your father and
     homosexuality. Disobedience to  .parents is one of        mother.
     the characteristics of a man whom God has "given            There is yet another reason why the will of Jesus
     over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which        concerning obedience to parents is important and
     are not convenient" (Romans  1:28).  Disobedience         needs to be taught and heard. The reason is that we
     to parents is not a light thing, not an indifferent       are of the flesh (flesh as it is used in Romans 7). We
     matter, not something to pass over, but it is a basic     are depraved sinners by nature. Although regener-
     sign that the cup of iniquity is reaching its brim.       ated by God's grace through the Spirit, we need
     The abounding disrespect seen in every sphere of          daily to battle the weakness of our flesh. May we
     society owes its origin to disrespect of parents in       never grow weary of hearing that! We are in the


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                43



flesh as children, as young men and women, as             only strength and the only comfort for a family is to
teachers and preachers, and as parents. The mar-          abide in His will. When we are filled with the
riage form in the back of our Psalter, although criti-    Spirit, and when we are aware of the Devil and our
cized for its sober beginning, is good and proper.        sin, we do not look at the title of this article with
"Whereas married persons are generally, by reason         the thought, "Here it comes again, the same old
of sin, subject to many infirmities...." This is not      story"; but we say, "The only hope and comfort for
only true of the closest human tie given by God,          me is to know the will of the Lord for my home,"
which is marriage, but this is true of the tie be-        and we pray, "Lord, teach me to do Thy will." The
tween parents and their children. Our homes and           way of disobedience is the way which leads to un-
schools are, by reason of sin, subject to many infir-     told sorrow and death. Heeding the word of Christ
mities. You know that the trends found in the             for our homes is the only way of contentment, joy,
world are not just "out there," but are "in here";        and life.
that is, they are in you and in me. Human parents            Why? Our obedience to our earthly parents is the
are weak and they fail in their calling, as any spiri-    way of joy and life because through obedience we
tual father and mother knows only too well.               show our love for our Heavenly Father. All of
Children, in whom dwells the Spirit of Christ, are        God's people are children, adopted children in the
likewise aware of their sin and know the heart-           blood of Christ. God is our Father. "I believe in
rending sorrow of offending my God by offending           God, the Father" which means that I believe the
their parents. The troubles and problems of the           eternal God is my Father. He is the perfect Father,
home sometimes become so deep and twisted that            deeply concerned about His children, wise and
from the human standpoint we would almost say             loving, able and willing to work all things for.their
there is no hope. Oh, the grief of a parent whose         good. As our Father, He gives to us one calling in
child goes astray! That is a grief known only by a        life, "Obey Me! Place all your trust in Me alone,
parent. Even if a parent has the faith of David,          and in love submit to My will which is good for
when he sees his child walk in ways of sin, then he       you." The child of God is called to show that love
too, as David, is bowed down in tears. Oh the grief       towards his Heavenly Father by honoring his
of a child who grows up in disobedience and inevi-        human father. The child who by grace loves his hu-
tably ends up living with the swine as did the prodi-     man father and obeys him, is also the child who by
gal son.                                                  grace knows and honors his Heavenly Father.
  There is no defense against such problems; there           In the next few articles, the Lord willing, I would
is no help for a family other than the words of Jesus     like to look at this more closely with you in the light
Christ. We look at the teaching of Jesus Christ con-      of Ephesians 6:1-4. May the Spirit guide us and
cerning the home and the calling of the Lord to           open our hearts.
obey our parents as life in the midst of death. The

SIGNS OF THE TIMES


              Our Children: God's Gracious Gift
                                                Rev. R. Flikkema


  There are many evidences of the fact that the            every child of God. It is the evidence of our attitude
days in which we live are the last days. There is the      towards our children.
reality of wars and rumors of wars; there is unrest
in the world around us; there is famine and pesti-           We live today in a period of time and history the
lence; there is hatred of the world for the Church        likes of which man has never seen before, as far as
manifest in the persecution of God's people, and          man's attitude toward children is concerned. In
there is the hatred of wicked men within the              years gone by man has never had a correct and
Church manifest in the denial of the truth of the          Scriptural attitude toward children, to be sure. His
Word of God. This article, however, does not have         attitude toward children has always been this, that
to do with any of those evidences, but with an            children are the result of some mere natural biolog-
evidence which is very dear to the heart of this          ical process in the life of a married couple. Never
author, and which must be dear to the heart of            has man acknowledged the fact that children come


44                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



from God. The Bible is everywhere clear on that             that married couple are all dashed! They can not
point. Children are a gift from God, and apart from         realize their dreams for a new house, new furni-
God there are not, nor could there ever be children.        ture, and a new car because they have to take care
But in the period of time and history in which we           of their children.
find ourselves today, man's attitude toward                   So what is the answer to the whole burdensome
children has changed. It has altered somewhat. No,          state of affairs? The answer is planned parenthood.
man has not changed his attitude in the sense that          The answer is birth control. The answer is the pre-
man today now finally has acknowledged the fact             venting in one way or another, in one shape or
that children come from God. Not in the least. In-          form, that mere natural biological process whereby
deed the very opposite is true. Man still today in          children come! Man today, with all his modern
horrible unbelief has no place for God in his think-        technology, has developed all kinds of ways and
ing, and certainly no place for God in his attitude         techniques to prevent the birth of children. These
towards children. But when I say that man's atti-           ways and techniques are utilized by the world
tude towards children has changed, that it has al-          today. And even the most horrible technique of all,
tered somewhat, that it is different from anything          the technique of abortion, the murder of children,
that the world has seen in the past, I mean that            even that is utilized. I do not have the percentages
from this point of view, namely, that man today             of children that are murdered every day by the
hates and despises children.                                technique of abortion. But I do not have to, to know
      There can simply be no question about that. For       that the figure is simply staggering! And then, to top
years man has always understood that children do            it all off, man today has set aside a special day for
materialize in the life of husbands and wives; and          the commemoration of parents who refuse to have
the word of man has always been that such is the            children. Man calls it "Non-Parents Day." I be-
way it is. And husbands and wives are called upon           came aware of this "Non-Parents Day" about a
to love children, if not with a love that is rooted in a    month ago as I was listening to my car radio on my
love for God, at least with a love that is rooted in        way to visit a young mother of my congregation
the flesh. But today man has removed from  his,             who had just given birth to a child. The announcer
thinking even the idea that husbands and wives              informed me that that particular day was set aside
must love children with a love that is rooted in the        to commemorate those couples who did not have
flesh. The word of man today is that children are a         children. Not because they could not, but because
burden. They are troublesome and burdensome to              they  would  not. And they would not because they
have around. They are a burden first of all from the        understood that if they did, their children would be
point of view of the society in which we live. The          a burden to society!
word of man today is that the world is overpopula-            But the question is: are they a burden to us?
ted. The world is filled to overflowing with people,        What is our attitude toward children? How do we
so much so that it can neither feed nor house the           view our children? Do we view our children as
people in the world already, let alone the children         nothing more than the result of a mere natural bio-
that might be brought forth in time to come. And,           logical process? Or do we view our children to be
in the second place, children, so the word of man           what they are, a gift, a gracious gift from God-a
is, are a burden for married couples. Married cou-          gift of which we are not worthy in the least, but a
ples, if they have children, must supply the needs          gift of God's unmerited grace to us His people? The
of children. But to do so takes time-time which             Bible speaks of our children as being such a gift.
could be used in the seeking of the world's                 Read for example Psalm 127. Hear the words of the
pleasures and treasures. And money! Yes, money.             Psalmist as he says, "Lo, children are an heritage of
The needs of children require money. Children               the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."
need food. That costs money. Children need                  Look up the words of stanza three of Psalter
clothes. That costs money. Children need this and           number 359 and sing them as they ought to be sung
children need that, and it all costs money. Money           with joy and gladness in your heart: "Lo, children
that could be spent with a view to the realization of       are a great reward, a gift from God in very truth;
a married couple's dreams and plans. When a                 with arrows is his quiver stored, who joys in
couple gets married, they have many dreams and              children of his youth." Listen to the testimony of
plans. They dream of getting a new house. They              Jacob in Genesis  33:5 who, when asked by Esau,
dream of purchasing nice furniture for the house.           "Who are those with thee?" responded with these
They dream of owning a nice car. They dream of              beautiful words, "The children which God hath
having a sizable bank account, so that they will not        graciously given." And having done all of that, con-
have to worry where the money is going to come              sider our Lord Jesus Christ Who in His earthly
from to pay for their home, furniture, and car. But         ministry had all kinds of love and compassion for
if that couple has children, the dreams and plans of        the little children of His kingdom. So much so that


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 45



He took them up in His arms, laid His hands upon            Church and in our covenant schools. That too costs
them, and blessed them (Mark 10).                           us something. It costs our time, of which we seem
  Is that our attitude toward children? Do we con-          so often to have so little. It costs money to send our
fess that they are a gracious gift from God, and            children to our own schools. And if you take all of
therefore, that they are not a burden? Or do we             that into consideration, the sigh so often escapes
also, even as the world does, consider our children,        from our lips, not what a wonderful gift  .of God's
God's gracious gift, to be a burden? If we are at all       grace it is just to be given children, let alone the joy
honest with ourselves we will have to admit that,           of using money and time which we so often call
much to our shame, we do. The attitude of the               ours, but which are in reality God's, for the care
world in so many instances has a way of rubbing             and nurture of our children; the sigh so often es-
off on us. Sometimes we too, for very selfish rea-          capes from our lips: Oh, what a burden children
sons, use the techniques of the world to prevent the        are. They take my time. They take so much money.
gracious gift of God's children. We do so because           They are all a burden!
we very selfishly want the very same things that              But they are not. How can they be? As I said, the
this world wants. We too want a nice house, nice            Bible so clearly points out to us that children are a
furniture, a nice car, and all the rest. So, in order to    gracious gift from God. That is God's Word. It does
get them, we do...no, I will not say what we do; I          not lie. They are a gracious gift from God. And how
will leave that to your own imagination. But even if        in the world can something that is a gracious gift
we do not do what I leave to your own imagination,          from God ever be a burden! That is simply impos-
and we have children, so often we consider them to          sible. Hence, let us be aware of this sign of the
be a burden. They cost us money. They need so               times. Let us not be a part of it, but rather in our
very much of the things of this earthly life. They          awareness shun it and condemn it and repent of it
need food and clothes, and all the rest. And that           when it becomes manifest in our lives. And in so
costs money! And too, they need the most precious           doing let us give God thanks for His gracious gift of
thing of all, instruction in God's Word in the              our children.

QUESTION BOX


                           Public Confession of Sin
                                                   Rev. C. Hanko


  The following question was sent in:                          the church was despised, shall take place
   "We had a discussion in our family about                     (upon sufficient evidence of repentance) in
   sinning against the seventh commandment.                    such a manner as the consistory shall deem
   The question was asked, where did it origi-                 conducive to the edification of each church.
   nate that you must confess your sins before                 Whether in particular cases this shall take
   the congregation. Is it not sufficient to do                place in public, shall, when there is differ-
   this before the consistory, assuming that the               ence of opinion about it in the consistory, be
   person or persons are sincere? Could you                    considered with the advice of two neighbor-
   cast some light on the subject?"                            ing churches or of the classis."
  This question obviously refers to the public an-            Distinction is made in this article between pri-
nouncement from the pulpit that a certain person            vate and public sins. Sins which are private must be
or certain persons have confessed their sin against         treated according to Matthew 18, and when a
the seventh commandment and that this confession            reconciliation is attained the matter is dropped.
has been accepted by the consistory.                        There are sins which are public, that is, commonly
                                                            known, either because of the very nature of the sin,
  This public announcement is based on article 75           or because the sinner continues in his or her sinful
of our Church Order which reads,                            way and refuses to repent. The sin against the
   "The reconciliation of all such sins as are of           seventh commandment obviously belongs to sins
   their nature of a public character, or have              that by their very nature are known or become
   become public because the admonition of                  known.


46                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



      The synod of  Emden,  1571, decided that public       members of the church as one who has received
sins must be publicly reconciled, not according to          mercy, even as we all must daily receive mercy in
the judgment of one or two persons, but according           pardon. In certain instances the guilty party stood
to the consensus of the entire consistory. The              up in the congregation and confessed his sin and re-
synod of Middelburg, 1581, added the requirement,           pentance before the whole congregation. In some
"When there is clear evidence of sorrow and repen-          instances the guilty party was barred from com-
tance". Our Church Order in its present form is             munion for a time to prove the sincerity of his re-
essentially the same as was adopted by the synod of         pentance. In most instances the confession is made
Dordt in 1618-19.                                           and accepted by the consistory, and a public an-
      Our fathers realized that sin is a serious matter.    nouncement is made from the pulpit in the worship
Sin is an  offence to God and also an  offence to           service. Upon sincere repentance there is joy in
God's Church, as well as grievous wrong commit-             heaven, and there is also joy among the saints.
ted by the guilty party or parties. To mention one            Monsma and Van  Dellen write in "The Revised
concrete example from the Scriptures, when Achan            Church Order Commentary" (following the sugges-
stole from Jericho the things which God had ac-             tions of Joh. Jansen of the Netherlands in his com-
cursed, he caused all Israel to sin. We read in             mentary), the following (page 3 10):
Joshua 7: 1, "But the chiZdren of Israe committed a            "This article does not specify when the
trespass in the accursed thing, for Achan . . . took of        reconciliation shall be before the consistory
the accursed thing: and the anger of the Lord was              and when before the Church also. Instances
kindled against  the children of Israel." (See  also           and examples are not given either. Every
verses 11-13, 15, 26.) Joshua and all Israel stoned            case must be judged in its own setting and
Achan with stones, along with his family and his               upon its own merits or demerits. In general,
possessions, and burned them all with fire. Thus               consistories should be guided by considera-
was sin taken away from Israel. Today we often                 tions as these: Which form of reconciliation
lose sight of our communal responsibility as mem-              (public or private) will glorify God most?
bers of the same congregation and denomination,                Which is best for the Church? Which form
the household of faith. When one member of the                 is best for the repentant sinner? Consistories
family sins the whole family becomes involved, not             should not give needless publicity to sins
only as individual families, but also as the family of         committed through confessions or reconcil-
God. Therefore the sinner is guilty, but the church            iations before the whole Church in public
is offended, even as God is offended. God demands              meeting. Neither should the consistory per-
reconciliation, but so does His church. The offence            mit the name of a repentant sinner to be dis-
must be removed, lest we all carry the guilt. This is          honored before men, if this can be avoided.
the basis for article 75 of the Church Order, which            On the other hand, offensive sins greatly
requires that "the reconciliation of all such                  dishonoring God's name and the Church of
sins...shall  take place in such a manner as the con-          Christ should be confessed openly and per-
sistory shall deem conducive to the edification of             sonally, so that all may see and know that
each church." It is well to add, that this applies to          repentance has taken place and so that the
ALL public sins, and not only to the sin against the           offence is removed the more effectively. A
seventh commandment as if this particular sin                  public reconciliation is very often the best
were the worst of all sins.                                    also for the sinner concerned. It tends to
      Various practices have prevailed in the past. The        remove barriers which otherwise may
determining question has always been, just how                 linger."
public is this sin? A consistory must not make
public a sin that is not even known among the
members. The sinner must not be made a public
spectacle because of a certain  offence. Therefore a         The Standard Bearer
certain public sin may not be known in a large con-
gregation, but will certainly be known in a smaller
congregation. For that very reason our fathers left it         makes an excellent
to the discretion of the entire consistory as to how
this  offence must be removed in the congregation                          gift for the
and reconciliation attained. Those who are aware
of a certain sin in the congregation, or will in due
time become aware of it must be assured that this                 sick and shut-in.
sin has been confessed and put away, so that the
sinner is forgiven of God and is embraced by the


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                     47



                                                     Book Review

THE TRAINING OF THE TWELVE,  by A.B.                                      containing "the lessons and patterns in ageless
Bruce; Kregel Publications, 1979; 552 pp., $6.95                          management principles employed by our Lord with
(Kivar). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                                     His disciples" and as a book which becomes a
     First published in 1871, this important work of                      "challenge to those who seek greater depth and
Bruce has been reprinted by Kregel's and has gone                         stability in the Christian church today", it is much
through a number of printings in the last decade.                         more than this. While not a very "Reformed"
Although it is a brief "history" of the material in                       book, it contains a great deal of interesting material
the gospel narratives, it concentrates upon the                           and is worth reading especially by those who are
twelve apostles and the work Jesus did in preparing                       making the gospel narratives their particular area of
them for their future labors. Although hailed as                          study.


               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    The members of the Ladies Aid of the Hudsonville Protestant
Reformed Church wish to express their sympathy to their President,
Rev. G. Van  Baren, and their fellow member, Mrs. Van  Baren in the                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
loss of her father, MR. JOHN BUITER.                                           The Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society of the Southeast Protestant
    May the God of grace so comfort them that they may experience         Reformed Church expresses its' sincere sympathy with Mr. William
in their present sorrow the peace that passeth all understanding.         Faber and his family in the death of their wife, mother and grand-
                                                                          mother, ANNE L. FABER.
                                     Mrs. George Hoekstra, Secretary
                                                                               "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
                                                                          dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
                            NOTICE!!!                                     eternal in the heavens." (II Corinthians  5:l)
                 ADMINISTRATOR NEEDED                                                                                       Gerald J.  DeVries, Pres.
                                                                                                                              Mary  DeVries, Sec'y.
    Covenant Christian High School will be in need of an Administrator
beginning with the 1982-I 983 school term. Applicants should
contact the Chairman of the Education Committee by December 1,                                   ANNOUNCEMENT
1 9 8 1 .
                                                                               Seminarian Thomas Miersma has been licensed by the Faculty to
                                        Mr. David Ondersma                speak a word of edification in our Protestant Reformed Churches
                                        6761 Brookwood Drive, S.W.        under faculty supervision.
                                        Grandville.  Michiaan 49418
                                        (616) 457-l  411                                                                    H.C. Hoeksema, Rector


                                                    You Are Invited!!!
                                                                     to the
                                     Annual Reformation Day Lecture
                                        To be held, the Lord willing, at
                                 The Dimnent Chapel of Hope College
                                                  in Holland, Michigan.
                             The Speaker - Rev. Rodney G. Miersma
             The Theme - The Reformation: A Declaration of Freedom.
                                          October 29, 1981 l 8:00 P.M.
                                                    Plan now to attend-
                                                 and bring your friends.
                                                                                     The Lecture Committee


      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                       SECOND CLASS
          P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                    POSTAGE PAID AT
                                                                                         GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





48                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



                                Report of Classis West

                                   September 14, 1981       sions of the major assemblies on this matter, ac-
      Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed              cording to Article 46 of the Church Order.
Churches met in Hull, Iowa from September 2,                  Most of the time of Classis  was taken up with de-
through noon on September 4. Ten ministers and              liberation of the protests of two brothers against
twelve elders represented  .the churches in  Classis        their Consistory and against the preaching of their
West. Rev. G. Lubbers, present during some of the           pastor. The Church Visitors of  Classis  West had
sessions, was given advisory vote. Rev. M. Kamps            been called in to help in the controversy and re-
led in opening devotions. He read Ephesians 1 and           ported to Classis  concerning their visit. The heart of
addressed  Classis  on verse 13:  "...in Whom also          the controversy was the objection of the protestants
after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that            to the stand of the Consistory that there are de-
Holy Spirit of promise." Rev. K. Koole, pastor of           mands and obligations in the covenant. The protes-
the Randolph, Wisconsin congregation, presided              tants denied that there are demands and obligations
over this meeting of  Classis-a.first  for him. Elder       in the covenant.  Classis  turned down the protests,
M. Van Baren of South Holland was the only elder            upholding the Consistory and the preaching of the
delegate attending Classis  for the first time.             pastor.  Classis  decided "that there are demands
      Classis  heard the reports of several committees.     and obligations in the covenant which also must be
The Reading SermonCommittee  requests that each             preached in the congregation," adducing as proof,
minister in Classis  West make one reading sermon           PS.  78:4, 5; Luke  13:1-5; Rom. 12:  1,2; II Cor.  7:l;
a year. The Taped Sermon Committee asks that the            Eph.  4:22-24; Eph. 5:8-11; II Thess.  3:6;  Heid. Cat.,
Consistories in the West send tapes of their mini-          Q. 9;  Heid Cat., Q. 86;  Heid. Cat. Q. 114, 115;
ster's sermons to the Library, so that there is varie-      Canons, III, IV, 17; Bel. Conf., Art. 24; besides the
ty of preachers.                                            Baptism Form, Article 21 of the Church Order, and
      Loveland had an overture at  Classis concerning       some Reformed theologians.
the manner in which Church Visitation is done in              In executive session, Classis  advised two Consis-
the West. Loveland proposed that "One year it be            tories to proceed with the erasure of a baptized
conducted by personal presence of the church visi-          member and to proceed with the second step of
tors as is presently done" and that "The next year          censure with three confessing members, as the
the church visitors send a letter to each consistory,       Consistories `had requested.
requesting that the local consistory address itself to        The following schedule of classical appointments
the prescribed questions and inform the church              was adopted for Isabel, SD and Redlands, CA.
visitors per letter if their answers are satisfactory or    Isabel: Nov.  8,15,22  - Lanting: Dec.  6,13,20  -  Kor-
if there is any area of neglect or need for counsel. If     tering; Jan.  10,17,24  - Cammenga; Feb.  7,14,21  -
a consistory desires a personal visit by the church         Slopsema.  Redlands:  Sept.  13,20,27  - Koole; Oct.
visitors, they can make this request of them and            11,18,25   - Bekkering; Nov.  8,15,22  - Moore; Dec.
they will arrange such a visit." The grounds for this       6,13,20  - Kamps; Jan.  10,17,24  - Engelsma; Feb. 7,
proposal were: "a. Spiritual supervision can still be       14,21 - Kuiper.
exercised according to the spirit of Article 44" and
"b. It will cut the cost of church visiting which in          Classis  will meet next in Randolph, Wisconsin on
Classis  West has escalated to over  $3,000.00  a           March 3, 1982, the Lord willing.
year." The overture was turned back to Loveland,                               Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
so that Loveland might investigate previous deci-                              Classis  West


