     STANDARD
          BEARER
           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                       \



     . ..The sum and substance of this letter is: to
     pull down, to pluck up, and to destroy all
     wisdom and righteousness of the flesh..., no
     matter how heartilvL .and sincerely they may
                                                         A.        L

     be  practised, and to implant, establish
                                               ;                        , and
     make large the reality of sin.... For Goddoes
     not want to save us by our own but by an ex-
     traneous righteousness which does not origi-
     nate in ourselves but comes to us from
     beyond ourselves, which does not arise on
     our earth but comes from heaven.

                      Martin Luther (from a lecture on Romans)



.                                         Volume  LVIII, No. 3, November 1, 1981  -


50                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                       -THE STANDARD  BEARER
                                   CONTENTS                                                                                     ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                       Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                        Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                             Secon dClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
      Meditation-                                                                           Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
         Righteous in Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50          Department Editors:  Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, Rev. Arie
                                                                                             denHartog, Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma, Rev. Richard
      Editorial-                                                                             Flikkema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman  Hando, Rev. John A. Heys, Mr.
                                                                                             Calvin Kalsbeek, Rev. Kenneth  Koole,  Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C.
                                                                                             Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema,
         The GKN on the Nature of the                                                        Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman.
            Authority of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53               Editorial  Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                              4975  Ivanrest Ave. S.W.
      The Lord Gave the Word-                                                                                 Grandville, Michigan 49418
                                                                                             Church News Editor:  Mr. Calvin Kalsbeek
         The Bible Conference in Birmingham . . . . . . . . . .55                                                  1313 Wilson Ave. S.W.
                                                                                                                   Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504
      The Stength of Youth-                                                                  Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                           , articles. Contributions of general interest from our readers and questions for the
         Seeking a Wife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57      Question-Box Department are welcome. Contributions will be limited to  ap-
                                                                                             p?oximately 300 words and must be neatly written or typewritten, and must be
      Day of Shadows-                                                                        slgned. Copy deadlines are the first and the fifteenth of the month. All com-
                                                                                             munications relative to the contents should be sent to the editorial office.
         A Necessary Distress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59             Reprint Policy:  Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of articles in our
                                                                                             magazine by other publications, provided: a) that such reprinted articles are
      Taking Heed to Doctrine-                                                               reproduced in full;  b) that proper acknowledgement is made;  c) that a copy of the
                                                                                             periodical in which such reprint appears is sent to our  editorial office.
         The Vile Sin of Homosexuality (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . .61                       Business  Office:  The Standard Bearer
      Guest Article-                                                                                          Mr. H.  Vander Wal, Bus. Mgr.
                                                                                                              P.O. Box 6064                               PH:  (616)  2432953
         Confession of Faith-What Is It?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63                                       Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
                                                                                            New Zealand Business Office: The Standard Bearer
      Bible Study Guide-                                                                                                      c/o OPC Bookshop
                                                                                                                              P.O. Box 2289
         Romans-Justification by Faith (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . .66                                                        Christchurch, New Zealand
                                                                                             Subscription  Policy:  Subscription price, $9.00 er year. Unless a definite request
      Annual Secretary's Report of the R.F.P.A. . . . . . . . . .68                                                                            %
                                                                                             for discontinuance is received, it is assumed t at the subscriber wishes the sub-
                                                                                             scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order, and he will be
      Signs of the Times-                                                                    billed for renewal. If you have a change of address, please  notif the Business
                                                                                             Office as early as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience  oT delayed  deli-
        A Tale of Three Houses and a Church . . . . . . . . . .69                            very. Include your Zip Code.
                                                                                            Advertising Policy: The Standard Bearer does not accept commercial advertising of
      News From Our Churches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72                    any kind.  Annoucements of church and school events, anniversaries,  obituaries,
                                                                                             and sympathy resolutions will be placed for a $3.00 fee. These should be sent to
                                                                                             the Business Office and should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee. Deadline for
                                                                                             announcements is the 1st or the 15th of the month, previous to publication on the
                                                                                             15th or the 1st respectively.
                                                                                             Bound Volumes:  The Business Office will  acce t standing orders for bound
                                                                                             copies of the current volume; such orders are  dled
                                                                                                                                                    P     as soon as possible after
                                                                                             completion of a volume. A limited number of past volumes may be obtained
                                                                                             through the Business Office.


MEDITATION


                                                     Righteous in Christ
                                                                             Rev. H. Veldman


                      "And to be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Zaw, but that
                  which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. "Phil. 3:9


      To rejoice  in the Lord, to win Christ, is for Paul                                   j lack all things, we possess all. 0, the riches of him
the all-important,                    the overwhelming thing.                                  who has lost all but has won Christ.
Everything else is and must be considered worth-
less. Indeed, according to verses 5 and 6, the apos-                                               And be found in Him. This thought is legal, judi-
tle could boast in the flesh. However, all these                                               cial. To be found in Christ, or, literally, to be seen,
things he counts as no gain. To have all things and                                            observed in Christ means that God sees me, regards
lack Christ, we have nothing. To have Christ and                                               me in Christ, that I, before the tribunal of God, am


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                             51



observed and regarded as in Christ Jesus. How                 never delays or postpones His judgment upon the
wonderful is the assurance that God regards me in             children of men. He is always punishing the
Christ, regards me not as my own but as legally in            wicked, is never gracious unto them. God alone is
Him. And let us understand this thought in connec-            Judge. He alone can judge. He alone reads and
tion with the preceding. To win Christ implies                knows the hearts of men. To be righteous before
everything, includes not only verse 9 but also ver-           God means that God declares, upon the basis of His
ses  10  and 11. But, of all that follows in verses 9  -      eternal and unchangeable and perfect justice, that
11, our text is fundamental. If I be righteous in             we are free from all guilt and debt, that in nothing
Christ, be found in Him, all the rest will follow.            the law can condemn us, and that we are heirs of
Then I will surely attain unto the resurrection from          eternal life and therefore have a right to everlasting
the dead, which, in this context, refers to that mo-          life and glory in God's heavenly and everlasting
ment when the child of God shall forever put on               tabernacle.                   - -
heavenly immortality.                                           And what a tremendous truth, benefit this is! It
  This is the truth of the Reformation, namely that           implies an everlasting exemption from divine pun-
we are found, are righteous in Christ, only for               ishment, and, positively, that we are heirs of, en-
Jesus' sake, out of purely sovereign grace.                   titled to everlasting life! Tremendous, secondly, is
                                                              this wonderful truth because of you and me who
                      ITS IDEA                                are declared righteous. Are we not by nature
  Righteous      before    G o d - w h a t   a      magic,    sinners, conceived in sin and daily increasing all
tremendous word! Our Heidelberg Catechism, in                 our sin and guilt, piling up our debt before the
Question 59 of Lord's Day 23, points to it as the one         living God? Is it not amazing to be declared righ-
cardinal benefit for the child of God. The Church of          teous before God? And tremendous, thirdly,
God has always emphasized, throughout the ages,               because of God Who justifies us! God, we read in
the importance of our state, our legal relation to the        Scripture, is not a man. He does not lie; His judg-
law as determined by the Judge of all the earth.              ment is therefore always true. And He does not
Modernism tells us that what we  do  is important,            change. His judgment is therefore always irrevoca-
that what counts is our action. Important, how-               ble. What an unspeakably glorious righteousness
ever, is what we are, our state, our legal relation           this is! Of it this text speaks. No wonder that the
before God. What we do can never be the ground                apostle speaks of the  exceZZency of the knowledge
for our peace and righteousness. Of course, our               of Christ Jesus, his Lord! No wonder that he would
faith must be accompanied by works; but our                   consider all things but loss that he may win Christ
works are the fruit of faith, inasmuch as faith is a          and be found in Him! Indeed, to be found in Christ,
Ziving  bond. Besides, how can our works ever ren-            to be righteous in Him before God means that we
der us righteous before God? Are not our best                 are righteous forevermore!
works as filthy rags (Is.  64:6)? Indeed, the impor-                              ITS SOURCE
tant question is: what is my state, my legal position
before the judgment seat of God? Am I judged                    Notice the contrast as expressed in this text: "not
guilty or innocent? Thirdly, the apostle in this con-         having mine own righteousness which is of the
text considers all things but dung for the excellency         law."
of the knowledge of Christ. He will gladly give up              No, the apostle does not mean that our righteous-
all things, the things, mind you, that had meant              ness before God ignores the law and that it is there-
everything to him-see verses 4 through 6. And,                fore arbitrary. God in Christ surely did not ignore
finally, here we have the very heart and core of the          His law but He fulfilled it. The apostle, however,
Reformation, as far as Martin Luther was                      refers to mine.own righteousness, to which I would
concerned. How he had striven to make himself                 attain by my fulfilling of God's law.
righteous before! But, it was all in vain. Peace came           How man loves to secure his own righteousness!
into his soul only when he experienced the truth of           How the Jew prided himself in the fact that he so
the Word of God, that we are just by faith, are righ-         carefully,  .painstakingly  fulfilled the law, not only
teous only for Jesus' sake, out of purely sovereign           fulfilling the law but even exceeding its require-
grace.                                                        ments-see verses 4 - 6. Instead of fasting only once
  Righteous before God-what does this mean?                   a year he would fast twice a week.
  The idea is legal. It must not be confused with               And how the Jew of Paul's day zealously defend-
sanctification, a work of God's grace by His Spirit           ed his position! How they opposed the apostle be-
within us, delivering us from the stain and pollu-            cause he would speak of a righteousness of God
tion of sin. This righteousness implies that we stand         and by faith! They attacked him in his claim to be
in judgment before the living God. Of course, we              an apostle; they followed him from city to city; they
are always in judgment before the Lord. The Lord              took hold of him, beat him with stones, left him as


52                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



one dead. They would cling tenaciously to their en-            And the faith of Christ is this faith as it is the spiri-
deavor to obtain divine approval and sanction in               tual bond uniting us with Christ; through faith we
the way of their own works.                                    are one with Him, live out of Him, receive our all
      And this is repeated countless times throughout          from Him Who suffered and died and is risen from
the ages. This was the issue of the. Reformation.              the dead.
The Church did not oppose Luther because he                      This righteousness, we read, is through the faith
would destroy that church. Luther was truly a re-              of Christ. Here the apostle directs us to how this
former. They opposed him because he renounced a                righteousness is given unto us. All our righteous-
salvation and justification by works. They anathe-             ness is in Christ Jesus. This righteousness, now,
matized anyone who denied the meritorious value                actually becomes ours through faith, God's gift to
of good works. And this is the issue throughout the            His own, the bond uniting us with Christ Jesus.
ages. Man always loves to take pride in himself.               Based upon the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus
      However, Paul counts all things but loss in order        Christ upon the cross of Calvary, we are united
that he may possess, not the righteousness through             with Him, live out of Him, so that we are now ac-
his works of the law, but only through faith in                tually righteous before God, now in principle and
Christ. How utterly worthless are OUY works of the             presently in perfection; God sees us as we are now
law! They do not bring us one step nearer to God;              in Christ Jesus, beholds no iniquity in us and no
they never render us righteous before God. How                 perverseness.
could I ever become righteous before God out of                  And the apostle concludes with the words: "the
the law? I cannot pay the penalty. I cannot make               righteousness which is of God by faith." Literally
amends. Indeed, the source of my justification is              we read: "the righteousness which is of God upon
never in me. All I can do is increase my guilt before          faith." In these words the apostle declares how I
the Lord. I can only work my way into greater con-             receive and experience this righteousness, receive
demnation.                                                     it in my consciousness. No, the apostle does not
      Indeed, this righteousness is a righteousness of         mean that we in any way merit it, that it, therefore,
God. It is obvious what this expression means in               rests upon faith. Fact is, it is God's righteousness
this text. It is contrasted here with the expression,          and therefore we are never righteous because of
"mine own righteousness." My own righteous-                    our faith. Upon my faith. This is how I receive and
ness is the righteousness to which I attain, which I           experience it. To believe in Jesus-how humilia-
acquire and merit. Hence, the righteousness of God             ting! It means that I am hopelessly and helplessly
means my justification which is of God.                        lost in sin, that I can never save myself, that all my
                                                               salvation is possible only through the crucified
      This is God's righteousness. It is His, first of all,    Lamb of God and of Calvary. Righteousness is ex-
because He conceived of it. He willed it eternally,            clusively the gift of God and it is only as such that I
from before the foundations of the world. He con-              can receive and experience it.
ceived eternally of the relationship between Christ
and His own, that He is the Head and therefore re-               I am nothing.
sponsible for the body, the elect given Him of the               Christ has become my all.
Father, that our sin and guilt should be upon Him                Always through faith I approach God through
and blotted out by His perfect righteousness upon              Jesus Christ, my Lord.
the cross of Calvary. Besides, it is God's righteous-
ness also because He alone realizes it, through                  Unto the praise of God, the God of my salvation.
Christ Jesus, our Lord, centrally upon the cross and
spiritually by His grace and Spirit in our hearts.
And presently He will manifest this righteousness
in that wondrous day when Christ will return upon
the clouds of heaven. Then it will be revealed that             The Standard Bearer
we are clothed with the perfect righteousness of
Christ, and all this only because He loved us,                     makes an excellent
always first, in Jesus Christ, my Lord.                                      gift for the
                      ITS BESTOWAL
      We read of this righteousness that it is the righ-              sick and shut-in.
teousness which is through the faith of Christ.
Christ is the object of this faith. Christ is our Lord
Jesus Christ as the anointed Servant of Jehovah,
Who did what we could never do, our only Hope.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          5 3



EDITORIAL

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


  Last time we saw that the Report/Decision of the              argument.
Gereformeerde Kerken reached the point in its ar-                 At this point in Chapter IV the Report is ready to
gumentation at which it stated that while the                   make a fatal thrust at the Reformed position con-
human element and the divine element in Scripture               cerning the nature of the Scriptures and their
cannot be separated in such a way that ultimately               authority. It does so, first of all, by accusing the
the so-called "authentic" revelation is retained,               "Reformed tradition" of holding to mechanical in-
nevertheless it is possible "to a certain extent" to            spiration, as follows:
make this distinction. After all, the Word of God is
present, according to the Report, even where "the                    As is described in Chapter III, in the Reformed tra-
human time-bound shines through." Naturally,                       dition the teaching of the infallibility of the Holy
this necessitates distinguishing between the two.                  Scripture has been defended for a long time in a sense
When you take the position that Scripture is, as to                of an absolute inerrancy. One then proceeded from
its contents, the Word of God-period, then it is not               the so-called mechanical inspiration by which one un-
necessary to distinguish between the two. This is                  derstood that the Holy Spirit literally dictated the
obvious: one is dealing only with the Word of God.                 Scriptures to the writers of the Bible. Sometimes the
                                                                   reasoning was so strict and direct that it was held that
But when you take the position that Scripture is in                even the vowel marks of the Hebrew text were in-
one way or another a mixture-Word of God and                       spired. Apparently they did not yet know that these
words of men-then no matter how you describe                       vowel marks were added to the text of the Old Testa-
the mixture, no matter in what fashion and to how                  ment in the Middle Ages.
thorough an extent the human and divine elements
are mixed, somehow or other that mixture must be                  Now it is indeed questionable whether anyone
unscrambled. Somehow the Word of God has to be                  ever held the position concerning the vowel marks
distilled out of those Scriptures. The distinction              of the Hebrew text which the Report here imputes
which the Report wants to make "to a certain ex-                to some. But it is certain, apart from this, that this
tent" necessitates this. And thus it becomes the                does not represent the "Reformed tradition," that
task of exegesis, according to the Report, "to search           is, the main line of Reformed theology concerning
out what God wanted to reveal as His Word                       Scripture. In the second place, it is not true that the
through these human words." Poor God! He was                    "Reformed tradition"             held to mechanical
unable to express Himself clearly through human                 inspiration. It is in my opinion doubtful, in fact,
words, so that men have to search out what He                   whether any theologian of note ever held to a pure-
"wanted to say." Not only so, but truth is rela-                ly mechanical view of inspiration, a mere dictation-
tional, so that it does not always mean the same                theory. This would mean that just as I might dictate
thing in different times and circumstances. De-                 this editorial to my secretary, or put it on my Dicta-
pending on the time and circumstances of the expo-              phone cassette, and have her type it, so God dic-
sitor, there may be deep or less deep or deeper un-             tated His Word to the human writers of Holy Scrip-
derstandings of the text. It all depends.. . .                  ture. The "Reformed tradition" did not hold this;
                                                                they held to organic inspiration, even before the
  Let me remind the reader that my earlier quota-               term "organic" was used. In the third place, there
tions of what the Report has to say about the his-              are certainly instances in which the holy men who
torical trustworthiness of Scripture furnish a clear            wrote Scripture were instructed by God directly to
example of precisely where this sort of thinking                write  what they wrote, as well as the instance
leads. On the basis offered by the Report one can               which our Confession cites in which God Himself
make Scripture say almost anything he wants it to               "wrote with His own finger the two tables of the
say, and he can destroy completely the historical               law." Call this mechanical, if you will; but so be it.
accuracy and trustworthiness of Scripture.                      In the fourth place, IF I had to choose-and I do
  But let us return to the thread of the Report's               not; but IF- between so-called mechanical


54                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



inspiration, which after all retains the absolute in-               Notice how this article breathes a deep respect
fallibility of the Scriptures and verbal inspiration,            for and appreciation of the Scriptures. How
and the nameless view of the Report, which loses                 different from the language of the Report!
the Scriptures and makes their meaning subject to                   Here is what the Report says about Article III:
the every whim and fancy of professional theolo-                       Fortunately the Belgic Confession does not go that
gians, then I would certainly choose mechanical                      far in Article III; an historically correct exposition of
inspiration. But such a choice is not necessary                      this Article must however lead to the conclusion that
whatsoever. There .is still the thoroughly Reformed                  the divine origin of the entire Scripture was here con-
view of organic inspiration.                                         fessed by the Fathers and that in such a way that all
      Let me insert a note here concerning organic in-               the words of the Scripture were equally unquestion-
spiration. We must remember that organic inspira-                    ably and literally the Words of God, as if God had
tion does not merely mean that the Holy Spirit                       written them down with His own finger. According to
found                                                                the classic Reformed conception, the human writer of
          and used holy men who were suitable to be                  the Bible was really nothing more than a passive
used as the instruments of inspiration. It does not                  instrument of the Spirit, a quill in the hand of God.
even mean only that the Holy Spirit prepared them
-though it does indeed include this. But it means                   But there is nothing in the article which makes
first that God Himself  ordained,  and that, too or-             those human writers nothing more than a passive
dained from eternity in His counsel, the various                 instrument, a "quill in the hand of God."
holy men with their character, talents, bent of                     The Report continues:
nature, circumstances, time in history, etc., to be                    The recent investigation of the Bible, as that is de-
the instruments of revelation and inspiration. And                   scribed in Chapter II, has taught us that God did not
even as He ordained them, so He realized them and                    desire that the Bible writers would eliminate them-
prepared them in time, and so He caused the Scrip-                   selves to the extent assumed by the early orthodoxy in
tures to be written by them. This is neither the time                its time. However conscientious and obedient these
nor the place for a lengthy exposition of the concept                writers were as they followed the Holy Spirit, they en-
of organic inspiration. But we must keep the above                   joyed a certain freedom just because God had taken
in mind. I am inclined to think that frequently this                 them thus into His service. It appears that God
aspect of organic inspiration is lost from view. In                  usually performs his work on earth in covenant fel-
                                                                     lowship with chosen people. The Bible continually
fact, I sometimes think that behind all the discus-                  witnesses to this. Possibly we would formulate Article
sion and all the problems connected with this sub-                   III of the Belgic Confession somewhat differently
ject of the inspiration and authority of Scripture is                today than was the case at the time. But this is not
the deeper issue of the absolute sovereignty and the                 strictly necessary. The text of the Article itself pro-
sovereign decrees of the Lord our God. I maintain                    vides sufficient room for an interpretation in the sense
that it is simply impossible to have a proper con-                   which we have here proposed because it makes a dis-
ception of revelation and inspiration if one does not                tinction between the work of the Holy Spirit in the
want to operate with the principle of God's                          proclamation of the Word of God and the inscriptura-
sovereignty and His sovereign decree as a working                    tion of the Holy Scriptures.
principle.                                                          How thankful we may be that the Synod of the
      But after those parenthetical remarks, let us               GKN does not have the opportunity to formulate
return to the Report.                                            Article III today! It would indeed be somewhat dif-
                                                                  ferent!
      The next step is that the Report strikes directly at
the Belgic Confession. True, it tempers, or tries to                And as for the claim that the Article itself leaves
temper, the criticism somewhat. But it is plain that              room for the view of this Report, that is pure fic-
the Report disagrees, and disagrees fundamentally,                tion! The GKN has abandoned its own confession,
with Article III of the Confession. The Synod of the              and that, too, by official decree!
GKN should be consistent and revise the article.
      Here is what Article III says:                                             Take time to
         We confess that this Word of God was not sent, nor
       delivered by the will of man, but that holy men of God
       spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, as the
       apostle Peter saith. And that afterwards God, from a                   read and study
       special care, which He has for us and our salvation,
       commanded His servants, the prophets and apostles,
       to commit His revealed word to writing; and He Him-         The Standard Bearer
       self wrote with His own finger, the two tables of the
       law. Therefore we call such writings holy and divine
       Scriptures.


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 55



THE LORD GAVE THE WORD


         The Bible Conference in Birmingham
                                             Prof. Robert D. Decker


  Now that we have completed our discussion of             fiftv vears or so of our historv, our churches were
the missionary preaching of the Apostles we are            no<  Leally involved in home `mission work. The
going to interrupt the series on Missionary Methods        churches considered it their first responsibility (and
in order to report on a Bible Conference in which          correctly so) to do church reformation work. The
the undersigned participated. The Conference               churches worked with people who were dissatis-
which took place in May was hosted by Rev.                 fied in the Christian Reformed Church. Ministers
Ronald Van  Overloop  and our home mission                 (H. Hoeksema and G.M. Ophoff initially) and later
station in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition to             a home missionary would lecture and preach and
Pastor Van Over-loop and myself, Rev. Steven               discuss matters pertaining to the faith with small
Houck participated. It was a four-day conference           groups of people who had called for help. These
and began on Sunday. Two worship services were             groups often became the nuclei of many of our
held on Sunday. Pastor Houck preached on Sunday            churches, particularly in the West. These people
morning and Pastor Van  Overloop  preached on              for the most part were familiar with the Three
Sunday evening. I preached on Monday evening               Forms of Unity, with Reformed Church Polity and
and again on Tuesday evening. The theme which              Liturgy. They knew the language of the Reformed
we developed in the preaching was, "The Christian          Faith and they knew their Bibles. Their walk of life
Marriage." After the Monday and Tuesday                    was almost identical with that of our people. These
meetings there was opportunity for the audience to         people usually agreed with the position of our
ask questions and participate in a bit of discussion.      churches on various issues such as: divorce and re-
On the basis of God's promise we believe the               marriage, unionism, dancing, drama, etc. The point
preaching bore fruit. Certainly it was a blessing to       is that our churches worked with people who were
fellowship with the small band of saints in Birming-       very much like us. They were hardworking, pious,
ham as well as with colleagues in the ministry. The        Reformed Dutchmen. In Colorado and the Dakotas
daytime hours were not wasted. Certainly not! In          they  <were the same, except they were Germans.
the comfortable study of the Van Over-loop home           Now that has all changed. Now the churches work
the three of us discussed some of the questions and        with Chinese in Singapore, and with others in East
problems which our home missionaries are facing            Lansing, Michigan and Birmingham, Alabama. Our
in their work. Some of these problems make their           missionaries meet people constantly who have
work painstakingly difficult and even frustrating at       never heard of the Reformed Faith or the Protestant
times. We are writing this report because we               Reformed Churches in America. These people have
thought our readers might like to know about some         no knowledge of the Reformed Creeds. If they do,
of these matters. I might add that we were joined          their knowledge is limited. This is true not only of
one morning by Rev. Carl Russell, who pastors an           those outside of the Church but also of those within
independent Presbyterian Church in Birmingham.             the Church. Along with all of the apostasy in the
Pastor Russell, a native of Birmingham, is a gradu-        Church of our day is the failure of the pulpit to
ate of Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia.              preach the Word. That must be the case, for if the
Speaking out of his "deep south" religious and cul-       Word of God is no longer believed it cannot be
tural heritage Pastor Russell contributed helpful ad-     preached. Thus the people of God are gradually
vice, especially concerning our work in Birming-           starving to death spiritually. The lament of the pro-
ham.                                                      phet is applicable to our day: "My people are de-
  One of the observations made (and this recurred          stroyed for lack of knowledge. ..I' (Hosea 4:6).
throughout our discussions) was that a significant           This factor has very serious implications for
change has occurred in Protestant Reformed                home mission work. The missionary really can
mission work. Part of that significant change is the      assume nothing. He must not preach as he would in
fact that our churches did no foreign work until          the home church. If the missionary were to do that,
they became involved in Singapore just a few years        his hearers would not understand what he was say-
ago. Another part of the change is that, for the first    ing. Terminology, that is, doctrinal terminology,


56                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



familiar to one who has been born and raised and          elect by means of the preaching of the gospel. It
catechized in a Protestant Reformed Church and            makes no difference from where these come: out of
educated in a Protestant Reformed School is like a        apostatizing Reformed or Presbyterian Churches,
foreign language on the home mission field. This          Arminian churches, or no churches at all (uncon-
does not mean the message must be changed. It             verted). These must be gathered with a view to the
certainly does not mean that the truth of the gospel      organization of a Protestant Reformed congrega-
must be compromised. What is preached in the              tion. The newly-established church can then
home church and what is preached on the mission           continue to evangelize in its locale while the mis-
field must be the same precious truth of Holy Scrip-      sionary is freed to begin work in another area. The
ture. But that truth must be carefully and patiently      second goal (and, remember, these two cannot be
explained, in language the people can understand.         separated) is to leave a witness to the truth of the
The missionary must be at pains to explain and            Word of God. The Word of the Gospel must be pro-
define the terms he uses in his preaching and teach-      claimed, together with the command to repent and
ing. Still more, he must speak and preach in such a       believe, throughout the area with a view to the
manner as to make perfectly clear that what he is         coming of the Kingdom of Christ. The Word never
preaching is taught by Scripture. This also applies       returns void. It is a savor of life unto life, but also of
to our radio work. The radio preacher cannot              death unto death. Especially with regard to this lat-
simply condense one of his Sunday sermons for             ter goal, growth in numbers is not necessary. In
broadcasting. Ninety percent or more of the listen-       fact, we agreed, it is possible to see no growth at all
ers would not understand what he was saying.              for a time and still meet the goals. That these ends
Here again the message must be simple and clear.          may be reached is the prayer of the missionary and
Above all else it must be an exposition of the Word       the church which sends him.
of God. It must be plain to the listener that this
message is in complete harmony with what the                Another related question and one which is ex-
Bible says.                                               tremely difficult to answer is: when may the mis-
                                                          sionary leave an area? This is not a problem when
      In this same connection we discussed the content    there is ample positive fruit upon the missionary's
or the nature of the content of the preaching on the      preaching and teaching. When a congregation is or-
mission field. The content of course is Scripture. It     ganized the missionary's work is finished and he
is also true that our Protestant Reformed mission-        must go elsewhere. But when there is little positive
aries preach distinctively Protestant Reformed            fruit and the missionary is working with only a
sermons. But the question is: what subjects should        very few families, the question of when to termi-
be preached? In the past (and this was in the very        nate the work becomes difficult. We all agreed that
nature of the case) our missionaries engaged in a         certainly a missionary ought not leave an area
good bit of polemics and controversy on the home          before a rather high percentage of the population
fields. This happened naturally because our mis-          had been reached in one way or another. This can
sionaries and churches were concerned to show             be done by publicizing the worship services, con-
our brothers and sisters in the Christian Reformed        ducting well-publicized Bible classes or lectures or
and other Reformed Churches the error of                  midweek preaching services. Another method is to
Common Grace and other departures from the Re-            divide the area into sections and then mail tracts or
formed truth. In the light of the doctrinal apathy        pamphlets to each address, section by section.
and apostasy of our day it was our consensus that         These tracts would contain information about our
polemics should be avoided at least initially. Rather     churches and the services and missionary pastor.
than to speak out on the law and gospel controver-        This method was dubbed, "blitz." Whatever the
sy, for example, in which many of the southern            method, it was felt that the missionary could not in
churches are engaged, it is better just to preach the     good conscience end his work in a given locale
gospel. Later, when the hearers become more               without making every effort to reach as many as
mature spiritually, these matters can be more             possible and thus leaving a witness. To put this in
profitably considered.                                    terms of months or years is impossible. Much de-
      Almost immediately upon arriving at the parson-     pends upon the area itself and the particular cir-
age in Birmingham early Saturday afternoon, we            cumstances the missionary might encounter.
began discussing goals. What is or what ought to be
the goals of our home mission work? What ends are           More was discussed, but these were the main
we trying to reach? What does Scripture have to say       topics of concern. The undersigned left the confer-
to this point? With these questions we were busy          ence with more insight into the problems and diffi-
that warm, sunny, spring afternoon. The                   culties of the work. He also left with a deeper ap-
immediate goal, as is plain from Scripture, especial-     preciation for our missionaries, and for their wives
ly the record in Acts, must be the gathering of the       and children. All labor and live at personal  sacri-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 57



fice. Let us be diligent in prayer for them. May God       gathering of His Church and the coming of His
prosper their work and make it fruitful unto the           Kingdom in Jesus Christ.

THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH

                                       Seeking a Wife
                                               Rev. Rodney Miersma



  A young man seeks a young woman that they                  This is especially true in the sphere of marriage
may cleave to each other as one flesh. Over and            which is, after all, the goal of the young man as he
over this is repeated, among all nations and tribes,       seeks a young woman. Marriage stands at the very
from the beginning of time until the return of             core of life. If two people are to be united so closely
Christ. This is natural, of course, for God created        that they are considered before God as one, then it
this desire within both the man and the woman.             is essential that all aspects of their life be one.
Not only is this natural but it is also good, for          There must be unity of faith and unity of purpose
"whoso  findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and ob-       as they together confess the one and the same Lord.
taineth favour of the Lord."                               Two people now share their life, their nature, and
  This brings one before the very important ques-          their love.
tion: where does one look if he is to find a wife? The       Now if there is not unity of faith and if the same
Word of God is the rule for our life, including the        Lord is not confessed, then there is an unequal
seeking of a wife. It gives us positive direction as to    yoke against which the Lord warns. All too often
what to look for and as to where to look. In addi-         that is what is happening today. Young men and
tion, it warns us concerning what not to look for          young women do not seek a life's partner from the
and where not to look. God gives His church good           household of faith but go to the synagogue of Satan.
instruction in this area by revealing to us the his-       This is to our shame, and if this trend continues
tory of the world just prior to the flood. Bible his-      unchecked then it will lead to the downfall of the
tory is not simply the record of facts but the record      church in which God has given us a name and a
of God's unfolding plan as He realizes His covenant        place, for He will cut us off in our generations.
with His people in Jesus Christ. Bible history then          Today it is very easy for the young man to be at-
serves unto our instruction that we may know what          tracted by the woman who stands outside of the
the will of God is for us.                                 line of the covenant. As in the days of Noah so also
  The history immediately before the flood to              today the woman stands in the forefront. She is
which I draw your attention is that which is found         held up before all men so that all may look upon
in the first part of Genesis 6. This is the account of     her with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
the sons of God who saw that the daughters of men          and the pride of life. She is the sex symbol that
were fair and took them wives of all which they            stimulates one to buy all kinds of products from
chose. This means that the sons of the church, of          cosmetics to liquor to cars. You name it; sex sells it.
the seed of the woman, of the line of the covenant         The women's liberation movement has placed
in the generations of Seth, looked upon and took           woman on a pedestal so that she no longer knows
upon themselves the daughters of the world, of the         her rightful place.
seed of the serpent, of the reprobate children in the        Young men, you are being tempted. Your flesh
generations of Cain. This was not pleasing unto the        cries out for this woman because she is pleasing to
Lord. It was one of the reasons why wickedness in          your flesh. She represents all the so-called good
the earth was so great.                                    things in life. But remember the lesson in Genesis
  What lesson do we see here and what can we               6. The woman in the forefront went hand in hand
learn? We see that it is not the will of God that we       with all the pleasures and treasures of the world.
amalgamate with the wicked who know not the                The devil, Satan, knows how to operate. The in-
Lord. Our calling is always to be separate for we          ventions of Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-Cain were used
must be holy even as the Lord our God is holy. We          in the service of sin. By their outward greatness and
must live in the world but spiritually be not of the       glitter the sons of God were attracted so that they
world.                                                     turned their eyes away from the city that hath foun-


58                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



dations. The outward form, beauty, and sensuous-             as we look about us with lust in our eyes. The
ness of all the inventions that made life so pleasant        world does not come seeking the church, but we
corresponded to the sensuous beauty and outward              seek the world.
form of the woman as represented in  Adah and                  The will of God for His covenant youth is that
Zillah, wives of Lamech, and in Naamah, Lamech's             they seek within the sphere of the church. As God's
daughter.                                                    children you must set your sights on Christian
      This is the tool of Satan today also. To get at the    virtues. This must be the beginning point. One does
very core of a man's life he uses that which is              not first look for that which pleases the flesh, with
nearest to his heart, the woman. This is very subtle.        the false idea that love and marriage will change all
But be not deceived, for the love that Satan pro-            the bad into good. If you think that that will
poses is not true love. True love is the bond of per-        happen, then you are sadly mistaken. When the
fectness. You are familiar with the instructions that        wedding is over you must not be surprised if your
accompany various kinds of glue. Both surfaces               spouse will not come to church with you. Then, for
must be clean in order for them to adhere to each            the sake of outward peace you either go with your
other. The two surfaces must be compatible to each           husband or wife to his or her church or compro-
other. A man and woman must also be compatible.              mise by going to an entirely different church. In
However, the basis for this compatibility certainly          each case, the truth and your spiritual life suffer.
is more than outward beauty. The beauty and the                But perhaps your spouse does come to church
compatibility must be spiritual in addition to the           with you. Often this is only outward unity when
physical and psychical compatibility. In other               that which is most important, the unity of faith, is
words, the love of a man for a woman and vice                still missing. Your marriage suffers, your children
versa must be a holy love as wrought in the heart            suffer, and the marriage is headed for divorce. You
by the Spirit of Christ. Then. there can be a true           reply that this will never happen to you for you are
bond that shall not come apart at the first sign of          strong. If you were so strong you would not be
stress.                                                      looking among the daughters of men in the first
      To find such a wife one does not seek among the        place. To the extent that you believe you are strong
daughters of men. Many have been the excuses, all            you are really weak. You are then as the drunkard
covered with the sugar of false piety. How often             who because of his intoxication thinks he can
have you not heard one justify dating among the              conquer the world, but when he gets up to walk
daughters of men because in this way one can be              falls flat on his face.
gained unto Christ? Or one hears the argument that             We are strong in the way of obedience. As we
we must witness. And in order to witness effective-          obey God's commands to be separate and not to
ly we must join ourselves to the world in marriage.          amalgamate with the world He blesses us so that
      Dear Christian, covenant youth, by joining your-       we grow in strength. But if we walk contrary to His
selves with the world you do not gain the world for          will, revealing our weakness by our disobedience,
Christ, but you in turn are swallowed up. That is            then we are not blessed either. Thus, the weak
the lesson gained here in this account of the amal-          become weaker still.
gamation of the sons of God and the daughters of               Your calling, then, young people, as you seek a
men. You see, we do not convert anyone. God only             helpmeet, is to live antithetically. Amalgamation
can do that. When we ally ourselves with the world           blurs the line of demarcation until one does not see
we put on an unequal yoke. That does not make the            any difference or any distinction between the
team plow better, but makes it impossible. The               church and the world. As this happens the history
world does not become better by our joining it;              of this present age becomes more and more like the
rather it makes us more corrupt.                             days before the flood-days that are characterized
      We may talk all we want about witnessing by            by godlessness and wickedness, which, in turn,
joining the world, but if we are honest with our-            were and are being fueled by amalgamation.
selves, then we must admit that it is not our desire           Against this wickedness you must fight. You
to witness but our lust of the flesh that attracts us to     must open your eyes and watch. Do not look upon
the daughters of men. The Lord warns us through              the world with lovesick eyes which are blind to
this history that we are playing with fire when we           reality. But in all things, especially as you seek to
fan our flaming passions with the fannies of the             establish a home through marriage, seek ye first the
daughters of men. The danger is not in that those in         kingdom of heaven. That is the way of blessing;
the world come to the church to seek out  God-               that is the way of blessed peace and comfort as you
fearing youth who in turn are led into the world.            live a life of sanctification before and after your
No, the sons of God go forth seeking the daughters           wedding day. Pray unto the Lord and seek His
of men. The danger begins within our own hearts              grace as He imparts that grace through the preach-


                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                               59



ing of the Word and the sacraments. Then a              you stand in the shadow of the cross of Calvary.
covenant home will be established and you shall         The things of the world shall pass away, but that
see your children's children gathered about you as      which is of God shall endure forever.
THE DAY OFSHADOWS


                             A Necessary Distress
                                             Rev. John A. Heys


  When the ten brothers who had sold Joseph into        lost track of him. Sir, would you kindly use your in-
Egypt as a slave stood before him, not aware of his     fluence to help us trace him so we can confess our
identity, and he accused them of being spies who        sin to him and seek to set him free?"No wonder is it
came to see the nakedness of the land, he was not       that, after they said that he was not, that is, was
bearing false witness against them. He knew better.     dead, Joseph said, "That is it that I spake unto you
He knew exactly who they were and why they              saying, Ye are spies." They were covering up,
came to Egypt. To speak the truth ourselves we          which is characteristic of spies.
cannot say that it was a case of saying the wrong
thing because of ignorance. And yet we may not            Let it also be noted that, when Joseph accuses
accuse Joseph of breaking the ninth command-            them of coming to see the nakedness of the land, he
ment. Nor may we accuse him of cruelty and in-          was not bearing false witness against them but for
justice when he cast them all into prison for three     them. The accusation was not true, and Joseph
days.                                                   knew that it was not true, for he had already recog-
                                                        nized them as his brothers. It was not, however, an
  What shall we then say about this charge of           accusation hurled at them in hatred, to hurt them,
Joseph? We shall say first of all that although they    to get a material advantage over them, to take away
were not spies who came to see the nakedness of         any of their possessions, or even to bring upon
the land, there was an element of truth in calling      them a punishment that they did not deserve. It
them spies. For spies are men who hide the truth,       was a false accusation that was spoken  for  their
men who come under false pretenses, make them-          good in an attempt to bring them to repentance and
selves out for what they are not, and behind your       confession of their sin.
back, or covering up before your eyes, desire your
hurt and ruin. And in that light the ten brothers         In that light it can also be seen that it was not
rather than Joseph should be accused of breaking        cruel or unjust to have them cast into prison for
the ninth commandment. For with bold faces, be-         three days. And do not argue that Egypt's judicial
cause they did not recognize him, they declare that     department had no right to punish Canaanites for a
they were true men. In this they were bearing false     crime which they committed upon a Canaanite in
witness against Joseph. They were dishing out an        Canaan. This was not the work of Egypt's judicial
untruth, pretending to be what they were not,           department but of Joseph. He used the facilities of
hiding the truth; and although they were not in it      Egypt which were at his disposal, but he was
seeking positively to injure and ruin Joseph, they      neither functioning here as an Egyptian judge, nor
were refusing to make any restoration and deliver-      as an Egyptian policeman. What is more, this is not
ance from the misery into which they sold him.          punishment for a crime, but chastisement which
  We may note in Genesis  42:14 that, as far as         God sent upon these brothers to correct and restore
Joseph is concerned, this is the very heart of the      them. And may not He Who is the Almighty Cre-
matter. He says to them, "That is it that I spake       ator of heaven and earth, Whose is not only Egypt
unto you saying, ye are spies." And this follows        but the whole universe, use part of it to chastize His
immediately after the statement of the brothers that    people?
their youngest brother is back in Canaan with their       In His mercy God gave these ten brothers three
father, and the twelfth brother  is not.  Were they     days to talk things over and give some real deep and
true men they, would have said, "We know not            serious thought to the matter that had been bother-
where the twelfth brother is, for we sold him as a      ing their consciences all these years. And let it be
slave into Egypt some ten years ago, and we have        asked in parentheses, what are three days in prison


60                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



compared with the life of slavery to which they had          grave mourning for this most beloved son. But he
consigned Joseph? Have they any room to complain             certainly knew that these ten brothers had robbed
about the fact that he planned to have them in pris-         their father of his fellowship, and that to him
on for three days? In love and for their good Joseph         Joseph was as good as dead. He could realize very
planned three days for contemplation, soul search-           keenly by the loss of his father's fellowship what
ing, and beseeching of God on their knees for                his father felt in regard to himself. And true men do
deliverance and an explanation of this turn of               not do a thing like that to their father.
events in their lives. And by the work of the irresis-         By demanding that they bring Benjamin along
tible Holy Spirit they were brought to repentance            and down to Egypt he could determine whether
and confession so that three days later before               these brothers now had any feeling and love for
Joseph they declare-not knowing that he hearing              their father. Would they quickly agree to his pro-
them understood their language-"We verily are                position to save their own lives? Or would they
guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the            hesitate and be reluctant to rob their father of two
anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we             more sons-Simeon left behind in prison, and Ben-
would not hear: therefore is this distress come upon         jamin taken from him with the fear of losing him?
us." And Reuben added, "Spake I not unto you                 Consider once: how could Jacob be sure that this
saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would           harsh man in Egypt would not put all of them back
not hear? Therefore, behold, also his blood is re-           in prison including Benjamin? He had appeared to
quired."                                                     be a rough speaker and one quick to imprison.
      This they confessed after Joseph had brought           Would he be satisfied that this was their younger
-them  up out of prison, and had informed them that          brother? And would he next insist that they give
he feared God, that he would keep one of them in             proof that this other, twelfth brother was not?
prison as an hostage, and that, to prove themselves          Would they be required to give proof of his death,
to be true men, they would have to bring along               and be able to do that? And the reaction of the
their youngest brother, after which they would re-           brothers to this proposition of Joseph would reveal
ceive the one in prison back again. "So shall your           whether they would want to spare their father
words be verified," Joseph said, "and ye shall not           more robbing of sons and grief, even if it be a tem-
die" (Genesis  42:18-21). To this the brothers               porary robbing. Even that would hurt this aged
agreed, and that is the meaning of the words, "And           father who had now replaced Joseph with Benja-
they did so." Joseph had said to them, "This do and          min as his most beloved son.
live, for I fear God." And when we read that they              As we saw, they did agree quite readily and
did so, it means that they agreed to this arrange-           quickly to the proposition. There must have been a
ment.                                                        brief conference among them; but we are given to
      The question may be asked, "Why did he not de-         believe that there was no hesitation, and the
mand that they bring their father along, seeing that         nodding of the heads in agreement, when their
he was as eager to see him as to see his younger             spokesman revealed their willingness, revealed no
brother?" And the answer must be found in Jo-                love or feeling for their father. (Did they really have
seph's purpose with the whole verification of their          a choice? Joseph had said, Do this and live." Had
words. Remember that he needed no proof of the               they not agreed it would have meant death for all of
fact that they were telling the truth when they said         them; and that surely would have been a blow to
that they were all sons of one father and had a              their father.) But the Scriptures give us more infor-
young brother home. The only added information               mation. In their brief conference while they deba-
that they could give was that both their father and          ted the issue they took Joseph, we may believe, by
their brother were still alive. But behind all this rough    surprise. For in their discussion of the proposi-
speech, imprisonment, keeping one of the brothers            tion-not knowing that Joseph understood  them-
in prison, and demanding that Benjamin be brought            they confessed their sin against him and that God
down to Egypt that their words might be verified is          was sending them this distress. This moved Joseph
the fact that these brothers had not simply sinned           to tears, because of which he had to turn away from
against Joseph. They had cruelly, shamefully and             them. They were tears of spiritual joy.
unnecessarily cast their father into deep grief and            But even though they confessed all this, they had
sorrow. Now Joseph had no way of knowing that                not yet shown any repentance as far as what they
they had dipped his coat in the blood of a kid and           did to their father is concerned. In fact, when they
made their father believe that a wild beast had slain        get home they revert to their bearing of false wit-
him. He could only surmise how much and what                 ness against their father when they relate what hap-
they  told their father about selling him into Egypt         pened in Egypt. Once again they prolong the grief
as a slave. He did not know that Jacob refused to be         of Jacob with the lie that Joseph "is not." And let it
comforted and told his sons that he would go to his          never be forgotten that one can bear false witness


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            61



against another by one's silence. When you can             child's mind. All too quickly will churches fail to
relieve one's fears and save one from a punishment         discipline those who walk in sin because it might
that one does not deserve by speaking up and de-           cause the church to lose members and financial
fending that one, and you remain silent, you are           support. Better it is to emulate Joseph. Go and
breaking the ninth commandment. And though in              weep in secret in your closet, for it is no pleasure to
Joseph's hearing, though not as addressed to him,          cut off from the Church of God. But be sure to
they admitted guilt in their sale of him as a slave, as    come back and continue the discipline with the
long as they do not tell their father the truth, they      prayer that God will use this extreme remedy to
are not true men, and are hurting him.                     bring to repentance.
  Joseph, seeing the beginning of a change in his            And never forget that it is because God's beloved
brothers, does weep. Yet he also presses on with           Son was sold for thirty pieces of silver and nailed to
the attempt to get them to confess all. They are still     the tree of the cross by His brethren that we may be
covering up and thus acting as spies. This is not the      corrected by discipline. As fallen in Adam we do
time for him to reveal his identity. It may hurt a         not even have the right to be brought to repentance.
parent to have to punish his child; but this must not      Only as redeemed in Christ may we have means
move him to terminate the means of correcting.             applied to us to convert us. And parents can weep
Through Solomon God Himself teaches us that "He            for joy when they see the beginning of a change in
that spareth the rod hateth his son; but he that           their wayward children. But give the thanks then to
loveth him chasteneth him  betimes" (Proverbs              God. For His Son Who knew no sin was made sin
13:24). All too quickly parents will spare the rod be-.    for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
cause it is not convenient for their own flesh. All        God in Him (II Corinthians 5:21). The cross gives us
too quickly, because of the shame of it, parents will      the right to be true men again. The blood of Christ
seek to deliver their children from civil punishment       covers our sins and gives us the right to be deliv-
for their crimes. All too quickly they will go to de-      ered from the evil of trying to cover up our sins and
fend their erring child against its teacher in school,     pretend to be what we are not.
and build up more disrespect for the teacher in the

TAKING HEED TO DOCTRINE


                 The Vile Sin of Homosexuality (2)
                                                 David Engelsma


  Holy Scripture condemns the practice of homo-            Harper  & Row, 1964, pp. 269-292). The chapter
sexuality. Romans  1:27 calls it a "working that           title gives it all away: "The Problem of Homosexu-
which is unseemly." Scripture condemns as well             ality." Thielicke speaks of an "endogenous," or
the tendency of a person to this evil. Homosexual          "constitutional" homosexuality, which Scripture,
nature itself is sin.                                      supposedly, knows nothing of. This is a condition,
  This is disputed in evangelical circles today.           according to Thielicke, which is "largely unsus-
Some frown on homosexual deeds, but refuse to              ceptible to medical or psychotherapeutic treat-
condemn, as sin, homosexual inclination and                ment, at least so far as achieving the desired goal of
desire. They suppose that certain men and women            a fundamental conversion to normality is con-
are born with homosexual tendencies; this is part of       cerned." Is is, for the most part, "incurable." This
their make-up, their very nature. From this, they          condition may not be condemned as sinful:
conclude that these persons cannot be held respon-
sible for their condition. Their sexual desire for one             The predisposition itself, the homosexual potential-
of their own sex may be a "disordered" condition,              ity as such, dare not be any more strongly depreciated
                                                               than the status of existence which we  all  share as men
due to the general disorder caused by the fall into            in the disordered creation that exists since the Fall
sin; but it is not sin.                                        (post lapsum). Consequently, there is not the slightest
  The evangelical, German theologian, Helmut                   excuse for maligning the constitutional homosexual
Thielicke, advances this view in his influential               morally or theologically.. . .
treatment of homosexuality  (The Ethics of Sex:                    In fact, although the homosexual should first be ex-


62                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



       horted to seek treatment of his questionable               same ground, especially as regards the powerful
       condition, when it becomes clear that this condition is    and significant reality of sex.
       incurable, the homosexual condition must be accept-
       ed. This means "to accept the burden of this predis-          Also, this view weakens the hand of the child of
       position to homosexuality only as a divine dispensa-       God who must struggle against the lust of homo-
       tion and see it as a task to be wrestled with, indeed-     sexuality. Tell him that the desire and nature are
       paradoxical as it may sound-to think of it as a talent     sinful; and you call him to crucify the desire and to
       that is to be invested (Luke  19:13ff.)"                   mortify the old man, in the great, ongoing, spiritual
      Thielicke's lead is enthusiastically followed up            warfare of conversion. But convince him (if this
by Letha Scanzoni and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott,                  were possible) that the tendency and condition are
widely hailed as "two outstanding evangelical                     blameless, indeed as normal and healthy as  left-
authors." In a book,  Is  The  HomosexuaZ My                      handedness; and you have accomplished his
Neighbor? Another Christian View  (Harper & Row,                  spiritual ruin.
1978),  they assert that, in Romans 1, "no ref-                      That the acceptance of homosexual nature im-
erence is made to persons whose own `nature,' or                  plies approval of homosexual practice comes out
primary orientation, is homosexual, as that term is               clearly both in Thielicke and in Scanzoni and
understood by behavioral scientists" (p. 65). "The                Mollenkott.
Bible," we are told, "is silent about the homosexual
condition, ' ' so that "those who want to understand                 Having called for acceptance of homosexual
it must rely on the findings of modern behavioral                 nature, Thielicke immediately asks the inevitable
science research and on the testimony of those per-               question: "Does this acceptance mean, then, that a
sons who are themselves homosexual" (p. 71). On                   person thus constituted may act in accord with his
these bases, Scanzoni and Mollenkott instruct evan-               constitution, that this fateful  habitus  may be
gelical Christendom that there are persons who are                actualized?" His answer to this "ticklish question"
born with a homosexual nature; that this condition                is that this is permissible, if the homosexual is
should not be regarded as abnormal, but as analo-                 "willing to structure the man-man relationship in
gous to being born left-handed; that the homosex-                 an  ethically  responsibze  way." For a Christian
ual nature is not an illness, for "in the overall,                theologian to demand celibacy is both harsh and
homosexual persons are as psychologically healthy                 unBiblica1.  A sympathetic pastor will advise "the
and as well integrated into society as heterosexual               optimal ethical potential of sexual self-realization "
persons are" (p. 85); that the real problem very like-            i.e., homosexual acts with other homosexuals  n-r
ly is not the homosexual, but the heterosexual who                private.
refuses "to grant full human acceptance to homo-                    Where Thielicke treads ever so cautiously, Scan-
sexual persons" (p. 86); and that, if sin is involved             zoni and Mollenkott rush in. They rail against pro-
at all, it is not the homosexual who is guilty, but the           fessing Christians who condemn homosexual rela-
Christian who condemns homosexuality-he bears                     tionships and practice out of hand. With egregious
false witness against his neighbor! (p. 87) Thus do               begging of the question, they point to "sincere
these two outstanding  evangelicals  manage to put                homosexual Christian(s)" (p. 62). (Wonderful to
themselves fully under the Divine woe of Isaiah                   relate, among the examples of Christian homosex-
5:20, not only calling evil good, but also calling                uals given by Scanzoni and Mollenkott are Michel-
good evil.                                                        angelo, Erasmus of Rotterdam, and W. H. Auden!)
      The refusal to condemn homosexual nature itself             They call upon the Church to accept practicing
as sin, with homosexual practice, is grievous error.              homosexuals and homosexual "friendship," i.e., a
It is this, both practically and theologically. Prac-             "committed love relationship analogous to hetero-
tically, it opens up the way to an inevitable                     sexual marriage" (pp. 111, 122ff.). The practicing
approval of homosexual acts and, thus, the sanc-                  homosexual is our neighbor; and every Christian
tioning, in the Church, of practicing homosexuals                 must love him with a love that accepts his nature
and the assuring of such persons, by the Church                   and approves his behavior. If these evangelical
that they too are pursuing the holiness without                   authors have their way, evangelical churches will
which no man shall see the Lord, If the desire is un-             be conducting evangelical wedding ceremonies for
rebukeable, how can the carrying out of the desire                the evangelical marriages of homosexuals.
be condemned? One can still condemn certain                         Theologically, the position that exonerates the
forms of homosexual behavior; but he can no                       homosexual condition, while condemning homo-
longer condemn homosexual practice as such. If                    sexual deeds, is the denial of the doctrine of original
the inclination is justified, or at least not blamed, on          sin. For Protestants to adopt this position is for
the ground that the man, or woman, was born with                  them to concede the truth of Roman Catholic dog-
such a physical or psychological bent, the exercise               ma, vigorously controverted since the Reformation,
of this inclination demands justification on the                  that concupiscence (the evil desires of fallen human


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               63



nature) is not itself sin (cf. "the Canons and De-         mighty (although not reigning) power dwelling and
crees of the Council of Trent," Fifth Session, 5). At      working in the nature and members of the regen-
stake are vital issues, e.g., the total depravity of       erated child of God.
human nature and salvation by grace alone, apart             In keeping with Scripture's condemnation of the
from all human effort.                                     totality of sin-sin in root and branch, and not in
   For Reformed churches, or members, to hold this         branch only-the apostle of Christ condemns
view is for them to contradict their own Confes-           homosexual nature, as well as homosexual deed, in
sions. Sin is not only deeds; it is also the corrupt       Romans 1. Homosexual desires are "vile affec-
nature from which the deeds arise. Sin is not              tions" (v. 26) and burning lust (v. 27). Homosexual
located in the act of the will alone; sin is located,      deeds proceed from a man's mind; and that mind is
basically, in the depraved nature in which we are          "reprobate" (v.  28), i.e., a mind which is not ap-
conceived and born (Heidelberg Catechism, Q.`s 5-          proved by God, but condemned as evil. The homo-
7). Our great wickedness is not what we  do,  but          sexual mind-the disposition, the tendency-is
what we  are  (Heid. Cat., Q. 8). God is not only          reprobate.
terribly displeased with our "actual sins," but also          For this sin, both as regards passion and practice,
with our "original" (literally, "inborn") sins; and        the impenitent, practicing homosexual is  reponsi-
He will punish these inborn sins, i.e., our nature,        ble. His is not a "minimal responsibility" but the
our condition, our desires, as well as our actual sins     maximum responsibility. He is not a helpless
(Heid. Cat., Q. 10). The Spirit-directed conscience        victim of his genes, or a passive pawn of disordered
does not accuse a man only of acts of disobedience         nature, any more than the "constitutional" liar, the
against God's commandments; but it accuses him             "habitual" thief, or the drunkard. Women  change
also of being "still inclined to all evil" (Heid. Cat.,    the natural use, deliberately and actively (v. 26).
Q. 60). Included in the debts which Christians ask
God to forgive daily is "that depravity, which             Men  Zeave  the natural use, willingly, and  work,
                                                           energetically, that which is unseemly (v. 27).
always cleaves to us" (Heid. Cat., Q. 126). He who
runs may read the teaching of the Canons of Dordt            Therefore, they are punished by God with death.
in heads III, IV and the teaching of the Belgic Con-       The State may legitimize homosexual behavior (as
fession in Article XV.                                     "the Wolfenden Report" of 1957 recommended for
                                                           Great Britain: "That homosexual behavior between
  To be sure, we are, all of us without exception,         consenting adults in private be no longer a criminal
conceived and born sinful. Our nature, body and            offense"). The churches may sanction homosex-
soul, is "disordered," i.e., unrighteous, and de-          uality, as many are doing. But the judgment of God
praved. It is an unholy caldron boiling with evil de-      is that they which practice such things are worthy
sires of all kinds. This monstrous unnaturalness is        of death (v. 32).
now natural for the children of Adam. But this na-
ture is itself our sin; every man is responsible             To this judgment of God, the child of God who
before God for being thus disordered and                   has been converted from his homosexuality as-
depraved; The evil desires that boil forth from our        sents. His comfort is not the denial of his sin, but
nature are themselves our sins, altogether apart           the confidence of his faith in the promise of the gos-
from our assenting to them and carrying them out;          pel, that Jesus Christ made Himself fully responsi-
every man is guilty for his lusts. Romans  6:8 calls       ble for his homosexual acts of the past and for the
the corruption of the old, sinful nature, "the body        corrupt nature, with its foul desires, that still re-
of sin." In Romans  7:5, evil desires are called "the      mains in him, enduring God's just judgment of
motions of sins." According to Romans  7:13ff., sin        death in his stead on the cross.
is not only a choice of the will, or a deed, but a                              (to be concluded)
GUESTARTICLE

               Confession of Faith - What Is it?
                                                 Rev. H. Veldman

  Confession of faith-what is it?                          is the purpose of all their catechetical instruction.
  Our young people are expected to confess their           This catechetical instruction usually begins with
faith when they reach the age of discretion. This is       the seed of the covenant at the age of six, although
an obligation that rests upon them. This confession        in some of our churches it begins at the age of five.


64                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



The catechism books which have been adopted by             Jesus as their personal Saviour? Of course, they
our churches designate the age of six as the age           must know that they are children of God. The un-
when this instruction begins. The child attends kin-       dersigned always asked them this question. We cer-
dergarten at the age of five. We believe that a child      tainly would not admit to the table of the Lord
has his "hands full" when attending kindergarten.          young people who do not love the Lord. Doing so,
To this we may add that this five-year old also            we would profane the table of the Lord. And this is
attends Sunday School. We believe that it is better        surely a heinous sin, condemned all through Scrip-
for a child to begin his catechetical instruction at       ture, and also in Lord's Day 31 of our Heidelberg
the age of six. Our catechetical books, entitled "For      Catechism.
Beginners," are for children of six through eight            Are there those in our churches who are of the
years of age.                                              opinion that this knowledge of their personal salva-
      This catechetical instruction has for its purpose    tion is really the heart and thrust of our children's
the child's confession of faith. Our Christian             confession of faith? I sometimes wonder. Is it possi-
schools prepare the seed of the covenant for their         ble that our council and consistory members are
place in the midst of the world. Sometimes we hear         satisfied when the seed of the covenant appear and
of three agencies of instruction: the home, the            confess their personal faith in the Lord Jesus? Do
school, and the church. There are really only two          our young people understand what it means to
agencies of instruction: the home and the church.          make confession of faith in a Protestant Reformed
The school is really an extension of the home. If our      Church? Do they think that they can make confes-
parents were able to instruct their children we            sion of faith in any other church? Has it not hap-
would have no schools. Our parents, however, lack          pened, when our young confessing believers join
the time and the ability to furnish them with this in-     another church, that they say that they can also
struction. The result is that our parents organize         confess their faith in the Lord Jesus in that other
into school societies, hire teachers, and delegate to      church? Do they understand what it means to make
these teachers their authority to teach their              a Protestant Reformed confession  of,faith? Or, is it
children in their name. Now these schools prepare          possible that this is after all not the important
our children for their place in the midst of the           thing? Is this the matter of the greatest importance:
world, that they may conduct themselves as the             confession of personal faith in Jesus?
people of God's covenant in the midst of that                I referred in this article to the questions that are
world. This is the purpose and function of the             asked at Public Confession of Faith. I also referred
Christian school. In the church, however, that             to the questions asked at the sacrament of baptism,
same child is prepared to assume his (or her) place        whether of infants or adults. Have we ever read
in the sphere of the church, and this means that           these questions carefully? These forms were drawn
that child is prepared to partake of the means of          up, I am sure, very carefully and deliberately by
grace (including the sacraments) and reveal himself        our fathers many, many years ago. What is striking
(or herself) as a member of the body of Christ. This       about these questions? Is it not striking that in our
is the purpose of all catechetical instruction.            Public Confession of Faith there is nothing asked
      Confession of faith-what is it? What is its im-      about the young person's personal knowledge of
portance? What must be stressed and emphasized             salvation, although, as we shall observe later, the
when our young people appear to make confession            subjective and spiritual element is not lacking in
of faith before our church councils and consistories       these questions? They are not asked whether they
and publicly in the presence of the congregation?          believe in God or in Christ. Why is this? Is this an
Incidentally, as I write this I had no knowledge of        error on the part of our fathers? I think not. Should
the report of the committee that advised our synod         we change our form for the public confession of
in regards to our form for public confession of faith.     faith, incorporate into these questions a question
I have that report now and will presently comment          concerning one's personal salvation, as the commit-
on it. We do well, in this connection, to read the         tee proposed with their revised form to be submit-
questions that are asked at this public confession of      ted to this year's synod? I fear that this would be a
faith-see page 59 in the back of our Psalters. It can      step in the wrong direction, that it would reveal a
also be profitable to read the questions asked at the      failure on our part to understand our fathers and
sacrament of baptism, whether of infants or adults.        the form we have had these many, many years. Do
Is the purpose of their confession of faith that our       not misunderstand me. I do not claim that our
children confess their personal faith in the Lord          fathers were infallible. But, if we wish to change
Jesus? Does this confession center in their                things, we surely had better know what we are
confession of personal salvation? Does the empha-          doing. I do not favor change simply for the sake of
sis fall upon this, that they know that  they~ are         change. And, let us by all means attempt to under-
children of God, that they love God and believe in         stand our fathers and the form we have. I have


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               65



already called attention to the striking character of       able to assume, consciously,          our covenant
our present form for the public confession of faith.        obligations, to stand and fight in the ranks of the
I again ask: why is this?                                   people of God, as soldiers of the cross. This ex-
  What, for example, shall we say in connection             plains why these questions are asked at our public
with our forms for the administration of baptism?           confession of faith. This explains why those making
Notice, please, that the same emphasis is laid upon         confession are asked whether they believe the doc-
the doctrinal instruction of the child. This must not       trine contained in the Old and New Testaments and
escape our attention. But this is not all. Does not         in the Articles of the Christian faith and  taught
the first question asked of the parents include the         here in this Christian Church (I underscore) to be
statement that these children are sanctified in             the true and complete doctrine of salvation. This
Christ? Do not misunderstand this expression. This          explains why they are asked whether they have
does not mean that they are sanctified in Christ            resolved by the grace of God to adhere to this doc-
merely in a formal sense, that in some vague                trine and to reject all heresies repugnant thereto.
manner they are separated from the world and                And, indeed; they are also asked whether they are
formally consecrated to Christ. This means that             resolved to lead a new, godly life. Of course, their
they are sanctified in Christ actually and                  confession must be spiritual. However, our young
spiritually. They are holy, spiritually. To be sure,        people must understand what it means to confess
this does not refer to every baptized child. All is not     their faith in a Protestant Reformed Church, that
Israel that is called Israel. There is spiritual Israel     they could never confess their faith in any other
and there is also a carnal Israel, an elect Israel and a    church. This is the' reason why the undersigned
reprobate Israel. The believers bring forth an elect        always was in favor of a doctrinal review class,
seed but also a reprobate seed. These "sanctified in        using a book which the late Rev. H. Hoeksema had
Christ" are the elect seed. All is not Israel but it is     written for this very purpose, in which all the em-
called Israel. The entire organism bears the name of        phasis was laid upon the distinctive character of
the elect kernel. What does this imply and indicate?        this confession. This review class did not mean that
This, that our fathers were very keenly conscious           young people were pressured into making
and aware of the scriptural truth that God realizes         confession of faith. There is absolutely no truth in
His covenant in the line of successive generations          this. Yes, it is easy for our councils or consistories
and that the Lord usually regenerates His people,           to ask young people: do you believe in Jesus? But it
the children of believers, in their infancy. It is this     is imperative that they know in what church they
truth that we must ever bear in mind.                       confess their faith. In this we must ever continue to
                                                            be vigilant. Let us never relax. Let us never lower
  What bearing, now, does this have on our public           the bars. May we ever remain doctrinal, distinc-
confession of faith and the form we have had these          tively doctrinal, and this means: let us ever remain
many, many years? Why is it that there is nothing           Protestant Reformed. This requires effort, much
in these questions that refers to one's personal            effort and study. But we cannot afford to be satis-
knowledge of salvation, at least in the sense that          fied with less. May the Lord always give us grace to
they who are making confession of faith are not             hold fast. the Word of truth, to know what we
asked whether they love God and believe in Christ?          believe, never relaxing in this instruction of our
Why? The answer is obvious. God usually regener-            children.
ates His people in their infancy. Confession of faith         Do we need a revised form for Public Confession
does not mean that they then become conscious of            of Faith? Must we revise our form to call attention
the fact that they are children of God, although            to the obligation to partake of the Lord's Supper? Is
there may be such exceptional cases (God can and            there anyone, among those who make confession of
does regenerate a sinner at any moment of his life,         faith and throughout the entire congregation, who
also when he has become old). Usually, however,             does not know fully that this confession of faith
they are regenerated in their infancy. A child of 5 to      gives the right and privilege and also the solemn
10 years of age, to use this age as an example, may         obligation to partake of the sacraments, including
very well know himself to be a child of God. But            the Lord's Supper, to those who confess their faith
this does not necessarily mean that that child can          in the midst of the congregation? Is a revised form
make public confession of faith, can assume,                necessary, to replace the one that has been used
responsibly, his or her place in the ranks of the           these many, many years? Hardly! Moreover, must
people of God, can consciously fulfill his covenant         we revise our form so that we may add the subjec-
obligations.                                                tive, personal, spiritual element, lest our public
  Confession of faith means that a church council           confessions become mere attestations to the truth
or consistory has given one the right and privilege         in the intellectual sense of the word? The
to make public confession of faith in the midst of          committee which proposed this revised  form for
the congregation. It means that we are ready and            adoption at this year's synod writes, and I quote


66                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



(page 91 of the Agenda):  "2/We  fear that the ab-            sion in our present form? Do we not read in the
sence of the subjective element of public confes-             second question: "to reject all heresies repugnant
sion of faith might lead to the situation in which            thereto and to  Zead a new,  godZy  Zife?"  (I under-
confessors of faith in the church will not realize            score) Do we not inculcate this subjective and per-
their public confession requires of them to be con-           sonal element in all our catechetical instruction?
fident of their personal salvation. This `in turn             Are not the sacraments taught our children in our
might lead to the situation in which confessors of            Heidelberg Catechism for Juniors and in our Essen-
faith do not even come to the Lord's Table, as is             tials? I do not share this fear. This is my concern: let
true in at least one denomination at the present              us hold fast what we have that no man may take
time." The undersigned does not share this fear.              our crown. I am afraid of: Nieuwigheid en  Dwal-
When did this phenomenon ever reveal itself in the            ing. Do we need a revised form? Let us please un-
history of our churches? Does not this personal,              derstand our present form and maintain it to the ut-
subjective, and spiritual element come to expres-             most of our power.

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE


               Romans - Justification by Faith (2)
                                                   Rev. J. Kortering


      As we study the epistle to the Romans, it is help-      lection of the alms for the Jerusalem poor as being
ful to consider the circumstances under which Paul            gathered, and in this letter to the Romans as being
wrote it.                                                     completed, the date for the writing of this epistle
DATE AND PLACE OF COMPOSITION                                 must have been soon after the writing of I and II
                                                              Corinthians. This would make it about A.D. 56 or
      Paul had labored extensively in the church of           early A.D. 57.
Corinth during his second missionary journey.
According to Acts 18:1, he was there for a year and           PURPOSE AND CENTRAL MESSAGE
six months. On his third missionary journey, after              Paul finished his labors in the churches of Asia
laboring in Ephesus, he returned to Corinth (Acts             Minor, Macedonia, and Achaia. The churches were
20:23) and labored in that area for another three             organized and established in the truth. The word
months. During this time he wrote his letter to               had gone forth from strategic centers, Antioch,
Rome.                                                         Ephesus, and Corinth, and spread throughout the
  You ask, how do we know this? By examining                  region. Certain problems in the local churches had
bits of information given in this letter itself, we           been dealt with and now the apostle set his goals
come to this conclusion. In Romans  15:23, Paul               westward to Rome and even Spain. Hence a letter
mentions that he is about to set out for his return to        to Rome served a double purpose. It was prepara-
Jerusalem. He had in hand the offerings for the               tory for his coming, by it he sought to build up the
poor in Jerusalem which had been collected from               church thereby setting forth the truth in a concise
the churches of Macedonia and Achaia (Romans                  and precise manner, so that upon his arrival they
15:26). It was his intention to travel to Jerusalem           would already have begun to contemplate the
with this money and then depart for Rome                      truth. At the same time, Paul may have had fore-
(Romans  15:24, 28). He probably sent the letter to           warning of impending difficulty in Jerusalem.
Rome by the hand of Phoebe, a deaconess from the              Should he be injured or even killed, a summary of
nearby city of Cenchrea (Romans  16:l). Gaius is              the truth would already have been sent to Rome so
mentioned in this letter as one who sent his greet-           that the gospel could go forward, even if need be in
ings (Romans 16:23),  and according to I Corinthians          his absence.
1:14 he was in Corinth. Likewise, Erastus sent his              With this in mind, we can appreciate the epistle.
greetings (Romans  16:23)  and we know he was                 of Romans. The Holy Spirit moved Paul to write
treasurer in Corinth. From this we conclude that             just such a summary of the gospel for the church of
Paul must have been in Corinth at the time of the             all ages. Rome was destined to become a strategic
writing.                                                      center for the spread of the gospel. This epistle
  Since both I and II Corinthians mention the col-            served to set forth the content of that gospel. Its


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 67



grand theme of justification by faith, and not by the      through faith in Tesus Christ. The first example
works of the law is given in detail. This truth extols     given" is Abraham. He believed God and He
the sovereignty of God. The Holy Spirit guided             counted it to him for righteousness. This means
Martin Luther to ponder its depths which became            that Abraham believed in the promise of God that
the fountain head of the Reformation. Of the epis-         directed him to Christ. Abraham demonstrated that
tle, Luther wrote, "It is the true masterpiece of the      by offering his only son, Isaac. God's promise was
New Testament, and the very purest Gospel, which           yea and amen in Christ Jesus (4: l-5, 9-25). The
is well worthy and deserving that a Christian man          second example is David and his rejoicing in the
should not only learn it by heart, word for word,          forgiveness of sin (4:6-8).  Those who have such like
but also that he should daily deal with it as the daily    faith receive the blessings of justification, peace
bread of men's souls. For it can never be too much         with God, the ability to glory in tribulation, to have
or too well read or studied; and the more it is            patience, hope, and experience  (5:1-6).  All of this
handled the more precious it becomes and the               flows from Jesus Christ. He gave His life as a
better it tastes." Surely, he spoke from experience,       ransom for the ungodly, the sinner. The benefit is
well may we read it and study it with prayerful dili-      extended to all His people. Even as death resulted
gence  .                                                   from Adam's transgression, so life flows forth from
BRIEF OUTLINE                                              Christ's exaltation. Now in Christ, grace reigns
                                                           through righteousness  (5:7-2  1).
   1. The introduction (1: 1-15). As is generally true
in the writing of epistles, Paul identified himself as       This righteousness of God in Christ is a power
author, identified the recipient of the letter, and ex-    that influences our life in such a way that we de-
tended salutation and blessing (1: l-7). He assured        light in the law of God (6: l-8:39).
the Roman Christians that the gospel was for them            The apostle carefully spells out for us that faith
as well as the Jews, he expressed eagerness to bring       does not give us the liberty to sin. Rather, our old
the gospel to them (1:8-15).                               man is buried with Christ so that we are dead to sin
   2. Paul by the Holy Spirit set forth the great doc-     in order that we may now live unto God (6: l-23).
trine of justification by faith in detail (1:16-11:36).    He uses marriage as an example. We were married
                                                           to the law, but in Christ we died to the law that now
   He begins by showing that both Jew and Gentile          we may be married to Christ (7:1-4).  This does not
cannot obtain righteousness before God by the              eliminate the influence of sin, which still is in our
keeping of the law or by works they perform. All           members. Rather than give heed to sin, we now by
are under the curse of sin (1:16-3:20). The Gentiles       faith delight in the law according to the inward
have the general knowledge of God through crea-            man. The tension this produces in the child of God
tion, but even that does not change them. Rather, it       is that he is willing to do good, but evil is still pre-
leaves them without an excuse to keep on sinning           sent. Even that drives him to Jesus Christ for his
as they do. As a result, God's wrath comes upon            refuge  (7:5-25).  In Jesus Christ we rejoice, for we
them and He gives them over to a reprobate mind            are delivered from the bondage of the law unto the
to work all kinds of abominations (1: 16-32). The          liberty of the children of God. Now there is no con-
same thing applies to the Jews. All are under the          demnation; there is freedom in Jesus Christ. That
curse of sin, so that a Jew cannot certainly judge         freedom is not to sin with impunity. No, it is free-
another Gentile as being worse than he is. The Jews        dom to believe that all things work together for
may be outwardly circumcised, have the                     good to them that love God. Even the natural cre-
knowledge of the law, even keep the letter of the          ation has hope, though now it still groans. We have
law, and still perish. The law cannot save, it can         hope, though now we still groan. The Spirit takes
only condemn: "By the deed of the law no flesh is          our groanings and through Christ makes interces-
justified." The only privilege the Jew had over            sion for us (8: l-30). Now the apostle leads us to sing
against the Gentile was that he had the Gospel             a beautiful doxology of praise that nothing can
preached to him (2: l-3:20).                               separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus
   Righteousness before God is ours only through           Christ. From predestination to glory, God's love is
Jesus Christ  (3:21-5:21). The apostle now turns           faithful (8:31-39).
from the misery of sin to salvation in Jesus Christ.          God's righteousness is displayed in the salvation
He sets forth righteousness in Christ (redemption)         of Israel and of the Gentiles (9: l-l 1:36).  Paul asserts
which becomes ours by means of faith. That faith is        his personal desire for the salvation of his brethren,
the only way of salvation for both Jew and Gentile.        the Jews. He recognizes that they are not all saved
It likewise excludes all boasting, it extols God (3:21-    (9: l-5). As he proceeds to deal with the reason for
31). Paul now cites two examples from the Old              this, he first sets forth the truth that it is not the
Testament that show that the same thing was true           fault of the gospel, "as if the word of God hath
then: justification for the Old Testament saint was        taken none effect" (9:6). Rather, it is because not all


68                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



who are outwardly Israelites are the true Israel of        of Christ  (10:5-13).  There is only one Lord, and all
God. The children of the promise are counted for           who call upon Him are saved. They call because
the seed. These are the elect of God, for, "Jacob have     they believe; they believe because they heard
I loved and Esau have I hated." God's sovereignty is       Christ; they heard Christ through the preaching of
the deepest cause of the salvation of true Israel (9:7-    the gospel; they heard the preaching because one
13). God showed His sovereign mercy to Moses               was sent out by the church in the name of Christ.
(9:14-16)  and His sovereign judgment and wrath            Many heard, but did not obey (10: 14-21). The rem-
upon Pharaoh  (9:17,  18). He anticipated an objec-        nant of election among the Jews is saved (11: l-6).
tion that if God sovereignly determines salvation,         The others not saved were blinded, as Isaiah
how can man be responsible for his fault? He               prophesied in Isaiah  29:lO. David said the same
answers that man must not call God to account.             thing in Psalm 69:22. The purpose of this is that by
The potter hath power over the clay to make ves-           the hardening of the Jews the Gentiles are brought
sels as ornaments or practical dishes. How much            in. This did not mean that God no longer cared
more does Almighty God have power to make ves-             about the Jews. Rather, by including the Gentiles,
sels of wrath or mercy  (9:19-24)?  He quotes from         the Jews according to election were provoked to
both  Hosea  (Hos.  1:lO) and Isaiah (Is.  10:22)  to      holy jealousy and turned to Jesus Christ. In this
show that the elect include both Jews and Gentiles.        way all Israel is saved (11:7-15).  He uses the exam-
This explains why Jews perish and Gentiles are             ple of the olive tree. There were natural branches,
saved  (9:25-33).  The apostle now shows that Israel       the Jews, and there were wild branches engrafted
in a great measure rejected the gospel. He, as an          into the tree, Gentiles. Together they make up the
apostle, desired their salvation (10: l-3). Though         one tree, God's elect people throughout history
they claim to hold the law, they really rejected it,       joined by faith in Jesus Christ  (11:16-32). Again he
for Christ was the end of the law (10:4).  He referred     concludes with a doxology of praise to God Whose
to Moses and the prophets to show that they spoke          judgments are unsearchable (11:33-36).



                          Annual Secretary's Report
                                        of the R.F.P.A.

                                  September 17, 1981       quality work and because of the good relationship
Dear Brethren:                                             we have had with this company over the years, we
                                                           the Board felt it best to accept the added cost. We
      The Board of the R.F.P.A. takes this occasion to     did offset the total publishing cost somewhat con-
inform you of its activities of the past year.             solidating the work formerly done by Photo Com-
      Besides the routine work of its three standing       position and by National Correct Color by going to
committees which are the Information  & Educa-             Commercial Printing.
tion, the Finance, & the Book Committees....anoth-
er committee of four is busy. Henry Kamps, Tom               Concerning the matter of finances our balance
Bodbyl, Jim Koole, and Ken Hanko, called "com-             carried forward September 1, 1981 shows an in-
mittee for Publication of Standard Bearer Index,"          crease of some $800.00. This was mainly due to the
are working at compiling and arranging all subjects        fact that our subscription price was increased $1.00
and titles from all the Standard Bearer Volumes to         per year per subscriber. Our church collections in
form an Index in systematic, alphabetical order.           comparison with a year ago slightly decreased,
                                                           although individual gifts remained about the same.
      The Board has granted a loan of one thousand
dollars to this committee to cover expenses for this         The Board is encouraged by the present financial
needful and worthwhile project. As the Indexes are         receipts, although, we would hasten to add, we do
sold, this money will be repaid. Completion date is        need and appeal for your continued financial sup-
early 1982 or sooner.                                      port. Non-profit we may be, but as a business we
      In October of 1980, Wobbema Printing notified        still need funds to operate.
the Board that beginning in January 1981 a 15%               We thank our faithful covenant God Who in-
cost increase would be in effect. Because of their         clines the hearts of His people to give, that the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    69



R.F.P.A. may all these many years have published              2. More subscribers in Grand Rapids than any
the  Standard Bearer. . . .truly Scriptural, truly Re-               other city, Jenison is  2nd, Hudsonville is  3rd,
formed.                                                        followed by South Holland and Lansing,
  Our Editor-in-Chief and co-editors are truly zea-                  Illinois.
lous and dedicated to those principles and that               3. States receiving the most  Standard Beavers
Standard.                                                            are: l-Michigan 2-Illinois 3-California         4-
  Regarding the printing and mailing of the Stan-                    New Jersey 5-New York. We have 9 subscrib-
dard Bearer,  herewith are some facts and figures                    ers in Singapore.
furnished by our Business Manager:                            No annual R.F.P.A. report would be complete
  Total copies per issue printed                 2,000     without a word of recognition and thanks to our
  Total copies per issue                                   Business Manager, Mr. Henry Vander Wal. In his
     mailed locally                    795                 own unique way and manner he continues to get
  Total copies mailed outside                               the job done, with the result that the  Standard
     western Michigan                  789                 Beaver  arrives to you the reader...be it U.S.A. or
  Total copies mailed to foreign                           foreign lands.
     countries (including Canada)      177                    As we stand on the threshold of another publica-
  Total copies reserved for                                tion year (Vol. 58) let us pause to declare  "Ebene-
     bound volumes                     150                  zer"-Hitherto has the Lord helped us.
  Total copies mailed and                                                                 Board of the Reformed Free
     used for bound volumes                      1,911                                    Publishing Association.
  1. At least one subscriber in each of the coun-                                         Vice Sec.-Treas.
     tries in the United Kingdom (England, Ire-                                           P. Koole
     land, Wales, and Scotland)

SIGNS OF THE TIMES


             A Tale of Three Houses and a Church
                                                 Rev. R. Flikkema


  On a street in a certain city there are found three      about the tremendous things that he has done. For
houses and a church. In each of the three houses            after all, remember, he is such a superior man! And
dwell a husband and a wife. In the church dwells...        his wife? In his opinion she is, right along with the
well, we know who dwells in the church. God's              people in the world, not worth much. All that she is
people dwell there. The article which follows has to       worthy of doing is waiting on him hand and
do with what goes on between these husbands and            foot-getting him this and getting him that. In his
wives in these their houses. It will focus on the rela-     opinion she is little more than a servant, a slave,
tionship that exists between them-quite a differ-          who ought to think it simply the greatest honor in
ent relationship as we shall see.                          the world that he chose her to be his slave. And
  The relationship of the husband and wife in the           sometimes when she does not think it such an
first house is extremely tragic. The husband is a          honor to be his slave, he even beats her because,
very proud man. He is a man who thinks a great              after all, that is what you do with slaves!
deal of himself, and, in so doing, goes about his             Such is the relationship of the husband and the
everyday activities, and yes, even his activities in        wife in the first house. Now, the relationship of the
his home, with a very pompous air about him. He             husband and the wife in the second house is slight-
views the people in the world with whom he has to          ly different. In fact it is quite a bit different. In this
do as being inferior to him. He views them as owing         house the wife thinks a good deal of herself. She
him everything, while he who is far superior owes           considers herself to be quite an intelligent person,
them nothing, And this view, as I have already indi-        quite a knowledgeable person, a person with quite
cated, he also has with respect to his wife. In his         a number of talents, which talents she considers it
dealing with his wife he is also very proud and very        her calling to utilize in the world round about her.
boastful. He is always talking about himself and            She seeks a profession in the world, and does very


70                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



good at it too. But then when she comes home to            wife in hatred but out of love, and he will rule over
her husband, she, who is so enamored with,her in-          his wife in that way. Still more! That he is the head
telligence and her knowledge and her talents and           of his wife means that he must teach his wife and
her profession, looks down on her husband. She             instruct his wife. Even as the head of a body is the
considers herself to be so much better than her            source of all knowledge, so also has God made this
husband. And when her husband dares to ask her             husband, by virtue of the fact that God made him
(not dare to tell her now, but dare to ask her) if she     head, the source of all knowledge for his wife. And
is willing to do something for him, or if he dares to      particularly he is the source of all knowledge as
instruct her in some matter that he deems neces-           that knowledge pertains to the Word of God. By
sary, the wife immediately responds by saying to           virtue of the fact that God has made this husband
him, "Who do you think you are? I am just as im-           the head of his wife, this husband understands it to
portant as you are. I have just as many rights as you      be his calling to teach his wife the Word of God, to
do. And because of my superior intelligence and            instruct her in the Word of God, to bring her, day in
knowledge I am even more important than you are.           and day out, to the Scriptures in order to impress
You want me to do something for you? Do it your-           upon her the wondrous truths that are found there-
self! You want me to listen to what you have to say?       in. That this husband understands to be his call-
I don't need to hear what you have to say! Get with        ing-a calling which God has given him. And, too,
it, husband. We live in the twentieth century, the         he understands it to be a horrible shame if he does
century of the E.R.A., etc., etc.,!"                       not do that! If he does not rule over his wife, if he
      Such is the relationship of the husband and the      does not teach his wife, and if he does not because
wife in the second house. Now, about the relation-         he does not feel like it or because he does not pos-
ship of the husband and the wife in the third house.       sess the knowledge necessary to teach his wife (and
That too is quite a bit different. In fact it is all       that latter because he himself has failed in his call-
together different from either of the relationships        ing to search the Scriptures), he understands that to
that we have described as they existed in the first        be a horrible shame!
two houses. For this husband and wife are a  God-            And the God-fearing wife in this house, she looks
fearing husband and wife. They are a husband and           to her husband as her God-given head. She does not
wife who together, but led by the husband, have            view him in terms of superior or inferior, as better
searched the Scriptures and have come to an under-         or worse, but she views him to be her head. And
standing of what the Scriptures have to say con-           she respects him in love as such. Which means that
cerning their relationship, and have bowed in hum-         she stands in subjection to his ruling love. That first
ble submission to what they say for God's sake.            of all. She understands that even as the body must
You do not find in this house a husband who is             stand in subjection to the head, so also must she
filled with pride, a husband who considers himself         stand in subjection to her husband. Not to do so is
to be far superior to his wife, a husband who looks        not only contrary to nature, but also and above all
at his wife and treats his wife as if she were nothing     contrary to the Word of God. But in the second
more than a slave. Nor do you find in this house a         place, not only does she stand in subjection to him,
wife who is enamored with whatever intelligence,           but she also stands ready and willing always to be
knowledge, and talents she may possess, and who            instructed in the Word of God by him. She is
therefore looks down on her husband as being less          always ready and willing to have her husband
important than she, and who tramples his authority         teach her what God says. And she is that because
underfoot, refusing to stand in subjection to him.         she needs to have that instruction! A wife needs to
But rather, you find in this house a husband and a         be instructed in the Word of God. Why ? The
wife who understand that God, according to His             answer to that question is simply that God made
Word, has made the husband the head of his wife,           her that way. God, creating her as the weaker ves-
with all that that implies.                                sel, made her that way. That is not something to be
  And that implies much! That implies the fact that        ashamed about, but rather to rejoice about. We
he is called by God to rule over and govern his wife.      must not be ashamed at the way in which God
He is to rule over her! Not now as a tyrant over a         makes things, but rather rejoice in the way in
slave. Not in the least! A tyrant he is not and a slave    which our good God makes things. And, even
she is not! But head he is-a head who must rule            more, we must rejoice in the fact that God gives to
over his wife, motivated in whatever he does with          wives husbands to supply their God-given need!
respect to his wife by love. A tyrant is a tyrant by       The wife in this house so does that.
virtue of the fact that he deals with the people             The relationship of the husband and the wife in
under his dominion not out of love but out of ha-          this house therefore reflects in a most beautiful
tred. But a God-fearing husband who understands            way the relationship that God's people in that
that he is the head of his wife will not deal with his     church on this street experience with Christ. The


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   7 1




other two houses on this street do not reflect that                        wives the Word of God as we ought, and that be-
relationship. But this house does. And what is that                      *., cause we do not-know it ourselves? Do we as wives
relationship? It is the relationship of Christ, the                        stand in love in subjection to our husbands? Do we
Head to His bride, the Church. It is Christ's ruling                       understand it to be our calling to listen to them, and
and governing of His bride the Church-not out of                           listen to them particularly when they teach us
hatred as a tyrant, but out of love as Head. It is the                     God's Word? Or do we disobey our husbands and
relationship of Christ as head instructing His bride                       not think too much of the instruction which we
the Church with an instruction which she so sorely                         need and which they give?
needs. The Church, which is the bride and wife of                             It simply will not do for us as God-fearing hus-
Christ, needs the instruction of Christ, her Head.                         bands and wives to do anything other than what
She simply can not exist without it. Day after day                         God says. The husbands and wives of this world
she needs to hear Christ's voice as He speaks to her                       fail to do what God says, which exactly is the expla-
through the instruction of the preached Word. And                          nation for the relationship between husbands and
day after day she rejoices that Christ, her Head, not                      wives in the world today as we found them in the
only rules over her, but also in His love supplies                         first two houses. May that not be true of us. How-
her need.                                                                  ever, we ought to be aware of the fact, and at the
  That relationship between Christ and His                                 same time confess, that sometimes it is. The rela-
Church is reflected in the relationship of the                             tionship that exists between husbands and wives in
husband and wife in that third house. And the                              this world as we live in the last times has a way
question is, is that relationship the relationship that                    sometimes of affecting our relationship one to
is reflected in our homes? Do we as husbands un-                           another. We-live in the latter days. It will not be
derstand our God-given place as head of wives? Do                          long and Christ;-the~head  of -HisCh~urch,.  will come
we understand it to be our calling to rule over our                        to take His bride to glory. When He comes, what
wives in love, even as Christ rules over His bride                         will be the relationship that He sees between God-
the Church? Do we teach our wives even as Christ                           fearing husbands and wives? What relationship will
teaches His Church? Or do we so deal with our                              He see between you as a God-fearing husband and
wives as tyrants over slaves? Do we fail to teach our                      you as a God-fearing wife?



             Know the standard

       The Standard Bearer


                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

   On October 29 our parents celebrated their 25th wedding anni-
versary.                                                                                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   Matthew  28:20b:  "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end             On November 7, 1981, our parents, MR. and MRS. DANIEL
of the world."                                                             POORTINGA, will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary.
                                             Hank Nederhoed                   We, their children and grandchildren, thank our heavenly Father
                                             Ron and Margaret De Boer      for giving us God-fearing parents who have brought us up in the fear
                                             John Nederhoed                of the Lord. It is our prayer that God will bless and keep them in His
                                             Joyce Nederhoed               care in the years to come.
                                                                              "For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting and His truth  en-
                             NOTICE!!!                                     dureth to all generations." (Psalm  100:5)
                    ADMINISTRATOR NEEDED                                                                 David and Linda Poortinga
   Covenant Christian High School will be in need of an Administrator                                      Kimberly, Craig, Deborah and Chandra
beginning with the  1982/83 school term. Applicants should contact                                       Raymond and Cindy Poortinga
the Chairman of the Education Committee by December 1, 1981:                                               Jodi and  Jared
                                       Mr. David Ondersma                                                Kevin Poortinga
                                       6761 Brookwood Drive, S.W.
                                          Grandville, Michigan 49418                                     Daniel and Jessica Wiersma
                                          1616) 457-l 417                                                  Heidi

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





72                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


                           News From Our Churches
      As you know from the absence of a news column         formed Church of Houston, Texas made special
in the last issue of S.B.,  Classis  West met on Sep-       mention on their August 9 bulletin that they were
tember 9 in our Hull, Iowa Church. On the day               "19 souls richer than a month ago." It appears
prior to  classis,  an officebearers' conference was        Rev. Bekkering was on vacation at the time, and
held-as has been the practice of late-on the sub-           the elder that was conducting the worship service
ject of the ruling elder. Papers were presented by          was so overwhelmed that he was left "speechless
John Kalsbeek, Jr., of Redlands, California and M.          for a few moments." Pastor Bekkering further re-
Straayer of Edmonton, Alberta.                              ports that upon  his  return home from vacation he
      From a trio of Reverends  Houck, Kamps, and           too was "overwhelmed." Then in a footnote Rev.
Van Overloop, Rev. Van Overloop  of our Birming-            Bekkering gives his definition of overwhelmed:
ham mission field has been extended the call from           "Overwhelmed means that after attempting to
Redlands, Calif.                                            speak the invocation he .had to return to the consis-
                                                            tory room to compose himself. The congregation
      Our "retired" ministers are still very much in de-    sang Psalter  #lO as they waited. Elder Sugg had
mand. First Church of Grand Rapids has arranged             failed to warn him what the effect of that sea of
to send Rev.  Schipper  to labor for a couple of            faces might be. It turns out that the stolid Michigan
months in Bradenton, Florida when Rev. Harbach              Hollander is as helpless before the mercies of God
returns, and Rev. Heys is now preaching in  Red-            as the Anglo-Celtic Texan."
l a n d s .                                                   The following worthwhile "thoughts on improv-
      Due to the fact that there are no pulpit vacancies    ing congregational singing" were printed in an
in  Classis  East, our Seminary has requested of our        August, Hudsonville, Michigan bulletin:
Grand Rapids area churches occasional "Seminary
Sundays." A "Seminary Sunday" is defined as a                  Volume:  Ever notice how afraid we often are lest
Sunday in which professors and seminarians are                 others hear us singing too lustily? Most sing at less
given an opportunity to preach and give a word of              than half capacity-and some appear to sing not at all.
edification. From the looks of the bulletins I have            If each, for most songs, doubles the volume-what a
                                                               joyous sound indeed would arise before God's throne.
received, the churches are complying with this re-
quest.                                                         Punctuation:  Ever notice how we inevitably stop
                                                               singing at the end of a phrase-even when there are
      The Canons of Dordt is the subject of discussion         no commas or periods? Singing, while observing punc-
for two new study classes being held in the Grand              tuation, makes most songs more meaningful. (Neces-
Rapids area this fall. Our Hudsonville and South-              sary breaths can be taken in the middle of phrases-
east consistories are sponsoring the classes which             rather than at the end of an unpunctuated phrase.)
meet in the Byron Center Library, and the Calvin               Reverence:  Ever notice how we quickly put away
College Fine Arts Center on alternate Wednesdays.              our books and even begin to sit down-before the song
Prof. H.C. Hoeksema, author of a recently                      is ended? Perhaps the songs are so familiar we can do
published commentary on the Canons, Voice of Our               without books. But would it not be more respectful
Fathers, is teaching the classes.                              and less distracting if all books were placed back in
                                                               their racks  after  the song is finished?
      The Federation Board of Protestant Reformed
Young People's Societies sponsored a weekend fall             We close this column with some subscription
retreat at YMCA Camp Douglas, Muskegon, MI on               news from our business manager, Mr. VanderWal,
September 11 and 12. Activities of the retreat in-          that has what he called "international flavor." As I
cluded a speech, panel discussion, singing, and dis-        understand it a subscriber from Singapore gave a
cussion groups as well as swimming, canoeing, vol-          gift subscription of S.B. to a sister who resides in
leyball, and football.                                      Scotland. That means we now have our first, but
                                                            hopefully not last, subscriber in Scotland.
      Pastor Bekkering of our Trinity Protestant  Re-                                                                    CK


