            The
     STANDARD
           BEARER
             A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                   Y





        Demanding repentance and faith of dead
     sinners may seem foolish to us, but when we
     remember that God in Christ speaks through
     the preaching with the same power by which
     He created the worlds, then we can under-
     stand how the preaching can be the means to
     produce fruits of repentance and faith in the
     e l e c t .
     See "Election Preaching and the Demand
                               for Repentance" - page 98



.                                          Volume LVIII, No. 4, November 15,1981-


74                                                                      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.
      Meditation-                                                                                            Secon IfClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                             Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
         The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74                     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.
         Non-Functional by Editorial Decree?. . . . . . . . . . I76                          Lubbers, Rev. Rodney  Miersma. Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema,
                                                                                             Rev. Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman.
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MEDITATION

                             The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
                                                                                     Rev. C. Hanko


                       Ques. 46. What doth the resurrection of Christ profit us?
                       Ans. First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, that He might make us partakers of
                   that righteousness which He had purchased for us by His death; secondly, we are also by His
                   power raised up to a new life; and lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a sure pledge of our
                   blessed resurrection. Lord's Day 17, Heid. Catechism.

      Up from the grave He arose,                                                                  This song of victory, which we sing with all the
        With a mighty triumph o'er His foes.                                                   exuberant joy that fills the church of the new dis-
      He arose a Victor from the dark domain,                                                  pensation, strikes the keynote of this Lord's Day.
        And He lives forever with His saints to'reign.                                             "By His resurrection He overcame death." That
      He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!                                                      fact of Christ's triumphant resurrection stands out


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   75



as one of the great events, one of the mightiest won-               week by celebrating the resurrection of our Lord as
ders of God in all of history.                                      our victory over sin and death and as a pledge of
  Three such events live before our consciousness.                  the rest that remains for the people of God.
In six successive days God spoke and by the word                      We are partakers of Christ's righteousness.
of His power created the heavens and the earth. At                    Christ "overcame death that He might make us
each word of His command a new creature came                        partakers of that righteousness, which He had pur-
into being, until man, the highest of the earthly                   chased for us by His blood." Unbelief may sneer at
creatures, was formed from the dust of the earth.                   that. Boastfully they declare that all things remain
Let unbelief deny this. "Through faith we under-                    as they were from the beginning of  [he world.
stand that the worlds were framed by the word of                    Christ has come and gone, but nothing iis changed.
God, so that things which are seen were not made                    What benefit does anyone derive. from a "risen"
of things which do appear" (Heb. 11:2).                             Jesus? Even our flesh questions the power of the
  As if this were a small thing with God, the resur-                resurrection in our daily lives. We are still in this
rection of Jesus Christ proves to be an even                        body of sin and death. Sin still wars in our members
greater wonder. When our Lord arose, God did not                    and death lurks wherever we turn. The believer, as
merely create a new life, but brought forth life from               well as the unbeliever, suffers pain, sickness, dis-
the dead. The Son of God entered into our death                     eases, loss of dear ones, and the anguish of death.
when He took on Himself our human nature from                       We have gained nothing; misery is still our lot.
the virgin Mary. He met death as His enemy in a                     Faith refutes that vain language with a very defin-
final combat during the three hours of darkness on                  ite: Nay! "Nay, but in all these things we are more
the cross. He challenged death by surrendering                      than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Rom.
Himself to its power, and thus destroyed that                       8:27). And how we enjoy being refuted!
power, first by bearing the torments of hell, then by                 How do I know? If you should ask me, "Were
dying our physical death and arising as Victor on                   you there when they crucified our Lord?" I would
the third day. In our stead our Lord overcame death                 answer, "Yes, I was there, not as one who deplored
and merited for us eternal life. He opened the way                  His bitter suffering, but as one who was in Him, one
for us to pass through death into heavenly perfec-                  with Him as completely as if I had atoned for my
tion, both as to body and soul. Therefore He is now                 sins in my own body. In God's eternal mercy I
ascended to heaven and seated at the right hand of                  belong to Jesus. There on the accursed tree, almost
God to prepare a place for us and to prepare us for                 two thousand years ago, my Savior paid the stupen-
that place, that we may be where He is in His glory.                dous debt of the guilt of my sin and merited my
  From this follows that we expect still a third                    righteousness."
wonder, the resurrection of our mortal bodies and                     Righteousness! Blessed word. How can we guilty
life eternal with Christ in the new creation.                       sinners ever be righteous in the sight of God? The
  Christ is the mighty Conqueror. His resurrection                  answer lies in the fact that, in a sense, righteous-
is His and our eternal victory.                                     ness and Christ are synonymous. Christ is our righ-
  That is the sole point of view in this Lord's Day.                teousness. God delivered Him over to the accursed
One may wonder why such an important subject                        death of the cross because of our transgressions.
receives such a brief treatment in our book of in-                  God raised Him up because He merited for us our
struction, one short question with a very short                     righteousness (Rom. 4:25). The living Savior
answer. The fathers might have discussed the fact                   Himself assures us through His Word and by His
that Christ arose and the events related to the resur-              Spirit in our hearts that we are righteous in Him.
rection.    There are      m a n y   t o d a y ,   e v e n   i n    Just as emphatically as when He was among us on
"Reformed" circles, who openly or deviously deny                    earth, He now from heaven declares to us, "Go in
this wonder. The fathers might have referred to the                 peace, thy many sins are forgiven thee." Who can
evidences that God gives to explain the wonder. (I                  lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God
prefer to speak of evidences rather than proofs. Un-                Who justifies. Who is the condemner?
belief accepts no proofs. Faith needs no proofs, for                   A new life.
"It is written." But we do need evidences that in-                    There is a second benefit of Christ's resurrection.
terpret this wonder for us.) Our Catechism passes                   "We are by His power raised unto a new life." This
these by in silence to focus all our attention on the               new life stands in contrast to the "old life" which
profit, or benefit of the resurrection for us. And                  we received at birth from our parents. We were
now we marvel that so much is said in such few                      spiritual still-births, born in sin. That accounts for
words. Three benefits are mentioned: our justifica-                 the sins that incessantly arise within us, character
tion, our spiritual renewal, and the pledge of our                  sins, cherished sins, deliberate and inadvertant
blessed resurrection. Every Sunday we begin a new                   sins, evils that arise within me, evils that result


     76                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



     from my failure to do my duty. "0 wretched man               ples the nail holes in His hands and the wound of
     that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of             the spear thrust in His side. No doubt was left in
     this death?" (Rom.  7:24). Yet how wonderful that            their minds but that Jesus was no longer dead, but
     we may add, almost in the same breath, "I thank              lived.
     God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (vs. 25). That             It was a real body. Their first impression was
     thankfulness, as well as the consciousness of our            that they saw a spirit taking form before their eyes.
     depravity, arises from the new life which Christ im-         But Jesus assured them, "I is I." He proved this by
     plants in us as our resurrected Lord. This new life          eating food. We may wonder about the fact that the
     has become a spiritual reality for us. "I am cruci-          resurrection body still bore scars and could partake
     fied with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but        of earthly food. Part of the solution lies in the fact
     Christ liveth in me: and the life I now live in the          that this was an appearance. For the rest, this must
     flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who             remain a mystery for us.
     loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal.  2:20).
     Powerful Word! I am crucified with Christ. The                 Jesus arose in the same body, a real body, yet
     guilt of my sins was nailed to the cross. When               changed. Mortality had put on immortality. The
     Christ died I died. I died to sin, the power of sin is       earthly had become heavenly. Death was swal-
     broken. Yet, amazingly, I live! No, it is no longer I        lowed up in victory.
     that live. I have the new life within me, and that             This is a pledge of our blessed resurrection. How
     new life is Christ. Christ lives in me! He is the            could it be otherwise? We already have the begin-
     power, the directive of my life,' even the goal. Cling-      ning of eternal life within us. Every time the sacra-
     ing to Him, relying on Him, I find all my salvation          ment of holy baptism is administered in the congre-
     in Him. It is true, I still have my old life, my old         gation we are reminded that we are buried with
     nature. That old nature does not improve with age,           Christ in baptism. We die to the world in Christ.
     as one might think or hope, but it becomes, like a           And God raises us up in newness of life within
     weatherbeaten tree, old and gnarled. But grace               God's church and covenant. We are new creatures
     abounds, so that I am driven to seek my strength             in Christ with our citizenship in heaven. Our hope
     and refuge ever more completely in Christ. Like a            is fixed on our heavenly home and perfection.
     tempest swept tree I drive my roots ever deeper              When finally this body sleeps in the Lord and is laid
     into Christ. The powerful, risen Lord teaches me to          away like a seed in the earth, our souls go to be
     confess, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is         with Christ in heaven, and we wait for that
     gain" (Phil. 1:21).                                          moment, when at the sound of the trumpet Christ
                                                                  will appear to change our vile bodies into the like-
           As a pledge of our blessed resurrection.               ness of His glorious body by that power whereby
           This is the third benefit of Christ's victory over     He subdues aZZ things to Himself! (Phil. 3:21).
     death, dying with Him we rise with Him. Christ's               At Jesus' tomb God says: "Behold, I make all
     resurrection was a bodily resurrection. The tomb             things new!"
     stood vacated. Nothing remained except the grave               Within our hearts He testifies, "Old things are
     clothes that had enveloped His body. The undis-              passed away, behold, all things are become new"
     turbed grave clothes are a mute evidence of that             (II Cor. 5:17).
     bodily resurrection.                                           Soon we shall see the new heaven and the new
           It was the same body that had been placed in the       earth, in which we will be with the Lord in His
     tomb, but now risen. Besides the fact that the grave         glory, and that forever and ever! Hallelujah! Christ
     clothes were left intact, Jesus showed to His disci-         arose!
     EDITORIAL
~


                   Non-Functional by Editorial Decree?
                                                     Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


           Whether you agree with him or not, the Editor of       those editorials tend to capture the attention of the
     The Banner  writes some interesting editorials.  Part-       readers, as is evident, too, from the sample of re-
     ly, I think, because of a somewhat abrasive style,           sponses which appear in "Voices." Attention, of


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        7 7



course, does not necessarily imply agreement; but                            their own a "false" church; but such reasoning under
also those readers who do not agree with Editor                         today's historical conditions leads to "extreme arro-
Kuyvenhoven nevertheless pay attention to what                                gance, " as Calvin would say.
he writes.                                                                   It is especially the first couple of statements in
   I do, too.                                                         the above paragraph which moved me to rub my
                                                                      eyes in disbelief when I first read them. "What is
   And when I read the editorial in the issue of                      the Editor saying?" I asked myself. "Is he really
October 26, 1981, I must confess I rubbed my eyes                     saying what I think he is saying?" I even went to
in disbelief.                                                         others to ask their opinion, lest I should be reading
        In a Reformation Day editorial, the Rev. Kuyven-              into these sentences something that is not there.
hoven writes on the subject of "the Church and the                    But these others assured me I was reading correct-
Churches." In the course of his remarks he also                       lY*
deals with the subject of the true and the false                             Notice, in the first place, the Editor-and he
church, after having pointed to the fact that,                        speaks not only for himself but also for his church-
according to him, "the great disadvantage of the                      parts ,ways with the Reformers and their views con-
Reformation has proved to be the splintering of the                   cerning the true and false church. Now that, of
church," and that while "the church had an                            course, is his good right. The views and statements
artificial unity before" the time of the Reformation,                 of the Reformers are not necessarily correct in
"it has suffered a genuine disunity ever since."                      every instance; and they certainly do'not constitute
Concerning the subject of the true and the false                      binding doctrine in any Reformed church. Never-
church, Editor Kuyvenhoven writes as follows:                         theless, to part ways with the Reformers is a very
           Two of our confessions date back to the time of the        bold and audacious step to take. It should not be
         Reformation. Therefore they reflect the Reformers'           taken lightly, and certainly not without careful
         belief in the one universal church that has always           study and examination. But here no grounds are
         existed in the world and shall always continue to            even offered. We have simply the bold statement,
         exist, because this holy assembly has an eternal King.       "The views of the Reformers are no longer ours."
         The Reformers, and our confessions, do not think of
         the one holy and universal church as a thing that is                But the second statement is terribly serious:
         hidden from human eyes and known to God alone.               "And the kind of thinking about the church that is
 L No, they said that the one true church was visibly
  ~.                                                                  recorded in the Belgic Confession is no longer func-
         present. There is also a false church, they said. And        tional in the Christian Reformed Church."
         they meant the Roman church. Believers don't belong
         in it, they warned. It is our duty to join ourselves to             That this "kind of thinking" is no longer func-
         the true church ("and outside of it there is no salva-       tioning in the CRC, for the most part, I could well
         tion"]. Nor is it impossible to discern the difference       believe. This would mean that many do not believe
         between the true church and the false church: where          and actually maintain what the Confession teaches
         the true gospel is preached, where the sacraments are        on this subject. Probably there are many who do
         rightly administered and discipline is exercised, there      not know or care. Ignorance of the creeds today is
         is the church. There is no excuse for those who have         simply appalling!
         the Bible and who say they cannot find the true
         church. "These two Churches (the true and the false)                But the Rev. Kuyvenhoven does not say that. He
         are easily known and distinguished from each other."         says that the kind of thinking recorded in the Belgic
         [See Belgic Confession, Articles XXVII-XXIX and              Confession is no longer "functional," that is,
         Heidelberg Catechism, L.D. 21.)                              serving a function, in his denomination. By editori-
                                                                      al fiat he simply writes off an entire segment of the
   So far, so good. Though very brief., the above is a                Confession, and he does so not only for himself but
fairly accurate summation of the Confession.                          for the entire Christian Reformed Church!
        But then the Rev. Kuyvenhoven continues:                             I ask: how can this be?
           The views of the Reformers are no longer ours. And
         the kind of thinking about the church that is recorded              In the first place, how can this be in the light of
         in the Belgic Confession is no longer functional in the      the fact that the Rev. Kuyvenhoven has undoubted-
         Christian Reformed Church. How could it be! If we            ly signed the Formula of Subscription? Does that
         took it literally, we would not only have to confess         subscription mean anything,' or is it an empty for-
         that our own little church is the true church, but that      mality?
         all other churches are false. All Christians in the Unit-           In the second place, is the procedure of  grava-
         ed States and Canada would be in default for not join-
         ing our church, because it is Christ's church. None of       men no longer necessary? I am aware of the fact
         us makes such claims. To be sure, there are a few,           that a few years ago there were some changes made
         even smaller Reformed churches, that on" the basis of        by the Synod of the CRC in the gravamen proce-
         the Belgic Confession declare every church except            dure. But certainly the Synod did not declare open


78                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



season on the confessions without any necessity of                XII. While we refuse, therefore, to allow to the
a gravamen procedure whatsoever.                               Papists the title of the Church, without any qualifica-
      But, in the third place, not only is the procedure       tion or restriction, we do not deny that there are
                                                                Churches among them. We only contend for the true
of gravamen passed by; but the matter is simply de-            and legitimate constitution of the Church, which re-
cided-without procedure, without study, without                quires not only a communion in the sacraments,
synodical decision. Simply by editorial decree!                which are the signs of a Christian profession, but
      I think Calvin would call that popery! Let alone         above all, an agreement in doctrine. Daniel and Paul
"extreme arrogance!"                                           had predicted that Antichrist would sit in the temple
                                                                of God. The head of that cursed and abominable king-
      Meanwhile, I would call attention to the fact that       dom, in the Western Church, we affirm to be the
even Calvin himself was not guilty of the kind of              Pope. When his seat is placed in the temple of God, it
absolutist thinking about the true and the false               suggests, that his kingdom will be< such, that he will
church which is ascribed to him and to others                  not abolish the name of Christ, or the Church. Hence
sometimes. Editor Kuyvenhoven does not name the                it appears, that we by no means deny that Churches
few Reformed churches of whom he says that on                  may exist, even under his tyranny; but he has pro-
the basis of the Belgic Confession they declare                faned them by sacrilegious impiety, afflicted them by
every church except their own a "false" church.                cruel despotism, corrupted and almost terminated
The so-called "Liberated" churches, both in the                their existence by false and pernicious doctrines, like
                                                               poisonous potions; in such Churches, Christ lies half
Netherlands and in Canada, sometime seem to en-                buried, the gospel is suppressed, piety exterminated,
tertain that idea. Other than that, I do not know              and the worship of God almost abolished; in a word,
who holds that view. I recall that a Liberated                 they are altogether in such a state of confusion, that
spokesman in the time of our differences                       they exhibit a picture of Babylon, rather than of the
concerning the Declaration of Principles once flatly           holy city of God. To conclude, I affirm that they are
called us the false church. The strange thing was              Churches, inasmuch as God has wonderfully pre-
that several years later the same man told me in               served among them a remnant of His people, though
conversation that he could very well go to the                 miserably dispersed and dejected, and as there still re-
Lord's table with me, but not with those ministers             main some marks of the Church, especially those, the
who had left us for the Christian Reformed Church.             efficacy of which neither the craft of the devil nor the
However that may be, Calvin himself does not un-               malice of men can ever destroy. But, on the other
                                                               hand, because those marks, which we ought chiefly to
qualifiedly and absolutely write off the Romish                regard in this controversy, are obliterated, I affirm,
Church. This is plain from the following paragraph             that the form of the legitimate Church is not to be
in the  Insfitutes,  Book IV, Chapter II (Allen Trans-         found either in any one of their congregations, or in
lation) :                                                      the body at large.

                                         Editor's Notes

Special Issue. The December 1 issue will be the             published originally by the Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub-
first of our special issues in the current  volume-         lishing Co. in the 1940s. It has long been out of
year. It will be devoted to a description of our pub-       print, and it is well worth obtaining. The contents
lishing efforts  -  The  Standard Bearer, our RFPA          are not just a repetition of the material found in The
Publications and others-complete with pictures.             Triple Knowledge, but this little book is full of prac-
Watch for it!                                               tical, spiritual instruction. The price of this book is
                           *****                            also $3.95.
New Publications.  We have received word that                                          *****
our newest RFPA publication, Prof. H. Hanko's We
and Our Children (The Reformed Doctrine of Infant           Book Club Reminder. For the umpteenth time I
Baptism), will be out this month. I have seen a pre-        remind you that if you are an RFPA Book Club
view of this book, and it is one of our most attrac-        member, you can obtain all our books at 20% dis-
tive paperbacks, both in appearance and in content.         count and without the bother of specially ordering
The regular price of this book will be $3.95. We            them; they will come to you automatically. How do
have also been promised that our paperback reprint          you become a member? You must be a  Standard
of Rev. Herman Hoeksema's In The Sanctuary (Ex-             Bearer  subscriber, and you must agree to accept
pository Sermons on the Lord's Prayer) will be ready        every new publication at the special Book Club dis-
and available before Christmas. This was the very           count. Write- to: RFPA Publications Committee,
first of Rev. Hoeksema's works which was                    P.O. Box 2006, Grand Rapids, MI 49501.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                79



MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                                   Letter to TimothvL

                                  November  15,198l        minister. It is so easy to be dissatisfied with his
Dear Timothy,                                              preaching and to complain about the quality of his
  I have written to you at some length about the           sermons. It is so easy to grumble that we are not
evils of wrong criticisms of one's pastor and his          being fed and to push the blame for our failure to
preaching. In writing about these things, I called         worship on the minister. But the question is very
your attention especially to what the Word of God          important: Do we pray for our pastors and remem-
says in Hebrews  13:17: "Obey them that have the           ber them before the throne of God's grace? Do we
rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they             pray for them every day of the week while they are
watch for your souls, as they that must give ac-           preparing their sermons? Do we pray for them on
count, that they may do it with joy, and not with          the Lord's Day before and after we enter the
grief: for that is unprofitable for you." There are a      church? Do we pray for them with our families at
few more passages in Scripture which speak of this         mealtimes? That is quite another question. And it
matter and which are profitable to discuss, even           simply remains a fact that no man has any right to
though briefly. The first of these is found in this        bring any criticism of his pastor unless he makes it
same chapter, verse 7: "Remember them which                a continual practice to bring his pastor to the throne
have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you           of God's grace.
the word of God: whose faith follow, considering             4) In this same verse the apostle says, "Whose
the end of their conversation." There are a few            faith follow, considering the end of their conversa-
ideas in this text which we ought to notice.               tion." Perhaps somewhat more literally we could
  1) That the apostle here refers especially to mini-      translate this, "Whose faith imitate, observing care-
sters of the gospel is plain from the fact that he de-     fully the conclusion of their walk in life." The apos-
scribes them as those "who have spoken unto you            tle has in mind the fact that faithful ministers of the
the word of God." They are those who have been             gospel must be examples to the flock. They must be
entrusted with that responsibility-to speak the            such examples in the whole of their life so that
Word of God.                                               every minister dares to say, as Paul said, Imitate my
  2) They are called here, "those that have the rule       life. But this passage simply assumes that ministers
over you. " This is a good translation all right; but      do live this kind of life. And now he admonishes
the word which is used here is a word which really,        God's people to imitate their pastors, imitate the
basically, means, "leaders." We speak of our rulers        faithfulness of their walk and make their walk and
in government sometimes as leaders. This is the.           conduct a model for you in your walk. But especial-
idea here. Those who bring to us the word of God           ly, so says the text, observe carefully that their
are our rulers, but they are our rulers from the           walk of faith ends in a glorious death. They live in
viewpoint of their being leaders. They, so to speak,       faith, complete their work in hope, and die in the
lead us through the pathway of life according to the       confidence that they shall presently be with the
directions of the Word of God. And, in leading us,         Lord. Paul writes to Timothy, without boasting,
they teach us to follow Christ Himself Whom they           just before his death: "For I am now ready to be of-
too follow.                                                fered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I
                                                           have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
  3) We are "to remember" them. The idea is to             I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for
keep them in mind, to hold them before our                 me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
thoughts, to be aware of them and the position they        righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not
occupy in the Church of Jesus Christ. This can, of         to me only, but unto all them also that love His
course, refer to a number of things. It can refer to       appearing."
the need to see to it that their earthly needs are pro-
vided for. It can remind us of our calling to show           It is a sign of our respect for our pastors and our
honor and respect to them. But, surely, it also            willingness to be instructed by them in the Word of
means that we must remember them in our prayers            God that we make them our models for our own
to God. It is so easy to sit back and criticize the        life. We do this because we know that Christ is in


80                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



them and comes to expression in the Word they               analysis, one's attitude towards the preaching is de-
bring and in the life they lead.                            cisive. If one submits to the preaching, one will
      It is in connection with this latter idea of honor    honor the preacher. If one allows himself to be led
that I  wan.t  to call your attention to several other      in the green pastures of the Word, He will also give
texts which emphasize this point. In I  Thessaloni-         proper respect to him who leads. The preacher and
ans 5:12, 13 we read: "And we beseech you, breth-           his message can never be separated.
ren, to know them which  labour  among you, and               Some of the texts to which I refer are the
are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to          following. In James 1:19-21  the Scriptures teach us:
esteem them very highly in love for their work's            "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man
sake." This same idea is found in I Timothy  5:17:          be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for
"Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of         the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of
double honour, especially they who  labour  in the          God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and super-
word and doctrine." And this is repeated in Philip-         fluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness
pians 2:29: "Receive him therefore in the Lord with         the engrafted word, which is able to save your
all gladness; and hold such in reputation." The ref-        souls. ' ' This same idea which James expresses here
erence in this latter verse is to Epaphroditus              so graphically is even in the Old Testament. In
through whom it is possible that Paul sent this             Proverbs  lo:19 the wise king of Israel instructs us
letter to the church at Philippi. Epaphroditus was a        with the words: "In the multitude of words there
fellowlaborer with Paul; a companion in labor and           wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is
fellow-soldier-as Paul calls him in verse 25. The           wise." This is, of course, a general precept which
Philippians must receive him in the Lord with               applies to the whole of life. People who talk too
happy hearts and hold him in reputation, i.e., in           much will surely sin with their lips. This is un-
honor.                                                      avoidable. The wise man does not talk so much. He
      We need not say very much about these verses          restrains his lips. He is quiet and keeps his tongue
other than to point out that this is exactly the re-        from running away with him. This is always true;
quirement of the fifth commandment. When,                   but it applies also to our attitude towards the
therefore, we fail to hold those who are our pastors        preaching. That is why James tells us to be swift to
in honor we violate the fifth commandment. This is          hear, but slow to speak. That this is indeed the idea
very serious and a great sin against God. It is a com-      is clear from a more direct passage in Ecclesiastes
mandment the violation of which brings with it its          5:1,2: "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house
own kind of punishment. The relationship of                 of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the
authority and obedience upon which this com-                sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do
mandment are based are fundamental. If these re-            evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine
lationships are violated, the structures and institu-       heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for
tions in which these relationships exist disintegrate       God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore
and disappear. If, e.g., the obligations inherent in        let thy words be few." That is about as clear as it is
authority and obedience in the home are not met,            possible to make it.
the home is destroyed. If authority is not exercised          All of this surely does not mean that there does
and obedience is not practiced in the state, the state      not come a time when the believer must, for the
destroys itself. If in the Church the fifth command-        sake of the Church of Jesus Christ and for the wel-
ment is violated, and honor, love, and respect are          fare of the cause of God, speak up. And sometimes
not shown to those in authority, the Church is de-          that speech must indeed be in defense of the truth
stroyed. God destroys because God punishes those            and on behalf of the honor and glory of God. If
who violate His law. But God destroys in such a             Luther had bowed before Rome and refused to
way that thlose  who violate His law destroy them-          open his mouth in criticism there would have been
selves. These institutions can only exist by a keep-        no Reformation. Church reformation comes about
ing of the fifth commandment. The relationships of          through the office of believers also. The truth is
authority and obedience are woven into the warp             greater than all and the honor of God more impor-
and woof of these institutions so that they cannot          tant than any man. But this surely is not the point.
be destroyed without destroying the institutions            James, in telling us to be slow to speak, certainly
themselves. So honor those who are ministers of             suggests that there may come a time when we have
the Word.                                                   to speak. In receiving the engrafted Word which is
  Finally, there are some passages of Scripture             able to save our souls, sometimes the necessity of
which speak of our calling towards ministers of the         speaking is forced upon us. But the fact remains
Word from a slightly different perspective. They            that we must be swift to hear and slow to speak.
look at our calling from the viewpoint of the Word          We must refrain our lips. Our heart must not be
of God which pastors bring. After all, in the final         hasty to utter anything before God. After all, God is


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               81



in heaven and we upon earth. Our words ought                      guard their lips before the face of God, then we will
therefore to be few.                                              receive a blessing.
  The whole point is that we must go to Church to                   It is my earnest prayer that this spirit may prevail
hear the preaching. We must go to hear Christ. We                 in our Churches and in the Churches of our Lord
must go determined to hear and not to speak. If                   Jesus Christ. Then and then only will our Churches
then, we pray for our pastor, if we honor him for                 continue to be blessed.
his office's sake, if we go to church to hear Christ                                                      Fraternally in Christ,
speak through him, and if we are a people who                                                             H. Hanko

FROM HOLY WRIT

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


                         Chapter X                                         "But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the
  There is a text in the Old Testament prophecies                     mountain of the house of the LORD shall be estab-
                                                                      lished in the top of the mountains, and it shall be
to which Postmillennial advocates repeatedly and                      exalted above the hills, and the people [peoples) shall
almost without fail refer to, in order to sustain their               flow unto it" (Micah 4: 1).
teaching that the Kingdom of Christ will be                       These two sections are the verses to which we will
universal, including all the nations of the world,                limit our explanation and exegesis in this Chapter.
"Christianized" by the power of the preaching by                  We shall not weary the reader with a lot of detailed
the Holy Spirit.                                                  refutation of the Postmillennial position. We shall
  The texts which they quote are then merely                      rather simply exegete the text and see whether
cited, referred to, but they are not carefully and                good exegesis will needs force us to place a Post-
exhaustively exegeted, so that we have Scripture                  millennial construction in the text. Basically, we
thoroughly interpreting Scripture. Sad to say, it is in           are interested in what the Spirit says to the
this hiatus of teaching, this exegetical vacuum, that             churches here, for we are really dealing with the
their presentation of the Postmillennial reign rests.             more sure prophetic word, which shines as a light
In a word, it thus becomes virtually foundationless,              in a dark place, both in the Old Testament and New
unscriptural,  unBiblica1;  it raises more questions              Testament dispensation. And ever the prophetic
than it answers.                                                  word must be such that it is as the morning-star
  The key-texts which are supposed to support this                which proclaims the hope of the perfect day [II
Postmillennial view are found in both Isaiah 2:2-5                Peter 1:19).  Our interest is that we, the church, may
and Micah 4:1-7. It is a remarkable fact that the                 live in the blessed hope of the glory of God's taber-
Holy Spirit caused two holy men to be moved to                    nacle with man (Rev. 21:3).
speak and write these words. They must be doubly                    Let us then attend to our text(s).
important, indeed. And we are reminded of Jesus'                    The things which are here spoken of are realities
words in Matthew  24:15,  "whoso  readeth, let him                concerning Judah and Jerusalem which shall be in
understand." Words of warning and of encour-                      the "last days." These things are such that "they
agement to the exegete!                                           shall come to pass." These are great and precious
  We will here quote these two passages in part.                  promises of God; they are the word of God Whose
They read as follows:                                             promises are all "yea in Christ and in Him, Amen,
                                                                  to the glory of God the Father" (II Cor.  1:18-20).
      "The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw con-
    cerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to             God is faithful to His own Word. And this suggests
    pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S        very, very strongly that these are the things which
    house shall be established on the top of the moun-            relate to the sufferings to come upon Christ and the
    tains, and shall be exalted above the hill, and all           "glory" to follow. Thus Peter writes in his first
    nations shall flow to it" (Verses 1,Z).                       Epistle to the Gentile Christians in Asia Minor. This


82                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



glory is  th;e final glory, which we will see in the        we are dealing with a great, grand, and glorious
great manifestation of the Son of God glorified in          "Theme" which is unfolded wonderfully in the
the last day, when we shall have a new heaven and           entire prophecy here in Isaiah. We may call Isaiah
a new earth (I Peter 1:4, 5). All now is ready to be        the great Gospel of Christ's death and resurrection,
revealed in the last time!                                  and of His ascension and glorification in the church.
      We are certain that Isaiah "saw" what was going       This is borne out in Isaiah  52:13-15 in a nutshell;
to befall Judah and Jerusalem in this "last time."          and in Isaiah 53:1-12 we have a panoramic view of
Do not forget that all the prophets from Jacob (Gen.        the glories of Calvary, Easter morning's mysteries,
49: 1) till Malachi (4:2-6) saw the end of time spoken      and the passing of Jesus through the heavens to sit
of in II Peter  3:13: "Nevertheless we, according to        at God's right hand, to gather the entire seed of
His promise, look for a new heaven and a new                Abraham, both in the old and new dispensations. It
earth,  whlerein  dwelleth righteousness." That is          would not take much effort to prove this, citing
what Isaiah "saw." Isaiah and all the other                 page and paragraph. Indeed, Isaiah here gives us
prophets saw really two things, which we here               the grand theme of hope of the future glory of
point our particularly:                                     Judah and Jerusalem. Such is the implication of the
                                                            exultant and joyful cry "Awake, awake, put on thy
      1. That this final glory of the city of Jerusalem,    strength, 0 Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, 0
Zion, is connected with the King of Zion, the Son of        Jerusalem, the holy city.....Shake thyself from the
Man, Who must suffer to enter into His glory. Thus          dust; arise and sit down, 0 Jerusalem; loose thyself
Jesus Himself interprets the Scriptures to His              from the bands of thy neck, 0 captive daughter of
disciples after His blessed resurrection. We read:          Zion..." (Is.  52:1, 2). For here we see the perspec-
"and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He            tive of the "Gospel" to all nations, Jew and Greek.
expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things          And we hear the beautiful strains of the prophet's
concerning Himself." This means that if we do not           anthem "How beautiful upon the mountains are
understand Isaiah to have "seen" the Christ in this         the feet of him that bringeth good tidings..." (Is.
vision concerning the glorified Jerusalem, we do            52:7).
not understand the Scriptures here. We have cast
away the key of knowledge (Luke  24:25-27). Then              Such is the implication of the grand theme in our
we shall be the fools, who are slow of heart to             text which is exhibited in all its glory in the most
understand "all" that the prophets have spoken.             lofty and exalted prophetic utterances, which are
No one really preaches the Gospel in the pro-               the pure poetry of heaven!
phecies, who does not preach the "suffering                   Hence, Isaiah "saw" a great future for Zion, for
servant of Jehovah." For Zion is only glorified in          Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
her glorified God in Jesus Christ (John 13:31, 32).           To this city the New Testament church has
      2. That the prophets understood one point very        "come" (Heb.  12:22).
clearly, one and all when they prophesied con-                The text both in Isaiah and in Micah says that the
cerning Jerusalem's  glory'in  the "last days." These       prophets see Jerusalem "exalted" very high. Now
things were not spoken to the prophets merely and           this is really glad tidings of hope for the suffering
to their time. Peter writes and says, "Unto whom            saints in the days of Isaiah as they will be carried
(the prophets, G.L.) it was revealed, that not unto         away to Babylon. The city of Jerusalem was in a
themselves, but unto us (you) they did minister the         very sad estate in the days of these prophets. They
things, which are now reported unto you by them             will be soon in captives' bands; Rachel will weep
that have preached the gospel unto you with the             for her children in Ramah  and will not be comfort-
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things              ed (Is.  52:2; Jer.  31:15; Ps.  137:1-3). But now dry
the angels desire to look into." The prophets were,         your tears, 0 Zion. Better things are in the offing.
one and all, fully aware that they were indeed              God Who speaks in divers times and manners in
speaking things concerning the glory of Jerusalem           the Old Testament prophecies by prophets, will in
as it would be manifested in Christ's death and             the "last days" speak in a Son. In this Son aZZ will be
glorification at God's right hand.                          better: a better covenant, better promises, better
      From the foregoing follows, as is clear from all      priesthood, better temple, a new and living way
the Scriptures, that in these last days Jerusalem           into a better and heavenly temple, not made with
shall be glorified in heavenly splendor. The days of        hands. All will be better, and it will be glorious for
the earthly Jerusalem shall be ended forever. There         Judah and for Jerusalem.
will be no more earthly "house of God" in an                  That is the grand "theme" here in these passages
earthly Jerusalem anymore. Now this is not explicit-        in Isaiah and in Micah. Is not this glory of
Zy stated here in Isaiah  2:2, or in Micah  4:1! It is      Jerusalem connected in Micah with the birth of the
very clear -that in this entire passage in Isaiah 2:1-5     One Who is to be a "ruler in Israel" and Who will


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     83



be born in Bethlehem-Ephratha, and Whose  out-             country; the cities are burned with fire, and
goings are from eternity? (Micah  5:2).                    strangers devour Israel's land in their presence; it is
  Yes, now shall Judah and Jerusalem be "on the            desolate, overthrown by strangers.
top of the mountains." And it will not be a mere             And now a glorious future is predicted for Zion!
display of topological position of earthly Jerusalem         This future is far beyond the building of the city
in the midst of earthly mountains. Jerusalem, as an        and temple in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah,
earthly mountain, never excelled over the heights          Hagga,i  and Zechariah, when the remnant accord-
of  Bashan. This is expressed by the Psalmists.            ing to election are like those that dream when they
However, the glory of Zion was that she is beautiful       return to Zion. It refers (this glorious exaltation of
for situation, the joy of all the earth. And this          Zion) to the entire dispensation of the fulness of
situation is her place in God's counsel, in God's          times, as this shall be perfected in the unification of
decree (Ps. 2:4-7). When the nations imagine vain          all things in Christ, as under one head (Eph. 1: 10).
things against Zion and her king, the Lord of
heaven laughs at such puny "raging"; He declares             Then shall Zion be glorious under one Shepherd,
His decree and He executes it.                             David's Son.
  And that is the great future here in Isaiah 2: 1,2.        Yes, then it shall be one fold and one Shepherd!
                                                           (John 10: 16; Ezek. 37:22). The Gentiles too shall be
  Yes, Isaiah has seen Zion in her low estate. She is      brought into that glorified Jerusalem into the house
like a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a          of the Lord. For my house shall be called a house of
cucumber patch, as a beseiged city. There is really        prayer of all people (Matt. 19:46; Is. 56:7; Jer. 7: 11).
no hope left. She is a sinful nation, a desolate

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD


                            Missionary Methods (8)
                                              Prof. Robert D. Decker


  As we continue our studies of the Scriptural             to missionaries. They asked him to give them two
method or methods of performing mission work we            weeks of instruction in the missionary methods
will devote our attention to what has been and still       which he had first set forth in a series of articles in
is a very significant little book on Missions. The         the Chinese Recorder in 1885.
book is entitled: PZanting And Development of Mis-
sionary Churches. Dr. John L. Nevius, a Presbyteri-           "To these two weeks of meetings and to the
an missionary to China in the late 18OOs, authored         application of those principles set forth in that
the book. Dissatisfaction with the old methods of          series of articles, later collected in this little booklet
doing mission work led Dr. Nevius and his  col-            of ninety pages, many missionaries in Korea attri-
leagues.in  China to re-think missionary methods in        bute much of the rapid growth of mission work in
the light of Scripture. The result is what has come        that country. There were only 100 communicants
to be called the "Nevius method or plan." This plan        at the time these principles were adopted, but
first appeared in a series of articles in the  Chinese     today (1958) there is a full grown, self-propagating,
Recorder in 1885. Later this material was published        self-supporting and self-governing church of
in book form. In 1958 the Presbyterian and Re-             800,000 members.            However, these          same
formed Publishing Co. published this book in               missionaries, as well as Dr. Nevius himself, would
paperback. (It is available at the Seminary Book-          be the first to insist that to God and to God alone
store.) In the preface to the fourth edition of this       belongs the glory for all that has been wrought in
book Bruce F. Hunt, an Orthodox Presbyterian mis-          Korea. As both believed the methods were God's,
sionary in Korea, has this to say: "In 1890 Dr. John       so they also believed that the results were God's.
L. Nevius, a Presbyterian missionary working in            Dr. Nevius, a seasoned missionary, always criti-
China, received an invitation to Korea from a              cized existing methods of mission work in the light
group of seven young missionaries who were just            of God's Word, and at the same time sought to find
beginning their work in that little peninsula off the      in God's Word the principles which should direct
east coast of Asia, which until then had been closed       all missionary activity.. . ."


84                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



      What is the "Nevius method"? i\Jevius gave this     out of poverty. In fact they saw the ministry as the
answer: "These two systems may be distinguished           way at least to approximate the higher standard of
in general by the former (the old method, R.D.D.)         living enjoyed by the foreign missionary.
depending largely on paid native agency, while the          It was especially at this point that Dr. Nevius
latter deprecates and seeks to minimize such              found the old wrong and even detrimental to the
agency. Perhaps an equally correct and more               cause of the gospel in China. It was common, and
generally acceptable statement of the difference          to a certain degree it is common today, for the
would be, that, while both alike seek ultimately the      American or European church to send missionaries
establishment of independent, self-reliant, and ag-       to a foreign field. They would construct a mission
gressive native churches, the Old System strives by       headquarters in some strategically located place.
the use of foreign funds to foster and stimulate the      Native converts would be hired and trained and
growth of native churches in the first stage of their     paid to go out and preach the gospel. The money
development, and then gradually to discontinue the        would flow like water to help the poor, build cha-
use of such funds; while those who adopt the New          pels, support preachers and evangelists, and for
System think that the desired object may be best at-      many other causes. The natives are left with the im-
tained by applying principles of independence and         pression that the missionaries and the church
self-reliance from the beginning. The difference          which has sent them (a foreign institution, remem-
between  thlese  two theories may be more clearly         ber) have money in abundance and are ready to
seen in their outward practical working. The Old          give that money liberally. The very real danger is
uses freely, and as far as practicable, the more ad-      that the well-intentioned sending church and its
vanced and intelligent of the native church               missionaries not only leave the wrong impression
members in the capacity of paid colporteur's  (distri-    but actually create a situation in which people are
butors of religious tracts and books, R.D.D.), Bible      tempted to follow Christ merely for bread rather
agents, evangelists, or heads of stations; while the      than food for their souls. This, in fact, has hap-
New proceeds on the assumption that the persons           pened frequently. Men sought the ministry and
employed in these various capacities would be             later proved unfaithful to the gospel. They were in-
more useful in the end by being left in their original    terested only in the money. This method also cre-
homes and employments" (p. 8). The rest of the            ates a-native church which stands in an unhealthy
book is really an expansion of this general distinc-      dependent relationship with the mission and
tion. As we continue our study we shall have to           sending church. About this we shall have more to
answer the question: "Does the Nevius method              say later.
meet the test of Scripture?" Nevius himself insisted
that it did. It was for this reason that, according to      Nevius lists six specific objections to the old
Nevius, there was such abundant fruit on the work         method. These may be found on pages  12  - 18.
in both China and Korea.                                  These are: 1) "Making paid agents of new converts
                                                          affects injuriously the stations with which they are
      According to Nevius the old method involved ex-     connected." A man, knowledgeable in the gospel
tensive use of paid workers. The missionaries             and influential in the community, "is one who can
would look for and train young men from among             be ill-spared." Removing him from his occupation
the natives for the gospel ministry or to work as         and home and putting him to work as a minister of
assistants to the missionaries. These native evange-      the gospel can have serious, harmful effects. The
lists and ministers would preach and teach at the         author cites the example of four promising young
various mission stations. It was the contention of        men who while "working with their hands in their
Nevius that this old method seemed the natural            several callings" bore testimony to the truth
way to do mission work. The slogan in those days          wherever they went. They were instrumental in
was: "China must be evangelized by the Chinese."          provoking great interest in the gospel and church in
It was only natural to seek as many native                their own neighborhoods. One by one they were
preachers  a.s possible too because the missionary        hired by the mission and sent to various stations,
was eager for fruit upon his work. Not only that but      with the result that the interest in the gospel in
the sending church was also as anxious to hear of         their own neighborhood waned. Nevius claims that
fruit as the missionary was to report on the fruit of     many other similar examples could be cited. But
his work! This method found ready acceptance              this is only one aspect of the problem. By making
among the Chinese as well. Because of the dense           use of paid native preachers, evil is introduced.
population and the sharp struggle for existence           Envy, jealousy, and dissatisfaction with one's lot
which it necessitates, the Chinese found it difficult     come into play. Those who are not hired by the
to find ways of earning a living and providing for        mission resent those who are. Others who do not
their families. Those converts gifted with the neces-     qualify for the ministry think they should be hired
sary qualifications for the ministry saw it as a way      in some other capacity. The interest that once was


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          8 5



in the gospel now shifts and the topics of conversa-             4) "The Employment System tends to excite a
tion are "place and pay." The native preachers are             mercenary spirit, and to increase the number of
no longer regarded as spiritual leaders interested in          mercenary Christians." The danger under the Old
the spiritual good of their flocks, but as those who           Method is simply this that men will come to the
are after money.                                               church, be baptized, confess their faith, and seek
  2) "Making a paid agent of a new convert often               the ministry simply for the money. When that
proves an injury to him personally." Some of these             influence enters the church, Nevius contends, it
men who were formerly shopkeepers, farmers, or                 spreads with destructive, divisive results.
laborers find themselves unsuited for the ministry.              5) "The Employment System tends to stop the
Others become puffed up with pride. For these and              voluntary work of unpaid agents." The convert
other reasons they lose the respect of their neigh-            reasons: "If others are getting paid to preach, why
bors. About this Nevius remarks: "Here again I am              not I?"
not theorizing, but speaking from, experience, and               6) "The Old System tends to lower the character
could multiply cases-as I presume most mission-                and lessen the influence of the missionary enter-
aries could-of deterioration of character in both              prise, both in the eyes of foreigners and natives." In
directions above indicated." (p. 13)                           Nevius' day new `converts, in China were almost
  3) "The Old System makes it difficult to judge               universally branded, "Rice Christians," by their
between the true and false, whether as preachers or            unconverted neighbors. Training and hiring and
as church members." Not a few fall away after they             paying converts to preach only fosters this attitude
have become preachers. Many more fall away                     rather than denying it. The church is seen as a
when they learn they are not going to be employed              foreign institution and is viewed with suspicion.
as preachers. Better it is, claims Nevius, to leave the        This obviously makes the work just that much
people in their own occupations.                               more difficult.

ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren


                                    "Dear Ann Landers"

  Ann Landers is known by most who read the                       pregnancies and cancer, presumably of the uterus.
newspapers. She gives advice to the lovelorn. Some                These, of course  tare life-threatening medical condi-
of her advice is a matter of simple common sense.                 tions which are expressly allowed....
Much of it is based not on the morality of Scripture,                The good doctor feels that the fetus is "biological
but the "morality" of natural man. The writer of                  life" but not a human being. Later he says that the
that column recently took a position as  "pro-                    humanity of the life is not a scientific question but
choice" in the abortion issue. The term,  "pro-                   philosophical, moral, and theological. If this biological
choice" is deceiving. One might rather term the                   life is not human,; what is it? Canine? Feline? Bovine?
position of these  "pro-choicers" as being  "pro-                 Equine? Its genetic code with 46 chromosomes is
murder" (within stipulated limitations). Ann                      found only in humans. The fetus proceeds from
Landers' public stand generated much response.                    human intercourse and takes its temporary residence
                                                                  in the  sustaining:environment of a human womb. I
One lengthy response appeared in  T1ze  Christian                 think the good doctor is confusing "humanity" with
News, September 21, 1981, written by Rev. Earl A.                  "personhood" under the constitution. The latter is
Bielefeld. He responds:                                            indeed a matter of legal opinion. . ..The Roe vs. Wade
      I read with interest your two columns on abortion            decision (of the Supreme Court) has an ominous pre-
    and want to take strong exception to your assertion            cedent from  1857,  namely, the Dred Scott decision.
    that "The questions were good but Dr. Ryan's                  You'll recall that our august Supreme Court then de-
    answers were better...."                                      cided that although blacks were humans, they were
                                                                  not "persons" under the law and were therefore not
      . ..The doctor asserts that the HLB [Human Life Bill,       covered by the  lconstitutional  guarantees of "life,
    ed.) "would present great difficulty for obstetricians         liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.`..."
    to provide health care to women who are pregnant." I
    would ask what, besides medically unnecessary abor-              . ..The doctor says that "genetic screening programs
    tions, would this bill prohibit? He mentions tubal            represent a great advance in diseases such as Down's


86                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



       syndrome." He fears that should the HLB become law               abortion and preferably keep it to themselves. But
       this would become irrelevant as he could no longer               some seek to actually defend the lives of the innocent
       "offer the woman a choice." The term "choice"                    unborn and they become dangerous to democracy by
       sounds very appealing to a freedom-loving American,              asking their elected officials to pass laws to that effect.
       but the thought must properly be completed. Freedom              But most people oppose theft, murder, rape, slavery,
       to choose what? In this case what is being sought is             and cruelty to animals on religious grounds. Should
       the freedom of a woman to kill her unborn child. Are             we appeal those laws that are so fatally flawed by re-
       you aware that some of this "genetic screening" is               ligious motivation?
       being used to identify children of an unwanted sex so               The humanity of the unborn and the wrongness of
       that they can be terminated? Are you aware that men-             abortion has been a given in western civilization since
       tally and defective newborns are being actively and              the time of Hippocrates. Scientific advances in fetolo-
       passively killed by doctors who brag of this in presti-          gy and perinatology in recent years have increasingly
       gious medical journals? Wake up and smell the coffee,            confirmed the individual humanity of the unborn.
       Ann. The holocaust didn't end with the death of Hitler           The fact that Scripture (Ps.  51:5; Jer.  1:5; Luke  1:44;
       in 1945; its been reincarnated in a segment of the               Is. 13:18  et al.) also regards the unborn as individual
       American medical profession today.... If America ulti-           humans should strengthen, not negate, this view....
       mately swallows this measure of fascist eugenics, I
       don't doubt that somewhere down the road we'll get              The letter continues by warning against that
       around to putting all mentally and physically defec-          same attitude as was evident in Germany before
       tive persons "out of their misery." I can just see some       and during World War II and the "wanton slaugh-
       bureaucrat heading some such "better late than never          ter of millions of innocent but unwanted members
       program".                                                     of society." And the warning had better be taken to
         In your second column we perhaps get to find out            heart. It is certainly true that "Pro-choice" can
       what rea1l.y  makes Dr. Ryan tick. It's economics. "In-       quickly be applied to families who must deal with
       stead of a single cost of $125 for an abortion, we will       very aged and infirm members. Ought they too not
       pay $1,000 to $1,500 for a delivery and at least              have the "right" of "choice" whether or not they
       $100,000 .to support these welfare children until they        terminate the lives of the infirm and handicapped-
       reach maturity. This is a commitment of about 40              which otherwise they must support at great finan-
       billion dollars every year." Could you please inquire         cial sacrifice? Does not "pro-choice" also imply
       as to how many of those $125 fees Dr. Ryan collects           that one ought to have the right to do with his body
       per year? Doubtless he pays some rather hefty income          as he would-including the commission of suicide?
       taxes which may explain his distaste for helping sup-
       port poor people on welfare. Clearly, Dr. Ryan is a           Let it be clearly understood-this is not a matter of
       materialist who places a dollar value on human life,          "pro-choice" but "pro-murder." It is the viewpoint
       especially the lives of the poor whom he could termi-         that one has a right, under limited circumstances,
       nate for income and avoid helping with his taxes.             to take the life of another, though his own life is not
         . ..So pro-lifers are o.k., if they merely disapprove of    endangered. That is violation of the sixth
                                                                     command.


                                      The Author of Genesis

      In Chistinn News, September 28, 1981, there is a                    Now the September 28  Newsweek  reports in an
report of a computer study of the book of Genesis                       article titled "Did One Person Write Genesis?": "The
to determine whether its author is one-or whether                       coldblooded precision of technology may seem to be
there are several. The leading theologians of the                       at odds with the mysteries of religion. But in a compu-
past century have boldly asserted that there are                        ter study of the Bible called the Genesis Project, the
more authors than one to the first five books of the                    twain have met-and surprisingly, the Good Book has
Bible. The view is held even within such "conser-                       won a vote of confidence from the soulless machine.
vative" schools as Hope College of the Reformed                           "At issue is the authorship of the Pentateuch, the
Church in America. The view is in direct conflict                       first five books of the Old Testament. Traditionally,
                                                                        Jews and Christians alike considered the Pentateuch
with the clear teachings of Scripture and must rest                     to be the work of Moses. But for the past hundred
upon the theory that the Bible is not infallible.                       years, liberal theologians have generally agreed that
         Liberal theologians, who reject what the Bible and             the books of Moses are the work of a variety of wri-
      Jesus Christ teach about the authorship of the first five         ters."
       books of the Bible, have long argued that these books              Newsweek  says that "Two narrative strains that
       were compiled from various sources designated by                 scholars have long considered distinct because they
       them as J-E-D and P.                                             employ different words for God turned out to be


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              87



   linguistically indistinguishable when methodically                the scientific ingenuity of natural man. The child of
   compared by the computer."  Newsweek  quotes project              God needs no computer to convince him of the in-
   coordinator Yehuda Radday: "It is most probable that              fallibility and inerrancy of Scripture. Yet when
   the book of Genesis was written by one person."                   natural man points out the absurdities of these
     . ..Orthodox Christian scholars believe that one per-           "theologians," the Christian can only rejoice that
   son is the basic author of Genesis because this is what           the foolishness of man becomes exposed even
   the Bible and Christ teach. Their position is not based           already on this earth. But, of course, one can hardly
   on the results of any computer study....                          expect that the learned "theologians" will agree
  It is indeed interesting, if all the above is correct,             with this study-for it is rather traditional in this
that the learned "theologians" of our day, who                       camp to accept only such scientific findings as
have so long sought to undermine the faith of many                   seem to support their own positions.
in the trustworthiness of the Bible, are exposed by


                                          Double Standards

  The Presbyterian  JournaZ,   September 30, 1981,                       your denomination's thoughtful position on this sensi-
presents an article which points out the inconsis-                       tive issue.' "
tency of those who fault the "new right" for attack-                    The writer continues by pointing to a Mr. Gaddy,
ing "pluralism"  in  American  life. It  states:                      senior minister at the Broadway Baptist Church in
      Critics of the New Right, including the Moral Ma-               Fort Worth, who accused the New Right of pervert-
   jority, are charging conservatives with doing exactly              ing politics. He said, "Religious freedom is being
   what they have been doing for years, according to                  eroded by a disregard for pluralism." But the writer
   Rep. William L. Dickinson (R-Ala.).                                of the article points out the double standard which
      Mr. Dickinson was referring to charges made by                  is being used:
   such liberal organizations as Americans United for                      About such attacks, Mr. Dickinson said, "The hy-
   Separation of Church and State, that the New Right                    pocrisy is that the critics are among those who have
   attacks "pluralism" in American life by insisting there               most actively `used religion for their own political
   is but one "Christian" position on various issues.                    purposes.' The attacks on  evangelicals  have come
      "My own church, the United Methodist, has  done                    from radical elements of the mainline Protestant es-
   the same thing," Mr. Dickinson said. He said the                      tablishment at the national level which for years have
   denomination had tried to intimidate him, as a                        been deeply involved in yarious political actions and
   member of Congress, for not holding to the denomina-                  causes.
   tion's stand on abortion.                                               "They operate together on a coordinated basis from
      Quoting a "chastising letter" from his church, the                 elaborately financed church offices in New York,
   Congressman said, "An intimidating section in the let-                Washington and other locations. In many instances,
   ter stated, `On behalf of all United Methodists, many                 their local churches at the `grass roots' don't even
   of whom are voters in your district, I urge you, a                    know how their money is being spent," the Congress-
   United Methodist member of Congress, to evaluate                      man said.

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS

  - Chapter VIII  - Of Christ the Mediator
                                                         Rev. Ron Van Overloop



  In the eight sections of this chapter the Westmin-                  nity unconditionally elected some men and angels
ster Confession treats the office and work of Christ                  in Christ unto salvation and glory out of His free
as the Mediator of His people. Let us recall that the                 grace and that God has foreordained all the means
Confession has already taught that God from  eter-                    to that salvation and glory (Chapter III).


88                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



      In this issue we consider the first four sections.                 under the  law,b and did perfectly  fulfil  it;c endured
                                                                         most grievous torments immediately in His  ~0~1,~ and
         1. It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose            most painful sufferings in His  body;e  was crucified,
       and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, to              and  died;f  was buried, and remained under the power
       be the Mediator between God and  man;a  the                       of death, yet saw no corrupti0n.g On the third day He
       Prophet,b Priest,c and king;d  the Head and Saviour of            arose from  the  dead,h  with the same body in which
       His Church;e the Heir of all things;f and Judge of the            He suffered;' with which also He ascended into
       world;g  unto Whom He did from all eternity give a                heaven, and there sitteth at the right hand of His
       people to be His seed,h and to be by Him in time re-              Father,J  making  intercession;k and shall return to
       deemed, called, justified, sanctified and glorified.'             judge men and angels at the end of the  wor1d.l
         a. Isaiah  42:l;  I Peter  1:19,  20; John  3:16; I Timo-         a. Psalm  40:7,8;  Hebrews  10:5-10; John  10:18;
             thy 2:5.                                                          Philippians  2~8.
         b. Acts  3:22.                                                    b. Galatians  4:4.
         c. Hebrews  5:5,6.                                                c. Matthew 3: 15; 5: 17.
         d. Psalm  2:6; Luke  1:33.                                        d. Matthew 26:37,38;  Luke 22:44; Matthew 27146.
         e. Ephesians  5:23.                                               e. Matthew 26 and 27.
         f. Hebrews  1%                                                    f. Philippians  2:8.
         g. Acts  17:31.                                                   g. Acts 2:23,24,27;  Acts 13:37; Romans 6:9.
         h. John 17:6;  Psalm 22:30; Isaiah 53: 10.                        h. I Corinthians  15:3-5.
         i. I Timothy 2:6; Isaiah 55:4,5;  I Corinthians 1:30.             i. John  20:25,27.
         2. The Son of God, the second Person in the                       J Mark 16:19.
       Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance,              k. Romans  8:34; Hebrews  9:24;  7:25.
       and equal with the Father did when the fulness of                   1. Romans  14:9,10; Acts  1:ll;  10:42; Matthew
       time was come, take upon Him man's  nature,a with                       13:40-42;  Jude 6; II Peter 2:4.
       all the essential properties and common infirmities              The first section speaks of the eternal appoint-
       thereof, yet without  sin;b being conceived by the             ment of Jesus Christ as Mediator and it identifies
       power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin
       Mary, of her  substance.c So that two whole, perfect,          the office of Mediator.
       and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood,               We read first that God was pleased to ordain
       were inseparably joined together in one Person, with-          Jesus to be the Mediator between God and man. It
       out conversion, composition, or  confusi0n.d Which             was the good pleasure of the Triune God to do this.
       Person is very God and very man yet one Christ, the            He gave to the Mediator a responsibility and calling
       only Mediator between God and  man.e                           to fulfill, namely, to save those people God gave
         a. John  l:l-14;  John  5:20; Philippians  26;   Gala-       Him. The Confession teaches that God's eternal
             tians  4~4.                                              purpose logically began with Christ, the Mediator,
         b. Hebrews  2:14,16,17;  4: 15.                              for it speaks of the fact that to Him Who was
         c. Luke  1:27,31,35;  Galatians  4:4.                        already ordained Mediator, God gave a people.
         d. Luke  1:35;  Colossians  2:9; Romans  9:5; I Peter        God's eternal purpose also ends in Christ, for He is
             3: 18; I Timothy 3: 16.
         e. Romans 1:3,4; I Timothy 2:5.                              the Heir of all things. "All things were made by
                                                                      Him and for Him" (Col. 1:16b). In all things He has
         3. The Lord Jesus, in His human nature thus united           the preeminence and in Him all fulness dwells. No
      to the divine, was sanctified and anointed with the             wonder He is called the Alpha and Omega, the be-
      Holy Spirit above  measure;a having in Him all the
      treasures of wisdom and  knowledge;b  in Whom it                ginning and the ending (Rev. 1: 8).
      pleased the Father that all fulness should  dwell:c to            A mediator is one who comes between two disa-
      the end, that being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full         greeing parties for the purpose of making recon-
      of grace and  truth,d He might be thoroughly fur-
      nished to execute the office of a Mediator and Surety.e         ciliation. In such a way this term is used today, for
      Which office He took not unto Himself, but was there-           example, in a labor union contract dispute. How-
      unto called by His Father;f Who put all power and               ever, Christ's office of Mediator is essentially dif-
      judgment into His hand, and gave Him command-                   ferent. He is not an unbiased and separated third
      ment to execute the same.g                                      party, for He comes from God, one of the disagree-
         a. Psalm 45:7; John 3:34.                                    ing parties. He is ordained by GOD to stand
         b. Colossians  2:3.                                          between GOD and man. In perfect harmony with
         c. Colossians 1: 19.                                         the Scriptures the Confession shows that salvation
         d. Hebrews  7:26; John  1:14.                                is completely of the Lord: beginning, middle, and
         e. Acts  10:38;  Hebrews  12:24;   7:22.                     end. In another very important way does Christ's
         f. Hebrews  5:4,5.                                           office of Mediator differ from other mediators. He
         g. John 5:22,27;  Matthew 28:18; Acts 2136.                  does not merely persuade in order to reach agree-
         4. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly un-         ment, but He  makes  peace. He has the power to
      dertake;a  which that He may discharge, He was made             make peace, not just beg for it. He does not seek a


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 89



compromise, for His power is His cleansing blood            are dealing with the Second Person of the Trinity,
and efficacious grace.                                      Who is very and eternal God.
  His work as Mediator requires that Jesus Christ             Jesus was also a true man. Being conceived by
function as Prophet, Priest, and King. He fulfills          the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, He took upon
this not as three separate offices, but as three re-        Himself the flesh and blood of His brethren (Heb.
lated functions of the one office of Mediator. For          2: 14). In body and soul He was like us. In that
example, He is a priestly and kingly prophet.               human body and soul He experienced the infirmi-
  "Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in His         ties common to man. He had to eat and- drink and
revealing to the church, in all ages, by His Spirit         sleep. He grew in knowledge and wisdom, loved.
and word, in divers ways of administration, the             and wept, and shrank from suffering as a man. Yet
whole will of God, in all things concerning their           in all of His humanity He was without sin.
edification and salvation" (Larger Catechism, q.              As perfect God and real man He is one person,
43).                                                        for these two complete and distinct natures are in-
  "Christ executeth the office of a priest, in His          separably joined. They are not mixed or confused
once offering Himself a sacrifice without spot to           into one conglomeration. Also, the uniting of these
God, to be a reconciliation for the sins of His             two natures did not make any change in them; both
people; and in making continual intercession for            remained complete. On the other hand, the fact
them" (Larger Catechism, q. 44).                            that they remained distinct and complete does not
                                                            imply any separation. Rather than being divided
  "Christ executeth the office of a king, in calling        into two composite parts, they were and are insep-
out of the world a people to Himself, and giving            arably united. No farther does the Confession go in
them officers, laws, and censures, by which He              explaining and describing this mystery, and wisely
visibly governs them; in bestowing saving grace             so.
upon His elect, rewarding their obedience, and cor-
recting them for their sins, preserving and                   The Mediator is very God and also real man, uni-
supporting them under all their temptations and             ted in the one Person of the Son of God. So the
sufferings, restraining and overcoming all their            Scriptures reveal our Mediator to be. Truly He is or-
enemies, and powerfully ordering all things for His         dained of God, for such a Mediator could not be the
own glory, and their good; and also in taking               conception nor creation of man. To God be the
vengeance on the rest, who know not God, and                glory.               * *    * *    * *
obey not the gospel" (Larger Catechism, q. 45).                    Section three shows us how Jesus was "thor-
  It is Christ, in these functions of His office, Who       oughly furnished to execute the office of a Media-
is the Head and Savior of His Church. Not only is           tor."
this Mediator biased because He comes from God,
but consider how intimately He  -unites Himself               The union of the human and divine natures did
with the other party. He becomes their Head and             not deify the  .human nature and thus cause it to
Savior.                                                     cease to be human. To fulfill His office, therefore, it
                                                            was necessary that He be furnished by God. To that
  Not only is He Lord of His people, but also He is         end He was anointed with the Holy Spirit above
Lord of all things: Heir of all things and Judge of the     measure (John  3:34). His very name "Christ,"
world. He rules both the church and creation'               which means "anointed," signifies this. As anoint-
according to His redemptive purpose (Eph.  1:22;            ed He is authorized and qualified to perform and
Col. 1:18).  Christ's judging all things is also treated    accomplish His task of reconciling man to God. He
in chapter 33.                                              needed the Holy Spirit to enable Him to accomplish
                   **     * *     **                        the work of redemption.
                                                              The Confession makes clear that Christ was ap-
  Section two speaks of the Mediator's two natures          pointed to His office by God. He. was "called of
(divine and human) and their relationship to each           God" (Heb. 5: 10). Christ says that He was "sent by
other.                                                      the Father" (John  5:30). Also He says that the
  Ever since Christ was on earth there have been            works He did and words He spoke were not His,
assaults which deny either that He was truly God            but the Father's Who sent Him.
or that He was real man. Other related heresies                    Even as God called Him to the office, He volun-
have confused the relationship of these two                 tarily took it upon Himself. "I lay it down of my-
natures.                                                    self. I have power to lay it down, and I have power
  That Jesus is very God was proven in chapter              to take it again" (John 10: 18). Even in His death
two, section three. In this chapter the Confession          "He gave Himself" (Galatians 2:20)
reiterates that when we speak of the Mediator we                                 * *    * *    * *


90                                             THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                            /


      Section four gives the details of how Christ            like any other man, His body experienced not even
voluntarily discharged His mediatorial office. He             the beginning of decay and corruption.
did so by going down the steps of humiliation and               Christ performed His work as Mediator also in
up the steps of exaltation.                                   His exaltation. He, the Mediator, human and
      The Confession begins the details of His humilia-       divine, arose from the dead. It was the same human
tion with His birth, which it describes in the lan-           body that was buried which arose, only now it is
guage. of Galatians  4:4, "made under the law."               exalted. In that body He also ascended into heaven
Voluntarily and as our representative He came                 and sits at God's right hand. Thus He shall return to
under the law and all of its demands of perfection.          judge at the end of this world.
And this He did by rendering perfect obedience to               Each of the: steps of humiliation and exaltation
every point of the law. He fulfilled it vicariously as        were voluntarily taken. At the same time each was
our obedience. Another part of His humiliation was            divinely prescribed and was necessary unto the re-
the experience of most grievous torments in His               demption of all those whom the Father had given to
soul and most painful sufferings in His body. As              Him. It was out of love for His own that He walked
grievous and painful as these were they were as               this way. He is the "Son of God, Who loved me and
nothing when compared to the wrath of God which               gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
He experienced on the accursed cross. As mediator
He had to die and be buried to accomplish salvation             May we ever retain the consciousness of such a
for His people. His burial showed that He tasted              great love, to the end that we may live to serve Him
death in all of its parts. However, while buried, un-         in eternal gratitude and praise.

GUESTARTICLE

                           Election Preaching and the
                              Demand for Repentance
                                                   Rev. Ronald Hanko


         As the doctrine of divine election by the              On the other hand, there are those who claim to
       most wise counsel of God, was declared by              be firmly committed to the doctrine of election,
       the prophets, by Christ Himself, and by the            who demand that it be preached, and who claim to
       apostles, and is clearly revealed in the Scrip-        find all their comfort in it, but who at the same time
       tures, both of the Old and New Testament,              object to the Gospel call for repentance and confes-
       so it is still to be published in due time and         sion of sin. Sometimes their objection is that of the
       place in the Church of God, for which it was           antinomian against the preaching of the Law of
       peculiarly designed . . . .                            God with its sharp call for the mortifying of the old
      Thus do the Canons of Dort (I, 14) teach the            man of sin and the quickening of the new man in
necessity of election-preaching from the examples             Christ. Or it may be the objection of the fatalist
of the apostles and prophets and of the chief corner-         who hears in the call to repentance overtones of
stone Himself. For the most part, however, the doc-           Arminianism or free-willism. More often it is
trine of election is treated with silence, even among         simply a practical objection by way of self-justifica-
those Churches which subscribe to the Canons. To              tion when the demand for repentance is brought by
excuse such insolent conduct over against the con-            the Church through her officebearers to those who
fessions of the Church and the Scriptures, all sorts          walk in sin. The evil of these objections is that they
of objections are made against the doctrine of elec-          give occasion for slander against the doctrine of
tion. One very common objection is that the                   election and against the sovereign God of election.
preaching of sovereign election leaves no room                  It might seem from this, however, that  election-
either in the established Church or on the mission            preaching and a sharp, clear demand for repen-
field for the call to repentance and to faith in the          tance cannot be reconciled: that sound, biblical
saving power of Jesus Christ. So, it is said, the doc-        preaching of election does away with the Gospel
trine is useless and even dangerous in that it en-            call for repentance, since election means nothing
courages carelessness in Christian living.                    else than that God's elect will infallibly be lead to


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                91



repentance and faith by the sovereign hand and              2: 14b, 15).
irresistible grace of their God. Or, it might seem            It must be admitted that on such grounds there is
true that when the Church comes to the sinner de-           not the least possibility of setting the two in con-
manding repentance, she is not taking the doctrine          flict. If both are Scriptural, both can and  must  be
of election seriously-not taking into account the           preached. The only question is, then,  how  are the
fact that the sinner, as long as he continues in sin,       preaching of sovereign election and the demand for
has not received the irresistible grace of God which        repentance to be reconciled according to Scripture
alone can lead him to repentance, and that his con-         and the Confessions? A careful examination of this
tinuing in sin is according to the sovereign decree of      question will lead to the conclusion, perhaps a
God Himself.                                                surprising conclusion, that not only are the two to
  What are we to say to this? Is it true that election      be reconciled, but that they are inseparable. Elec-
preaching and the demand for repentance are                 tion-preaching without an accompanying call to
unable to stand together? Is one or the other un-           repentance and faith is empty and useless, and like-
scriptural?                                                 wise, the demand for repentance is a voice in the
  It is interesting, to say the least, that wherever        wilderness apart from the doctrine of election. The
and whenever the truth of sovereign predestination          explanation lies in a proper understanding of the
has been preached these objections have arisen              nature of Gospel preaching.
from one side or the other. Always there have been             The preaching of the Gospel, including both the
those who sought to set the Gospel-call and the doc-        doctrine of election and the demand for repentance,
trine of sovereign predestination at odds. Already          is, by the ordinance of God Himself, the means
in the early Church, Augustine, that great defender         which God sovereignly uses to bring to pass His
of the faith, was moved to write a treatise with the        eternal counsel of election. That is, God uses the
title, Concerning  Rebuke and Grace,  in answer to          demand for repentance, as it is brought by the
those who used the doctrine of predestination to            Church through her ministry, to bring His elect to
say:                                                        repentance. In the same way He uses the command
          "Wherefore is it preached and prescribed          to believe to lead them to saving faith in Jesus
        to us that we should turn away from evil            Christ, and the demand for conversion and good
        and do good, if it is not we that do this, but      works to produce in His elect those fruits of their
        `God Who worketh in us to will and to do            election. Thus He graciously gives what He de-
        it' "? Chapter 4.                                   mands, even while He demands it, and that is what
                                                            we mean when we say that the preaching of the
John Calvin, too, had to defend the doctrine of pre-        Gospel is a means of grace to God's people.
destination against "another impudent and
malicious calumny . . . that it destroys all exhorta-          We understand, of course, that the preaching of
tions to a pious life" (Institutes, III, 23, xiii). Nor     the Gospel is not a means of grace mechanically,
                                                            but that it is powerful and effectual through the in-
were the fathers at Dort free from such charges, as         ward operation of the regenerating Spirit. Nonethe-
is evident from Canons 1, 13; III, IV, 17; and V, 13,       less, the Spirit does not work arbitrarily, but in and
14.                                                         through the preaching of the Gospel. Salvation by
  That both the doctrine of sovereign election and          sovereign grace according to the election of grace
the call to repentance are  Scriptural  is not difficult    and the preaching of the Gospel as a means of grace
to show. The Apostle Paul who writes so                     cannot and may not be separated.
powerfully of election in Ephesians 1 is the same              That was Augustine's answer to those who
Paul who preached in Ephesus "both to the Jews,             misused the doctrine of predestination. He says,
and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts  20:21).                 Let then that damnable source be
And in doing so, he only followed the example of                rebuked, that from the mortification of re-
his master. Jesus did not hesitate to preach election.          buke may spring the will of regeneration
He said that He had come to lay down His life for               (i.e., the willing activity of the regenerated
none other than the sheep which His Father had                  heart, R.H.), -if, indeed, he who is rebuked
given Him (John 10:14, 15); and He knew His sheep               is a child of the promise,-in order that by
so well that He could tell the unbelieving Jews, "Ye            the noise of the rebuke sounding and
believe not because ye are not of My sheep" (John               lashing from without, God may by His
10:46). Nor did He have any scruples about the call             hidden inspiration work in him from within
to repentance, but in the days of His ministry came             to will also. Concerning Rebuke and Grace,
"preaching the gospel of the Kingdom and saying,                chapter 9.
`The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at        He makes it clear in another place in the same trea-
hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel' " (Mark            tise that this in no wise involves a denial of predes-


                         92                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                               ----I
                         tination:                                                    ening (Isaiah 6:9, 10 and II Corinthians 2:14, 15).
                                  Let men then suffer themselves to be re-              The Word of God, according to the prophet Jere-
                                buked when they sin, and not conclude                 miah  (23:29), is like a fire `and like a hammer that
                                against grace from the rebuke itself, nor             breaks the rock in pieces. It is this both to the elect
                                from grace against the rebuke . . . so that if        and the reprobate alike and as a fire and a hammer
                                he who is rebuked belongs to the number of            it must be preached also. To the reprobate who
                                the predestinated, rebuke may be to him a             hear the preaching it is like a hammer which beats
                                wholesome medicine; and if he does not be-            upon and hardens their consciences and as a fire
                                long to that number, rebuke may be to him             which has for them the smell of the fires of hell. In
                                a penal infliction.                                   the elect it is also a hammer which breaks in pieces
                          Calvin's answer to his opponents is essentially the         the work and dominion of sin, which cracks hard
                         same:                                                        hearts, and breaks the rebellion of stubborn wills.
                                                                                      In them it is like a fire which burns away the dross
                                   Let preaching then have its free course,           of sin until only the pure gold of God's own work of
                                that it may lead men to faith, and dispose            grace is left incorruptible, undefiled, and imperish-
                                them to persevere with uninterrupted pro-             able.
                                gress. Nor at any time let there be any ob-
                                stacle to the knowledge of predestination, so           It ought to be obvious, in this light, that the ob-
                                that those who obey may not plume them-               jection which says that election-preaching leaves
                                selves on anything of their own, but glory            no room for the call of the Gospel is the objection of
                                only in the Lord. (Institutes, III, 23, xiii.)        the Arminian, and that it is only part of a vicious
                                                                                      attack upon the whole doctrine of sovereign grace
                         Nor does the answer of the Synod of Dort differ in
I                                                                                     and a vile attempt to cast the sovereign Lord down
                         the least particular from that of either Calvin or           from His lofty throne. What is perhaps not so clear
                         Augustine.                                                   is the fact that this error of the Arminian is connec-
                                . . . The supernatural operation of God, by           ted with a wholly unscriptural view of the preach-
     I                          which we are regenerated, in no wise ex-              ing. The Arminian customarily makes the Gospel
                                cludes, or subverts the use of the gospel,            nothing more than an offer of salvation on God's
                                which the most wise God has ordained to be            part to all men-an offer well-meant but dependent
                                the seed of regeneration, and the food of the         for its fruit upon the activity of man. The Arminian
                                soul. Wherefore, as the apostles and                  is blind to the sovereignty of God in election and
                                teachers who succeeded them, piously in-              blind to that same sovereignty in the preaching.
                                structed the people concerning this grace of          Therefore, having changed the very nature of
                                God, to His glory and the abasement of all            Gospel preaching he also has an excuse to discard
                                pride, and in the meantime, however,                  the truth of predestination.
                                neglected not to keep them by the sacred                The error of the fatalist with respect to the
                                precepts of the gospel in the exercise of the         preaching is essentially the same. He too fails to
                                Word, sacraments and discipline; even so to           recognize God's sovereign right and power in using
                                this day, be it far from either instructors or        the preaching as the means of grace. So concerned
                                instructed to presume to tempt God in the             is he (at least on the surface) to preserve the sover-
                                Church by separating what He of His good              eignty of God in election and salvation that he de-
                                pleasure hath most intimately joined togeth-          nies not only the possibility of active obedience on
                                er. For grace is conferred by means of admoni-        the part of the unregenerate sinner but also on the
          I                     tions  (Italics mine, R.H.); and the more             part of the regenerated child of God. This lies at the
                                readily we perform our duty (with respect             root of his rejection of the Gospel call to repen-
                                to the use of the gospel, R.H.), the more emi-        tance. He mistakenly supposes that the demand of
                                nent usually is this blessing of God working          the Gospel for repentance implies some ability on
               I                in us, and the more directly is His work ad-          the part of the sinner to comply with that demand
                                vanced; to Whom all the glory both of                 and conveniently forgets that God works in His
                                means, and of their saving fruit and effica-          people both the willing and the doing of repen-
                                cy is forever due. (Heads III, IV, 17; cf. also       tance.
                    1           v,  14)                                                 The objection of the antinomian to the call for re-
                               It might well be added here that the preaching is      pentance is rooted in his antagonism to the law. He
                         not only the means by which God's counsel of elec-           cannot believe that the preaching of the law can be
                         tion is realized, but also the way in which He sover-        a means of grace to the believer. He confuses the
                    I    eignly works out the decree of reprobation. The              doctrines of justification and sanctification, and
                         Word preached is not only a savour of life unto life,        fails to see that, although the law is powerless and
                         but also of death unto death, and a means of hard-           useless for our justification, nevertheless it is by


                                            THE  STANDARD BEARER                                                93



God's grace a lamp to guide our feet in the way of           The demand for repentance, then, must be an in-
sorrow for sin, and conversion, that it is, in other       tegral part of the preaching of the Gospel, and it
words, a means of grace for our thankful sanctifica-       must be brought sharply and clearly. That means
tion. Both the antinomian and the fatalist turn the        nothing less than preaching sin, and preaching sin
grace of God into an excuse for licentiousness with        as transgression of God's own law, committed
their objections. And it is not surprising that their      against His everlasting holiness. God's people must
objections are usually found among those who ne-           not only learn about sin, but must learn to see their
glect and despise not only the means`of grace, but         own sins in the light of God's glorious perfection.
also the institute of the Church and the authority of      Only then will their repentance be specific and
the offices in the Church.                                 real. In other words, the "must" of the Gospel,
  We must be clear, then, that the demand for re-          which is the "must" of the Law, ought to be heard
pentance, and for faith and conversion, does not           so clearly that it cannot be escaped. Only then will
imply any ability on the part of the unregenerate to       the Word be a fire and a hammer both on the
seek after God, but does imply that God-given and          mission field and in the institute of the Church.
God-worked ability on the part of the believer. He           Nor must repentance toward God ever be
alone has the spiritual ears to hear that call and the     preached apart from the doctrine of election. But
heart to obey it, and it is to him and for him first of    the doctrines of election must also be preached ac-
all that the call to repentance comes. The  office-        cording to the Scriptures, which means the preach-
bearers of the Church must bring that demand,              ing of SOVEREIGN election, election which is un-
therefore, in the confidence that God will use it to       conditional, which separates between man and
do whatever He has pleased. They must not                  man, and which is the fountain from which flow to
obscure its sharpness by pleading or arguing with          the child of God all the blessings of salvation, in-
the sinner but must say to him, "Thus saith the            cluding heart-felt repentance and sorrow after God.
Lord."                                                     Nor must election be preached grudgingly or rare-
  Demanding repentance and faith of dead sinners           ly, but as the heart of the Gospel of grace. Only
may seem foolish to us, but when we remember               then will the grace of obedient repentance be as-
that God in Christ speaks through the preaching            cribed to God and the glory given to His majestic
with the same power by which He created the                name.
worlds, then we can understand. how the preaching            All this teaches us, finally, that the spiritually
can be the means to produce fruits of repentance           healthy child of God is one who searches out the
and faith in the elect. The preaching of the Gospel        pure preaching of the Gospel and who actively,
today is no more foolishness than Ezekiel's preach-        faithfully, and studiously uses it on the Lord's Day
ing to the dry bones in the valley of vision. Just as      and other occasions. He finds in it food for his soul
the Spirit of God Who was present there in the             that he may grow in grace, in the knowledge of sin
wind did not work apart from the preaching, but by         and sorrow for sin, in faith and hope and love, and
the Word of the prophet brought the dry bones to-          in the obedience of faith; and thereby he also learns
gether and clothed them with living flesh, so also         the comfort of his eternal election. He is an enemy
does the Spirit work through the preaching today to        of truth, be he a wicked heretic or a wayward child
clothe the spiritually dry bones of dead sinners           of God, who attempts to set the teachings of Scrip-
with living and obedient flesh.                            ture in disorder, by bringing a Gospel which is not a
  Nor is the fact that the Gospel does not save            fire and a hammer, or by separating  election-
many an argument against what we have said. It             preaching and the preaching of repentance toward
simply illustrates the fact that the Word is a  two-       God which God Himself in His good pleasure has
edged sword which always accomplishes God's                joined together. Let us "not conclude against grace
purpose in one way or another and never returns to         from the rebuke . . . nor from grace against the re-
Him void. It shows us that the power of the preach-        b u k e . "
ing cannot be separated from the sovereign opera-
tion of the Spirit and from the power of God Him-
self. Those who do not obey are those who do not                          Take time to
have the ears to hear and the hearts to understand,
and the preaching of the Gospel with its
hammering demand only serves to deafen those                          read and study
ears and harden those hearts according to the just
judgment of God. Making the Gospel over into an
offer does not change those ears and hearts, it only         The Standard Bearer
makes God a liar who offers what He has no inten-
tion of giving.


94                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                  Book Reviews

LETTERS OF PAUL, HEBREWS AND THE                                   mean. The author's translation of Romans  8:2 is:
BOOK OF PSALMS, The Arthur S. Way Transla-                         "For the Law of the Spirit, which breathes a life
tion; Kregel Publications, 1981; 483 pp., $12.95.                  absorbed into that of Messiah Jesus, has emanci-
(Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                                       pated me-the erewhile thrall-from the law of sin,
      This translation of a part of the New Testament              of death." I doubt whether any one would consider
and the book of Psalms was first published in 1919                 this clearer in meaning than the KJV.
-before the proliferation of Bible translations of                   Secondly, the translation is not very accurate. I
our modern era. It has been reprinted by Kregel.                   can give only a few instances, but they should
      In the Preface, the author describes his work:               prove the point. Romans  8:28-30 reads: "And sure
                                                                   am I, that, on those who love God, all things are
          I might describe it as an attempt, not to present        with one purpose working to bring blessings-yes,
       everywhere the verbal equivalent of what the Apostle        on those to whom, according to His providential
       said, but to convey what he meant. To take one              plan, He has cried `Come ye to me!' Long ere this
       instance-where Paul has used a metaphor, con-
       densed, or implied in the use of a certain word (e.g.,      He knew our hearts, long ere this He claimed us (as
       `grow,' `build,' `run'), I have generally expanded it,      a man claims property by setting his landmarks
       remembering that the hearers' thoughts would                thereon) as those whom He should mould into the
       instinctively fill up the picture, familiar to them,        very likeness of His own Son, so that He should
       evoked by a word whose bare lexicon-equivalent has          have many brothers, Himself the firstborn. And to
       not the same force for us.                                  us whom so He called He gave righteousness: and
          Still, I would deprecate the name of `paraphrase' for    us, to whom He has given righteousness, He has
       my version, since my aim has been to follow the             crowned with glory too." Another example is found
       original closely, trying to bring out the full meaning,     in Romans 9 where the hardening of Pharaoh's
       and even suggestion, of each word, deviating only           heart is translated as: "He confirms in their stub-
       when, to convey the significance of a passage, some         bornness." Perhaps one more example will illus-
 expansion seemed advisable; my object being to do                 trate the point and, at the same time, give some of
       away with the necessity for explanatory notes by            the flavor of the translation. This is Hebrews  ll:l-
       making the translation sufficiently full to carry its       3: "Faith is that attitude of mind which is the
       own explanation. However bold some of these con-
       nective interpolations may seem, they, in almost            foundation-rock on which hope stands, that which
       every instance, simply embody an explanation or             satisfies us of the reality of things as yet beyond our
       develop a hint given by some commentator of com-            ken. It was through their exercise of this faith that
       manding authority. The link of transition consists, in      the men of old had God's witness borne to their
       most cases, of a very few words, the principal              righteousness. It is through faith that we discern
       exception being at the commencement of chapter ix of        that the epochs of our earth's development were
      I Corinthians, where the sequence of the Apostle's           moulded by the fiat of God, that it was not His
      argument has been a well-known crux of commenta-             design that the world which we now look upon
       tors.                                                       would be the outcome of a mere process of evolu-
      As is true with many new translations, this one              tion-evolution from nothing but matter palpable
too sheds light upon some rather obscure passages                  to our senses."
of the KJV. While it certainly gives the author's                    The Psalms are not really translated, but put into
own idea of a passage, in many instances the                       metrical and rhyming verses. They are more on the
suggested (and expanded) translation is helpful; but               order of our Psalter versifications than translations.
this means that  we  have  commentary,  not                          While we are talking about translations anyway,
translation.                                                       there are two remarks that should be made about
      There are, however, weaknesses. The purpose of               the proliferation of translations which really do not
a new translation, it would seem, would be to put                  have anything to do with the accuracy of a transla-
the "archaic" language of the KJV into more                        tion as such. The first is that, it is to me beyond
modern (and, therefore, more understandable) lan-                  question that the many translations now offered are
guage. Perhaps because this translation was                        more confusing than helpful. If, e.g., one consults
prepared in the early part of the Twentieth                        the various translations of a given text which he is
Century, it does not succeed in giving us an up-to-                studying, the result can only be confusion as to the
date version. We need not, I think, belabor this                   meaning of the text in many instances and an
point. One quotation will demonstrate what we                      almost total inability to learn what the Word of God


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                     95



is really saying. We must be on our guard against          faith and turned to neo-orthodoxy. In 1853 he left
this, for it is destructive of true Bible study rather     his troubled ministry and began to lecture and to
than helpful. Whatever translation one uses, and I         write.
still prefer the KJV, one ought to stick to one trans-        Many of his books are fairy tales or myths. Both
lation and not bother himself with a multitude of          Phantustes  and LiZith are myths and are written for
others. And one ought to be sure that the transla-         adults. In  Phantastes the author takes the name of
tion one does decide to use is an accurate one.            Anodos  and begins a trip through fairy land.
  The second remark has to do with memorization            Throughout his trip he sees and senses this fairy
of the Bible. It is important that the child of God        land in other dimensions than those on this earth.
become thoroughly acquainted with the whole                His adventures and sensational rescues are believ-
Scriptures. This is important for his calling to           able because of the author's natural  .and straight-
defend the faith, to teach his children the Word of        forward way of fantasizing. When the friendly tree-
God, to carry that Word with him in his heart and          spirits befriend him, when the Shadow (the power
mind so that the Word may be a lamp to his feet            of evil) dogs his footsteps, and when the marble
and a light on his path, and to know the Scriptural        fairy statues become alive, it all seems natural in
basis for the truth he believes. But when he allows        fairy land.  ,In  Phantustes  as well as in  Lilith  the
himself to make use of many different translations,        conflicts and battles with evil occur at night; for
he will know none of them and will not be able to          fairies and demons are night creatures.
quote from or refer to any of them. And, commit-              Lilith, a night creature who was at times a
ting the Scriptures to memory is still easiest from        princess and at times a spotted leopardess, takes
the KJV, for its rhythmical cadences are the most          her name from the Hebrew word in Isaiah  34:15
easily learned of all the translations. I have tried it    which in English is translated as "screech owl" or
myself from the NIV; and, while I know this was            "night monster." The book is the story of Mr.
not a completely fair test because of my familiarity       Vane, who walks through an old mirror in his attic
with the KJV, it proved almost impossible for me to        into another world. There he meets Mr. Raven,
commit the NIV to memory successfully.                     who at will becomes either a bird or a man and who
  One other word of criticism about this transla-          later reveals himself as Adam. Mr. -Raven guides his
tion and many others. Oftentimes, ostensibly for           adventures through fairy land and leads him to the
purposes of clarification, the key concepts of             Little Ones who are kind, gentle folk, and then to
Scripture are not used. I refer to such terms as           Lilith, the evil princess of the corrupt city of Bulika.
regeneration, justification, election, propitiation,       War breaks out between the forces of good and
reconciliation, etc. These terms have been used by         evil, wars which could take place only in fantasy
the Church of Christ since the beginning of her            land, ending in victory for the Little Ones.
New Testament History and, in some cases, even                These two books are more than mere fantasy.
from earlier times. They carry with them a particu-        Throughout are symbolism and allegories, always
lar connotation, a definite "freight" of thought and
meaning. They are often themselves Scriptural                                         NOTICE!!!
terms. They are essential for anyone to understand                          ADMINISTRATOR NEEDED
the truth and maintain the faith. If they are dis-            Covenant Christian High School will be in need of an Administrator
                                                           beginning with the  1982/83 school term. Applicants should contact
carded, even in the interests of greater clarity, a        the Chairman of the Education Committee by December 1, 1981:
very great and precious heritage is lost and the re-                                                Mr. David Ondersma
education of the Church becomes a necessity. This                                                   6761 Brookwood Drive, S.W.
is dangerous business and results inevitably in a                                                   Grandville, Michigan 4941 8
                                                                                                    (616) 457-l 417
generation of doctrinal illiterates. And when the
saints no longer know the truth, the heritage of the                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
faith is lost, with all the dire consequences which           The Ladies Aid of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church
                                                           expresses its sincere sympathy to one of our members, Mrs. John B.
result from it.                                            Lubbers in the passing of her brother, DR. HENRY KLOMP.
                                                              "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
PHANTASTES  and  LILITH,  by George Mac-                   (Psalm  116:l  5).                         Rev. G. Van  Baren,  Pres.
Donald (with an introduction by C.S. Lewis)                                                           Mrs. Geo. Hoekstra, Sec'y.
Eerdmans, 1981, $3.95, paper (Reviewed by                                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Gertrude Hoeksema)                                            The Ladies Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed
  Born in 1824 from a line of Scottish Calvinists,         Church expresses their sincere sympathy to one of its members, Mrs.
MacDonald became a preacher when he grew up.               Hilbert Kuiper, Sr. in the loss of her father, MR. JOHN VANDE
Early in his ministry, however, he ran into trouble        WEERD.
in his congregation because of heresies in his                "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
                                                           them that fear Him." (Psalm  103:17).      Rev. G. Van  Baren,  Pres.
preaching; for he had left the Calvinist doctrines of                                                 Mrs. Geo. Hoekstra, Sec'y.

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




96                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

relating to Biblical ideas of good and evil, life and      through that, sleep the heathen are eventually
death, the tangible and the intangible. For example,       converted.
the Shadow represents the devil, and Lilith seems            At times his symbolizing and allegorizing become
to be the personification of evil in the world. The        so heavy and detailed that the reader almost loses
Little Ones are those of whom Christ said in Mark          the thread of the story. However, if you are a
10, "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of            reader who enjoys an interesting fantasy with
God as a little children, he shall not enter therein."     Biblical and philosophical overtones which make
In  Lilith  the author presents his own erroneous          you ponder deeper issues, you will enjoy these
views of death as soul-sleep and the view that             books.
                            News From Our Churches
      Our missionary in Birmingham, Alabama, Rev.          1981,' `Letters to Timothy,' `The Spirit of our Age,'
R. Van Overloop, declined the call extended him            `Yielding Ourselves Up to Jesus Christ,' these are
from Redlands, California.                                 just some of the articles in the August issue of the
      At this writing, numerous Reformation lectures       Standard Bearer. Have you read them?"
are planned by our churches around the country:              A dual celebration took place in our Hudsonville,
Rev. Engelsma of South Holland, Illinois plans to          Michigan Church on October 30, as is evident from
speak in Kalamazoo, Michigan on the topic, "Chris-         this Hudsonville bulletin announcement: "This is a
tian Piety and the Reformation." "Upholding the            reminder of the important event of the celebration
Truth," is the topic of a lecture to be given in South     of the anniversary of our pastor's 25 years of faith-
Holland by Rev. Bekkering of Houston, Texas.               ful ministry as well as the celebration of Rev. and
Hope College Chapel in Holland, Michigan is the            Mrs. Van Baren's 25th wedding anniversary."
site of a lecture entitled "Reformation-A Declara-           Some of our readers with good memories will
tion of Freedom" to be given by Rev. R. Miersma of         remember the "Did you know" method used on
our Holland Church. And Rev.  Houck of our                 occasion in this column by Mr. "See you in
Lansing Mission will speak on "Historic Calvin-            Church" Faber. If he doesn't mind, I'd like to
ism" in Wyckoff, New Jersey.                               borrow that method from time to time, starting
      At the annual R.F.P.A. (Reformed Free Publish-       right now: Did you know.. . . .
ing Association) meeting in September, John N.             -That our Wyckoff, New Jersey church has been
Dykstra, Cornelius Pastoor, and Robert Garvelink             receiving building fund gifts all the way from
were elected to the R.F.P.A. Board for three-year           Australia?-
terms. Rev. Bruinsma of our Faith congregation in          -That Rev. Heys was laid up for several weeks due
Jenison, Michigan spoke on the theme, "The Role              to severe back pain?
of the Standard Bearer in Church Extension." In            -That our Kalamazoo church sponsors a Question
the course of his speech Rev. Bruinsma mentioned             Hour radio broadcast?
that the Standard Beaver has served to place us in         -That the last debt of the Randolph church build-
contact with many individuals as well as some                ing has been paid?
churches, and also that it has been used as a follow-      -That members of our Kalamazoo congregation
up to initial contacts. If I may digress just a little:     take turns cleaning the church?
that's something our readership could well keep in         -That October 12 marked the 40th anniversary of
mind! It doesn't have to be quite as spectacular as         the ministry of God's Word for Rev. Heys?
sending a gift subscription from Singapore to              -That Rev. Veldman recently baptized his  great-
Scotland as mentioned in our last column. In your            grandchild in our Southwest Church?
case it could be a lo-for-2 subscription sent to           -That as of January 11, 198 1, Rev. Kamps was still _
someone across town or your neighbor across the             missing the navy blue dress hat that disappeared
street.                                                     at a singspiration in Edgerton, Minnesota?
      Speaking of promoting the Standard Bearer, the         We close with a quote from a Holland, Michigan
following announcement from a Hull, Iowa                   bulletin: "If a church wants a better pastor, it can
bulletin shows one way they do it: "`Christ on             begin by praying for the one it has."
Trial,' `Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches                                                            CK


