           The
     STANDARD
          BEARER.
e           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                    .


     . ..If he (the minister) is to continue to bring
     the Word of God, he must constantly study
     beyond what is immediately necessary to
     produce a sermon. He must read and read
     and read. He must fill his soul with all that
     he can of what the Church of Christ has con-
     fessed to be the truth....And that requires
     hours and hours in his study. It is essential....
     The well of his soul will soon run dry if it is
     not weekly replenished with the study of the
     Word of God in all of its broad context of the
     faith once for all delivered to the saints.
     See "My Sheep Hear My Voice" - page 223

c                                        Volume LVIII, No. 10, February 15, 1982 -


218                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER
                                  CONTENTS                                                                                ISSN 0362-4692
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MEDITATION


                                     Moses' Forsaking of Egypt
                                                                           Rev. H. Veldman


                    "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him
                Who is invisible. "



  Choose we must. We must always choose                                                   And to choose for God and Christ is possible only
between Christ and Satan, between the service of                                          by faith.
the Lord and that of the devil, between Egypt and
the people of God, between the things above and                                               Moreover, once we make the choice we must act.
the things below. And this choice is inevitable. No                                       Our conscious choosing and definite action are  al-
compromise is possible. It is either God or                                               ways inseparable. Faith in Christ and a spiritual
Mammon, Christ or Belial, the church or the world.                                        walk are inseparably connected. Indeed, to express


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               219



a preference for God and His cause and then to              text, therefore, chronologically, must refer to the
seek the things below is surely dishonest. How true         time when Moses fled out of Egypt to Midian.
this is of Moses! That faith and action are insepara-         We know the incident. Moses, when forty years
bly connected will also become plain as we dwell a          old, went to see his people. He witnessed the smit-
few moments upon the incident in this particular            ing of a Hebrew by an Egyptian, and he slew the
word of God. Fact is, this is the thrust of this pas-       Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. The next
s a g e .                                                   day he again went out to visit his people and this
                                                            time two of his fellow Israelites were quarreling; he
                     THE INCIDENT                           intervened; and then he learned that his killing of
  To which incident does this text refer? Moses left        the Egyptian which he thought to be a secret was
Egypt twice: he left Egypt when he fled to Midian,          known, and that it would be known also to the
and he again left Egypt at the Exodus. Which inci-          king. This led Moses to flee to Midian.  In the histor-
dent is meant here? The commentators are not in             ical account in Exodus 2 we read that Moses feared.
agreement; there is much to be said in favor of both        There we certainly receive the impression that he
explanations.                                               fled because he was afraid of the king. But in our
  We do not accept the explanation which refers             text we read that he was moved by faith, not fear-
this incident to the Exodus. It is true that weighty        ing the wrath of the king. On the one hand, we read
arguments can be brought forth in support of this           that fear prompted his flight. On the other hand, in
view. Literally we read, not that he forsook Egypt,         this text, we are told that faith prompted his flight.
but that he left, departed out of Egypt. This would         The question is: which is correct? We should not
refer to the Exodus, would it not? When Moses               really, of course, express ourselves this way. Fact
went to Midian  he did not simply leave Egypt, but          is, both are correct. The only question before us is:
he fled out of it. Besides, and this is by far the          how can these expressions, in Exodus 2 and in the
weightier argument, we read here: "not fearing the          words of this text, be harmonized?
wrath of the king." When he fled to Midian  he was
driven by fear-see Ex.  2:14-15. But here we read                   ITS SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE
he forsook Egypt, "not fearing the wrath of the               Let us use an illustration. Let us picture to our-
king." So, this text cannot refer to his flight to          selves a child of God who, in prison for Jesus' sake,
Midian;  it must refer to the incident known as the         will be executed the following morning and suffer
Exodus. However, we do not consider these argu-             the most excruciating agonies. He is afraid of his
ments as weighty as those which can be marshalled           coming torture. Of course! And yet, he fears not the
in support of the view that the incident refers to his      wrath of his enemies but trusts in the Lord his God
flight to Midian.                                           and is ready to suffer and die for Him. To this we
  We accept the explanation which refers this inci-         may add one thing. He is given an opportunity to
dent to his flight. to  Midian.  First, the text is per-    escape. He flees for his life. On the one hand, he
sonal. We read, not that he, Moses, led Israel out of       flees because he fears his death at the stake. On the
Egypt, but that he forsook Egypt. Secondly, we              other hand, however, we may also say that he be-
read, "not fearing the wrath of the king." It is true       lieved and feared not because he was faithful to his
that this expression is quoted in support of the view       Lord, even unto the end, never renouncing his faith
that the text refers to the Exodus. But we will use         in his Master.
this expression to show that the Exodus is not                This surely applies to Moses. From a natural
meant here. There was no reason for Moses to fear           point of view, he was certainly afraid. He feared for
the wrath of the king at the time of.the  Exodus. Had       his life, fled to Midian  for self-preservation. Never-
not the king commanded Moses and the children of            theless, from a spiritual point of view, he feared
Israel to depart out of Egypt? Why, then, should we         not. In the first place, it was exactly because of his
read that he forsook Egypt as not fearing the wrath         faith that he was now involved in his present diffi-
of the king? He feared the wrath of the king when           culty. It was because of his faith that he refused to
he fled to Midian.  This expression does make sense,        be called the son  of-Pharaoh's daughter, and also
however, when the incident refers to Moses' flight          that he went out to visit his brethren, and which
to  Midian.  Thirdly, and this, we believe, is potent:      moved him to kill the Egyptian who was smiting his
there is the chronological argument. Notice, if you         fellow Israelite. Secondly,  had'he not believed he
will, the chronological order of events in the life of      surely could have pursued a different course. It
Moses in the verses 23-29. All these events follow          was not necessary for him to flee to Midian to save
in chronological order. How strange it would be if          his life. He could have gone to Pharaoh, told him he
verse 27 would refer to the Exodus, whereas verse           was sorry for what he had done, also that he
28 speaks of the keeping of the passover  and verse         wanted to be his daughter's son and that he would
29 refers to the passage through the Red Sea. Our           renounce all allegiance to Israel. Moses, however,


220                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



persevered in his faith even until the end. He does       open to him and it must have tempted him. He
not return to the palace of this king. He does not        could have returned to Pharaoh's house, as we
seek the favor of the king or of his daughter. He         have already said, and expressed his sorrow. Or, he
continues in the course he has chosen. Now, al-           could have turned his back upon his people, and
though he flees for his life because, naturally, he is    said, perhaps to them, and surely to himself: what's
afraid, yet he never for one moment considers to re-      the use! How disappointed he must have been in
nounce his faith.                                         them; why should he cast his lot in with them? But
  That Moses acted as he did by faith, as the evi-        Moses left Egypt by faith. It is now that his faith
dence of things unseen and the substance of things        reaches its pinnacle. Until now he had believed, to
hoped for, becomes all the more evident if we             be sure. But he had relied upon his people, that
notice the circumstances under which it occurred.         they would support him, that he and they together
How high and strong was his faith as he went to           would carry on in this cause of the Lord. And they
visit his brethren! He had chosen for the cause of        fail him. Now he stands alone. But does he
God and of His people, Israel. He had been instruc-       succumb? No, he now trusts in God, in God alone,
ted by his parents in all the knowledge of Jehovah        as seeing the Invisible. Alone he must carry on.
and also in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And he       Alone? Yes, except with his God.
had surely weighed all the arguments, pro and con,          Does not the same truth apply to us? We will also
for and against. And having made his definite             experience life's bitter disappointments. Possibly
choice for the people of God, he must have stood          we trusted in ourselves, in our own strength. The
high and strong in his faith. How wonderful Israel        disappointments will be many. But the result of it
must have seemed to him; how vain and worthless           all will be that we learn that God alone is our
all the glories and treasures of Egypt! He must have      strength. His grace alone will become ever more
felt that he stood at the pinnacle, was able to           sufficient. And this is the purpose of it all.
conquer every foe. That this is true of Moses is                           ITS POSSIBILITY
evident from his visit to his brethren. Notice what         We read: "for he endured, as seeing Him Who is
we read in Acts 7:25. He actually went because he         invisible." 0, this does not simply mean that we
would deliver his people! He felt himself capable of      know that there is a God. The devils also believe
delivering them. This explains his slaying of the         this and they shudder. God is invisible. He cannot
Egyptian! But Israel rejected him. They asked him         be seen. No man can see Him and live. What we see
who had made him a leader and prince over them.           of God is God revealed, His face. And God's face, to
And they told him his killing of the Egyptian the         us, is our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, to see Him Who
day before was known. What a letdown. On the              is invisible means that we see Him in Christ, as the
one hand, he had found two Israelites fighting each       God of our salvation.
other. He had chosen for the afflictions of Israel to
be one with the people of God. And now he dis-              This renders our believing and forsaking of
covers that this people are not even united among         Egypt possible. Moses might have thought, when
themselves. And, on the other hand, they even             Israel disowned him and he stood alone, that he
threaten to expose him. This is surely the implica-       was now really destitute, had lost everything. He
tion of what they tell him, that his deed is known.       had endured, as seeing the invisible God of his sal-
                                                          vation; and he came to the wondrous discovery
  Let us apply this to ourselves. How high and            that, really, he had lost nothing. His trust was now
lofty can be our state of mind when we definitely         solely upon his God. So, God being for him, all
reveal our choice for God and for His Christ and          things were for him.
cause. Then we know that our sins are forgiven us
and we feel that we are strong, so strong that we           How wonderfully this applies to us! 0, when we
can conquer every foe. Then there is no cloud in          plunge into the depths, we may think: this is the
the sky. But then comes the letdown. We did not           end; what is the use? I cannot go on; it is all to no
realize how weak we really are and how strong the         avail. And then we see God. Trusting in His pre-
enemy is and how powerful the temptations and             cepts, forsaking the glories and honours of this
enticements of the world can be. Our conception of        world (only then can we see God), we see God. God
sin within us and all around us was rather imma-          says to us: you cannot go on, and you think it is no
ture; the struggles and disappointments of life un-       use? That is just fine. Look upon Me. What is
known to us. And then we tumble off our high              humanly impossible, what you cannot do, you need
perch and we fall into the depths, and things hap-        not do. Just believe in Me, and you shall be saved.
pen to us we never thought possible. How disap-             This we all must learn.
pointed Moses was when he visited his brethren!             This we will learn.
  Now we understand all the more that Moses for-            And the God of our salvation will surely care for
sook Egypt by faith, 0, there was also another way        us.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              221



EDITORIALS
Prof. H. C. Hoeksema



                  Inflation Strikes Our Magazine!

  Of late almost every religious periodical I have           came was that the subscription price of our Stun-
read has been complaining about the whopping in-             &rd Bearer must be increased from the old rate of
crease in mailing costs which was imposed by the             $9.00 per year to $10.50 per year. This new price of
Postal Service. And I figured that it was only a mat-        $10.50 goes into effect as of March 1.
ter of time before our Board would also have to face           Naturally, the Board hopes-and I as editor also
the reality of such an inflationary increase.                hope-that this increase in price will not result in a
  Well, it has happened.                                     loss of subscribers and readers. Even at the price of
  Our Business Manager telephoned me the other               $10.50 per year the  Standard  Bearer is still a bar-
day with the bad news. He informed me that the               gain. Compared with most other magazines-and I
last issue to be mailed under the old rates cost $73         am speaking now only of numbers of issues and
to mail, while the first issue to be mailed under the        size, not of quality of content-the  Stundurd Bearer
new postal rates cost $105 to mail. That is an in-           is nearly at the bottom of the list as far as price is
crease of $32, or almost 44%. Multiply that $32 by           concerned. Besides, as I intimated,  uZZ magazines
21 issues, and the result is a total annual increase of      have been saddled with the increase in postal costs.
$672 in our mailing costs alone.                             Small comfort, perhaps you say; I still have to pay
                                                             the $10.50. True, but it does help to put matters in
  But that is not all of the bad news. The Board of          proper perspective.
the R.F.P.A. was also informed that our printing
costs went up by 11% as of the first of January.               Meanwhile, may I also urge both individuals and
However, while one might place a half dozen ques-            churches to continue and to increase, if possible,
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too-efficient postal service-in vain, of course-the          Over the years these gifts, I think, have pretty well
increase in our printing costs from Wobbema                  kept pace with the inflationary spiral; and we hope
Printing is not unjustifiable.                               this continues. For without these gifts, it is safe to
                                                             say, the Stundard Bearer could not continue to be
  Nevertheless, facts are facts. And our Board has           published-at least, not without more than
had to face these facts.                                     doubling the subscription rate. Hence, please con-
  The inevitable conclusion to which the Board               tinue to help!


         The GKN on the Authority of Scripture

  After a lapse of several issues, in which we had           struse and vague, very difficult to understand in
to pay attention to other matters, we now return to          many parts. This very thing has made me hesitate
our systematic review and critique of the Report/            even to discuss it in our  Standard Bearer.  I have
Decision of the Gereformeerde Kerken on the                  tried to explain as simply as possible some of the
nature of the authority of Scripture, a report ap-           positions taken by the Report. But there are many
pearing in translation under the title, "God With            passages of the Report that I myself have difficulty
Us." I consider that title, by the way, beautiful            in understanding. Perhaps it is because I am not
though it is in itself, as a rather ironic title for such    sufficiently learned; and I suppose some would
a miserably Scripture-denying report.                        praise the Report for its high learning. But for my
  And while I am on the subject of the Report/De-            part, I do not consider this aspect of the Report a
cision in general, let me add some remarks of a              plus. The truth is simple, able to be understood and
general character. In the first place, my general            apprehended by any child of God. And to me, the
evaluation of the Report/Decision is that it is ab-          very abstruseness and vagueness of the Report/De-


222                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



cision should constitute a warning against its accep-                   this section: "Neither the individual believer nor
tance. In close connection with this, in the second                     the church as a fellowship of believers can in its
place, I find it difficult to understand why the                        own power come to the recognition of the divine
Report/Decision was published and spread abroad                         truth which is contained in the Scripture." Notice:
in the GKN. Maybe the intent was to dazzle people                       divine truth is "contained in the Scripture."
by its brilliant learning. But I assure you that a                      Scripture is not from beginning to end the written
report of this kind is certainly of no help to the                      record of revealed truth. Along this same line we
general membership of the church in enabling                            read in the next paragraph: "One should not
them to understand the doctrine of Holy Scripture.                      consider Article III of the Belgic Confession apart
When one compares this lengthy and complicated                          from Article V as we said in Chapter I: `the Holy
report with the simple and clear statements of                          Spirit is active both in the inspiration of Scripture
Scripture itself and with the clear articles of our                     and in the hearts of the people, and (note this,
Belgic Confession, he is spontaneously inclined, I                      HCH) the revelation of truth is not existing if one of
think, to be suspicious of the Report/Decision and                      these aspects is lacking.' " Now this is important.
to ask why it takes so many words and such com-                         For we must never forget that Holy Scripture is, ob-
plicated        explanations to express the truth                       jectively, the testimony of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit
concerning Scripture's authority. Or was the very                       of Christ. When you deprive Holy Scripture of this
intent to befuddle the general membership of the                        objective character, as the Report does, you deprive
churches and to induce them to leave these matters                      the testimony of the Holy Spirit of all of its content.
to the learned theologians?                                             There simply is no testimony of the Holy Spirit in
  By way of review, let me remind you that we are                       the hearts of believers apart from those Scriptures.
busy with Chapter IV of the Report, entitled "The                       And yet the Report says that there is no revelation of
Nature of Biblical Authority." There are several                        truth  if one of these aspects is lacking. Under the
sections in this chapter. And we have already                           appearance, therefore, of loyalty to Articles 3 and 5
looked ahead, in part, to Section 3 and given some                      of the Confession, the Report presents something
concrete illustrations of the way in which the Re-                      that is utterly foreign to the Confession; it means to
port denies the historical reliability, or trustworthi-                 leave it to man to determine what is the revelation
ness, of the Bible. But Section 2 constitutes the                       of the truth that is wrapped up and hid somewhere
basic section of this chapter. It deals with "The                       in the Scriptures.
Ground of the Bible's Authority." We have dis-                            In the second place, it should be noted that this
cussed previously the segment entitled "God's                           section is critical of the Belgic Confession in Article
Word in Human Language." The last segment of                            5. It states: "Honesty requires that it be said that
this section is -entitled "The power of the Spirit,"                    here also the Reformed tradition in general has
and it supposedly deals with the subject of the testi-                  attributed to human beings too passive a role. It is
mony of the Holy Spirit concerning Scripture. In                        possible that that was not the intention. (Compare
the Report this section is summarized as follows:                       the statement, `the very blind are able to perceive,'
         Yet the authority of the Holy Scripture does not rest          a sentence which was later added to Article V.) The
       solely on the recognition of inspiration. We would               impulse to convert, the recognition of the truth of
   never come to the recognition that the true, authorita-              revelation comes most certainly from `the other
   tive Word of God comes to us in the Bible if we did not              side', that is, it proceeds from the Holy Spirit. But
   surrender ourselves to the Spirit of truth Who opens                 this impulse must immediately be responded to by
       our understanding and heart for this confession.                 a conversion on our part. Faith cannot exist without
         However, just as little as the Spirit has passed               that element of joyful surprise, of impulsive turn-
   people by on the giving side (the speakers and writers               ing toward the voice of the Beloved Who calls us
   of the Bible) exactly so is it the case on the receiving             from where we did not expect Him. To believe is to
       side (the hearers and readers of the Bible]. The Word      .-    fall into the arms of God." Again: "It is true that the
   must be received by us to have truth and authority not               first action proceeds from the Spirit; for no field
   only for times long past but also for us. Also in the
   understanding and acceptance of the truth of the                     brings forth fruit if there is no Sower. But the work
   Scriptures man is thus actively involved.                            of the Spirit also remains fruitless if there is no reac-.
                                                                        tion on our part. The Word must be accepted by us
  On the surface, this summary may appear to be                         (Mark 4:20)  ." It should be noted that this is entirely
rather innocent; Yet in the light of the explanation                    different language than that of our Belgic Confes-
given in this section it is by no means innocent.                       sion when it comes to the testimony of the Spirit. In
This section is based on and promotes the so-called                     the Confession all the emphasis is on that work of
relational view of the truth which is set forth in the                  the Spirit, not on man's response. The emphasis of
very beginning of the report. According to this                         the Report is man-centered. It smacks of  Pelagian-
view, remember, there is no such thing as objective                     ism. The emphasis of the Confession is God-cen-
truth, not even in Scripture itself. Thus we read in                    tered. Just read that confession. The title of Article


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              223



5  is: "From whence the Holy Scriptures derive              the very blind are able to perceive that the things
their dignity and authority." The article reads: "We        foretold in them are fulfilling."
receive all these books, and these only, as holy and          How simple and plain! We believe without any
canonical, for the regulation, foundation, and              doubt all things contained in these books. Why?
confirmation of our faith; believing without any            The Holy Ghost witnesseth in our hearts-always,
doubt, all things contained in them; not so much            remember, in connection with those Scriptures
because the Church receives and approves them as            themselves-that they are from God.
such, but more especially because the Holy Ghost
witnesseth in our hearts, that they are from God,             If only the Report had clung to the language of
whereof they carry the evidence in themselves. For          our confessions!

MYSHEEP HEAR MY VOICE

                                   Letter to Timothy

                                    February  15, 1982      more is demanded of our ministers than anywhere
Dear Timothy,                                               else in any other denomination. They teach most, if
                                                            not all, the Catechism classes, from five or six year
  You know that recently I have been writing you            olds up to and including post-confession classes.
about the responsibility of the people of God in the        They lead at least some of the Bible study societies
pew. I was somewhat surprised by the reaction               in the congregation. They do a great amount of pas-
which this discussion stirred up. Some of those             toral work which includes visiting the sick and
who reacted were not very happy with what I had             aged, the widows and orphans, new parents and be-
to say; a number insisted that I was missing the            reaved families. They work, sometimes for long
point and talking to the wrong people. I should be          periods of time, with people who have troubles and
talking, they said, to the minister because the             problems, with marriages which are rocky and
preaching is not always what it ought to be. If there       weak, with those who battle against the sins of the
is a problem in the pew this problem is really one of       flesh and need the constant support and help of
poor preaching.                                             their pastor. Many of their nights are taken by
  It might be well to discuss this whole matter.            family visitation. They preach twice a Lord's Day
  Now, let it be understood, first of all, that it is my    and take all the special services besides.
firm conviction that it is very difficult, if not impos-      There is no question about it that our ministers
sible, to find in all the ecclesiastical world men who      are busy-whether they are in small congregations
work harder at their calling than our ministers. The        or large congregations.
reasons for this are not hard to find. Our denomina-          To be so busy and to do good work requires of
tion is a small one and there is much work that has         our ministers a dedication and zeal for the cause of
to be done. There is the ever present work of com-          the Lord and a devotion for the welfare of the
mittees-committees of Synod and committees of               Church of Christ which is often beyond the call of
Classis.  There is a great deal of writing which has to     duty-if I may use that expression in Christ's
be done for The Standard Bearer, the Beacon Lights,         kingdom. They are involved in the work  twenty-
the many pamphlets which are written for Church
extension work, etc. There are many speeches                four hours a day, seven days a week. They are not
                                                            like the minister who, upon moving to a new con-
which have to be made. (I myself was somewhat               gregation, put a notice in the bulletin that he would
surprised to see from my records that over the              be available for pastoral work between  ,200 and
course of better than twenty-five years in the minis-       4:00 P.M. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. His elder hit
try, I averaged almost one speech a month. This is          the nail on the head when he said to his new pastor:
not, I think, an unusual number for many of our             "Pastor, I hope that when I die it is between  ,200
ministers.) There are radio sermons which have to           and 4:00 on either Tuesday or Thursday." They are
be made so that the Reformed Witness Hour can               pastors in the true sense of the word.
continue its ministry.                                        But the question nevertheless arises: Are our
  And this is all work outside one's congregation.          ministers too busy? That is, are they so busy that
  Within the congregations, generally speaking,             they cannot give the attention which they must to


224                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



their preaching? Does it happen sometimes that                he can of what the Church of Christ has confessed
their work is so extensive and the demands made               to be the truth. He must himself grow and develop
upon them so great that their sermon preparation              in the knowledge of the riches of salvation in Jesus
suffers?                                                      Christ if he is to preach in such a way that his con-
  That this question has to be faced is clear from            gregation grows and develops. And this requires
the fact that the preaching of the Word is centd to           hours and hours in his study. It is essential. With-
their calling. Those who labor in the pastoral minis-         out those hours and hours he will ultimately fail in
try are, first and foremost, preachers. There lies the        his calling. The well of his soul will run dry if it is
heart of their calling. If they fail in this or are negli-    not weekly replenished with the study of the Word
gent in this, they ultimately fail in all their calling in    of God in all of its broad context of the faith once
Christ's vineyard.                                            for all delivered to the saints.
  Now there are a number of different view-                     What the ultimate solutions to the problems
points on this whole matter; and it is certainly an           which a minister faces are, only the minister him-
evident fact that no rules and regulations can be             self can decide. But decide he must for the sake of
laid down to govern the problem which arises in               the welfare of Jerusalem and the peace of Zion.
this connection. It is certainly true that preaching            But one aspect of this question especially I want
comes before committee work  - even the work of               to discuss with you; that is the relation between the
the Mission Committee and the Theological School              pastoral work of the minister and his calling to
Committee. But this committee work has to be                  preach. I am personally convinced, also from my
done if the work of the Church is going to be done.           own experience in the ministry, that it is entirely
And the minister must find the proper balance for             possible for pastoral work to take away from the
his own life so that he can be faithful to his primary        time which a minister spends in his study.
calling. It is true too that preaching comes before             There are reasons for this.
the work of leading societies; but it is also true that
a minister really gets to know his sheep in the life of         For one thing, there are those in the congregation
the societies in the Church; and these society meet-          who demand of their pastor pastoral attention
ings are often like moments of spiritual refresh-             when it is not really necessary. If God's people
ment and renewal in the pressures of the work.                were spiritually mature and struggled to attain such
Somewhere here too he must find a proper balance;             spiritual maturity, there would be a spiritual
and no one can do that but he himself. But, even              strength to solve many problems in life which now
then, let him remember that he is first and foremost          the minister must help solve, but which mature
a preacher. .                                                 people of God ought to be able to handle on their
                                                              own. I am saying that our people sometimes place
  And so it is that there are many demands placed             too many and too great demands upon their pastor.
upon his time and many things required of him
which are only indirectly related to his calling to be          Looking at the matter from the pastor's point of
a preacher. Some of these things are important;               view, I think that there is, at least, the temptation to
some less important; some not important at all. He            make pastoral work the top priority on a minister's
must make his choices, and he must do so before               list of things to do. It is a temptation. There is no
the face of the Lord Christ Whom he serves and                excitement, no glamor, no public acclaim, no pos-
before Whose judgment seat he must render ac-                 sibility of popularity in steady, unnoticed, but hard,
count. But he must remember that he is first and              patient, diligent work in the study. Nobody sees it.
foremost a preacher.                                          Nobody knows the hours spent there. Nobody
  When I say that the minister is first and foremost          understands what blood, sweat, and tears go into a
a preacher, I do not mean simply that his most                sermon which is the fruit of soul-wrenching wres-
important work is performed in that two hours or              tling with the Word of God. Pastoral work is differ-
so that he stands on the pulpit on the Lord's Day. I          ent. That is in the public eye. There is a certain
refer to all that is involved in making those sermons         excitement in it. There is no drudgery involved, for
which he brings to God's people during the wor-               every visit, every problem is different. There is a
ship services. I refer to the fact that the minister          certain challenge which quickens the blood. There
spends much time in prayer and study as he                    is a certain praise of men which can be acquired
wrestles with the Scriptures and prepares a sermon            from skillful counseling, from ability to solve
of which he can confidently say: "This is what the            knotty problems, from getting a tottering marriage
Spirit has to say to the Church." I refer to the fact         to stand firm once again. You understand what I
that, if he is to continue to bring that Word of God,         mean.
he must constantly study beyond what is immedi-                 I am not saying that these things are the motiva-
ately necessary to produce a sermon. He must read             tion behind the pastoral labors of our ministers in
and read and read. He must fill his soul with all that        every case. But I am saying that the temptation is


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   225



there and is very strong - I know. And so it is easy        study too much and if it results in sermon prepara-
to seek that work, to prefer it, to make it top             tion which is hurriedly and slovenly done, then
priority, to drop the books and pen in the study at a       there is something radically wrong. If his pastoral
moment's notice and be winging one's way off to             labors leave him no time to read, to study, to
more exciting matters.                                      broaden his understanding of the Word of God and
  This is wrong.                                            the heritage of the truth, then he does wrong and
                                                            his preaching will suffer. If he puts his pastoral
  There is still another point of view. In the ec-          work above and before sermon preparation, he
clesiastical work at large it is pastoral work which        does injustice to the Word of God and will have to
gets all the attention in magazines, journals, re-          pay the price.
ligious periodicals, ministerial workshops, etc., etc.
Is it just possible that we have been influenced               The minister is first and foremost a preacher.
unduly by these things?                                        Next time we will talk about some solutions to
  There is pastoral work that has to be done. There         t h i s   p r o b l e m .   .
is no question about that. And pastoral work is also           Farewell for now.
part of the minister's calling. He is a servant of the                             Fraternally in Christ,
Word also in this aspect of his work.                                                        H. Hanko
  But if this aspect of his work takes him out of his

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE


               Gallatians - Our Liberty in Christ
                                         (Conclusion)
                                                 Rev. J. Kortering


  We must now take some time to examine the                 nounces anathema (a divine curse) on anyone who
Epistle to the Galatians in order to demonstrate that       preaches anything other than the gospel of Christ.
the concern of the inspired apostle was to uphold
the liberty of Christ for the Gentiles over against            2. The Apostle Paul proceeds to prove that he
the Judaizers who wanted to put them under the              did not preach a gospel which has its source in
yoke of the Mosaic law.                                     man, but is of God, because he received the gospel
OUTLINE OF GALATIANS                                        by divine revelation (1: 1 l-2:21). Proof of that is that
                                                            originally he was a zealous Jew, holding all the
  The Epistle to the Galatians falls into three main        traditions of the fathers, even persecuting the saints
parts. Chapters 1 and 2 deal with the assertion by          (l:ll-14). He received a divine call from Christ
Paul that the gospel of liberty in Christ, which he         while on the way to Damascus (Acts  9:5). He did
preached and others rejected, did not come from             not then go immediately to Jerusalem to be "brain-
man, but by divine revelation. It is God's gospel. In       washed" by the Jews there; rather he went to
chapters 3 and 4 Paul sets forth a defense of the           Arabia where Christ by His Holy Spirit instructed
truth of justification by faith without the works of        him  (1:15-17). Then after three years he went to
the law. In chapters 5 and 6 Paul gives detail as to        Jerusalem and conferred with Peter and James for a
what the liberty in Christ really is. We will follow        brief fifteen days  (1:18, 19). Leaving Jerusalem, he
this main division.                                         traveled for fourteen years preaching the gospel in
  1. Introduction to the Epistle  (l:l-10).  The            Syria and Cilicia and was virtually unknown to the
Apostle Paul identifies himself as the author, being        Jerusalem churches  (1:20-24). At the end of this
an apostle who was called by Jesus Christ (1: 1). He        fourteen year period, he went with Titus and
names the recipients of the Epistle as the churches         Barnabas to Jerusalem for the conference. He
of Galatia  (1:2), extends to them the apostolic            reported to them of his work among the Gentiles
blessing  (1:3-5),  expresses his concern that they so      (who remained uncircumcised, even as Titus) and
soon gave heed to "another gospel" which was no             how God blessed his ministry even as He blessed
gospel but a perversion of the gospel. He  pro-             Peter's among the Jews (2: l-8). The response of the


226                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



brethren in Jerusalem was good. They saw that              Old Testament, the believer was heir to the righ-
God had granted salvation to the uncircumcised             teousness in Christ, but placed under the tutorship
Gentiles. They encouraged Paul to continue as he           of the law and treated as a servant rather than a
did, only that he should be sure to remember the           son. In Christ, they too are made free sons by adop-
Jerusalem poor among the converts  (2:9, 10).  The         tion, for they have the Spirit in their hearts
Apostle adds one more proof, how he withstood              whereby they cry, Father! In Christ, the New
Peter's conduct in Antioch. The church there had           Testament church enjoys the freedom of a son and
their customary love feasts. At these feasts they had      is the true heir  (4:1-7).  The Apostle reminds the
tables set up. Some had foods from the market              Gentiles that before they received the Gospel they
place (offered to idols and including unclean              were in the bondage of sin, as  hcathcn.  Will  111~)
meats): others had foods approved by the tradition-        now exchange their freedom in Christ for the
al Jew. At first Peter ate at the Gentiles' table, par-    bondage of the Old Testament law? He. warned
taking of the "unclean meat." But, when some of            them that by observing days (Jewish ceremonial
the Jews came from Jerusalem, he switched tables,          laws) they were doing just that. He also reminds
thereby condemning the Gentiles and putting them           them of the joy they expressed in the Gospel at the
to open shame. Paul rebuked Peter for this. At stake       first. Will they now consider Paul an enemy when
was much more than the question of meats. It was           he brings them the same truth  (4:8-20).  One final
the very heart of the Gospel. Hence, Paul states           point is made: reflecting on the history of Hagar
that justification through faith in Christ was the         and Sarah, Paul shows them that Hagar represented
issue. If we be crucified with Christ we are dead to       bondage, which had to be cast out. Sarah repre-
the law of works and are righteous through Christ's        sented Jerusalem, the promise, freedom in Christ.
perfect work (2: 11-21).                                   They ought to cast out the bondage of the law for
  3. The basis for liberty in Christ is rooted in the      freedom in Christ (4:21-31).
doctrinal truth of justification by faith apart from         4. The believer's liberty in Christ is to be free
the works of the law (3: l-4:31). The Apostle begins       from work righteousness and is shown in the
with a question: Did the Galatians receive the Holy        ability to do God's will  (5:1-6:16). By contrast, a
Spirit by the works of the law or by faith in Christ?      Gentile convert who submitted to circumcision is
The implied answer is by faith. Why then should            not by that act justified before God. The danger is
they imagine that the Holy Spirit would add to His         to think that such an act is spiritually beneficial
work their works of the flesh, the keeping of the          (fallen from grace means to forsake the Gospel for
law  (3:l-5)?  Paul now gives an example from the          the law). Rather, such  a one is a heretic who is a
Old Testament Scripture, viz., Abraham. Abraham            bad leaven in the church  (5:1-12).  The liberty
believed God and it was reckoned to him for righ-          which is in Christ is one word, love. Such love does
teousness. We who are the children of Abraham are          not give the license to commit sin; instead it is
righteous in the same way - through faith in God's         manifest in the fruits of the Spirit  (5:13-26). Practi-
promise, that is in Christ, in Him all nations are         cally, this means that they restore one who falls
blessed (3:6-g). The law cannot save, for no one can       into sin, bear each other's burden, support their
keep the works of the law; it can only curse. Christ       ministers, sow good works so that they may reap in
alone was able to deliver us from the curse of the         due time (6: l-10). Paul expresses a final warning
law, since He bore that curse upon the cross.              against those who want them to be circumcised for
Hence, the Gospel declares that the just live by           carnal reasons. He would rather that they glory
faith in Christ. By the same faith in Christ, both         with him in the cross of Christ. The way to peace is
Abraham and the Gentiles are saved (3: 10-14). Now         to forsake work righteousness and to live in holi-
the Apostle Paul sets forth the truth that God's           ness as an expression of thankfulness to God (6: 1 l-
promise to Abraham could not be invalidated. The           16).
promise of Christ was confirmed to Abraham and
his seed. The law was given 430 years later and did          5. Conclusion (6: 17, 18). Paul mentioned that he
not negate the promise. Rather it temporarily was          wrote them in his own hand "how large a letter,"
added in order to point out that salvation was only        vs. 11. This is not a reference to the length of the
in the Promised One, Jesus Christ  (3:15-18).  How         letter (it was short by comparison); rather it was to
did the law do this? It was like a schoolmaster            the size of the letters which he wrote in his own
which led the true sons of Abraham to Christ. The          hand. This could refer to one of two things: either
schoolmaster (pedagog) was a slave who took the            to the fact that he had poor eyesight and thus wrote
young boy by the hand and led him to school. So            in large script, or it could refer to the fact that Paul
the law confronts us with our sin and turns us over        emphasized certain parts of the letter by writing in
to Christ. In Christ there is no difference between        large letters, much as we use italics. Paul certified
Jew and Gentile, for we both see our sins and turn         his qualifications to write by reminding them that
by faith to the same Christ  (3:19-29). During the         he had scars in his physical body as proof of his


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  227



  sincerity to preach the truth. He commended them              2. Show from chapter one that Paul considered
  to the grace of Christ Jesus (6:17, 18).                   the Gospel he preached to be the  only  gospel.
  DISTINCTIVE FEATURES                                       Explain the anathema of verses 8 and 9. How do we
                                                             apply this to our day?
     1. Paul wrote this letter under physical and
  psychological strain. The greeting is terse; the con-         3. Explain why Paul circumcised Timothy (Acts
  clusion does not have any expression of thanks-            16:3) and refused to circumcise Titus (Gal. 2:3).
  giving to God for them. He addressed himself to the           4. Discuss what was at stake in Peter's conduct
  problem at hand with the prayer that they would            at Antioch when he turned from eating with the
  receive the true Gospel of Christ.                         Gentiles and ate with the Jews, Galatians 2: 1 ff.
     2. The letter demonstrates Christian apologetics;          5. What is the relationship between faith and
  it is a defense of the faith against error. Paul           justification? See Galatians  3:6 and Heidelberg
  includes Scriptural references, logical arguments,         Catechism, Question 61.
  even his own experiences, and warnings.                       6. Show that Galatians  3:28 does not warrant
     3. The letter contains helpful information about        having women in any ecclesiastical office. Consider
  the life of Paul.                                          I Timothy 2:2 and I Corinthians 14:34.
     4. It is the only letter directed to a group of            7. Explain how the New Testament church is
  churches.'                                                 mature over against the infant Old Testament
     5. Taken with James, we have a comprehensive            church. See Galatians 4.
  system of Christian ethics. Paul in Galatians                 8. Give detail on the bondage of Hagar and
  emphasized the dynamics for holiness  (3:13,  14).         Ishmael over against the liberty of Sarah and Isaac
  James emphasized the necessity of it (James 2:17).         (Gal. 4:22 ff.).
  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION                                      9. How does freedom in Christ exclude licenti-
     1. Express in your own words the issue Paul             ousness?
  faced in this letter to the Galatians. Why did this
  revolve around circumcision?

  THEDAYOFSHADOWS

                           Forgiveness Full and Free
                                                  Rev. John A. Heys



    Being sure that they were true men, and confi-             There was a certain sense of eagerness that came
  dent of the fact that they had removed from the            over them as they began to leave the city, an itching
  mind of the Egyptian ruler the idea that they were         to get back to their father as quickly as possible to
  spies, the eleven brothers of Joseph began their           prove to him how safe it was and how wise as well
  homeward journey. This second visit to Egypt had           to have taken Benjamin along. For here they come
  been so much more pleasant than they anticipated.          with both Benjamin and Simeon, and a store of food
  There was no rough speech at this time. Their              to last them for many days. How good God had
  brother Simeon had been released from prison and           been to them! How wonderfully it all worked out:
  restored to them. And they had even had a sumptu-          and what happiness will now fill their homes and
  ous meal at the home of this ruler, at which they          the entire family of Jacob!
  drank and were merry with him. Now they were
  about to return home with the peaceful thought               But a cloud appeared on the horizon. And it was
  that the distress which God brought upon them, be-         a cloud in the most literal sense of the word, for
  cause of their evil deed of selling their brother          they saw a cloud of dust being kicked up by the feet
  Joseph as a slave into Egypt, and by it bringing their     of a horseman who seemed to want to catch up
  father untold grief and sorrow, was a thing of the         with them. And in this assumption they were not
  past. They had suffered for their sin, and God had         wrong. Joseph had sent his servant to stop them
  brought it to an end. They could go home and forget        and to determine which one had taken his drinking
all about it.                                                cup with him as a thief.


228                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



  What a blow to men who were so pure that they          bondmen." And the steward said, "Now let it be
were true men! Had they not had enough grief and         according unto your words; he with whom it is
sadness already? No sooner had they appeared be-         found shall be my servant; and ye shall be blame-
fore this ruler in Egypt the first time and they were    less." So convinced are these ten brothers of their
accused of being spies. Would they now as true           innocency that  they  are ready to specify the death
men invite the charge of theft by taking his drink-      penalty for the thief and bondage for all the rest
ing cup? Would they do that before one so powerful       of them. This accusation is preposterous! The con-
in Egypt, and one who at times seemed almost able        tents of this last sack will vindicate them, and they
to see right through them? True, he had made the         will be on their way.
mistake of accusing them of being spies. But their         Then the blow fell!
own consciences told them that they were
criminals whom God was now visiting. What is               All ten brothers saw not only that drinking cup in
more, when he showed such uncanny wisdom as to           Benjamin's sack but Benjamin consigned to slavery
seat them all exactly according to their ages at the     in Egypt, (even as they had once consigned Joseph
table, not only did a sense of awe come over them,       to such bondage) and their father crushed with
but a warning light lit up in their souls. They saw      grief which, when added to the grief of losing
him as a man with whom they ought not trifle.            Joseph, would bring him swiftly to his grave.
  It is true that circumstantial evidence is there         What tragedy is expressed in those brief words,
once again. They had been in his house when his          "Then they rent their clothes and laded every man
drinking cup had been before him. But there must         his ass, and returned to the city." In this instance
be something wrong. And so sure are they that they       the "they" refers to the ten brothers and does not
are true men and no thieves,,Tso fully do they judge     include Benjamin as far as rending of clothes is con-
each other to be incapable of such a deed, that with     cerned. He knew his innocency, though he was
an oath, "God forbid," they agree that the one who       shocked at the thought of becoming a slave in
did steal the cup ought to die and the rest will be      Egypt. Even his ten brothers had vouched for his
slaves of this ruler forever.                            innocency when they agreed to death for the one
                                                         with whom the cup would be found. And even
  There is consternation at the charge, but there is     when the cup was found in his sack, they did not
no panic. They are confident. Once again according       believe that he stole it.
to their ages their sacks were opened. The first
sack is opened. No cup is there. And as the sacks          Someone had put their money in their sacks on
are opened their confidence grows. The sacks of          the first journey; and they had not stolen it. As each
Simeon and Levi, those "instruments of cruelty"          sack now was being opened, they again saw that
that killed all the Shechemites, produced no drink-      someone had put their money in their sacks. And
ing cup. And now there is but one left, that of Ben-     they were sure that someone had put that cup in
jamin whom they had been guarding so carefully           Benjamin's sack. They did not glare at him, blame
all the time while he was in Egypt so that they          him, or speak roughly to him. Instead, notice in
never left him out of their sight. Confident they are    Genesis  44:16 that Judah declares, "What shall we
that the charge will be shown to be unfounded. In a      say unto my lord? What shall we speak? or how
few moments they will be on their way. Striking, is      shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the
it not, that we do not read one word here of fear on     iniquity of thy servants: behold we are my lord's
the part of these brothers? They did not hold their      servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup
breath each time a sack was opened. They waited          is found." He does not say, "...and he who took the
not with bated breath as Benjamin's was opened.          cup," but "with whom the cup was found." And
Annoyed they were but not afraid. And as the             the guilt of which he speaks is not the guilt of
eleventh sack was gotten down to be opened, the          stealing that cup, for not one of them did steal it, but
other ten sacks were already closed and fixed to be      the guilt of selling Joseph as a slave into Egypt. He
placed on their beasts of burden for the continua-       is not speaking of guilt that Benjamin had, but guilt
tion of their journey homeward.                          that was wholly theirs, the guilt of these ten
                                                         brothers. They see now that it was God Who,
  Take note of the fact that, when the steward ex-       through someone else had put that cup in Benja-
plained to them why he had stopped them, the             min's sack because of their guilt of years ago and
brothers said, "God forbid that thy servants should      that is now being visited by Him. Had not the stew-
do according to this thing: Behold, the money            ard said to them when they returned the money of
which we found in our sack's mouths, we brought          the first visit? "Fear not; your God, and the God of
again unto thee out of the land of Canaan; how then      your father hath given you treasure in your sack."
should we steal out of thy lord's house silver or        Well, He had also through Joseph and his steward,
gold? With whomsoever of thy servants it be found,       put that cup in Benjamin's sack. And the ten guilty
both let him die and we also will be my lord's           brothers mean that when they say that "God hath


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                229



found out the iniquity of thy servants." They had          where in Egypt as an humble slave. No, it was what
seen God's hand when they received such rough              God wrought that made them so speechless and
treatment on their first visit. Now they see it even       troubled that they could not answer Joseph when
more clearly, and feel far more heavily the hand of        he asked, "Doth my father yet live?" Even though
God upon them for their guilt.                             he speaks personally to them without an interpre-
  They do not realize it, but the moment of truth          ter and in their language, these brothers could not
has come. What Joseph sought, he found. For they           find words to respond and react to this new turn of
were brought to appear before him as thieves. And          events. In a sense they were in shock. Their think-
the earnest plea that Judah made for his father; the       ing was not exactly what could be called confused.
length to which he went to show without a trace of         Their minds just went blank, and they had trouble
envy that Benjamin was his father's favoured son           taking it all in and reacting to what they learned.
and how they wanted to spare their father the loss         Even the relief and knowledge now that they could
of this favoured son (even though once they robbed         bring Benjamin to their father did not register. The
him of another favoured son); their willingness to         wonder, the benefits of this revelation stunned
stay as slaves in Egypt so that Benjamin might go          them and numbed them. They were speechless and
back to their father; all this was what Joseph             immobile until Joseph calls them to him and fills in
wanted to hear, after noticing the day before that         the details that prove that he is their brother.
they evidenced no sign of envy when Benjamin was             Joseph reveals, what no other person in Egypt
given a portion five times as large as theirs. All this    could reveal, that these brothers had sold him as a
showed that they were men who were radically               slave into Egypt. How could Joseph know that, if he
changed in their spiritual lives. God had found out        were not the one sold? He tells them not to grieve
the iniquity of these brothers, but He had also            and be angry with themselves for that sin, but to
caused them to find it as despicable as He judged it       see the hand of God in it. He gives the richest
to be. God's hand was on them in chastisement but          evidence of his identity when he speaks of God's
also therefore in mercy that works consciousness of        covenant with Abraham and his seed. Note that in
sin and sorrow for it. They confessed their guilt.         Genesis  45:7 we read, "And God sent me before
They showed their sorrow for their sin. They               you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to
showed tender love for their father and his                save your lives by a great deliverance." Here is the
favoured son. They gave evidence of being conver-          covenant promise and God in His covenant faith-
ted and penitent by the Spirit of God.                     fulness working all together for the fulfillment of
  What a touching scene followed! Joseph sent              that promise, which ultimately brings  the  great
forth all the Egyptians out of the room, and burst-        deliverance through Christ and His cross and resur-
ing into loud tears that these Egyptians-and even          rection.
the house of Pharaoh-heard, he said, "I am                   Let that be seen clearly. We deal here with sin;
Joseph!"                                                   and the wages of sin is death! But, "There is there-
  Stunned these brothers were. They could not              fore now no condemnation to them that are in
speak. Not one was able to run and fall on his neck        Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after
and kiss him as a long lost brother. They were             the Spirit" (Romans 8:l). And the truth to see here
simply dumbfounded at this work of God. Joseph,            is that Joseph, finding his brothers no longer walk-
their brother, is this mighty ruler in Egypt before        ing after the flesh but after the Spirit, reveals such a
whom they had bowed, and before whom even                  forgiving spirit unto them. The more wonderful
now they were on their knees after pleading for            truth to see is that God so fully and freely forgives
Benjamin's freedom and their father's joy!                 us our sins, and had His Son sold for thirty pieces of
                                                           silver, so that He might receive our wages of death
  It was not that they still hated Joseph and there-       and earn for us and our posterity everlasting life in
fore did not rush to him and express their joy and         the new Jerusalem.
show their relief that he had not died, or was some-


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


2 3 0                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



THE STKENGTH OF YOUTH

              The Moral Majority and the Trying
                                           of the Spirits
                                                Rev. Rodney Miersma


    The content of this article is taken from notes of a    the United States is in a terrifying moral decline
lecture given by the undersigned at the Spring              and they believe that as Christians we have the
Meeting of the Eastern Men's and Ladies' League             duty to reverse that by voting only for those who
held in April, 1981. The title of the lecture was           agree with our moral principles. Falwell in the
"The Moral Majority Movement: Should We                     October 13, 1980 issue of  PEOPLE  magazine says
Support It?" I include this subject in this depart-         that the purpose is "to give a voice to the millions of
ment, for the youth of our churches also need               decent, law-abiding, God-fearing Americans who
strength with regard to the various movements in            want to do something about the moral decline of
our country which seem so appealing and worthy              our country."
of support. Thus, one must try the spirits to see             After the organization of the Moral Majority Inc.
whether this is the spirit of God or the spirit of the      similar organizations were born. These work
Antichrist. Youth in their exuberance are inclined          closely with the Moral Majority. Two such organi-
t"d join movements quickly and with fervor without          zations are The Religious Roundtable, founded by
first searching to see what is the foundation and           Ed  McAteer, and The Christian Voice, founded by
purpose of such movements. It will be the attempt           Gary Jarmin. All of these organizations are similar
of the undersigned to shed some light on the Moral          in that most of their members are considered evan-
Majority in order that we may assess this move-             gelicals or fundamentalists. Characteristics of such
ment properly from the viewpoint of Holy Writ.              are that one must be born again, one must believe
    The Moral Majority was very active in 1980, the         that the Bible is the literal Word of God, and one
year of the election of the President of the United         must encourage others to believe in Christ.
States. This year, 1982, is another election year.            This kind of person ordinarily shuns politics, but
Even though it is not a presidential election year we       is prompted into action by three things: the legali-
can expect to hear from this movement again.                zation of abortion, the spread of pornography and
    What is the Moral Majority? It is a political           of gay-rights, and the attempt in 1978 of the In-
organization. This they say of themselves in their          ternal Revenue Service to tax private schools
paper "The Moral Majority Report"  (3/16/81):               suspected of practicing racial discrimination (In
"Moral Majority Inc. is a political organization pro-       reality these schools were established to separate
viding a platform for religious and non-religious           the children from  the'ungodly  education of the
Americans, who share moral values, to address               public school system).
their concerns in these areas. Members of Moral               Being a political organization they take a definite
Majority Inc. have no common theological premise.           political stand. They are against such things as
We are Americans who are proud to be conservative           abortion, Equal Rights Amendment, gay-rights,
in our approach to moral, social, and political con-        Strategic Arms        Limitation    Treaty (SALT),
cerns."                                                     pornography, filth on television, sex education in
    The founder of this organization is the Dr. Rev.        school, and drugs. On the positive side they are for
Jerry Falwell, pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist            the Kemp-Roth proposal to cut taxes by thirty per
Church in Lynchburg, VA, which has a member-                cent, free enterprise, a balanced budget, voluntary
ship of about 17,000. In addition, he also has a            prayer in public schools, and a secure Israel.
television program entitled "The Old-Time Gospel              In order to secure these objectives they became
Hour," which has an audience of about 21,000,OOO            especially active prior to the election in 1980 for the
which in turn contributes about $l,OOO,OOO a week.          purpose of electing those who shared their ideals.
Since its founding in 1979 Moral Majority Inc. has          First, they conducted a great campaign to register
signed up 72,000 ministers,  4,000,OOO  lay mem-            many citizens who ordinarily did not vote but were
bers, and is establishing chapters in all fifty states.     conservative in their views. At the same time they
    Their reason for organizing is that in their eyes       developed a political report card giving  Con-


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                231



gressmen  grades according to their voting record on       Now that we have seen this movement from the
various moral issues. Those that received low            outside it is time that we examine it on the inside,
marks were targeted for defeat.                          that is, we must see whether this is the spirit of God
  As a result of this vigorous campaign many             or the spirit of Antichrist. Generally speaking, one
liberals, such as John Culver of Iowa and  George-       can readily see that this is nothing less than the
McGovern of South Dakota, were defeated. They            preaching of the "social gospel." This is the old
also claim credit for ousting Jimmy Carter and           belief that if we put a Band-Aid on the sore, the sore
electing Ronald Reagan. They also succeeded in           will be healed and the cause of it taken away. A
blocking the passage of the ERA in fifteen states. In    social gospel looks at all the fruits of sin instead of
addition, they shaped a large section of the GOP         sin itself which is the cause of all the crime, filth,
platform.                                                and corruption in society. Legislation and new
                                                         faces in office will not solve our problems. From
  What must we say about this movement of the            the beginning of time, changing the heart of man
Moral Majority Inc. and of similar organizations?        has been the only answer.
Objectively seen, many of their causes are laud-
able. We have been chafing under the legislation           Moreover, with the Moral Majority speaking to
and government of a liberal left for a long time.        the government and advocating policy we have a
Now we have an organization and movement                 violation of the relationship between church and
which is trying to accomplish many things to which       state. Admittedly, according to their legal status
we can say "Amen." Certainly, we are against             they keep the separation. Yet, by their own admis-
abortion, ERA, gay-rights, drugs, pornography, TV        sion they  -toe the line so close that although the
filth, and sex education in school. And again, we        letter of the law is not violated, yet the spirit of the
can see merit in a balanced budget, since that is        law certainly is violated. Let me explain. No church
good stewardship of governmental monies. We also         as such, as far as the Moral Majority is concerned,
would desire a cut in taxes if that means cutting out    supports any particular candidate. However, the
the fat and the frills of a wasteful government,         minister does and makes his position known to his
including its welfare programs.                          congregation. What we must not forget in this con-
                                                         nection is that any policy with moral or religious
  On the other hand, there are some proposals            overtones is viewed as the voice coming from the
with which we cannot agree. Voluntary prayer in          church. Hence, in the Moral Majority movement
public schools has no place in that ungodly and          we see really the church becoming the spokesman
anti-Christian  institution. Neither do we agree with    unto and for the state. All we have to do is look at
their reason for a secure Israel, for their reason is    the 1980 GOP platform, which was very much
based on their dispensationalism. With other issues      formulated by the Moral Majority. Notice how the
we are perhaps indifferent, such as free enterprise      President is now in a certain sense the servant of
and SALT.                                                the Moral Majority in his carrying out of these pro-
  We see what the spirit of this movement is as we       grams. It will also be noticed that the President
look at them from the viewpoint of their own writ-       does not say that he has the backing of these
ings and sayings. Falwell says, "The moralists in        various ministers. Rather, he now claims to have
America have had enough. We are joining hands            the backing of the church.
together for the changing, the rejuvenating of a
nation." And again, "The 80's is the decade in             Finally, still generally speaking, this is really a
which this country is going to have a moral re-          postmillennial view of this dispensation. The goal is
birth." A fellow advocate, James Robison says,           an ever-increasing Christian world through legis-
"It's time for God's people to come out of the closet    lation and the removal of evil by law. This is the
and the churches,  - and change America." Presi-         view that there is the possibility of a heaven here
dent Ronald Reagan is quoted as he calls for "a          on earth.
return to the building of Eden in America  - `the          Let us now look more specifically and examine
shining city' ." Others are saying that "a born-again    this movement from the viewpoint of Holy Writ, in
president will solve all the nation's problems" and      particular as seen from Revelation 17. In this
"top priority is to win the world for Jesus Christ."     chapter we have a picture of the  anti-Christian
Then, in the eyes of one of the critics of the Moral     world power as it develops and finally realizes its
Majority movement as quoted in the October 29,           full power in the end. We see a beast, and a woman
1980 issue of  Chrisfianity Today,  "Falwell believes    carried by this beast. The beast represents the
that America's fate hinges on adoption by govern-        world power from its political aspect while the
ment of these latter day prohibitions. If we can just    woman represents the world power from its social
quash sufficient numbers of deviants and dis-            and religious aspect. The beast, being the state
senters America's problems will disappear and its        power, and the woman, being the church, are
former greatness will be regained."                      united together to form the  anti-Christian  world


232                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



power. As far as the institute of the state and the          We now apply this Word of God to the Moral
institute of the church are concerned there is             Majority movement. First of all, we look at the gov-
nothing wrong with them as such, for both have             ernment, both state and federal, to see how deeply
been ordained of God. What is wrong is their               they are involved in religious matters. I will name
unholy alliance.                                           just ten issues: 1) prayer in public schools, 2) aid to
  Taking a closer look we see that the state is or-        parochial and private schools, 3) abortion, 4)
dained of God to bear the sword power with the             federal aid for abortions for the poor, 5) the teach-
purpose of protecting the good and punishing the           ing of both evolution and creation in schools, 6)
bad. It is a temporal institution which must main-         taxing various religious organizations and making
tain law and order in the midst of a corrupt society.      them file a financial report, 7) protection of the
The means by which the state accomplishes this             rights of religious minorities (Moonies), 8) main-
purpose is a material one, the sword power. The            tenance of the religious character of church-related
spiritual means does not belong to the state.              institutions which rely on public funds (colleges), 9)
                                                           aid to religious agencies (remedial reading, etc.),
  On the other hand, the church as institute has           10) religious symbols on public property (nativity
also been ordained by God. She is the manifestation        scene).
of the body of Christ on earth and her task is to
build up the saints so that they grow in grace, truth,       In the second place, we look at the Moral
and knowledge. Thus, she must preach the gospel            Majority itself. It is the harlot, since she has aban-
in every land. In fulfilling this task the state does      doned the name of Christ for that of Moral Majority
not tell her what to do or what to preach. The             as she speaks not on sin, but on all the social evils of
church acknowledges no other authority than.               the day. She teaches that through these means the
Christ. To accomplish her task she uses no other           kingdom of God may come on earth. If you ques-
means than the spiritual means which is the                tion that, simply go back to those quotations given
preaching of the Word. She is eternal rather than          earlier in this article. It becomes unmistakably
temporal, with the sole task to preach the gospel of       clear just where the Moral Majority stands.
Jesus Christ. The state exists for the purpose of            The question of whether or not we should join
making that possible for her.                              such a movement is now much easier to answer. By
  The relationship between the church and the              no means may we join. The implied warning to all
state, the woman and the beast, in Revelation 17 is        of us is, "Stay away from the Moral Majority move-
an adulterous relationship. The state takes upon it-       ment and all other like organizations." In appear-
self the task of developing the kingdom of Christ. It      ance it looks like the true church with its gospel,
conceives of the possibility of rooting out evil and       the Bible, the sacraments, ministers, etc. But in
establishing peace by the power of the law and             reality it is the whore as she is forsaking her rightful
sword power. The result of this labor will be the          husband Jesus Christ for marriage with the beast. It
claim that this is the kingdom of Christ. At the same      is the embodiment of the false Christ and the false
time the church becomes one mind with the beast.           prophet.
She will abandon the name of Christ and will no              Thus, the admonition to our youth and to all of
longer preach on sin and total depravity, but on all       us is that which is given in Holy Writ by the
sorts of other topics: war and peace, health, labor,       Apostle Paul in I Corinthians  15:58, "Therefore,
business, crime, corruption, and the betterment of         my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable,
humanity through means of legislation. She will            always abounding in the work of the Lord,  foras-
teach her members that through these means the             much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in
glorious kingdom of God will come on earth.                the Lord."

GUESTARTICLE

                                   Watch Therefore
                                                 Rev. R.G. Moore


  Do you think about the day of the Lord? Do you           and watchful  - mindful that the coming of our
look forward to His coming? Are you aware of the           Lord will be as a thief in the night?
signs of Christ's coming, which signs are being  in-         It is the evident instruction of the Lord that we
creasingly fulfilled roundabout us? Are you sober          indeed ought to be able to answer yes to all the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                233



above questions. For this instruction, we are re-            emphasized that God is a righteous God, and a God
minded of several texts of God's Word.                       Who is holy. This preaching called them unto holi-
  In Matthew 24 Jesus calls His church to sobriety           ness and called them to seek the things of the king-
and watchfulness. And John says to us that the time          dom of heaven. It was a preaching of the coming of
is at hand: "Little children, it is the last time: and as    a righteous judgment. But they would not take
ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now           heed, they continued their eating, and drinking,
are there many antichrists; whereby we know that             and marrying, as though nothing would happen.
it is the last time" (I John 2:18).                          They were concerned only with their daily life.
                                                             Their homes, their occupations, their entertain-
  On the other hand, many there be that are                  ment, etc., constituted the object of their whole life.
characterized by the Scripture when it speaks of the
last days and of those dwelling therein. In Matthew            And the flood came and destroyed them!
24:37-38 Christ says, "But as the days of Noah were,           The days in which we live can be likened unto
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as        the days of Noah. And rather than being content
in the days before the flood they were eating and            with what we have, rather than seeking our very
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the         happiness and blessedness out of the Word, out of
day that Noah entered into the ark." Or again, the           Christ, we find ourselves attracted to the phil-
Scripture characterizes many in the last days in II          osophy of the world. The attitude that we must
Peter 3:3-4 as follows: "Then shall come in the last         keep up with our neighbor, and a constant striving
days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and            to have more and more of this life and its things,
saying, where is the promise of His coming? For              become all too ingrained into our way of life.
since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as          Such a philosophy and striving must be recog-
they were from the beginning of the creation."               nized as having its source in the prince of the power
  The temptation to follow this way of thinking is           of darkness. It has its source in hell!
real, and we must confess that we can easily fall              When we follow the above reasoning we find
into its trap. We would all too easily live our lives        that our young people believe that they have an
without considering the coming of our Lord. Is it            inalienable right to a new house, new furniture,
not indeed easy to become partakers of this sin? I           new car with which to begin life together as
heard the remark just the other day, "I hope Christ          husband and wife. And if that means that both
doesn't come for a long time  - not until after my           must work in order to make the payments, then so
life time!" But such a remark is not made from the           be it, even if it means that we put off the God-given
faith that abides in us. It is a way of thinking that        calling to bring forth the covenant seed. In such
arises out of the old man of the flesh, in which we          reasoning the wife's occupation becomes more im-
still dwell.                                                 portant to the family than her being a godly mother
  The temptation is to so sin by living completely           in the home, and than her caring for the needs of
engrossed with this life, and its ends and goals. This       her husband and children.
characterized the world at the time of the type of             Life so often consists only in eating, drinking,
final judgment  - the time of the flood. This is             and marrying or giving in marriage!
evident from our quotation above from Matthew
24~37-38.                                                      Let us continue for a short space yet to consider
                                                             the effects of this worldly attitude upon our lives.
  There is, of course, nothing wrong with eating,            Often even for us, our work becomes more impor-
drinking, marrying or giving in marriage, as such.           tant than time with the family, or time for the in-
We do that every day and may do this as pilgrims             creasing of our spiritual life through church atten-
and strangers in the midst of the world. But when            dance, Bible studies, good Christian fellowship, etc.
this becomes the focus of life, as it was in the days
of Noah, then one walks in sin  - sin that, if not             Further, families have become so involved with
repented of, will lead to eternal desolation. Many           activities of one sort or another, that there is left no
                                                             time for true fellowship together. When is the last
there be in this world that are just so walking.             time that you sat together with your whole family
  In the days of Noah the world was given over to            for the reading of the Bible and its discussion, or
seeking itself. Men were concerned only for the day          even for family prayer? How much time do you
in which they lived. All their thoughts, desires, and        take for family fellowship, and to do things together
activities were channeled into living unto the things        as a family in the Lord? We could go on and on with
of this world. They were concerned only about how            such searching questions, but let this suffice.
they would obtain the most this life had to offer.             One becomes so very busy with this life and with
  This was done in the face of the pure preaching            its activity and its things  - without a thought, or
of God's Word by Noah. It was a preaching which              with but a mere thought now and then, that our


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     234                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



     Lord is coming. So often we do not consider the             to have a spiritually dead attitude. For indeed God
     significance of the coming of our Lord, and we are          brings judgment! And those who have the attitude
     indeed tempted at times to hope that He will not            expressed in the text from II Peter 3 shall be
     come for quite awhile yet.                                  destroyed, even as the first world was by the flood.
       But, over against this our Lord says to us, "But          And all things of this creation shall perish with a
     seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteous-         fervent heat.
     ness; and all these things shall be added unto you"           But you who are in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
     (Matt. 6:33).                                               who by grace are given eyes to see the promises of
       And in the light of God's word, indeed we have            God, hear Christ's Word, "Watch therefore: for ye
     to confess that, yes, we too have fallen all too often      know not what hour your Lord doth come....There-
     into the snare of this sin. It is obvious that the          fore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye
     world's attitudes and philosophies have made their          think not the Son of man cometh" (Matt. 24:42,44).
     inroads into our lives.                                     And, "According to His promise, look for a new
                                                                 earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (II Peter
       But our Lord says to us, Repent, repent and turn          3: 13). To be so led by the gracious Word of God is
     from this way! It is not the way of life! And by            also to be assured of rich blessing. For Christ says,
     means of the second text we quoted, that from II            "Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he
     Peter 3, Christ shows us the foolishness of those           cometh shall find so doing" (Matt. 24:46).
     who continue so to walk. They act as if God does
     not judge, and as if Christ does not come. But He             And be comforted that, as your God gives you
     comes most assuredly - and that in judgment!                ears to hear His Word, and leads you in the pil-
                                                                 grim's pathway, and as your eyes are set upon the
       Natural man foolishly says, "Where is the                 things of His kingdom, you shall grow in grace and
     promise of His coming: for since the fathers fell           in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus
     asleep, all things continue as they were from the           Christ. For the work that God has begun in you, He
     beginning of the creation." But to so speak is to           will perform until the day of Jesus Christ. And
     close one's eyes to the reality. For it is not true that    when Jesus Christ comes even as a thief in the
     all things continue as they were. The flood changed         night, you shall be prepared and shall receive true
     the world as God brought judgment upon the wick-            peace and joy eternally in heaven.
     edness of man - so much so that the Word of God
     teaches us that we dwell in a different world from            May God grant us grace to seek fervently the true
     that before the flood. So changed is it! Read in this       proclamation of His word. May He grant us grace to
     connection II Peter  2:5; 3:5-6. God speaks through         flee the foolish ways of darkness by giving us grace
     this text, and says He brings judgment upon the             to hear His warning, "Watch therefore!" Thus
     scoffer - the wicked. And to think lightly of this is       indeed we shall be kept in the hope that fadeth not
                                                                 away.

     TRANSLATED TREASURES

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


                           C h a p t e r   4                       Reformation can be considered in a wider or nar-
            CONCERNING THE REFORMATION                           rower sense and clarity of conception requires that
                      OF THE CHURCHES                            these divergent meanings, even though they have
                                                                 been discussed earlier, be correctly and sharply
     (With the last paragraph Kuyper has finished his            distinguished at the beginning of this fourth
     discussion of how the church here on earth goes             chapter.
     through a process of deterioration. He now turns
     his attention to the reformation of the churches.)            The most commonly held and most generally
     51. What Is To Be Understood By the Reformation             used idea of reformation is the idea of restoration of
            Of the Churches.                                     truth and holiness in the place of error and sin.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                            2 3 5



   In the widest sense, reformation also includes        be the point of departure. But in addition to this,
the continuous enlightenment which the church re-        one ought also to strive for the gradual betterment
ceived from the Holy Spirit in the course of the         of the institution of the church and the taking away
ages, as well as ongoing growth in sanctification.       of error. Thus revival and church restoration.
Both, enlightenment and sanctification, must be            And if, finally, the church develops so far that
understood as pertaining to the body of the church       not only the life of grace withers and "the truth
as well as to her individual members. All that brings    stumbles on the streets," but also that both the
the church nearer to the Fountain-of-all-good, or,       extermination of error and restoration of the honor
vice versa, all that causes the Fountain-of-all-good     of God's Word by the over-shepherds is perma-
to flow more generously and more purely in the           nently impossible, then the spiritual awakening,
stream of the church, reforms the church.                which knows that the way to gradual church refor-
  Yet seldom is the idea of reformation taken in         mation is impossible, must not shrink back from
this broad sense. Just as we, in connection with our     the most painful method of all. It ought, for the
body, commonly make distinction between normal           saving of life, to proceed to surgery, i.e., to strive
growth and development on the one hand, and the          for public reformation in the sense in which Luther
healing of abnormal sicknesses or wounds on the          did this and Calvin perfected Luther's work.
other hand, so we require of the church of Christ a        But even though the Spirit of the Lord pushes
normal growth in enlightenment and sanctification        and presses to proceed to this extreme, yet spiritual
not only but also seek the recovery of the church        awakening must always be the point of departure.
from a condition of sickness into which she has
sunk through her own guilt and unbelief or through         What is from the outside to the inside produces
Satan's malice.                                          only an appearance of life; what endures is not
                                                         worked in any other way than out of the Spirit.
  That normal growth in enlightenment and sanc-
tification is called then the continual edification      52. That All Good Reformation Has God For Its
and upbuilding of the church of God through the              Author.
working of the means of grace. And only the heal-          All human efforts in the church of Christ are
ing of her wounds is called reformation.                 vanity and less than vanity itself. The church of
  But also in this narrower sense, the idea of refor-    Christ is put into the world by God's wonderful
mation can be distinguished. It all depends on           grace in spite of man's sinful wrangling. It con-
whether the recovery of the sickness is brought          tinues to exist in the world age after age in spite of
about by a restoration of strength, by cleansing the     man's opposition and unfaithfulness. It has never
                                                         thrived even for a moment in any other way than
body from poison, or by a radical operation.             out of and by means of and in grace. Slime always
  The first, the method which refers exclusively to      cleaves to the church which she rather naturally
a renewal of the torpid spirit of life, is both com-     picks up from the world. But as church it is always
monly called reveil or revival or awakening.             and unchangeably applicable to her in the fullest
  The second, the method which without radical           possible sense: "In Him she lives and moves and
surgery has in view the cleansing from poison, is        has her being."
usually called church restoration.                       There is then also no more senseless undertaking
  And the third, the method which puts the knife         than that a certain man, even though he is the most
in the wound and is an operation, has the name of        excellent, or that a certain ecclesiastical assembly,
reformation in the narrowest sense.                      even though it is the most influential, should ever
  Which of these three measures is required              presume to say or to think: "Yes, we shall, by our
depends entirely upon the nature of the illness.         influence effect a reform of this or that corrupt
                                                         church!"
  If the organic fabric of the church remains unin-
jured so that the institution of the church remains        Such talk is unreformed pride and can never
undamaged and the administration of the means of         result in anything other than still further deforma-
grace remains pure, then a spiritual awakening of        tion. It is the preposterous notion that we have to
ministers and members is the one needed. A new           deliver to God a pure church rather than that He
awakening of the Holy Spirit by a new feeling of the     graces us in His mercy with a purified church.
faithful covenant of the Lord. Reveil!                     It is the order of the gospel turned around, a
  On the other hand, if the sickness has penetrated      setting aside of the covenant of grace, and again,
further and engulfed not only the spiritual life of      striving for reward on the basis of good works.
the church but has also damaged the very character         This goes to show that the error still lives in our
of the church so that "the truth stumbles on the         hearts that a child of God can bring forth out of
streets," then surely also must spiritual awakening      himself one small speck of holiness; and that error


236                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



is completely conquered only when our soul rightly         can again look up to the light only through a
comes to confess before God that every speck of            gracious work of God. This new gracing of God's
holiness which radiates from us is first dropped           with a light which they have forfeited a thousand
into us from the holiness of Christ - so completely        times and finally lost is His divine and inviolable
that also the best which still works from our natural      privilege.
life is to be considered sin rather than holiness.           Thus God's people can never be admonished too
  For this reason a pious Christian person must            much to awake from their sleep, to rouse again
know  enought  not to try to strike a bargain with         their first love, to perfect their holy work before
God.                                                       God, and to awake a zeal for the saving of other
  A child of the kingdom who desires to proclaim           souls; but woe to him who finds this glorious
the virtues of Him Who has called him out of dark-         revival in any other place than in the Fountain of all
ness into His marvelous light knows no  half-              good!
measures on this point. From him nothing but sin;            God alone multiplies faith, pours out into the
everything holy from God. All that wells up from           heart through His Holy Spirit a warm love, gives
him is characterized by the lie; the Lord alone is         the victory in temptation and binds the welfare of
true.                                                      others to our souls.
  If thus reformation, as the former paragraph ex-           This becomes the more evident to anyone who
pressed it, is the restoration of truth and holiness in    thinks that a spiritual awakening must include
the place of the lie and sin, then it must be asked        many more souls. Supposing that you had power
from where else that truth and holiness should             over your own heart (though you do not); even then
come to the church than from Him alone Who has             you could never penetrate savingly into another
both?                                                      soul and you still remain deeply dependent on the
  God the Author of all true reformation is there-         free grace of your God.
fore the beginning, a truth never denied by the              But also the second degree of reformation which
faithful sons of the church. From this comes their         we call gradual renewal has God alone for its
praying, their waiting, their obedience to the Lord.       Author.
  This principle applies to reformation at all three         Without God a church can perhaps draw up
levels.                                                    better articles of ecclesiastical regulations and thus
  From God is all awakening of the congregation            reform the church on paper, but this dead thing
from her deathly sleep. Not as if all revivals and         which is born out of death shall also prove com-
awakenings are from Him. Alas, who does not                pletely powerless to restore even slightly a spiritual
bewail the fact that so often human maneuvering            well-being to the body of the churches.
adorns itself with that beautiful name. No, by this          No, if church renewal is to come, then the one
is meant that there never, that there nowhere is           who draws up a better church order must record
restored life to the dead bones; that never and no-        only what God is pleased to arouse by His Word
where growth in sanctification is again begun after        and Spirit in the consciousness and intention of
a long delay; and that never and nowhere the urge          people.
to win others for the Lord finds an open door  -             Opportunities are necessary for church renewal,
than in that time and in those churches in which           and who else grants these than the Lord our God?
God the Lord is pleased, in spite of the sin and un-       All sorts of persons are indispensable for church
belief and faithlessness of His people, to be merci-       renewal, and who else creates persons than He? For
ful to that people which has turned away. And              church renewal there must be agreement of judg-
indeed He is merciful because He either sends a            ment, uniformity of purpose, desire for coopera-
prophet saying: "Speak to these dead bones," or            tion. And who else leads the heart as water courses
He, without using a minister who preaches repen-           than the Lord?
tance, arouses the conviction of sin and unbelief in
the soul and by the prick of this consciousness of           Above all, in the gatherings where gradual
sin, He spurs them on to prayers.                          church renewal is carried out, not the majority of a
  The ancient struggle between the Reformed and            certain number, but the present kingly power of
the Arminian applies also to this spiritual awaken-        Christ is the only compelling power, and the truth
ing. He who sleeps, how shall he rise unless he is         will never triumph except under the chairmanship
wakened! How shall improvement come from the               of the Holy Spirit.
people who become spiritually worse by the day?              Thus it was at Nicea. Thus it was at Dordtrecht.
Thus, just as the unregenerate can come out of the         That is exactly what was lacking at our Synod of the
darkness to the light only by the work of God, so          Hague. That Synod decided, (0, we cry to you, 0
also a church which has sunk back into darkness            church) to reduce her prayers to once a week.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            2 3 7



  And what finally concerns the third stage of re-            people of God.
formation, viz., reformation through separation                 And reformation by the work of surgery, by a
from the existing organizations as Luther and                 rupture, by the severing of bonds, can and may
Calvin carried it out also here the truth applies             only come among the people who fear God, when
implicitly that it is either deeply sinful or worked          the Lord Himself visits His people, arouses men
by God.                                                       who can lead out His flock and Himself as their
  Terrible is the conceit of anyone who tears apart           complete defense on the way through the wilder-
the body of Christ and misuses the church of God              ness.
as a dishonorable corpse upon which the surgeon                 It must not therefore be said that, yes, as a last
exercises his dissecting abilities.                           resort all working and thus also the reformation of
  He who dares to break the unity of the church               the churches can be ascribed to God. No, but it
into which he was born must be very definitely                must be confessed that never or nowhere reforma-
assured that he is appointed to this by God; or else          tion in the church of the Lord, whether in the form
he heaps upon himself a responsibility which shall            of an awakening, or as gradual renewal, or as
make the curse penetrate into his convulsed heart.            necessary separation, takes place unless the par-
  Such a reckless deed can then only exist in the             ticular inworking of divine grace has begun that
frivolous one whose lack of spiritual insight or              glorious work, continued it, and carried it to its
fanatic over-excitement is clearly evident to the             conclusion.

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS


           Westtiinster Confession (Chapter IX)
                                                Pastor R. Van Overloop



  Through chapter VIII the Confession has dealt               treat the work of the Westminster Assembly and
with salvation in its outward and objective aspects.          not that of any revisors.]
In the next chapters the Confession is concerned                This ninth chapter is an answer to an oft raised
with salvation in its application and experience.             objection against the main doctrine of the Re-
  [In 1942 the General Assembly of the Presbyter-             formed Faith: the sovereignty of God. The charge is
ian Church of the United States of America (North)            brought against Divine sovereignty that it destroys
added two chapters at this point in the Confession            all human responsibility. It is this evil and most
of Faith: Of the Holy Spirit and Of the Gospel. It is         false charge which the Westminster Assembly is
said that the chapter on the Holy Spirit merely               treating in this chapter.
gathers together the teachings on that subject                  Most often in our day the subject of the freedom
scattered     throughout      the      Confession     and     of the will is considered from a moral-ethical view-
Catechism. The chapter on the Gospel, however,                point, viz., that man's will is bound in sin to serve
does more than that. James B. Green says, "The                evil or in Christ is freed from this bondage of sin
chapter on the Gospel is meant to make explicit               unto the service of the living God (Romans 6). This
what is only implicit in the Westminster Standards.           is the perspective of Martin Luther's well-known
The Westminster Assembly emphasized the love of               "The Bondage of the Will.".
God for the elect. This chapter was not designed to
correct that emphasis but to supplement it. The fact            However, the Confession is not taking that
of the love of God for all mankind underlies the              perspective. Rather it is considering whether or not
whole statement of the Calvinistic creed. The                 the sovereignty of God destroys and cancels out the
revisors thought that this general love of God and            will of man so that he is no different from the rock
His call  to. all men should have clear recognition"          or the tree. And the position of the Confession is
(A Harmony of the Westminster Prebyterian Stan-               that man does have a will which he can exercise,
dards, p. 71). At this point let it suffice us to say that    and hence he is responsible.
we do not agree with Green's evaluation of what is                     1. God hath endued the will of man that natural
implicit in the Confession. In this rubric we will                liberty, that it is neither forced, nor by any absolute


238                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



       necessity of nature determined, to good or evil.1                 prepare himself thereunto.
       1. Matthew- 17:12; James 1: 14; Deuteronomy 30:19.                1. Romans 5:6;  8:7; John  15:5.
  Freedom of the will is set up by the Confession as                     2. Romans  3:10, 12.
the opposite of force and coerced. The Confession                        3. Ephesians 2: 1,5; Colossians 2: 13.
                                                                         4. John  6:44, 65; Ephesians 2:2-5; I Corinthians 2: 14;
states that man is not forced by some external force                        Titus 3:3-5.
greater than himself to will something he does not
want to will. Man is free to will what he wants to                     By his fall into sin and guilt before the righteous
will. Also man is free to do what he wills within the                God, man lost the  ability  to do good. One sin
limitations of his, ability. Man is created with the                 destroyed. the pure source out of which the ability
power of willing and of willing in the way the man                   to will good came. Before the fall he was able to will
himself desires at the time. This is the "natural"                   and to do either good or evil. After the fall he is able
liberty of which the Confession speaks.                              to will and to do only evil, for "every imagination
                                                                     of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continu-
  This liberty must not be identified with ability.                  ally. " "There is none that doeth good, no, not one."
Notice that we did not say man is free to do what he                 "`Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard
wants to do, but that he is free to will what he                     his spots? then may ye also do good, that are
wants to will. Man is not forced to think, will, and                 accustomed to do evil" (Genesis  65; Romans  3:12;
desire something which he does not want to think,                    Jeremiah.  13:23). Being "utterly indisposed,
will, or desire. Man's will is not such that he wills                disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly
one thing, but convulsively does another thing                       inclined to all evil" (Confession IV- 4) man in sin
against his will.                                                    cannot convert himself or even prepare himself for
  Man's will is conditioned by the moral character                   conversion, i.e., he cannot even will his own
of the man, out of which the willing comes. The                      conversion. This is a death blow to the position that
acts of the will represent and reveal the character of               the natural man has the ability to  will,good, even
the person, so that Jesus can say, "The tree is                      and especially his own salvation.
known by his fruit" (Matt.  12:33). If the soul is                     Though morally bankrupt and bound only to
corrupt, then it will only will to do evil. Although                 evil, man's will is still free to desire as he wills to do
morally and ethically such a will does not have the                  so, namely he is free to will all the evil and every
ability to escape the bonds of sin, nevertheless it                  evil he wishes. As A.A. Hodge says in his com-
has liberty to will all the evil and every kind of evil              mentary on the Confession, "The moral condition
he wishes. No one forces him in any evil act. Each                   of the heart determines the act of the will, but the
he wills of his own will.                                            act of the will cannot change the moral condition of
  The Confession now considers this liberty of                       the heart."
man's will in its four states: innocence, total                            4. When God converts a sinner, and translates him
depravity, grace, and glory. In each man is a free,                      into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural
responsible agent choosing or refusing as he wills.                      bondage under  sin,' and by His grace alone enables
         2. Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and              him freely to will and-to do that which is spiritually
       power to will and to do that which is good and well-              good;2  yet so as that, by reason of his remaining cor-
       pleasing to  God;1  but yet mutably, so that he might fall        ruption, he doth not perfectly nor only will that which
       from it.2                                                         is good, but also wills that which is evil.3
       1. Ecclesiastes  7:29; Genesis  126.                              1. Colossians 1:13; John  8:34, 36.
       2. Genesis 2:.16,  17; Genesis  3:6.                              2. Philippians 2: 13;. Romans 6:  18,22.
                                                                         3. Galatians 5:17; Romans 7:15, 18, 19,21,23.
  God created man good and in the state of inno-
cence. The natural liberty of man's will was such                      Only regeneration frees the will of man morally.
that he chose that which was good and pleasing in                    The power of grace is that it liberates man's will
God's sight. Free to do his desire, he desired to do                 from the bondage of willing only evil. Grace gives
that which was morally right.                                        man's will the ability to will the spiritually good.
  However, man could change; he could lose the                         Such a man is still a free, responsible agent, will-
ability  (not, liberty) to choose the good. Man did fall             ing what he desires to will. The difference between
from the state of innocence by choosing to do that                   the unregenerate and the regenerate man is one of
which was not pleasing in God's sight, that which is                 ability, not of liberty.
contrary to God's command.                                             Unlike Adam, the man on whom grace has come
                                                                     cannot will the good perfectly. This is because sin is
         3. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly
       lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accom-         still present with him. The Christian wills both
       panying salvation;' so as a natural man, being alto-          good and evil, and the good he wills he does not
       gether averse from that good,2  and dead in sin,3 is not      will perfectly. Nevertheless, natural liberty of
       able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to          man's will remains. in the state of grace: he  wills.


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         239



what he desires to will. Sometimes that will is                         sight. As the fallen man's will wills only and always
influenced by his regenerated heart and sometimes                       that which is evil, so the glorified saint's will wills
by the corrupt nature which he still possesses.                         only and always that which is good. As the fallen
          5. The will of man is made perfectly and immut-               man's will is free only within the bounds of sin, so
     ably free to do good alone in the state of glory.1                 the glorified saint's will is free within the bounds of
                                                                        righteousness.
     1. Ephesians  4:13; Hebrews  1223;  I John  32; Jude
          24.                                                                                     *  *  *  *  *
   It is in the state of glory that man's will will only                   This is the answer to the charge that God's
will the good.                                                          sovereignty destroys man's responsibility making
                                                                        him only a robot. No, man is not as a robot, tree, or
   Then too, man's will has the natural freedom to                      stone. He is an actively willing creature, willing
will what it desires to will.                                           what he wants to will. Hence he is always responsi-
   The ability of the will of the glorified saint is that               ble for his willing and the actions which flow from
it wills only and always that which is right in God's                   his will.

                 Book Review                                            much as they ought; but it is also true because
                                                                        prayer is a holy art, and God's people themselves
                                                                        know how much they need to be instructed in it.
IN THE SANCTUARY,  Expository Sermons on                                This book is admirably suited to this purpose.
the Lord's Prayer, by Herman Hoeksema; Re-                                 The.book has an introductory chapter on prayer
formed Free Publishing Association, 1982; 116                           and a chapter on the general principles of the
pages,      $3.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H.                        Lord's Prayer; these are followed by an exposition
Hanko).                                                                 of the address, the six petitions, and the doxology
   Many of our readers will know that this book is a                    with which the Lord's prayer closes. It is an
reprint of a book which first appeared in the                           incisive exposition of each part in which the
Forties, but has long been out of print. It was pub-                    petition itself is explained and the spiritual disposi-
lished soon after Rev. Hoeksema delivered a series                      tion of the heart necessary to pray is set forth. Rev.
of radio sermons on this subject. The book is a pub-                    Hoeksema, as all who knew him know, had the
lished form of those radio messages.                                    ability to make the profound clear, and the clear
                                                                        interesting and gripping. These things come
   I wish that there was some way in which this                         through in this book.
book could be put in the home of every Christian
family to be read and studied. I say this because the                      In expounding the Lord's Prayer the author has
book speaks of prayer, and God's people today are                       the opportunity to discuss all the principles which
badly in need of instruction concerning prayer. Not                     underlie true prayer, to warn against evils in
only is this true because of the sorry corruptions of                   prayer, and to point out repeatedly the deepest
prayer which are so common in our day; nor is this                      truth that God is God.
true only because God's people do not pray as                             The book can be read as meditative readings, and
                                                                        this is indeed a thoroughly enjoyable way to read
                    IN LOVING MEMORY                                    the book. But, more importantly, any child of God
  On Christmas Day, December 25, 1981, it pleased our Heavenly          who takes seriously the petition, "Lord, teach us to
Father to take unto Himself our beloved husband, father and grand-      pray..." must get this book. It will be an answer to
father, HENRY VELTHOUSE at the age of 63 years. We can but              his prayer.
rejoice in his going Home and thank God for giving him such peace in
his pathway.

  "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I                                  NOTICE!!!
will fear no evil; for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff they
comfort me." (Psalm  23:4).                                               An Office-Bearers Conference is to be held at the Randolph
                                                                        Protestant Reformed Church in Randolph, Wisconsin on Tuesday,
  As in times past, may we have learned from his Christian-example      March 2, 1982, the Lord willing, dealing with the subject of Bible
and have been taught to  - "So number our days, that we may apply       Translations and textual evidence. All those in need of lodging and
our hearts unto wisdom." (Psalm  90:12).                                transportation from the Dane County Airport (Madison) are requested
                                                                        to notify Randolph's Clerk  - Mr. Don De Vries, Route 1, Box 176,
   Mrs. Henry Velthouse                Irv and Barb Velthouse           Randolph, WI; Phone 414-326-5610.
   John and Jerri Velthouse              Dawn, Amy, Kari and Sara
      Debbie and  Jodie                Bob and Sharon Velthouse                                     NOTICE!!!
                                         Robbie, Emily and Craig           All students of the Protestant Reformed Churches who will enroll
                               NOTICE!!!                                in the Protestant Reformed Seminary and are in need of financial
                                                                        assistance for the school year 1982-83, are asked to contact the
   Adams Street Protestant Reformed Christian School of Grand           Student Aid Committee, Mr. Gerald Bouwkamp, Secretary, 5440
Rapids, Michigan, will need an administrator for the 1982-83 school     Lawndale Ave., Hudsonville, Ml 49426, (Phone 616-669-9230).
year. Inquiries should be sent to Dr. D. Monsma, 2141 Jefferson         This contact should be made before the next meeting of the commit-
Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids, Ml 49507.                                     tee on March 22, 1982.

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





240                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



                                 Report of Classis East

  Classis  East met in regular session on January 13,      the office of all-believers. The second overture to
1982  at the First Protestant Reformed Church in           Synod was from First Church and dealt with the
Grand Rapids. With the exception of Kalamazoo,             manner in which churches compute the number of
each church was represented by two delegates.              families used for synodical assessment purposes.
Rev. S.  Houck, home missionary in Lansing,                First Church requests that those not able to pay and
Michigan was also present. Rev. R. Flikkema                those on benevolence not be used in the family
chaired this session. The session was lengthy - ad-        count. Further, First consistory requests that
journment came at 11:45 p.m.                               Synod re-evaluate its formula for counting families.
  A matter of central concern was the considera-           Classis  sent this overture to Synod without its
tion of an appeal by a brother who came to Classis         approval. With regard to the first part of this
because he was not satisfied with his consistory's         overture, viz., the request for exemption from the
decision relative to his protest against  his. pastor's    count of families those who can not pay,  Classis
preaching. The issue at stake was "Does the regen-         argued that the number of retirees and older
erate man have a free will?" It was charged by this        families does not  per se  establish inability to pay.
brother that his pastor taught the Arminian concept        Further,  classis argued that sister church  diacon-
of the free will. This the pastor and consistory           ates should be contacted for help in this matter. In
denied. The appellant, however, insisted that the          regard to re-evaluation of the formula currently
regenerate man had no free will and that ultimately        used for counting families, Classis  cited the grounds
God, Who is sovereign in all things, was also the          that First. Church itself offered no suggestion for
author of all good works. The  Classis  upheld the         doing this and, further, that the present formula
consistory in its decision. In its report, the commit-     has served us well for many years.
tee of pre-advice succinctly showed from the scrip-          Classis  spent a good deal of its time voting. Revs.
tures and the confessions that the position of the         Van  Baren and Flikkema were elected to  primus
pastor and consistory, viz., that the regenerate           and secundus terms, respectively, as delegates ad
man's will has been freed from the bondage of sin          examina.  Synodical delegates elected are as follows:
and therefore the regenerate man can choose the            MINISTERS:  Primus: C.  Haak, M. Joostens, G. Van
good, is a sound, Reformed position. A copy of the         Baren, B. Woudenberg; Secundus: W. Bruinsma, M.
committee's report is available from the clerk if          De Vries, R. Flikkema, R. Miersma. ELDERS:
anyone so chooses to read it.                              Primus:  J. Kalsbeek, Sr., T. Newhof, Jr., H. Ophoff,
  Classis  also dealt with the matter of discipline in     R. Teitsma; Secundus: C. Kuiper, Hilbert Kuiper, E.
approving the erasure of a baptized member.                Ophoff, R. Van  Baren. Church visitors selected
                                                           were Rev. C. Hanko and Rev. J.A. Heys, with Rev.
  Two overtures were treated by the  Classis.  The         M. Schipper as alternate.
first, from Mr. Donald Lotterman, requested that
the synodical Agenda be made public and available            The expenses for this  classis amounted to
to all members of the churches. Discipline and per-        $560.50. Subsidy requests for the year 1983 were
sonal matters  - matters that would normally be            approved for Kalamazoo ($12,000) and Covenant
treated in closed session  - would be published            ($15,750).
separately and available only to officebearers.              The next meeting of  classis will be held on May
Classis  forwarded this overture to Synod with its         12, 1982 at our Holland church.
approval on the grounds that 1) historically we                                         Respectfully submitted,
have always been in favor of open ecclesiastical                                        Jon J. Huisken
meetings, and 2) the procedure gives recognition to                                     Stated Clerk


