     STAIWARD~
        BEARER                                              . .
.         A  REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                   4





       Sexual sin is a horrible sin.  `It is
     first of all a great abomination in the
                                                                    ,-`.
     sight of  ,God. Those who walk. in
     this sin  surlily incur the terrible
     wrath and judgment of God.... The
     very prevalence of this sin can easily
     make us forget how horrible it is in
     the sight of God.
     See "Christian Attitude Towards
                                         S e x "-page 354


L                                          Volume LVIII, No. 15, May I,1982    -


338                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                         ' THE  STiNDARti BEARER
                                                                                                                   ISSN 0362&692
       .,.           `:              CONTENTS                     _"                      Semi-monthly, except monthly duringJune,  July, and Auest.
                                                                                          Published b the Reformed Free  F@lishing  Association, Inc.
                                                                                              JSecon Class PostagEPaid  at Grand Rapids, Mich.               -
  Meditation-                                                                                                                                         i
                                                                               Editor-irK!hief:  Prof. Hotier C. Hoeksema
       The Final Judgment. . .                                                 Department Editors:  Rev. Wayne  Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma,  Rev. Arie
                                                                               denHartog,  Prof. Robert  .D. Decker, Rev. David  J. Engelsma, Rev.  Richard
                                                                               Flikkema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman  Hando,  Rev. John A. Heys, Mr.
  Editorial-                                                                   Calvin Kalsbeek, Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C.
                                                                               Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema,
       Freedom of Education                                                    Rev. Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman.
                                                                               Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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       A Pamphlet on the                                                       Church NewsEditor:  Mr. Calvin Kalsbeek
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MEDITATION

                                                The Final Judgment
                                                                        Rev. C. Hanko

                           Ques. 52. What comfort is if to thee that, "Christ shall come again to judge the quick and
                the dead"?
                           Ans. That in all my sorrows and persecutions, with uplifted head I wait for the very same
                Person, Who before offered Himself for my sake, to the tribunal of God, and has removed all
                curse from me, to come as judge from heaven: Who shall cast all His and my enemies into ever-
                lasting condemnation, and shall translate me with all His chosen ones to Himself into heavenly
                joys and glory. Heid. Catechism. Lord's Day 19.

  What comfort?                                                                   again as righteous judge? Do I daily look with up:
                                                                                  lifted head for my Lord's return? Do I so live in that
  A soul-searching question and a bold answer.                                   consciousness which determines all my ambitions,
  Would it not be more proper at this point to ask                                all my thoughts, words, and deeds in my family, in
nurselves.
___-_--.         
               --, Is it mv comfort that Christ is coming
                       --  ~~  1                                                  my daily affairs, and among my associates?


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               339

                                                                                                    .

  "In all my sorrows and persecutions." I do ex-           of the -living God. Election and reprobation are
perience sorrows intermingled with my joys, but do         carried out throughout history. "The curse of the
I suffer persecution? Is my walk as pilgrim and            Lord is in the house of the wicked, but He blesseth
alien in this present world of such a nature that I        the habitation of the just" (Prov. 3:33). "He that be-
am reproached and hated by the world? Is it not all        lieveth on the Son hath (not, will have, but hath)
too true that I .often deliberately avoid the opposi-      eternal life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
tion of the world and invite the favor of evil men?        not see life; but the wrath-of God abideth (even
Do I likely adopt more questionable practices of the       now) upon him" (John 3:36).
world than I myself realize? Does the sin that wars          God judges the wicked every day. He implants in
in my members grieve me so much that I daily long          them an undeniabie'awareness that He is God, and
to be translated with all God's saints to Himself into     He alone. He manifests before their consciousness
heavenly joy and glory?                                    every day and every night His almighty power in
  "His and my enemies." I do have enemies.                 the windows of the heavens, in the wonders of the
Round about me I also see the enemies of Christ, of        sea, in the wonders of animals, plants and flowers,
His cross, His Word, and His saints. But do I gener-       in the raging of the storm, the rumblings of earth-
ally regard God's enemies as mine and my enemies           quakes, and all the manifold works of the Most
as His?                                                    High in all His creation. All idols are but a sham,
  A soul-searching question indeed!                        the inventions of men. It is the wicked rebellion of
                                                           the human heart that rejects God, bows before
  Yet I would not want to change one word of this          idols, speaks of evolution over a long period of
question nor of its answer. Although sin still wars        time, or of laws of nature that operate apart from
in my members and my flesh clings to this life, ac-        God. No one can ever make the excuse that he did
cording to the new man in Christ I do heartily agree       not know. God even places the sinner under the
with both the question and the answer, and I               proclamation of the Word, even as He did with
breathe a prayer that I may learn to make this con-        Pharaoh, with Nebuchadnezzar,  with,  Herod and
fession more perfectly my own from day to day.             Pilate, `and with many others. God demands re-
  I do experience sorrows. Many sorrows. I have a          pentance, for no man has the right to defy God and
struggle against sin. I am daily disgusted with my         transgress His commandments. Why else would
depravity. I live in an awareness of persecution,          the wicked go about cursing -the God of heaven?
even of trying experiences in this world of wicked         Why do so many put on a pretense of sorrow and
men. I do hate those who hate God. They are my             repentance, as Ahab did, when they become aware
enemies. I am a stranger here, even as my fathers          of His judgments? By the clear and powerful
were. I do consider heaven as my home, so that             testimony of the Almighty the hearts of wicked
with uplifted head I long to be delivered from this        men are hardened, until the whole world reaches
body of sin and death, to be with the Lord, and to         the horrible state of which Revelation speaks, `-`And
worship in the beauty of holiness, without the             they repented not!" No one will ever be able to
hindrance of this body, fully devoted to the praise        deny that God is just in all His judgments.
of the glory of the Father in eternal perfection. I do,      God also judges His people every day. The
indeed, look for the same Savior Who atoned for            Word of God is a savor of life unto life as well as a
me on Calvary to declare me righteous in Him, and          savor of death unto death. It is foolishness to those
Who now assures me of that righteousness by His            perishing, but it is the power of God unto salvation
Spirit in my heart.                                        to all who believe. The preaching of the Word is the,
  I join the church of all ages with the confession, I     chief key of the Kingdom, opening and closing its
believe in Jesus Christ, Who is coming again to            portals. Christ, the Sentinel, exercises that key, de-
judge the quick and the dead.                              claring through His Word who will enter and who
                                                           will not, banning those who because of their sins
  "To judge the quick and the dead."                       have no right to enter in, drawing His own unto
  We can appreciate the fact that Scripture speaks         Himself on the basis of His atoning blood, and
of a final judgment, the culmination of the curse          making them fit citizens of the kingdom. Every day
that rests upon all men since the fall in paradise.        we stand before the tribunal of the living God. Far
How thankful we can be that God does not post-             be it for us to say that God loves us as we are in our-
pone judgment, that He does not temporarily                selves, wicked sinners, who transgress all God's
ignore our sins and the sins of all mankind, now           commandments and keep none of them. "If thou
showing a certain grace or favor to all men which          shouldst mark transgressions, Lord, who could
untimately will be changed to wrath and condem-            stand?" We confess with David, "The sorrows of
nation! Jesus did not come to condemn the world,           death compassed me, the pangs of hell gat hold
for the world already lay under the condemnation           upon me: I found trouble and sorrow." To which


340                                               THE STANDARD BEARER.



we add, "Then called I upon the name of the Lord,             as Noah, was taken with his family into the ark, and
0 Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul." Only                as Lot was brought out of Sodom before the judg-
then do we hear the voice of Jesus speaking through           ment of the Lord descended on the earth. (See .also
His Word and Spirit, Go in peace, thy sins, though            Isaiah  57:l; Matthew  24:22.) When the sign of the
they are ever so many. and so great, are forgiven             Son of man appears the wicked will be filled with
thee. God declares us righteous in Christ on the              terror and will. cry to the rocks to cover them and to
basis of His atoning blood even now. What a com-              the mountains to hide them from the face of Him
fort that has been for the saints of all ages!                Whom they have rejected all their lives with all
  From this it follows that there will be a final judg-       their, evil deeds.
ment at the end of time. Matthew 24 speaks of the               Christ will then come with the millions of His
signs of Christ's coming and of the end of the                saints of all the ages and with all His holy angels
world. The gospel will have been preached to the              like a mighty, triumphant army to judge the earth
ends of the earth, and the last elect saint will have         in righteousness. The judgment seat will be set up.
been gathered in and prepared for glory. The                  The Judge of heaven and earth will sit in judgment.
apostate church, the harlot, will have instigated the           "That very same person."
antichristian world power to sit on the throne as if
he were  God.  For a short time God gives both of               Blessed expectation! That very  same'Jesus  Who
them over to their evil devices, so-that they gloat of       before offered Himself for my sake to the tribunal
having disposed of God, His Christ and His church.            of God, and has removed all curse from me, will be
In their bitter hatred against God and against their          my Judge. We must all appear before the judgment
fellow men they have subjected all creation to their          seat of Christ to carry away the deeds done in the
selfish ends, with the result that they have cor-            body, whether good or evil. Every sinful desire,
rupted and polluted the air, the soil, the rivers,           thought, word, and deed will pass in review before
streams, and lakes, and even the seas. When God              our consciousness. Just as a play back on a TV set,
pours out His vials of wrath, the nations arise in           so in far greater accuracy every moment of our
warfare against each other in the great battle of            lives will be exposed before our conscience. We
Armageddon. They are infuriated against the  anti-           will stand condemned as never before. Yet, by the
Christian world power and the harlot for having              wonder of grace, we are forgiven! We are forgiven
deceived them into believing that they were in-              by Him Who sits in judgment over us! The same
vincible. They are enraged against God Who has               Savior Who died to atone for our sins on Calvary
brought total disaster upon them and shattered               will not declare us righteous and worthy of eternal
their fondest hopes. What actually happens is that           life on the sole basis of His merit. All of our works
Christ, the Lord of lords and King of kings, has             will be burned like straw and stubble, so that
brought to a climax the battle of the ages against           nothing remains. All of Christ's work in and
Satan and all his cohorts, has brought them into a           through us will be the basis for our reward in
state of total bankruptcy by their own sins, has cast        heaven. Each of us will receive his own crown and
them into utter frustration, and is now ready to             with it his own position according to the gifts and
declare His victory over them and judge them ac-             talents entrusted to him, that he may fully live to
cording to their just deserts (Rev. 19: 11-21).              the glory of his God.
  The sign of the Son of man appears, likely as a               We will be vindicated before our enemies. All
visible appearance of the Lord of Glory in all the           the enemies of Christ, which are also our enemies,
glorious majesty of His exalted position as Lord             will be condemned to their own place in torment of
over all at the right hand of the Father. The saints         hell.
will be raised and will be gathered unto Him before             Finally, united with the whole family of God, we
the eyes of the whole world. They will not exper-            will experience the rich and glorious promise, "I
ience the final outpouring of the vials of wrath,            will be your God, and ye shall by My people"
because they will be taken away beforehand, even             forever and ever! Praise be to His holy Name!

       Know the standard and follow it.
             Take time to read and study
                     The Standard Bearer


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                341



EDITORIAL


                             Freedom of Education
                                              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema



  Recentlv  there have been two items in the news         some five million students, 10.7 percent of the total
which  ha;e to do with the subject of freedom of          student population. It is evident, therefore, that
education. Because they have to do with this sub-         legislation of this kind would have a considerable
ject, they are also of interest to us who hold to the     impact.
principle of parental education, that is, to the             What shall we say of the plan?
principle that it is both the right and the duty, or
calling, of covenant parents to train up their               From a certain point of view, it may be said that a
children in the fear of the Lord.                         plan of this kind is probably the least offensive
                                                          form of parochiaid. In the first place, it does not
  The first of these items has to do with a form of       involve a direct handout of government funds to
what has popularly been dubbed as parochiaid,             the schools. This has frequently been a problem
that is, government financial assistance to non-          with some of the earlier forms, and has laid them
public schools. As is well known, there have been         open to the charge of the government supporting
various attempts to obtain such aid from time to          religious institutions and even churches. In the
time in some of the states, most of these attempts        second place, a plan of this kind avoids one of the
being initiated by a coalition of non-public schools.     objections often raised by public school forces in
And in some of the states financial aid in one form       the case of state aid programs, namely, that state
or another has even been provided for a time,             and local tax monies are taken away from public
though sooner or later the laws were struck down          schools (which are always crying for more funds)
by the courts. Against these attempts the Standard        and given to private schools. In the third place, the
Bearer  has repeatedly warned editorially, chiefly        financial benefit of the program goes to the parents,
because of the undeniable danger that what the             so that ostensibly the government could not inter-
government pays for it also controls, so that              fere with the schools and their curricula. These are
parochiaid would inevitably imply loss of parental         some of the positive aspects of the proposal. This
control of our schools.                                    does not mean, however, that public school forces
  But now there is a new proposal in the air, and          will not oppose it; already some voices have been
that, too, at the federal level. President Reagan          raised against it. Nor does it mean that we are
recently announced that he is proposing to Con-            endorsing the plan; it remains to be seen whether it
gress a tuition tax credit proposal to help parents        will be acceptable. And, to my mind, this matter of
who send their children to private schools. The idea       acceptability centers chiefly on the question
of a tax credit, it must be remembered, is different       whether even this indirect aid will involve any
from a deduction. A tax credit is subtracted directly      degree of government control of our schools.
from whatever amount of income tax one owes. For
example, if your total income tax is $1000 - to pull         We must be extremely careful in this respect.
a figure out of the air - and you receive a tax credit       Already it is being said that the credit could be
of $250, then the latter is subtracted from your total    taken only for those schools determined by the
tax due, resulting in a net amount of $750. The           Internal Revenue Service not to discriminate.
details of the plan are not yet public. It has been
suggested that the credit could begin at $250, and           This is precisely where the problem lies.
possibly rise to as much as $1000 per child over the         Although the matter has not been finally
years. It would be limited to elementary and               resolved in the courts, as of this writing, the IRS has
secondary schools. Several senators and representa-        claimed broad powers in this respect. The case of
tives have already expressed support for such a           Bob Jones University has been much in the news in
plan; in fact, two senators have already introduced       this respect recently. This school has been accused
legislation providing for a plan similar to the Presi-    by the IRS of discrimination and therefore denied
dent's. It is claimed that there are about 20,000         tax exempt status. However, as we understand it,
private schools in the nation, with an enrollment of      Bob Jones University claims its stand with regard to


342                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



racial segregation or integration is not simply a           Road Christian School. The schools are reported to
matter of ordinary racial discrimination in the             be claiming that the Michigan `law "infringes on
sociological sense of the word, but a matter of reli-       their First Amendment rights to free exercise of
gious principle, based on Scripture. Now the                religion and to freedom from government establish-
question is not whether Bob Jones University's              ment of religion." The pastor of the Bridgeport First
alledgedly religious position is correct or not. The        Baptist Church is reported to have told the judge in
question is rather whether the IRS can penalize a           the case, "Our Monday-through-Friday school is as
religious institution for its religious position. If the    much church as our Sunday school is. . . . Every
IRS can do this, then - in the abstract, at least - it      course we teach is a religious course." The report
could penalize a church, and deprive it of its tax          does state that only one of the school's eight
exempt status, for sexual discrimination if that            teachers is state certified. However, the pastor
church did not allow women in office. And one               claims his school's teachers  : are more than
could multiply possibilities, following this same           qualified, and that he answers to a higher authority
line of reasoning. Eventually the United States             than the state. At the school the teachers must be
Supreme Court is supposed to resolve this issue.            "born-again" Christians and also have the "techni-
  I mention this, however, only to point out that           cal" qualities and familiarity with subjects to be
even under this new proposal there is the potential         able to teach. Apparently the court battle centers on
for government interference in our schools. Before          the question whether the state has the authority to
we can accept such a proposal, therefore, careful           require reports and whether refusal to submit
investigation will have to be made.                         reports is "sufficient cause to suspend operation"
                                                            of the schools.
  The second item having to do with freedom of
education is the question whether private schools             A couple of spokesmen of Grand  .Rapids area
may properly be regulated by the state. Two                 schools are quoted by the Press on the subject. Both
parochial schools in Michigan are contesting Public         said their schools are conforming to the state law.
Act 302 of 1921, a law which gives state Board of           One expressed sympathy for the schools currently
Education officials the power to regulate Christian         in court. Another spoke out in favor of the idea of
schools. The reference is not to such matters as            certification. But both also qualified their agree-
building codes and rules on sanitation and health,          ment with the law, realizing that state regulation
but to educational matters. Private schools in              could conceivably go too far.
Michigan must submit annual reports to the state              Our own schools have over the years always
concerning various matters. For example, private            adhered to state regulations and have required our
schools must confirm to the state the fact that all         teachers to be certified.
their teachers are certified. Along with this, of             I suppose that as long as the law functions some-
course, goes the fact that the state determines what        what innocuously, there is no problem for us. We
constitutes certification. The latter involves educa-       certainly want qualified teachers in our schools;
tional requirements for teachers. Most, if not all,         and while certification is no guarantee that a
states have similar laws and powers to regulate             teacher is qualified (but only formally certified as
private schools.                                            such), nevertheless the requirement of certification
                                                            is thus far not hard to live with. Besides, our
  With the proliferation of private schools - many          schools, being parental, do not have precisely the
of them Christian and church-related schools  - in          same legal problems that a church-school would
recent years, there have been a good many court             have.
fights over the right of such schools to exist and
over the question whether the state has the power             Nevertheless, it is not beyond the realm of pos-
                                                            sibility that a state law of this kind could also
to regulate them and even to regulate them out of           become an instrument of persecution of our
existence. Some religious magazines, among them             schools. The power to regulate is also ultimately the
the Adventist magazine Liberty, have rather fre-            power to regulate out of existence. And when that
quently carried reports about these cases. In the           power is in the hands of worldly persons, who have
Michigan case, reported in the  Grand Rapids Press,         no sympathy for our Christian schools and who are
the attorney for the two schools battling the State of      very much influenced by the powerful, self-seek-
Michigan is William B. Ball, of Harrisburg,                 ing, covetous teachers' unions, it is not difficult to
Pennsylvania, who is rather well known for his              imagine that a law of this kind may some day be
handling - and winning - of such school cases.              used to regulate our Christian schools in such a way
  According to the report in the  Press,  the two           that their existence becomes impossible. When that
schools involved are parochial schools, that is,            day comes, refusal to submit to such a law becomes
church owned and operated. One is the Bridgeport            mandatory!
Baptist Academy, and the other is the Sheridan                Let us be on our guard!


                                                           THE STANDARD ,BEARER                                                 343



TRANSLATED TREASURES                                                            L


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


  (In the first part  of this paragraph  Kuyper  has been discussing         Spirit energizes ecclesiastical government or, better
the question of reformation by gradual  church renewal.  He has              said, ecclesiastical gatherings.
compared   the  deterioration   of  the  church  with   a  sickness
which  strikes   a  body   and  he  has  compared   the  work  of  refor-      One man alone or else a few together can never
mation   to  the  work   of  a  doctor   who   attempts   to  cure  the      bring about a decisive or gradual church renewal,
diseases   of the body.  Particularly, he has emphasized   the need          and the members of the church can, for the same
for  personal   repentance  and  conversion  which  comes  from  a           reason, help even less to bring this about.
deep  and  profound   conviction  of  sin  as  being   absolutely              When one understands clearly that gradual
essential  to all church renewal.  It is this  subject which he con-         church renewal consists in the exercise of ecclesi-
tinues  in the remainder  of this  paragraph.)                               astical discipline and in the improvement of the
   But then, on the other hand, if that conviction of                        Church Order, and when one knows that only
guilt in the people of God is living, and the Spirit of                      lawful consistories, classes, and synods are quali-
the Lord drives souls to awakening so that the law                           fied to attain both of these, then it is also clear that
and testimony are again taken up and the covenant                            gradual church reformation can be brought into
with the Almighty is again established in the heart                          existence only by these ecclesiastical assemblies.
and the home and the land, how then can the                                    That which certain ministers and members of the
obedience of faithful servants be lacking?                                   church want to do in respect to church reformation
   That cannot be because the truth of God is as a                           exactly destroys the gradual character of church
fragrant oil which anoints the whole body. If the                            renewal and introduces radical surgery - a method
name of the Lord is again established in the hearts                          of church reformation which we will discuss later.
of His people, then not only godliness, but also the                         That which an individual minister or the members
truth returns, and all heresy is threatened. Un-                             of the church can accomplish in this respect
noticed, then, without anyone doing anything, the                            amounts to this that they implore church reforma-
fundamentals of the truth again appear clearly                               tion from the Lord. They testify to and urge the
before  ,each one's eyes so that they are seen and                           obligation to reform. They as members of the
followed. And where once again the foundations of                            church, through petition or protest, or also as
God's mysteries of the soul provide assurance,                               ministers through advice and vote in the ecclesi-
there the power of that truth works of itself also in                        astical assemblies, seek to discharge this duty of
the thoughts which concern the institution of the                            reform.
church. The partially neglected office again begins                            If a church, as is often the case, has entered into
to shine in its beauty. He who first brought his own                         fraternal relations with other churches, then
opinions to the pulpit in pungent sentences, now                             gradual church renewal is even more difficult.
denies himself and his former word, and again                                Then the question whether the. church is in a
reveals the power of the Word of his God. He who                             position to exercise discipline and to improve the
once pawned his service to that Word, now causes                             Church Order depends not only on the willingness
that Word to punish sin in season and out of season                          of the consistory, but also on the cooperation of the
and to promote godliness in the land. And when the                           other churches in classes and synods.
power of that Word at last enlightens him and also                             We do not mean that members, ministers, or also           -
throws light on his office, there also the duty to                           consistories must be kept for a lengthy time from
c h u r c h   g o v e r n m e n t   m u s t   e n t e r   h i s   o w n      the duty of church renewal by this obstacle. We
consciousness and the minister of the Word can                               mean only that as long as members, ministers, or
find no rest until the house of God is rebuilt.                              consistories have exerted their own effort toward
   The question from whom this church renewal                                improvement, the medical way is abandoned and
which takes place in a gradual way must proceed, is                          eo ipso (by the nature of the case), they proceed to
not difficult to answer. It comes only if the Holy                           the surgical method.


344                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  In this paragraph, which deals only with the              Forms of Unity; or, of such as those who after
medical method or with the gradual process of               signing are charged with opposition to these forms.
church renewal, this extraordinary or surgical              The fanatic who desires to ruin the church works in
method must be set aside, -and it is with a view to         this way. But it would not be the church of Christ
this that we set down the rule: gradual church              which prays for her enemies and denies herself to
renewal in churches existing by themselves can              retain them:
only proceed from the consistories; but for                   The difficult task rests upon the ecclesiastical
churches in federation with other churches, church          gatherings to distinguish spiritually between those
renewal can proceed from the consistory only in             who out of the evilof their hearts oppose the truth,
cooperation with classes and synod.                         and those who err out of ignorance. Unfailing
  Concerning the way to follow in church renewal            patience, much power of persuasion, many gifts of
we can only give a hint because there are always            wisdom are necessary to win those who can still be
here the:  variis  modis bene fit,  i.e., one can accom-    won before the thread is cut.
plish this purpose in more than one good way.                 Naturally, it must finally come to this extreme
  The hints of a more general kind are restricted to        with all who are hardened in their opposition. But
these five:                                                 who does not dare to hope that this would be differ-
  1) The exercise of ecclesiastical discipline should       ent with many others?
precede doctrine and walk.                                    For members one can go farther yet; and in the
  A renewal of ecclesiastical discipline against            first instance only those must be attacked with
heretics, sectarians, and schismatics  which is not at      discipline who openly oppose the teaching of the
the same time a renewal of discipline against the           church through word or writing. But this discipline
fornicator, drunkard, and blasphemer, will stand            takes place only after the elders have enlightened
condemned before the conscientious people of                with instruction, and by this means have gradually
God.                                                        sorted out between those who with stubborn wills
                                                            reject the truth and those who would drift along in
  2) The making of careful distinction should               the riverbed of the truth.
control the renewal of ecclesiastical discipline.            ' 3) The improvement of the Church Order does
  An office bearer who is a poor. teacher or who            not mean a  ,mechanical improvement but an
lives wickedly is more guilty than, any. member ,of         improvement which proceeds from the organic life
the church who departs from the truth or wanders            of the church.
into sin. All discipline must begin with the
discipline of those who hold an office. Only such             This comes about not by rules of order but by
office bearers who take heed to each other have the         principles of church government. The purpose
right to judge others.                                      must be to let the sovereign grace of God rule in His
                                                            church. For this reason, all that stands in the way of
  Even so, with the renewal of discipline, after it         that sovereignty or hinders its complete operation
has been long neglected, office bearers are to warn         must be removed. All the rest is secondary and
earnestly and frequently, in tender mercy, in the           necessarily unimportant. The yielding of all human
desire to win by the power of love; and then to             words before the Word of God and the direct
proceed to censure and excommunication in con-              flowing forth of all human authority from King
nection with obvious impenitence or hardening.              Jesus must be maintained with great urgency.
  Especially with respect to doctrine, sternness              4) To attain this goal the composition of the re-
over against office bearers is paired with  long-           forming gatherings must be closely watched.
suffering over against the common members of the
church.                                                       The majority must actually not decide. It is much
                                                            better as long as people convince one another in the
  There must be no hesitation with office bearers.          spirit of prayers that a unity of insight be attained.
He who would teach others must speak the word of            But because, finally, a majority could be taken
the church. He who refuses or cannot, must not be           against us, the composition of these meetings must
spared. To spare him is to sacrifice the church. It is      not be a matter of indifference to us.
an appearance of love for one only with lack of love
for the thousands in the background.                          5) In these gatherings men must not themselves
                                                            deny the principle for which one strives.
  Nevertheless also this must be carefully con-
sidered: the solution to the problem of an earnest            This can happen in many ways and one must
attempt towards church renewal is not resolved by           watch against them.
immediately and inexorably deposing all preachers,            First of all, one must see to it that no decision of
elders, and deacons who refuse to sign the Three            such a gathering is made except the will be also


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     345



behind the decision to execute it. Personal opinions           or against the sovereignty of King Jesus.
must not dominate. There must be spiritually,                    And, thirdly, he who has cooperated in a
clearly conscious conviction aroused; even though              decision ought not to step back when it comes to
it be each according to his measure.                           the execution of it. He who sets his hand to the
  Secondly, one ought to decide if the meeting                 plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of
itself militates against the demand of God's Word              God.
THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH


                               The Strength of Youth:  "                                                          ,
                                     Asset or Liability?
                                                  Rev. Rodney Miersma


  A word of explanation concerning the title of this           disregarded, as well as prayer, for they are of no
article is first in order. All the articles in this section    benefit to the one that trusts in herself.  .Young
of the  Standard Bearer  are under the theme  The              people go forth as if they have the answers to all the
Strength of Youth, referring to, the spiritual strength        problems of the world. Parents, teachers, ministers,
of the young people in the church of Christ. How-              and the civil authorities are all behind the times,
ever, we can also speak of physical strength, refer-           with little understanding of the age of today and its
ring not only to the body of the young man' as he              needs.
flexes his muscles,' but also to the beauty of the                Dear Christian youth, what we must always
young woman, and to one's keen mind and parti-                 remember is that the strength of youth is in the
cular talents and abilities. It is this physical               Lord. As soon as one glories and,trusts  in his own
strength of youth that is referred to in the title of          strengths (physical, mental) he becomes weak spir-
this article with the express purpose of addressing            itually. One must always seek the Lord for His
the young people with the question, "Does your                 Spirit.
physical strength stand in the way of your spiritual
strength? Is it a stepping stone or a stumbling                   An example from Scripture is Samson. His
block? Asset or liability?" Paradoxical as it may              strength was of the Lord. Often we make the
sound, it is nevertheless true that often our strength         mistake of ascribing the strength of Samson to some
is our weakness.                                               natural and inherent power, as if in a magical way
                                                               it flowed forth from his long, uncut hair. Nothing
  What is meant by this? This, that as one in youth            could be farther from the truth. The reservoir of his
begins to become aware. of his physical strength, or           strength was not within himself, but it was of God.
the development of a beautiful body, as well as                This is the testimony of Scripture itself, for he is
becoming aware of one's abilities or talents, he will          listed among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11.
begin to glory in them, boast in them, and trust in            Thus, the phrase "through faith" turns us to the
them, all of which leads away from God Who is the              origin and reason of his strength, God Himself.
giver of all these virtues and to Whose praise they
must be used. Thus, for the youth these physical                  You see, Samson was a Nazarite. Such a one was
assets or virtues become all too often spiritual               separated    unto God,       was God's peculiar
liabilities. This need not be, but is very often the           possession, and was devoted and consecrated to
case due to the old man of sin within each of us.              God. This was manifested by certain outward
  Let me try to illustrate for a moment. Is it not             signs, the abstinence from strong drink and not
true that often the young man will trust in his                cutting one's hair. Often a third sign was added, the
physical strength and mental acumen without seek-              refraining from touching a dead body. In this way
ing the Lord to direct these gifts in the proper way?          the outward visible signs pointed to an inward
Is it not true that often the young woman uses her             spiritual consecration.
physical beauty as the only means to direct the                   As such, Samson is a living picture of Israel to
attention of the young man to her as if this were the          Israel. He is a visible testimony that his strength
only thing that mattered? Inward, spiritual virtue is          lies in consecration to God. As long as Israel  con-


346                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



secrates herself to God she is invincible. Walking in       after his capture by the Philistines. We must go
obedience she puts to flight armies that are much           to the prison house `and as we peer inside we
larger than her army.                                       see Samson going round and round at the grind-
   But Israel was sinning grievously and Samson is          ing wheel. Here we see a blinded; impotent man
called to be a living testimony to remind Israel that       performing the hardest and lowest of labors per-
she is a precious, chosen possession, called to a life      formed by slaves of the lowest degree. A horrifying
of separation from the world and consecration to            picture! Such are we apart from God, slaves of sin.
God.                                                          Youth, where is your strength? As members of
  This same Samson speaks to  <us today, to the             the church you must know that the church must
church and to the youth of the church. You and I            live in the consciousness that her only strength lies
are called to be Nazarites, to live a life of separation    in her fellowship with God. We cannot remain
from the wicked and consecration of love to God.            strong when we separate ourselves from God's
In Samson we see the central truth of Scripture: our        Word and the pure preaching of that Word, nor
strength, and our only strength, lies in fellowship         when we live the life of the world. Only when near
and union with our covenant God in Christ by'               to God Who is infinitely far from the world of
faith.                                                      wickedness are we mighty to overcome.
  However, not only does the positive side of                 This is God's Word to the youth and to all His
Samson's life speak to us, but also the negative.           saints, "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh
Believing Israel, and also the church as manifested         to you" (James 423). Samson did. Out of the depths
today, condemns herself for she sees in Samson her          of his soul we hear him cry, "0 Lord God,
own sins. Samson is a warning to us, and especially         remember me, I pray Thee, and strengthen me...."
to the young who think that they are strong in their        "Remember me," the same cry as the penitent thief
own way. In separation from God, Samson was                 on the cross. This is the cry of the child of God as
very weak. His strength lay in consecration to God;         he sees himself a sinner, by nature apart from God,
his weakness was separation from God.                       weak and helpless.
  Look at his life. His spiritual weakness was in his         What have we learned from this? We see that we
alliances with heathen women. That was his sin,             are not to trust in our own strength, but to live near
union with the wicked and alliance with the                 to God in blessed covenant fellowship and com-
profane. That was also Israel's sin. She was called         munion. Therein resides the true, real strength of
to consecration, but time and time again she                youth. Zechariah, the prophet, put it this way: "Not
separated herself from God, made friends with the           by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the
unholy, and perpetrated all the abominations that           Lord of hosts." With this in mind may we ever sing
displeased the holy God. In such a condition of             the words of the Psalmist as they have been put to
alienation from God, Israel, like Samson, was               verse in Psalter No. 87stanza 2:
absolutely powerless, a prey to every foe, a byword           Not human strength or mighty hosts,
among all nations, and the butt of the jokes of men.          Not charging steeds or warlike boasts
  Beloved youth, if you want to know just how                        Can save from overthrow;
powerless you are when you desecrate your calling             But God will save from death and shame
to be holy, when you separate from God and                    All those who fear and trust His name,
amalgamate with the world, take a peek at Samson                 And they no want shall know.
GUESTARTICLE

                                     Christian Dating
                                                  Rev. R.G. Moore


   "As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved              The texts quoted above, as well as others that we
you: continue ye in My love" (John 15:9).                   consider in this article, form the Scriptural basis for
  "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in            our activity of dating. The question concerning
My love, even as I have kept My Father's  com-              dating came up during the past year in one of the
mandments, and abide in His love" (John 15:lO).             letters that I received for my articles in the Beacon


                                              THE STANDARD>, BEARER                                             347



Lights.  However., due to circumstances I did not               .By nature we will not keep this word, nor
answer this particular question before. I believe             respond to it. Nor is it so that we must continue in
that the topic is worthy of an article in our Standard        Jesus' love in order to be saved.. For then salvation
Bearer. Thus, this article.                                   would be impossible. But we who are Christ's are
  The question or topic for this article arises out of        saved, and our calling is to serve God in the
the fact that there is a growing tendency for                 strength of His grace. Thus we hear God's Word
covenant youth of our churches to date young                  speak: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
people from outside the sphere of our own                     that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the
denomination, and even outside the sphere of faith            propitiation for our sins. " And further, "Beloved, if
altogether. Further, this is sometimes done with              God so loved us, we ought also to love one another"
very little concern for the spiritual things of God's         ( I   J n .   4:10-11).
kingdom  - and sometimes with the idea that it                  The fruit  of-God's love is that He has sent His
does not really make so much difference to which              Son to cleanse His elect from sin, and by His Spirit
church one belongs as long as I believe. This                 to break the bondage of.sin in us. He dwells by His
attitude has caused parents and friends of those so           Spirit and word in us on the basis of that redeeming
dating to be filled with concern for their very               work. The fruit of which, further, is that God's
spiritual welfare. And this too for good reason. Cer-         covenant children love God and one another in the
tainly this is the implication of the texts quoted            Lord.
above.                                                          Hence, as children of God, in principle we
  We will entertain our topic by turning to the               continue in the love of Christ also in our relation-
Scripture for guidance and directives concerning              ships of dating. For this reason also the covenant
this important aspect of our life as strangers and            youth will have ears for the word of Christ; and
pilgrims in the midst of this world.                          because our natural inclination is to darkness, we
  "Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: they             must be instructed of our Lord, "If you keep My
will be still praising Thee. Selah" (Psalm 84:4).             commandments, ye shall  abide~in  My love'." To
                                                              abide in Christ's commandments is to live in
  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus            conscious harmony with His Word. And Jesus tells
Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual                us to seek "first the kingdom of God, and His righ-
blessings in heavenly places in Christ.. . . To the           teousness; and all these things shall be added unto
praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath             you" (Mt. 6:33). This must be true of us also in our
made us accepted in the beloved" (Eph. 1:3-6),                dating, if we are to be blessed in this aspect of our
  It is evident from these texts that here we have            life. When we put our faith before all else, and by
our starting point. As children of God, we believe            grace are guided by the Word, indeed  .shall our
that the purpose of our being is for the praise of            dating also be well pleasing unto our covenant God.
God and His grace. Unto this end we were chosen                 The question for our covenant youth then is,
in Christ; unto this end have we been predestined             Does my dating stand in the service of the glorying
unto the adoption of children; unto this end have             of God's name, and in the continuing in the love of
we been redeemed by the blood of Christ; unto this            Christ? This question was not found to be signifi-
end are we called by Christ's Word and Spirit. It is          cant to many in the days of Noah. We read: "That
God's good pleasure that we glorify Him. And                  the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they
further, it is exactly as we dwell in His house, and          were fair; and they took them wives of all which
glorify Him that we are counted blessed. This                 they chose.. . . And God saw that the wickedness of
means in all of our life, and it is certainly true also       man was great in the earth, and that every imagina-
of our dating.                                                tion of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con-
  And all of life, all relationships in life, all activity    tinually. And it repented the Lord that He had
in the lives of God's children must reflect this              made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His
blessed purpose. However, because we still dwell              heart" (Gen. 6:2-6).
in a flesh that opposes this purpose it is needful that         From the above texts we are instructed negative-
we hear Christ as He calls us unto faithfulness to            ly  - that is, from the point of view of dating and
this end. Also this when as covenant youth we go              marriage that are an abomination before the Lord.
about our dating.                                             From such we should flee, and if so walking, repent
  Jesus exhorts us, "as the Father hath loved Me,             and turn from these ways. For that which
so have I loved you: continue ye in My love" (Jn.             determined the choice of life's partner was all
15:9).  The Scripture ever calls us to continue in the        wrong. In the first place, in the days of Noah, they
love of Christ, to serve God with all of our heart,           looked upon their future prospects for marriage on
mind, soul, and strength. This is the high calling of         the basis that they were "fair." There was an atten-
our God.                                                      tion given only to the outward appearances. They


348                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



looked upon their future spouses and to dating only       daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
from the view of that which would satisfy the lust        But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of      kindred, and take a wife unto my son  Issac" (Gen.
life. And in that light the worldly had much to           24:3-4).
offer. For they were not concerned with the type of         Isaac as a believing son also desired this, as is evi-
clothes they wore or the lack of them! They had no        dent from the fact that he waited for the return of
scruples nor concerns for how they obtained their         the servant with the woman who would be given
money of things. Of course, if this becomes our           him of God. He awaited the wife who as one in
criterion for dating, then the worldly have all the       faith, would be the godly mother of the covenant
advantages in displaying their wares. For they set        seed. In this connection we read: "And the servant
their goals upon earthly splendor, and stand in           told Isaac all things that he had done. And Isaac
enmity to God and His Word. They looked for the           brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took
"fair"  .and thus sought the antithesis of what the       Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved
child of God should look for in seeking his fellow-       her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's
ship and spouse. This may not be the basis for our        death" (Gen. 24:66-67).  For being joined together in
dating, covenant youth.                                   the Lord, Isaac  .was indeed comforted. Rebekah
  This brings us to a second aspect of the sin found      was a believing, covenant helpmeet. Now, while
within the church in the days of Noah. This same          our tradition is not that our father finds us our wife
sin is often, all too often, being manifest in our day    or husband, nevertheless the same principles apply
also by those within the church. It is the sin of         - we make spiritual virtues the determining factor
saying we will do what we choose. We know what            in our dating and marrying. Indeed, then too we
is best for us. We can do what we choose and still        shall be comforted.     L
be blessed. In the days of Noah it is said "and they        So in faith we ought to date and to seek,husbands
took them wives of all them which they chose." In         or wives that are one in faith. This is just as
effect they said, "I have the right to choose what is     important in the new dispensation as it was in the
pleasing to me." They did not seek to know the            old, for God's Word still comes to us: "Be ye not
Lord's will concerning the seeking of a godly wife        unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for
or husband. It did not matter to them that God
directs His people to have no fellowship with dark-       what fellowship hath righteousness with unrigh-
                                                          teousness? and what communion hath light with
ness. The love of God was not the motivation of           darkness? and what concord hath Christ `with
their seeking a spouse, or the basis for their fellow-    Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an
ship in dating.                                           infidel?" (II Cor. 6:14-15).
  But rather the philosophy that I am the sole
determiner of my own destiny guided their dating            This means that also in our marrying we may not
and selection of spouses. They did not go to their        marry those not one in faith with us. And because
parents for advice. They said, "I am old enought  to      our dating ought to be a servant of marriage, it also
find my own way." They would not listen to the            should be very antithetically conducted. Especially
Word as proclaimed. Their desires, their natural          is this true because of the fact that dating is to
likes and dislikes- and preferences ruled the day.        engage in fellowship and communion. Doing this as
And the calling of God, "be ye holy, for I the Lord       God gives us strength we shall surely be blessed.
your God am holy," was considered unimportant.            And in this light he who finds a wife (or husband)
                                                          finds a good thing.
  The fruit of such indiscriminate and  self-
centered dating and marrying is to incur the great          This also means that in our dating we have the
displeasure and wrath of the living God.` That is         calling of Christ to discern the spirit. "Beloved,
evident in the text we quoted above. May God give         believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether
us grace to flee this abominable reasoning and            they are of God," says our Lord through the apostle
philosophy.                                               (Cf. I Jn. 4: lff  .). The confession spoken of in this
  Rather, the principle  ,that underlined the             passage of Scripture is not general, but very particu-
marriage of Isaac ought to be our guide in our            lar. The confession of the believer is the confession
dating and marrying. Isaac's wife was not taken           of the Christ of, the Scripture, and in the sovereign
from among the unbelievers, but from one of like          God of our salvation in every sense. When united
faith. This was the important matter, the only            by true confession, most blessed shall be our dating
important ground for his marriage. This is evident        and marriages. For our God promises us that in
from the word of Abraham to his servant as he sent        Christ we shall enjoy the covenant fellowship of
the servant  to. take a wife for Isaac: "I will make      our God and have true joy together until death us
thee swear by the Lord, the God of the earth, that        do part.
thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the               Practically these principles mean, in the first


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     349



place, that we should seek our dates from the midst              to you, to speak of its absolute importance in your
of God's children. This means we should look first               life, and why it is necessary even.in your dating
to our own congregation, and secondly to our                     that faith in the Scriptures be the foundation of
denomination where the truth is by the grace of                  your relationship. Further, that in order to continue
God maintained and upheld from the pulpits and in                dating there must be evidence that this be
the congregations. This is one distinct advantage of             important to the one that you date. Practically, this
our Young People's Conventions each year. In the                 means you invite him to church, you go to cate-
second place, when the Lord leads you into an                    chism together, or to Bible Study Society together.
encounter with one outside of our churches,                      Further, if the one you are dating comes from out-
immediately you must begin the establishment of a                side your denomination, encourage the one you are
spiritual basis for the dating. If this is impossible,           dating to visit your pastor with you for instruction,
then we cease to carry such a relationship even a                etc.
step further. In other words we ought with much                     Do the above before you get involved emotion-
care to entertain activity of dating outside of the              ally. This means that these things of the kingdom of
sphere of our own faith, which we know to be the                 your God are placed strictly first. I can hear you say
Scriptural faith. However, we do know from the                   to me, but Rev. Moore, if I do this I will never have
Scripture there are occasions when the Lord may                  a steady boy or' girlfriend. Even if that were the
lead one from unbelief to the faith who has been                 case, I can answer, then so be it. Jesus says,
raised outside of the covenant line. Ruth is an                  "continue ye in My love." Furthermore Jesus even
example from Scripture. She became a mother of                   says: "He that loveth father or mother more than,
Christ. However, Boaz knew and was assured by                    Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or
the knowledge that Ruth had been led by God to                   daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt.
the truth faith, that she was one in the faith with              10:37). However, while it is true that many of your
him. He then, after being made aware of her faith,               dates, when confronted by your faith, may beat a
was able seriously to consider Ruth a proper                     hasty retreat, nevertheless God does not forsake
prospect for marriage. The whole history as                      His covenant children. He will lead you to a  God-
recorded in the book of Ruth makes this plain. The               fearing mate. And He will richly bless you as you
Lord certainly also blessed this union.                          are united in the Lord. It is a blessing beyond our
  The question may be at this point, how do we                   greatest expectation, to be so married in the Lord.
know that the one we are dating has that faith? Or                  And while we are weak, and have not the
that he or she is a child of God. In the first place, it         strength in ourselves so to live as covenant youth in
is evident from the Word of God which we have                    our dating,. God will give to His own grace
quoted in this article, that if there is no evidence of          abundant so to seek a godly mate. He will sustain
faith, then we have no right to continue dating such             yo,u and will guide you and bless you. For God
a one. In the second place, then, it is evident that             knows you in Christ, and in Fatherly care He will
we must work at determining whether we are able                  keep you as His covenant child as you continue in
to be one in faith. This means, covenant youth, that             the love of Christ, seeking first and only His
your first dates are given over to a large extent to             kingdom and its righteousness. Beloved youth, by
making this determination. The way to do this is to              the grace of God so live as God's covenant seed.
talk much of the meaning of the faith God has given
BIBLE STUDY GUIDE                                           -


   Ephesians - The Church, One in Christ (1)
                                                  Rev. J. Kortering


  The Epistle to the Ephesians sets forth the grand                               THE EPHESIANS
theme of the church's&unity in Christ. Being one of                 Paul addresses this Epistle to the "saints that are
Paul's writings during his confinement in Rome, it               at Ephesus" (1:l). There has been extensive debate
reflects the maturity and spiritual insight of one               as to whether this is correct. Some hold the opinion
whom the Holy Spirit had prepared for such a task.               that this letter was not intended for the church at


350                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



Ephesus, but for many churches in Asia Minor.              Paul made his first contact with the church during
William  Hendriksen summarizes the arguments in            his second missionary journey (Acts 18:19). At that
his BibZe Survey. We briefly present them here.            time he made a hasty visit to the Jewish synagogue
   1. The words, "in Ephesus" (1:l) are'omitted in         and they expressed interest in learning more of the
the best and most ancient manuscripts. Counter-            gospel. But Paul had to leave for Jerusalem. Soon  g
argument is: in all the ancient manuscripts (except        afterward Apollos visited Ephesus and preached
one corruption by the heretic  Marcion)  the Epistle       the baptism of John the Baptist (Acts  19:1-3). After
has the title, "To the Ephesians." All the ancient         Paul arrived during his third missionary journey,
versions have "in Ephesus" in verse one. Could it          he made Ephesus the center for his entire Asian
be possible that someone tampered with some of             ministry. According to Acts  19:8-10, he visited the
the most ancient manuscripts as  Marcion did with          synagogue and taught there for three months.
the title?                                                 Opposition forced him to leave and he turned to the
                                                           philosophical school of one named Tyrannus. He
  2. In Ephesians  1:15 we read, "For this cause,          labored among the Ephesians for two years, so all
having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is       who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus.
among you." This would indicate that Paul did not          The people of Ephesus thereby heard more teach-
know them personally, something which could not            ing from Paul than did any other people. We read
be said of the Ephesians, among whom Paul                  his own summary in I Corinthians  16:8, 9: "But I
labored for more than two years. Counter-                  will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great
argument: Paul simply refers to the fact that he           door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are
heard about their faith. He hadn't been there for          many adversaries." Of this opposition we read in
over five years; now he gladly affirms once again          Acts 19:23-41, where we have the details of the up-
that he heard good things about their faith in Christ      rising over Demetrius, the silversmith who made
Jesus.                                                     shrines to Diana and caused the people to rise up in
   3. In every-Epistle addressed by Paul to a congre-      anger because he saw his trade threatened. Finally,
gation with whom he was acquainted, there is refer-        we recall the touching farewell given by the elders
ence to the fact that he was their spiritual father        of Ephesus at Miletus when Paul bade farewell for
and that he had labored in their midst. This is            the last time, Acts 20:17-38.
lacking in this Epistle. In fact, there are no intimate      The members of the church at Ephesus had to
touches, nor is any personal information given.            contend with that miserable temple of Diana. It
Counter-argument: true, there is no such informa-          was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
tion, yet it can be explained if we consider two           It was not only a temple for worship, but a museum
things. First, in all likelihood there were no             as well. We can appreciate the tremendous busi-
pressing problems in the Ephesian church which             ness that image-making generated. Interestingly,
necessitated Paul's making such references.                none might be arrested for any crime who resided
Besides, he included in the letter a reference to          within  bowshot of its walls. Hence, a village of
Tychicus, the bearer of the letter, who would bring        criminals and even murderers sprang up there
them up to date concerning his own personal                within the shadow of this temple.
affairs (Paul's condition) and comfort their hearts         In the midst of such heathendom, God brought
(6:21,22).                                                 forth a church. This church had a special calling to
   4. The Epistle has no personal greetings. If it was     testify of Christ and His love overagainst the
intended for the Ephesians, whom Paul knew so              heathen rites of Diana. God blessed these efforts,
well, would he not have included these? Counter-           for soon the worship of Diana fell off, and in A.D.
argument:  II Corinthians, Galatians, I and II  Thes-      262 the temple was consumed by fire and never
salonians are letters for churches which do not            rebuilt. By A.D. 341 an important council of the
have such-personal greetings either.                       Christian church was held in this city. Eventually
   We view this letter as having been intended for         the Turks destroyed the city and it fell into
the Ephesian congregation. The evidence warrants           o b l i v i o n .
this conclusion. Besides this, the content of this            Almost all Bible scholars accept Paul as the
letter is appropriate for such a congregation as the       author of the Epistle. This includes the early
Ephesians, for they too had matured in the faith           church fathers Ignatius, Polycarp, Clement of
under the ministry of Paul. This is not to say that        Alexandria, Tertullian, and Clement of Rome.
the letter was not intended to be read by others, for      Paul's name appears in the Epistle twice  (1:l and
the writings of Paul were regularly used in the            3: 1), and there is a personal reference to his con-
churches. It was addressed to the Ephesian church.         version  (3:2-8).  The only question of Paul's author-
   The Scriptural account of Paul's labors in              ship is raised by more modern schools of interpre-
Ephesus tells us something about the church there.         tation in which they point out things such as


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              551



vocabulary, (Ephesians has 38 words not found else-        corded in Acts 24-26, to Felix, Festus, and Agrippa.
where in the New Testament and 44 more words               In the Ephesian letter (6:19, 20) and in the letter to
which Paul uses only here in Ephesians); he ex-            the Colossians (4:3, 4), Paul requests prayer that he
pressed himself in a way that he doesn't anywhere          may be able to witness though he was in bonds.
else in his writing; and even the author expresses         There is no proof that he could do this in Caesarea.
thoughts regarding the headship of Christ and unity        Finally, in Philemon verse 22 he wrote, "But withal
of the church which Paul did not acknowledge in            prepare me also a lodging for I trust that through
his other writings. All these seeming problems,            your prayers, I shall be given unto you." He
however, can be answered by careful comparison             obviously expected to be released. This could not
and taking into consideration that Paul matured in         apply to his imprisonment in Caesarea, for at that
the faith and wrote this to a congregation that had        time he never expected release. He appealed to
also matured with him.                                     Caesar and was bound for Rome.
  Of more interest is the question of date and cir-          The imprisonment that is best suited for the
cumstances under which Paul wrote this Epistle.            bonds mentioned in the four Prison Letters is that
This Epistle to the Ephesians is considered one of         at Rome. Here he could receive guests and preach,
the "Prison Epistles" written by the apostle when          and eventually he gained temporary freedom. This
he was in bonds. The other three are Philippians,          imprisonment also fits the historical record of Acts
Colossians, and Philemon. All four Epistles make           28 and following chapters. The travelling compan-
reference to Paul's bonds. This is true in Ephesians       ions mentioned in these Epistles correspond also
in chapters  3:l;  4:l; and  6:20. Similarly in Philip-    with those who travelled with him to Rome. Thus
pians  1:7, 13, and 14; Colossians  4:18; and              Luke is mentioned in Philemon 24 and Colossians
Philemon 1 and 9. From Colossians  4:7 and                 4:14 and Aristarchus is mentioned in Philemon 24
Ephesians  6:21 we learn that Tychicus was the             and Colossians 4: 10.
person who carried those two Epistles to their               We can place the writing of these Prison Epistles
recipients. In addition, we learn from Colossians          during Paul's first imprisonment at Rome when he
4:9 that Tychicus was a companion of Onesimus,             was confined to a house under guard. He was taken
the run-away-slave who carried Paul's letter back          to Rome in A.D. 61 and remained in prison for two
to his master, Philemon. Epaphroditus carried the          years. So we can date this letter to the Ephesians as
letter-to the Philippian church, Philippians 4: 18.        written about A.D. 62.
  The question that becomes rather involved is                               THE MESSAGE
this, which imprisonment is implied here? There
are three possibilities, each considered at length in        In the quiet and yet threatening environment of
Harrison's New Testament Introduction. The one we          this imprisonment, Paul reflected on the truth as it
choose will determine the approximate date of the          is in Jesus and wrote this letter to a church that had
writing as well.                                           come to love him. The Holy Spirit led him to write
                                                           on the great theme of unity in Christ.
  Did Paul write this letter from Ephesus itself?
This idea is derived from references by Paul in his          What comfort this must have been for Paul, who
letter to the church of Corinth. In II Corinthians         from an earthly point of view was imprisoned for
11:23 Paul speaks of being in prison more frequent-        the sake of the gospel and unable to travel and
ly than others, in I Corinthians  15:32 he mentions        preach. Was that not a hindrance to the work of
how he fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, a               Christ? The Holy Spirit led Paul to see that the
figurative description, no doubt, of his opponents.        victory of the church is not in men, but in Christ, in
In II Corinthians 1:8-10 Paul speaks of the sentence       Whom the whole church is gathered together in a
of death that he had on himself while at Ephesus.          spiritual unity that man cannot destroy. God is
Priscilla and Aquila endangered themselves for             working through Jesus Christ Who is the head of
Paul's sake, possibly at Ephesus (Romans  16:4).  In       the church, the very fulness of God Who is all in
evaluating this, however, we conclude that these           all. Through Christ God unites His own unto Him-
are general references,, hardly linking it with            self. This message is good news for the church of all
Ephesus, especially not that Paul was actually im-         ages.
prisoned for such a long time that he would write
letters to the churches from that prison.                      The Standard Bearer
  What about Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea?
We know that he was in prison there for about two             makes a thoughful gift
years and that he could receive some friends while
there, Acts  24:23. However, there is no indication                 for many occasions.
that Paul could preach except to the rulers as  re-


352                                          THE STAiDARD  BEARER



THE DAY OF SHADOWS


                     Father and Exalted Son Meet
                                                 Rev. John A. Heys


  When today you go to visit some dignitary or                When Joseph told his father and brethren his
prominent figure you drive up to the door of his            dreams (Genesis  37), his brothers envied him; and
residence or office, park your car, or have it parked       his father rebuked him at first, but afterward
for you, and then walk to meet him. But Jacob did           "observed the saying. " Now he observes the fact.
not drive his wagon, or have it driven by one of his        The word here translated observed is far more
sons up to Joseph's residence in Egypt. It was not          often translated as keep or kept. And the idea is that
all that simple. Nor was this according to Egypt's          Jacob did not dismiss the dreams as nothing more
taste and decorum. Here were sixty-seven souls.             than childish dreams but thought about them for
with all their earthly possessions packed and               days after Joseph had rehearsed them. He kept
stacked on several wagons. But here also were               them in mind as the Word of God. And although
several flocks of sheep of several men, and surely a        when that blood-stained coat of Joseph was brought
very unwieldy procession. We may be sure that the           to him, and he thought Joseph to be dead, and all
Egyptians would shy away from such a band                   fulfillment of those words seemed just like an
because of their "culture" and "refinement." For            empty dream, now, however, he sees his son alive
"every shepherd  .is an abomination unto the                and in that exalted position of which God spoke in
Egyptians" (Genesis 46:34).                                 those dreams. Indeed God works in a mysterious
  We may therefore believe that this band of                way, His wonders to perform.
Israelites, come down from the land of Canaan                 The same was true of His own Son Who, hanging
with all their possessions and sheep, stayed on the         on the cross after giving up the ghost, seemed so far
back roads, and that from a distance Jacob sent             from- the fulfillment of all the promises He had
Judah to inform Joseph of their arrival and to get          given His disciples and church. And yet, for those
directions to the land of Goshen. And that explains         who kept His word in their hearts, He did appear in
why, although -he longed to see Joseph more than            resurrection glory and is even now exalted above
anything else in life, so that after he did see him he      all things as the One Who deals out to us the bread
could say, "Now let me die, since I have seen thy           of life and keeps us spiritually alive in this famine
face, because thou art yet alive" (Genesis  46:30).         of the Word which is with us today, and whose end
Jacob does not go directly to Joseph. Instead it is         is not in sight for us. It will end when He returns,
Joseph who goes out to see his father. It was not a         but we have no word of how many years this
lack of love and longing that dictated this sending         spiritual famine will continue. We have God's
of Judah to ask the way to Goshen rather than going         word for it that the situation will get worse than it is
personally to see Joseph as quickly as possible. It         today and that greater apostasy and further de-
was a case of logistics and Egyptian  `:culture" and        partures from the truth will come.
decorum.                                                      -This can only be the result when men begin to
  Note for a moment the sharp contrast here; Jacob          question the inerrancy and authority of the Word
is riding in a wagon  - an Egyptian wagon with              itself. Deny the infallibility of the Scriptures, deny
class to it, and yet a wagon  - while Joseph comes          that they have the same force for us as they did for
to see him riding in a chariot (Genesis 46:29).  And is     the Church in the days when these Scriptures were
this not a climactic fulfillment of Joseph's dreams?        written, and you have given the death blow to every
No, we do not read here that his father bowed               doctrine of Scripture. There are, in what calls itself
down to Joseph, as the eleven brothers (sheaves             the church today, more members than there are
and stars in the  .dreams)  did. But here is Joseph         verses in the Bible. Let each one pick a different
exalted highly above his father; and it  shows:  And        verse and say that it is time-conditioned, and all the
Jacob must in the land of Egypt recognize Joseph as         truths of Scripture are denied. And if this one may
having authority over him in the affairs of the land.       call this passage time-conditioned, that one must
Joseph must honour his father; and he does. But             give the others the right to call their passage or
Jacob must honour Joseph as Pharaoh's agent for             verse time-conditioned. If the one may say this
the distribution of food.                                   verse is not infallibly given and is untrue, that one


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             353



must let others pick verses and passages which           There was no doubt a time of adjustment and settle-
they may claim not to, be infallibly given and to be     ment in  Goshen which occupied their time. And
untrue. And as the churches today more and moie          men were not so time-driven as we are today. It
fail to keep the things which God has said in His        was a more relaxed atmosphere and a life far less
Word, the antichristian forces grow in power and         tense. But Joseph did not let many days go  by.
influence; and churches will fail to see  thisChrist     before  he- brought five of his-brothers and then his
in His heavenly glory. If one statement in Scripture     father to Pharaoh. Which five brothers they were`+
is not true, how can we be sure of the resurrection      not mentioned. One might expect that he would
and exaltation of Christ at God's right hand? If one     take the sons of Leah since she was Jacob's first
statement is untrue, we will have to question all the    wife, while the other brothers were, with the ex-
o t h e r s .                                            ception. of Benjamin, from the maids of Leah and
  Let us, by all means, keep all the sayings of God      Rachel. But Leah bore six sons. The maids together
in the Scriptures. Let us not try to exalt ourselves     bore four sons, but Joseph would hardly pass by
above Him by questioning His Word. What He               Leah's sons, and one `would expect him to bring
declares therein will be fulfilled whether we like it    Benjamin, his own full brother. What his criterion
or not.                                                  was for selecting five out of eleven brothers is not
                                                         told us; nor need we know which five brothers he
  Jacob, who did observe what God revealed until         chose. Were it essential for the account we would
the "death" of Joseph, undoubtedly now  remem;           have been told.
bered those dreams and kept his proper distance
from Joseph as the ruler in Egypt. He longed to run        Here again an interesting  -element appears:
to him and see his face again. His respect for him as    Joseph brings his brothers before he brings his
an Egyptian ruler, as the ruler in the land to which     father. Why? Certainly he was not ashamed of his
he had come, made him keep his distance until            father. He would have had far more reason for
Joseph came to see him. This was, in accordance          being ashamed of his brothers. And the fact that he
with Joseph's dream, a case `of sun (Jacob) bowing       chose five out of eleven indicates that he had a
down before Joseph. Jacob was even taking orders         reason for taking only some to meet Pharaoh.
from Joseph. Joseph had picked Goshen. Jacob asks          Children who have come to years of discretion
his son the way to  Goshen and lets his son deter-       sometimes are ashamed of their parents before
mine the place of their sojourn. He bowed before         their peers. They may be ashamed of their brothers
Joseph's decision and accepted it as God's decision,     or sisters, but most of the time it is their father and
which it certainly was.                                  mother who are for them a cause of embarrass-
  The reunion between Jacob and his son was a            ment, and whom they consider too uneducated
tearful and touching one. Openly both wept  .on          (though this is becoming less a reason than in the
each others neck. Nothing is recorded of the reac-       past because of greater opportunities for college
tion of Joseph's brothers, but we may be sure of         and university education), too old-fashioned (mean-
two things: their guilt for the deed that separated      ing too strict and concerned with what is right
father and son all these years came forcefully to        before God), or too spiritual, being sure that their
their consciousness again; and yet because they          parents would not approve of the dress, speech,
were converted men they rejoiced to `see father's        habits, ,and conduct of their friends. When it can be
and brother's joy. They rejoiced with their father       held off, the meeting with parents is delayed. Only
and brother. They feared Joseph -now whereas             when it becomes necessary will they bring their
before they sold him into Egypt they had envied          friends home to meet father and mother; and they
him and had no fear to kill, or sell him as a slave      will do it very reluctantly. Needless to say this
into the land of the Midianites. But they also           ought not to be found in the church. But it is.
rejoiced at the reunion of the whole family, and         Especially when a young man goes out and gets a
were happy for Jacob's sake and also for Joseph's.       young woman of the world for his wife and the en-
Salvation does that. It makes enemies to be friends.     gagement has to be made known, or the young
It makes those who hate and plot to kill seek the        woman  in,the church is keeping company with an
well-being of the sincere concern for those whom         unbelieving young man, and has been meeting him
they formerly envied and hated. The Apostle Paul         here or there and has not let him come to the home
is a clear example of that.  And. Jesus Himself,         to pick her up, there is fear of bringing the friend to
Whose life is given to us in our salvation, showed       meet the parents. And that very reluctance ought to
that in His many prayers for those who nailed Him        speak loudly to the young man or woman in the
to the tree and denied and rejected Him.                 church. And it ought to tell them that they are
                                                         ashamed of their friend rather than of their parents,
  Not many days after the arrival of Jacob and his       whose counsel and spiritual advice they do not
family into Egypt Joseph presented him to Pharaoh.       want. Actually they ought to realize that they ou.ght


354                                         THE STAN`DARD BEARER



to be ashamed.of themselves.                              shepherds stink in the nostrils of the super "clean"
  Now  .none of this was true with Joseph. What           and "cultured"` Egyptians; but they must stink
had his' father done in comparison with what his          spiritually and be left alone by those who delight to
brothers had done to him? No, in the good sense,          smell idolatry and sin before God.
Joseph was proud of his father, was eager to bring           When the land is promised them by Pharaoh,
him before Pharaoh, and was not at all afraid that        and it is settled that they will grow up as a peculiar
Pharaoh would think less of him after meeting his          (but not odd) people in  Goshen, Joseph brings his
f a t h e r .                                             father before Pharaoh. On the one hand it was
  No, the  .instructions  that, Joseph gives his five     business before pleasure. But more than that it was
brothers before he brings them in the presence of         love towards his father to spare him what could be
Pharaoh will explain why he brings them there             done by his sons, namely, plead for the land of
before bringing his father. To be sure that Pharaoh       Goshen before Pharaoh. And God moved Pharaoh
gave them the land of Goshen, and that Israel could       to concur and give them the best part of the land for
dwell alone and not mix with the Egyptians, who           their sheep. God made them shepherds, and God in
otherwise would have liked to associate with              His counsel made the Egyptians to be the fastidious
Joseph's family, Joseph instructs them to stress          people that they were so that Israel could dwell
their occupation as shepherds. They may as                alone in safety and preserve the true religion
                                                          although in an idolatrous nation.

INHISFEAR


                 Christian Attitude Towards Sex
                                              Rev. Arie den Hartog


  The substance of these articles was first given as      speaks of it very often. It is indeed striking how
a speech for the Adult Fellowship, or A.F. as it is       much God's Word has to say about this subject; and
called here, of the Evangelical Reformed Church of        we must know and receive this Word of God. This
Singapore. The subject was chosen by the A.F.             subject is dealt with very often in the law of the Old
themselves. Since most of the members of the A.F.         Testament. Solomon has many things to say about
are unmarried young people we concentrate                 this subject in Proverbs, in Ecclesiastes, and in The
especially on this subject as it relates to them. We      Song of Solomon. In the New Testament we find
decided to reproduce this speech in two install-          our Lord addressing the subject in the Sermon on
ments in the Standard Bearer in the hope and prayer       the Mount. The apostle Paul deals with it extensive-
that it may be of some- benefit also to the youth of      ly in I Corinthians 6 and 7 and in I Thessalonians
our churches in the U.S.A.                                4:1-S, as well as more briefly in Ephesians 53-5 and
  When we were first asked to speak on this               Colossians  3:5, 6. You are encouraged as young
subject we experienced some fear and anxiety. This        people to read these passages of Scripture carefully.
subject is surely one that is very sensitive and          The Word of God often warns against the great sins
personal in nature and it requires a lot of discretion    of the misuse of our sexual nature. On the other
and wisdom to speak on it. Nevertheless there are         hand, the Word of God also tells us positively much
several compelling reasons why this subject is both       about the proper use of sex. Though the Bible is not
necessary and proper for us to speak on and it is         to be used as some modern day sex manual, we can
good that you as young people should desire to hear       find in the Bible all of the principles that ought to
the Word of God on this subject.                          govern this area of our lives.
  God has created us with a sexual nature. It is            As young people you are seriously thinking
necessary for us as Christians to have a proper un-       about marriage. It is a God-given desire in you that
derstanding of this. It is urgent that we know how        you should be looking for a young man or a young
to use this part of our nature in a God-glorifying        woman to be your life's partner in that intimate and
way.                                                      blessed relationship of marriage. Some of you are
  That this subject is proper and necessary for us to     already seriously dating. It is natural that you
address is also born out by the fact that Scripture       should be attracted by the opposite sex. This attrac-


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              355



tion is in large measure a sexual attraction. You              There is today very much emphasis on-sex. The
long for sexual fulfillment and happiness in your            glorious young, woman or young man in the world
life. You are faced also with. many questions con-           today is the one who is sexually exciting. Successful
cerning what are the proper activities to be engaged         marriage is said to be almost entirely dependent
in as young people when courting and dating. It is           upon one's ability to perform well sexually.
urgent for you to know the limits and restraints that          Many books have therefore been written about
you ought `to observe as  wise-  Christian young             howto  attain to sexual happiness and fulfillment in
people when you are together ondates.                        life. It is especially `striking how many of these
  You as young people are filled with sexual                 kinds of books have been written by authors claim-
energies.  Y0.u long for sexual pleasure, excitement,        ing to be Christians. You will find more  -books  on
and fulfillment. This is particularly strong in young        the subject of sex in most modern Christian book
people in harmony with all of the strength and               stores than in any other book stores. Sad to say a
vigor and vitality of youth. There are also in you, in       great many of these books are not very good, and
your sinful nature, strong lusts and passions. There         Christian young people must be strongly warned
is within you a great temptation to experiment with          about reading them. Many under the subtle guise
sex, to prove yourselves as men and women, to feel           of being Christian present views that are as
something of the great excitement that sex brings.           immoral as those of the world, and certainly more
There is in this area of your lives such a tremen-           dangerous, because they pretend to come with
dous power in you to sin that you need to resist             Christian perspectives.
with all the strength of God's grace in you.                   For all of these reasons then it is. both necessary
  It is really urgent that we have proper Christian          and proper that we consider this subject of
attitudes about sex, especially in the world in              Christian attitudes towards sex.
which we live. It hardly need be said that the world
in which we live is one filled with the great                  We believe, first of all, according to the Word of
abomination of sexual sin. Practically every area of         God, that the sexual aspect of our nature is a part of
our life in the world is saturated with it. It is seen in    the good creation of God. God created man male
the world's movie houses and on television; it is            and female. God created all of the mysterious and
seen in the vast majority of the world's books; it is        wonderful differences that are involved in this
seen in the advertisements of the world and in the           distinction among men, including all of the physi-
world's dress. The most powerful instrument to               cal differences of our bodies. God created the
draw the attention  .of the world is that of sexual          woman in her great beauty and the man with his
display. Never before in the history of the world            masculine features. God made our bodies suchthat
has this sin been so blatant and brazen. It can              they are sexually attractive to the opposite sex. God
surely be said that you as young people have                 created in man the strong desire for sexual fulfill-
greater temptations to face in this area than any            ment. The deep joy and excitement and fulfillment
generation before you. There is in the world a total         of the sexual union are all part of God's good
permissive attitude towards sexual sins, an "any-            creation. Sex in itself is not something evil or base
thing goes" philosophy. Many today are advocating            or animalistic. The Christian understands that this
that it is perfectly innocent for young people to be         aspect of his nature is a beautiful creation of God  -
engaged in premarital relationships. Modern day              intended by God for the great joy, happiness, and
psychologists go so far as to suggest that it is entire-     pleasure of man when properly used. The Christian
ly wrong to seek to limit the sexual activities of           young person may surely look forward to sexual
young people. They must be allowed to find release           happiness and fulfillment in marriage. It is good for
for pent-up sexual frustrations. They must be                the sake of a good and happy marriage that he learn
allowed to experiment with sexual relationships of           the proper use of his sexual nature.
all sorts in order to prepare themselves for a well            That all of this is true can easily be proven from
adjusted sex life in marriage. Statistics are available      the Scriptures. We can learn this from the beautiful
to show that  by- far the vast majority of young             story of creation. When. God made man, the most
people are what is euphemistically called "sexually          glorious of all His creatures whom He fashioned
active" before marriage. It is very rare for young           after His own image and likeness, He created man
people to be virgins when they marry. To take a              with a sexual nature. He did not stop His wonderful
strong moral stand about fornication and adultery            work of creation after He had made man, but He
will gain you the reputation of being ridiculously           went on also to create a beautiful woman. And
out of touch with the modern world. It is possible           when He had made the woman in all her beauty He
to claim oneself to be a committed Christian and             brought her unto the man. Before the fall they were
yet to be openly and unashamedly living in fornica-          brought together in shameless nakedness. We can
tion.                                                        be sure that soon after the Lord had brought Eve to


356                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



Adam they were united together in sexual love. In         supposes that a man and a woman are totally
the holiness and purity of their unfallen state they      committed to each other in the life-long unbreak-
enjoyed- the pleasure and fulfillment of the sexual       able bond of love and trust of marriage. According
union. The Lord was pleased as the man and his            to the ordinance of God, sex is a gift of love which a
wife enjoyed the gift which He Himself had given          man and woman must give to each other in
to them.                                                  marriage. Sex is not something that must be used
  There are other places in Scripture that teach us       merely for self gratification and for the exploitation
the goodness of sex when properly used. In                of another. Sex is a gift that a married man and
Proverbs  5:18, 19 Solomon, filled with the wisdom        married woman are to give to their partners
of God, exhorts the young man: "Let thy fountain          whereby they express their love and joy in one
be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.       another.
Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe;' let        Today, especially among young people, we find
her breasts satisfy thee at all times; `and be thou       often that marriage is discounted. It is said that
ravished always with her love." It is plain that          marriage is not absolutely necessary. It is said that
Solomon is speaking here especially about the joy         you can engage in sexual intercourse before
and pleasure of sexual love. This love within             marriage as long as there is a measure of love and
marriage is good and something so intense that it is      commitment to each other. It is emphasized that
said to be ravishing.                                     marriage is not made by a legal contract or cere-
  In the Song of Solomon we have a beautiful              mony of the church or the state. Marriage accord-
picture of the love of Christ for His bride the           ing to them is really made when two people love
Church. This we believe is the proper understand-         each other. All of this .is nothing but a ruse. It is an
ing of this book of the Bible. Solomon speaks un-         attempt to justify the great abomination of which
ashamedly of the sexual aspects of this love as part      we hear so often today where couples live together
of this picture.                                          in an open-ended relationship and engage in sexual
                                                          intercourse without committing themselves to each
  In I Corinthians 7 the apostle exhorts those who        other in marriage. It gives to them the "freedom" to
are married to render to one another "due benevo-         commit fornication with one partner and when
lence." In this he is referring to the gift of sexual     they get sick of this partner to have another. There
love. Those who are married are obligated to give to      is no amount of fancy reasoning that is going to
each other continually the gift of sexual love. The       change the fact that such relationships are nothing
married are to give their bodies to one another. This     less than abominable fornication and adultery. God
is not evil but good. It is an essential and good part    is pleased to marry us through the means of the
of holy marital love.                                     legal contract and ceremony of the state. Though
  Finally Paul exhorts in I Thessalonians  4:3, 4,        committed love and trust certainly are absolutely
"For this is the will of God, even your sanctifica-       necessary for marriage, the legal institution of the
tion, that ye should abstain from fornication: that       God-ordained state is also absolutely essential.
every one of you should know how to possess his           Until we have by God been united together in
vessel in sanctification and honor." Againit is clear     marriage, sexual intercourse is always without
that Paul is speaking here of the proper use of our       exception a great sin in the sight of God and against
sexual nature. It is possible by the grace of God to      our partner.
use this sexual nature in sanctification and honor.         As Christians we must know that sex in itself is a
  God has created the sexual aspect of our nature         good creation of God, but the perversion of sex is
exclusively for marriage. That is very clear in the       condemned by God. Sex is perverted when it is
Word of God and that is absolute. There are no ex-        engaged in outside of the God-ordained sphere of
ceptions to this. To engage in premarital sex is not a    marriage. Sex is perverted when it is used merely
matter of innocent sexual activity; it is according to    for self and for the satisfaction of one's own lusts
the Word of God the great sin of fornication, The         and passions and not for the giving .of marital love.
very nature and character of the sex act as created         Man through sin has horribly corrupted and per-
by God is such that it is good only in the sphere of      verted every human relationship. Man in his totally
marriage. It is the means whereby a married man           depraved nature hates God and he hates his neigh-
and woman express their intimate and fervent love         bor. He does all things in rebellion against all of the
for each other. It is especially through the sexual       holy ordinances of God. He seeks himself and the
union according to the created nature of man that a       satisfaction of his own lusts and that at the expense
man and a woman become one flesh. God has                 and exploitation of his neighbor. There is perhaps
ordained that sex should be used in the sphere of         no area of life in which the horrible depravity of
the intimate, personal, loving relationship of            man's nature is more evident than in his misuse of
marriage. The proper and good use of sex pre-             sex. He will go to any end to satisfy his own


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              357



passions. The young man will force the young girl                The misuse of our sexual nature is also a very
in the darkness of the night, he will rob her of her           great evil against  .our fellow man. No amount of
honor, use and abuse her, and that only to satisfy             talk of love will remove this great evil. It always
his own wicked passion. Yet hypocritically he will             causes great psychological and spiritual harm to
speak of this as love. In the extreme, man will                those with whom you sin. No amount of "libera-
commit even rape and murder in this great wicked-              tion" of our modern day world is going to change
ness. To have proper Christian attitudes towards               this. Fornication will cause deep anguish for those
sex we must be aware of the awful depravity of                 who commit it. It involves the destroying of one's
man's sinful nature. And then also we must under-              honor; it involves cheating and defrauding one
stand that we have that same old sinful nature                 another and debasing one another. Those who
within us. We have the same sinful and wicked                  commit this sin will always be left with deep
passions in our flesh. We must be on our guard                 feelings of guilt and shame. They will be left with
against them. We must fight against them and reign             the anguish of feeling cheated and shamed, of
over them through the grace and Spirit of Christ               having been used for great evil and having been
Jesus our Lord. We must flee these lusts, never                made worthless. Virginity is a very. great and
playing with them, keeping far distant from them.              precious possession. To give that away, or to have
We must always know how wicked is the world in                 someone in the throws of sexual passion.take it
which we live and how great the power of our                   from you, will cause bitter. anguish. Any  ,pastor
sinful nature.                                                 who has counselled those who have been involved
   Sexual sin is a horrible sin. It is first of all a great    in this sin will know something of the great anguish
abomination in the sight of God. Those who walk                it brings.
in this sin surely incur the terrible wrath and judg-            Young people, the Word of God strongly warns
ment of God. We as Christians must always be                   against the sin of fornication. Take heed to this
aware of how God hates this sin. There are today               warning. Flee fornication. Fall not into the
many who seek to minimize the seriousness of this              condemnation of God and the misery and anguish
sin. They dismiss it with a smile. The very                    of this great sin. Let no man tempt you into think-
prevalence of this sin can easily make us forget               ing that this can be avoided. Let no man tempt you
how horrible it is in the sight of God. In holy fear           by saying there is true love and good pleasure in the
before God we must never forget how our holy and               sin of fornication. There is not.
righteous God hates all adultery and fornication.



                                          Book Reviews


CHRISTIAN FAITH  (AN INTRODUCTION TO                           words how he understands the truth of God. He
THE STUDY OF THE FAITH), Hendrikus Berkhof                     goes on to say, "In the small-type sections I give
(translated from the Dutch edition by Sierd Woud-              readers the opportunity to see how I arrived at my
stra); Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand                   formulations, and in particular  1, nudge them to
Rapids,  Mich. 568 pp. (cloth) $20.95 [Reviewed by             move beyond what I have said with the use of the
Prof. H.C. Hoeksema]                                           informal direction provided there." It is possible,
  This large volume is not a book for a relaxing               therefore, to confine one's reading to the large-type
evening of light reading. Whoever reads it must put            sections and from these to understand the author's
on his thinking-cap. Although it does not go by that           position. Nevertheless, one cannot fully under-
title, it is a dogmatics. It can also be called a Re-          stand the author's thought without reading the
formed dogmatics, but only if the term "Reformed"              small-type sections as well.
is understood in the broadest possible sense. About               Anyone who expects a rather traditional Re-
this later.                                                    formed dogmatics from this book will be bitterly
  As far as the format of the book is concerned, it is         disappointed. At very few points does the author's
divided into large-type sections and small-type sec-           position resemble that of classical Reformed
tions in each chapter. The author himself explains             dogmatics. At many points the author deliberately
that in the large-type sections he tries to put into           departs from and expresses disagreement with. the


358                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



classical Reformed position. Three exarnplesof  this       content, I do recommend it for either one of the
are his views of predestination; of original sin, and      reasons stated above.
of the deity of Christ. But in this reviewer's opinion
the basic error of Berkhof, .the error which explains      UNCONDITIONAL GOOD NEWS  (Toward an
all the others, is his view of revelation and of Scrip-    Understanding of Biblical Universalism) , Neal
ture. In the course of this review we cannot enter         Punt; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., Grand Rapids,
into a detailed explanation and refutation of              Mich. 169 pp. (paper) $6.95. [Reviewed by Prof.
Berkhof's Prolegomena. But here is a sample, page          H.C. Hoeksema]
87: "After all, Scripture cannot be identified with          Neal Punt is a Christian Reformed minister. He is
revelation. It is the human reaction to it. Here we        another in a growing number of such ministers
meet revelation indirectly, in the mirror of the           who try to solve the dilemma posed by the double-
human witness. And when this witness is itself the         track theology introduced by the First Point of 1924
product of the history of interpretation, we have to       by choosing and following - almost, but not quite
speak of a double indirectness. In general this in-        - the universalist track of that theology.
directness is presupposed and respected in the               His book is supposedly dedicated to the proposi-
language of the church. One who has a Bible in his         tion that "all persons are elect in Christ except,
pocket will not say that he has the Word of God in         those expressly declared by the Bible to be lost."
his pocket." Along with Berkhof's view of Scrip-           This is supposed to be the "unconditional good
ture goes his acceptance of modern hermeneutics,           news."
page.89: "Modern hermeneutics teaches us to make
a threefold distinction in the Bible: (a) between            One could write an entire book in refutation of
what is said and what is intended with it; (b)             the numerous doctrinal and exegetical errors found
between the different authors, books, and witnes-          in this strangely self-contradictory little book.
ses; and (c) between then and now. Once we are             Suffice it to say that it stands completely in the line
aware of this distinction, an indiscriminate appeal        of the teachings of Professor Harold Dekker, who
to a text is no longer possible; instead we have to        in the 1960's taught that God loves all men with a
restate what the authors intended to say, in its           redemptive love, and that Christ died for all men;
agreement with as well as deviation from other             and of Dr. Harry Boer and Dr. James Daane who
biblical writers, in such a way that we today can          have openly repudiated the Reformed doctrine of
hear it as the Word of God. Theological                    reprobation, and thus of predestination.
hermeneutics thus serves to facilitate the double            In the first place, Punt's own statement of the
process of making the connection with the past and         main proposition of this book, quoted above, is not
of interpretively passing this on to the present. In       an accurate statement. In the course of the book it
this study of the faith we shall keep this threefold       becomes: "All persons are elect in Christ except
distinction in mind, and it will determine whether         those who refuse to have God in their knowledge -
or not and the manner in which appeal is made to           this is the good news Scripture declares in the uni-
the authority of Scripture."                               versalistic texts." Or again: "Biblical universalism
  Nevertheless, while I cannot recommend this              impels us to declare to others the grace which
book for its Reformed contents and its sound               comes to them  - and to us  - in Jesus Christ. The
development of the Reformed faith, I do recom-             assumption with which we work is that all persons
mend that our ministers and theological students           are elect in Christ. On the basis of this assumption
add this book to their libraries. Our students can         we must tell all people what God has done for them
consult this work when they study dogmatics at the         in His Son! The awesome truth about God's wrath
seminary, and perhaps at least some of our pastors         is to be reserved for those who remain indifferent
will use some of their leisure time during the             to or reject this good news which the church has
summer to read through this work. I make this              been commissioned to proclaim to  aZZ people." (p.
recommendation for two reasons: 1) Hendrikus               132) In other words, Punt's "unconditional good
Berkhof is a force to be reckoned with in the field of     news" becomes  conditionaZ  bad news. Because of
Reformed dogmatics, and our men should be ac-              this, his unconditional good news is not really un-
quainted with his positions and be able to refute          conditional at all, but conditional. It inevitably
them. 2) There is no question about it that                becomes: all persons are elect in Christ if they do
Berkhof's writing is rather fresh and stimulating of       not refuse to have God in their knowledge, or if
one's thinking. Every now and then one comes               they do not remain indifferent to or reject this good
across a suggestion or a fresh way of stating some-        news. Now put this together with the doctrine of
thing which, if followed and developed in a proper         total depravity, and Punt's alleged unconditional
Reformed manner  - something which Berkhof                 good news surely will become universal bad news.
rarely, if ever, does  - could be fruitful. Hence,         I realize, of course, that the author will not accept
while I cannot recommend this book for its good            the consequence just described. This is what


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                       3 5 9

                                                                                                                                      . . .

happens when he tries to draw back from the brink                          stated by the author in Chapter VII, entitled "Bibli-
of absolute universalism.                                                  cal Particularism." The'author does not want what
  In the second place, in addition to what is stated                       he calls a "two-camp" configuration of predestina-
above, it becomes plain in the book that "uncondi-                         tion, but a "one-camp" configuration. This is why I
tional" is for the Rev. Punt conditional after all. He                     stated that Punt is in the camp of Dekker, Boer, and
merely changes the term condition to "redemption                           Daane.
imperatives," (p. 88).                                                        It is a conundrum to me that the Christian Re-
  In the third place, the basic error of Punt's book                       formed Church does not depose from office men
is his denial of sovereign reprobation This is not an                      who so plainly violate, the Formula of Subscription
inference drawn by this reviewer, but it is plainly                        with their obvious  .false doctrine. Or perhaps it is
                                                                           not a conundrum. It is becoming increasingly
                                                                           evident that the Christian Reformed Church is
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                      morally and doctrinally incapable of exercising
  The Senior Mr.  & Mrs. Society of the Southeast Protestant Re-           such discipline as long as they continue to cling to
formed Church expresses its sincere sympathy to one of our                 the First Point of 1924.
members, Mrs. Donald  Hauck, in the passing of her sister, ALICE
VAN  BAREN.
   "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."                          RESOLUilON OF SYMPATHY
(Psalm  116:15)                                                               The council of South West Protestant Reformed Church expresses
                                               John Flikkema, Jr. Pres.    its sincere sympathy with its fellow members, Mr. Richard-Van  Baren
                                               Clarice Newhof, Sec'y.      and Mr. Thomas Oosterhouse in the death of their sister and sister in
                                                                           law, MISS ALICE VAN  BAREN.

                                                                              "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                      dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
                                                                           eternal in the heavens. (II Cor. 5:  I)  j
  The Hudsonville Ladies Aid wishes to express our sympathy to our                                                                Rev. M.  DeVries, Pres.
President, Rev. G. Van  Baren,  in the death of his sister, ALICE VAN                                                             Clarence Kuiper, Clerk
BAREN.

  "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."'
(Psalm 1 16:15)                                                                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                       Mrs. George Hoekstra, Sec'y.
                                                                              The Adult Bible Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed
                                                                           Church wishes to express their deep sympathy to Rev. and Mrs. G.
                                                                           Van  Baren and family in the death of his sister, ALICE VAN  BAREN.
                           NOTICE!!!                                          "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept
  The Consistory of First Protestant Reformed in Holland invites all       the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
office bearers to a conference to be held Tuesday evening, May 11,         which the Lord, the righteous  judge,  shall give me at that day: and not
1982 at 8:00 P.M. in our church. Rev. Miersma will speak on the            me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." (II Timothy
topic: "Putting on the Armor of God." We also encourage all male           4~7,  8)
members to attend this instructive meeting.                                                                                   Mr. Bernard Bruining,  Pres.
                        The Holland Protestant Reformed Consistory                                                            Mrs..Faye  Dykstra, Sec'y.



                                                YOU ARE INVITED!!!
                                        To the Annual Spring Lecture                                                     1
                                        to be held, the Lord willing, at
           The South Christian Auditorium, Cutlerville, Michigan.
                                      The Speaker - Prof.  R; Decker.
                           The Theme  - The believer and his Bible.                                                                    _
                                 Thursday, May 6, 1982 - 8:00 P.M.
                   -Plan now to attend - and bring your Friends-
                                                                                       The Lecture Committee


                                                                                                                            ; ii
                                                                                                                       _-.  `c
                                                                                                               .:           .v:
  THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                        .:            SECOND  CLASS'  ,'  `_  5
          P.O. Box 6064                                   -___-         ~.~.           P O S T A G E   PAID/i7  :
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506  .---                                                     GRAND RAPIDS, Mli=H.

                                                                                          .%_             -




                                                                                                                            .h
                                                                                            19
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360                                        THE STANDARD BEARER


                           News From Our Churches
  We begin this column with a word of sympathy              dictum, that one gets out of something what he's
for those of our Grand Rapids area churches who             willing to put into it, can well be applied to Sunday
are responsible for typing up bulletins. It's the time      School."
of the year when they must squeeze in all those               * * * * * * * * * * *  *  * *
announcements about school activities and pro-                The placing of a new pamphlet rack in the
grams, Mr.  & Mrs. Society league meetings, Men's           narthex of our South Holland, Illinois church
Society and Ladies' Aid special programs, Young             suggests that their Evangelism Committee is con-
People's banquets and special activities, programs          cerned about pamphlet distribution; and their
presented by the various choral groups in the area,         recent publication of the new pamphlet, "Evan-
etc. etc.! Consider a bulletin of. our Hudsonville,         gelism and the Reformed Faith," by Rev. David
Michigan congregation for example: Usually their            Engelsma, is further evidence of that concern. By
bulletin consists of an 8% x 11 piece of paper with a       the way, Standard Bearer readers who are interested
picture of their church and general church related          in obtaining copies of this pamphlet should send to:
information on one side with the weekly announce-           The Evangelism Committee, South Holland
ments on the other. Not only is Hudsonville's April         Protestant Reformed Church, 16511 South Park
11 bulletin completely full of weekly announce-             Avenue, South Holland, Illinois 60473.
ments on the inside, also one-half of the cover side
is taken up with announcements, and they even                 South Holland's Evangelism Committee is also
spill over to the picture of their church. Lengthy          interested in radio broadcasting. This is evident
bulletins are not limited to our Grand Rapids area          from the following ad found in the Pittsburgh Post
churches, however. It seems I recall a recent Hull,         Gazette:    "ANNOUNCING: A NEW RADIO
Iowa bulletin with its 8% x 14 side full, accom-            BROADCAST!  THE REFORMED PULPIT:  pro-
panied by a half sheet as a supplement. A sugges-           claiming the historic Reformed and Presbyterian
tion: when sending bulletin announcements in the            Faith.. .beginning a series of messages on the funda-
                                                            mentals of the Reformed Faith...the faith of the
spring or fall of the year, help your local bulletin
typist by keeping your announcements short and              Reformation, whose confession was (and is), `Scrip-
                                                            ture only.' Tune in every Sunday morning at  9:45
sweet.                                                      AM on WPIT  - FM 101. This is a ministry of the
  * * * * * * * * * * * * * *                               Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Ill.
                                                            The speaker is Rev. David Engelsma, Pastor of the
  Many of our churches are either ending or just            church."
beginning another Sunday School season. A First               Further information from a newsletter to the
Church (Grand Rapids, Michigan) newsletter from             South Holland congregation reveals that, "13 mes-
the Sunday School included the following worth-             sages, running from March 14 through June 6," will
while food for thought concerning our Sunday                be carried on that station. Why  ,in Pittsburgh? The
School activities: "How about the Sunday School             newsletter informs us that,  "...these broadcasts
classes? Are they also enjoyable.. . .and stimulating?      have been made possible through the kindness of a
That depends, no doubt, on whom you talk to.                lover of the Reformed faith who lives near Pitts-
Some students come to Sunday School almost in-              burgh, who has offered to underwrite the cost of
variably well prepared. They know the verse (or             broadcasting."
verses) perfectly. They're able also to relate the            * * * *  * * * * * * * * * *
proof-text memory work to the lesson  - because
they took the time to study the lesson. And, having           Rev. Kenneth Koole of our Randolph, Wisconsin
studied (or having been taught) the lesson, they're         congregation has accepted the call extended to him
ready to participate in, and enjoy, a discussion of         from our Redlands, California congregation. A con-
the passage being considered. These students,               current call that Rev. Koole had from Edmonton
needless to say, are a joy to have in class; and we         was, therefore, necessarily declined.
susnect that they  eniov  being there. The old                                                                        CK


