 STANDARD
       BEARER
         A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                  .





          S P E C I A L   I S S U E

  THE DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION

  This issue, another of our "specials" for this year, is de-
voted entirely to various aspects of sovereign predestina-
tion, a doctrine which is "not an isolated, insignificant truth
that hangs somewhere on the periphery of the body of all
truth; but . . . the central truth of the Holy Scriptures . . . de-
clared by~the Reformers to be the Cor Ecclesia, i.e., the heart
of the church" (see the Meditation]. We hope that our
readers will enjoy the various articles; and we pray that the
Lord will use these feeble efforts to the strengthening of our
faith and to the praise of His glory.




                                        Volume LVIII, No. 16, May 15, `1982 J


362                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
                                CONTENTS                  '     '                                                       I$SN  0 3 6 2 - 4 6 9 2
                                                                                               Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                               Published b the Reformed Free'Publishing Association, Inc.
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  Meditation-                                                                        Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       God's Predestinating Purpose Realized. . . . . . . .362                       Deparhnent  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.
  Unconditional Election. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365           Calvin Kalsbeek, Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C.
                                                                                     Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema,
                                                                                     Rev, Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman.
  Sovereign Reprobation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .368            Editorial  Ofice:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATION

           God's Predestinatihg Purpose Realized
                                                                        Rev. M. Schipper

                   "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.
                   That they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteous-
               ness.
                   But we are bound to give thanks always to God-for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, be- ,
               cause God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
               and belief of the truth.
                   Whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
               Christ. "                                                                                               II Thessalonians 2:l l-1 4

  It should be evident, even to the most superficial                                   God, and especially with a view to the realization of
reader of the Word of God here, that the apostle is                                    that purpose.
writing concerning the predestinating purpose of


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                              363



       By the predestinating purpose of God we under-             because in the truth of, sovereign predestination the
     stand, of course, that eternal counsel- of God,              truth is maintained that God is God. Where that
     according to which He, with absolute sovereignty,            position no longer is maintained, it is no longer the
     determined from eternity the destiny of all His              true God Who. is served, but an idol. And as we
     rational creatures. In that predestinating purpose           began to say, this truth is not to be discovered only
     God has made among the rational creatures the                in a few isolated passages, such as in Romans 9 and
     distinction of election and reprobation. The former          II Thessalonians 2, but it is constantly and con-
     God has chosen in Christ in His sovereign grace to           sistently referred to and expressed in both Testa-
     be conformed to the image of His Son, and to share           ments of the Holy Scriptures. One cannot, for
     with Him in His eternal glory, while with respect to         example, properly exegete the Old Testament
     the latter, He has just as sovereignly predetermined         sacred history of God's dealings with ancient Israel,
     that they shall be destroyed forever, through the            without reckoning with this truth of sovereign pre-
     way of their sin. Moreover (and we particularly              destination. And it stands to reason that, as the
     stress this truth), we do not conceive of these two,         truth of Scripture is developed in the New Testa-
     election and reprobation, to be.on a par; rather, we         ment, this fundamental truth is most clearly ex-
     understand the predestinating purpose of God to be           pressed and explained.
     such that the reprobation must serve the election of           Secondly, we cannot refrain from pointing out
     grace. Also here, the Scriptural maxim is attained:          how miserably and blatantly this doctrine is ob-
     "All things work together for good to them that love         jected to and denied, and that too even in Reformed
     God, to them who are the called according to His             circles today. This, of course, is not new. Objection
     purpose" (Romans  8:28). And this means that, as             to the truth of God's sovereignty in predestination
     the chaff is related to the wheat, or as the scaffold-       is as old as the doctrine itself. The apostle Paul, in
     ing is necessary for the construction of a building,         his monumental writing on this subject in Romans
     so the Lord God sovereignly uses the reprobation             9, confronts the objector with these words: "Nay
     for the realization of the election of grace. The two        but, 0 man, who art thou that repliest against God?
     are inseparably connected, and in such a way that            Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it,
     the former must serve the latter.                            Why hast thou made me thus?" (Rom.  9:20). He
       It is also plain from the text in the light of its con-    then asks this significant question: "Hath not the
     text, that the apostle is not only underscoring the          potter power (a right) over the clay, of the same
     truth of God's sovereign predestinating purpose,             lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another
     but that he is especially emphasizing the fact that          unto dishonour?" (Rom. 9:21). Surely, no one has a
     God sovereignly and efficiently realizes that                right to criticize the Almighty Creator, and deny
     purpose. In this writing it is this truth which we           Him the authority to make of the same lump of clay
     particularly wish to delineate.                              vessels of honour, to whom in His mercy He would
       However, before we concentrate our thoughts on             make known the riches of His glory; nor may any
     this truth, there are two or three matters, related to       dispute His authority to shew His wrath and to
     what we have already written, which we deem                  make His power known on the vessels fitted to
     necessary to be briefly called to your attention.            destruction.
       First of all, it must be pointed out, that the doc-          But alas, today, as from of old, men have the
     trine of sovereign predestination is not an isolated,        audacious boldness to deny this truth. Either they
     insignificant truth that hangs somewhere on the              accuse God with the wicked charge that He is the
     periphery of the body of all the truth; but we con-          Author of sin, or they would be more merciful than
     sider it to be the central truth of the Holy Scrip-          God is by offering salvation to all men promiscu-
     tures. It is for this reason also that the doctrine is       ously, thereby denying that God will be merciful
     not found in only one or two isolated passages of            only unto those to whom He in His sovereign good
     the Word of God, but it runs as a golden thread              pleasure will shew His mercy, namely, to His elect
     woven into all the fabric of the truth as set forth in       (Rom. 9:18).
     the Word of God. The doctrine of sovereign pre-                Thirdly, it must be maintained, therefore, that
     destination was declared by the Reformers to be              the divine purpose in predestination is the glory of
     the Cor  Ecclesiu,  i.e., the heart of the church. And       His Name. In general it may be said that this is His
     that means that in the mind of the Reformers,                purpose in regard to all things. It is for this reason
     especially Calvin, this is the central dogma that            that the creation itself must declare the glory of
     throbs in the believing heart of the church of Christ        God; and it does, according to Psalm 19. "The
     on earth. Where this truth is no longer acknow-              heavens declare the glory of God; and the firma-
     ledged, is silenced, or denied, there is departure           ment sheweth His handiwork." In particular is this
     from all the truth and a modernization in doctrine           true with respect to His predestinating purpose.
I    and life. It should be quite easy to understand this,        This the apostle makes clear in Romans  9:22,23:


364                                      ' THE STANDARD BEARER



"What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to             And the manner in which He does this is precise-
make His power known, endured with much long-             ly through the same means whereby the elect are
suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction;     saved  - the Means of Grace, particularly the
and that He might make known the riches of His            preaching of the Word. These are the means which
glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore         the Holy Spirit of Christ uses to bring the elect to
prepared unto glory.. . ."                                manifestation. Through that preaching the elect are
  He purposed to attain to His glory through the          brought to conscious faith in Christ. Through that
way of sin and grace, and along the line of election      preaching the elect are called out of darkness into
and reprobation. It is precisely this truth which the     God's marvelous light. Through faith, which is acti-
apostle is delineating in the context and particularly    vated by the preaching, they walk in all good
in the text cited above.                                  works, which God also foreordained that they
                                                          should walk in them.
  It is evident that the apostle, neither in the text
nor in the context, speaks literally of reprobation.        Now, precisely through these means, only now
Nevertheless he definitely has this truth in mind.        in an antithetical way, the reprobate come to mani-
He has in mind, on the one hand, the divine dis-          festation. As a minister of  the. Word of God the
position of those whom He places in the category          apostle considered the proclamation of the gospel a
"of the damned"; and, on the other hand, in sharp         savor of death unto death, as well as a savor of life
contrast to these, he has in mind those who are           unto life (II Cor.  2:16). It lies within the power of
chosen of God from the beginning. There can be no         the preached gospel to save and to damn.
question therefore but that he has in mind those            With respect to the reprobate, the apostle reflects
whom God has from the beginning reprobated to             on this in verse 10. "They received not the love of
destruction, and those whom He also from the              the truth, that they might be saved." Again, in
beginning has chosen, sovereignly elected in              verse 12, he says, "That they all might be damned
Christ, who forever shall share in His glory.             who  believe.not  the truth, but had pleasure in un-
  Now we must notice how the.apostle stresses the         righteousness." The translation "damned" is good
point that God realizes His sovereign purpose in          commentary. Literally the apostle says: "That they
both the reprobate and the elect.                         might be visited juridically, and thus distinguished
                                                          in the judgment from the elect." But also here it is.
  First of all, he shows how this purpose of God is       evident that the means to realize this judgment of
realized in the reprobate.                                God over the reprobate, is the Word of truth, pro-
  It becomes abundantly clear that reprobation is         claimed to them in the gospel, which they do
not accidental  - as though God didn't have any-          receive, but continue to find their pleasure  in.un-
thing to do with it, or that the wicked reprobates        righteousness. But this is not all.
are thrust upon Him and, as a last resort, He finally       In verse 11, he adds, "And for this cause God
decides to dispose of them. That, of course, is           shall send them strong delusion, that they should
where they must end up  who. hold to the con-             believe a lie." This `is, indeed, strong language!
ception of a general offer of grace in the preaching      Many will find it quite unacceptable, especially
of the gospel. Accordingly, in this conception God        when they fail to see that God, Who is really God,
wants to save every man, but when man rejects             is not only loving and merciful, but also perfectly
God's offer, He doesn't really know what to do            righteous in judgment, and that it is precisely His
with them, and finally He virtually says: "You have       right to make vessels unto dishonour. Should it be
made your bed, and now you must sleep in it."             thought inconceivable of God that He sends strong
Such a conception of God makes Him to be the clay,        delusion to them, that they should believe a lie?
not the Potter. Then not God decides, but man; and
God is made subject to the will of man, while the           Our space is much too limited to dwell at length
truth is that man is always subject to the will of        on this truth. Briefly we call attention to other
God.                                                      Scriptures that plainly set forth this truth.
  Indeed, God sovereignly works out reprobation!            Markedly in Deuteronomy  13:1-5, the false
                                                          prophets stand alongside the true prophets of God,
  Just as sovereignly as He works out election!           not only to try the true children of God, but to bring
  Not only has God chosen the elect in Christ             about apostasy in Israel. There can be no question
before the foundation of the world, but, as we shall      but that these false prophets appear among Israel in
see in a moment, He also brings them to manifesta-        the providence of God. Again, in Judges  9:23, the
tion as His elect in the world. So also He sovereign-     Lord sends an evil spirit between Abimelech and
ly works -out reprobation. Not only has He deter-         the men of Shechem, to avenge the destruction of
mined who the reprobate are, but He also brings           the sons of Gideon upon Abimelech. Once more,
them to manifestation in the world.                       we read in I Samuel  16:14, that the Spirit of the


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              365



Lord departed from Saul, and that an evil spirit            walk in sanctification of life, embracing the truth
from the Lord troubled him. In I Kings  22:19-23,           with faith.
the prophet Micaiah explains not only how an evil             In the third place, the apostle observes that  it'is
spirit offered to persuade Ahab, but that the Lord          unto the perfection of the salvation of the elect and
sent him. Finally, in Romans  1:24-28, it is made           their final glory, that the elect are efficaciously
plain how the Lord gives the reprobate over unto            called through the gospel he preached.
uncleanness and vile affections, and .a reprobate
mind, to do things inconvenient.                              Put it all together, beloved reader, and you can
                                                            but come to the same conclusion to which the
  So it is also in our text: God sends to the repro-        apostle, under divine inspiration, was brought,
bate the energetic power of deception, so that they         namely, that God was working out His predestinat-
will believe the lie. Note here that we -do not read        ing purpose in the elect in that church. This is the
that Satan or Antichrist comes to deceive them into         same conviction the apostle had when, in Romans
believing the lie - though there can be no question         9, he envisioned the great Potter Whose right it was
in the light of the context that they serve as instru-      to make vessels which are honoured for their in-
ments in the deception  - but we read that God              estimable beauty, as well as vessels which He
sends them the .deception.  And this can only mean          ordains ultimately to be destroyed after they have
that God works out reprobation. His predestinating          served His purpose - vessels unto dishonour.
purpose with respect to the reprobate He works out
to the end.                                                   Nor can the election of grace come to any other
                                                            conclusion than that of the apostle: God hath
  But so it is also with respect to His predestinating      shown His mercy on whom He will be merciful,
purpose in the elect.                                       and therefore thanks be unto Him, of Whom and
  Notice how beautifully the apostle expresses this         through Whom and unto Whom be all the glory,
truth in the latter part of our text. The apostle not       both now and forever. Amen!
only gives thanks to God for the fact that God has            We conclude with the Fathers of Dort: "The
from the beginning, from eternity, chosen the               sense and certainty of this election afford to the
saints at Thessalonica unto salvation, but he also          children of God additional matter for daily humilia-
thankfully acknowledges how God has realized                tion before Him, for adoring the depth of His
that election in them. Especially three things the          mercies, for cleansing themselves, and rendering
apostle observes in that predestinating purpose,            grateful returns of ardent love to Him, Who first
which evidently he considers to be the fruits of            manifested so great love towards them.. .  "
election.                                                   (Canons I. 13).
  In the first place, he observes that their election         And in respect to those who will have nothing of
is divine ordination unto salvation. The cause of           this doctrine, we say with these same Fathers: "To
their salvation must be ascribed to God's eternal           those who murmur at the free grace of election, and
and sovereign decree of the election of His people          just severity of reprobation, we answer with the
in Christ.                                                  apostle: `Nay, but 0 man, who art thou that repliest
  In the second place, he observes that the very            against God'...Romans  9:30, and quote the language
salvation of the elect is realized by God in the            of our Saviour: `Is it not lawful for Me to do what I
sphere of sanctification and belief of the truth. It is     will with My own?' Matthew 20: 15."
in this sphere and in this working that the elect             "0, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom
stand in sharpest contrast to the reprobate. The            and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His
latter have pleasure in unrighteousness, and                judgments, and His ways past finding out!"
believe not the truth; the elect, on the other hand,        (Canons I. 18)



                            Unconditional Election
                                                 Rev. Steven Houck


  Most "evangelical Christians" would very  en-             the gift of God. It can not be earned by man's
thusiastically subscribe to the words which Jonah           works, but is the work of God's grace alone. And
uttered in the fish's belly: "Salvation is of the Lord"     yet, very few actually consider the cause of  salva-
(Jonah  2:9). For they tell us that salvation is totally    tion to be the sovereign and unchangeable election


366                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



of God. Even though there is much talk of God's            by which He has chosen, from before the founda-
grace, most people today make man's choice,                tion of the world, a certain number of persons to be
rather than God's election, the determining factor         His own precious possession, whom He loves and
in salvation. We are told that man, with his free          saves through Jesus Christ unto His glory forever.
will, must either accept or reject Christ. He has to       The apostle speaks of this blessed purpose of God
make the choice himself, for God will not force him        in Ephesians  1:4-6: "According as He hath chosen
against his will. Even though God wants all to be          us in Him before the foundation of the world, that
saved and holds out the free gift to all, it is up to      we should be holy and without blame before Him
each individual to decide whether or not he will           in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption
receive what God offers. According to many, there-         of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to
fore, it is man's will that is sovereign in salvation,     the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the
rather than God's will.                                    glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us
  But that is not what we find in the Scriptures.          accepted in the beloved."
"Salvation is of the Lord." Surely these words               Notice that the apostle clearly declares that God
mean that the sovereign, irresistible cause of salva-      in His eternal counsel made a choice. According to
tion is God's eternal election and not man's will.         His good pleasure He has selected only certain ones
Can it possibly be that the Great God Who created          to be His children. It pleased God, already in
the heavens and earth is dependent upon the will of        eternity, to make distinction between men. All are
finite man? Of course not, for "He (God) doeth ac-         not equal, for some He elected to eternal life and
cording to His will in the army of heaven, and             others He did not. That is the basic truth of election
among the inhabitants of the earth..." (Dan.  4:35).       which we must recognize. God's people are a select
The will that is sovereign, the will that determines       people, a special people, a people that belong to
who will be saved and who will not be saved is             God by His own choice. For God chose us for Him-
God's will. Jesus Christ Himself said, "Ye have not        self, to be His possession and inheritance. His
chosen Me, but I have chosen you..." (Jn.  15:16).         people are His treasure, the apple of His eye, and
We have not chosen Christ; not first of all. For man       very precious in His sight. Thus the Psalmist says,
by nature is incapable of choosing Christ. We are          "For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself and
corrupt sinners who choose only sin, Satan, and            Israel for His peculiar treasure" (Ps.  135:4). One of
hell. If our salvation were dependent upon our             the clearest statements was made by Moses at Mt.
choice, then there would be no salvation at all. Our       Sinaii "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord
eternal salvation is sure and secure only because it       thy God: The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a
is the fruit of divine election. Our only comfort in       special people unto Himself, above all people that
life and death is that we belong to our faithful           are upon the face of the earth" (Deut. 7:6).
Savior Jesus Christ. And we belong to Him, first of          It is not strange, therefore, that this special
all, because God chose us to be His beloved people         people is the object of God's love. For He said,
in Christ Jesus and eternally committed us into            "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated" (Rom.
Christ's care for salvation.                               9: 13). While others know only the hatred and wrath
  The Scriptures are very. clear. If we are to under-      of God, His elect people have always been His
stand our salvation, then we must look to the              "beloved" people. He says to us, "Yea, I have loved
eternal counsel of God. For God is the decreeing           thee with an everlasting love..." (Jer.  31:3). And
God, the God Who has predetermined and appoint-            that everlasting love of God is an electing love. We
ed absolutely everything that ever comes to pass.          can not speak of election without speaking of love.
He is said to be the God Who "worketh all things           God's choice in election is the choice of love. To be
after the counsel of His will" (Eph. 1: 11) because all    chosen of God is to be loved of God. Before we
things, down to the most minute details, are willed        were born, before we even knew God, we were in
and planned by Him. Even before they ever                  His heart as the objects of His blessed love. In fact,
became a part of history, they are a part of His           He has loved His people with the very same love
eternal decree. This world, and all that belongs to        with which He has always loved Christ. For Jesus
it, runs its course according to  ,God's predeter-         prayed to His Father, "and (Thou) hast loved them,
mined plan, unto God's predetermined end. And              as Thou hast loved Me" (Jn. 17:23). Just as surely as
thus God Himself declares to us, "I am God and             God's people have been chosen in Christ, we have
there is none like Me, declaring the end from the          been loved in Christ. That is election.
beginning, and from ancient times the things that            If we have been loved in Christ, then that divine
are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,          election can only be an election to salvation. For
and I will do all My pleasure" (Isa. 46:9-10).             those whom God loves, He saves (I Jn. 4: 10). In that
  Divine election is a part of that eternal decree         blessed decree of God, we were not only chosen by
and will of God. It is the sovereign decree of God         God, but we were committed into the hands of


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             367



Christ for salvation (Jn.  17:9). We were elected to       Testament. Notice Romans  9:10-13:  "And not only
be made "holy and without blame" through the               this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one,
death and resurrection of Christ. God selected His         even by our father Isaac; (For the children being
people to be a people redeemed from sin, death,            not yet born, neither having done any good or evil,
and hell. He chose us to be His righteous covenant         that the purpose of God according to election might
people through the way of sin and grace. Therefore         stand, not of works, but of Him that called;) It was
the apostle tells us, "God hath from the beginning         said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of          it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
the Spirit and belief of the truth" (II Thess.  2:13).     hated." Surely this passage is the death blow  .to
We as God's people are not only the people He              conditional election. For here the apostle says that
loves, but the people whom He saves.                       election is "not of works but of Him that calleth."
  When we consider this truth of God's word (that          He proves that, by referring to Jacob and Esau.
God has chosen only's select group of people whom          Before they were born, before they had done any-
He loves and saves) it is easy to see why so many          thing good or bad, God loved the one and hated the
refuse to believe it. To the flesh, it is a "hard          other. No, it can not be that God chose according to
saying." Many are excluded. There have always              something He found in man. Salvation "is not of
been those, therefore, who try to find some way to         him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of
get around this truth. And while many dare not be          God that showeth mercy" (Rom. 9: 16).
so bold as to deny openly divine election, they ef-          The basic fact that many do not understand is
fectively destroy this truth by making it condition-       that election includes not only the end, eternal
al. They can speak of God's election and still make        glory, but also the way to that end. Election is the
salvation dependent upon man. They do this by              fountain and cause of every good work. Rather
insisting that election is based upon God's fore-          than being the basis for election, faith and good
knowledge. They tell us that God looked down               works are the result of election. If it were not for
through the corridors of time and saw those who            God's choice no one could even have faith and per-
would believe, who would obey the gospel, and              form good works. Thus we read in Acts  13:48:
who would persevere in a life of holiness. Upon the        "...and as many as were ordained to eternal life be-
basis of that knowledge, God then made His                 lieved." Those elected to eternal life were also
choice. He chose those whom He knew would be               elected to have faith. Of good works we read, "For
saved by their own will or works.                          we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
  But that can not possibly be true. For God's fore-       unto good works, which God hath before ordained
knowledge is not simply a knowing of certain facts         that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2: 10). Even our
before they take place. Yes, it is true that the Scrip-    good works were ordained by God in His eternal
tures refer to foreknowledge. `We have Romans              counsel. How is it possible, then, that election can
8:29 where we read, "For whom He did foreknow,             be conditional? All that God's people are and will
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the            be has been appointed in eternity.
image of His Son." But this knowledge is much
more than mere intellectual knowledge. For the               The Scriptures make it very plain that election is
Lord said to His people, "You only have I known of         not based upon man, but upon God's good pleasure
all the families of the earth..." (Amos  3:2). Surely      alone. Election is sovereign. God chose to Himself a
God knows all the families of the earth intellectual-      people simply because that is what He wanted to
ly. But He knows, in love, only His special people.        do. God's will is not subject to man. He does not
Foreknowledge is God's eternal love for His people.        ask for our advice. We do not give to Him first in
                                                           order that He might then give to us. For of Him,
  Beside that, the Scriptures make it clear that           and through Him, and to Him, are all things: To
election is not based upon either man's will or his        Whom be glory forever" (Rom.  11:36). Man, there-
works. There is a very beautiful statement found in        fore, has absolutely nothing in which to boast. It is
Deuteronomy  7:7: "The Lord did not set His love           all of God and therefore all for His glory. God in
upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in          His eternal counsel chose to Himself a people
number than any people; for ye were the fewest of          whom He loves and saves in Christ Jesus. He did
all people." Here both the election of God and the         that in order that He might receive praise and
love of God are mentioned. And it is specifically          honor and glory forever. Rather than replying
stated that they are not based upon what God saw           against God, as so many do, we ought to bow down
in man. If that were true, then God would have             before Him in thanksgiving and praise. Rather than
chosen others instead of Israel, for they were much        seeking to lift up man, we ought to exalt the Lord.
greater than Israel.                                       For He alone is worthy. To Him be the glory
  The same emphasis can be found in the New                forever.


368                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



                             Sovereign Reprobation
                                              Rev. Ronald Cammenga


   It is Reformed to maintain the truth of sovereign       of reprobation. But the real issue in this battle is the
reprobation. The man who denies reprobation not            truth of election itself. For a denial of sovereign
only shows himself to be outside the Reformed              reprobation necessarily involves a denial of the
camp, but shows himself actually to be an enemy of         Reformed doctrine of election. The denial of repro-
the Reformed faith itself. Reformed believers  con-        bation results either in the doctrine of a universal
fess double predestination - this is, not only God's       election, the election by God of all men unto salva-
election of some men, but God's reprobation of             tion; or it results in the doctrine of conditional
others.                                                    election, election based on the faith and choice of
  Confessionally it is Reformed to maintain the            the sinner. Neither alternative is Reformed or
truth of sovereign reprobation. After it has con-          Biblical. Both alternatives are the overthrow of the
fessed God's election of some men, the West-               doctrine of predestination, the very heart of the
minster Confession of Faith states: "The rest of           Reformed faith, the faith of the Scriptures. We
mankind God was pleased, according to the un-              maintain the doctrine of reprobation, not only
searchable counsel of His own will, whereby He             because it is Reformed, not only because it is the
extendeth or withholdeth mercy as He pleaseth, for         logical and necessary consequence of the truth of
the glory of His sovereign power over His                  particular election, but because the Scriptures
creatures, to pass by, and to ordain them to dis-          teach reprobation. And the Reformed believer
honor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His        bows before the Scriptures.
glorious justice" (Chapter III, par. 7). The Canons          Reprobation is the eternal good pleasure of God's
of Dordt, I, 6 speaks not only of God's decree of          will according to which He appoints some men to
predestination as His election of some men unto            eternal damnation on account of their sin. It is
salvation, but also of His leaving "the non-elect in       God's eternal purpose that the everlasting destiny
His just judgment to their own wickedness and              of certain men and women will be condemnation in
obduracy." According to this decree, the article           hell. Reprobation is one aspect, along with election,
goes on to state, God makes "righteous discrimina-         of the decree ,of predestination.
tion between men, equally involved in ruin."
Especially in I, 15 the Canons of Dordt define the           The Scriptures emphasize certain characteristics
Reformed doctrine of reprobation. "What peculiar-          of this truth of reprobation. First, reprobation is a
ly tends to illustrate and recommend to us the             decree  of God, a determination of God's will. It is,
eternal and unmerited grace of election, is the            therefore, an expression of the good-pleasure or
express testimony of sacred Scripture, that not all,       counsel of God. In I Peter 2:8 the apostle speaks of
but some only are elected, while others are passed         the fact that God has "appointed" some men to
by in the eternal decree; whom God, out of His             stumble over and be offended at Jesus Christ. Jude
sovereign, most just, irreprehensible and un-              speaks of those whom God has  "ordained  to this
changeable good pleasure, hath decreed to leave in         condemnation" (Jude 4). In Romans  9:ll the
the common misery into which they have wilfully            apostle Paul speaks of Esau's rejection by God as
plunged themselves, and not to bestow upon them            "the purpose of God." Just exactly because reproba-
saving faith and the grace of conversion; but per-         tion is the will or purpose of God, it is an unchange-
mitting them in His just judgment to follow their          able purpose. As unchangeable as God is, so un-
own ways, at last for the declaration of His justice,      changeable is His decree of reprobation.
to condemn and perish them forever, not only on              Secondly, reprobation is an eternal decree;
account of their unbelief, but also for all their other    Reprobation is not a work of God in time and his-
sins."                                                     tory. But it is an  etemaZ  decree. In Jude 4 we read
  Because we are concerned to be Reformed, we              that "before of old" the reprobate were ordained to
defend the doctrine of sovereign reprobation. We           condemnation. Ephesians  1  presents God's decree
do that over against all of the attacks that are being     of predestination, and therefore reprobation, as
made against this doctrine today, especially by men        "before the foundation'of the world." According to
within Reformed churches. Our concern for main-            Matthew  7:23 Christ the Judge will in the last day
taining the truth of reprobation is, at the same time,     declare to those on His left hand, "I  never  knew
our concern for preserving the truth of election.          you."
Today a great attack is being made on the doctrine           Thirdly, reprobation is a sovereign and uncondi-


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              369



tional decree. In this decree God is not dependent         when He actually does leave some men so to perish
on those whom He reprobates. Their reprobation is          in their sin. The justice of God in reprobation can
not based upon their own sin, disobedience, and            never be questioned if we recognize the truth set
unbelief. God does not reject them because they            down by the apostle in Romans 9, that God has the
first have rejected Him. God does not reprobate            right to do with His creatures as pleases Him.
them because they refuse to believe. Jesus makes           "Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have
that clear beyond a shadow of doubt when He says           mercy, and whom  I?Ie will He hardeneth" (Rom.
to the `unbelieving Jews in John  1026: "But ye            9:18).
believe not, because ye are not of My sheep." Their          It's important that we understand the relation-
not being Christ's sheep, that is, their being repro-      ship between election and reprobation. We must
bate, was not due to their not believing. That's           not have the idea that these are two equal and
exactly what Jesus does not say here. But they             parallel decrees of God. Often the enemies of the
believe not, because they are not of Christ's sheep.       doctrine of reprobation have charged the defenders
The teaching of Holy Scripture is that we all are          of reprobation with maintaining the "equal  ulti-
equally involved in ruin and sin. The fact is that if      macy" of reprobation and election. Though it is
reprobation depended on our sin and unbelief, we           Reformed to maintain, even to maintain vigorously,
would all be reprobate. The reason for reprobation,        the truth of reprobation, it is not Reformed or Bibli-
the reason explaining why they who are reprobated          cal to maintain that reprobation stands on a par
should be reprobated, is a reason that lies alone in       with election in the eternal counsel of God. In a
God. In reprobation God is sovereign. Certainly            little booklet entitled De Pluats der Venverping in de
men go to hell for their sin. Certainly reprobation is     Verkondiging des Evangelies (The Place  of  Reprobation
carried out along the way of sin. But sin itself is not    in the Preaching of the Gospel), published in 1927,
the cause for reprobation. In Romans 9, Paul               Rev. Herman Hoeksema wrote (my translation,
defends the sovereignty of God in reprobation.             R.C.): "They (i.e., reprobation and election) are not
Why does God reprobate? His answer in verse 19 is          two exact halves of the same matter, but they
that "whom He will He hardeneth." And in verse             together form one whole. And always reprobation
21 he adds that the potter, God, has the power over        ought to be presented as subordinate to election, as
the clay to make a vessel unto dishonor.                   it deserves according to God's counsel," (p. 23).
 In the fourth place, reprobation is a  particuZ$          This relationship between election and reprobation
decree. It is the decree of God to reject certain          is important. Reprobation is not equal to, but sub-
definite persons. In Romans 9 the apostle Paul             ordinate to and serves the purpose of God in
mentions two particular reprobate persons, Esau            election. -The apostle makes this relationship plain
and Pharaoh. In Jude 4, Jude speaks of "certain            in the great chapter on election and reprobation,
men" before of old ordained unto condemnation.             Romans 9. He says in Romans  9:12 that the repro-
Reprobation is no vague, general decree. As                bate Esau "shall serve" the elect Jacob. God's
definite and particular as election is, so definite and    purpose of election, His purpose of the salvation of
particular is God's decree of reprobation.                 the church in Jesus Christ, is served by His purpose
  Fifthly, according to His eternal decree of repro-       of reprobation. Reprobation is the dark background
bation God determines that the end of those who            against which God carries out His decree of
are reprobated is condemnation in hell. Reproba-           gracious election. The Canons of Dordt, I, 15 speak
tion is a part of predestination, God's decree which       of reprobation as peculiarly tending "to illustrate
deals with men's final destinies. Reprobation is not       and recommend to us the eternal and unmerited
simply God's determination to send some temporal           grace of election.. .."
judgments on wicked men. But it is the determina-            In harmony with His eternal purpose, God
tion by God to consign men to the greatest judg-           carries out His decree of sovereign reprobation in
ment, suffering everlastingly in hell. In Jude 4           history. According to that decree He hides from the
Scripture teaches that certain men are ordained by         reprobate the things of the kingdom of heaven,
God to "condemnation." II Peter  2:12 speaks of            Matthew  11:25, 26; He hardens their hearts,
God's making the reprobate in order that they "be          Exodus  4:21; He causes them to stumble over the
taken and destroyed." Solomon in Proverbs  16:4            Word of the Gospel, I Peter 2:8; He uses the gospel
speaks of God's making the wicked "for the day of          to confirm them in their wickedness and unbelief,
evil."                                                     Isaiah 6:9-12; He sends them strong delusion so
  Finally, we ought to note that reprobation isjusf.       that they believe the lie, II Thessalonians 2:.ll, 12.
Reprobation demonstrates the justice of God. The             The end of the reprobate is the punishment of
Canons of Dordt affirm in I, 1 that God would have         hell. This is according to the sovereign decree of
done no injustice by leaving all men to perish in          God. Even so, the reprobate deserve this punish-
their sin. Certainly, then, God does no injustice          ment. And no reprobate person can ever blame


370                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



God and God's sovereign decree of reprobation for                   because the comfort and assurance of God's people
his being cast into hell. Also in connection with                   is also at stake. A denial of reprobation is destruc-
reprobation, though in a way incomprehensible to                    tive to the comfort and assurance of God's people.
us, God's sovereignty does not destroy  `man's                      If God reprobates no one, but if God elects and
responsibility. God carries out His decree of repro-                loves all, how can there ever be any assurance of
bation in such a way that the sinner' remains                       salvation. For plainly, though God elects all, all are
responsible for his sins. Men are of old ordained to                not saved. And at least in very many cases, in spite
condemnation, according to Jude 4. But this in no                   of God's election of them, men perish. How can I
way takes' away from the fact that those men them-                  ever be sure that this will not ultimately be my lot
selves are "ungodly men," who themselves turn                       also?
God's grace into lasciviousness and who them-                          Thus, we must maintain reprobation. It must be
selves deny the only Lord God. According to II                      taught and preached and written about. If it glori-
Thessalonians 2:  11,  12 God sends the reprobate                   fies God and serves the comfort and assurance of
strong delusion so that they believe a lie. And yet,                believers, there must not be silence about this
they themselves believe the lie and believe not the                 doctrine. If God is not silent about reprobation,
truth. And though appointed by God, these same                      men had better not pretend to be wiser than God
men themselves stumble over and are disobedient                     and promote silence in the churches over this
to the Word of God (I Pet.  2:8). For their sins the                doctrine which God so clearly reveals in His Word.
reprobate remain responsible; they deserve their                    Certainly the preaching and teaching of this
condemnation in hell.                                               doctrine will cultivate in elect believers the fruit of
  This is the Reformed doctrine of reprobation.                     deep humility.  They  deserved to be reprobated.
Because, as we have seen, this truth is clearly                     And yet it was the great good-pleasure of God to
taught in Holy Scripture we confess and maintain                    save them. Oh, how humble we ought to be! And
it. The judgment of the Canons of Dordt over those                  recognizing the love and grace of God in electing
who deny and oppose this truth is harsh, but                        and not reprobating them, the children of God are
correct. They are "men of perverse, impure and un-                  moved to unbounded thanksgiving and gratitude.
stable minds," I, 6. We confess this truth because                  "0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
in this truth the glory and justice of God are at                   knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judg-
stake. A denial of reprobation is, because it is a                  ments, and His ways past finding out!"' (Rom.
denial of God's sovereignty, a dishonoring and pro-                 11:33)
faning of the glory of God. We confess this truth


                        Predestination and Preaching
                                                       Prof. Robert D. Decker


  Of the myriad objections and misrepresentations                       revealed in the Scriptures, both of the Old and New
which have been and continue to be brought                              Testament, so it is still to be published in due time and
against the doctrine of predestination two are                          place in the Church of God, for which it was peculiar:
extremely serious. It is alleged that the doctrine                      ly designed, provided it be done with reverence, in
itself cannot be preached. It is also commonly held                     the spirit of discretion and piety, for the glory of
that the Reformed Churches cannot preach election                       Gods most holy name, and for enlivening and com-
and reprobation on the mission field. In fact, it is                    forting His people, without vainly attempting to
                                                                        investigate the secret ways of the Most High. Acts
said that the Reformed Churches which maintain                          2027;  Romans 11:33, 34; 12:3; Hebrews 6:17, 18.
the doctrine of predestination cannot do mission                                                           (Canons I, Article 14)
work because of that very fact. Neither of these                    It is not our purpose to present a detailed exposition
charges is new. Enemies of the truth have been                       of this significant article of our Creed. For that the
saying these things literally for centuries.                        reader is urged to consult the detailed, excellent
  The great Synod of Dordrecht met the first of                     commentary on the Canons,  The Voice  Of  Our
these objections head on when it declared:                          Fathers,  written by my colleague, Prof. H.C.
         "As the doctrine of divine election by the most wise       Hoeksema. Hoeksema's exposition of this article
       counsel of God, was declared by the prophets, by             may be found on pages 219-233. Notice, however,
       Christ Himself, and by the apostles, and is clearly          that the Creed stresses that the doctrine of election


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                371



        is still to be preached in due time and place in the         preach this truth. Predestination will be the
        church of God. There are several reasons why this            heartbeat of his every sermon. It will be that
        doctrine must be preached in the church. 1) It was           because, as the fathers say, this truth was "pecul-
        declared by the prophets. The entire Old Testament           iarly designed" by God for the church. God intend-
        speaks of election and reprobation. Immediately              ed this truth to be for the lively comfort of believers
        after the fall God reveals the distinction between           and their children. Indeed it has been rightly said of
        the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.           the doctrine of election that it is "the heart of the
        God puts enmity between them (cf. Genesis  3:15).            church." Therefore it must be proclaimed in the
        The two seeds can be easily traced along the lines of        church. It will be proclaimed if the church through
        Abel, Seth (elect), and Cain (reprobate). In the gen-        its preachers faithfully expounds the Holy Scrip-
        erations of Shem, Abraham is chosen and called to            tures, for this precious truth is found on every page
        be the "father of many nations." Isaac and not               of Holy Scripture.
        Ishmael is the son of promise. God loved Jacob and             The second charge, namely, that because they
        hated Esau before they were born or had done any             maintain the doctrine of predestination the
        good or evil (Romans  9:10-13). Israel is chosen             Reformed Churches cannot do mission work, is
        among the nations, though she was no better or               utterly false. It is said that the doctrine of pre-
        more honorable than the other nations. For further           destination cannot be preached on the mission
        proof consult the following passages: Exodus 33: 19;         field. If one wants the doctrine of predestination he
        Deuteronomy  4:37; 7:7; Psalm 89:3;  89:19ff.; 105:6;        may have it but he must not preach it on the mis-
        Isaiah 6:9-11;  4O:l;  41:8;  42:l;  43:1-7, 21;  44:1-8;    sion field. This means that one can be Reformed at
        45:4;  46:9, 10;  48:9, 10;  49:16. These are just a few     home and Arminian on the mission field. What
        of the many passages which prove the point that              nonsense! The Apostles and indeed our Lord Jesus
        the prophets declared the doctrine of election. 2)           did not hesitate to proclaim this truth openly and
        This truth was proclaimed by Christ Himself. It              sharply in the mission context! The church today
        may even be said that the truth of election ran              must do no less. It is also said that the doctrine of
        through all of Jesus' preaching.  It`was the heart of        predestination makes it impossible to address the
        the preaching of our Lord. So much is this true that         gospel to all men. This charge is repeatedly and un-
        when He was opposed and when His work ap-                    justly hurled at the Protestant Reformed Churches
        peared fruitless Jesus took comfort in the truth of          by opponents of this precious truth of the Gospel.
        election and reprobation. He told the Pharisees in           Nothing could be farther from the truth. Historical-
        no uncertain terms: "Ye are not of My sheep" (John           ly this has not been the case in the -Reformed
        10:26-30). When the Lord preached that beautiful             Churches. The Reformed Churches have always
        sermon on the Bread of Life, at which many of His            been active in missions. Their Confession states:
        disciples were offended and walked no more with              "Moreover,- the promise of the gospel is, that who-
        Him, He said: "All that the Father giveth Me, shall          soever believeth in Christ crucified, shall not
        come unto Me, and him that cometh unto Me I will             perish, but have everlasting life. This promise, to-
        in no wise cast out" (John  6:37ff.). At one point in        gether to all nations, and to all persons promiscu-
        His ministry Jesus thanked the Father for hiding ac-         ously and without distinction, to whom God out of
        cording to His good pleasure the mysteries of the            His good pleasure sends the gospel" (Canons II,
        Kingdom from the wise and prudent and revealing              Article 5). The Canons go on to state that the fact
        them unto babes (Matthew 11:25-27). Christ openly            that many who are called reject the gospel and
        proclaimed this truth. 3) The Apostles also pro-             perish in unbelief is not the fault of the gospel but is
        claimed this truth, as is plain from many passages           to be imputed to themselves (II, 6). Those who
        of the New Testament. The following are a few of             believe and are saved are indebted solely to the
        those many: Romans 8:28-39; 9: llff.; Ephesians 1; I         grace of God (II, 7). The ground for this is given in
        Peter 2:5-8. What the fathers of Dordt were intent           the next article of the Second Head Of Doctrine:
        to show is that from the very beginning of its               "For this was the sovereign counsel, and most
        history and all through the ages the doctrine of             gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that
        election has been preached by and in the church              the quickening and saving efficacy of the most
        and, therefore, must still be preached today.                precious death of His Son should extend to all the
I         This does not mean that ministers ought to                 elect, for bestowing on them alone the gift of justi-
     _ preach an occasional "election" sermon. The                   fying faith, Thereby to bring them infallibly to sal-
        doctrine of predestination runs as a golden thread           vation: that is, it was the will of God, that Christ by
        throughout all of Scripture. The preacher who will           the blood of the cross, whereby He confirmed the
        be faithful to his calling and who confesses with the        new covenant, should effectually redeem out of
        apostle Paul, "For I have not shunned to declare             every people, tribe, nation, and language, all those,
        unto you all the counsel of God," will naturally             and those only, who were from eternity chosen to


372                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



salvation, and given to Him by the Father; that He          Mark 16).
should confer upon them faith, which together                  From a practical point of view this great truth has
with all the other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit, He      implications for the church as it engages in the
purchased for them by His death; should purge               preaching of the gospel to the nations. The church
them from all sin, both original and actual, whether        may do this work joyfully and in the full confi-
committed before or after believing; and having             dence that there will be fruit upon these labors. The
faithfully preserved them even to the end, should           elect are there, in the nations! God will gather them
at last bring them free from every spot and blemish         by means of the preaching. That's His good
to the enjoyment of glory in His own presence for-          pleasure! Christ will bring the "other sheep" into
ever." What could be plainer than this? Let no one          the fold. They too shall hear His voice and there
say the Reformed Churches do not believe is mis-            shall be one fold and one Shepherd! (cf. John 10,
sions or that they have at best little concern for          17). All of this is accomplished by the grace of the
missions because of the doctrine of predestination.         sovereign God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  What is more, it is only those churches which             The church need not and must not resort to all
preach and teach and defend the whole counsel of            kinds of gimmicks to attract people. All the church
God (which has predestination as its heart) which           must do is what the Ring of the church told her to
can properly be engaged in mission work. The sole           do: preach, teach, and baptize. When many reject
foundation of missions is. God's eternal good               the gospel which the church preaches, the church
pleasure in Christ. This is the teaching of Scripture       may still be encouraged. The fault lies not with the
and of the Confessions of the Reformed Churches.            gospel! Not at all! The preaching of the Word is the
God has chosen in Christ before the foundation of           means to salvation for the elect but a means to
the world His people. It pleases God to save His            destruction for unbelievers. The Word is a
elect in Christ through the terrible way of the cross.      discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart
God's good pleasure is to reveal His glory in the           (Hebrews 4). The faithful church and missionaries
redeemed in Christ in the new heavens and earth.            who preach "all the counsel of God" may confess
These elect are found in every nation, tribe, and           with the Holy Apostle: "Now thanks be unto God,
tongue. It pleases God to gather these elect in             which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and
Christ out of all nations by means of the preaching         maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by
of the Word by the church through the office of the         us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet
ministry. The fruit of that preaching throughout the        savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in
ages is that the multitude which no man can                 them that perish: To the one we are the savour of
number is gathered to appear before the throne of           death unto death;,and to the other the savour of life
God and sing His praise forever (cf. Revelation 7).         unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For
This good pleasure ,of God is the foundation of the         we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God:
command of Christ to His church: "Go ye into all            but as of sincerity, but as of God,. in the sight of
the world preaching and baptizing..." (Matthew 28,          God speak we in Christ" (II Corinthians 2:14-17).



                         Election and Assurance
                                                 Rev. J. Kortering


  From the lofty heights of theological contempla-          we are convinced that we are children of God and
tion to the deepest soul-wrenching cry of human             therefore partakers of all the benefits of Christ by
distress, the truth of sovereign election casts an          faith, including everlasting life. These two
aura of heavenly bliss on every spiritual need. It is       opposites are to some extent present in the life of
good for us to consider together how necessary the          every child of God. The struggle of the inspired
doctrine of election is for our personal assurance of       apostle applies to the doubt-assurance conflict as
salvation.                                                  well: "For the good that I would, I do not: but the
                                                            evil which I would not, that I do. . . . 0 wretched
THE PROBLEM OF DOUBT                                        man that I am!" (Romans  7:19, 24). Hence our Re-
  The opposite of assurance is doubt. These two             formed fathers express, "The Scripture moreover
experiences are the extremes in the polarity of             testifies that believers in this life have to struggle
Christian life. When we doubt, we question our              with various carnal doubts" (Canons of Dordt V
assurance of salvation. When we have assurance,             Article 11).


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 373



  By expressing it this way, we do not gloss over          brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate,
the sinfulness of doubting. Just because most              them He also called: and whom He called, them He
Christians struggle with doubts to some degree,            also justified; and whom He justified, them He also
does not mean that it is not wrong to doubt. We            glorified." The elect are glorified!' Similarly, we
differ strongly with those who view doubting as the        read in Ephesians 1:3-12, "Blessed be  God....ac-
quintessence of Christian piety, as if the more one        cording as He hath chosen us in Him (Christ). . . .hav-
doubts and tells others about it the more he is            ing predestinated us -unto the adoption of children
homist  about his spiritual condition. Do we not sing      . . . .that in the dispensation of the fulness of time He
with the Psalmist, "These doubts and fears that            might gather together in one all things in Christ."
trouble me are born of my infinity"? They are out          Our confessions express the same thing. In the
of unbelief, for when we doubt we do not trust             Canons I.  7 we read of the definition of election:
God's promises. Doubt is not a feeling; it is a rejec-     "Election is the unchangeable purpose of God,
tion of God's Word and therefore sinful and must           whereby, before the foundation of the world, He
be forsaken by the child of God. The assurance of          hath out of mere grace, according to the sovereign
our salvation is rooted in the promise of God which        good pleasure of His own will, chosen, from the
is given to us in the Bible and taken over by faith.       whole human race. . . ..a certain number of persons
"This assurance, however, is not produced by any           to redemption in Christ." A little later they add,
peculiar revelation contrary to,. or independent of        "The elect number....God hath decreed to give
the Word of God, but springs from faith in God's           to Christ to be saved by Him and effectually to call
promises, which He has most abundantly in His              and draw them to His communion....finally, to
Word for our comfort" (Canons V, 11).                      glorify them.. . . ' ' Election is God's will to actually
THE BASIS FOR OUR ASSURANCE                                save His people in Christ for all eternity.
  By placing election and assurance together, we             That will of God is sovereign in that He has the
are forced to find the proper basis for assurance.         perfect right to choose whom He will and to
Apart from election, we might be prone to try to           exercise all His power to accomplish it. God was
find a human basis for it. The arch-foe of the             not under obligation to save anyone. Romans 9:21,
Reformed faith, Arminianism, does this by ex-              22 expresses this: "Hath not the potter power over
tolling the free-will of man. The Arminian boasts          the clay; of the same lump to make one vessel unto
that man, by the exercise of his free-will, accepts        honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God,
Christ and takes to himself the hope of salvation.         willing to show His wrath, and to make His power
The trouble with this view is that the same man, by        known, endured with much longsuffering the
the persuasion of his free-will, can also decide not       vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that He
to trust in Christ and therefore lose his personal sal-    might make known the riches of His glory on the
vation. Upon such a basis, assurance is no assur-          vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared
ance at all. If we try to base our assurance upon          unto glory." God's will is His  business.`Even the
man, his nature or his works, we have no stronger          supposed opponent of Romans 9 must admit, "Who
basis than the weakness of man. "By reason of              hath resisted His will?" (Romans 9: 19).
these remains of indwelling sins and the tempta-             This says something of our assurance, for it is
tions of sin and of the world, those who are               based upon God's will to save His people in His
converted could not persevere in a state of grace, if      decree of election, and that decree is surely ac-
left to their own strength" (Canons V, 3). Hence,          complished.
we must find another basis, and that is God! The             The second truth we must consider is this, God's
only reason that we can be sure that we are not            will to save is motivated by His love, a love that
only saved, but will continue unto the perfection of       never fails. A few Scripture passages that illustrate
salvation, is that God will not allow us to fall away.     this truth are Romans  8:29, "For whom He did
His election stands for all of time and unto eternity.     foreknow (meaning, love ahead of time), them He
Let's consider four basic truths that set forth the        did predestinate." Also Ephesians  1:4, 5: "In love
relationship between election and personal                 (properly taken from verse 4 and added to verse 5)
assurance.                                                 having predestinated us unto the adoption of
  The first is this, the decree of election expresses      children by Jesus Christ Himself according to the
God's will to save His people for time and eternity.       good pleasure `of His will." This tells us that the
This will is always accomplished.                          moving power of God to choose the elect in Christ
  This is expressed beautifully in Romans 8:29, 30,        was nothing less than His love.
"For whom. He did foreknow, He also did pre-                 From that love of God, the Bible tells us, nothing
destinate to be conformed to the image' of His             will ever separate us. If God elected us in love, His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many             love is so faithful and powerful that it will  ac-


374                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



complish its intended purpose.                             personal benefits- of faith, one of which is our
  This sublime truth is sounded in Romans 8.               personal assurance of salvation (Canons I. 12).
Especially consider verses 33-39. In this section the        The fourth truth is this: the degree of my assur-
inspired apostle deals with the two possible reasons       ance of salvation is proportionate to the degree of
why the elect might be separated from God's love.          my faith. This is not to say that my assurance is
The first is legal. Could it be that someone could         dependent upon my growing in faith as if my act
bring a lawful charge against one of God's elect that      precedes God's work. "God who is rich in mercy
would disqualify him for heaven? He raises that            according to His unchangeable purpose of election
point in verses 33, 34. "Who shall lay anything to         does not wholly withdraw the Holy Spirit from His
the  charge  of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.    own people.. ..or permit them to be totally deserted
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died,         and to plunge themselves into everlasting destruc-
yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the        tion." Rather we mean that, "Of this preservation
right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession            of the elect to salvation, and of their perseverance
for us." The death and resurrection of Christ make         in the faith, true believers for themselves may and
up the legal basis for God's right to save His people.     do obtain assurance according to the measure of
The second possible reason for separation might be         their faith" Canons V. 9. Also, "The Scripture
that someone, some power greater than God could            moreover testifies, that believers in this life have to
still snatch God's elect out of His divine arms. They      struggle with various carnal doubts, and that under
might not have the  right  to do this, but does God        grievous temptation they are not always sensible of
have such power to prevent some illegal force from         this full assurance of faith and certainty of perse-
snatching us away? This is answered in verses  35          vering" (Canons V. 11). The child of God recog-
37, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?        nizes that assurance comes in the way of struggle to
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or         overcome doubt. By the grace and love of God this
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...Nay, in        struggle leads him to gaze upon the promises of
all these things we are more than conquerors               God and to rely upon Him alone. The doctrine of
through Him that loved us."                                eternal security does not make him spiritually care-
  Once again this says something about our assur-          less, it makes him humbly obedient.
ance. God's election is based upon His love, which         YOUR ASSURANCE
is so powerful that it accomplishes God's sovereign          In conclusion, we ask you, are you sure of your
intention. Hence, we say with our Reformed                 salvation? Do you know that you are one of God's
fathers, "My comfort is that I am not my own, but          elect and therefore saved no matter what the future
belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ" (Heidel-        holds?
berg Catechism, Lord's Day 1).
  The third truth that bears upon our assurance is           In answer to this, do not look to yourself or your
                                                           fellow man for that assurance. There is no sure
this: I not only know that God elected His people in       foundation in human society. It rests only upon
Christ and that He loves them in Christ and will           God's sovereign good-pleasure, which you and I
surely save them, but, more personally, I know that        can know for ourselves, as we examine our own
I am one of those elect. The syllogism of faith ex-        hearts before God's Word.
presses itself this way. All the elect are everlasting-
ly saved (Major premise); I am one of God's elect            What do you do with the gospel of Jesus Christ?
(Minor premise); I am surely saved everlastingly           Do you confess your sins, turn from your own un-
(Conclusion). The minor premise is crucial. Can we         worthiness and lean wholly upon the perfect work
say that? We recall the great passage from II Peter        of Christ on the cross? Is your righteousness built
1:lO: "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give                on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteous-
diligence to make your calling and election sure; for      ness? Do you delight to do the will of God?
if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." The             Then you will say with me, "I am saved! I am
obvious way to make sure our election is to make           one of God's elect. God will save me in Jesus Christ
sure our calling. The child of God does not sit            for all eternity. I know this, for of Him, through
around and question his election. He is not fatalis-       Him, and unto Him be glory forever, Amen"
tic: if I am an elect I am saved, if not I can't do        (Romans 11:36).
anything about it. No, he takes seriously the teach-
ing of Romans  8:16, "The Spirit beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God." The                Take time to read
gospel is addressed to us with a call to repent and
believe. We have the sacred obligation to receive           The Standard Bearer
Christ by faith and thus to lay hold of eternal life.
In this way, the Holy Spirit applies to our hearts the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                             375



                                   Election in Christ
                                                   Prof. H. Hanko


  The doctrine of sovereign predestination is a             the matter promoted in their study a view of repro-
truth which has been constantly attacked by the             bation which is little different from that of the
enemies of the truth. Augustine, the first in the           Arminians in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
New Testament Church to develop this doctrine,              and which was condemned by the Canons of
was called upon to defend it against the enemies of         Dordt.
sovereign grace. Gottschalk rotted in prison
because he confessed this truth. Luther wrote his              While the main attacks of these men are hurled
famous and powerful, "Bondage of the Will," in              against the truth of reprobation, it nevertheless
defense. of sovereign predestination as that truth          remains a fact that their teachings on election are
was attacked by the humanist Erasmus. Calvin had            also contrary to Scripture and the Reformed faith as
to defend this truth against various heretics, who          embodied in the Reformed Confessions. While it is
arose in different quarters and hated this truth with       not always very clear what Daane, Boer, and Punt
a passionate hatred. Dordt was called together by           want, nevertheless, in general, they all accuse us
God to write the Canons against the Arminians who           (and Daane is the most vociferous in his accusa-
made sovereign predestination the main point of             tions) of denying an election  in Christ.
their attack against the doctrines of grace.                  While it would carry us too far afield to investi-
  This has not changed with the passing of time.            gate this charge in detail, it is their contention that
Today too the truth of sovereign predestination is          the only position which truly maintains an election
not a popular doctrine. Few and far between are             in Christ is their view of election which is essential-
the places where it is consistently maintained in all       ly universalism. It seems that in common these
its sharpness, purity, and force. Attacks are con-          men hold to the idea that because there is no repro-
stantly being made against it and it remains the            bation (as a sovereign decree of God according to
urgent calling of the church to defend this precious        which He determines that a certain number of
truth. The great tragedy of our day is, however, that       people shall go to hell in the way of their sin) all
the bitterest attacks against this truth are coming         men are elect in Christ. This makes it possible for
from those within the Reformed camp. There are              the gospel to tell them that they are elect in Christ,
those who claim to hold to the Reformed tradition,          that God loves them and that salvation is available
who piously prate about allegiance to Dordt and             to them. Their final destiny, therefore, is deter-
who, nevertheless, do all in their power to destroy         mined by their reaction to the gospel: to accept it
the truth of sovereign predestination.                      will result in heaven; to reject it will bring them to
                                                            hell.
  I mention these things because a relatively recent
attack against the truth of predestination in particu-        This is an open and blatant Arminianism which
lar, and against our stand on this doctrine, has in-        is staggering - especially in the light of the fact that
volved the whole question which is the title of this        it is presented in Reformed'circles and defended in
article. I refer to the attack of James Daane in his        Reformed denominations without any attempt at
book, "The Freedom of God." While Daane was                 ecclesiastical censure and discipline applied to
undoubtedly influenced by G. Berkouwer, `he in              those who teach these things.
turn apparently was influential in the thinking of            What concerns us now, however, is the charge
Neal Punt, who has recently created quite a stir in         that we who maintain and teach sovereign and
the Christian Reformed Church with his book,                "double" predestination cannot possibly maintain
"Unconditional Good News," in which the truth of            an election in Christ.
sovereign predestination is denied.                           Of course, it must be understood that those who
  It is true that most of these latter objections           have leveled this charge against the Reformed
center in a mutual and abiding hatred of the                view, have had an axe to grind. It was, if my
doctrine of sovereign reprobation. This is evident          memory serves me correctly, Dr. Daane who first
from the gravamen presented to the Synod of the             brought this charge. But the charge was made in
Christian Reformed Church by Harry Boer in                  the context of a defense of the first point of
which Boer specifically asked that the doctrine of          common grace, and especially the free offer of the
reprobation be stricken from the Canons. And,               gospel. The question was: How can God freely
while Synod refused to accede to his request,               offer salvation to all men when He has only elected
nevertheless the committee report which studied             some unto eternal life? Frequently, the answer


376                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



which was given was little more than a shrug of the       few texts to show how this truth is emphasized
shoulders: This is a mystery which we cannot              again and again in the Word of God. The words, "in
fathom. But Daane went further. Such a salvation          Christ," e.g., are like a theme running through the
could be offered to all men through the gospel only       whole of Paul's epistle to the Ephesians. "Accord-
when such salvation was available somehow in the          ing as He hath chosen us in Him before the founda-
cross of Christ. In some sense, whether in extent or      tions of the world.... Wherein He hath made us
intent, whether in sufficiency or efficacy, or            accepted in the beloved. In Whom we have redemp-
whether in all four senses, the cross was for all. But    tion through His blood.. . . That in the dispensation
then, also, it followed with undeniable logic that in     of the fulness of times He n-right gather together in
some sense all men are in Christ. And if all men are      one all things in Christ.. . . In Whom also we have ob-
in Christ, they are in Christ in the eternal decree of    tained an inheritance.. . . That we should be to the
election. This is the whole point of Punt's book,         praise of His glory, who first trusted  in Christ. In
referred to above.                                        Whom  ye also trusted" (Ephesians 1:4-13). We are
  And it was in this context that Daane, looking at       in Christ and receive all the blessings of salvation
the historic view of sovereign election as main-          from Christ because we are chosen in Him from
tained in the Reformed Churches and as held to by         before the foundations of the world.
our own denomination, claimed that we could not             Romans  8:29, 30 teach the same thing. "For
hold to an election in Christ. The whole point was        whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to
made in the interests of maintaining the free offer.      be conformed to the image of His Son, that He
  Now it is not our purpose in this article to enter      might be the firstborn among many brethren." If
into a lengthy criticism of all this. It is only of       we are predestinated to be conformed to the image
interest to point out that a repudiation of the free      of God's Son this is only because we are chosen in
offer of the gospel opens the door to a solid             Christ and conformed to His image in unity with
maintenance of the truth that election is indeed  in      Him. It is not surprising that Colossians should
Christ.  There really is no problem here as long as       teach the same thing. "In Whom we have redemp-
one maintains the truth that the gospel is not an         tion through His blood, even the forgiveness of
offer, but "the power of God unto salvation to all        sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the
who believe."                                             firstborn of every creature.... And He is before all
                                                          things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the
  It is for this reason too that those theologians        Head of the body, the church" (Colossians 1: 14-18).
who have stood in the Reformed tradition from the
time of Calvin till today have had no difficulty            What does election in Christ mean?
maintaining this view. One need only read a few             It means first of all that God determined to reveal
pages of Heppe's "Reformed Dogmatics," e.g., on           the riches of His glory through Jesus Christ Whom
the subject of predestination, to discover that all       He appointed Head over all. Christ is the firstborn
Reformed theologians, without fail, have main-            of every creature. He is before all things, and by
tained this truth.                                        Him all things consist. Christ is first, in an absolute
  It is true that in the discussion Reformed              sense in the counsel of God.
theologians often divided over the question of infra-       It means, secondly, that Christ is chosen and
and supralapsarianism and, as a result, held to           determined by God as first in the counsel because it
slightly different views- of what election in Christ      is God's eternal purpose to save a Church unto
really meant. The infras, e.g., took the position that    Himself, an elect people, the body of Christ with
the decree of election preceded the decree of             Christ as the Head.
Christ; i.e., that God first determined to save a
people out of the fallen human race, and that this          And surely this means that in the eternal purpose
determination was then made to save them  in              and counsel of God there is no Christ without the
Christ.  The supras on the other hand, held to the        Church just as there is no Church without Christ.
view that God first determined to glorify Himself         One cannot say "Christ" without, at the same time
through Christ, and then determined to do this by         saying "elect Church." And one cannot say "elect
way of the election of a particular people in Christ.     Church" without at the same time saying "Christ."
But this difference in viewpoint was in no way a          Both are one in the eternal counsel of God,
difference over the question of whether election          eternally united, eternally one glorious body,
was indeed in Christ or not. On that question all         eternally the divinely ordained way in which God
agreed.                                                   Most High purposed to reveal the riches of His
                                                          glorious grace.
  And it is hard to imagine that a Reformed
theologian could take another viewpoint, for the            But the significance of this must not be over-
Scriptures are clear on this. We need only quote a        looked.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              377



  Because of our election in Christ, the assurance          on Christ and all His fulness of salvation that the
of our being in Christ is also the assurance of our         child of God comes to the sweet peace of election.
election. The two belong together. The Canons, in             And, in the confidence of election, he knows that
their own beautiful way, emphasize this: "The elect         he is elect only in Christ. He knows, therefore, that
in due time, though in various degrees and in differ-       all his salvation, which flows forth from the eternal
ent measures, attain the assurance of this their            decree, is in Christ Jesus his Savior. To Him he
eternal and unchangeable election, not by inquisi-          looks, expecting all things at His hand; on Him he
tively prying into the secret and deep things of God,       relies, waiting upon Him for all that God has
but by observing in themselves with a spiritual joy         promised;- in Him he finds rest for his weary soul,
and holy pleasure, the infallible fruits of election        knowing that nothing can separate him from the
pointed out in the Word of God  - such as  c1  true         love of God which is in Christ Jesus his Lord.
faith in Christ..." (Canons I, 12). It is in laying hold



                      Recent Reformed Criticisms
                             of the Canons of Dordt
                                               Rev. David Engelsma


  Of the Canons of Dordt, it is true, as of the             of the Canons is only an explanation of certain
prophet in Zechariah  13:6, that its wounds are             points of doctrine found in the Confession and the
"those with which I was wounded in the house of             Catechism; the treacherous assault upon the
my friends." In those houses of God where there is          Canons is,. at the same. time, an assault upon the
such effusive profession of love and esteem for the         Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession of
Canons that all rulers and teachers in the house are        Faith.
made to swear an oath in the Name of the Lord,
that they "heartily believe and are persuaded that            The attack upon the Canons is twofold. There is
all the articles and points of doctrine, contained in       the frontal attack of the theologians who deny the
the Confession and Catechism of the Reformed                Canons' doctrine of double predestination. They
Churches, together with the explanation of some             reject as unbiblical and distressing to the souls of
points of the aforesaid doctrine, made by the               saints the teaching of the Canons that God, in His
National Synod of Dordrecht,  1618-`19, do fully            eternal and unchangeable decree, has ordained
agree with the Word of God"; that they "promise             some persons unto eternal life out of sovereign
therefore diligently to teach and faithfully to             grace alone (election), and, in the same decree, has
defend the aforesaid doctrine, without either               passed by other persons in His sovereign  good-
directly or indirectly contradicting the same, by our       pleasure, thus appointing them to perdition (repro-
public preaching or writing"; and that they "de-            bation). They object to the teaching of the Canons
clare, moreover, that we not only reject all errors         that God's dealings with men in time, both His
that militate against this doctrine and particularly        merciful gift of faith to some and His just withhold-
those which were condemned by the above                     ing of faith from others, proceed from God's eternal
mentioned Synod, but that we are disposed to                decree, so that He has mercy on whom He wills to
refute and contradict these, and to exert ourselves         have mercy (election) and hardens whom He wills
in keeping the Church free from such errors"  -             to harden (reprobation). (Rom. 9: 18)
there, in the houses of friends, the Canons are               The focus of this attack is the Canons' doctrine of
wounded today by criticism.                                 reprobation. The theologians specify Articles 6 and
  The wounds inflicted on the Canons are mortal;            15 of the First Head of the Canons as objectionable.
the criticism denies the fundamental teaching of            They profess to accept the Canons' doctrine of elec-
the Canons. Since the Canons were drawn up by               tion. They claim to hold the teaching of the Canons
the Reformed Synod of Dordt, as a defense of the            that the source of faith and salvation is God's
Belgic Confession of Faith and the Heidelberg               election, which election, they acknowledge, is
Catechism against attack upon these creeds by false         gracious; but they repudiate a Divine rejection of
brethren unawares brought into the Reformed                 men in accordance with an eternal decree of
churches of the Netherlands, and since the doctrine         reprobation.


378                                           Ti-lE STANDARD BEARER



  In reality, this attack upon the Canons is the             tion in I, 15. This proof is given in the Rejection of
wounding, not only on the one hand of the doctrine           Errors, VIII, under the First Head  - which is part
of reprobation, but also on the other hand of the            of the First Head, and of the 15th article in parti-
doctrine of election. It involves the denial that            cular. The proof is clear and powerful: Romans
God's eternal election is the choice of. a definite          9:18; Matthew  13:ll; and Matthew  11:25, 26.
number of particular persons, which can neither be           Second, what the critics ignore, and what they
added to nor subtracted from, and that this definite         must not be permitted to ignore, is that the main
number is not the total number of persons who                assertion of Article 15 is "that not all, but some
have ever lived. Now it may be asserted that the             only are elected." For this, the Canons give
BibZicaZ doctrine of election has nothing to do with a       abundant, Biblical proof. If Scripture teaches that
definite number of individuals (which is false); but         God has elected a definite number of persons unto
it cannot be asserted that the doctrine of election in       salvation, but not all, the non-election of the others,
the Canons  has nothing to do with a definite                or passing by, is the Divine determination of them
number. Therefore, although the attack falls upon            that they perish, i.e., reprobation. Every Biblical
reprobation, it is, in reality, an attack upon double        text that teaches the election of a definite number
predestination  - election every bit as much as              of specific persons is the Biblical proof of reproba-
reprobation.                                                 tion, unless God has elected all men without excep-
  The Canons  define  election as the choice of "a           tion.
certain number of persons" (I, 7); in this same                 With rare exception, the theologians who are
article, the Canons speak of "this elect number." In         critical of the Canons' doctrine of double predestin-
Article 11 of the First Head, the Canons affirm con-         ation do not express their difficulties and different
cerning the elect that their number cannot be                sentiments to the church by way of exclusive dis-
diminished. In the Rejection of Errors, I, under the         c l o s u r e   t o   C o n s i s t o r y ,   Classis,   a n d   S y n o d
First Head, the Canons confess Scripture to declare          (gravamen), as "The Formula of Subscription" re-
"that God will not only save those who will                  quires; but they publicly (and presumably private-
believe, but that He has also from eternity chosen           ly) criticize the Canons and defend their own views
certain particular persons to whom above others              in their preaching and writing. When challenged,
He in time will grant both faith in Christ and per-          some justify their violation of the ordination-vow
severance." This understanding of election runs              by asserting that the aspect of the Canons which
through the entire Canons, as something funda-               they oppose is not part of the central theme of the
mental to all of the teachings. The Son of God died          Canons, but merely the framework.
for "all the elect" and for "them alone," according             These men display a rare temerity. They dare to
to the sovereign counsel and will of God the Father.         set aside the doctrine of the Reformed Church on
It was the will of God that the blood of the cross           their own authority; and they presume to judge for
redeem out of the human race "all those, and those           the church what is central theme and what is mere
only, who were from eternity chosen to salvation"            framework in the church's Confession.  --This says
(II, 8). The efficacious, saving call of the gospel of       nothing about the audacity of the claim that denial
some men in distinction from others "must be                 of double predestination does not touch a central
wholly ascribed to God, Who as He has chosen His             theme of the historic, creedal Reformed Faith.
own from eternity in Christ, so He confers upon                 By this effrontery, a yoke is being put upon the
them faith and repentence..." (III, IV, 10). That the        Reformed churches - the yoke of the scholars with
saints do not and cannot fall away from faith and            their superior knowledge. Thus, as Abraham
grace into perdition is due to God's unchangeable            Kuyper wrote, in a similar situation, "the congrega-
counsel (V, 8); "according to His unchangeable pur-          tion. . . .is delivered again into the power of men . . ..`I
pose of election, (God) does not wholly withdraw             This yoke, the Reformed churches cannot  .bear.  "If
the Holy Spirit from His own people.  .." (V, 6).            we must bear a yoke, then give us that of Rome ten
Denial of election as the choice of a definite               times rather than that of  the  schoZars;  for although
number overturns, not only the Canons' doctrine of           Rome puts men between us and the Scripture, they
election, but also its teaching concerning the atone-        speak at least with one mouth. They all repeat what
ment, conversion, and perseverance.                          the Pope, has settled for them, and his authority
  It is this fact, namely, that the Canons teach             rests not upon his scholarship, but upon his pre-
election as the choice of a definite number (always          tended  spiritual illumination.  Hence the Roman
keeping in mind that this number is not all fallen           Catholic priests do not contradict one another.
men), that refutes the argument of the theological           Neither is their teaching the fancy of a  defective
critics of the Canons, that the Canons offer no Bibli-       learning, but the result of a mental development
cal proof for reprobation in I, 15. First, it is not true    that Rome attained in its most excellent men, and
that the Canons offer no explicit proof for reproba-         that in connection with the spiritual labor of many


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 379



centuries" (A. Kuyper, The Work of the HoZy Spirit,         preaching, and especially no mission-preaching,
Eerdmans, pp. 191, 192).                                    without a universal love, redemption, and grace of
  One Reformed theologian  .excused his failure to          God, the doctrine of the Canons is false. Here, the
present his difficulties to the church by a gravamen        criticism of the theologians and the criticism of the
with the remark that there must first be a growing          people against the doctrine of Dordt come together.
and penetrating consensus in the church of the              The theologians urge their objection against double
error of the Canons. To this, M.J. Arntzen replied          predestination in the name of a concern for the
well: "But this is an erroneous viewpoint. Heresy,          preaching of the gospel, and particularly, a concern
apparently, . . .must first consolidate itself securely;    for the serious call of the gospel. The popular
then the Confession may be changed" (De Crisis in           objection against particular grace similarly insists
de Gereformeerde Kerken, Buijten & Schipperheijn,           that universal grace is necessary for missions and
p. 40).                                                     evangelism. "What can you say to people, if you
                                                            cannot tell them, `God loves you; Christ died for
  A second attack upon the Canons in the house of           you; and Jesus wants to save you'?" "How can you
its friends is indirect. There is, in this instance, no     preach to all, and how can you seriously call all to
criticism of the Canons; indeed, there is no mention        Christ, if you believe election and reprobation?"
of the Canons at all. It would not be surprising that
many of those involved in this attack have no                 The Reformed church that wants to be faithful to
knowledge of the Canons. But there is a wounding            Dordt today must deal with the preaching of the
of the Canons all the same. Very likely, this attack        gospel. She must explain the preaching of the
is more serious than that of the theologians, for this      gospel, particularly the gospel-call. She must do this
attack flourishes among the people; it is popular.          in the Dordtian manner. Then, she must exert
The agents are Reformed pastors and missionaries.           herself in preaching, both within the congregation
The enthusiastic supporters are Reformed  church-           and without in mission - in the manner prescribed
members.                                                    by Dordt!
  This is the devastating criticism of the Canons -           There are criticisms of the Canons by Reformed
their death-blow really - that consists of proclaim-        men. But there ought not be. Reformed churches
ing and witnessing that God loves every human               are bound to this creed. Reformed officebearers
being in Christ; desires the salvation of every             have sworn not to criticize it, but to defend it.
person; gave Christ to die for every man; and offers        Wherever criticism appears, it must be silenced by
salvation to every man in the gospel. This is pre-          discipline.
supposed as the very foundation of missions and               The fact of Reformed criticism of the Canons,
evangelism; this forms the approach, or method, of          which is widespread and entrenched, should
missions; this is proclaimed and witnessed as the           remind us and other churches which still hold the
heart of the gospel-message.                                doctrine of the Canons as the gospel of God of our
  This belief of and public testimony to universal          calling.
grace is rampant in Reformed churches, whose                  Our officebearers are bound by the oath of the
official statement of faith is the Canons of Dordt          Formula of Subscription, which means, as the
and whose officebearers have been bound by an               Heidelberg Catechism states, that God will "punish
oath to the doctrine set forth in the Canons. Univer-       me if I swear falsely" (Q. 102).
sal grace is the conviction, not of an isolated theolo-       Our preachers must instruct the congregation in
gian, but of the people. It is found, not in a theologi-    the doctrine of the Canons, not only by courses in
cal journal, but in the pulpit; in the evangelism           the Canons themselves, but also, and mainly, by
classes; and on the lips of the church-members. It is       preaching the gospel of Holy Scripture in its full
expressed every time one reacts to a confession of          scope: the sovereignty of God; the total depravity of
predestination, or limited atonement, with the (sin-        fallen man; the definite atonement of Christ; the
cere, triumphant) question, "But what about John            particular, efficacious call of the gospel; the preser;
3:16, `For' God so loved  the world...`?"  Its              vation of the saints. As they do, they must expose
prevalence in Reformed churches is evident when             and warn against the errors repugnant to this gospel
Reformed pastors learn about church-growth and              of free, sovereign grace in Christ Jesus: the sover-
evangelism from the advocates of universal grace            eignty of man in salvation by his choice of free will;
and when Reformed churches co-operate with                  the goodness and ability of the natural man; a
evangelists and evangelistic organizations that are         general atonement that accomplishes precisely
committed to "free will."                                   nothing; an offer of the gospel that is as powerful as
  If it is true that God loves all men and desires to       the sinner allows it to be; the lifelong fear of
save them all, the Canons are false.                        believers that they may yet perish.
  If it is true that there can be no lively  gospel-          Our people must know the Canons and their


380                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



doctrine. They must know them with love  - the            high. Cornelius Van Til was right, when he wrote:
love of the people of God for the truth that glorifies          Here then, in the last analysis, lies the significance
their heavenly Father and that has set them free.             of Dort for today. The followers of Dort, together with
The current criticism of the Canons can prevail               their brethren, the followers of Westminster, alone
because of the apathy of the people; and apathy is            have the wherewithal with which to proclaim the
the lack of love for the truth of the Canons. As the          gospel of the sovereign grace of God at all. Today the
Canons are wounded in the house of their                      battle of Armageddon is on. It is up to those who prize
"friends," none rise up in the Canons' defense.               their heritage as children of the Reformation and,
                                                              more specifically, of the Reformed Reformation to
  We are a privileged people: we may bear witness             lead all the true followers of the self-identifying Christ
to the truth of the Canons - the historic Reformed            of Scripture against unbelief without and against
Faith. Who knows whether we are come to the                   unbelief within the church ("The Significance of Dort
kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther  4:14) The           for Today," in  Crisis in the Reformed Churches,  Peter Y.
times are evil; the issues are grave; the calling is          De Jong, editor, Reformed Fellowship, Inc., p. 195).



             The "eodem modo" Rejected in the
                         Conclusion of the Canons
                                              Prof. H.C. Hoeksema


  This is a subject which has been much discussed         to picture them as teaching terrible, God-dishonor-
in recent Reformed theology in connection with the        ing, and immoral doctrines. In the Conclusion of
doctrine of predestination and especially in connec-      the Canons this entire series of slanders is put in
tion with the doctrine of reprobation. Appeal has         quotation marks. In other words, these are things
been made by some theologians to the fact that this       which the Arminians  said  that the Reformed
expression,  eodem modo,  is rejected in the Conclu-      churches taught, but which they did not really
sion of the Canons of Dordrecht in order to modify        teach. In the second place, this is clearly indicated
- in fact, to change radically  - the doctrine of         in the Conclusion when this quotation is
reprobation as taught and confessed in the first          introduced by the words: "Whence it clearly ap-
chapter of the Canons. It is worthwhile, therefore,       pears, that some whom such conduct by no means
to make a study of this subject and to see whether        became, have violated all truth, equity, and charity,
the claims of these theologians are true.                 in wishing to persuade the public:"  - and then
What Is Meant By This Expression?                         follows the paragraph which quotes the Arminian
                                                          slanders. In the third place, at the end of the series
  The expression is, of course, Latin. It means "in       of Arminian slanders the Conclusion states:
the same manner." It is taken from the Latin              "...which the Reformed Churches not only do not
version of the Canons, Latin being the language in        acknowledge, but even detest with their whole
which the Canons were first composed at the               soul." It is in this sense, therefore, that this "eodem
Synod of Dordrecht. For those of our readers who          modo" is rejected in the Conclusion; it is rejected as
know Latin, here is the entire statement in which         a false charge, a slander. This certainly implies that
this expression is found:  "eodem modo, quo  elecfio      our fathers denied that they taught what is stated in
est fons et caussa fidei ac bonorum operum, reproba-      this slanderous charge of the Arminians. It is im-
tionem esse caussam infidelitatis  et impietatis." The    portant to take note of what I have just stated. By
English translation is as follows: "that in the same      rejecting this "eodem modo"  the Synod did not
manner in which the election is the fountain and          reject the  doctrine  against which this slander was
cause of faith and good works, reprobation is the         brought. But they denied the truth and validity of
cause of unbelief and impiety."                           the sZander. This important distinction must be kept
  It is important, however, to understand the             in mind; we shall return to it later.
setting in which this statement is found. In the first
place, the statement is found in a paragraph which          Finally, we should keep in mind that the doctrine
contains a long series of slanders, or calumnies, by      against which this slander was brought by the
the Arminian enemies of the truth. These slanders         Arminians is the doctrine of reprobation as it is
and false charges of the Arminians were used by           taught especially in Articles 6 and 15 of the First
them in their attempt to discredit the Reformed and       Head of Doctrine and Paragraph 8 of the Rejection


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         381



of Errors of the First Head. It would take us too far               and finally also life eternal (CD, I, 9). This line of
afield at this point to offer an exposition of these                thinking is not followed when sin and unbelief are
articles. I refer the reader to the articles themselves             discussed. Rather, man is then indicated as the cause
and to my exposition of them in The Voice Of Our                    and reason of unbelief (CD, I, 5; cf. also II, 6). [But
Fathers.                                                            Canons I, 5 speaks of the "cause of guilt" of unbelief
                                                                    and sin. HCH]
The Misuse Made  Of  This Expression.                                 But there is one passage that seems to contradict
  When we refer to the "misuse" of this expression                  this, namely, where the Canons say: "That some re-
in the Conclusion, we mean to point to the fact that                ceive the gift of faith, and others do not receive it,
the rejection of the "eodem modo" in the Conclusion                 proceeds from God's eternal decree" (CD, I, 6). The
has been played over against the doctrine of repro-                 question arises how we must reconcile this  "non-
bation as taught in the First Head in order to water                granting" with the statement of I, 5, where it is said
down that doctrine of sovereign reprobation and,                    that God is not the cause of sin and guilt. One's first
eventually, to deny it completely. There has been                   impression is that this is a simplistic way of explaining
some variation in the degree to which this has been                 causality. But when we read I, 6, we see that it directs
                                                                    our attention to the acts of God in the life of man. He
done, as we shall see. But about the fact that this                 softens man's heart and bends it to faith, but other
attempt has been made there can be no question. In                  hearts He leaves in their sin and stubbornness. Unless
other words, some theologians claim that this ex-                   we want to interpret the Canons in a supralapsarian
pression in the Conclusion really contradicts what                  manner  - which is impossible  - we shall have to
is taught in the First Head; and they want to main-                 interpret this as a connection which is laid between
tain what is taught in the Conclusion at the expense                sinfulness and stubbornness on the one hand, and the
of what is really taught in Articles 6 and  15  of the              judicial acts of God on the other hand, not in the sense
First Head.                                                         that either belief or unbelief become an independent
                                                                    and autonomous power over against the counsel of
  The leading theologian in this respect has been                   God, but in the sense that the non-granting is evident-
Dr. G.C. Berkouwer. As early as 1955, when the                      ly meant as the judicial act of God toward man in sin.
Dutch original of his Divine EZection was published,                And when all the acts of God are regarded in the light
he began to modify the Reformed doctrine of repro-                  of His counsel and decree, then this does not imply a
bation with an appeal to this  `eodem modo." He                     deterministic explanation but a reference to the sover-
does this in a lengthy chapter on "Election and                     eignty of God, who in a lost world does not elect on
Rejection." There are many facets to his treatment                  the basis of merit because all men are in the same
of this subject - among them, in our opinion, a re-                 state of damnation (CD, I, 6).
peated attempt to present Calvin and Bavinck more                  Now a careful comparison of this paragraph with
mildly than they really are - and it is impossible in            Canons I, 6 will show that this is by no means the
this space to repeat all that Dr. Berkouwer wrote.               meaning of Article 6. The reader may check this for
But he refers to the "eodem modo" as follows (p. 175             h i m s e l f .
of the American edition):                                          But my point in making this quotation is to point
     This becomes evident from the fact that the                 out the direction in which Dr. Berkouwer wants to
   Reformed doctrine of election repeatedly discusses            go. Already here he wants to reduce reprobation as
   this parallel and always rejects it. A serious warning is     taught in Article 6 to an activity of God in time:
   constantly given here, but critics always neglect this        "the acts of God in the life of man." Further, he
   warning and thereby attack a mere caricature. This            wants to make of reprobation simply a  judicial
   warning is met not only in dogmatical discussion but          activity, that is, not a matter of God's decree but a
   also in the Confessions of the Church; it is even ex-         matter of God's  judgments.
   plicitly mentioned in the Canons of Dort, that is to
   say, in the "defense and warning" supplied to the               In close connection with this stands the fact that
   Canons; for there, where the doctrine of election is          in this chapter Dr. Berkouwer clearly is already
   defended against misunderstanding and caricatures, it         moving in the direction that reprobation means
   is denied "that in the same manner in which the               only that God rejects those who reject Him. This is
   election is the fountain and the cause of faith and good      plain from the following emphasis on p. 183:
   works, reprobation is the cause of unbelief and                    Most prominent in this connection is the fact that
   impiety (Conclusion of the Canons). Then it is                   Scripture repeatedly speaks of God's rejection as a
   emphatically stated that the Reformed churches "not              divine answer in history, as a reaction to man's sin
   only do not acknowledge, but even detest with their              and disobedience, not as its cause.... The rejection
   whole soul" such teaching.                                       here is obvious; it is not an arbitrary, obscure act of
  And the direction in which Berkouwer wants to                     Jehovah; it is clearly His holy reaction against sin.
go becomes plain on pp. 180, 181:                                   Whenever rejection is mentioned in the relationship
                                                                    between God and His people, not a static but a
     Election is the fountain of all saving good, and out           dynamic relationship is evident. The rejection and the
   of it flow the fruits of faith, holiness, and other gifts,       curse are mentioned in connection with the warning


382                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



       "if thou wilt not..." [cf. Deut.  28:15ff.).  There is a            theologians of Dordrecht, there would never have
       clear connection between sin and,curse, sin and rejec-              been any room for (nor any need on the part of the
       tion. The "therefore!" of divine rejection is an answer             Arminians) the slander that the Reformed taught
       to the causality which is at work here, the actual and              "that in the same manner in which the election is
       only  causa   of sin, which can be denied but is never-             the fountain and cause of faith and good works,
       theless real...."                                                   reprobation is the cause of unbelief and impiety."
   All of this becomes more explicit in the later                          This is a slander which will only be brought against
Berkouwer and in his disciples. And we shall make                          the doctrine of sovereign reprobation from eternity,
this plain in what follows.                                                never against a doctrine of judicial rejection in
   But even now we may point out that if the posi-                         time.
tion spelled out in these questions were correct,                                                                           [to be continued)
that is, if this were actually the teaching of the



          Election Means Preference? A Response
                                                                  Rev. K. Koole


  The assault against the doctrine of election is                                  many places in the Old Testament where "to love
never ceasing, which is not surprising because                                     more than" and to "choose out" are parallels (Deut.
more clearly than any other doctrine it demon-                                     ,4:37;   7:8;  10:15). To elect means to have preference
strates God's indisputable sovereignty. Against                                    for. It is in this sense that Israel is the elect people.
this, man has ever rebelled. Man's chief lust has                                  They are the people of God's preference (Amos  3:2;
always been to be his own "god."                                                   Ps. 14219,  20).
  The chief difficulty in denying this doctrine is                                   This main issue of the Bible's message of God's
                                                                                   election is not what we sometimes call predestination.
that every Bible student has to admit that the Bible                               It is rather God's preference, as He brings it to light.
teaches that God elects (Romans 9; Ephesians  1:4).
So, desperate attempts are made by many to deny                               From the history of Jacob and Rachel and Leah
the doctrine of election as historically maintained                        (cf. Genesis 29:30, 31) Dr. Kuitert also deduces that
in the Reformed Creeds (namely, eternal, sovereign                         in the Bible "To hate seems to mean not to prefer
predestination), while at the same time they profess                       someone. Jacob prefers Rachel; .he does not prefer
to maintain all Biblically revealed doctrines. Many                        Leah." Dr. Kuitert intends that we apply the same
of these are found among those who claim "No                               interpretation when the word "hate" is used in
creed but Christ." But far worse it is that not a few                      connection with God's disposition towards those
who are guilty of such deceit insist that they are yet                     whom He has determined to cast off.
"Reformed." They resort to the age-old ploy of                                Now such a notion ought to endear Dr. Kuitert to
appearing to be orthodox by using the terminology                          twentieth-century Protestants who want to dis-
of the truth, and then filling the old terms with new                      sociate themselves from those doctrines which
definitions. Through such the Liar comes, trans-                           offend the ungodly, as eternal predestination does.
formed as an angel of light.                                               This is quite a harmony also with the common
  One of the recent desperate attempts to sound                            declaration of the day that God loves everybody -
Protestant without being what we may call  "Cal-                           though perhaps He loves some more than others.
vinistic" has been made by a certain Dr. Harry M.                          But obviously it departs radically from the
Kuitert. In his book,  SignaZs from the Bible,  he has                     Reformed notion of predestination as God's  fore-
introduced this verbal equivalent: Election means                          ordination of some to eternal life and of others to
preference. With this man's theological mathema-                           e v e r l a s t i n g   p e r d i t i o n .
tics we take sharp issue. To give you a taste of                              A question comes to my mind. While today most
Harry Kuitert's duplicity we will insert a few brief                       would enthusiastically applaud Kuitert's proposi-
quotations. (p. 73ff.).                                                    tion that "to hate" means "to love less," I can not
         First something about the word "preference." This                 help but wonder what the Canaanites of Joshua's
       is without doubt the basic sense of the word "elec-                 day would have thought of such an explanation of
       tion," at least in the Old Testament.... The notion of              their being driven ruthlessly from their land and
       preference provides the content of the word "elec-                  given over to the slaughter. Surely it would be
       tion." A Hebrew dictionary tells us this, but so do the             small comfort to them to have Dr. Kuitert explain to


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               383



them that this was not that God actually hated            at his proposal, he must.
them with fierce indignation but merely that God            In,the second place Kuitert's position makes by
did not "prefer" them as much as the Israelites. All      implication an assault upon the character of God's
of Dr. Kuitert's linguistic sleights of hand do not       righteousness, almost making a mockery of His
change the fact that it was according to Jehovah's        justice. Maintaining that to "hate" means to "love
command that the Canaanites were made the                 less"' divorces God's judgments from His holy
objects of Israel's cold steel, and that, mind you,       indignation. You have struck at the consistency of
historically since the day Noah cursed Canaan the         God's character if you maintain Kuitert's  .view.
son of Ham.. The truth of Scripture is that the           God loves some less, He does not prefer them as
election of Israel revealed itself not only by the        much as the elect, and therefore He has determined
blessedness that flowed unto Israel but by the judg-      to cut them off and feed them to the furnace of
ment that fell upon the Egyptians and Canaanites.         everlasting torment! Does God really deal with His
"And because He loved thy fathers, therefore He.          creatures in such a detached, one might almost say,
chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in      careless manner? Where is the simplicity (perfect
His sight with His mighty power out of Egypt; to          harmony) between God's character and His judg-
drive out nations from before thee greater and            ments? Kuitert has done violence to this truth of
mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee    G o d .
their land for an inheritance, as it is this day"
(Deut.  4:37, 39). Notice, because God loved,' He           This brings us to our final criticism, which is also
chose; and because He chose in love, He disinherit-       the most serious. Kuitert's proposition that "elec-
ed the nations.                                           tion means preference" is a scurrilous slander
  The same perspective must be kept when con-             against God's eternal love for His people. Kuitert
sidering the Biblical statement, "Jacob have I            abuses thetruth  of God's love. What is that truth? It
loved, but Esau' have I hated" (Rom. 9:ll). It must       is that the love wherewith God loves His people is a
be remembered that Jacob's "election" meant               jealous  love. And here you have the heart of the
Esau's disinheritance. All Dr. Kuitert's euphemistic      truth and of the Reformed faith. If one does not
terminology can not change the facts of Biblical          declare to God's people that He loves them with a
history. What saith the Scriptures? "Yet I loved          jealous love He is not Reformed, he has not the
Jacob. And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains           gospel. This is Scripture. "Cry thou, saying, Thus
and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilder-     saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem
ness. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished,            and for Zion with a great jealousy.. . . Therefore thus
but we will return and build the desolate places;         saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with
thus saiththe Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I      mercies: My house shall be built in it..." (Zechariah
will throw down; and they shall call them, The            1:14, 16). To declare anything less, after the
border of wickedness, and, The people against             manner of,Kuitert, is to speak not as an ambassador
whom the LORD hath indignation forever"                   of God, but as a false prophet.
(Malachi 1:2-4). Here is a very clear definition of         The clearest description of godly love is set forth
what it means to be the object of God's eternal           in'the Song of Solomon.  "...for love is strong as
hatred. For elect Jacob's sake He disinherited            death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals there-
Esau's generations with indignation.                      of are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement
  Upon examining Dr. Kuitert's proposal to rede-          flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither
fine "electing in love" as "preference," I have a         can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the
threefold response.                                       substance of his house for love; it would utterly be
  In the first place it is clear that Dr. Kuitert ir-     contemned" (8:6, 7). This celebrates God's electing
responsibly ignores the history which is the  actu:al     love in Christ for His bride. It is fierce and posses-
~revelation  and realization of God's declaration of      sive, selective and exclusive. Surely anything less is-
His divine love and hatred. I say "irresponsible"         an inadequate description. God is not  Zooking  for
because Dr.. Kuitert is not unschooled in Bible           someone to love, God has  fixed  His love on some,
history. He is after all a Doctor of Divinity. We can     namely the elect members. of the body of Christ
presume, I should think, that knowledge of Bible          Jesus. To her He says, "You are mine; you are the
history is a prerequisite to receiving one's "parch-      apple of My eye;, for you yearn the bowels  .of .My
ment." To one with even a cursory knowledge of            mercy; you are My Beloved."
the Old Testament it ought to be apparent that Dr.          To men who make suggestions of the sort Kuitert
Kuitert's notion in no way does justice to the fury       has, the church ought to react as a Bride would
with which God dealt with the heathen for elect           react to some guest who only hours before the
Israel's sake. He has simply swept away Old Testa-        wedding ceremony tells the bride that in his
ment Bible History as if it does not exsit. To arrive     opinion the groom's love for her is only a matter of


   THE STANDARD BEARER
          P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49'506



                                          /



                                                                                            ._._L_.
                                                                                                       .
                                                                                     .1_





3 8 4                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


preference, and that he loves the girl across the                                  take too kindly to the suggestion? A man who
street only somewhat less. Kuitert's head ought to                                 would cast the electing love of God and the  ever-
be ringing. And is it likely that the Groom, Who                                   lasting love of our Lord into such spurious light as
laid down His life for the bride, and Who suffered                                 does Dr. H. Kuitert ought to receive no hearing in
many reproaches for the right to her hand, and                                     Christ's church. He knows not that whereof he
Who is utterly ravished with love for her would                                    speaks.

                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On May 9, 1982, our beloved parents, MR. AND MRS.  HILBERT                          On May 16, 1982, our parents, MR. AND MRS. OWEN PETER-
KUIPER, SR., celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. We thank                   SON, will celebrate, the Lord willing, their 30th wedding anniversary.
our Heavenly Father for the many years of constant love, understand-                   We, their children and grandchildren, are thankful to our Heavenly
ing and covenant instruction they have shown us. It is our continuous              Father for giving us God-fearing parents who have instructed us in His
prayer that our daily lives with our own families will be a reflection of          ways. It is our prayer that God will continue to sustain and bless them
the tender love our parents have shown to us and to each other. We                 in their life together.
also pray that God will continue to bless them in the coming years.
                                                                                       "Thy mercy, 0 Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness
   "If thy children will keep My covenant and My testimony that I                  reacheth unto the clouds." (Psalm 36:5)
shall teach them, their children shall sit upon thy throne forever-
more." (Psalm 132:12)                                                                                                            Rich and Betty Peterson
                                                                                                                                 Jim Peterson
                                    Lenard and Linda Brink                                                                       David Peterson
                                        Lon, Stacey  and Jill                                                                    Mike and Carol Bredesen
                                    Al and Donna Boven                                                                           Mike and Lois Richards
                                        Dean and Terri                                                                           Andrew Peterson
                                    Henry Jay Kuiper                                                                                   and six grandchildren.
                                    Daryl and Sharon Kuiper
                                        Kristin and Katie
                                    Hilbert, Jr. and Beverly Kuiper
                                        Rosanna and Hilbert, Ill                                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                                       The Adult Bible Class of the Hudsonville Protestant` Reformed
                                                                                   Church wish to express their sincere sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Ken
                             NOTICE!!!                                             Lanning and family in the death of her mother, MRS. WILLIAM
                                                                                   (GERTRUDE) WIERENGA.
  According to the decision of the Synod of 1981, the Council of
the Southwest Protestant Reformed Church, Grandville, Michigan,                        "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
was appointed the calling church for the 1982 Synod. The Council of                (Psalm 116: 15)
Southwest Church hereby notifies our churches that the 1982 Synod                                                                      Bernard Bruining, Pres.
of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America will convene, the                                                                       Faye Dykstra, Sec'y.
Lord willing, on Wednesday, June  2,. 1982 at 9:00 A.M., in the
Southwest Protestant Reformed Church. The pre-Synodical service
will be held Tuesday evening, June 1, at 8:00 P.M. Rev. G. Van
Baren,  President of the 1981 Synod, will preach the sermon. Synodi-                                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
cal delegates are requested to meet with the Council before the
service. Delegates in need of lodging should contact Mr. Clarence                      On May 27, 1982, our dear parents and grandparents, CHARLES
Kuiper, 2450 Boulevard, Wyoming, Ml 49509 (Phone 616-534-                          AND LOIS KREGEL will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary, the
0098).                                                                             Lord willing. We are grateful to them for our covenant upbringing and
                                                                                   we are thankful to our God for preserving them for each other and for
                                                 Clarence Kuiper, Clerk            us for thirty-five years.
                                                                                       Psalm 103:17, 18 - "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlast-
                                                                                   ing to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness
  The Standard Bearer                                                              unto children's children.
                                                                                       To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His
                                                                                   commandments to do them."
         makes an excellent                                                                                            Ken and Mary Velthouse
                                                                                                                          Michael, Kristin, Matthew, Marc
                                                                                                                 -,    Joel and Ellen Bruinooge
           gift for the sick                                                                                              Heather, Derek, Kyle
                                                                                                                       Charles Kregel, Jr.
                                                                                                                       David and Mary Kregel
                   or shut-in.                                                                                            Lisa, Brent
                                                                                                                       Laura Kregel
                                                                                       Their children will host an Open House on Saturday, May 22,
                                                                                   1982, from 2 to 4 P.M. at their parent's home.


