          BEARER '
c              A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE

       If we can not endure the Devil's sneer, or
     being despised by those under his spell, how
     shall we endure when his sneer and snarl
     turns to actual attack, wounding us to death?
     Is there any reason to suppose that the sol-
     dier who gives ground when the enemy
     merely ta-unts him and maybe threatens him,
     that such a soldier will stand his ground
     when the fierce battle is actually joined and
     one's life and that of his family is endan-
     gered?
     See "Persecution and the Church Today"
                                                                 - page 13

                                                   Volume LIX, No. 1, October 1, 1982 -


2                                               THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER
                             CONTENTS .                                                              ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                           Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
     Meditation-                                                                 SecondClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                Editor-in-Chief:  Prof.`Homer C. Hoeksema
       The Communion of Saints .................... .2          Department Editors:  Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, Rev. Ronald
                                                                 Cammenga,  Rev. Arie  denHartog,  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. Richard  Flik-
     Editor's Notes. ................................ .5         kema,  Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Mr. David Harbach, Rev.
                                                                John A. Heys, Rev. Kenneth  Koole, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers,
     Seminary Convocation Address ................. .5           Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                 Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
     Faith of Our Fathers-                                      Editorial Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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                                                                 Church News Editor:  Mr. David Harbach
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MEDITATION

                              The Communion of Saints
                                                      Rev. C. Hanko


             Ques. 55. What do you understand by "the communion saints"?
            Ans. First, that all and every one, who believes, being members of Christ, are in common, par-
             takers of Him, and of all His riches and gifts; secondly, that every one must know it to be his
             duty, readily and cheei$@ to employ his gifts, for the advantage and salvation of other mem-
             bers. Lord's Day 21,


     I believe a communion of saints.                              church, so I also believe a communion of saints.
     In spite of what people may say, and in spite of              For the Son of God Who gathers, defends, and pre-
all outward appearance, there is a communion of                    serves His church, creates within the church a
saints, not brought about by the efforts of man but                living fellowship among the members. This is a
by God Himself. Just as I believe a holy, universal                spiritual reality born out of the faith of the  believ-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 3



em. Therefore, even as I believe that I am and for-       blessings that the saints experience through the
ever shall remain a member of God's holy, catholic        ministry of the church. The Book of Revelation as-
church, I also believe that I am and forever shall        sures us repeatedly of the hope and glory of the
remain a living part of that communion.                   saints, which will never put them to shame.
  Members of Christ.                                        God has eternally chosen and ordained Christ to
  Our age is characterized by a striving for consoli-     be the Head of His church, and His church to be
dation. We have grown accustomed to such                  the organism of His Body, which eternally lives, re-
associations as the United Nations, Labor Unions,         sponds, and acts out of Christ. Each individual is
business corporations, lodges, sports organizations,      chosen and appointed for his own place in the
and many more. Many of these adopt letters of the         body, to carry out those good works which God has
alphabet or some catchy slogan to distinguish them        ordained that we should walk in them (Eph.  210).
from all others. Churches are breaking down de-           Often in the church institute there seem to be mis-
nominational walls, denying basic Scriptural princi-      fits, troublesome members who seem to disrupt the
ples to unite in an outward bond of unity under the       harmony of the Body; and yet they also must
pretence of abiding by the prayer of Jesus, "That         serve their purpose. Even as in our earthly bodies
they all may be one" (John  17:21). Efforts  are.even     there are two eyes, two ears, one mouth, ten
put forth to undo the Reformation of the 16th             fingers, and ten toes, all interrelated and dependent
century by entering into intimate fellowship with         upon each other, so also God has appointed for
the Romish Church. All these efforts toward unifi-        each of us our own unique place and purpose in the
cation and consolidation have absolutely nothing in       Body of Christ.
common with the communion of saints. They are               God in Christ has redeemed His church, and
human efforts which bring the church into the             each individual member, from the horrible
world, and the world into the church. By a growing        bondage of sin and death by His own precious
apostasy and worldlimindedness the "church"               blood (Acts  20:28). He has separated her from this
joins the ranks of the false church and cooperates        present evil world as sanctified in Christ, and has
toward the development of antichrist. For what            made her His peculiar possession to the praise of
concord does Christ have with Belial, or what part        His glory. We have the adoption to sons, the right to
does the believer have with the infidels, or the          our own' individual place in the Family of God as
temple of God with idols? The call of Scripture           heirs of eternal life.
rings forth clearly, "Come ye out from among them
and be ye separate," saith our God.                         Christ is our eternal Prophet, Who reveals to us
                                                          through the Scriptures and by His Spirit in our
  The communion of saints is the mystical union           hearts the riches of salvation and the wonders of
with Christ. The true members of the church are           God's grace. He is  our. eternal Highpriest, Who in-
the elect of God, who are redeemed by the blood of        tercedes for us in the sanctuary before the face of
Calvary and are united by a common bond of faith          God, and pours out upon us every spiritual blessing
in Christ. They make up the fulness of the Body of        according to our personal needs in the Body of
Christ, they are the sheep of His fold, sons of God       Christ. He is also our exalted King Who rules over
and heirs of salvation. These are the stones of God's     all creatures and over our lives in such a manner
temple, His spiritual House that is founded four-         that He directs everything toward our salvation. By
square on the foundation of the Scriptures, of            the power of Christ's Spirit within us we are now
which Christ Jesus is the chief cornerstone. Our          prophets of God, called to witness of His Name and
gracious covenant God creates and maintains a             declare His praises. We are a priesthood of kings,
spiritual bond of faith in His people whereby they        capable of fighting the battle of faith in devotion to
experience covenant fellowship with Him and with          God, already now more than conquerors in a world
one another to His glory and to their eternal salva-      of sin and death. We confess with the apostle Paul,
tion. We can say, this is my father, mother, sister,      "I live, yet no more I, but Christ lives in me," thus
or brother, who does the will of our Father in            carrying out His sufferings in our flesh to the praise
heaven!                                                   of the glory of God's grace now and eternally.
  Partakers of Christ's gifts.                              The saints possess a unity in a great diversity. We
  Already in the Old Testament believers are re-          are all partakers of the riches and gifts of Christ as
ferred to as sainfs, who are preserved by God, who        living individually out of Him. Whether boy or girl,
rejoice in His goodness and sing His praises (I Sam.      young man or young woman, adult or aged,
2:9; II Chron.  6:41; Psalm  30:4). Their death is        whether bond or free, weak or strong, rich or poor,
precious in His sight (Ps. 116: 15). In the New Testa-    white, red, or yellow, each must serve his own pur-
ment Paul addresses us as saints who are called by        pose in the assembly of the saints. It is certainly not
the power of the gospel, and speaks of the many           accidental that we were born and reared in a cove-


4                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



nant home instead of among the pagans of Africa.              Those other members.
God determines our parents, the time and place of             Our Catechism reminds us that we must use our
our birth, our sex, our physical characteristics, and       gifts for the advantage and salvation of the other
our peculiar gifts and talents. Just as among the mil-      members, not reluctantly, not frugally, but readily
lions in the world there are no two people alike, not       and cheerfully, for God loves the cheerful giver.
even in the same family, so also there are no two in-
dividuals alike in the organism of the Body of                Those others are very close to us, in our own
Christ. God entrusts to each of us our own talents,         home and family. A God-fearing husband has the
whether that be one, or five, or ten, to be used            responsibility to lead his wife with discretion, in-
during the life span that God has determined for us.        structing, comforting, protecting her, as the head
So readily we take the attitude that these are  .our        rules the body. The wife is to love her husband,
gifts, that we have developed, or that we have mer-         honor and fear him, and be obedient unto him in all
ited, and that we can use them to our own personal          things lawful, as the Church is to Christ. The godly
satisfaction. Even our possessions we claim as our          father is called to instruct and admonish the
personal possession to do with as we please,                children God has entrusted to him, bringing them
possibly giving a little bit to God, parsimoniously         up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. The
figuring out how much we can spare for God's                mother's first responsibility is to assist her husband
kingdom. God entrusts these gifts to us to be used          in this instruction. This is even more important
in His fear and to His glory. The one debt that ever        than properly feeding, clothing, and providing for
grows and never gets paid up is the debt of love to         the physical needs of the child. No child who meets
God, not for what He means to us, but primarily for         his parents in hell will thank them for all the luxu-
the fact that He is the ever, blessed, adorable God,        ries they heaped upon him, while they neglected
to Whom is the glory forever! What a terrible sin           the one thing necessary for time and eternity. The
we commit when we fail to use our talents, neglect          child, on the other hand, owes to his parents all
them, or use them in the service of sin!                    honor, love, and fidelity, submitting to their good
                                                            instruction and correction, as unto Christ Himself.
     Even more amazing is the fact that no one of us        A happy home is where Christ is Lord, where His
lives on an island. We are members of God's cove-           love abounds, for He bestows His blessing there.
nant Family, stewards in God's House, and there-
fore called to affiliate ourselves with that church           That does not exclude our obligation to our
which by the pure preaching of the Word,  the               fellow saints in the church. We must bear one
proper administration of the sacraments, and `the           another's burdens, also our weaknesses, seeking to
proper use of Christian discipline is recognized as         save the sinner rather than to destroy him. God
the true manifestation of the Body of Christ. It is         may lay a Lazarus at our door with his emaciated
only under the ministry of the Word, as pure, un-           body and ugly sores. There is someone waiting for a
adulterated Milk, that we can grow in the grace and         word for the weary, someone who needs Scripture
knowledge of Christ, properly train our children in         read to him and needs our prayers. Out there is a
the fear of God, and be equipped to carry out our           person who needs to know that you care, possibly
calling in the church and in the midst of the world.        needs a listening ear. "Inasmuch as ye have done it
Once more we are reminded that in the human                 unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have
body some members function as eyes, some as ears,           done it unto Me," saith our Lord. (Matt. 25:40).
some as hands, or in some other manner, but each              Freely ye have received, freely give; give
functions for the other. The eye could not see if it        something of yourself. The laborer receives the first
were to isolate itself from the body; the ear could         benefit of the harvest. The ultimate blessing is the
not hear apart from the other members. Each mem-            crown of life, the privilege of glorifying our God
ber of the Body of Christ functions out of Christ           eternally in the assembly of the saints before the
and by the Spirit of Christ in harmony with all the         throne.
other members. One posesses the peculiar gift of
wisdom, another of knowledge, another serves to
express love, or joy, or peace, longsuffering or
gentleness, goodness or faith, meekness or temper-                        Take time to
ance (I Cor. 12; Gal. 5:22,23).  But even the lowliest
members are needed for the welfare of all the rest.                    read and study the
         "A thousand other days can yield
          No gladness like one day with Thee;                      Standard Bearer
         Though only at Thy door I wait,
          No tents of sin give joy so great."
                                        (Psalm 84)


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 5



                                       Editor's Notes

NEW VOLUME-YEAR.  This issue begins a new                 three such issues again during the volume-year.
volume, No. 59. This also means a few changes. As         And because the special issue on Predestination
already mentioned in the previous issue, Mr. David        was especially well received, we have decided to
Harbach is taking over as news editor from Mr.            continue on that path and to present a special issue
Calvin Kalsbeek. In addition there are the following      on each of the so-called Five Points of Calvinism.
changes: 1) The Rev. H. Veldman will take over the        We hope our readers will enjoy these.
department Taking Heed To The Doctrine from the                                       * * * *
Rev. D. Engelsma. 2) The Rev. J. Slopsema will take
over  Faith  Of  Ouv  Fathers  from the Rev. R. Van       SEMINARY CONVOCATION. It has become cus-
Overloop. 3) The Rev. R. Cammenga will join the           tomary to open our fall seminary convocation to
Rev. R. Miersma in taking care of the rubric  The         the public, so that our people in the Grand Rapids
Strength Of Youth. We express our thanks to the re-       area may join us in beginning the new seminary
tiring Staff members for their contributions, and we      term. This year the convocation program was at our
welcome our new writers to the ranks.                     Faith Church in Jenison, and a goodly audience
                       *****                              joined the faculty, students, and Theological School,
                                                          Committee for the occasion. It was your editor's
SPECIAL ISSUES.  Because our special issues have          turn to speak this year, and a transcript of his ad-
been so well received, the Staff decided to have          dress appears in this issue.



                 Seminary Convocation Address
                                              Prof. H.C. Hoeksema



The Seminary And the Preacher                             someone else take that responsibility. I don't want
Brethren of the Theological School Committee,             it. Don't lay it on me."         ^
honored colleagues, students, and beloved people            That is wrong, of course. We may not and we
of God gathered with us at this occasion tonight:         need not, in the light of God's Word and of His sure
  Sometimes I am afraid of my task as professor.          and unfailing promises, shirk our calling and our
When I look at you young men  - as far as the             responsibility.
ministry is concerned, naive, innocent, inexperi-         Hence, in the confidence of that calling and in the
enced, unspoiled, with your faces unlined by the          confidence that it is the Lord's calling and that He
cares of the ministry, but with a potential ministry      will bless us and strengthen us unto that calling, I
ahead of you of probably thirty-five or forty years       want to address you a little while at the beginning
(which, by the way, will take you well into the           of this new term. I am going to address you tonight
twenty-first century, if the Lord tarries); and when      not with the direct exposition of a text  - though         I
I consider what that future may hold for you, what        what I say is substantially based on a word such as
it may hold as far as temptations and trouble and         that in II Timothy  2:2, "And the things that thou
pitfalls and errors and battles for the truth, right      hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same
from within our own churches are concerned  -             commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to
and I know a little bit about that by experience by       teach others also." (That was the text, by the way,
this time; and when I think of the fact that the signs    on which my late father preached when I was in-
of the times, and thus also the signs of the coming       stalled as a Professor of Theology.) Nor will my re-
of the Antichrist and of the great tribulation, are       marks contain anything spectacularly new. I want
multiplying in the church and in the world, I say         to address you with a reiteration and a re-emphasis
that sometimes I become afraid, afraid of being one       of certain old truths and facts, necessary for all con-
of the men who is responsible for preparing you           cerned in the work of our seminary: professors, stu-
young men for the ministry of the Word. And               dents, and churches and people of God in our
sometimes I am inclined to say, "No, Lord, let            churches.


6                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



     I call your attention to:                              stitution, a school that is specifically in the service
      The Seminary And the Preacher                         of and under the control and direction and disci-
        I.    With a view to the purpose of the seminary    pline of the communion of churches in which it
        II. With a view to the training of the seminary     serves. In the abstract, of course, it is quite possible
        III. With a view to the students of the seminary    to have a university and to have a university facul-
                                                            ty which, among other faculties, is devoted to the
The Seminary And Its Purpose                                science of theology and its development, and can
     A couple of years ago in the seminary issue of our     confer degrees in theology. But that is quite differ-
Standard Bearer I mentioned that the name "semi-            ent from the idea of a seminary. That fact, by the
nary" comes from the Latin word  seminarium,                way, does not exclude by any means a seminary's
which is in turn related to the word  semen,  seed.         being scholarly, learned, and interested in the. de-
That word  seminarium  means "a piece of ground             velopment of the truth.
where seed is sown for later transplantation of                Now permit me to enlarge a little bit on that idea
plants, a nursery, a seed plat." From that it has           of the seminary, and to spell out some .of its impli-
come to have the figurative meaning of an institu-          cations. There are some similarities between a
tion for the training of candidates for the ministry        seminary and a greenhouse. But there are also some
of the gospel. In that connection our Dutch fore-           dissimilarities.
fathers sometimes spoke of the seminary as a pZant-
soenhof                                                        In the first place, and negatively, neither a semi-
     When we apply that idea to our seminary, then          nary nor a greenhouse in the proper sense of the
we may say that a seminary is a greenhouse, a seed          word produces plants. It only raises them, nurtures
plat, a school, where plants  - in this case,               them, prepares them, trains them. Spelled out in
ministers of the gospel  - are prepared for later           terms of the greenhouse being our Protestant Re-
transplantation into our churches, where they may           formed seminary, and spelled out in terms of
function as such ministers of the gospel. And our           preachers, that means - and we must not foget this
Protestant Reformed seminary specifically is such a         - that only God calls and makes a preacher. From
place where ministers of the gospel are prepared to         that point of view you might say in a sense:
be transplanted into our churches, where they may           preachers are born, and they are re-born, but they
function specifically as Protestant Reformed minis-         are not made. God calls preachers  - a calling, by
ters, that is, as ministers of the gospel who preach        the way, which does not merely consist of the de-
the Word of God in all its truth, as that truth is          sire and the internal conviction of a man, but a call-
specifically and systematically set forth in our            ing which is not fully confirmed and consummated
Three Forms Of Unity, as those Three Forms Of               until a man is actually called by and through the
Unity have been historically maintained in our              church. Only God produces preachers. Only God
Protestant Reformed churches ever since 1924.               furnishes them with the gifts, both natural and
                                                            spiritual, which fit them for the work of the minis-
     I want to emphasize that latter idea.                  try. And in the deepest sense of the word, only God
     You are in school, young men, not simply to be         also cultivates those gifts by the work of His Spirit.
prepared as ministers of the gospel in the abstract,        If those gifts are lacking, no amount of training and
not simply to function as ministers of the gospel           no amount of instruction will make a man a preach-
who might perhaps be preachers anywhere, quite              er. And no amount of subjective desire and convic-
in general, or who might perhaps be preachers in            tion, in such a case, means either that the man has
the broadly evangelical sense of the word. You are          been called to the ministry. It is no different with a
in seminary to be prepared as `preachers, not even          seminary than with a greenhouse, you see. Just as if
to be ministers of the gospel in a generally Reformed       God does not furnish the seeds,the life-principles of
sense, nor to be free, perhaps, to develop and later        plants, and just as if God does not cause those seeds
to preach as you personally might see fit. That is          to sprout, no amount of tender loving care by a gar-
not why you are in school. And if you have any              dener or a horticulturist will produce plants for
such ideas, let me dispel them right now; or else let       transplantation, so it is also with the seminary.
me advise you to tell the School Committee tonight
that you are quitting.                                        Positively, the seminary is an institution where
                                                            ministers of the gospel are prepared, nurtured,
     I mean that!                                           trained. Just as a greenhouse with its proper soil, its
     You are in school specifically to be prepared as       air, its water, its light, its heat, its plant nutrition, is
Protestant Reformed ministers of the gospel. That is        designed to foster the growth of healthy plants, so
the purpose of our greenhouse, our seminary. That           the seminary is designed to foster the growth and
is also  - let me say in parentheses  - the basic           preparation of doctrinally and spiritually sound and
reason why a seminary must be an ecclesiastical in-         capable Protestant Reformed ministers of the


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  7



gospel. And by the same token, of course, it is de-        house without being exposed to all kinds of adverse
signed to weed out the culls or the unhealthy              influences and all kinds of rigors of the outside
plants, as the case may require.                           world, until they  are, strong enough and mature
  In the second place, I want to emphasize that the        enough to cope. That is true of a seminary, too.
seminary is a greenhouse emphatically for the              Seminary students as Christian young men, as Prot-
purpose of preparing preachers.  A seed plat is de-        estant Reformed young men, are, of course, grown
signed for the purpose of preparing and growing a          and mature and confessing members; and as such,
specific kind of plant  - let us say: cabbage plants.      they are already ready to cope. I am not talking
If something else comes up in that plat, it is weeded      about that. I am talking about  ministers.  Seminary
out. If an unhealthy or a stunted plant comes up in        students are not yet ministers. They are not yet able
that plat, it is pulled up because it will not produce     to cope with those peculiar demands and those pe-
in the future. Thus the seminary is designed to pre-       culiar struggles and those peculiar rigors with
pare preachers of the Word. To prepare pastors,            which a minister of the gospel, and particularly a
yes; to prepare catechetes, yes; to prepare men who        Protestant Reformed minister of the gospel, must
may give leadership in a-congregation and in a con-        cope. The seminary is designed to prepare for that.
sistory, yes. But above all else, preachers! That can      I know that, to an extent, already when you are a
stand a tremendous amount of emphasis nowadays             second or third year seminary student, you go out
for students and for preachers. They must be               and you catechize and you preach a little bit. And
preachers! They must be preachers because  - and           that is nice, and that is good for you, too. But do not
never forget this  - the preaching of the Word of          forget: that is secondary, and even that is prepara-
God is the primary means of grace. That means that         tory. The idea is that only when you have been
the primary task of a minister is to preach the            equipped and prepared and are ready as much as
Word! Ministers must be preachers because, when            possible to face the rigors of the pastorate do you
all is said and done wtih respect to the ministry, if a    leave the comparative shelter of the seminary and
man is not a preacher  - I mean, a successful              go out into the churches and face the life and the
preacher - above all else, even though he may be a         demands of the ministry. And I dare say that any re-
fairly good and likeable pastor, or a successful cate-     cent graduate will also admit that that is soon
chism teacher, or whatever else, he is a failure. He       enough, too.
is a failure! And the seminary must prepare preach-          In the fourth place, both a greenhouse and a
ers also because a minister even as pastor or  cate-       seminary are designed to induce forced and rapid
chete or in any other capacity in which he has to          growth. A greenhouse is not designed to be a per-
labor, even then must always be a preacher. Essen-         manent place for plants. Neither is the seminary, -
tially always he must bring the Word of God ac-            except for professors. The greenhouse has one goal:
cording to the Holy Scriptures!                            to get plants ready to be set out in the field or in the
  And I want to emphasize again: a minister among          garden, and there to serve their purpose. And with
                                                           respect to that goal everything else is set aside. The
us must be a Protestant Reformed preacher. In the          same is true of a seminary. Sometimes that
seminary he must be prepared to be that. He must           seminary training may seem to be a long process to
not be, and he must not be prepared to be, a
generally evangelical preacher of the gospel, or           you young men. It is going to be four years for three
                                                           of you. And if you count pre-seminary training, the
even a Reformed preacher in the broad sense of             entire process now entails eight years. That is not
that term. We do not need such men in our                  really so long. But my point is that the purpose of
churches. And as the times become more difficult           those years is all concentrated in preparing you as
in the future, this will be more emphatically true.
We need preachers                                          rapidly as possible for the time when you are ready
                         of the gospel who are
committed to and who proclaim clearly, unmistak-           to be transplanted into the churches' pulpits and
                                                           the churches' pastorates.
ably, sharply, antithetically, and with rejection of
all heresies repugnant thereto, the faith of the gos-      The Seminary And Its Training
pel as maintained and professed in and by our                That brings me to my second main point: the
Protestant Reformed Churches. Remember that! It            training of the seminary.
is well to remember that in school. It is necessary          And then I want to emphasize, first of all, what
for the faculty to remember that, as well as for the       really distinguishes a seminary from any other
students. And it is well for ministers to remember         school. The nature of the seminary preparation is
that constantly, once they have graduated from             such that it is official teaching and training by the
school.                                                    church as institute. That is, it is principally, essen-
  A third item of comparison has to do with the            tially, preaching of the Word. That is really implied
fact that both a greenhouse and a seminary are shel-       in a word such as that of II Timothy  2:2, which
tered places. Plants may safely grow in a green-           speaks of the transmission of the truth by men to


               8                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



               other men, who will be able to teach others also.           bound.
               That is implied, too, in the very fact that Scripture            That is reflected in the entire course of study in
               itself recognizes no fourth office, only the three:         our school. I cannot take much time to talk about
               pastor, elder, and deacon. That is also the stand of        that in detail tonight. You can distinguish, of
               our Reformed churches. While they recognize four            course, between peripheral subjects and core sub-
               functions, or tasks, in our Church Order, neverthe-         jects, between formal courses and material courses,
               less they recognize only three offices: and the place       methods courses and substantive studies; between
               of professors of theology is only an extension of the       very practical courses, such as Practice Preaching
               office of minister of the Word. Professors of theo-         (That is the most practical course in the seminary,
               logy are preachers of the Word. This does not mean          you know.) and theoretical subjects, such as your
               that day after day and class after class they do            Homiletics course. You can distinguish, too,
               nothing but preach sermons. That is not the idea.           between those which are more directly related to
               But it does mean that they study and teach author-          the preaching of the gospel and those which are
               itatively, with the authority of Christ. It does mean       more distantly related. But the course of study, in
               that their teaching is bound to the Word of God, no         the first place, concentrates on Dogmatics and
               less than that of a preacher in the pulpit ministry.        Exegesis. Why is that? Because the former is con-
               We must understand that. It is in that light that we        cerned with sound doctrine and with a clear under-
               have to understand Article 18 of the Church Order           standing of the faith once delivered to the saints;
               also: the task of professors of theology is to  ex-         and because the latter is concerned with the ability
I              pound the Holy Scriptures and to vindicate sound            to expound the Scriptures, to glean the truth from
               doctrine against heresies and errors.                       Holy Writ, and because the Word of God alone
                    Now that obviously has implications for those          must constitute the content of all the preaching of
     I         who are called to teach. It has implications for their      the gospel. All the other subjects are derived from
               diligence and for their application to their work. It       those two which I just mentioned, or they stand
          I    has implications for the content of their instruction.      related to those two in such a way that they contrib-
               They must not come with their own wisdom, their             ute to them. But the curriculum is unified, and the
               own opinions, their own cunningly devised the-              unity of that curriculum lies in its purpose to pre-
               ories. But they must principally always come with           pare Prostestant Reformed ministers of the gospel.
               the Word of God. And that means, of course, the             The Seminary And The Students
               Word of God according to the Scriptures. That
               means the Word of God according to the Scriptures,               Now students, of course, are  - or at least they
               again as set forth in our Confessions and as main-          ought to be  - different from cabbage plants. You
               tained historically here in this Christian church.          are conscious, rational, moral, vocal, participating
               Moreover, they must do that antithetically, that is,        beings. And as such, you respond. And that re-
               they must vindicate sound doctrine against heresies         sponse is fundamentally  - and do not forget that
                                                                           -
               and errors.                                                      a spiritual one: the response of faith. That is your
                                                                           first calling. You are under the authority of the
                    But that has implications also for our students. It    Word in your training, and your response must be
               means, young men, that you are under authority,             "I believe!" Further, because faith is always paired
               under the authority of the Word, under the author-          with this, your response must be: "I obey! I will
               ity of Christ, in your seminary training. Make no           walk in the way of the truth; I will walk in the way
               mistake about that! You may go to any other college         of that instruction according to the truth of the gos-
               or any other kind of school, and your professors            pel."
               may say something, and you can say to yourself,
               "Well, he can talk all he wants to; when I get out of            But I want to mention just three things of a prac-
               school, I'm not going to do it that way." You cannot        tical nature, in conclusion.
               do that here in seminary! Do not ever try that                   With respect to your calling as students, that fun-
               either! The instruction - oh, I know that there are,        damental calling which I just mentioned implies, in
               of course, always matters of mere opinion in the            the first place, that it is your calling to be diligent. I
               class situation; but I am talking about the essence         have been a student once upon a time myself, and I
               of the instruction  - the instruction is not a matter       have worked with students now for a good many
               of opinion, which leaves you with the option of dif-        years; and I know that it is the easiest thing in the
               fering. Nor is it a matter of the authority of a superi-    world for a student to be lazy. And a lazy student
               or knowledge or intellect, or the superior experi-          will be a lazy preacher. And as I have told some of
               ence of the instructor. Then it is still a  take-it-or-     you in Homiletics class in the past, God hates lazy
               leave-it matter. The instruction is a matter of the         preachers. Don't give your work a lick and a prom-
               authority of the Word, the authority of Christ              ise! Don't work with the idea inyour head, "Well, I
               Himself. By that I am bound; by that you are                can get by tomorrow morning; he is not going to ask


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         9



me about that." Apply yourself to your work faith-           not a student now, you are not going to be a student
fully, regularly, as before the face of God.                 when you get out into the ministry in Doon or Isa-
  In the second place, and in close connection with          bel or Edmonton, or some other place. You will not
this,  capitalize  on the opportunity that you have          even know how to study! And then you will be a
right now. You will never have another opportu-              poor preacher!
nity like this. I know that you young men never                In the third place, beloved young men, consider
want to believe me when I try to tell you that your          yourselves expendable. Don't be easy on your-
years in school are the best years of your life. It is in    selves! Let me put that positively: be ruthlessly
the nature of the case that you are always looking           hard on yourself! You won't die! And when it gets
forward to the time when you will have achieved,             to be 11 o'clock at night, and you have been study-
when you will have entered the ministry. I can un-           ing all day, don't be tempted to say, "Well, I have
derstand that. Nevertheless, these are the best              had enough; now I'm going to cozy up to my wife."
years of your life. You will never have another op-          Stay up till 2 o'clock. That won't hurt you! Don't
portunity like this to be students. It is the only op-       pity yourself too much! I have a lot of sympathy for
portunity for uninterrupted study that you will              a minister or a student who is busy. But I have no
have all your life.' And after a while, when you are         sympathy for one who  complains  that he is busy.
in the pulpit ministry and the work crowds in on             Your calling as students and our calling as
you, you will be saying to yourself, "Oh, if I only          professors is one of self-deniaZ  and self-sacrifice.
had a little more time to study!" Not only that, but           That is the end of my speech, except that I want
now when you can study, you have the opportunity             to conclude with this: "Our help is in the Name of
to form good study habits for the future. If you are         Jehovah, Who made heaven and earth."

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS

                                    The Nicene Creed
                                                 Rev, James SZopsema


  An overture appeared at our last Synod that there          we probably know very little. Perhaps we have
be included in our Psalter "the Three early-church           never even read them. It is with a view to correct-
Trinitarian Creeds: the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene          ing this situation that we make a study of the
Creed, the Athanasian Creed; with a brief historical         Nicene Creed. Our purpose is to become more fa-
introduction to each creed." The first and chief             miliar with this creed that we may truly receive it
ground of the overture was that although we. do re-          as we confess.
ceive these creeds according to Article 9 of the Bel-          The Nicene Creed is as follows:
gic Confession, yet the Nicene and Athanasian
Creeds are not easily accessible to our people and                 I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of
are thus also unfamiliar. This overture was not                  heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisi-
treated at our last Synod because it did not come to             ble.
the floor of Synod in the proper way. Whether it                   And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son
will appear at our next Synod remains to be seen.                of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God
                                                                 of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begot-
  This overture shows a concern that the Nicene                  ten, not made, being of one substance with the Father,
and Athanasian Creeds be better understood by our                by Whom all things were made.
people and be more used by them, even as is the                    Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from
Apostles' Creed. This is certainly a legitimate con-             heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the
cern. If we receive these three creeds as we ac-                 virgin Mary, and was made Man; and was crucified
knowledge in the Belgic Confession, then we cer-                 also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was
tainly ought to be familiar with them and use them.              buried; and the third day He rose again, according to
With the Apostles' Creed we are quite familiar. It is            the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth
recited every Sunday in our worship service. It is               on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come
incorporated in our Heidelberg Catechism and ex-                 again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead;
plained. We also find it in our Lord's Supper form.              Whose kingdom shall have no end.
But concerning the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds                    And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and


10                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



       Giver of Life; Who proceedeth from the Father and            Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches.
       the Son; Who with the Father and Son together is wor-
       shipped and glorified; Who spake by the prophets.               That brings us to the question of the status of the
                                                                    Ecumenical creeds. According to Article 9 of the
         And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic              Belgic Confession we "receive" these three creeds.
       Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission
       of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and    When we receive a creed we first recognize that it
       the life of the world to come. Amen.                         faithfully sets forth the truth of God's Word. This is
                                                                    in harmony with the true nature of creeds. The
      Before we turn our attention  excZusiveZy  to the             nature or purpose of a creed is to set forth in
Nicene Creed we ought perhaps to say several                        summary form the truth of Scripture. Scripture is
things yet about the Apostles', Nicene, and Athana-                 the sole rule of doctrine and life; it is the only
sian Creeds in general.                                             standard of faith. In her creeds, however, the
      These three creeds were formulated by the                     church seeks to summarize that which she finds in
church in her early history. The Nicene Creed was                   the Scriptures. To receive a creed therefore implies
formulated at the great council of  Nicea (325 AD)                  a recognition that a particular creed is such a faith-
with minor changes being made at subsequent                         ful summary of Scripture. But, secondly, to receive
church councils. The Apostles' Creed, you will no-                  a creed also means that we believe with our heart
tice, is quite similar to the Nicene Creed. The Apos-               and confess with our mouth all that is contained
tles' Creed was not formulated by the twelve Apos-                  within that creed. This all holds true with respect to
tles, as the name may seem to suggest. It was for-                  the Ecumenical creeds which we according to the
mulated by the early Christian church as she                        Belgic Confession receive.
sought to give expression to the teachings of the
Apostles. This creed was not formulated by any                        The Ecumenical creeds are related to our own
particular council of the church. It arose gradually                three forms of unity. That we receive the three
in the western branch of the church (Italy and                      Ecumenical creeds may seem to suggest that these
North Africa), whereas the Nicene Creed was most                    are simply three more creeds which we have in
popular in the eastern branch of the church. The                    addition to our Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Con-
Apostles' Creed, as we have it in our present day                   fession, and Canons of Dordt. In that case we
form, appeared about the beginning of the sixth                     would have six creeds instead of three as the con-
century. The Athanasian Creed, as the name indi-                    fessional basis of our church. Such, however, is not
cates, has often been attributed to the great church                the case. The Ecumenical creeds which we receive
father Athanasius. It is however quite certain that                 are not additions to our three forms of unity; they
Athanasius is not the author of this particular                     are rather the root from which our three forms of
creed. It too, like the Apostles' Creed, simply arose               unity have grown and developed.
from within the church and dates from the begin-                      In the age in which they were formulated, the
ning of the ninth century.                                          three Ecumenical creeds were more than sufficient
      These three creeds are commonly called the Ecu-               to express the faith of the church. These creeds
menical or General Creeds of the church. This                       grew out of the great Trinitarian and Christological
name indicates that these creeds are honored and                    controversies of the early church in which all the
maintained by all of Christendom. They are the                      important truths of the Trinity and the Deity of
property of the Christian church in general. All that               Christ were called into question. In response to the
goes by the name of Christian adheres to these                      errors that arose during the course of these contro-
creeds. The reason for this is simple. These three                  versies, these three creeds were composed. In them
creeds set forth the basic principles and tenets of                 the church set forth very succinctly and beautifully
the Christian faith. They contain the truth of God's                the truth of God into which she had been led. In
Word in its most simplified form.                                   their own day these creeds were more than ade-
      Of the three Ecumenical creeds the Nicene and                 quate to express the faith of the church and to de-
Apostles' Creeds are the most popular and widely                    fend that faith over against the heresy of the day.
used today. The Reformed churches have histori-                       But nothing stands still in history. Heresy and
cally made use of the Apostles' Creed. As we point-                 false doctrine do not. There is a continual growth
ed out earlier, the Apostles' Creed is incorporated                 and development of these as the powers of dark-
and explained in the Heidelberg Catechism; it is in-                ness seek to destroy the church. This in turn gives
cluded in the Lord's Supper form; and it is used in                 impetus to the development of the truth. The truth
the liturgy of our worship service. The Nicene                      of God is not developed by the church in a vacuum
Creed is also used similarly by other churches.                     or in some ivory tower. The truth is developed only
Thus, for example, it has been incorporated and ex-                 in response to the rise of false doctrine as the
pounded in all the orthodox Greek and Russian                       church strives to maintain the truth over against
catechisms. It is also used liturgically by the Roman               that false doctrine. But as the church over the


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          11



course of the ages develops the truth of the                       church and so too has the truth. The creeds of the
Scripture over against the lie of unbelief, she finds              ancient church are no longer adequate for today.
that she needs new confessions. Certainly the old                  There came a time when new, more elaborate
confessions are faithful and true. But the old con-                creeds had to be formulated. These new creeds a-
fessions are no longer adequate to express the truth               rose primarily during the great Protestant reforma-
of God as the church has been led to develop it.                   tion of the 16th and 17th centuries. These new
Neither are the old confessions adequate to defend                 creeds were based on the old ecumenical creeds and
the truth of God over against the lies of unbelief                 further elaborations of them. The new creeds
which also have grown and developed. There is a                    which arose in the Reformed branch of the refor-
need for a new confession built upon the old in                    mation were our three forms of unity: the Heidel-
which the church expresses the fulness of the truth                berg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, and the
as she has been led to see and develop it. She needs               Canons of Dordt.
new confessions in which the old confessions are                     Herein we see the value of the old Ecumenical
further elaborated upon and developed in harmony                   creeds. The Ecumenical creeds are the basis and
with the development that has taken place in the                   root out of which developed the creeds which we
church.                                                            hold so dear today and use as the confessional
  This is exactly what happened to the three Ecu-                  standard of  ,our churches. Certainly then we re-
menical creeds. Much has happened since the time                   ceive these ancient creeds of the church. And they
of their formulation. The lie has developed con-                   are certainly worthy of our study and considera-
siderably since the period of the early Christian                  tion.
ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Buren


                               Response to the "Dance"

  The following letter was received in response to                     do the same things-but in glory to God. To me, the
the article, "The Dance is Redeemed," which ap-                        dance seems to have been an integral part of the
peared in the Standard Bearer, August 1, 1982. The                     Jewish life. Could you reply to this please?
letter was signed-though I do not include the sig-                          P.S. Once again I want to emphasize the fact that
nature in the article. Because the letter raises ques-                 any dancing not done to God's glory is sin, but is there
tions of more general interest to our readership, I                    not any way it can glorify God-it did in the Old Tes-
trust the brother will not object to an answer in the                  tament.
Standard Bearer.                                                      First, I thank the brother for his interest and re-
                                                                   sponse.
   Dear Rev. Van Baren,                                               Perhaps, in answer to the letter, I could state:
     In your article, "The Dance is Redeemed-Finally,              both the decision of the C.R.C. of 1982 as well as
   after Many Years," no Scripture is quoted at all in             the decision of 1928 dealt with the modern,
   support of your position that the dance is evil. In fact,       "ballroom and social dance" as well as the so-called
   I find numerous passages where the exact opposite               ' `liturgical dance. ' ' It was not treating the Scriptur-
   seems to be stated  - Ps.  14,9:3,  Ps.  150:4, Jer.  31:13,
   31:4, Eccl.  3:4, Ex.  1520,  Ps.  30:11, Luke  15:25, II       al dance of the Old Testament. Even in the 1928 de-
   Sam. 6: 14.                                                     cision, there was no objection raised to the dance of
                                                                   the Psalms. The decision of 1982 was to "redeem"
     In no way do I disagree that worldly dancing is evil,         the social dance and introduce into the worship the
   but the Bible in these texts (Ps. 150:4)  even commands
   us to praise God by dancing. If we can only sing the            "liturgical" dance. Our churches too have never
   psalms in the worship service, shouldn't we obey                taught that the dance mentioned in the O.T. Scrip-
   what they tell us to do?                                        tures, performed to the glory of God, was wrong.
                                                                   But, you see, there is a world of difference between
     The world also eats and drinks, sleeps, sings, makes
   music. We as Christians don't-condemn these activi-             the "dance" as now approved by the C.R.C. and
   ties if we sanctify them by thanksgiving and prayer.            that of which Scripture speaks. There is no cry to
   Why, then, do we condemn dancing in itself?                     duplicate that O.T. dance, but the desire is to dance
                                                                   in other ways.
     Using the kind of logic found in your article, we
   couldn't do anything the world does. I believe we can             There is, of course, a difficulty in connection


12                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



with O.T. dances. How were these done? Can we,                        not engage in the social dance." Yet a passage
today, determine how we can properly imitate that                     which should speak to all of our activities declares,
dance? And, would we use the kind of music David                      "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbe-
did too? Nor do we read of the dance by the church                    lievers.. .and what communion hath light with
in the New Testament. There are, indeed, a couple                     darkness?" (II Cor. 6: 14).
of references to "dancing" in the N.T., but none of                     Nor may we, then, do all that the world does. It is
these speak of the activity of the church or the                      true that we both eat and drink, sleep and  sing-
necessity of the dance in the N.T. age. But, again,                   though in radically different ways. There are activi-
the concern is not to "redeem" the dance of David,                    ties of the world which we may never duplicate and
but to make use of the worldly dances in a godly                      can never "redeem" (homosexuality, abortion).
way. Can we do this?                                                  Nor can we take over the song and dance of the
      I did not quote passages of Scripture for a stated              world, do it in the same way that they do, yet seek
reason: the article presented only the recent deci-                   to `glorify God thereby. The world has not been
sion of the C.R.C.-and the objections to the same                     dancing as did David. Why then should the church
kind of dancing which the 1928 Synod had present-                     decide to "redeem" the world's dance under the
ed. There are no passages which say: "Thou shalt                      claim that David danced too?

                                           Liturgy for "Peace"

      The  Reformed  JournaZ,  May 1982, contained an                       AH: Let peacemaking fill the hearts and minds of all
insert which was produced by Ground Zero Reli-                            the world leaders.
gious Task Force. The first part of this booklet is a                       Leader:  In the mid-east, in Africa, Europe, Central
responsive reading. The second section contains                           and South America, in Asia, and throughout our own
quotations of decisions by various religious bodies.                      troubled continent.. .
The responsive reading is a cry for peace. It begins:                       AZZ:  Let trust and wisdom replace fear and sus-
         Speaker:  This liturgy is presented as a service of              picion.
       worship dealing with issues which have significant                   Leader:  May the Spirit of Love and Peace grow
      political overtones. This joining of worship and poli-              strong in the hearts of all people.
       tics is inevitable because both politics and religion                AZZ: Let there be peace on earth!
       address the same questions: Whom do we serve?
       Where is our security rooted? What do we believe and             That gives a sample of the kind of liturgy used in
       what do we do? In this service we focus on God as the          the churches today. It is in truth a piece of  anti-
       origin of love, peace, and security, and on ourselves as       Christian literature. It is a shame that any Reformed
       channels of God's love, instruments of God's peace,            churches or groups have anything to do with this.
       and thereby secure. May this Divine power transform            There is openly presented a union between religion
       our worship, our political lives, and our world.               and politics (cf. the introduction). It is the begin-
      The reading speaks of God's kingdom, power,                     ning of the fulfillment of Revelation 13. One notes,
glory, His truth and wisdom. It concludes:                            too, that in the whole of the reading there is not one
                                                                      word which mentions Christ or His cross. Christ,
         People:  We commit ourselves to good stewardship
       of our time, our money and taxes, and to the preserva-         after all, is the only Source of peace. He restores a
       tion of our planet and home. We encourage the allot-           proper relationship between God and His people
       ment of resources to appropriate and humane uses.              through His shed blood. That same cross must be
         Leader: We are gathered here to envision Peace on            the basis of proper relationship of man to man.
       Earth! In our personal lives, in our homes, and in our         What must one conclude when "churches" cry out
       communities.. .                                                about "peace" without even mentioning the Name
                                                                      of the Prince of Peace? These indeed cry, "Peace,
         AH: Let there be peace!                                      peace, " but this is not peace. May the child of God
         Leader:  In Washington D.C. and in Moscow,                   be alert and aware of these false presentations of
       throughout all the cities on earth...                          peace.

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


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  13



         "Gereformeerd Weekblad is no more"

  CaZvinist Contact, Sept. 3, 1982, reports of the de-                           Ridderbos now asks the question why it was possi-
mise of the "Gereformeerd Weekblad."                                      ble then to produce a paper from a commonly held
                                                                          Reformed perspective but is not possible now. The
     After 37 years of publication "Gereformeerd Week-                    changes that have come about in the intervening years
   blad" (GW) has folded. The first issue appeared on                     are mirrored in the subtitle of the paper. Beginning as
   July 6, 1945, only weeks after the complete liberation                      "G.W. for the promotion of the interest of the Re-
   of the Netherlands after World War II. The final issue                 formed Churches in The Netherlands" it became "for
   bears the date June 25, 1982. For financial reasons,                   the upbuilding of Reformed life," and in the final
   caused by a diminishing readership, the publication                    years it was simply said to be "opinion paper for Re-
   was no longer feasible. It has also proved impossible                  formed life." The common basis and oneness in per-
   to find a new editor for Prof. J. Plomp, who, at the age               spective that marked church life in earlier years had
   of 70, wanted to resign.                                               disappeared.
     The pages of G.W. reflect the spiritual and theologi-                       Said Ridderbos, "That which gives me concern is
   cal development in the Reformed Church in the                          the spiritual confusion which slowly makes not only
   Netherlands (GKN) in the years between 1945 and                             Reformed life but also the Christian life and confes-
    1982. This Dr. Herman Ridderbos, for many years                            sion more and more undefinable and indefinite."
   editor and author of the familiar rubric "From Week                    Alas, the periphery of the church has become more
   to Week," pointed out in the lead article of the final                 vague and the centre more empty!
   number. In 1945 the Reformed Churches reeled from                     The commentary on the demise of the G.W. is
   a double shock: the ruins and breakdown left in the                 telling and evidently accurate. When a religious pa-
   aftermath of World War II and the brokenness of the
   churches left by the split in 1944 when thousands...                per loses its distinctiveness, or when a denomina-
   formed the "Liberated' Reformed Churches....                        tion does, there is no more reason for its, existence.
                                                                       One can only be saddened by such a state of affairs.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

         Persecution and the Church Today (2)
                                                               Rev. K KooZe


  "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ                         pressure. " Peer pressure today is public opinion set
  Jesus shall suffer persecution." II Timothy 3: 12                    forth in strident terms, vigorously promoted and
  We continue our consideration of the matter of                       forcefully advertised.
persecution in this present day. It is the contention                     It is a mistake to imagine that only the teenager
of the writer that a form of persecution is directed                   has to contend with peer pressure. As adults as well
even today towards every Christian who is resolved                     we are under immense pressure to adopt the
to live consistent with his confession, and that it                    world's standards, doing what it deems sensible,
serves as a threat to dissuade men from living                         thereby forsaking spiritual distinctiveness (which
godly. The world has its evil way of persuading                        is, after all, the world's goal). And we as adults can
people to march to its tune. And, especially, pres-                    be as greatly swayed by this pressure of society to
sure is brought to bear upon members of the                            yield to her dictates as are teen-agers.
church to compromise their principles, adapting                           In this connection, let us use one prevalent
the world's practices. So effective has this pressure                  example: the number of children a family has. I can
been in the last generations that in many instances                    think of few places where greater pressure is placed
the church has become nothing more than the                            upon a young couple to conform to the world's
voice box of the world, giving a religious veneer to                   "wisdom" than in this area. This pressure is not
spiritual rottenness, covering that which stinks of                    without its effect, I think. Surely it is not my imagi-
sensuousness with high-sound prating about "re-                        nation that the size of the family in the church has,
demption."                                                             on the average, shrunk in the past generation. It is
  This "pressure" we designated last time as "peer                     not considered to be in good taste to have anywhere


14                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



from six to a dozen children. Once families of such       call me a long list of despicable names than to pro-
size raised no one's eyebrow; now they raise pro-         ceed to pull out my fingernails. But in everyday
tests and rebukes, even from within the church.           society our perspective is oddly altered. Let us not
Those who have such sized families are considered         underestimate the powerful effect name-calling in
foolish, with a tendency towards immorality. Ac-          all its forms has upon us. There is an old adage that
cording to today's definition promiscuity describes       runs, "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but
not sex out of wedlock but the legally married            names will never hurt me." The world knows that
mother of eight children. (Just ask some young mar-       nothing is really further from the truth. There is
ried mother, pregnant with her fourth child of a six-     nothing that a man cherishes more than his name
year marriage sitting in the doctor's office waiting      and reputation. You can hurl a hundred stones and
for an appointment while the nurses cast incredu-         give me forty lashes with a stick, and you will not
lous glances in her direction, whispering all the         touch me so near the quick as when you insinuate
while.) One is afraid of seeing one's obstetrician,       something derogatory about my views and charac-
for fear of being bawled. out for not using one's in-     ter. Scorn and derision can be the most frightful of
telligence. Having many children is associated with       persecution. In order to escape any stigma for our
being poor and ignorant. Who wants to be classified       distinctiveness we are inclined to conform.
as such? And so we are tempted to yield.                    The power of the word of reproach and accusa-
  I submit to you that the "zero-population               tion is much in evidence today. Think of the trem-
growth" movement is nothing else than an expres-          ors set off by that one word "discrimination." The
sion of Satan's enmity against the "seed of the           merest suggestion that he is bigoted, prejudiced, or
woman." Now, it can be argued that the world does         chauvinistic will bring the most callous politician
not single out the church in its promotion of             quickly to heel. These words carry a terrible stigma
"planned parenthood," but tries to persuade every         today. Murderers and perverts are more favorably
segment of society of such wisdom. Nonetheless, I         countenanced than those accused of discrimination
doubt very much whether Satan cares how many              in some form.
"brats" the world brings forth or how great a               The charge of discrimination has had tremen-
burden they are for society. The real object of           dous repercussions in the church. I am thinking not
Satan's enmity is always the church and her               so much in terms of race, black and white, but of
"brats." He simply uses the world to exert pressure       gender, male and female. The whole matter of the
upon the church, and causes her to resent the             proper relationship between male and female has
church for her resolve to continue to have houses         become a matter of debate and friction. The result
filled with children despite the warnings about the       has been a retreat from the historic Christian posi-
grave consequences of over-populating this planet.        tion. The historic position (that is to say the Scrip-
Revelation 12:17 states that the dragon (Satan) was       tural one) is the authority of the male over the fe-
wroth with the woman (the church), and went to            male in home, church, and state. Many in the
make war with the remnant of her seed. This               church take the lead in denouncing this as unchris-
means that throughout the N.T. age he has been            tian and the position of infidels.
seeking to exterminate the elect church. I can not          The question is, what is it that persuades unspiri-
imagine that he complains too loudly if believers do      tual men of the church who are by nature self-seek-
not bring forth as much "seed" as they once did.          ing, to surrender authority to the woman and to
The fewer to exterminate. But I digress. The point        champion so vigorously the cause of those who
is, the disgust which we expect to confront us if we      maintain that it is Christian to grant headship to the
have large families is a large factor in causing us to    woman according to her desire? It can only be that
hesitate to do anything else than to pick a low num-      the fear of reproach and incrimination outweighs
ber and limit our family size to that, knowing that it    their inclination to dominate. They want the ap-
is in the accepted bounds of "good taste." Oh, how        plause of men. Church officials can not bear the
I loathe that phrase "good taste.`" There has more        thought that society might label them as "chauvi-
evil crept into the lives of the saints in the name of    nists" and "tyrants," and identify them with  "self-
"good taste" than by means of any five heretics you       seeking, self-serving, religious bigots" of bygone
care to name. For woe to the one who transgresses         centuries. They would rather deny the authority of
this standard. You make of yourself an undesirable.       Scripture than have a group of leather-lunged
  As has been implied,. persecution today takes the       women accuse them of discrimination. So they
form of reproach, name-calling in the sense of            champion the cause of those who agitate for grant-
attaching a certain label to those characterized by       ing women the right to vote, hold office, preach,
peculiar or undesirable practices. Now, this  name-       and even exercise discipline in the church. Such
calling is not a severe form of persecution. In a pri-    surrender at the mere threat of "getting a bad
son camp I would much rather have the inquisitor          name" in society is widespread.


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                15



  At the moment, by the grace of God, our church-        once an excuse for denying the Reformed faith and
es have not wavered on this matter. For that we can      being reconciled to Rome again. The persecution
be thankful. But are we immune? How do we per-           we bear is nasty and unenjoyable, but is it severe
sonally withstand the pressure in our domestic re-       and unbearable? Does it begin to compare with
lationships? Are our women willing to admit pub-         what the saints endured according to Hebrews 11,
licly that they intend to keep silent in the church      or the Dutch Protestants under the Duke of Alva? Is
and be in all subjection to their husbands, because      what people think of us THAT important?
such is right? Or does the thought bring acute em-         If we can not endure the Devil's sneer, or being
barrassment or maybe even resentment? As men             despised by those under his spell, how shall we en-
we are supposed to feel guilty for insisting on head-    dure when his sneer and snarl turns to actual at-
ship. Do we earnestly exercise our full responsibili-    tack, wounding us to death? Is there any reason to
ty in the home, insisting upon it in love for God, or    suppose that the soldier who gives ground when
have we made various concessions, lest we appear         the enemy merely taunts him and maybe threatens
to be too domineering? Who wears the pants? More         him, that such a soldier will stand his ground when
and more the odd couple is the pair where the man        the fierce battle is actually joined and one's life and
does so with the woman's full approval and encour-       that of his family is endangered? The soldier who
agement. The question is very simple and pregnant        gives ground now already will be severely tempted
with implication: to whom are we going to yield? to      to surrender unconditionally when it is neither
the world or to the Word?                                popular nor safe to insist on living the antithesis.
  Dislike of reproach, while being a reason for our      Now is the time to take a firm stand; waiting until
being conformed to the world in various ways, is         tomorrow can only mean we have yielded another
never an excuse for denying the practical principles     step. "Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man
of our faith, no more than the threat of the rack was    take thy crown" (Rev. 3: 11).

GUESTARTICLE

                             Liberty and Maturity (2)
                                            Rev. Wayne Bekkering


  In the previous article under the title "Liberty       Holy Spirit, used Martin Luther to free His people.
and Maturity" we showed the principle of freedom         Luther began to grapple with the question  - How
for the Christian through the work of Jesus on the       does one stand before God? Then God by His grace
cross from the viewpoint of Galatians  5:l. The          and Spirit opened anew the truth that "standing" or
believer is free from the curse of the law because       justification before Him was by faith directly in
Christ is the end (goal) of the law for righteousness    Jesus Christ.
to every one that believes (Rom.  10:4). This does         Justification was not through the priest to Jesus
not mean that the believer is lawless. Now he seeks      Christ. It was not justification by faith in Jesus
to keep the law out of love for the God Who deliv-
ered him out of the house of bondage.                    Christ and yet some good works to do. The glorious
                                                         gospel uncovered in the Reformation was justifica-
  Before the Reformation God's people were held          tion by faith  only.  The poor oppressed Church felt
in the bondage of Rome's false doctrine. They            the weight of bondage lifted from her and she
could not properly understand or enjoy their free-       breathed thankfully. She breathed freely. Then
dom in Christ. Rome's false doctrine engendered          anew was she able to lay hold of this Word: "Stand
immaturity in God's people. They dared not inter-        fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
pret Scripture or even live according to the dictates    free."
of their renewed consciences without the consent
of the church.                                             That was not the end of the attempts to bind the
                                                         child of God. Any perversion or distortion of the
  Rome's false view of justification tied the work       doctrine of the truth of the Scripture is that which
of Christ to the regulation and dispensation of the      sets the child of God on a course which shall at
priest, which is both bondage and immaturity.            length lead to bondage. Anything that covers the
  In the Reformation God, through the work of the        way to Christ, or anything that hides the glory of


16                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



the freedom that is in Christ, is bondage.                by others. Stand fast day by day. Fight, strive to
      Whenever the truth of the Word of God is set        keep everything else away from the vision of Jesus
around with the regulations of men, then you have         Christ in Whom is your perfect righteousness. In
potential for bondage. When customs or traditions         Him there is relief, liberty and joy. Oh the thankful-
stand in the place of the regulatory principles of the    ness of a soul set free by faith in Christ Jesus.
Word of God, that is a situation ripe for bondage.           So then we say, Isn't that nice? Now I am "run-
We must be finished with that! We must stand fast         ning free." I have been liberated. Now I can do as I
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.         please. Isn't that the implication? No, that is bounc-
No regulation that is made by ourselves or another        ing to the opposite extreme. In Galatians  5:13 Paul
man may bind us.                                          writes, "for, brethren, ye have been called unto
  That has implications in all of our life. If I say,     liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the
"Now I am free, I am redeemed in Christ Jesus.            flesh, but by love serve one another." In heaven we
How wonderful! Now I must do this for Him and             will be "running free" (if we can use that phrase),
that for Him." That is bondage. That is trusting in       because then we will be living perfectly out of the
something we think we must do, or be, or know in          new heart that God has given us, but in this life we
order to be accepted of God; and that is unaccept-        yet have the old man of sin within us. We have the
able to Him. Husbands may require of their wives          flesh, and on the other hand we have the new man
more than God requires. Parents in setting bounds         or, as it is called in the context, "Spirit." Galatians
for their children may make the way of acceptance         5:15 says, "for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
with God more rigorous than God Himself does.             and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are con-
And that too is bondage.                                  trary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the
      Liberty, what a glorious liberty we have  - if,     things that ye would. " Let me do what I want to do?
only by the grace of God and the work of His Spirit       Oh, what I want to do in the flesh! I dare not tell
we understand that our liberty is in Christ ody. We       you what I would do in my flesh. And the same is
have such a difficult time with that truth. The           true of all of us. The flesh is the evil man within us
Word of God is not unclear with respect to our jus-       that seeks its only satisfaction in the things of this
tification. God spells it out in clear language. My       world. But, you see, God has given us the new man.
child, who has been made alive by grace, in whom I        In the new man we have the victory over sin in the
have implanted My faith, begin now to live out that       flesh. We are more than conquerors, but while we
faith  - that faith which is regulated by the law of      are in the flesh we have a battle. These two are con-
perfect righteousness. Look to the cross of Jesus         trary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the
Christ and find acceptance with Me. We say, Lord          things that ye would in the flesh and be pleasing to
what must we do to be saved? God declares in His          God. And on the other hand ye cannot do the things
holy Word, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and           of the Spirit, for we are hindered by the flesh. Paul
thou shalt be saved and thy house. With the exer-         speaks of this in Romans 7 when he says, The good
cise of the faith that I give you, look to Christ and     that I would I do not: but the evil that I would not,
see Him really as the whole of your justification, ;to    that I do. Oh wretched man that I am! who shall
which you can add nothing. If we seek to add any-         deliver me from the body of this death-this bond-
thing we lose it all. If we seek justification by the     age? Then he says, I thank God through Jesus
works of the law we become debtors to do the              Christ our Lord. The idea is that in Him we have
whole law which is an impossible burden.                  deliverance from sin and bondage, but we cannot
                                                          do those things that we would. We have to struggle
  We must put nothing in the place of Christ or           and we have to find the way that God has set for us
along side of Him. Oh how we struggle with that.          in His Word. We are called to liberty, only use not
How we struggle to justify ourselves. We do that in       liberty as an occasion for the flesh.
the natural sphere. We seek self-justification by
making ourselves look better in the eyes of men             Do you know what would happen if you were to
than we really are. We do the same thing before the       say that, because you're free, therefore you are
eyes of God. We say, Lord, I have tried to walk in        going to "run free" and enjoy your liberty? That
the way of Thy Word. I'm not as bad as John or            "liberty" would soon become a horrible bondage.
Mary. But, you see, that is not what God requires.        Think of the young people who say, I would like to
He says, What think ye of the Christ? Have you be-        enjoy my freedom with the use of drugs. These
lieved in Him only? In a sense God says, I don't          young people abuse their liberty and freedom. So
care what you have tried to do. All of your efforts       they use drugs and it feels good for a while and they
are doomed to failure. Your hope is in Christ. There      keep using them until finally they begin to experi-
is your liberty. Stand fast in Him! Be not entangled      ence the adverse side effects of that "wonderful
in your own pride as a new yoke of bondage. Do            liberty"; and, lo and behold, they are bound in an
not allow yourself through immaturity to be bound         awful bondage. Not only is that a spiritual bondage,


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  17



but also a physical bondage as well. That is only          Christ. God commands the prophets and the
one example. Our lives and our world are full of           pastors: "Comfort ye, Comfort ye my people. Speak
such examples. Escapism it is, a misuse of our free-       ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that
dom to walk in ways that please our flesh. To              her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is
involve oneself in anything in an inordinate way is        pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand
to become a slave to it.                                   double for all her sins" (Isa. 4O:l and 2). That is the
   Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has           calling of the church. Comfort God's people. Yes,
made us free. In the liberty of Jesus Christ there is a    even as they sin and come short of the glory of God.
yoke. Jesus Himself calls it that in Matthew 11:28-        Comfort them in what? In their sin? Oh no, comfort
30: "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy          them in this that their justification is in Jesus only.
laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke                 Is that all that the church does? No, secondly the
upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and               church has the calling to expound the way of God
lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your           more perfectly or completely to those who for the
souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is               first time or anew come into the understanding of
light." That is the comfort that there is in the free-     the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus. It is no
dom of Christ Jesus.                                       simple thing, but the Spirit within us leads us to un-
  The yoke of Christ that we have in liberty and           derstand the way of God more perfectly as we
maturity is this: "by love serve one another." In          grow. In true Christian maturity we go from
love we will not insist upon our freedom if it hurts       freedom to a greater freedom, as we find that way
another. That is immaturity. In love we will not           of God outlined in His Word. It is no simple thing,
flaunt our freedom nor cause a brother to stumble.         but the Spirit within us leads us to understand the
In love and maturity we will understand that we do         way of God more perfectly as we grow. In true
not have to exercise all our freedom to be assured of      Christian maturity we go from freedom to a greater
possessing it. In love we will look to Christ and see      freedom, as we find that way of God outlined in His
in Him the fulness of freedom and be satisfied. I          Word. It is easy to err on the one hand in licentious-
may live all my life refraining to exercise my liberty     ness. It is easy to err on the other hand in bondage.
for Christ's sake. That is maturity.                       But by God's grace and walking in the Spirit we
                                                           have that freedom. Stand fast in that liberty where-
  The first calling and du-ty of the church is always      with Christ has made us free!
to make clear the way of deliverance and liberty in

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE

           Paul's Letter to Philippi (conclusion)
                                                Rev. J. Kortering


  This letter that Paul wrote to the Philippian con-       Christian life had to be settled by Paul's letter,
gregation reflects the love which they enjoyed one         hence Paul referred to his  office as apostle at such
for another. Though Paul is in prison and about to         times. In this epistle Paul does not deal with such
die, he rejoices before God in the mutual bond of          doctrinal or spiritual differences, rather he writes
love which prevailed as the gospel of Christ was           as a spiritual father and reminds them he is the
preached to them and others.                               "slave" of Christ. This is the only time that Paul in-
  BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE LETTER                              cluded the bishops (elders, with emphasis on their
                                                           office as overseers) and deacons in the address.
  1. The introduction (1: 1, 2). Paul refers to            They had all participated in the works of love
Timothy as being with him in Rome and includes             which they showed to Paul. He bestows upon them
him in sending the greeting. A reason for this is in-      the grace and peace from God through Christ Jesus.
dicated in chapter 2: 19 where Paul expresses his in-
tent to send Timothy to Philippi, perhaps with                2. Paul expresses prayer and thanksgiving for
Epaphroditus on his return. He refers to his rela-         the Philippians  (1:3-11). In his prayer he both
tionship with Christ as "servant" in distinction           thanks God for them and makes request for them
from "apostle" as he commonly did. There were              (1:3, 4). The thanks is for the fellowship in the
times when great doctrinal issues or matters of            gospel which is so strong that Paul is confident that


18                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



God will make it perfect in the coming of Jesus             God by working out their salvation, and thus  ac-
Christ. They are partakers of the grace of God given        complish the purpose God intended. They will
by' the gospel as it was preached by Paul. This             shine as lights in the world of darkness. In this way
draws Paul to them, for he has them in his heart            Paul's purpose in life will be fulfilled (2: 12-18).
and longs for them in the bowels (tender mercies)             5. Paul explains his intention to send Timothy
of Christ (1:5-8).  The request is that their love may      and Epaphroditus to them  (2:19-30). In this way,
abound yet more and more in knowledge and judg-             Timothy will be able to learn of their state and re-
ment. Note here  that,love  is not a feeling; it is the     port back to Paul. He was qualified for this task for
power whereby the saint takes hold of the knowl-            he was like a son to Paul (2: 19-23). Paul expressed
edge of the gospel and then makes good judgments,           hope that he would be able to come to them person-
decisions. They will then approve right things and          ally  (2:24). He mentioned that, by his sending
be without offense, being filled with good works to         Epaphroditus back to them, they may be assured
God's glory (1:9-11).                                       that that brother is recovered from his sickness and
      3. Paul places his suffering in spiritual perspec-    may be at peace (2:25-30).
tive (1: 12-30). He explains that even his imprison-          6. The apostle glories in the gospel of righteous-
ment in Rome has furthered the spread of the                ness by faith, not in the righteousness of the law
gospel and not hindered it. First, he has had oppor-        (3:1-21).  They are reminded that dogs (false pro-
tunity to preach in the prison. Paul was probably           phets) are present who glory in flesh (circumcision)
chained to a soldier who had to listen to Paul              and in keeping of the law unto righteousness (3:1-
preach when others visited him. This soldier and            3). Though Paul would have earthly reasons to
other guards showed interest and thus the word              boast in his flesh, he has abandoned this and
spread in the prison itself (1: 12, 13). Secondly, the      instead has focused his faith on the righteousness of
gospel was also preached in the city of Rome. The           Christ. He lists those reasons whereby he could
people and pastors became more bold when they               glory in flesh: 1. Circumcised on the eighth day
saw that Paul was bold, and they spoke of the glor-         (reared in a good Jewish home). 2. Of the stock of
ious gospel of Christ (1: 14). Paul makes a statement       Israel (full-blooded, not a half-breed). 3. Of the
about how the gospel was preached by some, even             tribe of Benjamin (Benjamin was the son of Jacob
"of envy and strife." We understand this to mean            and Rachel, his favored wife who died in childbirth
that some preached the true gospel motivated by             with Benjamin. Jacob called him the son of his right
the desire to stir up opposition against Paul. They         hand. The first king, Saul, came from this tribe).
had an evil motive. Paul does not lash out against          4. Hebrew of the Hebrews (highest rank in the
them; he glories in the fact that, even if they have a      religious life of Israel). 5. Pharisee (conservative in
wrong motive, Christ is preached, and that is the           religious zeal to do good by the keeping of the writ-
important thing (1: 15-18). He declares his readiness       ten law not only, but also traditions). 6. Paul led in
to live or die for the sake of Christ. If Paul must die,    persecuting the Christians (a demonstration of his
he knows he is saved and even martyrdom will be             zeal as a Jew). 7. Touching righteousness in the
better for the glory of God and his own final salva-        law, blameless (not that Paul did no wrong, but
tion. He does recognize that he has much work to            when he did wrong, he made proper sacrifice to
do on earth and, if God wills, he desires to serve the      satisfy the law) (3:4-6).  Yet, Paul counts all this loss
church on earth so that they may continue to                for Christ. The only righteousness before God is
rejoice in God by his presence (1: 19-26). He encour-       that which Christ accomplished on the cross when
ages them to live worthy of the gospel and under-           He paid for our sins and met the demands of the
stand that it was given to them not only to believe         law. This is verified by the resurrection of Christ
but also to suffer for Christ's sake ( 1:27-30).            from the dead  (3:7-11). This doctrine does not lead
      4. The apostle exhorts the church at  Philippi to     to carelessness; rather it motivated Paul and all
follow the example of Christ  (2:1-18).  This means         saints to press on for the high calling which is in
that they must possess one mind and be united to-           Christ Jesus. Those who yield to'the sinful lusts of
gether (2: 1, 2). This mind is characterized by lowli-      the flesh and continue in sin are enemies of the
ness, humility which considers others  (2:3, 4). For        cross. The saints' conversation is heavenly; it
an example, they may well turn to Christ Who was            comes from heaven and returns to heaven, and
equal with God, but Who did not let that be the goal        when Christ comes again it will be made perfect in
of His earthly ministry. Rather, Christ took on             heaven (3: 12-21).
Himself our human nature and obeyed as a servant,             7. Final admonitions  (4:1-9).  They are exhorted
even unto the death of the cross. In turn, God exalt-       to stand fast and follow Paul: "those things which
ed Him far above all creatures, and all of them are         ye have both learned and received and heard and
obligated to worship Him unto the glory of God              seen in me, do, and the God of peace shall be with
(2:5-11). If they will have that mind, they will obey       you"  (4:9). This has special meaning for Euodias


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                19



and Syntyche that they be of the same mind. They             3. The theme of joy is referred to some nineteen
evidently had some differences not essential to the        times in this letter.
faith, for neither of them is reprimanded for their        QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
error  (4:2). Paul made reference to his true  "yoke-
fellow." He is not identified by name, so we do not          1. What do we know about the church at
know who he had in mind. He `also included                 Philippi. How was it organized? Refer to some of
Clement, another laborer with Paul  (4:3). They are        the members.
to rejoice always no matter what the circumstances           2. Show from this letter that Paul loved this
(4:4), be moderate in all things (4:5), not worry, but     church and that they loved Paul, dearly.
by prayer and supplication bring all their needs to          3. The Philippians showed their love for Paul by
God so the peace of God may keep their hearts and          sending him monetary gifts. Is the same thing true
minds in Christ Jesus  (4:6, 7). Finally they are to       today, i.e., do gifts express love?
think upon virtuous things: things which are true,
honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report (4:8).        4. Paul expressed loving tenderness (see 1:8;  2:2,
                                                           2; 4: 1). Should we be more expressive of our love
  8. Conclusion of this letter  (4:10-23). Paul ex-        for each other in the church today? Should this in-
presses joy in their care shown by sending                 clude telling each other how much we love each
Epaphroditus to him in Rome (4:lO). This joy is not        other?
based upon things, for Paul learned contentment in
any state. With Christ's strength, he can bear all           5. Paul was in prison and he was ready to die if
things  (4:11-17). Rather, his joy is in the spiritual     the Lord will that. He realized life and death were
work of God that produced this gift and such action        not determined by man but by God. Chapter  1:21
is fruit to their account (4:14-18). He adds as a clos-    expresses, "for me to live is Christ and to die is
ing benediction that God will supply all their needs.      gain." How is this different from fatalism?
He and the saints with him salute the church at              6. What does it mean to be like-minded  (2:2 and
Philippi. This includes the saints of Caesar's house-      4:2). Consider also 2:5-8.
hold. He then pronounces the grace of our Lord               7. How do we explain the loyalty of Timothy
upon them (4: 19-23).                                      described in 2:20-22?
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES                                         8. How do we learn to be content (see 4: 1 l)?
  1. The letter is personal and warm-hearted. Paul           9. Was Paul boasting in  4:13 when he said that
wrote "I" some fifty-two times, far more than              he could do all things through Christ Who strength-
usual.                                                     ened him?
  2. Doctrinal teaching is limited, though it in-            10. How would we relate  1:16-18 to our day?
cludes the great passage on the incarnation of our         This speaks of rejoicing whether Christ is preached
Lord (2:5-8).                                              in pretence or truth.

                            Letter From the E.R.C.S.
                         THE EVANGELICAL REFORMED CHURCH OF SINGAPORE
c/o Gospel Literature & Tract Society
Farrer Road Post Office
P.O. Box 39
Singapore 9 128
To all that are in the Protestant Reformed Churches in America:
Dearly beloved in the Lord,
   Greetings in the Name of our exalted Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
   We thank God for your labour of love towards our brother Lau Chin Kwee and his wife, Foong Ngee,
while they were among you. We want to thank you also for taking care of them spiritually and physically.
Indeed, "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me"
(Matthew 25:40). And by your unfeigned love you have testified to the world that we are the disciples of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us continue to encourage one another to love and good works.
  May the Lord continue to grant you faithfulness as you proclaim the Reformed Truth till He comes!
          From the Evengelical Reformed Church of Singapore          Clerk of Session, Elder Tan Boon Kwarig


     20                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



     THE LORD GAVE THE WORD

                             The Function of Cell Groups
                             in Singapore Work (E.R.C.S.)
                                                    Rev. Lau Chin Kwee


           Cell groups play a very important role in the de-    Word of God. The office-bearers are also to main-
     velopment of the Evangelical Reformed Church of            tain discipline in the church and see to it that the
     Singapore (ERCS). According to Webster's New               sacraments of our Lord are properly administered.
     Collegiate Dictionary, a cell is "the basic and usu-         As a family, the Church is a place where her
     ally smallest unit of an organization or movement."        every member has his own individual role to play.
     In her earliest days as an organization, the ERCS          All the children should learn to be submissive to
     was an unofficial Bible Club in a public school. She       their elders, the older members of the church. The
     ran two Bible Classes  - one for the morning ses-          older ones should help the younger ones with their
     sion of the school and the other for the afternoon         responsibilities in the family. Everyone should try
I    session. Through the years this Club began to have         to maintain the peace of the family by maintaining
I    Bible Classes in other schools as well. In essence         the rules of the family. This is done by reminding
     these Bible Classes are the early cell groups of the       each other of these rules and also by keeping them.
     Bible Club.                                                In the family, communication should be free and
           The idea of cell groups is deeply engraved in the    easy so that sorrows and joys of each member are
     consciousness of the members of the ERCS. Let me           shared by all.
     quote a part of a letter which I received from a             As a light, a beacon light, the Church draws all
     newly-wedded couple in the ERCS to prove my                those who are lost in darkness and sin to the foot of
     point: Jack and Jenny wrote, "We hope that in time         the cross. This is not only for church members so
     to come we can have a small cell group with Chan           that they are constantly cleansed in the blood of the
     Chee Seng and Yoke  Mui. It is our desire that we          lamb, but also for the many elect who are still wan-
     can serve God even better as a family..  ..We hope         dering outside in the wilderness of sin and ignor-
     and plan to invite church members to our place for         ance. The light must reach out to them, too.
     dinner and at the same time fellowship together              Now we shall see how the cell groups help this
     and to get to know them even better." Cell groups          threefold work of the church in Singapore.
     have been a source of spiritual encouragement to
     many in the ERCS.                                            In order for the undershepherds to be faithful in
                                                                their work in the church they must get to know the
           Within  the context of a church I would define a     sheep. While seeing the flock once a week at the
     cell group as a gathering of a few church members          worship services may inform them to a certain ex-
     living, and meeting once a week, within a certain          tent of the need of the flock, nevertheless such in-
     locality for the purpose of the exercise of their          formation is minimal. It is just simply impossible
     Christian faith and always under the supervision of        for the consistory to meet every member of the
     the consistory. But how can such cell groups serve         church after the two divine services every Lord's
     the church? To answer that question we must first          Day. Even if they do, such meetings are very often
     of all consider the work of the Militant Church. For       very superficial so that an accurate knowledge of
     convenience and mnemonic reasons, we shall view            an individual family or person is almost impossible.
     the work of the church in connection with her              The practice of family visitation is undoubtedly a
     name as "a mother," "a family," and "a light."             very good one. But again in this practice there are
       As a mother, the church has her children, name-          families that do not co-operate to share their true
     ly her church members to take care of. This she            physical and spiritual needs. The number of times
     does, first of all, through the threefold office of        the families get visited in a year also shows the in-
     Christ in the Church, namely, the minister, elders,        adequacy of this method to gain a true knowledge
     and deacons. The ministers and elders are to make          of the flock. In the work in Singapore, family visita-
     sure that members of the congregation are fed with         tion is unheard of. Members do visit one another in
     the Word of God. And the deacons are to bring to           their homes but never in an official capacity like
     them the mercies of Christ together with the same          the Family Visitation of the PRC. This is  under-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER'                                               21



standable when we consider how many of these              growth and neither can it be true with our spiritual
families are pagan, and such an official visit may        growth. For a healthy physical growth, proper
well arouse persecution against our church                food, and that in right amount, is to be eaten and a
members. With the practice of this type of Family         good amount of physical exercise must be per-
Visitation ruled out, we find that cell groups serve      formed. Spiritually, too, the proper Word in right
best to inform the undershepherds of the flock.           amounts must be taken and the faith must be exer-
  There is in each cell group a group leader who          cised. The cell groups in the ERCS help in both
serves as a liaison between the group and the con-        these areas of spiritual growth.
sistory. At present, I believe members of the  con-         In the cell groups they normally would study sys-
sistory are themselves involved in these cell             tematically through a book of the Bible, verse by
groups. Being small in number and consisting of           verse, as the societies over here would do. There is
members from around the same vicinity they talk           much discussion among members of the group as
and share fairly easily with one another. Through         they try to understand the Scriptures. Whenever
the leaders, the consistory can get a fairly accurate     there are difficult questions which none in the
picture of the spiritual and physical needs of the        group could answer, assignments to seek for the
flock.                                                    answer from commentaries or older Christians in
  With this knowledge, the office-bearers can pro-        the church are given either to certain individuals or
ceed to tend the flock accordingly. The messages          to the whole group. In this way they learn to search
from the pulpit should take the specific spiritual        the Scriptures.
needs of the congregation into consideration.               Normally, also, there would be a short session in
Elders should watch over the flock diligently so          which members of the group would share whatever
that problems can be tackled at their inception           is on their mind. It is during this time that we hear
rather than at their termination. The mercies of          of the spiritual conflicts which they face in their
Christ when shown early and speedily also prevent         homes, schools, or working places. Their desire is
many a sorrow and show the alertness and tender-          to obey the Word of God, but in a non-Christian en-
ness of the Good Shepherd. Sometimes problems             vironment they often find that the people around
are better solved at the cell group level itself, es-     them could not understand them. Their purpose of
pecially when such problems involve only a parti-         sharing their experiences is not to exalt themselves
cular group. Personally, I remember speaking to a         but rather to seek encouragement from their fellow
particular cell group about the question of women         saints. These sharings are also taken as prayer re-
voting in the church, just before I came to the           quests. Through this sharing they learn from one
States. Also, we must not forget that every believer      another how they should walk their pilgrimage.
is in some real sense a partaker of the threefold         with fear. To the best of their knowledge, the Word
office of Christ. In the cell groups they have good       of God is always brought into bearing upon their
opportunities to exercise that office. Every member       Christian life. When we consider how they do not
can learn to rule and submit to one another in the        have Christian homes to return to, to share their
love of Christ. It is more personal when they show        spiritual conflicts, we can understand how these
the mercy of Christ. When church members exer-            cell groups are so precious to them. Here in the cell
cise this threefold office under the faithful super-      groups the Word of God preached from Lord's Day
vision of the consistory there is no fear of forming      to Lord's Day is reflected at their level of under-
churches within a church out of these cell groups.        standing through the studying of God's Word. Here
In this way, too,  ~future leaders are also being pre-    also they learn how faith concretely manifests itself
pared.                                                    in the life of a believing child of God. In this way
  In close connection with the exercise of the office     they grow spiritually to the good of the church.
of believers we want to turn our attention now spe-         And the church is also a beacon light in this
cifically to the family setting of the church. We said    world of darkness so that others from outside of the
earlier that the church is like a family where the        church might be gathered in. The Church is sent by
older ones help the younger ones in their individual      Christ to go and make disciples of all nations. This
responsibilities towards the church. Every member         is the business of the whole Church and not just of
of the church has a calling to grow in the know-          the ministers only. The ministers are called to pro-
ledge of the truth. This knowledge is not a mere in-      claim the living and abiding Word of God. This
tellectual knowledge, but it is one which affects the     Word abides in the hearts and lives of God's
total of one's life so that in this knowledge he ac-      people. Many are brought to hear our Lord Jesus
tually loves and fellowships with his God. Such a         Christ speak when they observe what great things
growth is not an automatic process in which no ef-        His Word has wrought within the hearts and lives
fort on our part is involved and no difficulty en-        of His people. The cell groups of the ERCS can be
countered. This is not true with our physical             used as stepping stones to the church worship  ser-


22                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



vice.                                                       outsider may feel more confident to enter the
      In our work among young people and especially         church. All these are said not to deny the fact that
among students we find that very often it is easier         ultimately it is the Spirit of God Who is going to
for them to come to the cell group meetings than to         convert the sinners and draw them to Christ and
the worship service. The reason lies in the localities      His Church.
of these two meetings. Cell groups are normally               It is also the cell groups which are actively in-
held near to their homes so that they can take a            volved in the task of following up new converts.
walk there, but the worship service is held in a            This is not to minimize the importance of catecheti-
place quife distant from their homes. Most people           cal instruction by the elders of the church, although
in Singapore travel by bus. This means the inconve-         at present there is no such instruction in the ERCS
nience of waiting for a bus under the hot sun and           except for Rev. den Hartog's pre-baptism classes.
spending extra for transportation, should they go to        The ERCS should have catechism classes and the
the worship service. Moreover, it is easier and             cell groups can serve as "Christian homes" for the
more comfortable to be in an informal situation             young converts.
than to be in a formal one. Very often the messages           In conclusion, it must be emphasized that the
at worship services are just too far beyond them. In        cell groups in Singapore are a great help in the
a small group it is easier for the newcomers to get to      growth of the church. Through the cell groups new
know the people better and faster. All these en-            members are added to the church, saints are en-
hance questioning and discussions. Being informal,          couraged in their Christian walk and office-bearers
the meeting can be geared to the existing situation.        are encouraged in their labour of love.
Should there be any questions about the Christian
faith they can be answered straight away from the           The above is an address given last spring at Mission
Bible without delay. Having visited a cell group, an        Emphasis Day in Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed
                                                            Church. (Prof R.D. Decker)



                               Report of Classis East

September 8, 1982                                           Articles 30 and 31 (with footnotes) of the Church
Hope Prot. Ref. Church                                      Order. The appeal of censure was declared out of
Classis East met in regular session on September 8,         order on the basis of Article 30 of the Church
1982 at the Hope Protestant Reformed Church.                Order.
With the exception of Kalamazoo, all the churches           With regard to the overture of Faith Church, Classis
were represented by two delegates. A goodly num-            decided that the overture was out of order on the
ber of visitors were also on hand. Rev. C. Haak             basis of Article 30 of the Church Order.
opened the meeting with devotions. Rev. R. Hanko            In other matters of business,  Classis extended the
chaired this session of Classis.                            term of the stated clerk for three years and heard
Classis had two matters before it which required            the final report of the church visitors.
considerable time. The first was a request from an          Expenses for this Classis amounted to $797.00. Clas-
individual for clarification of a decision taken at the     sis will meet next on January 12, 1983 at First
January 13, 1982  Classis.  There was also an appeal        Church.
of the individual's censure. The second was an
overture from Faith Church requesting that Classis                                      Respectfully submitted,
declare itself on the matter of women holding posi-                                     Jon Huisken
tions of authority over men in established institu-                                     Stated Clerk
tions. Classis,  as its rules require, placed both these
matters in committees of pre-advice.                                  The Standard Bearer
With regard to the individual requesting clarifica-
tion of the decision of the January Classis and with                   makes a thoughtfd gift
regard to his appeal of censure,  Classis  decided to
declare these matters out of order and therefore did                       on any occasion.
not enter into the material. The request for clarifi-
cation was declared out of order on the grounds of


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            2 3



                                                      Book Reviews


BORN ANEW TO A LIVING HOPE: A Commen-                                        postpones judgment. The reason is simple: He does
tary on I and II Peter, by Robert H.  Mounce; Eerd-                          not want anyone to perish. Here is the true nature of
mans Publishing Company, 1982; 157 pp., $4.95                                God. He loves mankind and wants everyone to accept
(paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                                        that love. .Men perish because they are unwilling to let
                                                                             go of their sin. In the sacrifice of Jesus God did every-
   The author is president of Whitworth College,                             thing He could for the salvation of man. The uncondi-
Spokane, Washington and has authored other                                   tional offer of eternal life is extended to all men, but
books, chiefly commentaries or books in the field                            each must freely accept. No one is lost because God
of Biblical studies.                                                         has willed it. Paul writes to Timothy with crystal
   One can do worse than purchase this commen-                               clarity, "God . . . wants all men to be saved and to
tary if one is studying the two epistles of Peter. The                       come to a knowledge of the truth." (I Tim. 2:4).
book takes a conservative stance throughout and                             So the commentary must be read with caution,
gives a generally sound explanation of the two epis-                     but much benefit can be made from it in a study of
tles. Even some of the more difficult passages in                        these two important epistles.
these two epistles are well explained. Though very
brief, the commentary is helpful in an understand-
ing of the text.                                                         THE GOD THEY NEVER KNEW:  The Tragedy
   The one weakness of the book is the failure of the                    of Religion Without Relationship, by George Otis,
author to take a strong stand on the doctrines of                        Jr.; Mott Media, 1982; 244 pp., $5.95, (paper).
sovereign grace and eternal predestination. We                           (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)
quote a couple of passages to demonstrate this.                             The blurb which came with the book reads:
       The final clause of 2~8 ("whereunto they were also                       Otis stresses that the naked essence of Christianity
    appointed"  - a passage which speaks so strongly of                      is a personal love relationship. A theology one cannot
    sovereign reprobation, H.H.) does not say that man's                     .live, he says, is a misfit . . . good only for dogma (and
    disobedience was destined but that his stumbling as a                    dogma that is good for very little!) In six years of per-
    result of disobedience was determined beforehand.                        sonal study, the author has written a handbook on
    Phillips translates, "which make stumbling a foregone                    liveable or experiential theology-one that relates the
    conclusion."                                                             major Bible doctrines to the living God-man affair. He
       God has not yet returned to gather His own and                        links theology to living and experiencing a Christian
                                                                             life, not merely mouthing empty phrases. Otis re-
    bring punishment on the ungodly because  He is patient
    with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to                   stores to our great God many of His true and lovable
    come to repentance. (II Peter  2:9). God is long-suffer-                 characteristics which various modern day theological
    ing. Although the wickedness of man calls for imme-                      concepts have obscured.
    diate action, God restrains His righteous anger and                         Hopefully, says Otis, the truth in these pages will
                                                                             free readers to worship God in a new dimension. It
                                                                             must be truth that unlocks the doors of revelation, for
                                                                             there is no other way.
                                                                                Mr. Otis is president of Issachar, a Christian re-
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                        search corporation.
   On October 10, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND MRS.
LOUIS REGNERUS will celebrate 30 years of marriage. We, the
children wish to congratulate our parents and thank them for all they                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
have done giving us our start in life. As we grow older and look back
on our childhood we begin to realize that it probably wasn't easy           On September 4, 1982, our parents, MR. AND MRS. BERT VAN
raising eight children, yet there was always time for the children  -    MAANEN celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. We, their
whether it was football in the back-yard or helping with homework.       children and grandchildren, are deeply grateful to God for the years
We thank God for giving us parents who above all love the Lord with      He has given them together. We are also grateful for the instruction
all their heart and taught us to walk in the fear of the Lord.           they have given us in the fear of the Lord. We pray that God will
Dad and Mom, we love you.                                                continue to bless them and keep them in His care.
                                                                            "For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth  en-
Kathy and Ed Vander Meulen            Marcia and Joe Van  Baren
   Marisa and David                       Kyle and Ross                  dureth to all generations." (Psalm  100:5)
Ryan and Nancy Regnerus               Louis Regnerus                     Gary and Florence Horstman        Evert and Kathy Van Maanen
   Ryan, Kelly and Aaron              Jim Regnerus                       Roger and  Marjean Buys           Jan Van Maanen
Evelyn and Homer De Jong              David Regnerus                     Alvin and Brenda Bylsma              and 17 grandchildren
Bill and Elaine Regnerus                                                 Marlyn and  Alvina Hofman         Hull, Iowa
   Kim, Bill and Sandy                                                   Marvin and Carol Anema

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





24                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



                                       YOU ARE INVITED!!,!
                           To the Annual Reformation Day Lecture
                                 To be held, the Lord willing, at
                   The Grandville Public High School Auditorium
                                         Grandville, Michigan
                           The Speaker - Rev. David J. Engelsma
               The Theme - The Reformation and Christian Piety.
                                   October 28, 1982 l 8:OO P.M.
                  -Plan now to attend - and bring your Friends-
                                                                    The Lecture Committee

                            News From Our Church&
                                                                                                                 1


      Seeing our two seminary candidates receive and         back!" May God continue to bless this faithful mar-
accept calls from our churches has been encourag-            riage within our churches.
ing to our seminary professors, who have begun                                   * * * * *
teaching five seminary students this fall. To honor            The Mission Committee is in the process of es-
this new year of instruction, Prof. H. Hoeksema              tablishing a mailing list in order to send out the new
spoke at the seminary convocation on "The Semi-              Reformed Witness Newsletter.  As I was informed,
nary and the Preacher," emphasizing the purpose              this newsletter will be written primarily by Rev.
of the seminary to train ministers to preach God's           Houck and Rev. Van  Overloop  and will include
Word. A quote from South Holland's bulletin read,            some devotional material as well as letters from
" `The pastor ought to have two voices: one, for             contacts made by the Mission Committee. This will
gathering the sheep; and another, for warding off            be under the direction of the Domestic Sub Com-
and driving away wolves and thieves.' -John Cal-             mittee and will appear once a month.
vin." This can be accomplished by God through                                    *  * *  * *
young men who have been properly instructed to
preach the Word of God.                                        My predecessor, C.K., began his work as news
                                                             editor, October 1, 1980. During the past two years
      Fifty years is half a century, or if you please 600    as news editor, C.K. has faithfully fulfilled the ori-
months, or 2600 weeks, or 5200 sermons, depend-              ginal statement of purpose "To reach out to the far-
ing on who you might be. If you were with Rev.               out outposts...drawing them into a closer circle
and Mrs. Herman Veldman September 9 at South-                with the rest of our churches...a means to embrace
west Church you would have celebrated their 50th             one another in the communion of the saints." As
wedding anniversary and also Rev. Veldman's 50               God has used C.K. in this capacity, so may God
years as a minister in our Protestant Reformed               continue this work through this willing servant.
Churches. Rev. Veldman once replied to the state-                                                        DH
ment about having his wife walk on his sore back,            P.S. My correct address is: 4930  Ivanrest Ave.,
"I don't want her on my back. I want her off my              S.W., Apt. B, Grandville, MI 49418


